Chapter 21: Longao Mountain King
"Master Su, do you know Bawang Mountain?"
Su Song replied without even turning his head: "Didn't I give you the map? Find it yourself."
Shen Xun took two quick steps and said, "I haven't found it yet, but there is a wooden city ahead. Can we go into the city and ask around?"
Su Song glanced at her and said, "You want to go into town to buy something, right?"
Having his thoughts exposed, Shen Xun simply said confidently, "Master Su, don't you need to buy it?"
Required.
Their food supply is almost gone.
Su Songsong said: "Then let's go into the city."
Chen Xun pressed the issue further: "I want to act alone."
Su Song said nothing, so Shen Xun took it as his consent.
Mucheng is not as prosperous as Qinghe City, but it is not bad either, as it sells everything.
Shen Xun took Xie Lan and Qi Yunzhou, two siblings, for a stroll as a family of four.
They walked along the street to the largest grain store in Mucheng and bought some of all kinds of grain. Since they bought a lot, Shen Xun asked the shopkeeper to send it to a place.
"You live in Xiangning Street? It's not far from my grain store. Don't worry, I'll have someone deliver it there as soon as possible."
Shen Xun thanked him, "By the way, shopkeeper, have you heard of Overlord Mountain?"
The grain store owner shook his head and said, "I haven't heard of it, but you can go to the largest restaurant in our Mucheng and ask. There are people from all over the world there, so maybe someone there knows."
After coming out, Xie Lan asked, "Axun, what's going on in Xiangning Street?"
"Then you have to ask me!"
Qi Yunxi said proudly: "My house in Mucheng is on Xiangning Street. Not only in Mucheng, but also in major cities, I have private houses. No matter where I go, I have a house to live in."
Qi Yunzhou thought of something, "You used to write to me every month asking for money. Did you use the money to buy these houses?"
Qi Yunxi chuckled, "Not entirely..."
Qi Yunzhou stared at her.
"Okay," Qi Yunxi spread his hands, "Only one house was bought with my own money."
Qi Yunzhou: “…”
He lived frugally, but ended up having all the money enjoyed by his stinky little sister!
I’m so angry, but I still have to keep smiling in front of my mother.
The largest restaurant in Mucheng is called "Kelaixian". When Chen Xun and his three companions entered, a waiter came to greet them attentively.
"Would you like to dine in the lobby or in the private rooms upstairs?"
"Lobby bar," Shen Xun threw twenty taels of silver to Xiao, "give me some of your special dishes."
The waiter responded, escorted them to their seats, and then went downstairs.
It was indeed lively here. While eating and drinking, some rumors or gossip were talked about.
Unfortunately, Shen Xun listened for a long time and finished her meal, but she didn’t hear the information she wanted.
"Forget it," Shen Xun looked at the sky, "Let's go to the cloth shop."
This time they want to buy some clothes, cloth, and cotton coats. The weather is getting colder and they can't bear it without wearing something thicker.
When they arrived at the cloth shop, since Shen Xun bought a large quantity, the boss asked someone to count it, which took some time, so Shen Xun and others waited in the cloth shop.
While waiting, a merchant came to the cloth shop to deliver goods.
"Boss Zhou."
The merchant was very familiar with the cloth shop owner, and he drank two large cups of tea as soon as he came in.
The cloth shop owner hurriedly asked, "What's going on?"
The merchant was in a state of disarray. He waved his hand and said, "Don't mention it. We ran into those bandits from Longao Mountain again."
The cloth shop owner understood, "No wonder, you're not hurt, are you?"
"No, no," the merchant waved his hand, "I just fell into a quagmire while hiding."
The cloth shop owner asked him to go to the backyard to take a bath and change clothes. Shen Xun found it interesting and asked:
"Boss, what is Longao Mountain?"
"Has the guest never heard of Long Ao Mountain?"
The cloth shop owner said, "You guys are from out of town, right?"
There was not much business at the moment, and seeing that they were curious, the cloth shop owner patiently explained their questions to them.
"That Longao Mountain was previously called Mu Mountain. Since a bully came and became the king of the mountain over a year ago, it was renamed Bawang Mountain..."
Shen Xun interrupted the cloth shop owner, "Bawang Mountain? Where is it?"
The cloth shop owner took a sip of tea and said, "It's Longao Mountain. The mountain king wasn't happy with the name 'Bawang Mountain' and kept changing it. If you count carefully, it's been changed about five or six times."
Then why didn’t the grain store owner know?
When Shen Xun asked the question, the cloth shop owner said, "The shopkeeper was newly appointed half a year ago, so it's normal that he doesn't know."
So that's how it is.
The four continued to listen to the boss talk about the deeds of Long Aoshan, the king of the mountain, such as robbing the richest man's convoy, intercepting the treasure of a high-ranking official... there were countless such stories.
"But he doesn't rob civilians. He just pays a toll and passes through."
Shen Xun guessed: "Is there nothing to grab?"
The cloth shop owner smiled and said, "That might be the reason."
He kindly reminded them, "If you're passing through there, you'd better prepare the toll and leave early, because the mountain king has made a new rule recently. The first merchant passing through every day must pay ten taels of silver, the second one a hundred taels, and so on. If you can tell that you're a wealthy merchant, they will definitely target you."
"The merchant just now didn't want to pay the money, so he took the risk of taking another route."
As a result, he fell into a mud pit.
Shen Xun had an idea in mind, so he followed the cloth delivery cart to Xiangning Street.
The house on Xiangning Street was cleaned regularly, but no one was there at the moment. Shen Xun put the food and cloth into the space, rented a cart, put the things that needed to be seen in public on the cart, and transported them out of the city.
"We've found Overlord Mountain," Shen Xun said to Su Song as soon as he returned. "Master Su, could you give me a few days to bring Shen Yunzheng back?"
Su Song frowned, "Another delay?"
Shen Xun said helplessly: "We have to pass Bawang Mountain. If nothing unexpected happens, the king of the mountain is Shen Yunzheng. By then, even if Lord Su doesn't want to delay time, he will be delayed."
"unless……"
"Unless what?"
"Unless Lord Su doesn't want to arrest Shen Yunzheng and has a large amount of silver, he won't be able to get away with it."
That won't work.
When King Su sent him out, he secretly asked him to capture Qi Yunxi and Shen Yunzheng along the way and send them to Youzhou together.
Su Song thought about it and decided to compromise, "As soon as possible."
The team continued on their journey and at dusk, they finally arrived at the place where the bandits in Longao Mountain were robbing pedestrians.
When they were about to pass by, the sound of gongs and drums suddenly came from the mountain, and then more than a dozen fierce-looking men rushed out of the forest.
"I planted this tree, I opened this road.
If you want to pass through here, you must leave money to buy your way through."
The strong man in the lead shouted loudly and was the first to shout out their slogan.
Shen Xun complained to Xie Lan: "It's really nothing new."
Xie Lan replied: "I think so too."
The strong man didn't hear their whispers, but said to himself: "So it's the officers escorting the prisoners."
Su Yang drew his knife and shouted at the strong man, "If you know what's going on, get out of here!"
The strong man sneered, "What about the officials? Do you think I'm afraid of you? Ten thousand taels, and you can pass."
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