A few days later, in the early morning, a caravan left the racecourse and headed west along the foot of Yanshan Mountain.
Neither the herdsmen, contract workers, nor the businessmen who came and went felt anything wrong.
At this time, because of Mr. Yang's generosity, many caravans traveling in the northwest came to Gaotang to do business. When they left, they mostly traveled along Yanshan Mountain.
Gaotang is actually a good place. If you go east, you can smoothly return to the Central Plains. If you go west, you can take a shortcut to the border. There is even a Yanshan Ancient Road that can lead to Hudi.
It's just that there were too many bandits on Yanshan Mountain in the past, and few caravans dared to come.
Things are different now. I heard that a group of bandits saw that Mr. Yang was rich and wanted to rob the horse farm, but they were overthrown by the guards of the Yang family. Mr. Yang was so angry that he demolished several bandits' strongholds. For a time, Yanshan was peaceful.
Many caravans will not be robbed as long as they bring enough guards.
This is a great thing!
If the bandits on Yanshan Mountain can be cleaned up, Gaotang will be a good place to stay, and there will be no need to spend more than half a month detouring.
For this reason, the merchants sincerely hope that Mr. Yang can continue his efforts and clear up a feasible business path.
If this is true, they will definitely give Gaotang Racecourse the biggest discount in the future!
Hou Liang has already cross-dressed.
Wearing a printed silk shirt, a turban on his head, and a faint shine on his face, he looked like a businessman from a prosperous place.
He was smart, and he was afraid that his secret would be exposed, so he arranged a detailed identity in advance. How old he was, where he lived, how many people, how many acres of land, and how many cows he had.
Previously, he worked under a young master to take care of his affairs. Because the young master was demoted to the northwest, he heard that he could earn several times the gold and silver by walking on the Yanshan Ancient Road and selling goods to Hudi.
, so we arranged this long trip.
There are half-truths and half-falsies, and the caravan has both well-trained generals and Yang family associates, so it is difficult for others to doubt it.
After all, it is quite normal for a noble man from Beijing to do such a thing because he is greedy for pleasure and does not know the dangers.
Entering the Yanshan Ancient Road, everything becomes desolate.
The caravan of a hundred people traveled at dawn and stayed overnight. They walked for several days without seeing anyone. The road was difficult to distinguish. Hou Liang regretted that he did not find more guides. With the few bandits he found,
, no longer knows the way.
Having said that, there are not many people walking on the Yanshan Ancient Road anymore, so even if you want to find a guide, you may not be able to find one.
The road became increasingly difficult to walk, and even a hard-working child like Duofu couldn't hold it in any longer and kept thinking, "When will we get there?"
Mingwei was very calm. She ate when she needed to eat, rested when she needed to rest, and sat on the horse with her eyes closed to relax when she needed to rush.
There was no point in being anxious anyway, they had brought enough rice to survive the hunger.
On the seventh day, the guard who was exploring the way shouted: "There is a small town!"
Everyone was extremely surprised.
This place is already close to the territory of the barbarians. How can there be a small town? It's deep in the mountains and old forests.
When the group of them stood in front of the small town, they finally made sure that they were not dazzled.
This is indeed a small town. Although it is very deserted, the fluttering wine flags and the shops on the street show that it is still alive.
Hou Liang got off his horse, walked under the bamboo archway, and pushed up an old man who was dozing off: "Old man, wake up!"
The old man opened his eyes and muttered: "I'm dreaming again." He turned around and continued to sleep.
Hou Liang was confused and could only continue to push him: "Old man, wake up! Someone has something to ask you, and I gave you money!"
Hearing the word "money", the old man woke up again, rubbed his eyes, looked at Hou Liang, then looked at the motorcade behind him, and was shocked: "You guys, where did you come from?"
Hou Liang forced a smile and saluted politely: "We are businessmen from Daqi, going to Hudi."
"Businessman? Hu Di?" The old man was confused.
"Exactly." Hou Liang felt something was wrong, "Have you never seen a caravan before?"
The old man said: "I saw it in the early years, but why did you take this road? No one has come here for decades!"
Decades? The more I hear it, the more wrong it becomes. No matter how desolate the Yanshan Ancient Road is, there are still brave people who come and go, and not one of them is seen.
Hou Liang asked hurriedly: "Isn't this the Yanshan Ancient Road?"
The old man smiled: "So you are going to take the Yanshan Ancient Road? It seems you have lost your way. Did you accidentally take a side road when you were crossing Hutou Mountain? Hey, this is a bit troublesome. If you turn back, it will take several days!
"
No one expected that they would take the wrong road. No wonder it has become increasingly difficult to walk in the past few days. Although the Yanshan Ancient Road is complicated, it was a very famous commercial road in the early years and could definitely be passed by cars and horses.
Hou Liang wiped the sweat from his face and came over to discuss.
"Miss Ming, what do you think we should do with this? How about we stay here for one night and come back tomorrow?"
Others cast their longing eyes on Mingwei. They have been sleeping in the wild these days. It would be great if they could stay overnight in the town.
But Mingwei looked at the town and said calmly: "There are so many of us, so I'm afraid it's inconvenient to stay here. Let's camp on the spot and find a safe place."
"Miss Ming..." Hou Liang wanted to say more, but suddenly caught Ming Wei's eyes and went to make arrangements obediently.
What problems might there be in this town?
Hou Liang didn't dare to ask. Even a powerful Xuanshi like Miss Ming didn't want to set foot there. There must be big trouble.
So the caravan found a flat place to camp outside the town.
This night, Mingwei slept particularly alertly.
In the darkness, there seemed to be many pairs of eyes staring at them.
Fortunately, nothing happened until early morning when the sky was bright.
Hou Liang asked the old man for directions, and the caravan went back the same way.
It wasn't until the town was out of sight that Hou Liang cautiously came over to ask: "Miss Ming, what's wrong with this town?"
"A bunch of old zombies, what's your problem?"
Hou Liang was shocked: "Zombie? That old man doesn't have any weird smell on his body!"
Mingwei said: "It's just an example. The people in that town may have taken strange medicines or practiced special exercises, and they have a strange aura. When my snake spirit was close to the town, it shrunk to
I don’t dare to move my sleeves anymore.”
Hou Liang seemed to be listening to a book from heaven. He had learned mystical skills on his own, but he had never seen such a magical thing.
"Think about it, are there any children in that town?"
Hou Liang shook his head.
Last night, a few townspeople occasionally came over to watch them camp, and almost all of them were older.
He did not doubt it because the old man told him that since the number of bandits in Yanshan increased, they had lost contact with the outside world. Without the outside population, the already small town had fewer and fewer people, and it might not survive more than ten years.
, it’s really deserted.
"They have lost their normal human functions. How can they give birth to children?" Mingwei shook his head, "Be careful these days. There are so many ordinary people like us, so it's best not to provoke them."
If she was alone, she wouldn't be able to find out what was going on, but with so many guys in the caravan who only knew simple fists and kicks, it would be better to avoid any trouble.