This winter, in the north of the Tang Dynasty, the largest free market in history is quietly taking shape.

When winter just started, this was just a small market spontaneously formed by some herders living on the edge of the grassland and close to the Central Plains. Later, many foreign merchants heard that they could buy cheap soap and cashmere in this place, and they rushed here to purchase goods.

Later, people from other places on the grassland heard that many merchants gathered here, and they could sell the soap and cashmere they had accumulated over the years to a good price. So many herders from the deep grassland gathered here.

By the time it is December, the size of this market is already quite large.

Originally, winter is not a good time for merchants to go shopping. The weather is cold and the road is too difficult. But for people on the grassland, spring, summer and autumn are seasons for grazing. They have to drive cattle and sheep to constantly find places with abundant water and grass. After winter, there is no grass on the grassland. They will also slaughter or sell livestock and deal with most of them. Come here to participate in the transaction in this season. It becomes a very good choice.

At this time, in Guannei City, people could see large areas of felt tents as long as they climbed the city wall.

Many nomadic peoples have the skills to make felt, such as felt boots and felt hats. People can occasionally be seen wearing them in the Central Plains. However, most people usually wear them freshly. At this time, there was no dyeing technology in the grassland area. Their felt products are also relatively single in color. Just look at the natural wool-colored felt tents. Their current craftsmanship level is still quite backward.

There is a lack of water on the prairie. In addition to the bad color, these felts often have some smell of sheep.

So in this market, the smell is not very pleasant. The felt tents are smelly, and the animals kept next to the tent naturally have a smell.

The herdsmen have a taste, and the merchants are not much better. No matter where they come from, after walking so far, they have gone out of the taste.

Fortunately, it is cold in this winter and the wind is strong on the grassland, so it has not smoked anyone. Anyway, everyone is almost the same, so don’t dislike anyone.

"A bowl of fried noodles!"

On a muddy and simple street, there is a very spacious felt shed. Felt is placed on three sides of the shed, and only the side facing the street is wide open. There are many tables and stools in the shed. At this time, there are already many people sitting there.

"Okay! A bowl of fried noodles!" Some of the young people who were running errands here looked like Hu people, and some looked like Han people. This situation is also very common in this area near the clearance. Many Han people have the blood of Hu people, and the Hu people are similar.

Soon, a bowl of fragrant and hot fried noodles were brought up. The young man neatly put the bowl of noodles on the table and shouted, "Santhemum."

"Give it." The man responded and patted three copper coins on the table.

If you change to Xipo Village, you will be able to order a set meal of fried noodles with fried noodles. Not only will there be fried noodles, but also side dishes and corn porridge. Here is a fried noodles with fried noodles. I will give you a small bowl of noodles soup, so I don’t have to think about anything else.

But there are quite a lot of people coming here to eat noodles every day. This place is close to the outside of the customs, and the business is quite underdeveloped, let alone the catering industry. Therefore, everyone is very welcome to open a shop here to sell fried noodles with noodles. Needless to say, the business is, there are twenty or thirty tables in this shed, and it is not empty all day long.

At this time, some customers in the shop are busy eating noodles, and some are talking while eating. The topics they talk about are probably how many sheep you have in your family, when to sell them, and the price of soap in the past two days has increased.

In such a big market, prices have rise and fall from time to time. Anyone who still has some inventory in their hands is thinking about when to sell the goods the most cost-effective and earn the most. If you sell them too early, you are worried that you will not catch up with the good price. If you keep them, you are afraid that you will eventually smash them.

"...Your cashmere should be sold early. After the New Year's Eve, it will not be worth much."

"What are you afraid of during the Chinese New Year? I still want to keep it for sale next year."

"Your idea is really stupid."

“Didn’t you find that cashmere this year is more valuable than last year?”

"If you don't sell those cashmeres, where will you have money to buy lambs next year? Besides, are you planning to carry those cashmeres out to herd sheep?"

"I have a lamb myself!"

"You have only a few lambs?"

“…”

In addition to the current transactions, the topics discussed by these people are the business of the coming year. Sometimes there are some merchants who come here from all over the world. Those people are usually quiet and keep a guard against the surrounding environment.

Next to the felt shed, there was a round and closed felt tent. Zhao Chen sat inside and talked to several of his clients.

These are a small branch of the Chile tribe coming from the north. Most of their nomadic areas now belong to Xueyantuo's territory. Xueyantuo also has a marriage relationship with the Tang Dynasty. The situation between the two sides is not very tense, so the trip to the south this time was quite smooth.

People in western Zhejiang have a large amount of cashmere and a considerable amount of soap. Because the Zhao family in Shuozhou is quite famous on the grassland, these people contacted the Zhao family as soon as possible after arriving at this market.

"We need iron tools!" One of the tall and strong Chile people said in a loud voice.

"I dare not do ironware transactions. Do you know how many soldiers there are in this market? If I dare to do ironware transactions today, my head will be hung outside the city of Chengzhou tomorrow." Zhao Chen refused.

"Why are you Tang people so guarding against the nations on our grassland? Those iron tools are definitely not bought to attack the Tang people. There are wars and beasts on our grasslands. We just want to protect ourselves." An anxious Chile man next to him said loudly.

"Even if you keep your promise and don't use these weapons to attack us, how can you ensure that your weapons will never be taken away?" Zhao Chen did not think there was any problem with the government's regulations.

When dealing with these grassland people, you have to clearly show your attitude. Tough and principled people can often get their respect.

They believe that the other party can stick to their bottom line when facing Chile people this time, and can also stick to it when facing other people next time. Only those who have a firm position and will not easily shake or betray them can be trusted.

"Then we can only sell you half of the goods." Their patriarch finally spoke.

"Okay." Zhao Chen said with ease: "The rest of your partner, if you can't change what you want, you can come to me again."

Just as the two sides were about to discuss further, a noise came from outside the tent, and the grassland people were very alert. Even if someone leaned silently to the door of the tent, opened a corner of the curtain to check the situation outside.

"Who is it?" Zhao Chen was not very nervous. If something really happened, the subordinates he arranged for outside had already made any moves. Even if he didn't enter the tent, he would always ask for a secret code.

At this time, his subordinates did not make any noise. It was so lively outside. Needless to say, there must be a new team joining the market. From this noise, there should be quite a few people coming back this time, and maybe some good things were brought.

"It was people from the west, and they brought a lot of slaves." The strong man standing at the door said to everyone in the tent.

"You go back and let the women and children stay in the tent and not come out." said the patriarch.

"You don't need to be too nervous. In this place where people in the grassland gather, no one dares to plunder the population casually." Zhao Chen comforted.

"Since it's a wolf, how can you expect them to not eat meat?" The patriarch sneered, making fun of the young businessman in front of him.

It was a common thing to plunder people from country to country, and between tribes, as slaves. In the early years, the emperors of the Tang Dynasty also spent a lot of money and cloth to redeem a large number of slaves from the grassland. However, until now, many people from the Central Plains have become slaves on the grassland.

Among those merchants from the west, there were many notorious slave traders. The Chile people would never relax their warnings against a hungry wolf.

Because these Chile people were too nervous and the subsequent transaction was not smooth, Zhao Chen had to make an appointment with them on the next day.

But in this way, he would have to invite these people to have a meal of fried noodles tomorrow. The appetite of these grassland people is really not covered. The fried noodles in their shop are as big as a plate, and each of them will have to eat at least two plates.

After seeing off the Chile people, Zhao Chen stood at the door of his tent and watched the new team set up camp.

Those people chose the place not far from Zhao's shop. A few days ago, a group of people left. It was a caravan composed of many people from the Central Plains who temporarily formed a group of components. After collecting enough of what they wanted, they left. The vacant position was occupied by newcomers at this time.

Judging from the clothes and appearance of these people, they should be very cannibals. These big-food merchants did not pass through Chengzhou before. This time, they thought they had changed their way, and their purpose was 80% cashmere.

These slaves brought by the great cannibals were a group of Kunlun slaves with dark skin and curly hair.

At this time, people often say "Kunlun slaves and Silla maids". Kunlun slaves are as strong as ox and docile as men. Silla maids are probably Filipino maids in later generations. They are not paid, but are directly sold to their owners as goods.

At this time, those people were busy setting up tents. On a haystack not far from them, there was a black figure lying. It was probably a sick slave, Zhao Chen thought to himself.

During the transport and trafficking of slaves, there will always be some loss, either because of illness, accidents on the road, or because of escape. If the slaves try to escape, the consequences will often be very miserable, because the slave traders need to let others see the consequences of the escape, and even if they lose one or two slaves, they will do whatever they want.

"Chen Da, go and feed the slave some noodle soup." Zhao Chen said to a middle-aged man beside him.

"Oh." The man responded, went to the noodle shop next to him to make a bowl of hot noodle soup, and took it over. The big cannibals first glanced at Chen Da a few times, then walked over to him, looking at Zhao Chen. The eyes were full of exploration and defense. After estimating in their hearts, they finally did not stop Chen Da's behavior and allowed him to feed the slave a bowl of hot soup.

The slaves on the other side probably thought that Zhao Chen was a kind-hearted person, so many people looked at him with a begging eyes, hoping that he could buy himself.

At this time, Zhao Chen just walked back to his tent and put down the curtain on the door.

Kunlun slaves are very popular in Chang'an City. Many wealthy families are scrambling to buy them, so the price is naturally not cheap. It is too expensive and not cost-effective, so Zhao Chen will definitely not buy them.
Chapter completed!