OBS Chapter 274 To Whom
Chapter 274 To Whom
The man guarding the river was an elderly man who was easy to talk to: "Young man, just pay some money."
Lu Guan handed it over. When he led his horse to drink water, he asked the old man, "Do you cut off the water supply once a year?
There are many places in the surrounding area that need water, so you guys can do a good business without any investment."
"You are wrong, most of this money will not reach us ordinary people.
All the leaders of the Qianhu Division, from top to bottom, are asking for it." The old man smiled helplessly.
Lu Guan frowned and said, "Aren't you afraid that officials passing by will find out and report it to the capital?"
"Why would a grown man come to a small place to take a closer look?
"But you, young man, are you someone close to the official?" The old man looked him up and down.
Lu Guan let him see that he was always wearing ordinary cloth clothes when he went out, and he didn't bring anyone with him except a knife.
After a while, he stuffed another piece of silver into the old man's hand and asked, "Which guard post's captain is in charge of you?"
"Young man, feed the horse and leave!" The old man hesitated and refused, but since Lu Guan did not retreat, he had to look around at his accomplices who were dozens of feet away.
He said carefully: "The next post station has a card inspection station, and the thousand households are stationed there.
Merchants traveling back and forth had to leave some of their goods behind before leaving, and officials did not check them.
Qian Hu is not greedy, all he wants is to get more benefits for the soldiers and generals."
Is it for himself? Otherwise, why would it be stuck at the border between Xuanfu and Yangyuan?
Lu Guan didn't ask any more questions and rode back to the inn. On the way, he met Little Black Cat.
Little Black Cat never doubted that he could not find water, and said, "Do you want to take more than twenty mules and horses to drink?"
"Well, after they have rested and eaten the grass, I will bring them some water in the evening." He didn't believe that the remaining soldiers could guard them day and night.
However, someone at the next post station deliberately inspected the merchant caravans. What did the captain want to do?
Lu Guan decided to send Guard Chen to take some people to find out the truth first.
When she saw Shen Xiaoye, she was chatting with Manager Dai and they were talking about the inn charging too much for water.
She saw Lu Guan coming back with the little black cat in his arms and asked him to sit down with her.
At this time, Guard Chen deliberately returned the centurion token, and Shen Cungeng took it in his hand and looked at it curiously.
When Shopkeeper Dai saw the words "Gongweisi" on it, his body stiffened. It turned out that the young man was a sixth-rank official. Should he bow down?
To be honest, Taizu ordered that no one should learn the bad habits of the Northern Barbarians when they controlled the Central Plains, such as kneeling before those in high positions regardless of the occasion.
But this ban is far away for ordinary people.
Manager Dai was a man who lived from a previous dynasty to the Great Zhou Dynasty. He had to bow when he met an official.
Fortunately, Lu Guan didn't care, and he was not an official, so the badge was just a token.
Before he sat down, he clasped his fists and bowed to Manager Dai, who looked flattered.
But when he heard Lu Guan say that there was a thousand households collecting goods at the next stop, Shopkeeper Dai frowned and said, "There was no such thing before!"
"Miss Shen, he will definitely not accept things from officials or guests." Guests are businessmen who provide resources to the government, which has the connotation of being officials and businessmen.
He paused and then said, "I wonder if my carriage and horses can go with your caravan?"
Shen Xiaoye and Lu Guan looked at each other, and she smiled and said, "Of course, we are all from the same village when we go out, so there is no need to be polite."
It was just a favor, so Lu Guan also said, "You can send your caravan in the evening and drive the livestock to follow us to the river."
"Thank you very much, both of you." Shopkeeper Dai said sincerely.
When they arrived at the next post station the next day, they saw that many caravans had some items confiscated by patrol soldiers, and he couldn't even check the Shen family caravan.
At this moment, he felt it was great to meet Shen Xiaoye.
On this side, Shen Xiaoye did not follow his own convoy which had already passed the checkpoint and entered the post station, but he and Xiao Xuanmao quietly followed the soldiers who were taking away the detained items.
Not long after, Lu Guan followed, "It's dangerous for you to be alone."
"No, I brought this." Shen Xiaoye summoned his token from the space.
Lu Guan was quite envious of her for having such a portable space, but unfortunately, except for the first time he saw it, he had no chance to activate the space again.
“This is not the capital, they may not necessarily follow the rules, and the Gongsiwei has no visible female officials.
You won't be able to scare them by showing this, but you will be silenced, right?" He really wasn't trying to scare her.
Shen Xiaoye put it away and said, "Let the little black cat go with him?"
She cherishes her life very much.
"Meow!" said the little black cat, "I told you not to come with me, but you didn't listen."
Before he finished his words, it flew away and followed from a distance.
Shen Xiaoye put one finger on his chin and said, "I'm almost catching up with Leopard Mom's speed.
Alas, I haven't seen the little leopard for a long time. Is there any news about the mother and the cub?"
“No, but the emperor doesn’t go hunting in the enclosed areas, so I think they should be doing well.
You can visit me if you have a chance." Lu Guan and she quietly returned to the post station.
Half an hour later, Little Black Cat successfully got the news: "My goodness, these soldiers transported the things to a village a few miles away.
There were sugar tea, cloth pots, and medicinal herbs inside. After they were sorted, they were loaded onto a truck and sent off. Judging from the direction, it should be Yangyuan, where we were going. "
Shen Xiaoye: "Who is it for?"
"No, I don't know." Little Black Cat thought about getting into the car and going to the final destination to take a look.
But thinking that the convoy would set off early tomorrow and worried that it would be late to meet up with Shen Xiaoye and the others, it stopped tracking.
But it just so happened that when Shen Xiaoye entered Yangyuan City two days later, Little Black Cat saw the person who was receiving the soldiers' supplies walking into a restaurant at a glance.
Not long after, the man brought another person out, saying as he walked, "Butler Huo is here, quickly hand over the things to him."
The other said, "Anything made of iron cannot be given."
"They are just some small iron pots. If you have the ability, just don't hand over any of them." The man disagreed.
Another person said, "You don't have to hand it over. You can just give it to the merchants in the city and sell it anyway."
The man said, "If you sell it for too long, it will be easy for people to find out."
The conversation between the two people was repeated word for word by the little black cat that was following them.
After listening to this, Shen Xiaoye said, "The Huo family is also a border merchant with considerable strength.
They actually bought goods from the guards and sold them."
Lu Guan: “It’s not surprising, I get used to it after seeing it so many times.
Wait a minute, the person that Boss Wu recommended to you, isn't he from the Huo family? "
"No, are you going to find someone to report them?" Shen Xiaoye knew that his strength was not comparable to Qianhu, so he didn't plan to take on this task.
Lu Guan hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and said, "You should record it and give it to Mr. Lin later. See if he dares to report it!"
"He is not a censor, and I will not be good at writing." Shen Xiaoye thought it was better to be cautious.
Since someone from the border troops so blatantly intercepted the caravan’s goods, it would be best to let the border troops investigate and deal with it themselves.
Another day, they arrived at Yunzhou City. They didn't want to increase the tax by 50%, so they had to hand over the silver that Shen Xiaoye had just sold in Yangyuan before it even warmed up.
She gritted her teeth and said to Lu Guan: "You are right. It is better to record everything that happened along the way and hand it over to Master Lin."