Great Han Arrow God

Chapter 211 Grassland Silk Road
Walking westward along the river from Shalingze, out of the clouds, you will really enter the Hetao area. The scenery in front of you is quite different from Yanmen County. You can see farmers plowing and merchants in a hurry everywhere.

The Hetao area is controlled by the Xiongnu Aries King and Loufan King, and does not belong to Han County.The Han people can only control the upper county south of Hetao, and it is limited to the south of the Great Wall, and the north of the Great Wall, which is generally called Beyond the Great Wall, is controlled by the Huns.

The Han people can still be seen here, but these Han people are either merchants traveling between the Han and the Huns, or serfs.They were captured here by the Huns and cultivated the land on both sides of the Yellow River for the Huns.

Looking at the emerald green wheat seedlings and the people working in the farmland, Liang Xiao couldn't help but sighed.

"If you can't take back the land of Henan in this life, and drive the Xiongnu to Mobei, what will it be like to see Meng Tian under Jiuquan in the future?"

Mei Gao said with emotion: "Yes, such a good granary, in the hands of the Huns, is like a sword hanging over my big man's head, which may fall at any time. To achieve peace, we must This sword is in your own hands. 'Out of the car, Peng Peng, the city is far away'. The court officials sit and discuss the Tao, and the scholar-bureaucrats are chasing fame and fortune, so there is no one who is worrying about the country."

Liang Xiao put his hand on Mei Gao's shoulder, shook it vigorously, and laughed.Young people are easy to accept new things. Meigao's trip outside the border has greatly changed his thinking from when he was in Chang'an. Although he is a scholar, he is now full of pride.

"It's all in the past, count the romantic figures, and look at the present." Liang Xiao flicked the reins and galloped forward.Lang Guan and the knights shouted and rushed forward, even Ma Rong got out of the carriage, jumped on the horseback, mixed with the crowd, and shouted happily.

Pedestrians on the side of the road saw this group of high-spirited young men and gave way one after another.Although the smoke and dust kicked up by the horseshoes were choking, they were not annoyed at all, and instead showed some appreciation.

Qin Shihuang visited Shuofang and built a road here. Although nearly a hundred years have passed, the road is still spacious and flat. Among them, such as in the painting.For a moment, Liang Xiao had the feeling of returning to Guangling.

Liang Xiao and the others galloped lightly all the way, covering several miles in a short while, and did not stop until the horse panted a little.

Liang Xiao looked around and saw a long caravan parked under the shade of a tree by the side of the road. Dozens of people were resting under the tree, some were drinking, some were eating, and some were stretching their arms and legs to relax. muscles and bones.There are not only horses in the convoy, but also many camels, all carrying large and small packages, as if they have gone through a long journey to get here.

Liang Xiao winked at Mei Gao. "Go and have a look?"

"It's exactly what I want." Mei Gao smiled, stretched out his hand to call the translator, and walked towards the group of people together.

Seeing Liang Xiao and others approaching, those people who were resting immediately gathered around.Liang Xiao and the others were fierce young men with bows and swords on their backs. These people were a little nervous, but they didn't dare to take the initiative to cause trouble. They just raised their vigilance and stared at Liang Xiao and the others.

Liang Xiao has long known the hardships in the north, and young people often block roads and rob, not only the Huns, but the Han people also often do this kind of thing.So he only greeted Mei Gao and Tong Yi, and even Tu Niuer and Pang Shuo stayed far away.These people are businessmen, and they will not take the initiative to hurt others unless it is absolutely necessary.

"Go and ask them where they came from and where they are going, can you buy us a drink?" Liang Xiao reined in his mount when he was still more than ten steps away from the merchant, and motioned for the interpreter to come forward and ask questions.

The interpreter jumped off the horse and went forward to shout a few words. A middle-aged man came out of the team and chatted with the interpreter with a very respectful expression.The interpreter came over and said with a smile: "They are coming from the west, and they are planning to go to Chang'an via Taiyuan. I heard that you are from Chang'an, and they are very willing to invite you to drink and tell stories."

Liang Xiao smiled.Merchants from the Western Regions want to trade in Chang'an, so they naturally want to inquire about the market in Chang'an.

Liang Xiao called Mei Gao to dismount, led the horse, came to the middle-aged man, and saluted politely.The middle-aged man has a dark complexion, wrinkles like knives, his eyes are very alert, but his smile is very kind.He ordered someone to spread a blanket on the ground, warmly invited Liang Xiao and others to sit down, took out a few glass cups, took out a bottle of wine, and said with a smile in half-baked Mandarin: "The fine wine from Anxi Invite the two gentlemen to taste."

Mei Gao looked at the blood-red wine and was reluctant to drink it.Liang Xiao took a sip and said with a smile, "Good wine."

"Lang Jun is very knowledgeable." The middle-aged businessman praised him.

Seeing that Liang Xiao drank, Mei Gao also took a sip, but was frowned by the sour taste of the wine. "What kind of wine is this?"

"Wine." Liang Xiao put down his wine glass and cupped his hands at the middle-aged businessman. "Your Majesty's official words are so good, you must come to Chang'an often. Boy Liang Xiao is also from Chang'an. He is currently a man in the palace. Maybe there will be a chance to meet again in the future. I don't know if you can know your first and last name."

As soon as he heard that Liang Xiao was working in the palace, the eyes of the middle-aged businessman immediately lit up, and he hurriedly returned the salute. "Guo Yu, who was originally a Han, was lost by the Huns for many years, and now he is trafficked. Chang'an will go there every three to five years. It is a great fortune to meet Mr. Liang."

"I only go once in three to five years. Mr. Guo's business is far away." Liang Xiao pointed to those full-loaded camels, and said half-jokingly: "This trip must make a lot of money."

Guo Yu shook his head again and again. "I made a lot of money, but my pocket is limited. In a few years, I won't be able to run anymore, and I'm thinking about going to Chang'an to be a merchant. At that time, I need to ask Mr. Liang to take care of me."

"It's easy to say, easy to say. What, are there too many thieves along the way, or are the tariffs too heavy?"

"All of them. It's a long story. Since Mr. Liang is interested, let's talk about it." Guo Yu said enthusiastically.He called people to bring drinks and food to Xie Guanglong and others, and he started talking with Liang Xiao and Mei Gao.

In Liang Xiao's plan, opening up the Western Regions was a step sooner or later. He wished for the opportunity to hear the businessmen talk about the situation in the Western Regions.Although Mei Gao hadn't thought of this step yet, seeing that Liang Xiao was very interested, he also wanted to hear about it.Guo Yu believed that these two people were from Chang'an from their speech and behavior, and maybe they could use their strength to settle in Chang'an in the future, so they were naturally very enthusiastic.

Guo Yu was a merchant.As the saying goes, a merchant is a businessman, and what a merchant earns is hard money. Selling goods for thousands of miles is not only exposed to the wind and the sun, but also faces robbers and robbers and extortion by corrupt officials. With a five-point surprise, this kind of hard work is beyond the reach of ordinary people.

The reason why it can persist is, of course, that there is still profit.Even with so many risks and countless levels of exploitation, the profit of Wanli Sales is still more than [-], which is much higher than the general commercial profit.Guo Yu is very modest, saying that there are nearly [-]% of the profit.

Such a high profit, of course, comes from the shortage of goods.Of course, the goods sold in thousands of miles are luxuries with high profits, such as fine wine, glass, jade, gold and silver wares from the Western Regions, and silk and lacquer wares from the Han Dynasty. Among them, silk has the most profitable profits.

"You guys don't know that the most favorite thing of the Hu people in the Western Regions is the silk of my big man. A piece of high-quality silk is sold to the Western Regions, and the price is three to five times the price. The supply is still in short supply. I heard from those Hu merchants that they sold the silk to the Western Regions. In the far west, the price can be even higher."

"Silk is just a material for clothing, why is it so valuable?" Mei Gao didn't quite understand.

"Hey, sir, you don't know something. Xiyi people like silk, there is another reason besides the nobleness and exquisiteness of silk."

"what reason?"

"The nobles in Xiyi like to wear purple clothes, and purple is extremely difficult to color, but purple on silk is the most gorgeous. Therefore, if you want to get a good purple clothes, you must use silk. Silk is transported thousands of miles, and it is extremely difficult to get. Rare things are expensive. That's why the price is high. I heard that even the nobles of Xiyi are reluctant to destroy the worn out silk garments, but take down the silk threads and re-weave them into garments to show off to others."

Mei Gao was dumbfounded, and even Liang Xiao, who had long been mentally prepared for the Romans' preference for silk, was taken aback.How popular is silk in the West?It's no wonder that despite the long distance and dangers, these people still keep going.It turns out that the profits are so huge.

If Liu Ling were to sell a few shipments of silk to Rome every year, wouldn't he want to exchange for a few shipments of gold?Compared with the land route, the carrying capacity and speed of the sea route have great advantages.Guo Yu only went to the Western Regions, and it took three to five years to go back and forth. If he traveled from Haidao, he could go back and forth from Huainan to Rome in less than half a year.

"You are so profitable, the Huns will not spare you?"

"Isn't that right?" When the Huns were mentioned, Guo Yu let out a long sigh and poured out his bitterness.

The officials of the Han people are greedy enough, but they don't want to rob them openly. At most, they count more when calculating taxes.This is not the case for the Huns. The taxes they collect often reach more than [-]%, that is to say, half of the goods are for their white belts.This is not bad, if you encounter someone who is cruel and merciless, just grab them all.

"In the past two years, there has been a plague of white hair on the grassland, and the Huns have become even more fierce, looting everywhere. After passing thousands of miles from Zhuoxie Mountain, I saw three caravans being robbed. Alas, poor people, everyone was robbed by wolves. It’s too bad to eat. But there is no way, no matter which road you take, you have to pass through the territory of the Huns. Whether you can pass safely depends on luck.”

Liang Xiao and Mei Gao glanced at each other and smiled in unison.

The more brutal the Huns were, the more help the Han army would get in counterattacking the Huns in the future.Among other things, you can get a lot of useful information from this Guo Yu right before your eyes.This information is not found in the book, every step is made by Guo Yu himself.

With this in mind, Mei Gao immediately took the initiative and said with a smile: "Mr. Guo has been in the grassland for so many years, so he must be very familiar with the situation on the grassland?"
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(End of this chapter)