A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 521 Golden Lotus
The Shenshui River crosses the mountains and forests, crosses the lakes, and winds its way forward, winding like a belt, all the way to the southeast, passing through Lulongsai, rushing into the sea, and flowing for [-] miles.

Like a flash of lightning across the grassland, until the sky.

The [-]-mile Jinlianchuan prairie, Wu Huaiyu's heart beats when he sees it. Even in winter, without the coolness of summer and the chirping of hundreds of birds, it is still fascinating here.

"In summer, there will be patches of nasturtiums blooming here, which are the most beautiful. Nasturtiums bloom in the morning and bloom in the afternoon, and the sea of ​​flowers is full of eyes,"

Lu 35 didn't know when he and Gao Shier came to Huaiyu's side, looking at the withered and yellow grassland with some regrets.

"Have you been here before?"

"Twelve Niang and I have been here before, in summer,"

Gao Shier also remembers the sea of ​​golden flowers here, "The golden lotus flower is golden in color, with seven petals surrounding its heart, and there are several flowers on one stem, looking everywhere, it is golden."

They followed the Gao family's caravan to the Jinlianchuan grassland to trade with the Turkic people. It is an unforgettable memory.

Eight hundred miles of Jinlianchuan grassland, seventy miles of lotus beach.

They came to Jinlianchuan three years ago. At that time, Tuli only went to Jinlianchuan in summer, and most of the time Yating was stationed in the Zhangbeiba area north of the Great Wall in Beiyan Prefecture.

During the Han Dynasty, Guangning County was set up in the area of ​​Zhangjiakou, but since the Southern and Northern Dynasties, this area was sparsely populated. The Sui and Tang Dynasties only set up a Huairong County outside the Jundu Pass. Later in the Tang Dynasty, Huairong was established in the North Yanzhou, but it was still a large area. Rarely, the area behind the mountain to the north of Chang'an Mountain used to be self-governed by the frontier people and did not listen to propaganda.

Tuli has been stationed in Ya for a long time in the Zhangbei Bashang Grassland area outside the Zhangjiakou Great Wall.
This place has always been an important boundary between farming and nomadic pastoralism in the Central Plains. As early as in the Warring States Period, King Yanzhao opened up the western land, established Shanggu County, and built the Great Wall. This place was brought under the control of the State of Yan.

Later, Guangning County was established in the Han Dynasty, and the county was changed into a county in the Western Jin Dynasty, and Daning City was established.

The traffic location of this place is prominent, and it can connect Youbin and Beyond the Great Wall, and the main road for the entry and exit of commercial goods. Tuli directly set Yating outside the mouth, which is also convenient for trade with the Central Plains.

Many Sogdian Hus came east along the Silk Road, and they also took a fancy to the location here. They settled down and did business in this area. They built the settlements of the Sogdian Hus according to the tradition, and even built their fire worship temples and established trade organizations. , and even has its own leader Sabao.

These Sogdian Hu merchants settled down autonomously and paid tribute to Tuli, which gave Tuli a lot of convenience.

There are also more and more settlements in Sogtehu here, especially in the confluence of Yanghe River and Qingshui River, where there are many villages on the banks of the river.

Wu Huaiyu didn't regret that he didn't see the sea of ​​flowers in Jinlianchuan in summer. He was more interested in those Sogdian Hu people. In the past two years, Tuli moved from Zhangbei, where he used to be resident, to Jinlianchuan, which is further north. Because the Tang Dynasty in the Central Plains had already risen, Tuli did not dare to get too close to the Great Wall, and somewhat avoided its edge.

At this time, according to the official files of Youzhou, the northwest of Beiyan Prefecture, that is, the Zhangjiakou area, basically has no household registration, but according to what Gao Shier and the others said, there are actually many people here, and the main ones are the Sogdian Hu. , and even some small Turkic tribes.

This is the same as the original Gao family behind the mountain, but the difference is that Sogdian Hu and the others are mainly engaged in business. At the intersection of Yanghe River and Qinghe River, which is a natural traffic node next to the Great Wall, they do business and trade, build workshops and build warehouses. , and even have their own farm.

The annual trade volume of these people is quite large, but Youzhou has confiscated a penny, and Beiyan Prefecture has not included them in the household registration management.

It's a group of aliens.

Each of their settlements has its own leader, a Zoroastrian temple that worships Zoroastrianism, which is the community center formed by the surrounding settlements, and each community also has its own business group.

The Sabao Merchant Group is not only a Zoroastrian group, but also a merchant group. Under normal circumstances, there will be a leader Sabao who is jointly elected, and later often becomes hereditary. For example, the largest Sabao in Wuwei, Liangzhou is hereditaryly controlled by the Anxinggui family. .

Under Sa Bao, there is generally a three-member management team, the priest, the chief guard and a secretary.

In essence, these Sogdian communities are the colonization areas where they migrated eastward.

Most of the Sogdians entered the northern part of the Central Plains in large numbers during the Wei and Jin Dynasties. The Jin people called Jiehu, also known as Zahu, and most of them were Sogdians.

Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, a large number of Hu people have moved to Hebei, changing the ethnic composition and affecting local customs, which can be called Heshuo Huhua.

In fact, this is not only the case in the northern part of the Central Plains, but also in the grasslands.

In today's Turkic Khanate, there are also a large number of Sogdian Hu.

Nowadays, there are many Sogdian Hu settlements in the entire Hebei prefectures, including North Yanzhou and Yingzhou in western Liaoning. They also settled in the prefectures and counties and traded.

In Hebei, Youzhou has the most Sogdian species.

Most of the Sogdian Hu in North Yanzhou are concentrated in the Zhangjiakou area.

The Sogdian Hu in Zhangjiakou was mainly concentrated in the sixth year of Daye of the Sui Dynasty. Fans invited them to enter the market for trading, so they decorated their houses, repaired their mansions, and began to gather for business. It is said that before the great chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, there were many merchants in Zhangjiakou. , with 63 rows, 930 shops, and 29 [-] shops on the four walls, with a mountain of goods and an unprecedented prosperity.

The war road is not only the post road, but also the business road.

Zhangjiakou is a place that is not well known in the official archives, but it is secretly amazing. Even after the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, no matter who occupied the North Yanzhou area, these Sogdian Hu merchants were treated very rarely and leniently.
After all, these people can pay tribute and pay money, but they are also very united. They have their own armed forces. They are all settled and self-governing, and it is not easy to fight if they want to. There is less material circulation, and you can still pay tribute, so naturally you let it go.

Wu Huaiyu was studying things like Jinlianchuan, Zhangbeibashang Grassland, and Zhangjiakou Sogdian Hu. Tuli was also very busy, busy negotiating with the Turkic nobles under his command, and busy talking with the affiliated tribes of Xi, Qi, and Yu. The chiefs promised that everyone would follow him to attack Jieli and replace him.

Wu Huaiyu was leisurely, Tuli was finally going to attack Xieli, he was very happy, he didn't care if Tuli could succeed or not, in fact he expected that Tuli's uprising would definitely end in failure, because now it was winter, Time is not very conducive to sending troops.

Furthermore, Tuli wants to send troops to attack Dingxiang, which is even more unfavorable to take the initiative to attack.

But what does this have to do with him, it would be better if Tuli lost.

"The governor really expects Tuli to be defeated?"

Hearing that Tuli had basically reached an agreement with the nobles and chiefs, Wu Huaiyu remained calm after the troops were about to be dispatched.

"Tuli must be defeated."

After all, Jieli is a great Khan, and his strength is not comparable to that of Tuli, unless Tuli can really unite the major feudal towns of Sabolo Khan, Yusheshe, Tuoshi, and Yugushe to work together in Jieli. This situation is almost impossible.

Turks are notoriously fond of infighting, and they all have ulterior motives. Who would listen to Tuli's call?
"Then let's go back to Youzhou now?"

"Well, it's almost time to go back, but there are still some things that need to be done."

2 people go out of the fortress, and they can't just drink some northwest wind and leave.

In the next few days, Tuli was busy recruiting tribal soldiers and horses with the noble chiefs, while Wu Huaiyu was busy drinking tea with Jieli and discussing deals.

Anyway, winter is coming, and Tuli and the others are going to fight again. Tang Jun is willing to support Tuli with some arrows, knives, guns, and some food and grass.

Of course, they didn't give it away for nothing, Tuli and the others exchanged medicinal materials from livestock fur.

Wu Huaiyu also made an additional request, asking Tuli and the leaders to return to Datang all the Han slaves they had taken captive from their tribe.Wu Huaiyu didn't ask them to return it in vain, but paid a ransom.

Tuli didn't want copper money or silk, he hoped to exchange weapons such as knives, guns and arrows, Wu Huaiyu didn't hesitate, anyway, except for crossbows and armour, other knives, guns and arrows didn't matter, but even if it was old leather armor, Wu Huaiyu didn't even give them one, just said no.

The Tang army did not carry a lot of equipment and materials when they went out of the fortress, so many of them could only be owed first, and then sent later, and it was agreed to send them to Zhangjiakou for handover.

In exchange for more support, Tuli also proudly agreed that Tang Jun could take as many furs and furs as he could take away this time.

Xibu, Khitan, and Huaiyu also took time to talk to them a few more times.

It is mainly about the mutual market. A new border has been drawn with the Ministry of Xi, and five new border markets are determined to be established to facilitate their mutual market transactions on the new border.

It also agreed with Khitan to open four border cities in Yingzhou, namely Liucheng, Huaiyuan, Tongding and Wulu.

This time, Wu Huaiyu has gained a lot.

Not only did he deter the villages behind the mountain with magical weapons, and successfully subdued more than ten thousand families who had hidden behind the mountain since the end of the Sui Dynasty, he also took advantage of the situation to negotiate with the Xi people and pushed the border farther out.

This side also provoked Tuli and Xieli to tear each other apart, and formally sent troops to attack Xieli.

The benefits are not limited to this. When Tuli fought wars, Huaiyu did some arms trading by the way. He also won many orders in various other trades, and even transported the Turkic goods first, and then paid later.

By the way, many kidnapped Han Chinese were redeemed, and the ransom was also returned in return.

Before leaving.

Tuli slaughtered cattle and sheep to set up a feast.

"Mr. Wu, this is my eldest son, He Luohu. He is nine years old. I want him to worship Mr. Xiang as his teacher and learn more about the cultural etiquette of the Central Plains from his side. In the future, this son will inherit my tribe. I hope he can be with him. The Han family is closer."

Tuli's words sounded good in public, but the actual meaning was also very straightforward. He handed over his eldest son to Wu Huaiyu as a hostage in exchange for more support from Datang and Youzhou. There is a solid backing.

If the Tang army doesn't send troops, it's always okay to sell them some military equipment, food, grass and supplies, and it's even good to help take care of the tribal women and children in the rear.

Of course, there is another meaning, borrowing the help of Tang Jun from Wu Huaiyu in Youzhou to frighten the Xi and Khitan tribes. Although they will also send troops this time to follow Jieli, who knows if these guys will stab them in the back.

As the son of the grassland, Heluohu is a little thin. It is said that Heluohu's biological mother was a member of the Ashid tribe, and it was difficult to give birth to him, and finally gave birth to him, but Ashid died.

Tuli later married Princess Huainan of the Sui Dynasty. Princess Huainan personally raised and cared for He Luohu, and taught him Chinese characters and Central Plains etiquette. .

Wu Huaiyu laughed and tested him on some Analects questions in public, and he answered them very well.

"Hahaha, a child can be taught, okay, I will accept He Luohu as a student, and come back to Youzhou with me to study hard."

That night, Tuli toasted frequently, and even asked Princess Yang of Huainan and Princess Hejian who was married to Tang Ci to toast, Wu Huaiyu inevitably drank two more glasses.

The banquet is over and we return to the tent.

Just as he was about to rest, Tuli came quietly and brought a woman, who thought she was just an ordinary servant or something, slightly drunk, Wu Huaiyu declined a few times and then stayed.

"I won't disturb my husband's rest, let's take my leave first." Tu Li left with a smile.

It was dark in the tent, the woman was dressed in the attire of a grassland shepherd girl, she came over to undress him with her head down...

(End of this chapter)