Three days later, the gate of Jianmen was wide open, and the grain convoy that had been trapped in Jianmen for nearly a month slowly drove out of the city gate. In the past month, the bosses of these grain teams have almost suffered all the hardships, not to mention drinking, entertaining and giving gifts, and the delay alone has caused each two teams to lose thousands to tens of thousands of taels.

Two days ago, they got the news of customs clearance, and were told that on the way to the west, the risk is quite large, under the discussion of the team, the establishment of the Shuzhong grain business alliance, each with a sum of money, and invited more than a dozen bodyguards from Shuzhong to escort the convoy to Yinyang.

The six grain carts of Xiao Jinyan and the three of them were also in this caravan. After Yu Jiaxue sent him back to Yujiabao, the lord of Yubao was also happy and directly agreed to send 20,000 catties of grain.

They could have asked for money, but after discussion, there were too many variables on this trip to the hidden sun, so they disguised themselves and used the mask of Leijiazhuang to transform themselves into grain sellers, blend into the caravan, and go out of the customs together. At the time of the name, the three had a dispute, and in the end it was Xiao Jinyan who proposed that it should still be used in the identity of the Tangmen Miscellaneous Servant House in Shuzhong, so that it would save a lot of trouble.

After Yu Jiaxue was saved, on the second day, Lei Zhenyu sent someone to take her back to Leijiazhuang, after all, the two had visited the church and become married, and they could be regarded as an official husband and wife.

Before going out of the city, Xiao Jinyan and Yu Zhang had an all-night talk, when he learned that the master Yang Dushen was the ghost king, the lord of the castle couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat, he didn't explain too much about what happened in Dingling Mountain, first, this matter was too weird, he might not believe it when he said it, and secondly, the Yu family was not from the rivers and lakes, Xiao Jinyan didn't want to involve them. However, after this incident, Yu Bao and Zhang Qianhu also reined in a little, opened the net to those grain merchants trapped in the customs, and released them after collecting a lot of tariffs.

The westward caravan consisted of 90 people and 70 carts, loaded with nearly 300,000 catties of grain. The man at the head is surnamed Kong, bald, not tall, and behaves quite decently, and everyone calls him Mr. Kong. Nearly one-third of the food in this food team was his. This Mr. Kong, who is said to be a disciple of the Qingcheng Sect, is taking advantage of this relationship to promote him as the leader.

However, Xiao Jinyan has observed this person, his speech is a little exaggerated, he likes to pretend, as for martial arts, it is just a mid-level product, and it is not a big problem to deal with ordinary thieves, but when he encounters a real master, I am afraid it is not enough. However, among the ten bodyguards invited, there was a young man with eyes like torches and a rather steady style, and every time he walked, he carefully surveyed the terrain and looked at the wind and water, which impressed the three of them.

Although the grain team traveled on the official road, the road in Shuzhong was rugged, and the speed of travel was not fast, only thirty or forty miles a day, starting at dawn and resting at sunset. Six ox carts hired coachmen, and they were not needed to drive them.

As the saying goes, there is food in the hand, and there is no panic in the heart, among the six ox carts, which are loaded with half a cart of wine, dried meat, etc., which were given to the three by Lei Zhenyu before leaving. Since leaving Suzhou last year, all the way west, the three of them have eaten and slept in the open, and it is rare to have this peace.

At this time, the spring flowers are blooming, the earth is rejuvenated, and everything is recovering. Along the way, the three of them followed the convoy, or enjoyed the scenery along the way, or competed in martial arts, and their lives were leisurely.

Xiao Jinyan still practiced boxing, after re-entering the Wenjing, he practiced boxing and qi, and practiced the boxing intent more and more purely, in Dingling Mountain, and stole the ghost king's unvainous footwork, while practicing boxing, and carefully studied, a few days down, but also seven or eight points like.

After Li Chengcheng entered the Tongxiang Realm, his whole temperament changed. Although the mask he wore was the ugliest, his words and deeds were quite grandmaster-like, and even Lao Li, who drove the ox cart, privately asked Xiao Jinyan if this person was a martial arts master.

Ten days later, the group arrived at the sheep's head station.

Sheep's Head Station is the first post of the Nine Stations in Yinzhou, although it is not the largest post station, but it is the only way to go to Yinyang in the Central Plains and Shuzhong.

Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, it has attached great importance to the construction of post posts, set up a hall in the capital, managed the national post station, set up water horse posts and delivery stations in various places, and established a very smooth information transmission channel.

In terms of the official road of Yinyang, from the sheep's head post to the city of Yinyang, a total of 800 li, 30 li, 100 li, each post has one post, and there are 30 to 50 people such as post guards, post men, gangsters, and procurement, and have undertaken tasks such as information transmission and official reception. At first, these post stations were maintained by the imperial court appropriation, and the management was relatively loose, often with official seal documents, you could eat and live in the post station, Tiantong three years, the imperial court issued an order, and the post station fee was changed to half appropriation and half apportionment.

The rise of the post station, brought the prosperity of the market, a few decades ago, the sheep's head post was just a small post house, even the post staff but more than ten people. After the nineteen cities of Yinyang returned to the Ming Dynasty, there were many business travelers, but in 20 years, it has become a small town with two or three thousand people.

In addition to the government-run post house, this also opened a lot of restaurants, inns, every ten days, five days, sheep's head post also has a market, some business trips back from the hidden sun, in order to reduce the burden, take the opportunity to sell some of the goods brought back, or travel necessary utensils, etc., but also quite lively.

Due to the remoteness of the location, in addition to the official post, this side has gradually become a three-regardless area, many homeless, Jiangyang thieves, and fugitives who committed crimes are also incognito, hiding here, and even colluding with the post to take what they need.

Even so, all the people who come and go to the hidden sun have to stay here for a few days. The first is to replenish the food supply, the second is to procure some necessities for travel, and the third is to collect enough information from the merchants, such as the price fluctuations of goods, the weather on the way, whether there have been any recent bandits, and so on.

These grain teams did not have the treatment of living in the post, and Xiao Jinyan and others followed everyone into the sheep's head inn in the city. As the leader of the caravan, Mr. Kong went out to run errands with his deputy and two bodyguards.

Xiao, Li, and Zhao are rangers in the rivers and lakes, walking the rivers and lakes, paying attention to doing whatever they want, and coming and going freely. Unlike them, Mr. Kong, a master who begs for life and food on the rivers and lakes all the year round, pays attention to being exquisite, talking about people when he sees people, talking about ghosts when he sees them, and the local gangs and snakes, the filial piety that should be respected, the worship of the dock, the rivers and lakes, and the officialdom must be dealt with one by one.

Don't underestimate these trivial things, if you accidentally say the wrong thing and offend others, even if you don't say anything in person, maybe you will make a stumbling block behind your back, such as accidentally revealing your itinerary to someone who robbed halfway, and after a trip, you may lose all your money, or even lose your life, and you don't know what the reason is until you die.

The three of them put down their salutes, and when they learned that they were going to stay here for a few days, they left the inn and found a wine shop with friends, asked for wine and food, and ate it.

The wine shops here are not as luxurious as those in Suzhou and Shuzhong, but are more down-to-earth. The wine is Yinyang Chishui wine, whether it is authentic or not. The dishes are also pitiful, mostly ready-made marinated beef, roast mutton, and then a big pot of dishes.

Because most of the exchanges are merchants, the wine shop is mostly a few earthen houses, there are more than a dozen tables inside, if the weather is not cold, there are also three or four large tables outside, and they want to drink and eat, regardless of the north and the sea, whether they know it or not, they all put it on the table, and they meet to be fateful.

Li Tingcheng was not used to such occasions, he picked up the chopsticks and was about to pick up the vegetables, when suddenly a pair of chopsticks stretched out next to him, and took a piece of beef from the plate in front of him.

Rosacea didn't realize it, dipped the beef in ginger juice, stuffed it into his mouth, and said, "Well, this beef is a little old." Come, try my plate of fennel beans!" he said, pushing a plate of five or six fennel beans with only five or six left, in front of Li Chengcheng.

Li Chengcheng smiled bitterly and shook his head, "I'm not hungry." ”

Rosacea haha, "You're welcome." As he spoke, he brought the whole plate of beef, and he didn't even bother to use the chopsticks, so he grabbed it directly with his hands, stuffed it into his mouth, and muttered while eating, "No, this beef is far worse than the one in Jingweifang back then!"

Jingweifang, known as the first chef in Beijing, is as famous as Qinhuaixuan in Jinling, and is known as the double chef of the north and south. The beef of Beijing Flavor Workshop is the best in the world, and even the one in the palace often invites the chef of Beijing Flavor Workshop to the palace to make beef.

This rosacea takes the braised beef from the roadside wine shop, and compares it with the Beijing Flavor Restaurant, of course, there is no comparison. On the side, someone laughed, "Old drunkard, it's good to eat other people's beef for nothing, and you also have a Beijing flavor shop, you seem to have eaten it." ”

Rosacea snorted, "Lao Tzu was in the capital before, what delicacies have you never seen and eaten?"

"And which ones have you eaten?"

Rosacea said "um", thought for a moment, and said, "It's too much, what xiaolongbao, tofu brain, bean juice, fried noodles, fried cakes, sliced soup noodles, I drool when I think about it!"

The diner laughed, "It's a lot of miles, can you say that there is some meat?"

Rosacea said, "Fried fritters!"

Everyone laughed, and the diner laughed a little playfully, "These are all from Jingweifang? I also went to this Jingweifang last year, as far as I know, it seems that there are no these?"

Rosacea snorted, "How do I know if there is one, I went to eat, people asked me what to eat, I ordered, and they all served, but, then again, the beef in Jingweifang is really good, but tofu brain, it is simply uneatable!"

"Why?"

"Sweet!"

"Haha!" everyone burst into laughter, revealing a look of surprise.

The diner wanted to make fun of him, but when he said it so seriously, he couldn't help but ridicule loudly, "The Jingwei Fang is the number one chef in the capital, how can you get one hundred and eighty taels for a meal, how can you make this kind of stall meal for you? You old guy, you must be bragging!"

"Of course I've been, not only did I go, but I also spit in their hall, if you don't believe it, if you go to the capital, go and see for yourself!"

The diner laughed, "I don't think a plate of beef can satisfy you, I have to bring you a cow." also spit out phlegm, let's see, you think your phlegm is made of gold, Jingweifang people don't do business, every day your phlegm is offered? haha!"

The rosacea-nosed old man blushed, got up and said, "You kid, you speak too harshly. With that, he opened the wine gourd, snatched Li Chengcheng's wine, poured it into the gourd, shook it a few times, and walked out of the wine shop.

After the rosacea left, not far away, two people breathed a sigh of relief, "Damn, that old drunkard, finally left, scared Lao Tzu to death." Second, if you help me, my legs are weak. ”

The other said, "Big brother, I can't stand up either." ”

Everyone looked at the voice, two men with a full face of meat, high bulging temples, one with one eye, one with a scar on his face, like a fierce god, at the moment his head was full of sweat, he was panting for breath, seeing everyone looking at him, his face was tight, "What do you see?"

Someone recognized the two and exclaimed, "These two people seem to be the Mobei duo wanted by the government!"

Mobei Shuangxiong is also known as Mobei Shuangkou, one-eyed eagle, scarface is male yellow, the two are half-twin brothers, when they were young, they were expelled from the division because of their vicious temperament, the two brothers relied on an evil skill, practiced to a half-step Xiangxiang realm, notorious in the rivers and lakes, notoriety, half a year ago, the two ran to the capital to commit a big crime, the government issued a wanted warrant, six doors sent eight masters to chase and kill him, he escaped, I didn't expect to appear in this little sheep's head station.

The eagle said, "What, do you want to report to the official to get the bonus?"

The man shook his head, "Don't dare, don't dare!"

The eagle came to the previous diner, the diner brushed it, his face was pale, and the eagle said, "Jingweifang, have you been there?" The diner shook his head again and again, "The good man spares his life, he is too small to have been." ”

The eagle went up and slapped the diner with a palm print on his face, and scolded, "I haven't been there, what the hell are you fucking fighting with that old thing!"

The diner covered his face and said, "I can't watch him brag, I want to trick him, amuse him, and have fun." ”

The eagle-faced elder drooped, "Looking for happiness, do you think Lao Tzu is happy now?"

The diner didn't dare to look at him and whispered, "Yes, no, I'm very happy." ”

The eagle asked again, "Do you think he's bragging?" He was going to Jingweifang for dinner, and the owner of Jingweifang couldn't wait to close down to serve that old thing, and he said that the food was not delicious, and the boss almost smashed the signboard of Jingweifang, do you know?"

The diner said, "I always think that's the case, I think, it's a Beijing flavor restaurant, how can such a high-end place sell sweet tofu brains!"

Syllable!

The eagle slapped again, "Fuck your mother's tofu brain, just fuck because someone invited him to eat a bowl of tofu brain, in the past six months, this old drunkard has chased and killed us for 3,000 miles, and we haven't even eaten a bite of hot rice along the way." ”

Li Chengcheng secretly wondered, where is this rosacea sacred, how can even Mobei Shuangxiong be so scared to death? He went to see Xiao Jinyan and Zhao Lanjiang on the next table, and the two of them caught a gang plan to punch, and the guy lost miserably, and the two of them were pressing his head and pouring wine into his mouth.