Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3550 Deviations outside the battlefield

It started raining in the Heluo Central Plains area and the roads became muddy, but it was still dry in the northwest to Guanzhong.

The weather is different every ten miles, let alone a distance of a thousand miles.

The second group of caravans from the Western Regions arrived in Guanzhong with the sound of camel bells. Since the resumption of trade with the Western Regions, merchants in the Western Regions could not wait to go to Guanzhong, even braving the wind and snow to set off.

After all, this is a mature trade route, from the Western Regions to Yumen Pass, and then to Longyou and Guanzhong. There are relatively large trade points and towns along the way. As long as you are not particularly unlucky and encounter a blizzard on the way, the danger is generally not too high. Especially after Taishi Ci took control of the Western Regions and cleared out a group of horse thieves in the Western Regions, the overall safety of commercial trade has been significantly improved.

In the feudal dynasty, it was hard to say what color the bandits and robbers in some areas were. After all, after these bandits and robbers robbed some property, they could not have any system with them to exchange for food directly. They always needed someone to sell the stolen goods and cash them in. Therefore, in the entire industry chain, it was inevitable that some people would pretend to be stupid.

The horse bandits in the Western Regions were cleared out, and many people from the Qiang tribes from Yumen Pass to Longyou were recruited into the Cavalry Army. Therefore, this stage can be said to be the most peaceful period.

Nowadays, the trade between the Western Regions and Guanzhong can generally carry goods back and forth, so there is no empty trip. In addition to traditional Western Region spices, gold and silver wares, jade and other traditional objects, there are also the latest various seeds collected from all over the Western Regions and even from Central Asia.

Silk and tea are still the major items transported from Guanzhong to the Western Regions, along with ceramics and lacquerware. In recent years, various gold and silver fans, down jackets, sugar and other handicrafts have emerged and are gradually becoming popular goods sold to foreign regions.

Because of the increase in the amount of trade and the increase in transaction amounts in the Great Han Chamber of Commerce, the importance of the Qingyin Shop in Chang'an is also slowly increasing, and the defense force is also being strengthened. There are soldiers stationed there all year round to guard the Great Han Chamber of Commerce, and there are also inspectors who regularly bring teams to patrol the surrounding area. Under normal circumstances, this is enough to deter some villains.

The morning sunlight shines on the bluestone slabs of Chang'an West Market.

Thanks to the General of Cavalry's formulation of certain detailed systems, the situation in which the streets were filled with cow dung, horse feces and camel dung no longer occurred.

There was a sanitation system and enforcement personnel, and the enforcement was strict and rigorous, so even though there was a lot of business in the West Market and a constant stream of cattle, horses and vehicles, the sanitary conditions were good. Even the Hu merchants who came to Chang'an for the first time could not help but restrain their camels, for fear of accidentally ruining this beautiful scene.

When Zhang Ziqing tied the bronze official seal to his belt, the coolness of the morning dew still lingered on his fingertips.

The peach blossom petals on Zhuque Street fell on his newly washed black-edged gown.

Some people advised him that he should change his name after becoming an official, or at least change a double-character name into a single one, but Zhang Ziqing felt that it was unnecessary.

Can you become famous by changing your name?

It’s better to keep your feet on the ground.

He is an ordinary student and does ordinary things.

For example, Zhang Ziqing feels that the official position he currently holds is very good.

Translator assistant.

Because there are more and more merchants from the Western Regions now, not all of these foreign merchants can speak Chinese, so the demand for translators who serve as a bridge of communication is naturally high.

The Interpreter's Assistant was under the Interpreter's Order, which was originally an agency under the Grand Herald, but now in Chang'an, the Interpreter's Order was under the Grand Minister of Agriculture. This was quite normal, after all, the Grand Minister of Agriculture Zao Zhi was also responsible for some matters in the Western Regions.

As an interpreter, one not only needs to be proficient in the language of the Western Regions, but also needs to be familiar with commercial tax laws and regulations, which is an important responsibility for maintaining market order.

"Move aside and let the officer in!"

When the soldiers on duty saw Zhang Ziqing, they called on Hu Shang to make way.

Zhang Ziqing bowed slightly, thanking the Hu merchant and others for letting him go. As he walked through the crowd, he heard at least three Western dialects bargaining, mixed with the Hu merchant's stiff Chinese: "This, these, benzoin, can be exchanged for a piece of silk?"

"One horse, they call it one horse, not a piece..." The Chinese of another Parthian merchant was obviously much more standard.

The Hu merchant who spoke awkward Chinese was called Anush, and he was a Sogdian.

This is his second visit to Dahan.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and carefully pulled the last white camel in the camel caravan. Twenty years ago, when he followed his uncle to learn business, he knew that the pure grape wine from Dayuan would be sold at the best price in Chang'an. Of course, in addition to the grape wine, he also brought glassware and handmade silver pots, which he believed would be best-sellers.

As the Hu merchants were talking to each other with tentativeness and expectation, the gate of the West Market slowly opened to the sound of drums.

Anush raised his head slightly and saw the morning light shining through the door, as if opening its warm arms to him.

The neat streets are lined with two- or three-story shops with large and small shop signs in various colors hanging on them, glowing with vitality under the morning light.

The waiter had already removed the door panels early, and was standing in front of his shop, wiping the windowsill, or placing the specialty products of his shop in the most conspicuous position...

"This... this is simply... heaven..." Anush couldn't help but murmur.

A non-Chinese merchant nearby laughed, "This place is even better than heaven!"

Anush looked at the Hu merchant beside him and blessed him, "Your spices will definitely fetch a good price!"

The Parthian Hu merchant also looked at Anush's goods and said, "Your silverware is also good! I wish you good luck!"

"Good luck, good luck!" Anush responded, and couldn't help touching the silverware on his camel's back.

Sogdian silverware is quite distinctive, it is handmade by hammering, the patterns are mostly grapevines, there are also other plant shapes, animals are mostly flying horses, camels, etc. The layers of patterns hammered out by hand shine with silvery white brilliance under the sun, which is quite luxurious.

"By the way... let's go take a look at their lacquerware..." the Parthian merchant suggested before leaving, "Their lacquerware is very beautiful and magical..."

Although Anush understood that the Parthian merchant was a competitor who wanted to buy less silk, he was not yet qualified to purchase large quantities of silk, so he naturally thanked the Parthian merchant for the reminder, looked up at the shop signs on both sides of the street, and slowly merged into the crowd.

…

…

"Shopkeeper... please look..."

Anush had the curly beard common among Sogdian merchants. He smiled as he raised the exquisite silverware in his hand and poured out the mellow wine.

Shopkeeper Chen smiled as he smelled the aroma of the wine. It was indeed a fine wine, and the wine was served in a Sogdian silver pot. Especially when the bright red wine was poured from the silver pot inlaid with gold threads and gems, the exotic customs seemed to flow out with the wine.

The owner of the lacquerware shop, Manager Chen, narrowed his eyes and looked carefully at the silver pot of the Hu merchant.

I have tasted the wine and it is indeed good, but the Hu merchant obviously wants to sell the wine and the silver pot together...

Although the Dahan Chamber of Commerce can act as a purchasing agent, there are still many merchants who prefer to do their own shopping, especially those with smaller capital. After all, the Dahan Chamber of Commerce also needs to pay a handling fee for helping with purchasing and selling.

Therefore, for Chen, the shopkeeper who opened a shop in the city, he was also happy to do some business with the Hu merchant. Moreover, the silver pot brought by the Hu merchant was really exquisite. The patterns on the pot were actually made by hammering a whole piece of silver plate. The branches, leaves, vines and so on were intertwined as thin as hair. It was indeed a top-grade handicraft...

But his own lacquer box is also well made!

While looking at the silver pot carefully, Shopkeeper Chen calmly pushed the eight-layer lacquer box forward an inch so that the sunlight coming in from outside could just shine on the vermilion cloud pattern on the lacquer box.

The gold powder that originally flickered on the paint surface became colorful under the sunlight, reflecting the turquoise-inlaid dagger on the opponent's waist.

"A jug, add wine... change this..."

Anushka spoke Chinese with a strange accent, and his fingers ran across the gilded copper buckle on the edge of the lacquered box.

He thought of the noble ladies in Malakanda who would be crazy about the unique luster of this oriental lacquerware!

How did this magical man seal all these colorful colors into the lacquer box?

Anush hid his desire, as if he was ready to move on to the next house if the negotiations failed.

Shopkeeper Chen had one hand in his sleeve, twiddling the abacus sticks, and did not answer immediately.

He stroked the uneven silver lines with his fingertips, and also thought in his mind, "If the vines were more smooth... it would be perfect for the cloud pattern of the lacquerware... But this carved plant looks so weird..."

While the two were discussing, children playing on the street suddenly startled a carriage, which rushed to the sidewalk and hit a pepper truck that was loading and unloading. The sheepskin bags filled with pepper overturned immediately, choking everyone and making them cry.

In the chaos, a young child stumbled into the shop with snot and tears, and bumped into another box of goods that Anush was carrying. With a clinking sound, the indigo and amber glassware shattered all over the floor.

"anag!"

"Calm down!"

Anush's guard pressed down the hilt of the knife, while Chen's shop assistant grabbed the door bolt nearby.

…

…

"Translator!" a servant came in a hurry, panting, "There's a quarrel at the door of the lacquerware display! It seems like both sides are about to fight!"

Zhang Ziqing stood up and said, "Call the inspector!"

…

…

"Your child!" Anush blew his beard and widened his eyes. "You hit mine! It broke! Pay for it!"

Shopkeeper Chen asked his assistant to comfort the child, "It's not that I won't compensate you, it's that you're asking for too high a price! Do you understand? The price is too high! Your glass is worthless!"

"It's valuable! Very valuable!" Anush became more and more angry.

Shopkeeper Chen gestured, "Calm down!"

"What's cold? What is it?!" Anush seemed to want to say something but couldn't express it clearly. He also didn't understand why glassware was worthless. When his father brought him to Chang'an, glassware was more expensive than gold and silver.

Shopkeeper Chen was also somewhat helpless. His child had indeed bumped into the goods of the Hu merchant while out playing, and he was willing to compensate. However, the colored glassware in Chang'an was no longer as expensive as it was ten or twenty years ago, so he could not accept the price offered by the Hu merchant at all.

When the situation was at a standoff, someone suddenly shouted from outside the store, "Move aside, move aside! The translator is coming! Make way!"

…

…

"Suguda?" Zhang Ziqing looked at Anush's appearance and asked tentatively.

He seemed to have some impression of Anush.

"ig, ig!" Anush was so excited that tears almost burst out when he heard Zhang Ziqing's words. He immediately started to dance and talk, pointing to his broken glassware while narrating to Zhang Ziqing what happened.

Lacquerware shopkeeper Chen tried to interrupt twice, but was stopped by Zhang Ziqing. After the Hu merchant Anush finished speaking, Zhang Ziqing turned around and asked Lacquerware shopkeeper Chen, "It was your child who broke his goods, right? He said you won't pay for it?"

The lacquerware shopkeeper Chen also complained, "I didn't say I wouldn't compensate him. He wanted to exchange this glassware for twenty lacquer boxes! How can this be possible? Not to mention that these glassware are broken now, even if they are good, they can't be exchanged for this price! Yizuo, you know that the base of my lacquerware is as thin as a cicada's wing. It takes the painter three months to just paint in gold..."

As Shopkeeper Chen spoke, he pressed the small switch on the lacquerware. The innermost layer of the lacquer box suddenly popped open, and the delicate copper buckle mechanism attracted the attention of the Hu merchants who were watching the excitement nearby. The delicate patterns made of shells on the mulberry paper looked like flowing clouds, which immediately attracted the attention of many Hu merchants, and they began to chatter and discuss among themselves.

Zhang Ziqing nodded slightly. He knew that Manager Chen was not lying. If it was an ordinary lacquerware, it would be fine, but this kind of papier-mâché craft is indeed time-consuming and labor-intensive. It is not as simple as simply painting the object with paint.

But just talking about it won't solve the problem.

Zhang Ziqing waved to the inspector who followed him and asked him to go to the glass shop at the other end of the market to get a set of glass tableware.

In the early years, colored glaze was an imported product, just like pepper, and its price was higher than gold. But later, the Han Dynasty was able to produce colored glaze ware itself, so the price suddenly dropped. The Sogdian merchants were obviously unaware of the price fluctuations, and this became the key contradiction in the dispute between the two sides.

Soon, the inspector arrived at the scene with a glassware shop assistant and showed a set of tableware brought from the glassware shop.

The Sogdian merchant Anush's eyes widened, and then he looked at the broken glassware around him, and found that although his own glassware had richer and more varied colors, the new glassware was more transparent...

Is it more expensive if it is more colorful or more transparent? In fact, there is no consensus outside the domain, but one thing is certain, the one with more colors and crystal clearness is more expensive!

In fact, by now, Anush had also understood a little. He recalled that before the West Market opened, the Parthian merchants around him only praised his wine and silver pots, but did not mention anything about glass...

It was just that he had spent a huge amount of money to purchase these colored glasses from foreign lands, but now not only did he not make any money, they were also cracked and shattered.

Anush held the broken glassware, feeling like crying but unable to cry.

Seeing that the matter had been discussed more or less clearly, Shopkeeper Chen grabbed his own naughty child and spanked him a few times, then pointed at the child's nose, scolded him a few words, and told him to go back to the inner courtyard.

Zhang Ziqing shook his head slightly and asked the inspectors to drive away those who were watching the excitement.

This Sogdian merchant is really thick-skinned and not afraid of having his hands cut off...

Zhang Ziqing squatted on the ground and carefully picked up a broken piece of glass. Suddenly, he had an idea and walked to the lacquer box of Shopkeeper Chen with the shard of glass and placed it next to the shells inlaid in the lacquer box. "You two, come and see..."

Shopkeeper Chen came over first. He didn't really beat the child violently, he just beat him for Zhang Ziqing and Hu Shang to see, after all, it was his child who got into trouble, but he also used this to show that he had punished the child, so that others could not say anything.

Shopkeeper Chen looked at the glass fragments placed next to the inlaid shells, and suddenly seemed to understand something.

The Sogdian merchant Anush also came over, still with a sad and troubled look on his face.

"Look..." Zhang Ziqing placed the glass piece on the shell.

"Huh?!" Shopkeeper Chen shuddered suddenly.

The Sogdian merchant's eyes also lit up, and the sadness on his face disappeared.

"This seems to be possible..."

"I want a flower, I want this flower carved..."

Suddenly, Shopkeeper Chen and the Sogdian merchant gathered together and started talking enthusiastically as if nothing had happened just now. Even though the language communication between the two sides was not so smooth, their enthusiasm for product improvement seemed to act as a lubricant for their communication. They chatted enthusiastically with just a few words and gestures.

As dusk fell, the two sides finally reached an agreement.

The damaged glassware will be sold to Shopkeeper Chen at market price as cooperative funds for investment in new technologies, and the new lacquerware products developed by Shopkeeper Chen will be sold exclusively in the Western Regions by the Sogdian merchant Anush for three years...

So everyone was happy.

Shopkeeper Chen wanted to give Zhang Ziqing a reward, but Zhang Ziqing refused. Finally, he said that he would give Zhang Ziqing the first one as a souvenir after the finished product was made, and Zhang Ziqing agreed.

Hu Shang also wanted to thank Zhang Ziqing and offered to give him some wine, but was rejected by Zhang Ziqing.

Zhang Ziqing said goodbye to the two and was about to turn around and leave when he suddenly saw the bag decoration hung on the camel by the Hu merchant and could not help but stop...

Hu Shang thought Zhang Ziqing wanted his bag, so he took it off immediately, but Zhang Ziqing stopped him, "I don't want the bag, but do you know what this pattern is?"

The bag is made of sheepskin, with a plant pattern outlined on it with paint.

Although it was not very clear, Zhang Ziqing felt that it seemed to be very similar to a certain plant in the task of collecting seeds that the Minister of Agriculture had assigned him before...

The setting sun gilded the blue bricks of the West Market, and also shone on Zhang Ziqing and others.

Amid the sounds of camel bells carried by the evening breeze, a star seemed to jump out happily from the eaves of the General of Cavalry's Mansion in the distance, tilting its head and blinking.