The salt pond is like a mirror, set on the earth, and the scene of the sky is reflected in the mirror, just like heaven on earth.
When they arrived at the salt pond, everyone finally got excited. The three high mountains in front of them should be Sanwei Mountain.
Sanwei Mountain is the barrier to Shazhou from the east. After passing Sanwei Mountain, you can see the Mogao Grottoes, and then the majestic Shazhou City.
The player group cheered up, drove the animals forward, and finally walked to the edge of the salt pond before sunset.
"There is smoke from the kitchen ahead, do you want to go over and take a look?" Qin Chuan pointed at the rising smoke in front of him and said.
"I guess it's a salt farmer next to the salt pond. We can go there and get in touch and find out about the situation in Sanwei Mountain." Li Daoyuan said.
Finally met an NPC! The caravan selected a few merchant players who were good at negotiating, and under the escort of the adventure players, they rushed towards the direction of the rising smoke.
They arrived at this small village before sunset, only to see that this dilapidated village turned out to be a small fortress, with shooting holes on the one-foot-high earthen wall, and soldiers guarding the entrance of the village with sharp knives.
A general wearing a scarlet robe was patrolling. When he noticed the player approaching, he immediately drew his sword and said: "Stop! Shazhou Salt Farm, no one is allowed to enter!"
After saying these words, a dozen bows and arrows stood on the earth wall, holding strong bows and pointing them at the players.
At this time, the players did not dare to step forward. Li Daoyuan immediately raised his hand and said: "Sir, we are a caravan from Shazhou and want to take a rest here."
The domineering general drew out his saber and said: "Rest? This is the salt field! Is this a place for you and others to stay? Get out of here, or you'll shoot an arrow!"
Li Daoyuan had no choice but to take the players back.
"These officers and soldiers are more domineering than bandits!"
"Is this salt field so heavily guarded?"
"Of course, salt is equal to money in ancient times. No matter whether you have money or not, you have to eat salt. Look at the banks to see if they are well guarded."
The players returned to the camp, but they didn't expect the NPCs in Shazhou to be so unfriendly.
In the salt field, saltman Ma Wu sat up quickly when he heard the crow of the rooster. He put on his old linen shorts and shivered and walked out of the house.
It is quite cold in the morning in Shazhou in the first month of the year, but all the saltmen are dressed like this.
"Dianmao!" The fierce soldiers counted the number of people. After all the twenty saltmen in the same group had arrived, the saltmen came to the salt-making workshop under the supervision of the soldiers.
The stove was burning non-stop, and only Ding Yan, dressed like Ma Wu, was seen stirring the brine in the pot.
As soon as I entered the workshop, the chill on my body was driven away completely, followed by a feeling of intense heat.
The big stove is not turned off, so the salt workers work in two shifts to cook salt in the workshop, and they have to work beside the big stove for twelve hours at a time.
Before he even started working, sweat started to flow down his face. Ma Wu wiped the sweat from his forehead and started to take over with Yan Ding from the previous shift.
The fierce soldiers rushed up, raised and lowered their hands on the salt workers who took over the shift, and carefully searched their pockets and various parts of their bodies to check whether they had secretly carried salt.
The soldiers even asked the saltmen to take off their thin clothes for inspection. Ma Wu chuckled. Even if they took away some salt, they, the saltmen, would not be able to leave the salt pond, so how would they sell it.
In fact, all the salt workers know that the real people involved in selling illegal salt in the salt field are the soldiers on duty. Salt workers like them can't even get out of the salt field gate, so where can they go to sell illegal salt.
Ma Wu completed his shift, and he made a tacit gesture to his companions that today was the day they agreed to escape.
Leaving this salt field and running into Sanwei Mountain to become a bandit is better than dying of exhaustion in this salt field.
Ma Wu and other saltmen had been planning for many days. They were planning to run away yesterday. Yesterday, a caravan came in front of the salt field, which attracted Zhang Brigade, who was guarding the salt field, to go out to check it out in person, which made Ma Wu and others postpone their escape plan.
.
Today, a caravan from Shazhou City came to bring salt, and Ma Wu and others were preparing to escape at this time.
Finally, at noon, the saltmen had to eat in the salt field. The cook in charge of cooking brought in the rice paste mixed with grain chaff. The saltmen gathered together and cooked with pickled vegetables.
"Eat quickly, hurry up! The brigade commander said it! If there is less salt this month than last month, everyone will be whipped ten times!"
Ma Wu quickly stuffed the hard-to-swallow paste into his mouth. At this time, there was a noise outside the door. It was the convoy pulling salt from the city.
The soldiers responsible for guarding Yanding are ready to move, and every time the convoy comes, they will also bring goods from the city.
Ma Wu waited for Yanding to return to work immediately. The guarding soldier said: "Don't be lazy. I'll go outside and take a look."
Originally there were ten soldiers guarding the salt field, but the salt field was extremely hot and had an unpleasant smell from the brine, so the youngest soldier was asked to guard the salt field. On weekdays, the other soldiers sat outside the workshop chatting.
A caravan came today, and the young soldier took out a bag of fine salt from his pocket, which he had secretly scraped from the workshop during this period.
This bag of fine salt can be sold to a merchant for more than ten dollars, which is equivalent to half a year's military pay.
Therefore, although the job of guarding the salt farm was hard, everyone in the Doulu Army was eager to do it. If his brother-in-law hadn't been the brigade commander in the Doulu Army, he would never have had such a good job.
At this time, Ma Wu and other salt workers came to the edge of the salt field. They uncovered the straw on the dog hole and drilled out of the salt field through the dog hole.
run!
The saltmen began to run towards Sanwei Mountain, but their good luck ended there. The soldiers on the city wall discovered the escaped saltmen.
"Yan Ding has run away! Salt Ding has run away!"
Brigadier Zhang, who was wearing a red robe, heard Yan Ding escaping and immediately shouted angrily: "Bang the gong! Bring these untouchables back to me!"
Ma Wu didn't even look back. He was running thinking about Sanwei Mountain. He had already heard the sound of the gong in the salt field. Ma Wu had no luck. If he was caught by the soldiers, with Brigadier Zhang's violent temper, he would
The escaping Yan Ding will definitely be beaten to death.
Every month, saltmen who offended Zhang Brigade were whipped to death by a whip standing full of salt water. Escaping from the saltworks was a major crime listed in the saltworks, and their death would only be worse!
With a hiss, a bow and arrow hit his companion, and Ma Wutou would not continue to run away.
But he heard the rapid sound of horse hooves, and Ma Wu felt desperate. He was dead now!
The sound of horse hooves was getting closer and closer. Just when Ma Wu closed his eyes in despair, he suddenly heard the sound of horse hooves in front of him.
Only a dozen riders were seen riding their horses from the opposite side. The leading knight was wearing Tang Dynasty-style armor and holding a bright Mo Dao.
Now Ma Wu was completely desperate.
Unexpectedly, these knights did not come to surround them, but crossed over this group of ragged people and intercepted the pursuers from behind.
The leading knight shouted: "Why did you kill the people!?"