Fenghou

Chapter 485

Chen Qing came to the salt lake closest to Xining City, called Tuqiang Salt Lake, about a hundred miles away from Xining City, in the south of the West Sea, and the other two salt lakes were fifty miles away and a hundred miles away in the west. The largest salt field It is the third salt lake with an area of ​​tens of thousands of hectares and abundant reserves.

However, Xining Prefecture is now focusing on the development of the first salt lake, which covers an area of ​​[-] hectares, and is actually connected to the second salt lake.

Two thousand salt workers also came with Chen Qing. There are large pieces of salt crystals everywhere, and there is no need to cook them at all, just cut the large pieces of salt crystals and transport them ashore.

In fact, the salt workers did the same. They were actually porters, so the salt produced by two thousand salt workers was enough for hundreds of thousands of people to eat.

Chen Qing looked at the endless snow-white world. Under the reflection of the blue sky, the salt lake also showed a faint blue color. He couldn't help sighing: "As expected of the sky, it's so beautiful!"

Dong Liang, who accompanied Chen Qing on the inspection, said with a smile: "Now the Jiedu Envoy understands! Why don't we boil the West Sea to get salt, but go deep into Tubo to get these salt lakes? It really doesn't cost much to mine here. Pull large chunks of salt directly, cut it into salt bricks, and then transport it to Xining Prefecture by camels. We have three camel teams with a total of [-] camels that travel between Xining City and Salt Lake all year round.”

Chen Qing nodded, "Indeed, the cost of boiling salt is too high. In this case, the cost of a catty of salt is only a few pennies!"

"It's almost the same. It's mainly the wages and shipping costs of the salt workers. We calculated it and spread it out. It costs two yuan a catty, and the price in Huangzhou is [-] yuan a catty. The profit is quite lucrative."

The price of salt in Chengji County is [-] yuan per catty, but its cost is [-] yuan per catty, which is much higher than the salt here, so it is more economical to mine it here.

"It seems that I also like Tuqiang Salt Lake very much."

At this time, someone shouted: "There are cavalry coming in the distance!"

Chen Qing narrowed his eyes and looked into the distance, only to see a black line appearing in the distance.

Dong Liang suddenly became nervous, and hurriedly said: "It should be the son of Geropa, their chief tent is only thirty miles away from us!"

"So close?"

"Their traditional pastures used to be very far away, on the west bank of the West Sea, and then they got closer to us step by step, just to compete for these three salt lakes."

"I just don't understand, what's the use of them wanting to control these three salt lakes?" Chen Qing asked puzzled.

"They are greedy, and they also want to sell salt to make money. First of all, we are not allowed to own salt farms, and then they take it for granted that they control the salt and can raise the price at will to make huge profits, as if we don't know how to cook salt from the West Sea."

Seeing that the cavalry was getting closer, Chen Qing shouted: "Follow me and have a look!"

Chen Qing thought that the salt lake was fake, and his real intention was to clean up the West Sea. He led [-] troops, but now only [-] elite cavalry showed up.

Five hundred cavalry rushed all the way, and quickly met Luojiang's thousand cavalry. Dong Liang said in a low voice, "Jiedushi is Luojiang, the eldest son of Geloba!"

"I see, you hurry back to the salt field and let the salt workers hide temporarily."

Dong Liang turned his horse's head and ran towards the salt field.

Seeing that there were only [-] people on the other side, Luo Jiang felt contemptuous in his heart. He pointed at Chen Qing with his spear and said angrily: "Give you half an hour to go back to Xining Prefecture, otherwise, you will never leave alive!"

Chen Qing laughed, "I have seen a lot of Jurchens and Xixia people. I have never seen such an arrogant person like you, who dare to point a spear at me. I think you are tired of work!"

His face sank and he shouted: "Do it!"

Five hundred Song Army cavalry shouted angrily at the same time, urging their horses to kill each other.

Luo Jiang didn't expect that the other party would dare to attack first, he was furious immediately, and ordered: "Kill them!"

A thousand Tubo cavalry screamed, brandishing spears or short swords and killed them.

Chen Qing took off the Sirius Bow. This is his second bow. It was custom-made for him by two master craftsmen Xie Changzhi and Hu Zhen. It took two years to make it. Since it is a custom-made model, it is completely tailor-made. , Chen Qing is extremely comfortable to use, and the hand feel far exceeds that of the Dingyuan bow.

He liked this bow very much, so he named it Sirius Bow, which comes from Su Shi's words, "Look northwest, shoot Sirius!" '

Chen Qing pulled out a spiked arrow from his back, galloped on his horse, and shot the arrow while galloping. The speed of the arrow was incomparably fast, and it reached Luo Jiang's eyes in the blink of an eye.

Luo Jiang suddenly saw the arrow appear in front of his eyes, his face changed drastically, it was too late to dodge, 'Pfft! An arrow hit the center of the eyebrow, and the tip of the arrow protruded from the back of the head. With a scream, Luo Jiang turned over and fell off his horse to die.

The Tubo army fought against the Song army just now, but the main general was killed by the opponent with an arrow. The soldiers suddenly panicked, and the deputy general blew the horn of withdrawing troops, "Woo———"

The Tubo cavalry turned their horses and fled, leaving behind dozens of corpses and fled away in a panic. Luojiang's corpse was also taken away by them.

"Let them go!"

Chen Qing stopped the soldiers from chasing, the Tubo people would soon bring thousands of troops with them when they returned, and he had to deploy them as soon as possible.

The place where Luojiang was shot was only [-] miles away from Geloba's camp. At this time, his second son Danzhu had gathered [-] Tubo youths and quickly gathered in the open space in front of the chief's tent.

Geloba also came out in armor and helmet. No matter whether Chen Qing wanted to visit him or not, he must give him a serious blow and let him see the strength of Xihaibu.

At this moment, there was a commotion outside, and the crowd stepped aside one after another. A few soldiers came in carrying a stretcher, and a corpse lay on the stretcher. arrow.

"The young chief is dead! The young chief is dead!" Exclaimed voices spread from all directions.

Geropa was so frightened that his liver and gallbladder were split, he rushed forward, "What's the matter? What's the matter with my son?"

He lifted the blanket, only to see an arrow stuck in the forehead of the eldest son shockingly, and the arrow actually shot through his head.

Geropa trembled all over, his legs went limp, he knelt down in front of his son, wept bitterly with sobs, the surrounding generals bowed their heads silently,
Geropa suddenly raised his head, wiped away his tears, and fixed his eyes on the shaft of the arrow. There were four Chinese characters engraved on it, and he knew them all, 'Western Army Chen Qing! '

The extreme hatred had already made Geropa lose his mind, he gritted his teeth, stood up suddenly, and said word by word: "The whole army mounts and captures Chen Qing alive. I will skin him with my own hands!"

He got on his horse and raised his spear high, "The Han people killed my son and wanted to rob us of our land. This is the land we have lived on for generations. We will not give up an inch. Let the Han people taste our power!"

Seven thousand Tubo soldiers raised their arms and shouted loudly, and under the leadership of the leader Geloba, they marched towards the salt lake in mighty force.
Chen Qing's [-]-strong army has been deployed on the grassland. They are composed of [-] cavalry and [-] infantry. In addition to the army, Chen Qing also carried a big weapon against the grassland cavalry this time. Instead of kerosene, bed crossbows are used.

He will use [-] bed crossbows, which can shoot [-] jackdaw arrows at a time. This is an improved bed crossbow, which is operated by three people instead of four. The main reason is that three people need to lie down and step on the string at the same time. Concentrating the strength of three people forms the power of one plus two far greater than three.

Three thousand cavalry lined up neatly, and in front of them were two thousand spear soldiers. Their spears were placed on the ground, and they were holding crossbows in their hands, ready for the second round of shooting.

A thousand bed crossbows were right behind them, all of which had been wound up and fired only once, and a firing soldier squatted behind each bed crossbow.

The bevel angle of the bed crossbow is forty-five degrees, perfectly avoiding the soldiers of the Song army in the front line.

Seven thousand Tubo troops appeared in the distance. They moved forward rapidly at a high speed, spreading densely on the grassland.

Geluoba saw the [-] Song troops in front of him. Although it was a bit unexpected, his deep-rooted hatred completely blinded his reason. He didn't even stop to rectify the army. what!"

"Kill ah-"

Seven thousand Tubo soldiers roared and ran wildly, sweeping towards the Song army formation three miles away.

Chen Qing was as calm as a mountain and stood dignified. He watched the Tibetans getting closer and closer with cold eyes. He didn't want to conflict with the Tibetans at first, but at this moment he realized that without an iron fist, the Han people would never win. For the respect of foreigners, only iron and blood are the truth.

The Tubo cavalry is getting closer and closer, and it has entered [-] paces. It has entered [-] paces.

"Launch the bed crossbow!" Chen Qing gave the order to launch.

(End of this chapter)