"Brother, he said Wang Ermazi, is that person Wang Ermazi? These businessmen are the most treacherous, and their words cannot be trusted. Maybe after we leave, he will kill the horse bandit himself and take his head to the government Go get the reward!"
Most of the subordinates did not believe it.
The head hunter also cast a questioning look.
Song Che pointed at his long caravan and said: "Fellow heroes, do you think I need to do this business of licking blood from the knife's edge?"
He added: "Whether he is a horse bandit or not, you will know clearly if you take out the portrait and compare it."
The head hunter was doubtful, so he took out the portrait again and compared it with the man.
"Hey, lift up your hair, show your real face, and let him know that you are not a horse bandit." Song Che said to the man.
The man glanced at Song Che and lifted up his messy hair as instructed, revealing a sallow cheek. His eye sockets were sunken and his lips were chapped. It looked like he hadn't eaten food for a long time.
"Well, can you see clearly now? The portrait has small eyes, while he has big eyes; the portrait has thick lips, he has thick lips; the portrait has thin eyebrows, while he has thick eyebrows... These are completely different! Even though they are completely different! If you cut off his head and take it back to the government, you won't get a tael of money, so why go to such great lengths to kill an innocent life by mistake?"
It wasn't that Song Che meant to deceive people, it was just that the portrait was too rough and no one could be seen at all, yet the head hunter believed in it.
According to Song Che's words, the head hunter carefully compared the portrait and the man again, and finally cursed, "What a fucking unlucky man, we found the wrong person again!"
He tore the portrait into pieces, called on his men and stormed off.
"Why...you want to save me?" the man asked in a hoarse voice.
Song Che glanced at the long loess and said with a smile: "In this desolate land, there is still humanity. I will save you for no other purpose. I just don't want anyone to die innocently."
After that, he pulled off the water bag from his waist, took out a piece of beef jerky from his arms, handed it to the man with a wave of his hand, then walked back to the caravan, greeted him and continued to leave.
The man froze on the spot, watching the caravan until it had completely passed by, then he took big bites of the dried meat.
Two days later.
The caravan walked through the desolation and entered the prosperous area.
Xiliang City has finally arrived.
If the cities in the south of the Yangtze River are filled with elegant girls, then the cities in the northwest are filled with tall and thick men. They may not be beautiful, but they must be strong enough.
The soldiers guarding the city stood in rows on the moat, with firm and sharp eyes, as if telling everyone who entered the city: Don't try to get away with it, I'm keeping an eye on you all the time!
Song Che's large caravan was inspected for half an hour when entering the city, which shows that Xiliang City is strict with outsiders.
After entering the city, Song Che originally wanted to stay at Guanyi, but unexpectedly it was already occupied by tea merchants.
Tea merchants who came to the northwest could only cooperate with the imperial court and conduct tea-horse trade through the government, exchanging tea for mules and horses.
Song Che had no choice but to find a decent-looking inn to stay at.
When asked about Song Che's evaluation of Xiliang City, he only had two words - rough.
We never pay attention to unnecessary decoration here, as long as it is practical. For example, in the inn in front of me, the grease on the table is so shiny. Whether you drink tea or drink, you use large ceramic bowls. The food is relatively simple, such as flatbread, garlic, and big lumps of beef and mutton with bones. The more civilized ones use a knife to cut and eat them, while the more crude ones just pick them up and gnaw them.
There are all kinds of people walking on the street, leading mules, camels, and horses, pulling them along the way. It can be said that the stench is overwhelming.
"Drive! Drive!"
"Spread out, spread out!"
Suddenly, a column of cavalry galloped past, raising dust like a smoke screen and hitting the shops on both sides of the street.
When the waiter saw this, he quickly put down the door curtain to prevent dust from drifting into the customers' food.
"Hey, waiter, what's going on outside? Why are the cavalry rushing to market like this?" Song Che asked curiously.
"As soon as you see the guest officer's attire, you know it's from this, right?" The waiter smiled and said, "They are sent by the Xiliang Army to suppress bandits. They come back every now and then. We are used to it."
"How's it going? Xiliang City is heavily guarded, how dare you give birth to bandits?" Song Che asked again.
The waiter said: "It's not outside Xiliang City, but on the north bank of Lianghe River, close to Beiliang. After Beiliang was ceded to the Hu people, many remnant soldiers fled to the deserts and grasslands and became horse bandits. They were familiar with the terrain and robbed money. So they ran into the desert, and the government tried to punish them, but there was nothing they could do.
Therefore, you guests who are here to do business should have a few more bodyguards. If you want to go to the market, go with the tea merchants. They have special military escorts and it will be much safer. "
The market was not located in Xiliang City. To get to the market, you had to walk thirty miles north. This undoubtedly increased the risks of doing business and gave horse bandits an opportunity to take advantage of them.
Although the Hu people and Daliang have ceased fighting, the sequelae of the war are still occurring in this land. Now that even the inside of the pass is in such chaos, how can we still go to the Western Regions outside the pass?
"Boss Song, what should we do? The value of our goods is so high, we will definitely be targeted by horse bandits!"
After hearing what others said, Tang Hulu's face was full of fear. If he really wanted to see the horse bandit, he would not be scared to death directly.
Song Che cursed secretly in his heart: How can you still be more clumsy? If you, the old Persian fox, hadn't tricked me into going to the Western Regions to make a fortune, I wouldn't have crossed the bridge to come here to eat meat!
"Don't worry, Boss Tang. Tomorrow we will bring a cart of cloth and follow the tea merchants to the market. If the price is moderate, we will sell it in the market. It doesn't matter if we make less money."
"Oh, that's all."
To trade in the market, you must first go to the government to go through the formalities, have the goods to be sold valued, then pay commercial taxes and tooth money, and finally issue a road guide voucher, using this voucher to enter the market.
Song Che and the others spent that night in the inn.
Early the next morning, he and Tang Hulu each ordered three hundred pieces of silk, loaded two carriages, and went to the official to go through the admission procedures.
Too many people will attract attention. This time, Song Che only brought Nangong Yue, Lu Jingxiang, and two boys with him to the market. Tang Hulu also had about the same number of people.
The other guys stayed at the inn to guard the goods, while the female swordsmen went back to their old job of spying on Xiliang Mansion.
In fact, Song Che didn't believe that Ma Wei had any rebellious intentions. He was already the local emperor in Xiliang. As long as he didn't provoke him, he shouldn't cause any trouble, right?
However, the emperor's thoughts were different from those of ordinary people.
A person who becomes an emperor will become more and more ambitious and suspicious. Over time, he would rather kill the wrong person than let him go.
In history, most rebellions were forced.
