Chapter 654

In the morning, with the sound of drums, the gate of Chang'an city slowly opened. Bai Mo looked up at the dark wall in front of him and spit out a long breath of turbidity. Chang'an city finally arrived again.

Bai Mo is a businessman in the Kucha state. Every year, he goes back and forth between Kucha and Chang'an to sell all kinds of goods.

From King Kucha Zhiyan city to Chang'an 7480 miles east.

It takes almost three months on the road to reach a distant destination. The caravans led by Bai Mo Peng come and go in spring and summer. They go back and forth once a year to sell goods.

In this era, the long journey is definitely a hard journey that others can't imagine. If the Silk Road had not brought him irresistible high profits, I'm afraid he would have been unable to stick to it.

Bai Mo Peng is nearly thirty years old this year. He has been running this business road from Kucha to Chang'an City for many years. The perennial journey made him look like he was in his forties and fifties. What was blown out of his face by the wind and sand was the vicissitudes of years.

In fact, Bai Mo Peng could have worked less hard. Bai's surname is in Kucha, which is the same as Li's surname in the Tang Dynasty. In Kucha language, Bai is a transliteration of Sanskrit puspa, which means "flowers for Buddha".

Unfortunately, today's king of Kucha indulges in beautiful singing and dancing and ignores the government. As a result, the regime of Kucha has actually fallen into the control of xiangnari of Kucha state.

Bai Mo Peng and his royal family were suppressed by the State Minister Nari, so their life became difficult.

As a last resort, at the age of 18, Bai Mo Peng was forced to follow the caravans in the western regions and began to try to learn to do business in order to support his family.

The Hu powder, benzoin and fine horses produced by Kucha can be sold at a high price after they are trafficked to Chang'an. The silk and porcelain sold back from Chang'an are even more valuable goods than gold.

In a flash, Bai Mo has been on this silk road for nearly ten years. After many years of hard business journey, he saved a lot of money. Even in Kucha, Bai Mo is a big businessman.

Originally this year, Bai Mo wanted to arrive in Chang'an City before the Shangyuan Festival. He once spent several Shangyuan festival in Chang'an city. He was fascinated by the bright night of thousands of lights.

Unfortunately, more than a dozen camels of the caravan on the road had a small problem, delayed their trip for several days, and missed the opportunity to spend the Shangyuan festival in Chang'an city again.

Now Bai Mo Peng just wants to go to the city as soon as possible. After unloading at the warehouse in Xishi, he can go to the Hu people's wine shop and drink a cup of wine to relieve the pain of the three-month journey.

There are many caravans waiting to enter the city. There are soldiers guarding the city at the gate to check the entry documents and public inspection. The officials of Chang'an municipal bureau check and register the goods of the caravan. Therefore, the speed of releasing into the city is not too fast.

Bai Mo's caravan is not small. It has nearly 100 people and more than 300 camels. It carries tens of thousands of goods. He estimated the sun and felt that the caravan could not enter Chang'an City in an hour or two.

Thinking of this, Bai Mo Peng felt a little agitated, but he wanted to go to the Hu people's wine restaurant to have a cup of good wine immediately.

When he was angry, he saw a team of nearly 100 carriages coming from a distance. Unexpectedly, he didn't line up and went straight into the city from Mingde gate. The soldiers guarding the gate thought they didn't see it and didn't stop it at all.

To Bai Mo's surprise, these carriages are actually four wheels, the volume of the carriage is much larger, and the carriages are also inserted with various colors of picks.

He simply jumped off his horse, went to a doorman and saluted him: "excuse me, sir, why can these carriages directly enter the city without inspection?"

The gatekeeper was an old pawn, who was polite to their Western caravans. Seeing him ask, he couldn't help laughing and saying, "shopkeeper, I haven't come to Chang'an for a long time?"

"Yes, Zhenguan left Chang'an in April of the second year. Someone is a businessman from the Kucha country. It's not easy to go back and forth." Bai Mo Peng sighed.

The old soldier nodded: "no wonder you don't know. These carriages are not freight carriers. They are all public carriages in Chang'an City, so they don't need to be checked."

"What's the meaning of this public carriage?" Bai Mo asked hurriedly.

The old pawn explained, "hehe, the shopkeeper must also know that it is not easy to live in Chang'an. In such a large Chang'an City, it is not easy to travel without horses. These public carriages are new things made by Huxian uncle. Anyone can take them. They can send you to your destination for two Wen at a time. It is very convenient."

The old pawn's Huxian uncle, Bai Mo, hasn't heard of it. After all, when he left Chang'an City last year, Li Qieyou had just been granted the title of Kaiguo County by Li Er.

Bai Mo Peng thought that this count and noble man should be Xun GUI in Chang'an City, which has nothing to do with him, so he doesn't care.

"And such good things? What do you mean by the different colors of picks inserted in these carriages?"

"It represents the driving route of public carriages. Public carriages of different colors have different routes in Chang'an city. The shopkeeper should go to Xishi? Do you see the green carriage? Take the carriage and you can directly take you to Xishi."

After thanking the old soldier, Bai Mo thought about it and simply said hello to the steward of the caravan. He is going to enter the city first and go to the Hu people's wine shop in Xishi to have a rest. After taking the caravan into the city, he will go to the warehouse to meet the caravan.

After explaining the management of the caravan, Bai Mo took a servant and stopped a carriage with a green pick in front of Mingde gate according to the old soldier's instructions.

"Please, Mr. Lang, I want to go to the west market, but I can take your car?" Bai Mo said politely to the driver of the carriage.

"Yes, come on, two cents per person and throw it directly into the box." when the driver of the carriage saw his dress, he knew it was his first time in the carriage. He smiled and said, "Lang Jun, please take care of your monkey. Don't let it disturb other guests later."

The monkey mentioned by the stagecoach man was the monkey kept by Bai mo. at the moment, he was squatting on his shoulder, squeaking and looking around.

The monkey was not raised by him as a pet, but a "guard" in the caravan.

The Silk Road from Chang'an city to the western regions is not plain sailing.

In addition to the harsh tests of nature such as deserts, mountains, grasslands and wilderness, the biggest enemy of the caravan is bandits.

Most of the merchants on the silk road carry silk, pearls, gemstones, gold coins and other things. They are valuable and relatively light, which is very easy to transfer and sell stolen goods. They are the most attractive "fat meat" in the eyes of bandits.

In order to protect themselves, the caravans to and from the western regions are not small, and they all have a certain armed force.

The monkey is intelligent and alert, and has strong energy. Most western regions caravans keep monkeys to guard at night to prevent wild animals or bandits from attacking the caravan.

Later archaeologists unearthed many monkey and camel figurines on the Silk Road in the western regions, which is why.

Wu Chengen wrote a journey to the West. The prototype monkey of the Monkey King actually originated from the monkeys raised by caravans on the silk road.

Among Bai Mo's caravans, there are naturally monkeys, and because the monkeys are very clever, they are very popular with Bai mo. So on weekdays, wherever he goes, he likes to take the monkey with him.

"Ha ha, don't worry, this monkey is very clever and won't cause trouble."

"That's good." the driver nodded without saying more, waved his whip, and the carriage moved forward slowly.

Bai Mo and the servant sat in the carriage and looked around curiously. They thought everything was very novel. He didn't expect that such a novelty as a public carriage appeared in Chang'an City in just half a year.

The carriage moved forward. Soon, Bai Mo found something new