Chapter 498: Plateau Scout

An Lushan finally escaped from Chang'an. A month later, he began to purge Han generals on a large scale in Fanyang's army, and replaced all important general positions with Hu people. On the last day of the first year of Zhenzhi, An Lushan proclaimed himself the King of Yan in Youzhou, and from then on tore off the mask of hypocrisy. He made a public statement to the world that he no longer recognized the Chang'an court, but instead served allegiance to the court in Chengdu. Under the pretext of restoring the orthodox court, he began to actively expand his army and prepare for war.

Tochar in December is already a world of ice and snow, and the night is particularly cold. In the wilderness that is uninhabited for hundreds of miles, the vast sky is full of stars, and the cold and cold air is so cold that the stars are stiff.

In a canyon about a hundred miles away from Bushi City, the capital of Wangtingguo, the Bushi River that flows through the canyon has frozen into a glacier. This river originated from the Pamir Mountains and winding thousands of miles seems to be asleep. There is no longer any breath of life on the ice, including the vitality river water, and the ice has become a convenient business road. There are always challenging merchants along this glacial road, traveling between Shule and Tocharia countries, trafficking goods from the Tang Dynasty to Tocharia for a good price.

At night, these merchants would camp in caves among the mountains and valleys, ignite blazing bonfires to resist the attacks of the severe winter and plateau wolves. In the middle of the canyon, there was a faint light of fire, and it was obvious that someone was camping in the canyon.

This is a cave that is less than 1 meter long and wide, but the cave is spacious and high. This cave is the favorite cave for merchants to camp. As long as a fire is lit at the entrance of the cave, you can spend a safe night. At this moment, a fire is lit at the entrance of the cave. A young Hu merchant sat aside, adding wood to the fire, but his eyes were vigilantly patrolling both sides of the canyon.

Another bonfire was lit in the cave, and eight or nine merchants were whispering something beside them. The fire was roasting pheasants, and the fragrance was tempting. Not far from the bonfire, they were lying on more than twenty camels, all of them were sleeping with their eyes closed, and their thick hair was enough to protect them from the cold. Next to the camels were piled with many boxes of goods, mostly tea, silk and porcelain, which were also very popular goods in Tochar.

The merchants looked less than thirty years old. They looked like Han and Hu people. Most of them were tall and strong. While drinking, they chewed on the newly roasted pheasants.

"Brother Zhou, you explain that the Tubo people confiscated our goods in the sky, will they confiscate our goods?"

The person who spoke was a young Han man. He sprinkled a roasted chicken leg with salt and handed it to another man in his thirties. The man was obviously their leader, and he was also a Han man. He was squinting his eyes and leaning on the rock to rest, so he took the chicken leg, took a bite, chewed it up, and took another sip of wine, and said vaguely: "The key is to rely on what you say. If you speak Turkic or Tochari, the Tubo army will not make things difficult for you, but if you speak Chinese, then the first person who the Tubo people catches is you. Remember, you must not speak casually and pretend to be mute, otherwise you will kill us all."

These ten people were actually a team of scouts of the Tang army. Their mission was to investigate the garrison of the Tubo people in Wangtingguo, so they pretended to be merchants. Among the ten scouts, there were five Han people and five Hu people. The leader was an experienced scout captain named Zhou Mi. He was once stationed in Tochari and could speak fluent Tochari. In fact, except for the young soldier, all of these ten scouts could speak Tochari.

The young soldier was an eagle trainer, which was one of the most important positions in the scout team. Eagle trainer is equivalent to a communication soldier in later generations. In addition to carrier pigeons, there are also falcons in the Anxi army. Especially in Tochar, there are many falcons. It is very dangerous to use carrier pigeons to communicate with each other. Therefore, eagles are generally used to transmit messages, so the importance of eagle trainer can be seen from this.

This young eagle trainer named Wang Yiqing, is the second generation of Han people in Anxi. He is only twenty years old this year. His ancestral land is in Luoyang, but he has never been there. Going back to his ancestral land and marrying a woman from Dongdu as his wife is his greatest dream in life.

The captain Zhou Mi is from Puzhou, Hedong. He used to be a scout of the government army. He became a deserter because of the annexation of the land. Four years ago, he brought his wife, children and parents to Anxi and settled in Suiye. His family had 150 acres of land. In order to defend his own land, he resolutely joined the army. With his strong military skills and rich scout experience, he was selected into the first scout camp of the Anxi Army.

This is the ace camp of the Anxi Army, which is the scout camp led by Li Qing'an back then. The Tang army who can enter this scout camp are all top experts in the army. It is more like a scout advanced combat school. After staying there for three years, soldiers will come out and be sent to other troops to serve. After they come out, they will be promoted to at least two levels. Zhou Mi was out of the camp in March this year. When he came out, he was the commander of the team. After being sent to Shule Army, he became the scout captain. This time, the Tang army sent three scout teams deep into Tochar, and he was one of them.

Zhou Bi took two sips of wine and said to the young businessman who was watching the cave entrance: "Amuti, come here and listen, I have something to say."

The young sentries from the entrance of the cave rushed over, and everyone gathered next to the fire to listen to the captain's arrangements.

"Tomorrow we will enter Bushi City. Our most important task is not to obtain any information, but to never expose our identity. Therefore, we must temporarily forget that we are the Tang army, and treat ourselves as merchants. Everything we do must be in line with the characteristics of merchants, especially the five Han people among us, including myself, have to make a certain modification. In addition, there is another most important thing. No matter who among us is caught by the Tubo people, the first thing is to commit suicide by taking poison. Your family will receive the highest honor. I hope everyone remembers this and I will not say it again in the future."

Wang Yiqing secretly glanced at the palm of his hand, and there was a small bottle of poisonous crane red on his palm. His heart pounded and he squeezed the bottle tightly, as if he was about to drink the bottle of medicine.

Zhou Bi glanced at him and reminded him: "Wang Yiqing, what I worry about the most is you. You must always remember that you are a mute and you can't even say anything if you can't hear it. Have you remembered it?"

Wang Yiqing looked at him blankly, "Ah! Ah!" and his hands gestured for a while, as if he was saying, "What are you talking about?"

The scouts around all laughed, and Zhou Mi also laughed. He picked up a piece of raw chicken and pointed to the two falcons standing on the wooden box, meaning that he would feed the eagles. Wang Yiqing nodded with a smile and turned to feed the eagles. At this time, Zhou Mi smiled and said, "Wang Yiqing, one piece of meat is not enough, take another piece!"

Wang Yiqing turned around and waved his hand, saying that one piece was enough. Zhou Bi's face changed drastically. He rushed forward and slapped him hard, pointing at him and cursing: "Bastard! Are you going to kill us?"

Wang Yiqing knew that he was wrong, so he squatted down and lowered his head in pain. Zhou Mi restrained his anger. After a while, he said coldly: "This is the last chance. If you make another mistake, I will cut your tongue and deafen your ears. Have you remembered it?"

Wang Yiqing lowered his head and did not move, as if he had heard nothing. Zhou Mi nodded with satisfaction and turned to everyone and said, "Okay, it's late at night now. Everyone takes turns to sleep and set off tomorrow as soon as the day is dawn."

After he explained, the two scouts on duty each guarded a fire, and the others fell down and went to bed.

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Bushicheng is the second largest city in Tocharia after Ayan City. It is located on the north bank of the Amu River. It has a population of more than 80,000 people. It is famous for its developed commercial business. It is more like Tocharia's commodity wholesale center. Every spring and autumn, a large number of small merchants who were unable to go to the Tang Dynasty flocked here to buy rare goods from the Tang Dynasty from the big merchants, return to their hometowns to sell them to the rich, and earn the difference from them. The Tocharians especially like the tea of ​​the Tang Dynasty. They can drink a cup of tea after dinner every day to relieve the greasiness. For them, it is the life of the superiors.

Because of the important trade status of Bushicheng, the Tubo people also attached great importance to this city. They stationed heavy troops here. Shang Xi Dongzan, who has been named the governor of Tocharia, also served as the prime minister of Tubo. He did not only exploit and exploit like ordinary soldiers. He attached more importance to Tubo's long-term possession of Tocharia. Therefore, he was a little tolerant of Bushicheng's business. Quasi merchants engaged in trade, but had to pay heavy taxes. The commercial tax rate in Anxi was twenty-one, but the tax rate stipulated by Shang Xi Dongzan was five taxes and one, which was four times that of Anxi. If a merchant dared to evade taxes, he would behead him if he caught it.

So although Shangxi Dongzan allowed trade, Tochar's business was still hit hard. Now, except for Tang Dynasty goods or Dashi goods that could make huge profits, the other small local vendors who bought and sold agricultural products have gone bankrupt one after another. Who can afford a tax rate of 20%.

When the sun was trembling in the cold wind, a team of merchants led by Zhou Mi led a camel team and walked to the gate of Bushi City. Zhou Mi and five other Han people were dressed up, their faces were blackened, and their lips were covered with beards that all Tocharian men were covered with. Zhou Mi himself also had a circle of big beards. In addition, the traditional costume of the Tocharians was wrapped around the head, loose bloomers on their legs, and fluent Tocharians, and their words and demeanors were the same as those of the locals. It was difficult to tell that they were Han people.

There were more than a hundred Tubo soldiers standing at the gate of Bushi City. They were wearing chain mail, holding spears in their hands, all with black faces, high cheekbones, and all their foreheads were shaved off. They looked fierce, and their eyes were staring at the pedestrians like eagles.

This team of merchants came naturally the focus of Tubo soldiers' attention. Next to him was a tax-collecting Tubo affairs officer. This was the first group of merchants who came today. Tubo soldiers immediately came up, pointed their spears at them, and shouted in an extremely crappy Tochari language: "Stop!"

The merchants stopped, and Tubo soldiers rushed up and searched the ten merchants. The currency used by the Tocharians were Dashi silver coins, Anxi silver dollars and copper coins. These coins were placed in their carry-on bags. When the Tubo soldiers checked, they had to open the wallet and let them reach into the bag to grab it. As for whether one or two fewer, they would not say much.

It is a trivial matter to be less money. The most fear is that they search women, almost always touch them from head to toe, and all the private parts must be touched. If they are young and beautiful women, they will suffer even more. Therefore, almost all women in Tochar rarely go out.

Tocharian men have the custom of carrying weapons, and it is difficult for Tubo people to ban it. However, Tubo people also stipulate that the carry-on knife should not exceed one foot, and those who violate the order should catch it and whip it thirty whips. They are a little tolerant of merchants who run long distances and are allowed to bring long swords to defend themselves.

After searching, they then stabbed the cage with a spear to prevent spies from hiding it. As for whether the porcelain and silk would be stabbed, they ignored it. Then they searched thoroughly. All the goods must be unloaded and all fell to the ground. The bundles of silk must be untied to prevent the carrying of weapons.

At this time, a Tubo centurion saw two eagles on Wang Yiqing's shoulder. He walked forward with interest, pointed to the eagle, and asked in a broken Toluo language: "Is this your eagle?"

Wang Yiqing looked confused. He pointed at his ears and pointed at his mouth, "Ah! Ah!" He said twice, indicating that he was a mute and could not hear it, and he would not say that raising eagles is a big hobby of Tocharians. Many families have falcons, so it is normal for Tocharian men to carry falcons on their shoulders, but the two eagles on Wang Yiqing's shoulders were particularly majestic and fierce, which made Tubo officers a little envious.

However, he also knew that Ying recognized his master, and he couldn't come even if he wanted it, and he might get hurt. Seeing that Wang Yiqing was deaf and mute, he lost interest and turned around and left, which made Wang Yiqing's companions sweat coldly.

After all the Tubo soldiers were searched, the tax collector came up, followed by a Tocharian interpreter. He stepped forward to look at the goods, thought about it, and said, "Six hundred silver dollars!"

This is the tax, which means that he estimated that the goods were worth 3,000 silver dollars. Zhou Mi immediately became anxious and stepped forward and clasped his hands and begged: "Master, okay, our goods are only worth 1,500 silver dollars. We have the tax bill of the Tang Dynasty."

He handed over Shule's tax bill. Anxi had twenty-one taxes and seventy-five silver dollars on the tax bill. Unexpectedly, the Tubo official didn't look at it. He took it and tore it off and said viciously: "I said six hundred silver dollars. If I don't pay it, I will confiscate all the goods!"

The Tocharian translator quickly translated for them and advised: "Brother, let's avoid disaster if you lose money! If the goods are confiscated, you are not merchants. If you have a long sword, you will have to be thirty whips. Why bother? Just make less money!"

"We did not make less money. We paid 600 silver dollars, and this trip was in vain."

Zhou Bi said with a sad face: "Brother Translator, please beg for me! I will also give you some benefits."

Before he finished speaking, the Tubo official's whip was sucked. With a 'bang!', his clothes were immediately broken. The Tubo official roared: "If you don't pay taxes, you will all be spies!"

"Pay tax! Pay tax! We pay tax."

The whip is the best translation. These ten merchants were so scared that they all raised money from their bodies. They finally collected 600 silver dollars and handed them over. The Tubo official counted one by one. After nearly half an hour, he finished counting, and then took out a black iron seal and covered it heavily on a wooden board. This was the tax bill.

He handed the wooden board to Zhou Mi and waved his hand and said, "Let's go! You can enter the city."

Everyone packed up the goods, sighed helplessly, and led the camel into the city, but they had just walked less than twenty steps, when the Tubo officer suddenly shouted on his back: "Stop the person with an eagle on his shoulder!"

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Chapter completed!