Lu Ming

There was nothing to say next.Both the convoy and the figures in the rear were bowing their heads and hurrying on their way.

In the afternoon, the convoy successfully entered the famous gate of Hu Zhuang beside the official road.

And the two riding shadows following in the distance quietly disappeared after observing the caravan entering the village.

Due to the lack of information, the few insiders in the team were not able to make any judgments.In order to avoid panic, in addition to arranging more people to stay on duty at night, shopkeeper Wu made everything loose on the outside and tight on the inside, and everything seemed to be safe.

Early in the morning of the second day, the convoy set off from Huzhuang on time, aiming at Yi County, which is [-] miles west.

As the saying goes, good spirits do not work bad spirits.

Just after the convoy had traveled five miles, the two knights who were lingering suddenly appeared again, and followed them all the way behind them.

But this time, without the barrier of Juma River, the team can finally do something.

After a few brief discussions, Wu Qian and another guard called Lao Fu stayed in the middle of the official path.

Not long after, with the sound of "da da" horseshoes, Wu Qian finally blocked the two horsemen following him on the official road.

None of the cold-blooded knife-and-dagger hedges of Westerns.After all, there was no regulation in the Ming Dynasty. Riders without luggage were capital crimes and could be killed in the street.

Wu Qian was a defensive caravan guard.Even if he was sure that the other party was a scout sent by a certain force, it was impossible for him to initiate a conflict... It was useless to kill scouts, and it intensified the conflict between the two sides.

For caravans, peace is the most important thing at any time, and negotiation is the most important thing.

Looking at the two "travelers" wearing felt hats, sheepskin jackets, and wrinkled faces twenty steps away, Wu Qian lifted the reins and led the horse to take two steps forward slowly.

Next, according to the rules of the rivers and lakes, he first clasped his fists to salute, then reported his family, and finally took out two 50 silver ingots: "Meeting each other on the left and right is a fate, and a mere gift is not a respect. I invite the two brothers to drink a bowl of water and wine. "

This is the temptation.The other party's next reaction will reveal some information.

Of course, the best ending is that these two also report to their own mountain gates, and then the two parties will bargain to return the price.In the end, the caravan spent a little more money to buy the gangsters away, and everyone has nothing to do with each other since then.

However, things in the world are always difficult.

After Wu Qian threw out the regular routine, the two horsemen on the opposite side took a few breaths in silence, and they all reined in their horses, turned back and walked away...

Wu Qian, who was silently looking at the back of the other party, had an extremely ugly expression on his face.

Since Wu Da shopkeeper led the motorcade to break up with Wu Qian, he walked two miles forward and ordered to stop and hit the tip.

After a while, Wu Qian caught up.

Shopkeeper Wu, who deliberately lit the stove to warm up in a secluded place, quickly learned the result of the negotiation just now.

Shopkeeper Wu's face also collapsed.

The spies who were able to reject such a large amount of silver must not be because of their noble morals.The only explanation is that behind these two people, there are a large group of gangsters waiting for the opportunity, so they dare not make mistakes.

Although the two sides have not exchanged information from the beginning to the end, judging from the results, the worst information has been revealed: the gangsters are indeed eyeing Yixinlong's caravan, and they do not intend to negotiate peace, and they want to see the truth.

However, this is not the worst news.

After the analysis of the two bosses, the old Fu who played the role of the transparent person in silence all the time first tore off the cloth scarf on his face, and then said slowly: "It should be two groups of people, and they merged!"

"Ah!" Young Master Wu who was listening was shocked.

The reason why Wu Qian took this middle-aged and elderly guard named Lao Fu to deal with spies was because Lao Fu had been with gangsters in his early years.On weekdays, Lao Fu's role in the firm was originally responsible for collecting intelligence.

Now is the time for the old Fu to show his value: "These two, one is Gu Laocheng, who is the family of the Taihang thief Gu Ming. I know him, but he doesn't know me."

"The other cheek has a yellow beard. If my guess is correct, this person's name is Huang Gou'er, and he belongs to Xuanhua Majie's group."

"Xuanhua Ma Jie?" Captain Wu Qian whispered when he heard the words: "Now we know the real master. Ma Jie has a grudge against us. Five or six years ago, our cavalry team slaughtered Ma Jie's two elder brothers out of mouth. "

"It's a mess!"

Shopkeeper Wu felt upset, and slammed a small butcher knife into the ground under his feet: "How did the Xuanhua horse thief hook up with the Taihang bandit?"

Old Fu is not omnipotent, he heard the words and said: "I don't know about this..."

Suppressing his irritability, Shopkeeper Wu stood up: "Go, go, let's go to Yi County today."

Now we can only take one step at a time.After all, the rest of the intelligence is inference.With such a large caravan, they couldn't be frightened away by two spies.

Shopkeeper Wu knew that no matter what, he had to rush to Yi County first, and he couldn't delay halfway.The caravan is still at least 30 miles away from Yi County, so they must hurry up today.

As for the possible attack by bandits... In fact, experienced people in the caravan knew in their hearts that if there was a battle, it would definitely happen after Yi County.

Yi County is at the foot of Taihang Mountain.After passing through Yi County, the terrain changed from flat to rugged, and gradually became more hilly and forested, which is where bandits haunt.

Chapter 684 Returning to the North ([-])

For the rest of the day, the convoy traveled at full speed.At nightfall, everyone finally arrived in Yi County.

Yixian County is located outside the pass of Taihang Mountain, which is the only way to the Feihuxing Ancient Road.

Although it has a long history, Yi County in this era is undoubtedly a remote and barren county seat on the seventh tier of Ming Dynasty, commonly known as Laopoxiao.

But even if they are old and young, at this point in time, the convoy cannot enter the city.Fortunately, the only non-agricultural income of the people in the county town is to receive businessmen who come and go on the mountain road, so there are still several large car shops in Guanxiang, which are enough to accommodate the convoy.

After all the tossing, carefully arranged the night duty matters, the shopkeeper Wu Da and Wu Qian Wu Captain Wu went to inspect the big kang room where the guys lived.After entering the room and announcing the news that the repairs will start tomorrow, shopkeeper Wu did not forget to tell everyone to scald their feet with hot water before going to bed.

After that, the two returned to the small courtyard they rented.

The side rooms were full of people sleeping, except for the main room. Young master Wu had already arranged a few home-cooked dishes on the table, plus a small pot of hot rice wine, waiting for the shopkeeper and the others.

After closing the door, the three of them began to fill their stomachs and eat vegetables.

This rare meal of wine and food is not easy to eat.Because of the three core people, it is necessary to discuss the next step of the team tonight.

The current dilemma is that there is too little information, so it is difficult for the person in charge to make a choice.

If it can be confirmed that there are large-scale gangs nearby that cannot be resisted, the choice of the caravan is the simplest: wait for the rescue from the hometown, or simply hide in Yixian City and lie flat, and set off after the year... There are no gangsters Will remain in combat readiness for a long time.It will take a lot of resources and energy to stand ready to fight, and a loose group like gangsters will not be able to persist until then.

However, the above conclusions are based on only two spies, and there is no more intelligence support.Therefore, this inference is very unreliable, and there are many possibilities. What if it is a small group of gangsters who fled here?

In the end, after much discussion and discussion, the three of them concluded that the caravan should hurry up and set off.

After all, it was absurd and unreasonable for a large caravan with more than 100 people to be scared away by two spies, and there was no way to explain it to the head office.

Now that you have decided to go, the preparation work is to do enough.Facing the gangsters that were likely to exist outside the city, the three of Wu's then discussed in detail until midnight before they settled on the matter.

Early the next morning, Uncle Ping, Wu Fazheng's personal servant, was called into the house from the side room.

In the house, the trio solemnly gave Uncle Ping a task: set off first, and go to Weizhou to call someone to pick him up.

This is a safe response.In any case, even if people from Weizhou come to visit for nothing, it is better than being alone and helpless at the urgent moment.

Besides, as far as the total value of this caravan is concerned, if something goes wrong, the labor lair will come to take care of it, and there is nothing wrong with it.

Being able to be arranged by the clan to be in charge of daily protection next to Master Wu, Uncle Ping is far from being as simple and ordinary as he seems.

In fact, Uncle Ping is Wu Qian's predecessor, and he served as the head of the clan's guards in his early years.Now it was mainly because he was old that he was assigned to be an idler next to Young Master Wu.

After asking the reason clearly, Uncle Ping nodded and agreed without saying a word.

For Uncle Ping today, this task is not difficult.

He is an unremarkable old man in his early forties. He only needs to prepare some daily groceries, and he can pretend to be a traveling merchant, join a caravan for a short time, and cross the Taihang Mountains to Weizhou in advance.

If there are a large number of bandits nearby who are ready to do "big business", they will turn a blind eye to scattered merchants, so as not to cause panic, leak information, and affect the overall situation.

In addition, it is different from what most people imagine.In fact, the real journey through the Taihang Mountains is relatively safe.

Shanxi is known as the mountains and rivers inside and outside. The key reason is that the north-south Taihang Mountains separate Shanxi from the Hebei Plain.

From north to south, there are eight mountain trails connecting the two places, which are the famous Taihang Eight Xings.Among them, the military capital Xing from Huailai to the capital, Feihu Xing + Puyin Xing from Weizhou to Yi County, and Jingxing from Taiyuan to Shijiazhuang are the three most important post roads.

These three roads have been battlegrounds for military strategists since ancient times.In the early Ming Dynasty, the army went out of the fortress, and in the late Ming Dynasty, the Manchu and Qing dynasties entered through Mongolia to plunder, including Li Zicheng's entry into Beijing, and even countless wars involving the north in history. The three mountain trails all played an important role in it.

For such an important strategic channel, there have been military garrisons in all dynasties.

Daming also built passes on these main roads and deployed soldiers and horses to garrison them.The famous Bauhinia Pass is located at the junction of Feihuxing and Puyinxing. It is a famous natural barrier, and caravans have to pass by it afterward.

This is why the mountain road is safe: the key nodes are guarded by officers and soldiers, and they patrol on weekdays, so it is impossible to let large groups of bandits come and go.

As for waiting for three or five thieves... These days, businessmen are not vegetarians, and they gather in groups when they go out. There are fewer people, and it is not certain who will snatch who.

In addition, it is actually very difficult to rob on the steep mountain roads that are rare in the world.Both sides of the intestines of the sheep are either cliffs or cliffs. It is difficult to find a place to ambush... You can't fly down from the cliffs.

What really poses a threat to the merchants are the various natural dangers brought about by the two hundred li mountain road.Fortunately, Uncle Ping traveled between the two places in the early years and was familiar with the road conditions, which was the best choice for completing the task.

After taking over the task, Uncle Ping immediately picked out a few goods that fit the status of retail investors, and then ordered someone to bring a donkey, put a wooden frame on the donkey, and tie the few goods firmly.

After preparing the goods, Uncle Ping changed into a homespun padded jacket that fit his identity, put on a half-old felt hat, and wrapped his face with a coarse cloth sand towel.

In the end, he walked out of the big cart shop alone, leading the donkey, and disappeared into the city gate that entered the county town.

The disappearance of Uncle Ping is just the beginning. The three people discussed last night to deal with more than Uncle Ping.

In the next two days, shopkeeper Wu quietly entered and left the county several times.

Yi County is the first stop on the Wu family's business route after leaving Weizhou, so there are naturally local merchants who have been dealing with them all year round to contact.

After negotiating with the next buyer, shopkeeper Wu immediately sold two trucks of relatively low-value goods.At the same time, some goods were purchased locally.

The goods bought and sold were all exchanged after dark, by means of scattered handling, and the purpose was to keep them secret.

And during this period, from time to time, one or two guards quietly left the county area without missing a trace.

After these tasks are completed, it is already the third day for the team to repair in Yi County.

On the morning of the fourth day, the Yixinlong caravan, with everything ready, set off on their way home at dawn.

There are still thirteen carriages, and there are still hundreds of people.

A caravan of such a scale set off, naturally it cannot be hidden from anyone.At this moment, inside and outside the county seat, above and below the city, countless pairs of eyes watched the convoy slowly walking along the official road in the north of the city.

Um?What is going north? ...It's not right, shouldn't we go west?

The location of Yi County is just outside the pass of Taihang Mountain, parallel to Puyin Xingyi Road.

Normally, when the caravan departs from Yi County, it should head due west and enter the mountain after walking twenty or thirty miles.

The hilly and forested terrain with a sharp rise in altitude for twenty or thirty miles is a recognized dangerous area.

Next, if there is no accident, the caravan will continue to drill westward for a hundred miles along the Puyin Xing Mountain Trail, and will encounter the famous Bauhinia Pass natural barrier in Taihang Mountain.

From Zijingguan, turn to the north, and the road below is Feihuxing.Walk another hundred miles along Feihu Xing, exit Feihukou, and you will arrive at Weizhou, the terminal station.

And today's caravan's northward trip did not meet some people's expectations: If you don't enter the mountains from Yi County to the north, the next post road that passes through Taihang is the military capital Xing near the northwest of the capital.

How far is it from Yi County to Beijing?

The answer is 160 miles.

In other words, the caravan gave up the 160-mile dangerous mountain road and replaced it with a [-]-mile relatively safe official road.

"It seems that I dare not go into the mountain." Some of the eyes that watched the caravan from beginning to end revealed a look of relief at this moment.

However, things are not that simple.

On the 160-mile road from Yi County to Beijing, unless you make a big bend to the east, there are still many areas that will pass the foothills of Taihang Mountain.

In fact, to the north of the county seat is the remaining vein of the Taihang, and it is necessary to go through the mountains after a short walk.

In the end, things have come to this point. To some extent, everyone is already playing famous brands... In this barbaric and cruel age, is there really a safe way?

However, in the end, the Yixinlong motorcade left the county without hesitation and headed north.

Not long after the convoy set off, several figures that seemed to exist and disappeared also disappeared.Some other figures—here specifically referring to the riding duo of the previous caravan, but once again appeared on the official road like ghosts and ghosts, and swaggered after them.

……

The tail that appeared behind him was as expected by the shopkeeper.

At this moment, shopkeeper Wu was riding a rough horse, ignoring the tail behind him, and just kept yelling loudly at the team to speed up.

Most of the people in the caravan received orders to divert routes before they set off.At the moment, people more or less feel a certain tension.However, the rules of the big business firm are strict, even though the staff has suspicions, they can only keep their doubts in their stomachs right now.

After a few days of repairs, the entire team's condition was restored to full health, and the action was very fast.

Although the road under our feet became more and more undulating, and the surrounding scenery changed from plains to hills, pine forests and rocky mountains, at about noon, the convoy still ran for nearly [-] or [-] miles and arrived at Shiqi Ridge.

Shiqi Ridge is a section of Taihang branch that is more than [-] miles long and belongs to karst landform.

As the caravan traveled along the way, clusters of black sharp pinnacles gradually appeared on the left side, like a piece of upside-down triangular iron nails, continuously extending forward... This is why Shiqi Ridge got its name where.

Shopkeeper Wu, who was sitting on the horse, set up a pergola with his hands, looked at the nearby stone ridges, and then at the nameless river on the right.

Finally, he turned his head and glanced at the two small black dots in the distance behind him, then rode his horse to the head of the team, and shouted: "The pine forest ahead is sharp, carefully fetch water from the river to drink for the horses!"

The sweaty guys immediately relaxed when they heard this.Panting heavily, they drove the cart into the pine forest ahead.

Needless to say, the next actions were already extremely proficient: fetching water from the river to drink horses, lighting a fire and roasting dry food.