Luntai County is completely different from Qiuzi, this is a county town in the interior of the Tang Dynasty, with stone-paved streets, brick and wood houses, white walls and black tiles, heavy eaves, and many shops with flags hanging under the eaves.

Most of the pedestrians coming and going on the streets were Han Chinese, but there were also quite a few Wusun and Sogdians, and the Sogdians were mainly merchants, and it was all up to them to travel from south to north in order to bring some business opportunities to the blockaded counties of Luntai and Jinman.

"General Yang, how many Han people are there in the county?" Guo Song asked.

"There are about 1,000 households, and there are about 300 Wusun families, and there are so many people in Luntai County, all of whom farm for a living, and you can also see that there are large wheat fields outside the city."

"When the wheat is harvested, won't the Shatuo people come and spoil it?" Next to Guo Chongqing asked.

Yang Zhenggu smiled bitterly, "I used to come every year, and I came at night to set fires, at least half of the wheat had to be burned, and it was impossible to prevent it, which made us miserable, and in recent years, they also had worries, and the Shatuo people reached a compromise with us, giving them thirty percent of the harvest every year, and then they didn't come to spoil the wheat, no way, spend money to buy peace!" However, the periphery was still tightly sealed, and we were not allowed to step out of Luntai and Jinman counties. ”

Guo Song pondered for a moment and asked, "General Yang said that the Shatuo people also have worries, what does he mean?" ”

"I heard that the Qarluq people have a tendency to expand to the southeast, and have repeatedly invaded the Zheluo Manshan in the north of Yizhou, which is the traditional pasture of the Shatuo people, and now the Shatuo people have to draw troops to deal with the threat of the Qarluqs, Tingzhou originally had 10,000 Shatuo troops, but now there are only 6,000 left, and our pressure has been reduced a lot."

Guo Song nodded, he didn't want to stand on the moral plane and accuse the Tang Army of Beiting and the Shatuo people for reaching a compromise, he knew that for these two armies, survival was the key.

"Yizhou and Xizhou, which are occupied by the Shatuo people, how are the Han people over there now?"

Yizhou is today's Hami region, and Xizhou is Gaochang region, these two prefectures are also counties directly under the jurisdiction of the Tang Dynasty, and are currently occupied by the Shatuo people.

"They are very taxed, they are very oppressed by the Shatuo people, the Shatuo army does not allow them to leave the place of residence one step, otherwise there will be no forgiveness, the main thing is to prevent them from escaping to Tingzhou, this spring, a family of six fled to Tingzhou, a family of six people died, and in the end only two survived."

Guo Song didn't say anything, and followed Yang Zhenggu to the military camp to rest, and they will leave for Jinman County tomorrow.

In the afternoon, Guo Song and Guo Chongqing came to the street of Luntai County, near the south of the city, there are some shops, as well as two taverns and an inn, the shops are also grocery stores selling daily necessities, some mountain goods shops, and a cloth shop, and nothing else.

Guo Song walked into the mountain store, the business in the store was very deserted, a slightly fat middle-aged man was sitting at the counter napping, seeing people come in, he stood up and walked up with a smile on his face.

"What do you want to buy?"

Guo Song looked at the things in the store, mainly all kinds of leather goods, at most sheepskins, but also some animal skins, and a large porcelain jar with more than a dozen brightly colored pheasant feathers.

"Do you have boots?" Guo Song asked with a smile.

His boots were worn out during last night's rock climbing and wanted to buy a new pair of boots.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! ”

The shopkeeper agreed, took out a wooden box from the cabinet below, put it on the counter with great difficulty, brushed off the dust on it, and said a little embarrassedly: "It's been five or six years, and they are all good calfskin boots, which can't be bought in the Central Plains." ”

He opened the lid of the box, and sure enough, there were five or six pairs of leather boots inside, and the workmanship was very fine, and it had been left for five or six years, and there was no problem at all.

"This is an old cobbler who put it on consignment with me, but the man died, and not a single pair of boots were sold, which is also pitiful."

The shopkeeper sighed, and introduced the leather boots to Guo Song, "Guest officer, this is a good cowhide, you see, it's been five years, and it's only been oiled once, but it's not old at all." ”

"I'll give it a try!"

Guo Song sat down on the bench next to him and tried on a pair of shoes.

Guo Chongqing asked with a smile: "Listening to the accent, the shopkeeper is also from Chang'an?" ”

"I am a native of Lantian County, Chang'an, and I came to Beiting with my parents at the age of fourteen, and it has been thirty years, and this shop is still left to me by my father."

The shopkeeper suddenly raised his eyebrows and asked, "I'm obedient to a team of Chang'an envoys, won't it be just two!" ”

Guo Chongqing said to Guo Song Yi and said to the shopkeeper: "This is Guo Yuanjun, the pacification envoy of the Western Regions." ”

The shopkeeper suddenly said with some excitement: "What is the situation in Chang'an now?" I've heard that the Anshi Rebellion is over, so it's time to return to the old situation! ”

His eyes darkened again, and what was the use of asking these things, he had no relatives in Chang'an.

"Chang'an is good now, but it is difficult to say in the future, there are many warlords in the Central Plains, and it is inevitable that a war will break out, in fact, it is not easy to live anywhere."

The shopkeeper nodded, "Yes! My store will be a little better in the future, but now it's not as good as a year, there is no place to buy, and I can't sell the goods, I'm not afraid of two jokes, I haven't opened for five days. ”

"Since you can't buy the goods, what do you sell?" Guo Song asked with a smile.

"Sell some old stock! Then each family took the things to me for consignment, two guest officers, the day before yesterday someone hit a boar outside the city, more than 200 catties, do you want to buy it to try it? ”

Guo Chongqing was in charge of the army's supplies, grain and grass, and when he heard that there was wild boar, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he asked with a smile: "What price?" ”

"One hundred and twenty wen and one catty, count you twenty-four taels of silver, four taels is my consignment income, and the other twenty taels will be given to the master."

"Yes! I bought it, I'll let the soldiers get it later. ”

The shopkeeper is overjoyed, and the income of four taels of silver! That's enough for their family to live on for a few months.

He said to Guo Song: "Which pair of boots is suitable for you, I don't need money, I will give it to you." ”

Guo Song was very satisfied with the two pairs of boots, the workmanship was fine, strong and durable, and they fit very well, he smiled at the shopkeeper: "Buying wild boars is public, buying shoes is private, how can public and private be confused, don't damage my reputation, I can still afford a few taels of silver." ”

The shopkeeper scratched his head and said: "These boots were originally three dollars a pair, I'll give you a cheaper price, two pairs count as five dollars." ”

Guo Song took out an ingot of five taels of silver and put it on the table, "This is my shoe money, wild boar or something, you settle with him." ”

The shopkeeper bowed down again and again to thank him, at this time, Guo Chongqing was interested in the shopkeeper's sheepskin, Guo Chongqing had a deep feeling when he crossed the Wusun Road Snow Mountain, the soldiers only carried two sheepskins a little less, it is best to add another sheepskin to each soldier.

Although the Beiting army may also have a stock of sheepskins, the resources of the Beiting army are precious, and he decided to solve it himself.

"Chongqing, do you want to buy sheepskins?" Guo Song asked.

Guo Chongqing nodded, "We didn't carry a camp tent, if we camped, there are fewer sheepskins, I want to add one more to each soldier, the sheepskins in this house are all old goods, it looks good!" ”

The shopkeeper's eyes suddenly lit up, and he hurriedly said: "So that Jun really has a vision, the sheepskin in the small shop is left by my father, and the quality at that time was good!" They are all old sheep that are more than seven or eight years old, you can see for yourself, many years have passed, there is no insect eye, the coat color is still so soft and smooth, the leather is not aged at all, this old sheepskin is not only spread or covered is very warm. ”

Guo Chongqing also knew that he was not too outrageous, the quality of the sheepskin in his store was really good, although the old sheepskin of seven or eight years could not reach it, but there must be more than five years, he asked: "How many of these old sheepskins do you have in the store?" It has to be of the same quality as this one. ”

"There are more than 300 old sheepskins of this quality, and there are dozens of them that are a little bit lower, so I won't take them out."

"At what price?"

The shopkeeper was extremely nervous, and said in a trembling voice: "My father's purchase price back then was 800 wen, there are accounts to check, I generally sell 1,500 wen, if the envoy wants more than 100 wen, I will sell it for a consistent amount of money, and only make a small profit of 200 wen." ”

Guo Song shook his head secretly, in Chang'an, such a quality sheepskin costs at least three yuan, of course, this is Beiting, and the people almost have no purchasing power, so his goods have been backlogged for so many years and cannot be sold.

"Chongqing, it's not easy for them either!"

Guo Chongqing smiled and said: "Since our lord has spoken, I won't let you suffer, so I will buy 1,500 pieces each, I will buy 300 pieces, and you will send them to the barracks together with the wild boar, and I will settle the bill with you." ”

Shopkeeper's 'Goo'! He sat down on the ground, so excited that he couldn't help but grin and cry, after more than ten years, his father's backlog of goods was finally sold.