There was silence all around, Chu Huan finally sat down, and said to He Xigu with a smile: "Old man, it seems that for a while, we are afraid that we will not be able to get out." ”

Hexigu sighed, "It's us who have caused you. There was a look of worry on his face.

Chu Huan observed his words and asked, "The old man seems to have something on his mind. “

He Xigu smiled bitterly: "Dake, it's not a big deal if I go to prison, it's just ...... It's just that the people of Daqimeng are still waiting for us, and if we don't return for a long time, I'm afraid that something will happen. ”

Chu Huan said: "Old man, I see that you have always tried your best to tolerate it, and you seem to be worried about offending the government, could it be that you are very afraid of the government?" ”

He Xigu shook his head and said: "Dake, I am already old, I don't care about life and death, and I won't be afraid of any government. It's just that now we have to ask the government for help, and we have to compromise and seek perfection. I tried my best to avoid conflict with the government, because I was afraid that once there was a conflict, they would use this as an excuse to wipe out our accounts, but the old man couldn't imagine it, although I tried my best to tolerate it, but they were unreasonable......! ”

"The old man and the government have accounts?"

He Xigu nodded, "Dake is a foreigner, I don't know, for more than a hundred years, we ghost people have lived in the continuous Great Qimeng, although the land is vast and rich, but only the Great Qimeng is our place." Although the Great Qimeng is full of mountains and forests, in addition to mountain goods, there are also many things that are lacking. After the ancestors lived in the Great Qimeng, they did not worry about food, there were many birds and beasts in the mountains, men hunting, women collecting fruits, but they were also peaceful. ”

"Could it be that things have changed now?"

"Yes." He Xigu nodded and sighed: "For more than a hundred years, the Ghost Fang people have relied on the things of the Great Qi Meng to survive, and the beasts on the mountain are now extremely rare, and they are not enough to support the food of the clansmen. Moreover, there are fewer and fewer fruit trees in Daqimeng Mountain, as early as a few decades ago, we ghost people began to change their way of survival. ”

Chu Huan sat opposite Hexi Valley and listened carefully.

"Dake may also know that a long time ago, our ghost party and the original people had a conflict, the relationship between the two sides is not harmonious, the Great Qimeng Mountain is our ancestors exhausted all their wealth in exchange, the government has long issued an order, the original people are not allowed to easily enter the Great Qimeng to affect our lives, and we also can't make trouble in the territory of the original people."

Chu Huan bowed slightly, and said, "I have heard something at this time. ”

"So after living in Daqimeng, our ancestors did not go out of the mountains for many years and did not interact with the original people." Hexigu said helplessly: "And the original people are very prejudiced against us ghost people, once we go out of the mountain, it will be full of danger. Later, the food on the mountain could not meet our needs, and the food we needed could only be obtained from the hands of the original people. The government forbade us ghost people to do business, and we were not allowed to open shops in the city, so we naturally had no silver to buy food, and in the end there was only one way, which was to barter. ”

"Exchanging mountain goods for food?"

"To be more precise, it is to exchange mountain silk and medicinal herbs for food." He Xigu said: "Although we don't get along with the original people, but after all, it is related to the livelihood of tens of thousands of people in the sixteen caves of Daqimeng, in the winter of eight years ago, there was a snowstorm in Daqimeng, there was a shortage of food, and the sixteen caves of Daqimeng combined, hundreds of people starved to death, we know that if we continue, the ghost people are likely to starve to death, so we finally discussed and contacted the original people." At that time, the business of Anyi Dao was controlled by the hands of the Huang clan in Anyi, and the head of the household department at that time was a member of the Huang clan, called Huang Zhigui! ”

Chu Huan nodded, he understood this, since the Huang clan is powerful in the court, and they are the head snakes of Anyi Dao, there will naturally be people of the Huang clan in some important yamen of Anyi Dao.

"We found Huang Zhigui, gave him a generous gift, and discussed with him about exchanging mountain goods for food." Hexigu said slowly: "At first, Huang Zhigui did not agree, and then we sent a batch of mountain silk, mountain silk is a special product of the Great Qimeng Mountain, the Great Qimeng Mountain has Qimeng Mountain silkworms, our ancestors learned the craft of silk from the original people, after the discovery of mountain silkworms in the Great Qimeng Mountain, they began to breed mountain silkworms and make mountain silk. After a pause, he groaned slightly, and finally said: "After Shansi was sent, it didn't take long for Huang Zhigui to give us a reply, agreeing that we could use Shansi to exchange food, but the two sides agreed that all Shansi could only be handed over to the Household Division, and after accounting, the Household Division would provide us with food ......!" ”

Chu Huan said: "Huang Zhigui can agree, naturally there are huge interests in Shansi. ”

He Xigu said: "In fact, we later understood that the price of mountain silk is very expensive, and the benefits we get are only one percent of it, but as long as we can exchange it for food, we don't care." In the beginning, we mainly supplied food with mountain silk, twice a year, and after each supply of mountain silk, within a month, they would hand over the food to us, and the food source of the ghost people mainly relied on this two-season trade every year. It was difficult to make mountain silk, and the amount produced each year was not very large, although with this trade, we would not starve to death, but we could not eat completely, and later we had a special cultivation of medicinal herbs, so that the people of the Sixteen Caves could eat their stomachs. ”

"It is a respectable thing to support yourself by your own hard work." Chu Huan bowed his head and said, "This time you came to Taiyuan Mansion just to ask for food?" ”

Hexigu nodded and said, "Exactly, every summer and winter, we will bring back grain. Three months ago, we had delivered the mountain silk and medicinal materials for the second half of the year to the Yamen of the Ministry of Households, and Huang Zhigui had already accepted them, and less than two months ago, we sent people to prepare to transport back the grain they should have delivered to us, but after the people sent back, they were empty-handed. We sent people a few times later, Huang Zhigui avoided it, until one day, we got the news that something big happened here in Taiyuan Mansion, the Huang clan rebelled, Huang Zhigui has also fled Taiyuan City, the old man knows that things are not good, but there is no food, how can the clansmen survive this winter? ”

"The new master doesn't deliver food?"

"Yes." He Xigu smiled bitterly: "We have been here for more than half a month, and almost every day we have gone to the Yamen of the Ministry of Household Affairs to look for the master of the division, but the reply we get is that we are always busy with official business and do not see us. Seeing that this day is getting colder and colder day by day, if the grain is not transported back in time, there will definitely be a danger of food shortage in the 16th cave. Today's situation, you have also seen it, we have been waiting in front of the Yamen of the Ministry of Household Affairs since last night, and we have been waiting until the master comes out, but he ......! "Sighed," he said that those goods were all accepted by Huang Zhigui, since Huang Zhigui rebelled, the Department of Household Affairs had nothing to do with him, and if we wanted food, we had to go to Huang Zhigui to ask for it. There was a faint anger in his eyes, "Dake, we didn't do business with the Huang clan at the beginning, we did business privately, and it was forbidden by the government, so we went to the Yamen of the Ministry of Households, hoping that they would open up, and the subsequent contracts were signed directly with the Yamen of the Ministry of Households, not with Huang Zhigui personally...... You say that we want food now, and if we don't look for the household department, who can we look for? ”

Chu Huan knew that the ghost people were now facing a desperate situation, but the government's control over the ghost people was powerful, and the survival lifeblood of the ghost people was actually controlled by the government.

As Hexigu said, the trading of two seasons a year is the foundation of the survival of the ghost people, and once the transaction goes wrong, the survival problem of the ghost people becomes serious.

It's no wonder that Hexi Valley has always been compromised, behind him is related to the survival of the Ghost Fang people, once he fights with the government and cuts off their food supply, the Ghost Fang people will fall into a desperate situation.

Chu Huanxin was also quite disgusted by the evil deeds of the ancestors of the ghost people, but a hundred years later, the ghost people are now in peace and self-reliant, but they are also sympathetic when they sigh.

Chu Huan pondered for a moment, and finally asked, "Old man, I heard that your ancestors came from the Western Regions?" ”

Hexigu nodded, "Exactly." Our ancestors came from a caravan from the Western Regions, at that time the countries of the Western Regions traded with the original, although our hometown was far away from the original, but there were some warriors who came all the way to the original with the caravan, it is said that when they came, there were only more than 300 people, but they brought a large number of goods, and it was those goods that made them quickly lay a foundation in the original. After coming to the original place, they never went back to their hometown......! ”

"Then you can send someone back to your hometown now?" Chu Huan asked, "Do you remember where your hometown is?" ”

Hexigu shook his head, "After living in the original place, we have adapted to the living habits of the original people, although we still retain some of the customs of our ancestors, but there is not much left. As for the hometown, it is said that our ancestors walked for a long, long time to come to the original place, and we no longer know where our hometown is, maybe we have been going west, and we have come to the end ......! He sighed, a little melancholy.

Chu Huan hesitated for a moment, and suddenly asked, "Does the old man still remember the language of your ancestors?" Since your ancestors came from the Western Regions, they should have had their own language. ”

Hexigu nodded: "Naturally, there is." However, after coming to Hara, the ancestors gradually communicated in Hara's language...... I also learned a little bit when I was younger, but I don't remember much. ”

Chu Huan lowered his voice and whispered an extremely strange language, before asking, "Old man, can you understand what I said just now?" ”

Hexigu's eyes showed surprise, and he lost his voice and said, "Dake, you...... How do you understand...... Will you know our language? ”

Chu Huan's heart was shocked, he heard that the ghost man was from the Western Regions, and he had an idea in his heart, all along, Chu Huan remembered the [Demon Suppression Mantra] taught from the ghost master's mouth, but that strange language, Chu Huan had always been puzzled, and he thought that since this ghost Fang person came from the Western Regions, he didn't know whether he understood the meaning of the [Demon Suppression Mantra].

Chu Huan also knew that the Western Regions were by no means one or two countries, there were countless countries in the Western Regions, and the languages were naturally varied, although the ghost people were from the Western Regions, they might not be able to solve the secret of the [Demon Suppression Mantra], he just gave it a try, holding the psychology of a blind cat touching a dead mouse, who knew that Hexigu said this, and it seemed that he understood what he had just said, which made Chu Huan's heart excited.