At this time, outside the city of Longxing Prefecture.
Zhixing and his brothers didn't dare to stop for a moment to rest. After traveling for days, they finally arrived outside Longxing Prefecture.
The group was repeatedly surrounded and chased by refugees fleeing famine, and they didn't even dare to take too long to urinate, let alone stop halfway to sell some ordinary charcoal to the refugees as Ye Wenxue had suggested.
If one is not careful, not only will the carriage and charcoal be lost, but one might even lose their life.
Zhixing never thought Ye Wenxue was wrong, but he encountered too many refugees along the way.
With their limited strength, they were surrounded and unable to protect themselves, so they could only keep heading towards Longxing Prefecture City.
Zhixing took a breath, withdrew his gaze from behind, buried the lower half of his face to shield it from the wind, and led his brothers to line up at the city gate.
The heavy snow had been falling for several days, and the snow had piled up to half an arm's length thick. No matter how thick the clothes were, they couldn't completely block out the biting cold wind.
There were many people who wanted to enter Longxing Prefecture, including a large number of refugees who had fled famine and settled outside the prefectural city.
Zhixing and his group braved the heavy snow and queued for quite a while, until they were almost frozen stiff, before it was their turn to enter the city.
The soldiers guarding the city glanced at the clothes on Zhixing and the others. They were old cotton-padded clothes that had been stockpiled for a long time and had been exchanged for charcoal. The style was a bit old, but they looked clean and tidy. They were obviously not the refugees who wanted to take the opportunity to enter the city.
Upon closer inspection of the goods beneath the tarpaulin, the soldiers guarding the city felt a surge of joy. They weighed the silver that Zhixing had handed them and said, "Pass."
Zhi Xing breathed a sigh of relief, led his men into the prefectural city, and quickly found a slave trader to rent a house of moderate size for his brothers to settle down, rest, and eat. He then planned to go and scout out the situation first.
He left a few of the smarter men in the house to keep an eye on everyone and prevent them from causing trouble, and only took Wang Jin, the most skilled and obedient man, with him when he went out.
After strolling along the main street, Zhixing bought some hot food and shared half with Wang Jin, eating as they walked.
Wang Jin was starving. He finished his food in a few bites, then looked at Zhixing shivering in the cold wind beside him, scratched his head, and asked in confusion, "Brother Xing, what are you doing out here in this freezing weather? Why don't you just follow our previous method?"
Zhixing took a bite of his pork bun and shook his head: "No way. Brother Xu said that Longxing Prefecture is far more complicated than the small town at the foot of the mountain. We need to figure out its ways before we can make any decisions. We can't just copy it blindly, otherwise..."
Otherwise, they might suffer a major setback.
As Brother Dazhuang once said, one should think thrice before acting in any situation, and not be complacent just because things are going too smoothly.
Having come all the way to Longxing Prefecture, Zhixing was planning to make a fortune, not fall into a bottomless pit.
Wang Jin didn't understand, but he obeyed and stepped forward to shield Zhixing from the cold wind.
The two first went to the market located in the center of the city.
Similar to the nearby towns at the foot of the mountain, in the market of Longxing Prefecture, one could occupy a plot of land by paying silver.
Whether a location is good or bad depends entirely on how much silver is offered.
Zhixing wandered around a charcoal shop, where people came and went in a bustling atmosphere, but some things were clearly going on.
For example, if there is a shed with charcoal burning inside, it should be a charcoal workshop or run by merchants from other places.
Those selling goods without a shed, braving the snow, and with limited charcoal, were clearly either original inhabitants of the county town or refugees who had fled famine and were burning charcoal to make a living.
In the biting cold wind, the price of charcoal remained stable between fifteen and twenty coins, almost equivalent to the current price of grain.
After wandering around the charcoal market twice, Zhixing turned and left, only letting out a heavy sigh after walking a long distance away.
Wang Jin was puzzled: "Our charcoal is generally of poor quality and can't be sold?"
Zhixing slowly shook his head: "No, the charcoal we burn is almost the same as the most expensive charcoal on the market, and even cheaper."
Wang Jin: "?"
Isn't this great?
Zhixing strolled along with the flow of people. His worry wasn't about the unsold charcoal, but rather... the excessively high price of charcoal meant that powerful officials and wealthy individuals were undoubtedly involved, perhaps even...
This place is the fiefdom of King Pan.
After not hearing Zhixing speak for a while, Wang Jin didn't think too much about it. He was never good at using his brain, so he just looked around aimlessly.
And I must say, Longxing Prefecture City is much more bustling and lively than the mountains.
"Hey, Xing-ge, look! There are so many people gathered over there. What are they looking at?"
Zhi Xing snapped out of his daze: "Let's go take a look."
Wang Jin, relying on his large physique, forced his way into the crowd and even saved a spot for Zhixing.
He stared blankly at a piece of paper pasted on the city wall: "What is this?"
Zhi Xing didn't recognize many characters, and they were all very simple. He struggled to recognize them for a long time, and only recognized the characters '令', '昭', and '一万两'.
The guards on both sides knew that few people could read these days, so they read aloud: "Wanted! The traitor Huo Zhaoqing defied the imperial decree and fled, stabbing the Prince. He deserves to die... A reward of ten thousand taels of silver will be given for his capture alive..."
Wang Jin chuckled, "Ten thousand taels... If I'm lucky enough to catch that person, wouldn't I be set for life? Brother Xing, how about we..."
Zhi Xing's attention wasn't on Wang Jin; he was staring at the portrait on the wanted poster, feeling a strange sense of familiarity.
However, the portrait of his elder brother that the eldest brother showed him was far more imposing and heroic than the face on the wanted poster, so it should not be the same person.
"Let's go back."
When in doubt, write a letter for help.
*
Outside the bamboo house, amidst the green mountains, the heavy snow continued.
After taking Xu Lin's pulse, Su Jiu looked at the prescription written by Doctor Chen and said, "There's nothing wrong with the prescription; it can cure normal eye ailments, but..."
Before Xu Lin could speak, Lan Qing clenched her fist: "But what?"
Su Jiu pointed to the prescription: "However, there are still some toxins remaining in Xu Lin's body. We need to remove the remaining toxins first before treating his eye disease. Otherwise, if he is overstimulated, his eye disease will never improve."
Ye Wenxue pressed Lan Qing, who had suddenly stood up, down and asked, "Can it really cure it?"
"able."
If it works, that's fine.
Ye Wenxue ignored Su Jiu's acupuncture and medicine-prescribing matters and turned to go out of the house to find her own children.
"Push faster, push faster, whoosh, flying away..."
Shuangshuang and Siwang's hearty laughter could be heard from a great distance.
Ye Wenxue searched along the path to the bamboo house and saw the two little ones, along with Zhiwu and Zhiwang, dragging a plank of wood, sitting on it, sliding down from a height, and happily falling into the snowdrift.
Then, brushing the snowflakes off his head and body, he ran up with an eager smile on his face and took off again with a "whoosh".
Um... Sanyuan is the one who's in charge of pushing the planks.
Ye Wenxue: "......"
Dazhuang carried Yuanyuan and walked over with an umbrella, tilting most of the umbrella to shield Ye Wenxue from the wind and snow: "Mom, look, the snow this winter is really heavy."
Ye Wenxue glanced at Yuanyuan, whose face was flushed from sleeping, and chuckled, "A timely snow promises a good harvest. Next year, everything will turn out for the better."
"Um."
They don't need to wait until next year; their current situation is already slowly improving.
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