The majestic Heng Mountain stretches along the northern border of Yanmen County. Yanmen is a channel for the nomads outside the Saiwai to invade the interior, and it has been an important place for border defense since ancient times. During the Warring States Period, Li Mu, the general of Zhao State, was stationed in Yanmen, relying on the danger of closing the city, prudently defending, defeating 100,000 Xiongnu horses, and then for more than ten years, the Xiongnu did not dare to Kou Zhao. After Qin Shi Huang unified the six countries, he sent the general Meng Tian to lead 300,000 troops from Yanmen, "attack Hu in the north, and collect the land in Henan", drove the Xiongnu to the north of Yinshan, and built the Great Wall.

Xiongguan Dingning Yan, the mountain is even purple and long, the land controls the north of the Yellow River, and the Jincheng Gong Jin is strong.

There are nine stops in the world, headed by Yanmen. Yanmen Saibei is in the north of Yanbei Plateau, Xinding Basin in the south, close to the mountain and dangerous, standing high on the hook mountain, the nearby peaks and peaks are staggered, the craggy ravines are gloomy, there is a road, circling and meandering, passing through the city. Legend has it that every spring, the south goose flies north, the mouth holds the reed leaves, flies to the wild goose gate and circles for half a day, until the leaves fall to pass the pass, the terrain is very dangerous.

Yanmen stops the city on Tuesday, the wall is two zhang high, the bottom of the stone bar seat, and the city bricks are laid on it. There are only two gates in the east and west of the city, all of which are stacked with huge bricks, passing through the clouds through the geese, and the magnanimity is high. There is a building platform built on the east gate, the name is called the wild goose building, the pheasant moat is dense on the wall, and the beacon echoes each other from afar. There are training schools, barracks, and stables built in the city, which are the places for guarding the customs and garrisoning soldiers. Outside the city, three large stone walls, twenty-five small stone walls, and eighteen passes were built to strengthen the defensive force.

A few years ago, the Han Dynasty sent the princess and relatives, opened the border ban, and after the Xiongnu passed the city, there was a stable situation of "the remote city is closed, the cattle and horses are wild, there is no dog barking police at night, and there is no battle in Li Shu".

However, since the arrival of the current Yanmen County Taishou Zhidu, he immediately rectified the defense of the border army and strictly checked the talismans entering and exiting the customs (not the road guide, the road guide in later generations can only be used in the country). There are two copies of the talisman, one is in the hands of the traveler, and the other is sent to the checkpoint by the government, the traveler takes out the positive talisman, and the guard of the checkpoint takes out the secondary talisman, they all have nicks, the nicks are on the right, and the handwriting may be on the hand, and the positive talismans in the hands of the travelers are not forged before they can be released.

In recent days, the Yanmen Fortress has been closed tightly, and it is strictly forbidden to pass, and all the idle Han people in the city have been expelled, and all the Huns have been arrested and imprisoned. Even some big merchants holding talismans issued by the princes and kings were blocked out of the west gate, and they didn't even enter the city, let alone delusionally want to get out of the east gate.

In the city of Yanmen County, Zheng Lai sat in the wine shop, frowned, tasted the ale wine in the bowl, and his mouth was full of bitterness. As a wealthy merchant in Huainan with a huge net worth, he has always only drunk liquor (ancient beer), and he has ever drunk inferior ale. This time, Zheng Lai originally planned to go out of the customs to go to the Cypriot foreign businessman, but who knew that it was bad luck. First of all, more than a month ago, Yanmen Saicheng asked to see the customs clearance coupons, and he had to pay 100,000 yuan to the local government to buy new coupons. After waiting for a full month, the talisman coupon had just been approved, and the city was completely closed, which made him want to cry without tears.

Since arriving in Shanwucheng, Zheng Lai has been staying here for more than a month, and the liquor he carries has already been drunk, and in a border county like Yanmen, where there are poor mountains and bad waters, if you want to find good wine, only the local powerful families have it. Nowadays, the status of merchants is extremely low, and only the servants and slaves of powerful families can do business, how can they open the door to entertain foreign merchants like Zheng Lai? Of course, if Zheng Lai is willing to spend a lot of money, he can still do it, but I am afraid that he will fold all the capital of this business into it, and the gains outweigh the losses.

Zheng Lai, who was a heavy drinker, was really uncomfortable, so he had to endure the bitter taste of inferior ale wine, and drink a few bowls in this wine shop. Even so, he had no intention of giving up the slim chance of getting out of the jam. Merchants are not allowed to ride in cars or horses, and it is not easy for a foreign businessman to travel once, and he has traveled thousands of miles from Jiujiang to Shanwu, but it took several whole months.

Zheng Lai brought dozens of cars of glazed pottery from Jiujiang this time, and the glazed pottery of Huainan was much better than the pottery of the northern counties, and the workmanship was more fine, which was deeply liked by the Xiongnu nobles. As long as it is shipped out of the customs and sent to the cloud for sale, it will change hands and make several huge profits. Now that the Yanmen Plug is in front, it is really more painful for Zheng Lai to give up the stopper and sell the glazed pottery at a low price in the northern counties.

Just when Zheng Lai was full of sorrow, a man with a tiger's back walked into the wine shop, slowly came to his side, and asked in a low voice, "Are you Zheng Lai, a Huai businessman?" Have a lot of glazed pottery on your hands? ”

Hearing this, Zheng Lai raised his head, looked at the man in front of him, made sure that he didn't know him, stood up, and asked suspiciously: "It's here, I don't know what happened to the strong man Xun?" ”

The man glanced around, and seeing that no one was paying attention to this, he quietly took out a waist card and displayed it in front of Zheng Lai's eyes, with "Yanmen Thief Cao" on the front and "Qin Guang" on the back.

Zheng Lai's face was surprised, the thief Cao was too guarded by the guards in the mansion, why was he dressed in civilian clothes and came to him, a lowly businessman? Although I have doubts in my heart, the waist card can't deceive people, and no one dares to forge this kind of waist card at the risk of the Yi clan's big crime. Zheng Lai immediately took a step back, folded his hands, and was about to bow and salute, but the man held his shoulders and said in a low voice: "Don't be polite, come with me." ”

After speaking, he grabbed Zheng Lai's shoulders and took Zheng Lai out of the wine shop as if he was supporting a drunk drinking friend. The two walked to the corner of the street, Qin Guangcai let go of his iron hoop-like arm, clasped his hands into fists and said, "Offended." ”

Zheng Lai took a deep breath, and then he came to his senses, and his shoulders were still sore, but how dare he hold it up, he hurriedly bowed and saluted respectfully: "Lord Qin, don't torture the villain, but the adult has a sending, and the villain doesn't dare to disobey!" ”

Qin Guang waved his hand and said: "No need to be polite, I am a rough person, and today I have found a way out for you, and I see if you can leave." ”

Zheng Lai chuckled in his heart, but he didn't dare to slack off at all: "If the adult is tight, the villain still has dozens of gold in the inn, and he can give all the ......."

Qin Guang frowned, and scolded in a low voice: "Do you want my surname?!" Who doesn't know that Lord Zhidu is strict, don't say dozens of gold, but only charge you one baht, and my head will be hung on the city tomorrow! ”

Zheng Lai cried and confessed his guilt with a sad face, and secretly regretted it in his heart. He has been in this good city for more than a month, how can he not know the name of "Goshawk" in Taishouzhi? At the beginning of Zhidu's tenure, he rectified border affairs, from the powerful to the businessmen, but if there were any violations, they were all dealt with strictly. In just over a month, hundreds of human heads were hung on the head of the city. A few days ago, even if he ordered the implementation of the border ban, no one in the huge Yanmen County spoke out against it, and no border army dared to release people to clear the customs without permission, which shows the ferocity of the majesty.

Qin Guang saw that he was interested, and continued: "Lord Taishou knows that it is not easy for you to do business, and it is not impossible if you want to get out of the plug, but you need to follow some regulations. ”

Zheng Lai was overjoyed when he heard this, and in his opinion, the so-called "charter" was just the payment of some money. As long as it can be solved with money, it is not a big problem. Even if you can't make the trip in the end, it is a very cost-effective deal to be able to use money to get on the relationship with the Taishou Mansion. It's just that this Lord Zhidu has always enforced the law strictly? Although Zheng Lai felt a little confused, he still replied happily: "This is really a great thing, but I don't know what the charter is?" ”

Qin Guang scratched his head and said honestly: "I don't know, this is the thief Cao Weiji, who confessed it, saying that if you agree, let me take you to see him, if you don't agree, I will go back to my life." ”

When Zheng Lai heard this, he was even more excited. The thief Cao is the commander of the guards of the Taishou and the most confidant. His promise is much more reliable than that of an ordinary thief like Qin Guang, and it is almost equivalent to Taishou's personal promise.

Zheng Lai followed Qin Guang to an inconspicuous small courtyard in the west of the city, and he couldn't help but have some doubts in his heart, not understanding why he wanted to be so secretive. When he walked into the main hall, his mouth opened wide in surprise, all the major merchants who had been stranded in Shanwu City gathered together, and none of them were missed. The familiar merchants greeted each other, with some urgency and anxiety in their eyes, obviously waiting for the appearance of their masters.

(Today is good to press on the edge of 20w million words, tomorrow I will be forced to put down the new book list a few days in advance, if I want to be on other lists in the future, I won't hit the street, I have to rely on everyone to appreciate the face, ask for a collection and ask for recommendations, little brother thank you!) ）

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