"Who are you?"

When Long Yuan and his party came to the city gate, they were stopped by the guards on duty.

Lao Zhang, who came back to his senses, hurriedly stepped forward and explained: "This official mission, we are running a caravan from Beisha City, passing through Liting City and wanting to go in to rest and exchange some commercial goods by the way. ”

"You're from Beisha City!" the official guarding the door looked Lao Zhang up and down, "I heard that Beisha City was not peaceful a few days ago, it seems that you ran merchants to make trouble!"

Long Yuan heard the words of the gatekeeper, lowered his head and touched his nose to hide his embarrassment, after all, the incident in Beisha City was caused by him in the final analysis, but he didn't expect to frame the southern runners, and the retribution would come so soon.

Without allowing Lao Zhang to explain any more, the gatekeeper waved his arm and ordered the rest of the guards behind him: "Go and search these goods properly." ”

If you want to say what the runners are most afraid of, the first to bear the brunt are the mountain bandits, and the next is these officials who guard the door, and sometimes the latter is even more feared than the former.

As the saying goes, businessmen don't fight with officials, don't look at these gatekeepers, but the businessmen never dare to offend them.

Take the search of goods as an example, it is not as simple as looking at two eyes, but to take the convoy aside, open the cargo box to move each cargo out for inspection, this kind of inspection is fast for more than an hour, slow for most of the day to delay in, and the gatekeeper is only responsible for unloading, that is to say, after the inspection, the caravan has to reload the goods themselves.

If it is just like this, the merchants can still bear it by gritting their teeth, but the most unbearable thing for them is to encounter some black-hearted gatekeepers, who have to cleverly detain the goods despite the fact that there are no prohibited items in the goods, or deliberately damage some goods when moving and unloading the goods for fun.

The runners also knocked out their teeth and swallowed them in their stomachs, so they had to pay out of their own pockets to make up for the losses of the cargo owners.

"Alas, alas, alas" Lao Zhang saw that the gatekeeper was about to lead the horse to the side, and he was also in a hurry, grabbed the sleeve of the gatekeeper who looked like the leader, and stuffed a full money bag into the doorkeeper's hand, "The villain knows that it is not easy for the officials to be exposed to the wind and sun here, so be careful, just invite the officials to eat a bar!"

The gatekeeper looked at the money bag in his hand with his eyes slightly drooping, and after checking it and feeling that it was very weighty, his expression changed and he said to Lao Zhang with a smile: "Hehe, since my brother understands the rules, then I won't embarrass you." ”

As he spoke, he missed his body and shouted to the subordinates who were leading the horses: "Hurry up with your hands and feet, don't mess up the goods!"

Hearing his captain's words, the gatekeeper stopped his movements and boarded the carriage and motioned for the caravan to open the cargo box.

The goalkeeper pretended to glance at the container full of goods, and got out of the car without even flipping it, and almost nodded to the leading goalkeeper, indicating that there was no problem.

"Release. ”

Under the orders of the leader, the caravan slowly moved forward again.

Until the caravan passed through the city gate, Long Yuan didn't say a word, just quietly watched Lao Zhang deal with everything.

"Hey, that's a bad luck. ”

The caravan walked away, and one of the guards couldn't help but complain.

It is no wonder that he is like this, in addition to the remuneration given by the owner of the caravan, all the remaining expenses on the road are borne by the caravan itself, and he has also reported bribing the officials who guard the door.

"You are content, I don't know how much money I saved on this smooth journey, and now you will feel distressed to spend such a little money, if it weren't for Steward Long, you would have lost your life in Peeling Gorge." ”

The companion beside him teased.

"I ...... Well, I said the wrong thing, and when I got to the inn, I invited the big guy to drink. The guard was about to refute, but when he heard his companion talk about Peeling Gorge, he could only announce with a painful face that he wanted to treat him.

"Hahaha......"

Looking at his expression, everyone laughed and attracted the attention of pedestrians on the side of the road.

"Hey, can you guys keep a low profile!"

Lao Zhang, who was onlookers, felt that his old face was a little panicked, and he couldn't wait to keep his distance from these people.

Compared with Lao Zhang, Long Yuan was much calmer, and his eyes stayed on the buildings and shops on both sides of the street.

"The scale of Liting City is really not as large as Beisha City as a capital city, and the population is not as large as Beisha City, but it is surprisingly prosperous in trade. ”

Because in a short period of time, Long Yuan had already seen a lot of chariots and horses that were obviously not costumes from Beisha Province passing by them.

Just when Long Yuan was talking to himself there, Lao Zhang had already quietly come to his side, "Actually, this is not unusual, after all, Liting City is the second largest city in Beisha City, second only to Beisha City in terms of comprehensive strength, and it also has the largest agricultural land in Beisha, coupled with the backing of the Zheluo Man Mountains, the rich product resources are also the reason why it attracts merchants from all over Dongling to come here." ”

"Indeed, from the moment I entered the city, I found that there were many grain stores, and that every household had more than two oxen. ”

Long Yuan nodded and agreed.

"Steward Long can observe carefully enough, then can Steward Long know why the grain in Liting City is so popular, and many merchants come to Liting City from thousands of miles away?" Lao Zhang suddenly asked Long Yuan.

"It's supposed to be quality!"

"So why is the quality better than elsewhere?"

"I guess the environment is the biggest reason!"

"Steward Long is really smart. Lao Zhang already admired Long Yuan's intelligence, "That's right, all thanks to the unique geographical environment of Liting City, the four distinct seasons of the climate make the crops here have a long growth cycle, giving the crops enough time to absorb nutrients, coupled with the huge temperature difference between day and night, it is a sublimation of the taste of the crops, but the biggest reason why the grain in Liting City is different from other places is that the broken leaves and water." ”

"Broken leaf water?"

Of course, Long Yuan knows very well what the Broken Leaf Water is, it is the largest water vein in Beisha Province, and it is this water vein and its countless tributaries that make the human race survive in Beisha Province, it is no exaggeration to say that the Broken Leaf Water is the mother river that feeds all creatures in Beisha Province, and its birthplace is the Zheluo Man Mountains.

"Yes, the dragon steward doesn't know, the broken leaf water is made of thousands of years of ice and snow in the Luoman Mountains, which contains the cold air of the blood and bones, it is by the watering of the broken leaf water, the crops here will have a cool taste, but the cold contained in the broken leaf water will be lost with the passage of time, this range is just within the boundaries of Liting City, that is to say, the closer to Liting City, the better the quality of the crops it grows, and it will be crowned with the reputation of 'cold jade'. ”

Long Yuan looked at Lao Zhang, who was talking eloquently, and his eyes were full of inexplicable smiles.

"Lao Zhang, I don't mean to underestimate you, so you don't have to be nervous, every line has its own way of survival, even an experienced veteran like you must abide by it. I know you know the gatekeeper, and bribing him is that you're following the rules. Long Yuan chuckled and broke Lao Zhang's thoughts, and walked forward a few steps quickly, leaving Lao Zhang a little embarrassed, and suddenly Long Yuan turned his head to look at Lao Zhang.

"What I said before is still counted, and I await your reply. ”