"Master, out of the mountain pass in front, we will leave the realm of the Great Song Dynasty." A young man dressed as a small man bowed down and said to the gorgeously dressed man next to him.

"Oh, go and tell everyone to cheer up, and when you go beyond our borders, you must be cautious and watch your carriage. Let everyone remember that those who call me the shopkeeper in the future must regard themselves as businessmen. Remember? ”

"Remember!" The guys who were driving the car all replied loudly.

This group of people was the caravan led by Gao Jixuan who was ordered to go to Tibet. After receiving the order given to him by Zhao Zhen, he didn't dare to delay for a moment, and hurried to Shu with a few servants. During the Northern Song Dynasty, the land bordering Tibet was in the land of Sichuan and Shu, and he believed that more information could be obtained there. At this time, the transportation was inconvenient, and the terrain of Tubo was special, and the plateau terrain was a natural barrier isolated from the outside world, resulting in little intersection between Tubo and the Song Dynasty, and only some folk caravans were used as the hub of the two places.

In an era of inconvenient transportation, it was not so much the strength of the cavalry as its high-speed mobility. The Song Dynasty has always intersected with many countries, and the border line is long, and it is really difficult to rely on two-legged infantry to defend. Think about the fact that there are many horses in one person, and there is no trace of them, and when you come with the No. 11 car, people don't know how far they have run after grabbing things.

It is an indisputable fact that the cavalry of the Song Dynasty was weak, and the reason for this phenomenon was not because the Song Dynasty did not pay attention to cavalry. On the contrary, the Song Dynasty from the emperor to the common people of Li did not want to have a strong cavalry, especially the border armies of all roads, which looked forward to the stars and the moon, and regarded the life of horses as more important than human life. The reason for this situation is that the territory of the Song Dynasty is indeed not a place to produce horses, and there is no domestication technique, and more importantly, those nationalities on horseback have reached a consensus in private and resolutely do not give the Song Dynasty a chance to have the best.

In this way, although the Song Dynasty spent a lot of money to buy war horses every year, the number was pitiful, coupled with the loss of the war horses themselves, resulting in the Song Dynasty's war horses have not been able to become large-scale, and they are unable to form large-scale cavalry. This is also when Zhao Zhen began to establish a field army, scavenging war horses everywhere, and barely formed nearly 5,000 cavalry. When these war horses were transferred, he was secretly scolded by the border generals.

Gao Jixuan also understands the form of the Great Song Dynasty very well, and from Zhao Zhen's conversation, he feels Zhao Zhen's yearning for force, and the war horse is the most intuitive embodiment. This time he was ordered to go out of Tibet, not only did he want to complete the task assigned by Zhao Zhen, but also paid attention to the Tubo war horse, although it was very difficult......

The ancestors of the Gao family fought and made great contributions, continuing for many generations, to Gao Jixuan's generation, although they are a family of military generals, they are also full of poetry and books, and they are no longer military generals who can only fight.

After Gao Jixuan rushed to Meizhou, he found the old shopkeeper of the local businessman, learned about the situation in Tubo in detail, and found that it was basically the same as Zhao Zhen's explanation. After learning some business rules and precautions, he began to plan his trip to Tibet.

After months of preparation, Gao Jixuan slowly embarked on the road to the west with a huge caravan loaded with goods such as linen, salt, silk and spices. The Tubo region was in turmoil for many years, bandits were rampant, and out of the territory of the Great Song Dynasty, Gao Jixuan listened to the advice and pretended to be a trader. Although there are many bandits in Tibet, their robbery targets are not the Great Song caravans, after all, they themselves also need caravans to provide them with various necessities, and all the merchants in this land, as long as they abide by the rules of others, they are still relatively easy to get along with.

Before this, Zhao Zhen specially told him to pay attention to other people's customs and handling styles, and he was preparing strictly according to the information collected.

Taking a deep breath, Gao Jixuan said to the resting people: "Everyone get up!" We are ready to go, and in the future, we must keep in mind what the official told you, and deal with the Tibetan people well. Let's go! ”

Gao Jixuan took the lead with the guide to embark on the journey, and the rest of the people also followed silently, silent all the way, looking around with their ears pricked up. There are also some who pray in the heavens and Buddhas, hoping that those terrible bandits will not appear.

Since the Song Dynasty, one of the largest caravans has crawled in the direction of Tibet. Experience proved to be very important, and with the help of a guide, we were able to reach the first destination of the trip safely after sending away the bandits who had emerged along the way.

According to the guidance of the herdsmen, Gao Jixuan's department finally found the place where the Tusi Ma tribe gathered. The arrival of the huge caravan aroused the restless hearts of the herdsmen, and every household came to inquire with their own belongings. For ordinary herdsmen, silk and spices are still far away, but the white salt and soft linen are longed-for for a long time.

Due to the endless wars and chaos of the various tribes in Tibet, there was no unified political power, and there was no official communication channel with the Song Dynasty. Usually walking on the territory of Tibet are some small caravans similar to smuggling, which is a drop in the bucket for them.

Hearing that there was such a large caravan with no less than 200 people and thousands of catties of cargo, the leader of the Tusima tribe, Talu Andai, could not sit still and planned to meet the leader of this caravan in person.

Originally, the Tusima tribe still had a place among the tribes of Tubo, but in recent years, the Dangxiang tribe in the east has been pressing step by step, and the Tuyuhun tribe in the west is also eyeing up. The territory of the Tusima tribe is shrinking day by day, and the life of the herdsmen is becoming more and more difficult.

He was a qualified leader, and his more than 100,000 people supported him. However, it is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, her territory is narrow, her property is poor, and the surrounding wolves look down, so she can survive until now.

Hearing that such a large caravan had come to his territory, he felt that this seemed to be an opportunity for him.

"Dear master of the Tuosima tribe, please allow the merchants who have come from afar to offer you the most precious blessings, may you always be mighty and strong!" Gao Jixuan touched his chest with one hand, bowed down to Da Lu'an, and gave a gift that had been prepared for a long time - silk strips.

Thana caressed these high-quality, beautifully patterned hata, and was very satisfied with this merchant who knew how to respect others. After weighing for a while, he took out one and put it on for Gao Jixuan personally, then waved back left and right, and motioned for Gao Jixuan to sit down. Gao Jixuan bowed his head and sat unhurriedly in the guest seat, with a smile on his face, looking at him calmly.

The two looked at each other for a long time, and finally replied that Lu Andai was the first to speak: "Presumably, Mr. is not a real businessman!" Why don't you show your true colors? ”

"Oh? What does the leader of Alu mean by this? Gao Jixuan asked with a pretended look of surprise.

"Although this king does not know much about your Song Dynasty, he has never seen or heard of a caravan of this size in the past twenty years. You Song people have a saying, there must be a demon when things go wrong! The most incredible thing for this king is that there is a large amount of salt and some iron tools in the caravan. Alu Andai stared at Gao Jixuan and said slowly, not angry but threatening.

"Leader Alu, you are really discerning! Xiaosheng still thinks he is doing a good job! I didn't expect to hear you say that there are really leaks everywhere! But this also shows that Xiaosheng is not wrong about you! Gao Jixuan stood up and offered Hada to Talu Andai to express his apologies, and said: "Please accept Xiaosheng's apology, Xiaosheng is just for self-protection, and has no other meaning." ”

"Now that you can see it, I'll see it?"

"Sir, please speak, this king listens to you!" Answer: Lu Andai stretched out his hand and motioned for Gao Jixuan to continue.

"I am His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty to proclaim the envoy of Meizhou, although my emperor is still young, but he has the world in his heart. Our emperor once said to me that my Great Song Dynasty is a peace-loving country! Over the years, our Song Dynasty has never taken the initiative to attack the surrounding friendly neighbors, although there are often foreign enemies to attack, we have always been on the defensive! ”

"Huh...... How did this king hear that you Song people are cowardly! It seems that your emperor of the Song Dynasty also signed some kind of alliance with the Liao State, and you have to pay tribute to others every year! Answer: Lu Andai looked at Gao Jixuan, whose mouth was like a river, and couldn't help but sneer.

"King A-Lu, what you say is wrong! What you said was the 'Yuanyuan Alliance', and our dynasty did give aid to the Liao State, but it was because the former emperor of our dynasty could not bear the suffering of the people of the war, nor did he want to see the people of the Liao State endure the disaster of famine. This is the reason why our army still formed an alliance with Xiao Tzulan, the general of the Liao State, before the battle. Regarding the ridicule of Alu Andai, although Gao Jixuan was angry, he had to suppress his temper and patiently explain, as for whether he believed it or not, he believed it anyway.

"As for the military strength of our dynasty, I admit that our dynasty has a natural disadvantage in this regard, unlike your tribe, which has herds of war horses and brave knights. But our Great Song Dynasty also has its own advantages, we have a prosperous culture, superb craftsmanship, rich products, and a large population. It is an indisputable fact that our DPRK was able to defend the Liao State with infantry and attack many times, right? ”

"The king admits that the king of the Song dynasty is a little cowardly, but in other respects it is indeed better than a nomadic people like us." Alu Andai nodded in response, this is also his envy of the Song Dynasty, and he wants to make his kingdom as prosperous as the Song Dynasty.

"Actually, if you want me to say that's nothing, what really makes me proud is that there is a monarch who has descended from heaven in my Great Song Dynasty. I once heard that my emperor was a god descending from heaven and was armed with thaumaturgy, but I used to think it was nonsense. However, at the beginning of last year, when the new emperor of our dynasty was still the crown prince, he led more than 20,000 royal field troops trained by him for two years, and fought fiercely with more than 20,000 cavalry of the Dangxiang tribe who invaded our dynasty in Yan'an Mansion, and defeated the other party in only one day. Nearly 10,000 people were killed, more than 8,000 people were captured, and the head of the thief was captured alive, while our loss was only more than 2,000 people. Speaking of the Yan'an victory, Gao Jixuan was very excited, when he heard the news, he was so happy that he had a hangover for many days, and the Gao family army who had died in battle for many years was sacrificed.

"Ahh When Lu Andai heard this, he opened his mouth wide in surprise and asked, "Sir is deceiving the ignorance of this king!" Although the king is not very old, he has never heard of the same number of infantry being able to defeat the cavalry without the support of the city, and the king has seen the power of the cavalry of those party tribes with his own eyes, and he is by no means an idle person. ”

"Wait, my lord, and let me come. When I first heard about this, like the king, I knew that no army in the Great Song Dynasty had such ability, so I personally went to Tokyo to watch the ceremony of sacrificing prisoners. If the king doesn't believe him, he can send someone to find out! ”

"Dare to ask the emperor of your country what is this year?" After thinking about it, he felt that he didn't need to lie about such a thing, so he skipped the matter.

"My emperor has not yet turned fifteen this year!" Gao Jixuan smiled and remained silent after speaking.

Hearing this, he was first startled, and then fell silent......