?Yuwen Wen looked at the Hu man in front of him. There were many foreign merchants in the Western Regions of Yecheng, and there were also many wealthy merchants and giants, so there were no surprises that some Hu men came to him. He asked with a smile: "Antulu, son of Anga? Are Lingzun doing well now?"

"I returned to the county duke, my father had died of illness for four years~щww~~lā" Antulu replied.

"I vaguely remember that Ansabau was buried outside the eastern suburbs of Chang'an, right?" Yuwen Wen suddenly said, Antulu was slightly stunned when he heard this, and then nodded: "My father was buried in the cemetery in Qili of the eastern suburbs of Chang'an."

"sit."

"Thank you, Duke of County." Antulu bowed again, then sat down, and said to Yuwen Wen with a smile: "The name of my father is actually known to the Duke of County, and An is very honored."

"In the past, I was in Chang'an, and I often went to the East City. I naturally knew the name of An Sabao. I never expected that the shopkeeper An was in Yecheng. Now that Yang Ni usurped the country, I don't know when I will go back to see it, but I think this is not a problem for An Langjun."

"The county duke was joking. An made a living by doing business and took risks to travel around the world, but he did not dare to connect with the enemy country." Antulu wanted to show his abilities, but also avoided the other party's suspicion that he was a detailed work by the Sui State.

Yuwen Wen smiled. The Sogdian Antulu was indeed a businessman. He spoke very smoothly and could come to the door to discuss big deals at such an age. I think he has a good status in the family.

Anga, whose courtesy name is Dajia, was from Sogdian. Sabao, Tongzhou, Zhou State, died four years ago, that is, the first year of the elephant, but was not buried in Tongzhou. Instead, he was buried in a tomb in the suburbs of Chang'an City. It seems that it was the treatment given by the imperial court.

The Sogdians, also known as the Jiu surname of Zhaowu in the Central Plains, were named Hu and Sogdian Hu. They were commercial nations active on the Silk Road from the Han Dynasty to the Song Dynasty. They were famous in the Eurasian continent for their good business. They were many wealthy businessmen and wealthy countries.

The Sogdian land is located between the Amu River and the Sir River in Central Asia (called Uhu Water and Yao Killing Water in the Central Plains, which are the river-central areas). Its main range is Uzbekistan in later generations, and some areas are Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

On the oasis of all sizes of Sogdian region, there are states of different sizes distributed. Among them, the country of Kang, centered on Samarkand, is the largest, and it is usually the representative of Sogdian city-states.

Samarkand is Samarkand, which means "fertile land". It is a famous city in Central Asia and an important hub on the Silk Road.

There are also Anguo with Bukhara as the center, Dongcao Kingdom located in Sudhana, Cao Kingdom in Jiebutana, Western Cao Kingdom in Sedihen, American Kingdom in Mimohe, He Kingdom in Qushuangyejia, Shi Kingdom in Jieshuangna, Shi Kingdom in Zheshi, etc.

The Central Plains are collectively called "Zhaowu Nine Clans", namely Kang, An, Cao, Mi, He, Shi, Shi, Huoxun, and Wu. Of course, there are more than nine Sogdian city-states, and the nine surnames may not be all Sogdians.

The Sogdians never formed a unified empire. They served the conquerors' empires with their talent for business. With the turmoil in the Western Regions, a large number of Sogdians traveled east along the Silk Road and traded. Many Sogdians moved to the Central Plains, and their descendants lived there.

Each Sogdian caravan had at least dozens of people and hundreds of people. They settled all the way east, starting from Samarkand and entering the Central Plains along the Silk Road. There were Sogdian settlements in Suyule, Kucha, Shazhou, Liangzhou, Bingzhou, Chang'an, Luoyang, Xiangzhou, and even Youzhou.

After hundreds of years of continuous operation, a complete Sogdian trade chain was formed from Samarkand to Chang'an, and even to Youzhou in the northeast corner of the Central Plains. The Sogdians in the Central Plains bought silk or raw silk and sold it to the Sogdians in the Western Regions. The Sogdians in the Western Regions also brought rare treasures to the Sogdians in the Central Plains and sold them to the Sogdians in the Central Plains.

The Sogdian settlements on the grasslands are called tribes, and the settlements in the Central Plains are called settlements. During the process, the Sogdian caravans also absorbed many other Western ethnic groups, such as the Tocharians and Turks, so the Sogdian settlements are also called Hu settlements.

The leader of the Sogdian caravan was called Sabao, and it was also extended to be the ruler of the Sogdian settlement. The Sogdians believed in the Zoroastrianism (Zoroastrianism), so most of the settlements had a temple. Sabao was also a priest who presided over religious rituals and was regarded as the leader of the unity of politics and religion.

In order to strengthen management and effectively control these Sogdian settlements, the courts in the Central Plains included Sabao into the traditional bureaucratic system. Sabao, which was established at the provincial level in various places, was specially awarded to the leaders of Sogdian settlements.

Anga, the father of Antulu, was Sabao of Tongzhou, and was the leader of the Sogdians in Tongzhou. Tongzhou was adjacent to Chang'an. The Sogdians in Tongzhou had a lot of business and were famous in Chang'an, so Yuwen Wen, who grew up in Chang'an, also heard of it.

Most of the Sogdians are Kang and Shi's surnames, and of course many of them have the surname An. When introducing themselves, they like to use the format "Son of So-and-so" and have deep eyes, high noses and white clothes. Their characteristics are basically obvious.

Just now, Antulu introduced himself to "Antulu, son of Antulu". Yuwen Wen knew that Antulu had passed away. In order to prevent the other party from committing false names, he deliberately asked "Let's be happy". If the other party said "Home is safe", there would be no need to continue the talk.

"Monday, An is here and is sincere in purchasing the Glass Mirror." Antuluo knew that all the wealthy merchants in Yecheng were snatching the supply of Glass Mirror, but if he did not nod the person in front of him, it would be useless even if he ran to Bazhou in the south to come to the door to grind.

"What can I do to pay for the goods by Manager An?"

"I wonder what kind of rare treasures the county magistrate needs?"

"What does the shopkeeper An say?"

"When it comes to horses, An is indeed not as good as the first few, but An can provide both horses and outputs in the Western Regions." Antulu came prepared. He knew that Yuwen Wen, who spent a lot of money in Yecheng recently, needed horses the most, but he was indeed not as good as the merchants with local aristocratic families as their backers.

But they are just slightly inferior. They can also transport horses on the grassland and Liangzhou horses, but the number is a little worse. After all, these horses have to pass through the territory of the Turks and Sui Kingdoms, and too many of them will be too conspicuous.

"The horses in the Western Regions are not good, but the output of the Western Regions may not be too attractive to me. Besides, if you really want to buy them, the Western Regions are thousands of miles apart from the Central Plains. I am afraid that the orders placed this year will not be shipped until three or four years later."

"I don't know where the Western Regions referred to by the Jungong?" Antulu asked. The usual concept of the Western Regions in this era was confirmed, but he knew that the Western Regions referred to by Yuwen Wen was probably west of the Western Regions, thousands of miles away from the Central Plains.

"There are Persia and Fusan in the extreme west, which is the Great Qin Dynasty. Can you tell the story of the shopkeeper An?

"Persia, Fu Zi naturally knew that An was not talented, and Fu Zi had not arrived, but had been to Persia." Antulu replied, then took off a secret bag from his waist, opened it and respectfully presented it. Several yellow and white objects in the bag jumped into Yuwen Wen's eyes.

"The white one is Persian silver coins, and the yellow one is Fuzi gold coins." Antulu introduced that his intention was very obvious. If Yuwen Wen did not need any rare treasures in the Western Regions to offset the price, then they could buy it directly with gold and silver.

The copper coins circulating on the market, and gold and silver are extremely rare, but the value of gold and silver is very good. The fuzi gold coins are also common currency in the Silk Road. The Sogdians purchased raw silk from the Central Plains and transported them to Persia and even further away. The other party used gold coins to pay the bill.

The Sogdians' trade routes included a large number of gold coins circulating, so Antulu was willing to use gold to buy glass mirrors, while Yuwen Wen looked at these gold coins in an interesting way.

The gold coin is irregularly round, with a bust on the front, with a slightly helmet on the head and feathered with feathers. There are two floating ribbons behind the head, wearing armor, holding a javelin in the right hand and carrying it on the right shoulder. The tip of the gun is exposed on the upper side of the left ear, and the left hand is like holding a shield to protect the left shoulder.

The crown belt and armor are outlined with beaded patterns, and the inscriptions are distributed clockwise, and are divided into two parts by the feathers on the head, namely "dnthbodo".

The woman with wings standing on the back seemed to be standing on a flat plate, holding a long-handed cross in her right hand, her left hand drooped naturally, and her clothes floated slightly above her left hand.

The surrounding inscriptions are a bit blurry, as if they are "voyxxmvltxxx", and the bottom inscription is "conob".

Yuwen Wen weighed this gold coin, and the amount was very large and the gold content was good. He looked at the other gold coins. Some of them were similar in shape to this coin, but some were slightly different. It was thought that they were made at different times.

With Huang Chengcheng's gold coins, Yuwen Wen was not very interested in Persian silver coins. Of course, this does not mean that he disliked silver. If one tael of gold is about ten taels of silver, one tael of silver is about one tael of silver, and one tael of silver is about one tael of copper coins, carrying gold and silver is much more convenient than carrying copper coins.

But even so, a glass mirror with a "wholesale price" of 5,000 guan is about 5,000 taels of silver or 500 taels of gold. It is about 31 jin per pound, which is already a weight of half a stone (hukou) rice. If you buy a mirror, you will use thousands of gold coins.

He wanted to ask the other party if there were a lot of gold coins, but he still didn't say it. If the transaction was really settled, he would not care about how the other party raised gold. Anyway, he would pay the money and deliver the goods in one hand.

The turnover of business dealers is measured in units of tens of thousands of yuan. Chen Guohaos has exaggerated examples. An ordinary cargo ship selling goods on the Yangtze River can be loaded with various rare treasures that are claimed to be worth more than tens of thousands of yuan.

The profit is quite good when the glass mirror is replaced, which is not a problem for the commercial nation Sogdian. If you transport this thing to Persia and brush it, you can earn more gold coins.

Compared with a large number of gold coins, glass mirrors are lightweight and easy to carry. The most important thing is that they sell at a very high price. They are simply the best product for business for a long distance. From the far east to the far west, this thing has the highest cost-effectiveness.

"The county lord is in Bazhou, and he has to deal with the Chen army in Jiangnan. I think he will worry about food, right?" Antulu asked. Yuwen Wen's heart moved when he heard this, but his face remained silent. He looked at the other party and then smiled and said, "Have you done the business of the shopkeeper An to Jiangnan?"

The scope of the Sogdian caravan was probably in the Yellow River Basin and north, that is, the Northern Dynasties area. However, there were also Jingxiang in Shannan. It was probably because of Wuguan Road. However, Yuwen Wen heard Antulu's meaning, and seemed to have a way in the Yangtze River Basin.

"If the county magistrate does not dislike it, An can also sell food."

"Is it a sea road?"

"Just go down the river."

Yuwen Wen raised his eyebrows when he heard this. The other party's meaning was very obvious. They could sell food, not from the north, but from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, saving time and effort.

The upper reaches of Bazhou, on the south side of the Yangtze River are Bazhou, Xiangzhou and other places in Chen State, which can be regarded as grain production areas. The Liang State in Jiangbei is exempted. So in the upper reaches, it is Shu, which is the territory of Sui State.

Not to mention whether the grain in Shu can be exported to the point where it is a bumper harvest, just selling grain to the enemy country, the energy behind this shopkeeper An is really not small.
Chapter completed!