Qin Official

The location of Xiaoguan in the Qin Dynasty was different from that of later generations. It was not in Chaona, but in the north of Huanyi, on the open platform on the east bank of Huanjiang River. This military border city located at the northernmost tip of the Northland was built to prevent barbarians from invading. The city walls were extremely thick and looked like a solid earthen fence.

This is the north gate of Guanzhong. Entering the pass passes through Huanjiang, Nihe, and Jinghe rivers and reaches Xianyang. Its collar leads to the north, and its throat is in the middle of the pass. It is actually a danger to the north.

Last month, the newly appointed Northland County Lieutenant Heif made a special inspection here. Although the season of "sending warmth" has passed, it is still indispensable to kill sheep and give wine to the county soldiers to encourage them for their hard work in guarding the country's borders. .

After the county lieutenant left, Xiao Guan became deserted again.

February passed by in a blink of an eye, and in the late lunar month of the twenty-eighth year of Qin Shihuang (the third month of the lunar calendar), whips sounded loudly, chariots and horses rattled, and a huge chariot and horse team came from the south. The carts drawn by oxen were packed with goods: there were bolts of silk cloth and brown sugar just shipped from Nanjun.

On each cart sat a skilled charioteer, and walking beside the cart were fully armed guards, most of whom were bad boys from the North, as well as a few Rong riders who were clearing the way.

This was the caravan of the Wushi Luo family, and U Thiyan led it himself. However, unlike the usual caravan, there was an additional man in civilian clothes in his car. He was eight feet tall, fair-skinned, dignified in appearance, elegant in conversation, and smiling. It sounds very gentle.

Wu Shiyan said that this was the accountant arranged by the government to settle accounts, and everyone could call him Mr. Chen.

Mr. Chen is Chen Ping, and he has some calculations about his mission: "I heard that during the reign of King Yan Zhao, there was a wise general Qin Kai in the Yan State. He deliberately held Donghu as a hostage. Donghu believed in it, so Qin Kai borrowed it. He had the opportunity to master Donghu's customs, customs, and military geography. After returning to Yan State, King Yan Zhao took Qin Kai as his general and led an army to attack Donghu and defeat it. However, Donghu was more than a thousand miles away, and Yan State had the land of Liaodong..."

"Now that the emperor wants to do something in the northern frontier, the county captain is a senior official and should not be touched lightly. I will go out with the merchants to investigate the Xiongnu's true and false situation. I may not be able to achieve the same achievements as Qin Kai!"

Although Chen Ping cherished his life, he also felt that when he was young, he needed some adventures. Heifu was originally a small official. Didn't he make a name for himself by going to an enemy camp to fake a surrender?

With such a plan, Chen Ping also put aside the love between his children. He followed the example of Yu the Great and never entered the house three times. He did not even return home, nor did he care about his wife and children. After accompanying Hei Fu to inspect Xiao Pass, he went directly to Wushi County, where he learned about the situation outside the Great Wall from Wushi Yan day and night, and even visited Wushi County. I taught myself a Northern dialect that can be mistaken for real.

The group rested for a night at Xiaoguan. The next day, after passing the customs officer's inspection of the goods, they were allowed to leave the fortress.

Chen Ping and Hei Fu came to Xiaoguan just once last month, but their footprints were limited to the inside of the pass. The world outside the pass was still blank to him. When I first came to the northern border outside the Great Wall, I couldn't help but be a little curious and looked around.

He could clearly feel that after leaving seclusion, the surrounding scenery had changed significantly. Farming and animal husbandry coexist in the pass. From time to time, you can see some farmland in the village, gurgling water flows in the loess ravines, wild peach blossoms bloom on the mountains, and the sky is scorching. The vegetation on the roadside is also growing extremely vigorously. The green leaves and long branches of willows stretch out to the road from time to time...

It's different outside the pass. There are no graceful willows on the roadside. There are large areas of exposed loess on the mountains. The grass is also sparse and not as lush as inside the pass.

Wu Shiyan explained the reason: "Within the Great Wall, it rains ten times a year. Outside the Great Wall, it rains three to five times a year."

The Great Wall of Qin was built right on this watershed, encircling the great pasture.

He added: "But this is not the case everywhere in Saibei. Where the river passes, there are also many pastures with rich water and grass, such as the Hetao and Helan Mountain areas, and the same is true for Huamachi, which we must pass through when doing business!"

The yellow sand and wild grass are endless, with no mountains or huge chasms to block them. They have been walking on this wild plain for seven or eight days. The caravan was entangled in heat and thirst before they saw a person like U Thiyan said. , a small lake with rich water and grass.

As soon as he saw the lake, an evil young man who was out of the fortress for the first time cheered and ran over to fetch water, intending to take a swig, but did not listen to the shouts of others.

As a result, he took a cup of lake water and drank it. Then he spat it out and cursed: "It's a shame to die. Why is this water so salty and bitter!"

"This is Huamachi, also known as Salt Lake. How can it not be salty?"

The merchants laughed loudly, and Chen Ping also took a ladle to the water and took a spoonful to taste. It was indeed salty and astringent...

What they arrived at was just a small lake, and they walked for another day before reaching the real "Hua Ma Pond".

Chen Ping stood in the carriage and was surprised to find that a huge silver mirror suddenly appeared in front of him. It was dozens of miles wide. Under the sunlight, the water surface was crystal clear and white. The pond was surrounded by green grass and wild flowers. Some were naked. The upper-body Rong man was using tools to pry pieces of white solid matter by the dry lake...

Wu Shiyan introduced to him: "There are more than 20 large and small lakes in this area, most of which are salt lakes. Salt can be produced all year round, especially the Huama Pond in front of us, which produces salt with large grains, green color and mellow taste. It lasts for a long time, so it is called 'green salt'."

Chen Ping wrote it down silently and asked: "Then why is it called Huamachi?"

"This is a local legend among the Yanyan Rong people."

Wu Shiyan said: "It is said that this large pool was originally fresh water. Hundreds of years ago, when Yan Yanrong had just migrated here, a flower horse fell from the sky and galloped into the pool. A year later, the water in the pool became bitter and salty, naturally forming salt. , for thousands of years, it has been inexhaustible and inexhaustible. The Rong people called this large salt pond Huamachi, and the city built by the pond was called Huamachi City..."

After saying that, following the direction of his finger, Chen Ping saw a simple small town, which was Huamachi City.

Huamachi is the main source of salt in Beidi County, and the Wushi brothers attach great importance to it. Although this place is outside the Great Wall, they obtained the power to mine and sell it by bribing Jun Yan Yan. Even the city has a dedicated residence for Wushi merchants. 's house.

During the two days he stayed in Huamachi, Chen Ping witnessed the hospitality of the Rong people. The local rulers and chiefs relied on Wuzhi to transport goods from the Central Plains. There was an endless stream of visitors who came to visit, all with arms folded and bowing to Wuzhi. Yan bowed deeply, and U Thi Yan also changed his modesty at home and accepted it calmly...

The next night, Jun Yanyan held a special banquet for Wu Shiyan, and Chen Ping pretended to be his entourage and sat beside him.

Jun Yanyan sat high on the table. He was in his forties or fifties, with gray hair, but his physique was still strong. His mustache was oiled and shined like real gold.

Wu Shiyan was proficient in the language of the Rong people outside the Great Wall. Chen Ping didn't quite understand what he said to Jun Yanjun, so he used a knife to cut the delicious Yanchitan mutton in front of him while looking at the hall.

The customs of the military were very different from those of the Central Plains. Although Huamachi City was called a city, the buildings in the city were not decent. This Rong Jun's "palace" is just a deep wooden dining room, with walls made of rough wood four feet high, and a roof made of dozens of large felt cloth curtains. They can be hung up to block the wind and rain, and closed down to welcome the endless sky. .

The elders in the room, holding horn cups, passed the exquisite lacquer and pottery brought by Wu Shiyan from the mainland to each other. They talked loudly and raised their thumbs from time to time. These things they would never be able to make.

At this time, Wu Shiyan also ended the conversation with Jun Yan and whispered to Chen Ping: "Jun Yan asked me why I came so early this year."

"In previous years, when leaving the fortress, we would first go to Helan, then go to Huamachi City, and then go east to Shangjun, but this time it's different. We have to make a big circle!"

Wu Shiyan explained to Chen Ping the geography outside the Great Wall. The place they were in now was actually a circle around the river. The river came out of Jishi Mountain in Qiangzhong and traveled northeast. After traveling for two thousand miles, it turned a corner and suddenly Turn east. This east-west river is called the "North River" by the Qin people. The North River runs for more than a thousand miles until it reaches the junction of Shangjun and Yunzhong, then turns another corner and flows southward...

This was also the trade route used by Wushi merchants. It basically covered the entire "Henan area" and passed through tribes that submitted to the Xiongnu such as Baiyang, Loufan, and Linhu. If there was a chance, they might also go to Hetao and the Xiongnu tribes. Take a look at Manchester City, the capital city.

At this time, Jun Yanyan was shouting Wu Shiyan's name again, asking him to get up and drink another glass of wine.

Just as the atmosphere of the banquet was getting more and more lively, and even Jun Yanjun came down in person, swaying his body and dancing with the maidens, the door of the hall was pushed open hard!

Chen Ping looked around and saw several Yanyan soldiers running in with frightened expressions. Behind them, followed closely were a few barbarians wearing felt hats and carrying bows and arrows on their backs...

Their leader strode into the hall. He was a tall man with a felt hat on his head, tawny skin and slender eyebrows. His long, low-hanging beard is interlocked with metal silver rings, and his long black hair is shiny and black, tied into numerous braids, with silver bells hanging between them.

Jun Yanyan was very angry when his banquet was disturbed, but when he saw this person, he deflated like a pufferfish full of energy. Regardless of his own face, he rushed to the barbarian. Kneel down on your knees and kiss the toes of his boots...

The people in the room were also frightened and did not dare to speak loudly.

"Who is this?"

Chen Ping asked Wu Shiyan in a low voice.

"It's the Xiongnu's Danghu." Wu Shiyanyi replied in a low voice. Danghu is the official name of the Xiongnu.

"What's he doing in Huamachi?"

"I'm here to collect the 'salt tax'."

Looking at Jun Yanrong who was trying his best to beg for mercy from the Huns, Wu Shiyan said with some sympathy: "In the eyes of the Huns, Jun Yanrong is just their salt slave!"

Chen Ping once heard Wu Shiyan say that the Xiongnu originally lived in Yinshan and Hetao. As they gradually became stronger, they annexed some surrounding tribes, but did not destroy them. Instead, they used the entire tribe as their own slaves to enslave these tribes. Offers local specialties.

Yanyan produces salt, so he is a salt slave; Loufan is good at shooting, so he is a bow slave; Linhu has a lot of wood, so he is a wood slave; the Aries tribe in Henan is good at raising sheep, so he is a sheep slave...

From these enslaved tribes, the Xiongnu basically asked for and took away whatever they wanted. The four tribes also resisted, but compared to the Huns, who had hundreds of thousands of string-controlling men, they were too weak. After being massacred several times, they became honest.

"I see! It seems that the people who lead the bow are not monolithic."

Looking at the few Xi Yanjuns in the hall who were angry and dare not say anything when they saw their monarch kneeling and licking the powerful Huns, Chen Ping immediately had an idea in his heart...

However, the Xiongnu household also noticed Wu Shirong in the room and Chen Ping, who was dressed as a Central Plains man next to him. He ignored Jun Yan and walked up to Wu Shiyan, laughing and saying a few words. Wushi Yanwei agreed.

After saying that, the Xiongnu Danghu walked straight to Jun Yanyan's seat, picked up the horn cup and drank a glass of wine, then hugged the two military girls and walked away...

"What did he say again?"

Chen Ping was very concerned.

Wu Shiyan smiled bitterly and said: "Dadanghu said that he didn't expect to see merchants from the Central Plains here. The son of Touman Chanyu, the horse on the grassland, Prince Maodun of the Kuantang clan, will soon be at the foot of Helan Mountain. , to marry a beautiful Yan family. The prince wants to prepare gifts for his Yan family, and silks from the Central Plains are indispensable."

"He invited... no, he ordered us to go to Helan Mountain with him tomorrow to meet Prince Modun!"