Walking west along the river from Shalingze and out of the clouds, you will truly enter the Hetao area. The scenery in front of you is very different from that in Yanmen County. Looking around, you can see farming farmers and hurried merchants everywhere.

The Hetao area was controlled by the Aries King of the Huns and King Loufan, and did not belong to the Han County. The Han people could only control Shangjun south of Hetao, and were limited to the south of the Great Wall and north of the Great Wall. It was generally called the Outer of the Frontier, and they were all controlled by the Huns.

You can also see Han people here, but these Han people are either merchants who come and go between the Han and the Huns or serfs. They were captured by the Huns and cultivated the land on both sides of the Yellow River for the Huns.

Looking at the green wheat seedlings and the people who were farming in the farmland, Liang Xiao couldn't help but sigh.

"If we cannot regain the land of Henan in this life and expel the Huns from the north of the desert, what will we see in the future Meng Tian under the nine springs?"

Mei Gao said with emotion: "Yes, such a good granary is in the hands of the Huns. It is like a sword hanging on the head of my great man, which may fall down at any time. If you want peace, you must take this sword into your own hands. 'Go out of the car, Peng Peng, and the city is in the city'. The ministers and officials in the court sit down and discuss the truth. The scholars and officials are eager for fame and fortune, so no one can share the worries of the country."

Liang Xiao reached out to hold Mei Gao's shoulder, shook it hard, and laughed. Young people were prone to accepting new things. Mei Gao's journey outside the border changed greatly from his thoughts when he was in Chang'an. Although he was a scholar, he was very proud at this moment.

"All have gone, we have a few romantic figures, and we still look at the present day." Liang Xiao shook the reins and rushed forward. The Langguan and the knights shouted and rushed forward. Even Ma Rong got out of the carriage, jumped onto the horse's back, mixed in with the crowd, and shouted happily.

The pedestrians on the roadside saw this group of young men with high spirits and avoided them. Although the smoke and dust kicked up by the horse's hooves, they were not angry at all, but instead showed a bit of praise.

Qin Shihuang visited Shuofang. He built a road here. Although nearly a hundred years have passed, the road is still spacious and flat. The poplars and willows on both sides are thick and thick. The green trees are shaded and are connected with the farmland in the distance. Walking through it, it is like in a painting. For a moment, Liang Xiao felt like he was returning to Guangling.

Liang Xiao and others rode lightly all the way. They took several miles for a while, and they stopped until the horses were slightly breathing.

Liang Xiao turned his eyes and saw a long convoy parked under the shade of a tree on the side of the road. Dozens of people were resting under the trees, some were drinking water, some were eating, and some stretched their arms and kicked their legs to relax their muscles. There were not only horses in the convoy, but also many camels, all carrying large and small packages. It seemed that they had been here after a long journey.

Liang Xiao winked at Mei Gao. "Go over and take a look?"

"It's just my wish." Mei Gao smiled, reached out and called Tongzhi, and walked towards the group of people together.

Seeing Liang Xiao and others approaching, the people who were resting immediately gathered over. Liang Xiao and others were brave and carried swords on their backs. These people were a little nervous, but they did not dare to cause trouble on their own initiative. They just raised their vigilance and stared at Liang Xiao and others.

Liang Xiao had long known that the north was in trouble, and the teenagers often robbed the road. Not only the Huns, but also the Han people often did this. So he only greeted Mei Gao and Tong Yi, and even Tu Niuer and Pang Shuo were staying in the distance. These people were merchants and would not take the initiative to hurt people unless they had to.

"Go and ask where they are coming from, where they are going, can you invite us to have a drink?" Liang Xiao tied his mount and signaled to the translator to come forward to ask.

Tongzhi jumped off his horse, stepped forward and shouted a few words. A middle-aged man walked out of the team and chatted with Tongzhi for a few words, with a very respectful expression. Tongzhi walked over and said with a smile: "They came from the west to go to Chang'an. I heard that you are from Chang'an, and they are very willing to invite you to drink wine and tell stories."

Liang Xiao smiled. Merchants from the Western Regions wanted to go to Chang'an to trade, so they naturally wanted to inquire about the market conditions in Chang'an.

Liang Xiao greeted Mei Gao to get off the horse, led the horse, and came to the middle-aged man, and bowed politely. The middle-aged man's face was dark, wrinkles were like a knife, his eyes were very alert, but his smile was very kind. He ordered people to lay a blanket on the ground, enthusiastically invited Liang Xiao and others to sit in, took out a few glasses, took out a bottle of wine, and spoke half-baked official words, saying with a smile: "The wine from An Liu, please ask the two men to taste it."

Mei Gao looked at the bright red wine and was reluctant to drink it. Liang Xiao took a sip and smiled and said, "Good wine."

"Mr. Lang is a knowledgeable person." The middle-aged businessman praised.

Seeing Liang Xiao drink, Mei Gao also took a sip, but frowned by the sour smell of wine. "What kind of wine is this?"

"Wine." Liang Xiao put down his wine glass and bowed to the middle-aged businessman. "Zhuxia's official words are so good, I believe I will often go to Chang'an. The boy Liang Xiao is also from Chang'an. He is now a man in the palace. He may have a chance to see him again in the future. I wonder if he can know his name."

When he heard that Liang Xiao was working in the palace, the middle-aged businessman's eyes lit up immediately and he quickly returned the greeting. "Guo Yu, who was originally a Han Chinese, was lost to the Huns for many years, and now he is trafficking. Chang'an will be visited once in three or five years. It is a blessing to be able to meet Liang Jun in three or five years."

"It's only been there every three or five years. Guo Jun's business is far away." Liang Xiao pointed to the camel horses and said half-jokingly: "I guess the income will be quite high after this trip."

Guo Yu shook his head repeatedly. "I made a lot of money, but it was limited to my wallet. In a few years, I will not be able to escape and I was thinking of going to Chang'an to be a resident. At that time, I will ask Liang Jun to take care of him." Why, is there too many thieves along the way or is the tariff too heavy?"

"There are all. It's a long story. Since Mr. Liang is interested, let's talk about it." Guo Yu said enthusiastically. He asked someone to send wine, food and food to Xie Guanglong and others. He started chatting with Liang Xiao and Mei Gao.

In Liang Xiao's plan, it would be a step sooner or later to open up the Western Regions. He had the opportunity to listen to the merchants talking about the situation in the Western Regions, but he couldn't ask for it. Although Mei Gao hadn't thought of this step, he saw that Liang Xiao was quite interested and wanted to hear it. Guo Yu determined from the words and deeds of the two of them that they were from Chang'an. Maybe he could use their power to settle in Chang'an in the future, so he was naturally very enthusiastic.

Guo Yu is a businessman. As the saying goes, businessmen make money by working as businessmen. They sell goods thousands of miles away. Not only are they exposed to wind and sun, but they also have to face robbery and blackmail by corrupt officials. They have to laugh at people when they see them, and be surprised when they hear the sound. This kind of hard work is not something that ordinary people can eat.

The reason why I can persist is of course profitable. Even with so many risks and countless levels of exploitation, the profit of Wanli's goods is still above twelve, which is much higher than the average commercial profit. Guo Yu was very modest and said that he had nearly 30% of the profit.

Such high profits are of course due to the shortage of goods. When selling goods from thousands of miles, they are of course selling luxury goods with high profits, such as fine wine, glass, jade, gold and silver ware in the Western Regions, silk and lacquer ware in the Han Dynasty. Among them, the profits of silk are the most considerable.

"You guys don't know that the thing that the Hu people in the Western Regions like the most is the silk of my Han Dynasty. A piece of high-quality silk sold to the Western Regions, and the price is still in short supply when it reaches three to five times. I heard from those Hu merchants that they sell silk to extremely far away places in the West, and the price can be even higher."

"Silk is just fabric, as for how expensive it is?" Mei Gao didn't quite understand.

"Hehe, my husband doesn't know anything. Westerners like silk, and in addition to the noble and exquisite silk, there is another reason."

“What’s the reason?”

"The nobles of Westerners like to wear purple clothes, but it is extremely difficult to color purple, but the purple on silk is the most gorgeous. Therefore, if you want to get good purple clothes, you must use silk. But silk is very difficult to get through thousands of miles of luck. Things are rare, so the price is high. I heard that even the nobles of Westerners are reluctant to destroy the worn silk clothes, but take off the silk thread, weave it back into clothes, and boast about it in front of others."

Mei Gao was stunned. Even Liang Xiao, who was mentally prepared for the Romans to like silk, was shocked. Silk is so popular in the West? No wonder these people still continue to follow despite the long journey and the dangers. It turns out that the profits are so generous.

If Liu Ling sells a few ships of silk to Rome every year, how could he not exchange for a few ships of gold? Compared to land, the carrying capacity and speed of the seaway are of great advantage. However, it will take three or five years for Guo Yu to go to the Western Regions. If he goes from the seaway, it will take less than half a year to go from Huainan to Rome. In addition, the time to wait for the monsoon, it will take less than two years to go back and forth.

"You have such a huge profit, the Huns won't spare you, right?"

"Isn't that true?" Guo Yu sighed and started to complain.

The officials of the Han people were greedy, but they did not rob them openly. At most, they calculated more when calculating taxes. The Huns did not. The tax they collected often reached more than 50%, which means that half of the goods were given to them. This is pretty good, and they robbed them when they were ruthless.

"In the past two years, the grassland has suffered a white-haired disaster, and the Huns have become even more fierce. They snatched everywhere. After crossing the thousand miles of Zhuoxie Mountain, I saw three caravans being snatched. Oh, it's so pitiful, people are chewed out of shape by wolves. But what's the solution? No matter which road you go, you have to pass through the territory of the Huns. Whether you can pass safely depends on luck."

Liang Xiao and Mei Gao looked at each other and smiled at each other.

The more brutal the Huns were, the more help the Han army would get when they counterattacked the Huns in the future. Not to mention anything else, there would be a lot of useful information from Guo Yu's mouth. This information was not found in the book, and every step was taken by Guo Yu himself.

With this thought, Mei Gao immediately took the initiative and said with a smile: "Mr. Guo has been to the grassland for so many years, and I believe he is very familiar with the situation on the grassland, right?"—

(To be continued.)
Chapter completed!