Chapter 111: Mountain City

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, green tiles, flying buildings, and high walls can be seen, stretching for six or seven miles, among which there 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 pinch 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 of peace 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 does not look very impressive, but once you enter, you realize that it is actually a world of two. The houses facing the street are mainly two-story pavilions, with black tiles and white walls, red painted pillars, blue carved beams, and the streets are paved. 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 harmonies 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 the plate, 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 gap, 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 succinctly: "First, I paid two Taiping coins for the entrance fee, and then he said that there are people selling medicine, weapons, firearms, ammunition, fortune tellers, magicians, and various materials in the mountain market. I asked him if there were any liars, and he said that if you understand the rules of the underworld, there will be no liars; if you half understand, there may be, or there may not be, depending on luck; if you don't understand the rules of the underworld, there must be liars."

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

The two had just walked a short distance when they saw a stall selling women's business. Zhang Yuelu was not interested and went directly to the weapons stall next to it.

The lady boss greeted Qi Xuansu, "Does this gentleman have a favorite girl? As the saying goes, women dress up to please themselves. You might as well buy some rouge, powder or jewelry and give them to the girl. The girl will definitely like these. Even if there is no favorite girl, it can be prepared for emergencies."

Qi Xuansu was quite tempted. He picked up a flower ornament from the stall, looked at Zhang Yuelu not far away, and asked, "Qingxiao, what color flower ornament do you like?"

Zhang Yuelu, who was looking through a nine-section whip, said without raising his head, "I prefer the green hand cannon."

Qi Xuansu felt embarrassed and coughed lightly, "In fact, I also like the green hand cannon. It has a bronze texture, which is more simple and heavy. It is not as eye-catching as the gold one, which is a bit frivolous."

Then Qi Xuansu put down the flower ornament in his hand and shook his head at the lady boss in the disappointed look of the lady boss.

Zhang Yuelu put down the nine-section whip in her hand and asked, "Do you have a nine-section whip with spiritual objects?"

The stall owner was a middle-aged man, who smiled and said, "There are many spiritual objects, but there may not be a strange weapon among ten spiritual objects. I'm sorry to disappoint you."

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

The deeper you go, the more people there are, and the things they sell are also strange.

Qi Xuansu saw someone selling "imitation Qiongqi blood", which is much more expensive than the price offered by Qi Niang, and there is only a small bottle. The man didn't shout, but sat behind the stall, waiting for others to ask the price.

Zhang Yuelu naturally saw it, and frowned slightly, because only the Taoist sect can make "imitation Qiongqi blood", but such things can be seen in any mountain market, which shows that there are big problems within the Taoist sect.

However, Zhang Yuelu knew very well that the key to this matter was not in the mountain market, but in the source within the Taoist sect, so she quickly retracted her sight and continued to look at other stalls.

The two of them strolled for more than half an hour, but they didn't spend a single Taiping yuan. 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 an 80% new "Shenlong Hand Gun". The price was not expensive, only 600 Taiping yuan, but Qi Xuansu was short of money, so he 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 yuan. After asking the price, Zhang Yuelu left without looking back.

It was probably because Zhang Yuelu came to Shanshi for the first time. Although she didn't gain much, she was still very excited.

Qi Xuansu was not tired, but a little tired. The things were good, but what was the point of just looking at them? So Qi Xuansu quickly slipped away and let Zhang Yuelu walk around alone. He found a wine shop, spent a small yuan to order a pot of tea and a plate of fennel beans, and waited slowly.

When the sun was setting, Zhang Yuelu came to find Qi Xuansu. She bought some small things and a gift for Qi Xuansu, which was a set of flying knives, a total of 18 knives, which could be inserted into the belt at ordinary times and could be recycled and reused. Although it was not a spiritual object, but just a mortal object, its sharpness was not inferior to the "thin tiger knife" that Qi Xuansu had used before. If Qi Xuansu fired it with "sword control technique", its power would be better than the "jackdaw crossbow" of Qingluan Guard.

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

Zhang Yuelu said: "I saw you brought a lot of iron spikes, which should be used as hidden weapons, but these iron spikes are not real hidden weapons after all. I happened to see this set of flying knives when I was strolling around, so I bought it."

Qi Xuansu felt ashamed. He was impatient to accompany Zhang Yuelu to the mountain market, but Zhang Yuelu was still thinking about him. This was the second time, including the cloak she bought for him.

Qi Xuansu had been lonely since childhood, his master passed away early, and Qi Niang was stingy, but Zhang Yuelu was the first person to give him something.

It is precisely what you lack that you care about. If you say that Qi Xuansu doesn't care about this, it's a lie.

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

You don't have to worry about it. Just think of it as a return gift for buying me wine."

Qi Xuansu retracted his gaze and responded.