Tibet

Chapter 234
Li Ye only found out on the way that this caravan actually started from the Gandhara Kingdom. At first, there were only 2000 camels. After passing through the Uzhana Kingdom, the Shihana Kingdom, and the Humi Kingdom, there were more and more small caravans. There were also caravans from Xiliu Kingdom and Xianxiu Kingdom, which eventually gathered into a large caravan of more than [-] camels.

The starting point is Gandhara, the capital of Pakistan today, Islamabad, the Xiliu country is Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan today, and the destination, Khanna, is located in Kyrgyzstan today.

Five days later, the team arrived at Saijiashen City, which is the exit of the Wakhan Corridor. The city is close to the Wuhu River, which happens to be the junction of Humi Country and Shini Country. It belongs to Shini Country and its business is very developed.

It was getting late, and the gates of Saijiashen City had been closed to prevent caravans from entering the city, but it didn't matter, there was a merchant village outside the city.

The Merchant Village in the Western Regions is different from the inns in the Tang Dynasty. They are surrounded by earthen walls, and there are many stone houses inside. You can choose any stone house. Anyway, when you enter the earthen wall gate, you need to collect money. It is also charged according to the camel. Receive ten tuqishi copper coins, or ten silk road copper coins, or ten dinar copper coins. Of course, the hardest pass is Datang Kaiyuan Tongbao.

Li Ye gave two hundred Wen and entered the walled compound. The open space was filled with wooden stakes, and camels were all tied up. They tied up the horses and camels, and took their luggage into a stone house.

The stone house is very big, and there are four fire pits in each stone house. They were lucky, two of the fire pits happened to be empty, and everyone hurriedly gathered around.

Clear water and firewood are provided here for free, and you have to pay for everything else you want. There are many business peddlers shuttling through the stone houses.

Everyone lit the firewood, and Xu Jian, the fire chief, stood up and said with a smile, "I'm going to feed the camels and horses!"

Horse feed also required money, while black beans and fine feed were more expensive. Li Ye gave Xu Jian a few gold dinars, which were the gold coins Li Ye got from selling horses before entering Hexi.

Li Ye smiled and said: "Give the coolies some good food!"

"Young master, don't worry! Guaranteed to feed them the best."

Xu Jian went out with a few brothers. At this moment, a vendor approached him and said with a smile, "What do you guys want to buy for food?"

He spoke Sogdian, which Li Ye could understand, so he asked with a smile, "What's delicious?"

"There are camel meat, whole sheep, horse meat, and pikas. They are all washed and fresh meat, and they are guaranteed to be slaughtered today."

"How much is a whole sheep?"

"One gold dinar for the whole sheep!" The vendor's eyes were sharp. He saw Li Ye give Xu Jian a few gold coins just now.

"Here are four whole sheep. Is there any fruit?"

"There are honeydew melons and grapes. They are counted in portions. One dinar gold coin, ten honeydew melons, and ten clusters of grapes."

"Two servings of fruit!"

The other party did not bargain, making the vendor smile and narrow his eyes, "Gentlemen, wait a moment, we will come right away!"

The merchant went to pick up the goods, and everyone praised: "Young master can speak Sogdian, that's amazing!"

Li Ye smiled slightly and said, "I'm a student of the imperial court, and I specialize in learning the languages ​​of the Western Regions. I can speak Sogdian and Turkic, and I can understand some of Wusun."

After a while, the vendor brought the sheep and fruit with two assistants, all of which were wrapped in big local leaves. Li Ye gave the vendor six gold dinars, and everyone put the whole lamb on a rack and started to barbecue.

At this time, more and more merchants entered the merchant village, and the stone houses were a bit crowded. Seven or eight merchants from a caravan came over and said with a smile: "Everyone, all the houses are full, can we come here?" Squeeze?"

Li Ye nodded, pointed to an open space next to him and said, "A few of our brothers have gone to feed the horses, and leave this here for them, and you can sit anywhere else."

The seven or eight merchants breathed a sigh of relief, and finally someone was willing to take them in. They moved the goods into the house, and the stone house was immediately full, and they had to climb over the goods to enter the house.

The merchants also bought a portion of fruit and [-] catties of camel meat, piled up firewood and started roasting the meat.

Li Ye really doesn't like the smell of roasted camel meat, and their meat doesn't seem to be fresh, it tastes very fishy.

Li Ye had to take a few sips of milk wine to avoid the smell.

"My lord looks like someone from the Tang Dynasty?" the leading businessman asked with a smile
Li Ye pointed at his men, "We are all from the Tang Dynasty. My surname is Li. Let's go to pull the sweat. How about you?"

"Li is the surname of the Tang Dynasty! We are merchants from the Gandhara Kingdom. My name is Huangara. Let's go to the Stone Kingdom."

It turned out that they were Ba Tie's ancestors, and Li Ye had a better impression of them.

"What are you going to sell in Shi Country?"

"The main thing is to sell sugar. We have high-quality brown sugar, which can be sold at a good price in Shiguo."

At this time, Xu Jian came back with a few men. They stepped over the cargo package, went inside and sat down against the wall.

Xu Jian whispered to Li Ye: "I heard that this area is not very safe!"

Xu Jian can also speak a few words of Sogdian, so he can understand the discussions outside.

Li Ye asked calmly, "What's unsafe?"

"Not very clear, they speak quickly."

Li Ye asked the old man next to him, Juan Jialuo, "What's unsafe here?"

Juan Gallo sighed and said, "Why do we all walk together? It's because the road is not smooth!"

He patted the knife, bow and arrow behind him, "Everyone must carry a weapon. You can protect yourself if you encounter small bandits on Tuqi Shi, but if you encounter Persians, you can only resign yourself to fate."

"Persian?"

Li Ye was surprised: "There are Persian bandits in this area?"

At this time, someone from another fire pit said: "The Persians are not bandits, but regular troops. Everyone knows that they came from Khorasan."

Juan Gallo nodded, "This man is right. It is a regular army. There are two or three hundred people in one team. They came in the second year after Tuqishi died, and they robbed houses and caravans everywhere. , people and wealth are empty, unless."

"Unless what?"

"Unless you are willing to convert to their religion, they will spare you, and they will not take your money and goods."

Another man in the fire pit gritted his teeth and said, "If you want me to betray the Buddha, I would rather die!"

For a while, the merchants in the stone house were silent.

Li Ye nodded secretly. The Tocharo area is full of Buddhists, and the famous Bamiyan Buddha is nearby. After the Battle of Talas, the forces of the Tang Dynasty retreated to the east of Congling, and the forces of the Black Clothes Dashi went all out to expand eastward, bringing In addition to their great food teachings, the gradual greening of Central Asia and the northern part of South Asia began at this time.

Of course, the popularization of Dashijiao did not happen overnight, but after hundreds of years of long development, but it started at this time.

At two o'clock, a cavalry cavalry of about a hundred men galloped out of the darkness, and appeared outside the merchant camp. The leader stared at the wall for a moment, waved his hand, and galloped away with another hundred cavalry.

In the stone house, dozens of businessmen were sleeping soundly, snoring like thunder, and various unpleasant smells filled the stale air. Li Ye in the corner suddenly woke up and stared out the window vigilantly, as if he felt something.

(End of this chapter)