The room goes through the late Ming Dynasty, and the back door leads to North America at the beginni

It should be noted that severe drought has caused famine in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Shandong and other places. In many places, cannibalism has even occurred.

Under such circumstances, as long as the entertainers were a little more alert, they would have fled to the south of the Yangtze River early, and there would be very few stranded in the north.

Liu Sheng wouldn't be surprised if there were just three or five people performing on the street, or if they were invited to perform among landlords, wealthy gentry, and merchants.

But he saw that a stage had been set up in front of them, and jugglers were performing on the stage one after another. They were obviously a large juggler team, so why were they reduced to performing on the streets of the town?

Considering the high "gate tax" in Minggang Town and the situation in the town, this juggling troupe may not be able to earn back the tax even if they perform for one day, right?

What's more, with the virtue of those archers, this kind of busking group will probably not be let in without giving a lot of money as a bribe.

Therefore, even if a juggling troupe passes by and is not invited by a big family in the town, they will not choose to rest in the town.

Of course, Liu Sheng was just surprised - maybe there was some compelling reason for this juggling team to enter Minggang Town?

After eating the steamed stuffed buns with vegetarian fillings, Liu Sheng, Ma Jinliang and others passed by the stage and stopped to watch for a while.

I saw a woman in red wearing heavy makeup performing rope skills on the stage, which was very similar to the "tightrope walking" of later generations.

A red cable as thick as a thumb was pulled up by two three-foot-high wooden pillars, which was more than five feet long and stretched across the stage.

When Liu Sheng looked at it, the woman in red first stretched her arms and walked across the cable as if she was flying.

Someone below pulled out a gleaming red-tasseled long sword and threw it up. The woman in red reached the top of the standing tree and stood alone. She bent her waist 90 degrees behind her and reached out to grab the hilt of the sword!

This operation looked quite thrilling, and the audience either exclaimed or applauded.

After the woman in red grabbed the long sword, she stepped onto the red cable again, twirled and swung the sword, but she performed a sword dance on the cable like a light swallow!

This scene made Liu Sheng marvel.

This kind of acrobat with superb art and skills will probably be rated as a national-level performer in later generations.

Next to him, Ma Jinliang, a rich man from one of the hundreds of households in the guardhouse, also saw his eyes gleaming, and exclaimed: "Mother! This is the first time in my life that I have seen such a superb rope artist! She is also a pretty little lady!"

Wang Laowu heard that Ma Jinliang was lustful, and couldn't help but said: "She wears heavy makeup, how do you know what she looks like? Maybe she is an old ugly woman."

Ma Jinliang stared at the woman in red on the stage and said to himself: "I am not wrong about women, she must be a beauty!"

While the two were arguing, a few men pushed through the crowd and went straight to the stage.

The leader was a middle-aged man who looked like a housekeeper. He glanced at the woman in red standing on the top of the tree with his hands behind his back, then glanced at the other jugglers around him, and then asked in a loud voice: "Where is your class leader?"

Hearing this, the woman in red stepped on the red cable from the top of the standing tree and fell directly. In the end, she hooked the cable with her feet, then turned over in the air, and landed on the side of the middle-aged man with her sword.

The middle-aged man was startled and took several steps back.

The woman in red said in a clear and authentic voice: "I am the class leader, what do you want?"

"Are you really the class leader?" The middle-aged man seemed to think that the woman in red was too young and didn't believe it.

"With so many people, can I still trick you?"

The middle-aged man once again put his hands behind his back, raised his chin slightly, and said: "I am the second housekeeper of the Zhang family, and tomorrow is my sixty-fifth birthday. Since you have come to Minggang, you will set up a stage to perform for me tomorrow. May my master wish you a happy birthday."

The woman in red said: "It's not cheap to invite us to perform at home. I wonder how much the Zhang family will pay?"

The middle-aged man said displeasedly: "Our Minggang Zhang family is one of the top grain merchants in Runing, and it is also the number one grain merchant in Minggang. How can we be without your remuneration?

You can come tomorrow, as long as you can make my master happy and make you look good, you will be paid and rewarded. "

The woman in red smiled. Although her true appearance was difficult to see due to the heavy makeup, she still made people around her feel pretty.

She said: "We don't have a place to rest tonight, and it will take a long time to set up the stage tomorrow. If it is convenient for your house, you might as well arrange for us to live in it first."

The middle-aged man frowned and asked, "How many of you are there?"

"Not many, there are only about twenty people in all categories. Just arrange a small courtyard for us to live in."

"Forget it, just pack up now and come home with me as soon as possible, so I can do business more easily."

In this way, Liu Sheng watched in the audience as this juggling troupe was invited to perform at Zhang's house.

The sideshows stopped, but the people around him still gathered around and refused to leave, but there were few people giving him money.

A man in charge of a juggling troupe can only keep apologizing and saying lucky things in order to get some reward money.

Liu Sheng noticed that the swords, spears, broadswords and other weapons of this juggling troupe were all made of real materials. Except for a few women, the others were also very capable men, and he felt that there was something wrong with this juggling troupe.

When the people watching slowly dispersed, Liu Sheng said to Ma Jinshui: "Go and inquire about the Zhang family, the grain merchant. If possible, inquire about the inspection department, and then go back to your residence directly."

"I know, boss." Ma Jinshui left in response.

Ma Jinshui was very clever, so Liu Sheng was quite relieved to let him do this.

After that, he took Ma Jinliang and others to examine the pawnshop in Qinggang Town.

It turned out that all three pawnshops in the town were owned by a proprietor named Fan, and there was no other choice.

So Liu Sheng could only choose the largest one and sold a pair of glasses, a glass bottle for flower arrangements and three sets of small plastic ornaments.

Minggang Town is indeed a famous commercial port in southern Henan. The shop's skilled craftsmen know that these items can fetch high prices in Jiangnan, so they ask for a high price.

In addition, Liu Sheng also intended to sell more money, and finally sold a total of 1,858 taels of silver.

Liu Sheng didn't want banknotes but wanted cash, and the shopkeeper readily agreed.

However, when Liu Sheng returned to the rented B&B, he was not happy.

Ma Jinliang received the reward of more than 90 taels from Liu Sheng. He was happy for a while, but then he realized that Liu Sheng was not happy.

So he asked with some anxiety: "Brother Liu, what's going on? I really didn't have much effect this time. If Brother Liu thinks I shouldn't take this money, I just don't want it."

After saying that, he reluctantly placed the silver bag in front of Liu Sheng.

Liu Sheng glanced at Ma Jinliang and said, "It's not about the money, it's about the pawnshop sending people to follow us."

"Ah?" Ma Jinliang was surprised when he heard this. He was not stupid, so he immediately guessed: "Is it possible that the pawnshop wants to do something dirty and take the money back?"

"It is indeed possible." Liu Sheng said, "In this case, you ask Ma Gui to go out and find out the details of the pawnshop owner Fan's family, so that we can take some precautions."

"It's time to take more precautions."

Ma Jinliang agreed and went to tell Ma Gui to do things.

Not long after Ma Gui left, Ma Jinshui came back and brought news about the Zhang family, a grain merchant.

"My boss, this family is indeed one of the largest grain merchants in Runing Prefecture. It is also the largest grain merchant in Minggang. It is also a big landowner with more than 5,000 acres of fields around Minggang Town.

The name of the Zhang family master is Zhang Dezhao, and the inspector of the Minggang Inspection Department, Zhang Debiao, is his younger brother. It is said that he has more than 200 archers under his command. "

After listening to Ma Jinshui's words, Liu Sheng connected some information in his mind.

'Big grain merchants, big landowners, inspection departments, an unusual juggling team... It seems that tonight or tomorrow, something will happen to Minggang Town. '

Liu Sheng had a hunch that Minggang Town was probably being targeted by bandits, and that juggler team was probably coming in to act as an internal agent.

However, if bandits really attack Minggang Town, it might be a good thing for him.

Apart from anything else, in the chaos, it would be easy for them to get rid of the pawn shop.

In other words, once the bandits come to attack, the pawn shop will have no intention of attacking them anymore, and they can take advantage of the chaos and leave.

After dark, a curfew was imposed in the town, and Ma Gui returned to the B&B courtyard before the curfew.

"Have you heard about the pawnshop owner?" Ma Jinliang was more concerned about his safety than Liu Sheng, so he couldn't wait to ask when Ma Gui came in.

"I've heard some about it." Ma Gui didn't forget to bow to Liu Sheng as he spoke, "The Fan family is said to have moved from Shanxi. They mainly run a bank and a leather goods shop in the town, and they just open a pawn shop. of."

Thanks to [Wang Xizhi’s Goose] for the 100 starting coin reward!