Chapter 151: A Grave Threat

The slave-trading merchants all claimed that the people were bought by the local aristocracy, but no one knew just how near that "local" was.

They weren't sent to the Jiaodong Ferry until then, where they spent a night in a warehouse, and the next day a large ship several dozen zhang long came to pick them up.

Afterwards, the big ship fished on the side and also stopped at Qingzhou and Bohai Commandery along the way; at each stop, countless people were crowded into the warehouse they were in. By then they had been drifting at sea for over ten days, and just as they grew increasingly panicked and rumors spread on board, the ship put ashore again.

This time the steward came to tell them they could disembark; they had reached their destination.

As soon as they left the lower warehouse, the long‑absent sunlight made their eyes water; they wondered, 'This time we won't really be sold overseas, will we?'

Following the crowd onto the gangway, they hurriedly took in their surroundings… and saw this kind of ferry terminal for the first time!

The architecture of the ferry terminal was also something they'd never seen before; they had never seen such a tall tower, and in the next instant the crowd's commotion and exclamations drew their gaze—everyone looked out to sea together, and there was a dragon! And a giant fish as big as a ship!

Some knelt and murmured prayers, while others numbly felt certain they had been sold out of the Great Jin.

The steward shouted for them to hurry, and then the slaves were brought in groups to the open space of the dock. They themselves didn't realize how many there were, or that other warehouses also held people.

The steward checked each person's headcount at the dock, then handed them over to Zhuti.

Zhuti took charge and directly brought them to the rest houses built for the refugees; as soon as it grew dark, they were transferred in batches overnight to the silver mine.

They numbly crossed two mountains, then discovered a very strange mountain.

Inside, faint lights shone through, and surprisingly a high wall encircled the mountain.

Earlier, when they had been walking in the mountains at night, they had already braced themselves for the worst.

Most thought it was a dead end, that they would be made into human sacrifices for some ritual; what good could there be in being driven out to a desolate mountain in the middle of the night?

They weren't unwilling to run, but the people who bought them seemed to have great influence, and their escorts were all black‑armored soldiers. They didn't even know where they were at that moment, let alone where they could flee to.

Now they saw the leader guiding them through one luxurious iron‑cast gate after another, and as more and more lit buildings came into view inside, a spark of hope rose—perhaps they really had been bought to work.

Soon the transferred people arrived in batches, and they stood on a flat open space; the beautiful, non‑human‑looking woman who had shown her face before walked up onto a platform.

"Hello everyone, I'm the chief steward of this mine. To put it simply, you were bought here to mine ore. This place is sparsely populated and lacks labor, so we bought people from other commanderies to work the mines. Don't be disheartened; life here may be harder than before, but remember you have already been sold. As the saying goes, 'Yesterday's deeds are like yesterday's death'—how is this not a rebirth? I promise that if you obey orders and work diligently here, I will treat everyone fairly, and in the future you may hope to be transferred to a better place to work and live. The toughest work here is reserved for prisoners from the jail; you don't have to do it. The master is benevolent—work hard, you'll have enough food and can earn wages, and you might even be able to buy your freedom later. Those who think they can pull a fast one, have you seen the soldiers who brought you here? There will always be soldiers guarding the silver mine outside; escape is out of the question—they can send you on your way with the swords in their hands without effort, or at worst you'd lose money and have to resupply in Jiangnan. That's all I have to say. Now, according to the groups you came in, the stewards will call roll and take you to your assigned dormitories. Starting tomorrow, you will work and live here."

After she finished speaking, some remained numb, while others felt a spark of hope—could they buy their freedom?

Zhuti gave a few instructions to the second steward and then left. There are many guard posts here, some lit, some dark; the design of the Myriad Realm is scientific and tight. The guards are all from the Personal Guard Battalion rotating on duty, all equipped with bows and arrows, and she feels safe about security.

The Great King can oversee the whole operation from home; just lying in bed and moving a finger to enlarge the view of the silver mine lets him see everything clearly— the only regret is the lack of sound, just shy of a synchronized broadcast.

From then on the Great King had an extra pastime: he loved to tinker with his mine when idle, checking the mining progress. Another was to look at the refugee village on the map and watch the little figures building walls, truly achieving the feat of staying home and eating melons without stepping outside.

Who would have thought that the melons would come in a line? The scouts sent to the Xianbei to trade alfalfa and salt finally returned.

The Xianbei evidently had little silver; they brought back exchanged hides—sheep, cattle, and horses—and the Great King, after reviewing the list, saw a good profit, and he was in need of horses.

"The Xianbei nobility greatly favors pure white refined salt and holds it in high esteem." The speaker was a cavalry commander from the escort team.

"Let's make another trip before spring arrives; this time bring more salt and tea, for my lord's tea shop is about to open—selling tea foam to them would be perfect! On the grasslands, eating such greasy food cries out for something to cut the richness—tell me about the situation in East Xianbei."

We heard plenty of news along the way; it turns out the cavalry that marched south last New Year's Eve all came from a single tribe, the one nearest our northern border, led by a man named Qiu Mulling. After suffering a crushing defeat and returning, he has fallen out with that tribe and now serves under the crown prince of the East Xianbei Great King Wanniuyu. We made contact with the Second Prince's trusted aides through refined salt. It is said that after Qiu Mulling's crushing defeat and return, he advised Wanniuyu … saying, 'saying, saying that the prince must not be allowed to grow up; he must be eliminated as soon as possible.' He said all this in one breath; the Great King heard it without anger, and even smiled.

"He has good judgment!"

Wei Shen: ……

Wei Shen was utterly speechless, eager to hear the continuation: "And then? How did Wanniuyu respond?"

"I heard… they snorted in contempt."

The Great King shook his head: "No, he took action."

Wei Shen: "That assassination attempt? The timing matches."

The Great King followed with a sigh: "Wanniuyu doesn't seem as indifferent as he appears. And then? Doesn't Qiu Mulling want to come back for revenge?"

His tribe lost two thousand men in Youzhou; he certainly wants revenge. But so far East Xianbei has found no sign of intending to move south. I've heard that Qiu Mulling is doing well in the crown prince's entourage, and over time he might be able to sway the prince. Wanniuyu has two grown sons, both highly trusted, and no one in the populace commands greater authority. As for the Second Prince's trusted aides, they look down on our Youzhou, saying it's tough and poor, and not worth raising an army over. Youzhou is vast, and his original words were: 'Capturing slaves means you have to run a long time just to catch one.'

Great King: ……

That hit home.

Wanniuyu is still quite good at balancing things.

"How sincere is he saying that?" the Great King asked.

"When we drank with the retainers of the Second Prince's trusted aides' household, they said over drinks that they genuinely look down on Youzhou, and the head of that household is the mother's clan of the Second Prince."

The Great King chuckled: "It seems Wanniuyu wants to fatten us up then kill us, disliking our current leanness, but the cost wouldn't be small. How many of us did we leave there?"

"Your Highness, four people were left behind in East Xianbei."

The Great King instructed Zhuti: "Don't put all your eggs in one basket; also send another merchant convoy on a separate route, running the two in parallel. Information transmission must be careful, and logistical support must be the best." Then he turned to the cavalry commander: "Rest first, then go on a trip to West Xianbei—I have no idea what the Tuoba Xianbei, who have been silent all these years, have been up to."