Chang Qianli stood on the hill, squinting and looking into the distance. The cold wind blew in his face, making people tighten their clothes involuntarily.
"Uncle, it's a yurt. Is that river the Tula River?"
The new shopkeeper Chang Baiye, who was following Chang Qianli out of seclusion for the first time, pointed to the distance and said excitedly.
Chang Qianli looked at his nephew, shook his head, and said: "The Tula River is still far away. That is the Wangji River. Going north along the river are the Aluhun River and the Orkhon River. Hara and Lin are right there. Lower Orkhon River.”
"Hala and Lin!"
Chang Baiye, who was in his early twenties, was a little excited.
Kharakhorin was once the capital of the Mongol Empire!
The Orkhon River is the main river in central Mongolia and is also the place where nomadic people live and herd. Many nomadic people chose to establish political power and build capitals here.
The world-famous Genghis Khan built Haraholin on the basis of the Uighur capital, a city with both the characteristics of the nomadic people and the Han people in the Central Plains.
Later, Wokuotai drove Han craftsmen to expand and improve Hara and Forest. Kings, envoys, priests, and businessmen from various countries gathered here, making Hara and Forest a world-famous city.
Genghis Khan, Ogedai, Guyu, Mengge, these great Khans all used Harakhalin as their capitals and managed the entire empire. However, Kublai Khan, the founder of the Yuan Dynasty, ascended the throne in Kaiping City, and his younger brother Ali Buge established himself as the Great Khan based in the Harah and Forest areas.
Kublai Khan defeated Ali Buge and occupied Hara and Lin. A few years later, Kublai Khan raised Zhenglan Banner to Shangdu and Yanjing to Zhongdu. Later, in order to better control the Monan Han area, Kublai Khan , Kublai Khan changed Yanjing to Dadu and moved the capital to the Central Plains.
The former imperial capital of Harahorin declined.
Chang Baiye didn't care about the decline of Haraholin. What he cared about was whether he could go there and see the imperial capital of the great Mongolian kingdom.
"Temujin was a brutal and cruel executioner."
Chang Qianli glanced at Chang Baiye and reminded him coldly.
Chang Baiye looked at the undulating grassland in the distance and said slowly: "My uncle often taught me that only by being strong can you survive. The great Mongolia is strong, that is their glory, we are weak, that is our sorrow. I do not worship iron Mu Zhen, I just admire the powerful."
"Haha, it is better to worship the powerful than to become powerful yourself. Both the Great Mongol Kingdom and the Great Yuan Empire have disappeared. What is left are the Mongolian nobles who scheming and scheming every day. There is nothing to fear."
I have traveled thousands of miles to the north and south, and my mind is naturally broad.
Chang Baiye opened his arms and shouted: "I want to make Shanxi merchants stronger!"
"Young hero, haha, we are old, we can't shout such heroic words no matter what."
Hou Xiyu and others caught up and couldn't help but sigh when they saw Chang Baiye acting like this.
Chang Qianli looked sideways at Hou Xiyu and others, and said with a smile: "Newborn calves are not afraid of tigers, so they are not heroes. After a few years of hard work, they will have to restrain themselves."
Hou Xiyu patted Chang Baiye on the shoulder and said: "Don't listen to your uncle, remember that your ambition cannot be wiped out. But you must also know that only force can be used, just like the Great Mongolia and the Great Yuan Dynasty. , can only perish in the end. With only financial resources, just like the giant merchants from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, no one can escape from the butcher knife of the imperial court. If you want Shanxi merchants to become stronger, you need to find another way out. "
"Another way out?"
Chang Baiye fell into thinking.
Chang Qianli quickly pulled Chang Baiye over, glared at Hou Xiyu fiercely, and said: "There is no other way, we are businessmen
, just follow the way of a businessman and maximize your business, which is the greatest honor. Baiye, go and urge the guy to come up, we are going to do business. "
Seeing Chang Baiye walking away, Chang Qianli turned his head and said seriously to Hou Xiyu: "Are you trying to kill everyone in my Chang family?!"
Hou Xiyu shook his head and said: "Old Chang, you know very well that no matter how big your business is, we are just fat pigs in the eyes of the court, and they will not ask us when they are slaughtered. "
"I know this kid Chang Baiye. He is young, but he has been practicing with you for five or six years and has become the rookie shopkeeper of the Chang family. He is energetic and ambitious. It may not be impossible to let him take a new path."
Chang Qianli said angrily: "The new road will be fatal! If you are a businessman, you should do business honestly and don't think too much! Pigs are not a threat to the court, but wolves are! Do you think wolves die faster than pigs? quick?!"
Hou Xiyu looked into the distance and said calmly: "It's easy to kill a pig, but it's hard to kill a wolf."
"Okay, don't argue. The team has followed us. We can go trade. Look at the yurt in the distance. This should be a medium-sized tribe. We have to be careful."
Cao Youshan came over and greeted.
More than 700 camels, more than 400 horses, and a team of nearly 2,000 people formed a long caravan, like a long snake, marching on the grassland, the gongs jingling, and the sound spread far away.
Zhaolu was wrestling with Wutu, and there were several burly young men and beautiful girls standing around him. When Zhaolu saw Gesaren, his heart warmed up. Faced with Wutu, he exerted force with his strong arms and pulled him away. Wu Tu was lifted up, swept his legs, pushed Tu Wu down to the ground, and said with a smile: "You lose."
Wutu stood up helplessly, patted the weeds on his body, and said: "As expected of you, I can't compare to this power."
Zhaolu patted the awkward shoulder and encouraged: "It's not shameful to lose to me, but your strength still needs to be strengthened."
He nodded abruptly, and the people around him shouted.
Zhaolu looked at Gesaren. Gesaren grabbed his braid, turned around and ran out. Zhaolu chased after him amidst the cheers of the crowd.
Gesaren sat on a hill, looked at the grassland to the south, and said to Zhaolu, who was walking over: "You are so powerful, can you protect our tribe?"
"Of course, I want to protect you and the entire Chahar tribe."
Zhaolu said proudly.
Gesaren glanced at Zhaolu who was sitting next to him and said, "What if Nikuchi Sukqi Khan wants us to attack the Kirch nobles?"
Zhaolu sat down and said, "What did you hear?"
Gesaren shook his head slightly and said: "I don't know how much, but I heard that Nikuchi Sukqi Khan seemed to be a little, a little, too much."
Zhaolu laughed and said: "You still call him the Great Khan? Let me say, just call him Libala. This person is cruel and unkind and does not deserve to be our Great Khan."
"But after all, he controls all the major tribes in Mongolia, and we also need to obey his orders. Now that the Kirch clan is powerful, Libala should take care of the Kirch clan, but he is hostile to the Kirch clan and favors Wala too much. The Choros nobles regard Haohai Dayu and his son as their mainstay, and if this continues, problems will arise sooner or later."
Gesaren said worriedly.
Zhaolu looked at Gesaren in surprise and asked, "Why do you think so much?"
Gesaren blinked his big eyes and said slowly: "Kirch is just like you, good at bullying the weak. This
Not a normal thing? Still need to think? "
Zhaolu let out a sigh and said: "I don't bully the weak. I take care of them and train them. If they are not strong now, they will die in the battle one day. Wouldn't it be heartbreaking?"
"Then I wrongly blamed you?"
"Of course, you have to apologize."
"oh."
"Oh, what an apology. I want you to look at me and apologize."
Zhaolu grabbed Gesaren's arm and looked into those beautiful eyes. Gesaren's face turned red. Just as the two of them were getting closer and closer, the sound of gongs and clappers came over.
Zhaolu stood up suddenly, protected Gesaren behind him, and said, "Go back quickly!"
Gesaren stood up, looked into the distance, and said, "Listen carefully, it's the sound of the caravan opening the way."
"Caravan? How can there be a caravan at this time? Could it be that the Ming Dynasty army came over?"
Teruru was a little confused.
"Zhaolu, mount your horse quickly."
The sound of horse hooves came from behind. Wu Tu rode a horse and galloped over with a horse. When he got close, he threw a saber casually.
Zhaolu took the saber, flew on his horse, looked at more and more tribesmen behind him, and shouted to Gesaren: "Go back, let's go take a look."
"Be careful. I'll apologize to you when you come back."
Gesaren stared at Zhaolu and said.
Zhaolu laughed loudly. Seeing that there were more than two hundred people in his tribe, he hit his horse and ran out.
Chang Qianli, Hou Xiyu and other Shanxi merchants were not at the front of the team. They were still more than fifty steps away from the front. This was also for safety reasons. If the Mongolian tribe wanted to rob, beat or kill people, they would also need to kill those in front. , when the time comes to stand up and explain, the matter will be easily solved.
If you are killed at the front as a soldier, you will cry to death.
The guys heard the sound of horse hooves and immediately shouted: "Stop advancing and raise the caravan flag."
The entire caravan slowly came to a stop. The caravan flags were raised one by one and moved in the wind. The caravan members stretched out their arms to show that they had no weapons.
Zhaolu's and Wutu's cavalry teams did not go straight to the caravan, but split into two routes and ran backward along the periphery of the caravan. At the end of the team, they saw that it was just a caravan, and they felt relieved.
Zhaolu arranged for a group of people to explore in the distance to see if there was any Ming Dynasty army. Then he led the people to turn the horses' heads and return to the front of the caravan, shouting: "Who is the leader?"
Chang Qianli, Hou Xiyu and others came out one after another. Chang Qianli held a pure white hada in both hands, respectfully walked towards Zhaolu, and shouted: "Sai Nu, we are Ming and Shanxi merchants. We have formed a large caravan this time to communicate with each other." If so, please ask the Khan."
Zhaolu looked at the merchants around him, dismounted and walked towards Chang Qianli, accepted the hada, and said with a smile: "Great caravan, Zhaolu welcomes you. Why, did the Ming court allow you to pass the customs on such a large scale?"
Chang Qianli shook his head and said: "Respectable young man, the Ming Dynasty is still the same, but we businessmen have many tricks. We have money to open up connections, and then we can get out of seclusion. We want to make a fortune while the tribes are cultivating in the winter. go back."
"Haha, greedy businessman, these words are sincere, much better than the hypocritical Ming court. In this case, go and report to my father, I will lead them to station by the river, and let the brothers inform the surrounding tribesmen , a caravan is coming."
Zhaolu laughed and said to Wutu with a smile.
Wu Tu agreed, turned his horse's head and ran out excitedly. Big caravan, a rare big caravan, this time they want to trade more goods.
