This is a Qiang tribe that calls itself the Liuhe tribe, living on the edge of a tributary of the Tao River, they are a nomadic tribe, mainly herding sheep and cattle, and will also simply plant some crops on the riverbank, but basically slash-and-burn farming, sowing some seeds and waiting for harvest.

Xiao Wang silently probed the tribe.

It must have been a small tribe, about five hundred people, and about one-third of the young and strong.

Only a few people in the tribe can speak Chinese, and they also speak the local dialect of the Guanlong area, but Lao Wang communicates with them very naturally, because Lao Wang can speak fluent Qiang dialect.

He seemed to be very familiar with everyone in the tribe, and when he saw him, he smiled and hugged and greeted him, and even the Qiang women liked this old fellow very much, and ran to greet him from afar.

Whenever Lao Wang saw someone, he always hugged each other, then greeted each other a few words, and then took out the gifts he had prepared early from the horse.

It is often given to women some wooden hairpins, to the elderly may be a wooden bowl, to children may be a small drum, to men will be some other things, in short, the purchase price is not high, but it is quite a small thing.

And the Qiang people will also give him some things such as gaudy pheasant feathers, sharp wolf teeth, and so on.

They did not rush to trade, but pulled Lao Wang to ask long and short questions, and then invited him into the tent of the patriarch of the tribe to chat.

The Liuhe tribe is also nomadic, they live in one place for grazing in summer and autumn, and spend the winter in another place in winter and spring, usually living in tents.

Xiao Wang found that there were still iron pots, iron kettles, porcelain cups and plates in the old patriarch's tent, and the wives and concubines of the patriarch were even wearing very bright silk skirts.

Although only the patriarch's family has this condition, it still makes Xiao Wang more surprised, no wonder these Qiang people welcome Lao Wang, because of Lao Wang, their life has improved greatly.

When eating roast mutton, he holds a beautiful and sharp knife in his hand, and the pot and pot for stewing soup and tea are made of iron.

After a reception, the deal officially began.

Lao Wang unloaded a load of goods from his horse, which was mainly tea, salt and wine, some iron products, silk and cloth, and some gold and silver jewelry.

The goods were laid out one by one, and they looked particularly dazzling in front of the tent.

Groups of Qiang people, men, women, and children, crowded with water, came to watch one by one, and marveled again and again.

For these people who only know how to shepherd sheep and hunt, they simply cannot produce such beautiful objects.

The patriarch was the first to trade, and the things he took out were deerskins, tiger skins, bear skins, wolf skins, leopard skins, and other good things.

The old patriarch said a little proudly, "You haven't been here for a long time, I've been saving for a long time, these are the best skins, I want to change tea, salt, wine, silk cloth, I also have to change a few horizontal knives." ”

Under normal circumstances, Lao Wang does not buy live cattle, sheep and horses, nor does he want cattle and sheep fur, these things are too common, and it is not easy to take them out after acquisition.

Lao Wang's main thing is to buy some rare things, such as skins, he mainly buys the skins of tigers, leopards, bears and wolves, in addition to mink skins, deer skins, pheasant feathers, these he also wants.

In addition, he will also buy some medicinal herbs, such as musk, cordyceps, ghee, and codonopsis, which are all good things.

As for cattle and sheep, cattle and sheep skins, and cattle wool, he generally only acts as an intermediary, introducing them to other merchants who specialize in buying them, and earns a brokerage fee from the middle.

The patriarch's family had several strong sons who were able to hunt tiger skins, which surprised him.

"This bear skin and wolf skin were hunted by my sons, but this tiger skin was actually purchased by us, and it was hunted by a small tribe on the Xilian Mountain."

He Bu had been doing business with Lao Wang for many years, and gradually understood the benefits of trade, and began to often organize people from his own tribe to go to more remote tribes to buy their precious furs, etc., and sell them to Lao Wang, and make a profit.

Lao Wang believes that in a few years, when the reputation of the acquisition point over there gradually rises, these Qiang people are estimated to slowly go over and trade directly with the firm, and then it is estimated that there may not be much hope for good things, and they can only trade sporadically.

"I can only give you two horizontal knives."

Lao Wang told the patriarch that the horizontal knife was a franchise commodity, and the quantity he could purchase at a time was also strictly limited.

Xiao Wang listened to them bargaining beside him, watching Lao Wang look at his ease, and then looking at those Qiang people who were actually very disciplined in trading, and felt that he was very surprised.

Before I came, I thought that this side would be an incomparably barbaric and backward place, and I thought that these Qiang people would be ferocious and barbaric, but now I see it with my own eyes, and I feel that although their hairstyles and costumes are different from those of the Han people in the Central Plains, and their lifestyles are different, they are actually no different from the Han people.

Xiao Wang helped to get the goods, and asked casually, "I heard that the Tuyuhun people on the other side of the mountain are in civil strife, and the king of Tianzhu invited the Tubo people to beat me Daqin?" ”

The patriarch devoted himself to the three horizontal knives he bought in the new house, Lao Wang said that he could only sell him two, and he insisted on talking about three, these three knives are not as good as the Qin army's standard horizontal knives, and they belong to the civilian horizontal knives built by the Shaofu Supervisor, whether it is material or technology, they are worse.

However, such knives are also strictly controlled and monopolized, and blacksmiths must first obtain the permission of the imperial court before they can cast knives. The cast knives cannot be sold directly to customers, let alone directly accepted by customers.

They could only accept orders from the imperial government, and after the sword was made, they sold it to the government, and then the government sold it to the merchants.

The knife is franchised, and the tax is even heavier, salt tea is 20 percent, and knife is 50 percent tax.

The horizontal knife purchased in bulk by the imperial court cost only a few hundred yuan, but Lao Wang took the goods from the Dachang, which was two and a handful.

And Lao Wang sold it to the Qiang people, in fact, it was already a price of ten times.

But the old patriarch felt that it was a good deal, and he had long been envious of this horizontal knife, which was much better than the iron knife they had bought from other tribes before.

It's sharp, and the handle of the scabbard is beautiful.

Such a knife, that is a status symbol.

"You said that, it is true, someone came from the side of the Western Tilting Mountain, claiming to be the king of the pillars of heaven, and said that we should go and help them fight, and said that there will be many rewards. He also said that whatever was stolen would be ours. ”

Xiao Wang's heart moved, "Didn't the old patriarch agree, such a good condition?" ”

The old patriarch laughed, "I will only agree if my brain is dizzy, we are living very well now, free and easy, why bother to wade into their troubled waters, if we really fight, we will die, and the population of the tribe will be reduced, so we will not go." ”

In the past, the Qiang people liked to fight, that was because of the lack of trading opportunities in the past, they were extremely short of materials, and the Han people did not sell to them, and sometimes encountered the oppression of border generals and officials, so they simply rebelled, one to vent their anger in their hearts, and the other was to grab a lot of materials that they did not have and could not buy.

But now, life is still stable, there are stable trading channels, and everyone is still alive, so why take the risk to fight and rob?

"Does the patriarch know which tribes have agreed to the messenger of the Heavenly Pillar King and are willing to send troops?"

"Well, yes, but specifically, you have to ask my eldest son, he knows better."