Chapter 397: The Jade of Mount Kun

A palm-sized piece of soft jade, pure white like mutton fat, rested on a pitch-black table, reflecting a gentle luster…

"This is the Jade of Mount Kun?"

Even though Heifu and Chen Ping could not appraise jade, they could tell this piece was extraordinarily valuable — not quite worth "a string of cities," but certainly worth dozens or a hundred gold pieces!

Heifu's account began with this very jade.

He said to Wushi Luo, "His Majesty is fond of collecting treasures. Back when Commandant of Justice Li submitted his 'Petition Against the Expulsion of Guest Officials,' he listed the Jade of Mount Kun alongside the Treasure of Marquis Sui, the Disc of He, the Luminous Moon Pearl, the Tai'e Sword, and others. As far as I know, this Jade of Mount Kun is what Lord Wu obtained in trade from the Yuezhi…"

The so-called Mount Kun is the Kunlun Mountains. However, in this era, Kunlun was not a fixed geographical term, nor was there a stone stele standing there telling you this was the main peak of Kunlun.

It was a hybrid of reality and imagination, akin to the "Overseas Immortal Isles" — elusive and ethereal. Some said it was actually located in Ji Province, also called the Pillar of Heaven Mountain, corresponding to the Northern Dipper; some said it was the Qilian Mountains west of the Yellow River; still others said it lay far beyond the shifting sands and great desert…

That was why Qu Yuan, in his "Heavenly Questions," posed this query: "The Hanging Gardens of Kunlun — where do their foundations lie?"

This could be called one of the greatest unsolved mysteries since the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.

This was precisely why Heifu dared to urge Chen Bao Wu Ya to bluff to Qin Shi Huang that "the Queen Mother of the West might be in the ruins of Kunlun" — because he knew it could never be found, and was equally hard to disprove.

Even if the emperor really did send envoys to the main range of the Kunlun Mountains, so what? Five thousand li east to west, several hundred li north to south, many places where even birds cannot fly up — from afar it looks like a fairyland, but up close you find it harder than scaling the heavens. Who the hell knows whether the "Kingdom of the Queen Mother of the West" is up there or not.

In any case, though Kunlun was distant and elusive, the people of the Central Plains were utterly enamored with things that came from Kunlun.

Ever since the Shang dynasty a thousand years ago, "Jade of Mount Kun" had been continuously transported from the west, becoming the Central Plains people's favorite exotic treasure. The jade objects in Fu Hao's tomb were mostly Kunlun jade. Wushi Luo's trade with the Yuezhi west of the Yellow River mainly involved shipping silk in exchange for cattle, horses, and jade — these jade stones were the primary source for all kinds of jade ornaments in the Qin court.

Thus this trade route could also be called the "Jade Road."

"But where exactly does this Jade of Mount Kun come from? Is it mined by the Yuezhi?" Heifu raised the question.

The Wushi brothers shook their heads. "Central Plains merchants entering Yuezhi territory are often turned back at the eastern bank of the Heli River, forbidden to go a single step further west. And the Jade of Mount Kun is transported from Zhaowu City, the capital of the five Yuezhi divisions."

The Heli River — though Heifu did not know exactly where it was, it was probably not too far from the Yellow River. That meant the Wushi trading caravans had only entered the fringe areas of the Hexi Corridor.

Wushi Yan, who had been there personally, said:

"We too once bribed the chieftains of the Yuezhi tribes. They would only say that this jade is not produced by the Yuezhi, but is transported by camel caravan from beyond the shifting sands to Zhaowu City. Press them further, and they refuse to reveal another word, saying the Yuezhi King has decreed death for anyone who leaks matters of the west to easterners!"

"Unwilling to give up, I once sent a party to cross the Heli River in secret and head west. There was never any word from them. It was only when we traded the following year that the Yuezhi King sent me their heads…"

Recounting this, Wushi Yan was still somewhat indignant.

Clearly, the Yuezhi did this to monopolize the trade route. By controlling the Hexi Corridor, they could buy jade from the west and obtain silk from the east, then sell both to each side at high prices, reaping enormous profits in between!

For this kind of business to continue, contact between eastern and western merchants had to be absolutely prevented.

Even the Wushi brothers knew very little about the Western Regions. In that case, they could only refer to the "Biography of King Mu of Zhou," which purported to record King Mu's journey west. It did describe many place names in the Western Regions — Mount Chong, the Kingdom of Red Crow, the Mountain of Massed Jade, Cao Nu…

According to Heifu's guess, the book's Kingdom of Red Crow, famed for its beautiful women, might be Loulan. And the Mountain of Massed Jade was probably Khotan, because the book said King Mu of Zhou "took three cartloads of jade, jade vessels and garments, and carried away ten thousand pieces of jade" there — truly a bountiful harvest.

In short, the world west of the Yuezhi was far larger than the people of the Central Plains imagined.

Heifu began earnestly impressing upon Wushi Luo: "The Yuezhi occupy Hexi, blocking eastern and western merchants, monopolizing the profits of jade and silk. The profit they reap is ten times that of the Wushi!"

"Therefore, if His Majesty dispatches General Li Xin on a western campaign to destroy the Yuezhi, it would benefit the Wushi and do no harm. If the Yuezhi are destroyed, the Wushi caravans can travel unimpeded, following Hexi ever westward — seeking the Kingdom of the Queen Mother of the West for His Majesty on one hand, and trading with the states of the west on the other. Then silk and brown sugar can be sold directly thousands of li away, and exotic goods like jade will flow endlessly into the Central Plains. Compare the profit from this round trip with selling silk cheaply to the Yuezhi — which is greater? This is the great business I spoke of!"

Wushi Luo was somewhat moved, but he was a rational merchant and would not gamble everything on something so nebulous. After pondering, he said:

"The policy of western expansion has only just been implemented. To speak now of destroying the Yuezhi is premature. But after what the Commandery Commandant has said, this old man is indeed extremely curious to know how many states lie west of the Yuezhi, what their populations are, what special products they have, waiting for us to trade with."

With Wushi Luo entertaining this thought, half of Heifu's objective was achieved.

A great man once said: Once there is adequate profit, the capitalist becomes bold. With fifty percent profit, he will take risks. With one hundred percent profit, he dares to trample all human laws. With three hundred percent profit, he dares to commit any crime, even risk the gallows!

Aside from ambitious conquerors, merchants are always the vanguard of exploration and discovery.

Just as post-Renaissance Europeans desperately yearned to bypass the Ottoman Empire and trade directly with India and China, venturing forth into the seas one after another — in this era, the people of the Central Plains, not only the emperor longing for the mysterious Kunlun and the Queen Mother of the West, but merchants like Wushi Luo, also hoped to find the original source of the jade directly.

"This yearning — it is the engine of the Age of Discovery…"

Heifu himself certainly could not go off exploring; the risk was too great. A moment's carelessness and he might end up like Zhang Qian, unable to return for over a decade. This heavy responsibility would have to be entrusted to the Wushi family's caravans.

By now, the Wushi brothers had already begun studying how to bypass the Yuezhi in Hexi and send a caravan west to take a look.

Wushi Yan proposed: "We could go through Huangzhong. That area is full of various Qiang tribes. As long as we properly grease the palms of the Qiang chieftains, they will let us pass."

The route he mentioned went directly through the Qaidam Basin in Qinghai to the Western Regions. This was also the secondary Silk Road route in history — Zhang Qian returned by this path on his first mission to the Western Regions.

However, history always has its strange twists. Historically, Zhang Qian went to the Western Regions to find the Great Yuezhi. Now, the Wushi brothers wanted to go to the Western Regions precisely to avoid the Yuezhi…

Wushi Luo then said: "We could also go via the Xiongnu, taking the steppe route west! The Xiongnu do not engage in trade and will not deliberately obstruct us. It's just that the Xiongnu like to plunder traveling merchants, so the risk is not small either."

What he described must be the "Steppe Silk Road" — traveling west all the way from the northern grasslands. Wherever there was water and grass, there was a path to follow.

As he spoke, Wushi Luo glanced at Heifu and smiled. "Taking this route, we could also scout the true situation of the Xiongnu for His Majesty, and for the Commandery Commandant!"

"What a businessman!"

Heifu thought to himself. Indeed, this was one of his purposes in strongly urging Wushi Luo!

The best spies are none other than two types of people: one, envoys sent on diplomatic missions abroad; two, merchants engaged in frontier trade. Heifu not only needed Wushi Luo's assistance in funds and livestock, but also needed the caravans under him to penetrate deep into Xiongnu territory and help him scout the enemy's true situation, achieving the goal of "knowing the enemy."

Forcing the Wushi to cooperate versus having the Wushi help willingly — the results would be vastly different.

Seeing that this deal was about to be sealed, Chen Ping, who was standing by, seized the moment to say:

"For three hundred years, the Central Plains have had many wealthy merchants, but aside from Tao Zhu, none have remained wealthy beyond two generations! Some brought calamity upon themselves, others upon their descendants. Why is that? Is it because the sons of great merchants are all foolish and inept? In my view, it is because they sat on vast fortunes yet rendered no service to the state, and were thus seen by rulers and ministers as vermin. Under suppression, the son of a thousand gold pieces could become a poor wretch in the left alley overnight."

"But now, Lord Wu spies on the military affairs of the Xiongnu and Yuezhi for the state — that is the first service. He opens new trade routes for Great Qin — that is the second service. And he seeks the Kingdom of the Queen Mother of the West for His Majesty — that is the third service!"

Not only could he amass ten thousand gold pieces, it was also an excellent way to preserve his family's wealth and rank.

"I imagine that in a few more years, Lord Wu may well be enfeoffed as a lord and appointed a marquis!"

Everyone likes to hear good words. Wushi Luo laughed heartily upon hearing this. "Commandery Commandant, this Chief Clerk of yours truly has a way with words. It's a real pity he's not a merchant."

He had spoken casually, but to his surprise, Chen Ping seized the opportunity and directly petitioned Heifu:

"Commandery Commandant, I, Ping, wish to disguise myself as a merchant and accompany the Wushi caravan north into Xiongnu territory, to scout their true situation for you!"

(End of chapter)