It is located in the vast basin of Tianshan South Road, with flat terrain and pleasant climate.
The river formed by melting water from the snowy mountains in the west flows through the area and flows into Bosten Lake in the east, forming a livable water town ecology. Coupled with the abundant sunlight in the area, many conditions combined have made Yanqi Town develop into one of the most popular among the countries in the Western Regions.
A rare agricultural town.
As early as the Western Han Dynasty, Yanqi could not only be self-sufficient in its domestic crops, but could even export most of them as commodities and sell them to small surrounding countries.
In the eleventh year of Taiping Zhenjun (450), Che Division was invaded by foreign enemies, and the whole country was famine. He could not support himself, so he asked the Northern Wei Dynasty for help. The Northern Wei Dynasty issued an edict to comfort him and opened Yan Qi Granary to provide it. Since then, Che Division has provided the country with three years of needs.
All the food he had was obtained from Yanqi, so he was able to survive.
In addition to basic agriculture, Yanqi is close to Bosten Lake and is one of the few large fishing towns in the Western Regions. There are also many salt lake mining sites near the lake. The quality of the salt obtained is far superior to the cave salt mined in other areas of the Western Regions...
Therefore, grain and salt have become the two important export commodities of Yanqi Town.
Zhou Jun and his party followed the official road and finally arrived at Yanqi Town.
In terms of area, compared with Shicheng Town, Yanqi Town is about six times the size of the former.
In terms of environment, most of Shicheng Town is surrounded by yellow sand and Gobi, while Yanqi Town is surrounded by hundreds of miles of fertile farmland and fishing grounds with abundant water resources and dense vegetation.
Zhou Jun stood at the height of the city entrance and looked into the distance. As far as he could see, he couldn't help but feel a little emotional. The Yanqi Basin was somewhat similar to the water town in the south of the Yangtze River.
Zhou Jun thought in his mind that according to the discussion with Kong You beforehand, if the Anshi Rebellion breaks out, no matter where in the Central Plains, it will no longer be safe.
Born as a slave, he has no aristocratic family to back him up, nor any royal relatives to rely on. If he wants to find a chance to survive in troubled times, he can only move his population, technology, and wealth to the Western Regions to escape the war and develop with peace of mind.
But only by displaying our grand plans can we prevent the Chinese civilization a hundred years from now from falling into the darkest abyss.
After thinking about this, Zhou Jun made up his mind to build Yanqi into a haven to avoid chaos in the future.
Walking into the city, there are many shops on both sides of the street with a dazzling array of shelves. Businessmen from different countries are selling their own products.
Handing the horse's rein to Sun Aying beside him, Zhou Jun walked along the long street and browsed the shops in the town with great interest.
After walking almost fifty steps, Zhou Jun suddenly saw something and couldn't help but stop.
A wooden plate contained many pure white silk threads.
Zhou Jun picked up a silk thread with his hand and pinched it gently. It was soft and full of elasticity.
He asked the shopkeeper a little uncertainly: "Is this silk?"
The store owner was a native of Yanqi who was nearly fifty years old. Seeing Zhou Jun's extraordinary bearing, he quickly replied: "This is the Western Regions Celestial Silkworm."
Zhou Jun wondered: "How can silk be produced in the Western Regions?"
The store owner smiled and said: "This must be the first time for this customer to come to Yanqi."
Zhou Jun: "How do you know?"
Store owner: "Although the Western Region is large, there are only two places where silkworms can be raised. One is Khotan and the other is Yanqi. Due to the terrain and climate of these two places, they are quite similar to the south, so they can raise silkworms.
And regardless of quality or appearance, the silk produced by the silkworms from the Western Regions is not inferior to the silk from the south."
Zhou Jun found it interesting and asked: "Since we have raised silkworms and produced silkworms, why not spin them into silk?"
Hearing this, the store owner said helplessly: "There are not many people in Yanqi Town who have textile skills, and their skills and abilities are not as good as those in the weaving workshops in the south, so most of these silk threads are used to fill clothing materials.
"
When Zhou Jun heard this, he suddenly remembered that in the "Book of Wei" he had read, there was a record of Yan Qi's words: "Raising silkworms is not for silk, but for cotton."
It turns out that Yanqi also produced silk, but the textile technology was backward. Only a small part was spun into silk, and most of it was used to fill clothing.
Zhou Jun put down the silk silk and looked into the store again. A special pot of plants caught his attention.
It is a small shrub-like potted plant. The flowers grow singly in the leaf axils, and the pedicels are slightly shorter than the petioles. The most conspicuous thing is that what is grown on the branches are not common flowers, but clusters of fluffy velvet as white as snow.
Tuan. Seeing that Zhou Jun was looking at it seriously, the store owner simply moved the potted plant in front of the former and said, "This is Baidiezi. Rich people often keep a few pots in their courtyards. It looks interesting and unique."
"
Zhou Jun secretly thought that the plant in front of him was what later generations would often call cotton.
It’s just that during the Tang Dynasty, cotton was not cultivated on a large scale. There are many reasons for this, mainly because it is difficult to plant, the harvest is small, deseeding, and spinning are more troublesome, so most of the time, it is regarded as a kind of cotton.
Ornamental flowers.
After crossing the long street, Zhou Jun followed Fei Weng. When he saw the latter walking towards the east of the city, he asked: "Are we going to the Seven Star Buddha Cave now?"
Fionn: "No, before we go there, we have to find someone first."
Zhou Jun: "Who?"
Fei Weng: "The master of the Hidden Gate Hall, Mu Sheikh."
The Dharma Hall is located in the Hidden Gate and is responsible for teaching teachings and training believers. When he first heard the name, Zhou Jun thought that the master of the Dharma Hall was named Mu and was named Xie He."
Following Fei Weng to a mosque in the east of Yanqi City, Zhou Jun saw the true form of the master of the Dharma Hall.
Mu Sheikh, the great cannibal, whose real name is Muhasinai Khaldun Emira Abdul Aziz. As for the word Sheikh, it is the honorific title given to the wise by the great cannibal.
Zhou Jun looked at the white-haired old man in front of him, who was also looking at him.
After a while, Mu Sheikh asked Fei Weng: "Is this the person?"
Feiong nodded and added: "He met the Zoroastrian saint because of the prophecy."
Mu Sheikh turned his attention to Hua Yue behind Zhou Jun again, his expression stagnant, frowning, thinking carefully for a while, and finally turned around and said: "Others are waiting here, the young man surnamed Zhou, then
I come."
Zhou Jun said a few words to the people around him, then followed Mu Sheikh and walked towards the temple.
Seeing this, Hua Yue wanted to follow him.
Feiong stopped her and shook his head gently.
Painting the Moon has no choice but to give up.
Zhou Jun walked in the corridor of the mosque, passed the minaret, passed through the prayer hall, and finally came to the study room of the imam.
Mu Sheikh first closed the door, and then asked Zhou Jun to sit cross-legged on the futon.
The latter was full of doubts and didn't know what the Dharma Hall Master in front of him wanted to do.
Mu Sheikh took down a wooden box from the top of the bookcase, blew off the floating dust on the surface, and opened the lid of the box.
Then, he carefully brought the wooden box to Zhou Jun and motioned for the latter to look inside.
Zhou Jun looked inside the box and saw a torn piece of paper inside.
Most of the paper had been burned to ashes by the fire, and only the few remaining remains could barely be recognized.
Zhou Jun struggled to read the words above: "Stars... heavy rain... war... a great innovation... started on the eighth day of April in the third year of Tianbao..."
After reading the last date, Zhou Jun's heart skipped a beat and his face became solemn.
Mu Sheikh kept looking at Zhou Jun's expression from beginning to end.
Seeing this, he had already made up his mind.
Mu Sheikh closed the wooden box and said to Zhou Jun: "Tomorrow morning, you follow me to the Seven Stars Buddha Cave, where all the answers will be found."