When Huang Dagen led the grain collection team to meet Ouyang Xuan at the entrance of the village, the leader of Liuliba, Lu Dezhi, was already standing on the wall surrounded by villagers. At this moment, he was standing with Zhu Tiaozi

He raised his head and spoke to the wall - Ouyang Xuan saw the sudden change in the situation and knew that he was not suitable for this kind of negotiation.

When the matter came up, he asked Zhu Tiaozi, who was standing next to him, to come forward to negotiate. Zhu Tiaozi, who was given this important task, gave full play to his businessman's lobbying and advocacy skills - in other words, his diplomatic talent. He first complained that he and Ouyang Xuan were salesmen.

and the difficulties of wandering monks and the hardships of life, accusing Mongolia

In his account, he and Ouyang Xuan risked their lives and, escorted by a team of officers and soldiers behind them, delivered salt to this remote place in order to earn a living.

The need is also to solve the problem of salt shortage among the Liuliba Mountain people. Speaking of emotions,

She shed a few tears. Perhaps it was due to his superb acting skills or the simple folk customs here. Lu Dezhi and the other mountain people felt sympathetic and moved after hearing this. They wanted to exchange for the scarce salt in the village, but they were also afraid of the people behind the village.

There were dozens of strong men armed with swords, shields and spears. After all, it was not easy to distinguish between bandits and soldiers these days.

Zhu Tiaozi, who has been wandering around the market all year round, saw through Lu Dezhi's hesitation and the expectations in the eyes of the mountain people at a glance, so he lost no time in asking Huang Dagen to come out, explaining that this time he entered this place by mistake because of the Mongolian pursuit. The officers and soldiers

Required materials will be purchased and sold by the public in exchange for equal value.

He also swore that he would not collect grain during this trip and would not disturb the people. He also asked Ouyang Xuan to use his reputation as a monk to guarantee that the members of the grain collection team were all loyal and kind people and had no ill intentions. Only after convincing Lu De that he would open the gate of the village in front of everyone

It was already dark when we walked into the cottage gate.

About half a mile into the village gate, Lu Dezhi asked Ouyang Xuan and others to stop, saying that they would discuss the salt exchange tomorrow, and asked Shi Zhongshu to find several shacks nearby to accommodate the people. Ouyang Xuan

Yu Zhu asked for help because of his illness, and it happened to be Ru De.

He was a man who knew medicine. After taking a rough pulse, he showed a sense of embarrassment. It turned out that he had diagnosed Yu Zhu's disease as "Diabo Zi", which only occurs in hot and humid water pools. Liuliba is located in a high-cold place.

In mountainous areas, villagers do not

People will suffer from this disease, so there is no treatment medicine in the village. There is no medicine shop in Liuliba. Usually when the mountain people are sick, they find some herbs on the mountain to boil water to drink. Seeing Ouyang Xuan's disappointed look, he promised to send someone to deliver some other herbs tomorrow.

Come and try

When Lu Dezhi turned back, Ouyang Xuan used the light of the torch to faintly see him walking into a taller gate deep in the village. It turned out that Ouyang Xuan and others' resting place was in the two villages of Liuliba.

Between the walls, not within the village.

After a day's driving on the mountain road, everyone was already exhausted. After arranging guards, Ouyang Xuan went to check on Yu Zhu's condition. After just one day, Yu Zhu was weakened by alternating high fever and chills, and his face turned pale.

Sallow. This malaria attack is very violent. The malaria parasite that causes the disease will rupture the red blood cells in the blood, causing great damage to the patient's body. But if

There is a specific drug called artemisinin, and this disease is not difficult to treat. Academician Tu Youyou’s team invented artemisinin in the 20th century, and won China’s first Nobel Prize in Medicine. In the late Southern Song Dynasty, artemisinin was extracted

Obviously it's impossible, but it should be possible to find the raw material for extracting artemisinin - Artemisia annua. Ouyang Xuan wondered if he could find some tomorrow to treat Yu Zhu's illness.

Early the next morning, Lu Dezhi sent someone to bring herbal medicine and invited Huang Dagen to discuss the matter. Ouyang Xuan did not know herbal medicine, but he recognized at a glance some yellow-white powder crystals in the medicine package he sent.

After asking the person who delivered the medicine, I learned that it was fire saltpeter, which was collected in a nearby cave. Ouyang Xuan majored in chemical engineering at University, so he naturally knew that saltpeter was

White or colorless crystals. The yellowish white color of the fire salt given by the mountain people is probably due to too many impurities. After eating some dry food in a hurry, Ouyang Xuan sent someone to take care of Yu Zhu and took the medicine, then called Huang Dagen and Zhu Tiaozi to go together.

Discussing matters. Previously, Huang Dagen had been handling the salt matter, and Zhu Tiaozi's performance yesterday proved that he is a talented business negotiator.

It was already dark when we entered the village yesterday, so we didn't see the appearance of the village clearly. We followed the guide Ouyang Xuan and the other two people as they walked and took a general look at the surroundings and inside of the village. The glazed dam is generally in the shape of a gourd, from high to low.

It is divided into three levels of terraces. The higher the terrain, the larger the area. Last night everyone camped on the lowest terrace, with an area of ​​only 100 meters.

Mu, the first village gate is like a gourd mouth; the middle platform is after the second village gate, covering an area of ​​hundreds of acres, and the highest platform covers an area of ​​more than thousands of acres. There is a small stream with abundant water from far away

It flows down from high mountains, runs through three terraces, flows down from the entrance of the first village, and meanders down to join the Wenjing River in the distance.

The place where the salt sale and purchase was discussed was not far behind the second cottage gate, in a house next to the stream. Before Ouyang Xuan and others approached, they heard the sound of children reading in the house next to them, which made them so excited.

The three of them were very curious. In the meeting room

In front of the house, there were several old mountain people waiting here. They seemed to be the elders of the village who were participating in the discussion. Lu Dezhi welcomed the three people into the house. As soon as they sat down, Ouyang Xuan told the children about the sound of reading.

After asking, an elder said: "This is

"Mr. Lu's righteous deed to civilize the people of the village." It turns out that Lu Dezhi is fifty years old this year. He was originally a scholar in Jinyuan County, Chongqing Prefecture. His whole family came here to avoid disaster more than ten years ago. He was grateful after seeing the ignorance of the people in the village.

The feeling of taking in the cottage will be

He opened a free school to teach children reading and literacy, and used medical skills to cure many diseases of the villagers. The villagers were grateful, and because of his good character and far-reaching knowledge, they elected him to be the leader of Liuliba after the death of the previous leader.

leader.

The discussion about changing the salt went very smoothly. When he learned that there were 40 kilograms of salt, Lu Dezhi was pleasantly surprised and said that because the village did not have much grain in stock, on the premise of ensuring food and seeds, it would be used for

The exchange of food was not much. He felt a little ashamed

Guilty people suggested exchanging 200 kilograms of fine grains or 400 kilograms of coarse grains for 1 kilogram of salt. As for sewing needles, jelly beans, powdered rice, and silk headbands, they could be exchanged for grains or the skins and meats of hunted bears, wild boars, deer, etc.

, in the eyes of the villagers, these mountain goods are not worth mentioning.

It’s not worth it. Ouyang Xuan and the others were silent after hearing this. This was not because Lu Dezhi’s price was too low but because it was too high. Although salt is comparable to the price of silver in these troubled times, it is ridiculously expensive outside the mountains.

But food is also hard currency. Chongqing Prefecture is close to Qiongzhou, a salt-producing land.

, 1 kilogram of salt can be exchanged for 50 kilograms of grain, and 1 kilogram of salt can be exchanged for 80 kilograms in Yongkang Village. As for using 10 kilograms of salt in exchange for 2,000 kilograms of grain in Hengyuan Village, it is because they also sold a lot of horse meat jerky, and they were originally

If you go to collect grain, the price is equivalent to half selling and half giving.

"This price is indeed a bit low..." Seeing that Ouyang Xuan and Huang Dagen were silent, Zhu Tiaozi said.

"We still have crude iron. Although it contains a lot of sulfur and other impurities, it cannot be used to make weapons, but it is still useful for making agricultural tools..." Seeing that Zhu Tiaozi was not satisfied with the exchange price, an elder with white beard and hair said anxiously.

Seeing Huang Dagen and Zhu Tiaozi looking at Ouyang Xuan inquiringly, Lu Dezhi and the elder realized that the young monk on the other side was the one in charge. Although they had doubts, they still turned their eyes to Ouyang Xuan, who was thinking about it.

Everyone was silent, and in the silence there was only the sound of children reading outside the house.

After a long while, Ouyang Xuan stood up and bowed deeply to Lu Dezhi and others: "We are grateful for the kindness of taking you in. The food exchanged for salt only needs to be enough for me to live and clothe myself, but I have a few unkind things."
Chapter completed!