By the next day, the envoys had bypassed the eastern bank of Lop Nur and began their march to the northwest, where the city of Ixun was located."
I remember that when I went to Hanging Springs last year, I heard Xu Qifu talk about something, which was about the messenger of Kangju."
When he stopped to drink water from the horse, Ren Hong said one thing he knew."
In the middle of winter last year, a group of Kangju envoys entered the Yumen Pass, brought rare white camels, and claimed to pay tribute to the Han Dynasty.""
The Yumen Pass inspection is indeed a white camel, but when it was handed over to the officials by the Dunhuang County Government, because of the rain, the precious white camel turned into an ordinary yellow camel" "Kangju people insisted that they were replaced by places along the way, and the Dunhuang County Government ordered a thorough investigation, checking records one stop at a time, and asked Ling Shi to carefully interrogate Kangju people.Only then did I figure out that it was those Kangju people who dyed camel hair white with chalk and water, wanting to get through the trick and cheat more rewards, and after being discovered, Dunhuang County expelled them from Yumen Pass and never accepted them again. ”"Now listening to what the Loulan people in the fishing village said, and then calculating the time, the one who dug up the graves of the Han soldiers in Julucang and stole five baht should be these Kangju messengers!"
Fu Jiezi, who had personally gone to the vicinity of Kangju Kingdom, sneered: "If it is really the envoy sent by King Kangju, why use this kind of subordinated means, most of them are pretended to be Sogdian merchants!"
”Kangju is also a big country in Central Asia, in the northwest of Dawan, west of Wusun, with a vast territory, occupying the middle of the river region of Kazakhstan in later generations, with a population of hundreds of thousands, more than 100,000 people, and the same custom as the Dayue clan, and the constant subordinates are bound to the Xiongnu.Those so-called "Kangju envoys" and "Kangju merchants" were not really Kangju people, but came from the "Sogdia", a subject state ruled by Kangju.This city-state was located in Samarkand in later generations, and the Sogdians were very capable of running, from the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, they had always been the main force of Hu merchants connecting the Silk Road, and all the city-states on the Silk Road had their trading stations.For the sake of interests, we can travel thousands of miles and go straight to China.However, there are mixed among the Sogdians, some honestly do business with the Han Dynasty government, and some are like the group of Sogdians who were deported, pretending to be envoys to cheat and eat and drink at the post station, and there is no way to make a big profit.For the Hu people in the Western Regions who came to the Han Dynasty, whether they were envoys or merchants, they all distributed wealth and silk as rewards, and even built wine ponds and meat forests, so that foreign envoys could visit the Han Dynasty's warehouses and mansions.It's almost like Emperor Yang of Sui, who dressed the trees along the road in silk clothes.Some Hu merchant envoys, such as the Wusun people, were really shocked and felt that the Han Dynasty was so rich and powerful that they had to be respected.However, the well-informed Kangju Sogdians only left the impression that "the Han people are vain and easy to deceive", so they began to have small merchants pretending to be envoys to enter the fortress and make a lot of money.After going back, it will be passed on to the hundreds, and whoever is willing to do a lot of business will pretend to be a messenger to deceive, not only will they be exempt from customs duty, but they will also be able to take back many rewards from the Celestial Empire for nothing.As a result, in the year of Yumen Pass, the most in one go, he actually received eleven waves of "envoys from various countries in the Western Regions", and after the fact, only one wave was true, and all the others were pretended to be Sogdians!
Later, the Han Dynasty also learned to be smart, and said to the envoys who came to knock on the pass, the nearest one pays tribute every three years, and the far one is five years, and you don't come if the time is not enough, so this hole is blocked.However, there were still Sogdians who were lucky enough to take advantage of Kangju to break off contact with the Han Dynasty and pretend to be envoys to enter the customs, which led to last year's "White Camel" incident."
Presumably, those Kangju Sogdians were unwilling to return empty-handed, so they had the audacity to dig up the graves of my Han soldiers."
Xi Chongguo gritted his teeth and rode at the front of the team, eager to get to Yixun City as soon as possible, regardless of whether he was a messenger or a businessman, he would definitely make him pay!
They had completely left the swampy and reed-filled banks of Lop Nur, and a small fishing village had disappeared and been replaced by cattle and sheep, donkeys, horses and camels grazing on the vast meadows.Chasing water and grass with animal husbandry is the economic pillar of Loulan State.After leaving the grassland, as the turquoise Peacock River got closer and closer, there were gradually reclaimed dry lands and farmers who grew grains.Ren Hong found that unlike the Loulan people who wore wild duck skins next to Lop Nur, the Loulan people in this area were better dressed, especially the women, wearing pointed felt hats, oblique bird feathers, woolen waist clothes like short skirts, felt boots, and straw baskets in their hands, sowing spring wheat seeds, but they were very extensive, and the harvest would not be high.These are the three groups of people in Loulan Kingdom, fishermen fish and hunt in lakes and forests, farmers live in a few small cities, and grow wheat on the alluvial plains on the edge of the city, while nomads raise cattle, sheep, donkeys and horses on grasslands that are not suitable for farming.And above them is the "city lord".The lords of each city then pledged allegiance to the king of Loulan, which was obviously still in the early stage of feudalism, and although the land seemed to be vast, the population was only more than 10,000, which was equivalent to a county in the Han Dynasty.Yixun City is located in the northeast corner of Loulan Kingdom, at the intersection of the north and south roads of the Western Regions.Seeing that on the platform on the north bank of the Peacock River in the distance, the small earthy yellow city plug was getting closer and closer, but Ren Hong couldn't help but worry.As early as yesterday, when crossing the meadows, a herdsman on horseback saw the envoy coming from a distance, and galloped away to the west with a whistle, perhaps to report to the lord of Yixun.He was only worried now that the city lord of Yixun would shelter those Sogdians, and what impact would it have on this trip to Loulan in the event of a conflict?
After all, although the Han Dynasty was strong, it was thousands of miles away, and although Loulan was a small country, it also won two thousand soldiers.Glancing back at Fu Jiezi, the old man had no worry on his face, and even saw through Ren Hong's thoughts, and smiled at him: "King Angui of Loulan grew up in the Xiongnu, and he is biased towards Shan Yu, and he often struggles with the Han.But the city lord of Yixun once sent Prince Loulan to Dahan, and saw the strength of Tianhan in Chang'an, and he has been a friend of Dahan for more than ten years!
also took a special Chinese name" As he was speaking, dozens of horses roared in front, Fu Jiezi reined in his horse, squinted and watched them get closer and closer, then he smiled, led everyone to greet him, and bowed his hand to a Loulan nobleman who was at the head: "Lord Yicheng." ”The city lord of Yixun rolled the saddle and dismounted from afar, and made a standard salute to Fu Jiezi, and his mouth was fluent in Chinese: "Fu Gong!"
Yi Xiang Han Xiang ushered in the late, please Fu Gong punished!
”"Xiang Han, heart to the big Han, this loyalty is really enough, but we also have a Guihan here" Ren Hong secretly complained, glancing at Comrade Zhao Guihan beside him.looked at the city lord of Yixun, who was talking to Fu Jiezi again, but saw that he was in his early thirties, with slightly curly millet hair, a high nose bridge, and a short beard, which was also a little curly.It can be seen that when I heard that the Han Dynasty envoys arrived, Yi Xianghan was finely dressed: he had a bun on his head, he was dressed decently, the clothes were red and green half-sleeved clothes, and on his sleeveless right arm, he was also draped with a brightly colored brocade armguard, all of which were authentic original goods.The brocade arm guard is also embroidered with eight Han Li.When Fu Jiezi introduced the main officials of this trip to Yi Xianghan, Ren Hong had the opportunity to get very close, and when he greeted Yi Xianghan, he caught a glimpse of what the words were on the arm guards."
Five-star out of the East is good for China!"
Okay, don't say anything, this Yi Xianghan is indeed a good friend of the big man, if he is not a royal family, I am afraid that he will be helped by Fu Jiezi to be the king of Loulan after the matter is completed.Since they are acquaintances who have dealt with each other, there is no need to beat around the bush, after the greetings, Fu Jiezi straightened his face and directly explained his intentions."
What?
How dare those Kang Guo businessmen do this!
I'll send someone to tie them up and let Fu Gong fall!"
”Although Yi Xianghan's Chinese is fluent, it still sounds strange, quite like the deviation of Jiangpu in later generations, but before he could finish expressing his determination, someone from the side of Yixun City came to report it: "When the Kangju Sogdian merchants in the city heard that the Han envoy was coming, they actually rode a camel and ran away from the city!"
”Fu Jiezi looked into the distance, and sure enough, he could see that outside the north gate of the small city, there was indeed a cloud of smoke and dust running towards the northwest.didn't have time to think about whether Yi Xianghan secretly released water, or whether the Sogdians were thieves, Fu Jiezi gave an order: "Xi Chongguo, Zhao Han'er, Sun 100,000 and Ren Hong!""
You and the others will take twenty knights, chase!"