Chapter 292

Jiang Jinshi smiled cheekily. "Don't worry! I'm pretending to be a merchant this time, and I won't show up with my real identity, so I won't attract attention."

"Since that's the case, I'll prepare the goods for you tomorrow to go to Jiangnan!" Li Xinyue had already thought about what goods Jiang Jinshi should take to Jiangnan.

Jiang Jinshi nodded. "During my absence from the border, Luo Feng will act as the commander, and Jiang Ze, Zhang Honghong, and Nie Fengyun will assist, so there should be no major problems! I will go for two months at the shortest, three months at the longest, and I will definitely return!"

Three days later, a merchant caravan of more than thirty people set off from Beijiang.

Jiang Jinshi used the pseudonym "Jiang Shi" and pretended to be the owner of the merchant caravan, while Xiexiezi used his original name "Bai Ting" as his deputy and head of guards.

Huang Yan, Yan Wu, and Han Xiao pretended to be guards escorting the goods, and everything looked normal.

The merchant caravan carried Beijiang specialties: high-quality fur, precious medicinal materials, jade raw materials, and the glass and white sugar specially prepared by Li Xinyue, heading south.

The first three were naturally to cover up, while glass and white sugar were the main goods.

It was midsummer, and the further south they went, the hotter the climate became.

Jiang Jinshi took off his heavy Beijiang clothes, changed into a silk long gown common in the south, and held a folding fan, looking like a merchant.

"Commander, no, owner!" Bai Ting changed his address. "Ahead is Guansong Ridge, should we rest here?"

Jiang Jinshi shook his fan and said: "Rest at Guansong Ridge for a day. Guansong Ridge is a north-south fortress, gathering merchants and well-informed, so take this opportunity to observe."

Jiang Jinshi had been to Guansong Ridge before, but hadn't really entered the pass, so he took this opportunity to travel.

Coming to the city gate, the guards guarding the city didn't make things difficult for them, but only charged ten coins per person as an entry fee.

Jiang Jinshi looked at the household contract in his hand with a smile that was not a smile, and lowered his voice to say to Bai Ting: "The household contract issued by our Ming Army, unexpectedly it can be used in the south!"

To prevent accidents, they also specially brought the household contract issued by the Great Qian before they left, fearing that the other party wouldn't recognize it, but they didn't expect the city entry to be so smooth.

Bai Ting shook his head. "Perhaps the Imperial Court hasn't issued an order to target it yet, and this city lord doesn't know how to deal with it, so he acquiesced to this household contract."

"I think that must be the case!" Not understanding the inside story, Jiang Jinshi could only think so.

Guansong Ridge is also called the Triple Pass. They just passed the first pass. There are usually more Beijiang merchants here, and they can be distinguished from their clothes and the goods they buy and sell.

Jiang Jinshi walked around casually, but didn't find anything interesting, so he hurried to the second pass with the merchant caravan.

The stairs between these three passes are not few, and the position of one pass is lower than the other. After passing the third pass, you reach the Central Plains, but it is still quite a distance from the capital or Jiangnan.

In the second pass, there are fewer ordinary merchants, and there are more local residents, whose living habits are somewhat similar to Beijiang, but different in details.

"Let's go! Find an inn in the third pass to rest!" Jiang Jinshi saw that the sky was getting dark and was in no hurry to rush.

The merchant caravan stayed in a large inn in the third pass. After settling down, Jiang Jinshi took a few people to the teahouse in the city to inquire about news.

The teahouse was full of people, including north-south merchants and local scholars.

Jiang Jinshi chose a seat by the window, ordered a pot of Longjing and some tea snacks, and listened quietly to the conversations around him.

Several young men who looked like scholars were talking loudly at the neighboring table.

"I heard that the chief examiner for this year's imperial examination is Elder Si, who values practical learning the most."

"Exactly, rote memorization of the Four Books and Five Classics probably won't work. I have been studying books on practical affairs hard recently, just to deal with practical questions."

"Speaking of practical affairs, Beijiang has had a severe drought for three years, I don't know how it is this year?"

One person shook his head and sighed: "Beijiang is cold and bitter, and it's already difficult. A distant relative of mine once served as an official there, but he returned home due to illness in less than a year, saying that the folk customs there are fierce, and literary education is not prosperous, making it difficult to govern."

Jiang Jinshi picked up the teacup, his expression unchanged. Bai Ting frowned, but seeing Jiang Jinshi's calm expression, he pressed his words.

Then he heard another person say: "That may be so, but I heard that Beijiang has improved quite a bit this year under the governance of that Jiang-surnamed righteous army commander, with strong military power and gradually peaceful people's livelihood."

"Military generals governing politics is ultimately not a long-term solution. Governing the country still requires literati, and what Beijiang lacks is exactly this."

Jiang Jinshi listened quietly for a long time until several people left.

"Owner! What do you think of these people?" Bai Ting asked, as he couldn't see any emotion on Jiang Jinshi's face just now.

Jiang Jinshi shook his head in disappointment: "They talk about major national affairs, but no one can get to the point, and there are no unique insights."

However, Jiang Jinshi was not in a hurry. Where are they now? There is still quite a distance to Jiangnan, and he hopes that it won't disappoint him there.

Five days later, Jiang Jinshi and his party arrived in Xuzhou.

They were in no hurry along the way, having quite a bit of leisure to travel. There was no sign of doing business at all.

"You don't say, the food in Xuzhou is really good!" Huang Yan's cheeks were bulging, eating and drinking without any image.

Jiang Jinshi was much more natural. After all, the food in his previous life was more flavorful, even if there was a lot of "technology" in it.

Yan Wu introduced: "Xuzhou is located at the border, with northern sheep, southern fish, and local wheat, creating a unique flavor here."

"Old Yan, have you been here before?" Bai Ting fanned himself with a paper fan, learning from those literati.

Yan Wu shook his head. "Never been here, but I have indeed eaten the food here when I was in the capital."

Except for Yan Wu, everyone else in the group was leaving Beijiang for the first time, so naturally they didn't have much knowledge.

Yan Wu continued: "Xuzhou has developed water transport and happens to be at the border, so there are indeed many people coming and going from the south and north! Perhaps we can have some gains in Xuzhou."

"Forget it!" Jiang Jinshi shook his head. "There are indeed many people coming and going from the south and north, but their goals are very clear. Merchants think about trading, and literati only pass through here to go to Jiangnan. It's better for us to go directly to Jiangnan!"

"That's true!"

A few days later, the merchant caravan arrived in Yangzhou. The prosperity of Yangzhou was even better than Xuzhou. Thousands of sails were competing on the Grand Canal, and goods were piled up like mountains on the wharf.

Jiang Jinshi looked at the endless stream of people, the shouting and calling in his ears, and couldn't help but sigh: "It's really much more prosperous than Beijiang!"

Yan Wu opened his mouth at the right time: "This doesn't count as anything, it's far worse than the capital!"

Huang Yan stepped forward to complain: "The capital is nothing good, compared to our Beijiang, it's not even a hair!"

"You are narrow-minded! Although our place is good, we have to admit the prosperity of other places!" Han Xiao had never seen such a scene in so many years, and always felt that the new things here were really many.

"This place is okay! Let's find an inn and stay for a few more days!" Jiang Jinshi waved his hand and led the merchant caravan toward the inn in a grand manner.