Chapter 178 The Nine Surnames of Zhaowu
[A Western Merchant with a Discerning Eye for Treasures] Su Tingquan sat on a bench, and the apprentice beside him brought him tea. The task that Su Ze assigned to him was very simple, which was to sit here every day and appraise treasures for the merchants.
A businessman carefully brought a Buddha statue. Su Tingquan just glanced at it and said, "It's from the Jin Dynasty. It's not worth much."
The businessman left angrily with the Buddha statue in his arms, and the surrounding merchants grabbed him and quoted a price. Although it was from the Jin Dynasty, it was still an antique. The most important thing was that it had been appraised by Su Tingquan, so it was easy to sell in Xiping City.
Madam An saw that the treasures sent for appraisal were of various kinds.
There are valuable antiques such as Buddha statues and jewelry, as well as various strange coins and ancient books and manuscripts.
For example, a businessman took out a gold coin, which was identified by Su Tingquan as a gold coin from the time of Alexander the Conqueror, and was bought at a high price on the spot.
Some businessmen also took out some loose bamboo slips, which were identified by Su Tingquan as Dunhuang Han bamboo slips and were also purchased at a high price.
However, most of the merchants took out worthless items that had little purchasing value.
In addition to these things, Su Tingquan is also keen on purchasing various plant seeds. He will also purchase maps given by some merchants, and he will pay a high price for the excellent Western Region horses.
Old Bahan said, "Mrs. An, if you have any new things, you can show them to Master Su."
Madam An also found it interesting, so she took out a pocket filled with some seeds she had collected.
Mrs. An's hobby is collecting various seeds. Unlike ordinary businessmen who are keen on spice crop seeds, Mrs. An is more interested in flower and vegetable seeds.
She lined up in front of Su Tingquan with the bag and poured the seeds on the table.
Su Tingquan spread the seeds and pointed at them to teach the apprentice beside him, saying, "This is the seed of turmeric. Buddhist temples in Luoyang love to plant it. When the flowers bloom, they look like lotus flowers blooming on land. If the color is good, it can be sold for a high price."
"These are the seeds of Sichuan pepper. There are too many of them. This spice is also very popular in Luoyang. When the emperor married the empress, he would paste the walls with Sichuan pepper. The place where the empress lived was also called the Pepper Room."
"These are rosemary seeds. They are very popular in Luoyang nowadays. The Emperor of Cao Wei once wrote a poem praising their fragrance."
"Wait, this!"
Su Tingquan, who had been very calm, stood up. He looked at Madam An and said, "Madam, where did this seed come from?"
This is a black seed that looks similar to a melon seed, but has some fuzz on the tip.
This seed is ordinary, with no fragrance or color, and is even a bit ugly. If Su Tingquan hadn't picked it out, the apprentice would not have noticed this ugly seed.
Mrs. An was a little surprised. She said, "These are the seeds I collected in Gaochang. Local people grow this flower for viewing, and some people grow it on a small scale for weaving."
Su Tingquan said, "My lady, please follow me to see General Su! These are the seeds that the general paid a huge sum of money for!"
All the onlookers were stunned. These ugly seeds were the ones that General Su asked for?
Madam An was also a little dumbfounded. Although she also wanted to meet General Su, she didn't expect that she would be able to meet Su Ze as soon as she arrived in Xiping City?
Just because of this seed?
Su Tingquan immediately took Madam An into Xiping City and quickly came to the General Huqiang's Mansion in Xiping City.
A few cases later, Su Ze was processing paperwork, with a brave guard standing beside him with a gorgeous sword on his waist.
Madam An had met many rulers of the Western Regions and had also met Yuan Yu, the governor of Liangzhou, but none of them was as majestic as Su Ze.
The most important thing is that General Su is actually not very old and looks about the same age as himself.
After Su Ze finished dealing with the documents on hand, the clerk came forward to take the documents away. Su Ze raised his head and looked at Madam An, frowning and saying:
"Why don't you take off your veil?"
In order to avoid trouble when she goes out, Madam An always wears a veil. Now that she is under the eaves, she can only take off the veil and reveal her beautiful face.
When Su Ze saw Madam An's face, his heart was also shaken.
After traveling through time, he has seen many beautiful women, and even had intimate contact with many of them.
But Madam An's exotic face reminded him of the female stars in his previous life whose names ended with "Ba" or "Za".
But Su Ze was used to seeing beautiful women. He regained his composure and asked, "Which tribe are you from?"
"General, I am Han Chinese."
"Han people?"
Su Ze frowned. What Han Chinese looks like you?
I only heard Madam An say, "General, I am a genuine Zhaowuan native."
Wait, a native of Zhaowu? Isn't that the Nine Surnames of Zhaowu?
The Nine Zhaowu Surnames had a very early origin and were said to be some of the Yuezhi people who were enfeoffed by Zhang Qian during his diplomatic mission to the Western Regions during the Han Dynasty.
They used Zhaowu as their clan name, and Kang, An, Cao, Shi, Mi, Shi, He, Mu, etc. as their surnames. They sometimes called themselves Han people in the Western Regions, but they were generally called "Xinghu" in the Central Plains.
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, they had a new ethnic name - Sogdians.
Yes, it is the Sogdian tribe that An Lushan came from.
The woman in front of me also has the surname An. Could she be An Lushan’s great-grandmother?
Su Ze shook his head. The Nine Zhaowu Surnames were widely distributed in the Western Regions. Who knew where An Lushan's ancestors were.
The Nine Zhaowu Surnames called themselves Han people and were able to receive preferential treatment from the Han rulers. For example, in Liangzhou, the Nine Zhaowu Surnames could enjoy taxes and status similar to those of the Han people.
The Sogdians were also a natural business people, and their footprints could be found throughout the Silk Road.
Su Ze looked at Madam An's face and couldn't help but sigh that the beauty really affected the speed of his handling of government affairs. He brought the topic back and asked:
"The cotton seeds you brought were from Gaochang? Are there many people growing cotton in Gaochang?"
The seeds that Madam An carried were the cotton seeds that Su Ze had been looking for!
There are different opinions as to when cotton was introduced to the Central Plains, some say in the early Tang Dynasty, and some say in the late Tang Dynasty, but there are records of cotton cultivation already in the Western Regions.
Asian cotton originated in India and was brought to various places by merchants. However, cotton requires a certain temperature and long periods of sunlight, so it has not been widely planted after being introduced to the Central Plains.
It was not until the Yuan Dynasty that official promotion of its cultivation began.
There are not many production areas in the Central Plains suitable for cotton cultivation, and the place where Su Ze is located happens to be one of them.
Because of the special geographical features of the Hexi Corridor, the temperature is suitable and the rainfall is abundant. Since cotton was introduced to the area, Dunhuang, Zhangye and other places have been cotton-growing areas.
The winter temperature in the Hehuang Valley is slightly lower, but there are some areas where cotton can be grown. In order to make money from the Silk Road, in addition to taking advantage of trade nodes to become a middleman and collect taxes, it is also important to form your own industry.
Cotton is an economic crop that is suitable for cultivation, and cotton cloth is a commodity that can be easily circulated.
Su Ze knew that the Western Regions had a long history of growing cotton, so he always asked Su Tingquan to appraise treasures at the gate of Xiping City in order to find cotton seeds.
Su Ze also asked merchants to look for it, but cotton was not widely grown as an economic crop in the Western Regions at present, and the merchants had no idea what cotton was.
Originally, Su Ze was planning to send a caravan to India to look for cotton seeds, but he didn't expect that Madam An actually brought cotton seeds with her, and she knew about cotton!
Facing Su Ze's question, Madam An shook her head and said, "Only some foreign monks and believers like to grow this flower. The foreign monks like to use this flower to weave and make robes, and the believers also think that this white flower can represent holiness."
I see! Cotton was first introduced to the Western Regions from India by Buddhist monks!
How could I have forgotten!
The entire Silk Road was also the route for the spread of Buddhism into the Central Plains. The Western Regions was the crossroads of world religions, and the earliest exchanges of many products were also carried out through religious exchanges.
If I had asked the monk about cotton earlier, I might have found it.
Su Ze was a little annoyed, but it was not too late now. He said to Madam An:
"Madam An, can you lead a caravan to Gaochang to buy cotton seeds?"
Madam An shook her head and Su Ze frowned.
Now that Su Ze's authority is growing, his subordinates feel afraid every time he frowns, and the same goes for Madam An.
She said quickly: "General, it's not that I don't want to go, but the road from Zhangye to Gaochang is cut off, and the caravan can't pass!"
It turned out to be because of this matter. Su Ze waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, Madam An, this trade route will be cleared soon. When the time comes, please go to Gaochang. This general will buy these cotton seeds at a high price! The more the better!"
Although Madam An didn't know how Su Ze was going to clear the trade routes, and didn't know why Su Ze was willing to pay a high price for the cotton grown by these Hu monks, but facing the actual ruler of Hezhou, Madam An still respectfully agreed.
After talking about cotton, Su Ze discussed his experiences in the Western Regions with Madam An.
“Are there so many Han people in the Western Regions?”
Li Cunzhen had presented a map before, saying that there were hundreds of thousands of descendants of the Ganliang New Army in the Western Regions, and many of them wanted to return to their homeland like them.
When Madam An talked about the Western Regions, Su Ze realized how appealing the "Han" flag was in the Western Regions.
The Sogdians of the Nine Zhaowu Clans called themselves Han people, the descendants of the Ganliang Western Army called themselves Han people, and many small countries in the Western Regions also called themselves descendants of the Han people.
Su Ze asked Madam An, "Madam An, if these Han people were allowed to return to their homeland, would they be willing?"
Madam An was stunned for a moment and said, "Of course someone is willing. I don't know about the others, but those who claim to be the descendants of Ganliang West Army have always wanted to return to the Central Plains."
Although Li Cunzhen also mentioned the Ganliang West Army, Su Ze did not have a direct impression of it, and there was no record of the Ganliang West Army returning home on a large scale in history.
In fact, with the natural endowment of the Hehuang Valley, it is entirely possible to support a larger population, but the shortcoming that restricts Su Ze's control over this area is that the population is too small.
In order to establish Xihai County on the shore of Qinghai Lake, Wang Mang wanted to relocate the people to Xihai County, but the people in the country were unwilling to go. So Wang Mang changed the legal standards, and any people who broke the law would be exiled to Xihai County. Only then was there enough population to establish Xihai County.
The result was that after the collapse of the Xinmang regime, the people who were exiled to Xihai County fled, and the Eastern Han Dynasty simply abandoned Xihai County.
To the Han people in the Central Plains, Xihai County is a distant frontier, but to the Han people in the Western Regions, Xihai County is their homeland!
If the Han people from the Western Regions could be attracted to settle down there, then the Xihai County that Wang Mang had always dreamed of but never realized could be easily established under Su Ze's hands.
Su Ze said to Madam An: "Madam An, can you help the Han people in the Western Regions return to Hezhou?"
After meeting Su Ze, An gradually lost her fear of him. She said, "I can help some Han people return to Hezhou for the general, but if I want to get more Han people back to Hezhou, it's impossible for me to do it alone. Merchants won't do business at a loss."
Su Ze said, "Zi Gong redeemed people, I understand."
Mrs. An speaks Chinese well, but she is not very familiar with Chinese classics. She looked at Su Ze in confusion.
Fortunately, Madam An was a beauty, and Su Ze also wanted to show off.
He explained: "When Confucius was alive, there was a rule in the State of Lu that if you redeem a Lu enslaved person in another country, the king will give you a reward. Confucius' disciple Zigong redeemed a Lu enslaved person, but refused the king's reward."
Madam An said: "Confucius' disciples are indeed saints and sages."
Su Ze said: "But Confucius criticized Zigong because he redeemed the slaves and refused to accept the reward. Then, no one would be willing to redeem the slaves of Lu in the future."
"why?"
"It costs money to redeem someone, and no one is willing to pay to redeem someone. But Zigong refused the reward. If others accept the reward, it will appear that they have low moral character and are doing good deeds for the reward. In this way, merchants will no longer be willing to redeem slaves from the State of Lu."
Su Ze immediately said to his attendant, "Go, invite Su Changshi to the Mingtang."
After a while, Su Cho, dressed in Confucian robes, came to the Mingtang. After he saluted Su Ze, Su Ze told Su Cho about his plan and asked for his opinion.
Su Chuo thought for a moment and said, "General, if you want to encourage merchants to redeem Han people in the Western Regions, we only need to issue a decree, and if the caravan brings back Han people, we can reduce or exempt the merchant tax according to a certain proportion."
Su Ze said: "But tax reduction and exemption alone is still a little insufficient."
Su Chao thought for a while and said, "How about Guan Shanhai?"
"Ling Chuo wants to specialize in salt and iron?"
Su Cho said: "In fact, it is not a monopoly, but a distribution of salt and iron business shares to merchants. Only merchants with shares can sell salt and iron, and these shares can be obtained by bringing back Han people in the Western Regions."
Isn’t this the salt permit?
Su Ze looked at Su Chao and felt that this junior brother was a great talent. He was so surprised that he had forgotten this method!
Su Ze stood up and said, "Ling Chuo is truly as talented as Guan Zhong! This method is great!"
"However, ironware is not easy to control, so we still issue salt permits and tea permits to sell salt and tea. Merchants who want to sell these two commodities can either pay to buy them or bring them back to the Han people from the Western Regions to obtain a certain amount of salt permits."
Su Chao thought about it and said, "But merchants pursue profits. Is it possible that they would traffic in people for salt and tea permits?"
Su Ze also sighed and said, "There is no perfect method in this world. We can only let the officials try their best to identify and punish illegal businessmen."
Su Chao nodded and said, "Then I will draft the decree right away."
Madam An watched as the two men came up with such a sophisticated decree in just a few words, and her eyes were full of admiration when she looked at Su Ze.
Madam An now believed that Su Ze really had a way to open up the Dunhuang trade route. She couldn't help but ask curiously:
"General Su, do you have any ideas to clear the trade route to Dunhuang?"
(End of this chapter)