Chapter 56 Tianshan Huodu
The journey from Jiangnan to Tianshan is thousands of miles long. Along the way, one not only has to pass through the Song-Mongol border, but also through more than a dozen large and small heavily guarded passes and fortresses.

If Liu Xunyi rode alone, it would be difficult for him to pass through the customs smoothly. In order to avoid any trouble, Liu Xunyi disguised himself as a coolie in Xingyuan Prefecture and mixed into a caravan heading to Huodu in the Western Regions. He followed the caravan for more than a month before arriving at Huodu, the only town in the northern foothills of Tianshan Mountain.

Huodu is called a city, but in fact, its size is only the size of a county in the Central Plains. The city is not prosperous, but lively. This place was once a trade fortress under the jurisdiction of Western Liao. After the fall of Western Liao, this place belonged to Jin. Soon after, Jin followed the footsteps of Western Liao, and this place fell into the hands of the Mongols.

In just a few decades, Huodu changed hands one after another, so that the ethnic groups living here today are very complex. People from Khitan, Turkic, Tibetan, Han, Mongolian, Jurchen and other ethnic groups have settled here. It can be said that there are all kinds of people here.

However, because Huodu was a fortress for trade between the East and the West, although it changed hands several times, it did not affect the survival of Huodu's various industries. Because Huodu had a large population and a mixed population of good and bad, whether it was the Western Liao Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty or the Mongols, they all turned a blind eye to this place when they ruled. As long as there was no national war, they often took a laissez-faire attitude towards Huodu and allowed it to be free and unrestrained.

It was in such a generous environment that the Tianshan Jade Dragon Palace, the leader of the four pagan religions, was born and grew stronger with the war. Today, Huodu has become a private city under the command of the Tianshan Jade Dragon Palace. The government in Huodu is in name only, and all rules and regulations are decided by the Tianshan Jade Dragon Palace.

When Liu Xunyi followed the caravan into the city, he found that there were no soldiers guarding the city gate. After entering the city, the people he met were of all kinds, in groups of three or five, forming gangs and factions. From their clothes, it was easy to tell that these people belonged to different nationalities. Among them, the Han people behaved the most restrained, while the Mongols were the most rampant.

Actually, this is not surprising. Although Huodu is a lawless place, it is now under the jurisdiction of the Mongol Khan after all, and the surrounding passes are also stationed with Mongolian soldiers and horses. Therefore, the Mongols here are naturally superior.

From the moment he entered the city gate, Liu Xunyi discovered that Huodu was very different from the towns in the Central Plains. If everything in the towns of the Song Dynasty was exquisite and delicate, then everything in Huodu was undoubtedly rough and crude.

The crooked streets were paved with bluestone slabs of varying sizes and with many potholes. The gaps between the slabs were so wide that there was enough space for a foot to be inserted, which showed how careless the road paving workers were at that time.

Perhaps because goods are often pulled by horses, the streets in Huodu are very wide. However, with vendors setting up stalls on both sides, the road left in the middle does not seem so wide.

On both sides of the street are uneven blue brick and tile houses, some of which are inhabited, while most of them have been converted into shops. There are also crisscrossing alleys that slant on both sides of the street like arrows. The brick and tile houses in the alleys are in dilapidated condition. Some of the courtyard doors are only half closed, and some windows are covered with oil paper. What's worse, even the courtyard walls are in ruins. Standing on the street, you can see the life scene in the courtyard at a glance.

What surprised Liu Xunyi the most was that whether in the streets or in the alleys, traces of swords and iron tools could be seen everywhere. It was not difficult to guess that fights often occurred in the city, which showed how tough the local people were.

Walking on the street, there were shouts and roars of different tones everywhere, as if the people living here would not speak calmly, and would shout loudly as soon as they opened their mouths. Living here for a long time, I was used to it, but for a newcomer like Liu Xunyi, I always mistakenly thought that almost everyone on the street was shouting at each other, and the hostility was too strong, which made him feel irritated.

Although Huodu looks very shabby, the city is bustling with people. Almost every street and every shop is packed with people. One has to admit that this place is indeed very lively.

Rough, tough, shabby, lively and noisy, this is Liu Xunyi's personal experience of Huodu.

"Oh!"

Just as Liu Xunyi was moving slowly forward with the carriage, looking around with a pair of curious eyes, he was suddenly hit hard by someone. Caught off guard, Liu Xunyi felt his shoulders sink and subconsciously looked up, only to see four ferocious-looking Western men standing in front of him.

Before Liu Xunyi could apologize, the sturdy man who had just bumped into Liu Xunyi started yelling at him. Although Liu Xunyi couldn't understand his language, it was not difficult to guess from his extremely ferocious facial features and aggressive aura that what he said was definitely not good.

"What did you say?" Liu Xunyi was irritated by the strange smell emanating from the strong man from the Western Regions. He subconsciously took a step back and waved his hand, saying, "I don't understand what you are saying."

"You Song dog, you walk without eyes!" The sturdy man seemed to realize that he and Liu Xunyi couldn't communicate with each other, so he immediately changed his words and shouted, "You're looking for death!"

Being pointed at and called a Song dog, Liu Xunyi suddenly became angry, and his doubtful eyes turned cold and fierce, and he said in a cold voice: "Who are you calling a Song dog?"

"Eh!"

At this moment, the old steward of the caravan came forward with a smile on his face, and stepped between Liu Xunyi and the sturdy man. He first gave Liu Xunyi a look to calm down, and then turned to the sturdy man and nodded and smiled: "Misunderstanding! It's a misunderstanding! I, a young man, was ignorant and bumped into you gentlemen. I apologize to you on his behalf. This small token of my gratitude can be considered as my invitation to a pot of tea for you." After saying that, the old steward quickly stuffed the silver change in his hand into the sturdy man's hand, and then kept bowing with a flattering smile on his face.

The sturdy man weighed the silver coins for a few times, and another man behind him came forward and said a few words. The sturdy man then showed a look of relief. He glared at Liu Xunyi fiercely again, then snorted angrily and led his men away.

"Old Xu, why did you give him money?" Liu Xunyi asked in surprise, "It was clearly them just now..." "A place like Huodu is no longer the world of us Han people. If we want to be safe here, we must learn to be humble." Old Xu explained meaningfully, "We are here to do business, not to cause trouble. Didn't you see that those people all had knives on their waists? We can't provoke them, and we can't afford to provoke them!"

Liu Xunyi suffered a loss when he first arrived in Huodu, which made him sigh that the world is becoming more and more corrupt and the righteous path no longer exists.

"Little Liuzi." Old Xu changed the subject and said to Liu Xunyi with a smile, "Thank you for your hard work along the way. You have been busy running around and helping me a lot. Now that the caravan has entered Huodu, our fate has come to an end. Here! This is your wages, you can go." After saying that, Old Xu handed Liu Xunyi a purse that he had prepared in advance. There were only a few copper coins scattered in the dry purse.

Liu Xunyi accepted the purse and bowed his hands in thanks, "Old Xu, thank you for your care along the way!"

"In fact, when I first saw you, I knew you were no ordinary laborer." Old Xu smiled meaningfully, "You came all the way to Huodu, it should be more than just to earn these few copper coins, right?"

"I……"

"No need!" Without waiting for Liu Xunyi to evade the question with an embarrassed look on his face, Old Xu waved his hands and smiled, "You don't have to tell me anything, and I'm not interested in knowing your affairs. We are destined to be together all the way, and now that the fate is over, it's time to go our separate ways. But considering that we have been together all the way, I want to remind you that Huodu is not like the Central Plains. Murders and arson happen almost every day here, and no one cares, and no one dares to care, so no matter what you do here, you must be very careful. I know that you young people are full of blood, but I still want to advise you that it is better to do less than more, be tolerant if you can, and give in if you can, so that no one will make things difficult for you."

Facing Lao Xu's kindness, Liu Xunyi responded gratefully: "Thank you for your advice, I'll make a note of it."

"That's good. Xiao Liuzi, take care!"

"Take care, everyone!"

Liu Xunyi bowed and said goodbye to Lao Xu and the other guys, and watched the caravan, with which he had been working day and night for more than a month, gradually disappear from his sight. Only then did he let out a meaningful sigh.

Standing on the street of Huodu and looking around, all he saw were strangers. Liu Xunyi knew that if he wanted to sneak into the Tianshan Jade Dragon Palace and find out the Jingfenghuayutu, he must not rush into it, so he planned to find a place to stay first and then make other plans.

There are quite a few inns in the city, but most of them are not very friendly. Liu Xunyi asked five or six inns in a row, but they were all full. He didn't know if it was because he was from Song Dynasty, but Liu Xunyi was treated coldly and looked down upon in Huodu, which really made him laugh and cry.

"Long's Inn?"

At the intersection of the three streets, there are three inns opened on three street corners, namely Long'an Inn, Longxiang Inn and Longfu Inn.

On the way, Liu Xunyi heard from Old Xu that the largest inn in Huodu was opened by a wealthy businessman named Long. The most interesting thing is that in Huodu, a city that despises Song people, the famous Long family manager is actually a real Song person.

There are rumors that other ethnic groups did not originally reject the Song people, but later more and more Song people came here to do business, and each of them was a business master who was good at calculating. As a result, the business of other ethnic groups became worse and worse, so they had to unite to boycott the Song people.

But even so, the person who does the biggest business in Huodu City is still the shopkeeper Long, a man from the Song Dynasty, and his methods are evident.

Standing at the street corner, Liu Xunyi couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly, thinking to himself: "It seems that as a Song person, I can only live in this inn opened by Song people now."

Liu Xunyi was about to choose one of the three inns and step into Long'an Inn when he suddenly saw a familiar figure passing by the door of Longxiang Inn out of the corner of his eye.

"That figure just now seemed familiar?" Liu Xunyi frowned slightly, mumbling to himself as he pondered something. Suddenly, an idea flashed in his mind, and he looked at Longxiang Inn with a look of deep surprise.

"is her?"

……

(End of this chapter)