The next day, King Nanzhao held a grand send-off ceremony for the caravan.

At the open-air banquet, Sharon and I, as well as the people of the caravan, also tasted the three-course tea that King Nanzhao entertained the monks in the main hall the day before yesterday. This shows that the leading monk Jia Yang is quite sensible, and when he was summoned by King Nanzhao, he objectively stated the rights and wrongs and tribulations encountered by the horse gang along the way, so that King Nanzhao, who sincerely worships the Buddha and pays attention to cause and effect, sighs at the adventures along the way, and also offers us additional state guest treatment.

The three teas of the Bai nationality are exquisite. One tea is divided into three courses, first bitter, then sweet, and three aftertastes. Specifically,

The first dish is called "bitter tea", when making, the water is boiled first, and the beautiful Bai family girl puts a small clay pot with exquisite workmanship on the simmer and bakes. After the pot is hot, the girls take an appropriate amount of tea leaves and put them in the pot, and keep turning the sand pot to heat the tea evenly. When the tea leaves in the jar turn yellow and the tea fragrance is fragrant, they will pour boiling water.

The girls like to call themselves by names like "Golden Flower", and while waiting for the tea to be burned, they will also sing and dance, offering their guests songs with a strong sense of the terroir. For a while, the smile and dancing posture were blended together by the beautiful melody, which really gave people the illusion of a human figure and flowers.

After a while, the golden flower girls poured the boiling tea into the tea cup, and then respectfully raised the cup with both hands and sent it to us. At first glance, this tea has been roasted and boiled, and it looks like amber, smells burnt, but tastes bitter when drunk. Don't look at the small half cup, but I divided it a few times before I barely drank it all.

At a glance, there were horses and feet that had been drunk in one go, but they all frowned depressedly. And like Sharon, who has been in Dali for a while in the present world, and even Uncle Gesang, who has seen some of the world's potheads, only raised his eyebrows slightly, and drank it lightly.

The other horsemen who didn't finish drinking, seeing that the pot head had set an example, had to pinch their noses and drink the rest of the strong tea. Not to mention, seeing that everyone with different expressions raised their teacups with their bottoms facing the sky, the singing and dancing of the Bai family girls who held the tea began to sound again, indicating that everyone who was a guest passed the "first tea" test that symbolized the hardships and hardships of life, and won the respect of the simple villagers.

The second tea that comes with it is popularly known as "sweet tea".

When we drank the first course of tea, the skillful girls started the fire again, and used small clay pots to place tea, roast, and boil tea. This time, they put a little brown sugar, milk fan, cinnamon and other spices and delicacies in the tea cup.

Before the tea is brewed, the smell of mixed tea leaves and various exotic aromas comes to our noses, and before we have drunk it, we can already resemble how sweet and delicious this second tea that symbolizes bitterness and sweetness is.

When I finished drinking the second "sweet tea", the third "aftertaste tea" has arrived as scheduled. The method of boiling tea is similar to that of the second tea, except that the ingredients in the tea cup have been replaced with an appropriate amount of honey, a little fried rice, a few fine peppercorns, and a pinch of walnut kernels.

This time, the tea that the girls poured into our cups was only six or seven points full. After taking a sip, this cup of tea is not as delicious as the previous fragrant sweet tea, but when you taste it carefully, the taste contains sweet, sour, bitter and spicy at the same time! It also corresponds to the name of "aftertaste tea", with all flavors and endless aftertaste.

After tasting the tea and going on the road, holding the reins and slipping the horse, I remembered that the culture of the Bai family's three-way tea was also heard of in the present world. It is said that "three teas" means "one bitter, two sweet, three aftertastes" in life, as if a master who has gone through all the vicissitudes of life is using tea art to show the true meaning of life to the world.

As part of the cultural inheritance on the Ancient Tea Horse Road, the development of the Bai "Three Ways of Tea" also shows that the prosperity and spread of Tantric Buddhism played a role in fueling the flames. After all, the life perception of "bitter and sweet, with a long aftertaste" also alludes to the transcendent realm of Buddhism's pursuit of personality perfection.

The lock horn of the send-off did not stop for ten miles. When the caravan and King Nanzhao were separated, I saw from a distance that Princess Ava and Luo Quan were different in front of everyone because of their status, and they didn't talk too much. Standing beside King Nanzhao, she only nodded symbolically to him, just like the team seeing him off, she stopped.

The only thing that surprised me was that the White Deer Boy didn't stay in Nanzhao.

He got acquainted with several of Luo Quan's senior brothers, and he didn't know when he had found an opportunity to shave off his hair. Although he did not officially take the ordination, it seemed that he enjoyed his time with these big brothers who were very kind to him, and he also had an indescribable love for the top of his head that was pushed bare. From time to time, he would also touch his round head with novelty.

"This naïve boy, it was the middle of the year, and we were in the dam, so he could deeply appreciate the benefits of this cool hairstyle, and when the weather turned cold in the second half of the year, it was estimated that he would have to bear it." Seeing the funny and cute appearance of the white deer boy, I couldn't help but sigh.

Sharon heard a hint of relief from my words, and couldn't help but smile faintly and look at me who was staring at the white deer boy. When I saw that I found out, I turned my head to look at her, but the big girl turned her head to look ahead.

Yes, although the road ahead is unknown, there are always some good thoughts. If this is true of all people, why should we not be?

As you head south, the climate becomes hot and humid. Luckily, our cargo was covered with waterproof straw, so we didn't suffer much damage during the long journey.

In fact, when he arrived in Nanzhao, Uncle Gesang did not rest for a moment, and during the time when everyone was resting, he had already taken a few henchmen to contact a familiar trading house and sold some furs and quiches that were sold locally. Nearly two-thirds of the goods that are now loaded on horses have been replaced with new things.

I have to say that being the head of the pot is really a technical job. In addition to controlling the advance and retreat of the team, he also has a very precise grasp of trade needs and timing. Of course, people who can think like Uncle Gesang today most likely need to have a flexible mind and rich experience.

After several days and nights of trekking, our team had left the Nanzhao territory and turned into the hinterland of the Lancang River. Along the way, the terrain and cliffs are obviously much steeper.

You said that in the rich Nanzhao, Dali Dam is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and it can be regarded as a low-profile version of the land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River, and it is easy to say that the local residents live and work in peace and contentment; But in this place, in addition to the canyon is a cliff, the slope is steep and slippery, the rain is difficult, you let people go to farm, in case of a flash flood and a mudslide, either there is no harvest or even the hard-earned fields are washed away for you.

In this case, instead of working hard to farm, it is better to set up a checkpoint to eat the road. As the saying goes, it is really not unreasonable for poor mountains and bad waters to produce bad people.

It's just that seeing the obvious increase in the number of large and small checkpoints, as well as the bandits from all walks of life who clearly want us to leave the money to buy the road, Uncle Gesang's originally uncertain face has a smile on the contrary.

It wasn't until I, who was afraid of trouble, that I saw the bandits courteously beckoning the mighty horse gang to enter a hidden cottage built in the foothills, that I suddenly realized: Didn't a big-mouthed horse foot tell us before, Uncle Gesang is really very open among the bandits on this ancient road. Of course, except for those corpse chasers who came from outside Xiangxi to find fault with the local area.

The cottage is not big, and the valley was originally very empty, but a hundred or so people and nearly two hundred horses were stuffed, and the village was really squeezed into the water, so that the later horses had to park the horses in the grass shed at the entrance of the cottage and let them eat the dew-stained grass by themselves.

It was the first time for Sharon and I to enter the bandits' stockade, and our eyes were full of novelty as we looked everywhere. However, this village is not much different from the usual villages, there are no thorns with dogs' teeth, and there are many children running around on the main street.

The head of the cottage is called Bald Zhang, as the name suggests, a thief's big bald head looks very bright both day and night. He was very strict with his subordinates, and when we were able to sit in the main hall and drink tea with Uncle Gesang's light, the minions who were thrown into the playground did not complain, but stood in the field one by one like a javelin, quite a bit of self-imposing.

I heard the old man of the deputy pot head say that this bald Zhang had been a soldier for a few years, and it is estimated that he brought the rigor and ruthlessness of Rong Mali to the cottage, making this place a little more regular and stable than other bandit nests, but less chaotic and casual.

I have to say that Uncle Gesang's vision of people is generally not bad, and he has managed to get such a disciplined and unambiguous master, and along the way, he has really saved a lot of thoughts.

When Uncle Gesang led everyone to sit down, and just after the greetings, the bald owner couldn't help frowning: "I said, brother, it's a little bad time for you to come today......

Looking at his stumbling appearance, Uncle Gesang wanted to get to the bottom of the matter, but he wanted to say something. Fortunately, after all, the owner of the village with a meaty face has been mixed on this road for many years, and he is a cheerful person after all.

"Alas, you know that you usually come here at this point every year, and the men who escort the horse team were prepared for you, but who knows, that incident happened four days ago......"

What the bald head is referring to is the incident of a wild wolf hurting people that happened not long ago.

It turns out that the mountain where this cottage is located is called Wolf Head Mountain, and the Kei Valley under Langtou Mountain is also called Wolf Valley from its name. However, as the number of people who fell into the grass in the mountains increased, the number of wolves that roosted there dropped sharply, and they were either skinned and killed for money or driven away. In short, this Wild Wolf Valley is extremely unworthy of its name.

As everyone knows, if there are days in the dark, living beings can always find their own way out. After the wild wolves in the valley were silent for a while, the wolves seemed to fall from the sky, and under the leadership of a scarred gray wolf, they returned to people's field of vision, and this time, they directly took the lives of more than ten meters of bald Zhang's men.

Just the day before yesterday, the mutilated bodies of the minions were found in the deep ravine at the bottom of the valley. Originally, these people were bald and estimated that Uncle Gesang's team was coming, and they were sent to the cottage along the road to give him a front station, and they were also responsible for helping to set up a hand when the horse gang was short of manpower when they crossed the steep plank road. Unexpectedly, he was lost in the Wild Wolf Valley halfway, and in the end, no one survived.

After listening to the bald head Zhang's narration, Uncle Gesang couldn't help but twist his eyebrows. Along the way from Wolf Head Mountain to Wild Wolf Valley, there are indeed several dangerous mountain passes, which need to be led slowly by one person and one horse when passing, and there are not enough manpower at this time, and the speed of passing is bound to be greatly reduced. In case, the trip is delayed, the return date is delayed, and it will affect the next year's horse racing plan.

Moreover, listening to the bald head's tone, that group of ferocious and cunning wolves does not seem to be so easy to deal with. Tomb Hunter East White