Lu Xu said "oh oh" twice, took out a charcoal strip and drew it on the empty page against the map on the ground.

Suddenly, someone behind him said, "You're doing a good job." ”

"yes." Lu Xu quickly copied the name of the mountain, turned around in a hurry, and when he saw that it was He Chengye, his soul was almost frightened.

He Chengye pointed to the map with great interest and asked a few people in Baoshan County more detailed questions, and the three of them answered tremblingly, their legs and stomachs trembling.

"So you ran out of this path, no wonder we didn't catch up." Chen Lian also came over and suddenly realized when he looked at the map.

The three of them were trembling even more.

Chen Lian ignored them, but said to He Chengye: "Overseer, it's different from our picture. ”

He Chengye naturally knew what he was talking about, and nodded slightly.

The map used in the army is much more detailed than Lu Xu's painting on the ground, and even the mountain trails have to be marked, but for some reason, it doesn't look as intuitive as Lu Xu's scribble-painted picture on the ground.

Seeing that Lu Xu didn't dare to paint, He Chengye motioned for him to continue: "Lend me a look after painting?" ”

"Oh oh oh!" Lu Xu hurriedly drew a few strokes, tore them off and respectfully handed them to He Chengye.

He Chengye was very interested in his small notebook: "What is this?" ”

Lu Xu: "Day...... Diary. ”

He Chengye: "Let me take a look?" ”

Lu Xu handed it over with a tangled face, and said shamefully: "It's all nonsense, go home and say something for your younger brothers and sisters to listen to......"

He Chengye casually turned a page and saw that it read, "Today, I met a lady who can make fish cakes, and you can cut them into the shape of a fish with scissors, which is different from the fish noodles in Guanyang." There was also a vignette drawn next to it.

Another page "It's hot, there are more mosquitoes, it's biting my eyelids!" The small text is skewed and annotated "annoying".

Another page "I found a small village, rich in wine, delicious, I want you to taste it." ”

Another page "In case of heavy rain, climbing the mountain and turning over half a cart of rice, the villagers said that the road was wrong, pointed us to a good way to go, and left marks along the way." ”

……

In addition to these idle words, he also reliably wrote down the address and simple map in detail, but the drawing was also very fragmentary.

Seeing that there was nothing important, He Chengye returned the book to him again, "Your charcoal strip is not easy to use, I will find some fine pens used by painters to send you another day." ”

Lu Xu was stunned and said happily: "Okay, good!" ”

He Chengye: "Your picture is a little different from what I usually use......

Lu Xu blinked, waiting for his words later.

He Chengye stopped talking, and said after a moment of silence: "Borrow me this picture first." ”

When he went back to find the soldiers who drew the map, he would see what the difference was, Lu Xu, a small businessman with no background, still knew less about these to be safe.

Lu Xu: "Brother He, if you like it, just take it, I'll just draw another copy!" ”

He Chengye didn't say much, and put the picture scroll in his arms, "Since you are going north, I happen to be with you, let's go to Dengzhou and then separate." ”

Of course Lu Xu is a hundred willing.

With the garrison accompanying him, it would be good if he could be sent to Yonggu County!

There are two people in Baoshan County at the beginning, and Lu Xu is bolder to ask others.

The five of them came from three counties, and three of them were from Dengzhou, which borders Chongning, which shows that bandits are rampant under the cover of Dengzhou's high mountains and dense forests.

But the benefits are not without it, there is a bandit who happens to be nearby, and can take them quickly across the mountain.

The leader of the team proudly said: "Don't look at the mountains on this road, you can walk four or five days less from here than from the west!" ”

Lu Xu was curious: "Then why is this road deserted?" ”

"Uh...... "The locals scoffed, "the road is not easy. ”

Another said: "There are also few nearby villages. ”

The most important thing is that the mountains here are high and dense, and there are many of them in the same industry.

It's just that it's not enough for outsiders.

Lu Xu: "Is it dangerous for us to take this road in the future?" ”

The people were surprised: "You really want to go this way?" ”

Lu Xu: "Of course! If we can't take this road, let's take a detour and change to something else. ”

The people looked at each other, "Of course you can go, if it's ......"

The leader of the largest group said, "If you go, brother, I promise you'll be fine." ”

Now Lu Xu heard the deep meaning.

He pondered for a moment, shook his head, and said, "No, if this is the case, I can't take it." ”

"Huh?"

"There is no point in the path that only I can take, let's change the way."

"But this is the fastest ......"

"I'm looking for a trade route that anyone can take." Lu Xu smiled at them and shouted loudly to stop Lu Qing, who was opening the way in front.

Nearly 500 people returned, and at the fork in the road, they re-walked the desolate official road that Lu Qing had walked before.

The three bandits from Dengzhou fell behind the team in great shock, "This kid doesn't really want to engage in any trade routes, right?" ”

After crossing the Wuling Peak where Longxing County and Shuozhou County meet, they finally officially stepped into Shuozhou County.

The official road in the mountains that the disarmoured soldiers had stepped on when they returned to their hometowns last year had been covered with wild grass again, and they were already somewhat unrecognizable if they did not distinguish them carefully.

Lu Xu still used the old method, walking all the way, making road signs on the trees next to the road all the way.

They stayed in the wilderness at night, and heard the howl of wolves.

Lu Xu woke up in the middle of the night and came out of the tent to see Lu Qing sitting by the campfire, chatting with a few bandits in Dengzhou.

Lu Xu asked, "There are wolves?" ”

Bandit: "Oh, it's okay, it's still far away, we have a lot of people and fire, and the wolves don't dare to come." ”

They were accustomed to wolves, and instead wondered, "Don't you have wolves there?" ”

Lu Xu shook his head, "I heard that there are on the mountain, but our village is relatively dense, and the mountain is also high, so you can't see wolves if you don't go deeper, and wolves rarely come down." ”

When a few people in Dengzhou heard this, they boasted: "It's really a good place, isn't it?" ”

The others also nodded: "Well, good place." ”

Lu Xu listened, and he actually heard some envy in their tones.

Lu Xu thought about it, didn't go back to the tent, and sat down next to Lu Qing, "What are you talking about?" ”

His second uncle doesn't like to talk to people very much.

"Nothing." They were embarrassed and said, "Led you the wrong way during the day, hey......"

"Oh, it's okay, I didn't make it clear." Lu Xu didn't care, but was a little surprised that these people would come to him to apologize, and he took out a pack of biscuits from his arms that Hanlu gave him to grind his teeth.

This biscuit is too hard, just set off he can't bite, he didn't eat much and threw it on the mule cart, turned it out when turning things over today, found that the oil paper bag was a little loose, took it out to see, it was really a little damp.

He tasted a piece, it wasn't bad, it was better than before.

There are not many cookies in total, Lu Xu is afraid that it will be bad after a long time, so it is better to share them for everyone to taste.

Those few people took it, looked left and right, and never saw it, I don't know if they Guanyang people eat such small and thin cakes.

They put it in their mouths and chewed it, stunned: "Sweet? ”

Lu Xu: "My sister's baked biscuits, the taste is okay." ”

Several of them froze a little, and one of the men, with a scar on his face, actually took out the bite of half of the biscuit from his mouth.

Lu Xu was inexplicable, afraid that he would violate any of their customs and taboos, so he hurriedly asked, "It's inconvenient for you to eat sweets?" ”

"No," Scarface took the biscuit into his arms, "the kids haven't eaten candy yet, take it back and give it to them to taste." ”

Lu Xu swallowed the biscuit but couldn't swallow it.

Chapter 138: Regional Characteristics

Lu Xu wrapped the remaining biscuits and gave them all to Scarface.

Scarface didn't want to live or die, Lu Xu simply worked together and dealt all the cards.

"It's a little damp, and it should be bad if it doesn't last for a few days, so let's eat it." After that, Lu Xu ate his share first.

Some of the others ate it immediately, but some still put it in their arms: "Our house is close, and it will be almost there in a few days, so take it home." ”

They took the opportunity to ask Lu Xu again, "Little brother, can we go home?" ”

Lu Xu: "Can you?" ”

He's not quite sure.

After all, they are bandits, and although they surrendered, it stands to reason that they should go to prison for two years.

Lu Xu: "Tomorrow I'll ask Brother He?" ”

Several people were grateful, and their attitude towards Lu Xu was a little warmer.

Anyway, when he woke up, Lu Xu didn't plan to continue to go back to sleep, and took advantage of their good impression of him, and began to ask them about the situation in Dengzhou.

I didn't know if I didn't know, but when I understood, I found that Dengzhou was worse than Chongning.

Dengzhou is in the southernmost part of Shuozhou, and Chongning occupies one end of Wuling Peak in the north and one in the south, the difference is that Chongning occupies only a small part of the Wuling Peak Valley, and Dengzhou accounts for the main part, and the entire south is the Wulingfeng Mountains.

Wuling Peak is difficult to walk, the terrain is still high, except for a few small valleys where one season of spring wheat can be grown, the rest of the area can only grow hardy buckwheat.

The product is not abundant, the road is difficult to travel, Dengzhou is poor in the entire Shuozhou County, compared with several counties in the north, the only advantage is the geographical location to the south, there are few barbarians, that is, if a big war really broke out, they can also drill into the deep mountains, relying on the advantages of the terrain to take refuge.

Therefore, Dengzhou is poor, but the population in Shuozhou is not small.

There are many people, they can't eat enough, and there is no way to make a living, so under the influence of Shuozhou culture with abundant martial virtues, many people have the idea of occupying the mountains and becoming bandits.