Qingtang City has been prosperous since ancient times.

After the founding of the Western Xia, the merchants in the Hexi Corridor extracted heavy taxes, and the soldiers even played the role of bandits to kill people and cross goods, and the tribute envoys and merchants in order to avoid the plunder and exploitation of the Western Xia, obtain a stable and peaceful trading environment, and earn more gold, silver and money, they began to change to the Qiangzhong Road and go to the Qingtang City.

At that time, the Qingtang City set up many post stations on the road to receive the passing tribute envoys and merchants, and also restrained the tribes to treat the transit merchants well, providing them with food and lodging, and the merchants only had to pay the corresponding fees or goods.

Not only that, in order to protect the safe passage of tribute missions and caravans carrying a large number of goods, Qingtang City also specially sent troops to escort them, and allowed them to exchange and exchange goods at will for foreign merchants who stayed in Qingtang to do business, and also specially allocated a piece of land for foreign merchants to build houses and warehouses, which attracted a large number of foreign merchants to settle down and do business.

At that time, the merchants of the Qing and Tang Dynasty were gathered, and the exotic customs were strong, not only the Han people, the Tubo people, but also the Central Asians, West Asia Minor and Europa people with high noses and deep eyes.

There were also merchants from the Western Regions, including Uighurs, Khotan, Gaochang, Qiuci, and Wuqiang, as well as merchants from Tianzhu and Nepal in South Asia and the Xindu River valley, and even the Great Qin merchants of Dashi, Persia, and Europa in the two river valleys.

The merchant envoys who traveled between the Western Regions and the interior through the Qiang Middle Road were willing to stop here to rest, eliminate fatigue, replenish supplies, and then continue to move forward, and even many merchants stayed here for a year or several years before leaving, and some simply built houses in the city and settled down to do business.

Later, after many years of continuous fighting, Qingtang City was once depressed, but now after a few years of stability, the trade route has been opened again, and Qingtang has signs of prosperity again.

Zhao Ta led everyone forward, there is a city gate next door between the west city and the east city, which can be passed, there are soldiers guarding in front of the door, Yang Zhishi and the two are wearing official uniforms, and the soldiers have saluted.

Yang Zhi sighed in his heart, as if it is not difficult to be an official, he just needs to follow the right person.

Coming to Dongcheng, there was a lively and prosperous scene, Zhao Ta looked around, many of those houses and castles were not made of the Song Dynasty, and there were spires and domes, and some were painted with various colors.

Many of these houses were built by those business travelers back then, which shows the bustle and prosperity of Qingtang at that time.

Walking on the most central market avenue, there are not only many shops on both sides, but also a lot of goods on the stalls outside, you can see merchants of all colors in the exotic shops with various accents to sell, at a glance, the goods are dazzling, the crowd is very lively.

Zhao Ta took everyone to look at it little by little, because Yang Zhi and Shi Jin were wearing official uniforms, and there were people saluting every time they passed, and it was the city soldiers who came and went to inspect that they also stopped.

Zhao Ta looked at these goods, large pieces of his own horses, calves, timber, grain and other things.

The small pieces include musk, cinnabar, bezoar, river pearl, mountain coral, raw gold, mercury, wood incense, Sanya brown, flower core cloth, Douluo brocade, fluff, antelope horn, bamboo horn, red and green skin and other local specialties.

There were even knives and guns, hand-forged iron armor, and some other weapons.

Zhe Hanmei smiled playfully: "Lord Wang, I can't imagine that there is still armor for sale, right?" If you're in Tokyo, don't talk about buying and selling, I'm afraid you'll have to ask for a crime if you hide a pair. ”

Zhao Tan smiled and shook his head: "Little Qingmei, don't bully this king to go out of Kaifeng, don't be knowledgeable, I know that this border law is loose, and there are still many preferential treatment for foreign businessmen." ”

The group walked and watched, and suddenly there was a noise in front of them, and Zhi Hanmei listened to it and said, "It seems that the Tubo people are quarreling." ”

Zhi Zhi Chang shook his head when he heard this: "Lord Wang, these businessmen are everywhere in the east, west, north and south, and they often quarrel and even use knives, and it is not uncommon for people to kill sometimes. ”

Zhao Ta nodded, he knew something, the Great Song Dynasty has always given preferential treatment to the people of the Northwest or the acquaintances of the Western Regions, and he is relatively lenient in terms of laws, generally speaking, he doesn't pay attention to their ordinary quarrels and fights, as long as he doesn't cause death, he will turn a blind eye.

And these acquaintances often forget it after the fight, few chase after it, and even some of them are defeated and suffer losses but call each other heroes, which is somewhat similar to the rivers and lakes and green forests of the Central Plains.

"Let's see." Zhao Ta said, since you have come here, you must see it all, and you should have a good eye on the scenery and things, and you should know all kinds of things in the world.

When they walked over, they saw a very large store, with mottled wooden pillars on both sides, smooth steps, exuding the vicissitudes of ancient times, thinking that it should be some years and stories.

There were several people standing in front of the store, led by a stout middle-aged man, wearing traditional Tibetan robes, standing with his waist crossed, laughing at a young man in front of him.

The young man wore a similar robe, but it was more luxurious than that of the stout middle-aged man, except that the robe was stained in many places, and even two places were torn, and the boots on his feet were also damaged, and the two toes were drilled out and covered with mud.

The young man had a dark complexion, and although he looked thin, his eyes were bright, and he was angrily arguing with the stout middle-aged man about something.

The sturdy middle-aged man looked disdainful, opened his mouth as if to scold a few words after laughing, then lifted the side of his robe, and walked towards the store.

When the young man heard the other party's words, his face turned pale, and he wanted to rush forward, but when the other people in front of the shop saw this, they pulled out their swords from their waists and waved them at the young man, scolding and scolding on their mouths.

Both sides spoke Tubo, Yang Zhishi Jin couldn't understand it, Zhao Ta frowned expressionlessly, and Zhe Hanmei whispered: "Lord Wang, do you want me to help you Di Yan?" But I remember ......."

"Cough, cough ......" Zhao Ta coughed lightly twice, and said: "This king only said that he didn't read the Book of Horses when he was a child, but he didn't say that he didn't learn the language of the foreign dynasty, but after many years, he forgot something, and this is the first time he heard the people of Fan quarreling, and some of them have big heads." ”

Zhehanmei's eyelashes fluttered, and she said, "How about the little woman translating for the prince?" ”

Zhao Ta looked at her, nodded and said, "Little Qingmei, you can understand everything?" ”

Zhehan Meiguaner said: "There are a few people in the northwest who don't know some Tibetan Xia language, even the people of the Tibetan Xia Uighurs also know some of my Great Song language, otherwise let alone doing business, even after the battle, it is difficult to negotiate." ”

Zhao Ta watched the young man confront the people in the shop, and thought, "I don't seem to hear their accents be different. ”

Zhe Hanmei said: "This is, the store is a familiar household, but this person is a raw fan." ”

Zhao Ta said: "Xining Prefecture is rare? ”

Zhi Hanmei said: "But it's not nothing, it's just that it's extremely rare to come to the state city, this person should go to the store to sell something, and then the store owner said that the thing was fake, and he took it, and this person couldn't get anything back, so he made a noise." ”

Zhao Ta narrowed his eyes and said, "I vaguely distinguish what kind of king this person is?" ”

Zhi Hanmei glanced at him, the corners of her mouth involuntarily curved, and said: "Saying that he is the descendant of a certain king, I don't understand the meaning of that word, I probably want to read it like that." ”

Zhao Ta nodded, saw a patrol army coming over, and said to Yang Zhi: "Let them come and surround the store, and no one is allowed to leave." ”