Auspicious snow heralds a good year. Although it does not snow in the winter in Chu State, this year is a good harvest year. The people looked at the golden ears of rice in the crop fields and laughed with their wrinkled and dark skin.
Because of the increase in taxes, merchants are selling goods more often. The merchants of Chu State basically sell here and there, and they still make a profit. Of course, the most profitable thing is cross-border business, but
Things are not peaceful these days. If you go there easily, you will most likely be caught as a dish, have everything confiscated, and have to be tortured. It is worse than being robbed. If you don’t have a strong background, it’s better not to go.
.
There are three main east-west trade routes in Chu State. One is the northern route, which is relatively easy to walk there. The other is the southern route, which is close to the sea and slightly easier to walk. However, the sea wind is severe and the water vapor in the sea is very unfriendly to some goods. Therefore,
It’s not a perfect choice either. The last one is the one in the middle that goes through the Black Tiger Mountains.
Although this trade route is dangerous, it is the best choice for many caravans. If they do not take this route, they will have to cross the river and go around the lake in a long circle, which is not only a waste of time, but also consumes a lot of money, so comprehensively
Although it is most cost-effective to go through the Black Tiger Mountains.
A large caravan headed east from Ganzhou, passing through fields where autumn harvests were being harvested. Looking at the hardworking people, the people in the caravan felt much better.
The convoy passed through Liuzhou and reached the southeastern part of Liuzhou. In the plain there, you can see the magnificent and even more dangerous Black Tiger Mountains. The mountains, mountains and rivers are both fascinating and terrifying.
The motorcade drove into Niangpi Town, which is well-known among caravans. The main street of Niangpi Town, which is both a street and a commercial road, was crowded and bustling, making it look like a market.
A single move affects the whole body. It is just an increase in taxes, and in a good year, the whole world seems to be prosperous, but in fact it is vanity.
The convoy arrived at Niangpi Town in the afternoon. By that time, they could no longer find any inns in the town. They were all full. Even if some private houses were rented out, they could only find other open spaces outside the town, and they were not
The only caravan camping.
The flag of this caravan is embroidered with the word "ancient", which represents their name. The caravan is very large, with nearly a hundred people. The owner of the caravan also hired a bodyguard to escort them, and he is also a bodyguard who often cooperates with them.
The owner of the caravan was an older man named Gu. After leading a woman to arrange the caravan, he walked into the town with the woman and a middle-aged man.
The three of them walked on the busy streets. The old man looked at the busy shops. Occasionally he would choose some shops to go in and look at the items inside, but did not buy anything.
Walking out of a shop, the old man asked the woman: "How do these things look like?"
The woman thought for a while and said: "There are good and bad things, but they are all cheap. For such a cheap thing, and those people are still lowering the price, it is unkind."
The old man smiled and said, "Do you know how you got those things?"
The woman shook her head. This was the first time she and her grandfather had gone into business. In her family, the business was very big. In the family, both men and women were more or less involved in business, and she was one of the many.
But she didn't know much about the ways outside, so she finally persuaded her father to let her go out with her grandfather.
"There are bandits in Black Tiger Mountain, and the goods come from the bandits."
Hearing what grandpa said, he was a little surprised and said, "Those are all dirty things. How dare they do this? Does the government not care about it?"
The old man still smiled faintly. He still loved his granddaughter. He still had some business skills, but it was only limited to the area near home. The old man wanted to train her, so he took her out to see her. She would show her appreciation wherever she went.
She cleared up the confusion.
"Niangpi Town is located in the Black Tiger Mountain and belongs to the boundary of Hezhou. It is several days away from the nearest government office. And even if the small government office knew about it, would they dare to come? This business road is the only way to go.
, the bandits on the mountain can’t wait to kill those petty officials to enjoy themselves.”
"Niangpi Town is very close to Liuzhou, but it is not our own territory. The local officials there will not make themselves embarrassed."
"So, Guyi, there are some things that cannot be solved by the government knowing about them."
The woman Gu Yi remained silent. Although she didn't understand it, she still just listened to her grandfather's story.
"These goods are in the hands of gangsters and are difficult to ship, so the merchants in Niangpi Town buy them at low prices from the gangsters and sell them in Niangpi Town. And the people you see here are not just businessmen.
People from the east, as well as people who have come here specifically to enter, and some passing caravans will also come to see if there are any leaks that can be picked up."
"The prices of things here are much lower than those outside. It is profitable, but there must be some way."
"As I said just now, these things are not clean, and you need a way to get rid of them. If someone is discovered, there will be some troubles, big and small. This depends on the skills of the people here who are hunting for goods, so I just said
That's why you see those people lowering the price when they see it's so cheap."
"These people dare to make deals with bandits?" Gu Yi was surprised.
"Are you surprised? Otherwise, why do you think these stolen goods are here? Could it be that the bandits opened it themselves? If they had such brains, they wouldn't need to be bandits."
"They are too courageous. I heard that the bandits in Black Tiger Mountain are very powerful," Gu Yi said.
"Do you think they are just ordinary traders? They dare to do this without any background. They are afraid that as soon as the goods are sold, the bandits in the mountains will come to take the money."
"Background? Is it that restaurant?" When he entered the town, his grandfather told him that the main purpose of resting in this town was to visit the owner of the restaurant, so that the caravan could pass through this dark place with less twists and turns.
Hushan. Less twists and turns? Grandpa didn't say anything clearly at the time, so she thought the owner of the restaurant would send some bodyguards. But they already had bodyguards, so they didn't need them anymore. But since grandpa said he wanted to visit, she didn't dare to say anything.
.
"Well, we'll go there later. I hope there won't be too many people waiting." The old man nodded.
The restaurant was still quite hot. On the second floor, the three of the Gu family asked for a table, ordered some dishes, and ate a little. The old man took the woman to the third floor, leaving the escort on the second floor.
.....
When she came out of the restaurant, the woman's face was not good-looking. She was simmering with anger, which she had when she was on the third floor. However, the grandfather beside her kept holding her down. On the way back, the woman expressed her dissatisfaction.
: "Why do you want that..."
"Ahem." The woman's grandfather coughed, as if to remind him something.
"Why did you give that gentleman some tea money? Is it just to make the journey in Black Tiger Mountain smoother?" The woman said, looking at the middle-aged escort who had been following them, and continued: "There are escorts.
Head here, do we still need their people to protect us?"
"Who told you that the lord sent someone to protect him?"
"If that's not the case, why do you still need to pay for the tea?"
"Gu Yi, grandpa said before that Black Tiger Mountain is very dangerous. Unless you have absolute strength and can ignore the rules here, otherwise, don't break the rules." The old man knew that he had not seen much of the world, and among his elders
The granddaughter who grew up under the care of her was angry, but still smiled gently.
"Giving the tea money to that gentleman only allows us to be qualified to negotiate with those bandits, and at the same time, it also makes those bandits less excessive. If we don't pay the tea money, then we may not be able to get out of this Black Tiger Mountain. We have
The escort is true, but if you ask the escort leader, they promised to escort us, but they are only protecting the caravan outside Black Tiger Mountain. They can't guarantee it inside Black Tiger Mountain."
"Just last year, at about the same time, two caravans did not pay for tea. Their overall strength was not inferior to our caravan, and they still disappeared in this Black Tiger Mountain."
The man on the side nodded.
"Then why don't we take it lightly and be more powerful?" When Gu Yi said this, she found that something was out of place and she didn't dare to look at the middle-aged man.
"That would not be worth it. As a businessman, we have to maximize our profits, otherwise we will not be a qualified businessman."
The woman stamped her feet and couldn't say anything. She quickened her pace and walked towards her camp.
The old man smiled, looked at the middle-aged man, and said apologetically: "Children are not sensible, so don't take what you just said to heart."
"No, this is the deal between us. We made it very clear at the beginning, so we took this business." The middle-aged man smiled.
.....
The Gu family's caravan continued to set off, continuing to take their goods out of Black Tiger Mountain as quickly as possible. Just at the evening of the second day, the caravan that was still moving forward stopped under the warning of the bodyguard leader, and the bodyguards all
He drew his weapon and looked wary.
There was no one in front of him, and suddenly a black figure rushed out of the woods on the right side in front of everyone. He flashed in front of everyone and disappeared into the woods on the opposite side. No one could see clearly who it was. They only knew that it was a man who was not too old.
Guy.
Just a moment after the man disappeared, a sharp sword energy slashed out from the forest where the man appeared, and slashed towards the place where the man disappeared. No sound was heard, and only a large area of forest collapsed.
Then a woman appeared in everyone's astonished eyes, and then disappeared in an instant, leaving everyone stunned. Only the woman's disdainful voice was heard: "You think I can't do anything to you after chasing Zhan?"
"Then, is that a practitioner?" Gu Yi looked with burning eyes in the direction where the woman disappeared.
...
In Black Tiger Mountain Village, Ah Xiao was bored and yawning on the watchtower at the entrance of the village.
"Hey, where is Chen Mo?"
Xiao Yanyu shouted from under the tower.
"He and Thirteenth Niang went to fight outside."
"Can't we fight here? Why do we have to run outside?"
"My sister-in-law, if they continue to fight in the stockade, I'm afraid all the houses here will suffer. When they are broken, will you repair them?" Ah Xiao said condescendingly.
"Don't you grown men know how to cultivate? Otherwise, what else would you do?"
After Xiao Yanyu finished speaking, he didn't give him a chance to refute, and walked away alone and full of enthusiasm.