Xiao Guan in the Qin period, the location is not the same as that of later generations, not in Chaona, but in the north of Huanyi, on the open platform on the east bank of the Huanjiang River. This military border city located in the northernmost part of the North Land was built to prevent the Hu people from entering the Kou, and the city wall was extremely thick, looking like a solid earthen fence.

This is the north gate of Guanzhong, entering the customs through the Huanjiang, Nihe, Jing River to Xianyang. Its placket is in the north, and the throat is in the middle, which is really a danger in the north.

Last month, the newly appointed Northland County Lieutenant Heifu made a special tour here, although the season of "sending warmth" has passed, but it is also indispensable to give wine to the county soldiers to kill sheep and encourage them to work hard for the country.

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

February is fleeting, in the second half of the 28th year of Qin Shi Huang (the third month of the lunar calendar), the whip is loud, the chariots and horses are resounding, and a huge team of chariots and horses is coming to the south. Oxen and horses pulled carts, bundled with goods: horses of silk cloth, brown sugar that had just been brought from Nanjun.

On each cart sat a skilled king, and beside the car walked heavily armed guards, most of them were evil boys from the Northland, and there were a few Rong riders who were opening the way in front.

This is the caravan of the Wu family, Wu Shiyan personally led the team, but unlike usual, there was an extra man in cloth on his car, eight feet tall, fair-skinned, dignified, elegant speech, and a very gentle smile.

Wu Shiyan said that this is the official arranged by the government to settle accounts, and everyone can call him Mr. Chen.

Mr. Chen is Chen Ping, and he has some consideration for his mission: "I heard that when Yan Zhao was king, Yan had a virtuous general Qin Kai, and he deliberately held Donghu hostage, and Donghu believed in it, so Qin Kai took the opportunity to grasp the customs and military geography of Donghu. After returning to Yan, King Yan Zhao took Qin Kai as his general and led his army to attack Donghu, which was broken, but Donghu was more than 1,000 miles, and Yan had the land of Liaodong......"

"Now the emperor wants to have something to do in the northern Xinjiang, the county lieutenant is a chief, and he can't be moved, I will go out with the merchant to investigate the reality of the Huns, and I can't establish a feat like Qin Kai!"

Although Chen Ping spared his life, he also felt that when he was young, he needed some adventures, Heifu was originally a small official, didn't he rely on a personal trip to the enemy camp to surrender, so he was able to emerge?

With such a plan, Chen Ping also put aside the love of his children. He followed the example of Dayu three times and did not enter the house, did not even return home, and did not care about his wife and children, after accompanying Heifu to inspect Xiao Pass, he went directly to Wushi County, day and night to Wushi Yan to understand the outside situation, and even taught himself a northern dialect that can be fake and true.

The group rested overnight in Xiaoguan, and the next day after passing through the customs guard to inspect the goods, they were allowed to leave the fortress.

Chen Ping had only been to Xiaoguan once with Heifu last month, but his footprints were limited to the inside of the pass, and the world outside the pass was still a blank for him. The first time I came to the northern frontier outside the Saiwai, I couldn't help but be a little curious and look around.

He could clearly feel that after leaving the customs, the surrounding scenery had changed significantly. Agriculture and animal husbandry coexist in the Guannai, from time to time you can see some farmland in Lilu, gurgling water flowing in the loess ravines, wild peach blossoms blooming on the mountains, and the sky is scorching. The vegetation on the side of the road also grows extremely vigorously, with willow green leaves and long branches, stretching out to the road from time to time......

Outside the gate is different, the graceful willows are missing on the roadside, the loess layer on the mountain appears a large area of bareness, and the grassland is also sparse and sparse, which is not as lush as the pass.

Wu Shiyan explained the reason: "Ten rains a year inside the Great Wall, and three or five rains a year outside the Great Wall. ”

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

He also said: "But this is not the case everywhere in Saibei, and there are also many pastures with abundant water and grass in the places where the river passes, such as the Hetao and Helan Mountains, and the Huamachi where our merchants must pass!" ”

The yellow sand and wild grasses, as far as the eye can see, are not blocked by the mountains and huge moats, and they have been walking on this barren plain for seven or eight days, and the caravan entangled by heat and thirst has only seen a small lake with abundant water and grass, as Wu Shiyan said.

As soon as he saw the lake, an evil boy who had come out of the jam for the first time cheered, and ran over to draw water, intending to drink it bitterly, but no one else listened.

As a result, he took the lake water and drank it into his mouth, then spit it out with a wow, and scolded: "It's a dead man, why is this water so salty and bitter!" ”

"This is Huama Pond, also known as the salt lake, how can it not be salty?"

The merchants laughed, and Chen Ping also took the scoop to the water's edge and spooned it to taste, and it was really salty and astringent......

What they arrived at was just a small lake, and they walked for another day before they came to the real "Huama Pond".

Chen Ping stood in the car, and was surprised to find that a huge silver mirror appeared in front of him, vast for dozens of miles, under the sun, the water surface was crystal white, the green grass around the pond, wild flowers were thick, and some shirtless Rong people were using tools to pry pieces of white solid ......

Wu Shiyan introduced to him: "There are more than 20 large and small lakes in this area, most of which are salt lakes, which can produce salt all year round, especially the Huamachi in front of us, which produces large salt grains, green color, mellow taste and long, so it is called 'green salt'." ”

Chen Ping silently wrote it down, and then asked, "Then why is it called Huamachi?" ”

"This is the legend of the local Yanrong people."

Wu Shi Yan said: "It is said that this big pond is fresh water, hundreds of years ago, Yan Yanrong just migrated to this time, there is a flower horse from the sky galloping into the pool, a year later, the pool water has become brackish, natural salt, thousands of years, inexhaustible. The Rong people called this big salt pond Huamachi, and the city built by the pond was called Huamachi City......"

After speaking, 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 Wu brothers attach great importance to it, although this place is outside the Sai, they have obtained the right to mine and sell it by bribing Yan Yanjun, and even in the city, there are houses for Wu merchants to live in.

During the two days of his stay in Huamachi, Chen Ping saw the hospitality of the Rong people, and the local rulers and chieftains all relied on Wu Shi to transport goods from the Central Plains......

On the second night, Yan Yanjun specially invited Wu Shiyan, and Chen Ping pretended to be his entourage and sat beside him.

Yan Yanjun sat on it, he was forty or fifty years old, his hair was gray, but his physique was still majestic, and his mustache was rubbed with oil, and it was as bright as real gold.

Wu Shiyan was proficient in the language of the Saiwairong people, and Chen Ping didn't understand much what he said to Yun Yanjun, so he used a knife to cut the delicious Yanchitan mutton in front of him while looking at the hall.

Rong customs and the Central Plains are very different, although the name of Huamachi City is the city, but the buildings in the city are not systematic. This "palace" of Rong Jun is only a deep wooden dining room, the walls made of rough wood are as high as four feet, and the roof is a large curtain woven of dozens of felt cloths.

The elders of the room held horn cups, passing to each other the exquisite lacquer and pottery that Wu Shiyan had brought from the mainland, talking loudly, and giving thumbs up from time to time, these things they would never have been able to make.

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

"In previous years, when I went out of the fortress, I went to Helan first, then came to Huamachi City, and went east to Shangjun, but this time it was different, we had to go around in a big circle!"

Wu Shiyan explained the geography of Saiwai for Chen Ping, the place where they are now is actually a circle around the big river, the river comes out of the stone mountain in Qiangzhong, all the way to the northeast, after traveling two thousand miles, turned a corner, and turned eastward. This east-west river, called the "North River" by the Qin people, the North River travels for more than 1,000 miles, until the junction of Shangjun and Yunzhong, and then turns around again and flows south......

This is also the trade route of the Wushi merchants, basically the entire "Henan land" to walk around, passing through the tribes of Aries, Lou Fu, Lin Hu and other tribes that surrendered to the Xiongnu, if there is a chance, maybe they will go to the Hetao, and the capital of the Xiongnu Mancheng.

At this time, Yan Yanjun was chanting 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 enthusiastic, even Yan Yanjun came down in person, shaking his body and dancing with the Rong girl, but the door of the hall was pushed open heavily!

Chen Ping looked over, but saw several Yan Yanrong people running in with panicked expressions, and behind them, there were several Hu people wearing felt hats and carrying bows and arrows......

Their leader, a tall man with a felt hat on his head, yellow-brown skin, and slender eyebrows, strode into the hall. His long hair hung low and was interlocked with metal silver rings, and his long black hair was jet black and shiny, tied into countless braids, and silver bells hung in between.

Yan Yanjun was very angry when his feast was disturbed, but when he saw this person, he was like a puffer fish full of gas, and he suddenly deflated, and he ran to the Hu man regardless of his face, knelt down on his knees, and kissed the tips of his boots......

The people in the room were also trembling, and they no longer dared to speak loudly.

"Who is this?"

Chen Ping asked Wu Shiyan in a low voice.

"It's the big boss of the Huns." Wu Shiyan also replied in a low voice, danghu, is the official name of the Xiongnu.

"What is he doing in Huamachi?"

"It's here to collect the 'salt tax.'"

Looking at Yan Yanjun, who was trying to wagging his tail and begging for mercy from the Huns, Wu Shiyan said with some sympathy: "Yan Yanrong, in the eyes of the Huns, is just their salt slave!" ”

Chen Ping once heard Wu Shiyan say that the Xiongnu originally lived in Yinshan and Hetao, and after they became stronger, they annexed some surrounding tribes, but did not eliminate them, but treated the entire tribe as their own slaves to serve as envoys, so that these tribes could provide local specialties.

Yan Yan produces salt, so it is a salt slave; Lou is good at shooting, it is for the bow slave; Linhu is more wood, is for the wood slave; Henan Aries Department is good at raising sheep, so it is a sheep slave......

For these enslaved tribes, the Xiongnu basically took what they wanted, and took away whatever they wanted. The four tribes also resisted, but compared to the Huns, who had 100,000 men in control, they were too weak, and after being slaughtered several times, they became honest.

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

Looking at the appearance of a few Yan monarchs in the hall who saw their monarchs kneeling and licking the Huns, daring to be angry but not daring to speak, Chen Ping immediately had an idea in his heart......

However, the Hun lord also noticed Wu Shi Rong indoors, as well as Chen Ping, who was dressed as a native of the Central Plains beside him, so he no longer paid attention to Yan Yanjun, walked in front of Wu Shi Yan, laughed and said a few words, Wu Shi Yan only agreed.

After that, the Hun lord went straight to the seat of Yan Yanjun, picked up the horn cup and drank a glass of wine, hugged the two Rong girls, and walked away......

"What did he say again?"

Chen Ping was very concerned.

Wu Shiyan smiled bitterly: "The big boss said that he didn't want to see a merchant from the Central Plains here. The son of Tou Mandanyu, a horse on the grassland, and the prince of the Maudun clan, will soon marry a beautiful man at the foot of Helan Mountain. The prince wanted to prepare gifts for his clan, and the silk silk of the Central Plains was indispensable. ”

He invited...... No, it is to order us, and tomorrow he will go to Helan Mountain to meet Prince Maodun! ”