Xingqing Mansion is the royal city of Xia, with Heshuo in the north and Qingliang in the south. It has rich water and grass, and the land is rich in grains. The Xia Kingdom also built the Haowang Canal here to irrigate agriculture and animal husbandry. Therefore, it is also the most important grain-producing area of the Xia Kingdom.
and livestock area. ◇↓, Chengji Shop came all the way. The closer we got to Xingqing, the denser the surrounding fertile fields became, with large pastures and herds of cattle and sheep interspersed in between.
Xingqing Mansion has an eighteen-mile wall and is the largest city in the Xia Kingdom. The moat alone is ten feet wide, which is quite spectacular. Because it has not experienced military disasters all year round, a city under the city has long been formed outside the moat, with many manors and private houses.
They were all built outside the city and formed a bustling market.
Chengji Shop's convoy paid the value tax at the checkpoint two miles away, and was deducted a hundred taels of silver by the Xia State tax collector, who stripped it of its skin in exchange for a piece of paper that could be traded.
This is because the goods on the car are all in short supply in the Xia Kingdom, otherwise they would never exceed this number.
Cheng Qi had already sent two familiar guys to Xingqing in advance, and was waiting by the official road to welcome the convoy to the Hushan Inn to settle down. The Hushan Inn is a large inn outside Xingqing City, with several
The courtyard can store carriages and horses, and is the most common inn for long-distance traders. It is located on the bank of Jinbo Lake outside Qingyang Gate. When you climb up the stairs, you can see Helan Mountain in the distance and Jinbo Lake up close. The scenery is very pleasant.
According to the business methods of Chengji Shop in the past, the goods trafficked from Daming were all high-end goods, which could be sold directly to Buddhist temples and dignitaries. However, this time Zhao Ran wanted to open a fixed shop, so he could not do this and needed to set up a store in Xingqing Mansion.
Point, do business all year round, and establish an information station for Sanqing Pavilion.
As the owner, Zhao Ran naturally did not need to go to these errands. Li Laoshi took a few guys to wander around the place. They wanted to follow Zhao Ran's request to find a quiet, larger place with convenient transportation.
After finding it, Zhao Ran will check again to see if the final decision has been made.
Cheng Qi took the remaining guys to look after the goods and at the same time protect Zhao Ran. In fact, Zhao Ran really didn't need their protection.
Zhao Ran had nothing to do while staying in the inn, so he simply asked the store to find a place. He gave him two coins and asked the place to take him out for a stroll. Since he was here to do something, he had to check out the terrain first.
Otherwise, if something happens, you will be blinded.
Cheng Qi sent two guys to follow the escort, and Zhao Ran did not refuse, and the four of them left the inn.
Jinbo Lake's "Lake light at sunset, fishing village smoke willows" is a beautiful scenery in Xingqing, but it's not dusk yet, so you can't see such a scenery. But even so, the scenery of the lake and mountains is really pleasant, and Zhao Ran and others were taken to the place.
Walking along Liudi, he pointed out the streets and houses while playing around, helping Zhao Ran get familiar with the place.
The lake was connected to the moat, and soon it reached the edge of the city. Affected by the scattered lakes on the north and south sides, Xingqing Mansion City was long from east to west, narrow from north to south, and had two gates in the north and south. There was one gate in the east and west. Zhao Ran and the others came
The most famous one is Qingyang Gate, one of the south gates.
Enter Qingyang Gate. Walk along Lijing Street, surrounded by cities distributed in a grid. This pattern is the same as Chang'an. In case of emergency, the cities can be closed, which made Zhao Ran frown.
I have made up my mind. The intelligence station must not be located in the city. If something happens, I will not be able to escape.
After wandering around the city for a long time, checking out the palaces, government offices and other places, Zhao Ran left the city. On the way back, he enjoyed the beautiful sunset of Jinbo Lake. It was already dark when he arrived at the inn, and the day was over.
That night, Zhao Ran was practicing in his house. He had now entered the Taoist realm. The improvement of the realm is accompanied by the increase in the difficulty of cultivation. The practice of the Taoist realm is to integrate the refined essence and merit power to condense them into essence.
, if we want to be more intuitive, it is to fuse two gases into drops of liquid true power. The energy and merit required for this are not comparable to those in the Taoist realm.
Zhao Ran took the essence and blood of the black-armored turtle, and his essence has been restored to the normal level, but his merit power is now a bit lacking. If Zhao Ran felt that his merit power could not be used up at all when he was in the Taoist realm.
, after reaching the Taoist realm, this feeling no longer exists. Of course, the merit power he obtains every day can barely support his practice, but Zhao Ran, who is used to a large amount of merit power, has become accustomed to this normal
I feel a little uncomfortable with the speed of cultivation.
However, he is now in a foreign country, and there is currently no way to improve the generation of merit power. He can only continue to rely on sources in the Junshan area for cultivation. The biggest difference between merit power and spiritual power is that spiritual power is generated in heaven and earth and can be "tactile"
", the power of merit can only be "induced", and is automatically generated from the body due to merit. Therefore, even though he is thousands of miles away from Junshan, the power of merit in his body is still endless.
So Zhao Ran has already begun to think about how to obtain greater merit after returning to Wuji County.
The next day, Li Laoshi continued to go out to look for a suitable place, while Zhao Ran continued to wander around under the guidance of the field. Three days later, Li Laoshi came to report to Zhao Ran, saying that he had found the place, but there were three places that Zhao Ran needed to do.
a decision.
The first place is an old warehouse. The place is not small and it belongs to the Acceptance Department. The Acceptance Department is the yamen where the owner of the Xia Kingdom, Yu Shuzhu, has been abandoned for many years. This warehouse has been abandoned for many years due to its age.
Li Laoshi found out from a Xia Kingdom dignitary that he had often dealt with before. As long as he presented a sum of money to the envoy, he could buy this place at a lower price.
Zhao Ran was very interested, but after asking, he gave up because this warehouse was not only located in the city, but also the property of the government. He couldn't hide from it, and there was no way he would run into it.
The remaining two places are outside the city. One is a carriage and horse shop. The place is not small, but the facilities are simple. The owner is not doing well and is planning to change his business. The other is a house belonging to a family named Lu Ze (a nobleman of Xia State).
Because the house was sitting on nothing, Lu Ze of this generation planned to sell the house, but the price was on the high side, and no one was interested in it even after half a year.
Immediately, Li Laoshi led the way, and Zhao Ran wanted to see it in person.
Zhao Ran was more interested in the carriage and horse shop. After buying it, he continued to run it as a side business. The coming and going of people was also conducive to the collection and transmission of intelligence, so he went to see the carriage and horse shop first.
The carriage and horse shop is located on the outskirts of Chengxiaguo City. It is quiet, but it is a little out of the way in terms of traffic. In addition, the building is also very simple and old, especially Zhao Ran who can't stand the pungent smell of the cesspool in the backyard.
After going around in circles, I have already rejected it in my heart.
After leaving the carriage shop, Li Laoshi took Zhao Ran back to Guo City under the city. The mansion of Lu Ze's family was in Guo City. The house was located by the Yuehe Bridge on the bank of Jinbo Lake, two blocks away.
Tiao Street is the most prosperous shopping mall in Guo City, but Yuehe Lane where it is located is relatively quiet, making it a quiet place amidst the hustle and bustle.
The owner of the house has a very impressive name. His surname is Liang and his given name is Xingxia. It is said that he is a descendant of the Xia Kingdom. He is Lu Ze, a member of the Yeli tribe. This title can be regarded as a high-ranking figure among the nobility of the Xia Kingdom. It is a pity that these two
There were no prominent figures in the Liang family in this era, and the family business was in decline, so that they had to sell off their ancestral home to support the family.
After waiting for a moment outside Liang's house, Liang Xingxia rushed over. Dangxiang was founded hundreds of years ago and has been passed down to this day. In fact, it has been fully Hanized. Although Liang Xingxia is a noble of the Yeli tribe, he is actually no different from the Han people. Zhao Ran originally thought that this ruined man
The nobles would play nice with him, but after meeting him, they found that he had no consciousness of being a nobleman at all, and his words and deeds were no different from those of a businessman.
After seeing the etiquette, Liang Xingxia asked the servant to open the door of the house and led Zhao Ran in to visit.
The house occupies a large area, with three front and back entrances. It also has a courtyard and a garden. It is quite neat and well-maintained. The wood, floor tiles and stones of the house are all of good quality. The garden has complete pavilions, water pavilions, and
There is a rockery that is actually a whole piece of natural lake stone. At first glance, it seems that the ancestors of the Liang family must have had great success.
Such an ancestral house is naturally valuable. Liang Xingxia's asking price was seven thousand taels of silver. No wonder it was not sold within half a year.
Zhao Ran liked this house very much, but the price was too expensive, which made him very hesitant and almost came up with the idea of casting the second level of the Great Forbidden Technique. However, the magic could not last long, even if he could coax Liang Xingxia to sign the painting at a low price in a short period of time.
Taking action, after Liang Xingxia came to his senses, there would inevitably be all kinds of troubles, so he gave up the idea and asked Teacher Li to come forward and bargain with Liang Xingxia. (To be continued...)