After the lunch break, Shaoyunfeng came to look for Xia Xun to go out with him. He had changed into casual clothes and was wearing a light-colored Taoist robe. In Kaiyuan, there are more people wearing Hufu and military uniforms. Most of the Han people are family members of soldiers or military personnel.
Most of the convicts who were exiled were dressed in shorts or short brown clothes. These clothes were enough to show their unusual status in Kaiyuan City, but they were not conspicuous.
Xia Xun followed suit and changed into loose and comfortable Taoist uniforms. When they went out, they met Chu Xiao from Kaiyuan Bingdao and Ding Yu from Dingliao Zhongwei. They were coming in from outside. Chu Bing
He is a man in his early fifties. He is not tall, has a bright spirit, and looks calm and mature. Ding Dusi, the central guard of Dingliao, is twenty-seven or eighty years old. He is so young and is a commander of the guard. Needless to say, there must be Ming Dynasty among his ancestors.
The founding general of the country.
This man has a strong build, a square face, sword-shaped eyebrows and leopard eyes. Although he cannot be called handsome, he is still very heroic. As soon as they heard that the Governor was going to take a walk, the two of them quickly changed their clothes and followed Xia Xun on the street.
On the street, Xia Xun's bodyguards obeyed the instructions, changed into casual clothes, and spread out to guard in secret.
Kaiyuan is an important military town. Many troops are stationed outside the city, and some are stationed in Daluo City, Xiaoluo City and Sanwan City. There are not many residents in the city. In fact, Kaiyuan City plus the suburbs
There are only more than 3,000 households in the tribal villages and more than 10,000 people in total. It is not surprising that there are only a few people walking on the streets.
There are very few shops in the city. Apart from the oil and salt shop, the grain and rice shop, and the Buzhuang leather goods shop, there is basically nothing. Teahouses and hotels are even rarer. Xia Xun did not expect that Kaiyuan City was also desolate, so he couldn't help but shake his head.
He sighed: "Although there are few villages and towns along the way, there are also very few beacons and inns, and transportation is inconvenient. I didn't expect that this important town in Kaiyuan would be so desolate."
The young imperial envoy said: "Beacons and post stations, every Liaodong governor has been advocating for more buildings. Over the years, many have been built, but... compared to the vast land of Liaodong, they are still few.
It’s pitiable, there are difficulties in it!”
Xia Xun turned around and asked: "What, is the money allocated insufficient?"
Ding Yu interjected: "Master Bu Tang, although it requires money to build the Fengsui Post Station, it is not a lot of money. Why can't it be built? The main reason is not a lack of money. In the final analysis, the population outside the customs is too small."
He waved his hand and said: "From now on to Beiping, it is a wilderness with few people. After the beacon post is built, someone must guard it, right? But once the post station and beacon are built, there will be no villages nearby.
There are few people in the city, and even rice and food cannot be replenished. The safety of beacons and inns cannot be guaranteed, and repairs are also a big problem. Therefore, whether it is building roads, beacons, or inns, everything is restricted."
Chu Xiao, who was preparing for the army, smiled and said: "The situation now is much better than before. It was more desolate here before. I heard that Jinzhou Guard is much more lively now, and it seems to be more lively than here. Jinzhou Guard
Jinzhouwei used to guard the sea and only dealt with pirates. It was very desolate. Since the imperial court switched to transporting grain by sea, the place where ships docked was Jinzhouwei.
Jinzhou Wei built a wharf, where the imperial court's grain was unloaded from ships, and then carts and horses were transported all the way overland. Near the wharf, there were already residences built by merchants from the mule and horse trade, and they employed a large number of young people from all ethnic groups.
Zhuang was responsible for unloading ships and transporting grain. The crews on the canal ships came all the way from the sea. When they arrived at the dock, they also had to eat, drink, and have fun. There were smart businessmen who took care of business there.
As a result, there were more brothels, brothels, gambling houses and wine shops. As these places increased, the silks, rouge and gouache that the girls needed were also visited by corresponding businessmen. Then, the number of inns and residences also increased. These
Everything was ready, and some people lived there for a long time. Then some farmland was opened near the residence, which was both agricultural and commercial.
In a short period of time, what was once a desolate place has now become a prosperous small town. As the number of commercial vehicles coming from there to the inland increases, there is no need to travel from Jinzhou to Fuzhou, Gaizhou, Yi Station, and Feng Sui.
With prompting, the guards and generals will automatically build more buildings."
The young imperial envoy immediately said disdainfully: "I heard that when those waterships arrived at the dock, they always returned empty. Merchants wanted to make a profit, so naturally they didn't want to, so they bought more of the northern mountain and sea goods from the land, and brought back mink skin and ginseng.
Going inland, many of these kidnappers are sold by the families of the generals and officers for profit. In order to ensure the safety of their property and prevent it from being taken advantage of by bandits and pirates, the generals and guards will naturally spare no effort."
Chu Bingbei frowned when he heard this. He was afraid that Shao Yunfeng's words would attract Xia Xun's attention and cut off his financial path, so he quickly laughed and said: "Rumors are not worthy of belief, they are not worthy of belief!"
After hearing this, Xia Xun's heart moved. He seemed to have captured something. Before he could think about it, a very spacious place suddenly appeared in front of him. There was a large empty space on the roadside. There were no buildings, but there were many people and people.
The mules, horses, cattle and sheep were howling, and those people spoke loudly and loudly, making it very lively.
Xia Xun couldn't help but ask when he saw it: "What is this place? It's quite lively."
Chu Bingbei was slightly uneasy and said with a forced smile: "Ah, places like this are mostly local Jurchens, where the Han people exchange cattle and sheep for iron pots, salt, cloth and other goods with the Han people in the city. Those barbarians
These people are very rude, sir, please go this way and ignore them."
At this time, several men in Hufu leading cattle and sheep had already seen Xia Xun and the others. Although Xia Xun and the others were wearing casual clothes, in Kaiyuan City, they were still dressed as upper-class people. It was not unusual for a person to be like this.
, if four people are like this, then it will be very popular, how can we not attract other people's attention.
These barbarians all wore round pointed fur hats, knee-length gowns with cross-collars and small sleeves, high boots, and short knives hanging from their waists. It seemed that they were from relatively good families among the barbarians.
Xun saw a few people, and one of the thinner men immediately used his elbow to nudge the big man next to him, and whispered: "Hey, Yalha, look, these guys look like big patrons."
The man named Yarha looked up, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he said, "Isn't that old man the same person who bought a woman from us last time?"
The thin man was startled, looked at Chu Bingbei carefully, and hesitated: "No, that old man who bought a concubine last time was dressed like a prostitute."
Yalha chuckled and said, "Yes, that's him! Look at the black mole on his cheek, I still remember it."
After saying that, Yarha went up to him with a smile on his face and said enthusiastically: "Why don't you guys buy something? Let's see how the sheep here are doing? The sheep I raise are fat and strong, and their wool is very good."
Sheep skin, mutton and mutton bones are all good stuff. A few of our guests bought a sheep to stew in mutton soup and eat mutton, which is several times cheaper than in the customs."
Just as Chu Bingbei was about to speak, Xia Xun asked with a smile: "What are you buying here? Are they just sheep?"
Because among these people, Chu Bingbei had just bought a girl from them as a concubine a few days ago, and he was considered a regular customer, so Yalha was not wary. When he heard Xia Xun's words, he immediately laughed. Said: "How can you do that? It depends on what you buy."
He lowered his voice slightly and said: "Cattle, sheep, mules, horses, women and children. If you want anything, my guest, just ask."
Xia Xun was shocked when he heard this: "How dare you sell both livestock and people!"
He took a careful look at this man who was dressed as a foreigner but could speak fluent Chinese, and asked: "How many sheep do you have, are they just these three?"
When Yarha heard this, he was overjoyed. Hearing this person's tone, he was indeed a big buyer. His attitude immediately became more attentive and said with a smile: "That's not all. These few sheep are just for inspection. You have to be satisfied with them." , just ask if you want to buy as many as you want. I have more than 230 sheep at home, and I can sell them all to you except the babies.
As long as you make an appointment at a time and place, I, Yarha, will definitely deliver the goods on time. If you want more, I can buy it from my tribe on your behalf, as much as you want, but... you'd better get the cloth. We can exchange for things like iron pots, tea leaves, salt, etc. Hehe, even though we took the money, we can’t buy anything here.”
Xia Xun glanced at him and said with a smile: "Yarha? Well, it seems that if I want to buy one or two thousand sheep, you will definitely be able to get it."
Yarha was so happy that her voice trembled, and she patted her chest and said, "No problem! No problem at all!"
Xia Xun said: "If there are thirty or fifty sheep, even if the customs price is ten times higher, I'm afraid it's not worth the trouble. But if there are thousands of sheep, the profit will be more than a little bit. You have so many sheep, why not If you work harder, contact some brothers from the clan, and drive the sheep into the pass together, wouldn't you gain a lot of profits?"
Yarha laughed and said, "This guest is joking. It's a long way to go, and there are gangsters along the way. It's dangerous everywhere. When we get to the pass, there is no way, and it's very difficult to get in. Furthermore, if Driving thousands of cattle and sheep to travel far away, I don’t know how many strong men of our tribe have to be dispatched, leaving behind the old, weak, women and children, how can we take care of the family?"
If all the vegetable growers went directly to the city to sell vegetables, then there would be no second-rate dealers in the world. Xia Xun only asked this question because he heard that he had many cattle and sheep, which was relatively large-scale, and he could make huge profits by selling them by himself. , so he asked. After hearing this answer, Xia Xun nodded and secretly came up with an idea.
Yalha couldn't wait to ask: "Guest, do you want to buy a sheep? How many do you want?"
As soon as he said this, he heard the sound of hoofbeats like rain, and a group of fast horses came galloping from a distance. The strong men on the horses all wore fur hats, narrow-sleeved Hu clothes, and wide-brimmed belts around their waists. With a blow of the long knife, the horse's hooves flew, throwing up dust all the way.
"Oops! People from Hada City are coming!"
The thin man screamed in surprise, pointed at the entrance, and let out a sharp whistle. Suddenly, the people in the open space were in chaos. Whether they were discussing business or bartering, they all jumped on their horses and fell into the desert. When escaping, all the mules, horses, cattle and sheep that could be carried away were taken away behind the horses' backs. The animals that were too slow to be taken away were simply left there.
A maroon horse galloped to Xia Xun's side, reining in the horse suddenly. The majestic horse immediately neighed, reined, stood, and displayed its excellent horsemanship. This man was wearing a narrow-sleeved short-sleeved shirt with a large lapel and a double lapel.
She is wearing a robe, a leather belt around her waist, and small boots. She is very nimble and neat, and her dashing appearance reveals a graceful and handsome look. She is actually a female knight.
As the scimitar flashed, the female knight shouted sternly: "All mules and horses will be confiscated! Arrest them! Don't let anyone go!"
Xia Xun was stunned with shock. He saw the ruins everywhere and the smoke everywhere. For a moment, he felt like he was out of place in time and space: "What's wrong? Is this the city management here?"
p: Rhinitis has occurred again. I have finished taking the medicine and the spray. My nose is very blocked. Now I can only breathe through my mouth. I am a fish that breathes through my mouth. Plus, I have no strength due to the cold...