Chapter 47 Salt Owl

Qi Xuansu spent about fifty Taiping coins to buy a horse, some compacted hay, a windproof cloak, and some food, medicine, clothes, and water, and then left Xiping Prefecture.

For Qi Xuansu, Yongzhou did not leave him with too many good memories. The Yishan City, the Western Gobi, the Eastern Oasis, the Cowenbu, the Kunlun Pass, the Xingxiu Sea, the Salt Lake, the Zhaling Lake, and the Jiuwagang were always accompanied by various evil cults and monsters, as well as various dangers.

Next, he would leave Yongzhou and head to Tianshui Prefecture in Liangzhou.

Qi Xuansu galloped on the wide official road, and a cloud of dust rolled up behind him.

If you look down from the sky, the huge plain is endless, but there is no human habitation. There is not much green, just the color of the yellow sand Gobi. There is a small black dot moving with dust. Compared with the vast land, it is so small that it can be ignored.

It seems that the dim sky and the vast land have become one, and they can no longer be distinguished from each other.

The northwest is not as prosperous as the south of the Yangtze River, but the vast desert, high sky and wide clouds give people a lot of heroic feelings. The south of the Yangtze River, which is rich in water and too densely populated, cannot run horses like this.

After running like this for a day, Qi Xuansu did not choose to enter the city, but found a place in the wild that was sheltered from the wind to spend the night. Although it was chilly in spring, it was located in the northwest, and the night was even colder. However, Qi Xuansu had strong blood and strong physique, and with the help of true qi to keep warm, even if he could not be immune to cold and heat, he was not afraid of the night cold.

However, Qi Xuansu still lit a pile of fire, sat cross-legged in front of the fire, and practiced qi silently.

As he became more and more proficient in practicing qi, Qi Xuansu no longer needed to enter the state of meditation and internal vision. As long as he sat in a posture with his five hearts facing the sky, he could circulate the Zhoutian by himself, and it was okay to talk with others during the period. Just like riding a horse, beginners must be careful and dare not be distracted at all. When you are proficient in horsemanship, riding a horse is instinctive, and you can use other things while riding, such as archery, chopping, lassoing, etc.

After reaching the return to the true stage, the three major dantians in the body are opened up to form a large circle, and the true qi in the body flows automatically. There is no need to deliberately practice qi, just like someone can eat and sleep on a horse.

As for the heavenly man, this statement mainly comes from the earthly immortal path, comprehending the principles of heaven and earth, seeking the way of unity between heaven and man, and forming a circle with heaven and earth, that is another statement.

At this time, suddenly saw a group of people coming hurriedly from the west road.

Qi Xuansu was distracted at a glance. But I saw that this group of people were wearing the same sheepskin coats, carrying shoulder poles, and the white stuff in the poles was actually salt.

There are four types of salt: sea salt, lake salt, well salt, and mineral salt. Sea salt is mainly concentrated in coastal areas, while lake salt and mineral salt are the main sources in the inland areas. There are salt fields of lake salt around Cowinbu, and there are several large salt mines in Yongzhou. Everyone cannot live without salt, but salt and iron are the exclusive business of the imperial court, and the profits are huge, so private salt dealers are rampant. These people are fierce and strong, and they seem to be a group of salt smugglers. The shoulder poles carried by each of them are not light, at least 200 kilograms.

Although everyone is carrying 200 kilograms of heavy objects, they walk very quickly, which shows that they are all people with cultivation. Even if they are not born with it, they are the best among the acquired people.

This is a gang.

Gangs are also associations, but they lack the word "secret". At least they are in accordance with the rules in Taoism. As for the imperial court's crackdown on private salt dealers, it is another matter.

Gathered for profit, these gangs sell private salt and have no shortage of money, so they are very powerful and have some good players. If it were normal times, Qi Xuansu would have gone to investigate, but at this time, thinking of the task assigned by Qi Niang, he could not delay any more because of meddling in other people's business, so he let go of his pace and hurried on. In the evening, he came to a small town near the border of Yongzhou and found a small inn to stay.

Qi Xuansu did not eat the meal in the inn, but took out his own dry food to eat. Suddenly, he heard a commotion in the inn and a group of people came to stay. Hearing those people talking with full energy, it was obvious that they were practicing. Qi Xuansu looked out the door and saw that they were the group of salt smugglers he met on the way.

Qi Xuansu did not care, and replaced sleep with meditation and continued to practice qi.

He slept until the middle of the night, and suddenly heard a noise, and Qi Xuansu woke up from meditation.

Qi Xuansu looked out through the window and saw that the group of salt smugglers were carrying their burdens out of the house.

Seeing this group of people acting sneakily, Qi Xuansu was finally aroused by curiosity, and quietly left the room and followed behind.

In the dark night, the group of people carrying loads on their shoulders were vaguely seen, walking in the wilderness. Qi Xuansu followed silently behind them. The private smugglers seemed to have important things to do, and they were eager to hurry and did not look back, so they did not notice.

Along the way, people kept gathering from other directions, also carrying shoulder poles filled with white salt. In the end, there were about a hundred people, and they walked in one direction.

After walking for more than an hour, they came to a dry river, which was close to the border between Yongzhou and Liangzhou. The group finally stopped.

There was also a group of people waiting here, driving a carriage, and someone said, "We are finally here."

One of the salt smugglers also said, "Twenty thousand kilograms of high-quality mineral salt, are you ready for the peace money?"

Neither side used the jargon of the underworld, and it was obvious that they were familiar with each other and would not go looking for trouble.

"It has been prepared for a long time. The official ticket of the Taiping Bank is immediately redeemable for two hundred yuan of Taiping money." The person over there responded, "Qingluan Guards have been tightening their investigations recently. Large transactions are too easy to be exposed, so they can only do it secretly." Do a small business and work hard to transport salt.”

Someone on Yan Xiao's side took the official ticket and complained: "We, brothers from No. 100, only have two hundred Taiping coins in total. After dividing the profits, each of us only has two Taiping coins."

The person over there said: "That's good. You can earn two taiping coins a day, which is 60 taiping coins a month. A fifth-grade Taoist priest from the Taoist sect only earns 50 taiping coins a month. You earn more than a fifth-grade Taoist priest from the Taoist sect." So many, do you still want to compete with those mages?"

"This is hard-earned money. Those Taoist priests made it while drinking tea. Can it be compared?" Yan Xiao protested.

The man said happily: "Of course there is no comparison, but who wants to make someone else's life better? Brother, just accept your fate."

In the early years of this dynasty, before the introduction of new coins, each pound of salt in Huzhou, Wuzhou and Jinling Prefecture sold for three and four cents of silver. A pound of salt sells for one cent and five cents of silver. Silver is sold in Jinling area for one cent and two cents.

One tael is equal to ten cents, one cent is equal to ten cents, and one cent is equal to ten cents.

Converted into today's Taiping coins, one silver coin is equivalent to one small round, one small round is equivalent to one hundred wishful coins, and one cent of silver is equivalent to ten wishful coins.

One cent and two cents is 12 ruyi coins, and 4 cents is 40 ruyi coins.

For ordinary people, it is indeed very expensive.

Calculated in this way, two hundred Taiping money buys 20,000 kilograms of mineral salt, that is, one yuan Taiping money buys one hundred kilograms of mineral salt. No wonder private salt is so popular, it is indeed cheap.

However, Qi Xuansu was greatly disappointed.

This group of people was mysterious and mysterious. He thought it was some big deal, but it turned out to be a private salt transaction.

However, this is the most real world of martial arts, with swords and swords and bloodshed, but most of the time it is just for a living, with the word "profit" taking precedence, and even grievances and grudges are relatively secondary matters.

Just as Qi Xuansu was about to leave, he suddenly heard the sound of horse hooves in the distance, and more than ten fast horses galloped towards him. Someone shouted loudly amidst the sound of hoofbeats: "The yellow sky has been established, and the world is blessed."

The two groups were immediately silent. After a while, someone trembled: "It's the people from the 'Tianting' who have arrived..."

Qi Xuansu was hiding in the dark and heard clearly, and couldn't help but find it funny.

The original sentence of "The sky is dead, the yellow sky will stand, and the world will be auspicious" was the slogan when the Taiping Dao Uprising swept the world, which was two thousand years ago. It happened a while ago. At that time, Zhengyiyi was still called Tianshi Sect. It had just defeated the ancient witch sect, entrenched itself in Shuzhou for a generation, and proclaimed itself the king.

Nowadays, the Tianshi Sect has become obsolete and has been established as a righteous sect. The Taiping Dao no longer shouts "Heaven is dead, Huang Tian shall be established". What it talks about is rules, principles and laws.

Unexpectedly, "Tian Ting" picked up the discarded slogans of Taiping Dao and made them their own with slight changes. They are truly a group of delusional people.

After a while, the people from the "Tianting" arrived.