When Huang Dagen led the grain collection team to the gate of the village to meet Ouyang Xuan, the leader of Liuliba, Lu Dezhi, was already standing on the wall of the village surrounded by a group of villagers. At this moment, he and Zhu Xuanzi were looking up and talking to the wall - Ouyang Xuan saw the sudden change in the situation and knew that he was not suitable for this kind of negotiation, so he asked Zhu Xuanzi, who was standing beside him, to come forward to negotiate. Zhu Zhuozi, who was entrusted with this important task, brought into full play the expertise of the businessman's lobbying and advocacy, in other words, the talent of diplomacy, and he first bitterly expressed the hardships and hardships of his life as merchants and wandering monks, accused the Mongolian soldiers of being cruel and barbaric, and angrily denounced the mountain bandits as inhumane. In his narrative, he and Ouyang Xuan sacrificed their lives, and under the escort of the officers and soldiers behind them, they sent salt to this remote place, not only to earn living needs, but also to solve the dilemma of salt shortage for the people of Liuliba Mountain. Perhaps it was his acting skills, or the simplicity of the folk customs here, Lu Dezhi and the mountain people were both sympathetic and moved when they heard it. They not only want to exchange for the scarce salt in the village, but also fear the dozens of strong men with swords, shields and spears under the village, after all, it is not easy to distinguish between bandits and soldiers in these years.

Zhu Zhuozi, who has been wandering in the market all the year round, saw through Lu Dezhi's hesitation and the expectation in the eyes of the mountain people at a glance, so he lost no time in letting Huang Dagen come out, saying that this time he entered this place by mistake because of the pursuit and killing of the Mongols, and the materials needed by the officers and soldiers were all bought and sold at the same price, and he swore that this trip would not levy grain and would not disturb the people; He also asked Ouyang Xuan to use the credibility of the monks to guarantee that the members of the grain collection team were all loyal and kind, and there was no malice. It was easy to say that Rude made up his mind to open the door of the village, and when everyone walked into the door, it was already dark.

After entering the gate for about half a mile, Lu Dezhi asked Ouyang Xuan and the others to stop, saying that they would discuss the matter of changing salt tomorrow, and asked Shi Zhongshu to find a few shacks nearby to settle everyone. Ouyang Xuan asked for help for Yu Zhu's illness, it happened that Lu Dezhi was a person who understood medicine, and after he took the pulse roughly, he showed embarrassment, it turned out that he had diagnosed Yu Zhu's illness as "swinging", and this disease only occurred in hot and humid places. Liuliba is located in the alpine mountainous area, and the villagers do not suffer from this disease, so there is no treatment in the village. There is no medicine shop in Liuliba, and usually the mountain people find some herbs to boil water on the mountain when they are sick. Seeing Ouyang Xuan's disappointed expression, he promised to send someone to send some other herbs over tomorrow to try. When Lu Dezhi turned around and walked back, Ouyang Xuan faintly saw him walk into a taller gate in the depths of the cottage by the light of the torch, and it turned out that Ouyang Xuan and the others rested between the two walls of the Liuliba, not in the village.

After a day's drive on the mountain road, everyone was already exhausted. After arranging the personnel on duty, Ouyang Xuan went to visit Yu Zhu's condition again. After only one day, Yu Zhu's was weakened and his face was sallow from alternating high fever and chills. This malaria is very violent, and the malaria parasite that causes the disease will rupture the red blood cells in the blood, which is very damaging to the patient's body, but if there is a special drug artemisinin, the disease is not difficult to treat. Academician Tu Youyou's team invented artemisinin in the 20th century, for which it won China's first Nobel Prize in Medicine. It was obviously impossible to extract artemisinin in the late Southern Song Dynasty, but it should be possible to find the raw material for extracting artemisinin, Artemisia annua. Ouyang Xuan wondered if he could find some to treat Yu Zhu tomorrow.

Early the next morning, Lu Dezhi sent someone to deliver herbs and invited Huang Dagen to discuss the matter. Ouyang Xuan didn't know the herbs, but he recognized at a glance some yellow-white powder crystals in the medicine bag he was given, and he asked the person who sent the medicine and learned that it was fire nitrate, which was picked in a nearby cave. Ouyang Xuan's major in university is chemical engineering, so he naturally knows that saltpeter is white or colorless crystals, and the yellowish-white color of the fire nitrate sent by the mountain people is probably the reason for too many impurities. After hurriedly eating some dry food, Ouyang Xuan sent someone to take care of Yu Zhu and take the medicine, and then called Huang Dagen and Zhu Zhuozi to go to the discussion together. Huang Dagen has always been in charge of the salt matter before, and Zhu Zhuozi's performance yesterday proved that he is a business negotiator.

When I entered the village yesterday, it was dark, and I didn't see the appearance of the village clearly. The three of them, Ouyang Xuan, who followed the guide, walked and looked at the surroundings and interior of the village. This glazed dam is generally gourd-shaped, divided into three layers of terrace from high to low, and the higher the terrain, the larger the area. Last night, everyone camped on the lowest terrace, with an area of only 100 acres, and the first gate was like a gourd mouth; The middle platform is hundreds of acres after the second gate, and the highest platform is more than thousands of acres. A well-watered stream flows down from the high mountains in the distance, runs through the three terraces, flows down from the first gate, and meanders down into the Wenjing River in the distance.

The place where the salt was bought and sold was not far behind the second cottage gate, in a house by the river. Before Ouyang Xuan and the others approached, they heard the sound of children reading in the house next to them, which made the three of them very curious. In front of the council house, there were already a few old mountain people waiting here, and it seemed that they were the elders of the village who participated in the deliberations. Lu Dezhi welcomed the three of them into the house, and as soon as Ouyang Xuan sat down, he asked about the sound of children reading. An elder said: "This is Mr. Lu's righteous act for the people of the civilized cottage." It turns out that Lu Dezhi is 50 years old this year, and he was originally a scholar in Jinyuan County, Chongqing Prefecture, and his family came here more than ten years ago to avoid trouble. The villagers were grateful, and because of his good character and far-reaching knowledge, after the death of the previous leader, he was elected as the leader of Liuliba.

The discussion of changing the salt went very smoothly. Knowing that there are as many as 40 catties of salt, in addition to the surprise, Lu Dezhi also euphemistically said that because there is not much food stored in the cottage, there is not much food for exchange on the premise of ensuring the use of food and seeds. With a little guilt, he proposed to exchange 200 catties of fine grain or 400 catties of coarse grain for 1 catty of salt, as for sewing needles, jelly beans, marriage powder, silk head ropes, etc., they can be exchanged for grain or exchanged for the skin and meat of prey such as bears, wild boars, and deer that they hunted, and these mountain goods are not worth much in the eyes of the villagers. Ouyang Xuan and the three of them were silent when they heard this, this was not because Lu Dezhi's price was too low, but because the price was too high. Although salt is comparable to the price of silver in this troubled era, and it is ridiculously expensive outside the mountains, grain is also hard currency. Chongqing Mansion is close to Qiongzhou, the salt-producing place, 1 kg of salt can be exchanged for 50 kg of grain, 1 kg of salt in Yongkang Village can be exchanged for 80 kg, as for 10 kg of salt in Hengyuan Village for 2,000 kg of grain, it is because there are also many horse jerky sales, and they originally went to collect grain, and the price is equivalent to half selling and half sending.

"This price is really a bit low......" Seeing that Ouyang Xuan and Huang Dagen were silent, Zhu Xuanzi spoke.

"We still have crude iron, although there are more impurities such as sulfur, but we can't make knives, but we can still use it to make farm tools........" Seeing that Zhu Zhuozi was not satisfied with the exchange price, an elder with white hair said hurriedly.

Seeing Huang Dagen and Zhu Xuanzi looking at Ouyang Xuan with inquiry, Lu Dezhi and the elders understood that the young monk from the tour was the one in charge, although they had doubts, they still looked at Ouyang Xuan who was thinking, and everyone was silent for a while, and in the silence there was only the sound of children reading outside the house.

After a while, Ouyang Xuan stood up and made a deep bow to Lu Dezhi and the others: "We are grateful for the grace of taking in, the grain exchanged for salt only needs to be enough for me to wait for food and clothing, but I have a few reluctant requests, I hope that a few fathers and villagers will be considerate."