Xianyu Infrastructure, I have a lot of troops in my hands

Suna has a pair of lake blue eyes, her flaxen hair is braided into small braids and hangs down to her waist, her skin is fair and even her eyelashes are golden brown.

She reached out and removed the Nuo mask on Xie Xian's face. Seeing that Xie Xian was a woman, her eyes widened in surprise.

Xie Xian tilted her head back slightly with a helpless smile on her face. She took the Nuo mask from Su Na and tied it around her waist. She would have to return it later, but the woman in front of her was an exotic beauty.

Su Na blinked her azure eyes again and again, and moved her index finger across her chin and gave her a wink. Xie Xian leaned over and touched her chest, pinched it lightly with her thumb and middle finger, and snapped her fingers.

Then let's dance! Amid the crowd's cheers, the two of them stood very close to each other, shaking shoulders back to back, moving back and forth, their movements were very coordinated.

The Hu musician on the stage played a long tune: "Hey, hey~" The music became more cheerful, and everyone was cheering.

Everyone in the dance floor didn't know what was going on, the atmosphere was so heated that they just danced harder.

In the corridor not far away, Li You looked at Asher who was coughing repeatedly with a surprised expression.

Just now the two were talking about the Northwest Trade Route. Asher is Suna's brother. Kangju is located in the desert and its people are good at singing and dancing. The two of them represented Kangju to participate in the music festival of Xia Kingdom.

There were several forces between Kangju and the Xia Dynasty, the most restless of which was the Old Jin.

Adhering to the strategy of making friends with distant countries and attacking nearby ones, Daxia was quite friendly to the merchant envoys from Kangju.

Asher felt a little embarrassed. His sister was dancing happily just now, but those guys changed the music to a proposal dance without his permission.

A few days ago, Suna said that she had no interest in the skinny Han people here, but why did she jump on someone today?

Just now, he had a mouthful of tea stuck in his throat and was almost sent away.

"Asher! Are you okay?"

"Ahem, thank you for your concern, Your Highness." He could say that his sister was dancing a proposal dance with a girl.

He put down the teacup to calm himself down and continued to discuss with Li You about opening up trade routes.

"Kangju has always been friendly with your country, and the old Jin has recovered in the past two years like wheat straw in early spring." As the heir to the Kangju tribe, Asher expressed his meaning very clearly although his Xia official language was a little awkward.

The capital of Kangju is far away from here. Although the territory is vast, only oases can allow people to survive, so most of them rely on trade to maintain their lives. However, the old Jin Dynasty has risen again in the past few days and cut off the passage with Daxia. This is very fatal for a trading nation.

They needed Xia's silk and tea, and Xia needed their spices and gems.

The Tongguan Pass in the northwest is located at two important roads. On one side is the Hexi Corridor to the west, where the old Jin is entrenched, and in the north, the barbarians are eyeing them covetously. Asher's purpose of this trip is to seek help from the Xia Kingdom and help them drive away the old Jin forces.

Li You said solemnly, "Tongguan is a strategic pass, and it is not easy for the border troops to start a war lightly. My father will report this to Your Majesty for the final decision."

Kangju's request will certainly be taken seriously, but the battle with the barbarians in the north has just ended. If they want to send troops to the northwest to help clear the obstacles, it will probably be a bit of a hassle.

"The Hexi trade route has been cut off for almost three months. Some of the goods are urgently needed by the nobles, and we can't transport them, so future transactions will be difficult." Asher saw that Li You was evading. These Xia people always leave half of what they say.

Li You pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, "The court has also provided some help in this matter."

What they traded with Kangju were luxury goods, so if he was not in a hurry, someone else would be.

Yang Mao, the governor of Tongguan, was an old subordinate of Prince Chen. After Prince Chen fell from power, he was sent by Emperor Qi to guard the border.

However, in recent years, the prime ministers in the court have gradually spoken for Yang Mao, which made Emperor Qi feel that his control over the northwest border defense has weakened. He suspected that Yang Mao was withdrawing his troops to bribe the literati and officials in the court and had ulterior motives.

First, he personally awarded several garrisons and forts so that they could compete with Yang Mao.

Later, he asked Prince Xiang to secretly investigate the news from Jiujin.

Prince Xiang was in charge of the Honglu Temple, which was responsible for the reception of foreign envoys, which was equivalent to the modern Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Li You, as the prince of Xiang, came to the Kuaiji event, naturally he had official duties to attend to.

However, Li You was killed on the road before he arrived. This frightened King Xiang, and he was unwilling to get involved in the fight between the families. He just told Li You to do his best.

In fact, any discerning person could see that there was something wrong with Yang Mao. The old Jin forces had been recovering for more than two years, but there were constant minor frictions with the Xia Dynasty. The county lieutenants sent to Tongguan by the court did not survive more than two years. They were either killed by bandits or resigned.

This made Tongguan officially the home of Yang Mao's family, but seeing that there had been no major wars in the northwest in recent years, Emperor Qi turned a blind eye and did not spare the time to punish him.

However, they did not expect that the trade route outside Tongguan would be cut off. This was a heavy blow to the aristocratic families.

Li You was practicing Tai Chi with Asher on the Northwest issue, while the dance on the floor below was coming to an end. Xie Xian and Suna could not communicate in the same language, but they were able to chat together through gestures.

"Do you have grapes there?" Xie Xian asked the key question. The grapes here are small and sour, and often not much better than wild fruits.

When Xie Xian thought of the Northwest, her mouth couldn't stop watering. Forget about watermelons, as there are no later varieties like those in later generations, but if there are grape wines in luminous cups, she would have to have a couple of bites.

“Purple, round and sweet.”

Suna thought for a moment and said, "Grapes? I didn't bring any, but I have wine!"

She waved to the musicians on the stage and gave them a few instructions. After a while, a strong man from a foreign race came over carrying a wooden barrel.

As soon as the lid was opened, a strong aroma of wine overflowed. Su Na poured a glass from her hand and handed it to Xie Xian.

Xie Xian took the wine cup from her waist and handed it to her. She was not polite and told her to drink to her heart's content since she wanted to.

The two of them were talking and gesturing happily, and several eyes were looking over at them, but most of the eyes were focused on Suna.

But no one came to disturb her. Xie Xian seemed to be thinking about something. She thought that Suna's identity should not be simple. In fact, foreign dancers were not uncommon. In the eyes of the clan, they were just objects that could be used for rewards and exchanges.

But Suna's eyes are lively, full of pure and wild beauty. It is impossible for an ordinary family to raise such a beauty.

The two beauties sat together, chatting and drinking very comfortably. Before leaving, Xie Xian gave Su Na a fan, which she had drawn herself using charcoal.

The painting shows Suna dancing. Although it is only in black and white, the ink lines outline Suna's three-dimensional facial features.

"Xian, your painting is so beautiful!" The girl's green eyes were full of admiration.

God knows when she first saw Xie Xian painting with charcoal, she thought she was just painting for fun, but she didn't expect that herself in the painting would be as clear as if reflected in the Tam River.

“Is this really given to me?”

Seeing Xie Xian nod, Su Na turned around twice happily.