Early the next morning, Huo Xi led a group of men out of the city.
After leaving Kunming City, the road became increasingly difficult. At noon, everyone rested on a flat area and had lunch on the spot.
"I just like traveling with my wife. Look, not only do you have hot water and soup to drink, but you also have hot food to eat." In the past, it was good to have dry food to eat when walking around. Xunwu looked happy.
"Next time you go out, bring more of the maid's food. There will be no shortage of hot water and soup." Vanilla teased him.
If it belonged to another maid's mother, Xunwu would naturally make fun of her and go back, but this Vanilla is Zhufeng's mother-in-law, and he wouldn't dare to make a mistake.
He glanced at Zhufeng, who was sitting aside and enjoying the service of vanilla, and asked, "No matter what I do, how can I be as comfortable as Zhufeng?"
Zhufeng glanced at him sideways and smiled. He was as comfortable as a god. He was enjoying his wife's service calmly.
Vanilla smiled and said: "If it weren't for the fact that he is still somewhat useful, our wife still needs to rely on him to protect her all the way. How can I serve him? He has no hands or feet?"
Everyone burst into laughter until they realized that Zhufeng was weak. Zhufeng only smiled and shook his head.
My wife only likes to show off her words, but she is very obedient in private.
"I said Zhufeng, with your skills, why don't you consider serving as the prince's subordinate and seeking a career in the army?" Xunwu felt that it was a pity that a talent like Zhufeng could only serve as a bodyguard beside his wife.
Zhufeng shook his head and smiled.
No one knows how long he has been struggling in the darkness, hoping to live in the sunshine, to have a family and live a normal life like ordinary people, and to have nothing else.
"This is good."
Today's days are free and comfortable, with a wife, a son, and a home. I have worries outside during the day and can sleep soundly when I go home at night. That's enough.
Huo Xiting understood Zhufeng's thoughts.
The four of them, Chasing the Wind, Stepping on the Moon, Listening to Lei Muyu, all went through a lot of twists and turns in the darkness to get to the sunshine, and they cherish their current lives very much.
She left the other three people to Nian'er. They followed Nian'er and had no idea of competing for credit. They just wanted to live freely in the sunshine.
Huo Xi and Huo Nian respect their ideas very much. Life is short, who doesn't want to live freely? Besides, pursuing fame and wealth are nothing more than external things.
After everyone finished eating and feeding the horses to rest, Huo Xi asked Xun Wu: "In previous years, the tea and horse owners would call tea merchants to sell the tea in the warehouse at a low price?"
"This is the first time it has been done in such a big way."
Xunwu sat up straight, "I heard that the Tea Horse Division has collected a lot of official tea in the past two years, but not many good horses have been replaced. In addition, private tea has been banned many times, and a lot of official tea is in the warehouse due to poor preservation.
Good tea can only be sold as bad tea."
"Then why don't you just transport the good tea and bad tea to Fanbu and exchange it with the Fan people for good and bad tea?"
"It's better not to look down on the middle-grade and bad-grade tea. Furthermore, we still want to recruit tea merchants to transport good tea to exchange for the medium-grade and inferior tea. Moreover, the tea merchants are asking for help from them. The tea merchants will exchange the medium-grade and inferior tea for the tea of this dynasty.
Merchant, the price is much better than shipping it to Fanbu."
Huo Xi understood.
The first is that the local tea merchants want to do business under the eyes of the tea horse. If you ask for help from them, the price can be improved. The second is to call the tea merchants to transport good tea to the government and collect the official tea. Do not transport inferior Chinese tea to the local tea merchants.
It is also to protect the face of the imperial court.
Huo Xi looked at the tea carriage in the team, "Where did we collect tea from in previous years? Maybe we received good tea?"
"Yes. We have an advantage over those tea merchants. In the southwest states, even the Yi tribes scattered in the mountains know that Mu Mansion in Kunming City has a famous post given by the prince. We only need to show it to all the Yi tribes.
The leaders are all willing to sell us good tea."
"Some good tea grows in dense forests in the mountains. No one can enter and it is scattered somewhere. Only the Yi people who have lived there for generations can pick it. We have still had a good relationship with the mountain people in the past few years.
good."
Huo Xi nodded, "The barbarian tribes in the mountains are also people under the jurisdiction of our Mu Mansion. When collecting tea, we need to remind the clerks not to use the name of the prince to bully the people."
"Yes, I will keep this in mind, my subordinates. The Crown Prince often gives orders like this. No one dares to disobey it."
"That's good."
After resting for a while, everyone set out again.
The mountain road is rugged, and sometimes you have to get down and walk when you encounter ravines. So at noon on the third day, the group finally arrived at the small town of Yibang.
Because there is a tea and horse shop in Yibang, the street is very lively.
People of all ethnic groups can be seen everywhere, dressed in various styles, carrying burdens on their shoulders, walking up and down the street, and the sounds of hawking are heard one after another.
"There is a tea and horse department here, where people from various Yi ethnic groups often pick tea and sell it in exchange for various livestock for daily miscellaneous use. The surrounding Fan people (Tibetan) tribes will also lead their cattle, horses and sheep, and bring their tsampa,
Ghee and various furs are exchanged for tea, cloth, salt, daily miscellaneous supplies and medicinal materials, etc. It is very lively."
Seeing that Huo Xi and others were interested, Xunwu introduced them to the side.
"Madam, it's so lively here! They sell everything!" Vanilla and the others couldn't take their eyes off it.
Mother Ma scolded us a few words, "Let's go to the inn first and put down our luggage. Others are looking at us on the way."
There were all kinds of Yi people, Fan people, and Han people here. Seeing that Huo Xi and others were dressed in rich and noble clothes that were different from them, they all looked over.
"Let's go to the inn first. There are so many people here. If we snatch you and take you to the mountains to be wives, we won't be able to find you in the mountains and deep forests." Xun Wu threatened Qiu Shuang and several unmarried girls.
Everyone was frightened and hurriedly gathered around Zhu Fenggan and the third class.
Everyone entered the inn, Kun Si booked the guest room early, and everyone settled in.
After everyone had settled down, Huo Xi asked Xunwu to tell everyone about the situation here.
"Originally, the tea and horse trade market only traded tea and horses. Later, when the Fan people and the barbarians rarely came out, they would bring various things to exchange for what they needed, so they set up a trading place in a remote place.
There is a big market over there on East Street, selling everything. It is very lively on the fifth day of every month, and the day after tomorrow happens to be the fifteenth, so we can go and see the excitement."
Huo Xi was very interested, "Okay, tomorrow is the time agreed by the tea merchant to inspect the goods. After finishing the work, we will stay for two more days, and then we can go have a look the day after tomorrow. It just so happens that we also brought some with us this time
The cloth came here to test the water, just to see if there was anything that could be exchanged. I bought it and shipped it back, making money on the carriage and horse expenses as well as the expenses along the way."
"Madam is very considerate. I just happened to see if there was anything interesting or useful, so I bought some for my Rouge and sent them back."
"Sister Vanilla, just remember your Rouge."
"He is the flesh and blood of my body. Of course I will always remember my son. When you get married and have children, you will be like me."
Huo Xi looked at Zhufeng and saw a smile on his lips, so she also smiled. It seems that no matter how iceberg-like a person is, children are his weak point. I don't know what happened to Xiao Yu'er.
After the turmoil on the border ended, Mu Yan followed Mu Sheng and led the army back to Kunming City.
Mu Jun's son, Mu Lin, was half a year younger than Xiao Yu'er. Thinking of his son, he rode beside Mu Yan and asked Mu Yan about Xiao Yu'er.
The two of them rode horses and walked in front of the team. When it came to their son, there was quite a topic to talk about. Mu Yan was usually like an iceberg and rarely said a word, but when it came to his son, he was willing to say a few more words.
Mu Xi and Mu Zhan couldn't understand that Huo Xi had left his baby behind and traveled thousands of miles just to find her husband.
"A woman should stay at home and be in charge of the household affairs and take care of the family. Although there are many women in Yunnan, you are not short of money, Mu Yan. I heard that your wife has started a business in Kunming City with great fanfare."
Mu Yan gently reined in the horse's rope and looked back at Mu Zhan.