Chapter 2 Leaving the Fortress (1) The farthest foreign town he has ever been to is the county town, and the highest ridge he has ever seen is the big green mountain in front of the village. Although he had already imagined the journey out of the fortress a hundred times, after leaving home, Li Xucai finally
Understand that the mountains and rivers outside are very different from what you imagined
Compared with the majestic Taihang, Daqingshan, which stretches for nearly a hundred miles, is just a mountain grandson. Compared with the surging Luanshui River, the Yishui in my hometown is simply a small ditch. To the north, east, then north, and then east again, the mountains around us are getting bigger and bigger.
The higher you go, the more pure the sky outside the mountain becomes. Along the official road and the rickety pontoon bridge, you cross Laishui, Juma River, and Sanggan River. Along the way, merchants coming out of the fortress are constantly gathering, snowballing the caravans.
It keeps getting bigger and bigger
Shanggu is known as a border county, but in fact it is still very far away from the border. After walking for five consecutive days, six days later, in Ji County, the seat of Zhuo County, the caravan stopped and began the last major supply trip before leaving the fortress.
"Hurry up and check your luggage. If anything is missing, make up for it. We will stay in Zhanglaozhuang all afternoon today. Tomorrow morning, it will be 3:00 a.m. at 3:00 a.m., and we will not wait after 00:00 a.m.!" Sun Jiu shouted as he led the caravan into a familiar farm.
yelled
With a buzzing sound, the merchants who exuded a stench immediately dispersed like frightened flies to unload their luggage and settle their animals. In a blink of an eye, only Li Xu and Xu were left in the large courtyard.
Two people with big eyes were helpless on their horses, not knowing what to do next.
"Can you please help these two brothers to unload their luggage and take the animals to feed them? They are all my juniors and it is their first time to go on a long trip!" Amidst the neighing sounds of a bunch of people shouting,
Sun Jiu's voice sounded particularly cordial. Several people dressed as bankers came over immediately and helped Li Xu and Xu Dayan unload their luggage.
Li Xu jumped off his mount and wanted to come forward to help, but he didn't know how to do so. He wanted to hide outside the crowd leisurely like Sun Jiu, but he was afraid that someone would lose his luggage if he couldn't take care of him for a while.
The brocade I bought, my favorite dried fruit, and a few silver beans hidden in the lower corner of a cotton coat...
"Xuguan, come to the pavilion to drink tea. The master has already prepared it!" Sun Jiu's words rang in his ears again. Li Xu shook his head repeatedly, wanting to tell Sun Jiu that he was worried about his luggage and was afraid of offending the village guest station.
No, not even walking. I squeaked a few times, and sweat suddenly broke out on my forehead.
The midday sun shines down from the blue sky. The young man with a face as red as boiled and the crystal beads of sweat on his forehead become a unique sight in the chaotic crowd. Several old merchants who have already arranged their luggage and animals are walking.
Come over, pat him on the shoulder, smile kindly, and walk away. A few narrow-minded ghosts deliberately whispered in Li Xu's ear, "Watch carefully, dealers are never honest!"
Hearing this, Li Xu felt even more anxious. The hope of his family's life was wrapped in this luggage. Just as he mustered up the courage to step forward and grab the luggage, Xu Dayan gently grabbed his wrist.
"Don't listen to those guys' nonsense. If you don't worry, Uncle Jiu will lead us here?" Xu stood next to Li Xu from the corner of his eyes and warned in a very low voice.
"Young man, this is your first time to go out. The reputation of our village, Liu Laozhuang, can be found within a hundred miles. In the past ten years, no customer has lost a thread here!" An old man who was responsible for directing the work of the dealers walked up.
Before, the introduction words to Li Xu not only brought pride, but also brought a bit of dissatisfaction.
"Liu Laogao, don't brag. Last time, half of my clothes were hung from your jujube tree to find out the threads. There were hundreds of threads!" Sun Jiu quickly came over to help Li Xu, telling a joke and asking Li Xu.
Xu scolded: "Why don't you go fill a bowl of water under the shade of the tree? I'm afraid the sun will make you two stupid!"
Li Xu's flushed face suddenly became even redder, as if there was a fire burning out from under his face. In the past few days on the road, he had made all kinds of jokes like this, staying in hotels, eating and drinking, and even pulling strings on the way.
Shit, you have to be told in your ears. Fortunately, everyone ate at his house’s banquet, and as a favor, there was no look of boredom on their faces.
"I, I..." Li Xu muttered awkwardly, but some wisdom emerged from his panic. He pointed at the blue and white mule and said, "It's not that I'm worried, it's that I'm afraid that beast will scare them!"
"A mule!" Old Man Liu laughed loudly. Before he finished speaking, a banker next to the mule shouted and jumped towards him. Little Wolf Ganluo poked half of his head out of the cloth bag and let out a low whistle in his throat.
At this time, not only people, but also animals were frightened. Several animals that were close to the blue and white mule shivered and backed away desperately. No matter how hard the dealer tried to pull him, he couldn't hold him back.
"It's a little wolf cub. It's less than a month old. Look how brave you are!" Sun Jiu was afraid that Gan Luo would cause more trouble, so he quickly explained to everyone, "This child is a kind person, and he is afraid that the wolf will be frightened."
You guys, that’s why I’ve been watching you guys from the side, but you took other people’s good intentions for granted!”
Li Xu took a breath, and his speech and mind immediately became clearer. He ran over with a smile, held Gan Luo in his arms, bowed and apologized to everyone: "Young man was reckless and disturbed all of you. I should have warned you earlier.
I’m afraid you guys will say I’m too careless!” After saying that, he picked up Little Wolf’s front grip and made a bowing gesture.
"The birth of this wolf cub is quite interesting!" Liu Laozhuang's banker is well-informed, and naturally he will not be serious with his child who has no hair on his head. After he recovered from the shock, he laughed and continued to work on his grandson.
Jiu rushed forward, took Li Xu's hand, pulled him to the shade of the trees in the village, stuffed him with a large bowl of herbal tea, smiled and cursed: "I can't see that you kid is still a little quick-witted, don't
I’m worried, the owner of this village, Mr. Liu, is a land dealer. Only by having merchants pass through his house can he ensure a constant supply of goods. If everyone is always short of supplies, his sign will have been smashed, and all business will follow!"
"Thank you, Uncle Jiu!" Li Xu put down the tea bowl and thanked him in a low voice.
"Thank you. Your father entrusted you to me. I can't let him down. Let me tell you, when I was your age, I was more reckless than this, carrying a package and crossing the Great Wall by myself. There were no rules.
I don’t know if the caravan is willing to let me join the group, but once I was almost beaten to death by someone as an undercover horse thief!" Sun Jiu shook his head, and his eyes suddenly became particularly deep.
That must be a very sad memory, Li Xu thought silently in his heart, as if he saw a young man who was as lonely as himself struggling to survive in the mountains, with no companions and no end of the road in sight. In an instant, he felt that Sun Jiu was
The tattered clothes and the smell of sweat became familiar
"You should learn more from Big Eyes. That guy is smart and has a good heart. I have traveled all over the country for so many years and I have never seen such a smart person!" After a while, Sun Jiu patted the dirt on his butt and stood up.
, shouted to the crowd who were grabbing tea, "Big Eyes, Big Eyes Brother!"
"Hey, Uncle Jiu, I'm here!" Xu Dayan poked half of his head out of a row of windows. In just a moment, he had already cleaned up his face and changed his short t-shirt into a light blue gown.
, coupled with that slightly bookish face, he looks like a young man from a wealthy family.
"Haha, you can't tell that a phoenix flew out of my grass nest!" Sun Jiu joked with a smile.
"Aren't we going to the city later? We should dress neatly so that we can visit some big shops!" Xu Dayan smiled back and pointed at several other windows, "Uncle Zhang, Uncle Du and the others are also here.
After changing clothes, will Uncle Jiu just wear shorts and go to the city to deliver goods?"
"Little bastard, you are the only one who can talk!" Sun Jiu cursed with a smile, pushed Li Xu in front of him, and said, "Brother Xu Guan, he is two years younger than you!"
"That's natural. I wanted to make an appointment with him just now. Seeing Uncle Jiu discussing the matter in person, I didn't dare to eavesdrop!" Xu Dayan agreed loudly and called Li Xu into the room to change clothes.
There was chaos for a while, and everyone was settled. Sun Jiu came forward, leading a few older and clear-minded merchants, and began to deliver the southern goods that the master had entrusted them to bring from the Central Plains. The other merchants went outside by themselves.
I went to a chicken-feather shop to have a meal, took the goodies I planned to leave in Jixian, and went into the city with my companions.
Li Xu and Xu Dayan had no goods to sell, so they each rode a horse and wandered aimlessly in the city. This was the largest city Li Xu had ever seen in his life. The southern corner of the city alone was twice as big as the Yi County he was familiar with.
The gray cloud tiles, colorful cornices, and snow-white walls are all dazzling. What's more, the streets paved with bluestones in the city are as smooth as mirrors, making people unable to bear to step on them.
And the things in the shop are even more glamorous. Silks from the south, felts from the north, gems from the western regions, and pearls from the east China sea. Li Xu is shocked to see everything. And the prices of those goods are also the same as their textures.
, so high that people dare not reach out and touch it. Every time he got on the horse, Li Xu, who was following Xu Dayan, carried it with extreme caution, fearing that if the horse was startled, he would break into someone else's shop and damage one or two of the goods, leaving the Li family
Since then, everything has been ruined
"If I could open a shop in Ji County and take over my parents for retirement, that would be a magical life!" After wandering for a while, Li Xu began to daydream again. "If the price of raw hides remains at this level, it would be a good idea to go there."
You can earn more than 1,000 coins outside the Great Wall, and then sell some horses, cattle, sheep, and medicinal materials. You can make three trips a year. After deducting the tribute to the government and the clan, you can accumulate 7,000 coins in three years.
Do you know if I can rent a shop on the main street of Jixian County..."
"This is an important town in the northernmost part of the Sui Dynasty. Yuyang, Anle, Shanggu, and Hejian are all under his overlooking. The entire Youyan is under control!" Xu Dayan didn't know what was happening around him.
With such mediocre and short-sighted ideas, Li Xu pointed at the green hills behind the building with his riding crop and said boldly
