Now that Yu Hu has been recovered, it is time for him to reunite with Lou Yunchun.
——Dividing line——
Lou Yunchun arrived at Shimen Pass before dawn, and the guards, upon seeing his imperial seal, immediately let him pass. Lou Yunchun ordered Lao Duan to accompany him, while the other patrolmen went to the post station for supplies. He then ordered a guard to lead the way to the Shimen Pass garrison camp.
Shimen Pass was under the control of the garrison commander, whose surname was Kang and whose name was Chengde. He was granted the title of General Mingwei.
When Lou Yunchun arrived at the camp, he was told that General Kang was doing morning exercises with the soldiers in the parade ground, so he went directly to the parade ground to find him.
The two followed the soldiers through the camp and met several teams of soldiers out on patrol. Old Duan saw that these soldiers were all energetic and not tired at all, and their movements were neat and orderly, so he knew that the military discipline here was strict.
When they arrived outside the training ground, the soldier asked the two to wait for a moment and then went to report.
After a while, a man in a short shirt, with his teeth clenched and his hair tied, strode towards this side with his head held high.
Lou Yunchun saluted him and said, "Greetings, General Kang. I'm Lou Yunchun."
"Lord Lou, there is no need to be so polite." General Kang hurriedly returned the greeting. Although he was ten years older than Lou Yunchun, Lou Yunchun's rank was one level higher than his, so he did not dare to accept it.
"I wonder what orders you have since arrived, my Lord?"
Lou Yunchun looked around and said, "I want to talk to General Kang alone."
Seeing his modesty, General Kang was immediately impressed and said with a smile, "Let's talk in my tent."
Lou Yunchun said gently, "Please lead the way, General."
The three of them came to General Kang's tent. Old Duan was waiting outside. After waiting for about half an hour, Lou Yunchun and General Kang came out of the tent.
"I'll have to trouble you with this matter, General."
“It should be.”
After a few polite words, Lou Yunchun took Old Duan and said goodbye.
After leaving the military camp, Lao Duan asked, "Sir, what are we going to do next?"
Lou Yunchun said, "Let's continue walking after resupplying."
Old Duan originally thought that Lou Yunchun came to the garrison to catch the turtle in the jar at Shimen Pass, but it seemed that Lou Yunchun did not look like he was in a hurry to leave. What did these two people discuss?
Lou Yunchun left the military camp and rode his horse to the post station. After having breakfast and resting for an hour at the post station, he led the team to continue to Huizhou.
Shortly after they left the customs, a neat and orderly caravan, fully equipped, left the city and followed them.
To get from Shimen Pass to Huizhou, one had to cross Quwu Mountain. The road on Quwu Mountain was steep and rugged, close to the abyss. Even with the official road, it was still dangerous and many sections required dismounting and walking, which naturally slowed down the pace.
As it was about to get dark, a group of lights were lit on the mountainside. It was an inn where travelers could stay overnight.
It was not safe to travel or sleep in the mountains at night, so Lou Yunchun asked everyone to quicken their pace and head towards the inn on the mountainside.
When we reached the mountainside, we asked at several inns, but they were all full. Only one inn had four upper rooms left, and the price of each room was five taels.
The patrol guards looked at each other in bewilderment. If it’s so expensive, why don’t they just rob it?
Old Duan was just about to suggest paying some money to stay in the inn lobby for one night when Lou Yunchun had already presented him with twenty taels of silver.
The innkeeper was so happy to see the fat sheep that his face was smiling, but when he saw the words engraved on the silver cake, his smile froze on his face.
Official silver.
"What's wrong?" Lou Yunchun asked knowingly.
The innkeeper looked at the group of people, not knowing whether to accept them, refuse them, keep them, or drive them away.
"My dear officials... guests, I feel like we are all old friends and we get along very well. You can stay in this room as you please. I won't charge you any money." The shopkeeper carefully pushed the official silver back.
"Please keep it." Lou Yunchun said lightly, and then ordered the guards to unload the luggage and prepare to check in.
The shopkeeper took the silver nervously, and then personally led Lou Yunchun and others to the guest rooms.
After settling the man down, the shopkeeper grasped the heavy twenty taels of official silver, his heart sinking to his stomach. Even though official silver was difficult to circulate, it could be melted and recast. Twenty taels of silver... the official was so generous, he surely wouldn't mind his extortion.
He returned to the lobby and saw another group of people coming to stay at the hotel.
"Today we are fully booked. Only the lobby and the woodshed are available for overnight stays. Each person..." He secretly glanced upstairs, and seeing that no one came out, he coughed twice and said, "One tael of silver per person."
"You are robbing money!" someone cursed.
He weighed the silver in his hand and snorted coldly, "You can stay here if you want."
One of the passersby stared at the silver in his hand for a moment, then glanced upstairs and said, "We'll stay here."
Then he scraped some small change from each person and handed it to the shopkeeper, "There are ten people in total. Weigh it and see if it's enough."
The shopkeeper took out a scale for weighing silver and weighed it together. Seeing that the scale was about to tilt, he quickly pressed it down and said, "It's ten taels short, but forget it. We don't need these few cents. You can stay here."
Seeing him walking on the scale, one person was about to argue, but was stopped by the leader, "Don't alert the enemy."
The man had no choice but to endure it.
After receiving this group of people, the shop owner was planning to hang up the sign and close the shop, but unexpectedly someone else came in. Upon closer inspection, he saw that it was a group of traveling merchants.
The caravan leader said with full energy: "Boss, stay at the hotel!"
The shopkeeper said the same thing as before, "Today we are fully booked. Only the lobby and the woodshed are available. If you want to stay overnight, it will be one tael per person."
The leader asked scrutinizingly, "One or two? Are you running a black market?"
The shopkeeper, with the silver in his arms, began to tremble. "What are you talking about? It's a matter of our mutual consent. If you want to stay, then stay. If not, then get out."
"How can you talk like that?" A young and energetic man rolled up his sleeves and was about to bang the table.
He pulled the man by the head and whispered a few words into his ear. He snorted coldly and stopped talking.
He turned to the shopkeeper and said, "We'll stay here."
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