Every morning is a new beginning and a new hope. When the red sun rises from the misty mountains, Yun Zheng leads the team towards the last section of the Golden Bull Trail.
If you don't know the future, then you should make a good one yourself, Yun Zheng thinks so, but Xiaolin, lying on the mule cart, thinks that Yun Zheng needs better luck to achieve his goal.
He was unlucky. When he was taking away his silver medal, he was kicked hard by Gao Tansheng, causing all three of his ribs to be fractured. After being reset by Wugou, this strong spy still followed Yun Zheng on the journey.
On the westbound road.
Qishan Mountain is the remnant of the Qinling Mountains and the Daba Mountains. The terrain at the junction of Shuzhong, Guanzhong and Longyou is quite complex. It is said that the road to Shu is difficult, and it is difficult to reach the sky. The Qinling Mountains are the dividing line between the terrain and climate of China.
, became the dividing line because of the complexity and height of the mountain system.
In Yanguan Town, Yunzheng used Guanyin to buy a batch of salt. The quantity was not large. There was no shortage of salt in Xixia. They occupied the largest salt pond. Many times, the Tubo people exchanged livestock for salt from the Xixia people.
The policy of the Song Dynasty was very stupid. Salt, like iron, was an important material that was not allowed to be exported to the Xixia people. The result was a shortage of salt on the Huanzhou and Qinfeng roads. The people in the Song Dynasty had to eat expensive food shipped from Shandong.
Here comes the salt. I don’t know who this policy ultimately harmed.
The Tubo people in Qingtang have the best green salt, and the Xixia people have the best salt pond salt. These salts are easily available. The poor people of the Song Dynasty can only secretly traffic in illicit salt, and if caught, they will be beheaded.
Things are unpredictable. As the largest salt-making construction site in the northwest, Yanguan Town is extremely prosperous. The entire town is not so much a place for human habitation as it is a large construction site with smoke everywhere.
A caravan of five hundred people is inconspicuous here, but salt transport teams of more than a thousand people are not uncommon in Yanguan Town. The busy town is full of porters carrying salt and loading it into trucks.
There are officials wearing rich hats and merchants wearing rough clothes. The prosperity of business has led to an unexpectedly large number of restaurants and brothels in this town. If there is anything else, it can be regarded as a casino.
In a very large wooden building, a strange auction was going on.
This may be a characteristic of the Song Dynasty. When people don’t know what the casino is selling, they start bidding, and the one with the highest price finally gets it. You may have spent five guan to buy a hundred dans of salt, or maybe
You spent 50 guan to sell a stunning beauty. Of course, you may also spend 100 guan to buy an old woman with chicken skin and black hair. However, most of them are basically worth the price you paid. Lucky guy
and the unlucky guy are just gimmicks created by the casino.
Yun Zheng was sitting next to a dark and shiny table. His hand with a white jade finger was tapping gently on the table. A set of tea sets as white as jade were placed on the table. He slowly sipped the green tea.
Tea.
Hanniu was standing behind Yunzheng, and Monkey was helping to set up a small red clay stove to boil water in the hall. A little further away, Liang Ji was standing in the distance with six majestic Jiaziying brothers, arms crossed. Beside him
The table was empty, not because Yun Zheng didn't allow others to come over, but because others simply didn't dare to sit over. A handsome young man in a flowing blue shirt was enough to put other merchants to shame.
Yun Zheng's dress is actually very ordinary, with only a ribbon tied on his head, his hair hanging in a ponytail on his back, and a simple sky blue silk shirt. The style is very simple, the only difference is the color, the sky blue dye is extremely difficult to
It is prepared, so the price is very expensive and not within the reach of ordinary people.
Since you are wearing a silk shirt, you must be from an official family. The frugal orders during the Qingli period are still valid today. If a merchant wears a silk shirt, it is an overstep of the rules and disrespectful, and he will need to be punished.
The waiter didn't even dare to come over because they didn't even use the casino's water for drinking.
Yun Zheng took a broad bean and flicked it to the middleman who was waiting for Yun Zheng's order. The middleman immediately raised his fist and saluted Yun Zheng, and then started the first round of bidding at the top of his voice.
After shouting three times, the people below were silent. Those people waited three times, but when they saw that Yun Zheng had no intention of bidding, they rushed to start bidding.
The first item of goods at the opening is often the casino's profit-sharing behavior, which can bring huge profits. If Yun Zheng doesn't grab it, others will think that he is a noble man who doesn't compete with the common people for profit. This kind of behavior is the real noble man's approach.
Liang Ji looked around proudly. He had never seen what Mr. Guijie looked like, so he stubbornly believed that he should look like this. He didn't need to sign up or speak, and he could make everyone bow down with his imposing manner.
.
Yun Zheng actually didn't come here to show off. The only reason he came here was because people from the Maitreya Cult told him that several bankrupt merchants from the Western Regions would be auctioned at the casino today. These people were very important to Yun Zheng's journey to the west.
In the eyes of everyone's expectations, a businessman spent sixty-five guan to buy the Yanyin Road in Hezhong Road. Hezhong Road actually refers to the Lanzhou area, where the official army and the Tubo people took turns fighting. Even if there is salt
There is no way to sell the salt, but the salt bait is absolutely real. It can bring out white salt from the official salt warehouse. Therefore, this merchant was very calculating this time and made a lot of money. The people around him
All congratulated.
The merchant came up to Yun Zheng respectfully and said, "Thank you so much, sir, but I wonder if the officer intends to buy these salts?"
Yun Zheng smiled and waved his hand, and the merchant let out a long breath. He walked to the crowd with gratitude and started selling the salt in his hand. He couldn't eat the salt in the middle of the river by himself.
The lottery was over, so Yun Zheng called the steward and said to him: "Don't sell the rest, just sell them openly. If there are goods that I like, I will redeem them at a high price."
The steward is overjoyed. Such a high-roller rarely meets one in a year. Today's business is easy. The reason why such merchants enter the casino is that they know that there is something they need here, so no matter what, today
It will also be a day of great profit.
While others are observing the goods, Yun Zheng is observing the people. Most of the merchants here are from Qinfeng Road, with obvious northwest style. Whether it is their tall voices or the sheepskin vests they wear, many of them have knives on their bodies. The knives are large.
Most of them are not long, only the handle is as long as a ruler, which is often called a wrist-tip knife.
Anyone who exceeds this size will be held accountable by the government. Although everyone doesn't care much about it, in areas such as Yanguan Town, which are under key government control, it needs to be tabooed no matter what.
A soldier like Yun Zheng, with a crossbow on his back and a long knife hanging from his waist, especially the pair of hammers hung by Liang Ji on an iron chain around his neck, gave others a huge illusion.
Yun Zheng's subordinates have all been on the battlefield, and after a long period of drills, they can already tell that they have a strong aura. This cannot be faked by just finding a few Xiang soldiers.
The soldiers are fierce soldiers, the generals are fierce generals, and they are well-equipped. Many people are secretly guessing that this is a young man from the Yang family, the Zhong family, or the Zhe family. Because Yanguan Town is located at the border and the folk customs are fierce, this is the only one.
Only the sons of officials from the three families have such power.
Yun Zheng thought that the merchants traveling to the Western Regions were a group of people. When that person was led to the sales counter, he found out that he was a sloppy old man. He was still drunk when he got on the counter and only had three fingers left on his right hand.
, when his hair was pulled up, Yun Zheng discovered that this guy only had one eye left.
"Officials, this is the famous Sun Qizhi. Although he looks wretched, he is the best big palm whip on the Ganliang Ancient Road. There is no road on the Ganliang Ancient Road that he does not know, and there is no road that he does not know.
It’s a secret, but it’s hard to do business on Ganliang Road now, so this guy has no food, and ended up betting himself on the gambling table and losing to the casino. Now and for sale, I wonder which official is interested?”
As soon as the middle man finished speaking, the people below burst into laughter. Everyone knew that this man was a standard gambler and alcoholic. He lost his wife to someone else when he was a teenager, and later became addicted to alcohol. He would not drink for a day.
A lot of alcohol will make you have no energy to work. Even though he is the best big palm whip, no one is willing to hire him if he has these two things.
Later, he gambled in a casino and bet on his fingers, but he lost and lost three fingers. From then on, no one was willing to help him, and he finally ended up being betrayed by the casino.
Yun Zheng knocked on the table and said to the person in charge: "Make a price! I want this person!"
The middleman said with a smile: "Sun Qizhi is actually full of abilities, but he has only been fond of gambling and drinking all his life. If he didn't have these two problems, he would definitely be the leading hero on Ganliang Road. The casino sold him out just to bring him to justice.
Get back the money you owe the casino..."
"How much?" Yun Zheng didn't have the patience to listen to the man's nonsense, let alone the lies he made up.
"One hundred and fifty dollars!" Seeing Yun Zheng's bad expression, the middleman immediately made an offer.
"This person belongs to me. I'll go to the housekeeper to get the money later!" Yun Zheng nodded and said.
The man in the middle was overjoyed. He didn't expect that a worthless waste could be sold at a high price. It was beyond his expectation. He happily threw the man at Yun Zheng's feet and turned around to leave. He saw the money that Yun Zheng had brought.
The old butler was sitting at another table.
"Get him clean and change his clothes!" Yun Zheng shouted to stop the middle man. The man under his feet was really smelly.
Four big men immediately came over and carried Sun Qizhi away. Yun Zheng stood up, opened the remaining curtains, and checked the goods one by one. Unexpectedly, the goods here were very ordered, green japonica rice, white
Pearl rice is also available here. Both of these things are considered rare in Sichuan, especially green japonica rice. Only three dans are supplied to the emperor every year. The quantity here is stated to be a full 30 dans.
A life of wealth, food, clothing, housing, and transportation. If Yunzheng wants to enter Xixia, he must have a noble status, a proud character, and a wealthy life. Green japonica rice is just a piece of hardware that shows luxury. (To be continued)