The Ming Dynasty: Starting with bandits, it swept across the land.

This morning, when Old Sun got up, he didn't hear any crows cawing, so he thought today would be a good day.

Normally, people would think it's a good thing to hear magpies, but Old Sun knows that these days, it's a good thing if you don't see crows when you go out in the morning, because it means no one has died nearby and the crows aren't foraging there.

Old Sun's liquor store is located at the crossroads between Ganquan and Yan'an Prefecture, and merchants traveling from the north and south always stop here to rest.

He received three groups of people yesterday.

One was a scholar rushing home, another was a passing courier, and the third was a group of tea merchants heading to the grasslands.

The scholar asked for a sesame seed cake, while the courier only asked for a bowl of tea.

But strangely enough, the tea vendors only asked for sesame cakes and tea and that was it.

In previous years, when these tea merchants traveled around, their employers would always provide meat for their bodyguards and guards, but now they only have enough sesame cakes.

Old Sun couldn't help but sigh, "The year is getting worse every year."

Just then, he heard the sound of horses' hooves coming from the north.

Over the years, he listened to so many stories that he could roughly tell what kind of people were riding bicycles.

The sound of hooves should have come from four or five horses, but it was a rather deep sound.

Before long, the riders appeared at the end of the road.

There were five government cavalrymen.

Old Sun cursed inwardly: What a terrible day it is today! How could I have thought this morning was a good omen?

These days, the imperial army is unable to pay its soldiers, and military discipline is extremely poor.

When they were on campaign, they were always extorting and demanding bribes. Compared to bandits, they were at most just not killing people.

The cavalry arrived quickly, and the men clearly didn't have time to escape.

Old Sun ran into the backyard of the shop and told his daughter to smear soot on her face and hide behind the pile of firewood.

Three years in the army, even an old sow can rival Diao Chan.

Nobody knows what these soldiers will do when they see their daughters.

Soon, the cavalry arrived in front of Old Sun's shop.

The leader wore chainmail and rode a Mongolian smuggled horse with intelligent eyes and a long mane. The others were also fully armored, carrying swords and spears.

The man reined in his horse and said to the man beside him, "Brother Liu, are you sure this is the shop?"

"That's right, this is it," Liu Ye replied confidently. "It's the only way to Yan'an Prefecture. In the past, it was very lively here with people coming and going from the north and south."

As soon as Liu Ye finished speaking, Li Chengye looked into the distance and saw several lone pedestrians who, upon seeing their attire, clearly mistook them for border soldiers and ran away in fright.

"Looks like we arrived early. Let's sit there and rest for a while," Li Chengye said. The group dismounted and tied their horses to the manger in front of the shop.

Han Sanhu called over Old Sun and gave him one tael of silver: "Feed the horses some feed and slaughter a sheep."

Old Sun bit the silver with his teeth to make sure it was real, and then happily went to slaughter the sheep.

But he still wouldn't let his daughter come out; he just took care of everything himself.

In a normal year in Shaanxi, a sheep can fetch seven or eight qian of silver.

During this severe drought, sheep are even more expensive, but Han Sanhu is giving them silver.

Silver has a strong purchasing power in Shaanxi.

The industrial and commercial economy of Shaanxi is really hard to compare with that of the south, and the sources of silver are also very limited.

Especially when taxes were paid each year, because the imperial court wanted silver, and farmers didn't have any silver, they could only exchange it for grain. This would cause big players in the market to take the opportunity to drive down the price, making silver even more valuable.

In a normal year, the two skinny sheep at Old Sun's liquor store would only cost three or four coins each, so giving one tael now is already considered very generous.

After Li Chengye and his group set off from Yijun County, they figured the prisoner escort team had set off earlier than them, so they simply took a shortcut.

Liu Ye himself was from the north of Yan'an Prefecture, and he knew the roads very well.

They took a shortcut to get to this liquor store.

According to Liu Ye, this was the only way to Yan'an Prefecture, and the procession escorting prisoners would definitely have to pass through here.

Moreover, according to the schedule, they should still be behind us.

The sheep was quickly slaughtered and put into a pot to cook, the aroma of which was incredibly tempting.

Li Chengye and his group set off early in the morning, without even having time to eat, just to get ahead of the escort team.

Now, smelling the aroma of this meat, I can't help but swallow hard.

At that moment, another person entered the shop.

Passersby, seeing Li Chengye and his men fully armored and armed, dared not approach them and instead avoided them.

They were the first customers to enter the store after they sat down.

The man had a sallow face and was not tall. He carried a whistle and led a emaciated yellow horse.

The man tied his horse to a willow tree next to the shop, preventing it from going near the trough.

As the person entered the shop, the aroma of meat filled the air, and their throat bobbed.

Upon seeing four or five soldiers in armor in the shop, the man tensed up for a moment, then relaxed, chose a table far away from Li Chengye and his men, and called out to the kitchen, "Old Sun, bring me a bowl of water."

When Old Sun heard this voice, his eyebrows furrowed.

Upon hearing that he only wanted a bowl of water, his eyebrows furrowed even more.

"Li Hongji, I've told you before, even boiling water in my shop requires firewood. You come here wanting only a bowl of water and nothing else, how am I supposed to keep doing business?"

The man smiled ingratiatingly and said, "Uncle Sun, is there any water? It's nothing. Next time I get my pay, I'll come here to buy a sheep to slaughter, and we'll eat together."

"You only make four qian of silver a month, barely enough to support yourself, and you're talking about treating me to meat? Sigh, wait until you become a post station manager."

The man muttered under his breath, "Six qian..." Old Sun sneered again, "Have you ever taken six qian?"

This time, the other party was speechless.

As Li Chengye listened to their conversation, his heart skipped a beat when he heard the other person's name. That memory resurfaced, telling him that this person might be an extraordinary individual.

But is it really such a coincidence?

Li Chengye stood up, walked up to the man, and looked him over. The man was wearing tattered clothes, the base of which was faintly visible as bluish-gray, the kind worn by post station workers.

"May I ask if you are Li Hongji from Mizhi?"

"I am Li Hongji, also from Mizhi County. May I ask who you are, sir?" The other party was clearly surprised that Li Chengye knew he was from Mizhi County.

His name was Li Hongji, and he was from Mizhi County. He worked as a courier. This person was very likely the same Li Zicheng who would later capture Beijing seventeen years later.

The mutton in the pot was ready, and Li Chengye told the shopkeeper to bring Li Zicheng a bowl as well.

Just as Li Zicheng, or rather Li Hongji, was feeling somewhat bewildered by this sudden act of kindness and was about to decline, a prison van arrived from the main road to the north.

There were four or five yamen runners guarding it.

Li Chengye said to Li Hongji with some regret, "It looks like we'll have to eat this meat a little later."