readx;

Caravans that come to the steppes often travel in pairs. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info Ma Fat Zi's caravan is also with several other caravans, Ma Fatzi's side has more than 20 carts, and the rest have ten carts, three carts.

Each cart of the fat man's caravan consisted of three or four sturdy men armed with swords, spears, and even four bird guns, and the rations and equipment of these guards were specially transported in two carts.

More than 100 guards, half of the guards on horseback, there are special people to dispatch and command, such a style is indeed extraordinary, when he went out of the customs, in the pass waiting for a group out of the other caravans followed, said okay, this time the group crossed Daqingshan, went to the Guihua City side of a big car to give Ma Fat five taels of silver.

Ma Fatzi is indispensable to this line, it is common for Han caravans on the grassland to partner up, these caravans that have followed add up to only twenty carts, all of which are pulling ordinary goods, a hundred taels of silver for this trip, at least the guards have a place to eat back and forth, saving a penny is to earn an extra penny, and there are more people to take care of, why not.

When out of the customs, the guards of the fat man's convoy were just holding the thief and the like, and the border soldiers did not check much, and when they got out of the customs, bows and arrows, spears, and bird guns were taken out, and the other caravans that followed out were all white, and they also had guards, but ten or eight, if this fat man had bad intentions on the grassland, everyone would not be able to go back.

Walking into the evening tremblingly, the guards of the caravan of the fat man were watching their carts closely and disdainful of others, so everyone was relieved.

In fact, from the Datong border pass to the naturalization city, this road is not the vast grassland, can not see the people, and the Ming side of the post station is similar, within the range of a day's journey, there are also some small tribes of Mongolians stationed, such small tribes of a hundred or hundreds of people, relying on the caravan from the north to the south to do some small business for a living.

In the evening, this group of people camped on the spot, and in the caravan with the fat man, there were ten carts of the one and several other families said hello, everyone summed up, and simply bought two sheep from the small tribe nearby, let the small tribe cook and slaughter, the mutton was roasted on the fire, and the sheep was boiled in the water with a pot of wontons, and the people from the fat man's side were beckoned to come and eat together.

After walking for a day, the cold dry food was gnawed at noon, and when he smelled the aroma of meat, the fat man and his subordinates couldn't help it, so they sat down after a few polite words.

The fat man was not ambiguous, and asked the people below to take a jar of wine in the car, and brought some spices over, and as soon as the wine was opened, the good Fenhe was burned, and the spices were smeared on the sheep, and the fragrance was even brought to the people of the nearby small tribes.

He understood what he meant, but the fat man understood, and said with a smile:

"Old Klyo, who wants to drink your noisy milk and wine, you want to be with my bar, so many people want to drink, you can also drink a bowl, no more."

The man came over and took the bowl with a smile and took the Fenhe roast, took two sips, squinted his eyes and didn't open them for a long time, looking extremely comfortable, and then said a few polite words, and then retreated.

With wine and meat, even if everyone is not familiar, a few sips of spirits are also familiar, the leaders of several caravans talk to me and me, but they are flattering this fat man openly or secretly, Fenhe Yao is known as "sweet in the mouth, into the throat, into the belly fire", it is also a strong wine, drink too much, and the fat man also talks a lot.

"Don't look at that Tartar who is polite, that is, come with me, the four carts, you people came by yourself, killed you in the middle of the night, the corpses were thrown three miles away and cut up and fed to the wolves, and the carts and goods were sold to the Naturalization City by yourself, you didn't even have a chance to complain."

"Why don't you partner up with Ma Ye, a small business, and the silk and homespun cloth sold in Zezhou can't afford to hire any guards!"

The fat man took the dagger around his waist and cut a piece of mutton, dipped it in the plate in front of him, and put it in. , and then sent it down with wine, and said nonchalantly:

"Our own silk in Shanxi can still be sold for a price elsewhere, but it is not possible in Guihua City now, and the nobles over there pay attention to wearing silk from the south of the Yangtze River."

"They know that!?"

"This brother has never been to it at first glance, the people over there in Naturalization City are no worse than the nobles in our Datong, they are very particular, they are willing to spend money, they also have money!"

After a few questions and answers, the fat man also said with a big tongue and a smile:

"Do you know what I'm sending this time? The spinning silk of Suzhou and Hangzhou, the spices of the West, and the jewelry of Tianjin Wei in Beijing, this can only be sold for a lot of money if you go there! ”

And all the people flattered, and they all opened their mouths and said:

"These things can only be done by characters like Ma Ye, how can we afford this business with a small business."

The flattery was happy, and they had to open another jar of wine, and everyone knew in their hearts that this liquor could also make a lot of money on the Tartar side, and this fat man was really good at it.

Early the next morning, it was the usual departure, the fat man drank averagely, and it was uncomfortable to cover his head when he got up in the morning, but the team still marched as usual, leaving the tribe for half an hour, and had already seen the mountains to the north.

The fat man lay in a big cart in the middle, and fell asleep there, and the man who dispatched the escort rode over, and said in a cold voice:

"Fatty, if you drink too much cat urine, you will go crazy, for the sake of many years of brotherhood, I will remind you, if you really want to say something and mess up the business, I will not be merciful."

The fat man put his hand in his head and said angrily:

"I still need you to say, I ran this business a few times, how could I not know the severity, didn't it just spice and silk last night, who doesn't know this at the border and Shanxi Xuanfu, I didn't say anything else, the latter ones are nothing weird?"

"It's nothing weird, they arranged to be on duty last night very honestly, they should be doing business."

"Make a vote?"

"There's no oil and water, there are a few guards with the car from two families who look at the two of them, and it's not easy to explain if our people are dead or injured, so forget it this time."

The two exchanged a few words, and the fat man fell asleep in the car again.

At the back of the team, the cart of the small caravan was loaded with a lot of things, and the horses were average, so they fell behind the team, which is also the norm of the small caravan, last night they ate meat together, everyone was also familiar, looked at each other and joked, someone A young man with a bronze mirror joked:

"It's hard to even wash your face on this grassland, why are you looking in the mirror?"

"What do you know, this mirror can earn three taels of silver in Naturalization City, go back and give my mother-in-law a silver hairpin, you go first, I'll go and relieve myself!!"

"Be careful, don't be bitten by the wolf that came out of the grass, and it's useless to buy a silver hairpin!!"

There was a burst of laughter, the young man laughed and cursed, fell behind the group, and walked in the grass, but the young man did not hurry to untie his trouser belt, but looked up at the direction of the sun, raised the bronze mirror to meet the sun, shook it in one direction a few times, and then took the bronze mirror back into his arms, and hurriedly followed.

Drinking too much water, drinking too much mutton soup, it is much more convenient today, it is not surprising, this young man goes to "convenience" every time he walks for a while, and he is a good joke.

Walk to a water source in the mountains here, here is about to camp on the spot, it is already autumn, the grass and trees are yellow, there is no shortage of fuel, but there is no yesterday to eat sheep mouthful, everyone took out their own dry food, in the river to get water, and then boiled water, hot dry food pickles, ready to rest.

The valley in the mountains is quite flat, and the trees on the mountains are still flourishing, so you can hear the roars of birds and beasts coming from nowhere, which makes those who are new to this place quite uneasy.

"It's not a bad luck today, if you can meet a caravan coming back from Naturalization City, they usually follow with a flock of sheep, and we can still open a meat ...... Don't look around, it is said that there are bears in this mountain, these beasts are afraid of fire, they dare not lean over, you sleep honestly!! ”

The freshness of just arriving on the grassland has disappeared, and after a day of travel, everyone is also tired, and they rest early, and the guards on the fat man's side are still dutiful, and they still schedule the shift on duty.

Around the convoy, piles of bonfires were lit, and the guards were on duty by the side of this bonfire, while roasting the fire, in the autumn mountains, the cold was pressing, and it was still necessary to have a fire.

After two days and one night of getting along, the guards on Ma Fatzi's side and the caravan they partnered with were no longer wary, and they no longer paid attention to that side.

The guard guarding the four-pole bird gun is in the inner circle, the bird gun can break the leather armor within sixty steps, and can kill people within a hundred steps, and it is also a sharp weapon, and the operation of the bird gun is more complicated, and the guard status of the bird gun is a little higher than others, as long as you stay in the camp circled by the big car at night, you don't need to go out to guard.

There is a fire baking, although he didn't take off his clothes, but he still slept deeply, but the guard is a martial artist after all, this vigilance is much stronger than ordinary people, hearing a slight sound in his ears, the first reaction is a snake, although there can be no snakes on the grassland at this time, but in a daze, he can understand it, and suddenly open his eyes.

As soon as he opened his eyes, he suddenly felt that his mouth was fiercely blocked by a big hand, and he was about to struggle, but he felt the cold air on his neck, and immediately froze, and then looked at his companions with firearms, all of whom had been restrained.

Someone picked up the four bird guns and tiptoed away, and it didn't take long to hear a loud noise, which was clearly the sound of the bird guns

I don't know if I was alarmed by this sound, I could hear the frightened birds chirping and flying, and the entire convoy was alarmed, and I heard the guards outside shouting at the top of their voices:

"There are people on the mountain, and there are people coming down from the mountains!!" (To be continued)