On the seventh day of the ninth month of the twenty-first year of Yongzhi, a distinguished guest came to Chen Xiaoting's official residence.

In fact, to be more precise, this is Chen Xiaoting's old acquaintance, Cai Hong from Luyang.

Chen Xiaoting was kind to Cai Hong, so when he passed by Guangde City, he naturally had to pay a visit.

At this time, the two sat opposite each other in the living room, and the maidservants had already retired after serving tea.

Putting down the teacup, Cai Hongcai lost a sigh and said, "Lord Chen, these days have been a bitter shame for the lowly and his brothers!" ”

Chen Xiaoting couldn't help but be a little strange, and then asked, "What errand?" ”

Cai Hong said: "In the past two years, there has been no peace outside the Guan, and the soldiers and horses of the Golden Horde are hovering outside the Great Wall, so I was sent to investigate the military situation!" ”

Hearing this, Chen Xiaoting understood why Cai Hong didn't bring an official uniform and didn't have a chance to wear it when he went to Guanwai.

In fact, relations between the Ming and the Golden Horde have been tense in recent years, with both sides having heavy troops in key positions.

"You're out of Luoyun Pass?" Chen Xiaoting asked.

Cai Hong replied: "That's right, the big Gobi outside Luoyun Pass, but it's enough to clean up the humble duties!" ”

The width of the Great Gobi outside Luoyun Pass is nearly 100 miles, which is a natural barrier, so that the soldiers and horses of the Golden Horde cannot stay for a long time.

Therefore, even if they stationed troops outside Luoyun Pass, as long as they did not really want to attack Guancheng Pass, they could only garrison troops hundreds of miles away from the pass.

The Golden Horde has always been a great disaster for the imperial court, so Chen Xiaoting asked, "What did you hear about this trip?" ”

Cai Hong replied: "The main thing is to find out the strength of their troops, and the situation is not good!" ”

Cai Hong's face was very unsightly when he said this, so Chen Xiaoting asked again: "Is it very likely that the Golden Horde will come in?" ”

Cai Hong nodded and replied: "They have more than 30,000 troops outside Luoyun Pass, you must know that there was no such a big battle in the first two years, what are you doing with so many people in the war?" ”

Chen Xiaoting said: "We only have one pass in Luoyun Pass in Yongxi, and the Golden Horde has already stationed 30,000 troops, so isn't it even more powerful in Liangzhou?" ”

The Golden Horde is a wolf that can't be fed, and it has only been less than 20 years since the two countries struck war, but it is still a tense situation.

Thinking that it was too stressful to talk about this matter, Cai Hong changed the topic and said: "My lord, don't you know, now in the caravans in and out of Luoyun Pass, there are still people selling prohibited items, and you have to knock some people!" ”

As one of the passages with the Golden Horde, Luoyun Pass was regarded as one of the trade checkpoints when the two countries struck down and made peace.

As long as it is not a prohibited item listed in the Ming Dynasty, ordinary traders can transport it out of the customs and sell it, which continues to this day.

Although there is a lot of friction between the two countries, there is no official war, so the trade between the two countries has not been severed.

At this time, Chen Xiaoting said: "People die for money, birds die for food, this official has already greeted the three major families and local gangs, but he can't stop some people from getting into the eyes of money!" ”

At this time, Cai Hong said: "Who said it wasn'...... Wealth is moving, not to mention more than ten times the profit! ”

Chen Xiaoting didn't want to continue to talk about this matter, so he changed the topic and said: "You went out of the customs and went through hardships, and the way back was quite smooth!" ”

"Don't mention it, my lord, the lowly positions have already entered the customs and have been pitted!" Cai Hong was a little crying and laughing.

This made Chen Xiaoting feel strange, so he asked, "What's the matter?" ”

I only heard Cai Hong reply: "Dozens of miles of Gobi in Luoyun Pass, adults want to know about it, right?" ”

Chen Xiaoting nodded, he still knew more about Taixi's situation, after all, he had been on an errand in Taixi at the beginning.

In the northwest of Taixi County, a large part of the Gobi is also the vast Gobi, and the Gobi outside the pass is actually one, but it is divided into two places by the Chengguan.

I only heard Cai Hong say: "On the Gobi in Luoyun Pass, in addition to the post station set up by the government to live in, there is also a Wolong Inn!" ”

"After the humble post and a few of his subordinates entered the customs that day, they wanted to rush directly to Taixi County to rest, so they didn't settle down at the post station!"

"Who knew that I didn't go far into the Gobi before the sandstorm came, fortunately, I accidentally bumped into the Wolong Inn, otherwise it would be a blessing and a curse!"

"Wolong Inn?" Chen Xiaoting was puzzled in his heart, he had heard of this Wolong Inn, but he didn't know much.

As soon as he said that he was lucky, Cai Hong immediately changed his face and said: "Don't you know, my lord, the girl in charge of the Wolong Inn is simply not a thing!" ”

"She saw that there were few lowly people, so she actually raised the house price, forcing the lowly to throw all her belongings in!"

The owner of the Wolong Inn is a woman, and it sounds like a black shop, which really surprised Chen Xiaoting.

Taixi was far away from the city, and he didn't know the situation on the Great Gobi, so Chen Xiaoting asked, "Then why don't you reveal the identity of Jinyiwei?" ”

Cai Hong couldn't help crying and laughing, and then said: "My lord, these people are driving black spots, if they are really forced to be in a hurry, maybe they won't be able to come back!" ”

"In the vast Gobi, the corpses of the lowly and his subordinates cannot be found!"

But at this time, Cai Hong continued: "Actually, this is nothing, it's just a loss of some silver, what really makes the lowly people suspicious of this inn is that they are still a transit station for prohibited items!" ”

"For some people who have no way out of the customs, as long as they pay enough money, they have a way to send people out of the customs!"

Hearing this, even if Cai Hong didn't say anything, Chen Xiaoting understood the seriousness of the incident.

Unexpectedly, such an industry has developed, these people are inevitably too bold, only to hear Chen Xiaoting say angrily: "It's rampant, the official will send someone to investigate this matter, you can rest assured!" ”

In fact, one of the purposes of visiting Chen Xiaoting this time was to ask him to complain about the matter.

Talking about this, in fact, the business was over, so the two talked about the situation in Luyang City again.

About half an hour later, Cai Hong got up and said, "After drinking your tea, my lord, it's time to leave, Lu Yang is still waiting for me to recover my life!" ”

"Stay one night and then leave, and there is no rush for this day or two!" Chen Xiaoting said.

Cai Hong said: "My lord, my humble post has been overdue for five days, but I don't dare to stay for two more days!" ”

"Do you really want to go?"

"Really leaving!"

Chen Xiaoting nodded, and then said, "Since this is the case, then the official will not force you to stay!" ”

Before leaving, Cai Hong left a last sentence and said: "Don't forget to send someone to check the Wolong Inn, maybe you can really bring out some people here!" ”

Chen Xiaoting nodded and agreed, and after sending Cai Hong away, he set off to go to the hundred households.

Cai Hong's words made Chen Xiaoting dare not slack off, he now urgently needs to open up the situation in all aspects before it is possible to make achievements.

In fact, the yamen was quite busy during this time, so it became a question of who to send.

At this time, a voice came from Chen Xiaoting's ear and said, "I've seen adults!" ”

Chen Xiaoting looked back and saw that it was Yun Qingfeng, just now he was thinking that he didn't know who to use, and in a blink of an eye, a suitable candidate came.

Since the Fu Dacheng incident, Yun Qingfeng has settled here in Chen Xiaoting, and he actually decided to persuade Fu Dacheng to surrender privately.

However, the persuasion was unsuccessful, and Fu Dacheng was allowed to run away, which made Chen Xiaoting feel that he was useless.

But today's errand is to go to the Great Gobi to do business, and it requires people with independent consciousness and flexible minds.

Yun Qingfeng was almost something, so Chen Xiaoting planned to give him a chance, so he spoke: "Qingfeng, this official is going to give you an errand!" ”