Alternative Jianghu Adventures

In the 14th year of Kanghe, in the middle of September, Xuzheng.

Yongzhou, Yanxi County, Laquan Town.

Autumn is cool and crisp. With the passing of summer, the northwest has taken the lead in changing into late autumn attire compared to the south, which has not seen the cool air for a long time.

Today's autumn seems to be shorter than before. Although November is not yet full, there are not a few people wearing jackets.

With a slow "cracking" sound, the wooden wheels of a carriage carrying goods were slowly turning on the main street of Shifang.The driver seemed to be a desperate family of four.

The family of four are dressed in common clothes here.The hood, the tattered short jacket, are useless.

The thin-looking man was curled up at the front of the car with a whip in his hand, and the rein controlling the direction in his hand was pulling the skinny horse that might go astray at any time.The old woman sat on the edge of the carriage with a pair of children, guarding the cans on the board that had been sealed with wooden lids. From time to time, when the carriage bumped, the contents were covered with both hands while spilling out.

The wooden gate at the entrance of the town is about to be sealed—although there has been no distinction between the city and the village since the previous dynasty, and there is no talk of closing the door, but this is the northwest frontier.

In recent years, the war broke out again. The Hu people in the northwest were beaten to pieces by the court earlier, but with the rebellion in the south, the court's troops were dispersed, and the Usai people quickly gathered horses and stockpiled troops during this year. , vaguely revealing the meaning of marching into the Central Plains again.

However, Laquan Town, which used to be under the jurisdiction of the imperial court, was neither a strategic location nor too close to the northwest. The imperial court neglected the jurisdiction of this place due to the hidden danger of the Southern Army, so Laquan gradually became a three-way town. zone.

Instead, it became a permanent place for Hu merchants and Han merchants to communicate with each other.

The people here are all businessmen who dare to make war fortunes, and most of the residents are tough folk.Even if the imperial court didn't care about it, depending on the situation, the residents spontaneously took over the "city gate" left over from the previous entrance-at least to seal off the merchants who came and went at night, which can be regarded as the greatest security response to the war that may break out at any time.

The "soldiers" guarding the gate are composed of residents who take turns spontaneously. Just when two strong men were about to close the gate, a horse team of 13 people entered the town gate with piles of goods stuck in the last point.

Those who dare to make war fortunes say that there are not many, and that there are not many. Most of the people who have walked this line all the year round are familiar with the locals.

"Wait, where did you guys come from?" The gatekeeper called the leader to stop, and made a lot of appearances of the people who came.

The faces of the Han people, their behavior and dress seem to be walking outside, but they have never been seen in Laquan Town.

The man showed a kind smile, flew off the horse, took out a heavy ingot of silver from his arms and stuffed it secretly to the gatekeeper, his eyes almost narrowed, and said: "It's like this, we are SF Express. People from the Escort Bureau."

As he spoke, he took out a token of SF Escort from his pocket, and the guard saw that it was indeed the token of SF Escort.

"Isn't this Zhan Luan? A while ago, the Escort Bureau ruined an important list, so they dressed in a low-key way for fear of attracting people's attention." The leader took off his hood, revealing his inner appearance, "Besides, I also Let’s not leave the darts, and this time I will bring a team of people to deliver some goods, and by the way, buy some silver hairpins from the Western Regions for the little girl at home.”

The guard was taken aback for a moment - he recognized this person, although he hadn't seen him in the past few years, but more than ten years ago he always ran here with a team of darts.If I remember correctly, the most recent one was five years ago.

"It turned out to be Escort Ding from Shunfeng Escort Bureau, sorry I didn't recognize him all at once."

Ding Fan put on his hood, and even said it was okay, he walked in with the caravan behind.

"I'm no longer a member of the Shunfeng Escort Bureau. Just call me by my name."

If Xia Yun were here, he would recognize that Ding Fan had changed from the vigor he had a year ago at this time. After only a short year, Yue Pingsheng's hair and beard had already turned half white, and his aura had been fully restrained. Strictly speaking, the high-spirited middle-aged man from the same year ago was completely different!

"By the way, I haven't been here for so many years. Let me ask, is the Xiama Inn still alive?"

The Dismounting Inn is the largest inn in Laquan Town, and businessmen who come and go here prefer to stop here. It is not surprising that Ding Fan has this problem.

The guard closed the door swiftly, and replied heartily, "Of course I'm here, but it's getting late today, Ding Dart...Brother Ding probably won't have a place to go."

Ding Fan nodded, and thanked kindly, "Thank you for reminding me, I'd better go and have a look."

As he said that, he turned around and glanced at the following caravan, and smiled: "These brothers behind me are coming to such a northwest place for the first time, so of course we have to make a good impression on them."

"That's natural." The guard didn't miss any chance to earn extra money, and quickly responded: "Do you need to lead the way? You haven't been here for so long, maybe the way is unfamiliar?"

"I still remember the route clearly." Ding Fan squinted his eyes and politely refused, "It's getting late, so Ding will go ahead."

Cross the main street and cross the horse shop west.

Ding Fan stopped when he passed by an outdoor tea stall.

"Hey—have you heard? Don't look at the prime minister's elation now, but in fact, several elite men are gone!"

"Really? I heard some time ago that new generals were promoted, and they seem to be from poor people."

"Oh, if you think about it, someone must be promoted if someone dies! I heard from my relatives in the south that one of the well-known gossip gates seemed to be killed by a well-known assassin in the world." died!"

"Baguamen? Do you even know this?"

"This story has been spread in the south by people from Feilongzhai who witnessed everything! It is said that Muzhi, who had disappeared for five years, reappeared in the world, and killed that man... from Genshan in the Linyun Mountains! Tsk! Tsk tsk, that death is miserable."

"Muzhi? Ah, isn't this the hero who killed an enemy army that invaded the city five years ago? I heard that an arrow sealed the general's throat!"

"That's right, let me tell you, according to the people in Feilongzhai, Mu Zhizhen is a woman!"

"female?"

"Isn't it? I heard that the reason why Muzhi was blindfolded was because he was extremely ugly. He has big arms and round waist, five big and three thick, so he didn't dare to show himself in front of the world. No, after killing Gen Shan, he disappeared for a whole year More than a year! Who knows where he went?!"

As the gossip became more and more biased, Ding Fan laughed and continued on his way.

Behind him, a family of four walking slowly in a carriage heard the "chat", the groom holding the rein paused, and soon relaxed again, but the wife behind him turned her head away quickly Come to urge and hurry up.

Go northeast on Shizijie and turn three turns.

Dismount Inn.

The waiter came out from the shop in a hurry, looked at the number of people quickly with his eyelids, and smiled at Ding Fan: "Guest officer, this place is full today, so there is no room for your large group of people, how about...you turn left when you go out." , there is also an inn on West Street not far away, where are you going to rest?"

There is also a pair of camel team unloading at the entrance of the inn, no more, no less, just thirteen.

It seems that he is a Hu merchant from the Western Regions - he came a step late.

Ding Fan nodded to indicate that he heard it, and said, "It's okay, we'll find another place to stay, and we'll eat at your place—do you have a seat?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" The shop clerk hurriedly sent the idlers who were wandering around to lead the horses to the manger to feed the grain and grass. He threw a dozen rags on his shoulders, and shouted in a shrill voice: "There are thirteen people in total, do you want to go upstairs?" Or downstairs?"

"You can do it downstairs."

"Okay—thirteen guests, please—"

Entering the store, the downstairs is already full of people.

Ding Fan and the others were led to a big table by the shop waiter, and just about to sit down, he heard the bearded man at the next table put down the bowl in his hand in dissatisfaction and shouted loudly: "Xiaoer! Where is the kumiss we want? Why hasn't it come yet?" superior!"

"Isn't this in the store sold out and it's being sent to your contact person?" Xiaoer hurriedly bowed and smiled, "Your lord has a lot, and there is a lot of footsteps from the store to here, so bear with it, bear with it .”

As soon as the words fell, the carriage of a family of four stopped steadily at the entrance of the Xiama Inn.

Seeing this, the shop waiter hurriedly gave the waiter a wink as if seeing a savior, and finally smiled at the foolish barbarian, "Look? Isn't the mare's milk delivery here? We'll make you a present." Come up!"

Ding Fan sat down and looked around at the table of thirteen Users who were causing trouble—all of them had chapped, wide faces, and a black pattern was tattooed on them from head to toe from time to time. The woman with pigtails, tall facial features, and a pair of charming eyes are enough to make people ignore the hideous knife on her neck.

"Okay, put away your quick temper, we are here for business, don't make trouble." The woman pulled the man who made trouble.

Unexpectedly, the man sat down impatiently.

Ding Fan was a little surprised.

It seems that the leader is this woman?

Quickly ordered a few big dishes with more than a dozen pieces of mustard pancakes, and after sending the waiter away, Ding Fan leaned back, his position happened to be back to back with the woman, so he seemed a bit of an indiscreet pedant.

"What are you doing!" the barbarian couldn't hold back.

"The girl is also leading a team here to do business?" Ding Fan asked slowly, ignoring the urging of others.

The woman also gave her a wink, beckoning her subordinates to be quiet, and replied in a soft voice, "I'm doing a small leather goods business, and I'm going to exchange some Qingjian tea, a specialty of the south, with you Han people."

Most of the businessmen who come and go are nothing more than exchanging daily necessities, rice, oil, salt and utensils for some strong livestock and sturdy leather goods on the grassland.

Except for high-ranking officials and dignitaries, there are few people who exchange tea.

Not to mention those who only want this kind of tea by name.

"Miss, I don't understand." Ding Fan laughed and said, "I don't know how many leather goods the girl brought, but this Qingjian tea is also a rare and precious variety, and the asking price is quite high."

"Oh?" The woman pretended to be surprised and smiled, "Listen to you, do you have this tea in your hand?"

"Not much, just a little bit."

"Can you show me?" The woman's voice trembled like a butterfly scurrying around, "If I can buy it, wouldn't it be a win-win situation?"

Ding Fan nodded, "Naturally."

While talking, the couple who delivered the mare's milk helped carry the last bucket of mare's milk into the back kitchen.

The two children looked lovable, put down their hoods, and put on funny ripped caps, holding a small porcelain bowl in each hand, begging for some rewards back and forth between the tables.

Some merchants got annoyed and kicked the kid away. The little boy shrank his nose as if he was about to cry. He crawled on the ground for a while and held back his tears. go.

Children from poor families are more pitiful than others.

The two children soon got to the place where Ding Fan and the Hu merchants were at the table next door.

Ding Fan put a broken piece of silver in the broken bowl, met the little boy's astonished expression, and smiled generously: "Take it."

A wanton smile came from the woman next door. She pinched the little girl's face with her hands and let out a satisfied laugh: "That's right, I like such a cute little girl."

The child's parents soon came out of the back kitchen with their hunched figures.

Seeing the bodies of their parents, the two little devils unexpectedly negotiated a lot of money at the two tables, and they didn't want to stay any longer, turning around and wanting to leave.

Before leaving, as if thinking of something, he turned to face Ding Fan and the woman, opened his small hands, in the palm of which lay a piece of white sugar wrapped in oil paper, and said, "Someone asked me to give you the sugar."

"Eh?"

Before Ding Fan could react, the two little ghosts stuffed candy into their hands and ran out quickly.

A family of four was about to walk out of the inn.

Ding Fan opened the candy wrapper and looked at it, his expression suddenly changed.

He and the woman glanced at each other, and the other guests who were all around stood up suddenly, and the weapons placed beside them were suddenly lit up, reflecting the orange sunlight that /shot/into the doorway!

"Bang--"!

The inn door is closed.

The note in Ding Fan's hand fluttered down, revealing the black ink on it:

The plan has been revealed, retreat quickly!

The author has something to say: the names of places and ethnic groups are all fake, so don’t take the textual research party seriously, eh

Do you feel that my painting style has changed suddenly when I get serious? 2333

In fact, the protagonist group has already appeared. Can you guess which wave it is?If the team is sure, guess who is who?