In the sixth year of Xuanhe (1124 AD), early in the eighth day of the eighth month, I chose to pay a private visit to Weifu on this auspicious day, and bid farewell to Empress Zhu Lian and others in the palace. Then he set off with Steward Wang, Xiao Liuzi, Chunxiang, Qiuxiang and the four great kings of Ouchi guards Qinglong, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Xuanwu. I deliberately dressed up as the shopkeeper of the grain merchant, Steward Wang was dressed as Mr. Huiji, and Chunxiang and Qiuxiang were dressed as maids, and the Four King Kongs were coolies. The four King Kongs are two in the first two behind, I wait for everyone in the middle, and then board the folk camel outside the Donghua Gate, the four King Kong's camels are responsible for opening the road in front, I am with Xiao Liuzi, Wang Guan at home, Qiu Xiang and Chunxiang and other maids are behind a Luo car, and then there are all kinds of vehicles arranged in turn, which are loaded with some daily necessities, daily necessities, gold and silver coins, guard weapons and so on more than 10 cars, the driver of the car is a group of two, are dressed by the internal guard, and then it is like the south to the cross street, and then cross the cross street to the north into the side of the royal street, and then went all the way to the north, passing through the old Fengqiu Gate and the new Fengqiu Gate to reach the outer city, which was also regarded as leaving the Jingshi City, and then joined the guards sent by the Imperial City Division. The 100 men had already prepared 20 grain carts, and every fifth of them escorted one grain cart, and then at the end of the grain carts according to the previous agreement, our group began to march north. Outsiders think that this is a typical convoy of grain sales, from the Beijing division to the north to sell, after all, the north has just experienced the war, all industries are waiting to be developed, especially the shortage of daily necessities such as grain is huge, which is also the reason why many Beijing grain merchants transport grain to the north to sell.

For the little six sons who live deep in the palace, not only do they feel a lot more broadened when they get to the outside of the city, but even the spiritual outlook of the whole person is not the same, and they often lift the curtain to visit outside, while I close my eyes and recuperate, thinking about the progress of the affairs of the court, and suddenly the little six sons said: Steward Wang, where are we going? Steward Wang replied when he saw Xiao Liuzi's question: The imperial court has always attached great importance to road construction, with the capital city of Beijing Shi Bianliang as the center, the imperial court built various roads, prefectures, prefectures, and counties to Bianjing "official roads", and at the same time expanded to the surrounding areas. The land transportation connects Xijing (Luoyang), Nanjing (Yingtianfu) and Yanjing (Daimyofu), and the road lines extend in a network to form a dense road traffic network. Pedestrians can reach any place along the official road, which is very convenient for travel. From Kaifeng to the east, it can be divided into two official roads. First, it passes through Caozhou, Ji (Juye), Gon (Gon Zhou), Qi (Jinan) and other prefectures, and directly connects to the Shandong Peninsula; Second, it passes through Nanjing (Shangqiu), Xuzhou and other places, and goes directly to Haizhou (Lianyungang). From Kaifeng to the west, through Luoyang, Xijing, through Chang'an, Guanzhong, and then turn to the northwest to go directly to Qinzhou (Tianshui, Gansu) and other regions, and turn to the southwest, you can reach Bashu and other places. From Kaifeng to the south, it can be divided into several routes: first, from Kaifeng to the southwest, through Xu (Xuchang), Tang (Tanghe), Deng (Deng County) and other prefectures, arrive at Xiangzhou (Xiangyang), and then turn to Hanzhong from the west, or go south to Jiangling, Gong'an, Lizhou (Li County), Dingzhou (Changde), Anhua, Xinhua, Shaozhou (Shaoyang), Qiyang, Yongzhou, Quanzhou, Xing'an, Guilin. Second, from Kaifeng to the south, through Caizhou, Xinyang, to the east to Shouchun Fu, to the southeast to Nankang, Hongzhou (Nanchang), to the south through Yuezhou, Tanzhou (Changsha), and finally to Guangzhou. From Kaifeng to the northwest, cross the Yellow River, and arrive at the Daimyo Mansion through the two prefectures of Hua (Huaxian) and Lan (Puyang). From this, you can turn northeast to reach Hejian Province, and then reach today's Yanjing City; Secondly, you can reach Zhending Mansion (Shijiazhuang) to the north; Again, to the northwest can go straight to Taiyuan Fu (Taiyuan).

After listening to Steward Wang's introduction, I also returned to the car from my troubled thoughts, and then continued: But this time we will not take the above routes, this time we will go to the north, from Beijing through Huazhou and then across the Yellow River, and then through Anli Army, Xiangzhou, Cizhou, Xingzhou, Zhaozhou, Zhendingfu, Dingzhou, Baozhou, Guangxin Army, Zhuozhou (Bazhou), Yanjing, Danzhou, Jizhou (Pingzhou), directly to the border of Song and Jin, the focus is to see the defense of each city along the road on the governance situation. The other is to check the border defense on the spot, if the Jin army invades the south, this is the best and most convenient invasion route, so we will follow this route to explore on the spot, otherwise, I will not rest assured in Beijing, and I will feel uncomfortable sleeping.

After we finished speaking, we saw Xiao Liuzi at a loss, for him, he didn't know how big the whole country was, not to mention these places that he hadn't even heard of. Looking at his stunned expression, I glanced at each other with Steward Wang, and then they both laughed, and Xiao Liuzi said with a look of grievance: Shopkeeper Huang, Steward Wang, am I too stupid. We laughed again, and then Xiao Liuzi bowed his head and said nothing.

Since I was interrupted from my thoughts, I also asked Steward Wang to lift the curtain and look at the road outside, only to see that elms, willows, pines, cedars, and miscellaneous trees were planted on both sides of the official road, and drainage ditches were dug in many sections. At regular intervals on official roads, stone monuments or wooden signs are erected on a mound of earth next to them, marking road mileage, national borders, state and county borders, or traffic rules, which may be the earliest road signs. It seems that the ancients have long understood one point, that is, to get rich first to build the road, looking at the trees hurried on both sides, I instantly felt a lot more comfortable, and temporarily left the complicated affairs behind.

With the slow progress of the Luo car, I chatted with Steward Wang about the daily life, Steward Wang said: Huang shopkeeper, the north has just experienced the war not long ago, the people's hearts are afraid of instability, I heard that there are many people in the north fleeing south, that is very terrifying, especially in Yanjing and other places, everywhere is ruins and broken walls, the people have let the Jin people to the north, in addition to the army of the imperial court stationed almost no people, some are old, weak, sick and disabled, we still have a certain risk in the north this time, so everything must be careful.

Listening to the reminder of Steward Wang, I said: I have also read the report of the imperial court, and the war has indeed had a great impact on the north, but no matter what, it is also the territory of my Great Song Empire, and it is precisely because of the defeat of the city that we need to take care of it and build it. Hearing me talk about the truth, Steward Wang even claimed that he was, saying that he was too small. Then he continued: Huang shopkeeper, there is also a situation that the composition of the northern ethnic groups is also very complicated, the original Liao people who were destroyed, as well as the Han people living in Liao, of course, it is not excluded that the secret agents of the Jin people are mixed together, it is really a mixture of fish and dragons, plus many people who want to move south are going south one after another, so the further north it goes, the more complicated it may be.

I nodded in agreement, and listening to the boring political affairs, I suddenly had a flash of inspiration and said: Steward Wang, how much money can we earn by transporting twenty truckloads of grain to the north this time. Regarding this old trade of trafficking grain, Steward Wang opened his mouth and said: "Shopkeeper Huang, according to the current price of grain, the price of our purchase from Beijing is about 1,500 yuan a stone, and a stone is nearly 60 kilograms, that is, the price of 25 yuan a kilogram of grain, and we currently have 20 grain trucks, one car contains nearly 1,000 kilograms of grain, then the value of each car is 25,000 yuan, and the total price is 500,000 yuan, and if we go to the north, we can generally sell it for 50 yuan a kilogram, that is, it can be doubled, and these 20 cars can earn at least 500,000 yuan.

As soon as I heard that this was a huge profit, I asked: What a high profit. So since there are such high profits, why don't you see many grain convoys along the way? I saw Steward Wang smile and said: Generally, grain is transported by waterway, and the waterway freight is low, and the transportation volume is large, so the general grain merchants take the waterway. Only short-range ones are transported by land. I was right, and nodded. Then Steward Wang continued: Although the profit from selling grain is considerable, it is also extremely risky along the way at this time, there are bandits blocking the road, passing taxes along the state and government, and the food, drink and Lazar of the people's personnel, all of which are costs, and the farther the distance, the higher the risk, and of course the profits are more objective. This is a true portrayal of the fact that the profit of doing business is directly proportional to the risk.

I agree with this, after all, this business is like this, the higher the profit, the greater the risk, there is no book of profits in the world, and some are written in the criminal law. It seems that this trip should not be a problem to earn some food and drink. While we were talking, we saw that the curtain in front of us was lifted, and then poked into Qinglong's head, and then said: Huang Shopkeeper, we have arrived at the post station in front, should we come down to rest and eat something. I glanced at Steward Wang, and he nodded slightly in agreement, and I said to Qinglong: Okay, then let's come down and rest. Qinglong took the order, and then there was a shout, shout, shout, and after the car stopped, I took the lead and got out of the car.

Got out of the car, hurriedly breathed fresh air, only to see a large number of grain carts and luggage carts lined up in a row, feeling very neat, except for one person left in the grain cart, the rest of the people came to my perimeter not far away, as if on guard, in addition to the green dragon, the white tiger stood one meter outside of me, and has been cautiously watching outward, while Suzaku and Xuanwu walked to the post station. At this time, the steward Wang beside him said: Huang shopkeeper, according to the imperial court system, post shops must be set up every other part of the official road, and the facilities are complete. Usually the post station is divided into two kinds, post pass and delivery shop, there are twenty miles of horse post, there is a horse pavilion, forage, horse supply. There is a post for 60 miles, and the post has food and lodging, as well as the supply of ride, pass, money and rice, to wait for guests from all over the world. In addition to the inn, there is also a privately opened tel that provides accommodation for private trips. Because the official post stations are specially used to receive ministers and officials. Therefore, this is a supply station opened by private people.

Then I saw Suzaku and Xuanwu coming out of the post station, nodding at all of us, I saw that I immediately took Steward Wang, Xiao Liuzi, and Erxiang to the post station, Qinglong and Baihu followed behind, and the other guards of the Imperial City Division led the horses to Xiema Pavilion to feed the forage, and left some people to gradually disperse to control the wind, presumably to ensure the safety of our surroundings. It seems that the people of the Imperial City Division are indeed well-trained, and they are all carefully selected, no wonder they are so cautious and strict.