The wind and snow have not stopped, but several old bare trees on both sides of the official road are full of trees.
Xu Mu turned around silently, with a somewhat worried look on his face.
"Master, please don't forget that I used to be a great hero. I often killed dog officials and hung them in the city gate tower like this."
On the contrary, it was Chen Jiaqiao who looked as if nothing had happened.
This time, Hu Yanche's body was to be hung under Changyang City. I have to say that this mission is really dangerous.
"Don't worry, boss, I will return to Zhuangzi in two days." Chen Jiaqiao waved his hand and galloped forward.
The sack on the horse's back was still faintly oozing with blood.
Xu Mu sighed, knowing that Chen Jiaqiao must have an idea, so he simply gave it up and took Si Hu around the official road and headed towards Mati Lake.
Around dusk, the two returned to Zhuangzi. Before they had walked a few steps, the maid's wife Jiang Caiwei had already taken two thick robes, handed one to Si Hu, and hurriedly helped Xu Mu put it on.
"Sister-in-law Lian, go make some hot ginger soup."
Xu Mu felt warm in his heart. No matter what the outside world was like, he would always have a maid and wife in the small village of Mati Lake, waiting for him to come home.
Originally, I wanted to go to the General Office to help the little maid's wife straighten her status, but there have been a lot of things going on recently, so it's not appropriate to show off too much, so I can only wait for a while.
He took the hand of the little maid's wife and just walked into the fence.
"I'll beat you to death, you traitor!"
Xu Mu then heard a cry of deep resentment. When he raised his head, he realized that it was Zhuge Fan, Hu'erjian, sitting on the balcony at some point.
The original bald head and face had some horse hair pulled out and it was sticky everywhere. At first glance, this appearance is even more unrecognizable.
Xu Mu laughed briefly and wanted to say goodbye, but Zhuge Fan took off his shoes and threw them at him.
Come to think of it, a hero who has been playing for a lifetime and has unparalleled righteousness was shaved bald by Xu Mu in the end.
"Master, are you okay?" Chen Sheng and others also ran out in a hurry, one or two, all with a little joy.
"Nothing, where is Wei Feng?"
"I'm carrying wood in the back mountain."
Xu Mu breathed a sigh of relief. This matter of intercepting and killing the Beidi envoy was completely ignored.
"My boss, I have something else to do. A group of merchants from Shu came here and want to pick up five hundred jars of wine."
Shu is located in the southwest of Daji, very close to the barbarian territory. It was nominally under the control of Daji, but with the weakening of the dynasty's national power, they almost went their own way. At most, it was just a small amount of tribute every year.
I heard that the guardianship palace in Shu has been abandoned for three years.
However, there are usually many merchants coming to pick up wine, which is not surprising. After all, the reputation of Zui Tianxian is now established with the best-selling sales.
If he hadn't been in troubled times, Xu Mu would have been willing to spread it all the way to the grasslands of Saibei and the barren mountains of the southern barbarians.
"Master, this round is different, those merchants have brought good horses." Chen Sheng's tone was serious, and he revealed the key point.
"Nice horse?"
"Indeed, one hundred southwest-maned horses. I told them that the wind and snow were heavy, so I asked them to wait for their master to come back."
"Well done." Xu Mu looked slightly happy.
Even though he killed many Di people and obtained hundreds of Di horses, in the end, this was not a long-term solution and could easily be missed by villains.
But if you pay for it with money, there is no such problem. At most, you can go to the official shop to register it.
"Come on, take me to see you."
Following Chen Sheng, he approached a large room. When he opened the door, he heard a burst of bold encouragement to drink.
There were about a few big merchants sitting cross-legged at the main seat, holding cooking cakes in one hand and hot soup in the other. Every time you say a word, you bend your head and take a bite. The pancake should have passed through the hot oil, and your face will be shiny in an instant.
The hot soup is sprinkled with chopped green onion, and the green color floats on the water surface of the soup, which makes you appetizing.
There were forty or fifty packmen and guards squatting next to them, just like this, the sound of chewing cakes and eating soup was loud.
Someone finally reacted. Not long after, several big businessmen raised their heads first, with a hint of vigilance on their faces. If those caravans were not careful, their necks would have been cut long ago and left in the wilderness.
"Yuan Ke, this is my boss. Let's talk to him about buying wine." Chen Sheng spoke seriously.
After hearing Xu Mu's words, the two or three big merchants put down the cakes and hot soup and approached with smiles on their faces.
"If you don't mind the distant guests, I'll have someone prepare meals later." Xu Mu opened his mouth slightly, gestured, and made a fist.
"Chief Chen has said it before, but in this weather, we prefer to chew cakes and eat soup like this." The leader was a big merchant, with a goatee, a face stained by travel, and probably also suffered from chilblains and bruises. piece.
"I, Liu Wu, have met my little boss. When I entered the inner city this time, I heard that the Zui Tianxian in Horseshoe Lake was the most powerful, so I wanted to take some back to Shu. I didn't know that before I came to Zhuangzi. The wind and snow suddenly became heavy. "
"It's okay, I'm a guest from afar. Please don't be offended if you don't take good care of me."
There are many large vacant houses in the village on the left and right, and the group of merchants in front of them are probably horse dealers.
Good horses are hard to find these days. Compared with the speed of Beidi horses, the endurance of the southwest maned horses from Shu is even more amazing. Used as cavalry, it is also more suitable for long-distance raids.
In a time of great chaos, one can only prepare for a rainy day and gather all beneficial resources.
"I heard that the distant visitor is a horse trafficker?"
Liu Wu paused and did not intend to hide it, "My little boss can also see that we are horse dealers. We set out from Shu in autumn with two hundred horses, but we only sold a hundred. As time went by, It’s winter and it’s snowing.”
"There are still a hundred horses left."
Xu Mu could understand the thinking of these horse dealers. They came all the way here once, and if the business was half done, they would not be willing to go back.
"In the first two years, I took three to four hundred horses and could sell them farther away. Later, when I entered the inner city, I heard that Daji was at war with Beidi, so I didn't dare to go north. I simply waited. As soon as the wind and snow have passed, I took some wine and returned to Shu."
"What if I want a hundred Southwest horses?" Xu Mu said with a smile.
"Little boss, this is the best thing. How about negotiating a price?"
Liu Wu took a few steps forward, took a cloth bag from his waist, wrapped it in his hand, and stretched it towards Xu Mu.
This is called pinching. Both buyers and sellers put their hands into their pockets and bid with their fingers without letting outsiders know.
Xu Mu has no objection. He has always liked this old custom of Jianghu style.
"My little boss, I only count a thousand taels, and I'll quit if I'm not satisfied."
"That's easy to say."
Just as he reached in and pinched, Liu Wu withdrew his hand with a look of surprise on his face.
"Little boss, don't joke."
"No kidding."
"Ten fingers equals ten thousand taels."
"It's ten thousand taels." Xu Mu replied calmly, "How about this? After next spring, I will buy as many southwest maned horses from all of you from far away, and they will still be at this price."
A southwestern horse, according to today's market conditions, can cost at most seventy or eighty taels. The extra twenty taels was not because Xu Muren was stupid and had too much money, but more importantly, he wanted to tie up these horse traders.
Xujiazhuang's private wine revenue now amounts to 20,000 taels of silver every month alone.
But if possible, Xu Mu would like to build a cavalry force of at least 3,000 people and teach future generations the art of riding. By then, even if he fights with 10,000 Beidi dogs, he will not necessarily fall behind.
