White mutton fat jade, red langxie, blue Xuanlin, as well as some colorful coral, glass beads, these jade are extraordinary, according to the estimation of Yingdu Order, a piece of mutton fat jade is more than ten gold, and the rest of the jade forest adds up, when there are as many as three thousand gold. This Hu businessman has brought enough capital.

And the giant iron he wanted, based on the price he sold to Qi Guo, could probably buy 1,500 sets of armor and giant blades. But the problem is that the state of Chu in the war does not need these jade now, the state of Chu wants grain, cloth, and wood, but it doesn't want jade.

Hearing the city order, Hu Tanshaozhi mentioned the transparent stone again, but a dozen transparent stones are enough, this kind of stone has no size, as long as it can refract the sunlight on a cloudy day. Hearing this, Hu Tanshaozhi felt that his hands and feet were weak, he had never heard of a king who didn't want jade, but unfortunately Xiong Jing was a king who was not a rare jade.

The Zhou people liked jade and compared it to a gentleman; The Yin Shang and even earlier tribal shamans also liked jade, believing that it contained some kind of energy that would help them to sue for their lives. Xiong Jing didn't have a good impression of this thing, he would rather have gold and silver, which was the world's currency. Jade is no longer precious when it leaves East Asia, just as lapis lazuli is not popular except for the Mediterranean in West Asia.

One of the reasons for the existence of the Silk Road is that West Asia and the entire Mediterranean world are hungry for lapis lazuli at the foot of the Green Mountains, while the East Asian world is hungry for nephrite from the Kunlun Mountains. The lapis lazuli road to the west and the jade road to the east are connected, creating an important trade route connecting Asia and Europe.

This trade route existed long before Zhang Qian 'hollowed out' the Western Regions, but the appearance of the Sogdians still surprised Xiong Jing, whose fame should have spread in the Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty. But the fact is that the Sogdians spread throughout the country during the Warring States period, and the literal translation of the Sogdian language Humudan is Xianyang, and after the death of Qin, Xianyang was appropriated to the Han capital Chang'an; At the same time, the Sogdians also used CYN to refer to the Han Chinese, and China and the Humdan region were called CYNSTN. The Greeks wrote about the geographical name Chin, and even later China, from the antiphon of cyn.

The Qin Dynasty only lasted for a short period of fifteen years, and if it were not for the Warring States Period, which had already done business in various countries, and if it had not known that the world was unified with Qin, such a title as Qinistan would not have appeared. Xiong Jing did not understand the Sogdian language, and his guess was that Alexander's crusade drove the Sogdians into the East Asian world, and then they began to do business, selling broken stones that he thought were worthless.

"How's the good horse?" It's already night, and the place is in Yingdu. In addition to Xiong Jing, there are also city orders, customs officials, Jiyin and others.

"Yes." Hu Tansuozhi nodded without hesitation, "It's just that horses need to be heavily taxed when they pass through Zhao State." ”

"Then Jutie doesn't need to be heavily taxed through Zhao State?" Xiong Jing asked rhetorically. It was now clear to him that although the Sogdians traded with the Qin state, they preferred to go to Handan, and during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, they gathered in Luoyang, which was to walk around the borders of the Qin state.

"Huge iron is no different from evil iron, a pound of goods transported into Zhao State is not a few dollars in tariffs, and the villain of Zhao State is familiar with General Li of Yanmen County"

"Li Mu?" Xiong Jing suddenly realized that Li Mu had the money to raise soldiers, and it turned out that he relied on the Sogdians. Outside of Qin, all the jade in the world flowed in from Yanmen, and the silk trafficked from Yanmen, of course, he could kill cattle every day to reward soldiers and collect hundreds of gold people.

"Li Mu doesn't want good horses to be transported into Zhao State?" Xiong Jing asked.

"The king, it is the Zhao State that does not want good horses to flow out of the Zhao State, so it collects heavy taxes." Hu Tansuozhi explained.

"King, I don't know if it can be transported from Yan Kingdom." Guan Zhi suggested. "If the king sends an envoy to the Yan Kingdom, the Yan Kingdom will not collect heavy taxes."

"Do you use a sea boat?" Xiong Jing thought about it, and felt that it was not impossible. If the weather is good, the latest large-wing warships can also be transported on the Bohai Sea. The new type of big wing has 165 people, which is not in line with the establishment of 320 people, so the shipyard has improved the big wing warship, and the oars are still three rows, but the upper two rows of oars are rowed by two people, so that a boat needs at least 250 men, plus the armor soldiers on the deck, a boat has more than 270 people.

"Yes." Guan said. "The minister heard that the horse tax of Zhao State is doubled, if he can transport the horse by sea, it will not cost it."

"Then the good horse will be transported to Yan Kingdom, is it feasible?" Xiong Jing asked.

"Yes." Hu Tanshao was overjoyed, and he was more familiar with Yan Guo.

"A good horse must be more than two thousand pounds, and a horse under the age of four must be ridden." Ma Yin read the request, "The mare can be less than two hundred pounds as appropriate"

"The king, this is Huma?" Don't ask for height but only weight, Hu Tanshaozhi suddenly understood what Xiong Jing wanted.

"If there is a horse that sweats like blood, the price is negotiable." Xiong Jing said again, "Stallions with more than 2,000 catties are also negotiating. No, you also need a crop for horses, called alfalfa, and you can bring some seeds along the way. ”

"Why doesn't the king want the steppe horse?" He thought that Xiong Jing's good horse was a tall Mongolian horse or a Rong horse, but who knew that Xiong Jing wanted these two horses at all, he wanted a West Asian horse and a giant horse, but such a good horse would be snatched away as soon as it appeared in the grassland.

"Why prairie horses?" Xiong Jing asked rhetorically. "The steppe stallion weighs less than 1,400 pounds, and his reaction is extremely muna, and his ability to overcome obstacles is low. Chu is already short of horses, and it is better to raise Rong horses and grassland horses than to raise a really good horse. ”

The reason that Xiong Jing summed up was actually the reason that the cavalry summed up. Before putting on chain mail, a horse's weight may be tolerable, but the lack of response to commands is the fatal injury.

"The Great King." Hu Tansaozhi's face was full of bitterness, "Has the king ever heard that Mu Tianzi is traveling west?" ”

"Yes." Xiong Jing nodded.

"Mu Tianzi traveled west to see the queen of Saka, not to ask for jade, but to ask for horses. If you don't make huge profits, you can't get horses; If they do not protect each other with a large army, the Yueshi and the Xiongnu will definitely plunder good horses. Hu Tanshaozhi said bitterly, making it difficult to tell whether it was the truth or the price.

"That's it," Xiong Jing looked at the courtiers beside him.

"King, if it is not a good horse, how can you sell others a lot of iron?" The city order felt that Hu Ren was asking for a price.

"King, if it is an ordinary horse, it can be marketed in Zhao Kingdom." Ma Yin also said.

"Your Majesty, let him think about it for a few days before deliberating." Guan officials also felt that Hu Ren deliberately wanted to make the horse precious.

"The good horse will discuss it in a few days." After Xiong Jing finished speaking, he looked at Ji Yin, and Ji Yin listened for a long time and saw the king looking at him, and hurriedly offered some yellow powder, which was sulfur.

The Central Plains does not produce sulfur, but in the Western Zhou Dynasty, sulfur was used as a painted pottery pigment, but unfortunately it was soon replaced by stone yellow, realgar and garcinia cambogia. Relying on the potter's oral memories, Ji Yin finally collected half a catty of sulfur that had been used as a pigment.

"It's sulfur, and it's mostly found next to volcanoes." When Hu Tanshao looked at the sulfur, Xiong Jing began to speak. "You just need to find a few people and bring a few handfuls of rakes to get lucky. Transported to Yingdu, ten catties of sulfur for one catty of iron. ”

"This" Sulphur Hu Tan Zhi had not seen it, but he had heard of something similar. "King, how can you exchange ten catties for one catty? If there is such a thing, it should be exchanged for a catty, if this thing is rare"

"What's so rare?" Xiong Jing originally wanted to bring in sulfur from the sea, but now that the Hu people are here, it is okay to buy some cannons by the way. "The vicinity of the volcano is full of this thing, and I don't want you to buy this thing, just because there is no volcano in Chu State."

"Then it should be a pound for a pound." Hu Tansao forced a strong smile.

"The iron must be mined in the iron mountain, the charcoal must be cut down in the forest, and it must be transported to Yingdu for smelting. Manpower, material resources, wear and tear, craftsmen, and a lot of costs, sulfur only needs to be loaded near the volcano, how can it be exchanged for a catty? Xiong Jing was a little displeased, the market price of the iron is in gold, so it is a loss to exchange sulfur in this way, and the caravan that trafficks in jade suddenly transports sulfur, and the amount of sulfur transported is extremely limited, at most it is tested, but what can be done, who makes it impossible to find sulfur in the whole world.

"Dare to ask the king, how much iron can a good horse be exchanged for?" Hu Tanshao was hindered by Xiong Jing's displeasure, and did not dare to say any more sulfur.

"If it's a stallion, you can exchange a pound for a pound; If it is only a good horse of 2,000 catties, it is also ten catties for one catty. Xiong Jing and Guan Guan glanced at each other, and Guan Guan said. If it is a bloody stallion, two hundred catties for one catty; If it's a sweaty mare, a hundred catties for a catty"

The customs officials and market orders in trade are the most familiar, and Xiong Jing will not participate in the next bargaining. After these people left, Ma Yin, who didn't hold out much hope, said: "King, can the Hu people really bring good horses?" ”

"A treasure knife is said to be worth dozens of gold on the grassland, although the Hu people can't refine the treasure knife, but the huge iron of my Chu country is better than Chinese iron."

"China Iron?" Ma Yin and Ji Yin were surprised at the same time.

The concept of China in the pre-Qin and even Han dynasties referred to the Central Plains. The historical records of the goods and colonies say: 'Chen was at the turn of Chu and Xia, and the goods of fish and salt were passed, and his people were many Jia. That is, Chen Ying's border in China, and south of Chen Ying cannot be said to be China; And the preface of King Teng's Pavilion of Wang Bo in the Tang Dynasty said: 'At the turn of Taihuang Pillow Yixia, the guests and hosts enjoy the beauty of the southeast. That is, in the Tang Dynasty, Nanchang was on the edge of China, and the south of Nanchang was not counted as China.

The concept of China did not completely coincide with later China until the Ming and Qing dynasties, but Xiong Jing's Chinese iron is an ancient Western concept, and the Roman Pliny mistakenly thought that crucible iron produced in northern India was produced in China further east, so he called it. In order to monopolize trade, Persian merchants had always made it impossible for the Greeks and Romans of the Mediterranean world to figure out where the country of Seris was. It is said that when Alexander conquered India, he obtained several tons of Chinese iron, which was regarded as a treasure, which shows that Indian crucible iron has been sold in the Mediterranean world of West Asia in this era, and there is a reason why the Sogdians came to it.

"A kind of Tianzhu iron, similar to ink furnace iron, is extremely expensive." Xiong Jing took it for granted. I didn't realize that this trade had brought great disasters to the Chu State.