Many years later, the originally unknown small merchant Shi Yandian of Xizhou (present-day Turpan) suddenly became famous—he may not have imagined that he, a businessman who did small business along the Hexi Corridor, would become an important sample for studying western trade more than a thousand years later.
Who would have thought that after he handed over the 7788 documents he needed for business to the Governor's Mansion of Xizhou, these documents would be buried in the tomb? More than a thousand years later, these documents that were collected by the governor's office were excavated again, and people saw his name again, only to learn that in history, there was such a small Hu man who drove donkeys and mules to do business and support his family.
Tang Sancai Pottery Donkey
The Western Regions are too big, and every time Shi Dye Dian goes out, he has to face an incomparably difficult journey. Casually do a small business, a thousand miles away. Go a little farther, a trip is five or six thousand miles. It takes many nights outside and countless clouds and moons to get back home in The West State.
To be precise, he mainly wandered in Xinjiang, occasionally to Dunhuang at the gate of Xinjiang, far from Chang'an. The following picture is the main "business scope" of Shi Xuedian, compared to the entire Western Regions and the entire Tang Dynasty, his scope of activity is not very large, he is a slightly "conservative" businessman.
So friends in the south, do you know how big Xinjiang is now?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="89" > (i</h1>).
Xizhou was the base of the Tang Dynasty to open up the western regions, and was an important node in military and trade. Even now, Turpan is still a transportation hub for access to and from Xinjiang. Passing through Zhangye, Dunhuang to Turpan, this road is also the ancient road that Shi Dyedian, Cen Shan and others walked more than 1,200 years ago. East-west travelers need to have changed places or public inspections in Xizhou, making this a large commodity distribution center in the western part of the Tang Dynasty.
Shi Yandian is a shōgun surnamed Hu of Juxi Prefecture. They originally lived in Zhaowu City in the north of qilian mountains, but later they branched out and were divided into nine surnames such as Kang, An, and Cao, and the surname Shi was also one of them. Shi Yandian naturally took advantage of the geographical advantages of Xizhou, and his footprints went from Xizhou further west to the four towns of Anxi; from Xizhou to the east, through Yizhou (present-day Hami), to the then Guazhou and Shazhou, roughly in the area of today's Dunhuang. We can even imagine that Shi Dye Dian once went to the Mogao Grottoes, which were still very grand and gorgeous at that time—he passed there, not far from his trade route.
The image of the Hu people in Tang Sancai
We don't know exactly what year Ishizu was born and how old he was when he walked between Guazhou and Ansi. After all, all we know about the Stone Dyeing Code at the moment comes from only four documents related to him. It was not easy for these documents to be preserved from the time of Tang Xuanzong to the present, and it may be difficult to have more materials about the Stone Dyeing Classics in the future--after all, he is just a small merchant with no name.
Judging from the preserved residences (i.e., the Pass Ming), the Stone Dyeing Codex relies on ten donkeys to carry goods, and travels between Yumen Pass, Tiemen Pass, Anxi, Xizhou, Yizhou, Guazhou, and Shazhou. Regardless of the plane, even taking the train from Guazhou to Ansi is a rather boiling journey. But such a long road was walked by Shi Dye Dian with the donkeys step by step.
Nowadays, when it comes to the Silk Road, everyone seems to see camels walking in the desert under the sunset. Camels were of course the main force on the Silk Roads, but camels were not the only ones on the Silk Roads. On the mural painting of Cave 13 of the Thousand Buddha Caves in Kyzyl, Xinjiang, a man drives a donkey with goods on its back. In addition to camels, there are also some cow figurines, mule figurines and donkey figurines left behind from the Jin Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty. When there are no camels or cannot afford camels, it is good to have cattle and donkeys. The caravans of the Stone Dyeing Code were originally only donkeys, and the donkeys were also very hard, they had to carry the goods, and followed the Stone DyeIng Code through the desolate western region over the years.
According to the records of the documents unearthed in Turpan, the stone dyeing code is not the farthest journey, and some travelers have to go from the western region to Chang'an and Fuzhou, which is equivalent to crossing the entire Chinese territory today, which is several times the long road of the stone dyeing code.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="30" > (ii</h1>).
The Tang Dynasty encouraged trade on the Silk Roads and also attached importance to the merchant taxes on the Silk Road in the northwest frontier, which were crucial to the Tang Dynasty. The New Book of Tang and the Tale of the Western Regions says: "At the height of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, the merchants of the Western Regions were taxed for the four towns, and those who went out of the Northern Province paid the Wheel Platform. Zhao Yanqi, Guizi, Shule, and Yu Khotan marched on the Western Regions of Jia, each of which ate its own march, and was marched by the Northern Province. The so-called "Kaiyuan Flourish" happens to be the era of The Stone Dyeing Dian's life. As a "Western Region Jia", did shi dye dian pay taxes to help the four towns as stated in the New Book of Tang? It is likely that there are, so the Stone Dyeing Classic can also be regarded as doing its part for the tranquility of the Western Regions.
Thank you, Stone Dye Dian.
At that time, the procedures for doing business were more troublesome. The Tang Law stipulates that as long as the people leave the county and the state, they must have a place to enter and leave Guanjin regardless of the reason. Every time Shi Dye dian went to a state, he needed to go to the corresponding official to handle the office. These officials must not only make sure that the caravans are good people, but also check the number of livestock they carry, and the goods under control such as horses must provide the relevant contracts of sale to ensure that the road is normal.
For the businessman who "walks a long distance", the excess is a necessary proof, and the consequences of not passing through are quite serious. The Stone Dyeing Codex must be preserved in a precious and important place, and after passing through some places where there are "catchers", he must be inspected so that he can be inspected. After the officer "surveyed" and checked whether the listed matters were consistent with reality, he was allowed to release the process. The stone dyeing ceremony has retained four names from Guazhou to Shazhou, such as hanging spring, Changle, bitter water, and salt pond, you know, this is only three hundred miles away.
Although a "serious businessman" like Shi Dye Dian has handled the office only as a routine and will not be particularly difficult, "running the formalities" always involves a lot of time and energy. It was also these more formal and slightly cumbersome documents that allowed us to obtain information about the Merchant of the Western Regions.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="76" > (iii</h1>).
It is difficult to verify what kind of business is the stone dyeing code, what it buys or sells. There is no list of goods he brought to Guazhou and Shazhou for sale in his residence, only that he had ten donkeys. Of course, these donkeys were carrying goods for him, not for sale.
When there is little cargo and there are "empty donkeys", the stone dyeing ceremony will probably ride a donkey. After comparing the Stone Dyeing Canon with the 1965 Mogao Grottoes' "Tang Tianbao Seven Years (748 AD) Dunhuang County To Someone's Cruel House", Cheng Xilin said that both of the passing houses were issued during the Tang Xuanzong period, coincidentally, they recorded the march process in Guasha Prefecture, nothing more than the Stone Dyeing Dian was from Guazhou to Shazhou, while the owner of the other passing house was from Shazhou to Guazhou, with the same route and opposite directions. Interestingly, the stone dyeing ceremony only walked for three days, while the owner of the other passing house walked for six days. Cheng Xilin said, "The reason is that Shi Diandian has the ability to pick up donkeys as feet, and someone probably walked from Dunhuang to Guazhou", which further highlights the importance of donkeys in commercial activities.
Other documents unearthed in Turpan also have the name of the stone dyeing code, such as the "Tang Kaiyuan Twenty-one Year Stone Dyeing Classic Buying Horse Deed", and the stone dyeing dictionary bought a horse. Horses are related to national defense and military affairs, and in the Tang Dynasty, they were very strictly controlled and important materials, and the "Tang Law and Guardian Prohibition Law" stipulates: "That is, those who have crossed the horse, the degree of impossibility, and the degree of selfishness, each of them will be reduced to two grades." The "Neglect Discussion" says: "The horse will be overstretched, the degree of impossion, and the degree of selfishness, and each of them will be reduced to the second degree." Over the degree, the staff one hundred, the impulsiveness, the private degree, the staff ninety. "Therefore, if Shi Diandian wants to take this horse out of Xizhou to sell, he must hand over the contract (buying a horse deed) to the management department of Xizhou to check it and prove that the horse is coming from the right way, and he buys and sells horses within the scope of the regulations." As a result, this buying horse deed was not returned to the stone dyeing code, and was coincidentally buried in the tomb, so that we can see it later:
One horse, six years old. On the fifth day of the first month of the twenty-first year of the new century, the people of Xizhou were stone dyeing and handed over to the great practice of picking up horses, and now in Xizhou City, buy kangsili side horses. Their horses and exercises were divided on the same day. If there are people who know those who are cold thieves, they will look up to the Lord and keep their knowledge, and it is not about buying people. Fearing that people will not believe, this deed was established. The two republics can be reconciled, and the finger of the painting is remembered.
The horse lord will be Consley forty-four years old
The protector xinghu luoshina Chinese New Year's Eve
Bao Ren Xing Juan Dahan Chinese New Year's Eve five
The people of The Western Prefecture of Baoren were in the early cold year of fifty years
The six-year-old horse took him eighteen great trainings. Da Lian is a kind of silk fabric that can be used as currency during the Tang Dynasty. According to the Tang Dynasty's "Jiaohe County and City Estimate", someone calculated that a big train is equivalent to about 460 yuan, then this horse is equivalent to 8280 yuan.
Sancai Soaring Horse, Xi'an Museum Collection
In the Stone Dyeing Dian, he was called "the guerrilla general of the people of Xizhou", and it seems that the identity of the Stone Dyeing Dian is still relatively special. On this buy-marchi, the seller is not going to be. Two of the guarantors are "Xinghu", that is, the Hu people who are Xingsheng and Yi, and the other is also the people of Xizhou. Judging from the surnames, Kang Sili, Andahan, and Shi Zhaohan may also have been originally from the Zhaowu Jiu tribe, and Luo may also have been a Tocharian. About that time, these people were able to barely use but could not read and write Chinese fluently, so they made a deed in Chinese, but they only "drew their fingers as a record" and pressed a finger print.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="86" > (4</h1>).
It took eighteen horses to buy horses, which was not a small sum of money, and he had to sell the horses quickly. Other people's New Year's Month is busy with the New Year, he bought a horse on the fifth day of the first month, and on the twenty-third day of the first month, he has already gone to the Western Zhou Department to defend going out to do business. The "Tang Kaiyuan Twenty-one Years dyeing do not wait for the Baoshi dyeing code to be easy to defend in Yizhou City" said:
On the twenty-third day of the first lunar month in the twenty-first year of the new century (733), after approval, Shi Diandian was allowed to take a horse, eleven mules and donkeys from Xizhou to Yizhou (present-day Hami) to trade. Last March, Shi Dye Dian was still in Guazhou, and his caravan consisted of only ten donkeys. Half a year later, his caravan had an extra mule. It can be seen that the caravan of the stone dyeing ceremony is slowly expanding, and the small days are getting more and more promising.
Yellow glazed pottery Hu figurines, Tang, National Museum collection
Yizhou and Xizhou are next to each other, although they are not close, but compared with Guazhou and Shazhou, Yizhou is already very convenient. Perhaps he smoothly and smoothly sold the horse, so a fourth document on the stone dyeing code appeared, that is, the "Tang Kaiyuan Twenty-one Year Stone Dyeing Classic Purchase Mule Deed":
On February 20, Shi Dye Dian returned from Yizhou to Xizhou. We can guess that he made some money on this trip to Illinois, so he bought another mule in the West State Market. The mule was supposed to have been bought for his caravan, and his caravan was expanded to ten donkeys and two mules. Surprisingly, the mule was expensive. A horse is no more than eighteen horses, and this mule actually cost him seventeen training, and the mule is about to catch up with the price of the horse--one has to wonder how well this mule really looks.
Blue-glazed mule, collection of Xi'an Museum
At this point, we can summarize the life of this small merchant Shi Dye dian in the past two years according to these four documents:
In March of the twentieth year of the new century (732 AD), he trekked for a long time from Anxi to Guazhou. He bought some goods and prepared to sell them to the four towns of Anxi. Although we don't know where his destination is, he will certainly not be close to the iron gate between Yanqi and Korla. Perhaps the nearly three-thousand-mile journey from Guazhou to Ansi took him most of the rest of the year. After this trip, his caravan had an extra mule.
On the fifth day of the first month of the twenty-first year of the new century (733 AD), Xizhou was still in the joy of the Spring Festival, and Shi Dye dian bought a horse at the Xizhou Market.
On the twenty-third day of the first month of the twenty-first year of the new century (733 AD), the trade routes were gradually restored, and Shi Dye dian obtained permission to go to Yizhou to do business, which was supposed to be to sell horses.
On February 20, the 21st year of the new century (733 AD), Shi Yandian returned to Xizhou and bought a mule at the Xizhou Market. His caravan was a little larger, and in total it should have been ten donkeys and two mules.
We don't know how old Ishidan lived, how big the caravan expanded, but he should have lived 22 years later. In this year, the Anshi Rebellion broke out, "Kaiyuan has been idle for twenty years, and the five soldiers do not have to be too idle" has become a thing of the past, and no matter how conscientious and tireless, it cannot withstand a war.
Good days, it's over.