Tea Merchants of the Song Dynasty

From Yazhou to Dajianlu, or from Lizhou to Dajianlu, or to other places.

The starting point and the end point are different, and according to the length of the journey, it is divided into long legs and short legs.

Wherever tea cannot be transported by carriages and horses, porters are needed to transport the tea.

Men, women, old and young can all participate in the husband-carrying business. The youngest are seven or eight years old or around ten years old, and the oldest are over fifty or sixty years old.

Those who carry less, such as children, can only carry more than 30 kilograms, but those who carry more and have good physical strength, such as young and middle-aged people, can carry more than 300 kilograms.

Porters carry a load of tea in groups of at least a few or as many as a hundred, led by a porter.

On the way, walk 'seven up, eight down, eleven on flat', that is, seven steps uphill, eight steps downhill, eleven steps on flat ground, and then use the T-shaped crutch for support to rest.

There will also be post stations along the way for porters to rest.

But before reaching the post station, they could only rely on the support of a T-shaped crutches to rest, and could not unload the tea or sit on the ground to rest.

Otherwise, you won’t be able to carry your things when you set off again.

The journey of carrying the people was extremely difficult. Firstly, the mountains were high and the terrain was dangerous, especially the cliff road, where one could fall off the cliff if one was not careful. In addition, some sections of the road were windy and cold, making it extremely difficult to walk.

Secondly, it is easy to encounter bandits on the road and be robbed of your money and killed.

Third, the income is not guaranteed. Tea merchants usually pay half or all of the wages to the porter, who then pays the porter. Adding various expenses on the road, the final wages are not much.

Therefore, those who would engage in the business of porters were almost all from poor families, and they could only earn enough money to support their families in a year.

But this money was extremely hard to earn, and often people would never return and die in a foreign land.

Of course, in addition to porters on the Ancient Tea-Horse Road, there are also porters in other places.

However, porters in other places no longer transport tea, but other supplies, such as large pieces of furniture.

Jiang Yin felt very uncomfortable looking at the porters whose eyes were numb but full of longing.

Especially some children who were a few years old, looking at her secretly with extremely childish eyes.

They may not know, but Jiang Yin knows very well that a child of this age will probably never come back.

She quickly lowered the curtain that was lifted up at one corner and asked the driver to speed up and pass.

Although Mengshan tea is now completely owned by the government, the government will clear the bandits along the way. But wealth and honor are achieved through risk, and there are still people who are willing to take risks.

What’s more, the most fatal thing is the dangerous road along the way.

It is said that the road to Shu is difficult, harder than climbing to the sky. The road of the porters carrying tea is no less difficult than climbing to the sky.

But so what, there will always be someone to do this. Even if there is no one, the court will conscript people to do it.

Jiang Yin stopped looking at the people outside and sat in the carriage with his eyes closed to rest.

She didn't stop until the carriage arrived at the place where her parents were killed, and prepared to get off and rest.

Of course, another reason for stopping here was that she wanted to take this opportunity to take a good look to see if there were any clues to follow.

The place where her parents were killed was an hour's drive from the city.

But this is a main road, and also an official road. There are many people passing by on weekdays. No matter which direction you look at it, this is not a good place to kill and rob.

Why did my parents get killed here? Or were they chased all the way here from somewhere else and finally got killed?

The carriage stopped on the grass by the roadside. Wang Heng and the driver were collecting firewood for the fire while keeping an eye on the surrounding situation. Jiang Yin walked towards the woods step by step.

She looked around but didn't find anything unusual for a long time, so she wanted to go further and walk deeper into the woods.

"My lady, don't go in." Xiao Luo said worriedly while being alert, "I always feel that it's dark and unsafe in here."

"Spooky?" Jiang Yin chuckled and said, "If it's spooky, that's good. Maybe my parents are coming back to see me."

She was worried that she couldn't find any clues. If her parents came back and gave her some guidance, she would feel more relieved.

Xiao Luo opened her mouth but didn't say anything. She just followed Jiang Yin closely and was doubly alert to the surrounding situation.

Jiang Yin ignored Xiao Luo and carefully checked the places she passed by, even the trunks of every tree.

It's true, even after paying so much attention, she actually discovered a clue.

She found knife marks on two trees, and one of them had a blunt object mark. It looked like some kind of hidden weapon.

Jiang Yin rubbed the dent on the tree and whispered, "Xiao Luo, have you ever seen a weapon like this?"

Judging from the appearance of this mark, it was probably left recently. Of course, it is possible that it has nothing to do with her parents.

Xiao Luo stared at it for a long time before shaking her head and saying, "I've never seen it before. It looks like it was chiseled out by an awl, but also like it was made of stone."

In short, it looks like it was formed by some blunt object chiseling hard.

Jiang Yin narrowed his eyes and compared the dent with his own body. It was right at the forehead.

Her heart skipped a beat, her mother was about the same size as her, and the forehead was exactly where her mother's forehead was.

Her eyes moistened, as if she saw her mother being pinned against a tree and hit on the head by the murderer.

She remembered that when her mother's body was brought back, there was a wound on her head. She thought it was caused by a knock, but now it seems that it might have been caused by a blunt object.

In other words, the murderer who killed my mother used a blunt instrument. If we find the person who used the blunt instrument, we will be close to the truth.

Thinking of this, she quickly noted down her current location and continued to look for clues around her.

However, apart from the marks on the two trees, she found nothing else.

There was a rustling sound in the woods, as if someone was moving inside.

"Madam." Xiao Luo held her arm tightly and looked around alertly.

"Let's go."

Jiang Yin regained his composure and walked back to the campsite with Xiao Luo as if nothing had happened.

Wang Heng and the driver had already boiled water, and she asked Wang Heng the same question as before.

"Dent?" Wang Heng frowned slightly. "I don't remember anyone using this kind of weapon. Wait a minute, madam. I'll go take a look."

Wang Heng quickly went to see the dent Jiang Yin mentioned, and came back with a serious look and said, "Madam, do you need to send someone to investigate?"

He was very upset because he didn't find this clue when he came here to investigate earlier.

However, Jiang Yin shook his head and said, "Not for the time being. Just be more careful on weekdays to avoid alerting the enemy."

This clue has not been revealed yet, so the murderer will not deliberately restrain himself.

If they knew that this clue had come out, perhaps they would be more restrained.

What Jiang Yin wanted was that the enemy was in the open while she was in the dark. In the eyes of outsiders, she was just a young lady who had just come of age and was nothing to be afraid of.

As they were talking, there was another rustling sound in the woods. After a while, a hare ran out from it.

Wang Heng raised his hand and shot a small stone, then put the hare on the horse's back and waited to eat it during the next rest period.