A group of businessmen left the customs at Tianshui Prefecture, crossed Dizhou, and slowly marched towards Shuoxi, the capital of Xirong.?
This year coincides with the Changning Festival held every three years in Xirong, and business travelers from all over the country are rushing to Xirong.
As Xirong's national power grows stronger and its territory continues to expand, in terms of military strength, Xirong can be ranked among the top three among the countries in the Western Regions. This Changning Festival has also risen, and it can be regarded as one of the best events among the countries in the Western Regions.
The Changning Festival lasts for twenty-eight days. At the beginning, it was celebrated by the royal family and the people.
For seven days, there is the same sacrificial ceremony every day, which means saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new;
The next seven days will be the day of pilgrimage for the Xirong Dynasty and the wealthy families to worship their ancestral god Barrow. The Holy Director of the Ancestral Temple will rearrange the clan cards of each clan in the Ancestral Temple based on the reputation and contribution of each clan.
, to be protected by the gods.
Of course, it is not limited to this. After ranking, the Holy Yin in the palace and the Xirong royal family each took out some property and gave it to each clan according to the ranking in the palace.
The higher the ranking, the more rewards you will receive and the greater your power in Xirong.
After the wealthy families of Xirong finished worshiping the ancestral gods, it was the turn of the common people and local tribes to come to worship. These people could not enter the ancestral temple and could only stay outside the temple.
Some of them can't even go up to Zushan Mountain, but they can just take a look at the foot of the mountain and listen to the sound of bells, drums and horns, but their hearts are the most sincere. Many people have gathered around Zushan Mountain early, just waiting for the blessing of their ancestral god Barrow.
On the last seven days, each family in Xirong celebrates the Changning Festival by themselves, decorating with lanterns and colors, receiving blessings from God Barrow, and praying for good weather and good health for the family in the next three years, which is very similar to the New Year in Dagan.
After that, in order to attract business travelers from all over the world, the Xirong Dynasty deliberately set aside half a month for business travelers from all over the world to trade some goods. Compared with the past, they only collected half of the taxes and set up troops to protect the four borders of Xirong.
At that time, merchants from various countries in the Western Region flocked to it, and even merchants from as far away as Dagan came to share a piece of the pie. The Xirong Dynasty claimed that the world would work together, and in words it was better than the tens of thousands of families in Zhuocheng.
After leaving Tianshui, wars and disasters continued. Although Xirong promised to keep the surrounding areas safe, the Western Region was vast and sparsely populated, and there were many rogues and horse thieves. Taking advantage of this grand event to plunder, the Xirong army was helpless.
It's just that people have always sacrificed for money. Not to mention the dangers of this journey. I often hear that people and money are lost. The number of merchants going to Xirong every year has not decreased. It is said that wealth and wealth are gained in danger. Some giant merchants ask for more escorts to accompany them, while smaller merchants
He took the plunge and gained several years of wealth.
In addition, in recent years, rumors of overnight riches have often spread from unknown sources, attracting many people to ignore the hardships along the way and only hope that they can become the favored children of this god and return home with a huge fortune in the Western Region.
Slightly larger merchants would join some friends and rush to the Western Regions every year to avoid being robbed.
As for those giant merchants, they generally do not want to go with other merchants and always travel alone. The guards in the brigade are no less generous than some armies. Just like the six major families in Dagan, few horse thieves dare to plunder, let alone
These aristocratic families are more or less inextricably linked with these horse thieves.
However, these merchants are still a minority after all, and nearly 70% of the others are small traders. These people do not have much money to hire martial arts masters to escort them, so they have to contact their colleagues heading to the Western Regions before leaving the customs to gather enough manpower before leaving the customs.
Those with good reputations will have better luck, and may join a slightly larger caravan, which will increase their chances of surviving the journey by several percent.
As a result, although they have to pay a lot of money and are shouted at by others along the way, small businessmen are proud to be able to work with these big merchants. If they hear that a large caravan is recruiting people, they will almost
All the small merchants would try their luck and fight to the death, drawing laughter and ridicule from those who recruited them.
The caravan in front of me is not a large caravan, it is just a group of small traders who gathered together before leaving for Shuoxi.
At the back of the caravan, four knights surrounded two carriages and slowly followed the caravan. The carriages were stuffed with sacks, and they didn't know what they contained.
Two men in the car in front were leaning against the car's body with their clothes on, closing their eyes to relax. Suddenly the younger one opened his eyes, looked at the sun, yawned, and asked, "Where have you been?"
The knight on the horse next to him hurriedly replied: "Master..., it has been two days since we left Dizhou. According to this journey, we will reach Sanchakou in one day."
"Huh?" the young man said in surprise: "Sanchakou? Why did you choose this road?"
The knight touched his nose and said: "Go directly from Dizhou to Xirong. There are many checkpoints along the way. By Shuoxi, I am afraid that each merchant will not have much money left to trade. If you take the Sanchakou west and enter Xirong from the Chen River Valley, you can
Nearly half of the tax was saved. Yesterday, the leading Cheng family convened everyone for discussion, and they all agreed to take the Sanchakou route. The subordinates saw that the young master was resting and did not disturb him. "
"Oh, I see." The young man closed his eyes again. After a while, he opened his eyes and said to the older man next to him: "Nearly half of the tax is so coincidental."
The elder beside him brushed his beard and smiled and said: "It's not a coincidence. In my opinion, it's just a matter of jackals sharing the food."
The young man roared, turned to the knight on the side and said, "Cousin, come up and have a rest while I ride for a walk."
But the knight next to him didn't seem to hear it, and just dozed off on his horse. Both the young man and the elder smiled, and the elder called out: "Wu Jing."
The knight was startled, turned around and said, "Uncle, what's the matter?"
The elder smiled slightly and said, "Changqing asked you to come to the carriage and take a nap."
"No, I'm used to riding on a horse. I can sleep while riding a horse." The knight waved his hand and declined.
"We are Cang'er merchants, how can we have such good riding skills." The young man laughed and said.
The knight was stunned for a moment, then he understood, he smiled, and then he moved his horse a little, approached the carriage, pressed his hands slightly, and he was already on the carriage, and the carriage did not shake at all.
The elder shook his head, and the young man took the reins of the horse, tapped the shaft, climbed on the horse's back, and said to the remaining three riders: "You guys should also rest for a while in the car behind. The road will not be peaceful after tomorrow."
"
"Yes." The two knights responded, and the remaining one remained silent, turning sideways on his horse and following behind the young man.
The young man smiled softly and said, "Thank you for your hard work."
"Yeah." The tone was cold and cold, it was none other than Jiu Wei Chu Ying'er.
The speaker was Li Luo, the elder was Shen Xiangdong, the one calling Wu Jing was General Mu Tianlang Hucha Jing, and the other two riders were Li Luo's personal guards Ni Qing and Zhu Zhi.