"Then do you know who is trading with us in Qi State?" He Qizhou asked.
"How do I know this? I am also a big girl and it is my first time to get on the sedan chair. I heard that the place where the transaction took place is called Zhennanguan. There may be several groups of people on the other side." Zhai Biao said.
He Qizhou was slightly disappointed, but he did not dare to ask too many questions. If Zhai Biao asked other people, he would inevitably be suspected.
"After crossing the small river in front, we left the boundary of Xiazhou. To be honest, I am still a native of Xizhou. I haven't been home for several years." Zhai Biao said with some emotion.
"Where's the river?" There was a vast expanse of white ahead, and He Qizhou couldn't see a river at all.
"Isn't that where the snow is falling in front? How come you, a shepherd, don't even know this?" Zhai Biao asked with some confusion.
He Qizhou took a look, and sure enough, there was a layer of snow mist floating on the ground from time to time dozens of feet in front of him. He regretted why he asked this question, and said hurriedly: "My eyes are still swollen from the punch the day before yesterday, and my vision is always blurry."
Yes, I hope it can be restored within ten days."
"Well, the sun is quite dazzling now. Try to look at your feet and don't look far away. I'm going back first. If I leave for a long time, I will be scolded by my fourth brother again. I'll come find you when I camp." Zhai Biao said.
He Qizhou secretly thought that he, a fake herdsman, could no longer speak randomly, otherwise his flaws would be exposed sooner or later, so it was better to read more and talk less.
"Crossing the river, drive carefully and slowly -" the coachman's cry came from the front, and the crystal ice surface was exposed on the river blown by the strong wind. On the other side of the river, there were three words written in red paint on a stone tablet as high as one person -
Xizhou boundary.
After marching for about eighty miles on the first day, the team camped near a military post. He Qizhou saw that the fourth brother had stuffed some money into the post officer, and asked Zhai Biao why the caravan had to pay since they didn't live in the post station.
Zhai Biao said that the inns were all chosen in places sheltered from the wind and facing the sun, and there were people on duty at night. If you wanted to camp next to the inn, you had to pay money. The rules on the road were ten cents for a man, ten cents for a horse, and twenty cents for a camel.
He Qizhou paid attention to the situation in the camp. The Salt Gang had the most camels and horses, but not the most people. There were ten guards, including the second brother and fourth brother, and ten coachmen. Of course, the coachman must also be a good player from the Salt Gang;
The Lotus Gang has twelve guards and ten coachmen, two of whom are nominally Qi Zhou's subordinates;
At the end of the team were six guards, four coachmen, and two men and two women in two felt carriages. Because they were all covered with scarves, it was impossible to tell what they looked like.
The three groups camped in a Z-shaped formation. The Salt Gang brought three felt tents, one for the driver to sleep in, one for the second brother and his men, and one for the fourth brother and his men. There were iron stoves in the tents to burn cow dung for warmth;
The Lotus Gang also had three tents, one for the same coachman, one for the gang leader, Wan Yangang and six other people, while Xu Muxue, Qi Zhou and five other people crowded into one tent. Different from the coldness on the hay carriage, the one with the stove lit
The tent was as warm as spring, because Xu Muxue was a woman, and because He Qizhou was the master of the hall. The small tent with a diameter of two feet had a six-foot-square area separated by coarse cloth for He Qizhou and Xu Mu to sleep;
The last caravan also set up two tents, one for the four people in the carriage and one for the guards and coachman.
Dinner was quite complete, including milk tea, broth and scones. The most painful thing was going to the toilet, forget it for men. It was really inconvenient for Xiaoxue. He Qizhou thought of a way. Anyway, there were a lot of skins in the goods, so he used the fine stuff he picked up on the road.
The branches were tied into a herringbone-shaped frame, and then covered with a whole piece of cowhide. When unfolded, it turned into a small triangular tent to protect from the wind, which relieved the embarrassment along the way.
He Qizhou looked silly and withdrawn from the beginning, and rarely talked to the Lotus Gang members. When warming up in front of the bonfire, Zhai Biao, who was also not well-liked by the gang members, came over to chat with He Qizhou: "Brother Deren,
We had to squeeze into small yurts like this most of the time along the way. I asked around and found out that there would be an inn for the night in seven or eight days. It was opened by our Yan Gang. You might have to go to Xuancheng, the capital of Xizhou, to stay in a big hotel.
Inn, there is still a batch of goods to be added at that time. If you have any difficulties, you can tell me."
"Okay." He Qizhou was not polite, "Do you know where you were robbed a few times before?"
"They are all near Xuancheng. Xuancheng is located in a valley at the northern foot of Yinshan Mountain. To the north is a large area of low hills. It takes almost five days for camels to walk. An incident happened there. Then after passing Xuancheng, we have to cross Yinshan Mountain. Yinshan Mountain
The mountains are high and the ravines are deep, making it easy to hide. He was robbed there several other times."
"Then why do we bring so many guards?" He Qizhou asked in confusion.
"The State of Qi does not allow so many people to enter. We have to leave some people behind when we reach the border. Besides, it is useless to have more people. It will only increase the supplies on the road. Two yurts take up one camel cart. The key is to
There are more masters like you." Zhai Biao complimented.
"I'm not much of an expert. By the way, you said your home is in Xizhou. Do you have a chance to visit your family?" He Qizhou asked.
"I thought about it too, but it seems there is no chance. My ancestors were actually Han Chinese from the Central Plains. They were taken away to Xuancheng to mine and were classified as slaves. My family did not live long. My father died of illness a few years ago. Now I am the only one in the family.
My mother made a living by sewing for wealthy families in Xuancheng. When I was a child, I heard from my grandfather that when the Zhou Dynasty was founded, the world was amnesty. All prisoners of war who were unwilling to surrender were exempted from slavery. Unexpectedly, there were more and more people with slave status now.
Woke up."
"Then why did you join the Lotus Gang?"
"When I was thirteen years old, I was fighting with someone in Xuancheng. I happened to be seen by my second brother who was returning to Tongwan City. Seeing my desperate energy, he asked me if I wanted to follow him? I didn't have enough to eat anyway, so I told my mother
So I went to Tongwan City and started working as a handyman in warehouses, casinos, and inns. I worked in all kinds of jobs. Because I practiced martial arts quite hard, I joined a gang two years ago and worked in the darkroom for two years."
"Then have you ever gone back to see your mother?"
"I've been there four or five times in the past ten years at most, but not once in the past two years. If I survive, I must go back and have a look on the way back." Zhai Biao said.
He Qizhou thought to himself, no wonder this kid was looked down upon by others. He had always been assigned to guard the darkroom. If it were him, he would be willing to be a bodyguard so that he could go around even if he had to take some risks. He still asked with some confusion in his heart
: "If this road is so dangerous, why are there so many people trying to get this job through boxing?"
"Don't you have a reason?" Zhai Biao said: "I don't know what everyone's reason is, but after this trip, even the driver of the carriage received two hundred taels, and the one promised to me was four hundred taels.
I have been working hard for six or seven years, and my mother will be financially secure for the rest of her life. But if I had known that I could save so much from your boxing, I wouldn’t have asked my second brother to bring me here."
"Then you must be careful. Save up enough money to go back to accompany your mother." He Qizhou secretly scolded Guo Wen for being stingy. He was only a hall leader, but the most important thing at the moment was to return to Qi State.
"How can there be such a good thing? We, the Salt Gang, can only enter and not leave. The only way is that one day I will be promoted to pick up my mother and go to Tongwan City. But with my qualifications, there is no hope in this life." Zhai Biao sighed.
He said: "Let's not talk about this anymore. I will be on duty until midnight tonight, so I have to go back."
"Then you go and do your work. Gang leader Guo Wen said that he, Wanyan, and I will take turns keeping watch at night in ten days. There is nothing I need to do now."
"Well, there is real danger only when entering hilly areas." Zhai Biao said.
…
In the yurt, a trace of dark red firelight shined through the gap in the iron stove door. In the tent within the tent surrounded by coarse cloth, He Qizhou and Xiaoxue lay face to face for a while, facing the same direction for a while. In the end, they felt that back to back was the most natural thing.
, because there are still five people in the yurt, it is neither convenient to say anything nor to do anything. Since Xiaoxue resumed the movement of her true energy, there is no need to sleep in He Qizhou's arms.
After a tiring day, snoring soon came from the yurt, and He Qizhou could hear it. Mixed in with the snoring was the faint sound of conversation: "You said our new hall master is a bit thinner, but he still looks quite handsome.
How could you fall in love with such an ugly woman?"
Another person said: "Yes, I saw it too. At first I thought she was a beautiful woman. But then when she closed the curtain, I saw it clearly. There was no flesh on her face at all, and even a little bit of hair.
It’s so dry that I can’t even sleep now.”
"I heard that he has tuberculosis. This time the new guy is willing to join our gang, but the condition is to take them to the south, so we don't really need to regard him as the leader of the hall, as long as he can live up to his reputation..."
He Qizhou knew that with Xiaoxue's hearing ability, he could certainly hear the conversation between the two, so he couldn't help but turn around, put his right hand on Xiaoxue's thin waist, found the other person's right hand, clasped their fingers together, and whispered in his ear: "Goodbye"
Listen to them, there is more meat than in the past few days." Then he received a heavy elbow on the abdomen, and the two of them lay on their sides and slept soundly all night...
He Qizhou could tell that it was the two men assigned to him by Guo Wen who spoke last night. He was not so polite to them today. They were packing tents, feeding animals, packing luggage... Some of the heavy work fell on those two people.
I was happy to just sit back and watch.
Because the days are short in winter, the team has just set off. It is still the same queue as yesterday, and the last business trip is still mysterious. Xu Mu returns to the ice cave-like carriage. Although it is extremely cold, it is still much better than riding on a horse.
The outside of the carriage felt like it was wrapped tightly in ice.
I took two meals a day of White Medan and Black Medan in the car. The swelling on my face went away and then swollen again. No one saw it anyway. Except for He Qizhou who came over from time to time to say a few words, he spent the rest of the time sitting cross-legged.
It's beyond breathing.
There were rolling mountains on one side and boundless grasslands on the other. The team walked like this for three consecutive days. He Qizhou had the illusion that he was standing still. At noon on the fourth day, the terrain finally became undulating, and they reached a place.
Behind the wind-sheltered valley, a notice came from the front to rest for half an hour.