Chapter 2 Levels

  The city gate of Xuanfu outside the Great Wall, soldiers are leaning lazily against the city wall, occasionally getting up to inspect travelers going out of the pass.

  The internal strife among the Mongols on the grasslands did not affect the Ming Dynasty. Regardless of which tribe won, they did not dare to easily provoke Zhangjiakou. The tea leaves, salt, sugar and even iron pots for cooking that were essential to the Mongols' lives all needed to be obtained from the Ming Dynasty, and Zhangjiakou was the most convenient passage, without exception.

  After finishing their meal, Sunzi led the merchant group towards the city gate.

  The city wall of Xuan Town is majestic and towering, as the northern barrier of the Great Ming Dynasty's capital, defending against the strongest enemy in a hundred years. Its prototype was built by Emperor Chengzu when he was the King of Yan in Beijing, and later Emperor Chengzu's five expeditions to Mongolia all started from here.

  Di Zhe handed over the road permit to the soldier for inspection. According to the rules of the Great Ming, foreign merchants must have a road permit issued by the government, otherwise it would be difficult to move forward. Of course, the government's inspection was not that strict, and no one cared about small vendors.

  A man wearing a general's uniform took over the reins, glanced at them, and handed them back to Zhai Zhe, asking: "What are you pulling?"

  "It's all tea!" Di Zhe smiled, and from his sleeve he pulled out a small piece of silver and handed it over, saying: "We are the Di family of Jiexiu, we come in and out of here dozens of times every year."

  He pinched the silver and waved his hand, saying: "Let it go!" Nowadays, the Ming dynasty owes military pay seriously. The value of guarding the city gate of Xuanzhen has always been a fat deficiency, and some silver money can be directly extorted from the merchants who come and go.

  Di Zhe handed over a small piece of silver and asked: "What was that merchant caravan just passing by carrying?"

  He then put away the silver and smiled sarcastically, saying "You're just like me."

  Di Zhe's face was slightly awkward.

  There was little contact between the Ming and Mongolia before the Ming Muzong Emperor, and almost all the border passes in the north were closed. The Mongols invaded the borders year after year to obtain tea, iron and other goods, and wars continued. During the Longqing period, when Grand Secretary Gao Gong was in power, he took advantage of the opportunity to negotiate a peace treaty with Altan Khan of the Tumed Mongols, which was successful. Altan Khan vowed never to invade Ming again, and only then were the borders opened to allow trade between the Mongols and the Han people, creating prosperity on the border.

  But the imperial court had strict restrictions on the goods traded, such as grain and iron tools, which were absolutely not allowed to be privately transported into the grasslands. All goods under the ban had unlimited profits in the grasslands, and merchant caravans constantly smuggled them. In recent years, due to the shortage of military rations, border troops also participated in this for their livelihood, and the bans became a means of profiteering. Just like Zhai Zhe's goods were unlikely to be all tea leaves, but as long as there was no special instruction on top, closing one eye after receiving bribes was the norm.

  The merchant caravan emerged from Xuan Town, and the scenery suddenly opened up. The mountains on both sides were still undulating, gradually transitioning to hills. Di Zhe arranged for someone to go to Zhangjiakou to report back, and the guard cavalry immediately dispersed, forming a semi-circular radius of nearly two miles in front, and from here on, they would be using their own territory.

  The thirty-mile road between Xuan Town and Zhangjiakou used to be relatively safe, but in recent years there have been two incidents of horse bandits robbing merchants. The garrison did not care at all, and the merchant teams passing through here also dared not to take it lightly. However, this place is located in the sandwiched area of the Ming Dynasty's border army, and when Zhangjiakou was prosperous, there were many merchant teams with thousands of guards, and the horse bandits did not dare to enter this land at will.

  After walking for four or five miles, the ground underfoot gradually softened, and both sides of the road were covered with yellow-green turf. Di Zhe saw a soft patch of land in the middle of the road not far ahead, leaving a rut, and dismounted to examine it carefully. When Sunzi Cai arrived at his side, he asked: "Was it left by that cargo team just now?"

  "There should be over a dozen horse-drawn carriages and seventy or eighty pack horses."

  "These ruts are so deep, they must be transporting grain!" Di Zhe pressed down on the mud under the ruts and muttered to himself: "Could it be that there really is a merchant caravan leaving the pass this winter?"

  "When we get to the market, everything will be clear!" Sunzi Cai reminded.

  The merchant caravan was on its way when a scout guard in the distance blew several loud whistles and galloped back and forth on horseback.

  "Someone's coming!" The guards hastily retreated, pressing down on the head of the merchant group. The pack horses also stopped in their tracks, and the faces of the companions turned somewhat pale.

  Di Zhe touched the waist knife and was on high alert, soon he heard the sound of horseshoes coming in waves, the momentum was enough to have nearly a hundred cavalry. A moment later, the guard who went ahead to scout again whistled a few times, Di Zhe let out a sigh of relief.

  "Our own people, brothers from the market have come to meet us."

  Di Zhe urged the horse to move forward, and as they turned around the foot of the mountain, a column of cavalrymen appeared in front of them, eighty or ninety men strong. The leader was a man with disheveled hair hanging loose behind his head, dressed in Mongolian attire, with a birch wood short sword hanging from his waist and a gold-inlaid longbow slung over his saddle.

  "Xiao brother!" Di Zhe's face lit up with joy, and he stepped forward to greet him. The person who had arrived was none other than Xiao Zhisheng, the head of the guards stationed at Zhangjiakou by the Di family, and also a skilled hand personally brought into the Di family by Di Zhe himself.

  "Back already? Hao Tou asked me to come and pick you up." Xiao Zhiyan patted his hand on the horse's back, a slight smile playing on his lips, the smile on his face making people feel like they were basking in the warm spring breeze.

  He was talking about Hao Tou, who is actually the chief of the escort team of the Di family business group, Hao Yangyou, and also the confidant of Di Zhe's elder brother. He is a well-known master of Xingyiquan in Shanxi Province. When selecting escorts for merchant caravans leaving the pass, it was crucial to know their roots and backgrounds, as they might collude with bandits and attack from both inside and outside. Therefore, many were chosen locally, which also contributed to the growing popularity of martial arts in Shanxi Province.

  Two men rode horses side by side, and Zhai Zhe asked: "Has there been any changes in the market recently? Which merchant just passed by?"

  "What just passed was the Fan family's merchant caravan." Xiao Zhi raised an eyebrow and continued, "The Mongolian tribes on the grasslands are in constant turmoil. The Dongtu Menggu people outside Zhangjiakou were defeated, and Lin Dan Khan led the Chahar tribe to occupy the Baoshang Grassland. It is said that they plan to march towards Guihua City next year."

  "Does Fan's family still dare to stock up?" Fan's family was not a top-notch business in Zhangjiakou, and Zhai Zhe was curious how they had the nerve to do so.

  Xiao Zhiyan shook his head and said: "This year, there were three merchant teams that left the pass from Zhangjiakou, but a month ago, only the Fan family returned."

  Di Zhe asked, "How many horses did you bring back?" The Mongolians and the Hans had always traded with each other by bartering goods for goods. They didn't have any gold or silver on hand, only livestock hides and furs. It was precisely because of this that only large and powerful merchant companies could do business with the Mongolians.

  "No horse!"

  Di Zhe exclaimed: "Impossible!"

  "There isn't even one horse! Guess what Fan's cargo team brought back?"

  "What?"

  "Fur and ginseng!"

  "They went to Liaodong!" Di Zhe gritted his teeth. Indeed, seeking wealth and glory is fraught with danger, from Zhangjiakou to Liaodong, they had to pass through Duo Yan Grassland, which was the nomadic territory of Chahar Khan Lin Dan Khan of the Mongolian Great Khanate. Although the main force of Chahar was gradually migrating westward, fighting a fierce battle with Tumote on the plateau, the risk of a small merchant caravan trying to cross that place is self-evident.

  The merchant caravan walked at a leisurely pace, and Zhai Zhe broke his silence on the road, chatting with Xiao Zhiyuan with great pleasure, carefully inquiring about the changes in the situation since he left Zhangjiakou for several months.

  Xiao Zhiyan had been dressed as a Mongolian since the day he arrived in Zhangjiakou, but he was actually Han Chinese. His accent sounded somewhat like Shaanxi dialect, but Di Zhe wasn't sure about his origins and didn't pursue it further. Among those who made a living on this grassland were not only merchant caravans, but also Han people who had fled famine to open up tens of thousands of acres of good land near Fengzhou Beach and Guihua City for the Mongolian Tumote tribe to cultivate.

  Three years ago, when Xiao Zhiyan first entered Zhangjiakou, he was destitute and had only one horse and two bows. He wanted to find a job as a gatekeeper or a guard. However, most businesses were unwilling to accept someone with an unknown background like him. But Di Zhe saw his archery skills and interacted with him for a while before forcibly making him join the Di family business. It was the first time he interfered in the affairs of the business. Later, he found out that there were others who had their eyes on Xiao Zhiyan as well, but they just acted slower.

  People with skills will never worry about finding a way out, people with soft hearts and gentle hands can't do the business of going out to sea, the masters in Zhangjiakou are not much more merciful than those horse bandits, if every step is taken according to rules, when will there be a day to stand out.

  To the east lies Zhangjiakou and to the west lies Guihuacheng, these two places have gathered the most impoverished, adventurous and vibrant people from Shanxi, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces of the Great Ming.

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