Huizhou is located in the southernmost part of the Western Xia, Li Tang period was the Tang Dynasty, then occupied by the Tibetans, and then then it was seized by the Western Xia, there are only two counties of Huining and Wulan under the jurisdiction of Huizhou, but the area is really not small, the whole Huizhou capital boundary is more than 510 miles from east to west, 330 miles from north to south, the population is only more than 400,000, and the land is sparsely populated in a veritable place.

Most of the population is concentrated in the southeast of Huizhou, and there are nearly 170,000 people living in the city of Huizhou alone, and the rest of the population is distributed in the counties around the city; Because it is located in the border of Song and Xia, it is an important town for trade in peacetime, and it is an important base for the gathering and forwarding of heavy soldiers and grain and grass during wartime, and the geographical location is very important.

After Su Jin and others trekked hard for two days and three nights, they finally climbed across the snow-capped mountains to the north of Longshan, before going out of the mountain, everyone washed and changed into clean clothes in the mountain stream, Su Jin wore three or four huge gemstone rings on his hands in a brocade robe, a nouveau riche rich businessman's look, Lu Laosan dressed as Mr. Bookkeeper, and the rest of the people were dressed up as entourages who picked up their feet, and after everything was done, they buried their clothes and long blades in the grass, and then Shi Shiran went out of the mountain pass.

Less than three miles to the north, they saw a small village on the side of the mountain, Su Jin and others did not avoid suspicion, lied that they were lost and entered the village to ask for directions, and found that there were several Han families living in this village, and only after asking did they know that these families had lived here for generations, and it didn't matter to them that Song and Xia were different, because their ancestors had settled here since the Western Zhou Dynasty, and now except for the language and clothing that still retain some of the habits of the Han people, the others have been assimilated by the party members.

The people in the village heard that Su Jin and others were businessmen from the Song realm, they were a little strange, although it was a closed place, but the war between Song and Xia was known, but they didn't care, the war was a matter of the government and the court, these people have been impoverished by this protracted war exploitation, the people of this village are all relying on the mountains to eat the mountains, originally hunting prey and fur in exchange for living, and now they have to turn to weaving vines and selling vines to live in the army.

Su Jin spent a lot of money to buy more than a dozen pairs of rattan baskets, firstly, to have a good relationship with the villagers, and secondly, it also happened to make Wang Chao and others pretend to be more like footmen, and the villagers were naturally very happy.

After asking the direction of Minghuizhou City, everyone continued to the north, walked more than ten miles of rugged paths, and finally got on the official road, and then went north less than a mile or two to turn a mountain bag, and suddenly saw the smoke and dust billowing in front, and a team of Western Xia cavalry escorted a long dragon-like cart rolling in.

Everyone didn't have time to dodge, so they had to lower the hat on their heads and stand on the side of the road to avoid, the convoy came to the side, Su Jin squinted, but saw that the car was bulging with sacks, and with the bumps were sprinkling grain grains, it seemed that it was the convoy transporting grain and grass to the Weizhou battlefield in the south.

Halfway through the convoy, Xia Jun, who was escorting food, noticed more than a dozen people standing on the side of the road, and after walking over, he still turned his horse back and came to Su Jin and the others to look up and down a few times and shouted, "Who are you waiting for?" Keep your head up. ”

Lu Laosan had dealt with the party members, and he had a northwest accent, so he hurriedly stepped forward and saluted: "Hello military master, we are businessmen who walk on our feet." ”

"Merchant? Look at your costumes of the Song people, what kind of business are you doing in chaos? Isn't it a fine work sent by the Song people? Come on, take it. The Nasixia general shouted.

Lu Laosan smiled and said: "The military master doesn't dare to say that, I have been doing business between the Song and Xia countries for many years, and the war is a war, we businessmen still have to do business, we don't hide it from the military master, we can't help it, the business has stopped for more than a year, and the shops at home are about to close down, and if we don't take risks to purchase some goods in your country, we will all have to drink the northwest wind." ”

The general is just bluffing, although the two countries are at war, but the folk smugglers are very common, most of these businessmen have backers in the two countries, after the upper and lower points, the general government is not embarrassed with them, the army sees the merchants are generally only blackmailed and do not embarrass them, so they laughed and said: "You profiteers, the master who wants money and does not want to die, the two countries are fighting fiercely, but you dare to take risks, you need to know that slaughtering you is like slaughtering a few little lambs." ”

Lu Laosan hurriedly said: "What the military master said is, I can't wait, besides, the war is a matter of the government, no matter what, your country still has to eat tea and pass silk, and the people of our Song Kingdom also have to wear fur and eat the green salt of your Xia Kingdom, the war will always stop, and when the time comes, it will not be for everyone to reopen business, and the people have no deep hatred, and they can't fight and kill." ”

The officer laughed and said, "It makes sense, I didn't expect you to be more open than the people above, are you the shopkeeper here?" ”

Lu Laosan hurriedly said: "The old man is just the bookkeeper, and this is our young shopkeeper of Su Ji." With that, he stretched out his hand and gestured towards Su Jinyi.

The officer squinted his eyes and looked Su Jin up and down, and saw that Su Jin was dressed in luxurious clothes, with oily hair and powdered face, but he could see that he was nervous, and he was obviously very scared.

"Hey, what a handsome look, you should hide at home and let your father and mother hurt, the ladies love it, why did you come here to do business, tsk, it's very painful to feel a little touch, but don't mess around in our big summer, otherwise the grandsons of the inspection department will be happy, and you will be comfortable after taking you, hehehe." The officer was soft-spoken and had a sinister eye.

Ma Han's nose was thick, and he clenched his fists with a squeak, and Wang Chao hurriedly stepped on the surface of his feet and warned him not to be impulsive.

Su Jin arched his hand and said: "Thank you for reminding the military master, how dare you make a time in your country, the military master on this hot day is quite hard to perform official duties, and meeting is fate, Mr. Lu, give some tea to this official to drink tea to cool off." ”

Lu Laosan agreed, took out a gold ingot from his arms, and quickly stuffed it into the hand of the general: "The military master smiled." ”

The officer was shocked, and then overjoyed, originally idle and bored, but did not expect to fall a windfall, the gold ingots of the Song Kingdom are famous for their good condition, the officials and magnates of the Xia Kingdom are all proud of owning the gold, silver and jewelry of the Song Kingdom, I didn't expect this merchant to make a bold move, this gold ingot is a high-quality product of twenty-five taels, and he may not be able to save so much money in a year, so he quickly glanced left and right, and put the gold ingot into his sleeve.

"You're welcome, how can this be done?"

"But please take care of the military master in the future, although I Su Ji has some contacts with important people in the city, but there are not many friends in the army, and if the military master does not dislike us, we can be regarded as making friends." Su Jin smiled.

"It's easy to say, I have urgent military affairs here, and I can't take care of you, after you enter the city, you only need to report the name of my quartermaster Po Chaolong, and no one should embarrass you." The general laughed.

Su Jin thanked him, and was about to politely inquire about the news in the city, but he heard someone in front of him shouting: "Quite Chaolong, what the hell are you doing standing there?" In front of the commander, beware of Lao Tzu suing you, Cheng Tianjie is not good at being an errand, your mother. ”

Po Chaolong scolded back with embarrassment: "Call you sister, didn't Lao Tzu just meet an old friend and say a few words?" Dogs will bark indiscriminately. He turned his head to Su Jin and said, "Everyone, you can't delay your tolerance, let's see you later." ”

Su Jin smiled and said goodbye, and rushed to the front of the team with a twist of the horse's head; Su Jin smiled bitterly, this guy is a cowhide goods, and he went to the city to report his name for fear of being bullied even worse, but he just didn't want him to find trouble, so he broke the fortune and avoided disasters, and he didn't plan to borrow his name.

The convoy rolled over, the smoke and dust dissipated, and everyone continued to move forward, and soon they could see the city wall that stretched for several miles in the distance, and its scale was no less than that of Yangzhou City.

It was nearly noon, everyone was hungry, and they saw a wine flag coming out in the lush trees on the side of the road, so everyone decided to fill their stomachs first, and then enter the city in the afternoon.

Although two days have passed, I don't know if the war in Weizhou City has rekindled, and I don't know if it can be saved, everyone is very anxious and worried, but no matter how urgent it is, we can't act in a hurry, otherwise it will backfire.