Hanhou

When the Huns envoys entered Yunzhong City, in addition to accompanying officials, guards and slaves, there were also seven or eight Hu people's caravans.

The envoys were arranged in the south of the city, and several teams of troops came and went on patrol every day.

Before the decree of Chang'an arrived, everyone from the Lan family to the guard slaves in the missions were restricted in their movements within the city.If you dare to ignore the warning and rush around, what you will face in the next moment will not be good words of persuasion, but cold halberds and short knives.

The accompanying caravan was also closely monitored.

Bianjun sent scouts to the grassland, and the Hu people's caravans could also serve as scouts for the Huns.

Caravans stationed in the west of the city, if they don't go out, they must go to the city to trade, they must go to the designated official to register their identity and goods, and receive a wooden sign according to the regulations.After the city flag is lowered, a special tax official will come to check to ensure that there is no entry or exit before allowing the businessman to return to the place where he stayed.

With the arrival of the Huns' envoys, the whole city of Yunzhong tensed up.Not only the officials and soldiers stared wide-eyed, but even the residents in the city and the border residents who came and went in the market were vigilant, and immediately reported anything wrong to the official temple to ensure that these barbarians would not do anything that would endanger the border county.

Zhao Jia was dragged out of the room by Wei Qingmo, knowing that the envoy had a lot of background, and there was also a businessman selling cattle, sheep and camels with him, so he couldn't help being interested, so he got up early the next day, and asked the health servant to put on a cart and load a cart Silk cloth, ready to market in the city.

A group of people arrived outside the city gate and met Wei Qingmo who had already been waiting in the team to enter the city.The girl was dressed in riding attire, and Wei Xia and Wei Qiu beside her were neatly dressed, looking heroic.

"Brother!" Wei Qing'e waved at Zhao Jia, and immediately rode up to meet him.

"Sister came so early?" Zhao Jia laughed.

"I heard that Hu people sell cattle, sheep and camels, and they will be bought at a later date. You can't even see them." Wei Qingmo flicked his horsewhip, "I haven't seen a camel before, I heard it's taller than a steer, Extremely strong, and can also be used to carry heavy loads."

Hearing Wei Qing'e mentioned carrying heavy loads, Zhao Jia couldn't help but feel his heart skip a beat.

"Sister, go to the city first. If the price is right, you might as well buy a few."

"it is good!"

Together, the two teams were inconspicuous among the border residents and caravans entering the city.

The Hu people brought in a lot of livestock, and the official temple specially posted a notice stating that the military market will be open for several days, and the city flag will be raised early in the morning and will not fall until it is dark.

The flow of people is increasing day by day, and the food sold in the city is also increasing.It is common to see border residents carrying wicker baskets walking along the street, the leaves covering the baskets are lifted, and there are stacks of steamed cakes inside.Most of them are dead noodles. After steaming, they are cut and spread with sauce, and occasionally pickles and barbecue are sandwiched.

Hu Shang is not picky at all, as long as there is enough sauce on the cake, it can often be sold very quickly.Zhao Jia walked through the city and saw no less than three or four frontier villagers emptying the rattan baskets, leading the fat sheep they had exchanged for, and leaving the city to return home with happy faces.

The food shops on the street have better business. From morning to night, there is a constant flow of customers, from shopkeepers to helpers, all of them are busy with their feet.Especially some time before the market closes, Hu merchants will pour into the store to buy steamed cakes in the basket market.

After a few days, the wheat in the food store was exhausted one after another. I went to the grain store to buy it, but was told that the warehouse had already bottomed out.

"Bian County grows more millet and less wheat. If you want to sell wheat, you have to wait for the caravan from other counties to come."

There are no raw materials, and the number of border residents carrying rattan baskets has gradually decreased, and the steamed cakes are even more in demand.

Zhao Jia was dumbfounded when he asked about the price of the steamed cakes in the food shop, and wanted to let Mrs. Sun bring everyone from the livestock farm to make steamed cakes and make a fortune in the city.Thinking about the wheat stock at home, I had to give up this idea.

"What is Ah Duo thinking, why is he shaking his head and sighing?" Wei Qing'e asked strangely.

"If you can't make money, it's hard." Zhao Jia wrinkled his face in a helpless tone.

Wei Qing'e held the rein with one hand and the whip with the other, and said in surprise: "With my brother's talent, there are times when you are in such a difficult situation?"

"Sister thinks too well of me." Zhao Jia really smiled wryly this time, "There are so many things I can't do, but there are too few things I can do."

"Don't underestimate yourself." Wei Qing'er put away her smile, threw the whip to Wei Xia, bent her finger and tapped Zhao Jia, "How old is brother? Fu Ji is not even old enough to support a family." It also provided a livelihood for many people in the village. If there is no brother, the two villages may not be able to survive the snowstorm last year. Even if they can survive, many people will die. How can this county be How many did you do?"

Zhao Jia was so praised that his ears became hot, he scratched his face with his fingers, and opened and closed his mouth several times, not knowing what to say.

"As far as I'm concerned, you've done a pretty good job. The road needs to be walked step by step, and the meal needs to be eaten bite by bite. Don't push yourself too fast."

"Thank you, sister, for your kind words!" Zhao Jia returned to smiling.

"It's good if you can figure it out. It won't take me a long time to think about it." Wei Qing'er said with a smile.

"Sister, have you thought about it for a long time?"

"Naturally." Wei Qing'er deliberately raised his eyebrows, "I don't know how much effort it took to come up with these words. If you still can't figure it out, I can only use the whip."

Zhao Jia pretended to be sad and said: "Sister, how can you be so cruel?"

Wei Qingmo pretended to be fierce: "Why not?"

"Sad husband—" Zhao Jia dragged his voice, his expression was exaggerated.

Wei Qing'e was amused, and pointed at Zhao Jia for a long while speechless.

While talking, a group of people arrived at the long street where cattle, sheep and camels were sold.

The streets are full of people, more lively than ever.Still far away, you can see the Hu merchants surrounded by the crowd.

The two of them squeezed through the crowd with their healthy servants, and when they came to the booth, they met Hu merchants and buyers bargaining.The two sides were mixing Chinese and Hu, waving their arms, arguing with red faces, and almost fighting.Miraculously, it turned out to be a deal in the end.

"Hodor, look, is this a camel?"

"Miss of the Han family, this is a grassland camel. It can withstand hunger and thirst, and is extremely strong. It can carry people and loads in the deserts of the far west and the north!" Hu Shang immediately realized that there might be a big buyer in front of him, and immediately approached him with a smile.

Zhao Jia carefully looked at the camel in front of him. It was indeed tall and strong. Counting the hump, the height easily exceeded two meters.She has brownish-yellow fur, a thick neck, a small head, big eyes with long eyelashes, and she is actually a bit cute.

From Wei Qing's reaction, she knew that this camel was very attractive to her.

Hu Shang saw this and began to sell it to the two of them.

In the past few days in the city, a lot of cattle and sheep have been sold, but these camels are seen by many people, but few people buy them.There are indeed people who ask the price, but those who really pay for it are rare, very few.

The team of envoys will not stay for too long, as long as there is news from Chang'an, they will leave immediately.At that time, most of these Hu merchants could no longer follow and had to slip back to the grassland.

Not wanting to bring back the camels as they were, Hu Shang naturally racked his brains and used all kinds of methods, hoping that Zhao Jia could buy more.

Zhao Jia didn't speak in a hurry, and simply glanced at the camel, then turned his attention to the bullock and fat sheep beside him.After asking the price, he secretly said "Sure enough".Compared with the cattle and sheep brought by Hu merchants in the past, the prices are all much higher.

"Aduo, there are more over there." Wei Qing'e pointed to the booth diagonally opposite, and said to Zhao Jia, "Go over there and have a look."

Hu Shang was dumbfounded on the spot.

He couldn't figure it out at all, the girl who was smiling at the last moment, who seemed to be about to order the servant to withdraw the money, turned her back on what she said, and was about to leave.

"Miss of the Han family, sir, my camels, cattle and sheep are the best!" Hu Shang was a little anxious.The Qiang people on the opposite side have already robbed him of two deals, so they can't be allowed to rob him of the third one no matter what!

"Oh?" Zhao Jia stopped, raised his eyebrows and looked at Hu Shang with suspicion in his eyes.

"Absolutely don't lie to your lord, those Qiang people only know how to raise sheep, how can they raise camels! Their camels are all snatched from other tribes!" Determined to keep Zhao Jiawei Qing Mo, Hu Shang did not hesitate to lower his voice and reveal The dark history of the Qiang people.

"How to say?" Zhao Jia was very interested.

Hu Shang looked around, pulled Zhao Jia to the right side of the camel, and whispered: "Last month at the Longcheng Conference, the Qiang people and the Dingling people had a dispute, and they fought on the way back. These Qiang people broke up a Dingling tribe, Steal their livestock and burn their carts. Cattle and sheep are not counted, those camels were originally owned by Dingling people!"

"really?"

"If you don't believe me, you can take a closer look. The hemp ropes on those camels' necks are all made by Dingling people. The way of knotting is very unique, which is completely different from that made by Qiang people."

Seeing Zhao Jia's pensive face, Hu Shang continued his efforts and continued: "The Qiang people don't know how to raise camels at all. From the grassland to Yunzhong County, we all walked together. These camels are far less robust than before. Although the price is low, it is difficult to guarantee the quality of the camels. I can’t feed them. Wouldn’t it be a big loss for Mr. Lang to buy these potentially sick livestock?”

Zhao Jia nodded, and seemed to be persuaded by Hu Shang.

Unexpectedly, the Qiang people on the opposite side had long been mingling behind the crowd. With their extraordinary hearing, they knew Hu Shang's slander against him, and immediately roared and rushed forward with their fists raised.

Zhao Jia was a little surprised, but fortunately his reaction was not slow, and he immediately backed away two steps sideways.At the same time, he protected Wei Qing'er, bypassed the uneasy camel, and avoided the two barbarians who were fighting together.

The noise attracted more barbarians. Seeing the Hu merchants who were torn together, they could roughly guess the cause and effect, roared angrily, and punched with fists.

Hearing the Qiang people's scolding, Zhao Jia realized that it was Dawan people who sold camels to him.However, the family of this Dawan people had already turned to the Huns, and most of the time they regarded themselves as the Huns.

Dawan people and Qiang people don't have much enmity, but they will not be polite to each other when they really fight.

More than a dozen Hu merchants huddled together, and buyers and other merchants in the city gathered around to watch the excitement and applaud while watching.Zhao Jia observed carefully and found that the ones who shouted the most vigorously were also Hu people.

The brawl lasted for a whole cup of tea, and the patrolling army in the city was long overdue.

It wasn't because everyone was negligent in their duties. If Han people were involved, they would definitely use their fists one second and be carried away by the halberd the next.Now it is a Hu, or a Hu who entered the city with the envoys of the Huns, so it is natural to kill one less.If it weren't for the city's rules and regulations, and the officials passed on the word, the army wouldn't even bother to take care of it.

These barbarians still have brains, and when they saw the army appearing, they didn't continue to tear, but stopped quickly.More importantly, they did not draw their swords in Wei Taishou's territory.If not, no matter if you win or lose, you will never get out of Cloud City again.

"Fight in the city, prison for five days!"

Wang Shichang, who led the team, was an acquaintance of Zhao Jia and was the corps leader not long ago.Fighting against wild cavalry, because of the promotion of military exploits, a few livestock were also divided.It's a pity that the leg was injured by Manqi, which didn't hinder his movement, but he couldn't ride for a long time, so Wei Yue was not selected when he chose Jingqi.Otherwise, they would not be patrolling the city at this moment, but would be practicing with the army in Yuanyang City.

More troops lined up the crowd, arrested the troublemakers one by one, tied their hands behind their backs, and prepared to send them to prison.Hu merchants who did not participate in the fight were severely warned, whoever dares to make trouble again, the sentence will be extended to ten days!

At least twenty Hu merchants were taken away, and the remaining merchants became extra cautious.Suddenly remembering Wei Shang's fierce reputation, he no longer dared to fight fiercely in the city, and was much gentler when bargaining with buyers.

Seeing Hu Shang being taken away, Zhao Jia vaguely felt something was wrong.

Needless to say, the fight between the Dawan people and the Qiang people, how did those Wuhuan people and Di people get involved?What's more, when the army arrests people, they don't give the other party a chance to argue at all. If they dare to speak, they just punch them, and even hit them in the face.

"Aduo, what are you looking at?" Wei Qing'e asked.

"Just a little weird."

"strangeness?"

"...Nothing." Zhao Jia shook his head.Everything is just his guess, whether it is true or not, he cannot interfere.However, if the bigwigs in the city really did it, what is the purpose of arresting these businessmen?

"Mr. Han, girl, do you want to buy this camel?" a Dawan native who did not participate in the fight asked cautiously.

Zhao Jia withdrew his thoughts, glanced at the cautious Hu merchant, and then looked at the camels, cattle and sheep tied to the wooden stakes, showing a gentle smile, but the words that made Hu merchant turn blue: "The price is [-]% lower, I will buy it." .”

"Lang Jun, this price is too low."

"Your asking price is at least [-]% higher than usual." Zhao Jia pointed to the cattle and sheep, showing two fingers, "According to the price I said, you will definitely not lose money. As for these camels, if you think the price Low, I don’t really want to buy it either. I’m in the county and I don’t go to the grasslands, so it’s useless to buy it.”

Hu Shang hesitated for a while, thinking that Zhao Jia was telling the truth.Considering the current situation, these livestock really needed to be sold as soon as possible, so they could only bite the bullet and agree to the price offered by Zhao Jia.

"If the gentleman uses copper coins, the price can be lowered by half." Hu Shang whispered.

"Why, someone used copper coins to market goods before?" Zhao Jia raised his eyebrows.

"Nothing, nothing." Hu Shang was not stupid after all, he felt that Zhao Jia's tone was wrong, and quickly shook his head to deny it.

Zhao Jia did not continue to ask, and asked Ji Bao to take the wooden sign, and went to the officials' office to register with Hu merchants, then took the silk cloth from the cart, and dealt with the other party face to face, and after making sure everything was correct, he took away the camels, cattle and sheep .

"Sister, I want to send the cattle, sheep and camels to the livestock farm, so I can't stay in the city for long." Zhao Jia said.

"It's okay, I'll go back to the village too." Having said that, Wei Qing'e changed the subject, "Aduo, it's best to send someone to report to Mr. Wei about the Hu merchant's words."

"Sister, don't worry, I won't be negligent."

Hu Shang was obviously not telling the truth.If any businessman is really daring and dares to trade copper coins with Hu merchants in the city, the matter must be reported to the prefect's mansion.

Wei Qingmo left with Wei Xia and Jian Pu, Zhao Jia called Ji Xiong, ordered him to take the wooden sign given to him by Wei Taishou, and immediately went to the Taishou's mansion to report the matter truthfully.

"Go back quickly."

"promise!"

Ji Xiong beat his horse and left, and soon disappeared.Zhao Jia took the cart and the livestock from the market and walked all the way to the livestock farm, bathed in the warm afternoon sun.

Inside the prefect's mansion, the head of the Lan family was full of anger, pressed the hilt of the knife with one hand, and said forcefully: "Wei Shang, I was ordered by the great Shanyu to repair the Tonghan family. You arrested the people who accompanied you for no reason. , for what purpose? The person I sent was driven away by you, and I came in person, just to ask, will you let him go or not?"

Calling names in person is tantamount to insulting people by pointing their noses.Wei Taishou's face sank like water, and he also said in a firm voice: "In the land of the Han family, we must abide by the rules of the Han family. Those who break the law should be imprisoned, and those who commit evil should be killed! The big family said that they came here for the good, but they condone The Hu people fought each other in the city, and they didn't reflect on themselves afterwards, but instead broke into our house with knives, I would like to ask, Lanji, what do you want?"

"What do you want?" Lan Ji sneered, and suddenly drew out a short knife, the point of which pointed straight at Wei Shang, "If you insist on not letting him go, I will kill you, slaughter Yunzhong City, and snatch him out of prison. Does the emperor dare to send troops into the grassland?"

Wei Shang also sneered, drew his long sword out of its sheath, and slammed it on Lan Ji's short knife, leaving a clear gap on the blade.

"Before you came, you didn't ask Xu Buyong how many young men I killed him? You didn't ask why he didn't dare to send cavalry into Yunzhong County for half a step?"

Lan Ji snorted coldly: "Mr. Xu Bu is cowardly! My Mr. Lan rode [-] times fiercely, enough to flatten a border county!"

"If you have the guts, you can give it a try. Let's see if your cavalry will break through the clouds, or one day, my son of the Han family will slaughter your tribe and make your Lan family extinct!"

Accompanied by the voice, the long sword in Wei Shang's hand fell suddenly.Lan Ji instinctively raised his knife to block, and with a harsh sound, the short knife was cut in two.

Looking at the broken knife in his hand, Lan Ji's eyes were bloodshot and his face was ashen.