"What's your name? Where's the person?" Li Xiu chatted with the middle-aged businessman who acted as a translator while walking. Xue Rengui led the old man to walk in front. According to Lao Man Renren, in addition to the road up the mountain in the domestic city, there are three roads leading to Marudu City, but they were all destroyed many years ago.

"Your husband is the prince consort, the villain is named Meng Yao, a native of Dengzhou." The middle-aged businessman also answered immediately. He did not know Li Xiu's identity at first. After all, a large army of 30,000 people could not contact Li Xiu with his identity. It was not until this time after he came out with Li Xiu that he learned from the other people that the middle-aged man in front of him was the famous prince consort Li Xiu.

"Oh? Your surname is Meng and you are from Shandong. You should be a descendant of the sub-saint Mencius, right?" Li Xiu couldn't help but ask with a smile when he heard Meng Yao's words. Mencius's hometown is in Jining, Shandong, and his descendants have always lived in Shandong.

"The prince consort is a polite person. Although the villain also wants to get some relationship with the Assassin, our family's ancestral home is the Meng family in Henan. Later, it fled to Dengzhou due to war. It is not the same as the Meng family in Shandong. Of course, if we talk about it, we all come from the Ji family, and we were barely considered a family before." Meng Yao also explained with a smile.

The Meng family comes from the Ji surname, but the Meng family has two branches, namely the Meng family in Henan and the Meng family in Shandong. Among them, the Meng family in Shandong is the branch that Meng family was born from. Although the two belong to the same clan, there are still some differences between them.

When Li Xiu heard Meng Yao's words, he nodded, and at the same time he also had a little more favor for this middle-aged businessman. After all, most people like to put gold on their faces. For example, Li Shimin's family claims to be my descendant, while Meng Yao, an ordinary person, can stick to the bottom line and not recognize his ancestors. This alone is better than Li Shimin and his son.

"Then what business are you mainly doing now?" Li Xiu asked curiously again at this time. Meng Yao said that he was from Dengzhou and knew the language of Goguryeo. He must have been here a lot before, so he was quite curious about it.

"Your Majesty, I have done some small businesses. In the past, I mainly came to Goguryeo to collect some mountain goods and transported them to Dengzhou to earn some hard work. In the past two years, the old mountain ginseng in Goguryeo was very popular, so now I mainly buy some ginseng. This thing is not high in Goguryeo, so the villain has made some money in the past two years. At the beginning of this year, I also bought a boat and usually traveled to the sea, but was requisitioned by the court. Because I understand the words of Goguryeo, I became a general translator in the army." Meng Yao replied again.

He seemed a little restrained, and he would answer whatever Li Xiu asked, but when he mentioned his business, he became more bold and had a little smile on his face.

"Will the imperial court requisition of your ship and people affect your business?" Li Xiu asked curiously again at this time. Although he knew that the imperial court would compensate these merchants, he still wanted to know about it.

"This..." When Li Xiu asked this question, Meng Yao suddenly showed a hesitant expression. After all, he knew Li Xiu's identity and did not dare to say anything at this time.

"Don't have any worries. I just want to hear what you businessmen are thinking. You can say whatever you have, just like when chatting with friends!" Li Xiu also saw the other party's concerns, and couldn't help but smile again.

Meng Yao originally felt that the famous prince-consort in front of him had no airs. Moreover, as Li Xiu, he would not be unable to get along with a small businessman like him because of a few words. Thinking of this, he also took the courage to say, "There will definitely be some impact in business, but the court will also give us some compensation..."

"Compensation? Then tell me honestly, can these compensations make up for your losses?" Li Xiu asked again at this time.

"This..." Meng Yao also showed a hesitant expression when he heard Li Xiu's words. Then he opened his mouth to say something, but he still couldn't say it.

"These are just conversations between us, and I just know the living conditions of you businessmen, so don't worry at all." Li Xiu saw Meng Yao having concerns and said with a smile again.

After hearing Li Xiu say this, Meng Yao finally plucked up the courage and said, "Since the prince consort wants to know, the villain has said it all. Compared with our losses, the compensation given by the court is nothing at all, and these compensations are not directly paid. They just give us a note, and we can use this to reduce and exempt some taxes in the future."

When he said this, Meng Yao paused for a moment and then said, "But there is a saying among us merchants, "I want to get rich, go to the battlefield." Although it is very dangerous on the battlefield, there are many opportunities to get rich. Not to mention anything else, just purchasing some spoils from the soldiers is enough to compensate our losses. The court also stipulates that we can buy some things first, such as the land and houses in Goguryeo. Although they are not worth much now, if the imperial court's rule here stabilizes in the future, the price will rise."

"So that's it!" Li Xiu nodded when he heard this. Although the merchants in the Tang Dynasty were not at a high level, the role of these merchants was very important, especially in recent years, he has been slowly promoting the development of the Tang Dynasty's business, and naturally he does not want to affect business due to war.

At that time, Li Xiu and Meng Yao were chatting while walking. In addition to the business matters, they also asked about his life situation, which also made him understand the people's conditions in the Dengzhou area. Meng Yao also answered one by one. However, when Li Xiu learned that Meng Yao actually had ten sons and eight daughters, he couldn't help but show a surprised expression. Of course, these children were not born by his wife alone, but most of them were born to Goguryeo women or Silla maids he bought at home, which was also very common in the Dengzhou area.

Just as Li Xiu and Meng Yao were chatting, he suddenly heard Xue Rengui leading the way in front shouting: "Mr. Concubine, the road ahead is the mountain that was broken by the Goguryeo people!"

Hearing Xue Rengui's words, Li Xiu couldn't help but feel energetic. He immediately walked to the front. Meng Yao also communicated with the old man at this time, and finally said to Li Xiu very surely: "There is a cliff in front. There used to be a road to the mountain, but it was dug up by the Goguryeo people decades ago!"

When Li Xiu heard this, he immediately asked Lao Wei to lead the way. The group speeded up and finally came to a cliff. However, when they looked up at the cliff, they could not imagine that this was a road before.
Chapter completed!