Great Tang’s Talented Little Landlord

With the sound of morning drums, the city gate of Chang’an City slowly opened. Bai Mobi looked up at the dark city wall in front of him. Long spits out one mouthful of impure air, Chang ‘an City, finally arrived again.

Bai Mobi is a merchant from Kuche country. He goes back and forth between Kuche and Ch_ng’n every year, selling all kinds of goods.

From Kuche Wangzhiyan City, go east to Ch_ng’n for seven thousand 480 li.

It takes almost three months to travel on the road to reach the distant destination. The caravan led by Bai Mobi travels between spring and summer, returning once a year to sell goods.

In this era, the long journey is definitely an unimaginable arduous journey for others. Had it not been for this Silk Road, it would have brought him high profits that he could not refuse, I am afraid he would have been unable to persist long ago.

Bai Mobi is almost 30 years old this year. He doesn’t know how many years he has run on this trade route from Kuche to Chang’an City. The long journeys make him look like he is in his 40s and 50s. The wind and sand on his face are all the vicissitudes of time.

Actually, Bai Mobi could not have worked so hard. The surnamed Bai in Kuche is the same as the surnamed Li of Great Tang. In Kuche, Bai is the transliteration of Puspa in Sanskrit, meaning “flower for Buddha”.

It’s a pity that the current King Kuche is indulging in beauty, singing and dancing, and ignores the government. As a result, the Kuche regime has actually fallen into the control of Kuche State Sangnari.

Bai Mobi, these royal people, were suppressed by the state minister Nali, and their lives became difficult.

As a last resort, Bai Mobi, who was only 18 years old, was forced to follow the caravan in the Western Regions and began to try to learn business in order to support his family.

Hufen, benzoin, and good horses produced by Kuche can be sold at high prices after being trafficked to Ch_ng’n. And the silk porcelain sold back from Ch_ng’n is even more precious than gold.

In a blink of an eye, Bai Mobi has been on this Silk Road for nearly ten years. Many years of arduous business journeys have saved him a lot of Family Property. Even in Kuche, Bai Mobi is a big businessman.

Originally this year, Bai Mobi wanted to arrive in Chang’an City before the Spring Festival. He used to spend several times in Chang’an City during the Spring Festival. The bright night of thousands of lights made him very fascinated.

It’s a pity that more than a dozen camels in the caravan on the road had some minor problems, which delayed the trip for a few days and missed the opportunity to celebrate the Spring Festival in Chang’an City again.

Bai Mobi now just wants to enter the city as soon as possible, go to the Xi Market warehouse to unload the goods, and then go to the foreigners wine shop to drink a glass of wine to relieve the pain of the three-month journey.

There are many caravans waiting to enter the city. There are guards at the city gate to check the entry documents and public inspections. Officials of the Ch_ng’n City Departments check the goods of the registered caravans, so the speed of entering the city is not Too fast.

The caravan of Bai Mobi is not small in size, with nearly 100 people, more than 300 camels, and it carries goods worth tens of thousands of dollars. He estimated the sun and felt that within an hour or two, the caravan might not be able to enter Chang’an City.

Thinking of this, Bai Mobi felt a little irritable, but he really wanted to go to the foreigners wine shop to have a glass of wine right away.

When I was getting annoyed, I saw a group of nearly a hundred Carriages coming from a distance, without queuing up, and went straight into the city from Mingde Gate. The soldiers who guarded the gates didn’t even want to see them and didn’t stop them at all.

What makes Bai Mobi even more strange is that these Carriage are actually four wheels, the volume of the carriage is also much larger, and there are picks of various colors inserted on the Carriage.

He simply jumped off his horse, walked to a soldier in front of the gatekeeper, and gave a salute to his chest: “This army master, please, dare to ask why these Carriages can go directly into the city without inspection. “

The gatekeeper was an old man, and he was kind to them, the Western Region caravans. Seeing him asking questions, he could not help but said with a smile: “The Shopkeeper hasn’t come to Ch_ng’n for a long time. Yes?”

“Yes, I left Ch_ng’n in April of the second year of Zhenguan. Someone is a businessman from Kuche country. It is not easy to go back and forth.” Bai Mobi exclaimed.

Old soldier nodded: “No wonder you don’t know, these Carriage are not shipped, they are all public Carriage in Chang’an City, so there is no need for inspection.”

“Dare to ask what is the meaning of this public carriage?” Bai Mobi quickly asked.

The old soldier explained: “Hehe, presumably this Shopkeeper also knows that Ch_ng’n is big and difficult to live. In the huge Chang’an City, it is not easy to travel without horses. These public carriages, It is Count of Hu, a new thing that was made. This public carriage, anyone can ride, two cents at a time, you can take you to your destination, which is very convenient.”

Bai Mobi has never heard of the Count of Hu. After all, when he left Chang’an City last year, Li Wangyou had just been appointed Feudal County by Li Erzhi.

Bai Mobi wanted to come, this Earl nobleman should be a nobleman in Chang’an City. This has nothing to do with him, so he doesn’t care.

“Is there such a good thing? Then dare to ask these Carriage plug-in, different color picks, what does it mean?”

“That represents the public carriage driving route, Different colored public carriages have different routes in Chang’an City. Shopkeeper’s should go to Xi Market? Did you see the green pick-up Carriage? Sit on the Carriage, and you can directly send you to Xi Market.”

Bai Mobi thanked the old man, pondered it, and simply greeted the steward in the caravan. He is going to enter the city first and go to Xi Market foreigners wine shop to rest. After bringing the caravan into the city, he will go to the warehouse to meet the caravan.

After explaining the caravan management, Bai Mobi brought a servant. In front of the Mingde gate, according to the old man’s account, he reached out and stopped a Carriage with a green pick.

“This Master has invited you, someone is going to Xi Market, but you can take your car?” Bai Mobi greeted Carriage’s husband politely.

“Yes, come up here. Each person has two essays and throw them directly into the box.” Seeing him in this outfit, the driver of Carriage knew that it was the first time he took the Carriage and introduced with a smile. “Master, please take good care of your monkey. Dont let it disturb other guests later.”

The monkey mentioned by Carriage is the monkey raised by Bai Mobi. He is now squatting on him. On the shoulder, zhi zhi cried and looked around.

This monkey was not raised by him as a pet, but as a “guard” in the caravan as a guard.

The Silk Road from Chang’an City to the Western Regions was not smooth sailing.

In addition to deserts, mountains, grasslands, wilderness… these harsh tests of nature, the biggest enemy of caravans is bandits.

The merchants on the Silk Road carry mostly silk, pearls, gems, Gold Coins and other things. They are precious and relatively lightweight, which are very easy to transfer and sell stolen goods. They are the most attractive in the eyes of bandits.” Fatty”.

In order to protect yourself, the caravans that travel to and from the Western Regions are not small in size, and they all have certain armed forces.

The monkey is an animal that is clever and alert, and has great energy. Most caravans in the Western Regions will raise monkeys to guard them at night to prevent wild beasts or bandits from attacking the caravans.

This is why archaeologists of later generations unearthed many figurines carrying monkeys and camels on the Silk Road of the Western Regions.

While Wu Chengen wrote “Journey To The West”, Sun Wukong’s prototype monkey actually originated from the monkey raised by caravans on the Silk Road.

Of the caravans of Bai Mobi, there are naturally monkeys, and because this monkey is very clever, Bai Mobi loves it very much. Therefore, he usually likes to bring this monkey with him wherever he goes.

“haha, don’t worry, this monkey is very well-behaved and won’t cause trouble.”

“That’s good.” Yufu nodded didn’t say much, waving his horse whip Carriage slowly. Move slowly.

Bai Mobi and the servant sat in the carriage, looking around curiously, thinking that everything was very novel. He didn’t expect that he didn’t come to Chang’an City in just six months, and there was such a novelty as a public carriage.

Carriage moved forward, and soon Bai Mobi discovered something new…