White mutton fat jade, red langya (agent), blue turtle, and some colorful corals and glass beads. These jades are all extraordinary. According to Yingdu City Order, a piece of mutton fat jade is more than ten gold, and the rest of the jades are all added up to three thousand gold. This Hu Shang brought enough capital.

The huge iron he wanted was priced to sell to Qi State, and he could buy about 1,500 sets of armor and swords. But the problem was that the Chu State in the war did not need these jades now. The Chu State wanted food, cloth, wood..., just not jade.

Hearing the news from the market order, Hu Dansazhi raised the transparent stone again, but more than a dozen transparent stones were enough. This kind of stone was of no size, as long as it could reflect the sunlight on cloudy days. Hearing this news, Hu Dansazhi felt weak in his hands and feet. He had never heard of a king who didn't want jade, but unfortunately Xiong Jing was a king who didn't care about jade.

The people of Zhou liked jade and compared jade to gentlemen; the Shang Dynasty and even the earlier tribes also liked jade. They thought jade contained some kind of energy that could help them tell their fate to the sky. Xiong Jing had no good impression of this thing, and he would rather ask for gold and silver, which is the world currency. Jade was no longer precious when it left East Asia, just like lapis lazuli (王lin) that was not popular except for West Asia and Mediterranean.

One of the major reasons why the Silk Road exists is that West Asia and the entire Mediterranean world are eager for lapis lazuli at the foot of the Pamir Mountains, while the East Asian world is eager for nephrite from the Kunlun Mountains. The lapis lazuli road to the west is connected to the jade road to the east, creating an important business road connecting Asia and Europe.

This business road existed long before Zhang Qian's "opening up" the Western Regions, but the appearance of the Sogdians still surprised Xiong Jing. Their reputation should have been spread in the Han Dynasty and the prosperous Tang Dynasty. But the fact is that the Sogdians were spread throughout the country during the Warring States Period. The Sogdians literally translated as Xianyang (Xianyang). After the fall of Qin, Xianyang was embezzled to Chang'an, the Han capital; at the same time, the Sogdians also called the Han people by cyn (Qin) and China and Humdan were called cynstn (Qinnistein). The Chin (Qinni) in the "Geography Book" written by the Greeks and even later China all originated from the optics of cyn.

The Qin Dynasty had only a short fifteen years. If it weren't for the Warring States Period, it would be impossible for Qin Nistan to appear if it hadn't been known that the world was unified in Qin. Xiong Jing did not understand Sogdian language. His guess was that Alexander's eastern expedition drove the Sogdians to the East Asian world, and then they began to do business, selling broken stones that were worthless to him in his opinion.

"How about a good horse?" It was already night, and the location was in Yingdu. In addition to Xiong Jing, there were also city ruling, Guanye, Jiyin and others.

"Of course." Hu Dansozhi nodded without hesitation, "but, horses need to collect heavy taxes through Zhao State."

"Then there is no need to pay heavy taxes when passing through Zhao State?" Xiong Jing asked back. He now knew that although the Sogdians had trade with Qin State, their preferred place was Handan, and during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, they gathered in Luoyang, which was around the border of Qin State.

"The giant iron is no different from evil iron. One pound of transported into Zhao State is only a few coins for customs duties. The villain of Zhao State is familiar with General Li of Yanmen County..."

"Li Mu?" Xiong Jing suddenly realized that Li Mu had money to support his soldiers, but it turned out that he was relying on the Sogdians. Outside the Qin State, all the jade in the world flowed in from Yanmen, and the silk trafficked flowed out from Yanmen. Of course, he could kill cattle every day to reward soldiers and collect hundreds of gold men.

"Li Mu doesn't want good horses to be transported into Zhao State?" Xiong Jing asked.

"The king is because Zhao State does not want good horses to flow out of Zhao State, so he collects heavy taxes." Hu Dansozhi explained.

"King, I don't know if it can be transported from Yan State." The official advised. "If the king sends envoys to Yan State, Yan State will not collect heavy taxes."

"Do you use a sea boat?" Xiong Jing thought about it, but felt that it was not impossible. If the weather was good, the latest large-wing warship could also be transported back and forth on the Bohai Sea. The new large-wing warship 165 people were not in line with the organization of a soldier of 320 soldiers, so the shipyard improved the large-wing warship, and the oars were still three rows, but the two rows of oars on the top were rowing for two people. This kind of boat requires at least 250 wickets, plus the armored soldiers on the deck, and one boat was more than 270.

"Of course." said the official. "I heard that the horses in Zhao State are twice as taxed. If they can transport horses by sea, it will be fine."

"Is it feasible to transport the good horse to Yan State?" Xiong Jing asked.

"Ke." Hu Dansazhi was overjoyed, and he was more familiar with Yan State.

"A good horse must be over two thousand Chu jin, and a horse under four years old should be riding a horse." Ma Yin thought of the request, "The mare can be less than two hundred Chu jin at its discretion..."

"Why do you want Hu Ma?" If you don't ask for height but weight, Hu Dansorzhi immediately understood what Xiong Jing wanted.

"If there is a horse that sweats like blood, you can negotiate the price." Xiong Jing said again, "Still horses with a stallion of more than two thousand jin are also negotiated. Buying also requires a crop for feeding horses, called alfalfa. You can bring some seeds here."

"Why don't the horses on the grassland?" He felt a headache when he heard the four-character "sweat like blood". He thought that the good horses Xiong Jing wanted were taller Mongolian horses or military horses (Hequ horses). Unexpectedly, Xiong Jing wanted not only these two types of horses. He wanted Xiya horses and Julu (Dayuan) horses, but when such a good horse appeared on the grassland, they would be snatched away.

"Why do you want a grassland horse?" Xiong Jing asked. "The grassland stallion weighs less than 1,400 Chu jin, and his reaction is extremely dull, and his ability to overcome obstacles is low. The Chu State is already short of horses. It is better to raise a real good horse than raising a military horse or a grassland horse."

The reasons summarized by Xiong Jing are actually the reasons summarized by the cavalry. Before wearing chain mail, the horse may be able to bear the lighter weight, but lack of reaction to the control command is a fatal injury.

"The king is wrong." Hu Dansozhi's face was bitter, "Have you ever heard that Emperor Mu was traveling west?"

"Of course." Xiong Jing nodded.

"Emperor Mu met the Queen of Saka when he went west, not to seek jade, but to seek horses. He could not get horses without huge profits; if he did not protect each other, the Xiongnu would definitely rob good horses." Hu Dansorzhi said sadly, making people unable to tell whether it was the truth or the price.

"Then..." Xiong Jing looked at the ministers beside him.

"King, if you are not a good horse, how can you sell other people's huge iron?" The Shiling felt that the Hu people were asking for a price.

"King, if you are an ordinary soldier, you can be in Zhao State." Ma Yin also said.

"Master, let him think about it for several days before discussing." Guan Li also felt that the Hu people deliberately wanted to make the horse precious.

"The good horse will discuss it in a few days." After Xiong Jing said that, he looked at Ji Yin. After hearing this for a long time, Ji Yin saw the king looking at him and quickly served some yellow powder, which was sulfur.

The Central Plains did not produce sulfur, but in the Western Zhou Dynasty, sulfur was used as painted pottery pigment, but unfortunately it was soon replaced by stone yellow, realgar and gambo. Relying on the memory passed down by potters, Ji Yin finally found half a kilogram of sulfur that had been used as pigment.

"This is sulfur, which is mostly produced by the volcano." When Hu Dansaozhi looked at the sulfur carefully, Xiong Jing began to speak. "You only need to find a few people and bring a few plows to hold good luck. When transporting it to Yingdu, ten kilograms of sulfur will be exchanged for one kilogram of huge iron."

"This..." He had never seen Sulfur Hu Dansazhi, but he had heard of similar things. "King, how can you change ten kilograms per kilogram? If there is really such a thing, you should change one kilogram to one kilogram. If this thing is rare..."

"What's rare?" Xiong Jing originally wanted to transport sulfur from the sea. Now that the Hu people are here, it's okay to buy some cannons first. "There are all this thing near the volcanoes. Buying you want to buy this thing is because there are no volcanoes in Chu."

"Then you should exchange for one pound for one pound." Hu Dansozhi smiled forcibly.

"The charcoal must be harvested from the iron mountain, the charcoal must be cut into the forest, and transported to Yingdu for smelting. Manpower, material resources, loss, and craftsmen spend a lot of money. The sulfur only needs to be loaded near the volcano, how can one pound be exchanged for one pound?" Xiong Jing was a little unhappy. The market price of the magnitude was calculated in gold, so it was a loss to exchange for sulfur in this way. Moreover, the caravans trafficking jade suddenly transported sulfur, and the number of transported was extremely limited, so at most it was only a test, but what could be done? Who could not find sulfur in the whole world?

"I dare to ask the king, how much iron can a good horse be replaced with?" Hu Dansozhi didn't dare to talk about sulfur again due to Xiong Jing's displeasure.

"If it is a stallion, you can change one pound; if it is only a good horse of 2,000 pounds, you can change one pound." Xiong Jing and Guan Li looked at each other, and Guan Li said this. "If it is a sweat-blooded stallion, you can change one pound; if it is a sweat-blooded mare, you can change one pound..."

The officials and the municipal ruling were most familiar with the following bargaining Xiong Jing. After these people left, Ma Yin, who did not have any hope, said: "King, can the Hu people really bring good horses?"

"A treasure sword is said to be worth dozens of gold on the grassland. Although the Hu people cannot refine treasure swords, the huge iron of our Chu State is better than that of China."

"China Iron?" Ma Yin Jiyin was also surprised.

The concept of China refers to the Central Plains in the pre-Qin and even the Han dynasties. "Records of the Grand Historian: Biography of Merchants" says: "Chen was at the junction of Chu and Xia, and was connected with fish and salt, and his people were mostly merchants." That is, Chen Ying was on the edge of China, and it could not be said to be China south of Chen Ying; while Wang Bo of the Tang Dynasty said: "The Preface to the Pavilion of King Teng" said: "The Taihuang was pillowing the friendship between the junction of the barbarians and Xia, and the guest and host were full of the beauty of the southeast." That is, in the Tang Dynasty, Nanchang was on the edge of China, and the south of Nanchang was not considered China.

The concept of China was not completely coincided with later China until the Ming and Qing Dynasties. However, the Chinese iron mentioned by Xiong Jing was an ancient Western concept. The Romans Pliny mistakenly believed that the crucible iron produced in northern India was produced in China in the east, so they called it (ferrum.Sericum; that is, Siris iron, silk iron). In order to monopolize trade, Persian merchants have always made the Greeks and Romans in the Mediterranean world unable to figure out where the country of Seris was. It is said that when Alexander conquered India, he obtained several tons of Chinese iron and regarded it as a treasure. It can be seen that Indian crucible iron had been sold in the Mediterranean world in this era, and there was a reason why the Sogdians came here.

"A kind of Indian iron, similar to the ink furnace, is extremely expensive." Xiong Jing said for granted. He did not realize the huge disaster that this trade brought to Chu State.
Chapter completed!