After scolding the old man who had been following him for a long time, the strong man's gloomy expression still didn't ease until dark.
He knows that many things originate from the bud. If the idea cannot be strangled as soon as it appears, it will be too late to curb it when it grows up.
Taking advantage of the last ray of sunset, the strong man determined the direction and led the caravan off the road to a forest sheltered from the wind.
This forest is a pine forest. Outside the forest, there is a large flat open space. It looks like it has been tidied up by someone. It should be the usual place for caravans to camp.
After leading the people here, the strong man jumped off his horse and looked around before asking others to come down and prepare to camp for the night.
The carriages were parked in a row, blocking the way in. As for the pack horses, there were naturally people wiping their sweat and feeding them bean cakes.
After all, after working hard all day, it’s time to give people something good to eat.
The snow in the open space was swept away, and soon several large and small fires were lit.
Because this camp is backed by a forest, there is no shortage of firewood. In addition, pine trees are easy to burn, and the fire tonight is especially big. It only takes less than a while to burn the moist land. Dry up.
While others were doing this work, Xiao Han, Cheng Yaojin and others also jumped out of the carriage.
The son of the caravan boss was right. The three of them did not work. Except for occasionally helping out, they spent most of their time watching others work.
There was no other way. Both Cheng Yaojin and Luo Shixin thought that they were dignified generals. How could they do the work that only servants could do? Therefore, even Xiao Han, who was willing to help, could only watch on the sidelines.
Traveling in winter is hard, but in some aspects, it also has benefits that are not available in summer.
For example, there are no mosquitoes or flies at this time, and few wild animals.
For example, there is no need to worry about food spoilage or lack of water.
The biting north wind not only froze the breeding bacteria, but also brought abundant water sources to the people on the way.
Use a few thick wooden sticks to support the hanging pot on the fire, and then put a few handfuls of soft white snow into the pot. Watch the snow melt into water little by little, and then gradually stir in the pot. The whole process is also Quite comfortable.
"Huh? Are you eating paste again? Hey, can you change the taste?"
Xiao Han squatted by the fire to warm himself up, and accidentally watched the caravan boss handing out flour one by one, and his stomach couldn't stop churning.
I don’t know how these people feel. Anyway, they can’t stand cooking and eating noodles like this every day. Anyway, you might as well make the dry noodles into noodles!
The strong man heard Xiao Han's complaints, smiled and walked over and said politely: "Haha, thank you for your hard work. You can't be too particular when you are away from home. Please bear with me! When we get to Luzhou, we will be the hosts of a certain house. , I’ll definitely treat a few of you to a feast!”
Xiao Han suppressed his stomach discomfort, looked at the strong man and asked, "How far is it from Luzhou?"
The strong man squatted down, picked up a few scattered firewood and filled it into the fire in front of Xiao Han. He looked at the moving flames and said slowly: "There are still hundreds of miles to go. We can't walk for ten days. It should be almost there!"
"Ah? There are still ten days left..."
When Xiao Han heard this, he immediately screamed feebly! He was about to ask Cheng Yaojin how far it was from Luzhou to Shandong, but when he turned around, he suddenly found that Cheng Yaojin, who was squatting there just now, had disappeared!
"Hey, where is Cheng Da?"
Xiao Han asked strangely.
When they came out this time, because they didn’t want others to see through their identities, the names of the three people also changed a bit.
Cheng Yaojin was called Cheng Da, Luo Shixin was called Luo Er, and as for Xiao Han, the only name left was Xiao San...
Wait, Xiao San, Xiao San, Xiao San? !
Luo Shixin on the side looked up, looked at Xiao Han and said, "I just went to the woods, I guess I went to the toilet."
"Use the toilet?"
When Xiao Han heard this, he said "Oh" and didn't take it to heart. Instead, he turned around and continued to talk to the caravan boss about coal.
Perhaps because of Ziyi, the caravan boss did not hide his profession when talking to Xiao Han, so Xiao Han soon had a general understanding of their lives.
As an emerging industry, the supply of coal has been increasing in the past two years.
Now around Chang'an, mines have been mined one after another in Shanxi, Gansu and other places to supply Chang'an's huge consumer market.
In addition, the caravan boss even heard that big families were planning coal mines as far away as Shandong and Hebei.
For those families, it is only right to take possession first, regardless of whether they use it or not! Anyway, it’s not very good to grow food in coal-producing areas now, and it’s also cheap to buy!
In this regard, Xiao Han could only sigh secretly.
As a later generation, he knows very well the importance of mastering resources! Now from this point alone, we can see that the success of those big families is no fluke! At least this kind of vision is not something ordinary people can have.
"Then there are only ten of you, how much coal can you transport at one time? Don't you say that three times can't reach a hundred, and ten times can't reach a thousand? Can you make enough money from this trip?"
Looking at the dozen or so people scattered around, Xiao Han was a little confused. There were no coal trains these days. They relied on people to pull horses. How many kilograms of coal could be pulled at a time?
The caravan boss laughed and explained to Xiao Han: "Haha, the third brother Xiao doesn't know something! Naturally, our number of people is not enough. When we go to Luzhou, we can take advantage of the winter leisure to recruit more people and big animals. Then There will be more people then!”
"Isn't charcoal still cheap? How much money can we make from this!"
"Hey, the charcoal we sell is different from the charcoal around Chang'an. This charcoal has no smoke and is resistant to burning, so it is supplied to wealthy families. The price is not bad, and it is no problem to earn hard money from going back and forth. "
Xiao Han was used to one transaction costing tens of thousands of dollars, so he naturally looked down upon this kind of business that required little effort and little profit, but the strong man was quite content with it.
If he didn't take away the horse-biting along the way, he would have at least dozens of coins left. In addition, the female shopkeeper promised to increase the price by 30%, so this trip was worth the previous two trips. This transaction was a joke that could only be dreamed of. Awake.
While the conversation was getting intense, it became completely dark outside.
The tired bird returning to its nest called twice in the sky. Luo Shixin, who had closed his eyes to rest, suddenly opened his eyes and stood up suddenly!
"No! Why hasn't Lao Cheng come back yet?"
Xiao Han was startled by Luo Shixin's actions. When he came to his senses, he slapped his thigh fiercely: "Hey, that's right! After going to the toilet for so long, your butt will be frozen, right?"
"Did you get lost?"
The caravan boss also noticed something was wrong and stood up to look at Lin Zi.
Luo Shixin touched the short knife hanging on his waist and said in a serious voice: "No! It's so quiet here. If he gets lost, he only needs to shout a few times and we will hear him! I haven't heard anything for so long! "
"That's right!" The caravan boss heard this and nodded slowly: "Then, I'll take a few brothers and let's go into the forest and look for him together!"
"I'll go too!" Xiao Han quickly stood up and said.
Luo Shixin thought for a moment, then nodded: "That's fine, one more person, one more person to take care of!"
The caravan leader's eyes changed subtly.
He has been traveling around for many years, and it is natural to see that Luo Shixin brought Xiao Han not for the so-called multiple manpower, but because he was worried about leaving him here alone.
I felt a little uncomfortable, but the man also knew that it was understandable for others to do this.
After all, people's hearts are separated from each other. If you are cautious, no one can make a mistake.
"Okay, without further ado, let's make a few torches and go look for them now!"
Holding his hands towards Xiao Han and Luo Shixin, the strong man strode towards other fires and began to gather his hands, preparing to enter the forest to find Cheng Yaojin.
