In early May of the twenty-sixth year of Kaiyuan, the Anxi Protectorate issued an official letter, giving the Green Ridge a reward for his military exploits, rewarding a number of cloth and copper coins on behalf of the imperial court, and promoting Li Siye to the rank of captain of Zhaowu. The official letter did not specify where he would take up his post, and he had to wait until he went to the Imperial Protectorate to receive his reward.

Why is it said to be on behalf of the imperial court, because the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate has no right to promote officials privately, and needs to be reported to the imperial court, and then promoted by the next official document of the imperial court, but the west of the city is too far away from the two capitals, and there are usually only two official exchanges a year. If an official is promoted, will he have to wait for a year and a half, and will he not delay his term of office?

The envoys of the major border towns adopted a compromise method, and the promoted officials took office first, and then reported to the imperial court at the end of the year. The official document was passed to Anxi, this person has been in office for a long time, even if he is replaced, he needs to be re-approved by the imperial court, and he will report it again in the next year, unless the minister has a grudge with this person, most of them can give approval. In the long run, the right to appoint officials in border towns has actually been held in the hands of the Jiedu envoys.

Li Siye's Zhaowu lieutenant will not be able to officially obtain the recognition of the imperial court until next year, that is, the twenty-seventh year of Kaiyuan.

On this day, the weather was clear, the grass was green under the foothills of the Green Ridge, and a caravan returning from the Central Plains came to the Green Ridge, and the crisp camel bells dispelled the haze of war scars on this land.

The men and women of the Hidden Tribes set up bazaars around the castle and sold their produce to the caravans. Although most of the well-informed business travelers did not value these souvenirs, they still sold them at very low prices.

Li Siye stood at the head of the city and looked down, frowned and said, "Merchants make money, and merchants lose." ”

Suo Yuanyu snorted on the side and raised the bar with him: "How do you know that they have lost money, making these things is just delaying some time, and it doesn't cost money, and if you can sell it, it will be considered a profit." ”

"Time is not money?" Li Siye pointed to the market below quite complacently and said: "The three-color fabric in the hands of the hidden ladies is the three-color fabric of the Tibetan women, which is the cow hair and wool weaving products passed from Tibet, and a skilled lady can weave in one day." Due to the perennial war between the Tang Dynasty and the Tibetan border, the trade routes were blocked, and they were sold as strange goods in the two capitals, which were worth a lot of money. ”

"Look at the Sogdian traders below, deliberately pretending to be cold and detached, and derogating the goods, in fact, they have already laughed out loud in their hearts. It is not terrible for middlemen to make the difference, but it is terrible for middlemen to make a big buck. ”

When Li Twelve Niang heard this, her face showed compassion, but Suo Yuanyu was annoyed, and she rolled up her sleeves and was about to go down to beat people: "What an unscrupulous profiteer, how dare you bully an honest person like this!" See if I go down and don't break his legs! ”

Li Siye grabbed her arm and said, "I don't have such a temper tantrum as a man, these Sogdian merchants do this, can you discount their legs?" ”

"So what do you say you should do?"

"Of course, there are no middlemen, the Hidden Tribes were originally a tribe of more than 6,000 people, even if the vitality of this battle was greatly damaged, there were three or four thousand people, and they could prepare a caravan by themselves, and transport the handicrafts and fabrics produced in the clan for a year to Chang'an to sell, and the financial benefits obtained were far better than selling them to merchants."

Next is Li Siye's self-talk: "The Zhiyin Department has obtained more than 30 war horses from Tubo this time, plus the original camel horses in the clan, it is completely possible to organize a caravan of more than 60 people...... Hey, you see that's? ”

The camel bell sounded on the hillside in the distance, and it seemed that another caravan was coming from Yandu Prefecture, and the merchants on the camel were not as black and white as Dashi, but a heavy red and yellow hue, which was very similar to the robes of the Tianzhu monks.

There is also an escort team in front and back of this caravan, waving a black flag, and the word 'Suo' in the seal is faintly visible on the flag.

Li Siye pointed to the flag in the distance and said with a smile: "Finally, the main owner is here." ”

He turned his head to see that Suo Yuanyu had disappeared, and looked left and right, but saw her walking down the female wall with her waist down, for fear of being seen by the second uncle of the caravan in the distance.

Li Siye is very comfortable in his heart, one thing drops one thing, and finally someone who can restrain you is here.

While he hugged his chest proudly, he ushered in a resentful glance at Li Twelve Niang, who was wrapped in white clothes with double swords, she sighed softly, and followed Suo Yuanyu's footsteps to the bottom of the steps.

Li Shiniang's eyes made him gasp, did he offend her in a certain sentence again?

When a friend from afar came, of course he had to go out of the city to greet him, and just walked down the city wall, he heard someone behind him sigh.

Li Siye looked back, but it was Suo Yuanyu hiding in the hole in the wall and hooking his finger at him.

If a gentle and beautiful beauty like Li Shiniang hooked her fingers at him, his blood pressure would definitely soar, but Suo Yuanyu, heh, there is still a lot of heat left, and no matter how good she looks, she can't stand her blowing her nose at the wall.

As soon as Li Siye walked up, Suo Yuanyu was about to raise his arm and pat him on the shoulder as if nothing happened. Si Ye dodged expressionlessly, frowned and said, "Wipe the wall!" ”

Suo Yuanyu smiled wryly, and sure enough, he stretched out his index finger and thumb and rubbed it on the earthen wall, then bent down and wiped it on the upper of the ** boot.

"Don't let outsiders see this kind of action in the future, otherwise you won't be able to get married."

"Cut, salty and eat radishes, don't worry about it." Suo Yuanyu fought back, suddenly thinking of the current situation, and a flattering smile appeared on his face: "Brother Heiye, Yuanyu has something important to discuss." ”

"It's just right, I'm going to meet your second uncle outside the city, you go too, talk while walking."

"Don't, what I'm going to say is, can you not mention the incident that night to my second uncle."

"What's the matter?"

"That's it, we're going to assassinate you."

"Okay," Li Siye nodded: "As long as he doesn't ask, I won't mention it." ”

Suo Yuanyu hurriedly blocked in front of him, crossed his waist and said, "Even if he asks you, he can't mention it." Then she added in a whisper: "You just have to promise, and I will tell you a secret of Twelve Niang." ”

He took half a step back and asked in surprise, "What does this have to do with Li Twelve Niang?" Why should I know her secrets? For the sake of you're pretty well-behaved these days, I won't say it. ”

Li Siye had already turned around and left, Suo Yuanyu stomped his feet angrily in the back, and complained: "People like you should live with war horses for the rest of their lives, why marry a lady!" ”

……

Suotong dismounted outside the city gate, his temples were full of wind and frost, but his spirit was still full, and he arched his hand towards Li Siye and said: "Si Yelang, I haven't seen you for more than a year, you have changed a lot." ”

Li Siye returned the salute: "Suo Gong has not changed much, and he is still in such good spirits. ”

"No, it's old." Soton smiled and shook his head.

Suo Yuanyu moved out from Li Siye's back, lowered his waist and crossed his hand towards Suotong, Li Twelve Niang also stepped forward and saluted Suotong gracefully: "Second uncle, second uncle Suo." ”

Suotong was full of smiles in the face of Li Twelve Niang, but he made a straight face in the face of his niece. Yuanyu instantly turned into a obedient girl with low eyebrows and pleasing eyes, and hurriedly moved to stand behind him. Suotong raised his hand and pointed at him, opened his mouth and finally didn't say a word heavy, and said helplessly: "My niece is stubborn by nature, she didn't trouble you." ”

Li Siye shook his head against his will: "No, although Suo Niangzi is straightforward and fast-talking, she has a pure nature and is very easy to get along with." And there is also a man's heroic spirit......"

Suo Yuanyu coughed heavily behind the second uncle, Li Siye was merciful, Suo Tong raised his eyebrows, and seemed to have already understood it, but he just pretended not to hear.

He welcomed Suotong and his party into the grass hall, and they talked happily, but the topic became more and more distant. This Ah Lang of the Suo family seems to have forgotten the business of today, or has no intention of mentioning it at all.

Li Siye had no intention of playing dumb riddles with him, so he coldly cut into a sentence: "Let's talk about the escort of the trade route, the city of Green Ridge has robbed a lot of business from the Suo family in the past year." ”

As soon as these words came out, the atmosphere was suddenly embarrassing, Suo Tong dragged his beard and lowered his head, and even Suo Yuanyu, who had jumped out, took a deep breath nervously.