The story is naturally unfinished in one night, but the journey has to continue, after a night in the wilderness, probably due to the lack of a carriage, the speed of the caravan has slowed down significantly, after all, there are still hundreds of miles to go, and it is not good to make the mules and horses too difficult.

The days of rushing are always a little lonely, but for Gu Huai, he can see a lot of new things, and those guards who are used to eating and sleeping in the open are tired of seeing them, and they only know how to chat and brag in a northland accent to pass the time.

A caravan in the south, but the guards are basically from the north, this is not unusual, the northland rangers are heavy, and there are naturally many people who are willing to go south and run businessmen in the north, although the water and soil in the south of the Yangtze River cultivate culture, but that set will not work in the north, the Zhen family firm has also suffered a lot of losses over the years, so it learned to spend a lot of money to hire some rangers from the north as guards, and it can also be less troublesome when things happen.

It's just that although these guards took the money, few of them were willing to lower their bodies to help with things, most of them rode horses and held swords around the caravan perimeter, coldly watching the guys who went north from the trading house sweating like rain.

Speaking of the Zhen family firm, it was also at its peak, the old man Zhen started from scratch, and he was also a person who could say something at the annual gathering of the Suzhou Chamber of Commerce back then, but it was a pity that the old man had a stubborn personality and was unwilling to bow his head and deal too much with the government, all thanks to the support of a few brothers who started a business together, which could make the Zhen family firm thriving, but the old man passed away, and his own son was frightened and followed, and the relationship between the old guys faded, making Zhen Ru, who took over the firm, miserable.

Although at this time, Zhen Ru already wanted to have some relationship with the officials and masters, get acquainted with the face, and share some local markets in Suzhou, but she could no longer see a good face, so she was forced to go north, and every year she transported the silk produced by herself, plus some leftovers from the collection, to the grassland for sale.

This kind of business is naturally extremely difficult to do, and it is also related to the life and death of the commercial bank, after all, it will take at least half a year for the commercial bank to recover after losing the goods.

This road is not fast, probably peaceful, this day has passed in the afternoon, there is a city gate in front of it, although it looks down-and-out under the yellow sand, but the business house from the guys to the guards and even Zhen Ru are relieved, with a relieved look on their faces.

Ren Wanbin explained to Gu Huai in a low voice: "The front is Yima Ridge, after Yima Ridge, even if you enter Datong Mansion, there are the most bandits on this barren road from Beiping, I think it is because there are many people in this caravan, so they are not targeted by those gangsters, and there is a military station stationed after Yima Ridge, and there should be nothing to do before entering the grassland." ”

Gu Huai realized that from here, he could be regarded as officially entering the border of the Ming Dynasty.

It's just that the border pass is more reassuring than the territory of Daming, which is really ironic.

Entering the town, the guys of the trading house moved some of the goods on the carriage, in this kind of place, the trading house can naturally do some business, it is inevitable to delay some time, if you can sell more of the goods you carry, you can also be a little easier when you enter the grassland, this has already been told to Gu Huai, so Gu Huai did not complain, just a set of horses planning to visit this town.

This kind of outlier naturally makes the guards scoff, and to put it bluntly, it is just two words, hypocrisy.

These days, all the way, Gu Huai and the people in the business house almost have no intersection, except for a story told by the bonfire that night, the rest of the time is to open a distance and quietly follow, even the food is prepared by themselves, there is no freedom and enthusiasm of the previous Jianghu men.

After leaving the caravan, Ren Wanbin naturally regarded Gu Huai as the owner and was inseparable, while Ma Sanbao also became a little interested in the town here, after all, he had rarely walked around outside after entering the palace for many years, so he also walked around with Gu Huai.

As the name suggests, since it is called Yima Ridge, it is naturally a city built by the mountain, this place is an important pass of Datong and Beiping, it is in the north-south shortcut to rush up, the merchants come and go in an endless stream, the bazaars on both sides of the city gate road are very lively, here is located in the rear of the strategic line of Datong, the natural soldiers are also less, as a border city, it is less of a cold atmosphere.

Walking along the city gate road for a distance, you can see the ruins of the foundation of the old city, this foundation should have been beaten by the wind and rain for many years, at this time there were two people standing separately above, both holding weapons and staring coldly, and there were many onlookers below, some of them also applauded and cheered, I don't know, I am afraid that I think I still have a temple fair.

Many children living in the city chased and played, playing hide and seek around Gu Huai's horse, Ren Wanbin scolded lightly, and then asked the people next to him for two sentences, and said: "The owner, it seems that it is a martial arts competition, and it is life and death." ”

"The yamen doesn't care about it?"

"Who cares about these things! The afterlife, from outside? An old man interjected with his hands behind his back.

"Hit the south... Uncle, this kind of thing often happens here? ”

"Hey, I have to come back in ten days and a half months, but I usually have some measure, I don't know which of these two is committed, so I made an appointment to die one."

It can be seen that even at the age of the old man, he is not too afraid of these reckless men who disagree with each other and draw their swords at every turn, and the faces of the people nearby are full of lively expectation, and they are not afraid of the high platform that is about to see blood.

This opened Gu Huai's eyes a lot.

But think about it, Datong is barren and cold, compared to the south, the folk customs are naturally much stronger, plus the Ming Dynasty actually does not prohibit the folk martial arts, swords and swords are common, this kind of similar duel drama, but no one cares about it in the border army.

Just thinking about it, the black-faced strong man on the stage made a move first, his eyes were like knives and he glared at the two-petal peach wrapped in the clothes of the little lady in the audience, and raised his long knife at the swordsman opposite: "Grandpa's knife, but I have seen the blood of dozens of people, and I see that you are also an embroidered pillow that is not useful, don't rush to send your life!" Grandpa gives you a chance to regret it, don't be ignorant! ”

In contrast, the white-clothed swordsman on the opposite side is much taller in terms of shape and bearing, seeing that the black-faced strong man is disrespectful, but he only smiled slightly, and pulled out the sword with a "dang long" sound, which made the eyes of many women and women in the audience glow with some brilliance.

Come out and mix... It's also about appearance.

If you can't talk about it, then you have to fight, the two sides have exchanged a few words, the sword light and sword shadow will be in full bloom, and after gradually getting better, the sky is dark, and the audience below is mostly ordinary people, but you can't understand the name of the two people who just reported themselves, but it doesn't matter where you are sacred, as long as the thunderbolt can fight hard, you will not be stingy with the sound of cheering, many men also stood on the stone and shouted cheers, and even someone in the distance opened the plate, which attracted everyone to bet for a while.

This chaos made Gu Huai a little crying and laughing, this river and lake is really much more real and absurd than the book.