After the Donglai Army entered Le'an County and Qi State, they encountered a large number of fleeing serfs and refugees, including two to three hundred Jiehu people with high noses, curly hair, and deep eyes.
Most of these Jiehu came from the west of the Taihang Mountains and were all natives of Bingzhou. In recent years, the Jin army in Bingzhou captured the young Hu people from Bingzhou everywhere in order to raise military expenses, and then sold them to Qingji and other places as serfs.
These Jiehu people look different, and they are all skinny and skinny after being exploited by powerful slave owners. Therefore, they are the lowest status among the soldiers in Donglai. They are not even treated as auxiliary soldiers, and most of them are servants responsible for feeding horses.
People in the Western Jin Dynasty still have deep memories of the bravery and strength of the Qin and Han Dynasties in their bones, and they used to beat up all the barbarians. Even ordinary soldiers of the Donglai Army like Wei Bao felt that these barbarians were inherently inferior to the Han people. of.
In this era, there is neither the blind arrogance of the Kingdom of Heaven nor the invincible cowardice of the barbarians.
These businessmen were well aware of Jiehu's status in the eyes of people in the Western Jin Dynasty, so they hurriedly defended themselves.
"Honored General, we are not Jiehu, we are businessmen from Kang State in the Western Regions."
said a curly-haired businessman with a big beard.
Liu Yu turned his head and took a closer look. These people looked very different from Chinese people like Liu Yu. Most of them had their hair tied up and wore Chinese clothes, which made the Caucasian faces more prominent.
"Kang Guo? Where?"
Liu Yu knew that there were many small countries in Central Asia where the Serbs, Tocharians, and Dayuezhi people were mixed with each other. As for this Kang country, it should be one of them.
"The state of Kang is on the banks of the Pili River, 20,000 miles away from Luoyang."
The curly-haired businessman said in a humble tone.
Liu Yu was not interested in Kang Guo, Qi Lisi, etc., so he ignored the Hu merchant and asked Wei Bao instead.
"What are they here for?"
After asking Wei Bao and Hu Shang, Liu Yu figured out what happened.
It turned out that these Hu merchants from Kang State came from Luoyang with Sima Luo, the king of Gaomi. Their caravan carried a large amount of fire cloth, spices and gold and silver. They set out from Kang State and passed through the Western Regions, Liangzhou, Yongzhou, it took half a year to reach the imperial capital Luoyang.
However, the kings of the Jin Dynasty were in civil strife, and Luoyang experienced several wars. A large number of soldiers and people fled, which also caused the loss of many of their goods. Several people in the caravan were even killed by the rebels. In this case, business could not be done.
In order to prevent them from falling into the dead end of losing all their money, they finally caught up with Sima Luo, the king of Gaomi. This luxury-loving prince not only bought their goods, but also promised to sell them the finest silk and porcelain. However, They need to follow Sima Luo to come to Zi and get it themselves.
Most of the paper, silk, porcelain, etc. purchased by these Hu merchants in the Central Plains had been marked up at higher prices. Now they have this rare opportunity to follow a powerful "governor" to Linzi, a famous producing area for silk and porcelain. They bought the highest quality goods at the lowest price, so they followed Sima Lue to Linzi without hesitation.
Sima Luo arranged for them to stay in a post house in Qingzhou Governor's Mansion, and their goods were temporarily stored there. They originally planned to return directly after the "governor" defeated the little rebels outside the city. On the road to Kangguo, I returned to my hometown where I had been away for more than two years.
Unexpectedly, the rebels actually defeated the noble "governor" and invaded Linzi City on the same day. These Hu merchants were unfamiliar with the place and could not escape, so they had to close the door and hide in the post house.
After the soldiers of the Donglai Army entered the city, they occupied all the official residences and offices of the Jin court. The posthouses where these Hu merchants were located were also broken into by the Donglai Army, sealing up all the goods and killing all the caravan members of the Hu merchants. Hit it out.
Seeing this, these Hu businessmen did not dare to resist in the face of the murderous Donglai Army soldiers. However, if all their goods were confiscated, they would really lose everything. Many of them would have no choice but to jump into the river and die. Their Buddha.
So several of their leaders mustered up the courage to meet the rebel leaders and get their goods back.
Unexpectedly, as soon as they entered the gate, the guards reported to the leader of Liu Bogen's tribe. The leader's eyes widened. These green-eyed and curly-haired macaque barbarians were so wishful thinking that they could just fight them out.
These Hu merchants were thrown out by Wei Bao and these wolf-like soldiers.
These Hu merchants saw that Liu Yu seemed to be a senior general in the rebel army, and after Liu Yu heard what happened, he seemed to be quite sympathetic to their plight.
These bearded businessmen began to grovel and beg, hoping that Liu Yu would clear up the misunderstanding and return their goods to them. They would pray for the kind general every day in front of the Buddha.
Liu expected that these Hu merchants were not simple. During the war in the Central Plains, they could still trade on the Silk Road. They must have very good connections and channels.
Moreover, these Hu merchants who came from the "Naote Qi" sect of later generations actually believe in Buddhism now.
This also made Liu Yu feel a little better about them. Although they were all Hujiao, fifty steps was better than a hundred steps.
Liu Yu looked at these Hu merchants and said calmly.
"I can help you avoid losses."
When several Hu merchants heard Liu Yu's words, they were as happy as if they had listened to the Sanskrit sounds of their master. Including the young Hu merchant who had just been beaten on the ground, they all smiled happily with their beaten and swollen faces.
A Hu merchant quickly asked when he could pick up their goods.
"I didn't promise to let you get the goods back, I just said I would help you avoid losses."
Several Hu merchants were almost dumbfounded and quickly asked Liu Yu what he meant.
The goods in the post house already belong to the Donglai Army. It is impossible for Liu Yu to ask Liu Bogen for a few blue-eyed and curly people.
Liu Yu couldn't do it before, and now Liu Yu, who has a modern soul, can't do it even more.
"I can help you with some goods. If you return to Luoyang, buy the Huohuan cloth from other merchants in the Western Regions for me, and transport it to Qingzhou, I can give you the best and cheapest silk and porcelain at a discount," Liu Yu said.
Several Hu merchants looked at each other, and soon began to beg, saying that they had no capital anymore. Without this batch of goods, they would have to jump into the river to die. It would be impossible to return to Luoyang to purchase other Hu merchants from the Western Regions. Huo Huan cloth.
"If you can't do anything, then I can't help you."
Although Liu Yu said this, he was sure that these cunning Hu merchants would be able to buy goods from other Hu merchants in the Western Regions.
Moreover, Liu Yu promised to give them low-priced high-quality silk and porcelain. When these goods were shipped back to the Western Regions, they could increase the price tenfold or even dozens of times and sell them to the Sasanians further west. The profits would be enough to cover The loss of Linzi Posthouse this time.
Several Hu merchants got their heads together and discussed quickly in their own languages. They felt that if the goods from the post house would definitely not come out, they could only do this. Finally, they agreed with Liu Yu's suggestion.
Of course, Liu Yu couldn't help them spend their travel expenses in vain, otherwise they would just slap their butts and run away, wouldn't it be in vain that they were taken advantage of by these barbarians.
He asked several Hu merchants to nominate a leader. The Hu merchants thought it was for business contacts, so they recommended the most powerful and prestigious Hu merchant. Then Liu Yu offered to use this leader as a hostage in exchange for their caravan returning to Luoyang. travel expenses.
This group of Hu merchants expressed anxiously that they would not detain this highly respected leader. They were willing to use all the blessings of the Wanli Buddha Kingdom to swear that they would abide by their agreement with Liu Yu.
Liu Yu categorically refused, which was simply a joke. If the Thousand Miles of Buddha Kingdom in the Western Regions was really blessed, the Buddhist monuments would not have become extinct in a few hundred years and turned into a Thousand Miles of Green Crescent.
