Chapter 529: The Royal Court of Luobei!

Erlunqin Grassland

The sky is vast, the wilderness is boundless, the wind blows the grass low and cattle and sheep can be seen. Under the blue sky, countless tents stand on this grassland. Driven by the shepherds, tens of thousands of cattle and sheep are slowly walking towards the sheepfold...
This is the royal court of the Luobi people, where the Luobi people have lived for generations. Most of the Luobi nobles also live here. However, in this place, a middle-aged man dressed as a Zhou person is walking among the Luobi tents, and the Luobi men around him seem to be accustomed to the appearance of this middle-aged man. Some of them even come forward with their sheepskins to sell.

Zhang Ye checked the quality of the leather, nodded, and said in Robin language:

"Your sheepskin is of the best quality. If all the goods you have are of this quality, I am willing to buy them at half the price of silver!"

After hearing Zhang Ye's words, the Robe man Bals, who came over to sell his own sheepskin, suddenly showed a look of surprise on his rough face and laughed and said:

"Don't worry, Shopkeeper Zhang. My sheepskins are the best in the entire Erlunqin grassland. The price is what you say! You are the most fair-priced businessman in the entire Erlunqin grassland. You are different from those black-hearted guys!"

When the big man Luo Bei heard Zhang Ye was willing to buy a sheepskin for half a penny, he was tempted by the money and came over to introduce his own sheepskin to Zhang Ye, boasting about how good his own sheepskin was and asking Zhang Ye to take a look at it no matter what.

Although wars are raging in the Great Zhou at the moment, the surrounding armies are still very powerful, and the main forces of the Luobi people are tied down by the Golden Horde in the west. They are afraid that when they go south, they will be robbed by the covetous Golden Horde. Therefore, they dare not go south on a large scale to plunder property, and only dare to go south on a small scale to grab some things and run away...

However, small-scale looting would always be met with strong counterattacks from the defenders of the Great Zhou, just like last year when thousands of light cavalry wanted to take advantage of the autumn harvest to make a fortune in Liaoyang. Because of the speed advantage of the light cavalry and the sudden attack without any warning, this group of Luobi people did achieve certain results at the beginning.

However, just when these Luobi people gained confidence and wanted to expand their victory, the Fengwu Army reacted quickly and organized themselves, launching continuous encirclement and flanking. The powerful firearms greatly reduced the disadvantage of infantry against cavalry. Although the Luobi people made full use of the wolf pack tactics and ran away when they could not win, the accumulated casualties after several consecutive setbacks caused more than half of this small force of thousands of people to be killed or wounded.

Seeing that more and more Fengwu Army troops were coming to support them, the Luobi people wanted to escape back to the grassland in disgrace if they didn't leave. They originally wanted to return to the vast grassland. The Fengwu Army, which was mainly composed of infantry, had to stop here and dared not continue to chase and kill them.

However, what they never expected was that under the combat order signed by Ye Mingsheng, Guo Zhiping led more than 10,000 cavalrymen of the Third Division, chasing them all the way and even directly killing them on the Elunqin grassland, forcing this group of Luobi cavalry to abandon their weapons and weapons, and the entire army was only concerned with escaping.

In the end, although Guo Zhiping was worried that if he went too deep into the enemy's territory, he would be surrounded and annihilated by the Luobi people who would react, so he did not continue to pursue them. However, as a revenge, he destroyed several small Luobi tribes on the eastern grasslands...

After this battle, the Luobi people finally realized the strength of the Fengwu Army. Although they still did not stop their southward plundering out of greed, the frequency of plundering dropped significantly, from more than ten times a year before to five or six times a year now. After all, although the Luobi people are barbaric, they are very clear about the accounts. The input and output are not proportional, and sometimes they even have to make a loss-making business. Naturally, their enthusiasm for plundering in the south will drop significantly!

Although the means of looting gradually became ineffective, the demand of the Robe people for the goods of the Great Zhou still existed, and the demand grew steadily every year. The Robe nobles needed gold and silver objects, ceramics, and silk, while ordinary Robe people needed Great Zhou's tea, pots and pans, and other basic daily necessities.

Ye Mingsheng was also keenly aware that the Luobi market had great potential for development, so he issued an order to let Dadongsheng Trading Company increase its investment in the Luobi market and deepen the development of the Luobi market. Ye Mingsheng knew very well that when firearms had not yet been developed to the point where nomadic peoples could sing and dance, it would be difficult for the Fengwu Army and Liaoyang alone to penetrate deep into the grassland and completely defeat the Luobi people's expansion on the grassland!
Therefore, in order to avoid being disturbed by the Luobi people in his fight for the world, Ye Mingsheng has always been very clear about his strategy for the grassland, that is, to stop the war with war, to face the Luobi people with a strong attitude, to fight fiercely so that the Luobi people would be afraid and would not dare to go south to plunder easily. On the other hand, Ye Mingsheng also used trade to meet the Luobi people's demand for the goods of the Great Zhou, and at the same time to earn a lot of profits for himself to support his expenses for the war of entering the pass, and to obtain war horses, an important strategic material in the era of cold weapons.

Up to now, Ye Mingsheng's strategic approach has been very effective. Although small-scale conflicts have occurred from time to time between the two sides due to the wolfish ambitions of the Luobei people, they are all small-scale conflicts and have not expanded to cause large-scale wars. The two sides maintain a state of political coldness and economic heat...

Now, this businessman named Zhang Ye is one of the deputy managers of Dadongsheng Company in Luobi, who is specifically responsible for the leather business of Dadongsheng Company in Luobi. It is worth mentioning that Dadongsheng is not the only one doing business with the Luobi people. There are also companies in Yunbing and Youyan close to the grassland competing for the Luobi people's market.

Even in Liaoyang, although Ye Mingsheng implemented public-private partnership in important businesses in basic industries and established the dominant position of Dadongsheng Business, in order to prevent Dadongsheng Business from lacking vitality and breeding corruption due to lack of market competition, Ye Mingsheng also gave licenses to Luobi Trade to several other private businesses, using market competition to force Dadongsheng Business to continuously reform and innovate.

Although there is market competition, Dadongsheng Company has a strong advantage of being backed by the Liaoyang Manufacturing Bureau, and is very competitive in both product quality and style. With this advantage, Dadongsheng Company's market share in Luobi continues to expand. Up to now, Dadongsheng Company has become the largest Dazhou company in Luobi, occupying nearly half of the market share, and has a potential for monopoly.

After dealing with these Robe men for a while and handling them all, Zhang Ye came to the core area of ​​the Robe royal court. It was heavily guarded and most of the Robe nobles, including the Khan, lived here.

The soldier in charge of the guard immediately became alert when he saw Zhang Ye's appearance, and immediately shouted loudly:
"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

In response to the soldier's questioning, Zhang Ye remained calm and smiled as he handed over the token on his waist and said:

"I'm the shopkeeper of the Dadongsheng Trading Company. I have something to ask Lord Dabalagan! This is the token Lord Dabalagan gave me..." As he spoke, Zhang Ye secretly stuffed a small piece of silver into the soldier's hand. Feeling Zhang Ye's little gesture, the soldier grinned and didn't question him. He let Zhang Ye in directly. After entering the core area of ​​the royal court, he walked towards a luxuriously decorated courtyard with familiarity.

Unlike ordinary Luobi people who lead a traditional nomadic life, under the influence of the Great Zhou culture, more and more Luobi upper-class nobles began to bid farewell to their past life of sleeping in the open air and began to learn from the powerful people of the Great Zhou to build luxurious houses and construct various landscapes for their own enjoyment.

The Lord Dabalagan that Zhang Ye was going to visit was one of the trendsetters in the upper class of Luobei who was at the forefront of the fashion of the Great Zhou Dynasty. When Zhang Ye arrived at the gate of the courtyard, he was quickly led by the servants to a room. As soon as he entered the room, he heard a hearty laugh from inside.

"Shopkeeper Zhang, my dear Anda, what new things have you brought me this time?"

Zhang Ye looked in the direction of the voice and saw a middle-aged man with a big belly sitting on a seat inlaid with various gems and looking at him. This man was his target, the eldest prince of the Lobitowa tribe, Dabalagan!
The Tuva tribe was one of the most powerful tribes among the Luopi tribes. All the men in the tribe were mobilized, with tens of thousands of soldiers and horses. However, unlike the tradition of the Great Zhou Dynasty that inheritance was passed to the eldest son, the tribes on the grassland believed that the strong was the king, so Dabalagan did not live in the royal court as an envoy of the Tuva tribe.

Of course, in name he is an envoy and in a sense he can also be considered a hostage. However, due to the strength of the Tuva tribe, Dabalagan is also very respected in the royal court...
After Dabalagan finished speaking, the eyes embedded in his round face looked at Zhang Ye with scrutiny. Under his gaze, Zhang Ye smiled slightly, took out a very beautifully decorated box from his arms, and presented it to Dabalagan with both hands, saying:
"Please take a look at this, Lord Dabaragan!"

Upon hearing this, Dabalagan took the box without hesitation. However, he did not open the box directly. Instead, he looked at it carefully and said:
"Is this box made of rosewood?"

As soon as Dabalagan finished speaking, Zhang Ye gave him a thumbs up and praised him:

"Lord Dabalagan has good eyesight! This box is made of rosewood!"

Hearing Zhang Ye's words, Dabalagan showed a hint of complacency, but what surprised Zhang Ye a little was that Dabalagan still did not open the box but laughed and said:

"This box is made of rosewood, so the things in the box must be very valuable. You Zhou people always have the saying that you never visit a guest without a good reason. Manager Zhang, you suddenly gave me such a valuable gift, so I guess you want to ask me for help..."

Zhang Ye was silent for a while after hearing this, then he sighed, gave Dabalagan a thumbs up and said:

"My Lord, I don't have much time left in Luobi. I know at least 800 Luobi people. Your wisdom is the best I have ever seen!"

As soon as these words came out, Dabalagan's fat face was filled with joy and pride that could not be concealed. Although he was the eldest prince of the Tuva tribe, he was disliked by his father because he was fat since childhood and was not good at riding, shooting and fighting. He became a laughing stock among his dozen brothers and was even sent to the royal court as a hostage.

Dabalagan had thought about changing the situation, but unfortunately he was the type that would gain weight even if he drank cold water. So after trying many methods and failing, all Dabalagan could do was to accept the reality. In his opinion, although force and courage were important, wisdom was more important!
He once said this in imitation of the Zhou classic Mencius's "Fish and I Want It", "I want fish, and I also want bear's paw, but I cannot have both, so I would give up fish and take bear's paw. I want courage and strength, and I also want wisdom, but I cannot have both, so I would give up courage and strength and take wisdom."

Although Dabalagan was very persistent about his words and regarded himself as a wise man among the Robe people, the Robe nobles who advocated bravery believed that this was just an excuse for Dabalagan to refuse because he was not good at bravery, so they ridiculed Dabalagan. Now Zhang Ye praised Dabalagan's wisdom, which undoubtedly touched Dabalagan's heart...
After taking a deep look at Zhang Ye, Dabalagan said very straightforwardly:
"Just for what you said, Shopkeeper Zhang, I accept this gift!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Ye bowed to Dabalagan and said:
"Thank you for your kindness!"

Dabalagan used his thick fingers covered with gemstone rings to roughly open the rosewood box, and saw a thing made of wood and glass lying quietly inside.

When he saw this thing appear, a hint of doubt flashed in Dabalagan's eyes. He thought that Zhang Ye would send gold, silver, jade or something like that, but he didn't expect that he would send this kind of seemingly worthless gadget. Just when Dabalagan thought that Zhang Ye was playing a trick on him and started to get angry.

Zhang Ye spoke again:
"Last time when I was drinking with you, sir, I heard you say that you were very interested in the clairvoyance of Liaoyang, so I made a special note of it and asked someone to get one for you. I didn't expect that this thing was very difficult to get. Even in the Fengwu Army, only a few high-ranking generals such as the governor Ye Mingsheng, He Jingyun, and Yuan Song were equipped with it. I used all kinds of connections but still couldn't get it!"

“The matter had been left unsettled, but maybe Changshengtian wanted to fulfill your wish. By chance, I finally got one from the Fengwu Army. I’ll take it and present it to its real owner. Lord Dabalagan, please put the small end of the Clairvoyance close to your eyes. It will allow you to see faraway places…”

(I just realized that I have written 1.5 million words, but I have not yet specifically described the Luobei people. Because there will be a plot involving them in the future, I will lay the groundwork for a chapter first. You can guess who this Zhang Ye is! Good night)

(End of this chapter)