Chapter 348 Strange Caravan

In April of the sixth year of the Qingli period, after Li Yuanhao met with Yelu Zongzhen, he left the Liaoxia border the next day and returned to Xingqing Prefecture in Yinchuan.

After all, Yelu Zongzhen was the emperor of the Liao Dynasty, and countless people were watching his every word and action, so he had to have a legitimate reason to travel.

The Liao emperor was particularly fond of hunting everywhere, and hunting in the southern grasslands of the desert was the best excuse.

Li Yuanhao was different. Although he was also a giant as the king of Xixia, Xixia did not have so many things to deal with, and he often led his troops to fight or hunt.

Therefore, it was normal to leave Xingqing Prefecture for a day or two and go to other places for a tour.

As long as he left Yinchuan, he could get rid of the large army and take a small number of cavalry to the border, act low-key, go and come back quickly, so as to avoid being discovered by the spies of the Song Dynasty and discovering their conspiracy.

Therefore, Li Yuanhao's disappearance for a day or two did not arouse the suspicion of the scouts of the Song Dynasty in Xixia, and their alliance ended smoothly.

After agreeing on the strategy, Li Yuanhao quickly started to act.

At the end of April, he began to lead a part of the army, with the necessary supplies, to the majestic Qishan Mountain.

He had already prepared to attack Qingtang at the beginning of the year. Weapons, equipment, food and supplies, route planning and other things were all ready, so he could act directly.

The only problem was that they could not carry their cannons because they had to cross the mountains, so they could only choose cold weapons and rely on horses and legs to climb the mountain.

The vast Qishan Mountain is majestic and vast, with mountains towering into the clouds. Even though it has turned to spring and summer, there is still snow on the towering mountains.

The soldiers of Western Xia crossed the West Gate with one foot deep and one foot shallow, and went down the steep mountain road. The location was probably the section from Sunan County to Qilian County of G213 in later generations. The road conditions were very poor in ancient times.

However, Li Yuanhao planned to sneak attack Qingtang this time and completely destroy Qingtang, so the troops he brought were all elite soldiers, and he actually helped him cross Qishan Mountain smoothly.

Although some casualties inevitably occurred in this process, such as falling to death, injuries, and even hypoxia caused by crossing high altitude areas, which caused various reactions of the soldiers, after nearly a month of long journey, they finally got down from the mountain ridge.

The most difficult part of crossing Qishan is not climbing up the mountain ridge with an altitude of more than 2,000 meters, but walking down from the steep cliff. When you get down to the bottom of the mountain, there is an open valley. Looking around, there is a hilly green plain covered with green grass.

It was midsummer in May. Herds of bison and wild horses ran freely on the vast grassland. There seemed to be wolves spying in the distance. In the swaying green grass, it seemed to be a fertile paradise with no one cultivating it.

Only Li Yuanhao knew that this place seemed to be a paradise, but it was actually full of dangers. All year round, it was only slightly safer in summer. The rest of the time, it was as terrifying as hell.

This is indeed the case.

The place where they were was the gully on the northern slope of the Kunlun Mountains south of Golmud City, Qinghai Province in later generations. To the northwest, it was called Yeniugou. To the southeast, there was a Yeniugou Township, named after the common bison.

This place is more than 3,000 meters above sea level, and the climate is extremely bad. Even in midsummer, it often snows heavily. Therefore, it has been a place rarely visited by people since ancient times.

In addition to the high altitude and bad climate, there are hills and wild beasts everywhere. In later generations, this place is a scenic tourist destination, but in the backward ancient society, this is the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau full of dangers.

Li Yuanhao finally crossed the Qishan Mountain and did not stay any longer. Taking advantage of the good weather this year, he went all the way to the southwest.

Although Qilian County is to the southeast, there was no G213 National Highway in the Song Dynasty. At this time, the southeast was a continuous hilly mountain, the road was rugged and difficult to travel, and there was no human habitation within hundreds of miles.

On the contrary, less than 100 kilometers to the southwest is the second largest lake in Qinghai in later generations, Hara Lake, where a minority called Caotou Data lives nearby. And this is also the Hehuang Corridor, also known as the ancient Tuyuhun Road.

The Tuyuhun Road is the southern route of the Silk Road, also known as the "Henan Road", with two specific routes.

One is from Dunhuang to the south, through the Subei Mongolian Autonomous County, and then to the southeast across the Hara Lake to reach Fuqi City on the west bank of Qinghai Lake, which is the area of ​​Gonghe County, Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province in the future.

The other road is from Ruoqiang County through the Altun Mountains, into the vast Gobi Desert of the later Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, and finally arrives at Fuqi City on the shore of Qinghai Lake.

The Hehuang Corridor prospered due to the blockage of the Hexi Corridor during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, but in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Hexi Corridor was opened again and gradually abandoned.

Until the rise of the Western Xia in the Song Dynasty, the Western Xia did not allow the Song Dynasty to trade with the Western Regions, so the Hexi Corridor was cut off again. Therefore, Western Region merchants were forced to pick up the very dangerous Hehuang Corridor again and choose to go from the Western Regions through the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to Qingtang to trade with the Song Dynasty.

At this moment, in the vast wilderness, teams of camels carrying a large amount of supplies and trade goods walked on the green grass-covered Gobi Desert. In the distance, there was a small tribe of Caotou Tatars, who were trading with this caravan.

The traded items were naturally cattle, sheep and horse products common to the grassland people. Now the price of war horses sold to the Song Dynasty has dropped a lot. But the Song people like dried beef, mutton and wool very much. Buying them from the grassland people at a low price and then selling them to the Song people in Qingtang or Lanzhou is the best choice.

The trade between the two sides was very smooth. The Caotou Tatars also needed Western merchants to bring back tea and ironware from the Song Dynasty, so they always maintained a friendly and mutually supportive relationship. They helped Western merchants lead the way and replenish supplies. Merchants helped them bring back the goods they needed.

Just as this caravan exchanged supplies with the familiar Caotou Tatar tribe and set off again, they suddenly noticed that in the distant wilderness, a dark army was like a black cloud, rushing towards them.

There are many hills in the Gobi Desert, blocking the view. But the Tatar tribe would place an observation tower on the top of the mountain to prevent wolves from attacking herdsmen or enemies from attacking their tribe.

Coupled with the galloping hooves, the people here quickly got a message-a huge team was approaching rapidly.

"Woo woo woo woo!"

The desolate horn resounded across half the sky.

The brave Tatar tribes mounted their horses and prepared to line up to meet the enemy.

Even the merchants in the caravan pulled out their weapons from the trucks. Since ancient times, caravans have never been good people. Sometimes they are even bandits. It is common to kill and rob fat sheep that are alone or in small numbers.

But they obviously underestimated how powerful the invading enemy was. After less than an hour, this Tatar tribe with 5,000 people and a huge caravan of more than 400 people quickly became a pile of corpses.

Li Yuanhao rode on the horse, his white cloak fluttering in the wind. Standing on the hillside, watching the war below being settled, he was very satisfied with the efficiency of his soldiers.

Then he waved his hand and shouted: "Pass the order down, put on the clothes of the caravan and pretend to be merchants."

"Yes."

The messenger under his command immediately went to convey the military order.

Now that the Hexi Corridor has been reopened, the prosperity of merchants in Henan Road cannot be said to have plummeted, but it has lost a lot of its former prosperity.

After all, compared with the traditional Silk Road that goes from Yumen Pass to Xiliang Prefecture, the Hehuang Corridor is not only a long way around, but also much more dangerous.

However, many merchants still continue to take this road.

The reason is very simple.

Taking the Henan Road means one less layer of exploitation by the Western Xia, and no need to pay taxes in the Western Xia.

The second and most direct reason is that the Western Xia does not allow Western merchants to trade directly with the Song people, but can only trade in the Xingqing Prefecture of the Western Xia.

The result of this is that Western merchants can only buy tea, porcelain, silk and ironware in the Western Xia, and the goods can only be sold to Western Xia merchants at a low price. There is an extra middleman in the middle, and a lot of profit is lost, which makes Western merchants quite dissatisfied.

On the other hand, if you take Qingtang, the Song people also do business in Xining, Huangzhou, Lanzhou and other places. They can trade directly with Song merchants, and only need to pay a little tax to Zuo Silu for each transaction.

Therefore, considering the profit, there are still many merchants who continue to take the risk of taking the Hehuang Ancient Road, which laid the foundation for the prosperity of Qingtang's business.

So in the next half month, Li Yuanhao robbed and killed several caravans, leaving a few alive each time, asking them about the origin of the caravan and the goods they sold, and then disguised as merchants and went to Qingtang one after another.

By June, Li Yuanhao had sent almost six teams and had more than 3,000 internal supporters in Qingtang City.

June 3, Qingtang City.

As Xining City in later generations, Qingtang City was built between valleys, surrounded by small hills with a height of only a few hundred meters. The vast Huangshui River flows through the east bank of the city, nurturing a group of Tibetan children.

This city is extremely magnificent. It was built by Zuo Silu in the first year of Jingyou, that is, in 1034 AD, and covers an area of ​​20 miles. From the ruins excavated in later generations, it can be seen that the outer city is a blue brick and stone structure, like the Great Wall, with a partition wall in the middle, dividing it into two cities in the east and west.

West City is the residence of the Zuosiluo regime. There are palaces where Zuosiluo lives, houses of nobles from various Tibetan tribes, and various crisscrossing streets and houses. The Tibetan people who come and go all wear Song Dynasty costumes, as if they are no different from the Han people.

East City is a prosperous place for business. There are merchants from the Western Regions and Han people from the Song Dynasty. There are even Arab merchants from Central Asia, Jammu merchants from Pakistan, and Jicin merchants from Afghanistan.

Outside the city, there are fertile fields, not only vast pastures, but also dense farmland by the river, forming a peculiar culture combining nomadism and farming.

At this moment, Zuosiluo, the lord of Qingtang, is patrolling the city. Zuosiluo, 49 years old this year, has been manipulated and acted as a puppet in the first half of his life. It was not until the first year of Song Mingdao, that is, in 1032 AD, that he finally regained power.

After taking power, he managed Qingtang for 14 years. Zuo Siluo adopted a pro-Song and anti-Xia policy, and received support from the Song Dynasty. He finally defeated Xixia in the Battle of Zongge River, and made Qingtang regime prosperous.

Moreover, thanks to the increasingly powerful Song Dynasty in recent years, the Song Dynasty was also very satisfied with Zuo Siluo's pro-Song attitude, so the support for Zuo Siluo never stopped. There were even more than 30 cannons in the city, all of which were given to them by the Song Dynasty.

"Father, this cannon is really magnificent."

Zuo Siluo's 15-year-old third son Dong Zhen followed his father to inspect the city. Standing on the top of the city, he stroked the steel cannon and was delighted.

He had tested it several times, and the power made him, the future heir of Qingtang, feel frightened.

"It's a pity that the Song people only gave us 50 guns, and it was only after my father begged hard that we got them. This means that we can only deploy less than 10 guns in Lanzhou and Huangzhou. How can we resist the attack of Xixia?"

After the joy, Dong Zhen was dissatisfied.

He was dissatisfied with the stinginess of the Song people, and was even more dissatisfied with his father's closeness to the Song people, even to the point of groveling, which made him feel unhappy as a proud descendant of the Tibetan king.

However, Zuo Siluo glared at him fiercely and said, "Dong Chen, stop talking nonsense."

"It's my father!"

Dong Chen spoke without any scruples and talked back to Zuo Siluo.

Zuo Siluo felt a headache and could only say, "Do you know how much this cannon costs?"

"How much?"

Dong Chen asked casually.

"It costs more than 500 strings of cash to build this cannon, and that's not counting other expenses. With ammunition and transportation to Qingtang, one cannon is worth a thousand strings of cash!"

Zuo Siluo said patiently, "The Song people can give us 50 cannons, which is equivalent to giving us 50,000 strings of cash for free. With such a great friendship, what else is there to be dissatisfied about?"

"Anyway, the Song people have money, so why not give us a few more cannons."

Dong Chen muttered.

Zuosiluo looked at his son and almost burst into anger. He wanted to slap him, but he finally endured it.

There was no way. Although Dongzhen was the third son, he only had this one son by his side.

Among Zuosiluo's three sons, the eldest, Xiazhen, was born to his ex-wife Li. Li's father was Li Lizun, Lunbu of Tubo. Lunbu means the prime minister of Tubo. Li Lizun always treated Zuosiluo as a puppet.

Therefore, when Zuosiluo gradually gained power, he broke with Li. Li took Zuosiluo's eldest son Xiazhen away from Hehuang and took the tribe to Jukan Valley, which is Yuzhong County, Lanzhou City, Gansu Province in the future. He submitted to the Song Dynasty and is now the Dengzhou Tuanlianshi of the Song Dynasty.

The second son, Mozhenjiao, was also born to Li Lizun's daughter. Zuosiluo was forced to marry Li Lizun's two daughters. The eldest Li gave birth to Xiazhen and the youngest Li gave birth to Mozhenjiao. Among them, Xiao Li was once imprisoned by Zuo Siluo, but was rescued by Mozhanjiao, and left Hehuang with his tribe.

Therefore, the eldest and second sons had a bad relationship with Zuo Siluo because of their mothers, so naturally they could not inherit Qingtang. The third son Dongzhan was born to his current wife Qiao, and was also the only son of Zuo Siluo. It was inevitable that he would become the master of Qingtang.

This resulted in Zuo Siluo being unable to educate him by beating and scolding. He was now fifteen years old and in his rebellious period. If he ran away from Qingtang like his two brothers after being beaten and scolded, Zuo Siluo would have no heir, so he could only endure it.

But what Zuo Siluo could not have imagined was that it was precisely because he did not educate Dongzhan well that he later overturned his pro-Song policy in history, fell out with the Song Dynasty, and finally broke out in war.

But that was what happened in the original history.

At this moment, history changed drastically.

Just as the father and son were arguing, they suddenly heard a caravan coming from a distance, slowly coming towards Qingtang City along the ancient road in the northwest.

Zuo Silu stood on the north wall of the West City and looked out. It was not unusual for a caravan to appear in the northwest.

But when he looked at this caravan, he couldn't help but frown.

This caravan.

It was a little unusually large.