Li Siye strolled among the post building complex, looking up and around. It was different from what he expected. The Jingjue Palace was not the majestic building he imagined. Even the exquisite chiseled stones and carved patterns in the past were now blown by the wind and sand.
Eroded into bare stones.
He turned back and asked You San: "Does the post station accept passing merchants?"
"Of course we have to receive Hu people and Han people from the Central Plains and the Western Regions to enter the post station to replenish fodder and fresh water. They pay us money, and we use the money to buy fodder for horses, pay wages to us people, and also plant crops near Nirang City.
Tree."
Li Siye asked again: "How much money can you earn every year? After excluding all the expenses at Niyang Station and the city, how much money can be left?"
Seeing Yousan in a daze, Li Siye explained: "Oh, I don't want to check your accounts. Now the Duhufu wants to build more than fifty post stations on the Khotan Road and the Middle Road, so I selected a few points to check on the spot.
, even if you tell the truth, no matter how much money is left, the Duhu Mansion will not ask for it from you."
They were now standing in front of the stone hall where the inn served guests food. There were some simple stone piers and tables in it, and several businessmen were sitting on stone benches munching on dry food.
The envoy from Sancheng raised his hand and touched the Fu's head, lowered his head and said shyly: "Our Nirangyi has not saved much money. Apart from all expenses, there are only more than 50,000 copper coins in the treasury now. The main reason for the lack of money is
The city is deep in the desert, affected by wind and sand, and lacks water and food. The food supplied by Khotan Town is only enough for us soldiers. We have to spend money to buy food to receive merchants, but we in Khotan have food.
The price is too expensive, even a bushel of highland barley costs more than two hundred dollars."
Li Siye nodded with conviction. The southern route of the Silk Road was indeed poorer than the other two routes. The price of food was five times that of Qiuci and twenty times that of Chang'an. However, if you take the southern route, it is farther to the west of Congling or farther south.
The direct distance between Tianzhu and Tianzhu is closer, so for a long time many more adventurous Tang people preferred to walk on the Khotan Road.
This Silk Road trade route is not only barren, lacks water, and has difficult conditions due to sandstorms, but is also active in large and small bandit gangs, robbing, killing and doing business.
Because the spices from Tianzhu, the ivory from Dashi, and gold are luxuries that the rich in Chang'an compete for, just like the silk produced in the Central Plains, the difficulties and obstacles of the trade routes also make foreign goods expensive, and the money earned from traveling more than a thousand miles at a time
It's already quite impressive.
Legendary stories of this kind are often told on the business road, attracting business travelers. Almost every year, such a legend is born, and the content of the story is almost the same. It is probably about a certain Guanzhong gentleman who was poor and had no way of finding a way to live, so he took a chance on it.
I borrowed some money from my relatives, bought some plain silk in Chang'an City, took the old horse at home and followed the caravan to the Western Regions to do business.
The amount of money you can make by doing business on the Silk Road is directly proportional to the distance traveled by business travelers. The price difference between selling silk from Chang'an to Dunhuang and selling it to Qiuci is more than double.
The destination of the caravan was Khotan. They sold the silk they brought with them in the Khotan market, and spent most of their money in the city of Khotan to buy pepper, ivory and other luxuries. Naturally, they could double their value when they returned to the Central Plains.
This kind of business can cover the household expenses for two years.
Lang Jun, who was full of fighting spirit, was obviously not satisfied with the small profit in Khotan. He led the horse and carried these pieces of silk and followed other caravans to Congling, crossed the Hindu Kulun Snow Mountain, and went south to Tianzhu. On the way
Many business travelers could not bear the hardships of the journey, so they sold their goods on the way and returned home after earning money. In the end, he was the only one left. But Lang Jun still refused to stop and continued to transport goods south, and finally arrived in Polo, India.
The Qunu City of the Dynasty.
He sold plain silk at a very high price in Qunu City, and bought a large amount of pepper and dipterocarp at a very low price. He carried the goods back on his journey back. Fortunately, he escaped the avalanche and climbed over the snow-capped mountains.
, and escaped the robbery of sand thieves on the Khotan Road, and may have lost some goods, but the final result was that he successfully returned to Chang'an, sold the Tianzhu dipterocarps and pepper in the East Market, and gained tens of millions of dollars in wealth.
, a sudden wealth made three generations of grandparents have no worries about food and clothing.
He had heard this legendary story before, and heard it again today in Niyang City. Whether it was true or false, it was logically very reasonable. If you can do business with the tenacious spirit of Tang Monk, there is no way he will not be successful.
?The difficulties and obstacles on the westward journey and the narrow escape from death made the profits of doing business extremely high, making this story even more legendary.
Because he was deeply influenced by tomb-robbery novels, he wanted to hear the history of the ancient city more than such legends about getting rich. It was hard to come to a historical site in this life, so he had to satisfy his curiosity. This ancient city-state could only be destroyed in 500 years.
Years ago, the palace of the kingdom still stood on the ground, although it had become a inn. It sounded a bit shabby, but he believed it was mysterious and weird, otherwise wouldn't it be too boring?
"Envoy from Sancheng, have you ever heard of the Ghost Cave Clan and Queen Jingjue?"
"The Ghost Cave Clan? Why are they so infiltrative? There are also many aboriginal people from Khotan living here. I have never heard of the Guidong Clan, and neither has Queen Jingjue."
"Oh, maybe I remembered it wrong, maybe it was called another tribe? What are the aborigines of this Jingjue country called?"
Yousan replied: "Maybe he should be called Jingjue Ren, but I have never seen anyone call themselves ghost after their country name or clan name. It is too unlucky."
Li Siye was still unwilling to give up and continued to ask Yousan: "You have been stationed in Nirang City for more than ten years. Have you ever heard of any underground cities, underground caves, underground palaces, mausoleums, etc.?"
"No, I have never heard of it. Beizhi also led the residents to dig several wells in the city, and never dug out any underground palaces, tombs, etc. Moreover, Beizhi believes that Jingjue country cannot have the national power to build anything underground.
In the Great Tomb Palace, even in their heyday, the population of the country did not exceed 5,000, and the number of mature men who could hold swords and guns was only about 500. No matter what large-scale construction is carried out, it will require more than tens of thousands of civilians."
What You San said makes sense. Just based on the layout of the buildings on the ground, it can be seen that there cannot be any underground wonders in this place.
The illusion was shattered, and Li Siye's interest disappeared. He decided to leave Nirang City and embark on his return journey. The city envoy Yousan led many soldiers to see him off outside the gate.
At this time, a caravan happened to be passing through Niyang City, so Li Siye accompanied them and headed for Khotan Town.
The number of post stations on the Khotan Road is indeed insufficient. Sometimes you have to travel hundreds of miles to encounter a market town post station. The scale is much smaller than the one on the Tianshan Middle Road. It is just a few adobe houses and incomplete and collapsed walls. There are only a few in the market town.
There are several families whose livelihood depends on receiving caravans on the Silk Road. Usually, when a family opens its door to receive guests, they will hang a fence on it to indicate that it is a hotel.
Li Siye visited such a small shop on the way. The specialty meal was a cake soup made from a mixture of highland barley and wheat flour. It contained a common wild vegetable in the desert, as well as wild camel and antelope meat slices. The taste was not delicious, but it was better than
The highland barley dry food and wild vegetable soup in the inn are much better.
In order to avoid being exposed to the sun, the caravan usually rests at the inn during the day and sets out on the road in the evening. With the sense of direction of the regular merchants, the caravan will not get lost even if the clouds are thick at night. The only problem to worry about is sand thieves.
In the early morning of the third day after leaving Nirang City, the North Star had just risen in the dark blue sky, and the caravan was traveling in a dry seasonal river valley.
The leader of the caravan suddenly stopped and looked not far away with his deep eyes. A line of smoke suddenly rose on the horizon. There was no wind in the air at this time, so the smoke seemed too strange.
Years of experience in business gave him a premonition of fear in his heart.
"It's a sand pirate! Run!"
(ps: Yesterday, the unit was inspected by superiors, and updates were unable to be made. The outstanding chapters will be made up slowly. Thanks to Piaohong at the End of the Yangtze River for the reward, and thanks to the readers for their monthly votes)