The northern side of the border market, the camp of the Helian Khanate merchants.
Outside, the sun was scorching, and yellow sand filled the sky.
This area was even more chaotic than the south gate.
The musky smell of cattle and sheep mixed with the sour stench of horse manure, piercing straight into people's nostrils.
"Good horses! Ten famous horses!"
"Top-grade silk! Silk!"
Small vendors piled their goods on simple wooden racks, straining their throats to shout out their wares.
The voices merged into a cacophony amidst the crowded throng.
Cattle and sheep neighed and bleated, and horse hooves clattered.
Several officials from the superintendent's office patrolled back and forth in the market, holding wooden sticks.
"This is the government's brokerage ground, all goods must be inspected!" the officials shouted harshly.
Pheet—
A broker held a copper whistle in his mouth, blowing one long and two short notes.
This was to call the northern merchants forward to inspect the goods, and at the same time to urge the payment of transaction taxes.
Hearing the whistle, the merchants quickly stuffed their smuggled goods into their robes, carefully wrapping them tight for fear of being caught by the government with contraband.
In the center of the camp, a large grayish-white felt tent isolated the noise outside.
Inside the tent, thick Persian carpets were laid out.
Sarhan, a great merchant of the Helian Khanate, sat cross-legged on the carpet with a gloomy expression.
On the low table in front of him, over a dozen exquisite brocade boxes lay open in a messy array.
Inside were all top-tier goods produced in the Great Qian.
Radiant Su embroidery silk, crystal-clear Hetian jade carvings, and gold and silver vessels engraved with intricate patterns.
Taking out any single piece could be exchanged for hundreds of good horses on the grassland.
Yet Sarhan did not even spare them a second glance.
He grabbed the exquisitely carved jade horse by his hand and smashed it fiercely onto the ground.
Smash!
The fine Hetian jade broke into several pieces, rolling across the carpet.
"Trash! It's all fucking trash!"
Sarhan tore open the frog buttons at his collar, panting heavily.
"Taking these pieces of trash back, do you want me to die?"
The attendant standing beside him, Agula, was so frightened that he knelt on the ground, frantically picking up the broken jade.
"Calm your anger, Master," Agula lowered his voice.
"These are already the best items we can acquire in the border market."
"The managers of Demao Firm and Wantong House both said that this jade horse is of the quality of a tribute from the capital..."
"Tribute my ass!"
Sarhan kicked over the brocade box containing the silk.
"The Great Khan's birthday ceremony is next month!"
"Which of those tribal leaders in the royal court isn't racking their brains trying to curry favor?"
Sarhan became more and more agitated as he spoke, pacing back and forth in the tent.
"The Great Khan sits upon tens of thousands of miles of grassland, what gold, silver, and jade artifacts hasn't he seen?"
"No matter how well this jade horse is carved, can it compare to the luminous pearls paid in tribute by the Western Regions?"
"No matter how smooth this silk is, can it compare to the Shu brocade bestowed by the Emperor of Great Qian?"
Agula swallowed hard and gathered the courage to advise.
"But we are just merchants after all."
"The Master's Uncle in the royal court... is having a difficult time right now."
Hearing the word Uncle, Sarhan's cheek twitched.
His uncle was the branch manager of the Inner Guard Affairs Division of the Helian Great Khan, concurrently holding the lucrative post of inner treasury manager.
It was exactly because of this relationship that Sarhan was able to obtain the royal court's customs clearance documents.
Allowing him to walk sideways in this border market and make a fortune.
But now, the wind in the royal court had changed.
"You know it's difficult too!"
Sarhan gritted his teeth and slapped the low table.
"The people of the Right Luli King stare at the inner treasury's account books every day, trying every possible way to pull my uncle down from his horse!"
"The Great Khan's birthday is my uncle's last chance!"
"If we can't produce a rare treasure that can greatly please the Great Khan, my uncle will be replaced as the inner treasury manager!"
Sarhan grabbed Agula by the collar.
"If my uncle falls, your and my trading privileges in this border market will be stripped away by the people of the Right Luli King tomorrow!"
"When that time comes, we won't be worth a fart, and we can only go back to the grassland to herd sheep!"
Agula was choked out of breath and nodded repeatedly.
"Master... what Master says is right."
"Then shall we... go look for the finest tribute tea of Great Qian?"
"Or... those rare ancient books that the Han officials like?"
"Idiot!" Sarhan pushed him away.
"The Great Khan is not used to drinking Han people's tea!"
"Ancient books? The Great Khan has countless of them, do you want to get stabbed?"
He grabbed his hair, his voice hoarse.
"What I want is something never seen before!"
"A treasure that will make the Great Khan unable to take his eyes off it at first glance!"
"A unique wonder in this world!"
Agula knelt on the ground, not even daring to breathe loudly.
Never seen before?
Besides salt, iron, tea, silk, and medicinal herbs, what else could there be in this border market that had never been seen before?
Suddenly, the urgent whistle of the broker came from outside the tent.
Immediately after, the tent flap was pulled open.
A scout under Sarhan slipped in and knelt on one knee.
"Master! Over at the south gate... something has happened!"
Sarhan was full of anger and cursed in a bad mood.
"What happened? Did the border army of Great Qian attack?"
"N-no!" The scout panted heavily.
"It's the superintendent's office! A woman has come!"
Sarhan frowned.
"A woman?"
"Yes!" The scout spoke extremely fast.
"A young woman, seemingly carrying the official tally seal of the Commander-in-Chief of Great Qian, directly kicked open the door of the superintendent's office!"
"The three grand managers of Demao Firm and Wantong House were all kicked out by her!"
Sarhan's eyes changed instantly.
In this border market, those three grand managers were the local tyrants.
To be able to drive them out, it seemed this woman had quite a formidable background.
"What is she here for?" Sarhan asked urgently.
"I don't know." The scout swallowed.
"But she brought thirty large wagons! All parked outside the south gate!"
Sarhan was stunned.
Thirty large wagons?
His mind began to calculate rapidly.
"What's loaded in them? Salt? Iron? Or tea?"
The scout shook his head.
"I spent money to bribe a servant in the office."
"That servant said that Superintendent Qian Fugui personally went to look at the wheel ruts."
"It's not salt, it's not iron, and there's no smell of tea."
Not salt, iron, or tea?
A woman carrying the Commander-in-Chief's seal, arriving at the border market with great fanfare and thirty large wagons.
Yet not bringing the hardest currency on the grassland?
"Master..." Agula muttered softly from the side.
"Could this woman be a madman?"
"Coming to the border market without salt, iron, or tea, what is she here to do?"
Sarhan ignored Agula.
"She must be here to do business."
Sarhan looked toward the direction of the Great Qian border market, his voice trembling.
"And it's a massive business."
He paced back and forth in the tent, his hands clenched into fists.
"A woman who dares to use the Commander-in-Chief's seal to do business, the goods in her hands are definitely not ordinary."
Sarhan suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Agula.
In those eyes, a desperate, all-or-nothing light flickered.
His Adam's apple bobbed as he added a sentence.
"Agula, tell me..."
"What if her goods... really are something we have never seen before?"
