Tang Dynasty Hidden Guards

Luoyang, the capital of the Southern Capital, had three markets: the South Market, the North Market, and the West Market. The South Market was the largest, with thousands of shops of various kinds, divided into more than a hundred rows, with twenty or thirty shops of the same kind in each row.

Xue Wei went to carry swords, bows, and arrows. The Tang Dynasty had strict control over weapons. The Tang Code clearly stipulated that commoners were prohibited from possessing heavy weapons such as armor, crossbows, spears, and halberds. If someone privately possessed one set of armor, they would be exiled three thousand li away. If someone privately possessed three sets of armor, they would be hanged.

Ordinary people could only buy and sell bows and arrows, swords, shields, cudgels, and short spears; hunters, for example, needed short spears.

The South Market was teeming with people, with a constant stream of horse-drawn carts and camels laden with goods. Merchants came from all over the country, including many from foreign countries such as Sogdians, Tocharians, Indians, Japanese, Silla people, Southeast Asian merchants, and Arab merchants, as well as many dark-skinned, tall Kunlun slaves.

There are two types of Kunlun slaves. One type is the African Kunlun slave, which was resold by Sogdian merchants. They are tall and strong, and usually kept in the mansions of the powerful and wealthy.

Another type is the Indians, who were brought here by Gandhara merchants. Gandhara is today's capital of Pakistan, Istanbul. Thirteen hundred years ago, the Indians and Pakistanis had a feud.

Indians are short, ugly, and unappealing, so they are sent to farms.

In addition, Silla maids were also very popular among the powerful and wealthy; Silla maids are the same as today's Korean girls.

To the left of the main gate of Nanshi, there was a shop selling exotic fruits. Xue Wei was intrigued and went inside. The fruits were mostly from the Western Regions and Southeast Asia.

He spotted what he wanted at a glance: lemons, which were called agate fruit in the Tang Dynasty. He had seen them in a crime drama series from later generations, where lemons were said to effectively remove the odor of corpses.

"Are there any more of these?" Xue Wei asked, pointing to the four lemons in the box.

"These are the only four left. I can't sell them. I brought twenty boxes to Luoyang and sold them for three whole months. Now I only have this one box left. I will never order any more."

"Where do you source your goods? From Southeast Asia?"

"No, they're sourced from Guangzhou."

Xue Wei nodded. "Give them all to me! How much are these four?"

The merchant's eyes lit up, and he quickly stuffed the box into Xue Wei's hands.

"Here's your capital, twenty strings of cash!"

"How much?" Xue Wei's eyes widened suddenly.

"Twenty strings of cash. That's my cost price. I won't even mention the transportation, icing, and warehousing costs, but I can't sell at a loss!"

Xue Wei knew why they couldn't sell them; they were simply too expensive, five strings of cash each. Aside from the wealthy and powerful who were curious enough to buy them to try, who would buy them as ordinary people? Moreover, the wealthy and powerful would inevitably feel cheated after trying them and naturally wouldn't buy them again.

"Why is it so expensive?"

The merchant curled his lip. "These were transported from the far west by the Arabs. Most of them rotted on the way, and the rest were preserved by putting them in ice. The Arabs don't do business at a loss, so the cost of the rotten fruit is naturally borne by the good fruit. Plus, it's from such a far away place, and they have to preserve it with ice, so how can it not be expensive?"

I understand, but it's really expensive. A box of four costs twenty strings of cash. In the end, Xue Wei didn't haggle. He left twenty taels of silver, picked up the last box of lemons, and left.

...........

Xue Wei inquired along the way and soon found the sword and bow shop in the southwest corner of the South Market. There were about a dozen shops selling weapons, and business was good. The Tang Dynasty had a strong martial spirit, and most middle and upper-class men carried swords.

"Young master, would you like to buy a sword?"

A shop assistant greeted them warmly, "Come and have a look at our shop!"

Xue Wei ignored him. He went to the largest weapons shop, looked up at the shop name, "Baigongzhai", nodded, and went inside.

The shop was a large hall, about a hundred square meters in size, with the walls covered with all kinds of weapons, mainly swords, and six large baskets on the floor, each containing more than a hundred swords.

A waiter greeted them with a big smile; he was wearing a brand-new waiter's uniform and looked like a new employee.

"The shop has swords of all styles and grades. Cheap, ordinary swords only cost a few strings of cash, and they are all in the basket, not exceeding ten strings of cash. The better ones are hung on the wall."

Xue Wei examined several swords hanging on the wall and noticed that none of them had been sharpened. He frowned. "Swords that haven't been sharpened?"

The shop assistant blinked and cautiously explained, "The swords in the main hall are ceremonial swords, for decoration. If you wish to buy a battle sword, please go to the inner room."

Xue Wei entered the inner room, where only a dozen or so swords were displayed on the wall. Xue Wei drew a sword and examined it. Although it was sharpened, he was not satisfied with any of them. Not only were they light, but the iron was also of poor quality, appearing somewhat porous.

The shop assistant couldn't handle the customers buying swords, so he whispered a few words to the shopkeeper in the corner who was busy calculating accounts. The short, fat shopkeeper looked up at Xue Wei, who was looking at the swords on the wall with his back to him.

The shopkeeper stood up and walked forward with a smile, "What kind of sword would you like, young master?"

Xue Wei turned around and was about to speak when the shopkeeper saw Xue Wei's face clearly. He looked as if he had seen a ghost, took a step back, and his expression changed drastically.

"Young...Young Master!"

"Does the shopkeeper know me?"

The shopkeeper was speechless, unable to utter a single word. Finally, he reacted, stepped forward, and grabbed Xue Wei's sleeve. "Young master, please come with me!"

Xue Wei gently pulled his hand away, hesitated for a moment, and then followed the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper carried a lantern and went to the back warehouse. The warehouse covered an area of ​​more than 300 square meters. It had no windows and was pitch black even in broad daylight. Only the lantern in the shopkeeper's hand provided light. The light was dim, and Xue Wei's eyes liked the dim environment. He felt particularly comfortable in it.

He looked around and saw that the warehouse had more than a dozen rows of wooden shelves with various sword and knife cases on them. Many of the sword cases were covered in dust. Various weapons and trinkets were also hanging on the walls, including knives, swords, bows and arrows, short spears, throwing knives, grappling hooks, water spikes, and so on.

"Shopkeeper, what do you want to say?"

The shopkeeper's gaze remained one of shock. He stared at Xue Wei for a long time before sighing softly, "Young Master, we all thought you had died at the Dali Temple."

Xue Wei pondered for a moment and said, "Let me make this clear first. I was given arsenic in Dali Temple Prison. Although I didn't die, my memory was destroyed. I can't remember any people or things from before. So who are you, and what is your relationship with me?"

The shopkeeper gave a wry smile. "Young master, have you really forgotten? I am Hu Ping! This is your shop."

Xue Wei was stunned. Was this his shop?

Seeing Xue Wei's confusion, the shopkeeper explained, "This is a shop left by your grandfather, and your father left it to you. The shop is registered in your grandfather's name with the government, so it wasn't confiscated. After you went to prison, your brother temporarily took over its management."

"My brother?" Xue Wei didn't know he had a brother.

"The second young master's name is Xue Chongjian. He is a palace guard. It seems he went to Chang'an on a business trip and should be back in the next couple of days."

Xue Wei looked around the shop again. It was a pleasant surprise that the largest weapons shop in the area was actually his own property!

"Besides this arms shop, do I have any other businesses? I mean, no other businesses that have been confiscated."

"There's also a wine shop in the West Market, which, like the weapons shop, is named after your grandfather and eventually passed down to you."

Xue Wei realized that he no longer needed to feed the horses, as he no longer required the monthly allowance of three strings of cash. However, he could pretend for a couple more days.

Xue Wei walked among the rows of wooden shelves, the densely packed sword cases on them reminding him of the wand shop in Harry Potter.

"Are these swords all very expensive?"

"The cheapest is thirty strings of cash. This is the foundation of our shop's century-old heritage. We have long swords and short swords, wide swords, narrow swords and thin swords, three-jin swords, five-jin swords and ten-jin swords. The materials include the best fine iron, fine steel and wrought iron. There are also all kinds of knives. There are at least several thousand weapons in this room."

The cheapest would cost at least thirty strings of cash, and several thousand weapons? Xue Wei closed his eyes briefly to calm himself.

He opened his eyes, thought for a moment, and asked, "You just mentioned a century-old shop, wasn't that founded by my grandfather?"

Shopkeeper Hu Ping smiled and said, "This shop has existed since the Sui Dynasty. It was originally owned by He Ruobi. Later, it was owned by Wang Shichong's nephew, Wang Renzhe. After that, it changed hands several times. Fifty years ago, your grandfather bought it, and the business has always been very good."

"Is it both land and storefront?"

"Yes, both the land deed and the house deed are with the second young master now. Back then, my father went to the city government with the young master's grandfather to change the house deed. My father was the first manager, and he did it for thirty years. I am the second manager, and I have been the manager for twenty years."

"I see that only ordinary swords and knives are sold outside. Who buys the weapons in this room?"

Hu Ping brought out a thick ledger. "This is a record of orders from major families and powerful clans. The ones sold outside are for ordinary people, but the families and powerful clans don't care for them. They will send orders directly to us, and we will deliver them to their door. Young Master, this is our real business. If we relied on those inferior swords outside to make a living, we would starve."

Xue Wei then remembered the purpose of his visit to the weapons shop and laughed, "I had forgotten, I came to buy a sword."

"I know, young master will definitely need weapons after he comes out!"

Hu Ping arrived at a very old cabinet with a large lock on it. He took out a key, unlocked the brass lock, and opened the cabinet door. A refreshing scent of camphor wood wafted out.

"This huge box!"

The shopkeeper pointed to a large, dark box at the bottom of the cabinet, covered with a thin layer of dust. He squatted down, blew the dust away, patted the box, and said with a smile, "This is your weapon, young master. I've been keeping it for you!"

Xue Wei was still a little dizzy, as if he had been hit by a pie falling from the sky. He thought he had nothing, but it turned out that there were some things he just didn't know.

====

[Three updates on weekends, two updates on weekdays]