My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 388 Blueprint
For this small tribe called "Zhebie", today is a big day that comes rarely in recent years.

——There are actually not many Han caravans.

Especially under the strict inspection system of the Han border, the Han caravans could not even transport rare goods such as salt and tea across the border;
Even the most common goods were extremely difficult to transport out of the Han Dynasty's borders, especially the northern border wall.

In other words, every caravan that can transport salt, tea and other goods across the border and arrive safely at the grassland is undoubtedly a hexagonal warrior.

——First of all, they need to have experience.

They knew where to escape from the border, which route would be safer, where there was water, and where there were suitable camps;
They even have a rough preparation for which route to take and which border generals and grassland tribes they will encounter.

In addition, they are also familiar with the communication and trading methods with nomadic tribes, and the ways of survival and travel on the grassland.

——Secondly, their "connections" must not be underestimated.

Even though they managed to sneak out of the country through back roads in most cases;
But they were able to carry goods from the inland of Han territory, reach the border unimpeded, and escape through the extremely strict border line of the Han Dynasty. It is impossible for them to rely entirely on official connections.

The border generals would never dare to send a caravan across the border in such a swagger.

But if they turn a blind eye and allow the caravans to sneak out of the border, they can get a huge benefit, and most border generals are willing to do so.

——The last, and most important point is that such Han caravans, whether on the grassland or in the Han territory, are a group of desperate criminals who cannot be easily offended!
Just imagine;
In a grassland full of bandits, roving bandits, and even "official bandits", what kind of good men and women could a caravan be that could safely reach the heart of the grassland from the border between Han and Xiongnu?
Even in the Han area where the security situation was relatively good, these caravans traveling around the world would inevitably pass through poor mountains and bad waters and encounter bandits and robbers.

The problem is coming.

Are these hundreds of big men in the caravan all guards capable of dealing with robberies by bandits and thieves?
Do not;
Not only that.

In extremely rare cases, they might even turn into bandits!
For example, in front of a mountain road that is located on a major traffic route and a must-go route, two caravans agreed to travel together and look after each other;
As a result, when they reached the other side of the mountain, what came out was not two complete caravans, but a broken caravan plus the cargo of two caravans.

The same is true on the grassland.

——These hundred or so people looked like civilians with swords, and were no match for the cavalry.

But their experience of traveling on the grasslands has enabled them to have the collective combat power to fight against the same number of cavalry without being at a disadvantage!

In addition, there are only five caravans like this in a year, and each trip can take three to five years;

If ordinary tribes are unlucky, they may not encounter this enemy for ten or eight years.

Therefore, for these caravans, even if the impulse to "kill and rob" is so strong, the tribes will reluctantly suppress their evil thoughts for the sake of sustainable development and trade with them honestly.

Take the small tribe called "Zhebie" for example. The last time a Han merchant caravan appeared in this tribe was seven years ago.

At that time, the headman was still a young man;
The chief clearly remembered that on that occasion, the Han caravan brought a lot of salt, tea, cloth, ceramics, and bronze offerings to the tribe.

The salt helped the Zhebie tribe survive many crises in the following years.

The tea saved the lives of many elderly nobles in the tribe from the brink of death.

In general - just that one transaction, the one truckload of goods exchanged from the Han merchant caravan allowed the entire Zhebie tribe to live in peace for several years.

It was also the stable development in those years that made the weak tribe, which once had a population of only a thousand and a force of only two hundred, develop into a tribe with more than a thousand soldiers capable of fighting.
A weak tribe that is slightly stronger.

As the current leader of the Zhebie tribe, the noble knew very well: if he could handle the situation well - if he could exchange for a sufficient amount of goods and avoid the covetousness of other large tribes, then this transaction would be an opportunity for the Zhebie tribe to grow stronger again.

In the face of such a "bulk trade" that concerns the survival of the tribe, the bronze sword from Qin Shaofu is just a small episode...

"Even the nobles in the Chanyu Court would praise the lamb meat from our tribe if they ate it."

Having said this, the nobleman did not forget to work. He cut a piece from the freshly roasted whole lamb and handed it to the merchant with a smile on his face.

The merchant was not pretentious. He took it and started to eat it. While eating, he did not forget to give a thumbs up and muttered praises for the hospitality of the Zhebie tribe and the deliciousness of the lamb.

But as he was eating, the merchant seemed to have noticed something and lowered his head a little embarrassedly.
He took out a cloth bag from his arms and spread it out, revealing a small handful of refined salt in the bag, which was whiter than snowflakes.

Then, under the greedy gaze of Chief Zhebie and everyone present, he lightly dipped the sizzling lamb meat in the fine salt.

Then he brought it to his mouth and ate it, and the merchant showed an expression of enjoyment.

Naturally, Chief Zhebie and every Zhebie warrior present also showed an expression of enjoyment.

——So fine, so white, so fine that there are no lumps at all, and the salt is whiter than a beauty’s back!

Even the nobles in the Shanyu's court cannot eat such good salt on a daily basis, right?
Even in the Han area, such fine salt can probably only be eaten by the Han emperor?

Chief Zhebie thought so.

But soon, Chief Zhebie gave up the idea of ​​asking about the price of such fine salt.

According to past practices, or the tacit understanding that has been established over the years between the grassland tribes and the Han caravans, the salt sold to the grassland tribes by Han caravans in units of "jin", especially in quantities of hundreds of jin, is actually coarse salt of slightly inferior quality.

This kind of coarse salt is light yellow in color overall, and most of it is not granular or powdery, but fist-sized lumps.

Although such lumps can be easily broken up with a gentle pinch of the hands, they will still clump together again if left for a long time.

In addition, the two sides also have another tacit understanding - most of the salt that can be transported out of the border in large quantities by caravans will be covered with a layer of dust;
When transporting goods out of the border, the Han caravans would not dump out the dust, but would mix it directly with the coarse salt.

Therefore, these coarse salts, which are dark yellow in color and tend to clump together, actually contain a certain amount of dust mixed in them.

Both parties are well aware of this, but neither mentions it. Everything is implied.

As for the fine flake salt that the merchants used to dip the barbecued meat, even without asking, Chief Zhebie could probably estimate its value.

——The bronze sword just now was probably converted into "one hundred gold" by the merchant, and was exchanged for 200 kilograms of coarse salt for the Zhebie tribe.

In other words, even the worst quality, most bitter, clumping, and soil-mixed coarse salt was traded at the same price as the same weight of gold between the grassland tribes and the Han caravans.

Don’t forget;
The two hundred kilograms of salt were finally obtained due to the strong demands of Chief Zhebie.

At the beginning, the merchant gave a driving code of only fifty kilograms.

If the transaction was really completed at the price of fifty kilograms of salt, a bronze sword worth a hundred gold coins would only be sold for the price of fifty kilograms of salt. That would be a gold-salt exchange ratio of 2:1!

Gold 2, Salt 1!

This is the case with the lowest quality coarse salt, let alone the finest white salt.

Gold 10 Salt 1?

Therefore, Chief Zhebie wisely suppressed his desire for the fine salt in the hands of the merchants, which seemed to be of good quality.

If it really doesn't work, I'll go find a merchant privately, buy a pound or half a pound, hide it and try it...

"I wonder if the guest brought any other goods besides the salt that the people of Wangong need most?"

"What other goods does the customer want to exchange for?"

"——You should be able to see that my Zhebie tribe is not a very wealthy or powerful tribe."

"Apart from the cattle, sheep, horses, and furs that every bow-drawing people have, I'm afraid my Zhebie tribe can't offer anything else that will please our guests."

After three rounds of wine, the meat has five flavors;

The warriors and women of the Zhebie tribe began to dance around the campfire.

Meanwhile, Chief Zhebie and the Han merchant, who were sitting at the main table, finally started talking about business.

Chief Zhebie's remarks were a relatively standard opening statement.

The Han merchants were mentally prepared: except for a few large tribes that could produce precious metals such as gold and copper, the vast majority of other small and medium-sized tribes on the grassland could only produce cattle and sheep.

As the saying goes: No matter how wealthy you are, the hairy part doesn’t count.

From this perspective, the vast majority of tribes on the grassland are actually extremely poor.

But just think about it: the Han merchant caravans went through untold hardships to sneak out of the border with dozens of carts of goods, and traveled thousands of miles across the grassland. It was naturally impossible for them to drive thousands or tens of thousands of cattle and sheep back to the border with only a hundred or so guards.

In fact, cattle and sheep were the only currency that the Han caravans did not accept on the grasslands.

There’s no way—I really can’t take it back.

But this is not right.

——Since most of the tribes on the grassland only have cattle and sheep, which can barely have some value;
And the Han merchant caravans would not accept cattle, sheep or livestock as payment;

So how do the two parties complete the transaction?

The answer is: As an experienced smuggler, Han Shang knew very well how to get what he wanted from the grassland tribes.

For example, the bronze sword just now;
Another example……

"Your Majesty, I believe you understand the rules of our Han merchants."

“—— No matter how good or abundant the cattle and sheep are, we cannot bring them back to the Han area.”

"And the more there are, the harder it is to transport back."

With these words, the question of the headman Zhebie was answered, and the Han merchant put down the piece of meat in his hand with reluctance.
He wiped his hands carelessly on his body, and then let out a long sigh in a hesitant manner;
After a long while, Fang spoke again: "I should have everything the king wants."

"There are tea leaves that can help with bowel movements, cloth that can be made into clothes, and even the finest silk."

"If the king needs it, I also have exquisite ceramics and bronze vessels for sacrificial offerings?"

Hearing this, the Zhebie chief just smiled bitterly and shook his head, making it clear that the Zhebie tribe did not need any luxury goods.

——That is exclusive to large tribes.

A small tribe like the Jebie tribe had neither the qualifications nor the ability to own luxury goods such as silk, ceramics, and bronze sacrificial vessels.

For the Zhebie tribe, being able to exchange for some survival supplies was already a huge surprise.

Seeing Chief Zhebie's reaction, the Han merchant had obviously expected this and immediately nodded with a smile.

After thinking for a while, he turned his upper body slightly towards the direction of the Zhebie leader.
Then he lowered his voice and said, "If the king is willing, I can accept the horse."

"——There are about a hundred people in my caravan, each with two horses, so a total of about two hundred horses."

"If there is a healthy, young stallion, the price will surely satisfy the king..."

As soon as the merchant said this, Chief Zhebie's pupils shrank visibly!
The look he gave Han Shang was no longer as clear as before.

--horses!
——Especially a stallion that can be used for breeding horse breeds!

Just like the Han people would never allow tea seeds and weapons to flow out of the border no matter what;
The Huns on the grasslands would never allow any healthy stallion to flow into the Han area in any form!

But then again;

It was the consensus of the Xiongnu Empire's high-ranking officials not to allow male horses to flow into Han territory;
For a small tribe like the Zhebie tribe, let alone selling stallions - even if the entire tribe migrated and became dependent on the Han dynasty, it was just a matter of whether the price was right.

Plus, Han merchants made it clear that the price would be good;
For a time, the Zhebie merchants were caught in a dilemma.

——If a stallion flows into the Han area from this area and is eventually discovered by the Chanyu Court, all the tribes in this area will face disaster without exception.

If you are lucky, you will be blackmailed by the Shan Yu court, most of the cattle and sheep will be stolen, and you will be back to the time before liberation overnight;

If their luck is a little worse, the three horses will be like locusts on the border, devouring the entire Zhebie tribe without leaving anything behind.

But Chief Zhebie is very clear: this is both a risk and an opportunity.

As long as you grasp it and grasp it well, you can exchange it for enough supplies, or even establish a stable and long-term trade relationship with this caravan;

It is not impossible for the Zhebie tribe to gradually grow into a medium-sized tribe, or even a powerful tribe...

Chief Zhebie thought for a long time.

After a while, he raised his hand and touched his neck, as if to make sure the head was still in place.
After a while, he touched his stomach again, as if he was imagining a wonderful life in the future, where he could eat and drink enough every day, and even eat delicious food and drink spicy drinks.

In the end, greed trumped caution;
Chief Zhebie took a deep breath, reached out and tightly grasped Han Shang's wrist.

"Three!"

"Only three stallions!"

"Also, I'll give you another 200 old horses, so you can hide these three stallions in them!"

(End of this chapter)