The Western Qiang can be said to be an ancient nation.

Some people even said that the Qiang people were actually the same clan as the Han people at first. Later, the ancestors of the Chinese moved east from the west, so they gradually became far apart.

Tang Jian didn't believe this statement very much, and believed that it was just intentional fabrication by later generations, just like the Huns were also descendants of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.

He also believed that the Qiang people were natives who originated and grew up in Western Xinjiang.

From the pre-Qin period to the present day, especially during the Han Dynasty, the Hundred Years of War between the Han and Qiang shattered the dream of the rise of the Qiang people. Since then, the Qiang people have never had a chance to get up again.

Until now, there are many Qiang people, but no force can rise up, and has long been reduced to second-rate or even third-rate frontier barbarians.

Tubo on the plateau was far inferior to the Western Qiang, but Tubo worked very hard. Through generations of efforts, they continued to strangle and fight on the plateau, annexed small states and tribes, and finally opened up the isolation from the Central Plains. Although the plateau had not been completely unified, they dared to challenge the Qin directly.

The Western Qiang, which was originally isolated between Tubo and the Central Plains, then he was entrusted with Tubo, and he was simply losing all the glory of their ancestors.

You know, the Western Qiang was once a first-class barbarian who was as powerful as the Northern Hu people on the grassland, but now he has fallen to the point of serving as a servant for Tubo. If their ancestors knew about it, they would not have been able to get up from the ground and die again?

This time, Tang Jian was on a mission to go to the Western Qiang. He went south from Chang'an, crossed Sanguan, crossed the Qinling Mountains, entered Hechi County on Bahan Road, then went south along the Jialing River, passed Shunzheng County and Yicheng County, and then went west in Guangyuan, passed Pingwu County, entered Tongchang County, and went straight to the snow-capped mountains.

Along the way, the more we go west, the more desolate you feel.

The wars at the end of the Sui Dynasty also affected Shu. Although the war did not burn here directly, there were also many bandits and bandits in Shu, not to mention that the Qiang and Rong took advantage of the chaos to invade the east.

Since the Qiang people invaded the border, many Qiang people in Shu have become more tense with the Han civil war. For thousands of years, countless Qiang tribes have either failed internal struggles and attached themselves to the Central Plains, or moved inwardly after being conquered by the Central Plains. There are many Qiang people in Shu, especially in western Sichuan.

Many Qiang people have actually become naturalized citizens who have long been registered as citizens, but the Qiang people have also retained some old customs to a greater or lesser extent. In some remote places, many Qiang people still live in concentrated areas in the form of tribes.

It is said that the road to Shu is difficult, but it is more difficult than climbing to the blue sky.

However, from Hanzhong to Sichuan, there are several important roads, and there are plank roads, which are not particularly difficult to walk. But after reaching western Sichuan, this is called roads difficult to walk, and sometimes there are no roads at all.

Crossing mountains and ridges, crossing rivers and streams, there is only a small path to goat intestines.

There are many roads where there are no carriages and horses, and they can only walk through the short-legged ponies in Shu. They cannot be carried by carriages, and they are all transported by horses.

Because there are many Qiang and Rong in western Sichuan, there is also border trade here, mainly using Ma Yi tea and salt to make the skin easier.

The tea sold to the Qiang people is the secondiest tea. Before and after the morning, the tea leaves are intact, and when only some old leaves are left behind, the tea people cut off the old leaves and tender branches, and then steamed and pressed, so they became tea bricks.

People in the Central Plains disdain for drinking this kind of black tea brick, and ordinary people in the Central Plains disdain for drinking it, but selling it to Qiangrong herders who mainly use milk is very popular with them and can be sold at a high price.

However, it is extremely difficult to transport these tea and salt and other items. Every tea brick and every packet of salt must be transported by horse. Due to the demand for border trade, several tea and horse roads have gradually been found in western Sichuan.

The profession of horse gangs emerged on this tea horse gang. They specialize in running tea horse gangs to traffic in goods for merchants. The border is very chaotic, and there are many horse gangs on the tea horse gangs, and they still have strong force, otherwise the goods may be difficult to keep.

Therefore, these horse gangs have the nature of the escort team.

Tang Jian came this time to pretend to be a tea merchant in the Central Plains. He hired a famous local horse gang in Pingwujiang Youcheng, carrying hundreds of boxes of goods. He heard that he was going west of the snow-capped mountains, and the horse gang sent more than 100 people to protect the goods.

The price of the cart for this cargo is very high, but Tang Jian agreed readily.

He did not seek troops from local counties, but did not want to reveal his identity. He intended to first enter the Dangxiang and Qiang as a merchant, and then find an opportunity to lobby for helping surrender.

The horse gang went north along the Fu River in Jiangyou first, and after entering Tongchang, they could only cross the mountains.

When crossing the snow-capped mountains, Tang Jian suffered a lot. The snow on the snow-capped mountains was soaked. Even the most familiar horse gang, it took him half a month to cross the snow-capped mountains, and more than a dozen horses were lost in the middle.

Fortunately, the people in the horse gang were very dedicated and professional. Although they lost more than a dozen horses, they took off the goods on the horses, packed them up and carried them on their backs, and transported all of their goods across the mountain.

At the foot of the west side of the snowy mountain, the horse gang added another batch of ponies and set off again.

Tang Jian and his party came all the way to Jiacheng County on the banks of the Minjiang River.

From a distance, I saw a small town on the mountain on the banks of the Minjiang River. The city is very small.

Especially not many people are seen.

At the foot of the mountain, you can see the occasional pass by Qiang people. It is just very common to see horse gangs coming. Some people ride horses down from the foot of the mountain, greeting from afar, and speaking Chinese language.

The head of the horse gang Zhao's team told Tang Jian that these Qiang people were Baishui Qiang, also known as Deng Zhiqiang. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, these small Qiangs that originally lived by the Baishui River rose and gradually occupied the current Minjiang River area. Later, Deng Zhiwang resigned to the Northern Wei Dynasty and was named General Longxiang and Deng Zhiwang.

Later, King Deng Zhi was also appointed as the governor of Yizhou and founded the founding prince of Gansong County.

Baishui Qiang became the Shu Qiang, but later defeated the Qiang people in the west. King Deng Zhi fled to Chang'an. Yuwen Tai of the Western Wei sent generals to lead troops to escort him back to his country, but his power declined day by day, and later his land was taken over by the Northern Zhou army.

Baishui Qiang gradually integrated into the Han people and became a registered household and a citizen.

At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the Dangxiang Qiang invaded and captured the lands west of the Snow Mountain. The Han people fled to Shu, but the Baishui Qiang directly surrendered to Dangxiang. Now the Dangxiang Qiang people occupy this place, but many places use these Baishui Qiang to assist in the governance.

Baishui Qiang, who came down from the mountain, is now a soldier of the Dangxiang people. He is very happy with the horse gangs that came. Since this year, few horse gangs have come, let alone such a large-scale horse gang.

The horse gang leader came over with the Baishui Qiang man and introduced him to the cargo owner Lao Tang.

Tang Jian claimed to be Tang Ping, a tea merchant from Hanzhong. He used to go to Yunnan to sell tea. This is the first time he has come here this year. He wants to see the market here and open up a new market.

Bai Shui Qiang didn't care about this statement at all, he only cared about what goods he was bringing.

"Tea leaves are one hundred boxes, one hundred and twenty kilograms per box."

The Qiang man started to calculate the fingers, but after calculating for a long time, he still couldn't figure out how many pounds he had.

Tang Jian smiled and said, "All 12,000 kilograms of tea."

"How many horses do you have to exchange for so much tea?" The Qiang man widened his eyes, "Did you come from Hanzhong?"

"Well, this is not. I came from Hanzhong, but this tea is picked from Shu, and it is Shu tea."

The tea traded with the Qiang people and the horses in the southwest is basically adopted in Shu, which is a matter of transportation cost.

"Go into the city, I'll take you there."

As a result, Tang Jian didn't move, "I want to sell this tea to Xishan."

"Xishan? It's not easy to go there. Otherwise, you might as well sell the tea to my general and you will have a good horse to exchange for you." Bai Shuiqiang heard that he was going to Xishan, so he immediately persuaded him.

But Tang Jian was unmoved and said that if your general wanted to buy tea, I could give you twenty boxes.
Chapter completed!