“Girl, we don’t just have the green bamboo leaves here, we also have the famous Ganhe wine.
This wine was produced in Hedong. At that time, the fine wine of Xinghua Village attracted officials, literati and military officials from all over the country, and local scholars to visit and study. Everyone who passed by smelled the fragrance and dismounted, and drank it for pleasure.
Li Bai, Du Fu, etc. all came here to drink and write poems, and Du Mu's "Qingming" poem was even more famous. The name of the wine was spread to the court, and the tasting was so good that the state paid tribute. Because of its novel brewing technology, it was named " Qianhe".
The price is the same as the bamboo leaf green wine. If you want to bring it to the elders in your family, you can try these two.
It's a coincidence, girl. We just bought some goods yesterday afternoon, and there are still some. These two types are supplied to the largest restaurant in the city. Usually only the wealthy ones buy them in the wine shop, so Usually not much is left. "
Qingyan can also understand that this is equivalent to the kind of special offer. Some restaurants have some special offers as a gimmick. If you can't drink or eat them elsewhere, you can raise the price.
At this time, the clerk Xiaoshan also came back and said to the shopkeeper: "There are two jars of ten kilograms and one jar of five kilograms left in the back."
Shopkeeper: "Go and see if there is still some dry wine."
Xiaoshan ran to the back and took a look, then ran back and said: "There are more dry and wine, and there are forty catties. They are all ten catties in a jar."
The shopkeeper looked at Qingyan and said, "That's all. Girl, do you want them all? If you want them all, I can keep the price down for you."
When Qingyan heard that it weighed dozens of kilograms, she said happily: "I want all these. The shopkeeper has to give me the lowest price. You also have to guarantee the quality of the wine. I'm buying this as a gift." As an elder, you can’t let me lose face.”
The shopkeeper gave a serious assurance, "Don't worry, girl, my Zuixianzhuang has been here for decades, and has been here since my grandfather's generation, so I won't ruin my sign for these dozens of kilograms of wine.
And because of the girl’s filial piety, the price I’ll give you must be the lowest. My bamboo leaf sake and dry sake are usually two taels of silver per catty. This total is sixty-five catties, which should be one hundred and thirty. Two, girl, just give me one or twenty taels. How about I give her ten taels cheaper? "
Upon hearing this, Qingyan felt that it was acceptable, nodded, and directly handed over a silver note worth one hundred and two taels.
The shopkeeper carefully checked the authenticity of the bank note and placed it directly in the money box under the counter.
Then he asked Qingyan, "Miss, do you think this wine needs to be delivered to where the girl lives?"
Qingyan shook her head, "No, my horse is right outside the door. Just put it in the basket on the horse's back. It should be able to fit it."
The shopkeeper and two waiters helped move the wine out. First, they stretched out their hands to test whether the basket was strong enough to prevent the wine jar from being broken at the door before leaving.
She found that the basket was quite sturdy, so she first took out the food box inside. Qingyan had already asked Chou Chou to put her baggage and stones into the space. Sixty-five kilograms fit 35 kilograms on one side and three on the other. If you put the food box on the ten or thirty kilogram side, it will be almost the same as the other side.
In this way, the two sides are just balanced. After walking forward for a while, when there is no one, let Chou Chou put them all into the space. It doesn't matter if the two baskets are empty.
After thanking the shopkeeper and the two waiters, Qingyan led the horse towards the east city gate.
There were a lot of people on the road at this time, and there were many horse-drawn carriages going back and forth. They must have gone out because it was not so hot in the morning.
Because there were people traveling together along the way, there was no chance to put the wine into the space, so I had to walk forward slowly, fearing that the wine jar would be broken if I walked too fast.
After walking for more than forty minutes, I reached the city gate. People flowed out of the city from the right gate. After crossing the moat, Qingyan headed towards the path on the right.
There were very few people on the path. After walking about 200 meters, there was a fork to the right. The traces on the road were very new. There should be villages and towns over there, and people walked around every day.
Qingyan turned in along the path, and finally no one was walking the same way, so Chou Chou took everything in, not even leaving the basket outside.
Qingyan got on her horse and ran forward along the path.
Chou Chou used his spiritual sense to investigate. There was a town two miles ahead, and there were five or six villages around it. After passing these villages, there was a big mountain. They could go into the mountain and wait until dark.
Without stopping along the way, we passed several villages at full speed and entered the mountains directly.
Some villagers who were working in the fields raised their heads when they heard the sound of horse hooves, and saw a burst of dust flying on the road. Before they could clearly see the person on the horse, the horse had already disappeared.
"Brother, did you just see someone passing by on horseback?"
A farmer in his thirties said to his brother next to him.
The elder brother on the side nodded and said with some confusion: "I see, our road is not a big road, but there are people passing by on horseback. I don't know what they are doing in that mountain?"
The younger brother squinted his eyes and guessed: "Could there be something good in the mountain? Didn't our master say that there was someone in the mountain who once occupied the mountain and became a king? Later, the emperor proclaimed himself emperor in Xingtang Mansion and sent a general to encircle and suppress him. The den of thieves was taken away.
At that time, the treasures were gold, silver and jewels, and it took two full days to pull them with an ox cart. Could there be some hidden in them that have not been found?
Maybe that person just now is the descendant of the bandit who slipped through the net! "
The elder brother looked at him with a surprised look on his face, actually feeling that what his brother said made sense.
However, they just thought about it, and they would never dare to go into the mountains to have a look. Not to mention that there were many wild animals in the mountains, but if they were really the descendants of thieves, ordinary people like them would only die if they encountered him.
Qingyan didn't know that she was just passing by people at a high speed, which aroused people's thoughts. Of course, it didn't matter if they knew, it had no impact on her anyway.
Before entering the mountain, Chou Chou said to Qingyan: "It seems we don't need to take out the car for emergency. There is actually the ruins of a cottage in the mountain. No one has lived there for some years, but some houses are still intact. of.
Especially since there is a darkroom inside. No, it should be called a basement more appropriately. There is a large underground stone room dug under the house, and there are things in it! "
Qingyan became interested immediately after hearing this, "Where is that place? Was it a bandit's den before?"
Chou Chou: "Looking at the layout, it should be the residence of the bandits who dominate the mountains. Most people will not build a village in this deep mountain. Not to mention the inconvenience of transportation, even those wild beasts can feed them a pot.
This cottage seems to be quite large, so it must have been surrounded by a large number of officers and soldiers. Otherwise, the terrain is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it cannot be easily taken over by anyone.
Moreover, those bandits should have been executed on the spot, because in a mountain stream behind the village there were many white bones scattered around. Judging from the rotten clothes, they should be the bones of those bandits. Of course, there were also many officers and soldiers. I I also saw some armor inside. "
Qingyan was not interested in this. She was more concerned about the things in the underground cave, so she then asked: "Then what are the things in the underground stone chamber you mentioned? Are they gold, silver and jewelry?"
Chou Chou: "It's some gold and silver jewelry and some jade and coral ornaments. They all look like treasures. They are placed in a secret room in an underground stone room. There should be many in the cave before. They may be officers and soldiers who were encircled and suppressed." Got it taken away.
I don’t know whether the bandit was not interrogated because of his stubborn words, or whether he was killed directly before he could say anything. Anyway, he was not discovered and was preserved.
The design of this underground cave is also good. There are either talents in this village who are skilled in the mechanism, or people who are proficient in the mechanism were specially found from outside to do it.
It is very dry inside, and the hidden compartment is even more vacuum-like. The gold and silver jewelry has not been oxidized until now, and is still as good as new. "
"Then show me the way. Let's go there. We'll just wait there until dark and pick up the things on the way."
She planned to go over there and take a closer look, just as a ruins adventure.
As for the mountain stream where the bones were piled up, they were all already bones anyway, so there was nothing to be afraid of. But she was accompanied by Chou Chou, an ancient beast, and she didn't think that monsters or monsters could hurt her at all.
After entering the forest, Chou Chou also came out of the space, squatted on Qingyan's shoulder, and directed the horse to go into the forest.
The mountain is big, but not steep. Although there is no road, it is not difficult to walk.
The main reason is that the mountain forests in the north are not like tropical rainforests or mountain forests in the south. The vines in them are crisscrossed and difficult to walk. In the mountain forests in the north, there are mostly deep weeds on the ground. The trees are all straight and there are some gaps in the middle. Riding Horses can pass too.
Coupled with the fact that Chou Chou has the spiritual consciousness to explore the path, he basically won’t step into any pitfalls.
Following the route pointed by Chou Chou, she headed southwest. On the way, she saw a lot of ripe wild fruits. Qingyan couldn't help but pick some and put them in Chou Chou's space.
There was nothing she could do about it, she always felt that it would be a waste if she didn't pick it after seeing it.
Not only that, but I also picked up a few nests of pheasant eggs on the road and shot a few pheasants.
In fact, pheasant meat is much more delicious than hare meat. Hare meat has an earthy smell when cooked alone, so it tastes better when stewed with pheasant.
Pheasant is fine on its own, and mushrooms can also be stewed.
There were a lot of mushrooms in the woods due to the rain the day before yesterday, and Qingyan knew most of these mushrooms, and they were not poisonous.
Like the umbrella-shaped white mushrooms that grow under poplar trees, and some comatus mushrooms that grow under peach trees, each one looks like a big drumstick.
This was delicious stir-fried or stewed as chicken, and Qingyan couldn't help but get off her horse and pick a lot.
She asked Chou Chou. The distance to the mountain village was not very far. If you walked normally, you could get there in one or two hours into the mountain.
Anyway, she had plenty of time, so she was not in a hurry. She walked and stopped on the road, and it took her three hours to reach the abandoned cottage.
Looking at the ruins of the cottage in front of me, I finally realized what Chou Chou had just mentioned about the large scale of the cottage.
She counted dozens of stone houses and adobe houses that had collapsed or were still standing, and there were dozens of them. They were all as large as a large village!
Today's villages are not like those of later generations, with hundreds or even thousands of people. Nowadays, as long as there are more than five households, it can be considered a small village. With dozens of yards, you can imagine that the scale is not small.
There are not only houses built of stone and adobe in this village, but also a watchtower built of stone.
This watchtower is three or four stories high, thick at the bottom and thin at the top. Only a few people can stand sentinel at the top.
There is also water brought from the mountain spring in the cottage, forming a pool not far away, which should be used for their daily water supply.
A well was dug in one of the large courtyards. The courtyard wall of the largest courtyard was made of stone and had not collapsed. It was obvious that it was quite strong when it was built before.
Qingyan curiously climbed up to the inside of the watchtower and took a look. Standing on the top of the watchtower, she looked around and found that the view here was really good.
Because this is the high point of the mountain, you can basically see everything from the three- or four-story observation tower without being blocked.
Of course, the places with dense trees on the mountain must be somewhat obscured, but if someone walks among them, they can still find it. Unless there is no moonlight at night, there is nothing you can do.
Normally, if those officers and soldiers came to encircle and suppress them on a large scale, they should be able to see them here, but thinking about it, even if they were seen, it seems to be of no use. Unless they escape directly, they will still have to fight to the death.
After coming down from the watchtower, Qingyan went to the largest room in the middle, which should be where the owner of the village lived.
There are a total of six rooms in the large courtyard. They are still intact. Of course, they cannot be said to be intact. The windows and doors are still damaged.
It must have been destroyed during a very fierce fight.
When we walked in, the tables, chairs and benches inside were all complete, but there were a lot of black stains on them, and I didn't know if they were blood stains from before.
Because no one has lived in it and no one has taken care of it for many years, grass has grown on the ground in the house. The grass has grown out of the gaps in the stone bricks on the floor. It is really tenacious.
The yard is also overgrown with weeds, but there is a stone paved path leading outside the yard, so it doesn't affect walking in.
Qingyan did not look at other rooms but went straight to the room on the far right. Chou Chou said that the entrance to the underground cave was in that room.
Sure enough, when I got there, I found a wooden cabinet lying on its side and a hole as high as a person in the wall.
I think that the wooden cabinet was probably used to block the entrance before. It was directly destroyed by the officers and soldiers. They thought that there was nothing inside, so they didn't bother to restore it.
Qingyan asked Chou Chou to take out a high-beam flashlight, and after opening it, he entered the hole directly. The hole was always open, so there should be no problem of lack of oxygen inside.
Entering the cave entrance is a stone staircase that goes straight down and is a bit steep.
The entrance is very secretive. From the outside of the house, the wall is just a little thick, and there is nothing special about it.
The air gets drier the further you go down. Sure enough, as Chou Chou said, this underground stone chamber is very carefully made and is not damp at all.
(End of chapter)
