Thousand Miles of Bright Moonlight

Chapter 118: Shop

The first glimmer of sunlight was dawning, gilding the snowy mountain peaks in the distance with a layer of brilliant golden light. Eagles flew through the clear, azure sky, leaving the gentle and light scenery of floating clouds. The morning bell had just rung three times, and the Holy City's south market had long been lively and crowded, bustling with activity.

Yaoying, dressed in a bright curling-patterned dress and a veil over her face, walked into the market accompanied by Ashina Bisha.

The main street of the market was not long, but it was crowded with merchants. Both sides were crowded and densely packed, and stores were lined up in rows. Behind the flowery curtains, people were packed within the stores. It was impossible to find a place to put one's feet. Merchants of different skin colors, speaking different languages, wearing different clothes, and coming from different tribes came and went. Goods from various countries in the Western Regions were sold here-compared with the market in Chang'an, it was a different kind of bustle and liveliness.

The market was a boiling cauldron of noises, and the sound of crisp camel bells harmonized with the sounds of hawking and selling in foreign languages.

Yaoying walked along and looked at the stores, most of which were selling jewelry, furs, spices, silks, carpets, and all kinds of exquisite goods, a dazzling lineup that could blind the viewer.

But she found that the number of goods originating from the Central Plains numbered few.

Ashina Bisha explained to her: "The commercial road to the Central Plains is not only mountainous but largely consists of deserts. The journey is difficult and dangerous. Over the years, there have been a series of military disasters, so the commercial road to the Central Plains has long been abandoned, and generally, merchants dare not easily risk it. Most of the merchants here take three trade routes: the northern route going north over the Tianshan Mountains, past Suiye City, through Jingkang, Shi, and as far as Fulin; the central route goes along the edge of the desert to the west, from Qiuci to Kashgar to Gandhara, and then north to Kang or south to Tianzhu; the southern route goes along the southern edge of the desert, through Loulan, Qiemo, Yutian, and Shache, to Shule.

"After reaching Tianzhu, a fraction of the merchants go south and reach the southern border of the Central Plains either through Qunnu City and Wangshe City to Tubo, or from Phyo to Yongchang. The rest of the merchants take the sea route, bypassing Tianzhu, and trade with the Central Plains merchants who arrive here after several months of sea voyage. For the most part, those merchants come from Guangzhou, Mingzhou, Yangzhou, and other areas in the southern part of the Central Plains."

Yaoying listened with immense regret.

The three merchant routes Bisha mentioned actually perfectly coincided with the western route of the former Silk Road. Only the starting little bit of the route, from the Central Plains' Chang'an to the Yumen Pass in Dunhuang, was cut off because the Central Plains had long lost dominion over the Helong area. The road was blocked, so contact was obstructed.

Merchants who were unafraid to brave the dangers to cross the vast deserts and seemingly endless snow-capped mountains across the east and west lands to travel between the Central Plains and Fulin were naturally not easily discouraged by the obstruction of the trade route. With the boom of shipbuilding, more and more merchants opted for the large load capacity and lower cost that maritime trade offered.

This maritime trade route started from the ports of Mingzhou, Yangzhou, Quanzhou, and Guangzhou in the Central Plains, crossed the South China Sea, passed through Geluofusha to the western part of Tianzhu, and then by land to the Western Regions and Persia, reaching as far as Fulin and Jerusalem. Later generations would refer to it as the Maritime Silk Road.