When the first glimmer of dawn fell, Lu Hong had already escorted Wen Budao out of Turtle City.

Out of the turtle city, the four fields are vast.

The whole territory of Xiling is actually a long and narrow corridor, from Jiayuguan in the east, to Kunlun Pass in the west, in this narrow corridor, from east to west is Zhen County, Yuwen County and Fan County, sitting in the three counties of the three hereditary marquis, respectively, Changxin Hou, Changyi Hou and Changling Marquis.

Among the three candidates, Changyi Hou Yuwen clan has the widest range of control and the strongest strength, so the Xiling Protectorate is also set up in Fengganfu City in Yuwen County.

Fengganfu City is the largest city in Xiling, and the population is also the largest, which is much more prosperous than the Turtle City.

It is nearly 200 miles from Gucheng to Fenggan, and it takes three days to reach it on foot.

Out of the Turtle City, looking to the north, you can clearly see the outline of the Changling Mountains, the rising sun, the lush Changling Mountains are becoming clearer, like a giant dragon lying prone on the vast earth.

Escorting prisoners is not uncommon in Xiling, and travelers on the way see officials escorting prisoners, and they also avoid them from afar, so as not to be contaminated.

According to the rules, when escorting prisoners from Turtle City, they would set off early in the morning, because between the two cities, there would be a post station every eighty miles, and from morning to evening, if there was no delay, they could rush to the post station to settle down.

Along the way, there are naturally villages and towns, and if travelers are unlucky, they will also go to the inn in the town to settle down.

However, there are many rules for escorting prisoners, one of which is that you are not allowed to stay in the inn.

First, because the inn itself does not want prisoners to enter the store, for fear that it will bring bad luck, and secondly, the inn is crowded with people, and the prisoners staying in it may cause trouble.

It is precisely because of this that when officials are in a hurry, there are post stations as resting places.

There are a lot of pedestrians coming and going on the official road, coming and going from east to west, endlessly, since the sage decreed that you can trade with the Vedic people, the Tang Dynasty merchants who are good at doing business but can endure hardships have become the most beautiful scenery in the Xiling corridor.

Although there are middlemen in Xiling, Datang merchants can put their goods in transit trading houses, but in this way, the profits obtained are at least fifty percent lower.

There were many merchants who wanted to trade directly out of Kunlun Pass to trade with the Vedic people or even further countries in the Western Regions, but the risk was too great on the way, and it was likely that there would be no return, so some small merchants could only buy goods from the Guannai, and then transport them to Xiling to sell to Xiling merchants, and then the Xiling merchants would resell them to merchants from the west.

After the opening of commerce, although many merchants from the west came to Xiling with goods, neither the Tang Dynasty nor the merchants in the west could trade directly in Xiling, and the goods had to be handed over to the local commercial houses in Xiling, and the Xiling commercial houses completed the trade from them.

This was originally to protect the interests of the local merchants in Xiling, but to obtain this right, the taxes they had to bear were naturally extremely heavy, and eventually a large amount of money fell into the hands of the three major lords.

If this rule is violated, the Tang Dynasty merchants and the western merchants trade privately, once discovered, not only will the trading rights of these merchants in Xiling be revoked, but in serious cases, they will even be imprisoned.

If you want to get rid of the exploitation of Xiling middlemen, the most direct way is to take the goods directly out of the customs and trade directly with the west, although the road is dangerous, but the profits obtained are rich and abnormal.

However, not all businessmen have such courage and strength.

Fortunately, some powerful Tang merchants united to form a large trading house specializing in trade with the west, hired brave warriors to protect the goods, and followed the people of the trading house out of the customs.

In the early years, there were many such trading houses, and countless caravans marched westward in the Xiling Corridor almost every day, and the prosperity was abnormal, but behind the prosperity, there was a huge danger.

The land of Xiling is not rich, the prosperity of commerce and trade, for the people at the bottom, did not improve their lives, the imperial decree can not be effectively implemented in Xiling, and the Xiling gate valve only considers the interests of the wealthy gentry, exploiting the people, which makes the life of the people of Xiling deteriorate, once there is a natural disaster, hundreds of people will fall into poverty.

The bitter cold land is a fierce man, and the Xiling people are already brave and abnormal, and many people are forced to occupy the mountain as the king, and the caravan in the Xiling corridor has become the biggest fat in their mouths.

Many of the caravans of the trading houses were looted, and the large trading houses could still hold on, but the small trading houses often endured one or two times, and then they no longer had the strength to continue, although the three major lords later organized manpower to suppress many robbers together with the Western Regions Protectorate, but most of the trading houses have been completely disbanded, and there are not many trading houses that have survived until now.

Moreover, there is competition between commercial banks, big fish eat small fish, strong commercial banks merge small commercial banks, and now there are commercial banks with the strength to get out of Kunlun Pass, ten fingers can be counted.

Lu Hong and his entourage only met some retail merchants on the way, but they had not seen the team of large commercial houses.

He rarely spoke on the way, but Wen Budao was in a good mood, and from time to time he talked and laughed with the two yachas, talking nothing more than some anecdotes that happened in the gambling house.

In the evening, I arrived at the post station.

In fact, the post station located between the two cities is very simple, with a row of three houses, surrounded by a courtyard, in the corners of both sides, a kitchen and a firewood house, and the thatched house and the firewood house are all in one place.

There is only one permanent resident at the inn, and except for the occasional official who escorts the prisoners, it is really not much use here.

In the event of an emergency, a fast horse, traveling day and night, is enough to rush from Turtle City to Fengganfu City in one day, and there is no need for a post station at all.

Lu Hong arranged Wen Budao behind a house on the left, and asked the post office to prepare some meals casually, in fact, there would be no good food supply in the post station, but it could be full.

After a few bowls of noodles, each person has a bowl of mutton soup and a basket of dried buns, and after eating the noodles, they eat the buns with the mutton soup, which is enough to fill the stomach.

Lu Hong brought wine, poured a big bowl for the two yacha, and called the post messenger on duty to come over and eat wine together.

After dinner, one of the officials got up and said to the other: "I will keep watch for the first half of the night, you can sleep first, and I will come and call you in the second half of the night." ”

To escort the prisoners, it is natural to send the prisoners to Fenggan Mansion safely, and if they escape halfway, it will be a great responsibility.

Therefore, it is naturally essential to rotate in the warm house at night.

Lu Hong saw that the two yacha were drunk, waved his hand and smiled: "That's it, you are tired after a day of walking, and the amount of alcohol is not enough, I will go to the first half of the night, you rest first, and come back to change me in the second half of the night." He got up and took the rest of the dried buns, and asked the post messenger to bring a bowl of mutton soup to Wen Budao's side.

Seeing that Lu Hong was so righteous, the yacha naturally had nothing to say, and the liquor was on his head, and he fell asleep when he went to bed.

Lu Hong came to Wen Budao's house with the dried bun, saw Wen Budao sitting on the simple wooden bed with shackles and closed his eyes, smiled slightly, put the dried bun on the table, and said with a smile: "Boss Wen, the conditions here are simple, you must not blame, there is nothing to eat, you will also have some." ”

Wen Budao opened his eyes and saw that Lu Hong had already sat down at the table, and said with a smile: "There is a labor catcher on the road to take care of it." ”

At this time, the post messenger came over with a bowl of mutton soup, Lu Hong stretched out his hand to take it, and said to the post messenger: "You can rest early, there is me here." ”

The post arched his hand and retreated.

Lu Hong got up and walked to Wen Budao with the mutton soup, and brought the soup bowl close to Wen Budao's mouth.

Starting from Guicheng in the early morning, he ate a little dry food at noon, Wen Budao was not polite, drank two large sips, Lu Hong took a dry bun and dipped it in mutton soup, and fed Wen Budao a few mouthfuls of steamed buns.

"Headcatcher, this thing is uncomfortable to wear." Wen Budao raised his hand, looked at the shackles and said, "If you don't help me untie it, I'll do it myself, and I won't feed you." ”

Lu Hong put the soup bowl back on the table, shook his head and said with a smile: "The duty is to send you to Fenggan Mansion completely, and there must be no mistakes on the way, otherwise if I lose this errand, I am afraid that I will be imprisoned." ”

"Headcatcher thinks I'll be able to run?" Wen Budao said with a smile: "I have such a big property in Turtle City, sooner or later I have to get it back, if I run away at this time, I will be a fugitive, and it will be even more difficult to return to Turtle City." ”

Lu Hong nodded slightly: "Boss Wen is in Turtle City, and he is definitely a rich man." Your day's income, my small catch, I can't earn it in a lifetime. ”

"Everyone has his own problems." Wen Budao sighed: "I earn a lot, and the risk is also great, you see, haven't I become a prisoner now?" In fact, I envy the headcatcher, taking a salary, raising a family and raising children, and being harmonious and beautiful, hey.....! ”

"Boss Wen envies me, and I envy Boss Wen." Lu Hong smiled: "Tens of thousands of taels of silver are in hand a year, and you can have whatever you want." Unlike me, I have an old mother and two children, both of whom are in their forties, and can only count on the monthly salary, and the family wants to eat something good, but they have to hesitate again and again, as for the new clothes, Boss Wen may not know, my mother-in-law has not added clothes for three years. ”

Wen Budao immediately said: "If you can see the headcatcher, when my matter is over, after returning to Turtle City, I will wrap up your family's clothes all year round." ”

"Like a rich man who gives alms to a beggar?" Lu Hong laughed: "Maybe in the eyes of rich people, people like us are no different from beggars." ”

Wen Budao frowned slightly, and said, "The head catcher knows that Wen doesn't mean that." ”

Lu Hong sighed and said, "I can at least eat Yamen food in my life, what will happen to my children when they grow up?" Xiling is nominally the territory of the Tang Dynasty, but the people of Xiling cannot take the exam, which cuts off the way to enter the official career. He shook his head and said with a wry smile: "The child grows up, if he is lucky, maybe with my old face I can let him enter the yamen on an errand, if I am unlucky, I can only be slaves and servants to those big families, if one day the Wutuo people come over and are recruited to fight on the front line, they may die over there, Boss Wen, why do you say that the lives of people like us are so despicable?" ”

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