Soldiers come to the world

In the northwest corner of Chang'an City, there is a newly opened market. Originally, this area was a place for folk to hold sacrifices. As the temples gradually became dilapidated and deserted, this area became overgrown with weeds and became a wilderness haunted by wild foxes. field.

But since the year before last, the government has re-leveled this area and turned it into the Xinxi City of Chang'an. Some keen businessmen quickly bought land, and soon the land price here skyrocketed, and it was hard to find a place. After nearly two years of development, New West Market has begun to take shape.

The original desolate scene has disappeared. This piece of land covering thousands of acres is full of shops, mansions, restaurants, and hostels can be seen everywhere. Businessmen and customers are crowded shoulder to shoulder. The ships in Cao Hanoi were moored more intensively, and on the pier, civilian men unloaded bags of goods from the ships.

The West Market is mainly a market for the Hu people in the west, so the Hu merchants in this area are particularly dense. From time to time, you can see long caravans of camels coming from the west. Special people can be seen everywhere, and the barbarian jewelry shops and Persian mansions in the market are particularly eye-catching because of their exotic style.

Liu Jing's carriage slowly drove into the East City amidst the hustle and bustle. There were 30 cavalry guards guarding the Hanwang carriage. They were not dressed in military uniforms, but changed into ordinary people's attire. Such situations are commonplace in the West Market, and no one pays much attention to this closely guarded carriage.

Sitting on the carriage, Liu Jing silently watched the changes in the West Market. He deeply felt the great changes this year, which can be said to be earth-shaking changes, especially the prosperity of commerce, which reminded him of the time when he led the army through here. The desolation and dilapidation felt at the time, but now it has become the most prosperous market in the world.

"Fu Lang, look!" Sun Shangxiang shouted in surprise, pointing to a shop on the side of the road.

Liu Jing also saw it. This is a barbarian shop that has just opened, called 'Hu Renjian', which specializes in weapons from the Western Regions. There are two tall Persians in leather armor standing at the door, with machetes on their waists. imposing.

Collecting weapons has always been Sun Shangxiang's greatest hobby. Although she is no longer as enthusiastic about weapons as before, her hobby has not changed. There are no Western Region weapons in her collection. How could she not yearn for the weapon shop, she looked at her husband with fiery eyes.

Liu Jing understands his wife's mood, and he is also somewhat interested. Can you see the famous Guishuang sword and Damascus scimitar here?

"Go to this barbarian shop!"

After Liu Jing gave an order, the carriage immediately turned around and drove to an open space next to it. Several guards entered the shop first to make arrangements.

A moment later, a middle-aged Sogdian businessman came quickly to the carriage under the guidance of the soldiers, bowed and saluted: "Little citizen Shi Lin, see His Highness the King of Han!"

"Are you the proprietor of this shop?" Liu Jing was also interested in hearing that he could speak fluent Chinese.

"Yes! The villain is from Shi Guo. He has been doing business in Luoyang for ten years. He only moved to Chang'an half a year ago."

Liu Jing nodded and said, "I don't want to affect the market to do business. There are quiet rooms in the store."

"The villain understands, and the preparations are ready. Please enter the store through the side door, Your Highness."

There were people coming and going in front of the store, and it was easy to be recognized when walking from the front. Liu Jing got out of the carriage and brought Sun Shangxiang into the store from the side door, followed by several guards.

There are not many customers in the shop, most of them are in the outer hall. There is no one in the guest hall, only a few bearded women who are attracting customers. The proprietor Shi Lin led them to sit in the hall. Swords are not allowed, but crossbows and longarms are not allowed to be bought or sold, and this shop is no exception.

"Your Highness and Princess, please sit down!"

Shi Lin respectfully invited Liu Jing and Sun Shangxiang to sit down, but they were very curious about the swords hanging on the wall. , swords, bows and arrows, etc.

The appearance of the swords of the Western Regions is not much different from that of the Central Plains, but the exterior decorations are very gorgeous. Most of the scabbards are inlaid with gemstones and wrapped with gold wires. Many sword handles are even made of pure gold, which looks expensive.

However, Liu Jing is not concerned about the appearance, he is more concerned about the actual combat performance of the sword, and he knows that the reason why the Guishuang sword is famous is that it is made of the famous Uzi steel. The weapons made of this steel are hard, durable and extremely sharp After this steel ingot was sold to the West, the famous Persian knife and Damascus knife appeared again.

In fact, the Han army’s horse-chopping sword was also made by the same folding and forging technology, but the steel is slightly inferior to Utz steel, which is mainly due to the different grades of iron ore.

Liu Jing took down the sword and drew half of it slightly. He felt that the sword was shining and very sharp, but it was not made of Utz steel, but ordinary steel. He hung the sword back and looked at it a few more times, but he was not satisfied. , these swords can barely be regarded as superior swords.

"What do you think?" Liu Jing turned around and asked Sun Shangxiang with a smile.

Sun Shangxiang has already seen a lot about swords. Although these swords are good, they still can't catch her eyes. She shook her head and said disappointedly: "It's just so-so!"

At this time, the proprietor Shi Lin stepped forward and said with a smile: "These swords are just decorative swords for ordinary people to enjoy. There are more than a dozen top-quality swords in the shop. I would like to invite the princess to have a look."

Sun Shangxiang's eyes lit up immediately, and she hurriedly said, "Why don't you take out some good things?"

"His Royal Highness and Princess Wang please sit down for a while, and the villain will go to the warehouse to fetch it immediately."

Liu Jing and Sun Shangxiang sat down, the two orchids served milk tea, and the proprietor Shi Lin quickly went to the backyard to pick up the goods. After a while, Shi Lin brought two clerks to bring over a dozen wooden boxes and put them on the table one by one. Sun Shangxiang He opened a wooden box casually, and inside was a simple sharkskin sword with simple decoration.

Sun Shangxiang slowly drew out the sword, suddenly a gust of cold air came to her face, her beautiful eyes flashed, and she blurted out praise: "Good sword!"

Liu Jing also took the sword, and saw that the sword was indeed extremely sharp. He pulled out a hair from his head, lightly touched the blade, and the hair immediately broke into two pieces. As for the sword, Liu Jing looked at the sword body again, and saw that there were fine patterns distributed on the body of the sword, which is the characteristic of woozi steel.

The proprietor next to him smiled proudly: "This Guishuang sword is called sparrows, and there is a sound of sparrows when it dances. It was made by a famous craftsman in Guishuang 30 years ago, and the villain bought it from a Guishuang businessman the year before last. , is the top ten swords of our shop."

Although Liu Jing is interested in these swords, he does not intend to use them to equip his own army. He knows very well that this kind of sword can only be used as a ranger's sword or a collection, and cannot be used in the army. On the one hand, it is of course expensive to manufacture On the other hand, Utz steel is relatively hard and brittle, and its toughness is not enough. It is easy to break after being hacked many times in large-scale wars.

He took a sword flower and handed the sword to Sun Shangxiang. At this moment, he saw that there was a guard below who seemed to be reporting something, so he asked, "What's the matter?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, there is a chief steward of the Tao family in the outer hall, who said he has something important to report to His Highness."

The owner of the shop quickly interjected: "It's Mr. Li, the manager of Dow's Commercial Bank. He came to buy knives in the small shop. Does Your Highness want to see him?"

Since he is the chief steward of the Tao family, he can see him, so Liu Jing nodded, "Let him in!"

Not long after, a fat businessman in his fifties came up to the hall. He knelt down and saluted, "The villain pays homage to His Highness the King of Han!"

Seeing that he seemed familiar, Liu Jing asked with a smile, "I should have met Guanshi Li!"

"The villain and His Highness have met many times. Back then in Fancheng, His Highness was the Governor Cao. The first time he came to Dow Commercial Bank, he was received by the villain. Later, the villain became the manager of Jiangdong Commercial Bank and met His Highness a few times."

"I remembered, your name seems to be Li Ting, right?"

"Exactly!"

Liu Jing smiled and nodded, "Is Guanshi Li looking for something for me?"

Li Ting said hastily: "The villain and the second master came back from Dawan the day before yesterday."

The second master is Tao Li. Liu Jing suddenly remembered that he asked the Tao family to open up the western market. Unexpectedly, Tao Li went there in person, and even went to Dawan. He immediately became interested and asked, "Where is your second master?"

"The second master is in the business house, and the business house is not far ahead, less than a hundred steps away, do you want the villain to invite the second master over?"

Liu Jing thought for a while. After all, Tao Li was an elder, so he should visit him by himself, so he smiled at Sun Shangxiang, "Why don't we go to Tao's Firm first, and we'll look at the sword when we come back."

Sun Shangxiang liked all these superb swords very much, she only tasted one, and she didn't look at the others carefully, so she smiled and said, "Why don't Fulang go to the trading company first, and I will come here by myself later."

Liu Jing understood what she was thinking, so she nodded, and said to the guards behind her, "Protect the princess!"

Sun Shangxiang pushed Liu Jing, and said with a sweet smile: "Husband, hurry up! Their martial arts are not as good as mine, so why should they protect me? I have a sword in my hand, who dares to bully me?"

The proprietor Shi Lin said with a wry smile: "The princess is right!"

Liu Jing chuckled, got up and walked out of the shop, Manager Li hurriedly led the way, and soon left the shop.

Liu Jing got into the carriage and soon arrived at Dow's Firm located in the center of the West City, but it was not called Dow's Firm to the outside world, but Eastern Han Firm. This name was invented by Liu Jing, which means Eastern Han Kingdom.

The commercial firm occupies a huge area, at least [-] acres, mainly consisting of warehouses and mansion stores. It is particularly prominent in the West Market where every inch of land is expensive. Just from this large store, it shows their strong strength. Paying attention to appearance, merchants from the Western Regions are willing to sell their goods to them, making it the leading large shop in the Western Market.

When Tao Li heard that Liu Jing was coming, he rushed out to greet him. Seeing that he was about to kneel, Liu Jing hurriedly stopped him, "Second Uncle, don't do that!"

"Good! Good! Please sit inside, Your Highness."

Tao Li invited Liu Jing into the inner hall, the two sat down, Liu Jing asked with a smile, "I heard that Second Uncle just came back from Dawan Kingdom?"