With a loud bang, the suspension bridge was lowered, Jishte turned over and dismounted, and quickly walked into the Demiaojie Fort.

"Captain Wu, it's indeed a real Tartar."

After repeatedly checking these two heads that began to rot and smelly, a soldier with a nose wrapped in cloth reported to Wu Zhuang.

“Very good, please see the reward.”

Wu Zhuang walked over and patted Jisht's strong shoulder with a smile.

Seeing that these two heads were recognized by the Tang army, Jishte was very happy. He immediately spoke his request loudly to the translator next to Wu Zhuang.

"Battleman Commander Wu, he said that he hopes we will give him four kilograms of salt, forty kilograms of grain, a piece of cotton cloth, an iron bucket, and an iron pot." The translator turned to report to Wu Zhuang.

Wu Zhuang nodded and waved his hand: "Well, okay, give it to him. In addition, as the first person to hand over his head, our army gave him two kilograms of sugar and twenty steel arrows, which are an extra reward for him."

When Jisht heard from the translator that Wu Zhuang was extremely grateful to him, and in addition to the prescribed rewards, he also gave sugar and steel arrows, Jisht couldn't help but burst into tears.

This extraordinary heroic general of the Tang army is really a generous and generous person!

Soon, all kinds of reward items were transported from the warehouse by soldiers and piled up in front of Jisht in a row.

Seeing the pile of prizes placed in front of him, Jisht looked extremely happy.

He first weighed the salt bag and the candy bag respectively, and felt their weight well. Then he picked up the cotton cloth and kneaded the soft and fine cotton cloth carefully to experience the feel of the cotton cloth. Then he held the grain bag full of wheat flour with his hand, and then knocked the large iron bucket made of cooked iron with a bracelet to see if there were no holes or leakage. Finally, he made the fine iron, thick and smooth, with a large iron pot with the word "Li" on the bottom of the pot. He held the wide handle and looked up and down, with a very joyful expression on his face.

Good thing!

Salt, sugar, cotton cloth, grain, iron buckets, iron pots, all of them are extremely scarce items in the tribe. If it were in the past, such items might only be tribe leaders, and they could get a little from the rulers of the Qing court, but they were also extremely lacking. And other ordinary tribes would probably never have any of them in their lifetime.

Compared with the stinginess and stinginess of the Qing people, these Tang troops were truly generous and generous.

Soon, the twenty steel triangular arrows shining with cold light were also taken to Jisht.

Seeing these twenty, made of fine steel, with deep blood grooves and shining with cold light, the joy on Jisht's face was beyond words.

Compared to such sharp and hard steel arrows, the arrows made of animal bones are considered garbage.

With such excellent arrows, it will be easier for me to capture the Qing army's head again in the future.

The barbaric nation values ​​practical interests the most. For these simple-minded and practical people, instead of telling them what big principles they are, the benefits and benefits placed in front of them can be more deeply rooted in people's hearts.

Jishte, a soldier from the Tugen tribe of the Haixi Jurchens, was very grateful to see the Tang army attaching importance to him and treating him well. So he swore in his heart that from now on, he would definitely serve the Tang army loyally and win more Qing captains back in the future to repay the Tang army's respect and treat him well.

Afterwards, he gave Wu Zhuang several hand-to-hand salutes to express his gratitude.

Then, Jisht tied all the items to the horses, tied them up carefully, and left the Temple Street Fort.

Jisht, who returned with such a bunch of reward items, was in a very happy mood. He ran towards Hellery, and whistled proudly. In just two hours, he rushed back to his Tugen tribe.

Returning to the tribe, Jisht was welcomed like a hero.

Although everyone in the tribe was very envious of the prize that Jisht won, because this was a prize that Jisht received entirely based on his personal bravery, the tribe leader did not allow others to share it, but asked him to take it all back to his home.

Jisht, who returned home with a lot of prizes, just as soon as he entered the house, his wife Mengka rushed out of the inner room and gave him a warm hug.

"You are my pride in the head." The wife hugged him tightly, her face full of blushing happiness.

Next, Jisht was very proud when he saw his wife cook with the iron pot, grain and salt he had won, while the children were rushing to eat sugar.

At this moment, he felt that all his hard work was completely worth it.

With Jisht's example of eating crabs, the nearby barbarian tribes were immediately inspired.

From then on, soldiers from different tribes from Miaojie Fort were sent to the Qing army almost every day, and the Tang army fully fulfilled their promises and awarded them all the relevant rewards as a quota.

Li Xiao's Tang army was favored from the heart by the barbarian tribes nearby.

This Qing barbarian hunting order, which was the most popular among them, was also known to more and more Jurchen tribes, and more and more tribal warriors came to surrender and seize the heads of the Qing army.

In order to avoid the trouble of always pulling the suspension bridge to open and close the city gate, Miaojie Fort simply set up a redemption point outside the east gate, just outside Miaojie Fort to redeem prizes for such tribal soldiers.

Such a scene naturally made Wu Zhuang, the battalion commander of Zhendongying, very happy.

He even thought proudly in his heart that as the interest relations between the Tang army and these barbarian tribes became closer and closer, it would not be difficult for him to mobilize troops from these tribes to fight for the Tang army in the future.

After all, in a sense, protecting the Tang army is actually saving these barbarian tribes themselves.

From then on, Li Xiao's Miaojie Fort became a nail that penetrated deeply into the body of the Qing Dynasty, causing the Qing Dynasty to ulcerate from the edge of this nail, and became a wound that never scabs and bleeds.

When the Qing barbarian hunting order was perfectly executed by the barbarian tribe in the north, the eunuch, the king's heart, finally came to Jinan, Shandong with a group of followers.

At this time, the reconstruction work of Jinan City, which had experienced a catastrophe, has begun.

In order to guard against possible major battles in the future, Li Xiao's plan was to build a purely political and military center in the entire Jinan and completely weaken its original economic function.

He initially planned the ruined Jinan into two parts: the official office area and the military camp area, of which the military camp area accounted for about two-thirds, and the official office area accounted for one-third. As for Li Xiao himself, he lived in the mansion of the Duke of Tang, which was converted from the De Prince's Mansion.

That night, Liu Zeqing, the leader of the rebel army, killed all the personnel in the De Palace and looted all the property, but he had no time to set fire to the De Palace. Unexpectedly, the surviving De Palace, the items such as calligraphy and paintings that were taken back from Liu Zeqing's troops, eventually all the items were cheaper to Li Xiao.

In the palace of Duke Tang, Li Xiao led a group of civil and military officials to kneel behind the incense table on the long table, and listened quietly to the eunuch's heart to read the imperial edict.

"In accordance with the will of heaven, the emperor ordered that since May this year, the Qing army has knocked on the gates, plundered the Central Plains, and poisoned the people. Who can do all their crimes? Fortunately, Li Xiao, the Duke of Tang of the Ming Dynasty, conquered his duties, helped the danger and suppressed the rebellion, and won many battles and achieved great success. His troops were loyal and brave, and he seized Jinan at night and offered the capital. His achievements were great. Then he drove the enemy back to the gates, quelled the chaos and eliminated the smell of smell. I heard the report and was extremely happy. Now I ordered Li Xiao to take charge of the military affairs of the entire province of Shandong, and all the troops and horses in Shandong were in their control. I hope from now on, Li Xiao will be loyal to the country and work hard to revive, so I will be extremely happy. How proud!"

When Li Xiao heard Wang Zhixin recite the word Qin Zai, he felt a sense of sternness.

That's it?

Li Xiao instantly thought to himself that it seemed that his request to the entire army to station in Shandong and take full control of Shandong's military affairs really angered Chongzhen. Otherwise, how could this emperor not award any rewards without even giving him a void title without even giving him an empty title? It is really a pity.

However, even though Chongzhen was dissatisfied, he still agreed to his request to station the entire Shandong. In this way, he had achieved his goal.

"Duke of Tang, accept the order." Wang Zhixin tensed his face and stretched the ending of this sentence for a long time.

"My minister Li Xiao, thank you for your kindness, long live my emperor!" Li Xiao took the imperial edict made of Minghuang Lake silk from the eunuch with a respectful look.

"Duke of Tang, this is all the meaning of the emperor. Our family is also following the orders. I hope the Duke of Tang understands it in his heart..."

The fat Wang Zhixin obviously opposed Li Xiao, who had made great contributions but had no reward at all, and had great sympathy and apologies.

Li Xiao smiled back and said in a deep voice: "The holy intention is like this, I will not think about him. My father-in-law has worked hard all the way, so let's go and rest first."

Afterwards, Li Xiao gave Wang Zhixin and others three hundred taels of silver, and sent them to the inn to rest.

After Wang Zhixin and others left with joy, Li Xiao summoned Chen Zi and Jiang Yueguang, two of them, to praise the paintings, and discussed secretly in a secret room in the Tang Mansion.

"You two like to paint, you have heard the content of today's imperial edict." Li Xiao said lightly with an expressionless face.

"Mr. Li, the emperor's intention is very clear." Chen Zilong replied with a serious look: "Now it seems that although the emperor agrees to the matter of Lord Li to occupy a place in Shandong, he has reached the limit of tolerance."

"Zilong said that Master Li's regaining Jinan and repelling the Tartars was a great achievement. The reason why the emperor did not give Lord Li any rewards or promotions is enough to show that the emperor is actually very vigilant and dissatisfied with Lord Li in his heart." Jiang Yueguang also interjected.

Li Xiao chuckled, shook his head and said, "The emperor is so suspicious of his subordinates and has imposed many restrictions on me, but I am now understanding a truth."

"Oh, what's the reason?" Chen Zilong and Jiang Yueguang asked almost in unison.

"The Ming Dynasty is unsuccessful, and the emperor is not the lord of troubled times." Li Xiao said in a deep voice.

"Oh, Lord Li, do you really think so?" Chen Zilong asked softly.

"Yes, after so many years, I finally figured out this point." Li Xiao said with a heavy expression. "The country is so turbulent, and the monarch is gentle and suspicious. The landlords and gentry formed a party to resist labor and land taxes. The people, soldiers and civilians were hungry and cold, and struggled on the brink of death. The Ming Empire, which had been more than 200 years, was completely exhausted, and it was completely impossible to save it."

As soon as Li Xiao said this, Chen Zilong and Jiang Yueguang both fell into silence.

They had to admit that Li Xiao's words were indeed very reasonable.

In the current Ming Dynasty, internal and external troubles and various problems are constantly superimposed, step by step pushing this huge and decaying empire into the abyss of complete destruction. Under this trend caused by history, it is impossible for human resources to recover.

"Mr. Li, what do you mean?" Jiang Yueguang's voice was very low.

A bitter smile flashed across Li Xiao's face.

"Are you two, are you trying to persuade me to take advantage of the chaos in the world to take over the world?" Li Xiao sighed with a heavy expression on his face: "If I really do this, wouldn't I be like a thief like Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong?"

"Mr. Li..."

Li Xiao waved his hand and signaled that the two of them did not need to interrupt, but continued: "Two, what I can tell you is that my current power is far from reaching the point where I can seize the world of Ming Dynasty. Moreover, I don't have this intention at all. More importantly, if I really raise an army to fight with the Ming Dynasty, then the only ones who make profits will be the thieves all over the world and the Tartars who are ready to move outside the pass, and the most pitiful one is the vast majority of people who are struggling to survive in their blood and fire!"

"What does that mean by sir?"

"The truth is that the truth cannot be done, and it floats on the sea. Since the country cannot be moved or changed, the focus of our army should be on further expanding overseas territory. In order to transfer the domestic refugees as much as possible, let them take root and sprout overseas, rest and develop the vast overseas land into the eternal inherent territory of our China."

Li Xiao's words made Chen Zilong and Jiang Yueguang nod frequently.

Yes, instead of untiing this messy rope in China that can never be untied, it is better to go overseas and vigorously expand overseas territory, so as to draw a more beautiful and newer picture on the brand new white paper.

"Will that sir, I will fight against Luzon next?" Chen Zilong asked.

"Yes!" Li Xiao nodded and said, "Because the Qing army suffered a lot of damage in Jinan this time, I estimate that it is impossible for us to invade the south again in the next few years. Therefore, in these few years, it is the golden period for our army to expand south with all our efforts."

Li Xiao paused and said to the two again: "Now, in our army, due to the efforts of shipyards in Dengzhou, Jeju, Hokkien and Taiwan, the total number of naval ships has reached more than 300, which is enough to carry troops to Luzon on a large scale. Therefore, the key task we need to do now is to vigorously expand the Pingnan Camp and expand the Pingnan Camp into Pingnan Town, so that we can gain an absolute advantage when attacking Luzon, and eventually conquer Luzon in one fell swoop, completely eliminate the Spaniards entrenched in Luzon, and also avenge the tens of thousands of Chinese who died tragically under the Spanish butcher knife that year!"
Chapter completed!