He Liang said this, Zhou Tong looked at He Liang, and saw a sad look on his face.

Without waiting for Zhou Tong to open his mouth, He Liang then smiled at Zhou Tong and said: "Brother Zhou is high-righteous just now, and the younger brother is very moved, in fact, I was thinking about the sentence I heard in Beisha City just now, 'The Khitan people are selling cattle and sheep to buy supplies', I think I am afraid that the Khitan people are preparing for a war with Daqi, so that cattle, sheep and horses must be sold very cheaply, and we have a sea chart, and it is no problem to drive the ship to the Khitan people all the way." ”

From the late Northern and Southern Dynasties until the Sui and Tang dynasties, China was in a warm period in history, during which a large number of subtropical plants could grow normally in the Yellow River basin, so even in winter there was no need to worry about freezing in the northern part of the Bohai Sea and the Liao River estuary.

After listening to He Liang's words, Zhou Tong thought for a while and said, "Then we will have to take twice as long to go back, I'm afraid the big boss will be worried!" ”

"Since we came to Liaodong, the big boss will worry about us no matter what, if we go back empty-handed, I am afraid that we will not be able to see the great commander, why don't we go to Khitan to buy more cattle and sheep and go back!" He Liang tried his best to persuade Zhou Tong.

Zhou Tong hesitated for a moment, and finally made up his mind: "Okay, since that's the case, let's go to Khitan!" ”

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The Khitan originally belonged to the Xianbei Yuwen tribe in Liaodong, and later the Xianbei Yuwen clan was defeated by Murong Xianbei during the Eastern Jin Dynasty. As a result, the Khitan fled north, and the tribes have since been scattered in the Huangshui and Tuhe areas to herd.

After the Great Yan Kingdom established by the Murong tribe entered the Central Plains and was destroyed by the Former Qin in the Great War for the Central Plains, the Khitan was able to liberate and slowly become stronger.

Now the territory of the Khitan tribal alliance has roughly controlled the coastline from the Daling River to the mouth of the Liao River in later generations.

Fortunately, at this time, Goguryeo was sparsely populated and had greater military significance for the occupation of the Liaodong region, so the fleet of He Liang and his party was not discovered.

The flotilla went all the way north, rested for the night on Changxing Island, and after establishing a temporary secret base on the island, the flotilla continued north.

Three days later, the fleet finally bypassed the sea off Yingkou, which was occupied by Goguryeo, and entered the mouth of the Liao River, and after traveling more than ten miles, the fleet docked.

At this time, several groups of people and horses had already come to the shore, one by one bald 'doors', with all kinds of pigtails, and it seemed that the fleet was discovered by the Khitans as soon as they entered the mouth of the Liao River.

For Zhou Tong, what Xianbei people, Khitan people are all Hu people of an ancestor. However, since Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty implemented the Sinicization policy, the gap between the Xianbei people and the Han people has narrowed a lot.

Although since the Xianbei people who rebelled in the border army of the Six Towns followed Gao Huan to defeat the Northern Wei Dynasty's powerful minister Zhu Rong, there has been a large-scale Xianbei phenomenon in the Eastern Wei Dynasty and the Northern Qi Dynasty, but most of the ordinary Xianbei people's clothing is no different from that of the Han people.

However, the Khitan people in front of them are dressed in a rare way for Zhou Tong, although they are different, they also have one thing in common: they are all bald heads, and then they either have some short braids on their foreheads or temples, and the shape is weird.

Zhou Tong wore the armor made by the first batch of copycat blacksmiths, and took a team of guards to disembark first.

Blacksmith Cao has made a total of sixteen pairs of iron armor at present, and this time he has configured nine pairs for the fleet, led by Zhou Tong, and the strong men of Yishui are all about 1.8 meters tall.

The Khitans standing on the shore are relatively average, all of them are about 1.5 or 6 meters, and there is not a single Khitan who is more than 1.7 meters tall.

In this way, the comparison between the two sides raised the prestige of Zhou Tong's side, and it turned out that some Khitans who were ready to give the fleet a dismount immediately became enthusiastic.

An old Khitan man in his sixties who was full of 'spirit' came out, and came up with a bunch of Goguryeo language, only to hear Zhou Tong roll his eyes, who can understand this bird language?

However, He Liang saw that people politely came out to speak, and then 'stood up' and said: "This old man, we are Han merchants from the south!" I heard that your ministry is in urgent need of a large amount of military funds, so we are here to help! ”

The old man is also a talent, and when he heard He Liang's words, he immediately spoke Chinese, "What, you are Han people from the south?" I heard that the Qi people are coming to attack my Khitan, aren't you a 'traitor' sent by the Great Qi? ”

"Old man, don't blame, Daqi is a country of Xianbei people, and we and other Han people have the hatred of losing the country, how can we forget the family hatred of this country like the Hu and Han mongrels?" He Liang said with an indignant face.

"I heard that Daqi is going to do unrighteous deeds, such as the story of plundering Kumo Xi last year, my master specially sent me to transport more salt to help the Khitan!" The righteousness on He Liang's face is as holy as the anti-combatants of later generations.

Zhou Tong almost didn't recognize it, and said in his heart, "This kid usually pretends to be stupid, I thought he was a silly guy, who knew that his mother was also a personal 'fine'!" ”

He didn't want to think about how He Liang could be appointed as the head of the fleet by Wang Yong and He Bo if he was an honest and honest young man.

The old Khitan man saw the salt goods on the ship, but he was a little convinced, and said happily to He Liang: "We Khitan people have the most clear grievances, and the cattle and horses of the tribe usually lack these salts the most. Since you are friends who have come to help us, then we Khitans cannot let you suffer. I am the patriarch of the Khitan Li tribe here, and I am in charge of your salt, and I will buy it at five times the price before! We'll trade cattle and sheep for you! ”

Immediately, the old man called the men and horses from several Khitan tribes together, and after some advice, he said to He Liang: "I have asked them to prepare cattle and sheep, and I also invite distinguished guests from afar to feel the enthusiasm of my Khitan people." ”

As he spoke, he invited He Liang and his entourage into a tent not far away, the largest of which was the old patriarch, and it seemed to be sewn with fine cowhide.

Inside the tent are butter candles, and some tables and cushions are placed around it, which looks like a place for discussing important matters or feasting and drinking of tribal leaders on weekdays.

After Zhou Tong, who followed He Liang, saw the cowhide tent, he said to the old Khitan patriarch: "Old patriarch, if you have excess cowhide, cow tendon, horn or something, we will also exchange a lot of 'exchange' with you." ”

The patriarch of the Li tribe is also an old man, "These are all materials that can be used to make leather armor bows and arrows, I don't know what you are buying them for?" ”

He Liang saw that Zhou Tong's house would only be a bad thing, there were nearly 3,000 stone sea salt and other goods on the ship, and the Khitans would definitely not be able to gather so many cattle and sheep for a while, and it would not be possible for them to take out the cowhide and horns to pay off the debt.

As a result, Zhou Tong didn't know anything about it, and he yelled at him for a bad thing, and He Liang really wanted to sew up Zhou Tong's mouth at this time.

He Liang saluted the old patriarch unhurriedly and said: "Shicai has not shown the old patriarch Rinming, in fact, my master is the minister of the late Emperor Xiaowu of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Just now, this Brother Zhou was rude in front of the old patriarch, and I hope that the old patriarch will forgive him! ”

I don't know if the old patriarch of the Li tribe believed it or not, anyway, he didn't continue to entangle these, but everyone used a rather exotic beef and sheep 'meat' feast, especially Zhou Tong, a heartless guy, who ate more than anyone else.

Seeing this, the old patriarch of the Li tribe stroked his beard and laughed: "I was a little suspicious of the little brother just now, but when I saw the appearance of this little brother, he was really straight." I promised to change the cowhide tendon you wanted! ”

He Liang couldn't help but feel happy in his heart, and hurriedly thanked him.

For four or five days in a row, He Liang was busy counting the 'trade' of goods: one stone of salt can be exchanged for twenty sheep, or two cows, horses can only be exchanged for one, plus other cloth, silk and other goods, adding up to a total of 30,000 sheep, 2,000 cattle, and 500 good horses.

He Liang was anxious, "I miscalculated, how many trips do so many cattle, sheep and horses have to run to get it done." 'Get' not good, Daqi has not finished the call, what should I do if I am robbed! ”

In the end, He Liang decided to transport the most valuable horses to Changxing Island to be secretly raised, so that some of them could be transported quickly, and then sent the fastest ship back to inform the cottage, and quickly sent dozens of ships to transport these cattle and sheep.

After ten days of worrying like this, the horses had been transferred to Changxing Island by He Liang Zhoutong, and seven or eight hundred cattle had been transported.

On this day, as soon as the last batch of cattle was transported off the ship, I saw a large fleet of black pressure in the distance coming, and it was Wang Yong and Zhu Rui who led the team.

It turned out that He Liang and his entourage had exceeded the planned time and had not returned, and He Bo was very anxious. Because Uncle He has no children, He Liang, who grew up with Uncle He since he was a child, is the same as Uncle He's biological son.

As Wang Yong, who grew up with Uncle He since he was a child, naturally cares about Uncle He's feelings, and Zhou Tong He Liang is responsible for it, so as soon as Zhu Rui leads the fleet back, Wang Yong is ready to set off directly to find He Liang and others.

Just as the fleet was about to depart, the ship sent by He Liang to report the news rushed back.

When Wang Yong heard this, it turned out that because of an intelligence error, He Liang and others did not carry out 'trade' in Goguryeo, but went to the Khitan border further north, and exchanged countless cattle, sheep and horses.

At this time, Wang Yong couldn't sit still, so Zhu Rui's fleet was also loaded with a batch of iron, salt and other materials, and organized all the ships that could sail with the cottage, and a total of hundreds of large and small ships went to the Khitan border together.

In addition to the cattle, sheep and horses that had been "exchanged" before, Wang Yong also "traded" with the Khitan tribe 5,000 healthy bulls and cows, as well as 1,000 good horses.

Zhu Rui asked Wang Yong: "Big brother, what are you doing with so many cows and horses?" I'm afraid that these horses can't be sold, and most of the good horses in the north will die when they reach the Southern Dynasty, and selling these horses in Daqi will attract the attention of the government too much. ”

Wang Yong smiled at Zhu Rui and said, "Third brother, you don't know if you came out of a rich and noble family since you were a child, our cottage plus nearly 20,000 displaced people, but there are not even a hundred ploughing cattle, how can you cultivate those hundreds of thousands of acres of land." I buy these 5,000 cows now, at least 4,000 are cows, and when the time comes, with the famous bulls in Qidi, all the wasteland will be reclaimed in three or five years, and we will have at least nearly 10,000 ploughing cattle at that time! As for the horses, some of them will be raised on the island first, some of them will be trained for our cavalry, and the other horses will also be kept in those villages, anyway, they are just for sheep. ”

Only then did Zhu Rui know Wang Yong's plan, "Big brother is really thoughtful!" ”

"Hmph, am I going to tell you that my precious son told me this?" Wang Yong thought arrogantly in his heart.

A few days later, the last batch of cattle and sheep was loaded onto the ship, and Wang Yong said goodbye to the Khitan elders. A middle-aged man said to the old patriarch of the Li tribe: "Father, we have sold these cattle and sheep at a great loss!" It's several times more expensive! ”

"Confused, if it weren't for the price of several times this, would they have shipped this batch of ironware? Besides, if the Qi people fight, if they lose, there will be nothing! The old patriarch of the Li tribe reprimanded, "If they 'survive' this catastrophe, they will definitely come again."

On the ship in the distance, Wang Yong led the fleet back with high spirits.