After the current emperor ascended the throne, the situation inside and outside the Great Zhou Dynasty became stable, and the national power became increasingly prosperous. Envoys from various countries began to come to Beijing to pay tribute one after another, and the northwest trade route, which had been abandoned for many years, became lively again.
Merchants were transporting goods back and forth, and many inns and wine shops were built in the formerly desolate land. Naturally, bandits also targeted the caravans and came to plunder the goods. The imperial court sent troops to eliminate the bandits, and peace was restored on the trade routes.
In the wine shop, everyone was listening to the wine shop's waiters talking. They were halfway through the trade route to the northwest. After such a long journey, they would inevitably feel tired. Listening to the waiters chatting could also relax their tense spirits.
After saying this, the waiter immediately poured tea for the guest, and a cold snort came from the corner: "If you put it this way, it seems how easy it is to travel to and from this trade route."
Everyone immediately followed the voice and saw a middle-aged man raising his eyelids: "It's a long way to the west from Dazhou. Even if the bandits don't dare to come blatantly to snatch the goods, various mistakes may happen and they die."
There are many merchants on this road."
After saying this, the middle-aged man looked at the waiter again: "In order to attract customers, it would be too sinister to say that everything is smooth.
Wealth can be found through danger. Taking this trade route brings a lot of benefits, but the dangers can also be imagined. Last year, a caravan made many trips on this road by itself. It was accidentally ambushed and died.
There are more than 20 people, and all the goods have been lost. And this is not the first case. Maybe there are eyes hidden somewhere, watching everyone. Whoever is left alone or makes a mistake, he will take action immediately. Everyone
Better be careful."
The middle-aged man's words were like dropping a stone on the water. The atmosphere changed and everyone started talking.
"It seems so."
"More than twenty people died? I've never heard of this."
"Come here, buddy, is what he said true?"
The waiters in the wine shop couldn't help but glance at the shopkeeper. The place where the dead people died was not far from their place. Many caravans chose to take a detour after hearing the news, so the shopkeeper told them not to mention these things. If any customers asked, please tell them.
Say everything is peaceful.
The waiter thought for a moment and then said: "There are no dead people on that trade road. As long as everyone leaves early and doesn't rush to take advantage of others, everything will be fine."
"So is this true? Are there robbers around here again?"
The waiter didn't dare to speak anymore and hurriedly went to make tea.
"It's not bandits," said a person who knew the inside story, "I heard it was those unclean things. Alas, that caravan was too careless. It happened when it missed Sutou in a hurry. People died and all the goods were lost."
The man looked like he didn't want to say anything when he said this, and was about to leave when suddenly there was a plate of food in front of him.
The snow-white snacks are sprinkled with golden osmanthus flowers, as if they had just been made by the cook.
After being out for so long, he hadn’t seen such exquisite food for a long time. The man couldn’t help but swallow, raised his head and looked to the side. He saw a round-faced little fat man standing in front of the table. He was about eight or nine years old and had a beautiful skin.
Dark, looking at him with a pair of bright eyes.
"Uncle," the little fat man said with a smile, "can you continue and I'll treat you to a snack."
As he spoke, the little fat man glanced at the dim sum again, swallowed the saliva in his mouth, and soon looked away, holding his hand tightly, as if he was afraid that he would take the dim sum back if he continued to look at it.
.
Naturally, the man would not compete with the children for food: "It's not easy to bring snacks here. Take them back. It's better not to hear about these things."
"I still have it." The little fat man said and held the purse around his waist tightly, but he could only take out so much. It was not easy to accumulate all this food.
Before leaving the capital, his mother told him to keep an eye on these things and never give them to anyone else unless the young master needed them. He kept this in mind. His mother also said that no matter what difficulties he encountered, he should not reduce his food intake. In order not to let his mother
Worrying, he has to eat a lot every day, and his mother will feel distressed if he loses weight.
Seeing that the advice failed, the little fat man wanted to take the snacks back. Unfortunately, he lost a lot of icing sugar after going back and forth on this plate of food. The little fat man just thought of this...
"It's fate that everyone is here. If you know the inside story, tell me. Maybe it will save many lives."
Another slightly childish voice came. It was a young boy. He had a delicate face and was wearing a green short-brown suit. His whole body was spotless. There seemed to be water droplets hanging on his hair. He had obviously just been washed. He raised his head slightly as he spoke.
He is quite imposing, and you can tell at a glance that he is the child of a wealthy family. Some merchant families have begun to let their children and grandchildren come out for training early, but... on this business road, this age is a bit too young.
"You came out at such a young age, do the adults in your family know? Could it be that he escaped secretly?" The person who spoke before couldn't help but ask.
The young boy seemed to have been struck by what he said, his cheeks turned slightly red: "Of course I know."
No one present believed this, and some people began to persuade: "The road ahead is more dangerous, so we should go back!"
"We once walked through Shang's house." The young man couldn't help but said.
"Where have you been?"
"southeast."
Everyone shook their heads and laughed: "It's okay to walk around the southeast with your eyes closed. How can it be compared with this place." A newborn calf is not afraid of tigers. This young man really doesn't know how high the sky is.
The young boy continued to argue: "I came with my brother."
"I'm afraid your brother is not very old either!"
The little boy suppressed his face and blushed even more. He saw that he had been right again.
"Alas," the person who just spoke sighed, looking at these children with compassion, "I tell you what happened before, and you should leave immediately and don't go any further."
The young boy immediately walked over to the man and sat down.
The man continued: "This matter started a year ago. When a caravan passed by here, there was some dispute in the family of the owner of the caravan. The eldest daughter-in-law was killed by the second eldest daughter-in-law and her family. Poor woman and husband
She had just passed away, and there was still a posthumous child in her belly. After the woman was killed, she probably felt aggrieved and often came out to cause mischief. Once she entangled a lone caravan, everyone would be killed by her and the goods would disappear."
As soon as the man said this, the people around him couldn't help but said: "What you said is a bit strange. How do you know whether the murderer is a ghost or not a human being? Killing and stealing goods is what gangsters do. Besides, no one from the Yamen came to investigate?"
The man said: "The strange thing is here. After the caravans had accidents many times, the Yamen came to investigate the case and found some of the goods lost by the merchants. The goods were buried, and there was a woman's body next to the goods. So
The court discovered the case of the woman's murder, which traced back to the original murder of the woman by her second wife.
You can ask around, people nearby know it, and everyone says this is a woman redressing her own grievances."