Li Guangyin is a foreigner, but he does as the Romans do, and he now regards himself as a real Han Chinese.
However, although he has become Chinese, his business is still the same as that of the Hu people. Spices, pigments, jewelry, and medicinal materials. He is not that kind of big businessman. But he can also organize a caravan of thirty or forty camels to travel to and from the Western Regions.
Earn quite a profit.
Li Guangyin inherited this business from his father and has been doing it for more than ten years. However, in recent years, business has not been easy to do. Because the Central Plains is not peaceful, and bandits are rampant on the border of the Western Regions. Their trade routes have been changed again and again.
Change. Now it will take half a month more.
Li Guangyin felt very sad, but there was nothing he could do. Even those large caravans with the support of the imperial court could only change their routes. Small and medium-sized business groups like him had no room for bargaining.
It was another business trip, and this time Li Guangyin brought a lot of silk, porcelain, and tea from the Central Plains to the Western Regions. These are goods that are always in short supply in the Western Regions. As long as they can make the return trip successfully, it will be a huge profit.
Now that he is close to the border, Li Guangyin has begun to feel worried. He does not have many guards, although this sounds unreasonable. But it is the fact. He is just a small and medium-sized caravan. Business has been difficult to do in recent years, and his profits
It's no longer what it used to be.
Traveling to and from the Western Regions requires a huge cost. Not only the consumption on the road. In fact, although there were fewer horse bandits on the trade route he took, the several cities he passed had to pay extremely high entry fees.
Tax. The originally high profits were actually not much left after layers of exploitation.
The only advantage is probably that as long as you pay the money, your life is not in danger. In Li Guangyin's view, this is no different from horse bandits. One cut, the other is a trickle.
Under this situation, Li Guangyin could only reduce costs as much as possible. In order to save money, he even bypassed a small town where he was supposed to go to rest, saving a city entry tax.
But in this way, the caravan had to eat and sleep in the open, and it was considered a hardship. Fortunately, he knew in his heart that the profits would be much higher. The hardships were worth it.
There is nothing he can do about this. If he had money, he could hire hundreds and eighty guards and take a shortcut directly to the Western Regions. After all, he still has no money!!
However, even though Li Guangyin was so careful, disaster still struck him. Li Guangyin was setting up camp and preparing to rest when he suddenly heard the sound of horse hooves.
Not one, but a group. He suddenly jumped up and shouted to the few guards to be on guard. In fact, they were not guards at all. They were just his buddies, who selected strong ones to dress up as guards of the lake.
It's just a trick. Business is hard to do, so Li Guangyin risked his life for the meager profit.
Several guards listened to the sound of horse hooves in the distance, and their hands began to shake before anyone saw them.
"Why are you shaking? You have one head between two arms, what are you afraid of? Stand still, if this level passes, I will double your wages when you get back." Li Guangyin shouted at the guards, hoping that they could
cheer.
Under the temptation of money, several 'guards' reluctantly stood up and stood in front of the caravan with knives. At this time, the sound of horse hooves approached. Li Guangyin's last illusion was shattered.
There are more than twenty people, all on fast horses and armed with knives. There is no doubt that this is a group of horse bandits. This group of people is vicious, and the evil aura on their bodies can be felt from a long distance away. On the other hand, the few 'guards' on my side
It has started to shrink back.
Seeing that the situation was not good, Li Guangyin could only stand up on his own.
"What are you guys doing here?"
However, the young horse bandit in charge ignored him and passed him directly. The man jumped off his horse, walked to his goods, drew his knife and opened the raincloth of one of his goods. The porcelain inside was shining brightly.
He nodded with satisfaction.
This action made Li Guangyin feel terrified, fearing that the other party would kill him in the next second.
On the other side, Li Guangyin winked desperately at his 'guards'. You should resist at least and let them know that there is a cost to force. This way, the possibility of survival is greater. But no matter how he winks, a few guards will only
Stand back. These horse bandits are all strong and strong, with sharp eyes. They look like professionals at first glance. How can amateurs like them dare to get closer?
"Horse bandits, I'll fight with you!" Suddenly a loud shout startled everyone. Li Guangyin looked up, his vision went dark and he almost fell to the ground.
But his guards didn't have the guts to take action. His son, Li Guangwu, who was hiding in the crowd, rushed out. He also had a long knife he got from somewhere in his hand and slashed at the horse standing in front of the goods.
bandit.
"Hero, spare your life."
Li Guangyin still didn't know how much his son weighed. Those horse bandits were filled with evil spirits, and they looked like they would kill without blinking an eye. His son couldn't even hit a goose with those two blows, so he still wanted to kill the horse bandits?
Li Guangyin rushed over, trying to block the sword for his son. But the horse bandit's sword was reaching its limit. As soon as he moved, he heard the sound of drawing a sword. Then it was him
The screams of his son Li Guangwu.
Li Guangyin rushed over and crawled over, but was surprised to find that his son seemed... okay? After Li Guangwu fell to the ground and yelled for a while, he finally realized that he didn't seem to be in pain. It was the knife in his hand.
I don't know where I flew to.
When he opened his eyes, he saw his father standing in front of him, glaring at him. Before Li Guangwu could speak, Li Guangyin turned around and kowtowed to the young horse bandit.
"Thank you, hero, for not killing me. If hero likes these goods, feel free to take them away, but please don't hurt my family."
Li Guangyin was very shrewd. The horse bandit didn't kill anyone with the knife just now. It must have been for money. Since it was for money, there was room for maneuver. At worst, this cargo was taken in. As long as a person is alive, he can do whatever he wants.
At this time, the young horse bandit finally spoke.
"Where are you going?"
"Go back to the heroes, go to the west and collect some spices and stuff. It's just a small business, a small business."
"Why go around so far?"
This question stumped Li Guangyin. I didn't go around because there were too many horse bandits. But the person who asked this question was a horse bandit. How should he answer?
"I don't know about this either. I just follow the crowd and get used to it."
"Haha, maybe I'm afraid there will be horse bandits if I go south."
"this......"
"I know you think of us as horse bandits. Don't be afraid, we are not horse bandits. It's just that someone wants to see you. So, come with us."
