In a blink of an eye, it was time to set off.

As soon as the day was white, Pucao got up early, rinsed briefly, and left the inn after checkout. The guy at the inn rubbed his sleepy eyes, and said a few auspicious words to Pu Cao, Pu Cao was not bad for money anyway, and he was happy and lost the ingots and broken silver, and the guy thanked him a thousand times, and while the shopkeeper was still resting, he secretly stuffed Pu Cao with a pot of old wine three or four taels.

Pu herb is not drinking, thinking of a buddy, refusing is not humane, it is better to take it with you, if there is a place to ask for help from the caravan on the way, it is good to send a pot of wine.

The place of travel has been agreed the day before yesterday, it only takes two quarters of an hour to walk, at this time the white clouds of fish belly scales are embellished in the east sky, the morning birds come out of the forest and the cool breeze gusts, all the way, the early idlers gather around the breakfast stalls on the side of the road to talk loudly. Walking on the main road of Yangshan City, I feel that this strange town is amiable, Pucao thought to herself, this is what life should be.

There was no curfew in Yangshan City, so the city gate was not closed, and the caravan had already loaded the carts on the side of the road outside the city gate, and Pu Cao took a look, there were about seventy or eighty people, thirty or forty mule-drawn carts, and the number of carriages with carriages was scarce, only six or seven, all of which were parked at the front of the procession.

Pu Cao saw at a glance that the shrewd steward who had agreed with himself before was bare-chested, and after running before and after running and directing the team to compact the goods and adjust the weight, Pu Cao stepped forward to confess, and the shrewd steward saw Pu Cao coming, with a professional smile, stopped to wipe the sweat on his body, and apologized to tell Pu Cao that the carriage car was set by the caravan in advance, and specially explained that it was not much space for daily use, and it would only become less and less if it was consumed all the way, please don't mind Pu Cao.

Of course, Pu Cao could understand the careful thinking of the steward, and politely asked the steward's name, and the steward said that the surname was the second of the enemy family, and let Pu Cao call him the hater steward. Steward Qiu was very talkative, and told Pucao that the general merchant team rarely carried carriages, and even if there were, it was mainly for the old and infirm or female dependents, and roughly talked about the itinerary, and stuffed Pucao with a passage guide issued by Yangshan City, which could save a lot of time when entering and leaving the city.

The huge caravan was chaotic, and people kept coming to inquire about the housekeeper, and Pucao was not good at delay, so he went to the carriage provided by the caravan. When I lifted the curtain, I saw that there were several neat sacks piled up in the car, leaving only the opening of the window, which did not affect the lifting of the window and lying flat in the car. Pu Cao poked his finger, and he didn't know what to put inside, thinking that he must be an interesting person, which was convenient for the team, and would not be too disgusting to the guests.

Pucao has never experienced the life of a merchant, and there are also merchants in Sanduoji, but those people are all by water, and in Sanduoji, they just get on and off the goods and transfer to the boat, and what they hear and see is very one-sided. Together with the caravan this time, it was indeed an eye-opener for Pucao. The caravan not only had merchants, but also a translator who was said to be a Muguo person, and a guide in the Mukoku, who was responsible for dealing with the local snakeheads and government in the Mukoku, and hired more than a dozen guards, and the caravan that Pu Cao didn't expect also hired a foot doctor.

The caravan is mostly a perennial run of this line of strong men, weekdays sit on the mule carriage frame with a canopy, along the way seems to be very familiar, every morning will determine the supply location according to the time of day, after entering the city will also go to a fixed place to purchase, sometimes miss the accommodation, the caravan in the wilderness camp, light a bonfire, the men drink and wrestle, so lively.

Stop and go all the way, out of Wanli Prefecture to the territory of Bochuan Prefecture, the weather is hot, Pucao sometimes thinks that reading in the carriage is too stuffy, and will stay with the men. The merchant is doing the business of eating the rice of the four seas, none of them are stuffy gourds, often dragging the grass to blow in the sea, the grass says less and listens more, and has grown a lot of knowledge along the way. But as soon as the city of Liangsa in Bochuan Prefecture passed, the atmosphere of the caravan became depressing, the frequency of patrols by the guards increased significantly, and the caravan no longer pursued the speed of hurrying, even if the days were long in summer, and there were still two hours before dark when they entered the city in the afternoon, they would not sleep in the wild in order to continue to hurry, and would rather spend more money to live in the city. Walking in the official road where there is no one, the men will be much more nervous than in Wanli State, and the men who are hungry for wine will never touch a drop of wine, and the wooden sticks and forks of the forks are all within reach. As long as a large group of officers and soldiers passed by on the road, the caravan would avoid in advance, and the speed slowed down significantly.

Pucao didn't know what to do, but after asking, he learned that Bochuan Prefecture borders Sangin Prefecture, and there are no small battles in the big war, and he is most afraid of encountering a rout. If you meet a small group of defeated troops of Jing in the field, after all, it is your own country's army, and it is generally not too troublesome to send some silver money and wine in the name of the labor army, for fear of encountering the rout of the country, the army of the country does not dare to enter the city, and there are no rules at all, killing people and robbing money is a common thing, and the officers and soldiers of the Jing country can not be counted on, and there may be some way to live if you fight together, this trade road, I don't know how much blood and tears of the merchants have been shed.

Pu Cao was a little scared, no longer stayed in the carriage, sat with those men every day, practiced the speed of drawing a firewood knife in private, paid attention to the escape route at any time on the road, and was very vigilant when he slept, and would wake up when the wind and grass were blowing. Therefore, Pucao's spirit was not very good during this time, the weather was hot, and his body was a little weak, so he had to ask the accompanying doctor for a prescription, and when he entered the city, he grabbed some medicine and took it for a long time to get a little better.

After traveling for more than 20 days, after passing the watershed mountain, officially set foot on the land of Mukoku, and continued to move forward, after arriving at Nanshui Castle in Sangin Prefecture, the caravan's half-hanging heart was finally relaxed. The six countries are constantly fighting, the loss of national strength is huge, the merchants are profitable, and the taxes imposed by each country on the merchants account for a considerable proportion of the tax revenue, so the protection of the merchants is also very strict, no matter which country trades, as long as it is not illegal, it will be treated equally.

Nanshui City is a relatively large city in the lower reaches of Luoshui, it is hundreds of miles away from the border of Jingmu, the impact of the war is not great, the caravan submitted the list of goods and the road guide to Nanshui City, and the port head of the Nanshui City was strictly checked again, and received a document stamped with the official seal of Nanshui City, waiting for the merchant ships to go north to Luoling. The merchant ships only sailed three times a month, and the Qiu steward and the guide of the caravan went to rent a warehouse to store the goods, and arranged for people to settle the unloaded carriages and horses, and wait for the return of the goods to be loaded back from Luoling. Everyone was safe and sound, and they didn't want to wait for several days at the wharf, so they went to the street to buy the specialties of Nanshui City, or made an appointment with acquaintances to find a tavern to have a few drinks, and there were also many female men who went to linger in the building, which caused several old merchants in the caravan to mumble "A knife on the head of the color word, young people just don't know how to control it", but those men laughed at the old guys' physical health and only greed.

A few days ago, on the night of the full moon, Pu Cao was tortured by the severed finger of the miserable white-faced Wei ghost, and he wanted to scratch the wooden board of the carriage, Pu Cao gritted his teeth and carried it for four hours, and the carriage shook all night. In the next few days, the Qiu steward intentionally or unintentionally stared at Pu Cao's death. It has been agreed before the trip that except for the women brought by the caravan on the way, it is not allowed to bring women into the caravan without permission, let alone do things between men and women in the caravan. The old rules of the merchants thought that this matter was unlucky, and it was easy to cause jealousy among the merchants, and once it was discovered, they would not be spared, and according to the methods of the merchants, they would definitely be driven out of the caravan when they encountered such a thing.

Pu Cao knew that the Qiu steward must be thinking crookedly, so he had no choice but to tell the Qiu steward that he was not greedy for women and violated the rules of the caravan, and vaguely explained that he had a dark disease when he urinated, and sometimes the attack was painful, in order not to disturb the rest of the caravan to rest, he could only grit his teeth and endure it, but it was not an infectious disease, and he went to Daxue Mountain to be instructed to treat the disease. The Qiu steward was not at ease, and asked the accompanying physician to confirm that it was not a serious illness that was passed on, and the matter was settled.

On the day of the departure of the boat, Pucao and the caravan went to the wharf together, only to see three large ships thirty or forty zhang long lined up in a line, all of which were two-and-a-half stories of structure. Dozens of hardwood oars are inserted into the water like centipede feet, sheepskin airbags and four rafts are hung on both sides, the hull is wrapped in anti-collision cushions at intervals, three masts are hung with sails, and the iron cables with thick arms are tied to the berths of the pier several times. The sailors on board the ship demarcated the position of the caravan according to the difference in the caravan and the number of cargo, and Pucao also went to see with the caravan people, it was very empty, and the seats of the sailors paddling were on the side of the deck, and the number of sailors would not be less than sixty. The first floor is the deck and wheelhouse, which is flat in front and backward, and you need to go up several steps to get to the front deck and the rearmost deck. The second floor is a small and crowded room for boat guests, each room is a bunk, eight people, leaving only a sideways position. A half layer was added above the second floor, and an awning was built with black felt for people to rest. Pu Cao took the number plate issued by the sailor, found a place to stay, and when he entered, he found that the other seven people who lived with him were all caravan people, which also saved him a lot of trouble.

This is to go north, sailing against the current, the role of the sail is not big, the three boats are basically rowed by manpower, and the speed of the carriage and horse on the road can not be compared, but taking the waterway is the most convenient way, and the grass has no way. Don't look at the grass in the three more episodes of growth, but never have the experience of traveling by boat, at the beginning of every day to go to the first deck or the top floor to see the scenery, a long time to get tired, July is too hot to work, the sun shines on the deck soaked in tung oil, can bake people's skin out of blisters. Every two or three days, the boat will inevitably get on and off the goods and personnel passing through the cities along the water, and then it will be checked by the government, and it will be most of the day when it docks, and it can only wait, which really makes Pucao boring and annoying, but the people of the caravan are commonplace, and they often gang up to drink and make money on the top floor. The cabin is stuffy, the smell of water and sweat only drills into the nose, and Pucao can only stay in the ventilation and shade of the second deck of the cabin every day, and must go to occupy a place early, otherwise there is no place to stay and can only go to the top floor to watch people frolic.

Day after day, just when Pucao felt that she was about to get sick, the guests on the boat were packing up their things and preparing to get off the boat, and it turned out that they were going to Luoling today.

With countless reveries about Luoling, a majestic city appeared in the fleet's field of vision.

Luoling is getting closer and closer, first the arc-shaped breeze ferry and the long bright moon embankment come into view, with the approach of the boat, the tower and heavy crossbow on the city wall in the distance have been clearly visible, the dark brown wall stone is like a vicissitudes of life old man quietly tells the history of Luoling.

When disembarking from the boat, it was crowded, and Pucao couldn't get a good look at Luoling's appearance, so he crowded towards Qingfeng Ferry with the crowd, and waited for the caravan to enter the city together at the inscription wall at the ferry. Many pavilions stood beside the ferry, the breeze was blowing, and for the first time in these days, Pucao stood on the ground with both feet, and without the shaking of the boat, it took a while to get used to it.

Luoling is worthy of being the capital of literature, although Pucao did not enter the city, but look at the inscriptions of many predecessors on the wall, whether the content is written parting or reunion, or describing ambitions, expressing hearts, lamenting the depressed verses, with a small amount of ink in his stomach, you can see that it is good, it is indeed rare. These poems on the wall tablet on the wall, are all signed, Pucao turned around, found an interesting phenomenon, that is, the literary style is slightly less than half of the inscription, the people of Luoling are circled out with a thick pen, next to the inscription of the life and anecdotes of the inscription, some of the evaluation is very mean, see Pucao shook his head, which is not seen in other places at all, it can be seen that Luoling people's appreciation taste is how picky.

After the caravan was reorganized, Pu Cao entered the city, and settled the account with the Qiu Steward at the place where the caravan settled. If you go to the west of the Great Snow Mountain, you have to rely on Pucao's own way.

Qiu Guan is worthy of being a businessman, this trip by the way a little on Pucao, earned a few hundred taels of silver, when saying goodbye, he warmly invited Pucao to return to Jingguo and then go back with his caravan, even if the caravan is not in Luoling for the time being, there are people here who are responsible for contacting, Pucao only needs to wait for the caravan to arrive in Luoling for a while. Pu Cao smiled and said that it must be, and left the caravan's station in Luoling.

Walking on the main street, Pucao fell into the prosperity of Luoling and did not know where to go.