The north wind swept the white grass and folded, and the snow flew in August.

Now it has entered November, in the light snow, Wang Rong and his party are walking on the official road, a team of nearly 200 people, dressed as a caravan, with a part of the horses and mules ready to shoot, as well as three carts of leather goods.

Wang Rong rode on a horse, and Wang Mao and Zhang Yunshu followed on both sides. Zhang Yunshu looked around, and he couldn't see clearly after more than 100 meters. He kicked the horse's belly twice, urged him to sit down on the horse, came to Wang Rong's side, and asked with some concern: "Zhong Ming, this kind of weather march is easy for the enemy to sneak attack." ”

Wang Rong looked at him and did not refute, but said: "Don't worry, the scouts of the Guards have already spread out for twenty miles, and if there is a situation, we will know in advance." ”

Wang Rong turned his head and looked at it, everyone had been marching in the snow for days, and they were already tired. He exhorted, "Brethren! We're about to arrive at the post station outside Helian City, everyone! ”

"!!" The soldiers of the Guards responded loudly, and at the same time, they cheered up, and the speed of the entire team slowly increased.

"Captain, the front is Helian Station." Wang Hao drove his horse back to Wang Rong's horse from the front, and bowed his hand.

Wang Rong had already seen the post station, the scale of the post station was not large, and it was divided into two courtyards. One courtyard resembles an inn, with a small double-storey wooden building. In the other courtyard is a one-story wide house with a full passage, which is used as a dining hall, and the windows on all four sides are propped up, and you can see the charcoal fire burning brightly inside.

Wang Rong did not intend to show people as an official, Wang Mao took people to talk to the post station in detail, they are more than 100 people, the post station is so small, it is definitely not enough to live.

The post man of Helian Post Station was a young man, no more than thirty years old, but he was mature and sophisticated, and when he saw such a huge caravan, he knew that it might be a merchant attached to a dignitary.

Attached merchants, as the name suggests, are businessmen who are attached to the government. The Dayong Law decrees that officials are not allowed to do business, and their wives and children are not allowed to do business.

Dayong's prescribing to officials is actually not low. It's just that it's not all silver money, but half rice and half silver money. Take Wang Rong's Yulu as an example, he is now in the position of the governor of the western region, and he is a seventh-grade martial artist, with an annual salary: one hundred and forty taels of silver, and one hundred and eighty stones of rice in the year of Lu. It looks like a lot, but it's often not given out in full. Sometimes it is mixed with some tattered silk cloth that has been accumulated in the treasury for many years, or some other worthless things.

Not only Wang Rong's Yulu is like this, but the officials of the entire Dayong are treated like this, as for why? In troubled times, Dayong needs money to raise soldiers, and where does the money come from? Officials save a little and pay more taxes, so the money will come.

And Dayong's officials are not saying that they are done with just supporting their wives and children. As the saying goes, if a person attains the Tao, the chicken and dog ascend to heaven. When you become an official, you have to bring your relatives with you, which is an obligation; You have to help your fellow villagers, this is your responsibility; I also want to give back to the township, and it's okay not to give back, as long as I can be ruthless, unkind, and don't recognize my six relatives, and don't return to the roots. But how can anyone in this world not want to return to their hometown when they are old, and die and be buried in the place where the family reproduces. There is also the attraction and sending in the officialdom, which needs to be paid by the officials themselves.

There is also the decency of the officials themselves, you can't walk to the court and the government by yourself, you have to use a sedan chair and a carriage, right? This requires a sedan chair driver and a coachman. You have to have someone to serve you, and you need servants. The so-called one person is short, two people are long, this officialdom is much more treacherous than the battlefield, and you need to have staff to help the staff. And these people all need to be raised by the officials themselves, and the money given by the imperial court is not enough to support these people, so how can they have the money to take concubines and raise the outer room? If you want to live a life of flowers, let's dream.

Based on the desire for a better life, the officials thoroughly studied the Dayong Law Order, and then found a loophole. The law only says that the officials themselves, as well as the officials' children and wives, cannot do business, but it does not say that their distant nephews or brothers-in-law cannot do business.

As a result, the officials forcibly opened the windows of officials and businessmen in the iron house where officials could not do business. In order to avoid secrecy, so as not to make trouble for others, they are collectively referred to as "attached merchants".

Relying on the relationship of officials, the business routes were smooth, and they were able to quickly accumulate wealth, and the officials also reaped a lot of benefits from it, and lived the good life of their dreams.

Wang Mao's identity to Yicheng is the attached merchant of the Linjin Marquis Mansion, and there is a road guide from the Linjin Marquis Mansion. Yi Cheng saw that it was someone from the Marquis of Linjin's Mansion, and immediately led everyone into the courtyard with a smile on his face.

Wang Rong came to Ouyang Xun and said: "This post station is too small to accommodate so many people, you take the second team and the third team to camp against the courtyard next to it, and the first team stays to protect everyone's safety." Wake up the brethren. ”

Ouyang Xun bowed and said, "Huh! ”

The group was immediately divided into two groups, and the guards of the second and third teams surrounded the cart they were driving and took out a batch of sleeping bags from the cart. This sleeping bag is a new invention of the Western Governor's Craftsman's Institute, made of wear-resistant and resistant fabric, and filled with camel hair, duck down, and cashmere. It's very warm when you sleep in it.

Then the guards took down a special stove from each cart, which was fueled by honeycomb stones, which emitted hot gas when heated, and also served as a boil for cooking rice.

Wang Rong and Wang Mao took the first team of personal guards, and after carefully inspecting the entire post station, under the cold eyes of the post man, they invited Zhang Yunshu, Zhang Pu and Meng Ao into the dining hall.

The food in the post station was very poor, and Wang Rong, Wang Mao and the guards had long been accustomed to sleeping in the open, but it was nothing. Zhang Yunshu was a little disgusted, and it was Zhang Pu who was refreshing to Wang Rong, and the performance of this weak woman surprised him.

Zhang Pu found Wang Rong's surprised gaze, smiled slightly, and said: "In the early years, the master took us disciples up the mountain to collect medicines, and we lived in the wild a lot, and I have eaten everything that is more unpalatable than this." Besides, the food at this station is not bad. ”

Zhang Yunshu listened to her sister-in-law's words, her face was hot, and she had to deal with a few bites and stop eating. Meng Ao was a little older, and his teeth were not good, so he also supported a few mouthfuls, so he went to the courtyard next to him first under the escort of the first team of Yu Hou Li Ji, and chose a sunny house to live in.

Zhang Yunshu waited until Zhang Pu finished eating, then took her and led his servants and maids to the inn, and picked two slightly larger, half-sunny houses to live in.

Wang Rong, Wang Mao and others were the last to enter the inn, and the rooms they chose were all shady, faintly enclosing the three rooms of Meng Ao, Zhang Yunshu and Zhang Pu. The four rooms at both ends of the corridor on the second floor were occupied by Wang Rong's personal guards.