,,,,,,,,,,,,

In the northwest corner outside Chang'an City, there is a newly opened market. Originally, this area was a place where people held sacrifices. As the temples gradually became dilapidated and desolate, this area became overgrown and became a wilderness where wild foxes appeared.

However, since the year before yesterday, the government has leveled this area back into the New West Market in Chang'an. A keen merchant quickly bought land. Soon the land price here soared, and it was difficult to find a place. After nearly two years of development, New West Market has begun to take shape.

The originally desolate scene is gone. This land covering thousands of acres is full of shops, including residences, restaurants, and hostels. Merchants and customers are shoulder to shoulder. Carts and carts are transporting carts one after another. Ships in Caoheno are even more densely parked. At the dock, civilians unload bags of goods from the ship.

The western market is mainly aimed at the market for the Hu people in the West, so the Hu merchants in this area are particularly dense. From time to time, you can see long camel caravans coming from the West. The sound of camel bells sounded. Qiang people, Wusun people, Kushan people, and Sogdians can be seen everywhere. The Hu jewelry shops and Persian residences on the market are particularly eye-catching because of their exotic style.

Liu Jing's carriage slowly drove into the East City in the hustle and bustle. There were ten cavalry guards guarding the Han King's carriage. They were not wearing military uniforms, but instead changed into ordinary people's outfits, looking like a wealthy businessman coming from afar. This situation was common in the West City, and no one carriage was carriage closely guarded.

Liu Jing sat in the carriage and watched the changes in the West Market silently. He deeply felt that the great changes this year could be said to be earth-shaking changes, especially the prosperity of business, which reminded him of the desolation and destruction he felt when he led his army through here, but now it has become the most prosperous market in the world.

"Mr., look," Sun Shangxiang shouted in surprise at a shop next to her.

Liu Jing also saw this. This was a newly opened Hu people's shop called Hu people. It specializes in Western Region weapons. There were two tall Persians wearing leather armor standing at the door, with a scimitar on their waists, which looked quite majestic.

Collecting weapons has always been Sun Shangxiang's biggest hobby. Although she is no longer as fanatical about weapons as before in recent years, her hobby in her bones has not changed. There are no Western Region weapons in her collection. Today, she actually saw a shop selling Western Region weapons in the West Market. How could she not yearn for it? She looked at her husband with a fiery look.

Liu Jing understands his wife's mood, and he is also interested in whether he can see the famous Kushan sword and Damascus scimitar here.

"Go to this Hu Ren shop"

Liu Jing ordered, and the carriage immediately turned around and drove towards an open space next to him. Several guards went into the store to make arrangements first.

After a moment, a middle-aged Sogdian merchant, led by soldiers, quickly walked to the carriage, bowed and bowed, "Xiaomin Shilin, see His Highness the King of Han."

"You are the owner of this store." Liu Jing was also quite interested in hearing that he could speak fluent Chinese.

"I am a villain and a Shi Guoren. I have been doing business in Luoyang for ten years. I only moved to Chang'an half a year ago."

Liu Jing nodded and said, "I don't want to affect the market and do business. There are quiet rooms in the store."

"The villain understands that he is ready, please ask His Highness to enter the store through the side door."

People came and went in front of the store, and it was easy to be recognized when walking from the front. Liu Jing got off the carriage and took Sun Shangxiang into the store through the side door, and several guards followed him.

There are not many customers in the store, most of them are in the outer hall, and there is no one in the guest hall, and there are only a few Hu girls who are recruiting guests. The owner Shi Lin led them to the guest hall to sit in the guest hall. The living room is quite spacious, with Western swords and swords on both sides. The Han Dynasty cannot help but swords, but crossbows and long weapons are not allowed to be bought and sold, and this shop is no exception.

"Your Highness and the Princess Please sit down"

Shi Lin respectfully invited Liu Jing and Sun Shangxiang to sit down, but the two were curious about the swords hanging on the wall. They walked to the wall to take a closer look. The weapons here were mainly Kushan swords and Persian swords, as well as weapons from the Central Plains, such as swords, swords, bows and arrows.

The appearance of the Western Region sword itself is not much different from that of the Central Plains, but the exterior decoration is very gorgeous. Most of the scabbards are inlaid with gems and are wrapped with gold wire. Even many sword hilts are made of pure gold, which looks expensive.

However, Liu Jing was not concerned with appearance, he paid more attention to the actual combat performance of swords. He also knew that the reason why the Kushan sword was famous was that it was made of the famous Uz steel. The weapons made of this steel were hard and durable and sharp. After this steel ingot was sold to the West, the famous Persian sword and Damascus sword appeared.

In fact, the Han army's horse-cutting saber was also made with the same folding and forging technology, but the steel was slightly inferior to Uz Steel, which was mainly due to the different positions of iron ore.

Liu Jing took off a sword and pulled out half of it. He felt that the cold light was shining and very sharp. However, it was not made of Uz steel, but just ordinary steel. He hung the sword back and looked at a few more, but was not satisfied. These swords could only barely be considered high-quality swords.

"What do you think?" Liu Jing turned around and asked Sun Shangxiang with a smile.

Sun Shangxiang has long been knowledgeable about swords. Although these swords are good, they still can't catch her eyes. She shook her head and said disappointedly: "It's just the average."

At this time, the owner Shi Lin stepped forward and smiled and said, "These swords are just some decorative swords for ordinary people to enjoy. There are more than a dozen treasured swords in the shop. I would like to invite the princess to see them."

Sun Shangxiang's eyes lit up and she hurriedly said, "Why don't you take out the good stuff?"

"Please sit down with your princess for a while, and the little man will go to the warehouse to get it."

Liu Jing and Sun Shangxiang sat down, and the two beards put on milk tea. The owner Shi Lin quickly went to the backyard to pick up the goods. After a while, Shi Lin brought two friends to bring in more than a dozen wooden boxes and placed them on the table one by one. Sun Shangxiang opened a wooden box, which was a quaint shark-skin sword inside, which was very simple to decorate.

Sun Shangxiang slowly pulled out the sword, and a cold air suddenly came to her face. Her beautiful eyes flashed with a brilliant light and she blurted out: "Good sword"

Liu Jing also took the sword and saw that the sword was indeed extremely sharp. He pulled a hair from his head and gently touched it on the blade. The hair was immediately broken into two pieces. It was indeed a sword with iron-cut iron like mud. Liu Jing looked at the sword body again and saw that there were fine patterns on the sword, which was the characteristic of Wuzigang.

The owner next to him smiled proudly and said, "This Kushan sword is called Birdsong, and it dances with the sound of Birdsong. It was built ten years ago by a famous craftsman from the Kushan Kingdom. The villain bought it from a Kushan merchant two years ago. It is the top ten swords that are pressing in our store."

Although Liu Jing was interested in these swords, he did not intend to use them to equip his army. He knew very well that these swords could only be used as ranger swords or collections, and could not be used in the army. On the one hand, it was of course expensive to build. On the other hand, the Uz steel was relatively hard and brittle and not tough enough, and was prone to breaking many times in large-scale wars.

He took a sword flower and handed the sword to Sun Shangxiang. At this time, he saw that there was a guard below that seemed to report something, so he asked, "What's the matter?"

"Your Highness, there is a Tao family manager in the outer hall, and he said he had important things to report to your Highness."

The owner of the store hurriedly said, "It's Manager Li Da from the Dow Business Company. He came to the small shop to buy a knife. Does Your Highness want to see him?"

Since he is the Tao family's chief manager, Liu Jing nodded and said, "Let him come in"

Soon, a small fat businessman, about fifty years old, came to the hall, and he knelt down and saluted, "The villain paid homage to His Highness the King of Han."

Seeing that he seemed familiar, Liu Jing asked with a smile: "I should have met Manager Li."

"The villain has met His Highness many times. When he was in Fancheng, His Highness was You Jiao Supervisor Cao. The first time he came to the Tao Trading Company was a villain. Later, the villain took over as the manager of Jiangdong Trading Company and met His Highness several times."

"I remembered it. It seems that your name is Li Ting, right?"

“It’s right”

Liu Jing nodded with a smile, "Does Manager Li have something to ask me for?"

Li Ting hurriedly said, "The little man and the second master returned from Dayuan in the genius."

The second master is Tao Li. Liu Jing suddenly remembered that he asked the Tao family to explore the Western market. Unexpectedly, Tao Li went there in person and even went to Dayuan. He immediately became interested and asked, "Where is your second master?"

"The second master is in the business bank, and the business bank is not far ahead. If you don't have a step, should the villain invite the second master over?"

Liu Jing thought about it, after all, Tao Li was an elder and should visit him by himself. He smiled at Sun Shangxiang and said, "How about we go to the Tao Trading Company first, and we will come back to see the sword."

Sun Shangxiang liked these swords and only gave her a reward. Before she could look closely at the others, she could not bear to leave. She smiled and said, "If you don't want to go to the business store first, I'll come here by myself later."

Liu Jing understood her thoughts, so he nodded and ordered the guards behind him to say, "Protect the princess."

Sun Shangxiang pushed Liu Jing, and Yanran smiled and said, "Go quickly, my husband, let's have a few martial arts skills, so where do you need them to protect me? I have a sword in my hand, who dares to bully me?"

The boss Shi Lin smiled bitterly and said, "The princess is right."

Liu Jing smiled, got up and walked out of the store. Manager Li quickly led him in front and quickly left the store.

Liu Jing got on the carriage and soon arrived at the Dow Trading Store located in the center of Xishi City. However, the name was not the Dow Trading Store, but the Eastern Han Dynasty Trading Store. This name was named Liu Jing, which means the Eastern Han Dynasty.

The business covers a large area, with at least fifty acres, mainly warehouses and residences. It is particularly prominent in the West Market, where every inch of land is valuable. Their strong strength is shown by this large shop alone. Hu Renxing merchants pay attention to storefronts, and merchants from the Western Regions are willing to sell their goods to them, making it the most important shop in the West Market.

Tao Li heard that Liu Jing was coming, so he hurriedly came out. When Liu Jing saw him about to kneel down, he hurriedly stopped him, "Second uncle, don't do this."

"Okay, Your Highness, please sit in there."
Chapter completed!