The starting point of the Silk Road in the Northern Song Dynasty was Chang'an, which is now Xi'an, from Xi'an, to Gansu in Western Xia, and then through Hami and Dunhuang all the way west out of the desert, tossing and turning to reach the Mediterranean region of Europe. The trade of the Silk Road was never interrupted, but in the past few years, the Great Song Dynasty and the Western Xia fought for many years, and the Silk Road caravans starting from Chang'an became very few, and instead set off from the Western Xia, from Taiyuan, and from Datong, which happened to be in the territory of the Liao State at this time.

The group did not dare to delay, ate some food, and got on their horses and hurried away. Finally arrived in Datong in the afternoon, the team did not need to enter the city, went straight to the horse market in the south of the city, when the Liao and the Song Kingdom were traded, the horses of the Great Liao State were sold in Datong to the Song Dynasty, and there were as many as thousands of horses a day, and now the relationship between the Liao and Song Dynasty is rigid, the horse market closed by the Liao State, the desolate horse market has become a place where camel riders gather.

Duan Jingzhu, Yang Lin, Shi Yong and others got off their horses far away, pulled the horses and walked forward. On both sides were adobe thatched houses, and the roads were littered with horse and camel dung, and dozens of huge camels stood in the cold wind, eating hay. This is a shuangfeng camel, with a small head and a large body, more than two meters tall and three meters long, as thick as a wall.

There is a steamed bun shop next to it, the hot steamed buns have just come out of the pot, a child with tattered clothes, that is, fourteen or fifteen years old, used to grab two steamed buns and ran, the boss of the steamed bun shop chased after him, kicked the child over, and the child hugged him in a ball and hid the steamed buns in the rotten clothes.

The boss swung his fist and punched three times in a row, and when he hit again, he suddenly found that his hand was pinched, and a big hand grabbed his hand like an iron hoop.

It turned out that Yang Lin couldn't look past it and pinched the boss's hand.

"Just hit twice to get angry, he's such a small child, forget it." Yang Lin said.

The guy scolded: "Use you to meddle in your affairs, believe it or not, even you will be beaten." ”

"You give it a try." Next to him, Shi Yong slapped the machete on his waist.

The guy snorted coldly and ran back to the store.

The child got up and buckled his head to Yang Lin and the others: "Thank you, thank you." ”

Duan Jingzhu said: "To be a man, you have to have backbone, stealing steamed buns is not a skill, if you really have the courage to follow me desperately, I will ensure that you have food every day." ”

The child was stunned for a moment, took out a small short knife from the grass next to him, it was rusty, hung it on his waist, patted it, and said: "My name is Wan Lin, I am also a camel rider, playing is life, do you want people?" ”

Duan Jingzhu said: "Temporarily find you as a guide, take care of food and housing, and return the steamed buns to him." ”

The child was proud, threw the steamed bun far away to the steamed bun shop, and provoked the boss to scold for a while.

Duan Jingzhu took out a handful of beef jerky and a cowhide wine bag from the package, and said, "Eating beef and drinking good wine is the true nature of a man." ”

This kid was really not polite, he didn't drink the wine, but he ate the beef fiercely, and said while eating: "What are you looking for, I'll take you there." ”

Yang Lin said: "We are looking for the strongest camel team. ”

Wan Lin led everyone forward a few hundred meters, and in the poplar forest, dozens of camels were eating hay around the wheat straw pile, and the camels looked very big and strong.

"This camel is much bigger than our grassland horse, can't it be five hundred pounds?" Yang Lin was surprised.

There was a camel rider next to him, with a small head and a big body, as strong as a camel, and when he heard this, he said, "Old guest, is this something to be transported?" My camel is a short-distance transport, and it is not a problem to transport 500 catties for a horse, but it is less for a long distance, and it is no problem for a horse to transport 300 catties. When crossing the desert, the camel is fine without eating or drinking for ten days, the camel's nose is still smart, it can find a water source far away, it can find its own way, it is known as the ship of the desert, and it is best at walking next door and the desert. ”

"What do you call the old customer, but you are in charge." Duan Jingzhu asked.

This humanitarian: "In Xia Han Kaijun, Gansu Zhangye people, brothers carry love, take the lead in leading fifty camels, often run to the Dunhuang line. ”

It is not far to run Dunhuang, but the Western Regions have a wide area, and there are many Turkic people, and the sales of tea and silk are very good.

A few people found the root of the wall and chatted while baking the fire.

Duan Jingzhu said: "How many camel teams are there here?" ”

Han Kaijun shook his head: "The amount of tea and silk in the Great Song Dynasty is too small, or the price is high, and there is no way to buy it, many people have sold their camels, and now there are no more than fifty camel teams in the Western Regions, that is, a thousand camels, and a team of fifty camels like mine is considered a team." ”

"Then if you were asked to find camels and form a team of thousands of camels, would you be able to manage them well?"

Han Kaijun said with a smile: "My ancestors did this, at the most glorious time, there were more than two thousand camels, and the team was five or six miles long. ”

Duan Jingzhu took out a piece of tea cake, a piece of cotton cloth, and a bag of spirits from the package.

Han Kaijun was an expert, looked at the tea cake, took a tea leaf and put it in his mouth to taste, and said: "This is Xinyang tea, it is very well preserved, and it is of the highest quality." The spirits are also very good, but I can't see through the fabric. ”

"This is cotton, which is worse than silk, but it is also a good fabric for making clothes and quilts, and the price is satisfactory." Duan Jingzhu said that he would say a price, Han Kaijun stood up excitedly, and said, "You're not kidding, you're really willing to give me such a low price." ”

Duan Jingzhu said: "We are the Tongda Mabang, I am Duan Jingzhu of the big shopkeeper, do you think we will come from Zhuozhou to joke with you?" ”

"Okay, okay, I want fifty camels, when will it be delivered." Han Kaijun said.

Yang Lin said: "The price of our horse gang is low, and we can go in a small amount, and the goods of fifty camels are not worth a trip." You contact the other camel teams, we will come after the 10th day of the first month, and there will be hundreds of mules by then, and it is better to sell them all by then. If you don't have the money to buy goods and cooperate for a period of time, you can join our Tongda Ma Gang, called the Tong Da Ma Gang Detachment, open up the banner of the Da Ma Gang, and be protected by the Tong Da Ma Gang. ”

Han Kaijun said: "It's not a big problem, all camel teams want to load the goods." You tell me the address, and we'll ship it when the time comes. "As for the franchise, there is no way to have a result now, and the two sides need to look at each other.

Immediately, Duan Jingzhu agreed on the place and time of the exchange, Han Kaijun invited guests, and everyone stayed here for one night, and the next day they set out on the way home. There was one more person on the road, that is, the child who was beaten yesterday, called Wan Lin, Wan Lin rode a big black mule, and Yang Lin's leopard walked next to him. Unexpectedly, Wan Lin fell in love with this leopard, so he took this kid in as a child laborer.

In principle, the Tongda Mabang does not accept child labor from outside, but only from child labor in the gang, and he is an exception, mainly because he is clever and studious.

As he was walking, more than a dozen people in front of him blocked the way, armed with knives and guns.

"Boss, it's them, they're the ones who are strong in my store." A man said.

Duan Jingzhu took a look, wasn't this the owner of the steamed bun shop that Yang Lin stopped just now?

The man at the head grew up with a big head and a thick neck, a horizontal face, and a ghost-headed knife in his hand.

The meat man said: "Where did the lynx beast come from, dare to come to my territory to play tricks." ”

Duan Jingzhu said: "Tongda Mabang, it's okay to get out of the way, don't let me lose my temper." ”

"Those who know each other quickly make amends, and leave a hundred taels of silver and we'll settle it, otherwise, we don't have to do it." This man is very horizontal.

In fact, Duan Jingzhu rarely fights and kills, and the horse gang pays attention to harmony and wealth, of course, it has to be a person who pays attention to it, such as some high-rollers in distress, you talk well, and it is not a matter to send a few dozen taels of silver. It's absolutely non-negotiable.

"What do you want, the Tongda Mabang has never been afraid of anyone, brothers." With Duan Jingzhu's order, the brother brushed out the Yanling knife. Iron-hoofed horses with wild goose feathers, absolute light cavalry, can't deal with dozens of ruffians, that's weird.

The head of the meat pursed his lips and said, "Let the Tibetan mastiff and let them know that it is powerful." ”

Out of the crowd came three big black dogs, fierce and the size of calves, with long manes around their necks, and rushed over and barked their teeth at the Tongda Horse Gang, and the sound was loud.

Everyone, you look at me, I look at you, I don't know what this is for, take three dogs to scare people, that's too pediatric.

As soon as Yang Lin whistled, a leopard rushed out of the horse team, and the huge leopard body was long and strong. When the leopard saw three big dogs, he pounced on them and bit the neck of a big dog on the side, only to hear the big dog snort, and the leopard retreated, and the big dog was bleeding non-stop, and it was hopeless in a blink of an eye. The other two big dogs saw that the situation was not right, so they ran back, but they couldn't stop them.

The cross-meat man was dumbfounded, and drew his knife to come up. The leopard pounced on it, and the weight of more than 100 catties instantly pressed the horizontal meat man to the ground, his two paws pressed his shoulders, and his scarlet tongue touched Tian's lips.

Duan Jingzhu said: "Let him go, don't be scared, such a character is a ruffian at best." ”

Yang Lin whistled, called back the leopard, and everyone hurried away.

Duan Jingzhu contacted some other caravans, and the detachments of the Tongda caravan also settled in various places one after another, basically from larger counties or state capitals. A large transportation network to the Western Regions and to the Mongolian steppe is slowly being weaved. Just when Duan Jingzhu was busy with the affairs of the Ma Gang, two earth-shattering events happened in the Great Song Dynasty.

To say that this first thing is Hebei Haotian Tiger, from Shanxi troops, swept the hungry people, known as 100,000 troops, within three days even broke the state of the county, even a drum like a tiger to occupy the city of Taiyuan. It's just that don't look at Tian Hu's fierceness, he can't take half a step to the east, but when he arrives in Jingcheng County, he is blocked, and he doesn't dare to take half a step to the east.

In the Jingcheng Mountains, the flat land of the mountain col is full of small shacks, and there are large cauldrons set up everywhere, and in addition to porridge and meals, there is also boiled ginger soup. The shack is not good at keeping warm, so everyone drinks some ginger soup to prevent colds.

Everyone was around the fire and drank some ginger soup. At this time, Luda led more than a dozen soldiers to patrol again, and Ruda sighed as he walked: "More than 30,000 refugees are gathering in the mountains, and the food can last for a few days." ”

"Battalion Commander Lu, don't worry, there is a letter from Cangzhou, three hundred truckloads of supplies have arrived, including one hundred truckloads of sea fish, we will not only give everyone porridge, but also fish to eat." The accompanying grain and grass officer said.

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