In the first year of Xuanhe of the Great Song Dynasty, the ninth year of Liao Tianqing, the fifth year of Xia Yongning, and on the fourth day of the seventh month, Sun Tu's caravan of Liao finally arrived in Western Xia after a long journey of more than a month.

After going through several hardships and dangers, passing through the vast Gobi Desert, and crossing the Muna Mountain, which is still covered with snow in June and July, they were finally able to walk out of the deserted area, and gradually saw some figures.

This is a city with a circumference of nearly 20 miles, the city walls are all made of loess rammed, as high as seven or eight zhang, a glance from a distance, it is enough to make people feel the solemnity and majesty of this city. In fact, this kind of city is larger than the ordinary county town in the Great Song Dynasty, and even Qingzhou City is much taller than it, but because of the environment it is in—except for the high mountains and deserts, only one city is isolated among them—at this time, it looks particularly imposing in the eyes of the merchants, and it also makes people feel a sense of dependence and security. At least once you enter this city, you don't have to worry about being attacked by wild beasts or horse bandits.

However, when the word horse bandit came to mind, the hearts of the people who were already approaching the gate of the tall city guarded by dozens of soldiers were still a little nervous. If it was really as they suspected, the gang of horse bandits under the pseudonym of Gray Wolf was a disguise from the Western Xia army, and once this matter was revealed, all of them would have no choice but to die.

But since they had all arrived, there was no possibility of turning back timidly, and after a few glances at each other, the first few merchants all strode forward with apprehension.

The Western Xia army defending the city was quite enthusiastic about them, and the officer at the head only inquired and checked the goods and horses that everyone was carrying, as well as the relevant places, and then let everyone enter the city after collecting a large amount of entry fees. In fact, what the border city and the common people and defenders are most happy to see is the arrival of the caravan, because their arrival means a large number of goods and business opportunities, which can make the entire border city more and more lively and lively.

And when he saw the merchant at the head paying the soldiers, Sun Tu was still a little stunned, the copper coin he paid was actually the treasure money of the Great Song Dynasty, not the precious metals such as gold and silver as he imagined, or the self-made coins of the Liao Kingdom.

In fact, although the three countries of the Central Plains, including Tubo and Nanzhao and other small countries, have all minted their own coins, the quality of their copper coins is very unstable due to the lack of craftsmanship and other aspects, and they are far less than the treasure coins of the Great Song Dynasty. This is not a problem in their respective countries, but once they carry out cross-border trade, they cannot convince other countries, so for decades, whether it is Liaoxia or other countries, they have all formed a tacit understanding, and cross-border transactions only use the treasure money of the Song people!

It can be said that today's Great Song Dynasty is the most advanced existence in the entire era in terms of economy, culture, science and technology, etc., and even in terms of influence, it is greater than the lighthouse country thousands of years later, but today's Great Song Dynasty is a little weak militarily, so even if it is far superior to other countries in other aspects, it can only protect itself and cannot really be the so-called world policeman like the lighthouse country, in fact, it is the biggest-stirring stick in the world.

At this time, Sun Tu didn't know such a general trend, although he felt strange, he didn't take it too seriously, and soon entered this Guancheng called Wurahai with the team.

Compared with the cities of the Great Song Dynasty and the southwestern capitals of the Liao Kingdom, the interior of this city, which looks like a bit of scale on the outside, is very desolate, except for the continuous military camps, only a few hundred sparse dwellings scattered in the southwest of the city.

From the gate to the streets of the city, there were not many people to be seen, and the few who were dressed in old clothes were all dressed in tattered clothes. However, the figures of ordinary people here are stronger than those of the Song soldiers, with red-black faces, bronzed skin, and exposed muscles, which give people a rugged and heroic atmosphere.

While Sun Tu was still appreciating the folk customs of the Western Xia Kingdom, the other merchants had already begun to prepare for their next move. They soon found the only inn in the city. Although the inn occupies a huge area, but the guests are pitiful, as soon as he saw a caravan of more than 100 people coming today, the shopkeeper was already so happy that his eyes were almost gone, and he hurriedly nodded and stepped forward to greet him personally, and the guys on the side didn't need to be ordered, so they helped the caravan guys to take the horses and other livestock to the back and raise them in captivity.

The merchants have long been tired of sleeping in the open for more than a month, and now they are naturally relaxed when they enter the city, and they quickly let the innkeeper bring up the good wine and food. The other party was even more overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly ran to the back and instructed the kitchen staff to make the best wine and food as soon as possible.

After he had arranged all these things, several businessmen chatted with him about the specific situation and business opportunities of this Wurahai City. This is one of the purposes for which they spend a lot of money as soon as they arrive at the store, and only such innkeepers are the best eyes and ears in the city.

Holding a bag of copper coins handed over by the merchants, he smiled even more, and immediately introduced the city to them in a somewhat stiff Chinese (just as Song Baoqian is used for trade between several countries, the dialogue between several countries is also accustomed to using the official dialect of the Great Song Dynasty, which is also a manifestation that the cultural and economic soft power of the Song Kingdom is too much stronger than that of other countries): "Our Wurahai City is just a border military city, except for the garrison, the other population is only three or five thousand. Originally, because of its proximity to the Great Liao, caravans could often come, which attracted some local merchants to try their luck here. However, since five years ago, after the emergence of horse bandits in the Gobi Desert ahead, caravans have become less and less, so gradually, merchants have come less, and even the southwest side of the country, which has been open for decades, has to be completely closed. As he spoke, he sighed a little dejectedly: "Think about the past, my store could receive hundreds of people a month, but now, it is difficult to receive hundreds of people a year." ”

When everyone heard this, they each felt a little uneasy. Fortunately, the other party did not dwell on the matter of the horse bandits, and then laughed again: "But it is good luck for you to come here in the next few days, because in five or six days, it will be the semi-annual big market day in my country, and many people in the vicinity will come to the city to buy and exchange for some things, if you are not in a hurry to leave, maybe you can change some good things." ”

Although currency was popular thousands of years ago, it was still impossible for some remote people in the Western Xia to take out coins casually, so the tradition of bartering was retained in these markets. And after learning about this, several businessmen showed a hint of joy, this is a good opportunity to make a fortune and pick up the leaks.

In terms of knowledge, scheming, eloquence, etc., these merchants are far more than ordinary people, and this refers to those who are in the city and have seen and eaten. And the remote herdsmen of the Xia Kingdom who would come to Wurahai City to trade next were completely a group of simple-minded guys, and in the eyes of the merchants, they were clearly a group of fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered. If they seize the opportunity, they can all exchange a lot of good things from those people at a very low price, even if they exchange a fur for a large piece of gem or something, it is very possible, not to mention others.

Sun Tu was listening, and he also saw the greed flashing in the eyes of those merchants, and he didn't feel a little funny. Originally, it seemed that they were planning to leave the Wurahai Sea as soon as possible, and rush to the larger city in the rear as soon as possible to do business. But now it seems that these people will have to stay here for a while.

In addition, he also saw that the innkeeper was also saying this with his own purpose, after all, this caravan of more than 100 people stayed in the inn, and the daily consumption of people eating and horses was a large amount, and he would naturally be able to make quite a lot of profits from it. It can be said that he is the one who makes a lot of money, at least others haven't exchanged for good things, and he already has a lot of money in his pocket.

However, Sun Tu was not too interested in this, and he did not come to Western Xia to make money, but to disturb the Xia Kingdom, so that he would not be able to make trouble for at least a few years. And to do this, a small border town like Wurahai has no value at all, and you have to go to the important places of the Xia Kingdom, such as Yinzhou, Lingzhou and the like.

As he was thinking about how to say goodbye to them, and at the same time borrowing some money from the emperor, the innkeeper over there had already brought a jar of good local wine and a variety of original local delicacies.

The people, who were already hungry, did not say any more, but sat down together to drink wine and eat meat. Of course, the taste of the wine here is not good, not only sour, but even a little bitter, but fortunately, it is strong enough that as long as you get used to its taste, it will have a different flavor. As for the dishes, they are actually meat, and almost all of them are grilled, and there is hardly any food that is cooked.

In fact, this is also very understandable, because the altitude here is much higher than that of Liaosong and other places, and it takes much longer to cook the meat thoroughly than to grill it directly. Of course, this is not the most critical point, and the most important thing is that there are only two pots in the only inn in this Wurahai, and there is no time to prepare a lot of food for them. The Great Song Dynasty has always regarded iron as an absolute forbidden item, and the Liao State is okay, in Western Xia, especially in such remote cities, iron pots and other things are completely luxury.

But even though the dishes were simple, everyone still ate with relish, and in the midst of the wind and clouds, they ate all the three sheep they had just killed, and then went back to their rooms to rest.

It was Sun Tu, who was not in a hurry to leave at this time, but had a good sleep first. After all, none of them have really slept on the ground all this way......

&&&&&

The second more