Hotan, known as Khotan in ancient times, means "place where jade is produced" in Tibetan, and is about 280 kilometers away from the sand car.

Locally-grown Chinese, there are few who do not know the good name of Hetian mutton fat jade.

After staying in the sand cart for more than ten days, Cai Hongming had nothing to do, thinking that since he was so close to Hetian, it was better to go over there to find a few pieces of jade, maybe he could make a small fortune. Kalwan's second son happened to be going back to run the jade business, and he wanted to go with him. But when he told Ji Dong and them about this idea, he was despised by them.

"Brother Hong, let's be down-to-earth, don't do this kind of daydreaming."

Pan Haimin said earnestly. He knows this kind of thing best. When he was not a soldier before, he always whimsically went to the mountains to dig ginseng, hoping to dig up a wild ginseng and get rid of poverty and become rich, but the idea was good, but the reality was very cruel. Don't talk about ginseng, he has been looking for a few years in the mountains on and off, beating rabbits, catching flying dragons, scaring wild wolves, seeing blind bears, and aiming at Siberian tigers, but ginseng has not even seen a single hair.

"Brother Hong, let's wash and sleep!" Li Chun also persuaded on the side.

"Actually, this jade is not difficult to find, mainly by luck."

Cai Hongming was a little frustrated by the two of them, and at this time, Murong Hua suddenly opened his mouth and pulled him, and couldn't help but cast a grateful look at him. It's a pity that people didn't pay attention to it at all, and they made a mistake.

Murong Hua said: "I have a comrade-in-arms, his brother happened to serve here before, and when he was on patrol, he was lucky, and he found a piece of stone wrapped jade on the road, and he sold it directly for 80,000 yuan. According to him. If you are lucky, as long as you dig up a piece of good jade, you can get rich overnight, and you can dig up a piece of jade here and go home to marry a wife and build a house. ”

"Really?" Li Chun's eyes widened when he heard this.

"Of course, but it also requires luck and vision. Someone who digs for a lifetime may not be able to dig up a good piece of jade. Don't look at the pricelessness of precious jade, I don't know how many people die here in Hotan every year because of jade mining. ”

"Can't! It's just looking for something, and it's so dangerous? ”

"You think finding jade is as simple as picking up stones on the side of the road! If it were that simple, it wouldn't be so expensive. There are two main jade-producing rivers in Hotan, one is the Yulong Kashgar River and the other is the Karakash River. These two rivers originate in the Kunlun Mountains, washing the jade material from the rocks from the mountains to the banks below. In the past, if you were lucky, you could just walk around and find it. Later, if there is less, I use digging. Now there is less to be dug up, so I dig with machinery. Sometimes you may not be able to dig a good piece of jade for a day.

There is no jade below, so the jade miners can only go to the source of the river to find it, and then they have to go into the mountains. Generally, they have to bring 10 days, half a month, or a month's worth of grain when they go into the mountains. Eat and live in the mountains. So as not to go back and forth.

The climate in the mountains is changeable. Rain and snow are merciless, and any danger can be encountered. Sometimes you have to be careful of those who see the jade eyes open and rob halfway, if you are not careful. Maybe in the blink of an eye, there will be no bones left. The altitude of the mountain is several thousand meters high, and it is not possible to find it with a telescope when you fall down. However, as long as you are lucky enough to find a good piece of jade, you can make money by selling it for tens of millions, so even if it is dangerous, many people still come from the coastal interior to dig jade every year. This is also the psychology of gamblers, who want to get rich overnight. ”

"Wan'er's second uncle is a typical example of getting rich overnight."

Cai Hongming continued Murong Hua's words and said: "In the past, this vineyard was planted by Wan'er and his second uncle, but later I felt that I couldn't make a lot of money growing grapes, so I went to dig jade. is also lucky, and after a while, he dug up a piece of jade material of more than 20 catties and sold it for millions. But then he was not so lucky, he didn't dig for a long time, he simply contracted a piece of beach, hired someone to dig mechanically, and he himself sold jade in the store. Now his business is getting bigger and bigger, and he is already one of the top jade merchants in Hotan. How, do you want to go? ”

Li Chun and the others didn't want to go, so it was better to go home early if they ran so far to dig jade. Now hearing him and Murong Hua say this, it is inevitable that his heart will itch, so he nodded and agreed.

"What about the yak?" Chen Dashan asked.

"Take it with you, and when we go back, we will walk from Hotan Airport, so we don't have to run back and forth."

After some discussion, the matter was settled.

The next day, Cai Hongming and Shi Wan'er went to bid farewell to Kalwang. Calwan was reluctant to let Shi Wan'er go, but when he got together and dispersed, he couldn't stay here all the time, so he reluctantly went to prepare gifts for her. Finally took out a large pile of raisins and almonds and other things, almost a small cart as much. There are also wines, these wines are all fine wines that he has treasured for more than 20 years, and he heard that Cai Hongming likes it, so he gave him ten jars, and he felt like cutting meat when he sent them.

Seeing that the old man sent so many things, Cai Hongming was a little embarrassed to take it, so he took out some insect tea and a few green lingzhi trees from the cave blessed land in the jade ding and gave them to the old man.

There are too many things sent by Kalwang, and it is too cumbersome to carry on the road, so Cai Hongming put the wine into the cave blessed land in the jade ding, and the other things were packed and sent back by express first, and then a trailer was called, loaded with a container loaded with yaks, and went to Hotan together.

Before the Qin and Han dynasties, there were different ancient indigenous peoples in the Hotan area, such as the Cypriots, Qiang, and Yueshi who spoke Indo-European languages and Sino-Tibetan languages.

It was only after Zhang Qian passed through the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty that Hotan was recorded in the Chinese classics for the first time.

Book of Tang. The Legend of the Western Regions records: "In Khotan (Hotan) or Qu Sadana, also called Lian Na, Qu Dan, Beidi said Yu Dun, and Zhu Hu said Huodan." And Tang Xuanzang's "Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty" said that Hetian was the country of Qu Sadana: "Tang Yan is milky, and it is also a vulgar and elegant language." As the saying goes, it is called Hanna country. The Xiongnu is said to be in retreat, Zhu Hu is called Huodan, India is called Qu Dan, and the old is called Khotan, and it is also false. Also known as: "Qu Satana country, more than 1,000 miles on Thursday, most of the sand moraine." "Qu Satana is the name of the country, which means "earth milk".

Ground milk, as the name suggests, can be understood as milk in the ground or milk that emerges from the ground.

Hetian mutton fat jade color is like clotted fat, as delicate and crystal as milk. Once upon a time, these jade stones were washed down from the mountains by rivers and buried in the soil for millions of years before they were dug out of the ground. Therefore, the meaning of earth milk can be understood as a place where beautiful jade is buried.

Hotan area is located in the western part of the country. The southernmost part of the Uhr Autonomous Region.

The Kunlun Mountains in the south reach the northern Tibetan plateau, the east is adjacent to the Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, the north is deep into the hinterland of the Taklamakan region, adjacent to the Aksu region, the west is connected to the Kashgar region, and the Karakoram Mountains in the southwest are bordered by India and Pakistan. It is about 719 kilometers from Islamabad, 974 kilometers from here to New Delhi, and about 1,154 kilometers from Kathmandu.

If it weren't for the towering Kunlun Mountains blocking the way, and its inland fringe zone, Hotan would have served as a bridge between India and Pakistan and other countries, and a port for international trade to the interior, rather than relying solely on jade to achieve fame.

The sand car is connected to the national highway in Hetian, and it only takes a few hours to drive, and when it is almost noon, Cai Hongming and his party will arrive.

There is a jade wholesale market in Hotan, Shi Wan'er and his second uncle, who is Argibig, have a house in the market, which was built when he was rich earlier, and the shops below are for trading, and the people live on it, and the place is very large, even if Cai Hongming and others have a large number of people, they can live there.

Cai Hongming didn't want to disturb his house, and planned to take Ji Dong and them to stay in a hotel, but he was severely taught a lesson by Argibig.

Ethnic minorities are so hospitable, and if you come here and don't live in his house, he will make people laugh when it gets out. In particular, Argibyg is one of the top jade merchants in Hetian, and if it is spread by someone with a heart, the style will immediately be lowered by several grades. Helpless, Cai Hongming had to live in his house.

Archibig's house is very large, it looks like a building from the outside, who knows that it is a large courtyard from the back, but it is a large courtyard, the rockery pond in the courtyard, the green bamboo is faintly reflected, and it makes people feel as if they have arrived in the south of the Yangtze River.

Cai Hongming and Ji Dong stayed here, and at night Archibyg roasted whole sheep in the courtyard to catch the wind and wash the dust, and ate to the pleasure of the guests and hosts.

In downtown Hotan, there is a big bazaar every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The Grand Bazaar is what we call a bazaar. At this time, the jade diggers in the four miles and eight towns will take the treasures they dig out to sell, but it is said that the asking price is very high, and there are many frauds.

The day after Cai Hongming came, it happened to be the Grand Bazaar, and out of curiosity, he and Shi Wan'er walked to the Grand Bazaar with Ji Dong and others.

Archibig has been here for a long time, and he knows that there are a lot of fake things in the bazaar, and he is afraid that Cai Hongming, the stupid son-in-law of the Han family, and his niece who don't know the situation will be deceived, so he specially called a clever guy to follow them when he went out.

The Grand Bazaar is located in the northeast corner of Hotan City, on the edge of National Highway 315.

I don't know if it's late, when Cai Hongming and the others arrived, they found that the market was already crowded. Standing in front of the market and looking over, you can only see the heads of people, and you can't see the place where people are standing at all, how can you get in? It was the men called by Archibig who had experience and led them to the side of the road.

This road is undoubtedly a lot quieter than the one they saw just now, but Cai Hongming and they are here to play, it doesn't matter, anyway, as long as there are people to sell.

After walking around, Cai Hongming found that the most special thing about Hotan is that the price of selling things is based on the pound, rather than the kilogram that is used to in the western Xinjiang or the inland and coastal areas. The most distinctive snacks here are kebabs, pilaf, rice sausages, and the roasted whole sheep in the market is only 15 yuan per catty. I don't know if it's really mutton, but in other places, it's a bag of sheep feces, and it's estimated that it's more than that.

PS: One thing I have to say, when I write a book, I will collect some pictures related to this book and post them on the album of the book friend group, and those who like this book had better add the book friend group to see the pictures, so that it is more immersive. I'll report the Q.Q number of the book friend group again: 214618691 (remember that the code is that my farm is in the desert, otherwise I wouldn't have added it.) (To be continued......)