Chapter 2434 Devout believer
When a long queue, with the sound of camel bells, slowly appeared on the horizon, the sunshine of Longyou was shining on the earth, and on the people and camels in this row.
The sky is blue, the clouds are white, and the sun is slightly dazzling.
This is a queue with obvious characteristics of the Western Regions.
The wind blew a tricolor flag in front of the queue, which seemed to indicate that this queue had some kind of connection with General Hussars. This kind of flag represents the temporary permission of the Hussar General. Caravans with such flags can be allowed to enter Yumen Pass and continue to enter the inland area of ??the Han Dynasty.
In the middle of the queue, there is another flag with something fancy painted on it, with a style completely different from that of the big man.
The speed of the queue is not fast, because behind the leading camel in this queue, there is a long line of vehicles. The horses pulling the carts are covered in dust, and there are also traces of yellow mud that have dried up several times on the hooves, which can be clearly seen It is after a long trek and a very long road.
Among the vehicles illuminated by the sun, there were nearly 30 prison cars with rough wooden frames, with iron chains hanging from the doors outside the wooden frames, and inside were some ragged Semu people.
When the queue approached Longyou and was still some distance away from Zhangye, several cavalry rushed out from nowhere and stopped in front of the queue. The guards in front of the queue suddenly became nervous, and soon the leader of the queue also arrived at the front , saw those cavalrymen, but let out a sigh of relief, and said hello with a little ease: "Leader Zhang! it''s me! 』
Cavalryman Zhang Duisui frowned slightly, but couldn''t recognize it for a while. This road is a golden business road. There are many caravans from Dahan to the Western Regions, and from the Western Regions to Dahan. Most of the leaders of these caravans know him, but he can''t remember so many people.
Team Zhang led seven or eight Han cavalry on guard.
This queue is too conspicuous, so conspicuous that he feels a little weird. Ordinary caravans don''t have so many people. Even if the people locked in the wooden cages looked ragged and depressed, if these numbers were put into the checkpoint, and the wooden door would be opened to make a fuss, would the thirty or forty soldiers inside the checkpoint be able to stop it?
This is still a big checkpoint, and a small checkpoint even has only five or six soldiers...
"It''s me! team leader! Don''t do it, don''t do it..." The yellow beard of the team leader said in a slightly weird tone, "Oh...Understood, I have an explanation, no, that document..."
The leader with the yellow beard took out a document from his arms and waved it as a gesture.
Captain Zhang beckoned slightly, a Han cavalryman understood, stepped forward to take the document, and handed it to Captain Zhang when he came back.
Captain Zhang checked the security mark on the exterior and the hidden mark on the seal, then opened it and looked up at the yellow beard, "Javed? 』
Yellow Beard exaggeratedly stroked his chest as a salute, "Ah, my respected Captain Zhang, you finally think of me..."
Team Zhang hummed and returned the document to Javid. He didn''t think of Javed, but wrote Javed''s name on the document, but after Javed answered, Zhang Duili also found a little impression in his mind. This Javid is Marcus Julius, that is, the Daqin man, who is jokingly called the horse belly or the fellow of the horse trousers.
『Are you from Daqin? 』Zhang Duisui stretched his neck slightly, and looked inside the convoy. Those locked in the wooden cages were slaves captured in the Western Regions?
Javid thought that Captain Zhang wanted some benefits, so he quickly signaled his followers to bring some money, wine and meat to Captain Zhang. Captain Zhang shook his head, and instead of taking the money, wine and meat, he warned Javed: "Handi The customs are different from yours! Remember, be honest and don''t make trouble! Let your men pay attention! 』
Javid agreed in a hurry.
Captain Zhang nodded, and then led the troops and galloped away again.
The entourage held the money bag, wine and meat, and was a little dazed. He turned his head and said to Javid in Daqin dialect: "Aga... what do these Han people mean?" 』
The Han soldiers in the Western Regions collected money, wine and meat, and even made trouble if they didn’t have one, but here…
Javed watched the Han cavalry go away, then clicked his tongue and said, "It''s really different..." As he spoke, Javed couldn''t help feeling a little bit emotional.
『Aga, will the royal city of the Han people be bigger than Xihai City? 』
『I don’t know…it should be…』
『Xihai City is simply a miracle...I can’t imagine a city bigger than Xihai City...』
『No, it should be bigger... It is said that in the royal city of the Han people, the place where their emperor lived, from the house to the stool, is made of gold and precious stones...Even the bricks under the feet are made of gold and silver...』
"Really? Oh, God! 』
『Are we going to the emperor of the Han Dynasty this time? 』
Javed shook his head and said, "No, we are going to the general of the big man..."
『Where is the general of the big man? Why not go to the emperor''s side? 』
Javed pondered for a while, and then said: "That''s the big man''s Caesar... So you understand now, right?" And he is richer than the emperor of the Han Dynasty...The land he owns stretches for hundreds of miles, and he also has several gold and silver mines...The coins used by the Han Dynasty are made by him...』
Several entourages and guards around Javed stared excitedly. They licked their lips greedily, and then looked into the distance, as if they wanted to see the golden and silver glittering things described in the next moment. same place.
Javed is Caucasian. He has deep eyes, a yellow beard, and a tall and slender figure. Perhaps he has been running around all year round, and his cheeks are a little thin. After many years of traveling abroad, the wind and sand dyed his skin color like tobacco leaves. He was wearing a slightly patterned robe, but the sleeves that were supposed to be decorated with patterns over the years had become jet-black and shiny due to their functions as napkins and handkerchiefs over the years...
From these, it can be seen that Javed is not an upper-level figure in Daqin. Of course, if you are really an upper-class person, you don''t have to suffer from this kind of wind and sand. The person who followed Javed was also an ordinary Daqin man. He was wearing a gray-yellow cloth robe, and around his waist was a nondescript belt that might have been purchased in the Western Regions. On the belt hung a sword that was completely different from that of the Han Dynasty. Yes, a scimitar that appears to be more curved.
Javed touched his yellow beard. The beard near the nose was particularly dark in color. It should be soaked in snuff for many years, and he even felt that he could pinch vape oil. He is currently pinching the beard under his nose, as if to make himself more focused, "These Han people... pass on the word that we are here to make money, for gold and silver, for those nobles. Things have nothing to do with us! So don''t make trouble and make trouble, after you earn money and go home, you can make as much trouble as you want, but now... we are just businessmen! We are all about money! Do you understand? ! 』
"clear! 』
"understood! 』
The corresponding chaotic sounds sounded.
Jawed keenly grasped the business opportunity of the Han Dynasty to open up the Western Regions. Ordinary commodities are profitable, but they are too few. Even if he raised the prices of those Guishuang utensils and Daqin''s dishes several times, it still couldn''t satisfy his desire for profit. After all, no matter it is the utensils of Guishuang or the things of Daqin, they all need cost, and the price of those things cannot be doubled without limit. After all, the material is placed there, even if it is inlaid with gold and silver, or just It is made of gold and silver, and it is impossible to sell it for a sky-high price...
But things with no cost or low cost are different.
Such as slaves.
Javid got some information from Marcus that the Han Dynasty needs slaves...
Javed is familiar with this job!
During the heyday of the Great Qin Dynasty, thousands of merchants traveled between Rome and the surrounding barbarian states, sent countless slaves to Rome, and then built a majestic city.
Otherwise, the city of Rome was built by the lords of the citizens in the city of Rome? Or was it pushed by Caesar alone?
As a member of a family that had made outstanding contributions to the construction manpower of the city of Rome, Javed found a new and familiar way of making money.
The city of Rome has been built and no longer needs such manpower, but now the big man needs it. Decades and hundreds of years ago, his ancestors lured, trafficked, and even robbed people from the Mediterranean, Central Asia, and Northern Europe to transport people to Rome.
As Javed, who has a fine tradition, of course he will not easily give up this good opportunity to make a fortune. He bought some cheap local utensils from Guishuang, then sold them to the Western Regions, and then collected a large number of displaced residents and some Guishuang slaves from the Western Regions for various reasons, and then sent them to Longxi.
The news that a brand new force has appeared in Dahan has already been passed on to Guishuang, but the news has been somewhat vague due to repeated retelling, and there are many specific details that are contradictory. So this time Javed went to the loyalty of the frightening and powerful Han new force in the legend, and also brought his extra mission...
In the Western Regions, Javid has already seen some big Han soldiers with tricolor flags, and also found some relevant information, but it is incomplete, or Javed thinks it is incomplete.
In Daqin, there is no shortage of ambitious guys, and there is also no shortage of greedy businessmen, so Javid must rush ahead of these guys and establish his own advantages in advance, otherwise even if he really finds out a way to make a fortune In the future, some guy will also use the form of "joint stock" or "investment", leaving only a piece of skin, or even no skin left.
Fortunately, both Guishuang and Daqin have fallen into chaos and sluggishness. Not everyone is interested in adventures in the distance. Javed managed to find some people to cooperate with, including people from the Western Regions Kangju. Responsible for capturing and gathering slaves...
Gold has no national attributes. Javed he bought enough slaves in no time.
There is civil strife in Guishuang, and the conflicts between countries in the Western Regions are not a day or two. In these areas, small-scale armed conflicts often occur. Most of the losers will be executed before, but now they can be sold for money. . Javid didn''t bring too many people this time, he just brought 300 slaves, about 100 of them died on the road, and only 200 people arrived in Longxi.
After experiencing no-man’s land, sandstorms, and being attacked by horse thieves once, Javid finally stepped into the legendary territory that truly belonged to the powerful man of the big man. The loss of one-third of the number of slaves made Javed feel heartbroken, but after all, it was the first time. Pain and barriers are often symbiotic. After the real connection, there will be no more pain...
Received the news in Zhangye Weikang.
Actually, Wei Kang didn’t want to leave Chang’an Sansuke, but the problem was that his father felt that he was too high or too low...
Speaking of it, we can’t blame Wei Kang. If it is in history, Wei Kang can still have a good name. After all, after Dong Zhuo’s military rebellion in Xiliang, Guanzhong fell into a long-term depression. Aiming at Guanzhong, it is more or less the front line, so of course the humanities and arts are not as well developed as Shandong, and a family like Wei Duan can also become a calligrapher, artist or something.
But now it’s different, Guanzhong is full of talents, not only the backbone like Pang Tong and Xun You, but also young talents such as Sima Yi, Wang Chang, Zhuge brother Kan Ze, and the older ones are Zheng Xuan, Sima Hui, the old guy who is in charge, Webster’s so-called The Guanzhong inheritance is not ranked at all.
Even when Wei Duan wanted to offer Wei Kang a position in Longxi and Longyou, Jia Xu didn''t refuse, but he didn''t give him special care because of it. It was arranged in Zhangye according to the order.
Of course, Wei Kang wanted to go to a better county, and he was also thinking about the transfer, but he asked people to go back to Chang''an to bring a message to his father, complaining that Zhangye was poor and remote, and vaguely expressed that he wanted to change places. In the end, Wei Duan wrote back and scolded him, telling him to be honest and work hard in Zhangye.
Wei Kang couldn''t help complaining that his father was jumping up and down back then, but now he has become so honest. But if he really wanted to do something, he didn''t dare.
At this moment, Wei Kang is urging the progress of the project on the construction site. The previous battles caused damage to some city walls, houses, roads and water conservancy, etc., and now they need to be repaired, and it is easy to destroy, but it is a bit difficult to repair...
"what? Great Qin people? Wei Kang asked in surprise, "Have you checked the document?" 』
As a family member of the upper class, well, barely counted as the upper class, he naturally knows about the labor camps of the Hussar General.
In the era when the production technology of the Han Dynasty was not very good, especially the high-risk and high-mortality work of mining, it was naturally more cost-effective to consume slaves than to let the big man do his own labor. This kind of thing cannot be avoided even in later generations, but the slaves have been replaced with so-called "cheap labor".
Wei Kang rolled his eyes, suddenly seemed to think of something, and ordered: "When this Daqin man arrives, bring him to see me..."
Wei Kang’s thoughts are not difficult to guess. After all, Wei Kang is now facing the problem of labor. There are few people in Zhangye, and the number of laborers that can be called is naturally small. If a group of slaves are added...
As for Javed, he is busy coloring slaves right now, and he has not realized that he has potential buyers before he even arrives in Chang''an.
As a professional, of course we do professional things.
Even a slave trader has a slave trader''s business.
Javed and his party stopped at a small river. The surviving more than two hundred slaves were released from the wooden frame two by three, and stood by the river under the driving of whips and sticks. Most of these slaves were men. As for women and children, they were either killed at the beginning or forced to become part of other tribes.
After a long period of captivity and travel, these slaves are particularly weak, from the outside to the inside, and such a listless and dirty appearance obviously cannot be sold for more and better prices.
Driven by whips and sticks, the slaves took off their dirty and tattered clothes, and lined up naked. Then the tattered clothes were taken downstream by several other slaves for cleaning.
On the bank of the river, Javed stood next to several large wooden barrels, and used his secret recipe to mix several large barrels of strange liquid. Then, when each slave arrived in front of the wooden barrels, the guards took large brushes and dipped them into the liquid. The strange liquid in the wooden barrel was brushed on these filthy and smelly bodies, and then these slaves were driven to the river to wash.
After washing, the dirty and dull skin of these slaves became shiny again, and they looked much more energetic than before.
Immediately afterwards, these slaves were brought back to another wooden barrel, which was the spirits of the Western Regions brought by Javed. After mixing it with unknown powder, one of the two guards skillfully grabbed the slave and squeezed the slave''s mouth open. , and one took a wooden spoon and poured a big gulp into the slave''s mouth.
『Look, isn’t this much better? Javed looked around and nodded in satisfaction, "This mouthful will keep them alive for at least three or four days... Even if they are dying, taking two more mouthfuls will make them more energetic..."
『That’s right, she looks much better! Definitely sell for a lot more money! The guard on the side couldn''t help but said happily, "Then we can purchase sugar, silk, tea, rhubarb from the big man... God, these are all gold!" gold! I have seen a piece of golden brilliance! This is my favorite color! Thank God! 』
『Unfortunately... hey, many died on the way...』Javed said with some regret, "Our preparations are still a bit lacking, and we can definitely do better next time..."
Javed looked at the more than two hundred slaves in front of him, his regret only stayed for a while, and soon he laughed again. If the business path can be opened up this time and a stable route can be established, what are these in front of me? After he returns with the big man''s sugar, silk, tea, rhubarb and other utensils, he will run two or three times at most, and will not run again. He will establish a huge organization, and these guards will replace him and become the second or third generation of caravan leaders...
Maybe, in Javed’s lifetime, he can return to Daqin with a large amount of manpower and wealth from Guishuang, and sit in a chair in the Senate!
At that time, he will have money, armed guards, and business channels that can continue to provide wealth. Those who despised him before and drove him out of Daqin will usher in his anger and revenge!
"Thank God! Praise the gift of the Lord! Javid closed his eyes and prayed wholeheartedly, "Love our Lord, thank you for your wonderful salvation. Because you have never left us, and never left us, everything in the world will change, only your love for us will never change...』
(end of this chapter)