Several carriages slowly approached the city gate.
The officer guarding the city gate squinted his eyes and saw clearly the people sitting in front of the first carriage. One of them came over and said hello in a familiar manner.
"It's Shopkeeper Zhao. Are you leaving the city?"
Shopkeeper Zhao responded with a smile: "Go to Xiangbei County to deliver some goods. The soldiers are guarding outside Xiangcheng. We can't let them have a hot meal."
This sounds so righteous.
The yamen servant gave a thumbs up to Shopkeeper Zhao: "Shopkeeper Zhao, you are still open. I heard that other inns in Xiangbei County have been closed, but yours is still open. You often send food to the garrison outside the city.
Meat."
Shopkeeper Zhao pursed his lips and shook his head with a smile, looking unassumingly humble.
The yamen officer stepped aside and said, "Shopkeeper Zhao, go quickly and be careful on the road."
Shopkeeper Zhao asked with a smile: "Don't you want to check? The rules cannot be broken."
"What are you checking? If you don't believe it, no one can help but believe that you are not the one, otherwise it will really chill people's hearts."
Shopkeeper Zhao thanked the Yamen servant for offering his hand.
The carriage continued to move and slowly passed the city gate.
Old man Qi in the carriage hugged Qi Bao'er tightly, his heart in his throat. Yan Gui'an next to him had been putting his hand on the knife beside him since he arrived at the city gate and the carriage stopped.
He pursed his lips and his whole body tensed up.
The knife in his hand was Qi Kangan's precious flat-headed knife. He only had a kitchen knife.
After a while, the car door opened, shopkeeper Zhao bowed and walked in, sitting opposite Yan Gui'an.
Shopkeeper Zhao first smiled and nodded to Yan Gui'an, then turned his head and respectfully gave the old man Qi a hand-offering ceremony as a junior.
"Hello, old man, I have met Miss Bao'er. I should have paid my respects to you all as soon as possible, but I just came back last night. It's already late at night and I can't disturb you. It's really rude."
The old man Qi had never been treated with such courtesy by such a noble person. He was so frightened that he waved his hands repeatedly, "It's okay, it's okay. We are under your care."
I was worried at first, but now seeing the attitude of the shopkeeper, I can feel half relieved.
Qi Baoer nodded to Shopkeeper Zhao with a well-deserved feeling.
Such an unfazed look made Shopkeeper Zhao truly believe his master's words. The little girl had actually saved the second son of their family and was a great benefactor of the Wu family.
As for the fact that the little girl is young, hehe, he doesn’t see only one or two strange people in this world.
As a result, Shopkeeper Zhao's attitude towards Old Man Qi and the others became even better, and he was smooth in his actions and funny in his words. This was not a polite thing, but a kind of intimacy.
It was even more obvious that he had been prepared. Under the table in the middle was a crypt as big as the table. When he opened it, it was full of food.
Moreover, except for a pack of large cakes that could last them all the way to Xiangbei County, the rest were all snacks, melon seeds, peanuts, candied fruits, pastries, and several boxes of exquisitely made rice dumplings.
Old man Qi, Yan Gui'an: "..."
How well do you know Guaiguai/Baoer?
On the way to Xiangbei County, there were almost no refugees. I walked for half an hour and only occasionally encountered a team that looked like a cargo transport team like them.
The clothes don't look like refugees, but most of them are animal fur coats that are very suitable for traveling in winter.
Old man Qi opened a corner of the curtain and looked outside, "Are these all delivering things to Xiangbei County?"
This is too much, there are twenty or thirty fully loaded cars, and one person is pushing them, and there are people on the left and right supporting them.
There are also two people on horseback in the front, four on each side in the middle, and two more people on horseback in the back, who look like guards, but why does he feel a bit like he is monitoring?
Shopkeeper Zhao glanced outside and said with a smile: "That's military supplies, send them to Pingyang Pass or further ahead."
Pingyang Pass Old Man Qi remembered that there were three major passes on this road leading to Pingcheng, and Pingyang Pass was the first pass out from them.
"Oh." Although he was able to relax a lot, Old Man Qi was still quite embarrassed in front of Shopkeeper Zhao.
Shopkeeper Zhao seemed not to have noticed, and continued with a faint smile on his face: "Pingyang Pass is the easiest pass to defend and difficult to attack. There are cliffs on the left and right, and there is a rapid river below the cliff. As long as you guard the city gate, there will be nothing outside.
You can't attack it."
"No, then...??" Aren't they unable to get out?
"You can pretend to be a food transport team."
Old man Qi: "..."
How to pretend?
When working for officials, which one does not require this voucher or that voucher? Where can they get the voucher?
Qi Baoer chewed some ointment and raised his eyes to look at Shopkeeper Zhao. Shopkeeper Zhao was also looking at her at this moment. Qi Baoer's cute big eyes that flashed and flickered really made him a little overwhelmed.
He had one wife and two concubines, and he had five sons, but no one knew that he always liked his daughter, but his wife was infertile, and the two concubines gave birth to sons one after another.
Shopkeeper Zhao thought about his master's family again. The old man also liked girls very much. The granddaughter of his cousin's family has been treated as a treasure for so many years. This handsome and attractive person in front of him is still a benefactor.
If the old man sees it...
Thinking like this, shopkeeper Zhao wants to sell well in advance.
This family only has life-saving grace, so he might have to wait for them in the future.
Who doesn't want to climb up? Even if you don't want to be rich and powerful, it won't hurt to be friends with these people.
"Don't worry, old man, our eldest son has already made arrangements, and someone will escort you out of Pingyang Pass safely."
Eldest son?
"Your eldest son, is it Mr. Wu?" Or is it Mr. Yuan?
Old man Qi had actually wanted to ask for a long time. Those were the only three people who were interested in saving lives.
Chen Yi didn't think about it. This guy didn't sound like he was the one who could take charge of his own affairs.
Wu Da???
Shopkeeper Zhao was stunned for a moment and immediately realized that the second young master did not say his real name.
However, the second young master and the eldest young master both said that they had saved their lives, so it was not that they did not want to repay the favor. The eldest young master also issued strict orders to ensure their safety, which shows that the entire Wu family attaches great importance to this group of people.
As a servant, he couldn't say anything about the matters above, so he just smiled and nodded: "That's our second young master, and the eldest young master is doing business."
After saying this, all three people understood.
One is a merchant and the other is working for the court.
After walking for another half day, the atmosphere on the road gradually became tense, and groups of patrolling soldiers began to appear. Every time they passed a group, they would come up to ask questions.
What to do?
Where to?
What's on the car?
The hearts of both Old Man Qi and Yan Gui'an were lifted high.
Fortunately, Shopkeeper Zhao is very respectable here, and all the patrol leaders actually know him. He showed his face through a crack in the carriage door and was let through without anyone checking.
Old man Qi was really lucky that they saved those three people, otherwise they, a bunch of old cowards with nothing, wouldn't have been able to get through this journey.
This is the case here, and Old Man Qi estimates that the other passages out of Yingzhou should be the same.
King Xuan means that refugees may not leave Yingzhou.
It doesn't matter whether you run away or not, whether the journey is painful or not.
Anyway, it's all your own business.
Just a little bit, there is no way to think of Yingzhou.