Chapter 8 The Town

Away from Ju County, to the west is Fufeng, and not far to the south is the highest peak of the vast Qinling Mountains - Taibai Mountain. The eldest grandson planned to go south along the plank road to cross the Qinling Mountains to reach Hanzhong, which is also the plank road referred to by the idiom Ming Xiu plank road and dark Chen Cang.

The closer you get to the Qinling Mountains, the more you can feel that the Qinling Mountains are magnificent, as if they are rising from the Guanzhong Plain, and the terrain suddenly rises and becomes the dividing line between the north and the south of geography.

When you arrive at the entrance of the plank road, the sky has already darkened, and the plank road has always been a shortcut to the east and west two rivers out of the river, so the entrance has also formed a large-scale town, and it is full of people at this time. The eldest grandson and the servant were not in a hurry to travel all the way, so they planned to live in this unknown town first.

But I asked a few inns that seemed to be passable, but they were all full, which made Changsun Tang unexpected, this other people crossed and hugged each other, but when it was their turn, they couldn't even live in an inn, hey, who made themselves not someone else? The eldest grandson scolded while walking upstairs to the Tianjia and other rooms. As for the scene of scrambling for a first-class room in the movie, it is not a giant who can live in a first-class room at this time, or a high-ranking official who goes to Beijing to report on his work, and these people usually come and go at the end of the year when they come and go. At this time, it was late spring, and the first-class rooms of several inns were enough. As for the foot-walking merchants and ordinary travelers, they all adhere to one purpose: wealth is not exposed, and if there is a low-class room, there is not a medium-class room. What's more, the usual accommodation fee for this night is not cheap, which is equivalent to five grams of gold, and a medium-sized farmer can't save this consistent money in a year.

The eldest grandson gritted his teeth and took out the usual money, and the two horses let Xiao Er lead him over, without adding any additional money. The two entered the room and found that it was divided into two parts, and the outer room was very simple with a table and a bed. There was actually a desk in the room, which surprised the eldest grandson.

There was nothing to do all night, and after Zhang Zhong left the room early the next morning, the two walked along the official road in the middle of the town. This town is basically formed along the official road, there is no official office in the town, it is naturally formed to serve the travelers and merchants who travel to and from Shuzhong, and the buildings are mainly restaurants and inns, and the repairs are also neat. The residents of the town also rely on this road to live, so it is quite tidy, at least there are no cattle and sheep scurrying around the streets, defecating everywhere.

After a short walk, the town came to an end, and in the distance you could see a large crowd of people and wagons crowded together. Zhang Zhong stayed in the car from afar, went down to inquire about the situation, and came back after a while, saying that there were bandits on the plank road, and the government soldiers sent troops to encircle and suppress them overnight last night, so the town was sealed, and nothing else was known.

The eldest grandson has a headache, Zhang Zhongren is good, diligent and respectful, but he is a little dumb and can't ask anything else.

The eldest grandson looked around, got out of the carriage, and took Zhang Zhong into a two-story tavern. The tavern was closed down because of the town, and what should have been deserted was now almost full.

"Second master, please inside." The child at the door answered, not only to greet the guests, but also to inform the shopkeeper, but there was no further action.

The eldest grandson was dressed in an ordinary cyan robe, with nothing else, and Zhang Zhongmu followed suit, dressed as a typical ordinary scholar. Although there were very few scholars in the early Tang Dynasty and they were very respected, they generally referred to those local scholars, and it was strange that there were not many scholars on this official road one day.

Along the way, the eldest grandson has also figured out these things: when others ask for you, you will be worth doubled; When others have nothing to do with you, you are nothing; If someone else has nothing to do, be careful. Regarding Xiao Er's attitude, the eldest grandson is indispensable.

On the first floor, I found a seat in the place near the official road, and by the way, I asked for a meat and a vegetarian two dishes plus a few steamed buns, at this time, there was no stir-fry of later generations, and the meat dishes were the mutton and game cooked in advance by the store, although the seasoning was not much, but it had a different flavor.

When Xiao Er was serving, the eldest grandson was going to ask, but he was perfunctory by the hurried Xiao'er, and he didn't say anything. So while dealing with a pheasant wing, he listened intently to the news of other travelers.

"What do you think of the results of this government army's invasion?" The adjacent table just satisfied the desire of the eldest grandson, and the guests here were basically travelers who were blocked in the town and were about to go to the east and west of Shuzhong, and most of them were talking about it at this time.

"I look at the hanging, these **** immortal bandits, although they first recruited locust plagues in the past two years, and from the end of last year to this year, His Majesty sent a large army to capture Jieli Khan alive from the grassland, and the people's lives are a little bad, but compared with the military disaster ten years ago, these turtle son bandits still refuse to stop." An elite man with an obvious Shuzhong accent reminded the eldest grandson of Ge Chengze again, not only the corners of his mouth were slightly upturned. It's the elite man who has obviously deviated from the topic.

"This bandit, to put it bluntly, can't go on to be a bandit, this mountain is high and dense, the government army went, just find a place to hide, and the government army will go to what." The elite man did not continue to sell Guanzi, the world was peaceful for a few years, the world was still in chaos when the emperor Li Yuan was called the emperor, there were no years of peace during the Wude years, bandits were numerous, and this road was not accessible for several years when it was plagued by bandits. The elite man obviously has more experience, and what he says is the Tao.

The two of them said some meat words again, but Changsun Tang also figured out a rough idea, knowing that he couldn't leave today, so he asked Zhang Zhong to change shops and find a cheap room to live in first, and in the morning, several caravans that arrived yesterday left the town and headed for Chang'an, but there were many rooms vacated.

As soon as he had eaten, the eldest grandson took Zhang Zhong to wander around the town, but this town is such a street, from beginning to end a total of three or four hundred meters, and the shops are either restaurants or inns, and there is even a green building. The prey caught by the nearby mountain people is generally sold directly to familiar shops, and there are few stalls along the street to sell, which makes the eldest grandson who plans to buy some small things a little disappointed, so he has to return to the inn in a huff.

The eldest grandson, who was bored, heard the clatter of a large number of horses on the stone road of the town, and left the room, standing at the door of the inn and watching the passing Fu army. The team walked very casually, the team of hundreds of people even pulled people and horses far away, some government soldiers carried Mo knives on their shoulders at will, and some people carried several quiver bags full of missing arrows behind their backs. Obviously, the elite man in the morning said this result, and this time the government army returned in vain, and even the shadow of the bandits was not seen.

The eldest grandson asked Zhang Zhong to go to the town to inquire about the news, and he went back to the house to look at the books he was carrying.

After a long time, Zhang Zhong brought back the news: it was okay to go, but no one tried to leave, and now there were more people gathered than in the morning, and everyone wanted to leave, but no one wanted to leave first. This is similar to the estimate of Changsun Tang, at this time the world has just been peaceful, and the big caravans are basically guarded, and tonight, several big caravans have organized their teams and division of labor, and it is possible to enter the plank road tomorrow.