Chapter Eighteen: A Small Mountain Village by the Ma Lian River

  After crossing Qinling Mountains and passing over the Ziwu River, Hanzhong is right in front of you.

  There is a small town called Shiba Li Pu 18 miles east of Hanzhong City, which has also developed from the rest stops of merchants coming and going. There are wine shops, inns, and even many shops.

  Chen An, who was originally going to Hanzhong, rushed to Shili Pavilion and felt very good. He immediately ordered the cavalry to rest here for two days and purchase some supplies.

  They found a clever shop assistant to guide them, Chen An and Hu Zi changed into clean clothes and went out for a stroll.

  "It's only eighteen miles from Hanzhong City, originally a small village. Because merchant teams found it inconvenient to rest in the city, someone invested and built an inn, which later became prosperous. The shops are also set up by big merchants from the city, with prices being the same as those in the city. If goods need to be purchased in large quantities, they can be delivered from the city within half a day." The shopkeeper, who had taken advantage of the situation, spoke enthusiastically and urged Chen An to buy more.

  Chen An couldn't help but laugh, guessing that the shopkeeper would still get a commission, otherwise why would he be so enthusiastic in his persuasion. At the time, he didn't think much of it and bought some small trinkets, also giving the shopkeeper some face.

  As they passed by an antique shop, Xiao Er simply introduced it briefly and didn't intend to take Chen An inside, probably because such valuable goods are not something ordinary people would buy.

  He patted Xiao Er's shoulder, and Chen An smiled and slipped into the store. Xiao Er was stunned for a moment, then followed him in with excitement, as he would make a good profit from this deal, enough to keep him busy for almost a month.

  Antiques in a prosperous era are worth more than gold in a chaotic one. However, in antique shops, these two things are often placed together.

  The shop assistant quickly came to greet them, and after exchanging pleasantries, he immediately winked at the young shopkeeper who followed behind, apparently they were quite familiar with each other.

  The shop assistant in the antique store was talking nonsense, Chen An just smiled and looked around, without any intention of buying, the little shop assistant was a bit disappointed.

  A deal was not made after a round of negotiations, and the partner's mouth was dry and his tongue was parched. He glared at the shop assistant behind him with some resentment, but was still polite to Chen An. The shop assistant quickly shrank back and awkwardly slipped away to the back.

  Chen An didn't think much of it and suddenly pointed at a silver dagger saying, "How much is this?"

  The fellow was overjoyed and finally had a name, so he hastily came forward again with another round of persuasion.

  Holding in his hand a silver dagger weighing only a few taels, it was finally talked up by the shopkeeper as a masterpiece and he had to spend 40 taels of silver to get it. At least in the end, he managed to get a good leather scabbard for it. Chen An rubbed his nose, this shopkeeper's mouth was really formidable, buying things would be better left to Lin Yushan, he himself was not cut out for haggling.

  The fellow's eyes rolled around and he recommended, "This young master, actually we have another golden dagger of the same type."

  Chen An was taken aback, it seemed that he had been mistaken for a wealthy young master. The golden dagger, with its soft material, what use could it have? It's probably only good for hanging on the wall as decoration. Upon further thought, giving the silver dagger to Yue'er and buying a golden one for himself would be a good thing, just enough to make a pair.

  Call the shopkeeper over and have him go get Lin Yushan. Chen Anxing enthusiastically started playing with a golden dagger he had retrieved from under the cabinet, without even asking the price, leaving his partner bewildered.

  Lin Yushan hastily arrived, and after a round of haggling, he managed to bring the price of the golden dagger from 500 taels of silver down to 350. The shop assistant was left stunned, sweating profusely, repeatedly examining the dagger in wonder at how he had previously been unaware of its many flaws.

  Chen An struggled to hold back his laughter and hastily called Hu Zi to bring the money to pay the bill. Three hundred and fifty taels was not a small amount, no one would carry so much silver on their person, it was really too heavy.

  Returning to the inn, Chen An laughed uncontrollably, causing Liu Shi to almost think that their young master had gone mad.

  After laughing, it's time to get down to business. Chen An has learned his lesson this time and let Lin Yushan accompany Liu Shi to buy grain and clothing. Since it's a horse team, they have to purchase some supplies. Besides, Mr. Chen and the others will be coming over soon for Chinese New Year, who knows if their hometown has enough supplies?

  After half a day, Liu Shi and Lin Yushan returned empty-handed. Chen An was surprised, what's wrong, didn't you buy anything at the Eighteen Mile Store?

  Originally, there were two roads from Hanzhong to Longnan. The northern route passed through Baimaguan to Jiezhou, while the southern route went to Sichuan's Zhaohua along the waterway to Bikuai dock and then headed north. Although the southern route was a bit farther and took more time, it was a major thoroughfare, and water transportation was also convenient for transporting large quantities of goods, with actual benefits being higher.

  The Bailong River from Biku to Zhaohua has a gentle current and slow flow, making it very suitable for navigation. Below it is connected to the Jialing River and leads to the Yangtze River waterway. Therefore, Biku also became a bustling waterfront on the Bailong River, with merchant ships lined up, horns sounding loudly, and docks standing densely along the shore, known as one of the four famous towns in Gansu Province, an important commercial thoroughfare between Gansu and Sichuan provinces.

  All the merchants that Liu Shi contacted suggested they take the south route to transport goods. One honest old shopkeeper, seeing that Liu Shi was mainly buying grain, even suggested that it would be better to buy in Sichuan, where prices were lower than in Hanzhong. Liu Shi and his group decided not to go down, so they had to come back and ask Young Master Chen. After thinking about it for a moment, Chen An decided to buy over ten carts of goods and take the horse road, but he would place an order with the merchants to deliver the bulk goods to Bikuai, and then send someone to pick them up. Since there was such a dock available, they should make full use of it.

  "Those antiques are only for looking, can't be eaten, what's the use of them, just thinking of ways to get rid of them. Might as well buy some grain and clothes here instead. Hmm, let's buy more cured meat and stuff like that. The horse team, can't just leave it empty." Chen An said carelessly, not even thinking about the useless pair he had just bought.

  Liu Shi and Lin Yushan were about to leave when Chen An called them back, "Let's go tomorrow, rest today. Call that shopkeeper too, let him recommend some trustworthy merchants."

  Two days later, a team of nearly thirty horse-drawn carriages was ready to depart.

  Chen An looked at the horse-drawn carriages behind him and shook his head. More than 20,000 kilograms of grain had filled more than 20 carriages, which was only enough for a month's worth of rations for over 200 people. No more carriages could be added, after all, there were not enough hands to manage them. The efficiency of the horse-drawn carriages was really low, Chen An thought about the trains in Liaodong, if there were railways, a train of cars could transport several thousand soldiers and horses, that would be impressive.

  All of a sudden, he got rid of tens of thousands of taels of antiques, and it was too much trouble to exchange them for silver. He simply exchanged many gold bars, packed several boxes, and piled the rest of the gold and silver together in a mess, put them in a horse-drawn carriage, and had them strictly guarded.

  The horse-drawn carriage looked magnificent, but in fact it didn't cost much. The main problem was that the grain was too heavy, and so many carts of grain were not worth as much as Chen An's golden dagger. Of course, if there was a famine year, its value would double. Liu Shi also negotiated with several major merchants to deliver goods to Biku Dock, which was the real big head, and just the deposit alone was 2,000 taels of silver.

  The mountain is getting higher and higher, and the water is getting more and more urgent.

  Many people in the cavalry are also from Gansu, and after joining the army, they have been transferred to many places, and it has been a long time since they returned to their hometown. Looking at the scenery of their hometown, some of them were ecstatic.

  "What kind of grass is this?" Chen An, who was originally from Gansu but had not stayed there for many years, asked as he looked at the green and upright leaves of the plant by the side of the road.

  "This is the horse lotus flower, it's everywhere in our old home. Every spring and summer, the whole mountain is full of this kind of flower, very beautiful. There is a river at the edge of the village, called Ma Lian River. Behind our old house is a large lawn, to the north is Xiong Huang Mountain, very high." Liu Shi is much older than Chen An, and still has some impression of his hometown.

  Chen An walked over to one side and picked some up to give to the horse. The horse sniffed them, chewed a few times, then spat them out and refused to eat them.

  Liu Shi smiled and said, "Young master, the leaves of the horse lotus are very tough. Livestock don't eat fresh grass, but they love dry hay. This thing is often stacked as dry hay for winter storage."

  Chen An made a fool of himself and glared at Liu Shi several times before reluctantly mounting his horse to continue on the journey.

  The mountain is steep and winding in many places, driving a horse-drawn carriage requires great care, for fear of accidentally falling off the mountain.

  Crossing the Bailong River, Liu Shi looked at the map and said hesitantly, "I think we've taken a wrong turn. I don't remember crossing the Bailong River."

  Zhao Si chuckled and continued, "You're mistaken, there's still a river called Baishui River ahead, Old Master Chen's old home should be north of the Baishui River and west of the Baidongjiang River."

  Liu Shi also made a mistake, Chen An was suddenly very happy.

  Soon, the Malian River was found, and walking upstream along the river, countless small streams flowed down from both sides, and there were really lotus flowers everywhere.

  The mountain road was not easy to walk on, and it was clear that the mountains were high and the valleys were deep. After turning a few bends, Liu Shi suddenly pointed ahead, "Young master, we've arrived, the village in front is it."

  Just then, Chen An hastily looked ahead and saw a small hill by the Mali River, with sharp rocks and many tall trees, set against the scattered terraced fields that had been seen all along the way, giving off a unique flavor. At the foot of the mountain was a patch of flat land, not too big or too small, where a dilapidated village stood out prominently.

  It's really a dilapidated village, looking almost abandoned, if it weren't for the wisps of smoke still rising.

  Wiping his eyes, Chen An was a bit incredulous and turned to ask, "Shitou, is this really the village? It looks like it's been looted, not even a wall around it, and the houses are almost falling down."

  Liu Shi rubbed his head, also puzzled. "It can't be wrong, I used to walk this mountain road when I was a kid. But how did the village become so dilapidated? I don't know either. My second uncle should be in the village." Liu Shi's second uncle was the one who stayed behind to take care of the estate back then.

  The cavalry immediately stopped and stood guard. Liu Shi led a few people, carrying left-wheel pistols, to go in and take a look around. Zhao Si didn't wait for orders and quickly arranged the sentries to patrol all around.

  It's really strange, old man said this place is very good, how come it's so desolate? Chen An furrowed his brow.