Luntai County is completely different from Qiuci. This is a county town in the mainland of the Tang Dynasty. It has streets paved with stone slabs, houses with brick and wood structures, white walls and black tiles, thick eaves, and flags and flags hanging under the eaves of many shops.
Most of the pedestrians coming and going on the street are Han Chinese, and there are also many Wusun and Sogdians. The Sogdians are mainly merchants, and they rely on their travels to bring some goods to the blockaded Luntai and Jinman counties.
Business.
"General Yang, how many Han people are there in the county?" Guo Song asked.
"There are about a thousand households, and there are about three hundred households of Wusun people. There are only so many people in Luntai County, and they all make a living by farming. As you can see, there are large wheat fields outside the city."
"When the wheat is harvested, won't the Shatuo people come to destroy it?" Guo Chongqing asked next to him.
Yang Xigu smiled bitterly, "They used to come here every year, and they would set fire at night. At least half of the wheat would be burned. It was impossible to prevent and it made us miserable. In recent years, they have also had worries about their future. The Shatuo people have reached an agreement with us.
Compromise, give them 30% of the harvest every year, and then they will stop destroying the wheat. There is no other way, just spend money to buy peace! However, the outer area is still tightly sealed, and we are not allowed to go out of Luntai and Jinman counties."
Guo Song pondered for a moment and asked: "General Yang said that the Shatuo people also have worries about their future. What does it mean?"
"I heard that the Geluolu people have a tendency to expand to the southeast and have repeatedly invaded the Zheluoman Mountains in northern Yizhou, which is the traditional pasture of the Shatuo people. Now the Shatuo people have to allocate troops to deal with the Geluolu people.
Threat, Tingzhou originally had 10,000 Shatuo troops, but now there are only 6,000 left, so our pressure has been reduced a lot."
Guo Song nodded. He did not want to accuse the Beiting Tang Army and the Shatuo people from reaching a compromise from a moral standpoint. He knew that for these two armies, survival was the key.
"In Yizhou and Xizhou, which were occupied by the Shatuo people, what is happening to the Han people there now?"
Yizhou is today's Hami area, and Xizhou is the Gaochang area. These two states are also directly administered prefectures and counties under the Tang Dynasty and are currently occupied by the Shatuo people.
"Their taxes are very heavy and they are severely exploited by the Shatuo people. The Shatuo army does not allow them to leave their place of residence, otherwise they will be killed without mercy. The main purpose is to prevent them from escaping to Tingzhou. This spring, a family fled from Xizhou
In Tingzhou, four members of a family of six died, and only two survived in the end."
Guo Song didn't say anything and followed Yang Xigu to the military camp to rest. They would set off for Jinman County tomorrow.
In the afternoon, Guo Song and Guo Chongqing came to the streets of Luntai County. There were some shops near the south of the city, as well as two taverns and an inn. The shops were also grocery stores selling daily necessities, some mountain goods shops, and a cloth shop.
There is nothing else.
Guo Song walked into the mountain goods shop. The business in the shop was very deserted. A slightly fat middle-aged man was sitting in front of the counter and taking a nap. When someone came in, he stood up and walked up with a smile on his face.
"What do you want to buy, sir?"
Guo Song took a look at the items in the store, mainly selling various leather goods, mostly sheepskins, but also some animal skins. There were more than a dozen brightly colored pheasant feathers inserted in a large coarse porcelain jar.
"Do you have any boots?" Guo Song asked with a smile.
His boots were worn out while climbing last night and he wanted to buy a new pair.
"Yes! Yes! Yes!"
The shopkeeper agreed repeatedly, took out a wooden box from the cabinet below, put it on the counter with difficulty, brushed off the dust on it, and said a little embarrassedly: "It has been there for five or six years. They are all high-quality calfskin boots. The Central Plains
You can’t buy it.”
He opened the lid of the box and found that there were indeed five or six pairs of leather boots inside. The workmanship was very fine. They had been stored for five or six years and there were no problems at all.
"An old cobbler put this on consignment with me, but he passed away and not a single pair of boots was sold. It's pitiful."
The shopkeeper sighed and introduced the leather boots to Guo Song, "Sir, these are fine cowhide. You see, they are five years old and have only been oiled once, but they are not stale at all."
"let me try!"
Guo Song sat down on the bench next to him and tried on pairs of shoes.
Guo Chongqing asked with a smile: "Looking at the accent, the shopkeeper is also from Chang'an?"
"I am from Lantian County, Chang'an. I came to Beiting with my parents when I was fourteen. Fast forward thirty years, and this shop was still left to me by my father."
The shopkeeper suddenly raised his eyebrows and asked, "I've been told to send a team of envoys from Chang'an. Couldn't it be just two people?"
Guo Chongqing pursed his lips to Guo Song and said to the shopkeeper: "This is Guo Shijun, the pacifier of the Western Regions."
The shopkeeper suddenly became excited and said: "How is the situation in Chang'an now? I heard that the Anshi Rebellion is over, and the situation should be restored to the previous situation now!"
His eyes darkened again, and what was the use of asking, since he had no relatives left in Chang'an.
"Chang'an is good now, but it's hard to say in the future. There are many separatist warlords in the Central Plains, and a war is inevitable. In fact, life is not easy anywhere."
The shopkeeper nodded, "Yes! My store will be a little better in the future, but now it is getting worse year by year. There is no place to purchase goods, and even if the goods are purchased, they cannot be sold. I am not afraid of your jokes. I have not been open for five days."
"Since you can't buy goods, what do you sell?" Guo Song asked with a smile.
"Selling some old stock! Then everyone brings their things to me for consignment. You two gentlemen, someone caught a wild boar outside the city the day before yesterday. It weighs more than two hundred kilograms. Do you want to buy it and have a taste?"
Guo Chongqing was in charge of army supplies and food. When he heard that there was wild boar meat, his eyes suddenly lit up and he asked with a smile: "What's the price?"
"One hundred and twenty cents per catty, that's twenty-four taels of silver for you. Four taels are my consignment income, and the other twenty taels have to be given to the master."
"Okay! I bought it, and I'll ask the soldiers to pick it up later."
The shopkeeper was overjoyed. The income of four taels of silver was enough for their family to live for several months.
He said to Guo Song: "Which pair of boots suits you best? I will give them to you for free."
Guo Song was very satisfied with two pairs of boots. They were finely made, durable, and fit perfectly. He smiled at the shopkeeper and said, "Buying wild boars is a public business, and buying shoes is a private business. How can public and private be confused? Shopkeeper, please don't ruin my reputation.
I can still afford it for a few taels of silver."
The shopkeeper scratched his head and said, "These boots originally cost three guan for a pair. I'll make them cheaper for you. Two pairs count for five guan."
Guo Song took out an ingot of five taels of silver and put it on the table, "This is my shoe money. You can settle with him for wild boar and other things."
The shopkeeper bowed repeatedly to thank him. At this time, Guo Chongqing was interested in the shopkeeper's sheepskins. Guo Chongqing had a deep impression when he climbed over the Wusundao Snow Mountain. The soldiers only carried two sheepskins, which was a bit too little. It would be better to give them to him.
Add one more sheepskin to each soldier.
Although the Beiting Army may also have sheepskins in stock, the resources of the Beiting Army are precious, so he decided to deal with it himself.
"Chongqing, do you want to buy sheepskins?" Guo Song asked.
Guo Chongqing nodded, "We didn't bring a tent with us. If we go camping, two sheepskins are too few. I want to add one more for each soldier. The sheepskins from this company are old and they look good!"
The shopkeeper's eyes suddenly lit up, and he said quickly: "You are so discerning. The sheepskins in the shop are all left by my father. The quality at that time was very good! They are all old sheep that are more than seven or eight years old. You can see for yourselves that they are already
It has been many years, and there is not a single bug hole. The coat is still so soft and smooth, and the leather has not aged at all. This kind of old sheepskin is very warm not only for bedding but also for covering."
Guo Chongqing also knew that what he said was not too outrageous. The quality of the sheepskins in his store was indeed good. Although the sheepskins that were seven or eight years old were not as good as those that were aged for seven or eight years, they were definitely available for more than five years. He asked: "How many of these sheepskins do you have in your store?"
Old sheepskin? It must be of the same quality as this."
"There are more than three hundred old sheepskins of this quality, and dozens of inferior ones, so I won't take them out."
"What's the price?"
The shopkeeper was extremely nervous and said in a trembling voice: "My father's purchase price back then was 800 cents per piece, and there are accounts to check. I usually sell for 1,500 cents. If the envoy wants more than 100 cents, I will always sell them."
Money, only a small profit of two hundred cents."
Guo Song secretly shook his head. In Chang'an, sheepskins of this quality cost at least three guans. Of course, this was Beiting, and the people had almost no purchasing power, so he could not sell the goods he had accumulated for so many years.
“Chongqing, it’s not easy for them either!”
Guo Chongqing then laughed and said: "Since our general has spoken, I won't let you suffer. I will buy one thousand five hundred coins for one piece. I will buy three hundred. You and the wild boar will be sent to the military camp, and I will go with you."
Checkout."
The shopkeeper sat down on the ground with a "Gudong!" and was so excited that he couldn't help grinning and crying. After more than ten years, his father's backlog of goods was finally sold.