This was Chen Chong's first trip to Meiji. He was only two months away from Governor Zhang and his party, but the scenery along the way was already very different. Under the heavy snowfall, the wilderness was covered with silver overnight, and the sky and the earth were vast. Chen Chong rode on Qingkai and looked around. From time to time, he could see Hun men in leather armor waving their whips, whizzing past the road in groups, as if There was a rush of water, and there were many low-status herdsmen, although they were thinly dressed and shivering, they were still trying to transport supplies in the severe cold.
Chen Chong always dressed lightly and simply, and this time was no exception. In addition to the green sword presented by Cao Cao, he wore a large red fur coat handwoven by Cai Yan on his upper body. He asked Xu Shu and Wei Yan to bring some dry food, one person and one horse. A horse was specially brought to carry the gold cakes, and a few people were walking on the road. The rest of the passing horse teams were meandering, making them quite conspicuous. But now that the season was unusual, both the Xiongnu and Han merchants were trying their best to restrain their subordinates, so Chen Chong and others had a smooth journey along the way.
Arriving at the ferry crossing of the river, Chen Chong and his party saw in a blink of an eye that south of the Nan River, the Huns' camps were scattered, and the felt tents seemed to be as numerous as the cattle and sheep on the grassland. Chen Chong walked along the Nan River until they reached Meiji, and then they were far away. The end of the army can be seen. Xu Shu sighed to him: "Unexpectedly, the 50,000 men and horses are so powerful. Looking at it from a distance, the people's minds are swaying and it is difficult to defend themselves."
Chen Chong smiled and comforted Xu Shu. After all, fifty thousand troops and horses gathered in one county, which was an extremely rare event even for a big man. General Duan Jiong wanted to conquer the Western Qiang, but he only had more than 10,000 men. At that time, Wang Mang stationed 400,000 troops in northern Xinjiang. As a result, the supply of food and grass was insufficient, so refugees were everywhere, and troubles continued, including the Green Forest Red Eyebrow Rebellion. It can be seen from this that more troops and horses are not better. If it is beyond the control of the country's generals, it will only lead to tragedy.
So the group of people went straight to the outskirts of Meiji City.
Meiji City is not a big city, but the market on the outskirts of Meiji City is impressive. As the palace of the Huns, Meiji is actually the most prosperous market in the entire southern Huns. Not only the Huns gather here to sell, but also many Han merchants from Bingzhou would also come here to strive for wealth, and even saw Wuhuan people and Xianbei people. Most of these people turned to the Xiongnu because they were at odds with their original tribes, and finally found a living in Meiji Market. .
Now all the Xiongnu from the six counties of Bingzhou are gathered here, and the Meiji Market has become unprecedentedly prosperous. Chen Chong arrived in front of the market and saw people coming and going, rubbing shoulders, and there were hawking sounds in both bad and not bad Chinese everywhere. He couldn't help but smile to Wei Yan and said: "Wen Chang, such a scene is really enviable. In two years, I want Lishi to have a market like this."
The three of them immediately entered the market. Meijiji is divided into four major regions, which coincides with Luoyang, but there are many differences in the types of goods sold: Dongji is a military market, selling all kinds of swords for fighting, and the Xiongnu's iron-making technology is not yet Mature, the weapons are far less sharp than those of the Han people, so most of the people gathered here are Han merchants, but apart from the princes of the Xiongnu, few people care about it. The best-selling one is the ox-horn bow produced by the Huns.
Beiji is a grain market. Except for the lack of rice, corn, wheat, soybeans, and millet are all available here. Occasionally, you can see dogwood and peppercorns shipped from Yizhou. Because the current cured meat smells fishy, you have to use spices to suppress the smell. Therefore, spices are very popular in the grain market, so much so that the price is rising. Chen Chong saw it. Can't help but be speechless.
Xiji is a human market. The Xiongnu have developed and grown in recent years. Except for the defeat in the north when they encountered Xianbei, they have made gains in other directions. Most of the captives obtained from the victory are sold as goods and used as serfs and herdsmen. This is Of course, not only the Xiongnu princes came here to trade, but also powerful people from Taiyuan and even Jizhou often came here to buy Hunu. After all, compared with the domestic slave Cangtou bought locally, the Hunu were stronger, hardworking and hardworking. He is an unfamiliar place and has nowhere to go if he wants to escape. He can be said to be a first-class high-quality slave.
Nanjima City is Chen Chong’s destination for this trip. As the name suggests, the horse market is mainly for the sale of horses. The Huns have been herding herds for generations. Horse breeding originated from all over Central Asia. As a result, the cavalry traveled all over the world and was once unmatched. However, after the unification of Xianbei, the Xiongnu were cut off from communication with the Western Regions, and the quality of Bingzhou horses gradually became inferior to that of Liangzhou horses, showing signs of decline. Fortunately, now that Liangzhou is in chaos, the Bingzhou horse trade has also been revived. The Bingzhou horses that Chen Chong bought for Wei Yan have since been Transported to Dongdu.
Of course, the horse market is not just a horse market. To be precise, it should be a livestock market. In addition to selling horses, Nanji also sells cattle, sheep, dogs and deer, but after all, it does not account for the majority of the transaction, so it is not well-known. Chen Chong was trying to find someone to ask where the best cattle and sheep were. Suddenly he heard a horse neighing behind him. He suddenly became alert and hurriedly pulled Xu Shu beside him to retreat to the roadside.
Then a large horse with a shoulder height of six feet broke through the horse gallery and galloped between the markets, barely grazing Chen Chong's coat. Chen Chong felt as if his cheeks had been swept by the wind of a knife, and there was a dull pain. Before he could express his feelings, he heard several screams coming from the side. The crowd was in a commotion, pushing each other to make way for the big horse.
Only then did Chen Chong see the appearance of the big horse. Its whole body was like ink, except for a white cloud between its eyebrows. It had a long back and a short waist, and its hamstrings were like snakes. It looked at the crowd as if it were nothing while walking around. The horse's head was high and neighing, as if it was a horse. Dragon and tiger on land, horse king on earth.
Then someone hurriedly ran out of the broken horse gallery. He felt relieved when he saw that the big horse was unharmed. He tiptoed forward and sighed: "Yuledusi, Yuldusi, you are trying to hurt me." , even if you don’t want to be driven by others, it’s not like this.”
The big horse named "Yuledusi" lowered his head and looked at him, hissed again in response, and then walked slowly back to the horse gallery. Only then did the jostling crowd relax. Except for a few people injured by the horse, passers-by gradually came and went as usual. The man breathed a sigh of relief and was about to follow him to the corridor. Unexpectedly, Chen Chong suddenly stopped him: "Friend, is that horse yours?"
The man turned around in surprise and saw Chen Chong standing there, as if frozen by the ice and snow. Then he looked at his clothes carefully and said with a smile: "My Han friend, you are wrong. I am just a little boy." It's just a household, how can such a good horse be found? But I am indeed responsible for taking care of it. I wonder, my friend, what advice can you give me?"
Of course, being a householder is not a small thing. Apart from the heads of the kings and the feudal lords, there are only two levels of bureaucrats in the Xiongnu tribes. The first level is Qiequ who manages household registration, the Bu family who is responsible for paying taxes, and the second level is He is responsible for training soldiers. Although the Danghu were grassroots bureaucrats of the Xiongnu, they often managed settlements with more than a hundred people. What this person in charge meant was that he had a big backer behind him.
But of course Chen Chong would not be afraid of any Huns backer, and he was not indignant because of himself. He swallowed his anger, pointed at the groaning Hu people collapsed on the street, and said: "My lord, the horses you take care of are here. I kicked and injured four people, but you could turn a blind eye and say nothing?"
It seemed that it was the first time that Danghu heard such words. There was incredible emotion in his eyes, and he looked at the four barbarians lying on the side in the snow. Their clothes were in tatters, but they were just enough to avoid the cold. One person Small bones were broken outwards, one person groaned, and two others fainted.
Chen Chong heard him say: "It's just four Jie people. They are like animals. Are they worth fussing about?" This statement really added fuel to the fire. Chen Chong took a few steps forward and stood like a pine tree in front of the door. In front of him, he shouted: "Aren't the four Jie people also human? Who do you think you are, more human than them? I don't think you are even a beast! Who is the leader behind you? Call him out to see me!"
The crowd around them had mostly retreated, but unexpectedly there was still a dispute, so they couldn't help but stop and watch out of curiosity. This horse gallery is located on the main road of the horse market. Soon, the crowd of people coming and going surrounded the two people. But they were not as indignant as Chen Chong. Instead, they looked at Chen Chong with a hostile, indifferent, and strange look, and they seemed to be on the same side as this official.
This person in charge was not angry at all, but instead laughed. He pretended to bow to Chen Chong and said: "It seems that this Han brother is coming to Meiji for the first time, but I don't know where he is from a wealthy family? I can teach you how to know." , but this horse gallery does not belong to anyone else. It belongs to the current King Zuo Xian in Fuluo. I am just a pawn of King Zuo Xian, but the entire Huns will be the property of King Zuo Xian in the future. They are just a few miscellaneous things. He died, King Zuo Xian doesn't mind, so why should I bother you?"
Chen Chong also laughed when he saw his disgusting and hypocritical appearance. To be fair, this can be regarded as an opportunity to establish prestige among the barbarians. This calmed him down and asked: "Excuse me, this important person, but I don't know when King Zuo Xian will return? I would like to pay a visit to him." "
Danghu saw that he was unmoved after hearing the name Yu Fu Luo. This abnormal situation made him a little at a loss. Even the wealthy Han merchants from far away did not dare to offend King Zuoxian of the Xiongnu, the future Chanyu of the Xiongnu. This made him unable to help but guess the identity of the other party. However, although Chen Chong and his party were very impressive, they did not have a large entourage. He had no way of guessing. It was better to be cautious at this time, so he said honestly: "King Zuo Xian and King Ri Zhui of your left and right are going to Wuyuan to hunt today. If you need to see the king, you can leave your name to visit me. I will let you know when your Majesty comes back."
Chen Chong helped Wei Yan and Xu Shu to put the four injured Jie people on their horses. Then he wiped off the mud and water on his body and said with a smile: "You don't need your name, so just tell him that the new governor of Xihe, Chen Chong and Chen Tingjian, are here to visit." , I hope your Majesty will respect himself, the Governor of Xihe cannot replace Shan Yu like the general who protected the Huns, but replacing him with King Zuo Xian is more than enough!"
There was a roar among the spectators, all showing incredulous expressions. The man in charge also seemed to have a bone stuck in his throat and could not utter a single word. Xu Shu and Wei Yan led their horses towards Jiwai. Seeing the solemn and upright expressions on their faces, passers-by seemed to be driven by an unknown force and consciously gave way.
When leaving, Chen Chong looked back at the householder coldly and said: "This is Xihe County of the Han Dynasty. The people, regardless of Hu or Han people, are all subjects under my rule, Chen Chong. According to Han law, we go to the market." This is against the law. When King Zuo Xian comes back, I hope you will say your previous words again."
The man in charge trembled all over, as if his throat had been sealed by a sword, and then he couldn't stand and fell to the ground.
