Walking the Path of a Workaholic in Cliché Novels (QT) Chapter 72

As An Yinong walked further and further, he encountered more and more things. There were artists who wandered around like gypsies, there were caravans traveling from north to south, and there were also swindlers, thieves and prostitutes. The guards and Uncle Zhong kept a close eye on these people, fearing that their chicken-like master would be killed.

The farther away from the capital and the Central Plains, the more “simple” the people were. The environment in the northwest was not good. When people were busy surviving, they couldn’t talk about morality and etiquette.

He also met a merchant who came out of Dingsha and was going back. It was a small caravan with four members: the merchant, his wife, daughter, nephew, a dozen guards, and seven or eight camels. They sold leather goods here, including sheepskin and cowhide, and a small amount of wolf skin. When they came back, they exchanged them for special products from the Central Plains.

It was worth mentioning that the merchant’s wife was a foreigner, but she spoke authentic Mandarin.

An Yinong wore a headscarf and a light blue robe, looking very bookish. The merchant didn’t recognize him as an official, but thought he was a scholar who traveled around. But even so, he was very attentive. After all, those who could travel were basically scholars or people from wealthy families.

There were few scholars in the northwest region, and everyone had an inexplicable awe and admiration for scholars.

His daughter secretly looked at him, but she didn’t look at him for more than a few times before she asked her mother to call her back. At this time, it was very close to Dingsha County, and foreigners and buildings with foreign characteristics were often seen on the road.

That day, he stayed in an inn run by a foreigner. There was a freshly slaughtered sheep being roasted at the door of the inn, and there was bubbling mutton soup in a big pot.

An Yinong asked for a bowl of mutton soup, a cake, a dish and a plate of roasted mutton.

He sat down in a seat in the middle. The table was a little dirty, but it could be used after wiping, and An Yinong didn’t care. If one was obsessed with cleanliness when they are out, they really can’t live.

The merchant and his family who came with him sat down at the table on the left.

After a while, the dishes were served. Spices were sprinkled in the mutton soup, which tasted not fishy but instead fragrant. An Yinong also cut the cake, stuffed vegetables and mutton into it, and ate with relish.

Other guests saw that it was fresh and asked for roasted mutton. When eaten in this way, the cake skin was soaked in oil and was not dry, and the mutton was wrapped in the cake without oil.

The merchant ate happily. He said to An Yinong in surprise: “It’s delicious like this.”

An Yinong took a sip of the hot mutton soup and said with a smile: “You just can’t eat it cold, it’s delicious when it’s hot.”

With just these two sentences, the people at the two tables opened up their conversation. They talked more and more. The merchant said that he would go back to his hometown to rest for a few years, and An Yinong said that he would settle in Dingsha County for a few years.

“Sir, are you going to settle down in Dingsha County?” The merchant asked in surprise, “Are you going to teach in our Dingsha County? There are not even a few students there. If you want to open a school, I’m afraid you won’t be able to recruit anyone.”

“There’s no rush. We can slowly train students without them. By the way, what are the specialties of Dingsha?” An Yinong asked curiously.

“There are so many good things in Dingsha. For example, the fruits and vegetables are sweeter than those in other places, and the cattle and sheep are stronger than those in other places.”

The merchant was excited when he talked about this: “Our local grapes are big and sweet. Eating one will make you happy all day. And the cows at home have black hair and short horns. They are not good at farming, but their meat is very fragrant and tender.”

“It’s a pity that the county magistrate doesn’t understand. He just said that cattle cannot be bought and sold casually, regardless of whether they are cattle for farming or cattle raised for meat, so no one raises them.”

“Fortunately, there is no such restriction on raising sheep. The sheep here are also good, and the meat is not fishy. ”

From the sweet fruits and vegetables to the local livestock and the special vegetation in the desert, the merchant talked a lot.

Although Dingsha County was very poor, with few available fields, scarce water resources, and a permanent population of less than 5,000 households, in the eyes of the merchant, the most beautiful thing was still his hometown. Every blade of grass and every tree contained the deep feelings of the people of Dingsha for their hometown.

An Yinong believed the merchant’s words. There were many good things in the northwest, but unfortunately transportation was not well developed. When the things were shipped out, they were all rotten and broken. To solve this problem, one was to build roads, and the second was to carry out deep processing. It was best that the processed products could be preserved for a year or so, such as dried fruit, beef jerky, and wine.

The third was to obtain a trading license, such as restricted products such as beef. There was also a fourth, and very important one, which was to build a reputation and advertise it widely.

“Didn’t they say that a new county magistrate has come? Maybe he can allow the buying and selling of cattle?”

“Hey, what’s the use of the county magistrate’s permission? The higher-ups don’t allow it.” The merchant chuckled, “I won’t count on the new magistrate. Anyway, I have to go back after a year or two.”

Most of the magistrates who came here were exiled. When they came, they either lamented their fate all day long or tried to find ways to return to the prosperous Central Plains. It was rare to find two who wanted to govern well, but they were helpless in the environment of Dingsha County.

After a long time, the people no longer counted on their parents. They talked enthusiastically until dark before they went back.

The merchant sat on a stool and picked his teeth, saying, “I have met many people in my travels, but the one I met today was incomprehensible. If you say he is a child of an ordinary family, he doesn’t look like it from his whole demeanor. If you say he was born in a rich family with a silver spoon in his mouth, he would not be arrogant to us. I can’t see through him at all.”

His wife was making the bed: “It’s useless for you to see through it. He is a noble family, and we are merchants. He said a few nice words, and you really treat him as a friend? ”

“That’s not the way it should be said,” the merchant said, “I can tell at a glance whether a person respects or despises me.”

Hearing this, the merchant’s wife straightened up and said to her husband unhappily, “Don’t tell our daughter this. If she takes it seriously, I’ll make trouble for you. I only have this one daughter, and I can’t bear to let her be someone’s concubine.”

“Look, why are you thinking about that? Okay, I won’t say anything to my daughter.”

The lights in the merchant’s house went out, but the lights in An Yinong’s house were still on. He wrote about the merchant in the letter and said that he was no longer worried after listening to the letter. Instead, he felt that there was a lot of potential there.

Since the climate in Dingsha County was not suitable for growing delicate crops, they could grow some less delicate crops, such as forage grass, sorghum, soybeans… and the fruits and vegetables that were said to be particularly sweet could also be made into dried fruits and canned food.

An Yinong also mentioned a kind of rubber grass. In his memory, there was this kind of plant in the northwest, which can be used to make rubber. With rubber, distillery and canned food can be arranged.

In addition, Dingsha County was on the border between the two countries. If a mutual market could be established to exchange what they have, it will definitely be more beneficial than harmful, and life will be better for both sides. However, the court will have to consider this matter for a long time, and he didn’t know if it can be applied for.

Merchants were like water. Too much water will form waterlogging. When the water dries up, it becomes barren again. Only the right amount of flowing living water could bring vitality.

If he really applied for the mutual trade, who would host it? And what kind of key products should be created? He wrote three full pages, talking about his ideas, ideal state, and possible troubles, and he didn’t stop until the night watchman passed by with a gong.

“Please give it to him.” After the letter was folded, it was placed on the table.

A carrier pigeon flew over and picked it up, and flew away in the blink of an eye.

The letter soon reached Gu Zhengzhong’s hands. He was in a desert not far from Dingsha County at the moment. The dark clouds above his head blocked the full moon, the dead trees twisted like ghosts, and the foreign priests wearing animal skulls were lying on the ground dying, and poisonous insects crawled all over the ground.

“The mass grave where people were buried alive before has been cleaned up.” Gu Zhengzhong opened the letter and instructed his subordinates.

The shadow beside him retreated silently.

“Sir, Qi Xin is well…” The dots of fluorescent light floated, illuminating the letter for him. Gu Zhengzhong read it word by word, as if he could see the man sitting under the light, writing the letter stroke by stroke.

There was a smile in his eyes, and his expression became gentle. The breeze was like a lover’s intimate kiss, blowing away the dark clouds covering the moon.

The bright and clean moon hung in the sky, and the silver-like light fell on the vast desert. The sand flowed silently, swallowing up the priest who wanted to curse the Central Plains and create a plague.

“Foreigner, you have crossed the line, this is not your territory.” A huge white camel suddenly appeared under the moonlight, the camel’s body was emitting light, and its eyes were like two gems, beautiful and mysterious.

Gu Zhengzhong put away the letter and smiled: “So what? ”

The white camel stretched and deformed, turning into a veiled exotic beauty: “For the sake of a human being, how many people do you want to offend? It is unwise to make enemies everywhere like this.”

“That’s my business.” Gu Zhengzhong slowly put away the letter paper, “Do you want to fight? Then don’t talk nonsense.”

The desert blew up sandstorms that day, and the storms submerged an abandoned city.

The next day, An Yinong and the merchant set out together. Their destination was the same, and it was safer to go together.

“It’s strange to say that I didn’t encounter any robbers after walking for so long this time.” The merchant thought of this, “It’s really strange.”

“Do you still hope that there will be robbers coming to your door?” His wife asked.

“I didn’t say that. Hey, I won’t talk to you anymore. “The merchant stood up and went to check the goods piled on his camel.

The goods brought back included salt, tea cakes, sugar, books… It was said that they were all very popular goods in the local area and there was no problem selling them.

Although the merchant did not elaborate, he could earn enough money to live a stable life for three or four years with this round trip. Of course, there were also great risks, such as the robbers the merchant just mentioned.

When An Yinong saw him, he walked over and asked about Dingsha County.

The merchant knew that he would settle down for a few years, so he did not hide anything and told him everything, even the several big families in Dingsha County and the complicated relationships were vaguely mentioned.

“We all know that the horse thieves outside the pass are theirs. The money in their pockets, the money in the warehouse, and the food and drink they eat are all stained with the blood of our herdsmen.”

This businessman was born and raised in Dingsha County, but because he was away from home for business all year round, he was well-informed. His wife was a foreigner, so she knew something about foreigners, and there was no better guide than him.

They walked and talked all the way, and after five or six days, they finally arrived in Dingsha County. The gate of the county was open, and there were soldiers checking the pass there, looking quite carefully. An Yinong got off the carriage, lined up in the crowd, and looked around.

There were locals and foreigners coming in and out, and the soldiers treated them all equally, and would let them go if they were confirmed to be not wanted criminals.

Soon the team came to An Yinong, and he took out his pass. The soldier looked at it and was about to let him go, but suddenly felt something was wrong, so he picked it up and looked at the name and notes again: “Are you the new magistrate?”

An Yinong nodded: “It’s me.”

The people waiting to enter the city were all excited: “Magistrate? Where is he?”

“Zhi, Magistrate? “The merchant who was traveling with him was so weak in the knees that he was shocked: he had been complaining about the inaction of the government all along the way, and he also said that the new county magistrate might not be better than the previous drunken county magistrate who only knew how to live a life of drunkenness and dreams.

It’s over.

“I greet you…”

“Fellow villager.” An Yinong supported the merchant who was about to kneel down.

“Thank you for your introduction along the way. I was originally very uneasy, but after your guidance, I really think that our Dingsha is a good place, a treasure land. Sooner or later, people all over the world will know that our Dingsha County produces the sweetest fruits and the best beef and mutton.”