"This may be related to the plateau climate. The light here is particularly strong." Hu Liang thought for a while and expressed his opinion.
Chen Hua couldn't help but look at the sky. Unfortunately, the sky was full of snow and it was impossible to see the sun in the sky.
"It's snowing now, so of course you can't see the sun. As long as it's sunny, it's fine." Seeing Chen Hua's curiosity, Hu Liang shook his head. In fact, he was not the same before.
"Under the strong sunlight, even if the people here are not red-faced, their cheeks are naturally red. We call it plateau red. The red face makes them look more beautiful." Hu Liang's words made Chen Hua nod.
Chen Hua came to the street. They looked at Xining carefully and saw that the entire Xining was a mountain city.
If you take a closer look, you will see that this city is even more of a coveted treasure city, with towering palaces, numerous Brahma palaces, and magnificent gold and jade-green Buddha statues.
It is in the shape of an east-west strip, with terrain high in the southwest and low in the northeast. It is surrounded by mountains, with Nanshan in the south and Beishan in the north.
The most distinctive feature here is the fortress, which is built on steep rocks. It is towering and easy to defend but difficult to attack.
Most of the forts are stone and wood structures, with dignified and stable appearance, simple and rough style, flat roofs, and generally two to three floors.
The ground floor is the livestock pen and storage room with a low floor height; the second floor is the living floor, with the large room used as a main room, bedroom, and kitchen, and the small room used as a storage room or stairwell; the third floor is mostly used as a prayer hall and terrace. .
The fortress has the characteristics of solidity, tight structure and neat corners, which is not only good for wind and cold protection, but also convenient for protecting against enemies and theft.
Seeing the fortress, Xu Te and Chen Hua looked at each other with a worried look in their eyes.
Not just for any other reason, but because it is easy to defend and difficult to attack.
This is Tubo territory, so be careful.
"Fortunately, most Tubo people still live in yurts." Chen Hua breathed a sigh of relief.
Xu Te shook his head: "Who are the people living in the yurt? They are just slaves."
Among the many buildings, one building is particularly eye-catching.
It has a maximum of five floors, and the others are also three-story buildings, but they are connected together and look majestic.
It consists of a five-story main palace, warehouse, four-story Lacan (secondary palace), square, stables, etc., covering an area of 40 acres.
"It seems that this is the palace." Xu Te raised his chin and looked at it carefully.
Hu Liang nodded and said yes.
He then pointed to a building with the highest four floors and an area of 30 acres near the palace: "This is the Grand Mansion of Da Lun (Prime Minister) Geji."
"The Great Lun Mansion and the Royal Palace are not far apart, which is interesting." Xu Te and Chen Hua looked at each other at the Royal Palace and the Great Lun Mansion, and then looked at each other.
The buildings on both sides of the palace and the Grand Palace have a building covering an area of 20 acres on each side.
Hu Liang then pointed to these two buildings and introduced: "The building next to the palace is the government office of Shamenbo Chanbu (religious leader) Jia Luo, the political leader of Pingzhang. Marshal’s House in Laga.”
Xu Te and Chen Hua looked at it and raised their chins: "Sramana Bo's lecture is close to the palace, and the marshal's lecture is close to it, which is getting more and more interesting."
"What's the current situation of Tubo?" After looking at the buildings, Chen Hua wanted to know more about the situation.
"Since Tubo fell apart in the previous dynasty, the only one worth mentioning is the Xsisiluo family in Qingtang City. Although Tubo was powerful in the previous dynasty of the Xunsiluo family, it was destroyed by the Song Dynasty and later occupied by the Jin Kingdom. After the fall of the Jin Kingdom, , the Tubo people saw an opportunity, and now they support the descendants Songyu as Zanpu." Hu Liang looked at the palace introduction.
Pu Da looked at the rows and rows of palace guards in front of the palace: "Song Yu, this Zampu is a descendant of Zunsiluo, and he is very supported by Tubo. After all, Zunsiluo left a heavy mark in Tubo, especially Xining. "
Xu Te and Chen Hua looked at each other and shook their heads.
"Two shopkeepers, have you dealt with two of them before?" Chen Hua started to talk about business.
In Xining, where the Tubo people rule, they cannot hold official positions, so they are collectively called shopkeepers.
He is the chief clerk, Xu Te is the chief general, and the business belongs to him, so it is natural for him to handle it.
"Tell shopkeeper Chen that we used to deal directly with Song Yu Zanpu." Hu Liang hurriedly bowed his hand.
Although he was a minister of a country, he did not dare to be rude to the generals of Zhaojiazhuang who protected him.
After all, Zhaojiazhuang is the country of the father, and the Kingdom of Israel is just the country of the children.
Chen Hua returned the courtesy and asked, "Is Zanpu lowering the price?"
"Of course Zamp lowered the price." Hu Liang smiled bitterly.
"Since Zanpu wants to suppress you," Chen Hua looked at Da Lun House, then turned to look at Hu Liang, feeling a little strange: "Why don't you associate with Da Lun House?"
"Da Lun tried to contact me, and they offered a higher price." Hu Liang continued to smile bitterly.
Chen Hua was even more surprised. He looked at Hu Liang and asked, "Why don't you do business with Da Lun?"
"Although Dalu's price is higher, who is willing to do business with him? Although Zanpu's price is not as good as Dalu's, he guarantees safety." Hu Liang continued to smile bitterly and glanced at Puda.
Pu Da watched him look at her, with questions in his eyes.
He could only answer: "This is a businessman's trouble. When going out, safety is the first thing, and price is the second thing."
Pu Da and Hu Liang bowed to Chen Hua together: "Shopkeeper Chen, you are away from home, not like Xi County. Please forgive me for this."
"I understand the difficulties of the two shopkeepers." Chen Hua returned the courtesy and looked at Xu Te and said, "Since the price of Da Lun is higher, then I will go to Da Lun this time."
"Two shopkeepers, this is the territory of Tubo, thousands of miles away from Xi County, and there are barbarians in the middle. It is absolutely impossible to do anything." Puda and Hu Liang were shocked, and they hurriedly bowed to salute, and at the same time begged.
Xu Te and Chen Hua looked at each other. He returned the courtesy and said, "If the price is higher, there is no business that would treat me badly."
The two people spoke in a relaxed tone, as if they were coming out to let someone go.
Although it was snowing, Pu Da and Hu Liang felt like they were sweating on their backs.
But the sweat was not normal sweat, but cold sweat.
Pu Da and Hu Liang looked at each other and found that the other person had a wry smile on his face.
Although he smiled bitterly, he still had to carry out the orders of the two commanders of the security team.
Although there are no palace guards in Dalun Mansion, there are about 20 personal soldiers wearing willow leaf armor and holding spears.
An officer in his twenties, holding a machete in his hand, suddenly stood up and shouted sternly at the two of them: "Stop, this is the Grand Forum and no one is allowed to enter."
"I'm telling you, Master Jun, that I am a businessman from the Song Dynasty. I have come to see Da Lun and am willing to do business with him." Pu Da stepped forward and bowed respectfully, and at the same time, a silver ingot fell into the hands of the officer.
The officer named Ni Le looked at the two of them and smiled coldly. He didn't believe Pu Da's words at all: "Businessmen of the Song Dynasty, I only know that the merchants of the Song Dynasty have always done business with Zanpu. Why did you think of doing business with Da Lun?" Already?"
"Because this business is different from before, naturally we should do business with Da Lun." Pu Da's face was full of smile and he bowed respectfully.
Ni Le suddenly threw the silver ingot in his hand to the ground and laughed endlessly: "Is there something wrong with you? You don't want to do business with Zanpu, but you want to do business with Daluan?"
The two looked at each other and smiled bitterly. In the past, Daluo sent someone to do business with them, but the two ignored them.
Now that the two of them are taking the initiative to do business, no wonder the other party doesn't believe them.
"Tell me, Master, it's snowing heavily now. I wonder if it's cold, Master?" At this time, Meng Lang, the Minister of War of the Kingdom of Israel, stepped forward and bowed his hands to Ni Le.
Meng Lang was also a businessman before becoming Minister of War, and he was full of businessmanlike qualities.
Ni Le stared at him warily and saw that he was also dressed as a soldier. He couldn't help but frown: "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
"I'm telling you, Master, that I've specially given you something to keep out the cold." Meng Lang bowed respectfully.
Ni Le looked Meng Lang up and down carefully, and sneered again and again: "It's freezing cold, and you dress so coquettishly, others think it's spring. If you don't go back and change into a leather jacket to keep warm, you'll freeze to death, and there's no one here." I’ll collect the body for you.”
"Young man won't feel cold in this outfit, so there's no need to go back and change into leather clothes." Meng Lang bowed respectfully again, and was not as angry as the other party's sarcasm.
Hearing this, Ni Le looked at Meng Lang again, frowned and asked, "Are you really not afraid of the cold?"
"Everyone is afraid of the cold, but this outfit is very warm, so there is no need to change into leather clothes." Meng Lang explained patiently.
Looking at Ni Le's doubtful eyes, Meng Lang took out a sweater and handed it to him: "I'll tell you, Master, you might as well touch it. If it's not warm, just throw it away."
Ni Le did not reach out to take it. Instead, he couldn't believe such a good thing and looked at Meng Lang again and again.
Meng Lang held the sweater in his hand and let the other party look at him, holding the sweater with a smile.
It looked like there was no weapon in the opponent's hand, and this furry thing didn't look like a weapon.
After thinking about it, Ni Le took the sweater in doubt.
"It's indeed warm, but how can this keep out the cold?" After Ni Le took the sweater, a smile appeared on his face.
After Ni Le finished speaking, he stared at the sweater for a few times and then looked at Meng Lang.
Meng Lang gave a demonstration and asked him to take off his coat and put on a sweater.
After Ni Le put it on, he looked at Meng Lang's robe and couldn't help but feel doubtful.
Meng Lang took the opportunity to take out the wool pants and wool socks and motioned for the other party to put them on.
Ni Le moved and breathed hot air into his hands: "My body is warm now, but unfortunately my hands are even colder."
"It doesn't matter, Master. There are also gloves here to ensure that you are warm and your palms will not be connected to weapons." After saying that, Meng Lang handed Meng Lang another pair of gloves.
After Ni Le took over and put on his gloves, he pulled out his machete and waved it a few times, then nodded.
He inserted the scimitar into the scabbard and looked at Meng Lang without warning.
Meng Lang nodded, and took out twenty sets of cold protection items from the carriage, giving each soldier one set.
Ni Le nodded as he watched Meng Lang give each soldier a set of things to keep out the cold.
But he still stood there and didn't move.
Meng Lang still had a smile on his face: "Master Jun, do you still have family members?"
Ni Le nodded and said nothing.
"How many family members does Master Jun have?" Meng Lang had a kind smile on his face.
Ni Le stretched out his hands and Meng Lang asked, "There are ten in Master Jun's family?"
Ni Le nodded without saying anything, while Meng Lang took out ten more sets of cold protection items from the carriage.
Ni Le took it, handed it to someone, and bowed: "Please wait a moment, shopkeeper, I'll go and report it."
"I don't dare, please tell the military master." Meng Lang didn't dare to accept the other party's gift, so he hurriedly gave him a respectful and generous gift, and handed over a gold ingot.
Ni Le said politely but did not move. He took the gold ingot and nodded before going in to report.
After seeing Ni Le's announcement, Meng Lang and Hu Liang looked at each other and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
About fifty steps away from the three of them, Xu Te, Chen Hua, and Yun Shuchen braved the heavy snow and watched everything from beginning to end.
The expression on Yun Shuchen's face was extremely strange, which made Xu Te and Chen Hua a little confused. They couldn't help but look at him, hoping he would give an explanation.
Yun Shuchen shook his head and looked at Meng Lang's back with a very complicated expression on his face.
He finally sighed: "Zitao (Meng Lang's character) is very capable. It's a pity to be the Minister of the Ministry of War. He is more suitable to be the Minister of the Ministry of Commerce. He can solve the problem that neither Fazhi (Puda) nor Mingzhi (Hu Liang) can solve." The problem."
"This may be related to their previous business. Before the big talk, the hot face was hot but the cold butt is cold, so naturally the face is not good-looking." Chen Hua thought for a while, touched his beard and said.
What he was thinking was that only the Kingdom of Israel could do this for a businessman to serve as Minister of War.
"Seeing that he is so familiar with business, no wonder he almost lost the battle a few days ago." Yun Shuchen finally understood that a few days ago, the barbarian cavalry in front of Meng Lang was at a loss.
At that time, if Yun Shuchen hadn't decisively stepped forward to take command, the most elite military force in the Kingdom of Israel would have been wiped out.
Xu Te thought for a while, and suddenly his face changed slightly: "In the past, the big talk was about a hot face but a cold butt. Will you ignore it?"
"I didn't expect it. His soldiers have already given him a thumbs up. Besides, he has never encountered this business before." Chen Hua thought for a while and his tone was full of confidence.
Xu Te thought for a while and finally shook his head: "In the past, Fa Zhi always ignored him. If he suddenly comes to the door today, will he refuse?"
"He may hesitate, but he will agree in the end." Chen Hua still said firmly, "This is an affirmation of his status. If he doesn't come out, it means we are blind."
Xu Te sighed, wiped the snowflakes from his body, and looked at the door.
Tubo Da Lun Ge is about forty years old. He has a beard, a face cut like a knife, and a straight nose.
He repeatedly looked at the cold-proof thing Ni Le put on the table, stroking it while thinking.
Brother Ji put down the things in his hands to keep out the cold and warmed his hands on the brazier next to him.
After roasting for a few times, Brother Ji went to the table again and repeatedly touched the things to keep out the cold.
After thinking about it, he handed the thing to keep out the cold to an aide next to him.
This staff member is obviously a Han Chinese, about fifty, with three long beards, handsome appearance, and wearing a fur coat.
The staff member took it, caressed it for a while, then looked at Brother Ji, waiting for him to speak.
Holding the tea cup, Geji took a sip of butter tea, looked at the cold-proof thing in the hands of the staff and asked, "Zishen, do you think I should contact you or not?"
