Chapter 677 Dalantai's ingenious plan (seeking votes and subscriptions)
It was the Mid-Autumn Festival in mid-September of the first year of the Han Tribe Jianyuan.
Luo Chong's house was still under renovation, and the entire Han Tribe was about to usher in another round of joy of a bumper harvest. On the vast grasslands south of the Han Tribe, herders also began their own reserve work. They hurried to Kaiyuan County to sell the excess livestock in their hands to reduce the loss of livestock in winter, and then use the money from selling livestock to buy necessary living supplies, especially salt.
Maodun, who had just fought with the Han Tribe this year and suffered heavy losses and slowly recovered by licking his wounds, was even worse. They suffered a great defeat this year, suffered heavy losses in supplies, and lost the Xin Tribe as an ally, making life even more miserable.
Maodun wanted his newly recognized son Dalantai to rob the Han Tribe, but the Han Tribe had been busy building houses and cities in the past few months, and the two fully armored regular armies were also undergoing military reforms. They trained around Kaiyuan City every day and had no intention of leaving their nests.
The trade between the Han tribe and the Xin tribe was carried out directly by sea, and they did not even have the opportunity to rob the caravan. Seeing that winter was approaching day by day, the white salt reserves in their hands were getting less and less. Maodun was anxious because they had to get enough supplies before winter came, otherwise their tribe would not even survive.
Of course, it was impossible to bow to the Han tribe, and they could not win the fight, but they were in urgent need of supplies. Dalantai, who had no other choice, gave his godfather an idea.
"Godfather, why don't we pretend to be a small tribe and go to the Han tribe to trade with them? Anyway, their Kaiyuan City sells everything. As long as the herdsmen go to them to buy things, they will agree to everything. Besides, they can't know all the tribes in the entire grassland. We can definitely trade in this way by hiding our identities." Dalantai suggested.
Maodun's eyes lit up immediately, and he thought this method was promising, but it seemed that he suddenly thought of something and immediately became a little embarrassed.
"I heard that the Kaiyuan City of the Han tribe now only uses coins for transactions. If we exchange a large amount of coins and are discovered by the Han tribe when we return, what if they refuse to sell us things?
In addition, our tribe needs so many materials and the transaction volume is so large, they will definitely find out, right?"
Since Dalandai proposed this plan, how could he not have thought about these things, so he said with confidence.
"Godfather, don't worry about the coins. We can spend all the coins directly in Kaiyuan City after we exchange them. In this way, we don't have to worry about being discovered and refusing to trade with us.
As for the problem of too large a transaction volume, we can disguise ourselves as many small tribes and go to Kaiyuan City to purchase in batches. Although it is a little troublesome, it is very safe."
Maodun nodded immediately, "What you said makes sense, and my son Dalandai is smart. Let's do as you say. As for the livestock to be traded, I will let the various accounts in the tribe come together, and when the materials are divided, they will be divided according to the contribution of each account. As for the candidates who go to trade, it is all up to you. "
Well ,
this is a good opportunity. You can sneak into Kaiyuan City and do some reconnaissance to see the weaknesses of the armored troops of the Han tribe and what they are doing recently. In addition, we need to study their city carefully. If we want to attack their city in the future, how many soldiers will we need and what methods will we use.
When trading, don't forget to see what good things the Han tribe has. If we see anything we can use, try to exchange as much as possible. Let's get through this winter first. When the grass and water are abundant next year, it will be time for us to attack Kaiyuan City.
Okay, do as I tell you."
"Yes, I will live up to my foster father's trust."
Dalandai quickly agreed with joy. Purchasing supplies is a lucrative job. Even the candidates for the transaction are arranged by me. Then, shouldn't I arrange the price of the purchase?
Well, some of them made money this time. Not to mention how much they could embezzle,
they would definitely have to embezzle some good things to supplement their family expenses. Dalantai, who had made a good plan, immediately began to gather his confidants. They would disguise themselves as a small tribe this time. At the same time, in order to reduce the suspicion of the Han tribe, Dalantai also decided to bring some teenagers and women with them to make them look weaker, at least not a group of strong men who looked like they were going to rob.
Maodun spent two days gathering livestock from various grazing areas of the tribe, and Dalantai also spent two days selecting personnel and carefully planning the route of this operation.
They couldn't go directly from their own tribe this time, otherwise the Han tribe would guess that they were from Maodun's side as soon as they saw the direction, so Dalantai's plan was to take people around and go from the west of Kaiyuan City.
In addition, for the trading team this time, they not only had to bring people and livestock, but also tents. They first led people around to the west of Kaiyuan City, and then stationed most of the people and livestock there, letting them disguise themselves as a tribe, and use this place as a transit base. Then they sent people to Kaiyuan City to trade supplies in turns, and finally, after getting all the needed supplies, everyone would return to the tribe together.
In this way, the trading would last a long time. Even if people were sent to take turns every day, plus the time of traveling back and forth, it would probably take at least half a month, and the weather would be cold by then. So when Dalantai went to trade supplies, Maodun would also lead his troops to start migrating and move to their winter grazing grounds, and then wait for Dalantai to get enough supplies before they would meet up at the winter grazing grounds.
Two days later, Dalantai and his men set off. This time, they did not bring many people, but they drove a large number of livestock. First, the fodder in the winter pasture was limited. If there were too many livestock, the herders would not be able to feed them in winter. Therefore, in winter, the herders would slaughter some old livestock in advance, dry the meat and wait for winter consumption. At the same time, this would save limited fodder so that the young and middle-aged livestock could safely spend the winter.
Another reason was that they did not intend to fight with the Han tribe this time. They came to do fair trade, so in order to obtain enough supplies, they could only bring more livestock.
The trading team walked for five days and finally arrived at their scheduled camping location. The accompanying personnel immediately began to set up tents on the spot and scout the surrounding pastures. After all, during the trading days, most of the livestock had to be raised here for grazing.
After waiting for another day, seeing that his men had arranged everything properly, Dalantai personally led a team of dozens of people and a large number of cattle and sheep to Kaiyuan City.
There is no problem for him to go by himself. Dalandai was originally a small figure in Maodun's tribe. When Maodun robbed the Han tribal caravan before, he did not take him with him, but asked them to stay in the tribe. It can be imagined that his status is not very good.
Dalantai only made a small contribution when the Han tribe attacked Maodun's lair, so he was appreciated by Maodun and became his adopted son. Not to mention that the outside tribes didn't know about this, even Maodun's own tribe knew very few people, so as long as he didn't say it, the possibility of being discovered by the Han tribe was extremely low.
The group turned to Kaiyuan City on the lakeside in the east, and met many people who had just bought things from Kaiyuan City on the way. Dalantai also greeted them warmly, took out food to share with them, and asked them about the rules of doing business in Kaiyuan City, as well as the prices of various commodities in the Han tribe, so that he would not be easily cheated when the time comes.
Dalantai led his men on a journey for another four days, and finally saw the city standing on the lake in the distance, but it was almost dusk, and Kaiyuan City had packed up and closed long ago. Even if they went there now, they would not be able to catch up. Kaiyuan City would not allow people from strange tribes to stay overnight, so they had to set up a tent not far from the city and wait for one night, and then rush to trade early tomorrow morning.
At this time, Kaiyuan City still had only one inner city, which was inhabited by people from the Han tribe, and there were important banks, warehouses, residential areas and other facilities. Even the herdsmen of small tribes who had taken refuge with the Han tribe could only live in tents outside the city for the time being. Besides, it was impossible to build a super large livestock fence for them in the inner city. They couldn't just drive the livestock to the city every day after
grazing. As for the livestock obtained from the trade, they would generally be temporarily handed over to the herdsmen who had taken refuge with the Han tribe for grazing, and then after screening, some would be sent to the Han tribe by boat, and the other part would be directly placed with the herdsmen for foster care.
However, these are only temporary. The herders who have taken refuge with the Han tribe are changing their living habits from nomadic to fixed-point grazing. They have completely stabilized. Next year, Luo Chong will order the construction of Guocheng outside the existing Kaiyuan City. At that time, these herders can be firmly fixed here and completely transformed into Han people.
Can't the Han people also settle down and herd sheep at the same time? There is nothing different.
The next morning, when a red sun slowly rose from the top of Kaiyuan City, Dalantai also brought his team to the outside of Kaiyuan City. According to the information he had inquired before, he came to the livestock market in the north of Kaiyuan City. This is a place dedicated to livestock trading for herders.
However, after this, he suddenly found that he seemed to have come too early. The Han tribe had not yet opened the market, but the vendors who set up stalls to sell breakfast had already begun to shout to attract customers.
"Fragrant mutton soup, crispy sesame cakes."
"Mutton soup
with steamed buns, come and try it if you are not afraid of the fragrance." The stall owners kept hawking their wares in Chinese and English. In
the big iron pot on the roadside, mutton soup as white as milk was being cooked. Various mutton offal were placed on the counter in different categories. On the other side of the counter was a black iron pot, but the contents inside made people feel very strange, because it was full of black pebbles as big as soybeans, and the pot full of stones kept emitting the tempting aroma of roasted wheat.
"What is this?" Dalandai asked curiously.
"Hey, this is called stone steamed bun, and this is the way of eating invented by our leader. First, knead the flour into leavened dough, then add in seasonings and roll it into a pancake, then brush mutton fat on both sides, and when the stones in the pot are heated, turn over the stones and bury the pancake inside. It won't be long before the stone steamed bun is ready. How about it? Do you want to try a few? This is made of wheat, a grain that only the Han tribe grows. You can't buy it anywhere else. You'll regret it if you don't eat it."
The stall owner, who was over 50 years old, held a shovel in his hand. He turned the stones in the pot as he spoke. The golden-roasted pancakes were looming among the rolling stones, constantly emitting an enticing aroma.
Gulu Gulu There was a sound of swallowing saliva behind Dalantai. He looked back, then turned his head and looked at the stall owner in embarrassment, "We don't have money."
"Hey, this is easy. Judging from your posture, you must be here to sell livestock. So, you leave a cow with me, and you can eat it with dozens of people. When you are full, the market will be open soon. Then I will lead you to sell the cow. We will get the price we deserve. I will never take advantage of you." The stall owner in his fifties said very generously. Anyway, this is not the first time he has done this.
Dalantai hesitated, looked at the trading market that was still motionless, and had to agree.
The stall owner was very happy. He asked a mute assistant to lead them to drive the livestock to the temporary animal pen. The clerk in charge of the animal pen counted them and wrote a wooden sign, which was actually a deposit slip, just like the bicycles outside a modern shopping mall. After the livestock were settled, he began to arrange for Dalantai and the others to sit down. Bowls of mutton soup were placed on the table. The stall owner brought a "basket" of baked buns, and everyone immediately began to feast on them.
Dalantai was eating while looking around. He stood in front of the stall of the stone bun with mutton soup in his hand and saw that the stall owner was wearing a dark brown linen dress and had his hair tied up like the Han tribe. However, in the communication with the stall owner just now, he heard that the old man spoke the pure grassland herdsman language, not the poor herdsman language that the Han tribe deliberately learned, so he asked curiously.
"Are you a herdsman?"
The old man didn't look up, still rolling the dough skillfully in his hands, "Yeah, that's right."
"Why do you want to join the Han tribe?" Dalandai asked again.
This time the old man looked up at him and just said four words calmly, "To survive."
Seeing that Dalandai was puzzled, he continued to explain, "It's difficult for our tribe on the grassland to survive. Every time we migrate, we have to kill the old livestock. The elderly can only gnaw on the bones left by the young people. If there is a white disaster (snow disaster) in winter, they can only abandon old people like me.
But the Han tribe is different. The Han tribe respects their ancestors and attaches great importance to filial piety. Parents raise their children, and when their parents grow old, the children have to take care of their parents in their old age. This is called filial piety.
I am old and can't ride a horse to graze. If I were still in the nomadic tribe, I might be living a life of gnawing on leftover bones every day, and maybe this winter I would be thrown on the grassland by my own son to feed the wolves.
But here, I can still sell steamed buns to support myself, and I earn as much money as young people. Why can't I join the Han tribe?"
(End of this chapter)
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