Great Warriors of Sui and Tang Dynasties

Chapter 260
When the First Army arrived in Huaiyuan Town, they set up camp outside the city.

Although Huaiyuan Town was located in the most northeastern frontier of the Sui Dynasty, the bustling and bustling town was beyond the expectations of Luo Cheng and others who went shopping in the city after setting up camp.In Huaiyuan in July, the climate is cool and pleasant, not as hot and dry as in the Central Plains.

Luo Cheng and the others were all wearing military robes and carrying horizontal knives. They walked around the city without feeling hot and didn't even shed a drop of sweat.

"I didn't expect it to be so lively here!"

Huaiyuan was originally just a small county on the frontier. In the past, it was often harassed by the Goguryeo people, and sometimes the Khitan people from the north would also come to harass it from the south. Therefore, the county has a household population of less than a thousand per year, and the county town usually only has a few hundred households. It is said to be a county seat , which is about the same as a village in the Central Plains.

If it weren't for the presence of frontier troops here, the people here would probably have run away long ago.

However, in the 18th year of Kaihuang, when Emperor Wen decided to march eastward, Huaiyuan began to strengthen its defenses.The number of garrisons has increased, the city has expanded and heightened, and every year criminals will be escorted to guard the border to cultivate fields and graze animals.

Later, Emperor Daye asked the prefect of western Liaoning to set up a border market here, and traded with Turkic people, Xi people, Mohe people, Shiwei people and other northeast tribes, and traded cattle and horses with salt and cloth.In this border market, the main thing is to appease these border tribes, so that these people are so poor that they often come to rob.

Otherwise, there would be no need for Da Sui to go so far to set up a border market.

The effect of the border market is still very good. A large number of northeastern tribes came to trade, and the border market also attracted many businessmen from the Central Plains. Therefore, the dilapidated Huaiyuan County in the past has now become a Huaiyuan town with a wall height of more than three feet. .

There are [-] frontier troops stationed in the town, and there are several garrison forts outside the town, with thousands of troops stationed. In Huaiyuan and its surrounding areas, there are tens of thousands of troops stationed in total.

And the border market in Huaiyuan is even more lively. Every day, many barbarians come to trade with herds of cattle and horses. There are also commercial streets in Huaiyuan City, and all kinds of goods from the Central Plains can be found here.

Brothels, teahouses, restaurants, inns and warehouses, one by one.

Except for the embargoed ironware, there is almost everything here, salt, wine, tea, cloth, silk, porcelain, etc. When the barbarians come to trade, apart from cattle, sheep, horses, camels and other livestock, the most they can sell are furs and herbs. And slaves too.

In the Central Plains, a good horse can be sold for twenty or thirty strings, but here, one can be bought for five or six thousand dollars.

And most of those barbarians don't need money, they all barter for things, the silk that the tribal nobles need, a good horse is exchanged for a piece of silk, and the merchants in the Central Plains make a lot of money for a piece of silk.

It can be said that since the opening of the market in Huaiyuan, I don't know how many people have sent it.

A batch of goods was transported from the Central Plains, and then traded to the barbarians, exchanged for livestock fur and herbal slaves, and transported back to the Central Plains to make a lot of money.

But according to Shi Meng, those who can make a fortune here are actually dogs from various families.Dogs are naturally those businessmen who throw their heads away, and the owner of the dog is of course either a nobleman in Daxing, or a famous family in the Kanto.In short, they all have status, and the side generals can also occupy a small part of it.

Shi Meng is Luo Cheng's trilogy, he was originally Luo Yi's Yanyun iron cavalry, he was sent to Luo Cheng, Luo Cheng saw his outstanding martial arts, especially his excellent riding and shooting skills, so he also stayed.He is tall and mighty, and he is of mixed blood, mixed with Sogdian blood. His father is a Sogdian, and his mother is a Han woman.

Having followed Luo Yi for many years and lived in Yanyun Town for a long time, Shi Meng still knows the details of Huaiyuan Town.

"Among the merchants in Huaiyuan Town, the most powerful one is backed by the Yuwen family."

"Which Yuwen family?"

There are quite a few people with the surname Yuwen among the nobles in Daxing.

"Of course it's Kaifu Yitong Sansi, General Zuowei, and Xu Guogong Yu Wenshu." Shi Meng didn't mind telling this to Luo Cheng, a countryman, after all, he had already sworn to Luo Yi that he would follow Luo Cheng in the future.

"Yu Wenshu is the person most favored by the emperor in the court today, known as the head of the five nobles. But the power of the Yuwen family in Huaiyuan Town is actually controlled by his son."

"It's Yu Wenhuaji, who is called a frivolous son by the people in the capital. If you meet him, remember to avoid him in time. This person relies on his father's power, and he likes to do things wrong. He doesn't follow the law. He is extremely arrogant and greedy. He likes to bring The servant, riding a tall horse, holding a bow and holding a weak hand, galloped wildly on the streets of the capital."

When Emperor Daye was still the crown prince, Yu Wenhuaji had already relied on Lao Tzu's power to enter the palace as a bodyguard. He was also very close to Emperor Daye, and he was regarded as the emperor's confidant.Although he was dismissed from office many times because of accepting bribes many times, he was immediately helped by the prince to restore his original post shortly after he was dismissed each time.

In addition, his younger brother Yuwenshi Heshang married Princess Nanyang, the eldest daughter of Emperor Daye, and became a royal relative, so the Yuwen brothers became even more arrogant and defiant.

Even if there is a slight disagreement between the court officials and ministers, they will be insulted by him.

After today's son succeeded to the throne, Yu Wenhuaji became even more proud and arrogant. He was promoted to a servant and Shaoqing. Relying on his relationship with the emperor, when he followed the emperor to Yulin to meet the Turkic Khan, their brothers dared to follow the emperor secretly. Turkic people do business.

What's more, what he was doing at that time was not an ordinary business, but smuggling armaments and ironware to the Turkic people, which made the emperor furious. He wanted to kill Yu Wenhuaji and his brother Yuwen Zhiji. Later, Princess Nanyang interceded and the emperor spared him the death penalty. He was demoted to a slave and given to Yu Wenshu.

But everyone can see that giving his son to Lao Tzu as a slave is actually pardoning his crimes in disguise.

"Yu Wenhua and Huaiyuan now?"

"Well, Yu Wenhua and Yu Wenzhi and his brothers are both in Huaiyuan Town now. It is said that they are here to make a big deal, and they are probably engaged in some illegal activities. But their family is very powerful, you must not provoke them You can't afford to provoke them, even the Duke of Xiangyang can't afford to provoke them."

Yu Wenhua and the two brothers are still slaves, but these two slaves are special, not everyone can mess with them.

The Sui Dynasty was about to go to war with the Goguryeo people, but the Yuwen brothers, the top nobles of the imperial court, were engaged in smuggling here at this time.

This said Cao Cao, Cao Cao will be here soon.

On the originally noisy street, suddenly a group of people galloped out.

These people were extremely arrogant, they didn't care about the people everywhere on the street, they just rode their horses and galloped, causing everyone to give way.However, the person on the horse didn't have the slightest sense of consciousness, but enjoyed the feeling that everyone was avoiding him, so he rushed on the horse and laughed.

Seeing this, Luo Cheng quickly retreated to the side with Siye and the others.

At this moment, when a man carrying a load was dodging, he fell in a panic. He struggled to get up, but knocked a child beside him to the ground.

Seeing that the horse was about to step on it, the child was terrified and at a loss.

When everyone thought that the child was going to die today, suddenly a figure rushed out and slammed into the charging horse with a shoulder bump.

The galloping horse was hit by this huge force, and it was knocked to the side.

The horse neighed and made the child cry.

At the critical moment, it was Luo Shixin who knocked down the galloping horse and saved the child.Seeing that Shi Xin knocked down the horse, he turned around and picked up the child, carried him to the side of the road and put him down, and even reached out to stroke his hair.

"Snapped!"

A whip was swung over and lashed at Shi Xin.

But halfway through the draw, he was cut off with a single knife, and the person who swung the knife was the dark-faced Luo Cheng.

(End of this chapter)