More than ten days later, the group finally arrived in Kungel.

When we were still about dozens of miles away from Kungele City, although it was still a desert area, the number of people was gradually increasing. The herdsmen's tents on the desert were much denser than before, and there was an endless stream of horses galloping past.<

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It was dusk again when we arrived at Kungel. At this time, the caravan, which had been traveling for nearly a month, was already exhausted and wanted to enter the city to rest immediately.

"Kungele City has more than ten large bathhouses, and it also provides accommodation and catering services. If you are willing to spend money, you can also choose a few pagan beauties to sleep with you."

This is the news that Kitard got from Rasim. It seems that he must have done this kind of thing frequently.

A huge setting sun hangs slanting in the sky far away in the desert, and is about to fall.

The color of the setting sun is almost integrated with the desert land, but to the east, there is a prosperous scene.

A huge gray-brown earth city stands on the oasis. According to Rasim, this earth city has been destroyed several times since it was built.

The Khorezm people who lived here were successively ravaged by several major tribes, including Cypriots, Dayuezhi, Huns, Turks, Oghuz, Mongols, and later the mixed descendants of Mongolians and Turkic-speaking tribes.

It was the Khorezm people who first built the castle, and opened up a large number of fields in the entire Khorezm oasis area, developing a high degree of civilization. However, since there is no barrier except the desert around them, no matter how high the civilization is, it will not be able to face the cavalry of the nomadic tribes.

They are all vulnerable.

Unlike China, they are either surrounded by mountains or the Great Wall. They can only farm the land in fear while waiting for the arrival of the next powerful nomadic tribe.

Throughout their lives, they rarely become masters, and their royal family are all outsiders without exception.

At present, the reason why the Manjit people are able to take the lead after the Persians left is not because they have the most Khorezm blood, and combined with their original nomadic blood, they have become the most powerful tribe here.
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The Manjit people are half Oghuz and half Khorezm, so they are called "Masters of the Oghuz", and the Khorezm people here are all invaded by the people.

Nomadic tribes keep changing their names.

When the Ogus people are strong, they are Ogus people, just like when the Huns in the Mobei grassland are strong, everyone calls themselves Huns.

It was originally just an earthen city built entirely of earth. After the Manjit people took power, they used sand from the Amu Darya River to cover the outside with a layer, giving it the gray-brown color you see.

The green Amu Darya River flows on the yellow-brown land, just like a jade belt. There are farmlands around the jade belt. This is the largest cotton and wheat producing area in Central Asia, and it has been like this since ancient times.

When the caravan approaches the oasis, it cannot go any further.

A small group of Turkic cavalry came at lightning speed. At this time, the Turkic cavalry no longer looked like they used to do before. Although their uniforms were similar, everyone carried muskets on their backs, and some even had bayonets attached.

They stopped when they ran in front of the caravan. When they saw the familiar Rasim, the bearded cavalry leader smiled and said: "You are here."

Rasim also understood it and threw a small bag made of green silk to the man in front of everyone. When the bulging bag flew in the air, it also made a jingling sound. It must have been prepared early in the morning.

The best ruby ​​blank.

This kind of blank is the best, there is no debris on it, and it only needs a little processing. At this time, the Central Asian Islamists like to decorate their hats, belts, and knife mountains with this thing most. The price is higher than gold, and naturally

Very popular with them.

The man laughed and accepted it in front of everyone.

The caravan set off again, and after about a moment, it finally reached the city gate.

When he got here, Kitard couldn't help but think of something.

"Since there are Russian prisoners imprisoned in this city, why did the Manjit people imprison them in the northernmost part of the Khanate's oasis? It would not be best to imprison them in the Khiva capital in the south or any city in the middle.

, aren’t you afraid that the Russians will attack the city with all their troops?”

"By the way, most of the Russians who came before were Cossacks or serf soldiers. Otherwise, with the current strength of the Russians, they would not have ignored them after more than thirty years."

"Although the Cossacks are valued now, they are just valued. In their eyes, they are just better consumables. Otherwise, there would not have been endless Cossack uprisings in the Tsarist Russia era. As for the serfs, they would not be considered.

In their eyes"

"Then why did Bekotov let the Turguts rescue them? Is it just to make us kill each other?"

"This Kungeler is definitely not simple"

As soon as we entered the city, we were hit by a pervasive unpleasant smell. The smell of sweat and livestock excrement mixed with it was nauseating. The streets were also paved with dirt, and there were carriages, horses, cattle, sheep and horses.

Going back and forth with the bustling people, the smell is mixed with dust, which is much worse than the city of Malga in Truchen.

Led by the Turkic cavalry, the caravan walked through many places for an unknown amount of time before arriving at a large post station.

"Khorasan" is the name of this inn. Khorassan is originally a Persian name, which means the place where the sun rises. Later it evolved to have words similar to "Paradise", "Elysium", and "Land of Milk and Honey".

” means.

This inn is very large and seems to be specially designed to accommodate caravans like Rasim who carry large amounts of livestock.

The inn is surrounded by a circle of earthen houses with flat tops, but in the middle is a place where horses and camels are kept. Nearest to the inside, there is a house made purely of stone!

Presumably, this is the big bath in Rashim's mouth.

In the evening, Kitard was about to go out to the street to eat, and Rasim pulled him back with a smile.

"Taiji, the big bath here is the best. The hot water will make you tired after soaking for a while. On the table of the big bath, there is also freshly roasted lamb, freshly fished out of the deep well.

Drinking and drinking while soaking in the cold wine, there is nothing more fun in the world than this."

Kitard pretended to ask: "How much does it cost?"

Rahim smiled and said: "I invite you"

Kitard had no choice but to let Techina and others go to the street to eat by themselves, and he followed Rasim to the big bath.

The door in the middle is open, or there is no door at all. Water vapor is coming out constantly, and there are also the sounds of many people talking.

Kitard raised his legs and was about to go inside, but Rasim caught him again.

"Honorable Taiji, this is a place where ordinary people stay. I am entrusted by Lash Khan to greet you well along the way. How can I let ordinary people like you hang out together?"

As he said that, he pulled him forward. There were many bathing pools with wide open doors along the way. When he reached the last one, Rashim stopped. This bathing room did have a door and a plaque with religious patterns hanging on it.

Shower curtain.

There was already a person waiting at the door. He was dressed in a white short coat and was in his fifties. He bowed down respectfully after seeing Rasim.

"Master, you are finally here"

"Sir?", Chitard immediately realized that this inn belonged to him, Rasim!

After entering the bathroom, the two took off their clothes in the dressing room and jumped into the bathtub, which was about one foot long and four feet wide. The hot water inside was about one meter deep. They faced each other and soaked their whole bodies.

Inside, only the head is exposed, and there is a special place for resting the head on the wall of the pool.

Rashim was covered in fat, with a large amount of chest hair exposed on his chest, which was dwarfed by the strong muscles that Kitard had been exercising all year round.

However, people at this time regarded fatness as beauty. A fat person meant that he did not make a living by working all day long. Although Rasim was a businessman, he was a noble in the Bukhara Khanate. When he was doing business, except for a few people like

A person like Lash needs his intervention, and the rest is left to the old housekeeper and Arslan, and there is no need for his intervention at all.

Therefore, although the journey was tiring, he had a special tent and food specially for him to enjoy alone. He also traveled on horseback. Although he suffered from the fatigue of traveling and traveling, he did not suffer too much and was very fat.

Never removed.

Rasim stared at Kitard for a long time, then smiled and said, "You still have Gron?"

Naturally, he saw the short hair on Kitard's head, Gelong, the middle-ranking lama in the lamasery. Most of the Torgut people believed in Lamaism and respected the monks very much. The nobles wanted to stabilize their status in the tribe.

It is naturally good to go to Tibet to learn gilding, and it is also common to be able to work as a Gelong in a tribal lamasery for a period of time.

Rasim has been walking between Torgut and the Bukhara Khanate all year round, and he has obviously known this section for a long time.

"Yes"

While Rahim stared at him, Kitard was thinking about other things.

"This person actually owns his own inn in Khorezm, which is known as the den of horse thieves. This is not something that a businessman can understand. He must have a certain background in the Khiva Khanate"

So, he asked tentatively: "Big shopkeeper, can any outsider open a business store in Kungel?"

"Hahaha"

At this time, Rasim's roast lamb and ice-cold wine had been brought to the pool wall. Rasim took a big sip, took another big bite of the mutton, and then laughed.

"Of course not. First of all, you have to be an Islamic believer, and then you have to obtain a license issued by Atarek, a manjit in the city. This license is only issued ten times a year, and each face is worth a thousand silver coins.

, if you do not build a store or other facilities within the specified time, you will take back this card."

As he spoke, he waved, and the servant standing behind him understood. After a while, he brought something.

It turned out to be a sign made of black jade about three inches long and one inch wide. In the middle of the sign was a ruby. Although the light in the bathroom was not good at this time, the ruby ​​still shone brightly. It came from Tur.

Hute's fire stone!

“This kind of fire stone,” Rasim said, holding up the sign, “used to be the favorite of the Oghuz people. The Manjit people inherited this tradition and regarded it as the protective gemstone of their tribe.

My family is the best gem processing family in Bukhara"

"To tell you the truth, I settled here as early as ten years ago, and the gem processing workshop is also located here. Otherwise, if it were still located in Bukhara, wouldn't it be troublesome to transport it here?"

Speaking of the fire-patterned stone, Rasim seemed to be very interested, and talked about the fire-patterned stone, the Manjit people, Kungel City and other tribes.
Chapter completed!