The nearby Liao nobles and Han wealthy families heard the whereabouts of the Song caravans, and constantly heard the wind to come to trade, in the absence of a satisfactory exchange of goods for both sides, gold, silver and copper coins are acceptable currency, gold one tael is equivalent to ten Song copper coins or ten taels of silver, through observation, Zhao Xingde found that the merchants of the Liao State preferred to accept gold rather than silver, while the merchants of the Song State preferred silver, copper coins were too bulky, and the Xia State "when one or two" gold and silver money components were good, and there was no need to weigh them, Merchants on both sides of Song and Liao were very receptive.

The small merchants in the caravan were also happy to get rid of their goods as soon as possible, some exchanged the relatively heavy porcelain and silk silk and other items for gold and silver ingots that were easier to carry, some exchanged silver cakes for salt, and some made deeds with the more trusted Liao merchants to deliver the goods brought by the Song State first, and then drove the cattle and sheep from the Liao people back to the Song realm on the return journey. Just like that, before they reached the final bulk market, the goods carried by the caravan stopped in two.

Han Shizhong privately told Xingde that he had invested 2,000 guan himself, and he asked his subordinates to make up a thousand guan of capital, and handed it over to a merchant to exchange for porcelain and bring it with the caravan. "His grandmother's, I knew that the business of this private goods was so lucrative, I should have asked for more hard work for the guards." Han Shizhong scolded happily, but he knew in his heart that most of these caravans of smuggled goods had a backstage, and in addition to buying land and recruiting tenants to cultivate, the high-ranking officials in Hebei had invested some capital in this kind of caravan for rentier.

Zhao Xingde was interested in the fact that, unlike the single-wheeled mule carts of the Song caravans, the carriages carrying goods in the Liao State were almost all four-wheeled carts, each with at least two large animals, and the nobles of the Liao State were completely different from the fierce and rude barbarism he imagined. Because of the affluence of life and the belief in Buddhism, except for the occasional gloomy look, even by the standards of the Central Plains, the appearance can be called rich, and there are more people who wear gold and silver than the Central Plains. He occasionally accosted the servants of these Liao nobles, and at the slightest temptation, these people would repeatedly emphasize that they were servants "in the house" or "in the house", not "in the field" or "in the square".

The caravan finally came to a place called Wanhuaizhuang, the Nanjing Road of the Liao Kingdom is strictly forbidden to build the city wall and silt up the paddy fields, in order to resist the horse thieves and bandits, the village is surrounded by a low wooden fence, and several tall guard towers and arrow towers are built with wood, at this time the crops in the north have been harvested, and piles of straw stacks of different heights set off the villages on the plain are particularly abrupt.

There was also a large herd of cattle and sheep in captivity outside the Zhuangzi, and when he got closer, he smelled a strong smell of livestock feces and urine, and the pungent smell made Zhao Xingde sniffle unconsciously, which made his expression look a little strange when he gave up his hands on the owner. Although the owner Wang Xiaojie is not yet forty, his temples have turned slightly white, and when he laughs, a scar looms on his left eye.

Han Shizhong asked Zhao Xingde to follow closely behind Xiao Yanshi, a big merchant who organized this caravan, and listened to the transaction process of the two people, Zhao Xingde also only brought his ears and did not speak, but this time Han Shizhong's shrewdness was really right, Wang Xiaojie's goods in addition to the 50,000 catties of soju, 50,000 mink, and 17,000 catties of salt hoarded in Wanhuaizhuang, there were also several boats of thousands of giant trees and 8,000 catties of mountain ginseng from Liaodong that were transported into the Song Realm by water. Wang Xiaojie seemed to know Zhao Xingde's identity, smiled at him gently, and handed the Jiaozi who picked up the goods to Xiao Yanshi, Xiao Yanshi also pretended to be generous and handed Jiaozi to Zhao Xingde first, and then put it in his arms.

In the evening, the caravan stayed in this Wanhuai Village, Zhao Xingde occupied a guest room alone, and before he went to bed, he suddenly heard a knock on the door, and when he opened the door, he saw that it was a maid standing at the door shyly, and asked softly: "Do you want a slave to sleep?" Zhao Xingde looked at her a few times from top to bottom, her appearance and figure were quite impressive, and there seemed to be a hint of resentment between her eyebrows, he pressed some thoughts that were about to move, and said gently: "Girl, please go back, thank the owner for his kindness on my behalf." The maid looked up at him deeply, and then turned away.

Zhao Xingde swallowed his saliva, closed the door, and took out the sachet brought out by Jingshi from his arms, although the fragrance had faded, but in his hand, he still felt a warm feeling in his chest, and he played with it under the candlelight for a long time, and only after he was calm did he fall asleep.

At dawn the next day, the caravan set off in full gear, and the return journey was much faster than when it came, even Xiao Yanshi, including all the merchants, could not hide their joy, they deliberately chose to come to Liao to exchange goods before the heavy snow closed the road, which could not only catch the psychology of the Liao people who were eager to raise money for the winter, but also because it was the last batch of northern goods exchanged from Liao, they could be used as strange goods in the river, and they were sold at a high price for those merchants who had not bought enough northern goods to return to the south. At this time, everyone was carrying a cart full of goods and goods, and they were all urging the porter to hurry up and return to the Song realm as soon as possible.

Han Shizhong divided the cavalry into five teams as usual, and there was a team of scouts and cavalry cruising around in the front and rear of the caravan, and he personally led the most elite team of cavalry to respond in the center. Walking side by side with Han Shizhong on the road, Zhao Xingde wanted to ask him several times if he also had a maid to sleep last night, but he still couldn't help but ask. Even in the mansions of dignitaries and nobles in Bianjing, this kind of hospitality is as common as singing with wine, and it is very common to be a guest and thank you, and there is really no need to exhaust the roots. Unlike Zhao Xingde, who is still a little fluctuating, Han Shizhong is the attitude he should have when he does nothing.

A group of merchants walked along the tortuous trade route for two or three days, and gradually left the scope controlled by the Liao State, and entered the buffer zone between the Liao and Song dynasties, perhaps because the weather was getting colder, and when they came, they also encountered several teams of Liao cavalry patrolling the border, but there was no team on the way back, and all the merchants were happy to spend less money to spend money, but Han Shizhong frowned, and urged the detectives to be careful, not to fall into the ambush of horse thieves and mountain bandits.

Zhao Xingde also muttered in his heart, did Han Shizhong suddenly make a lot of money, so that like a small white-collar worker who won the super jackpot, he was afraid that someone would come to rob him, and he couldn't wait to go out wearing sunglasses and a mask. As he was in the middle of the belly, two chirping cries suddenly flew from the woods in the distance on the left, dragging a sharp and piercing sound, startling several crows to fly up and scatter in all directions.

"Enemy attack!" Although he has only been in the army for a few months, Zhao Xingde also knows what Ming Cheng means, he doesn't know how to deal with it for a while, and when his mind is turning, Han Shizhong has already shouted loudly: "Enemy attack, enemy attack!" While shouting, he pulled out the saber on his waist, but did not pull it out, but circled the war horse, and kept beating several volunteer leaders who were as overwhelmed as Zhao Xingde with their scabbards and horse whips, "Cloth car formation!" Cloth Array! He continued to order loudly, holding the horse's belly between his legs, running back and forth in the scattered caravan, and the dozen or so cavalrymen who stayed in the caravan were also like Han Shizhong, beating horses everywhere, urging the panicked porters, the stunned merchants, and the scrambled bodyguards to quickly set up the chariot formation.

In the unsheltered northern plains, horse thieves are definitely one of the most hated beings. Mountain bandits are often entrenched in one place, and rarely do anything to kill them all, and it is the best policy to fish in the dry water, and to burn the forest and hunt. Horse thieves like locusts are just the opposite, they wander a very wide range, they act extremely hot, and they take pleasure in killing them all, and in the obvious bad deeds of horse thieves, there is never a shortage of slaughtering villages and destroying doors, and killing them all. Judging from the eager reaction of the cavalry, the scouts in front should have encountered a team of horse thieves, and the strength was not small, so that a team of ten scouts only had time to release two warnings.

The leader shouted and cursed loudly, and the volunteers below were in a hurry, and the merchants scrambled to call the bodyguards to him like headless flies, and even because the two frightened mules ran around, the three wagons were huddled together and fell to the ground. Fortunately, although the volunteers in these states and counties have never experienced a battle formation, they have still practiced the most basic chariot formation, and finally brought the head and tail of the merchant brigade to the middle, and reluctantly arranged a chariot formation formed by the first connection of the carriages transporting goods, so as to protect people, mules, horses and valuable goods in the array.

When the sound of horses' hooves approached, the volunteers had already taken out crossbows and bows and arrows from the cart, and waited in the chariot array in fear, Zhao Xingde also tied the hem of his robe around his waist and took out the three-stone bow he usually used. If the car formation is destroyed by horse thieves, according to the convention, except for mules and horses, including porters, there are no chickens and dogs.

The first to appear in everyone's sight were the three scouts who were desperately hitting the horse, one of them was hit by two arrows in the back, lying on the horse softly, the two of them were behind him, and occasionally turned around and shot an arrow, blocking the more than ten enemy horsemen who were chasing closely. Han Shizhong saw the appearance of this horse thief, and his heart sank again, one by one, he wore leather fur, and it didn't matter if he looked fierce and vicious, all he rode was a rare healthy horse, and he was not masked, obviously not dressed by Song Liao's official army, but a bandit who wandered all year round. The horse thieves who were chasing after the three scouts were holding soft bows, the range was not as long as that used by the iron cavalry, but it took advantage of the rapid launch, if the scouts were chased close by them, they were afraid that when they turned around and fired an arrow, it would be more than a dozen arrows coming back, and the arrows would pierce the body.

Han Shizhong took over the trade of the protectors, and brought out the elite soldiers in the center of the camp, at this time, seeing that the team in front of him had broken seven people, his heart was painful and angry, and he immediately shouted angrily, no matter how much backup there was behind the group of horse thieves, his legs clamped the horse's belly, the war horse neighed, and the four hooves exerted force, if Tengyun jumped out of the car formation like a mist, and ran towards the three scouts who were chased by the horse thieves, the remaining dozen or so iron cavalry did not dare to slack off, they beat their horses one after another, followed behind Han Shizhong at great speed, and shouted loudly and the enemy rushed over, Although there were only a dozen cavalry, they fought like two armies clashing with the momentum of a million.