Gu Tu'an also said on the side: "It's really delicious." ”

When Chi Wule heard this, he quickly picked up the tea bowl in his hand and took a sip, only to feel a strong fragrance that refreshed his heart and spleen, which was endlessly memorable, and couldn't help but say: "It's really delicious, this seems to be goat's milk." ”

Liu Xin smiled and said: "Patriarch Chiwule, what you said is right, this is indeed goat's milk, and it has just been milked by your Xiongnu girl from the ewe from the Xiongnu grassland. ”

Hu Chuquan and the others' faces changed slightly, this was Liu Xin beating them further, however, they couldn't even resist now.

But I heard Liu Xin continue: "However, on your grassland, you can't drink such delicious goat's milk. ”

Chi Wule and Gu Tu An asked in unison, "Why?" ”

Indeed, since this goat's milk is produced by the ewes on the grassland, and the goat's milk is milked by a Hun girl from the grassland, why can't they drink such delicious goat milk?

Hu Chuquan couldn't help but take another big sip and said, "This goat's milk is a little salty, and there must be salt in it." ”

Chiul also tasted it again, and said, "It turns out that adding some salt to goat's milk can make it so sweet and delicious, so what can't we do?" ”

In this era, salt was not only a very expensive necessity for the nomads on the grassland, but also for the Han people, who were mainly engaged in farming, and ordinary people were reluctant to use it in large quantities and added it at will. However, no matter how expensive it is, it is only for ordinary people, and tribal leaders like Huchuquan, Chiwule, and Gutu'an will not care.

"Salt is there, but there's one more thing you don't have on the prairie." Liu Xin laughed, clapped his palms again, and said, "How can drinking this kind of tea be inseparable from the singing and dancing on the grassland?" ”

A group of girls dressed as Huns turned out from behind the screen, singing and dancing in the center of the hall. They can all see that what these girls sing and dance is pure Xiongnu songs and dances, and they can't just find a few Han people to change their costumes and learn them in just a few days. Chiul was even more convinced that these girls had been taken captive by the Han army during their sweep across the grasslands, because Laniel was among them.

Although they understood that Liu Xin was arranging such a song and dance to further demonstrate to them, these tribal leaders, who had been confined to the post house for seven days, suddenly drank goat's milk that was even more delicious than what they drank in their hometown, and enjoyed the pure grassland song and dance, they couldn't help but forget the mission they had come to shoulder this time, and gradually became intoxicated.

Liu Xin said in a timely manner: "Hu Chuquan, you should understand by now, there is only a dead end to fight against my Han Dynasty, and the only way out is to integrate into my Han Dynasty." You go back and tell Yu Fuluo that from now on, this grassland where the Huns have been nomadic for generations will all be incorporated into the territory of our Han Dynasty, and there will no longer be any Xiongnu Shan Yu and the left and right Xian kings, and the herdsmen of the Xiongnu tribes are the people of my Han Dynasty, and all the tribes will directly obey my Han orders, and they will also be protected by my Han elite soldiers! ”

Hu Chuquan was the right virtuous king of the Xiongnu, in addition to leading his own tribes, he also controlled some smaller tribes, and Liu Xin's doing so was tantamount to directly depriving him of power. But Hu Chuquan doesn't care, because the power of this tribe was originally taken from the hands of the Marquis of Subu Gudu, and now that Yu Fuluo is Shan Yu, he can still sit firmly in the position of this leader, once Yu Fu Luo loses Shan Yu's position, it is difficult to say whether he can continue to control this tribe.

However, if you do what Liu Xin said, the situation is different. At that time, his backer will no longer be Yu Fuluo, but Liu Xin, the entire Han Dynasty, so who else can shake his status as the leader of the tribe?

Chiwule and Gu Tu'an also opened their minds. They were originally tribal leaders, but their tribes were relatively weak, and they had to rely on the larger tribes in order to survive. Doing so will give them the ability to withstand major disasters and fight powerful enemies, but it will also come at a heavy cost.

For example, in the course of each expedition, their people were forced to take on the task of attacking the first position, and each time they suffered the greatest casualties and received the least shares. In this way, their tribes will never be able to grow and develop, and as a result, they will continue to be attached to the larger tribes, thus creating a vicious circle. There are many tribal leaders who have seen this problem, but they are powerless to change the status quo, and the larger tribes do not allow them to change the status quo.

The risks don't stop there. The leaders of the larger tribes tended to have many women and sons. Although the infant mortality rate on the steppes is alarmingly high, there are always several children from the leaders of the large tribes who survive. When these children grow up, only one can inherit the position of the head of the big tribe. In such cases, in order to accommodate their other sons, the leaders of the larger tribes usually do one of two things: they divide some of the herders from their own tribe to form a smaller tribe, or they directly appoint their sons as the leaders of the smaller tribes dependent on them. Just as Yu Fuluo appointed Hu Chuquan as the leader of the Subu Gudu tribe.

In the first case, it doesn't matter to the leaders of the smaller tribes such as Chiul and Gutuan, but in the second case, they will not only lose control of the tribe, but even their own women. Because of this, these smaller tribes will find ways to form alliances through marriage, and they will be afraid of the larger tribes.

According to what Liu Xin said, these small tribes will be directly controlled by the Han Dynasty like those larger tribes, and all tribes, regardless of size, will be on an equal footing. In the future, whether they were grazing or plundering, they would be divided among their tribes, without having to pay tribute to the larger tribes or be rewarded by them. This is too attractive to Chiwule and Gutu'an.

However, there was also the problem that without looting, they would not have been able to obtain enough salt, iron, cloth and slaves. There was also a mutual market between the Han and the Xiongnu, but the salt, iron, and cloth in the bazaar were often in the hands of the Han scholars, and the prices they set were often ridiculously high and unbearable for the Xiongnu. Therefore, most of the salt, iron and cloth needed by the Huns were obtained by plundering the border and smuggling.

On the other hand, if you join the territory of the Han Dynasty, you will naturally not be able to raid the border in the future, and if you want to obtain slaves, you can only exchange cattle, sheep and horses in the market, or go to the grassland controlled by the Xianbei people to plunder. Over the years, the strength of Xianbei has far exceeded that of the Xiongnu, and even greatly compressed the nomadic space of the Xiongnu.

Liu Xin seemed to have guessed their thoughts a long time ago, and said with a smile: "When the time comes, the Xiongnu and the Han will be integrated, and of course you will be free to conduct all kinds of fair trade, and exchange your cattle, sheep, horses, and furs for much-needed salt, iron, and cloth." ”

Gu Tu'an was already impatiently asking, "How can adults ensure fairness?" And how can you guarantee that no one will deliberately lower the price? ”

Liu Xin waved his hand and said, "My Han has strict laws, and these laws not only bind you steppe tribes, but also those Han merchants. Likewise, these laws would have provided equal protection for the steppe tribes and the merchants of the localities. Of course, your tribes can also form their own caravans and enter the states for free trade. Moreover, for the first 20 tribes to be submitted, Liu will also have special preferential treatment, and will negotiate a fixed price with you every year to ensure the purchase of your cattle, sheep and horses and the supply of salt, iron and cloth. ”

If it was really as Liu Xin said, they didn't need to loot, and they could get enough salt and iron cloth. Moreover, if they have enough economic acumen, they can choose to submit to Liu Xin before the other tribes, in that case, they can get more items at a better price, and then exchange cattle, sheep and horses with other tribes, and earn a lot of the difference.

Liu Xin saw that the three of them were a little moved, waved his hand, let the Hun girls who were dancing retreat, pointed to the tea bowl in the hands of the three of them, and said, "Among these goat's milk, something called tea is added. Tea was a monopoly item sold by the imperial court, and it was difficult to buy it in the bazaar no matter how many cattle, sheep and horses were used. However, for the first six tribes to submit to Liu, Liu will give them a certain quota. ”

"Quotas?" Hu Chuquan hesitated for a moment and asked, "So, only our six tribes can buy tea?" ”

What he meant by these words was that he had apparently regarded himself as the leader of one of the six tribes that had first submitted to Liu Xin.

In fact, tea is not popular in the Han Dynasty, most of the time, tea is still used as a kind of herbal medicine, only a very small number of people will use tea to soak water to drink, and when drinking, a variety of condiments will be added. So, not to mention the peoples on the grassland, they don't say that they haven't seen tea, they haven't even heard of it.

However, Liu Xin knew that the steppe nomads in later generations had the habit of drinking milk tea, and tea even became an important material for the exchange of horses between the Han people and those nomads, so it was strictly controlled by the imperial court. He didn't know how to make milk tea, but simply put the tea leaves and goat's milk together and added some salt, and the result was not bad, and the leaders of the steppe tribes fell in love with this "deliciousness" after just taking a sip.

Seeing Hu Chuquan's impatient appearance, Liu Xin smiled and said lightly: "Because of you, but the six tribes that were the first to submit to my Han Dynasty and are willing to become my Han people from now on, can get a certain amount of tea every year." The tea obtained by these six tribes can be enjoyed by themselves or sold to other tribes, as for how to do it, it is the tribal leader's own business, and Liu will not ask. ”