The morning sun dispelled the mist, and the earth ushered in a new day. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

In the early morning in the cool mountains, the air is unusually humid and fresh, which makes people feel very comfortable. Shen Ze and Gao Wu, who got up early, walked on the stone road of Qingfeng Town, chatting all the way to the business district east of the town.

Qingfeng Town is surrounded by mountains, and a small river runs through it, adding a lot of agility to the town.

Although Qingfeng Town is a town, the scale of the town is actually quite large! The buildings in the town are lined up and scattered, the streets are crisscrossed, and the bluestone paved streets are lined with shops, even more prosperous than some small county towns! In the early morning, the streets of Qingfeng Town have been filled with cars and horses, pedestrians shuttling, and the sound of selling is endless, a busy scene.

There is a special business area in the east of Qingfeng Town, and the people of the entire Qingfeng Town around ten miles and eight villages will basically come here to buy all kinds of daily necessities, and will also come here to sell their mountain goods, furs, etc. In addition to the nearby mountain people who come here to trade, there are also many guilds who come here to sell their own goods or buy mountain treasures and other things.

Surrounded by mountains in the southwest of Qingzhou, the mountains are continuous and sparsely populated, but Qingfeng Town is a prosperous scene, not like a remote town at all!

The reason why Qingfeng Town is so prosperous is mainly because there are two ancient roads that have been opened up since the Tang and Song dynasties, and they meet here! Qingfeng Town is at the intersection of these two ancient roads, so it is very prosperous.

These two ancient roads that meet in Qingfeng Town, one is the Mansa Ancient Road. From Qingfeng Town to the south, the Mansa Ancient Road can pass through the mountains and lead to Linqu County, and to the north can lead to Linzi County, the ancient capital of Qi State. The other is the Ziqing Ancient Road. During the Tang and Song dynasties, the Ziqing Ancient Road was an important official road connecting Qingzhou and Zizhou and extending to Qizhou, and it was also the main road in the east-west direction of the land of Qilu.

Of course, in today's Daming, the Ziqing Ancient Road is still the east-west road on the land of Qilu. Zizhou in the Tang and Song dynasties is the Zichuan County of the Ming Dynasty today, and Qizhou is the Jinan Mansion today! Shen Ze and the others went to Jinan Mansion this time, intending to go west along this Ziqing Ancient Road.

Qingfeng Town is located at the intersection of these two ancient roads, and naturally becomes an important foothold for the supply and transit of goods merchants walking on these two ancient roads, so this Qingfeng Town will naturally become prosperous.

In addition to the intersection of the Ziqing Ancient Road and the Mansa Ancient Road in Qingfeng Town, there is another important reason why Qingfeng Town is so lively today. That is, King Heng, who is now in Qingzhou, chose his royal tomb to Sanyang Mountain, not far north of Qingfeng Town.

The tombs of the Ming Dynasty are known for their magnificent scale. The status of the vassal kings in the Ming Dynasty was very high, and the vassal system was only a first-class descending to the Son of Heaven, whether it was this palace or the royal tomb, it was only a slight lower standard than the palace and imperial tomb of the Son of Heaven.

In this era, death is like life, and the above-ground and underground buildings and funeral items of the emperor's mausoleum should be imitated in the world. An imperial mausoleum often costs millions of taels of silver and takes many years of hard work to complete. Even some emperors began to build imperial tombs for themselves as soon as they ascended the throne, but they were not completed when they died, which shows the scale and cost of this imperial tomb. And the Tomb of the King of the Vassal King is only slightly lower than the system of the Son of Heaven, which is naturally not a small scale.

The tomb of King Heng of Sanyang Mountain, since the beginning of King Heng Zhu Youyi in Qingzhou, began to be built, until now it has been six or seven years, and it is only a prototype of construction, and there is still a long time before completion.

The construction of this royal tomb naturally requires countless building materials and materials, as well as countless labor, which is naturally a huge business opportunity for merchants. Whether it is selling materials or providing services to those laborers, this is a good way to make money, so because of the arrival of many merchants, this Qingfeng town has become more prosperous in recent years.

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Qingfeng Town is very prosperous, and this business area naturally sells more things, according to the innkeeper of the inn where Shen Ze and the others stayed last night, the business area in the east of Qingfeng Town sometimes has merchants to sell horses.

The reason why Shen Ze got up early in the morning and went to the eastern business district was to buy two horses and get two new followers Shang Nanshan and Xia Beihai to ride. After all, there are still more than 200 miles to go to Jinan Mansion, and they can't travel without horses.

Yesterday, the guard of the Gao family gave up a horse for the two of them to ride together, and it was only seven or eight miles from where they met the cut path to Qingfeng Town, and the guard was already very distressed. Yesterday, the nurse was afraid that he would be tired of his beloved horse, so he really fed the war horse a small half bag of beans at night to supplement its loss, so he was relieved.

Then let the Gao family guards give up a horse and let Shang Nanshan and Xia Beihai ride together, Shen Ze felt that it was impossible, if the two of them rode together, the two hundred miles of walking down, I was afraid that the guard would be distressed to death, so Shen Ze could only come and buy them two horses.

Shen Ze didn't know whether the horses were good or bad, so he pulled Gao Wu to pick a horse for him.

When he came to the business area in the east of the town, Shen Ze was afraid that he would come too early, and there would be no one there, but he didn't expect that there were already many traders and mountain people here who had put out their goods, and there were already many people who came to buy things in the market. Most of these mountain people are from the cool mountainous areas, and it is not easy to come here, so it is natural to hurry early.

Shen Ze and Gao Wu wandered around the market, looking for traders to buy horses.

They were lucky enough to come across a dealer who bought a horse.

In fact, in this cool mountainous area, horses are far less real than mules and donkeys.

This is mainly because in this mountainous area, the road is difficult and dangerous, it is not suitable for galloping horses, the speed advantage of this horse is useless, and the cost of buying and feeding horses in the later period is too high, far less than mules and donkeys. Mules are resistant to heavy loads and are not afraid of mountain roads; Donkeys are cheap and very agile in mountain trails. And whether it's a mule or a donkey, it doesn't have to be as delicate as a horse!

This merchant was transporting supplies from other places to Qingfeng Town to sell, and he planned to open a shop in Qingfeng Town in the future, temporarily stationed there, and do business here. So I planned to sell the horses and exchange them for mules that were more practical in the mountains.

However, after Gao Wu saw these horses of this trader, he couldn't help but shake his head.

Gao Wu frowned and said, "These horses are all useless flowers. Look at the teeth of these horses, these horses are not young, and they have always been used as horses, and they can only be used for riding! It's okay to walk on the Taiping Road, but if you run fast, you can't run at all! ”

Shen Ze looked at these tall horses, their coats were oily and slippery, but he didn't expect that in the fifth year of high school, insiders, they were all showy! But on second thought: they don't plan to ride in battle, this horse can ride on the Taiping Road! If you gallop up, buddies won't be able to keep up with you in the carriage. As long as the horse can keep up with the carriage, it will be fine.

In the fifth year of high school, they all rode Qingzhou Wei's war horses. The selection requirements for war horses in this era are very strict. There are strict requirements for tooth age, intelligence and response! After the selected horses are saddled, they have to undergo a long time of riding training, and many unqualified horses are eliminated, and the last ones that remain can be used as war horses. In the era of the Ming Dynasty, the value of a war horse could withstand the price of many horses. They are used to riding war horses in the fifth year of high school, and this kind of pulling horses naturally can't get into his eyes.

At that moment, Shen Ze smiled and said: "These horses naturally can't be compared with the war horses you can ride, Fifth Brother." We don't need to gallop, we can ride with weights! ”

Gao Wu thought about it too, they just bought two horses for the two bandits to ride, and they didn't need good horses. Besides, this whole Qingfeng Town is just one merchant selling horses, and there is no place to buy good horses if you want to.

In the end, Gao Wu picked two horses from these horses, and bargained with the dealer who sold the horses, and bought them for thirty taels of silver.

Shen Ze went out this time with a total of two hundred taels of silver, and he accumulated merit yesterday, so the money to buy a horse was naturally borrowed from his eldest brother Gao Yu. Anyway, his eldest brother's family is not bad for money, and Shen Ze is not polite to him.

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Shen Ze paid the silver, and Gao Wu led the horse to prepare to go back to the inn.

"Engong...... Shen Gongzi ......"

Just a few steps away, Shen Ze suddenly heard that someone seemed to be shouting at him, and he couldn't help but follow the voice.

Shen Ze saw a walnut vendor waving to him. The peddler looked familiar, as if he should have seen it, but Shen Ze couldn't remember where he had seen it for a while.

The peddler enthusiastically pulled a bunch of walnuts, wrapped them in a cloth, ran to Shen Ze, and said excitedly: "Shen Gongzi, I am Dong Laohan from Dongjiazhuang, you have been to our Zhuangzi this spring!" ”

Shen Ze suddenly remembered when he heard the peddler report his home. This spring, when I helped Dongjiazhuang and Peiqiao Village mediate the fight and solve the problem of water for spring ploughing, I met this Dong Laohan in Dongjiazhuang. This Dong Laohan's black donkey was cut off by the tomb thief Hu Laoqi, because this Dong Laohan once wanted to open his "eye of the sky" to help him who did that lack of morality.

At that moment, Shen Ze greeted with a smile: "It turns out that Brother Dong, who are you?" ”

Dong Laohan smiled very coldly: "Son, don't call it that, I can't afford it, I just call Lao Dong." Isn't this your own walnut down, don't you come to the town to sell some! Shen Gongzi is going to go far away to buy a horse? ”

Shen Ze said with a smile: "Isn't this the autumn season, I'm going to Jinan Mansion to catch the exam!" ”

When Dong Laohan heard that Shen Ze was going to participate in the township test, he couldn't help but be in awe. "Ah, then Lao Dong is here to congratulate Shen Gongzi on his high school!"

Immediately, Dong Laohan greeted the eleven or twelve-year-old half-year-old boy who was looking at the stall and said, "Huzi, come and meet Engong!" Although Shen Ze didn't help him open his eyes to find the bad guy with the donkey's hooves that day, he gave him five taels of silver, so that he could add the money from selling donkey meat and buy a new donkey for his eldest son! In Dong Laohan's opinion, this Shen Gongzi is his benefactor. If it weren't for Shen Ze's five taels of silver, his family wouldn't be able to afford this donkey, and his family's eldest son wouldn't be able to go to the school on the south side of the mountain, more than 20 miles away. In the eyes of this simple farmer, it is a great grace to let his children go to school!

The child, who was called Huzi by Dong Laohan, came to Shen Ze and made a deep bow very solemnly, and said, "Dong Hu thanked Uncle Shen Shi for his great kindness!" ”

"Uh......" Shen Ze was speechless for a while, how did he become an uncle after a while?! However, when he thought about it, he called his father Brother Dong just now, and this old Dong's son seemed to be a person who knew etiquette, so it seemed that he could only call himself like that.

Shen Ze saw that this boy named Dong Hu, although his appearance and dress were a little rustic, but his demeanor was polite, and it seemed that he was indeed a scholar, Shen Ze couldn't help but have a good impression of him.

Shen Ze smiled at the moment and said, "What kind of grace is not gracious, a little bit of money and money, it is not worthy of such a big gift." ”

In fact, speaking of which, Shen Ze is still a little grateful to this Dong Laohan. If he hadn't said that his donkey had his hooves cut off, Shen Ze wouldn't have thought that there were tomb robbers nearby. If he hadn't gotten a treasure knife from the tomb robber Hu Laoqi that he couldn't put down, he would have been held hostage by Xu Jinfan that time, I'm afraid it would have been difficult to get out! The cause and effect of all this is indeed somewhat wonderful!

Immediately, Shen Ze smiled and chatted with Huzi for a few words, and asked him a few words about reading and studying!

Dong Laohan said proudly on the side: "My Huzi has excellent grades in the school, and this article is also very good!" The master of the school said that next year Huzi can go to the next field and take the county test! "The swarky Dong Laohan is talking about his eldest son Dong Hulai, he is really full of glory and pride! In this era of "everything is inferior, only reading is high", a child reading well is undoubtedly the most proud thing for parents!

Shen Ze smiled: "Hey, Huzi is very powerful, he is going to participate in the county exam at such a young age!" ”

Dong Hu said very shyly: "The master just asked the little nephew to try it next year and learn some experience, Huzi's knowledge is still very shallow, I'm afraid it will be difficult to pass the test!" ”

Shen Ze smiled: "That's not bad. Well, it's better than being arrogant, maybe you can pass the test. Hehe, let's know each other, it's also fate, if you take the county exam next year, I'll give you insurance! This uncle can't let you shout in vain! ”

In the county examination of Daming, in order to prevent cheating, in addition to requiring five candidates to guarantee each other, it is also necessary to find a student to be sure. This student is a guarantor for the county examination candidates, and he has to bear a certain amount of risk, so he will naturally not guarantee these candidates in vain. Generally, if these candidates want to find this student as a guarantee, they must give these students some silver. And if you don't recognize it, you don't know it, even if you give someone money, people don't necessarily guarantee you, after all, this is a risk that needs to be taken, and the risk of not knowing is too great! In case this candidate cheats, it will have a great impact on this student.

Shen Ze is a student of Yidu County School, so he naturally has the qualifications to give people a guarantee, which promised Dong Hu to be a guarantee during the county examination, which is also a great care for him!

Dong Hu also knew how much Shen Ze's promise helped him, and he solemnly thanked Shen Ze again at the moment. "Huzi thanks for his kindness!"

Dong Laohan also said on the side: "Shen Gongzi is really a good person, I Dong Laohan also thanked Gongzi!" ”

Shen Ze waved his hand and said with a smile: "It's just a gesture, Brother Dong is welcome." I like this kid at a glance, and he will definitely have a great future in the future. ”

Dong Laohan remembered the bag of walnuts in his hand at this time, and hurriedly handed it to Shen Zedao: "Shen Gongzi is going to take the exam, it is indispensable to use his brain often, eat some walnuts to replenish his brain!" I don't have anything to thank my son for his great kindness, don't shirk my son! ”

These walnuts are Dong Laohan's heart, and they are not valuable, and Shen Ze is not easy to refuse, so he has to accept them.

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After saying goodbye to Dong Laohan, Shen Ze and Gao Wu led the horse back to the inn where they stayed last night.

The guards of the Gao family have already prepared the carriage and horses, waiting to leave.

Shen Ze immediately led the two horses to Shang Nanshan and Xia Beihai, let them ride, and everyone set off together.

Shang Nanshan and Xia Beihai are two guys with rough skin and thick meat!

During yesterday's encounter, Shang Nanshan was hit by an arrow in the thigh, and was poked by Gao Wu with a bamboo gun for more than a dozen wounds; Xia Beihai was hit by an arrow in the stomach, and an arrow in each of his buttocks, and the injuries were not light. However, last night in the town, Shen Ze found him Lang Zhong to bandage him, and put medicine on him, and after a night's rest, they were able to ride horses. The strength of this body really made Shen Ze admire.

Of course, this is also thanks to their slow work, and these two guys can't bear it if they go fast.

Especially Xia Beihai was more depressed, he was hit by an arrow in the buttocks, so he could only add a thick cushion to the saddle, and then half-lie on the horse, so it was naturally extremely hard to hurry. However, the two of them felt Shen Ze's kindness, so they naturally didn't want to show weakness in front of others, and they didn't want people to look down on them, so that they would lose face to Shen Ze.