Pawn Crossing the River

The Ancient Tea-Horse Road originated from the tea-horse trade in the southwest and northwest frontiers. It flourished during the Daqi and Jin Dynasties and flourished during the Wei and Daxuan Dynasties. The Ancient Tea-Horse Road connects Shuzhou, Yunzhou, and the Western Regions, and extends into Posuo Prefecture. Until the Western Continent.

Along the way, many markets for turnover trade were formed, which were quite prosperous.

Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu walked along the Tea Horse Ancient Road for more than a hundred miles. They saw smoke from Zhuzhu cooking stoves rising in the distance, and a small town gradually emerged. Next to the Tea Horse Ancient Road, a flag fluttered in the wind, with the words "Mountain City" written on it. Big letters.

Qi Xuansu was a little surprised: "It turned out to be 'Mountain City'."

Zhang Yuelu had been in the ancestral court for a long time and was not familiar with many things in the local arena. He couldn't help but ask: "What is Shanshi?"

Qi Xuansu replied: "The so-called mountain city originally referred to the mirage of Jin'ao Peak in Taiqing Mountain. It is said that dozens of palaces can be seen, with green tiles and flying rafts, and high walls stretching for six or seven miles. Among them are buildings and squares. It's like a city. Mountain markets are rare and hard to find. Someone imitated the mountain market and built a trading town near Jin'ao Peak. Most of them were people from the rivers and lakes, and it was very lively. Later, it spread to other places. Mountain markets have also been built one after another. To put it bluntly, it is a trading market, commonly known as the 'black market'. There are flying swords, elixirs, and fire guns, everything that can be sold and what cannot be sold."

"It turns out to be the 'black market'." Zhang Yuelu understood. "I have heard about the black market for a long time, but I have never seen it before. Now that we have encountered it, we can't miss it, so we have to take a good look."

Qi Xuansu said: "Look, it's nothing. The key is to have money. The first 'Dragon Gun' here costs 800 Taiping, which is far more expensive than the normal market price. But having said that, the normal market price has nothing to do with the man in black." , how many people can buy the 'Dragon Gun'?"

Zhang Yuelu thought for a while: "Although I am in a tight situation and don't have much money, I still have a few hundred peace dollars."

This is reasonable. The fifth-grade Taoist priests in Tiangang Hall who enjoy the treatment of waiting for the wine ceremony can have a monthly allowance of one hundred yuan, and the fourth-grade Taoist priests who enjoy the wine ceremony must be higher. Moreover, after returning from the Western Regions, there was an additional subsidy of 100 yuan in Taiping money. If Zhang Yuelu had no savings, Qi Xuansu would not believe it.

Since Zhang Yuelu was rich and wanted to go shopping, Qi Xuansu naturally would not object, and the two of them entered this "mountain market" together.

From the outside, the town looks unremarkable, but once you enter, you realize that it is actually a two-story world. The houses facing the street are mainly two-story pavilions, with black tiles and white walls, red painted pillars, blue carved beams, and smooth streets. The blue bricks can accommodate two carriages running side by side. It does not look like a remote town on the Tea Horse Road, but more like a street scene in Jinling Mansion or Jinguan Mansion.

The town is not big, and its layout is a standard "field". Two streets, one horizontal and one vertical, divide the town into four parts, and these two streets are where stalls and transactions are set up.

As soon as the two entered the town, they were greeted by someone. This person was wearing a short dress that did not reach the knees, flat-toed cloth shoes, and a six-in-one hat on his head.

The so-called "Liuhe Yitong hat", also known as "Liuhe scarf", was made by Emperor Taizu of the former Wei Dynasty. This hat style comes from the Golden Horde Khanate. The hats of the Golden Horde must be round and have six petals. After the Golden Horde took over the Central Plains, it was also passed to the Central Plains. This is consistent with the Central Plains inheriting the Golden Horde's thousand-household and hundred-household systems. It's the same thing.

Later, Emperor Taizu of the Wei Dynasty expelled the golden tent and imitated it to make a "Liuheyi unified hat" with six petals of gold seams and a round top and bottom brim. It advocates the unification of mountains and rivers, so it means the unification of six harmony and the unification of the world.

In the previous dynasty, this hat was stipulated to be a popular hat style across the country. It was usually used by ordinary people and was often worn by officials at home. When the Daxuan court dominated the world, it did not prohibit it. However, the Taoist sect has its own scarf and hat system, so people in the Taoist sect never wear this hat. At first glance, it seems a bit strange.

The man first bowed to the two of them, and then said: "The villain Qian Bao is the steward of this mountain market. You two look at each other. Is this your first time in our mountain market?"

Qi Xuansu signaled Zhang Yuelu to keep quiet and said, "Passing by, just take a look."

"That's right." The man's eyes flashed, "Our mountain market is a small business. Renovating shops and maintaining order are not small expenses, so whether you are buying things or selling things, you have to..."

As he spoke, he gently rubbed his thumb and index finger together, making a motion to ask for money.

"Yingmenchu? It's easy to talk." Qi Xuansu said, "Please quote a price."

The so-called "yingmenchu" means the ticket price.

Qian Bao immediately understood that Qi Xuansu didn't understand anything, so he didn't dare to open his mouth and said honestly: "One person has one peace coin."

Qi Xuansu took out two peace coins from his sleeve pocket and handed them to Qian Bao, asking: "What do you have in Shanshi?"

Qian Bao said: "There are many, Cai Li Zi, those who pick Han'er, those who make gold dots, those who cut plates, those who pick green Zi, those who pick vines, those who pick Fei Zi, those who pick yellow nibbling, There are those who carry fire treasures, those who carry water treasures, those who carry gold treasures, those who carry earth treasures, and those who carry wooden treasures."

Qi Xuansu nodded and asked, "Is there any Yanweizi?"

Qian Bao's face stiffened and he laughed dryly and said: "It's up to you, sir, to see for yourself. If it's bright, then it's not there; if it's half-open, then maybe it's there, maybe it's not; if it's a loophole, then it's probably there." "

Qi Xuansu nodded and said, "Thank you very much. We can just take a look around."

Qian Bao said goodbye and turned to leave.

Zhang Yuelu couldn't help but ask: "What do you mean by the bunch of slang words you just said?"

Qi Xuansu said concisely and concisely: "First I paid two Taiping coins for the entrance fee, and then he said that there are medicine sellers, weapons sellers, firearm sellers, ammunition sellers in the mountain market, as well as fortune tellers, magicians, and sellers. Various materials. I asked him if there were any liars, and he said that if he understood the rules of the quack, there would be no liars; "

Zhang Yuelu smiled and said, "It's a bit interesting."

As soon as the two of them walked out, there was a women's business stall not far away. Zhang Yuelu was not interested and went directly to the weapons stall next to it.

The landlady greeted Qi Xuansu: "I wonder if this young master has a girl he likes? As the saying goes, women should look good to please themselves. You might as well buy some rouge, gouache or jewelry for the girl. The girl will definitely like these. Even if there is no girl you like, It can also be used in case of emergencies.”

Qi Xuansu was quite moved. He picked up a mother-of-pearl from the stall, looked at Zhang Yuelu not far away, and asked: "Qingxiao, what color of flower mother-of-pearl do you like?"

Zhang Yuelu, who was looking through a nine-section whip, said without raising his head: "I prefer the cyan gun."

Qi Xuansu suddenly felt embarrassed and coughed lightly: "Actually, I also like the cyan hand gun. It has a bronze texture and is a bit more primitive and heavy. It is not as eye-catching as gold and has a bit of frivolity."

Then Qi Xuansu put down the flower in his hand under the disappointed look of the landlady, and shook his head at the landlady.

Zhang Yuelu put down the nine-section whip in his hand and asked, "Is there a nine-section whip with a spiritual form?"

The stall owner was a middle-aged man and said with a smile: "There are many spiritual objects, but among the ten spiritual objects, there may not be a Qimen weapon. The girl will be disappointed."

Zhang Yuelu didn't say much, and left directly with Qi Xuansu, continuing to walk deeper into the town.

The further you go in, the more people there are, and the things for sale are also weird and strange.

Qi Xuansu saw someone selling "imitation Qiongqi Blood", which was much more expensive than the price quoted by Qiniang, and it only had a small bottle. The person didn't sell it, but sat behind the stall, waiting for others to ask the price.

Zhang Yuelu naturally saw it and frowned slightly, because only Daomen could make "imitation Qiongqi blood", but such things could be seen in any mountain city, which showed that there was a big problem within Daomen.

However, Zhang Yuelu understood very well that the key to this matter was not the mountain market, but the source inside the Daomen, so she quickly withdrew her gaze and continued to look at other stalls.

The two of them walked around for more than half an hour without spending a single yuan of peacetime. It wasn't that they didn't find anything they liked, but that the things they liked were too expensive. Qi Xuansu took a fancy to a "Dragon Hand Gun" that was 80% new. The asking price was not expensive, only six hundred peace coins, but Qi Xuansu was short of money and could only look at it. As for Zhang Yuelu, she also took a fancy to a flying sword, but the price was 1,600 Taiping. After Zhang Yuelu asked the price, she left without looking back.

This was probably because Zhang Yuelu came to Shanshi for the first time. Although he didn’t gain much, he was still very interested.

Qi Xuansu is not tired, but he is a little tired. The things are good, what's the point of just looking at them? So Qi Xuansu quickly left and let Zhang Yuelu wander around alone. He found a wine shop, spent a small yuan on a pot of tea and a plate of fennel beans, and waited slowly.

When the sun set in the west, Zhang Yuelu came over to find Qi Xuansu. He mainly bought some gadgets and a gift for Qi Xuansu. It was a set of flying knives, a total of eighteen pieces. They could be inserted into the belt at ordinary times and repeated. Recycle. Although it is not a spiritual object, it is just a mortal object, but its sharpness is not inferior to the "Slim Tiger Sword" that Qi Xuansu once used. If Qi Xuansu fires it with the "Sword Control Technique", it will be even more powerful than Qingluan Guard's "Jackdaw Crossbow" ".

Qi Xuansu was quite surprised: "Why did you think of buying a flying knife?"

Zhang Yuelu said: "I saw you brought a lot of iron awls, they should be used as hidden weapons, but these iron awls are not serious hidden weapons after all. I happened to see this set of throwing knives when I was wandering around, so I bought it."

Qi Xuansu felt inexplicably ashamed. He couldn't bear to accompany Zhang Yuelu to the mountain market, but Zhang Yuelu was still thinking about herself. Counting the cloak she bought for him, this was already the second time.

Qi Xuansu was lonely since he was a child. His master died early and Qiniang was stingy. Zhang Yuelu was the first person to give him something.

It's just that he cares about what he lacks. To say that Qi Xuansu doesn't care about this would be a lie.

Zhang Yuelu felt a little embarrassed when he saw Qi Xuansu looking at him with stern eyes. He waved his hand and said: "It's just a set of flying knives, not worth a few peace coins.

You don’t need to take it to heart, just treat it as a gift in return for buying me a drink. "

Qi Xuansu looked away and responded.