The Northern Expedition is still far away from most ordinary people, but the Jiangbei epidemic is closely related to us, but we should not discuss it unreasonably.
The people in Luoyang city were anxious and anxious, hoping for some god to show up and send the god of plague away quickly, and at the same time they hurriedly bought medicines and stockpiled them in case of emergency.
Now in Luoyang City, the only medicines that ordinary people can buy and afford are affordable medicines from Shennong Baicaomen. Every day, in front of the Shennong Baicaomen stall, the medicine sellers have not yet come, and there is already a queue of people buying medicines.
It’s a long list.
Not long after, another news came that the emperor's uncle, King Cheng, was giving porridge and medicine in many places in Jiangbei. King Cheng also announced that until the end of the epidemic, he would have one meal a day and burn incense and pray all day long from now on.
People pray for blessings.
As soon as this news came out, the people's morale was greatly boosted.
When people are in suffering, they hope to hear some good news every day, so that they can have some hope of living.
As the news spread more and more widely, King Cheng, who had originally been reclusive and extremely low-key, gradually appeared in the public eye.
This Prince Cheng was the elder brother of the late emperor. Because he loved romance, he gave up the throne to his younger brother and lived the life of an idle prince.
Although King Cheng did not care about political affairs, he often traveled incognito. He was kind-hearted, loved the people like a son, had the talent to govern the country, and was known as a wise king.
Compared with King Cheng, the common people have a lot of criticisms about the current emperor. As one goes and the other goes, the common people recall the "forgiving and benevolent" emperor back then and simply cannot understand why there is such a big difference between the current emperor and the previous emperor.
Youdao is the first thing a new official needs to do when he takes office.
Now everyone is looking forward to gritting their teeth and suffering for three years. When the emperor has established enough authority and has had enough fun, he will have to let everyone take a breather.
It's not necessarily true that the emperor wants to drive all the people in the world to death.
…
End of April.
As Huang Xiaoshi expected, the government issued an announcement requiring all merchants involved in medicinal materials in Luoyang to inventory their goods, and the government purchased all inventory at a fair price.
When harvesting grain in a famine year, the chief officials would call big households and grain merchants together to drink tea and have a meal. Although it was a Hongmen Banquet, at least it was enough to give them face.
This time when we buy medicines at affordable prices, the government will just issue an announcement and it will be over.
Huang Xiaoshi couldn't help but sigh, doing business since ancient times has indeed been a mean life.
In fact, Huang Xiaoshi thought highly of himself. He was classified as a martial artist. In the eyes of the court, he was even inferior to a merchant.
At least, merchants are all good citizens, and everyone in the martial arts world is a potential and uncontrolled unstable factor.
The day after this announcement was issued, several official officers arrived at Shennong Baicaomen. The leader was an old book clerk, and the remaining four were officers and government officials.
For these officials, Huang Xiaoshi personally welcomed them. He knew very well that "the king of hell is easy to deal with, but the devil is difficult to deal with." Especially in the current environment, even if you are cheated, you can't find a way to complain, let alone redress your grievances.
The old clerk came here with a sullen face. He didn't even sit down or drink tea. He went straight to the warehouse to order goods. He looked even uglier than when Huang Xiaoshi came to collect debts.
Huang Xiaoshi naturally knows that this is how they do things.
Simply put, "believe the guilt beyond the doubt".
In their eyes, until you prove your innocence, everyone is a villain who needs to be punished by the law.
Huang Xiaoshi accompanied Xiao and the clerk to the warehouse, one by one, to sort out his own inventory with each other.
Since Shennong Baicaomen has been releasing large quantities of goods some time ago, there is not much inventory in the warehouse now, and most of the remaining ones are relatively expensive Shennong medicines. Baicao medicines produced locally are basically produced on the same day.
When it came out, one bite was sold the next day.
After all, the price of these Shennong-type drugs is there.
Many of them have not even been opened after being shipped from Chengdu.
Therefore, the clerk's team took inventory of the warehouse very quickly and had it done in a short time.
When the remaining people put new locks on the warehouse door and put a seal on it, the old clerk calmed down.
He and Huang Xiaoshi slowly returned to the main hall, and Huang Xiaoshi asked someone to bring a plate of snacks and hot tea.
"Thank you for your hard work, brother." Huang Xiaoshi served a bowl of hot tea and said with a smile to the desk clerk.
After hearing this, the clerk shook his head indifferently and smiled back and said, "I have long heard that Shennong Baicao Sect is upright in doing things. Today it seems that it is indeed well-deserved."
This is not an easy job to do when placing goods in a warehouse. It is simply unlucky, and you will get offended by both sides. Even if there is a slight mistake, you will be involved in it. It is really an unlucky job.
Today, the old book office came with the government servants and servants, looking like they were murdering people. They were prepared for the worst.
I just didn't expect that Shennong Baicaomen would be extremely cooperative and it would be over soon.
While he was drinking tea and having nothing to do, the old secretary was in a good mood. He secretly said to Huang Xiaoshi: "I think your shop is not selling too many goods, and it will save you a lot of trouble later. This guy needs you."
Transport it yourself."
"Ah?" Huang Xiaoshi asked quickly: "Where do you want us to transport it to?"
The clerk gently put down the tea bowl, tapped the table and replied: "Wuhan."
After that, Huang Xiaoshi had been drinking tea with everyone in the hall. At noon, he ordered a table of wine and food from the Ke Yue Building, and in the afternoon there were snacks and tea. It was not until after dinner that the drunken gentleman was sent away.
.
It's not that these gentlemen want to make a living at Shennong Baicaomen. Who has less to eat at the moment? It's just that they finished their errands early, but they can't go back too early. The truth is not humane. I understand it in my heart.
Already.
As soon as the gentleman left, Huang Xiaoshi immediately set off and rushed to the Changhong Escort Bureau to discuss the matter of escorting and transporting goods. He did not come back until dark.
The next day, a person from the old secretary's office came over. He handed Huang Xiaoshi a handwritten letter with an official seal, which stated the number of goods pledged by Shennong Baicaomen and the latest delivery time.
The government's work is indeed genuine. The goods currently placed in the warehouse by Shennong Baicaomen are all government supplies. They haven't paid a penny yet, and they must deliver them to the delivery location on time. No matter if the goods are damaged or lost during the period,
Or time delays may result in the payment being withheld, or in serious cases, even jail time.
Huang Xiaoshi looked at the delivery time written on the hand letter as mid-May. Luoyang is thousands of miles away from Wuhan. Although there are still more than ten days, it is not a comfortable time.
Without any delay, Huang Xiaoshi came to Changhong Escort Bureau and found the deputy escort chief Guan Wei.
Guan Wei is also very busy now. Normally, he is very busy when the business is low. Now the business has become more intensive, and the manpower cannot be allocated. It is really a drought or a flood.
Although Huang Xiaoshi had greeted Guan Wei yesterday, and Shennong Baicaomen was still a long-term customer of Changhong Escort Agency, it was currently short of manpower.
In addition to Shennong Baicaomen who wants to deliver goods to Wuhan, there are also other merchants who want to ship goods there, four in total.
Now, Guan Changhong, the chief bodyguard of the Changhong Escort Bureau, called the four families together and explained the current difficulties of the escort agency. He told everyone that if they wanted to take this escort trip, they could only form a caravan.
Or you can find someone else who is good at it. Anyway, Changhong Escort Agency can't recruit more escorts.
Everyone knows that Guan Changhong always speaks with spit and eye. Since Mr. Guan's bodyguards say so, then we have no choice but to form a caravan, which is a bit like fighting for orders.
However, the Changhong Escort Agency could only draw the deputy chief escort, Tou Guan Wei, and six veteran escorts, which were too few for the huge caravan.
So everyone discussed that in addition to transporting their own goods themselves, they should also dedicate some people to act as guards.
As the caravan gets bigger, it can certainly scare away some small thieves, but it can also easily attract more ferocious bandits.
Finally, Huang Xiaoshi finished his work and stopped by Ke Yue Building to order a pot of mutton. In the afternoon, he and his disciples gathered together to eat mutton and discuss the transportation of goods.
Pork in this era was not very tasty, so Huang Xiaoshi preferred to eat high-quality mutton.
Therefore, because of Huang Xiaoshi's hobby, eating mutton at Shennong Baicaomen in Luoyang has become a must-have dish for people to cleanse themselves from the dust.
As soon as I ate the mutton, someone started talking about it. They said that today Wang Ji Merchant and Pharmacy had concealed its inventory and all its goods had been sealed by the government. Wang Ji's boss had also been thrown into jail. Now the whole family was in a mess.
Huang Xiaoshi shook his head. He had expected what happened during the memorization. He could only blame Wang Ji's boss for being blind and unable to see clearly.
Now Huang Xiaoshi just wants to finish this errand as soon as possible so as not to delay his own business.
Huang Xiaoshi must be going on this shipment. After all, the cargo is worth fifty or sixty thousand taels of silver and cannot afford to be lost.
The goods were lost, and even if Gong Guangjie did not pursue Huang Xiaoshi's responsibility, the government would still find him in trouble with Shennong Baicaomen.
After the meal was over thirty, when only the soup was left in the pot of mutton, Huang Xiaoshi began to arrange the manpower.
"Lao Xu, Erhan, Biaozi, Third Brother, Danniu, Erniu, Xiaoqianzi." Huang Xiaoshi called the names one by one and said: "The seven of you will come with me in a few days.
Lao Xu, you go to the mule and horse market tomorrow to find some porters with livestock. Don’t worry about the money. No matter if they are mules or horses, you will definitely find enough. First of all, I don’t carry goods. I have endless goods.
You carry it alone.
Except for Lao Xu, everyone else has to be a guard. Please restrain yourself in the past few days. Don't let your mother be helpless when the time comes. The rest of the people look after the house, and Brother Zhang is in charge. Do whatever you have to do, and rest when you have nothing to do.
, mind your own business."
When Huang Xiaoshi said this, everyone agreed in unison.
Three days later, a caravan of four families gathered outside Luoyang City. The appearance of Shennong Baicao Gate attracted a lot of attention.
The number of people and goods in the Shennong Baicaomen was not that large, but the eight of them were all dressed in black and had short knives, and all the goods were delivered to porters. The livestock alone included seven mules and five horses, which made people secretly gasp.
.
After all, it costs money to hire a porter, and it costs even more money to move livestock. Most businesses have some long-term laborers at home as coolies, who can just take care of the food. If there is no one who is willing to lead a mule or a horse, then isn't it a waste of money?
In the past, Shennong Baicaomen relied on doormen to carry goods, but Huang Xiaoshi had a habit of spending money.
People and goods from the four families gathered together. There were hundreds of people of all kinds. The open space outside Luoyang City was noisy and crowded with people.
At this time, a muscular man caught Huang Xiaoshi's attention.
I saw him wearing a red sailor towel, gray knee-length shorts, and holding an eyebrow stick in his hand. This man was naked from the waist up, revealing his well-defined muscles. When he turned around
, Huang Xiaoshi looked at his back and couldn't help but twitch in the corners of his eyes.
It turns out that the man's back is covered with tattoos. From a distance, it looks like a mess, and from a closer look, it looks like a pile of intertwined seaweed. Only when you look closely do you realize that his back is covered with dragon tattoos.
This frightened Huang Xiaoshi. He took a closer look and saw that the dragon had scales but no horns, hands and no claws. Oh, it turned out to be a flying snake. That's good, that's good.
Huang Xiaoshi didn't want to go out with this guy and become a rebel for no reason, otherwise he would cry to death.
Huang Xiaoshi had already recognized him without him having to introduce himself.
This guy who is full of energy and full of middle-class aura is Shi Yi, the nine-striped snake, a crazy fan of the Water Margin hero Shi Jin, the silly brother of the Six Door Gods catching Shi Gang, and a man who aspires to become the Pirate King.
Looking at Shi Yi, a lot of information about him popped up in Huang Xiaoshi's mind involuntarily.
I remember that in the original plot, not long after, the Three Heroes of Xiaoyao were ordered by their master to destroy Heifeng Village, and they rescued Shi Yi from the dungeon of Heifeng Village.
So the question is, when was Shi Yi, who was locked up in a small black room by Heifeng Village and is still alive and kicking now, captured by Heifeng Village?
My dear mother, the fatal thing is coming.
…
Looking at the lively Shi Yi, Huang Xiaoshi had a bad premonition in his heart, and he thought that the probability of this trip to the Black Wind Village was close to 100%.
Because four merchants were involved in this shipment, the total price was about 134,000 taels of silver. This was indeed a big deal.
In addition, the caravan is huge and has many people, so it is almost impossible to keep the news from leaking. Even if you encounter a spy who is deaf and cannot hear the news, it is still too late to rush to Heifeng Village to report the news after seeing the battle.
Huang Xiaoshi has a headache.
He really wanted to quit the caravan, wait for his teammates to step on the mines, and then set off on his own after a few days.
But the Yamen had fixed a delivery date for him. If he stayed like this for a while, he might be overdue.
Heifengzhai's robbery of escorts has become a conspiracy. It is placed directly in front of you. You know that there is a dragon's pond and a tiger's den ahead, so you still have to bite the bullet and rush through.
What kind of world is this!
Huang Xiaoshi was so angry that he wanted to curse the emperor's eight generations of ancestors. You can't fix this bullshit public security situation.
After sighing, Huang Xiaoshi thought timidly that this was still a peaceful and prosperous time, and bandits would ambush him when he went out. If the world were to be in chaos, how would the people survive?
I would rather be a peace dog than a person in troubled times.
These ten words contain so much blood, tears and bitterness.
The caravan waited until noon before slowly setting off. According to the order of the draw, Huang Xiaoshi and Shennong Baicaomen were ranked third. This is a good position, a close friend's place, without touching the beginning or the end, but Huang Xiaoshi was determined to carry forward his style.
Switch places with the fourth merchant.
For this kind of good thing, the merchant who ranked fourth naturally wanted it. Although the disciples of Shennong Baicao Sect didn't know why Huang Xiaoshi did this, no one intervened to say anything wrong out of their trust in Huang Xiaoshi.
Huang Xiaoshi wiped away an unwarranted cold sweat as he slowly walked at the back of the group, hanging by the tail of the caravan.
Safety first, safety first.
If you want to reach Wuhan alive, you must first stay as far away from Shi Yi's caravan as possible.
