Li Ye didn't know until he was on the way that this caravan actually set out from the Giantuoluo Kingdom. At first, there were only 500 camels. After passing through the Wuzhanna Kingdom, Shihanna Kingdom, and Humi Kingdom, there were more and more small caravans.
There were also caravans coming from Xiliu and Xianxiu countries, and eventually they gathered into a large caravan of more than 2,000 camels.
The starting point was Gandhara, which is today's capital of Pakistan, Islamabad. The country of Xiliu was today's Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. The destination, Bakhna, was located in today's Kyrgyzstan.
Five days later, the team arrived at Saijiashen City, which is the exit of the Wakhan Corridor. The city is close to the Wuhu River and is exactly the junction of the Humi Kingdom and the Shiny Country. It belongs to the Shiny Country and has very developed commerce.
It was getting late, and the city gates of Saijiashen City had been closed to prevent caravans from entering the city. However, it didn't matter, there was a merchant camp outside the city.
The merchant villages in the Western Regions were different from the inns in the Tang Dynasty. They were surrounded by earthen walls and there were many stone houses inside. You could choose any stone house. Anyway, you had to pay when you entered the earthen wall gate, and you were charged by the camel.
Collect ten Tuqishi copper coins, ten Silk Road copper coins, or ten dinar copper coins. Of course, the hardest one to get through is the Kaiyuan Tongbao of the Tang Dynasty.
Li Ye gave him two hundred coins and entered the walled compound. The open space was filled with wooden stakes and camels were tied up. They tied up the horses and camels, took their luggage and entered a stone house.
The stone houses were very large, and there were four fire pits in each stone house. They were lucky, there happened to be two empty fire pits, and everyone gathered around them quickly.
Water and firewood are provided for free here, and you have to pay for anything else you want. There are many vendors doing business in various stone houses.
Everyone lit firewood, and the fire chief Xu Jian stood up and said with a smile, "I'll feed the camels and horses!"
Horse feed also costs money, and black beans and fine materials are more expensive. Li Ye gave Xu Jian a few gold dinar coins, which were the gold coins Li Ye got from selling horses before entering Hexi.
Li Ye smiled and asked: "Give the coolies something good to eat!"
"Don't worry, sir! I promise to give them the best food."
Xu Jian took several brothers out. At this time, a vendor came forward and said with a smile: "What do you want to buy for food?"
He spoke Sogdian, which Li Ye understood, so he smiled and asked, "What's good to eat?"
"There is camel meat, whole sheep, horse meat, rats and rabbits. They are all clean and fresh meat. They are guaranteed to be just slaughtered today."
"How much does a whole sheep cost?"
"One dinar gold coin for the sheep!" The merchant's eyes were very sharp. He just saw Li Ye giving Xu Jian a few gold coins.
"Here are four whole sheep. Do you have any fruit?"
"There are honeydew melons and grapes, one gold dinar per portion, ten honeydew melons, and ten large bunches of grapes."
"Two pieces of fruit!"
The other party did not bargain, which made the merchant narrow his eyes with a smile, "Masters, wait a moment, we will be here soon!"
The merchant went to pick up the goods, and everyone praised him: "Young Master can also speak Sogdian, that's amazing!"
Li Ye smiled slightly and said: "I am a student of Taipei University. I specialize in studying the languages of the Western Regions. I can speak Sogdian and Turkic languages, and I can also understand some Wusun languages."
After a while, the merchant and two waiters brought the sheep and fruits, all wrapped in large local leaves. Li Ye gave the merchant six dinar gold coins, and everyone put the whole sheep on the rack and began to barbecue.
At this time, more and more merchants entered the merchant village, and each stone house was a bit crowded. Seven or eight merchants from a caravan came over and said with a smile: "Everyone, every house is crowded, can we stay here?"
Give it a squeeze?”
Li Ye nodded, pointed to a space next to him and said, "We have a few brothers who have gone to feed the horses. Leave this place to them. You can sit anywhere else."
The seven or eight merchants breathed a long sigh of relief. Finally, someone was willing to take them in. They moved their goods into the house. The stone house was immediately filled with piles of goods, and they had to climb over the goods to enter the house.
The merchants also bought a portion of fruit and thirty kilograms of camel meat, piled firewood and started roasting the meat.
Li Ye really didn't like the taste of roasted camel meat, and their meat seemed not very fresh and tasted fishy.
Li Ye had no choice but to drink a few sips of milk wine to avoid the smell.
"Does the young master seem to be from the Tang Dynasty?" the leader of the businessman asked with a smile.
Li Ye pointed to his men, "We are all from the Tang Dynasty. My surname is Li. Let's go to Bahan. Where are you?"
"Li is the surname of the Tang Dynasty! We are merchants from the Giantuoluo Kingdom. My name is Juan Jialuo. Let's go to the Stone Kingdom."
It turned out that they were the ancestors of Ba Tie, and Li Ye had a better impression of them.
"What are you going to sell in Stone Country?"
"The main thing is to sell sugar. We have good brown sugar, which can be sold at a good price in Shiguo."
At this time, Xu Jian came back with a few of his men. They stepped over the cargo bag, walked inside and sat down against the wall.
Xu Jian whispered to Li Ye: "I heard that this area is not very safe!"
Xu Jian can also speak a few words of Sogdian, and he can understand some of the discussions outside.
Li Ye asked quietly: "What is unsafe?"
"Not sure, they spoke very quickly."
Li Ye asked the old man Juan Jialuo next to him: "What's unsafe here?"
Juan Gallo sighed and said, "Why do we all walk together? It's because the road is not smooth!"
He patted the knife and bow and arrow behind him and said, "Everyone must carry weapons. If you encounter the bandits, you can protect yourself, but if you encounter the Persians, you can only resign yourself to fate."
"Persian?"
Li Ye was surprised and said: "Are there any Persian bandits in this area?"
At this time, someone from another fire pit said: "The Persians are not bandits, they are regular troops. Everyone knows that they came from Khorasan."
Juan Jialuo nodded, "This gentleman is right. They are regular troops. Each team has two to three hundred people. They came the year after Tuqishi's demise. They looted homes and caravans everywhere.
They will lose both their lives and their wealth, unless..."
"Unless what?"
"Unless you are willing to convert to their religion, they will spare you and won't take your money or goods."
Another man in the fire pit gritted his teeth and said: "If you want me to betray Buddha, I would rather die!"
For a moment, the merchants in the stone house were silent.
Li Ye nodded secretly. The Tocharian region is full of Buddhists, and the famous Bamiyan Buddha is nearby. After the Battle of Talos, the Tang Dynasty's power retreated to the east of Congling, and the power of the black-clad food forces expanded eastward with all their strength, bringing
Thanks to their great food education, the gradual greening of Central Asia and northern South Asia began at this time.
Of course, the popularity of Taishikoku did not happen overnight, but developed over hundreds of years, but it started at this time.
At two o'clock in the morning, a cavalry of about a hundred people came galloping out of the darkness and appeared outside the Merchant Village. The leading general stared at the wall with twinkling eyes for a moment. He waved his hand and galloped away with another hundred cavalrymen.
In the stone house, dozens of businessmen were sleeping soundly, snoring loudly, and the turbid air was filled with various unpleasant smells. Li Ye suddenly woke up in the corner and stared out the window warily. He seemed to feel something.