Xu Han never believed in the word Mandate of Heaven in the past.

But now, standing on the wild golden wheat field in Jizhou, Xu Han has to believe such a statement.

In the past 19 years, since he can remember, he doesn't know how long he hasn't seen such a thriving wheat field, and the soil of Jizhou is not as fertile as Qingzhou, but he can't stand the wind and rain in the past six months.

It has been half a year since the matter of Chang'an, it is autumn, and this year's Great Zhou has not been as dry and snowy as in the past ten years, but it is very popular with the people's minds, when it should be sunny, when it should rain.

And the reason for all this is rumored to be the only empress who has ascended the throne since the eons of eternity - Yuwen Nanjing!

Most of the rumors in the market are divine, and there are naturally people behind this who are secretly promoting, saying that this empress is the widow of Emperor Chengyang back then, born to be a person determined by the destiny of heaven, and is destined to bring peace and prosperity to the Great Zhou. And the situation in the past six months since he ascended the throne has indeed made the people see such hope, so the people's expectations for the empress have become more and more high, and even the various dissatisfied voices that had arisen before because of the support of the empress have gradually died down at this time.

Maybe there really is a fate in this world.

Xu Han looked at the golden wheat field in front of him, looked at the smiles on the faces of those people, and secretly thought in his heart.

Speaking of which, he only knew that Qin Keqing's real name was Yuwen Nanjing when he was walking in the streets, Xu Han shook his head, retracted the chaotic thoughts in his heart, turned around and followed the mighty dragon in front of him, and walked towards the gate of the Sword Dragon Pass.

Since the empress ascended the throne, most of the previous harsh taxes have been cut in half, and it is said that after this year's tax money is paid, the tax will be cut again. With the defeat of the Xia State and the Chen State, trade between the two countries began again, although the border control was strict, but it could not resist the huge temptation of interests, and there was an endless stream of merchants who traveled between the two countries.

And Boss Gan can be regarded as the best of these businessmen.

There are more than 20 people in his hands, five or six carriages, going back and forth in the summer and Tuesday country, and he has been full of money in the past six months, and he married an eighteen-year-old concubine at home a few days ago, which can be described as a spring breeze.

Xu Han met this middle-aged man in his early forties with a beard at the junction of Liangzhou and Jizhou, and even in early autumn, he was busy wearing that heavy and expensive mink velvet.

Objectively speaking, more than ten years of beggar life has made Xu Han not feel bad for men, but he really can't have half a good feeling.

However, Xu Han, who was really sitting on the side of the noodle stall to eat at that time, was taken by Boss Gan at a glance and invited him to be the caravan's dart master and escort them into the country.

Xu Han, who has been in the territory of Dazhou for a long time, is worried that he can't find how to get out of the Stegosaurus Pass, and naturally there is no reason to refuse Lao Gan's proposal, and the two sides quickly negotiated the deal with three taels of silver and a salary for food and accommodation all the way.

Boss Gan is a shrewd person, the border between the Great Zhou and Great Xia has always been heavily hoarded, and there are very few bandits, but if you don't look for a dart master, expect these guys to deal with thieves, Boss Gan is really unstable in his heart. You can ask a real dart master, and the money you ask for back and forth is enough to spend 20% of his profits.

But Xu Han is different, he is alone with a sword, which means that he can at least have some punches and kicks, and his tall posture alone is enough to scare away the few bandits on the border. Boss Gan, who has been walking between the two countries all the year round, knows very well that those bandits have no great ability, and only dare to pick soft persimmons.

Xu Han asked for a cheap price, and Boss Gan also knew that the other party didn't have much ability, but it was enough to deal with those bandits. Whenever he thinks of his abacus, he can't help but secretly praise himself in his heart for being a good material for doing business.

Of course, this complacency only lasted the day before the arrival of this Stegosaurus Pass.

After all, the Sword Dragon Pass is an important town on the border of the Great Zhou Dynasty, with the accession of the Empress Yuwen Nanjing to the throne and the Tiance Mansion in power, the Sword Dragon Pass was once again valued by the imperial court, and a large amount of money was allocated from the barren treasury to supply the Mujia Army to expand its armaments. In addition to this resident soldier in today's Stegosaurus Pass, the most people in the Stegosaurus Pass are foot merchants such as Boss Gan.

Whenever I go here, according to the custom, I have to live in this stegosaurus pass for a day.

This is to recuperate, and this is to gather merchants who come and go in the pass, inquiring about each other's news, what is good to sell in what place, and what is worth transporting back to Dazhou for resale.

And Boss Gan's uneasiness began at this time.

Boss Gan's caravan in this area is also outstanding, but it is not the most powerful one, as for who has the most ability, there is no conclusion, but there is no shortage of people who are comparable to him.

And Huang Er is one of them.

Speaking of which, he is quite familiar with this Huang Er, two months ago, the two fought because of a deal, Huang Er was broken in his right leg, and Boss Gan was also bitten off a piece of meat from his left hand by the other party.

Every time he heard the news about Huang Er, Boss Gan hated it so much.

But the news I heard yesterday made this middle-aged man who wanted to compete with Huang Er feel like being in the middle of the ice and snow and being broken with a bucket of cold water, and his body was shocked from the bones to the pores in a cold sweat.

Huang Er's caravan was ransacked by thieves on the border between Great Zhou and Great Xia, and Huang Er's head was cut off when he was found, and the entire caravan survived.

You must know that in the past, even if they were looted, those robbers only sought money and not murder, but now that such a thing has happened, it has made the people of the foot merchants in the entire Stegosaurus Pass panic, and rumors are spreading.

Some people say that it was a gang of bandits who unified the various bandit mountains that were scattered before, and some people say that someone is plotting some demon magic and needs to be guided by the soul. In the end, there were different opinions, but the truth became more and more confusing, but at least one problem was placed in front of these merchants, and the restoration of the three-day journey between Great Zhou and Great Xia was no longer peaceful.

Those who have money spend a lot of money to hire a dart master, and those who don't have money want to avoid the limelight, and they don't want to wade into this troubled water for the time being.

Boss Gan obviously belongs to the former, and he is planning to marry a concubine again in the spring of next year, how can he stop there. It's just that Xu Han alone is obviously not enough to support his courage to cross the border, and inviting a team of real dart masters has become the most important thing in front of Boss Gan.

It's just that the dart master who is not treated by the caravan on weekdays has become a hot commodity in a blink of an eye, although he is distressed, Boss Gan has to invite such a five-person dart team at a big price.

As for Xu Han, a boy who took the money and obviously couldn't do anything, although Boss Gan was a little resentful in his heart, he was still a particular person after all, so he proposed to give only half of his salary and dismiss Xu Han.

But he didn't want Xu Han to take the initiative to reduce his salary, saying that as long as two taels of silver, Boss Gan felt more and more that Xu Han must be a useless embroidered pillow, but two taels of silver, please take care of the dart car, and it is cost-effective to do hard work, so Boss Gan agreed.

......

Although the review of the border pass was harsh, it was mainly aimed at materials, and Boss Gan could be regarded as an old acquaintance, so he passed the Jianlong Pass unharmed after stuffing some silver coins.

Xu Han, who had seen the whole process, couldn't help but secretly sigh that money was sometimes really comparable to his cultivation.

"Look at it! Don't push the cart yet!" it was only before he exclaimed that a rude shout came from behind him.

Xu Han turned his head and glanced at it, it was a member of the dart team invited by Boss Gan, a burly young man, twenty-five or sixteen years old, with a bare head, revealing a long scar on his shoulder, at a glance it was the kind of character that was not easy to mess with, of course, this kind of trouble was only for ordinary traders like Boss Gan.

This burly young man, Xu Han, remembered that his name was Huma, a native of Daxia, who had started the business of escorting traders between the two countries in order to make a living. However, he seems to be extremely disgusted with Xu Han, a young man who is known as a dart master but does things as a buddy. It's just that this kind of disgust Xu Han can't be sure whether it is because he has ruined the reputation of the dart master, or because of his own incompetence in their opinion.

This dart team seems to have some origins, the four dart masters are probably some cultivation, as for the dart head, since the price was negotiated with Gan Boss, he has been sitting alone in the dart team's separate carriage, for which Gan Boss also specially found a guy to drive for him, which can be described as courteous, so that Xu Han has never seen the true face of the dart head of Lushan until now.

However, Xu Han obviously didn't have the intention of competing with this Hu Ma, he bowed down his body extremely obediently, and pushed the carriage that was stuck in the quagmire towards the direction away from the Stegosaurus Pass.

For Xu Han, being able to go to Daxia safely is the most important thing.

As for Huma...

Why should a tiger and a leopard stop for the clamor of an ant?

......

There is a three-regardless zone between the Great Xia, the Great Zhou, and the Chen State.

That's Yaqi Mountain.

And the wasteland called Antler Plains in front of Boss Gan's caravan is a place not far from Yaqi Mountain.

The wasteland was vast, and it would take at least four or five days to walk on the footsteps of the people, but there was no movement on the first day of the Sword Dragon Pass, and everyone found a place with a wide view to rest under the guidance of the dart head.

It was only when everyone had just built a bonfire that the bad news came again.

Several merchants who came from Daxia had gloomy faces, and Boss Gan was keenly aware of something, so he eagerly beckoned them over.

The men told with horror on their faces what they had seen on the road.

It was a day's walk to the center of the Antlers Plain, where they saw hundreds of corpses, and the unextinguished bonfires and scattered things seemed to be the convoy of foot merchants, but there was nothing alive.

Not only was the death tragic, but there was no taking away the property, and in the words of the foot-traders, the other party was more like killing for the sake of killing.

So after seeing off the merchants, Boss Gan worriedly summoned the people who seemed to want to discuss the plan of the trip.

And although Xu Han is now completely regarded as an ordinary guy, he has also seen the original appearance of the dart head because of this.

But it surprised Xu Han, even Xuan'er, who was napping on his shoulder, widened his amber eyes at that time, staring straight at the person who took steps from the carriage....