The scorching sun scorched the earth, and the bluestone-paved pavement was baked hot, and walking on the street, Liu Wei only felt that the soles of his feet were also baked by the hot pavement.

The majestic Chang'an City stands on the banks of the Weishui River, and its ancient and thick city walls are like a giant with open arms and its majestic body to protect its descendants. The smoky walls echoed in a low voice, as if it were telling people what it had verified for thousands of years.

Bluestone-paved streets crisscross the city, and after Dong Zhuo's large-scale migration of population from Luoyang, Chang'an, which has been abandoned since Wang Mang's rebellion, has now recovered a little.

From time to time there were black-black carriages passing by on the streets, and the drivers were all in a hurry, as if they did not want to delay in the street for a moment. Some idlers, dressed in tattered clothes and barely half a copper coin on their bodies, were strolling around the market with their cuffs cuffed. Their clothes were in tatters, and even their dirty skin could be seen through the tattered sleeves. In the hot summer, the appearance of them holding their cuffs is also interesting in the eyes of people who have just entered Chang'an.

Under the persecution of Dong Zhuo, the Han royal family moved the capital to Chang'an and repaired and renovated the ancient city. After all, it has been abandoned for hundreds of years, and in a short period of time, although the population has increased a lot, the common people are living in poverty, and most of the scholars have been confiscated from their family property, and there are many more buildings in the city, but it has not completely restored its former prosperity.

The houses and shops on both sides of the main road in the city are all bluestone and blue tiles, and the momentum is magnificent. If you look at these buildings and don't look at how many people enter the shops to buy goods, you will feel that the market is thriving.

Passing through the buildings standing next to the main road, you can faintly see that behind them, there are many broken ruins and ruins, and I don't know if Dong Zhuo moved the capital to rebuild the old buildings in order to revitalize Chang'an, or the original appearance.

Liu Wei, who led a team to escort dozens of carts of grain and grass into Chang'an, walked down the street with his hands behind his back, as if he were strolling leisurely, his eyes kept moving on the streets on both sides, observing the shops that were open in the market, but had more anti-theft than accepting customers.

Behind Liu Wei were Deng Zhan, who he had named to enter Chang'an with him, and more than 200 personal soldiers dressed as coachmen and caravan guards. Perhaps it was because of the experience of Liu Bian's sneak attack in Yanzhou earlier, since entering Chang'an, the eyes of these soldiers have not been idle for a moment to watch every street they have to pass through, for fear that under their protection, something will happen to Liu Bian.

Compared with the nervous soldiers, Liu Wei's expression was much calmer, walking at the front of the line, he walked calmly and slowly, sometimes he saw some vendors set up stalls with novelties, he would even stop and pick up those goods to take a look.

"Sir!" Liu Wei was walking along the street, looking at the shops on the street, Deng Zhan on the side whispered to him and muttered forward.

Seeing Deng Zhan muttering forward, Liu Wei turned his gaze to the front, only to see that at the end of the street, a Xiliang army of about twenty people wearing pure black armor was walking towards them.

"Don't pay attention to them." Glancing at the Xiliang army, Liu Wei whispered an order to Deng Zhan and continued to walk forward slowly.

The more than 200 personal soldiers who followed behind Liu Wei and Deng Zhan saw a group of Xiliang troops approaching them, and many of them subconsciously pressed their hands on the hilt of their swords.

Some of the relatively calm soldiers saw that some of their companions pressed their hands on the hilt of their swords, and hurriedly glanced at those soldiers who were full of nervousness.

Those pro-soldiers who were slightly out of control saw the eyes of their companions, and suddenly came back to their senses, knowing that they must not show abnormality at this moment, let alone easily fight with the Xiliang army in Chang'an City, so they hurriedly removed the hand that was pressed on the hilt of the sword.

"Stop!" Liu Wei led the team, marching along the street like a leisurely stroll, and the officers of the Xiliang Army who were approaching him stopped his pace from a distance, looked him from head to toe, and when Liu Wei and the others approached, he raised a hand, blocked their way, and asked Liu Bian: "You are not from Chang'an, why are you here?" ”

"Xiaomin is Zuo Fengyi's grain merchant!" The road was blocked by the officer of the Xiliang Army, Liu Wei hurriedly clasped his fists with both hands, bowed deeply to the officer, and said to him: "I heard that Chang'an grain is expensive, Xiaomin specially prepared some grain, and transported it from Zuo Fengyi to Chang'an to get some profits!" ”

The officer looked at Liu Wei suspiciously, walked to the front of the grain cart, drew his long sword, and stabbed a sack.

As the sword was drawn, a lot of yellow, orange and orange corn rolled out of the sack.

Seeing that the officer used the long sword to tie the sack, Deng Zhan, who was following Liu Wei, frowned, and subconsciously pressed his hand on the hilt of the sword.

Noticing Deng Zhan's action of pressing the sword, the officer glared at him, raised the sword and pointed at him, and shouted to him: "Pressing the long sword in your hand, don't you want to assassinate this official?" ”

"The general has misunderstood!" Seeing that the officer was angry, Liu Wei hurriedly laughed with him, stood between him and Deng Zhan, and said to him: "The reason why the entourage pressed the sword was because the car was not only loaded with corn, and he wanted the general to see more. ”

As soon as Liu Wei said this, the officer withdrew his long sword, inserted it into its sheath, muttered to Deng Zhan, and said to him: "If you have other grain and grass, you can cut a bag and show it to this official." ”

After Liu Wei stopped him, Deng Zhan, who already knew that he could not do anything willfully, nodded, walked to the car, took out his long sword, and bandaged the other hemp in the car.

Deng Zhan's long sword sank deep into the sack, and when he drew his long sword, many yellow, orange and orange soybeans rolled down from the sack. Each soybean is full of grains and has a bright skin, so you can see at a glance that the aging time is not long.

Some idlers who stood on the side of the street and watched the officers and soldiers blocking the caravan saw that two sacks were stabbed open, and some corn and soybeans gushed out of the sacks and flowed on the bluestone pavement, and they couldn't stop swallowing their saliva, as if they wanted to rush up immediately, grab the grain that had fallen on the ground, and swallow it.

But there was an officer army standing next to the grain team, and the escort of the grain team was also one or two hundred strong warriors with long swords at their waists.

Seeing that soybeans were dripping out of the sack that Deng Zhan stabbed with his long sword, the officer nodded and asked Liu Wei in a strange manner, "How much grain are you waiting to ship?" What price do you want to sell? ”

"Sixty carts of grain." With a flattering smile on his face, Liu Wei took out a handful of copper coins from his arms, stuffed them into the officer's hand, and said to him: "I'll wait for the new arrivals in Chang'an, and I hope the general will take care of him." ”

The officer put the copper coin in his hand and swiped it a few times, pursed the corners of his mouth, and stuffed it back to Liu Wei, and said to him: "The copper coin can't be eaten, and my brothers haven't eaten a full meal for many days......

"A bag of corn!" Without waiting for the officer to finish speaking, Liu Wei raised his hand to stop his words, lowered his voice and said to him: "It's just that on the street, if someone else sees it, I'm afraid we will be robbed." When I find the next place, the general will come and ask for it, okay? ”

Turning his head to look at Liu Bian, a trace of greed flashed in the officer's eyes, and he muttered for a moment, and said to Liu Bian: "When you find the next place, I will ask for it again, isn't it asking for a bribe?" Just now, the official gave you copper coins, and he has already bought a bag of corn, and the official will go with you to get it! ”

Hearing that this Xiliang army was going to go with them to find the next place, Liu Wei was stunned for a moment, and then he was overjoyed, and hurriedly responded, and made a gesture of invitation to the officer and said, "General, please!" ”

Nodding his head at Liu Wei, the officer waved to the soldiers who came to the market with him and shouted to them: "This official bought a bag of corn for the brothers today, and the brothers will go with the official to get it!" ”

Maybe he was hungry, and the officer said that he had bought a bag of corn, and although the soldiers knew that he had brought it from Lian Pit, they all responded with a happy face, lined up in a line, and walked on the side of Liu Wei's caravan.

When Liu Wei and the others left with the Xiliang army, the idlers who had been standing on the side of the street and watching rushed up and snatched the food that fell on the ground.

Those who move quickly rush to the grain on the ground, grab the grain and stuff it into their mouths, regardless of the taste of raw corn and soybeans, and swallow it with a stalk on their necks.

There were many people who robbed, and the food that fell on the ground was limited after all, and many of the people who moved a little slower did not grab a few soybeans even though they had exhausted all their strength.

In order to fight for the limited grain that fell on the ground, some people even fought hard, and the streets were noisy for a while.

Leading the team forward for a while, Liu Wei turned his head to look at the crowd of people who were rushing to drop food, then turned around and continued to look for the building along the street.

With a team of Xiliang Army escorts, Liu Wei saved a lot of thoughts. On the way to find the building, although I met a few patrolling Xiliang troops, I saw a team of men and horses escorting them, and those Xiliang troops couldn't figure out where they came from, so they didn't come forward to inquire.

Not daring to swagger in the market for too long, after walking a few streets, Liu Wei found a building in the backyard that was enough to store dozens of grain carts, and lived nearby.

The officer who had been sending them to the pavilion watched the soldiers brought by Liu Wei pushing a cart of grain into the backyard of the pavilion, and with a greedy face, he put his lips to Liu Bian's ear and said to him in a low voice: "Mr. Escort all the way, a bag of corn, I'm afraid it's ......."

"The general's meaning, the little people know!" Without waiting for the officer to finish speaking, Liu Wei replied to him in the same low voice: "I think this grain is quite profitable, even if the general takes three or five packets, it doesn't matter much......

"Sir, since you say so, how about this officer ask the soldiers to carry five bags today?" As soon as Liu Wei said that it didn't matter if he was carried away three or five bags, the officer hurriedly answered.

The officer said that he would carry away five bags of grain, Liu Wei showed a hint of hesitation on his face, and then nodded as if he was in pain, and said to the officer: "It will take some time for me to sell the goods in Chang'an, and I have to rely on the general to take care of me these days!" ”

"Sir is so generous, how can this official eat and wipe clean and not recognize people?" After getting five bags of grain for nothing, the officer was proud, raised his head and smiled, and said to Liu Wei: "Although Mr. can rest assured, in this Chang'an City, there are idlers who dare to make trouble with Mr., just come to find the official." ”

"Thank you, General!" Although the protection of this group of officers and soldiers was dispensable to Liu Bian, but with them as a cover, after all, it was much more convenient to act, Liu Wei hurriedly clasped his hands into fists and saluted the officers, thanked him, and shouted to the soldiers who were carrying grain: "Take away five bags of grain for the general preparation!" ”