A team of more than 20 horses galloped north along the road leading to the northern capital of Taiyuan.

Taiyuan is the northern capital, and Chang'an is thousands of miles away, but there is a road to communicate. This official road was repaired by Emperor Yang of Sui, repaired by Li Yuan, and now Li Shimin is also preparing to repair it again. As a result, the roads are in extremely good condition.

Among the more than 20 people, Zhang Yunwen took the lead. The reason why it is said to be three horses is because the journey is long and the time is in a hurry, so each of them brought two slave horses so that they can take turns to ride.

Zhang Yunwen: They hit the road on the third day. Among the more than 20 people, in addition to Ma Wangshan and Yang Shi's two entourages, there was also a Yang Chang and a Han Shiliang, but these two went in private capacities. The rest are the soldiers who were transferred from the reconnaissance battalion, several of Zhang Yunwen's old subordinates, like Wu Peng, Jiao Boss and others.

All the way to the north, along the foothills of the Taihang Mountain, until the Shizhou land to the east, along the valley across the Taihang Mountain. The mountains are sometimes gentle, sometimes steep, sometimes facing the valleys, sometimes towering cliffs. Passing through Taihang Mountain, Taiyuan is in front of you.

Taiyuan is also called Bingzhou and Jinyang, and it is the place where Li Yuan started. Therefore, after Li Yuan founded the country, he designated this place as the northern capital.

Everyone did not enter Taiyuan, only replenished water and food in the post station outside Taiyuan City, glanced at Taiyuan City from afar, and then galloped north.

At this time, Zhang Yunwen remembered that his fiefdom Taigu County seemed to be near this Taiyuan.

After Taiyuan, after traveling eastward for a few days, the terrain gradually flattened, but it was out of Hedong Road and entered Hebei Road. On this side of Hebei Road, a horse is flat, which is extremely conducive to cavalry galloping.

When I arrived in Youzhou, it was almost ten days before I left Beijing.

When Zhang Shigui, the governor of Youzhou, knew that Zhang Yunwen had entered the territory of Youzhou, he also came to see him once. Zhang Shigui and Zhang Yunwen were both military generals of the Qin Palace, and they also participated in the Xuanwumen incident, but the credit was not as high as Zhang Yunwen.

"Yunwen, this is going to the outside of the Saiwai, but there is a lot of danger, you have to be careful!" Zhang Shigui said to Zhang Yunwen.

The two are both surnamed Zhang, and they both worked for Li Shimin at the beginning, so the relationship is still good.

Hearing Zhang Shigui say this, Zhang Yunwen said: "Brother Zhang's words, Yunwen keep them in mind!" But Brother Zhang also has to beware of the city in Youzhou, if I lead the tribe to move inward in the future, Brother Zhang must control the situation in Youzhou and not cause any riots! ”

When Zhang Shigui heard this, he immediately knew the meaning of Zhang Yunwen's words, and nodded immediately.

After staying in Youzhou City for a long time, Zhang Yunwen and the others rode out of Youzhou and went straight to the Great Wall.

After a few days of walking, I felt that the road gradually became difficult to navigate, and the tall trees on both sides gradually decreased, while the green meadows gradually increased. At first, you can see a mix of grass and trees, and at the end, as far as the eye can see, there is grassland.

I saw that the world was vast, and there seemed to be only blue and green, blue sky, green grass, almost pure and intoxicating. A gust of wind blew, and the green grass rose and fell like waves.

Seeing this situation, Zhang Yunwen couldn't help but sound a folk song.

However, before he could sing it, Han Shiliang next to him had already sung loudly: "Elechuan, under the Yin Mountain." The sky is like a dome, enveloping the four wilderness. The sky is blue, the wilderness is vast, the wind blows the grass and sees the cattle and sheep! ”

This song of the Northern and Southern Dynasties "Song of Eile" once accompanied the iron horses of ethnic minorities in the Central Plains, and it is not surprising that Han Shiliang can sing it.

However, the "Song of Eile" that came out of his mouth was in a low voice, and a wave of exhaustion poured out of his singing voice. But after so many days of continuous driving, I am already tired.

"How? Old Han, I just said, this fame is not easy to fight! He looked at the thick mat under Han Shiliang's buttocks, "By the way, you've already entered the grassland, you take the things under your buttocks, don't let those grassland people look down on you!" ”

After hearing this, Han Shiliang felt that there was already a layer of calluses on his buttocks, so he immediately picked up the thick linen mat and threw it away at once.

"Okay, let's go!"

After entering the grassland, everyone has increased their vigilance, and each has wound up their steel crossbows, and grenades are ready at any time. The extra horses were also lined up in a team of horses, and daily items such as salt, spices, and iron pots were placed on the horses' backs. These things are exactly what the people of the steppe need.

Disguised as a small caravan, they came from the Central Plains and went to the Turks to do business.

Nearly 100 miles deep into the grassland, Zhang Yunwen and the others finally saw a small tribe. This tribe is not large, I am afraid that the number of men, women and children combined is only a few hundred.

Seeing a horse team coming, the middle-aged men of the tribe took out their weapons one after another, stepped on the war horses and often rushed here.

This group of people is only more than a hundred people, and Zhang Yunwen is confident that he can wipe out all these people with the help of steel crossbow grenades, but he is not ready to do this. After all, he is here to recruit the tribe, and if he kills one person indiscriminately, he may encounter great obstacles later.

The group of cavalry quickly surrounded Zhang Yunwen and the others, but when they saw the bags of bulging salt on the horse's back and the iron pot upside down on the horse's back, their eyes showed a thick greed!

"We are a caravan from the Central Plains, and we have come to the grassland for the first time to do business. However, I have also heard of the hospitality of the grasslands, and the people of the grasslands welcome guests from afar with scimitars and bows and arrows! Zhang Yunwen asked rhetorically.

One of the knights at the head seemed to blush, and then said, "We don't know who you are, of course we have to be careful!" Since you are a caravan, please come to our tribe! As long as your stuff is good, we will buy it at a price that satisfies you! He spoke Chinese, but it was a little stiff, mixed with a Youzhou dialect.

Zhang Yunwen smiled "haha": "Okay, since you can make a good price, then we will sell you something!" ”

So the knights opened the way in front, and Zhang Yunwen led people to follow.

Entering the tribe, men, women, and children flocked to the tribe, surrounding the horse caravan, trying to find what they needed.

The best thing to sell is, of course, salt, followed by iron pots. It didn't take long for the tribe to sell salt from three horses and more than a dozen iron pots, plus other things such as tea leaves, rouge gouache, and so on, to sell nearly one-fifth of the goods at once.

Seeing that the goods were selling so well, Zhang Yunwen had to stop selling.

"I'm really sorry, we still have to go north, we can't sell all these things to you!" After Zhang Yunwen ordered the sale to be stopped, he said to the surrounding crowd.

People who understand Chinese have told the news to the people around who don't understand Sinicization.

"But our prices are low, so you are not satisfied?" An old man who looked like a patriarch stood up and said.

"The old man misunderstood, we are very satisfied with your price, but this is the first time we have come to the grassland to do business, and we need to open up a trade route, not sell in one place." Zhang Yunwen said.

"I wonder where you want to go north?" The old man asked.

Zhang Yunwen suddenly became vigilant, and said with a smile: "We don't know where to go north!" I heard that the north side is the place of the Turkic Turkic Khan. Old man, can you tell us how to get to the tent of the Turki Khan? ”

The old man suddenly snorted: "That Tuli is extremely cruel, if it weren't for that, how could our tribe move here!" Your caravan will surely be eaten! ”

Zhang Yunwen's face changed for a moment, and he said a little anxiously: "It's over, it's over, so what should I do?" ”

The old man stroked his beard and smiled: "You are our distinguished guests of the grassland, and the old man will show you a way!" From here, head east, and you'll run into our Xi tribe! We Xi people are not as ferocious as the Turks! ”

"It turns out that you are the Xi tribe, I thought it was Turkic!" As soon as Zhang Yunwen's words fell, Han Shiliang's voice sounded behind him: "Xi clan? What is Xi? We have only heard of the Turks in the Central Plains, but we have never heard of the Xi people! He was whispering to Yang Shi next to him, but the voice was just enough for everyone in the Xi clan present to hear.

Suddenly, the faces of the Xi people changed.

Zhang Yunwen hurriedly made a round: "Haha, since you have talked about the Xi people, there must be a lot of cattle and sheep and a lot of people there." We're going there, maybe we'll be able to make more! ”

The old man suddenly smiled and said, "It's still this distinguished guest who understands the truth!" ”

After a pause, they prepared to go northeast.