In September of the fifth year of Dazhi, the Battle of Broken Leaves began to enter a low ebb, the two sides had no large-scale battles, just carried out some small fights in the form of warm-ups, and the Great Food launched heavy trebuchets every few days to bombard a Broken Leaf City, and the Tang Army's fire oil bombs against the Great Food were becoming more and more proficient, as soon as the heavy trebuchet of the Great Food Army was launched, the Tang Army immediately retreated, and let the Big Cannibal Fire Oil Bomb burn, and no longer extinguished it, and the stones of the Tang Army were hiding in stone bunkers, not afraid of burning, and occasionally would shoot back one or two heavenly thunder bombs, should be with the attack of the Great Cannibal Army, and once the Great Cannibal has a large-scale mobilization, the Tang Army will immediately extinguish the fire and be ready for battle.

The 80,000 troops mobilized from Egypt also arrived at Broken Leaves, and the Great Cannibals were once again strong, but despite this, the Great Eaters never launched a large-scale attack, and time passed day by day, except for the siege of Broken Leaves, which was still in a stalemate, the rest of the places slowly relaxed, and merchants from east to west appeared on the Silk Road again.

At the end of September, a caravan from the east arrived in Bahanna, this caravan was Cui Yao's Kangguo caravan, due to the outbreak of war, their camels were requisitioned by the military, everyone was trapped in a small town called Rohan for two months, not only them, the small town was crowded with merchants who suffered the same as them, there was a lack of food and water, and there was a danger of being arrested as soldiers at any time, they were like marmots in winter, they guarded their goods all day long, did not dare to walk half a step, and two months made them miserable.

It was not until mid-September, as the fighting was at a low ebb, that the leader of the caravan, Mutta, obtained more than a hundred camels from a convoy and continued westward with their goods, and on this day the caravan finally saw the low walls of the city from afar.

The city of Thirsty Sai, which is also the capital of Bahanna, is a medium-sized city with a population of less than 30,000, because it is far away from the central states of Zhaowu such as Kangguo and Anguo, Bahana can only be regarded as a small side branch of the nine kingdoms of Zhaowu, and the domestic ethnic groups are not entirely Sogdians. The Turgish accounted for more than half of the total, but Bahanna was closer to Anxi, and its attachment to the Tang Dynasty was correspondingly closer in history.

The caravan moved slowly along the trade route, which was close to the capital, and was crowded with pedestrians, most of whom were shepherds who went to the city to buy and sell goods. Their caravan was quite conspicuous on the trade road, and from time to time a passing local food patrol came to ask questions, but soon let them go, and drove away into the distance, and soon, a long convoy of grain came to meet them, stretching for more than ten miles, occupying the entire trade road, and the merchants dodged to both sides to make way for them.

Muta saw that the inspection was strict all the way. took advantage of the fact that people were not paying attention and whispered to Cui Yao: "Cui Gongzi, from now on, you must talk as little as possible, and I will deal with everything." ”

Although the leader of the caravan was still Muta. But this caravan is no longer the same caravan as last year, they have already made two round-trips, this caravan is made up of nearly a hundred other scattered Sogdian merchants, so except for the old merchant Muta who knows Cui Yao's true identity, the other merchants don't know him, thinking that he is just a small merchant who joined in Broken Leaves.

Cui Yao is disguised as a Turgish merchant, and although his face is somewhat unmatched, he is tall, wears the traditional clothes of the Turgish, and speaks Turkic. He was also well acquainted with Muta, and the merchants did not bother with his affairs.

Cui Yao nodded, and said with a slight smile: "Uncle Muta, let's call me Ugir!" ”

"Good!" Muta smiled, and he pointed to the thirsty city in front of him and said, "Once in the city, you will be at your destination, I know a palace guard, and I can ask him to carry a letter for you." ”

"Thank you, Uncle Muta. But after entering the city, I have people in contact. I won't bother my uncle. ”

Cui Yao's voice just fell. Suddenly, there was a commotion ahead. A businessman stepped forward and said nervously, "Uncle." The army of the Samanid family has arrived. They are going to check the spies. ”

Mutadi's face changed dramatically in an instant. Both the Great Food Army and the local army of Bahan were more tolerant of caravans. Only the Samanid private soldiers were very difficult. They extorted money from merchants. It is often planted indiscriminately. If it's just for blackmail. But the problem is if they find out that Cui Yao is an Oriental ground hole. He will definitely be identified as a spy. To be afraid is to make it come true.

Come to think of it. Sweat began to fall from Muta's forehead. He waved his hand. "You go first! Tell everyone to give them some money. Just send it away. ”

The merchant turned and went. Muta said worriedly to Cui Yao: "This is bad. Samman's dog has a vicious eye. I'm afraid I can't hide it from them. ”

Cui Yao reacted very quickly. He immediately said, "No." I changed it to an uncle's follower. Uncle came from Chang'an. It is also normal to hire Han Chinese as retinues. ”

Muta groaned, the current situation was indeed the only way, and he immediately urged the camel, "Go!" We went to the end so that the other businessmen would not be suspicious. ”

After the outbreak of the Battle of Broken Leaves, the 8,000 local troops under the Governor of Bathhana were also requisitioned to Broken Leaves, and the Great Food Army transferred from the west did not care about local affairs, so that there was a power gap in the local management of the country of Bathhana, and with the acquiescence of Rashid, the private army of the Samanid family played the role of this administrator, and the Samanid family had 3,000 troops in Bathhanna, which were originally scattered in various pastures, and now they were all mobilized to the city of Thirsty, and their real task was to monitor the king of Bathhana, Prevent him from taking advantage of the opportunity to cause trouble.

A long time ago, the private soldiers of the Saman family would secretly go to the trade road to intercept the caravan, and only extort some money at a better point, if they seized the opportunity, they would even kill people and sell goods, which was strictly prohibited in the big food law that encouraged business, so this phenomenon was not very serious, but now it is a time of war, everything is different from usual, today I met them outside the thirsty city, and I didn't dare to rob openly, but I couldn't escape by extorting a sum of money.

The private soldiers of the Samanid family came in two squads, twenty people, led by an Arif (equivalent to the commander of the Tang army), and the task of twenty cavalry was to patrol the spies, but they used this power to blackmail passers-by, these days they are all poor herdsmen, there is no oil and water, but today there is a Sogdian caravan, how can they not be ecstatic, they seem to smell the bloody wolves, they rushed up, and stopped the caravan by force.

They were so noisy and so cruel that each merchant was to be extorted twenty dinars, and if he did not give it, he would be immediately taken away as a spies. The goods were to be confiscated, and the merchants, at Muta's orders, cooperated like sheep, giving as much as they wanted, and did not dare to resist, and the twenty soldiers soon received a bag full of gold coins. They also came to the last Mutta, Arif was a Turkic man about thirty years old, with a pair of small femme fatale-like eyes, without speaking, he saw Cui Yao leading the camel at a glance, sneered, and pointed with a horsewhip: "How can there be Orientals here, it must be a spy, arrest me." ”

Four or five soldiers came up at once. pointed at Cui Yao with a knife, this is their skill, saying to catch but not catching. If you don't catch it, you might take it away immediately.

Muta immediately stepped forward and said, "It's true that he is from the East, but he is a guy I hired in Chang'an, please let the military master let him go!" ”

As soon as the words fell, the officer slammed his face with a whip, Muta was caught off guard, and a hot blood mark immediately appeared on his face, Cui Yao was furious when he saw this, his fist was almost crushed, but his mission was very important. He held back the anger in his chest and said nothing.

Muta covered his face and bowed his head in hatred, and the officer pointed at him with his horsewhip and shouted, "If you dare to lie to me, I will take you with you." ”

Muta raised his head sharply and glared at him and said: "I am the most famous merchant in Kangguo, and I am also the leader of this caravan, the governor of Dashi, Agush, personally issued me a special pass, and he also asked me to buy things for him in Datang, how could I collaborate with the enemy?" If you take me. Governor Agush will surely find your master. ”

Muta's half-truths discouraged the officer from trying to capture him and swallow the goods, and if the merchant was telling the truth, he would not be able to eat and walk around.

"Okay, we're going to take this Oriental." The officer's face was a little embarrassed, and he pointed his whip at Cui Yao and said: "There is an order from above, all Orientals will be arrested, and we are also ordered to do things." ”

With a wave of the officer's hand, the four soldiers began to push Cui Yao, and Muta hurriedly stepped forward to stop him and said, "It's okay to take him away." My deposit of 500 dinars in the Chang'an Municipal Office is gone. You have to make it up to me! “

Hearing that this Oriental was worth five hundred dinars, a look of greed flashed in the officer's eyes. He immediately waved his hand and ordered his subordinates to stop arresting people, he pulled Muta's camel aside, and said with a dry laugh: "It was a little misunderstanding just now, I apologize to you, I have the heart to let you go, but I can't explain it to the top, I also have to deal with my boss, you see this."

Muta understood what he meant, and compared one finger, but the officer shook his head and stretched out three fingers, Muta frowned, and replaced them with two fingers, and the officer gritted his teeth and said: "Two hundred and fifty dinars, no less, take the money and I'll leave." ”

Muta took out a money bag from his bosom and shook it, and the gold coins in it rattled, and he said, "It's exactly two hundred and fifty dinars, if you believe me, take it!" ”

The officer snatched the money bag, glanced at Cui Yao, and waved his hand: "Let's go!" ”

Twenty cavalrymen galloped into the distance like a gust of wind, and Muta stared at their backs and screamed fiercely! With a sound, he also waved his hand to the crowd: "Let's go into the city!" ”

The caravan set off again, and at this time, Cui Yao stepped forward and gave a deep salute and said, "Thank you, uncle, let uncle be wronged for me." ”

Muta touched the whip marks on his face and said with a wry smile: "As a merchant, this kind of thing will often happen, in fact, only these family private soldiers will embarrass us, but the real Great Food Army will not dare to bully us Sogdian merchants." ”

Although he said this, Cui Yao was still very reluctant in his heart, he pointed to the goods on the two camels behind him and said, "These goods are even a thank you gift from me to my uncle, please accept them." ”

Muta shook his head, "I only want you two hundred and fifty dinars, and I don't want any of the rest, this is the principle of our Sogdian merchants, not our goods, we must not take it." ”

Cui Yao was grateful, he took out a bag of money and handed it over silently, Muta accepted it happily, he laughed and said: "Don't worry, I won't be whipped in vain, I will tell the king about this, and let him pass it on to the governor of Agush to hold this person responsible." ”

Cui Yao suddenly remembered what he had just threatened the officer, hesitated for a moment, and then asked in a low voice, "Is what Uncle said just now true?" Are you really buying something for that governor? ”

Muta smiled, "This is indeed true. He carefully took out a wooden box carved from the bag beside him, opened it, and inside was a pair of exquisite Yuezhou celadon cups, "This is the Tang Dynasty teacup that Governor Agushi entrusted me to buy, he specified that he wanted Yuezhou celadon, I heard that he stayed in Datang for two years, and he was addicted to drinking tea." So I also brought him ten catties of good tea. ”

He carefully put away the porcelain again, and when he saw Cui Yao's puzzled face, he patted him on the shoulder and laughed in a low voice: "We are also old friends, and I won't hide it from you, I am actually the deacon of the Sogdian Chamber of Commerce in Kangguo, and my father was the prime minister of Kangguo." Back then, he was canonized by the Tang Dynasty, but he has been dead for many years, and although I have a good personal relationship with the governor of Agush, I am a businessman, do you understand? I don't care about politics, so don't worry, I won't betray you. ”

Cui Yao nodded silently, after being together for so long, he knew that Uncle Muta was not only a businessman. He's still a good guy.

The caravan slowly entered the city of Thirsty Cypriot, and there were still soldiers on both sides of the city gates, also the private army of the Samanid family. However, they did not dare to extort, and according to the regulations, they collected two dinars per person to enter the city, and let them go, and Cui Yao also learned to be obedient, he put on a wide black robe, which covered half of his face, and put on a Sogdian pointed curled brim hat, which almost completely covered his face, without special inspection by the soldiers defending the city. He slipped into the city of Thirsty Cypriots.

The simplicity of the thirsty city made Cui Yao, who was a first-time envoy, unable to believe that this would be the capital of a country, full of low and old earthen houses, densely packed, one by one, and over the low walls, you could see women with miserable faces busy with housework in the courtyard, but few men were seen.

The so-called street in the city is only a gap between two long strings of houses, and there are no stone slabs, and most of the pedestrians on the road are walking by horses. Most of them are yellow and thin, and they are in a hurry, and after galloping their horses, they will rise up on the road, which is in sharp contrast to the endless prairie outside, although the city is simple, but the inspection on the street is still not lax than the outside, and there are vigilant eyes everywhere, and several soldiers see the caravan entering the city, and immediately welcome it up, whether it is to blackmail or some other purpose. They all played under the guise of one: wartime special inspections.

But good luck helped Cui Yao again. As the soldiers approached the caravan, someone suddenly shouted at the city gate. A Persian officer rushed into the city and shouted something viciously, and the soldiers in the street were so frightened that they did not dare to slack off, and ran out of the city, and several soldiers who were to be inspected also abandoned them and ran out of the city.

"It seems that some important person from the Great Cannibal has come and told them to maintain order." Muta turned around and smiled at Cui Yao, who looked puzzled: "Don't look at these private soldiers of the Saman family who are vicious to us, but when they see the real Great Food Army, especially the army of the Khorasan Diben Sect, they can't run fast like a mouse sees a cat." ”

Everyone came to an intersection, Cui Yao asked a passer-by for the direction, and then the time to break up finally came, Cui Yao bowed to Muta, and said gratefully: "Uncle, we are going to break up again, I believe we will have a chance to meet again, I wish Uncle a smooth journey and go home as soon as possible." ”

"Take care, Ugil!" Muta was a little sad, he waved his hand to Cui Yao and said, "If there is a chance, my brother will also go to Samarkand, I will definitely entertain you well." ”

"Goodbye, uncle!" Cui Yao also waved his hand vigorously, turned around and drove towards another street, Muta looked at his distant back, and couldn't help muttering, "Take care!" Young man, I wish you the best of your mission. ”

When Cui Yao left the broken leaves, Meng Jiao gave him the contact person of Bathana, this person is the envoy of King Bathhana who went to the Tang Dynasty at the beginning of the year, he is the king's uncle, and the place where he lives is not far from the palace, Cui Yao walked for about a quarter of an hour with two turbulent retinues, and then came to the area pointed out by passers-by, the buildings in this area are obviously much better than when they entered the city, most of them are stone buildings, the walls are tall, the area is also quite extensive, and the road is also paved with stone slabs, obviously, This was the residence of the princes and nobles of Bakhana. Cui Yao searched around, and finally found a big mansion surrounded by green trees in a back street, this is the house of Chisaoya, which is far away from the street, a small road passes in front of the door, and there are no pedestrians in sight, only three old women of Bahana are sitting under a tree opposite, each of them has a basket of fruit in front of them, it is a few fruit sellers, seeing Cui Yao coming, the three old women immediately waved to them enthusiastically.

Cui Yao smiled and waved his hand, he saw that there was no one else around, so he quickly stepped forward and knocked on the door, the door creaked! A crack opened, revealing a pair of vigilant eyes, "Who are you looking for?" ”

"We are merchants from the Tang Dynasty, and we have an agreement with Chisoya, so we have come to see him."

The person who opened the door looked at Cui Yao suspiciously, "Then you wait a minute." "Door slam! The ground was closed again, Cui Yao had no choice but to stand at the door and wait, he saw several women looking at him curiously, so he smiled at them kindly, but he was really a little uneasy in his heart.

However, the door soon opened, and it was the same man who had just said, "Come in!" Bring everything in, too. ”

Cui Yao hurriedly turned around and beckoned, and the two Tuqi Shi attendants led the camel into the high-walled deep courtyard, but just as the gate was closed, an old woman immediately stood up, she glanced deeply at the closed gate, and left without saying a word.

(Lao Gao corrected a mistake, the Sogdians were the people of the Zhaowu Nine Kingdoms, the Hu merchants of Chang'an mainly referred to them, and Jingniang was actually a Sogdian, and Lao Gao had mistakenly separated the Sogdians from the Zhaowu people before.) ）