Chapter 10 Urgent

  "Alright! From Zhangjiakou to the eastern border of Liao Dong, it's a thousand-mile journey and we're not very familiar with the road. Today, I've brought two people from my merchant group who are quite skilled. Master Dang can send someone to guide them along the way first, and after a few days, I'll send someone to deliver the reward!" Zhai Zhe stretched out his right hand and lightly shook hands with Drilling Heaven Eagle, feeling that Drilling Heaven Eagle's hands were as thin as chicken claws, covered in thick calluses from years of gripping swords.

  "No problem, I'll arrange for someone to take care of it right away!" Zhuan Tianying forced a smile.

  Di Zhe pointed to Xiao Zhī and said: "This is a capable assistant in my business, later when you and I need to contact each other, I'll let him come over! Don't worry, master, as long as things are done well, our business won't treat you unfairly."

  "Relax, I've got this!" said the Eagle with a few sharp laughs.

  Di Zhe cupped his hands and bid farewell: "In that case, I won't stay here for long. Two days later, I'll be at the same place again. You can have Meng Kang send someone to meet me there, and I'll bring some gifts over first!"

  "I've already prepared a farewell feast here, please honor me with your presence, young master." Zhāntiān yīng didn't expect that Zhai Zhé would leave so soon.

  "There's nothing good to eat in this wilderness! Next time I'll bring some wine, and then the master and I can have a drink together!" Zhai Zhe left with determination.

  Zhai Zhe said this, and even the cleverest person couldn't persuade him otherwise. He said: "It's fine like this, I'll arrange for a guide to take those two brothers to explore the way today, it will probably take half a month to come back."

  Zuan Tianying sent Di Zhe and his party out of the mountain valley, stopping at Lao Ying's camp. Meng Kang saw off Di Zhe and Xiao Zhishan as they left the mountain. When they came, there were three people; when they returned, there were two.

  On the road, Meng Kang wanted to speak but stopped himself. In the end, he couldn't help but ask: "Little brother, are you really going to cooperate with our Big Stick?"

  "Not bad! The merchant is preparing to send goods to Liaodong, and the Doyan grassland is really too unsafe."

  "We have less than 200 brothers in our gang, I'm afraid that when the time comes, the big boss won't be able to cover for us!" Meng Kang wanted to remind Zhai Zhe that their gang, the Drill Sky Eagle bandits, were only moderately powerful on the Duo Yan grasslands.

  "Business is not entirely dependent on you!" Zhai Zhe smiled and asked, "How was your trip out of the pass this year?"

  "What can we do? Kill people for food and warmth, who knows when we'll be the ones to die!"

  Di Zhe tentatively asked: "I see that the master of the house holds you in high esteem!"

  Meng Kang sneered and said, "There are only a few people in this mountain stronghold who can fight as desperately as I do. My status was exchanged for with blood!"

  Three people chatted and spent more than three hours before turning out of the mountain path, and arrived at the stone mountain pass where they met earlier. Di Zhe stopped his horse and said: "In two days, it's still this place, you bring people over to meet! I'll give you a big gift!"

  "Then thank you, the brothers of the old camp haven't even prepared enough food and grass to get through the winter!" Meng Kang cupped his hands together, and the three parted ways.

  Di Zhe and Xiao Zhi rode their horses westward, slowly advancing four or five miles out of the mountain forest and into the Doyan grassland. The Doyan grassland had been suffering from drought since last winter, and as far as the eye could see, there were more withered yellow areas than lush green ones. Not even a single Mongolian yurt was in sight.

  Xiao Zhiyan sighed and said: "If there hadn't been this drought, the Chahar people might not have migrated westward."

  "It's only a matter of time before the Chahar people move west!" Zhai Zhe disagreed, saying: "Lindan Khan, as the Great Khan of Mongolia, has always been ambitious. The Chahar people were unable to defeat the Dongyu in the east on the Duo Yuan grasslands, and were blocked by the Tumote tribe in the west. In the summer, I heard that Governor-General Yu of Ji Liao had gone to the Duo Yuan grasslands to buy grain to relieve Mongolia, but there was no sign of the Chahar people."

  Two riders rode on the vast grassland, with the sound of wind whistling in their ears. Autumn and winter were seasons when all things withered, and there was no place with vitality in sight. Suddenly, Di Zhe felt a sense of lonely fear. The Duo Yan Grassland was empty, and the Zhang Ba Grassland was also empty. Everything originated from the terrible war, but the war could not be avoided by escaping.

  All the way, there were no herdsmen or pedestrians in sight. Di Zhe galloped his black horse freely, which he had bought from a Mongolian for nearly a thousand taels of silver at Jizihua last year. It was indeed a fine steed that could run thousands of miles, and after three or four li, it left Xiao Zhisheng far behind.

  The thirty or forty li of road passed quickly, but because they had spent too much time on the mountain roads, by the time Zhai Zhe saw the outline of Zhangjiakou, the sun was already hanging in the west.

  The bustle of Zhangjiakou's gathering place and the desolation of the grasslands formed a stark contrast. No matter what people did here, they were all men who dared to take risks for their dreams. The black horse stopped at the entrance of the market, and Di Zhe saw a small merchant team coming from the Zhangwa Grassland, with empty cargo bags hanging on both sides of more than a dozen pack horses, followed by more than a dozen Mongolian horses, five partners and four guards surrounding them.

  These people were unfamiliar to him, but Di Zhe could guess that this was a merchant caravan of the Lu family.

  "Finally, someone has taken the first step. Before winter snow arrives, Zhangjiakou has merchant teams returning!" Di Zhe stopped his horse by the side of the road and watched as these people passed in front of him. A moment later, Xiao Zhisheng rushed over from behind.

  "How can they be so bold?" Xiao Zhi's words couldn't hide his surprise.

  "They are heading to the Chahar tribe, and this road is much safer!" The Zhangba grassland has few mountains in front of it, and the Chahar army has just passed by, leaving no room for horse thieves to hide, so indeed not many guards are needed.

  The two factions of the Zhangjiakou Chamber of Commerce put immense pressure on each other, and Lu Fuyou faced the crisis head-on, choosing to temporarily abandon the Tumote people and establish contact with the Chahar tribe that had just arrived in Tumochuan. This should be their first test. Zhai Zhe carefully observed the returning merchant caravan, which only had horses but no furs. The Chahar people must have defeated the Eastern Tumote people, capturing many warhorses. Even if they were barbaric, they still needed Chinese tea and salt.

  With this, the time left for Fan Yongdou was limited, and whether their vision was correct or not depended on profit. At that time, Duo Yan Cao Yuan was still under the rule of Chahar tribe, Fan Yongdou could take a risk to sneak away with the merchant team once, but if every time he put the safety of the merchant team in the hands of heaven, it was unacceptable for all parties involved.

  Two men led the horse into the market town, but it was a busy season and even the business of the wine shop had decreased significantly. At this time in previous years, merchant teams would be returning with full loads, and the wine shops and brothels in Zhangjiakou would be packed with guests every day.

  Di Zhe entered the house, and the two handed over their horses to a young servant. Before they could even sit down properly, Di Tang ordered someone to come find him.

  Entering the study, Di Tang was already sitting in the armchair waiting.

  "How's it going? Any progress?" Although Big Brother pretended to be calm, Di Zhe could still sense his urgent mood, and he had never seen Big Brother behave like this before.

  Di Zhe nodded and said: "Today is just the first contact, two days later, I want twenty bags of grain, and wine and meat!"

  Dai Tang stood up from the armchair and said, "These are all trivial matters, you can spend as you like. Time is pressing, at the latest a month and a half later, the merchant caravan to Liaodong must set off, hoping that this winter's snow will come a little later."

  "If I want to ensure that those people are used by me, I must experience it personally. You know that thieves have always been greedy and cunning!" Zhai Zhe cautiously probed.

  "Do you want to leave by yourself?" Zhai Tang's eyes scanned over like lightning.

  "It can only be guaranteed this way!"

  Dai Tang sank into thought for a moment, then said: "That's right. No matter how you put it, Xiao Zhi is still an outsider. The power that has been painstakingly built up must be grasped in the hands of one's own family!"

  After passing the test of his brother, Di Zhe let out a sigh of relief. Perhaps his brother wasn't as worried about his safety as he had imagined. Leaving the family was his first step in his plan, but now he needed to rely on the family's power to establish his own influence. Whether it was the Fan or Di families, merchants only cared about profit. Trading with the Eastern Barbarians would make the enemy of the Ming dynasty even stronger, but at this point, he couldn't stop it, and neither could Lu Fu. The people who had the ability to stop it were now indifferent to this gathering.

  Di Zhe believed that the Dong Yu people must have taken action, and carefully asked: "Can't the Fan family guarantee the safety of the merchant group?"

  "Fan Dongjia has blocked the news very tightly, and it's likely that the Dong Yu side gave him some guarantee. But Fan's family is Fan's family, and Zhai's family is Zhai's family. If we can't ensure our own caravan's safety, won't we have to rely on Fan's family forever?" Zhai Tang lightly twirled his sparse beard.

  "Yes!"

  Dai Zhe had just come out of the study when the sky was already completely dark, and the bustling market slowly returned to silence.