Caravan Tears

 

Caravan Tears

 

Those caravans that have long since disappeared on the Tea Horse Road may have gone far away, but the stories of the caravans still remain in the memory of history.

According to the Records of the Three Kingdoms, as early as the Han and Jin dynasties, the Naxi ancestors exchanged cloth, silk, salt, iron, and livestock products with Han merchants from Bashu and Bashu; during the Tang and Song dynasties, exchanges with Tibet, Tibet, and the Dali Kingdom in Nanzhao became more frequent. , "Yunnan Chronicles·Manshu" contains records of Boyi's 3,200 large sheep; in "Dongba Sutra", known as the encyclopedia of the Naxi people, there is also "the nine brothers of the 'Congben' caravan, driving According to the account "Ninety-nine Pigeons Come", "Congben" is the Tibetan merchant boss; by the Yuan, Ming and early Qing dynasties, Lijiang had formed a large-scale market, and the market was filled with caravans and local businessmen from all over the world.

Lacuo told Agudengba, Azhuo, and Chu Sanxing:

This situation lasted until half a century ago. At least for more than a thousand years, the traffic situation in Yunnan can be summarized like this: Until 1937, when the construction of the Burma Highway in western Yunnan began. In Yunnan, a country with deep mountains and deep ravines, cargo transportation mainly relied on caravans. People's movement also depends on the trails opened by caravans. Caravans are the sellers on the Southwest Plateau, but they just use horses instead of carrying burdens. In the depths of the Hengduan Mountains, the inaccessible junction of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, generations of caravans, accompanied by lonely bells, trampled the Ancient Tea Horse Road.

The Tea-Horse Ancient Road is the only passage from northwest Yunnan to Tibet in the north and the Bonan Ancient Road in the south. In the long history, caravans were the only transport messengers in the southwest plateau, transporting things involving life, production and military affairs. The timing of delivery must be selected in the summer and autumn seasons. In winter and spring, the mountains are blocked by heavy snow, so don’t even think about it. It takes at least about a month to enter the mountain.

Lacuo said:

In the past, professional caravans in Yunnan were often large businesses. The business hired a group of people and raised a group of horses. Once the goods were negotiated, the caravans would transport large quantities from the Li River to Lhasa, and from Lhasa to India, Bangladesh and Myanmar. , a bit like a semi-escort agency, so everyone has a fantasy about the caravan, but the caravan is a strict organization. Because of the high mountains and dangerous roads, there are a series of problems that need to be dealt with carefully, such as the horse is sick, the person is sick, or is lost. .

Lacuo said:

I am the leader of the caravan, and the grooms call me "Ma Guotou." Before going on the road, the leading Ma Guotou has a whole set of rituals. On the day of departure, when you get up early in the morning, Ma Guotou has arrangements for who will cook, who will prepare the goods, and who will bring the horses back. After Ma Guotou negotiated the goods and agreed on the cost, he began to pray one of his prayers, a French prayer, very detailed. While chanting sutras, the ashes he burned were placed under the front hooves of each horse. The entire ritual gave others a solemn atmosphere. In the cavalry team, only Ma Guotou rides a horse, and this horse is often very beautiful.

The caravan that got up early set out on the road, with dozens of mules and horses meandering, carrying goods, and the bells of the horses jingling. There was an old horse leading the way. There was no usual bell on the horse's neck. Instead, a small mirror was hung on the horse's head. It was shiny. I asked him if he had any advice. My answer: Mirrors ward off evil spirits.

We usually set up camp at three or four in the afternoon because the horses need to eat grass and rest. The most precious thing in the caravan is not the various objects it brings, but the horses. The horses died of illness on the way and everything was lost. It can be seen that the choice of horses is very important. The horses used in caravans are generally Sichuan horses and Yunnan horses. They are short in stature, but their hard-working toughness, leg strength and load-bearing capacity are far beyond the reach of tall horses, so they are much loved.

Lacuo also said to Agudengba, Azhuo and Chu Sanxing:

In the past, caravans followed the principle of barter trading, bringing furs, medicinal materials, gold and silver jewelry, decorations, knives, etc. from the mountains and Tibetan areas to the mainland to sell them and earn the price difference. The rules of the caravan usually do not enter the stockade, so the merchants quickly set up colorful tents in the open space outside the stockade, unloaded many packs covered with tight oilcloths from the backs of the animals, and opened the oilcloths one by one in front of everyone. Like a magician, he immediately conjured up many dazzling goods, causing onlookers to marvel.

Because these commodities include salt, rock sugar, cloth, rubber shoes, kerosene, tin bowls, aluminum pots, candlesticks, waist knives, which are in short supply locally, as well as daily necessities and gold and silver ornaments that women love, glass mirrors, needles and threads, as well as Shan ethnic Three treasures that a man cannot live without: alcohol, bongs and shotguns.

Lacuo smiled and said:

Of course, local merchants are also experts in doing business. They only exchange opium, animal skins and jade. Opium is measured in "dui" (about 15 kilograms). For example, a puff of cigarette can be exchanged for a piece of calico and a pot of alcohol, or half a puff of salt. On the contrary, a pack of rock sugar can be exchanged for half a cigarette, a bottle of "ten drops of water" for treating headaches and colds can be exchanged for half a cigarette, and so on. The measuring tool used by both of them is not the steelyard scale from the mainland, but a homemade primitive tool: a wooden stick is used as a lever, one end is pressed with salt and alcohol, and the other end has to be pressed with the same weight of smoke. If one end is smoke, the other end is balanced by some commodity. The key factor that adjusts the value of the goods between the two parties is the position of the rope on the wooden stick.

Lacuo said again:

The caravan has many rules, such as eating two meals a day, getting up early for one meal, camping at night and making meals again, and you have to endure hunger no matter how far you walk during the day. The groom believes that a person who steals food is not worthy of being a horse driver and will be kicked out of the caravan.

As the saying goes, Mabang has "three wonders" - ancient bridges, horse roads, and horse stores. There are many market towns in Yunnan that have gradually been formed because of caravans. It is worth mentioning that the ancient city of Lijiang, which was formed because of the caravans, played a springboard role in the trade from Tibet to Yunnan and Guizhou in the past: the Tibetan caravans who were afraid of the heat went down to Lijiang, and the lowland caravans who were afraid of the mountains went up to Lijiang. The Lijiang caravan went up and down, becoming the setter of the economy.

Nowadays, the popularity of automobiles and airplanes has greatly changed the traffic landscape in plateau areas. Caravans have retreated to the mountains and mountains where the climate is worse, and they have to find other routes. Only in a few mountainous areas that are inaccessible by road, short-distance horse caravan transportation still exists. The caravan still carried tents, gongs, pots and Tibetan knives, rang the bells and sang the tune of driving horses, crossed the mountains, walked through the river valleys, and walked from one village to another.

Lacuo opened his throat and sang the Yunnan horse-driving tune "The Sound of Horse Bells":

 

Horse bells ring,

The caravan from the ancient road is coming.

The sweat flows endlessly,

Flowers bloom all over the mountain.

 

The mountains are constantly visible,

It is difficult for the caravan to travel;

Climbing over mountains and steep ridges,

Whoever sees the caravan shed tears.

 

Ah ah ah ah

 

Singing a horse-driving tune,

The bells kept ringing.

 

Ah ah ah ah

 

Singing a horse-driving tune,

The bells kept ringing.