The sky is bright, Xu Beiyou walked alone on the bank of Luoshui with a sword box on his back, it was the autumn of slaughter, the closer he was to Shaanzhou, the more he could feel the sky and the height was wide, and the more he was in it, the more he could feel his own insignificance.

Not far from Xu Beiyou's side, the surging Luoshui connects Shaanzhou and Yuzhou, and at this time, the rich water vapor spreads, making the river surface vaguely shrouded in a layer of mist.

Xu Beiyou looked forward through the fog, and could vaguely see a ferry, with a boatman supporting the boat back and forth, and after approaching, he found that the boat was a pair of shabbyly dressed grandchildren, the old man and the child were wearing a dirty sheepskin jacket, the difference was that the old man was holding a penny in his hand, standing at the bow of the boat, and the child was sitting in the cabin, revealing a face that was not white, yawning gently.

After the old man saw Xu Beiyou, he smiled and asked, "Does this son want to cross the river?"

Xu Beiyou was stunned for a moment, glanced at the sheepskin jackets on the old man and the child, smiled and agreed, asked the price, handed the old man the money and got on the boat.

The first Ey

When the child saw someone on the boat, he rubbed his sleepy eyes, and looked at Xu Beiyou curiously with a pair of dripping eyes.

The water here is gentle, but the river is also open, and it takes almost half a column of incense to row to the other side, Xu Beiyou sat on the boat and asked casually: "The old man is a local?"

The old man who was taking the boat grinned, "The old man is a person from Shaanzhou, a few years ago, when the year was bad, he moved to Yuzhou, there is no craft, there is no field, he can only rely on the ferry to make a living, speaking of which is also thanks to this big river, not only gave the old man a bite to eat, but also caught up with the cavalry of the grassland barbarians to go south, and did not pass from here, all these years have been safe and sound." ”

Xu Beiyou was slightly surprised: "Now that the era is peaceful and prosperous, the cavalry of the grassland barbarians still dare to make waves?"

The old man sighed, "In the early years, when the first emperor was alive, those steppe barbarians did not dare to make waves, but in the past ten years, it has not been as good as before, every autumn and winter, there are always steppe cavalry who go south to plunder, and they don't kill people and set fires, that is, they rob food." ”

Xu Beiyou's face was a little solemn, and he asked, "Shaanzhou and Zhongdu are both where the northwest army of the imperial court is stationed, don't they care?"

The old man smiled bitterly: "We are just ordinary people, how can we know what those generals think." ”

Xu Beiyou was silent.

The old man continued: "A few past merchants who went to the grassland to do business once told the old man that the bitter cold land of the grassland snowed in June, and after winter, it was even more white everywhere, and people and cattle and sheep were going to freeze to death, and those grassland barbarians had no choice but to go south to plunder. ”

The child, who had not spoken, suddenly asked, "Grandpa, what is there besides grass in the grassland?"

The old man was speechless for a moment, about the affairs of the grassland, he was just hearsay, he had never been to the grassland in his life, and he had never even seen half of the grassland barbarians, and how did he know what business those past merchants went to the grassland.

Xu Beiyou didn't want the old man to be embarrassed, and explained with a smile: "Doing the business of the grassland, in fact, there are only a few things, we have tea, iron, and salt here in Daqi, and there are cattle, sheep and horses on the grassland. Salt, or horses, are all things strictly controlled by the imperial court, if they are sold without the permission of the imperial court, they are smuggled, and if they are caught by the border army, they will be beheaded according to the law. ”

"Beheaded!" the boy was startled, and then asked, "If you want to cut off your head, why would anyone go into business? Aren't they afraid of death?"

"Of course they're afraid of death. Xu Beiyou smiled lightly: "But wealth is moving, as long as you complete a transaction, you can have hundreds of taels of silver, which is a silver that ordinary people can't earn in a lifetime." ”

"Silver!" The child subconsciously swallowed his saliva, he has grown so big, he has never seen what silver looks like, he only heard people say that it is white, bright, and can dazzle people's eyes.

The old man was afraid that the child would ask any more questions that should not be asked, so after glaring at him, he smiled at Xu Beiyou and said, "Childe is a scholar, right? ”

Xu Beiyou smiled, "I did read some books, but I can't be regarded as a reader, and the sage classics don't teach these merchants." ”

Could it be that the boy in front of him is a businessman's son? But he doesn't look like it! The old man didn't take it seriously, but only thought that the boy was modest.

The child's eyes rolled and he asked, "Childe, childe, have you ever been to the grassland?"

Xu Beiyou paused slightly, revealing a little reminiscence, "I've been, when Chengping was twenty years old, I traveled with my master, and after leaving the customs from Zhongdu, I went to Xiliangzhou, and then went to Dunhuang City through Wusheling Mountain, and out of Yumen Pass is Xiulong Grassland, where the caravans are frequent, but there are more caravans, horse thieves, all of them are fierce and vicious, and they come and go like the wind, specializing in killing people and robbing money." ”

The old man sighed softly: "When I see that the son is a person who has seen the world, there was a study tour who crossed the river and said a crepe word to the old man, called ...... It's called what you read is better than how many roads you walk......"

Xu Beiyou smiled and said: "Read thousands of books and travel thousands of miles." ”

"Yes, it's better to read 10,000 books than to travel 10,000 miles, look at the old man's memory. The old man patted his forehead and said, "I guess my son has been to many places." ”

Xu Beiyou nodded and said: "When the family teacher was there, I followed the family teacher through the northwest and Liaodong, and then the family teacher was gone, and I went to Jiangnan from the northwest alone. ”

The old man was quite fascinated and said: "It's really a lot, the son has traveled all over the country at a young age, it's amazing, it's really amazing." ”

Xu Beiyou smiled and did not speak.

The old man asked, "Where is the boy going on this trip?"

Xu Beiyou laughed at himself and said: "When I went to the imperial capital, I have mixed up a little bit in Jiangdu in the past two years, and I have also accumulated some belongings. ”

"It's a good place, you can start a family there, and Gongzi is a blessed man. The old man smiled and said, "The old man will congratulate the son first." ”

Xu Beiyou thanked with a smile.

After Xu Beiyou got off the boat, he took out a small bag of copper coins from his arms and threw it to the child, saying: "Old man, I know the rules, the ferry will not cross the river until it is full, this time you only crossed one of my guests, in the final analysis, I took advantage, this is the boat money for you." ”

The old man immediately said anxiously: "Childe, what are these words, the old man is idle and idle, how can he ask for more money from Childe?"

While speaking, the old man bent down to take the money bag from the child's hand and return it to Xu Beiyou, but as soon as he bent over, he turned back and found that the son was gone.

The child took advantage of the old man's stunned moment, snatched the money bag from the old man's hand, opened it, was surprised, took out a copper coin from it, and said happily: "Grandpa, look, it's a Taiping copper coin." ”

Copper coins are divided into official and private coins, usually the official copper coins can top several times the private copper coins, in the official copper coins of Daqi, the Huanglong copper coins are the most expensive, copper eight lead two, five hundred Wen can be exchanged for one or two silver, followed by Taiping copper coins, copper six lead four, seven hundred Wen for one or two silver, again Chengping copper coins, copper four lead six, one thousand Wen for one or two silver, as for those copper two lead eight private copper coins, it takes 1,500 Wen to exchange for one or two silver.

This small bag of Taiping copper coins can almost be exchanged for two coins of silver.

The old man took the money bag from the child's hand and saw that it was all Taiping copper coins, and muttered, "This son is a good man." ”