A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 525

Wu Huaiyu was still in a good mood on the way back.

Lu 35 and Gao Shier lost their temper with him, but he didn't care about it. Along the way, they chatted with Yang Muyun more and more, and the more they chatted, the closer they got.

If it weren't for Wu Huaiyu's worries to hold her back, it can be seen that she is very willing to have something happen with Wu Huaiyu.

All the way to the Great Wall.

The left and right Taiping Mountains face each other majestically, and a Great Wall winds like a dragon hovering around.

But when I got closer, I found that the once towering Great Wall at the border was no longer indestructible, and had already been opened.

There are no drums and horns, but there are camel bells.

An avenue crosses the gap of the Great Wall and leads directly to the Bashang Grassland outside the Great Wall.

Looking at the broken Great Wall, Wu Huaiyu stopped to watch, feeling deeply moved.

Su Lie pointed to the Great Wall, "Since the Warring States Yan began to build the Great Wall here, after that, Zhao State, Qin State, Eastern Han Dynasty, Northern Wei Dynasty, Northern Qi Dynasty, six countries successively built the Great Wall,
At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the northern border was turbulent, and the Great Wall was abandoned here. Later, the Turkic people destroyed the city and broke through the pass. Later, Sogdian Hu settled in the pass. The business here gradually flourished. It is less than ten miles away from the south of the Great Wall pass. On both sides of the Qingshui River, there are not only many villages settled by the Sogdian Hu tribe, but also the city on the west side of the bridge, where merchants gather and are very lively. "

Livestock, fur, medicinal materials, and slaves from the grassland are exchanged here for silk, tea, salt wine, cloth, porcelain, medicine, grain, and ironware.

In the turbulent era and the special geographical location, this frontier land has now become a frontier hot spot.

In the past, relying on the Great Wall, related cities, fortresses, and beacon towers, together with the dangers of mountains and rivers, formed a defense system that relied on each other.

Now there is an opening in the Great Wall here, and the fortress Guancheng is no longer there.

Wu Huaiyu was not in a hurry to pass through the gap in the Great Wall.

"We want to repair the gap in the Great Wall, but we can build a closed gate here, which is convenient for defense and can also be used for trade and exchange."

Su Lie also fully supported it, and even suggested that the original defense system here should be repaired.

"Can,"

"When this pass city is restored, it can be called a martial arts city by relying on mountains and rivers, relying on danger, easy to defend and difficult to pass." Su Lie suggested.

Wucheng, named after Wu, naturally shows its importance, but at the same time, the pun also means that it was rebuilt by Wu Huaiyu, and Su Lie also flattered Huaiyu with all his heart.

"Hahaha, Wucheng, it's not bad."

Another member of Fan Yangzu's family who joined the army also smiled to please Wu Huaiyu and asked Wu Huaiyu to keep his calligraphy.

So Wu Huaiyu left two pictures under the dilapidated Great Wall.

One is a great river and mountain, and the other is Wucheng, which can be hung on both sides of Guancheng in the future.

"Report!"

"Lu Canjun is back."

Lu Chengye took a step ahead on the dam to meet the Sogdian Hus.

"The next official pays homage to the governor."

"How did Lu Canjun gain from this trip?" Huaiyu asked with a smile.

"Sabao He Mingyuan, the Sogdian Merchant Group in the west side of Qingshuihe Bridge, followed the officials and came to pay a visit to the governor."

"What kind of person is this He Mingyuan?"

The surname He Mingyuan is known to be one of the nine surnames of Hu in Zhaowu. Sogdian Hu is generally surnamed Shi, Kang, An, Mi, Shi, Cao and other nine surnames. He is also one of the nine surnames.

According to Lu Chengye, this He Mingyuan was also the descendant of the Sogdian Hu family who had moved eastward to the Central Plains for many years. He Mingyuan was born in the Turkic grasslands, then went to Luoyang to do business, and then came to Dingzhou, Hebei.

During the Daye period, he was also in charge of three post stations in Dingzhou. He built hotels next to the post stations for travelers and merchants to stay in. Brain, earned a lot of money, and later built a weaving workshop with [-] silk looms, bought many fields, and owned a large number of slaves.

However, after the chaos of the Sui Dynasty, He Mingyuan was also old, lost his official backing, and lost his original post post. In troubled times, his military career was like combing and banditry, and his family was reduced from Wanguan to poor and dilapidated.

The elderly He Mingyuan took the Sogdian Hu people in Dingzhou to migrate northward, first went to the Turks outside the Great Wall, sold cattle, horses, salt and wine in the grasslands, and recovered some vitality. Later, he took a fancy to Guangning, so he moved to settle here. Relying on the geographical advantages here, engaged in border trade, in just ten years, it has regained its prosperity, and its wealth has exceeded ten thousand.

Even though he is neither an official of the Turks nor an official of the Central Plains, he has recruited many Sogdians to settle here over the years, and he has now become the Sabao of this area.

"So, this He Mingyuan has the final say in this area of ​​Qingshui River and Yuyanshui?"

"really."

Wu Huaiyu admired this old man very much. It is not easy to make a comeback when he is old. Not only is he so successful in business, but he can even control such a [-]-mile radius and become the de facto lord of a place. That is not easy.

Sa Bao was originally the leader of the merchant group during the long-distance trade in Sogdian Hu. The Silk Road was not smooth, there would be thieves and bandits, and the goods in the long-distance trade were mostly precious goods such as jewelry, silverware and spices. The team needs a more capable leader.

Later, many Sogdian business groups began to settle in the Central Plains, and Sa Bao was not only the leader of the business group, but also the leader of the settlements.

These Sabao in the Sogdian settlement are bound by the blood of the clan, and then condensed by the Zoroastrian belief, they have become some very special existences.

Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Central Plains imperial court has even directly appointed some powerful sabao official positions, and even conferred titles such as governors. For example, the An family in Wuwei, Hexi, had hereditary sabao and governors in the Northern Wei Dynasty.

By the time of the Sui Dynasty, the Sabao, who was originally a Sogdian, had even been turned into one of the official positions of the imperial court, and became a Liu Nei rank official, which was specially awarded to those Sogdian leaders with prestige and influence.

The Sabao of He Mingyuan was not granted by the imperial court, but recommended by the Sogdians.

He controls the Sogdian autonomous settlement three hundred miles upstream of Yuyan River, and there are many small Sabao below.

"How many people and how many armed forces does he have?"

"It is estimated that there are about 800 Sogdian households in the entire Yuyanshui River Basin, many of whom migrated to this area from Youzhou, Dingzhou, Yizhou, and even Bingzhou, as well as Turks. They have a group of [-] people. Capricorn, "

Wu Huaiyu has also heard the name of Tuojie. These are very brave warriors. It is said that in the middle of the river in the Western Regions, the Sogdians are also divided into two types. One is the Sogdians, who are mainly nomadic.

The city-state Sogdians were good at doing business, while the nomadic Sogdians were very brave and capable of fighting.

Therefore, when the city-state Sogdians traded on the Silk Road, they all liked to hire nomadic Sogdians as guards. Those people were also called Tuojie, which means brave warriors.

In Chang'an, you can often see those Tuojie figures.

Soldiers and horses are strong, most of them are Zhejie, Zhejie people, their character is brave and fierce, they regard death as home, and have no previous enemies in battle.

Anyway, the word-of-mouth of these Tuojies as mercenaries is excellent. It is said that Zhejie originated from the Zheshi Kingdom, one of the 34 countries in the Western Regions, that is, the Stone Kingdom. mercenary.

Anyway, this is a group of mercenaries with a long history and a good reputation.

He Mingyuan was based in Yanshui for three hundred miles, and there were three thousand Sogdian households, and there were eight hundred Tuojie warriors, which is really amazing.

Gao Rong told Wu Huaiyu that anyway, they used to deal with the Sogdian Hus in Yuyanshui in the past. They had the impression that these people were shrewd and good at doing business, but their sex was capricious. But it's not easy to deal with.

Don't look at them as a group of businessmen, but no one dares to offend them easily.

In the troubled times at the end of the Sui Dynasty, the Sogdian Hu on the side of Yu Yanshui after the mountain was half an ally anyway.

The big man once had a deafening slogan that anyone who commits a crime against a strong man will be punished even if he is far away.

But Sogdhu believed in another sentence as the most reasonable saying, that is where the benefits lie, no matter how far or near.

From Hezhong to Hexi to Daibei and Liaoxi, these Silk Road merchants spread all over every corner, and gradually, their settlements were everywhere along the Silk Road.

In these settlements, there were not only Sogdians, but also the Tocharian Yanqis and Turks they brought, as well as many of their guards and mercenaries Tuojie.

Enter the Hexi Corridor from the Western Regions, pass through Dunhuang, Jiuquan, Zhangye, Wuwei, and then enter Chang'an and Luoyang via Yuanzhou in the southeast,
Or northeast to Lingzhou, Bingzhou, Yunzhou to Youzhou, Yingzhou,
Or from Luoyang via Weizhou, Xiangzhou, Weizhou, Xingzhou, Dingzhou to Youzhou and Yingzhou.

There are many Sogdian settlements along these lines.

Where there is a Sogdian settlement, there must be a Zoroastrian temple of Zoroastrianism, and Sabao has also become the leader of theocratic unity in the settlement.

During the Northern Wei Dynasty, there was a capital Sapao in the capital, and each prefecture also had a state Sapao. In the Sui Dynasty, the Sogdian settlement was changed into a county and a village.

The Sogdian settlements in the Yuyanshui area were not registered, and He Mingyuan, the sabao, was not conferred by the Tang Dynasty, and even these settlements were not converted into villages.

"Can you bring the words of the governor to He Mingyuan? What's his attitude?"

"He Mingyuan hopes to meet the governor face to face,"

Huaiyu chuckled a few times, this was already an attitude, and it seemed that he didn't intend to cooperate.

There are countless Sogdian settlements on the Silk Road, and they are also nodes in the international trade network of Sogdian merchants. Even in times of war, these Sogdian Hu leaders were not good. At that time, Yiwu was occupied by those Sogdian Hus. For example, Shi Wannian, a Sogdian Sabao, still occupied the seven cities of Yiwu at this time. The lord of the city, in command of the seven cities, belongs to the Turks.

It seems that He Mingyuan also wants to be like Yiwu Sabaoshi Wannian, and wants to separate the Yuyanshui area for autonomy. It would be better if he could give them the governor or something.

I thought it was beautiful.

But He Mingyuan felt that he occupied three hundred miles of land in Yanshui, and his relationship with Tuli Khan and Jieli Khan was not bad. He had dozens of Sogdian settlements, more than 3000 households of Sogdians, and [-] Tuo Jie warriors are fully qualified to negotiate conditions with Wu Huaiyu.

It's just that Wu Huaiyu doesn't like others to bargain with him.

(End of this chapter)