Chapter 49: Riding Through the Divine State

  Cycling in China

  Li Haoniu heard this story of a rich man and a beggar, slapped his thigh in anger and cursed: "Bastard! Unkind and unjust!"

  The buddies who heard the story were also outraged, scolding the rich man for being inhumane! He actually took pleasure in the beggar's suffering and bullied the poor to amuse himself!

  Yao Fan and others scolded, saying: "As long as everyone understands the truth in their hearts, I will tell you what happened next in this world."

  After I leave, the daily meetings will still be held, it's just that everyone will report on the progress of the construction site work, without me telling stories.

  But I have a requirement, everyone must follow San Jie to learn some characters, not many, just being able to write their own name is enough, San Jie will also teach everyone arithmetic. After all, we are a business, if we can't even calculate simple accounts, that won't do."

  As soon as they hear that they have to learn Chinese characters, many of them are stunned and nervous.

  Yao Fan hurriedly comforted them, saying: "You don't need to learn a lot, just five characters a day is fine. What you're learning are simplified characters, specifically for keeping accounts in business. This isn't about writing some kind of moral essay, it's just so that when you go out into the world and do business, you can understand the notes I send you and also write notes back to me."

  Yao Fan explained: "Because the accounts and operations in our business are confidential, outsiders naturally cannot know about them. Therefore, the letters sent back and forth must not be written or read by others on their behalf, so you all must learn basic character recognition."

  "Our Chinese language isn't difficult, if you can recognize and write over a thousand commonly used characters, you can travel all around the world. Think about it, if you learn five characters a day, in one year you'll have learned over a thousand characters!"

  Everyone listened to Yao Fan's words and thought they made sense, so they didn't think it was difficult anymore.

  Then Yao Feng ordered San Jie to come in and distribute the notebooks and pencils that had been prepared long ago, and also asked everyone to pay respects to San Jie.

  As soon as they heard that San Jie was to be their teacher, the apprentices hastily got up and bowed to her with extreme respect.

  Yao Feng smiled and said, "Hai Niu and Wang Gui, you two are also literate, so I want you to help San Jie during my absence. Supervise everyone to learn these simplified characters. Five a day is not difficult."

  Li Haoniu and Wang Guili hastily said: "We will definitely help San Jie well, we must urge everyone to recognize a few more characters every night."

  Everyone dispersed, leaving only the companions who were to follow Yao Fan to Jinan Prefecture, helping to prepare the luggage needed for the journey. After a rough cleanup, they also went back to rest, and so the night was uneventful.

  The next morning, Yao Fan brought his partners to the construction site of Yaojiazhuang, busy with things to bring, and after a busy morning, they finally prepared all the cargo boxes.

  The woodworking team, following Yao Fan's instructions, had made and installed bicycle racks on the back of thirty agricultural bicycles. With goods loaded on both sides, they looked just like the bicycles that delivered purified water in 2011.

  Each bicycle was loaded with a large number of pancakes and dried shrimp as dry rations, as well as a batch of goods that Yao Fang wanted to take to Jinan Prefecture. Each apprentice carried a green military canteen brought by Yao Fang from 2011 on his back, slanting across a canvas bag containing spare clothes.

  As everything was ready, it was already midday. Yao Feng and his partners had lunch at the construction site, then rode their bicycles in a mighty manner, preparing to set off.

  He Wan Nian and several old colleagues from the business came to see him off, also taking the opportunity to remind him of things to pay attention to on his journey. He Wan Nian especially repeatedly exhorted Yao Fang Qian, fearing that something unexpected would happen to him on the road.

  "Brother Yao, remember that on the road, never show off your wealth and goods, otherwise it's hard to avoid being targeted."

  "I didn't bring any valuable things like cash with me, what's the point of the bandits robbing me?"

  He Wan Nian continued to nag: "Brother Yao, remember that if you encounter bandits, immediately pull out the sticks and surround the iron car in a formation. Also, have your partners run to the nearby prefecture to report the bandit information. Of course, if you can pay them off, that's best. Brother Yao, remind your partners to carry some loose silver on their bodies. Generally, bandits charge by the head, and five taels per person is already a lot for tolls. If it's ten taels per person, that's outrageous! With ten taels of toll money, no matter which bandit wouldn't dare come up and fight to the death."

  Yao Fan said impatiently: "What's the use of a stick? This time I brought 10 big partners, each with a 70kg folding crossbow."

  "What! 70 jin... crossbow? But a military crossbow!?" He Wan Nian was shocked.

  "Brother Yao, be careful! According to the Qing law, except for hunting households, private individuals are not allowed to carry crossbows, let alone military crossbows! If Brother Yao must carry one, remember on this journey, do not show the crossbow arrows to anyone!"

  Yao Fandao: "Not 70 catties, have you forgotten, Wan Nian? One kilogram is equal to two market catties, so 70 kilograms is 140 catties."

  He Wan Nian saw Yao Fang's disbelieving expression, and anxiously scratched his head: "Brother Yao, you can't underestimate this! This 140 jin crossbow is even more powerful than a one-stone one! Nowadays, military crossbows are only about one stone. What you've made is no longer just a crossbow, it's even more formidable than a military one. If we're caught, according to the law, we'll be beheaded!"

  Yao Fan said, "Brother Wan, do you think it's fake that I went to Wei Guofu's place early this morning to deliver 10,000 taels of silver? Since there is a seal from the Guardian Gate, proving that my crossbow was given by the Guardian Gate for self-defense on the road, who would care about me now? Nowadays, the Qing dynasty only fears foreign guns and bird guns, bows and crossbows are already being ignored."

  "He Wannian wiped away a cold sweat and said: 'In short, we must still be careful! When encountering things, never force it! If something can be settled with money, then settle it with money!'"

  He Wan Nian hastily pulled over He Shi Cheng, Zhou Di Si and other accountants, sternly instructing: "All of you follow your master closely! Don't stir up any fighting or killing, if anything happens to Brother Yao, I'll skin you alive when we get back!"

  Yao Fan sighed and shook his head, "Brother He thinks too much, this trip will only take ten days at most, what could possibly happen? I'm just bringing some folding crossbows as a precaution."

  He Wan Nian saw Yao Fan's arrogant and fierce appearance, and hastily urged Yao Fan to be careful. Yao Fan just laughed loudly and bid farewell with a bow.

  This time Yao Fan didn't ride his own colorful mountain bike, but instead rode a unified agricultural 28 with his buddies.

  Due to the lack of decent cement or asphalt roads in the Qing dynasty, it was impossible for the cycling team to achieve a speed of over 150 kilometers per day like modern bicycle tours. On the dirt roads of the Qing dynasty, they could only advance at a speed of about 60 kilometers per day. Even so, this daily progress of 120 li still thrilled all the companions.

  Yao Fan changed his itinerary after listening to He Wannian's advice, and did not take the southern route through Jiaozhou, Zhucheng, Laiwu, Tai'an, and Jinan, which was mountainous and difficult to walk. According to He Wannian, this route was not only mountainous but also had many bandits. Instead, he took the northern route through Jiaozhou, Gaomi, Weifang, Zibo, Zhangqiu, and Jinan, planning to arrange for his associates to send silver to Tai'an to register their household after arriving in Jinan.

  The 31-strong cycling team led by Yao Fan has been on the road for three days and has now arrived in Weifang.

  Yao Fan was very satisfied with the progress of the past three days, and his companions were all smiles.

  Standing outside Weifang County, He Shicheng said: "Although I haven't traveled far, I also know that ordinary merchants from Qingdao Port usually take five or six days to arrive. Calculating the time, we rode bicycles and left at noon three days ago, but arrived in Weifang by noon today!"

  "It's a good thing that there are traveling merchants and inns along the way where we can ask for directions. If not, it would be troublesome to get lost, especially since I passed through Jinan Prefecture on the fourth day of the week."

  The fourth week, with a face full of dust, grinned and showed his white teeth: "It's better to say that the foreign car of the East House is easy to use, traveling over 100 miles a day, otherwise, how could it come so quickly?"

  The cavalcade entered the city, as usual causing a stir, with the residents of Weifang City vying to catch a glimpse of the 'two-wheeled iron vehicle'. When passing through the city gate, fortunately, Yao Fang had in his hand a road permit issued by Sun Mao Wen and a personal letter stamped with Wei Guo Fu's seal, proving that Yao Fang was going to Jinan Prefecture to present gifts to the Governor, which exempted him from paying taxes on the goods he carried. However, other city gate taxes and miscellaneous donations still had to be paid.

  After entering the city, Yao Fan found an inn to stay in. A large group of porters, as usual, pulled their bicycles into the courtyard of the inn and unloaded the goods into the room.

  When Yao Fan and his group entered the inn, a small man with a queue coiled on top of his head turned around and left from afar.

  Not far outside Zibo City, behind a desolate mountain slope, more than fifty men with knives but without military uniforms were scattered about. Some lay down, some tended to their horses, or sat on the ground in groups of three to five people.

  The little man who followed Yao Weng's team into the city had now ridden over with another person, and he was seen to be familiarly kicking his legs in the air behind the other person's back before jumping off the horse's back, apparently accustomed to making a living on horseback.

  This little guy got off the horse and immediately ran towards a group of people. The group was led by two men and women, all with single knives hanging from their waists, with white horse head signs painted on the scabbard tips.

  "Jiaxiang has returned to report to Big Brother and Sister-in-law!"

  I've figured it out! The iron merchant caravan we're following entered the city and stopped at Hui Le Inn by the city gate, but they didn't unload their goods at any local business. It seems big brother's guess was correct - these people are going to set off again! I think around dawn tomorrow, as soon as they wake up, they'll continue on their journey."

  All that can be seen is that the man called Big Brother is not tall, with broad shoulders and a thick chest, and a dark square face with clear features.

  "I knew it! These people have been asking all the way to Jinan Prefecture, how could they stop at Weifang and not go any further?"

  "Let's wait till tomorrow, and we'll ambush them at the wheat field outside the Ten-mile Fortress! The official road on both sides is planted with tall red sorghum, as high as a man. We'll hide in the sorghum field and wait for them to enter the trap before making our move!"

  Only the woman beside the big brother, called Big Sister, had a face like a silver plate with a pair of black and white eyes that shone like shooting stars. She swung her whip in a handsome arc and said: "Nowadays, the government is chasing us tightly, let's try not to cause trouble. In short, if we can't hurt people, we won't hurt them."

  You should know, these merchants are also seasoned travelers who have come out to make a living. It's not easy to earn some hard-earned money by traveling thousands of miles. Since there is no escort agency hindering us this time, let's just do this deal. After finishing the business, we'll quickly sell the goods and exchange them for herbs and food, and then immediately return to Shitou Gou. We've been out for half a month now, and our families are probably starving back home."

  A red-faced man on the side heard this and immediately looked unhappy, angrily waving his hand: "Big sister, you're too kind-hearted! Don't you see that this merchant group riding in iron carts, they don't look like ordinary merchants at all? From the apprentices to the leader, they've been eating pancakes with scallions and salted meat on the road, and even dried shrimp! Last time in Yintun Town I saw clearly, even their water bottles were made of iron! Damn it, ordinary merchants aren't so wealthy! Even the apprentices get to eat meat? This is obviously a big fat profit!

  As I said, let's just kill him off completely! Strip him bare from head to toe.

  I dare say that the two iron wheels of the cart are fully loaded with silver! My brothers, didn't you all see that after the cart's wheels passed over the ground, they left a deep impression?