Out of Shushan, thousands of miles to the north, is Tongzhou.

Tongzhou is close to the north, so it is naturally close to the Beiban.

In the previous dynasty, it did not prevent those barbarians from trading with the people. The Central Plains needs the horses of the North, and the North needs the products of civilization of the Central Plains.

There is such a state, which has gradually become a bridge of trade communication between the Northern Barbarians and the Central Plains, and has also become a major trade state in the north. It is accessible from north to south, culturally diverse, and prosperous trade, so it is named Tongzhou.

With the establishment of the Holy Dynasty, because the Northern Barbarians had a very close relationship with the previous Dynasty, it became the main target of the Holy Dynasty.

Therefore, not to mention trade, the people of the south of the Holy Dynasty now have red eyes when they see the people of the north, as if they have a great enmity against their wives and fathers, and they have been brainwashed by those exaggerated or apocryphal stories.

In their imagination, the Northern Barbarians are all demons who do not know etiquette, righteousness and shame, are vicious, and kill people without blinking. They believe in the trumpet and do not have a set of rituals. There are no moral standards, no explicit rules, all of them are the same, no dignity or humility. There is no silk, no water conservancy, and no agriculture, and they are still wearing ancient animal skins and living in groups. In the eyes of the Central Plains, they are just a group of tall monkeys with developed hair.

So they looked down on the Northern Barbarians. Of course, that was when the Holy Dynasty had not yet been defeated.

With the defeat of the first battle, the Northern Barbarians changed from a group of hairy and tall monkeys to a group of murderous demons in the eyes of the Central Plains.

But no matter what outsiders think, three of the four prefectures in Tongzhou have no opinion on the Northern Barbarians, and the control of the Holy Dynasty has not made them give up their huge profits, but the trade has been transferred from the ground to the underground.

In the Hajj, this practice has a bad name, it is called smuggling.

It can be said that now Tongzhou is completely supported by smuggling, except for the town of barbarians, which is stationed in the garrison all year round, the other three prefectures, Ling'an, Sui'an, and Jing'an, all welcome the trade from the barbarian side.

Located in the north, this folk style is slowly becoming stronger.

"Little brother, it's raining heavily, do you want to go with me?" The big man pulling the ox cart saw a young man wearing a southern costume and carrying a long sword on the muddy official road.

This young man is naturally Xu Chang'an, who came to Tongzhou from Shushan.

Xu Changan was a little familiar with this title, scratched his head and thought about it, only then did he remember that this "little brother" was the pseudonym given to him by the three weird guys in the Immortal Temple.

Could it be that those three guys have also come to Tongzhou and acted chivalrous?

The term "little brother" is a northern slang.

Xu Changan smiled when he thought of this, and the man continued: "You baby, whether you can go or not, I don't care about you if you don't leave, look at this day, the evil Jiao will come again." ”

"Evil Jiao?" Xu Changan frowned.

"It's a heavy rain, this dragon lord is in charge of the spring rain, it is a good rain, the water for the crops to grow, but this evil Jiao is different, no matter what time of year it rains, and it doesn't matter if you harvest the wheat or not. Hearing these words, Xu Changan was in a fog and confused.

"Little brother, you're an outsider, aren't you?" The old man pulling the oxcart had a pair of knowing eyes.

"Uncle Hui, yes, I'm from outside. ”

As soon as the man heard that Xu Changan was an outsider, he immediately said: "Little brother, you have to have a snack, do you know that there have been a few bandits in Tongzhou recently." ”

Xu Chang'an just came out of Shushan, how could he know about Tongzhou.

"Oh, please talk about it. ”

"It is rumored that there was a hunchbacked old man and a child who killed young children like you, and after killing them, they took out your heart and lungs and fed them to the dogs, and then threw their bodies to the government offices of various provinces. ”

When Xu Changan heard this, he felt a little strange.

This old man is just an ordinary cart puller, how can he know so many things, and he knows in detail the target group of these two murderers, and he also knows that he is targeting outsiders.

Thinking of this, Xu Changan's eyes sharpened.

The old man was frightened by this look, and hurriedly waved his hand and said, "Little brother, what do you think I am doing." ”

Looking at Xu Changan's unkind eyes, although he was only a seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy, his eyes were as sharp as a warrior who broke through from the sea of swords and fire.

"It is said that ...... The two of them are those barbarian pimples, and the Beiban and our aborigines in Tongzhou have been friends for generations, so they are specifically targeting outsiders...... "The old man's voice became smaller and smaller, and Xu Changan finally let down his guard against the big man.

The big man saw that Xu Changan had let down his guard, and his heart was also relaxed.

Xu Changan was in a daze, and the big man whipped the cow's buttocks, and the cow was in pain, so he took a step and ran away.

Xu Changan came back to his senses at this time, didn't the old man just say that he wanted to give him a ride?

He walked forward, looking at the old man's line, the car was empty, and the heavy rain was coming slowly, there should be a town or village in front, Xu Changan was not familiar with the place, and he had to find someone to ask where this Ling'an Mansion was.

All the way forward, after walking for a quarter of an hour, there was still a muddy road winding forward, seeing that the sky was getting dark, and the heavy rain was coming, there happened to be a broken temple on the side of the road, Xu Changan could only go to the temple.

The dilapidated temples of the Holy Dynasty generally belong to Taoism, and when the Holy Dynasty was established, the power of Taoism was far greater than that of Buddhism, so the Holy Emperor would consciously suppress Taoism and pro-Buddha, otherwise how could the greedy and vain Reclining Buddha Temple be in the center of Fancheng.

After a series of suppressions by the Holy Emperor, many Taoists avoided the mountains, and the Taoist temples that were originally close to the towns and villages are now mostly visited by most people.

Xu Changan glanced up, the name was no longer recognizable on the dilapidated plaque, the view was full of weeds, and the enshrined Sanqing was also missing arms and legs. Xu Changan stepped forward, grabbed the straw and patted the dust on Sanqing's body, and he didn't know how long no one had come to this broken temple, and it was suddenly filled with smoke and dust.

Xu Changan coughed twice, and Xiaobai in his arms was also woken up, and shouted twice in protest.

Looking at this dilapidated scene, Xu Changan still decided to give up.

He respectfully went to the statue of Sanqing, bowed, Shushan also belongs to the Taoist lineage, although now he no longer belongs to Shushan, but in his heart, he still recognizes the lame master.

He looked around, grabbed some dead grass and worn-out door panels, and started a fire.

After a while, the heavy rain arrived, and Xu Changan sat by the fire with Xiaobai in his arms, listening to the sound of raindrops outside.

Xu Changan had been training intermittently for several months, and had entered the Tongqi realm, his ears were extremely sensitive, and he heard two people running towards the broken temple two hundred meters away from the temple in the heavy rain.

Although the sound of their footsteps was muffled by the sound of the rain, it could not escape his ears.

One old and one young, the old man walked very fast and light. The young man walked heavily, and seemed not afraid of the muddy water on the ground splashing on his newly purchased shoes, and only cared about running with all his might.

However, the time of 100 breaths, as Xu Changan expected, an old man and a young man broke in.

When they saw the firelight, maybe the rain was too cold, and they were soaking wet, so they couldn't care about it, so they went directly to Xu Changan's side and shared this rare warmth with him.

Xiaobai was already disgusted with people, not to mention two wet people, he poked his head out of Xu Changan's arms and screamed dissatisfied.

The old man glanced at Xiaobai, and suddenly his eyes lit up.

Xu Changan naturally noticed it, and looked at the two people who broke in vigilantly.

The old man was dressed in a blanket with a big eye pinch around his waist, quite like an old farmer herding sheep. The young man, on the other hand, was dressed in a black tights, wet by the rain, and clinging tightly to his body, outlining the beautiful lines of his figure.

Xu Changan was a little regretful, if it was a girl, it would not be so bleak to stay in this broken temple at this moment.

Xiaobai seemed to have insight into Xu Changan's thoughts, and screamed disdainfully, and Xu Changan gently patted its head.

"You must have been infected, you were infected by your daddy. ”

After finishing speaking, Xu Changan remembered that there were two people he didn't know before.

The two also looked at Xu Changan.

"Hello, my name is Xiaoyu, and there are more than fish every year. The young man stretched out his hand, the back of his hand still white and delicate in the light of the fire.

Xu Changan also stretched out his hand.

"My name is Xu Changan. But when Xu Changan held his hand, he found that this person's hands, especially the joints, were full of calluses.

After a lot of wandering from childhood to adulthood, Uncle Shi taught him intentionally or unintentionally, and he also knew that this showed that this person was a good hand with a knife.

"That's my grandfather, old fish. Xiaoyu enthusiastically introduced.

"By the way, we were wet with heavy rain before, so we didn't have time to say a word to Brother Xu, so we forcibly borrowed half of the fire, Brother Xu won't mind. ”

Xu Changan naturally said that he wouldn't mind, but the previous behavior of these two people was really bad, and he could only pout his lips to express silent protest.

Three people and a cat gathered around a fire, and only the crackling sound of dry wood being burned.

Xiao Yu was the first to speak: "I don't know where Brother Xu is going this time?"

"Ling'an Mansion, I don't know where the two of you are going?"

When the two heard the three words of Ling'an Mansion, they looked at each other, and then replied, "We are also going to Ling'an Mansion." ”

Xiao Yu then asked, "I wonder if Brother Xu went to Ling'an Mansion for that incident?"

Xu Changan was a little confused: "What's the matter?"

"I went to Ling'an Mansion to defect to my relatives this time, could it be that something big will happen in Ling'an Mansion recently?"

The little fish shook his head.

"No, no, we are also going to visit relatives, and my grandfather's old friend from decades ago heard that he has set up a home in Ling'an Mansion. ”

Seeing that Xiaoyu was a little nervous, Xu Changan nodded.

When the heavy rain gradually subsided, the old man made an extremely ugly voice: "Little fish, let's go, we should go on the road." ”

From beginning to end, the old man didn't look at Xu Changan, except for a glance at Xiaobai, he drooped his eyelids and looked drowsy.

Xiaoyu followed the old man out of the door.

Suddenly turned his head, revealing his white teeth: "The evil Jiao is gone, let's go on the road first, and we will see you again." Remember, my name is Xiaoyu, a fish that has fish every year, a fish in the river. After speaking, he followed the old man without looking back.

Only then did Xu Changan realize that the evil Jiao that the locals were referring to the torrential rain that damaged the crops.

He suddenly reacted, this grandfather and grandson are also going to Ling'an Mansion, why don't you ask for directions, or go on the road together, thinking of this, I want to give myself two big mouths.