Liu Pei was very happy after hearing this and said: "I'd like to give you some good advice! But I'll have to ask the shopkeeper for help later. I don't know what century-old ginseng looks like!"

Manager Li said: "Don't worry, sir, I'll take care of it!" As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the sound of a gong, and the Cao Shizi market was open!

Shopkeeper Li accompanied Liu Pei and started selecting ginseng. In fact, there were not many varieties of goods on display in the grass market. However, there were many piles of ginseng. Yes, they were piles!

As early as the early Ming Dynasty, the Jurchens in Jianzhou were still in a primitive tribal state, living in the wild forests and making a living by hunting, fishing and animal husbandry. Some daily necessities such as food, silk cloth, porcelain and ironware, tea, salt and other supplies had to pass through

Obtained from border trade with the Ming Dynasty. Of course, the Jurchens in a barbaric state could not bring any valuable goods to trade with the Ming Dynasty. The only products they offered were furs, cattle and horses obtained from hunting and animal husbandry, and ginseng, a specialty of the Northeast.

Thousands of miles of primeval forests in the Northeast produce high-quality ginseng, which is the Jurchen's trump card exported to the Ming Dynasty. Without ginseng, the Jurchen population with an increasing population can hardly survive. Let alone expect to develop their own growing armed forces.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty was not stupid. When the Ming Dynasty realized that the Jurchens were becoming more and more threatening, the Ming Dynasty must find a way to restrict the fundamental lifeline that stifled the rise of the Jurchens. That was undoubtedly to cut off the ginseng trade! Because the Ming Dynasty, with its vast territory and abundant resources, did not want ginseng, but the Jurchens had to.

Inseparable from the ginseng trade.

Therefore, every time when the Ming Dynasty wanted to crack down on the Jurchens, the Ming government deliberately closed the border trade in Liaodong. In particular, it stopped the import of Jurchen ginseng. During the Wanli period, the tribute market was stopped for two years and the import of Jurchen ginseng was not allowed. As a result, the Jurchens had to work hard to collect it.

More than 100,000 kilograms of high-quality ginseng rotted! Calculated at 5 taels of silver per kilogram of ginseng at that time, the Jurchens lost more than 500,000 taels of silver in one fell swoop!

The Jurchens did not initially expect to gain control of the Ming Dynasty. Their original intention was to enter the customs and rob the country to compensate for the losses in trade. Later, the Ming Dynasty and Liaodong were invaded by the Jurchens in successive years. According to statistics, before the Jiashen Incident, the Qing army robbed the customs five times.

During the Ming Dynasty, 4,039 taels of gold and more than 970,000 taels of silver were plundered from Liaodong alone in 1636. A large number of people were also taken captive to the Jurchen region.

Although the century-old ginseng is said to be small, there are really a few in the entire Caoshizi. Those 8 ginsengs were all obtained by Liu Pei at a high price. The so-called high price is 10 taels per ginseng! 8 ginseng, the minimum age is 110

years, up to 140 years! One tael in the Ming Dynasty was about 31.2 grams, and modern industrial silver was 3.5 yuan per gram. Liu Pei bought these 8 ginseng for 9,000 yuan! Liu Pei almost laughed like crazy! This is more valuable than the antique calligraphy and painting of Daoteng.

Make money! Liu Pei threw a small gold ingot and it was done! And the Jurchens selling ginseng were very satisfied!

In the evening, the Cao Market was almost over. Liu Pei and shopkeeper Li left a few guys to finish the work, and they walked to the camp first. On the way, they were talking about whether any Jurchens would bring ginseng to sell tomorrow.

As soon as they left Caoshizi, they saw two Jurchens arguing. One of them had a twisted leg and was leaning on a cane. He was obviously lame. Next to him stood a thin woman in tattered clothes, holding a child about two years old.

The eldest child. Judging from the clothes of the women, they are the clothes of the Ming Dynasty. They should be the slaves captured by the Jurchens. The child is dressed in tatters, and his hair is disheveled. He can’t see the male and female clearly, but he can tell that he is very thin. He is holding the hand of his mother’s clothes.

As thin as a reed stick.

Liu Pei couldn't understand the Jurchen dialect, so he quietly asked shopkeeper Li what the two were arguing about. Manager Li listened for a moment and whispered: "The cripple went to fight a while ago and borrowed a sum of money from another person to buy clothes and armor."

.But this time he didn't grab anything after the war and couldn't pay back the money. Moreover, he had a broken leg. He could no longer go to war to grab things in the future, let alone the money. So he wanted to use the female slave

The debt was paid with the child, but the person who collected the debt refused. He said that the woman was too thin and had a small child to raise. He did not have that much food and refused to accept the payment of the debt."

Liu Pei nodded to show that he understood. He looked at the frightened woman and couldn't think about the child for a moment. At this moment, the two people suddenly had a violent quarrel. After a few words, the lame man pushed the woman to the side.

He turned around and left. The bill collector pointed at his back and seemed to curse a few times. Then he pointed at the woman and cursed. The woman also understood that she was being treated as goods and paid off to others, but she

There was nothing she could do, she could only shrink her body with a look of humiliation and fear, and hug the child tightly.

When Liu Pei was thinking about whether he could help, the Jurchen suddenly snatched the child from the woman's arms, grabbed one of the child's legs, and slammed the child to the ground! The child only cried for half a sound and then lost his voice!

The woman stood there in shock! After a blink of an eye, the woman let out a shocking scream, knelt on the ground and picked up the child, desperately trying to cover the wound on the child's head! But the child was thrown to the ground with his brain split and blood.

The brain fluid is flowing everywhere, no matter how hard it is blocked, it can't be stopped!

At this time, the Jurchen rushed forward, knocked the woman to the ground with two fists, snatched the child's body from the woman's arms, and threw it into the grass hut far away. He dragged the woman towards the village.

The woman who left desperately stretched out her hand in the direction of the child's body, as if she wanted to catch her child again! She also let out screams and cries from her mouth. However, she struggled desperately and was gradually dragged into the village.

Liu Pei was already shocked! Liu Pei, who lives in today's society, has never seen such a bloody scene! His hands and feet were so stimulated that he was unable to react. He didn't react until the woman disappeared, but

I found that I had been dragged a long way by Manager Li.

Liu Pei reached out to draw his gun, but Manager Li held his arm tightly. He whispered hastily: "Master, please don't be impulsive! You can't escape if your identity is exposed!"

Liu Pei felt cramps in his heart and brain. He vomited as soon as he bent over. At this time, he also knew that he really couldn't save that woman. Even if he had two pistols, he couldn't fight against a village of Jurchens.

!

He subconsciously said: "Why did he kill that child? Why did he kill that child?"

Manager Li sighed and said, "The Jurchen's life is not easy either! The weather has been bad these past few years, and there has been little food. He doesn't want to feed another mouth."

Liu Pei grabbed Shopkeeper Li's hand and growled through her teeth: "But that was just a child! And that damn Jurchen killed that child in front of his mother!"

Shopkeeper Li's arm was in pain from being squeezed by Liu Pei, and his facial features almost came together. But he could understand Liu Pei's feeling. He endured the pain and whispered: "Mr. Liu, but that woman and child are slaves.

!”

At this time, Liu Pei gradually woke up and let go of his hand, letting shopkeeper Li drag him back to the caravan camp. At night, Liu Pei couldn't sleep at all. As long as he closed his eyes, in front of him was the child's bloody corpse and

That mother's desperate face! Just like that, he sat by the fire all night and didn't fall asleep until dawn.

In the following time, Liu Pei followed Shopkeeper Li back to North Korea in a daze, and then crossed the sea to Shandong. Until he passed through the time and space gate, the woman's shrill scream seemed to be still ringing in his ears! There was also a bright color in front of his eyes.
Chapter completed!