The path they took was the closest and the most difficult. The west of Taihang Mountain can be regarded as the northwest. Windy sand in the northwest has existed since ancient times, and it is not formed by soil erosion caused by the felling of too many trees in later generations. The Loess Plateau is blown by the wind from further west, and if it is a little easter, how good can it be? Fortunately, the Yellow River runs almost in the middle of the Loess Plateau, splitting it in half, east of the river and north of the river.

The place where Su Ren and the others are walking now is Hedong, and if they go further north, they will arrive in Taiyuan. Taiyuan is a large county, under the jurisdiction of eighteen counties, the north is Yanmen, the south is Hedong, is the northern gateway of the Han Dynasty. Over the years, because Yanmen Pass resisted the iron cavalry of the Huns, the Taiyuan people were not ravaged, and life was relatively good.

Jinyang is the seat of Taiyuan's subordinate government, and from a distance, the city wall looks more majestic than Chang'an. It was necessary to build a fortified city here, because the Huns were very intelligent and flexible, and never attacked where a large army was stationed on the border of the Han Dynasty. With a border of thousands of miles, you can always find a hole in your defense. Before Li Guang and Cheng didn't know how to come to Yanmen, this was the place they often frequented.

Today's Jinyang has prospered a lot because of the protection of Yanmen. From a distance, you can see people coming and going, some entering and some leaving. Su Ren also found that the people who came out always dragged their families with them, and those who went in were always big bags and small bags.

If Liu Che's retreat policy has played a role, Su Ren can clearly tell you that it has indeed played a role at the imperial court level, but how can smuggling operations in the private or private areas be banned? Both the Xiongnu and the Han people needed to exchange goods, and the grain, salt, ironware, and even silk and porcelain of the Han were the favorite of the Xiongnu. And the Han people liked the horses, hides and falcons of the Xiongnu.

On the way here, Su Ren met a lot of businessmen with goods, some of them were blatant and some were secretive, but from the actions of those people, it could be seen that they were definitely businessmen.

Standing at the gate of Jinyang City, Su Ren suddenly didn't want to go in again. According to the laws or rules of the Han Dynasty, there was a tax on entering and leaving the city, and the tax on the population, horses, and goods of their party was not a small amount of money. Moreover, the tax in Jinyang is higher than that of Chang'an City, at least ten yuan per person, which is the price of two stones of grain, which is enough for a family of five to eat for a while.

Ying Guangji poked Su Yi's finger: "Let's go!" Didn't you say go into the city to rest? I'll be crazy if I live in camp again, you can't even smell the smell of me! ”

"What does that have to do with me?"

"Don't you feel it?" Ying Guangji put his head on Su Ren and sniffed vigorously: "Huh! How do you not stink? ”

"I take a bath every day, who is like you, I haven't taken a bath since I left Chang'an, right?"

"You wash every day? When? ”

"Nonsense, naturally before going to bed!"

"You, you, you, you ......" Ying Guangji pointed at Su Ren and gritted his teeth: "You actually boiled water and took a bath without telling me, I thought it was ......"

"What's so strange about bathing! Oh......! Su Ren had a suddenly realized expression: "By the way, those people on the plateau rarely take a bath, you must be learning from them, continue, you will soon become a plateau person!" ”

Ignoring Su Ren anymore, Ying Guangji went to the city after beating the horse, completely ignoring whether Su Ren would follow.

Han Qing shook his head and smiled bitterly, looking at Ying Guangji's back: "This Ying Gongzi is really interesting." ”

Su Ren said coldly: "It's not just interesting, this person has great ambitions, if he was born a hundred years earlier, Qin might not have died in the country!" Don't be deceived by his appearance, it's better not to tell him many things. ”

Han Qing nodded solemnly.

Win Guangji has entered, and Su Ren naturally has no reason to stand outside the city. Isn't it just a tax to enter the city? I can afford to pay for that little money. When he entered Jinyang City, Su Ren regretted it a little, this was a military city. The city was full of soldiers in military uniforms, some swaggering, some drunk and frolicking, and even even rampant, completely ignoring the people.

But these soldiers are very discerning and know who can and can't bully. He was hateful to the people, but surprisingly good to the merchants, although he was a little offensive in his words, but none of them did it. If you think about it, you can understand that the border army has no military salary, so how can these border troops survive? Naturally, he colluded with the businessmen and used the power of sesame mung beans in his hands to seek some benefits. This is why smuggling continues to be banned.

Su Ren and their horse team were huge, and there were thirty guards, not to mention that no one dared to mess with them at such a scale, even the bandits in the mountains and forests had to weigh it. Everywhere they passed, everyone was looking at Su Ren's horse team. I could hear it vaguely, and some people talked about saying yes, but I didn't know that it was a relative of that official. Su Ren just smiled at this and didn't bother to pay attention to it.

Jinyang also has Cuixiang Building, which is much simpler than Chang'an. Knowing that this is a foothold for businessmen, there are many guest rooms and livestock sheds in the backyard of Cuixiang Building. Su Ren didn't identify himself, and when the guys from Cuixianglou saw such a large group of horses, they hurriedly greeted him with a smile: "The guest officer is hard!" Inside please! ”

Hawking raised his head and saw the three words of Cuixianglou, and smiled: "What about your shopkeeper?" Let him out! ”

The guy still had a smile on his face: "Forgive me, the shopkeeper is busy in the backyard, you guys go in first, the villain serves tea to a few people, and then go to invite the shopkeeper, okay?" ”

Hawking wanted to be a fox standing in front of the tiger once, but unfortunately the man's words answered just right, neither offended Hawking, nor did he immediately call someone, so that Hawking's rush had no place to vent.

Lao Li, the shopkeeper, naturally knows Su Ren, and Su Ren, a border city like Jinyang, will not let an outsider take care of it. Lao Li ignored the surprise of his buddies and everyone, and knelt in front of Su Ren with a puff, tears in his eyes: "Sir! It's really sir! The old man can still see Mr. in his lifetime, it is really an eye-opener! ”

Lao Li was very excited. Who in the whole Jinyang doesn't know Lao Li? is not only the shopkeeper of Cuixiang Building, the largest wine store in Jinyang, but also a capable person who can talk to all parties in Jinyang. No matter how difficult things are, as long as Lao Li speaks, then you put your heart in your stomach. Even Taiyuan Taishou greeted Lao Li with a smile, and sometimes he would enjoy a glass of wine. Such a person actually made such a big gift to a young man in his twenties, who was that young man? Everyone couldn't help but start speculating.

Hawking hurriedly pulled Lao Li up: "Uncle Li, look at you!" ”

Lao Li turned his head and looked around: "What's wrong with me?" Shouldn't you give a big gift to your husband? The old man is not you, you follow Mr. all day long, the old man hasn't seen him for five years! ”

"Big brother doesn't want to be public!" Hawking leaned on Lao Li's ear and whispered.

When Lao Li heard this, he immediately reacted: "Yes, yes, yes, it's the old man who is confused!" Quick, please go to the backyard, there are many people here! ”

Lao Li is still very humble, always bending over, and is ten thousand times more respectful than Taishou. Everyone watched Lao Li take Su Ren and others to the backyard, and turned their faces to speculate again. The well-informed Chang'an businessmen can naturally break through the sky in one word. The others suddenly realized, and their eyes were full of envy.

There was only one person sitting at a table in the innermost corner, this person had come in and sat here since the door of Cuixianglou opened in the morning, and wanted to serve a few small dishes, drink one bite at a time, and never get tired of it, and have been doing it here for three or five days. Sometimes sitting is a day, from morning to evening.

This person had a good amount of wine, and in addition to two dishes on the table, the rest of the place was full of two or two small wine jugs. This is the rule of Cuixiang Building, and it is also up to the people to serve wine to the guests, and the big jar is when there are many people, and the wine pot is the wine pot when there are few people. If a person is this kind of two-tael small wine pot, it is enough for ordinary people to have two-two-two pot heads, and there are many mistakes.

The man was dressed in black, with a scruffy beard, the hair on his head sticking together, and a wine burp came out, which smelled of alcohol and stench. Such people are very common in Jinyang, and you don't need to guess to know that this is a fat sheep coming down from the mountain. Since the two had nothing to do with each other, Lao Li didn't let the guy disturb the man, and let the man sit there.

The man didn't even bother with the bustle in the shop, and just drank with his head bored. When Su Ren went to the backyard, the man drank the last glass of wine, took out a few copper coins from his arms, threw them on the table with a bang, and staggered up and walked out. I drank a lot, and I almost fell down together, and if it wasn't for the guy's sharp eyes, I would have to bump into others.

Sending the man out, watching the man staggering into the crowd, the guy shook his head and smiled bitterly: "I don't know which mountain it is, send a drunkard down to do something!" ”

Lao Li learned that Su Ren was coming, so he cleaned up a small courtyard early, and his own gentleman was a little clean, everything was new, and even the tables and chairs had a wooden fragrance. The yard is very clean, but unfortunately Taiyuan is colder than Chang'an, there is neither greenery nor flowers, and it is a little sluggish.

"Sir, I'll go make you tea!" The old man deliberately got some new tea from Shu a few years ago, but no one gave it to drink! ”

"Lao Li, don't worry, let's talk, let them do these things!"

Shi Bao was the most clever, and hurriedly pulled Lao Li to sit down, and the scholar Hawking also called Uncle Li: "Uncle Li will talk to Mr., and I will make tea for you!" ”

Lao Li didn't want to leave, so he agreed with a smile.

"Lao Li, has anyone been looking for me these days?" Su Ren got straight to the point.

Lao Li hurriedly said: "Yesterday, a man came to find Mr., and I was going to keep him, but that person seemed to have something to do, and he left again, and there was no one else but that person." ”

Su Ren breathed a sigh of relief: "It seems that he arrived first!" In this way, I will stay in Jinyang for a few days, and if that person comes again, I will bring it with me. ”

"Well, the old man has written it down!"

Speaking of the situation in Jinyang, Su Ren could see that Lao Li had done a lot of work and was very familiar with the situation in Jinyang and even Yanmen. For a whole afternoon, Su Ren was talking to Lao Li. This is Cuixiang Building, it is their own territory, the guards naturally relaxed their vigilance, and no one found that there was a person hidden on the locust tree in the corner, and he would burp from time to time.