High Above

Agate stone plain, around the entrance of Indigo Mountain Gorge.

The mouth of Indigo Mountain Gorge and Indigo Steel Mountain are not together. It is similar to the relationship between mountains and the highest peaks. After entering the end of Nanling Peninsula from the mouth of Indigo Mountain Gorge, you have to walk northwest for a while before you can enter the Ashan Mountain that protects Indigo Steel Mountain. Within the sphere of influence of the Fu De tribe.

It is also the home base of the Dragon Worship Sect in Nanling.

Due to food disasters and mountain people's rebellion, the number of caravans has been significantly reduced, and most of the pedestrians passing by are in a hurry. However, it is a transportation hub after all. A formal troop of 500 people is stationed here, and it is also equipped with a large number of alchemical artillery. , if attacked, two more squadrons can be dispatched from the fortresses on the surrounding mountainside.

The towns around Xiakou look small, but in fact the building density is quite high. At a glance, there are row upon row of tourist shops.

Ian and Qingchao came here from Nauman City in a carriage, accompanying a grain team.

This food team is a food supply given to the Dragon Worship Cult by Nauman City. It also contains some World of Warcraft meat and other source materials, as well as some intelligence-related letters. It was originally supposed to be supervised and transported by another patrol knight, but since Ian has something to do , then let him take the lead.

Opening the car window, Ian looked to the outside world. The area around the Indigo Mountain Gorge was originally a distribution center for large quantities of goods. When he followed the grain team here, he had been silently calculating the price of grain in Nanling. He found that in the past month, there was no The fluctuations that are somewhat too large are mostly fluctuations of about ten pounds to one pfennig.

Grain regulation in the Central Plains is still effective.

However, the transportation fee from the Agate Stone Plain to the area controlled by the mountain people is much more expensive. This is purely labor cost. After all, the emperor does not know that the rebellion of the mountain people is one thing, and the increasing chaos in the autonomous region is another. thing.

The grain team was going to make another purchase at the distribution center. Ian and Qingchao were bored staying in the car, so they got down and walked around.

The last time Ian walked through the gorge, he was in a hurry. He just wanted to go to Xiahui Ling to get his second-level potion raw materials. He didn't even try the local delicacies - now that he thinks about it, this kind of goods In theory, there will be a lot of delicious food in the distribution center, and you can buy traditional food from both the empire and the mountain people.

In fact, it's more than that - because the number of elf merchants has increased recently, there are even branches of the Elf Chamber of Commerce in the towns around Xiakou. It is estimated that in half a year, elf restaurants will also open.

The delicacies of the mountain people are rough and abundant. For example, the meat grilled on the stone sounds like a barbecue on a stone slab. In fact, it is a barbecue on a stone slab. However, the stone slab is as big as a door panel. A mountain cook cooks it with the size of two hands. The shovel is used to stir-fry the dough and piles of marinated minced meat on the polished smooth stone board. While grilling on site, various condiments are added. You can choose sweet sauce and sour juice, or you can choose minced spicy pepper and chopped mushrooms. .

The highest grade ones even have sea cucumbers dried and processed into powder, mixed with fresh sea urchin sauce.

After the minced meat is fried and fragrant, the chef wraps the meat in the dough and turns it into a long strip of meat. Depending on the material of the filling, the price ranges from four pfennig to six pfennig per portion, which is quite affordable.

Ian prefers the one with minced chili pepper and chopped mushrooms, while Qingchao prefers the sweet one. Both sides rated it 7.5 out of 10 because the quality of the meat is average, mostly chicken and goose.

These are the products of the mountain people's breeding in recent years. In fact, if it weren't for the recent rebellion of the mountain people, it is said that several large-scale breeding farms would be opened in the basin plains of the Baisen Mountains.

At that time, Nanling's meat products did not need to be produced by the breeding manors on the Golden Plains.

In addition, there is also the mountain delicacy ‘mushroom stew’ that is quite familiar to Ian.

Various mountain wild mushrooms are stewed with meat, which is delicious and soft. It is extremely fragrant. The recipes of each store are also different. Some add butter, some add seaweed, and some add their own special garlic bread. Generally speaking, they are hot and fragrant thick soup. When you pick up a bowl, you can see a variety of mushrooms, meats and ingredients. It can be said to be a classic of mountain people's home cooking.

Ian and Qingchao drank a whole pot, but after finishing the drink, Qingchao frowned slightly: "It's delicious, but boss... maybe it's an illusion, right?"

He stared at the bowl and asked with some suspicion: "What's wrong with this soup? It seems a little poisonous?"

"It's not an illusion."

Ian shook his head and put down the spoon: "How do you expect something like mushroom soup, especially a lot of wild mushrooms, to be non-toxic?"

As he said that, he motioned Qingchao to look at the clinic not far away: "Look, do you see it - there must be a pharmacy next to this kind of store."

Sure enough, there was an old man from the mushroom soup shop next door who was rushed to the clinic by his brothers - looking at how familiar they were, there was obviously no need to worry about safety issues.

It belongs to poison if you get used to it.

"The mushrooms here in Nanling are pretty good, and most of them are not poisonous."

As a Nanling native, Ian was also quite emotional: "I heard from Anfa and the others that the mushrooms in Canaan Moore are poisonous even in winter, but some are less toxic and can actually enhance the umami taste when eaten, so some people specially Go choose poisonous mushrooms to eat.”

"But if you eat too much, you will definitely miss something... Occasionally there will be highly poisonous mushrooms in less toxic mushrooms. At that time, it will not just be a hallucination like 'seeing a dragon flying in the sky', maybe it's not certain. I went directly to see the Father in Heaven.”

Not only are the mushrooms in this damn place like Terra extremely toxic, they grow all year round. The same mushroom may be poisonous in summer, not poisonous in autumn, not poisonous in winter, but poisonous in spring.

That is to say, Terran people are physically strong. Otherwise, among the mountain people alone, more than a thousand people would die from mushroom poisoning every year.

"Understood." But Qingchao understood this completely. He smiled and said: "You can't eat seafood indiscriminately - there are often people who eat oysters and sea urchins and get into trouble over there at Jingge Cliff, especially those who like to eat You can see jellyfish every two days."

That being said, sublimated people can almost completely ignore these food-grade toxins - if they want to really hurt them, ordinary biological poisons are useless. At the very least, they must have harmful source matter structures in them. .

So the two of them continued eating.

You have to eat both food and poison. This is healthy!

After eating and drinking, Ian asked the person in charge of the grain team how long it would take to restock.

The other party knew that Ian and Qingchao were important people, so they told them respectfully that there was something wrong with the grain merchant they were dealing with and the goods had not been replenished. They were temporarily contacting another reliable grain merchant to replenish the goods, and they would be back in two hours. Can start again.

Ian was not in a hurry for such a short time. He had nothing to do anyway, so he asked to follow him over to take a look.

Can the person in charge still disagree? I personally took the two of them over to see it.

It's okay if you don't look at it, but you will find the problem once you look at it.

When he arrived at the grain merchant, Ian could tell at a glance that the store owner was a spy from Feiyan.

At the very least, he was a supporter of the rebel mountain people. His color and temperament were clearly visible in his precognitive vision.

"Oh." Ian thought: "It seems that the original grain merchant's accident was really not an accident. I still remember that when I first returned to Nanling, the owner of the bakery shop was almost taken away because of problems with the grain channels. investigation."

"Now it seems that I just met him."

There are indeed many grain merchants around the Agate Stone Plain. For example, the Chamber of Commerce of Mr. Yinfang, an acquaintance of Ian's, specializes in building materials and grain. It initially assisted in the construction of Harrison Port and received preferential treatment from Viscount Grant.

Mr. Yinfang also provided assistance to Ian's Xia Hui collar, and Ian naturally reciprocated the favor.

There are those who support the lords of the empire, and naturally there are those who support the mountain people. It is certainly not surprising to support the rebel mountain people.

Without saying anything more, Ian gave Qingchao a wink, and the other party nodded understandingly and put his hand on the hilt of the sword.

——In this regard, Qingchao is ten times more astute than him in government affairs!

In the grain store, the staff were handing over, and the red mist-filled boss himself was settling accounts, while several waiters on the side were busy sorting out the goods and pulling the camel beast truck into the warehouse behind.

Ian and Qingchao swaggered into the grain store. The person in charge who was told not to follow them had a headache on his face, but he could only obey the order and stay outside to see what these two big shots were going to do.

Today's schedule was originally delayed due to an accident. If they continue to delay, they will all be fined by then!

"Two, please wait a moment, we are still busy here."

Seeing Ian and Qingchao entering the store, the store owner looked up and took the time to say hello.

This is a Jin Zhimin with relatively narrow eyes. He has a kind smile on his face, and his slightly raised goatee trembles with his voice.

He could clearly see Ian's appearance and temperament at a glance. He didn't look like an ordinary person in any way. The same was true for Qing Chao beside him. Although his face was kind and smiling, no one would think that he was a good person. .

——It’s probably more common for a young master from a wealthy family to travel with his escort. Anyway, it's not like he's here to buy food. He can be coaxed out when the time comes, so as not to hinder the plan.

I have been busy with a lot of things recently, so I should finish the matters regarding the Dragon Worship Cult first and then get busy with other things.

With this in mind, he said: "The grain samples next to them have prices. If you want to know, you can ask me."

"Let's see for ourselves first." Ian didn't intend to arrest the person directly, that would be too much.

Others didn't know he was a prophet, so they had to find some evidence.

If it really doesn't work, you have to pretend to have found the evidence.

"Okay, guest, you can take a look first." The shop owner motioned to the waiter on the side to receive Ian and the others later, and then continued to go about his business.

Bulk sales of the grain store can be done at the back or even in the warehouse in the storage area not far away. The store sells scattered wheat flour for household use and all kinds of grains. They are probably samples opened here for inspection. There are The board was put up and the price was marked.

Ian even saw a bag of golden nuts placed in the corner. It was a highly nutritious nut that tasted like walnuts but was shaped like giant melon seeds. The price was six cents per pound, or five towers per ten pounds. Well, it’s half a luxury product.

This is not ordinary food. If you want to buy it in bulk, you need to go to a large chamber of commerce.