Hanhou

The weather was beautiful, and on the opening day of the Hushi Market, Bian County ushered in another sunny day.

The north wind was still cold, but it couldn't stop the caravan.

The three Guijiang Biebu were stationed in one place, and hundreds of tents were erected along the east and west sides of the city flag.The tents are well arranged and lined up to form a long road that can accommodate carriages.On both sides of the long road, many caravans have already laid down their horses and started to stop and unload their goods.

Trading in the Hu market also requires a wooden sign, but there are no restrictions on the number of entry and exit and market goods.

As the Wuhuan merchants spread the news, the Qiang, Di, Dingling, Xianbei and even the Da Yuezhi tribes successively organized teams to drive fat sheep, bullocks and horses to trade in the market.

Tribes with feuds meet halfway, and it is common to draw their knives.But after several quarrels that hurt both sides, being taken advantage of by others and making a profit, the number of bloodshed began to plummet.

The prairie is constantly snowing, and this year's life is very difficult.Even if you want to do it, you have to sell the goods in exchange for goods that can allow the tribesmen to survive the winter safely.

In addition to the Hu people, there are many Han Chinese caravans in the city, but there are not many border residents.During Zhao Jia's journey, he hardly saw many familiar faces, instead, he met several caravans coming from the south.According to Hu Bo, there is a group of fur buyers who come from Jinan County.

"Jinan County?" Zhao Jia looked at the caravan walking on the left.

"In the early years, I met the soldiers who were guarding the border in Jinan, and I could hear the accent." Huber said.

"Oh?" Zhao Jia became interested, "Is there still contact now?"

"It's gone." Huber shook his head, "He died in battle on the grassland 20 years ago, and even his bones have not been recovered."

Hu Bo's tone was very flat, but Zhao Jia's heart was heavy.

For the next part of the journey, no one in the team spoke again.

Passing the city flag, receiving the wooden sign, and unloading the cart at the bustling street, Zhao Jia stomped his feet vigorously to dispel the sudden chill and cheer himself up by the way.

He bought half a cart of rice in the military market, and nearly one-third of it was glutinous rice.Mrs. Sun led the women to work all day long, made rice cakes, cut them into walnut-sized pieces and dried them in the sun, and put them into rattan baskets covered with muslin.

The amount of caramel was not much, so it was directly omitted by Zhao Jia.The rice cake itself tastes good, and the rare thing is the most expensive, so it can be sold for a good price.

Before leaving for Hushi, Zhao Jia asked craftsmen to help him and made two clay stoves that could be moved.The finished product is very rough and basically won't last long.The craftsmen were very dissatisfied, but Zhao Jia didn't care.Anyway, he didn't plan to be in the rice cake business for a long time, adhering to the principle of one-shot trading, from the very beginning, Zhao Jia decided to charge high prices, be a black-hearted businessman, and ruthlessly slaughter fat sheep.

The cart was parked by the side of the road, and Qing Zhuang smashed down the hitch, and unloaded the rattan basket and mud stove from the cart.

The mud stove cannot be ignited directly, the snow needs to be cleared, and dry firewood should be put on the bottom.

The young and strong moved quickly. After the fire was lit, they spread the grill made by Wei Qing Mo Ling, lifted the rattan basket, and put the rice cakes on the fire to roast.When the aroma of rice cakes gradually wafted out, Qing Zhuang lit a second clay stove, put clay pots on the stove, boiled hot soup, sprinkled in the seasoning made by Mrs. Sun's chicken soup, and the fragrance immediately wafted away.

There is no need to yell and sell, and a group of people will soon gather in front of the booth.

Zhao Jia clasped his hands and whispered to Hu Bo a few times.

Huber nodded and waved his hand to his side, immediately three or four young and strong men stepped forward, pointing to the extra tempting rice cakes, and offered the price that Zhao Jia had set.

"Why is it so expensive?" A Hu merchant wanted to buy a piece, but was taken aback by the price.

When the two sides were negotiating prices, two or three Han people dressed as merchants walked by.They were obviously no strangers to rice cakes, and when they heard Zhao Jia's price, they stopped one after another, wanting to see if the business could be done.

"This cake has a sweet taste, it's not easy to make, and the price is naturally high." According to Zhao Jia's previous instruction, Qing Zhuang repeated it expressionlessly.Then he pulled out a short knife from his waist, cut a piece of the baked rice cake, and handed it to Hu Shang who asked for the price.

"If you don't believe me, let's try it."

Unexpectedly, there was such an operation, and Hu Shang couldn't help being taken aback.Confirming that this mouthful does not require money, I immediately took it and put it in my mouth. I was so hot that I inhaled, but I still couldn't bear to spit it out.

After swallowing the rice cake, the merchant Hu bought it for 20 yuan without hesitation.

With Jin Zhu and Fu Mao in hand, Zhao Jia carefully lowered the corners of his mouth, and gave Qing Zhuang a thumbs up, signaling to make persistent efforts.

Witnessing the whole process, the merchants from other counties couldn't help being envious.But if I don't have this vision, I can't make this money.However, they were very interested in Zhao Jia's fur, knowing that Qing Zhuang was not the person in charge, so they approached Huber directly, hoping to carry out a market exchange.

Zhao Jia nodded to Uncle Hu, another deal was done.

In view of the good quality of the fur and the top-grade red fox fur, the price in the market is [-]% higher than that in the military market.The merchants didn't bargain too much, and quickly exchanged wooden signs, and both were very satisfied.

As for how low Zhao Jia's exchange cost was, it didn't affect the deal at all.

No matter how much profit Zhao Jia made, that was his skill.Not to mention that the business of Hongshang can still make a lot of money, and there is no loss at all. Even if the profit is a little less, it will not cause trouble because of it, let alone expose it to Hu merchants.

Baked rice cakes are the only one in Hushi, and there is delicious hot soup as a gift. The news spread like wind, and more and more Hu merchants gathered in front of the booth, and the baskets of rice cakes they brought were sold out quickly.Some people wanted to buy clay stoves, but Zhao Jia shook his head, expressing that he would not sell them.In view of the fact that the other party bought nearly half of the basket of rice cakes, one of the tandoors can be given away.

"Good guy!"

Wearing a leather robe with a left lapel, the extremely burly businessman of the Da Yue clan was very happy. In addition to the good horse for trading rice cakes, he also gave Zhao Jia an extra poor horse that had never been gelded.

Zhao Jia did not accept this gift in vain, and gave the other party another clay stove.

The Da Yue family businessman was even more happy, beating his chest and expressing that he will definitely bring more good horses when he comes back next time.

Zhao Jia smiled and nodded, watched the other party go away, and immediately ordered Hu Bo to set up the car.

Even though it is just a rough horse, its shoulder height is close to 1.5 meters, its neck is thick, its limbs are strong, and it has never been gelded. It is also rare in Han.In a short period of time, no less than three waves of people came forward to ask the price.Not wanting to be entangled, Zhao Jia resolutely leaves.

"The animal skins are all packed, don't leave anything behind."

The young and strong people moved quickly, the carts were set up, the wooden stakes were taken out in one go, and one by one they were tied to the carts.The traded cattle, sheep and horses were all behind the car, and the team left Hushi at the fastest speed and headed towards the livestock farm.

Passing a newly built beacon tower on the way, I met two scouts returning from the north.Zhao Jia accidentally discovered that the mounts of these scouts were not only equipped with new harnesses, but also had horseshoes on them.

"What are you looking at, Mr. Hu?" Hu Bo asked, "But there is something strange?"

"No." Zhao Jia shook his head, and began to think in his heart, since the horseshoes had appeared, they should also be nailed to the horses in the farm.But before doing it, I still have to go to the prefect's mansion to pay a visit.

After the team traveled a certain distance, the beacon tower was nowhere to be seen.

Zhao Jia tightened his leather jacket, and said to Hu Bo: "What happened to the things that were searched before?"

"The person who went sent back a message saying that the matter has already begun. Don't worry, sir. If you send more people, within a few days, there should be good news back." Hu Bo said.

"That's good." Zhao Jia nodded.

He knew how to make cement, but it was useless without the raw materials.After the raw materials are found, a cement kiln will be built for firing.Things are more troublesome, it is always the first step.Next, as long as there are no accidents, the craftsmen of the two villages should be able to make cement before the snow melts.

"Lang Jun, it's windy again, I'm afraid it will snow again."

Zhao Jia looked up at the sky, and sure enough, he saw dark clouds piled up.There was no longer any further delay, and a whistle was issued to order everyone to speed up and try their best to get back to the livestock farm before the snow fell.

The wind was getting stronger and stronger, the cattle and sheep began to huddle together, and the speed of the team was constantly being slowed down.Zhao Jia made a decisive decision and asked Ji Bao to go back to the livestock farm first to bring in more manpower to ensure that the exchanged livestock would not get lost in the snow.

"Go, don't delay!"

After Ji Bao left, Hu Bo led Qing Zhuang to try his best to stabilize the flock, and the howling of wolves was faintly heard in the wind and snow, making the situation worse.

The gust of wind hits head-on, making people unable to open their eyes.

The bay red horse stamped restlessly. Zhao Jia raised his arms to block his eyes. He was considering whether to stop the team and wait for the responders to arrive before moving forward. The instinct of danger suddenly struck him, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. After hesitating for the slightest, his body suddenly fell forward, clinging tightly to the horse's neck, narrowly avoiding the flying arrows.

"Lang Jun!"

Both Hu Bo and Qing Zhuang were startled, they were about to go forward, but they were hit by arrows again, the two Qing Zhuang fell off their horses one after another, and the flock was in chaos.

"The thief!"

The Qing Zhuang who landed moved twice before making no sound. Zhao Jia was so angry that he took off the bow and arrow from the horse, aimed at the moving black shadow in the distance, and shot three arrows in a row.

The strong wind missed the aim of the arrow, and the black shadow moved quickly without any injuries.

Zhao Jia wanted to draw the bow again, but a cold wind came from behind him, he turned sideways to avoid two arrows, the third arrow came in a flash, and the arrow pierced through his shoulder.

"Lang Jun, it's a crossbow!" Hu Bo roared loudly, "They are using crossbows!"

crossbow? !

The attackers began to approach, and regardless of the pain in his shoulder, Zhao Jia opened his bow again.It's a pity that the wind was too strong, out of the seven arrows shot, only three hit the target, none of them were fatal injuries, they could only slightly slow down the opponent's speed.

The distance between the two sides is getting closer and closer, and there are as many as 11 attackers!All of them are strong, wearing short brown leather boots, with belts around their waists, and their hair is askew. They have a sturdy aura, which is very different from the army, more like a group of lunatics.

"Robbers?"

Bows and arrows couldn't do much, so Zhao Jia drew out the dagger worn on his body, and separated from Hubo Qingzhuang, trying not to give the other party a chance to catch them all.

Fortunately, the opponent didn't have a continuous crossbow in his hand. Although it was powerful, it took time to wind it up.

Taking advantage of this gap, several young men cooperated with each other and killed the two sneak attackers on the spot.Zhao Jiace rushed forward and grabbed a sneak attacker's neck with a short knife in his hand.The latter rolled on the spot, avoiding the vital points, and fought back with his backhand. The bay red horse stood up, and its front hooves slammed down, and the sound of bone cracking suddenly sounded.

At this moment, a sound of horseshoes broke through the wind, and more than 20 young and healthy women rushed forward with whips, and with the help of the impact of the horses, knocked the attacker away on the spot.

Two people saw that the situation was not going well and wanted to escape. Qing Zhuang did not open his bow, but waved the lasso, once, twice, three times, taking advantage of the weak wind, he accurately put it on the target's body and dragged him to the ground .

Of the eleven attackers, six were killed by Zhao Jiaqingzhuang, three were seriously injured and unable to move, and the other two were tied up with horse ropes.

Zhao Jia's wound was numb from the pain, Uncle Xiong asked Qing Zhuang to gather the cattle and sheep, and quickly came to Zhao Jia, seeing the wound on his body, his expression changed immediately, and he said, "Hurry up and go back to the livestock farm!"

"Don't worry, I didn't..." Before he finished speaking, Zhao Jia's eyes darkened, and his body suddenly leaned forward.If Xiong Bo reacted quickly and caught him on the spot, he might fall to the ground.

"go!"

Handing over the aftermath to Ji Bao, Uncle Xiong and Uncle Hu whipped their horses and escorted Zhao Jia and the two injured young men back to the livestock farm.

Unable to determine Zhao Jia's condition, Ji Bao and the others were in a state of desperation, gathered the dead young corpses, retrieved the lost cattle, sheep and horses, swung down the whip with red eyes, and whipped the attackers into howls.It was not until the five people who were still alive were lying on the ground that they were tied behind the horses and dragged all the way back to the livestock farm.

In the livestock farm, everyone was shocked to see Zhao Jia and Qing Zhuang whose half body was stained red with blood.The doctor was almost carried up by the teenagers. After standing still, he had no time to catch his breath. After testing the breath and body temperature of the three people, he hurriedly opened the medicine box, took out the arrowheads for the three people, and healed the wounds.

"This is a crossbow bolt."

The doctor took out the arrow and found that it had been poisoned, his face turned livid.Carefully inspecting Zhao Jia's condition, and even tasted his blood, he did not dare to delay, let Zhao Puonu and Wei Qing fetch the dried herbs, chop them and boil them in the house to make a detoxifying decoction. Feed Zhao Jia and Qing Zhuang down.

"I'm here to guard." The doctor put down the wooden pipe that delivered the medicine, and said to Hu Bo and the others, "Feeding poison on the arrow is not like a bandit, but more like a ranger."

"Ranger?" Everyone present was taken aback.

"Did you catch him alive?" The doctor turned his head. He was a kind-hearted, harmless little old man, but his expression at this moment made his scalp tingle and his feet felt cold.

"Catch five."

"Call me when you ask questions." The doctor put a muslin soaked in medicinal juice on Zhao Jia's wound, and said coldly, "They are here to kill people. Just whipping the whip may not be able to ask anything."

Uncle Xiong and Uncle Hu looked at each other and nodded at the same time.

When Ji Bao and others returned to the livestock farm, Zhao Jia and Qing Zhuang's injuries had stabilized. As long as they didn't have a fever tonight, they would be able to wake up tomorrow.

The snow on the ground was higher than the feet, and the deepest part was below the ankles. The attacker was dragged all the way, but did not suffer much injury.

Seeing the young and strong corpse on horseback, several women and girls cried bitterly on the spot.The two women even picked up wooden sticks and threw them on the assailant viciously.It won't kill them, but it will make them suffer so much that life is worse than death.

"Take them to the old circle and tie them all up."

After the woman finished venting, the attackers who were limp on the ground were dragged into the sheepfold and tied to wooden stakes.

Uncle Xiong flicked his whip, and the sound of the whip exploded.The assailant's face was grim, the whip fell on his body, and he screamed in pain, but he turned a deaf ear to Uncle Xiong's question and didn't answer at all.After twenty lashes, he couldn't even find out his identity.

Uncle Xiong put down his whip and sent someone to find the doctor.

After a while, the medical craftsman came with the medical box on his back, glanced at the villain tied to the wooden post, took out a clay bottle from the box, uncorked the bottle, and sprinkled the medicine powder inside on the whip.

"Continue to smoke."

Uncle Xiong swung his whip again, with just one lash, the attacker's eyes popped out, and his screams were completely inhuman.After ten lashes, finally one of them couldn't hold on anymore, trembling and began to spit.

The doctor guessed right, they were indeed not bandits, they were all rangers from Yan and Chu.The reason why they attacked Zhao Jia and others was to steal the horse.

"Steal the horse?" Everyone didn't believe this kind of rhetoric at all.

"Really, it's really for robbing the horse!" The ranger repeated the same words, but refused to say more about the reason for the death.

Uncle Xiong felt impatient, and the doctor took out another clay bottle. The ranger was terrified, seeing the powder sprinkled on the horsewhip, he couldn't hold on any longer, and finally collapsed completely.

It turned out that they had assassinated Wei Yue and wanted to assassinate Wei Shang a few days ago, but unfortunately they failed and lost a lot of people.Now they are being searched by the frontier army, and all the horses and luggage are lost.I wanted to snatch horses from the villages before, but found that all the villages were tightly guarded, and there was no way to start.Hearing the news of Hushi, he simply lay in ambush by the side of the road, planning to rob a caravan.

After explaining the cause and effect clearly, the ranger was panting heavily, sweat and blood mixed together, making his face even more ferocious.

"He's telling the truth?" Huber frowned.

"Most of them should be true," Xiong Bo said.

Assassinating the prefect of a county is a serious crime of beheading, and no one would make up such an excuse.But the reason for the sneak attack on Zhao Jia's team is open to debate.Judging by the viciousness of the opponent, it is clear that he wants to kill them all.

Indeed, it can be explained as not wanting to leak traces, but how to explain that most of the attacks were concentrated on Zhao Jia?

"Keep an eye on them, don't let them run away, and don't freeze to death. Wait until the lord wakes up, let him make the decision." Uncle Xiong threw the whip to Ji Bao, turned and walked out of the old circle.

The ranger was tied to a wooden stake, staring at the closed fence, dejected on the surface, but secretly swore that if he could escape this time, he would kill all the people in this place, leaving no one behind!