Three big men at the other table had already gathered around. One of them said: "It must be quite fat. The horse outside is also a Tianma. It seems that he must have a lot of valuable things on him."
"It's really worth a piece of gold." Xu Mu nodded. There was Yi Rong's face in the bag, and around his waist was a jade pendant given by He Qizhou.
"Don't do anything yet, wait until he faints." The female shopkeeper asked the three of them to stop approaching, and a fat face came closer to see Xu Mu's eyes.
"I thought I was going to vomit!" Xu Mu really didn't want to bear the smell of the other party, so he sprayed the two bowls of wine filled with Qi into the female shopkeeper's face like water arrows.
"You still won't do it? I don't believe it!" The woman is the overlord in this area, so there is no reason to suffer losses twice in a row. Seeing that the third guy is still not easy to mess with, in anger, she doesn't want to escape, but
Deciding to fight with all his strength, he hit Xu Mu in front of Xu Mu with a fist wrapped in a fist. He turned out to be a practitioner at the peak of the Five Meridians.
The three big men also immediately took action, attacking Xu Mu simultaneously with three heads and six arms, all with the strength of three or four veins!
"We're going to be rich again!" Xu Mu jumped up happily. There was something wrong with the wine as soon as it was in the mouth. If they didn't do evil, how would they live in the future?
Early the next morning, Xu Mu ran towards the border town full of energy. Deafening cries came from the inn behind him. The female shopkeeper swore heartily that she would never date a single man again in her life.
It kind of made Xu Mu blame himself. He just took advantage of others, so why did he have to make the two sides of the shopkeeper's face symmetrical?
The money bag on his body was full again, and the price for the four people who "volunteered" to "ransom" themselves was a bag of about thirty taels of gold coins, a bag of about 500 taels of silver, and the remaining six kilograms of bittern from the black shop.
Xu Mu looked at the beef carefully and confirmed that it was not human meat. It tasted really good.
At the beginning of August, it was almost late summer in the Altai Mountains in the north. The birch trees at the foot of the mountain began to shed their leaves. After a quick horse trip for a day, in the evening, a long and narrow valley suddenly appeared in front of him. Xu Mu looked intently and saw that the entire valley was filled with
A large piece of slightly yellow grassland, a camel caravan is walking in the center of the valley. About six or seven miles away, there is a vague city wall standing at the end of the canyon, and someone is driving the huddled sheep into the city.
"Drive--" Xu Mu rushed into the canyon on horseback, and soon caught up with the caravan of more than a dozen camels.
"Uncle, can I ask you something?" Xu Mu raised his head and asked a middle-aged businessman sitting on a camel. The man was richly dressed and wearing an eight-edged leather hat unique to the Wusun Kingdom. He should be
The owner of this caravan.
Perhaps seeing that Xu Mu was alone and looking thin and frail, the businessman hesitated for a moment and reluctantly nodded.
"Have you seen a young man slightly taller than me and wearing a blue robe passing by here in the past two days?"
The businessman shook his head and couldn't help but ask: "Is it a person?"
"Yes."
"You didn't spend the night at Beishan Restaurant last night, right? Most of the people you asked stayed there!"
"Probably not. The people in the store said that two single men passed by there one after another." Xu Mu said.
"I'm lying to you!" the businessman shook his head and laughed.
"You all know that it is a black shop? Then why didn't you report it to the government?" Xu Mu asked curiously.
"Who doesn't know who frequents this place? It's a shop run by Night Owls. They eat people without spitting out their bones. Even if we starve to death, we won't go there. Fortunately, they usually don't do anything on the road. As for why they don't complain
Official, seeing how smart you are, you can guess what you are doing."
"Uncle, how clever am I?" When Xu Mu heard that the person he was robbing was a notorious habitual criminal, his mood improved again, and he no longer felt guilty at all about the slap he gave the female shopkeeper.
"If you can come out of the dark shop intact, you must be a master or smart enough!" Seeing Xu Mu's politeness, the businessman said with a smile.
"Perhaps she is full and sees that I don't have much luck. By the way, can I ask other people in the caravan if they have seen the person I am looking for?" Xu Mu said.
"Don't ask, most of them don't understand Chinese. I haven't seen a single person in the past two days, but I did see two young men passing by the camel caravan two days ago. They were only a few hours apart.
.”
"One is for one person and two riders, and the other is for one person and one rider?" Xu Mu asked again.
"That's right."
"Uncle, my name is Mu Qingshuang and I am from the Zhou Dynasty. What kind of goods are you bringing here?"
"Why does it sound like a woman's name? Are you also a businessman? The goods are all authentic Persian high-grade products, including blankets, carpets, gold and silver utensils."
"You don't look like a Zhou person. Have you studied the names of our Han people?" Xu Mu regretted his recklessness.
"Hahaha, I'm from Wusun. I've been doing business with Dazhou for more than ten years, so I know something about it." The businessman straightened the eight-edged leather hat on his head and said with a proud smile.
"Uncle, I'm not a businessman, but I just don't have enough luggage. Why don't I buy a few things from you after I enter the city." Xu Mu was so cold in this area. If He Qizhou can't be found in Wusun territory, why not?
You must make plans to go east to the Northern Zhou Dynasty.
"Okay, but most of my things are sold to high-ranking officials in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and they are not cheap."
"It doesn't matter, as long as you don't bully me as an amateur." Xu Mu has money around him and doesn't lie when he speaks.
"What are you talking about? Judging from your harness, you must be very particular about your family. When you go to town, you should pick things up carefully and bring something for your elders." The businessman then began to take a good look at Xu Mu, who was dressed simply but had an extraordinary mount.
Come.
"That's what I mean, let's go to the city together." Xu Mu's real idea is to sneak into the city with the caravan. If Helian Changji is still in the city, his whereabouts can be more concealed. After all, this place is very close to the Northern Zhou Dynasty.
, maybe there is power that the other party can use.
Burgen City is located at the east end of the valley. The tall city walls are all made of stone. However, the city defense at the west gate is in vain. You can enter as long as you pay! The fee is based on people and animals. People and horses are one tael of silver, and cattle and camels are 2 taels.
Yin Zi. Xu Mu regretted following the caravan into the city. If he had known better, he might as well have entered the city earlier.
There are some benefits to traveling with a caravan. After staying at the only inn in the outer city, Xu Mu used five gold coins to buy a shawl, a blanket, two sets of woolen cloaks, and a colorful gemstone bracelet from the owner.
The strings and bracelets just looked like it. Xu Mu didn’t know what pulled him over and bought something that his daughter liked.
A moderate business was done, and the businessman was quite happy, and without Xu Mu asking, he told the story of the city.
The businessman said: "This place is quite prosperous. This small city, which is only three miles square, is divided into an inner city and an outer city. The city lord who sits here is a rare expert in the Wusun Kingdom. The grassland to the west of the city is far from enough to satisfy the thousands of garrison troops in the city.
Although the toll is expensive, there is not much money to be squeezed out from the passing business travelers. The secret that truly makes the town prosperous lies in the inner city with a radius of one mile."
Xu Mu asked: "Then why don't we live in the inner city?"
The businessman waved his hands repeatedly and said: "If you enter the inner city and you can't control it, the goods will probably be lost. The inner city is just a gold sales cave, with fine wine, beautiful women and gambling houses. No matter how much money you have, you may still get it."
All spent in one night.”
Seeing that Xu Mu didn't believe it, the businessman explained: "Burgen City has always been a refuge for horse bandits and fugitives from the Northern Zhou Dynasty. As long as the Zhou Dynasty's suppression is tightened, they will hide here. With the recent civil strife in the Zhou Dynasty, more and more people come here.
, as long as they come here, most of them will leave their money here."
"So, wouldn't it be dangerous if the inner city is full of evil people?" Xu Mu asked.
The businessman said: "You don't know something about this. There is a rule in this city. You can do anything. That is, you are not allowed to rob, steal, beat people, or kill people. Outsiders are not allowed to enter the city to arrest people. That's why the desperate people of the Northern Zhou Dynasty were attracted.
People flock to you like birds. If you really want to find someone, you can try your luck in the inner city."
Xu Mu said: "Okay, I'll go in and take a look."
"It's best to go to Xiaoyao Tower to inquire about information. Almost every man who comes into the city will go there. Remember, in the inner city, money is the boss. As long as there is no trouble, there will be no trouble!" The businessman gave the last word of concern, his eyes full of envy.
color.
Xiaoyao Building is easy to find. It is not one building, but a group of buildings, occupying almost half of the inner city. There are brothels, restaurants, gold houses, and gambling houses. The main entrance of Xiaoyao Building is an archway imitating the appearance of Han people.
, several maids aged sixteen or seventeen were waiting at the door to greet the guests. There were not many guests, and a maid dressed as a palace maid introduced Xu Mu into the restaurant.
After Xu Mu sat down in the antique restaurant, he stopped the other party and asked, "Girl, have you seen a single man dressed like me in the past two days?"
The maid didn't answer, just smiled slightly.
Xu Mu understood, took out a piece of broken silver about one tael and put it on the table. After the other party frowned slightly, he put the silver into his sleeve and nodded.
"Do you know where he is going?" Xu Mu continued to ask. Seeing that the other party still didn't speak, he had to put down another tael of silver.
The maid put away the money, nodded and said: "I know, why don't you just sit here."
Xu Mu was slightly stunned and said: "Little girl, I'm not joking with you, can you tell me the truth?"
"One tael of silver can only be used to tell jokes." the maid replied in a low voice.
One tael of silver can be enough for a poor person to live for a month in many places! Xu Mu suppressed his anger and took out ten taels of silver this time. The maid actually smiled and was about to reach out to take it, but Xu Mu pressed her hand on it.
Silver said, "I need to hear the truth."
"What you just said is the truth," the maid said.
"Then is there a single man wearing the clothes of a noble of the Zhou Dynasty who has been here with two horses?"
The maid really smiled this time, gently moved Xu Mu's hand away, took away the ingot of silver, and said, "What a coincidence, that person was brought in by me on duty."