Chapter 41 Arrival at Jinan City

After noon, the Han family caravan still had no intention of stopping. The caravan slowly entered the Dongling Mountains. There were more wild beasts on the roadside, and the official road became bumpy at this time, so everyone walked even slower.

At this time, everyone in Huajiabao got off the carriage. They followed the carriage and just had to pay attention to the goods not being thrown off the carriage.

And the Hua family horses still performed with ease, without any signs of fatigue.

Entering the Hutuo Mountain area, everyone in the Hua family became very focused. At this time, Wei Baotou walked to Hua Kai.

"Don't worry, sir. The bandits in Hutuo Mountain rarely attack when everyone enters the grassland. Besides, this time it is the Han family who leads the team. The Han family is not someone that Hutuo Mountain dares to provoke easily." Wei Baotou comforted Hua Kai when he came over.

Hua Kai jumped off the carriage. Even if the carriage had shock absorbers, the mountain road was still very bumpy. He got off the car to move around, and everyone walked and talked on the road.

"Wei Hong, you have been the leader of Huajiabao for more than ten years. The caravan relies on you on the road. What is this in your hand?" Hua Kai saw Wei Hong holding a sheepskin in his hand.

"This is the road I have traveled in the past few years, and some of it is the news given by other caravans. Look, master..." Wei Hong said as he took the map to Hua Kai. The sheepskin was densely recorded with dots of various colors. Lines of different thicknesses represented these roads, and the name of a place was also specially marked.

"This is a map of the entire north of the Central Plains. The red dots are places where caravans have suffered disasters, and the green ones indicate that supplies can be obtained here. We have just entered Hutuo Mountain. There are 12 places here that have been ambushed by bandits, and these three points have the most ambushes."

Wei Hong introduced the meaning of each dot on the map to Hua Kai one by one. It was the first time that Hua Kai had such a direct understanding of the entire grassland situation.

"I've been to many places in the Linhu grassland, and I know almost all the tribes, big and small. The tribes in the Xiongnu Kingdom are all my records from more than ten years ago, and I don't know if their tribes still exist.

When we arrive at the Huhan tribe, if we sell the goods directly to the main tribe, the profit will be far less than transporting them to the depths of the grassland, but generally the caravans have fixed tribes to cooperate with, and there are still many things we need to do for our first business trip."

Wei Baotou analyzed the 10 large tribes of the Xiongnu with more than 100,000 people for Hua Kai, among which the Huhan tribe is one of the top ten tribes and is the partner of the Han family.

It is said that a good Baotou is very important to the caravan, and Hua Kai has seen it today. With this map, the caravan is not afraid of getting lost, and the risks encountered on the road will be greatly reduced. It is not without reason that my grandfather offers Wei Hong the highest price to hire him every year.

A Baotou's map is the foundation of his own life, but Wei Hong did not hide anything from Hua Kai. He would explain everything Hua Kai didn't understand, just like teaching his own students.

When they reach the dangerous area marked by Wei Hong, Huajiabao will remain vigilant and go deep into Hutuo Mountain. The mountains here are dangerous and the forests are intricate. Wild beasts appear from time to time. The caravan can't help but slow down.

After noon, the road becomes rugged. In many places, the carriages need to pass through the mountain streams slowly. It becomes difficult for horses to move forward on such a road. It took more than an hour for everyone in Huajiabao to pass the most dangerous place.

At this time, the Han family caravan stopped to rest. Huajiabao found a flat place to set up camp and took the time to replenish the horses' physical strength. Soon the meal was ready.

The most common food for the caravan on the road is fried noodles. You can drink it by boiling hot water. It's better to have meat. Everyone will have more physical strength to travel if they eat more meat.

Because they have only been away for three days, the caravan still has a lot of wild beast meat. Today, Huakai deliberately roasted more wild beast meat so that everyone will have physical strength in the afternoon.

"Master, we have nothing to do while we are grilling meat, why don't you tell us another story from "The Three Kingdoms"!" Er Zhuang fed the horse and returned to the main tent. The beast meat was not yet grilled, so he shouted that he wanted to listen to "The Three Kingdoms".

Last night, we talked about the three heroes fighting Lu Bu, and then talked about Sun Jian taking the jade seal and fleeing to his hometown. Everyone has been thinking about this all day!

"I think you are still not tired. Can't you take a good rest? You will suffer this afternoon!" Hua Kai scolded with a smile. He felt that the relationship between the group of people who came out was closer after just a few days, and he talked to everyone more casually.

"Master, don't worry! It's not like we haven't been on the business road before. I, Zhang, have walked this road for more than ten years. This year is the easiest. This year, the carriage is so easy to go on the mountain road. I remember that we often unloaded the goods and carried them on our backs." An old hand said on the side.

"That's right, Master! Just tell us a story! It makes us so itchy. Only after you tell us the story can we have the strength to travel in the afternoon. Don't you think so?" Wei Baotou also started to make a fuss at this time!

"Since everyone wants to tell the story, I will tell one more chapter at noon today, and two chapters at night if the horses are fine. If one horse lies down, you can forget about the story!"

Hua Kai started to tell the story after he finished speaking. His [Basic Copywriting Skills] began to work on their own. Hua Kai told the stories of each character one by one, which made everyone fascinated.

Hua Kai thought that when he talked about Sun Jian being seriously injured and dying by Liu Biao, everyone was happy to see it, but he didn't expect that many people actually shed tears for Sun Jian's exit.

Everyone liked Huang Gai, Cheng Pu, Han Dang, and Zu Mao, who were loyal and brave, the most. Hua Kai understood that the thoughts of people in this world were different from those in the previous world.

When Hua Kai talked about the 9-year-old Sun Quan, everyone looked at Hua Kai with a fiery look, and everyone was silently estimating in their hearts who was more talented, Sun Quan or their own master.

After half an hour of storytelling, the meat was almost roasted, and Hua Kai gained nearly ten points of luck. The loyalty of the people accompanying him has increased rapidly in the past few days, and everyone has increased to more than 90 points. I believe that everyone will be able to enter the [Family Secret Space] list in a short time.

In the morning, the Guangxian merchant group walked more than 60 miles, and continued to set off in the afternoon until the sun set. Everyone walked more than 120 miles. There are still more than 10 miles to the Jinan National Checkpoint. Everyone in the Hua family caravan is exhausted, and the horses have been changed several times on the road. Even the horse that Uncle Wu is about to break through the BMW level is harnessed to the cart, but the Han family caravan still has no intention of stopping.

Hua Xing rode back on Lieyan. The merchant group was safe at the checkpoint. No thieves dared to attack the caravan near the checkpoint. The checkpoints designed by various countries are not only to collect checkpoint fees, but also to protect the safety of the people in their own territories.

"Hold on a little longer, everyone can have a good rest when we get to the checkpoint. Now we are probably in the third place among all the caravans. Our life will be better after today." Hua Xing came back on horseback to encourage everyone. He saw that a horse could not move anymore, so he put Lieyan on the shaft of the carriage, took off his armor and put the weapons in the carriage, and went to push the carriage behind the carriage.

On the fifth day of March, there was only a crescent moon in the sky, and everyone could only vaguely see the road ahead when it shone on the earth. The Hua family caravan was moving slowly on the mountain road with torches. The Jia family caravan in front was moving slower and slower, and the caravan behind was no longer visible.

Finally, everyone saw a light in the distance, and everyone was shocked. The Jinan national checkpoint was finally reached.

When the Hua family caravan arrived at the Jinan national checkpoint, they saw that the gate was closed and there was no intention to open it. Now it was past the opening time, and they had to wait until tomorrow when the guards checked all the caravans' goods and road permits before they could let them pass.

Hua Kai saw that the Han family team had occupied the best position outside the city gate, but they had not yet set up the tent. The team members were so tired that they lay on the ground and did not want to move. Even some horses lay on the ground and did not want to get up.

After the Hua family had dinner, they took care of the horses and rested, and then came to the main tent door on time. No matter how tired they were, they seemed to be unable to let go of the story of "Three Kingdoms" in their hearts.

Other caravans from Guang County only arrived slowly at this time. Although this competition was tiring, they could also roughly see the strength of each family.

The Guang County merchant group gathered together again, and the attitudes of other caravans towards the Hua family members began to change greatly. They began to take the initiative to talk to the Hua family members. The prestige and relationship of a family are accumulated bit by bit.

The next morning, Hua Kai walked out of the big tent and saw that there were caravans crowded behind him. Some caravans had obviously just arrived at the checkpoint, and the whole checkpoint became unusually noisy. At this time, the city gate was finally opened.

The Han family raised their flag high, and they were the first to arrive at the city gate under the gaze of countless caravans behind them. A team of guards went out to check their goods. After more than ten minutes, the Han family caravan slowly passed the checkpoint.

When the Hua family caravan arrived, a captain-like man came to Hua Kai, first looked at his pass, and then carefully checked every carriage, even the bags of coarse salt and gray sugar. If they were found to have brought extra things that did not match the pass, they would have to pay a large toll.

After passing the checkpoint, it was quite prosperous here. Jinan State had one capital and 12 counties, and Yuling Pass was considered a county, with a population of less than 5,000, which was not a little worse than Guang County.

In fact, the largest city in Jinan State, Jinan City, had a population of more than 50,000. It was close to the Dongling Mountains and the living environment was much worse than Guang County. Most of Jinan State's income depended on passing caravans. Hua Kai saw that the market here was quite large.

The caravans were setting up their positions. Some Jinan families came here to buy goods. Hua Kai found the flag of the Han family caravan. They were replacing their horses here, selling some tired horses for a loss, and then replenishing some horses with sufficient physical strength.

The business trip had just begun. Many caravans changed horses along the way. When they ran out of money, they sold some goods. The further north they went, the less goods the caravan had. The farther they went, the more money they made.

Hua Kai asked his grandfather to go to the Han family to ask when they would set off today. As a result, the Han family said that everyone could move freely and gather outside Jinan at noon tomorrow. Some of the fine wine they brought this time would be sent to Jinan City.

Jinan was only more than 30 miles away from Yuling Pass. Hua Kai saw 4 strong horses with good physical strength that were about to break through at Yuling Pass. He bought them for less than 7 gold and sold two horses with poor physical fitness of the caravan. In this way, the caravan had 28 horses. The two horses were sold for 36 gold. The price of horses in Jinan was much lower than that in Guangxian.

The caravan stopped at Yuling Pass. From time to time, people came to ask if the Hua family caravan had any goods to sell. Hua Kai found that the price of fine wine in Jinan was quite good. One catty of 4 silver was twice that of Guang County. Hua Kai was thinking whether to go to Jinan City to sell a few jars of fine wine. This fine wine was too difficult to transport.

After passing Jinan, it was considered to be out of the Qingzhou area, and out of Qingzhou, it was out of the territory of Qi. The Hua family did not intend to make much money from fine wine, so Hua Kai decided to go to Jinan City at noon to sell a batch of fine wine to understand the situation in Jinan.

At noon, they had lunch at an inn in Yuling Pass, and the Hua family caravan began to drive towards Jinan City.

The closer they got to Jinan City, the more caravans came and went on the road. When they arrived outside Jinan City, Hua Kai saw that this place was like a big market. Hundreds of caravans stretched for more than ten miles and stopped outside Jinan City. Some people were selling cooked food everywhere. Hua Kai unloaded all the horses from the carriage. Just when he was about to upgrade the newly purchased strong horse, he saw a large group of people surrounding them.

"Do you have any wine for sale in your caravan? My father wants to drink and asked me to go out of town to buy some." A child who looked only about 10 years old dared to go out of town alone to buy wine, which shows how strong the business culture is here.

"We have Guangxian wine, one catty costs 6 silver. If you want, we can sell you some." Hua Kai glanced at the boy and said.

In Jinan City, fine wine usually costs dozens of bone coins. Hua Kai said that his fine wine costs 6 silver. The boy did not doubt it. He took out 10 taels of silver and stared at the wine jar excitedly. The more expensive the wine, the more delicious it is. Generally, caravans dare not pass off inferior goods as good ones. If they are caught, they may not be able to trade in the future.

Hua Kai opened the stopper of the wine jar, and the strong aroma of wine immediately wafted away. The boy licked his lips happily and handed Hua Kai a wine pot. Others around him were so excited that the aroma of wine came over.

A jar of wine weighing more than 250 kilograms was divided in less than half an hour. At this time, a man came up to ask, he wanted to buy a whole jar.

"If a whole jar is over 250 jin, I'll give you 15 gold. I'll give you the jar too. It's not easy for us to transport the wine from Guang County." Guang County's fine wine was only known before the New Year. Hua Kai estimated that the price of this wine would drop soon.

"Okay, do you buy spiritual medicine? I have a night spirit grass here. What price can you give?" The man said and took a stone box.

Hua Kai knew about the night spirit grass. Many elixirs in the [Family Secret Space] can use the night spirit grass. In Linzi City, the night spirit grass is also a relatively rare spiritual grass. The price of one plant is about 180 gold.

Hua Kai opened the stone box and used the [Eye of Truth] to check.

Dogtail grass (mutation): ordinary wild grass, perfect for feeding horses.

This guy actually dared to lie! Hua Kai slowly closed the stone box and gave it back to the other party: "You should pay the gold! If you don't have gold, forget it!"

When the people in Huajiabao saw this, they knew that this man was a liar and quietly surrounded him. The caravan was not so easy to fool. If you dare to use fake medicine to deceive people, even if you are killed, most people will not say anything.

"If you don't accept it, I will pay gold. This is 15 gold. Check it." The man saw that his conspiracy was exposed, and hurriedly took out a gold bar and five gold coins. After paying the money, the man called his servants to move a large jar of fine wine onto his carriage and left soon.

In the afternoon, other caravans from Guang County did not come to Jinan City. They might still be repairing in Lingguan. The fine wine of the Hua family sold very quickly outside Jinan City. Four large jars were sold in one afternoon. Hua Kai had 62 more gold in his hands. He went to the horse market in Jinan City and bought 5 strong horses that could be upgraded. In this way, Huajiabao had 35 horses, and it would be easier to pull the cart in turn.