Everyone in the caravan had been tired all the way, and now having hot food naturally whetted their appetites, and with a few jars of coarse grain wine, they felt even more satisfied.
Everyone ate happily, and the father and son in the inn also had happy faces.
It is conceivable that there is no human habitation within a hundred miles around this place, and business travelers in the past may not all pass through this place.
As Sun Lichang said before, even if there is a large oasis with lush water and grass, the terrain in the desert changes so much that even people standing on the same spot after a sandstorm will not be able to recognize the previous route.
Almost all business trips are based on a general direction, so the route taken each time between the deserts is not fixed.
If it weren't for people like Lu Rover who lived in the desert all year round and knew the place very well, it would be extremely difficult to find this oasis every time.
It was precisely because of bad luck that many teams could not encounter an oasis along the way, and finally the entire team disappeared into the endless desert.
Most of the people who make it here rely on luck, so the inn opened by Lu Rover and his son only receives business travelers who occasionally encounter this oasis.
People who come rely on luck, and the business of the father and son also relies on luck. If others are lucky, their luck will also come.
To have such a large caravan stay at their inn today can be considered a fortune from heaven.
As Shao Xi expected, this inn has been out of business for nearly two months. Although there are only two people, father and son, and they don't have much expenses on weekdays, eating and drinking are always necessary to live here.
There has been no business for two months, but there is still food to eat. Being unable to get in or out is exactly what worries the father and son.
If there is no business, the live sheep and coarse flour they bought last time will be slowly eaten up by themselves. If they can no longer sell the money, they will not be able to maintain their subsequent living needs.
Speaking of which, the stewed mutton and coarse grain wine sold here are much more expensive than those in Yulong Town in Yulong Pass, but you can enjoy these things in a place like this, no matter how expensive they are, they won't feel expensive.
Things are rare and expensive. In a place like this, if such things are sold at a higher price, no one will think that they are profiteers or shady shops.
On the contrary, being able to open such an inn in this desert is a great blessing for business travelers.
It was in this way that their father and son were able to maintain their livelihood in this desert.
The generous atmosphere of the crowd and the warm reception of the father and son filled this wild shop in the desert with a harmonious and joyful atmosphere.
Everyone was talking and laughing. Lu Hu and Lu Yunxiang, father and son, also chatted with everyone about some anecdotes about the desert. The entire caravan not only ate and drank happily, but also had a feast for the ears, listening to the unheard-of novelties in the desert. story.
At this time, the atmosphere in the inn was extremely warm and happy, and it was during this time of laughter and chatting that something disharmonious finally appeared.
While everyone was eating, chatting and laughing, the two broken wooden doors of the inn opened with a "clang", and it was someone from outside who kicked the door open.
The chatter and laughter in the inn suddenly stopped, and everyone looked at the door.
I saw a group of burly men walking in from the door. They were all wearing sheepskin jackets and had cowhide belts around their waists. Their hair was fluffy and messy. They all carried steel knives and had ferocious expressions on their faces.
When this group of people walked into the inn, they also heard the caravan guards outside the inn shouting warnings not to come near.
Experienced people can tell at a glance that this group of people is definitely not a caravan led by Sun Lichang and others. They are obviously a group of horse bandits who are blocking roads and plundering in the desert.
This group of people has been robbing merchants in this desert all year round, stealing property, killing people and stealing goods. They have no morality at all, and are cold-blooded and cruel, killing people like hemp.
In their eyes, people are not as valuable as livestock such as camels and horses. In their view, all business travelers who pass by are fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered. Fat sheep are naturally used for killing and skinning for meat.
As soon as this group of people entered the door, the caravan guards who were sitting in the inn, drinking and eating meat, stood up one after another, showed their weapons, and formed a confrontation with the group of horse bandits at the door.
Presumably, the caravan guards outside the inn are also locked in a stalemate with the horse bandits outside. One side wants to rob property, while the other side wants to protect their property with all their lives. These are two groups of people who are incompatible with each other and fight to the death.
At this time, the atmosphere in the inn instantly dropped to freezing point. Both sides held their breaths and prepared for battle. Everyone was waiting for their leader to give the order to fight to the death with the other party.
Since leaving Yulong Pass, the caravan has never encountered horse bandits along the way. Shao Xi only heard Sun Lichang mention that he had such an encounter before.
After all, Taihe Trading Company is a business team, and the accompanying guards are only to protect the safety of the goods, but they always adhere to the principle of peace as the most important and harmony as a source of wealth.
So under normal circumstances, when encountering this kind of thing, most people will choose to spend money to avoid disaster.
The horse bandits are not afraid of death. If they really have to fight for the goods of a caravan, they will feel that it is not worthwhile.
The job of a horse bandit is to eat with one's head in mind, not everyone is willing to do it, and the loss of people and horses is unacceptable to the horse bandits.
Therefore, most of the time, as long as you give some money and property, it is regarded as paying money to buy the way. Generally, the horse bandits will accept it as soon as they are satisfied and will not kill them all.
Although the atmosphere between the two parties was very tense at this time, Sun Lichang took it calmly.
He stood up, took out a bag of silver from the package, walked to the door, raised his hands to the leader of the horse bandits, and said, "I am Sun Lichang, the second shopkeeper of Taihe Trading Company in Qingshan County. He has been traveling between the Western Regions and the Central Plains all year round. Do business.
"Today I passed through Guibao Land, and I was lucky enough to meet many heroes. I want to make friends with you. A little bit of silver here is disrespectful. I hope the boss will not take it personally and use it to buy some wine for all the heroes.
"I hope that all the heroes will raise their hands. We will stay here for one night and leave here tomorrow. We meet each other in the mountains and rivers, and we will definitely be richly rewarded if we meet again in the future."
It seems that Sun Lichang is already used to this situation, so he can be so calm and handle it with ease.
The horse bandit led by the other party was a burly man with a curly beard and disheveled hair. He held a broad-backed sword in his hand, his face was full of flesh, and there was a long scar on his forehead.
At this time, he was staring at Sun Lichang in front of him with two bull's eyes. When he saw Sun Lichang handing over a large bag of silver, he stretched out his rough big hand to take the bag of silver and weighed it, with a look of satisfaction on his face.
I saw him nodding towards Sun Lichang.
"You are very sensible! Since Shopkeeper Sun is so generous, we will not embarrass you. You should eat and drink here! Tomorrow your caravan will leave on your own, and this money will be treated as your filial piety and given to us. He’s in charge.”
Sun Lichang quickly held up his hands and said with a smile: "The leader is indeed a righteous person. Sun Mou admires me deeply. Since we are here, we are friends, why don't we sit down together and have a few bowls to relieve our fatigue.
"Let's make friends now. If I pass by Guibao Land again in the future, please take care of me from the head of the house and all the heroes. We will all make a fortune together, and everyone will be happy!"
"Well said! I will give you this face today."
The leading horse bandit was called Li Erpazi. Although there was no pockmark on his face, everyone still called him this nickname.
Seeing that Sun Lichang spoke so politely and was so understanding, he naturally gave up the idea of robbing the caravan.
After all, it is better to get such a large bag of money without any effort than to fight to the death, causing both sides to suffer losses, and not knowing whether they can succeed in the end.
You must know that the guards who can follow the caravan are all ruthless characters, and they are no less vicious than horse bandits like them. In comparison, this money is easier to come by, so he is naturally happy. Leave it at that.
Now Sun Lichang invited them to drink together again, adhering to the style of not taking advantage of the bastard, so he left a few people to guard outside, and invited the others into the inn.
Sun Lichang quickly asked the accompanying porters to free up two tables for Li Ermazi and others to sit down, and called on Lu Hu and his son to serve freshly stewed mutton and freshly opened coarse grain wine to entertain the bandits.
Lu Lu seemed to know this group of horse bandits, and he kept nodding and bowing to greet Li Ermazi, but Lu Yunxiang's eyes were a little unkind.
At this time, Lu Hu didn't dare to show any signs of neglect when he saw this scene. He quickly filled two more pots of mutton stew and put them on the table himself, and asked Lu Yunxiang to bring out a few jars of coarse grain wine.
This expense would naturally be borne by Sun Lichang. Even if Sun Lichang did not pay the money, they would have to consider themselves unlucky as a way of honoring these horse bandits.
A group of horse bandits sat down and began to eat and drink loudly. The people in the caravan no longer talked and laughed as before. They all stared at the group of horse bandits in front of them with vigilant eyes.
This group of people has no morality at all. You can't believe them just because of what they said before. You still need to be alert and alert at all times that these guys will suddenly start killing people and stealing goods.
At present, the numbers of both sides are evenly matched. There are more than 20 horse bandits coming, and there are more than 30 guards in the caravan. The outcome of the actual fight is still unknown.
However, Li Ermazi and others seemed to have no other plans. They were just eating and drinking very arrogantly. Anyway, they didn't have to spend their own money to eat and drink, so they were naturally generous.
Sun Lichang sat back on the table. Although he still kept a smile on his face, his eyes were full of alertness and coldness. As long as these guys didn't leave, he couldn't relax.
Shao Xi just sat aside and watched quietly without speaking.
He knew that people who were doing business outside often had more to do than less to do. Although he was unwilling to do so, he could only spend money to avoid disasters and buy a way.
There's nothing surprising, nothing to complain about. This is the money you earn, so you have to take such risks and suffer this kind of anger.
I just hope that this journey goes smoothly and there is no loss of property or people, so this trip can be considered a success.
I originally thought that these wolves would leave after eating and drinking, but what happened next was completely beyond Shao Xi and others' expectations.
