After entering Diao and Yanzhou, the road passes through high mountains and canyons. Most of the roads are surrounded by huge mountains standing thousands of feet high on one side and surging rapids on the other, which are much more dangerous than the roads in Jiguan Mountain area. Although the river here is not as wide as the rivers in the plains, it is very fast and bitingly cold. The river roars and rushes down through the mountains, making a huge roaring sound. The folk customs here are fierce. Most of the villages and villages are built in places that are easy to defend and difficult to attack. The houses are all built of stone. Watchtowers tens of meters high are often built in dangerous places. This is how the two states of Diao and Yan get their names. The trading volume of armed caravans in the two states is not large. On the one hand, due to the war, the Qian family will not do business here for a long time and there is no sales agent here. When doing business in Yifan areas, the goods are usually sold to local merchants, who then resell them to villages. In fact, local businessmen did not make this price difference in vain, but took huge risks. In addition to the high mountains and dangerous roads and the sparse population, the bandits here are numerous and extremely cruel. Murder and robbery are commonplace. This is also the reason why the Qian family's caravan stops in Lizhou most of the time.
As soon as they entered the boundary between the two states, the armed caravan was constantly harassed. When the bandits saw that the armed caravan was outnumbered and could not fight head-on, they made sneak attacks or blocked dangerous roads, but they were all frightened away by the explosions of firearms. Although these bandits could not succeed, they refused to give up easily. They followed for several days and then dispersed angrily when they saw no opportunity to take advantage of them. This put everyone on high alert at all times and made them mentally exhausted. Even though the caravan was careful along the way, several people were injured by stones pushed down from high places by bandits, several mules and horses were killed, and several folding shields were also smashed. Boss Qian knew that there was no way to deal with these bandits, so he ordered the march to be accelerated, selling goods and buying food only in the main villages along the way. The villages along these roads have only a few hundred people in large ones and a few dozen in small ones. They are unable to rob armed caravans. Instead, they can exchange agricultural products for daily necessities, so they will naturally not think of robbery. It was late April, spring was blooming on the border between the two states, and the climate was not cold. The caravan did not enter the village to prevent any unexpected events, but camped outside the village for the night. Boss Qian ordered people to be more vigilant, so although the journey was difficult, there were only a few surprises.
Another reason why the transaction volume was not large was because Boss Qian wanted to keep the goods and went directly to Dajianlu, which was later known as Kangding, and even went to the grasslands of Fan District to exchange for horses. Without the middlemen to make profit, the number of horses brought by the goods brought on this trip in exchange for horses on the grassland was at least several times that of Diao and Yanzhou. Since the disintegration of the Tubo dynasty, the Tibetan region has been torn apart. This is especially true in the grassland areas of Diaozhou and Yanzhou and Fan District, where there are many tribes of various sizes, and they are constantly attacking each other. Because the low productivity in the bitter cold land cannot support a standing armed force, the large tribes here only have a few hundred warriors who can fight, and the small tribes can only fight with a hundred or even a hundred warriors. In a real fight, an armed caravan can also have the power to fight. This is also One of the reasons why Mr. Qian takes the risk and moves forward. Another important reason why Boss Qian continues to go deep into the Tibetan area to buy horses is that Nima, the leader of Dajianlu, is his life-and-death friend and business partner for many years. Counting on the fingers, they haven't seen each other for more than ten years.
Dajianlu is located in a narrow valley surrounded by three mountains and two rivers. It is the choke point from the Han Dynasty to the depths of the Tibetan area. This place name first appeared in the Shu-Han period of the Three Kingdoms and is a transliteration of the local dialect "Zhaizizhu". This place is at the junction of raw and cooked crops. Diao and Yanzhou before Dajianlu are cooked crops, and beyond Dajianlu is the raw and cooked zone of the grassland. Although Diao and Yanzhou are also dominated by Tibetan people, they are deeply influenced by Han culture and are civilized Tibetan people with some sense of rules. Take robbery as an example. The native officials and chieftains of Diao and Yan states knew that openly robbing caravans would kill the goose that laid eggs, and would directly cut off their own tax sources and sources of necessities in their jurisdictions. Apart from asking for more money to buy roads, the local official leaders in these two states did not do too much and even attacked bandits in their jurisdictions. Boss Qian didn't care about these greedy local snakes. He simply used his money to open a path for peace and lay the foundation for future business. But the grassland area is different. The living environment here is even harsher. They believe in the naked law of the jungle, and there are so many bandits. Some tribes even have people who are also bandits, and the chief is the leader of the bandits. This place is extremely remote and sparsely populated, and even during the period when Tibet was powerful, law and order did not take root here. The only outcome for Han caravans that dare to do business here is destruction, and even local Tibetan merchants often lose their lives and goods. Because few caravans go to the grasslands, nomadic tribes want to trade with farming areas, mostly in relatively safe Dajianlu or Diao, Yanzhou, or even in Lizhou.
After arriving at Dajian Lu, Boss Qian ordered Qian Laosan to choose a flat place to camp, and he went to the village to meet his leader friend. Li Gangzi, who was accompanying him, led his platoon members to carry gifts for Nima and the villagers - silk, tea, salt and fine porcelain. Like most of the villages in Fan District, the residents of Dajianlu did not build the village in a river valley with convenient transportation, but on a platform halfway up the mountain. In addition to defending against enemies, the village was also prone to frequent floods and mudslides. , and even earthquakes may occur.
The air in the high and cold areas of the Tibetan region is thin, so people from the plains are not used to it. They will feel depressed and short of breath when they move a little. However, people from armed caravans often come and go here and travel through mountains and rivers all year round. They can adapt to it. Seeing the eagerness of his old friend, Boss Qian walked a little hastily towards the village. When he approached the village gate halfway up the mountain, he was out of breath. After bending down to catch his breath, he straightened up and found that the gate of the village in front was still closed, and the wall of the village was filled with soldiers armed with knives and sticks. The situation in front of him made Boss Qian very angry: "What a shame, I came all the way to see you, but you were turned away." Immediately shouted loudly to the wall in native language, asking Nima to come out to see him. After shouting for a long time, there was no reply from the villagers. The soldiers on the wall looked at him blankly. At this time, Li Ganzi and others had already arrived in front of the village carrying gifts. Boss Qian pointed at the gifts and shouted to the wall in native language: "Nima headman, I have brought you gifts, as well as salt and tea goods for trading. ,Aren’t you going to do business now?”
The luster of porcelain and silk made the soldiers on the wall shine with greed in their eyes, and Boss Qian's words made them even more commotion. What started as a few people talking among each other gradually turned into a buzzing whisper on the entire wall, and finally turned into a loud noise, and the array became skewed and scattered. The loud noise of the sepoys did not last long. As a thin man in brocade clothes walked up the wall of the village, the soldiers automatically moved out of the way, and their longing eyes turned into timidity. Boss Qian took a closer look and was overjoyed. The person who came was Nima's housekeeper Adang, and he called out, "A'Dang, how are you, Nima's head?" This Adang didn't understand Boss Qian. He first coldly looked at the person under the wall. The visitor glanced around, squinted and looked carefully at the gifts carried by Li Ganzi and others, then stopped at Boss Qian and said, "Nima leader died of illness a few years ago, Ze. Mr. Lang also doesn't know where he is. I am the leader of this village now. We will no longer do business in Dajian Lu. Boss Qian, please come back." After saying that, he turned around and left.
