"What's your name, and where are you?" Li Xiu chatted with the middle-aged merchant who acted as an interpreter as he walked, Xue Rengui took the old man to walk in front, according to the old man of the city, in addition to the road up the mountain in the domestic city, there were three other roads leading to the city of Marudu, but all of them were destroyed many years ago.

"Qi Yu Horse, the villain's name is Meng Yao, a person from Dengzhou." The middle-aged businessman also immediately replied, originally he didn't know Li Xiu's identity, after all, the army of 30,000 people couldn't contact Li Xiu at all with his identity, and it wasn't until he came out with Li Xiu this time that he learned from other people that the middle-aged man in front of him turned out to be the famous concubine Li Xiu.

"Oh? Your surname is Meng, and you are from Shandong, so you should be a descendant of Yasheng Mengzi, right? Li Xiu couldn't help but smile when he heard Meng Yao's words and asked, Mencius's hometown is in the Jining area of Shandong, and his descendants have always lived in the Shandong area.

"This is a villain, although the villain also wants to have a relationship with Yasheng, but our ancestral home is Henan Meng, and later fled to Dengzhou due to the war, and Shandong Meng's is not one, of course, if you talk about it, we are all from the surname Ji, and it was barely a family before." I saw that this Meng Yao also explained with a smile.

The Meng family comes from the surname Ji, but the Meng family has two branches, namely Henan Meng and Shandong Meng, of which Shandong Meng is the branch from which Mencius was born, although the two belong to the same family, but there are still some differences between each other after all.

Hearing Meng Yao's words, Li Xiu also nodded, and at the same time had a little more affection for this middle-aged businessman, after all, most people like to put gold on their faces, such as Li Shimin's family, who claimed to be the descendants of Lao Tzu, but Meng Yao, an ordinary person, can stick to the bottom line and not recognize his ancestors, this alone is better than Li Shimin's father and son.

"So what are you doing now?" Li Xiu asked curiously again at this time, Meng Yao said that he was from Dengzhou, and he knew the language of Goguryeo, so he must have been here before, so he was also quite curious about it.

"Qi Yu horses, in the next are all small business, in the past is mainly to come to Goguryeo to collect some mountain goods, transported to Dengzhou to make some hard work, these two years Goguryeo here old ginseng is very popular, so now the main thing is to buy some ginseng, this thing in Goguryeo is not high, so the villain has also made some money in the past two years, at the beginning of this year also bought a boat, usually run the sea, but was requisitioned by the imperial court, I also because I understand the words of Goguryeo, I filled the army to do translation." Meng Yao replied again.

He originally seemed a little restrained, and he would answer whatever Li Xiu asked, but when he mentioned his business, he obviously became a little bolder, and there was a little more smile on his face.

"The imperial court requisitioned your ships and people, will it affect your business?" Li Xiu asked curiously again at this time, although he knew that the imperial court would have some compensation for these merchants, he still wanted to know about it.

"This ......" Hearing Li Xiu ask this question, Meng Yao also showed a hesitant expression all of a sudden, after all, he knew Li Xiu's identity, and he didn't dare to talk nonsense at this time.

"Don't worry, I just want to hear what you businessmen have to say, just like when you're chatting with friends!" Li Xiu also saw the other party's concerns, and couldn't help but laugh again at the moment.

Meng Yao originally felt that the famous concubine in front of him did not have the slightest shelf, and as Li Xiu, he would not be unable to get along with such a small businessman as himself because of a few words, thinking of this, he also had the courage to say: "There will definitely be some influence in business, but the imperial court will also give us some compensation......

"Compensation? So tell me honestly, can these compensation make up for your losses? Li Xiu asked again at this time.

"This ......" Meng Yao also showed a hesitant expression again when he heard Li Xiu's words, and then opened his mouth to say something, but he still couldn't say it.

"These are just private conversations, and I'm just learning a little bit about what life is like for you businessmen, so you don't have to worry about it at all." Li Xiu saw that Meng Yao had concerns, and immediately smiled again and spoke.

Hearing Li Xiu say this, Meng Yao finally mustered up the courage and said: "Since the concubine wants to know, the villain will also say it all, compared to our losses, the compensation given by the imperial court is nothing at all, and these sub-compensation is not directly given money, but just a note for us, and we can use this to reduce some taxes in the future." ”

When he said this, he saw Meng Yao pause for a moment and then said: "But there is a saying among us businessmen that it is called 'If you want to get rich, Go to the battlefield', although the battlefield is very dangerous, but there are many opportunities to make a fortune, not to mention, just buying some booty from the soldiers is enough to compensate for our losses, and the imperial court also has regulations, there are some things we can buy first, such as the land and houses here in Goguryeo, although it is not worth much now, but if the imperial court's rule here stabilizes in the future, the price will also rise. ”

"I see!" Li Xiu also nodded when he heard this, although the status of Datang's businessmen is not high, but the role of these businessmen is very important, especially in these years, he has been slowly promoting the development of Datang's commerce, and naturally he doesn't want to affect business because of the war.

At the moment, Li Xiu and Meng Yao chatted while walking, in addition to the business incident, they also asked about his living situation, which was also convenient for him to understand the people in the Dengzhou area, and Meng Yao also answered one by one, but when Li Xiu learned that Meng Yao actually had ten sons and eight daughters, he couldn't help but show a surprised expression, of course, these children were not born to his wife, most of them were born to Goguryeo women or Silla maids he bought at home, which is also very common in the Dengzhou area.

Just as Li Xiu and Meng Yao were chatting, they suddenly only heard Xue Rengui, who was leading the way in front, shouting: "Donkey, the road up the mountain that the Goguryeo people cut off before is ahead!" ”

Hearing Xue Rengui's words, Li Xiu couldn't help but perk up, and immediately patted the horse and walked to the front, Meng Yao also exchanged a few words with the old man at this time, and finally said to Li Xiu with great certainty: "There is a cliff in front, which used to be the road to the mountain, but it was dug up by the Goguryeo people decades ago!" ”

When Li Xiu heard this, he immediately asked the old man to lead the way, and the group quickened their pace, and finally came to a cliff, but when they looked up at this cliff, they couldn't imagine that this was a road before.