Every craftsman is a treasure, and Li Guodong decided to personally lead the cavalry to escort the craftsman back to Shabeigou City.

Just before he was about to leave, he heard a news: Wang Ziyong was dead! The cause of death was that he was hit by a projectile of his own. With the medical technology of a thief, he was hit by a lead bullet and was rescued. Shortly after Wang Ziyong returned, his wound became inflamed and had a high fever, and he died five days later.

"Is this matter reliable?" Cao Bianjiao didn't believe this fact.

Li Guodong frowned slightly and thought for a moment before replying: "If my gun hit him, as long as he hits him, he will definitely die. What he fears most is that the thief leader is not shot, and he will be killed by a bomb to deceive us into sending troops, and then give us an ambush. So this matter needs to be cautious."

Three days later, the incident was confirmed. The Ming army spy went to Jizhou City and confirmed that Wang Ziyong was indeed dead. The rebel king Gao Yingxiang was elected as the new leader of the thief. In addition, the spy also spyed back a new news: Gao Yingxiang's nephew Li Zicheng brought tens of thousands of thieves to Jizhou to join him. Li Zicheng's nephew, Li Jin and others, who were also going to join him.

"It's a pity that we were unable to get the head of the bandits. The uncle went to Qingyang to chase the bandits of Huntianhou and the lonely wolf. We don't know how the battle is. When the uncle comes back, we can send troops to wipe out the bandits." Cao Bianjiao said regretfully.

"Brother Cao, I have to go back to the outside of the border first and send the craftsmen out. Brother, my city and workshop are all outside of the border." Li Guodong did not take over Cao Bianjiao's words, but changed the topic.

Cao Bianjiao asked in confusion: "Brother, since you have decided to station troops in Shanxi, why don't you recall everyone back to Shanxi? In this way, people from east to west, the manpower and troops are scattered, and the troops are inconvenient to gather, and the construction of weapons requires long-distance transportation. The food and grass may be transported scattered. It is inconvenient. Why would you let all your brothers come back? Brother, you are afraid that you are worried about the Chinese officials in the court? You are afraid of him! As long as we have soldiers in our hands, the court will suppress the thieves and deal with Jiannu, don't you rely on us?"

Li Guodong was actually very conflicted at this time. He thought that he could not only gather troops, but also reduce transportation pressure, and retract back to the pass is safer than to shrink back to the pass. However, at this time, he could not give up the strongholds outside the pass. Next, Huang Taiji would send troops to conquer Lin Danhan, and he could not help but use the Mongols to cause some trouble for the Later Jin Dynasty. He also sent a good brother to Tumote as an undercover agent, and he would be a dead soldier. If all of them were shrinking now, wouldn’t some of the previous layout be in vain?

Another reason is that Li Guodong is unwilling to devote too much energy to deal with the bandits. Suppressing the bandits is just to strengthen himself. To do this, it is enough to leave Cao Lei alone. He takes his main force to deal with the Later Jin, which is the most vicious enemy. If he cannot use the hands of the Mongols to restrain the Later Jin, Huang Taiji will invade the third and fourth time, and the Ming soldiers are forced to be transferred to the capital to serve the king, which will give the bandits a chance to breathe.

Thinking of this, Li Guodong replied: "Brother, I cannot give up the city outside the border for the time being. Jiannu is about to conquer the Mongols. If Jiannu successfully conquers the Mongols, it will be the biggest threat to the Ming Dynasty. If Jiannu's heavy cavalry cooperates with the light cavalry of the Mongols, it will be difficult to deal with. I have a plan outside the border, and after dealing with these things, I will give up the city outside and come back."

Li Guodong kept Cao Lei, who was good at managing internal affairs, was responsible for garrisoning the army, cooperated with Cao Wenzhao to suppress bandits, and took him to Han Dashan and He Xing two generals, led one thousand cavalry and four hundred horse-riding firearm soldiers, and escorted one hundred and eighty-three craftsmen and one thousand refugees to the frontier.

Leaving Xiangling and heading north, the army was unobstructed in Shanxi. In September of the fourth year of Chongzhen, the army left the blockade from Shahukou and returned to Shabeigou.

During this period, the Battle of Daling River was underway. Another important thing for Li Guodong to go out of the frontier this time was to persuade Lin Danhan to send troops to Korqin two months in advance.

Li Guodong returned to the pass to suppress the thieves for more than six months. The thirteen craftsmen who stayed in the Shabei Grotto built another 160 new bird guns. After all, the number of people was small, and the speed of building bird guns was too slow. A craftsman could only build two excellent bird guns in a month.

Now there are ninety-one blacksmiths, and they can build two hundred bird guns every month, which has significantly increased the speed by nearly ten times. After returning to Shabeigou City, Li Guodong immediately let the newly joined craftsmen join the production. The carpenters did not make a waste of money when they came to Shabeigou. With the carpenters working together to make wood and butt stocks, the blacksmiths only need to concentrate on building gun barrels and accessories. Li Guodong divided the work of 104 blacksmiths, 100 blacksmiths specially built gun barrels, and the other four were responsible for creating accessories and gun hoops. The carpenters were responsible for making wood and butt stocks, and finally assembled.

Tang Chong and Wu Fugui, who were staying in the sand ditch, came to Li Guodong and reported to him: "General, the winter wheat harvest was bumper in summer, and it had been harvested more than 2,000 stones. Corn and sorghum have been planted, and it will be harvested in another month. In addition, our caravan has also come back once and sent one thousand stones of rice. Zhao Feng and his team also went to Guihua City to exchange for more than 2,000 war horses. This time, it would cost more than 60,000 taels of silver if sold."

"You go and prepare dry food and forage enough for two thousand men and four months. We are about to go to war." Li Guodong told Tang Chong and Wu Fugui.

Wu Fugui was surprised and said, "General, you were going to get married on August 15th, and it was already a month late. Should you delay it until when? Xiuying is waiting for a long time."

"Put it a few more months, and get married after the New Year. After all, state affairs are important, and children's relationships can be put aside first." Li Guodong was anxious. Of course, it was not his own marriage, but the Battle of Daling was about to end in two months. If Lin Danhan only went to attack the Korqin tribe after Huang Taiji surrendered Zu Dashou, it would be too late.

This time when Lin Danhan went to fight the Korqin tribe, Li Guodong must follow him to "help" Lin Danhan. Attacking the Korqin camp at night is all Li Guodong's specialty.

Li Guodong went to see He Xiuying and apologized to her: "My wife, I originally planned to get married on August 15th, but unfortunately I can't come back to suppress the thieves in Shanxi. This time I'm back, I'm going to fight the Tartars again, and I can only delay the marriage until the New Year. My husband is ashamed of my wife, I hope my wife can understand."

"Husband, national affairs are the most important. As long as you treat me well in the future, I will be very happy." He Xiuying's eyes were a little red, but she felt relieved when she thought that her husband was a hero who stood up to the sky.

Li Guodong told He's mother about this matter again, and He's mother understood that it had been delayed for a month anyway, and what would happen if it was delayed for a few months? They had already exchanged their birth dates and were engaged, and this rich son-in-law could not escape. She could feel that this son-in-law would definitely be able to be named a marquis in the future.
Chapter completed!