Feeding the Feral Children — David Farland

In 235 BC, a young man in China falls in love, but needs money to buy land in order to convince a young woman's father that he is a worthy suitor.

Taking the dangerous new Silk Road into Persia, he must face giant pink-tusked elephants, desert sandstorms, and dangerous bandits.

But when all that he owns is stolen, he runs afoul of a Mongol sorcerer, to the peril of his soul.