The silver and horses were brought over there, and the captives were handed over to them on this side. That's the end of it. After the end, the mutual market here was officially opened.

The prince personally cut the ribbon, and the personal soldiers of General Xiao set off cannons, beat gongs and drums, and danced lions, which were very jubilant. When the sun rises in the east, it opens the door to the western frontier. I didn't expect that the Western Xinjiang side didn't know where to get the artillery battle, and when everyone pushed open the cumbersome city gate, their artillery battle rang out from time to time. Outside the city gate, the people of Western Xinjiang dressed in colorful clothes, including old people, children, men, and women, all of them bowed respectfully to the city gate.

Although Xiaolong tried his best to open a mutual market in the face of Western Xinjiang, his ultimate goal was to make money, increase the income of the government, be able to give more help to the people, and let more people live a good life as much as possible. But he never thought about what benefit this would bring to the people of Western Xinjiang? And this mutual market is open to the people of Western Xinjiang, and for the people of Western Xinjiang, it is to increase their chances of survival.

They no longer have to worry about not being able to buy salt to eat, they can exchange grain here for storage before the winter comes, their surplus furs, wool, milk, and goat's milk can be exchanged for more useful things, instead of being discarded as waste when they are not used, and their cattle, sheep, and horses can be exchanged for cloth, grain, and utensils, which will become more valuable, instead of being able to feed themselves as in the past.

Therefore, they are more grateful and look up to this mutual market than the temple they have always trusted and looked up to.

When the gate was fully opened, they religiously obeyed the instructions of the soldiers and drove the cattle into small fences. Carefully put away the number plates, and approached the market specially designed for them with excitement and novelty.

The fences outside were made by Xiaolong, who used wooden stakes to build a lot of fences considering that the people of Western Xinjiang would definitely have livestock to bring over to exchange or sell. Let these people from the west put the cattle in the fence first. After they are optimistic about what they want to buy in the market, it is convenient for them to barter directly or sell the money first and then buy the goods.

At the entrance and exit of the market, there is an official buying and selling office, which is also a guide price for all products in the market. There was a large open space left next to the trading place, and three scales of different sizes were placed in the open space. The small ones can only weigh less than 10 catties, the middle ones can weigh more than 100 catties, and the large ones can only weigh more than 100 catties.

Buyers and sellers are not allowed to trade privately, and must go to this official office with the number plate of their respective booths to register for the sale of goods. Without an official certificate to go out, you can't even take out a handful of rice with the goods here. On the one hand, this is to eliminate smuggling and ensure the tax revenue of the government. On the other hand, it is also to protect the interests of both buyers and sellers. Liability can be held accountable in the event of fraud in the transaction, and theft can also be prevented.

Although there are price lists written in three languages on the walls here, because many herdsmen in Western Xinjiang do not know how to read, Xiaolong still specially invited a few scouts who can speak two languages in Western Xinjiang. Help decipher the prices of items posted on the wall.

The most important salt comes first. Refined fine salt is 500 wen per catty, and coarse salt is 180 wen per catty.

Then there is the food for the livelihood, cornmeal 15 wen a catty, sorghum rice 15 wen, wheat flour 30 wen a catty, rice 30 wen

Then there are daily necessities and so on

Finally, there are expensive luxury goods, such as silk, tea, porcelain, white sugar, brown sugar, etc

The prices of the items here are more than three times higher than the prices in the mainland, which seems to be ridiculously high, but compared to these people in Western Xinjiang who can't buy it, it is cheap, which makes them want to cry.

In particular, the prices of cattle, sheep, horses, furs, wool and other prices are quoted below, and Xiaolong is set according to the price of the mutual market in the north, but it makes the people of Western Xinjiang exclaim in disbelief. All prices are much higher than they would have liked. That way, what they bring can be exchanged for more items to go back to. This year is going to be a wonderful and prosperous winter.

The eyes of these people in Western Xinjiang burst out with a bright light full of hope in an instant, so that the prince who witnessed it at this time has never been able to forget it for the rest of his life.

The language barrier between the two places brought considerable difficulties to the trade between the two sides, and those who had been prisoners of the Western Xinjiang began to play a great role in the official dialect of the Great People's Dynasty that they had studied for more than four years. After more than four years of captive life, humiliation and suffering, they hated these four years in their hearts, and only longed to forget the memories of these years forever. Today, however, when both buyers and sellers are waiting with great anticipation for him to explain each other's meaning, and eagerly tell him what they mean, these people's hearts are grateful. Since then, they have taken root in this market, doing translation work full-time, and each successful transaction is charged by both parties for ten yuan, and they can earn two or three hundred yuan a day. Later, their position in the clan gradually increased, and whenever there was a major event in the clan, I had to ask them what they meant, because they seemed to the clan to be a group of capable people who had seen a big scene.

The first transaction took three days to conclude, and Xiaolong discussed with Xiao Zongbing on this basis, and finally determined the date of the transaction. Three times a month, three days each time, the market is open every eight days.

The first time the market opened, it brought them an income of 5,000 taels of silver, which was only 3 percent of the tax paid by the seller. Among them, the difference profit from the official sale, because most of the goods have not yet been sold, cannot be calculated for a while. According to Xiaolong's estimate, there are 30,000 taels.

The soldiers helped the merchants to move goods to earn wages, and the residents of the border cities sold baked cakes, large bowls of tea, chaos, steamed buns, etc. to earn a little difference, as long as they were dispatched, they could earn a few hundred dollars to go back.

Mr. Xiao happily rubbed his calloused palms, and smiled: "Brother! You will be my brother from now on! As long as you send something, I will never shirk it, brother. ”

Xiaolong rolled his eyes and looked at Xiao Zongbing: "Master Zongbing!" With just such a small profit, you are called to sell yourself? Listen to me! Brother, I'm only in my twenties this year, and I can live a long time in the future! If you dare to promise, I will not agree. ”

Mr. Xiao, who was originally hehehe, turned pale when he heard this, and said solemnly: "Brother, this sounds like he doesn't believe my brother!" The old brother didn't dare to say big things that took root. But it can still be done. Brother, look! ”

"Don't, don't! Don't be so serious, it's scary. Ming'er is about to send the prince back, can you send five hundred cavalry to help send him to Baodian Mansion? ”

Mr. Xiao nodded: "This is as it should be!" If you didn't know before, someone hit the idea on the head of the old brother. Brother probably doesn't care yet. Now that the situation is so clear, how can the old brother still let it go. It's just that! Why not send it directly to the outskirts of Beijing? ”

Xiaolong smiled and shook his head, "Just send it to Baodian!" There was another sentence that he didn't say, and he wanted to see if someone was really bold enough to assassinate the prince.

When the prince and his entourage returned, they were sent by General Xiao with 500 cavalry. And secretly, the eighty people brought by Xiaohu pressed back, which was secretly prepared by Xiaolong. Only when the crown prince is really in danger can he appear, which is an arrangement that even the prince does not know.

Xiaohu received this commission from his younger brother, so he led people to follow the large number of teams in front of him carelessly. He genuinely felt that the kind of thing that his brother had prevented could not have happened. It's all their own brothers, how can they be willing to do it? Sure enough, they were calm all the way, and even the sections of the road were leveled out in advance. So that the prince's convoy can pass smoothly.

The incident occurred on the night of the second day after the retreat of the five hundred cavalry. The Prince's party was staying at the Royal Palace that night. No one is allowed to stay within a radius of one mile around the courtyard, and it is even more impossible for Xiaohu to camp in the surrounding area with a large number of people. I had to spend the night on the nearest hillside, where I could faintly see the situation of the courtyard by the moonlight at night.

Xiaohu had just fallen asleep for more than an hour, and before he could fall asleep, he heard Liu Wenzhu, who had just taken over, shouting: "Hurry up!" Hurry up, there's movement on the prince's side! ”

"What's going on!" Xiaohu jumped up and stood next to Liu Wenzhu and looked at the courtyard where the prince was staying. I saw firelight and thick black smoke coming out of it, and there was a noise that could not be heard clearly.

"Quick! Grab your weapons and follow me! ”

Originally, they didn't dare to go too far. It didn't take long for him to run to the side yard not far away. Xiaohu raised his hand high. The people behind all stopped, waiting for the next command.

Xiaohu stepped forward and took a few steps closer to see that there were people on the wall and in the trees! Facing the courtyard, some people are holding bows and arrows, arrows are on the strings, full bows, and occasionally someone will put an arrow in the courtyard. Someone has a sword in hand, and seems to be ready to jump in and join the fight at any moment.

Because they came from the back hillside of the courtyard, they could only see the side of the front yard, and they could not see the front gate, nor could they see the situation in the courtyard. But I could hear the chaos inside, some people crying for help, some shouting and rushing out, some shouting for being too mean, and the clanging and tooth-aching sound of the iron tools colliding with each other that did not stop at that moment.

Although I can't be sure which side the people on the courtyard wall belong to, I know that they are all dressed in black and cover their heads and faces, and they will definitely not be the ones who protect the prince.

Xiaohu secretly counted the clusters of black shadows, only more than thirty, and then gently said to Liu Wenzhu, who was following closely behind: "You assign it, everyone stares at a black shadow and shoots it at the same time, don't miss a single one." ”

Liu Wenzhu turned his head and arranged for their respective targets to stare at. Xiaohu waited for Liu Wenzhu to finish ordering the personnel, and then recruited the rest of the personnel to his side: "You follow me around over there!" ”

Xiaohu led people around the fence of the backyard until the west end, and found that it was the farthest away from the fire, and it was so quiet that there was not even a sound of panting, so he raised his hand and asked everyone to follow him to stop. Then he took out an eight-claw hook from his backpack and threw it at the wall to make a "Ding!" There was a bang. After trying that the eight-claw hook would not fall off, he grabbed the rope three or two times and climbed to the wall, and the others followed without pausing. (To be continued.) )

PS: Thank you fang1972, xx1961 for the tips, thank you Feng Xuanxuan, sjh56, qlshreng for the monthly pass. Because of my bad grades, I didn't dare to look at it all the time. It's basically a few days before you bite the bullet, click on it to see if there are any messages.

I also know that few people like such a bland and undulating talk about hydrology, but I can't write about too many ups and downs, and I can't bear to describe the scenes that are too bloody. I also feel that everyone is tired of this kind of light and tasteless boiled water, and if they want to change, their IQ, writing and mental strength are insufficient. Let everyone follow me to catch the emergency! I'm so sorry!