Chapter Twelve: The Unquiet Journey

  Just like a coachman with ten years of driving experience, Dean held the reins steadily and maintained a very comfortable posture, not over-exerting himself. At this moment, Dean followed in the merchant caravan, just like those traveling merchants, without revealing any flaws, especially when he spoke in a genuine Southern Three Counties accent, several merchants with the same accent gathered around him.

  These merchants, like Deen, generally had no guards and only carried a small amount of goods - not that they could only carry so much or couldn't afford to hire guards. At the very least, in Deen's estimation, several of these merchants who had spoken with him were worth a pretty penny.

  But why is it so?

  Apart from the extremely valuable items they brought with them, there is only one possibility left - opening up a trade route.

  About ten minutes later, Dean was more inclined to the latter - after all, if he really brought extremely precious items, even if it looked like he was alone on the surface, there should be some arrangements in secret; at least, one or two good hands were indispensable; and very obviously, there were no such good hands around him.

  "Aike, what goods are you carrying?"

  A merchant driving a one-man carriage alongside Dean asked, "Eck, what was the name that Dean mentioned earlier when you were introducing yourselves?"

  "Some herbs that aren't too expensive but are enough to make a profit!"

  Dean replied in a businessman's tone.

  In fact, businessmen keep their goods secret from each other due to the competitive relationship; therefore, vague responses are the mainstream way of conversation between them.

  "Is that so?"

  The merchant who asked the question obviously didn't believe Dean's answer, but he didn't ask any further questions either. Instead, he started chatting with a few other merchants with southern accents; and afterwards, in Dean's deliberate avoidance, he gradually became detached from this circle and became a true marginal figure.

  And this was exactly what Dean needed - too conspicuous a disappearance would cause unnecessary trouble.

  Under Dean's deliberate maintenance, time continued until noon, facing the scorching sun at noon, most merchants chose to rest, especially several merchant teams with guards, even parked their carriages by the roadside, and this approach made more merchants learn from each other.

  Undoubtedly, following these escorted caravans made these merchants feel even safer.

  However, some merchants were still hurrying along the road, hoping to enter the next town - Horsehoe Town, which was also governed by the second son of the Duke of York, before nightfall.

  The second son of the Marquis of York, who controls two fiefs, with Ti Jiao Cheng as one and the four towns of Hao Jiao Zhen, Ma Ti Zhen, Dun Zhao Zhen and Mian Jia Zhen as another - of course, from the names of these towns and cities, it can be seen that the Marquis of York and the people of the York family have a passion for military life.

  The straight-line distance between Hornby and Moulton is less than 100 kilometers, so for merchants with horses, unless they are carrying heavy goods, they can arrive in a day; another reason why they hurry on the road is because of the safe environment within Yorkshire.

  For the suppression of bandits, the Marquis of York had considerable zeal, and this was good news for most merchants who could not afford to pay for escorts.

  Therefore, these lone merchants dared to break away and choose their own quick routes.

  Otherwise, even with double the profit, they would still choose to gather together and move forward - there are not a few bold merchants, but more timid ones.

  Deane's carriage did not stop, joining the throngs of people rushing to and fro, and quickly emerged - his destination was not Horsehoe Town, nor even one of the four towns under the jurisdiction of the second son of the Duke of York; in order to arrive at the headquarters of the Knights Templar within a month, he had to speed up, let alone have enough preparation time when he arrived at the Knights Templar.

  And this undoubtedly destined Dean to travel day and night, and must choose the best route.

  So in the afternoon, Dean deviated from the original route and left the territory of the Earl of York's second son, entering the territory of another baron. In that town, Dean only replenished dry food, water, and horse fodder before setting off again.

  It wasn't until the sky had completely darkened that he stopped the carriage; unhitched the horse from the frame, and fed it fodder, and almost in an instant, the horse's head came over - a mixture of dried carrots and green bean cakes, usually fed to war horses; for a draft horse like this one, it was obviously a rare delicacy.

  Gently patting the horse's head a few times, Dean took out dry rations and water - the dry rations were some grains ground into a fine powder, steamed with water to make a hard cake, mixed with some salt and pepper, not too bland but absolutely not delicious either, especially that hard and rough texture, his teeth almost ached from biting down.

  It seems that even horse feed is not as good.

  However, Dean was not in the least bit concerned about this. He had eaten worse food before, and besides, if he wanted his horse to run fast, it would need good feed. He didn't want to waste time and money halfway through replacing horses - although he was still wealthy now, Dean knew what he needed to do and wouldn't think he had the capital to be extravagant, even if he sold everything he had, it would only cover the initial expenses.

  It was precisely because of this that Dean would think about cooperating with Long Lang to develop that smuggling channel - of course, in that letter, Dean didn't say much, only vaguely mentioning some terms that were enough for Long Lang to understand, as well as a specific time.

  Two months!

  Discounting the time spent on the road, Dean had given himself a deadline of one month to fully take over the Ficharen Knights - this was somewhat hasty, but for Dean who wanted to participate in a war in less than a year, it was somewhat luxurious; especially when Dean still had nothing now.

  So Dean added a 'thorough' prefix before the deadline.

  "It's currently October 1501. According to memory, the first Blood Moon War broke out in September 1502... Xiti mobilized around 40,000 infantrymen, 10,000 light cavalrymen, 5,000 heavy cavalrymen, and about 20,000 auxiliary soldiers, a total of nearly 80,000 troops launched a surprise attack on York City, the center of Yorkshire... As for the Feichalun Knights, it was just a local knightly order with a total number of people, including auxiliary soldiers, less than 50..."

  Dean sat on the ground leaning against the cart, silently recalling everything in his memory. The strong numerical contrast made Dean frown involuntarily, causing his thoughts to almost get stuck.

  However, Dean's thoughts were soon interrupted by the sound of horse hooves coming from a distance.

  New book of decadence~~~ seeking support~~~