At noon, Zhu Shenzui and his party walked out of Yangtou Mountain and continued eastward after leaving the mountain.
That night, the group arrived at Dayu Ridge and camped, rested there for another night, and continued on their way the next day. In the evening, they finally arrived at their destination, Zhao Village.
When they arrived in Zhaocun, Zhu Shenzui's tight strings finally relaxed, and the next thing was much simpler. There were Zhu Shenzui's collaborators in Zhaocun, and everyone trusted each other in many transactions and worked step by step. After delivering the goods and settling the accounts, when the money was received, the salt trip was completely completed.
According to the plan, it was originally planned to rest in Zhaocun for two days before returning, but due to the incident at Yangtou Mountain, Zhu Shenzui made a temporary adjustment.
He asked Wang Jinwu to stay and help Wang Chuer, Wang Gui and others stay in Zhao Village for a few more days, firstly to purchase some things, which were naturally the food promised to Li Hu, including farm tools and seeds.
Secondly, Zhu Shenzui wants to take a trip to Pingshun in the north. Pingshun is not far from Zhao Village. Zhu Shenzui's return trip will only take three or four days at most. If there are no accidents, when he comes back, he will tell Wang The things done by the second graders are almost done.
When going to Pingshun, Zhu Shenzui went alone without taking anyone with him.
After leaving Zhaocun, we quickly climbed onto the official road and headed north.
The official road was much easier to walk than the small road from Yan. In half a day, we walked more than 20 miles. Looking at the sun, we found a place on the roadside to rest temporarily and drink some water.
As soon as he sat down, Zhu Shenzui was taking out his water bag and drinking water. Before he could take a few sips, he heard the rapid sound of horse hooves.
For a moment, Zhu Shenzui put down the water bag and turned his head to look in the direction of the sound of horse hooves.
I saw a cloud of dust and smoke rising not far behind, and in a blink of an eye, I saw four horses running towards me.
The leader is a young general. This young general is wearing double-breasted soft chain mail. The three riders behind him are all double-breasted cotton armor. These people are riding war horses. There are sabers and three-eyed blazing guns hanging next to the saddles. The way they were dressed, Zhu Shenzui recognized at a glance that this was the equipment of the frontier cavalry.
Zhu Shenzhui felt a little strange. After all, the current location was not close to Jiubian. Logically speaking, how could the border army come here? Moreover, the young man in the lead looked to be about eighteen or nineteen years old, about the same age as Zhu Shenzui, but he was wearing the uniform of a mid-level officer, and he was at least a deputy general manager in terms of rank.
Slightly lost in thought, the four horses flew past Zhu Shenzui like a gust of wind. The young general at the front just glanced at Zhu Shenzui who was resting on the roadside, but did not stop and continued to gallop.
In the blink of an eye, the four riders disappeared, leaving only the dust rising on the official road slowly falling.
Zhu Shenzui didn't pay attention and continued to sit and rest. After drinking water, he rested for about half a stick of incense before getting up and continuing to walk forward.
In the evening, Zhu Shenzui finally came to a place south of Pingshun along the official road. It was not far from Pingshun. About a few miles further, there was Pingshun City.
Zhu Shenzui did not enter the city. He came to Pingshun not to enter Pingshun City. His purpose was to enter a small town in the south of the city. There was a post station here, and the post manager of this post station, Zhou Anmin, was Zhu Shenzui's brother-in-law.
Zhu Shenzui's eldest sister Zhu Xiu'er got married several years ago and moved from Pingyang to Pingshun.
Brother-in-law Zhou Anmin was originally from an official family, but the family business has long been ruined over the past hundred years. Zhou Anmin, the Yi Cheng, sounds good, but in fact he has no rank. The so-called Yi Cheng is the director of a local government guest house. That’s all.
Although Zhu Xiuer is the clan daughter, and it stands to reason that there are rules for clan daughters to marry, their family is a low-level clan.
It has been more than two hundred years since the founding of the People's Republic of China. There are so many clans in the entire Ming Dynasty. Low-level clan daughters like Zhu Xiuer have long been dissatisfied with marrying. Moreover, the Yi Cheng has an iron rice bowl no matter what. On weekdays, he can still make money from the entertainment fees for going to and from the post. You can get some benefits by meeting generous residents. Marrying Zhou Anmin is much better than marrying an ordinary citizen.
Zhou Anmin is suitable for Zhu Xiuer in terms of both age and appearance. After the two got married, they were very affectionate. Zhu Xiuer gave birth to two sons for Zhou Anmin. The eldest Zhou Chong is five years old this year. The second oldest Zhou Bin is three years old this year. Their two nephews are smart. Lively, the family can be considered harmonious and beautiful.
After the death of his father and brother, Zhu Shenzui shouldered the burden of the family alone. At that time, Zhu Shenzui had not yet led Wangjiacun to smuggle salt. At that time, not only did Zhu Shenzui have to survive, but his sister-in-law Zhang and his newborn baby were also at home. My niece Qiaoer also needs to be fed.
At that time, thanks to their sister and husband, they came from Pingshun to help with the funeral arrangements. When they left, they left some silver coins for Zhu Shenzui and told him to contact him if anything happened. Although Zhou Anmin's family also Although he is not rich, being a Yi Cheng is still much better than that of an ordinary family. Everyone is a relative and they will never stand idly by if they can help.
Speaking of which, Zhu Shenzui led people from Wangjiacun to smuggle salt. The initial capital came from Wang Anmin. If it weren't for the money that Wang Anmin left behind when he left, Zhu Shenzui would have done it even if he wanted to do the private salt business. No.
In the past two years, Zhu Shenzui's life has gradually become much better thanks to his private salt business, and even Wangjiacun has benefited a lot.
Drinking water remembers the source, Zhu Shenzui always remembers the help from his sister, brother-in-law, so every time he goes to Zhaocun, whenever he has time, he will take time to visit his sister, brother-in-law, and two nephews in Pingshun. They have a deep affection for each other.
They arrived at the post station as they knew each other well. As soon as Zhu Shenzhui entered the door, he met the postman Old Tang who came out. Old Tang was already a grandfather in his fifties and had been a postman here all his life.
"Hey Master Six, you're here. I haven't seen you for a few days." When he saw Zhu Shenzui, Old Tang greeted him with a grin. He was wearing a patched robe with wrinkles on his face and his teeth were old. He also lost a lot, and his mouth seemed empty when he smiled.
"Uncle Tang, how are you doing?"
"Okay! I'm sorry for your thoughts, Mr. Six, but my old man is in good health! Mr. Six, are you here to see the master and his wife? Come in quickly, please come in. There are distinguished guests just now. The master is entertaining the master and the young master in the south courtyard. They are all in the backyard, you can go there by yourself, old man, I have to do some work first." As he said that, Old Tang pointed to the things in his hands. He was holding a large bundle of fodder and seemed to be heading to the side yard.
"Who is passing by today?" Zhu Shenzui asked subconsciously.
Old Tang shook his head and said with a smile: "It's not the Lord in the court, but the Fifth Young Master who guards General Black in Zhangjiakou."
"Zhangjiakou is guarding the Black General's son?" Zhu Shenzui frowned and asked in confusion.
Old Tang nodded, and told Zhu Shenzui that this black general was actually Hei Yunlong, the former avant-garde commander of Xuanfu, who had just been promoted to Zhangjiakou garrison by decree of the imperial court.
When he mentioned Hei Yunlong and Zhu Shenzui, he suddenly realized that Hei Yunlong was also from Shanxi. His hometown was in Datong, and he and Zhu Shenzui were fellow townsmen.
However, Hei Yunlong had always served in the Xuanfu, serving as the avant-garde commander. Zhu Shenzui had also heard of the Datong Hei family, but had never seen it. He did not expect that Hei Yunlong's family son would appear here.
With a slight movement in his heart, Zhu Shenzui followed Old Tang to the side yard and took a look. As expected, there were several horses grazing in the stables over there. Zhu Shenzui recognized them at a glance. They were the horses he had met on the way. , isn’t one of them the young general’s mount? The young general who had been making trouble for a long time turned out to be the fifth son of Hei Yunlong.
After learning the identity of the other party, Zhu Shenzui had no intention of meeting him.
After all, his identity was too sensitive. When he left Pingyang City, Zhu Shenzui used Wang Shen's pseudonym, and the household registration and documents he used were not his own.
Moreover, he had no friendship with the Hei family. Hei Yunlong was a border general. It would not be a good thing for a low-level clan member to contact the border general if someone found out. Besides, he came here to visit his sister and brother-in-law, and he didn't want to get into any trouble.
After leaving the side yard, Zhu Shenzui went straight to the backyard where his sister and brother-in-law lived.
The backyard of the post station is the residence of Yi Cheng, which is somewhat similar to the government office. However, unlike the county government office, the conditions of the post station are naturally much worse. Even the backyard is just an ordinary small courtyard.
