The Ye family's cavalry is heading west.
Liang Chuan asked people to purchase a large amount of soju and vermicelli in the most peaceful town. The next step was to go to Bu Ribu in Weichu Prefecture to purchase a large amount of tea.
Qu Zhen's people met Nong Yao in the deserted village of the joint. According to the plan, when they learned that Liang Chuan would send a caravan of nearly a hundred horses, they were so excited that the hands of the joint were trembling.
The people on the plateau lacked everything except cattle and sheep. Cattle and sheep can produce fur and meat, but eating too much of these things will kill them.
Qu Zhen asked someone to tell Liang Chuan that if they could, they could bring the goods to Mangkang. They would buy as much as they could bring!
Liang Chuan originally thought that they would want some luxuries such as porcelain, lacquerware, and silk. Unexpectedly, the items they needed were only the most basic items!
Wine, fans, and most importantly, tea!
You can also make qingkuo wine on the plateau, but there is not much food on the plateau. Only qingkuo is rarely used to make wine. Only some nobles can afford it! Moreover, Qing Kuai Liquor is not as mellow as rice wine or spirits from the Central Plains. This may be due to the craftsmanship.
In this snowy plateau, it is an extremely luxurious thing to have beef and a sip of wine that will heat your body and mind!
Fans are food.
It is not easy to cook the rice here while millet is still there, but the vermicelli has been processed and can be eaten as soon as you boil it with hot water. It can also be seasoned. It is a rare delicacy.
As for tea, it is the life-saving fairy grass!
The Dangxiang people cut off their trade route between the north and the middle road. Now the tea can be transported to the plateau, and it is like gold. How many Tibetan people who eat too much beef do not live past the age of forty because their intestines are blocked by all the fat! Wherever there is food to eat on the plateau, they find that tea can make their bodies feel refreshed. For the nomads, tea is their life!
The tea leaves sold to the Tubo people are the lowest-grade leaves!
It is impossible for the Ye family to buy high-quality tea from Shuzhong or Fujian Road to sell to these Tubo people. The Tubo people do not understand and cannot afford to drink such precious tea! Moreover, the distance between the two places is too far. Sichuan may be closer to the town of Suining. If tea is transported from Fujian, it will not take half a year to get there.
The most suitable tea is Nazhong Buri Tea from Buri Department of Weichu Prefecture!
These tea leaves also have a tea flavor, but some are bitter and astringent. The key is that the leaves are abundant, the price is low, and they can be stored for a long time. Some Dali people make a living by carrying tea. They are called carrying heroes. They carry this tea on their backs. A lot of discarded tea leaves were sent to Tubo to be exchanged for money! The Tubo people don’t want to enjoy it, they just can accept this kind of consumption power!
This is the first time Qu Zhen and Liang Chuan have cooperated. Although things like porcelain are more valuable, neither of them has confidence in this cooperation. At first, neither of them was willing to directly invest a lot of money!
We just want to go to Mangkang, so the best route is the western route. There are fewer people there and you won’t be targeted!
It took almost ten days to collect the tea leaves from Weichu Prefecture and walk to Tengchong Prefecture. When we arrived at Yongchang Prefecture, we walked north along the Lushui River. We will reach Chawa City, where we can go west. To the east of Tubo's Luoxue City is Liangchuan's destination, Mangkang!
Lushui is the Nujiang River.
There are majestic mountains on both sides of the Nu River. The trees in the valley are shaded and the sky is covered with thick green. The river is dyed dark green. The Tibetan people call it "Nagqu", which means "black water"!
People are walking on the path by the river. The path is very rugged and can only allow one person to pass. It is covered with thorns and rocks. No one has ever repaired it. It is just that more people have walked on it, forming such a path. I don’t know if I have ever experienced it. Over the years, people have a trail leading to the plateau.
This is the Ancient Tea Horse Road. Later generations called it the ancient road, but of course there is no such name now, but Liang Chuan still habitually calls this route the Ancient Tea Horse Road!
If you're not careful, you may fall into the river and never be found again!
As for Luoxue City, it is even more famous, including Lhasa.
Ye Fan took the lead and Liang Chuan walked at the front of the cavalry team. He and Liang Chuan were the only ones in the team who were qualified to ride horses, and the others were holding the horses.
Although the Yunnan horses have good endurance, their small body is their natural shortcoming. Naturally, the weight they can carry is much worse than that of the ordinary Northern horses. If they are riding people, the cargo they can carry will be much less!
Moreover, the Ancient Tea-Horse Road is too dangerous. If a person is riding a horse and a wild beast rushes out and frightens the horse, and rushes to the foot of the cliff, his life will be lost! Instead of doing this, it’s better to walk honestly!
???????????????Liang Chuan's horses didn't carry loads. Liang Chuan would get off the horse from time to time and lead them around. Ye Fan never got off the horse from the beginning to the end. According to him, , I came out just to have fun, not to suffer!
To the west are endless mountains, the mountains are still green, and there is only a white hat on the top of the mountain!
'To the west is Tengchong Prefecture, which is the territory of the Qilan tribe, which has the largest territory here. We would rather Ayue tribe and their Tengchong Qilan tribe guard Dali country from the east to the west! '
Liang Chuan stood on the high mountain beside the river and looked towards the other side!
Surrounded by mountains in the distance, there is not even a trace of human habitation, just mountains! Although this place is big, what's the use if there are no people? The wandering people in the north probably have a large territory, but what use are they if they don’t have a few herdsmen!
'Are you stronger or is this begging group stronger? '
'They are not bad, but they usually don't go out. No one else wants to come to such a large territory, and they don't want to go out. Who would come to such a far place to suffer? If their territory goes beyond it, they will reach Tianzhu country, what do you think? Is it far! '
Liang Chuan never imagined that one day he would visit so many places, and even the mythical Tianzhu would be right in front of him. In the past, if he wanted to visit this place, he would have to pay a lot of money!
As we went further north, everyone began to have difficulty breathing. This was a sign that the altitude was rising. The valley of Lushui became deeper and deeper, and even the temperature dropped unconsciously!
A group of people walked around a rugged mountain road, and everyone was shocked by the sight in front of them!
There are no green mountains to be found, there are towering mountains everywhere, all of them so high that people look up in awe. There are not many green trees on the mountain anymore, only grass, endless grassland!
There are only three colors in the whole world: blue, white and green. The sky is as clear as a blue, like a gem without a trace of impurities. The snow-capped mountains connect the sky and the earth, like a ladder to the sky, more like a divine pillar supporting the sky! The ground is an endless blanket of grass!
There were countless cattle and sheep on the grass. When the Tibetan people in the distance saw Liang Chuan and his party, they were so excited that they blew their whistles!
At this time, it had been half a month since they left Zuining. Ye Fan said: "We have reached the territory of the Tubo people!" '
Tubo people? .
Half-exposed arms, dark skin, and an indelible plateau red!
The caravan is more precious than any gem on the plateau!
Because they can bring supplies that are not available on the plateau! The plateau is where the Tubo people live and work, and it is also an obstacle that isolates them from the world!
Because in the three hundred years of the Tang Dynasty, the Tubo people completely offended the people of the Central Plains, so even if they did not do this business, they did not want these wolves on the plateau to become powerful again! But without the products of the Central Plains, the Tubo people would not be able to survive!
I haven’t seen such a huge caravan for many years!
Of course the Tubo people were happy because they saw the tea bricks piled up one by one!
Ye Fan pointed to the herdsmen in the distance and said to his servants: "Go and ask where the boundary is here and how far it is from Chawa City!" '
Ye Fan specially selected a few servants who could speak Tubo to listen to them. The servants went to ask a few questions and immediately came back to tell them: "Not far ahead is Chawa City. After crossing the river, you can reach Mangkang!" '
'good! Our hard work is worth it, we are finally here! '
When the Tubo people saw the caravan coming up the plateau, they put down their cattle and sheep and immediately returned to the tribe. After a while, they turned back, bringing them with them. More tribesmen are back!
When Ye Fan saw the person coming, he immediately raised his hand to suppress the cavalry team: 'Stop everyone! '
The Tubo people chased the cavalry and walked around the cavalry several times without saying a word, taking a hard look at the goods brought by the cavalry!
tea! And there are fans! There was also fine wine, the smell of which almost brought out their souls!
'Are you from Dali or Han? How do you sell these goods? 'The leader of the Tubo people can actually speak Chinese, but not very well!
Ye Fan smiled and said: "Sorry, my friend, we have already ordered these goods and we don't plan to sell them!" '
When the Tibetan people who came with a smile heard this, their faces turned gloomy like a stormy plateau weather: "Who, who bought it, tell me!" '
Liang Chuan wanted to explain, but Ye Fan stopped him. He took out a sheepskin bag with a pot of fine wine inside and handed it to the Tubo man. He said: "This is the bar where I invite my friends to drink. I will do the rest." can not tell you! '
The Tubo people bitterly accepted Ye Fan's wine, with a trace of hatred in their eyes, turned their horses' heads bitterly, and returned to their tribe.
Although anyone who sells it will make money, Liang Chuan still has to take the pink salt back. He cannot complete the transaction here, otherwise Qu Zhen will also be unhappy!
'There's a lot of Moda here! '
'What is Moda? '
'It's a robber! '
Do the Tubo people also have bandits? Who can they rob on the plateau?
Ye Fan looked at the Tubo people's leaving figures and said, "We'd better prepare our swords and arrows. We're afraid there might be trouble later. There were rules here a long time ago. No one can attack the caravan at any time." Otherwise, instead of using the caravan to take revenge, the Tibetans themselves would kill those who attacked the caravan! '
】
'To attack a caravan is like drinking brine to quench your thirst! If the caravan no longer feels safe, they will no longer risk huge risks to bring goods to the plateau! '
'But there are still many people who are short-sighted and break the rules! '
