Winter went to spring, and in a blink of an eye, it was the fourth year of Zhao Wangkuo.

There is nothing big in the world.

But in March, a major event occurred in the Qin State - the caravan heading to the Far West had returned alive.

To be honest, Qin Wangji had long lost hope in this matter, and he had almost forgotten that there was still a group of people who were struggling for Qin to explore the road to the west.

But even so, this group of wandering travelers, after countless life and death tribulations, lasted two years and two months, and finally returned to Xianyang.

There were 200 people when they went, and more than 600 when they returned, but only 18 of them were merchants who had gone to the Far West, and the remaining 182 people all died on the way, and they couldn't even bring back their bones.

"I, the Qin State, will not forget you."

Qin Wangji, who had gray hair and vicissitudes of life, personally went to meet him outside the city, regardless of the lowly status of the merchants, grabbed the merchant named Song Lu with both hands, personally helped the other party into the chariot, and then let Wang Sun Yiren drive for him.

"Please board the bus." Qin Wangji waved his sleeves and pointed to a column of chariots behind him and said.

Each chariot was extremely luxurious, pulled by four treasure horses, second only to the chariot that Song Lu had just boarded.

The eighteen merchants who came back alive had never been treated like this before, and they were not afraid or timid along the way, but they were a little weak at the moment, and they didn't dare to take a step.

"You are all heroes of my Qin State, you should take this car." Qin Wangji said again.

"The head of the Qian, thank the king." Everyone saluted, and in the envious eyes of the people, they trembled and boarded the chariot.

Qin Wangji boarded the carriage at the front and personally opened the way for them.

If he weren't old, he would have been able to drive himself.

Compared to the value brought by this group of people, the lowly status of the businessman is not at all significant.

In the Xianyang Palace, a banquet had already been set up, and almost all the dignitaries and nobles of the Qin State, whether they were invited or not, came, and even Bai Qi and Sima Cuo in Xiayang rushed to come after hearing the news.

They are also very interested in the Far West.

"Tell me about the widow, where have you been?" After three rounds of wine, Qin Wangji put down his wine glass and asked.

The people who hadn't eaten enough hurriedly put down the bowl, wiped the stains from the corners of their mouths, and stopped their waists.

"The king, we first arrived in Guazhou (Dunhuang), where a kind of melon is abundant, sweet and delicious, but when we came back, it was spring, the melon had just been planted, and it had not yet borne fruit, so we could not bring it back to the king to taste."

"Guazhou used to be the hometown of the Yueshi and Wusun, and later the Yueshi was strong, so they drove Wusun away and occupied all of Guazhou. However, later, my Qin King Jian General broke the Yue Clan, and the remnants of the Yue Clan fled westward. Now Guazhou has been occupied by the Qiang and Rong people. ”

"Then, we arrived in a small country called Loulan, with less than 2,000 households, surrounded by deserts, living by water and grass, and relying on camels and horses to travel."

"In the following year, we traveled along the mountains and deserts, to the end of the country, Jingjue and other small countries, and also to the place where Yu's jade (Hetian jade) was produced, where there were many treasures like stones, each of which was comparable to Zhao's He's bi, and the price was very cheap, and we exchanged a large amount of Yu's jade with them with Shu brocade."

"After that, we went to Shache and Shule, and finally stopped in a country called Dawan, which is rich in good horses, which can travel thousands of miles a day, and the sweat that comes out is as red as blood, so it is called sweat horses."

"Dawan is located in the center of the extreme west, and there are many merchants coming and going, so we did not continue to travel west, but stayed in the local area, selling silk, glass, lacquerware, and porcelain...... In exchange for a large amount of jewelry, spices, gold and silver. ”

"Before we returned, the king of Dawan Kingdom heard that we were from a very distant country in the east, and he also entertained us with a banquet and presented us with a pair of sweaty horses."

Song Lu said slowly, and said the things along the way in general, of course, some things were naturally omitted.

Such as the dangers encountered along the way.

For example, there were two pairs of sweaty horses brought back from Dawan, one pair was given by King Dawan, and the other pair was exchanged for silk, and later one pair died on the road.

For example, although eighteen people came back alive, not all of the remaining one hundred and eighty-two people died on the road, and a small number of people chose to stay in Dawan, Jingjue and other countries, unwilling to return to Qin.

"You ...... Have you found the Queen Mother of the West......" Qin Wangji couldn't help but ask.

"Your Majesty, no." Song Lu shook his head.

Qin Wangji's face flashed with regret, he didn't have to marry the Queen Mother of the West, but he had always had a thought in his heart for so many years, even if it was good to meet him.

"King, compared to the sweat and blood horses, compared to this entire trade route, the Queen Mother of the West is nothing at all." Lu Buwei got up and said.

He roughly counted the goods brought back by Song Lu and others, even if they didn't count the immeasurable value of sweat and blood, jewelry, jade, spices, gold and silver and other things alone were equivalent to five times the goods they brought out at the beginning.

This is only the first time, along the way must have encountered various dangers such as climate, beasts, bandits, etc., resulting in the loss of most of the goods, even so, there is still a four-fold profit.

If he can completely open up the business route, it is possible to make ten, twenty, or even fifty times the profit, and there are several more profitable businesses in the world than this, you must know that when he was in business, even if there was only 10 percent of the profit, a large group of people rushed to do it.

】

"What Mr. said is that the widow is obsessed." Qin Wangji is as good as a stream and accepts it with an open mind.

"Dare to ask sir, how long will it take to get from here to the Far West?" Lü Buwei asked.

"Yu Shaofu, if it is a caravan, it will take a year to go back and forth at the earliest." Song Lu arched his hand and said.

Lu Buwei breathed a sigh of relief, in the face of so many profits, a year is not unbearable.

Especially if the state comes forward to form a caravan, there is no need to wait for the caravan in front to return, and a caravan can be sent every one or two months.

It's a steady stream of money.

Of course, if caravans were sent frequently, silk and other items might not be sold at such a high price, and no one knew how big the market was in the extreme west, and neither did Song Lu, who had been there.

Bai Qi took a sip of the wine glass and gave Wang Yi a look, Wang Qi understood, got up and hugged his fists and said, "Wang, the last general wants to try Dawan sweat and blood horse." ”

"Okay, then the widow will accompany the general to try." Qin Wangji actually wanted to know if the so-called sweat and blood horse could really travel thousands of miles a day.

You must know that even if the Central Plains is a war horse in the Gangyuan Realm, not every one of them can travel thousands of miles a day, only the war horses of the Transcendent Realm can do it 100%.

What Song Lu brought back must not be a war horse of the transcendent realm, and it is not certain whether the entire Dawan has a war horse of the transcendent realm.