Chapter 156: Various Parties on the Road

The innkeeper "Blood Dagger" walked into a patch of woods not far from the trade route, preparing to find a place to get water to drink.

In the few years he had spent in this Duoen Town, he had gained some understanding of the surrounding conditions; where there were caves, where there were clean surface water sources, and the like, were all memorized in his heart, as if he possessed a detailed map.

These were all experiences and skills accumulated from his time as a bandit in the past, which had saved him several times before.

And this time, these past experiences and skills still provided him with a solid and reliable return.

After tying his inn's horse to the edge of the woods, the strong innkeeper brandished his horsewhip to push aside some bushes blocking the way, specifically choosing to walk along animal paths that animals in the wilderness would often emerge from. Because, just like him at this moment, the animals in the surrounding wilderness also had to come here to drink water every day.

As long as one followed the animal paths that gradually widened, one could successfully find a drinking spot in this patch of woods safe for both humans and animals to use.

Sure enough, the plants deep in the woods were dense and lush; unlike the withered and dry leaves of the trees on the outskirts, the further one went into the woods, the greener and more tender the plants became.

Clearly, in the absence of rain, they also had ways to draw sufficient moisture from the soil to grow.

The ground under his feet also gradually became soft and moist, rather than dry and cracked or dried into powder like the ground outside.

He licked his somewhat cracked lips; it was only from morning until now that he hadn't drunk water, yet his lips had already cracked. It was all to blame on this godforsaken weather—hot and dry, and it just wouldn't rain.

If it weren't for the fact that water could be drawn from the inn's well, people wouldn't be able to survive in this place.

Just as he was preparing to get some water at this drinking spot to moisten his throat and fill the water bottle found on the saddle, his sensitive ears heard the sound of people talking at the water source ahead.

"Blood Dagger" immediately stopped, first crouching down, then lowering his body, and crawled slowly forward using both hands and feet.

The sound of people talking became gradually clearer; it seemed to be two young men: "Hurry up, everyone is waiting for us."

"You lazybones! Want to be fast? Then why don't you come over and give me a hand? If you just stand there and move your mouth, will the water jump into my water bottle by itself?"

"Me, lazy? I'm pushing the wheelbarrow! It's loaded with so many water bottles and water skins; if they fall off, are you going to pick them up? It's all the fault of the Oakes Brothers, insisting on gathering everyone to go out and do things in the middle of this summer, saying something about reducing our land rent by thirty percent this year. Bah! Who cares about that! After all, in this weather, even if our village had enough water sources, the crops in my fields wouldn't be growing even half as well as last year."

"Don't talk about it, last year wasn't great either. It rained every day, rained every day. This year is better, it doesn't rain, but it actually doesn't give us a single drop of rain. It's all the gods in the sky messing with everyone."

"Hey, do you want to die? Watch your mouth! It's fine to curse the Oakes Brothers, they can't hear you. But the gods in the sky are always watching us!"

The two talked for quite a while, and it seemed they had finished taking enough water; the two pushed the small cart and gradually walked away, while "Blood Dagger" slowly let out a breath.

His premonition was correct; the Oakes Brothers, whom he had always considered very dangerous, really did have some big moves today. It was just unclear whether the other party's big move had anything to do with those out-of-town Bandit Groups he knew?

It couldn't be unrelated, could it?

And judging from the content of what those people said, it seemed they were farmers from a nearby place called Bianji Cunzi.

The Oakes Brothers controlled a fairly large village nearby; their family was originally a prominent household in the village, having occupied a lot of the village's land through years of reclamation.

It was said that by the generation of these two brothers, they had led other male relatives of the family to suppress several smaller Bandit Groups in the vicinity through force and schemes, and subsequently secretly controlled the bandits to influence part of the trade on the route from Duoen Town to Suishi Cheng.

Of course, all of this was on a very small scale, and the brothers never provoked caravans from large or medium-sized Merchant Guilds.

As time went on, not only did they swallow up a large amount of land in their village through usury, but they also directly opened a luxuriously decorated, high-service trade route inn at 【Meiqian Chakou】.

But "Blood Dagger" knew that the two brothers opening the inn was merely to create a place to fence the large amount of black-market stolen goods plundered by the Bandit Group they controlled.

This kind of thing almost affected the Underground Black Market business of the Thieves Guild; if someone were to report this to the Thieves Guild in town, the Oakes Brothers would probably be severely punished.

But he only thought about it; the few large shops at the crossroads were actually not clean, and no one dared to take the risk to do so. Moreover, he had heard from gossip that a Shop Assistant from out of town at the 【Zihonghua】 Inn had actually wanted to use this matter to blackmail the Oakes Brothers.

Hmph, that person disappeared afterward, clearly not meeting a good end. Either they were crushed by a stone mill and planted in the fields, or they were chopped into pieces and thrown into the nearby wilderness.

"Blood Dagger" didn't know if the matter was true or false; if it were true, then that person clearly chose the wrong target to blackmail. If it were false, then it was just a method the Oakes Brothers specifically had people fabricate to warn others.

Originally, two years ago, when he came to 【Meiqian Chakou】 to retire and run an inn (don't ask him how the inn came about; let's just say that after being a bandit for over a dozen years, he indeed lacked basic morality), he naturally couldn't afford to provoke the locally-rooted Oakes Brothers in terms of power.

But starting from the second half of last year, refugees and displaced people from all over gradually increased. Among those people, some naturally became guys who started doing business without capital; Bandit Groups organized by outsiders gradually increased over time, and their power grew rapidly.

As an outsider from another county himself, and a famous retired bandit, he, "Blood Dagger," quickly made contact with those newly formed Bandit Groups, becoming their agent and a transit station for passing intelligence and information at the crossroads.

He was even half a trainer for those Bandit Groups, consolidating the organizational power and cohesion of the Bandit Groups by sharing his personal experience.

And the Oakes Brothers, whom he once couldn't afford to provoke, didn't dare to provoke him anymore either.

But clearly, looking at it now, it wasn't that the other party didn't dare, but that they were just looking for a suitable opportunity.

And now, it seemed to be the opportunity the Oakes Brothers had decided upon?

'Haha, but it's a pity, their brothers' little secret big action has already been discovered by me in advance.'

"Blood Dagger" secretly followed behind the two farmers transporting the drinking water, following them all the way to the other side of this patch of woods. Of course, he wasn't stupid enough to walk out of the woods; instead, he hid behind a tree trunk, using the shadow of the trees to conceal himself, and cautiously peered outward.

On the flat wilderness outside the woods, there was a chaotic group of over a hundred people. Looking at the attire of those on the periphery and the various weapons in their hands, most looked like young farmers from a village. However, the several dozen people in the center of the crowd were slightly different.

Those people wore sleeveless Leather Armor suitable for the hot summer, wore leather headbands, and had many wooden Shields of various sizes in their hands, and they also held what looked like better Changdao and Long Swords; they looked fierce and vicious, and seemed to have some combat capability.

"Didn't expect it, didn't expect it, Oakes Brothers, I really misjudged the two of you. I originally thought you were two ordinary rotten saplings grown from the dirt, but I didn't expect you to grow tall and strong, and even be thorny and poisonous."

"Blood Dagger" saw that after the two farmers pushed the handcart with many water bottles and water skins back, many farmers who were sitting on the ground drowsy suddenly swarmed up to fight for the drinking water.

Xiao Aokesi, who was riding a horse, immediately rushed over, shouted something, and repeatedly brandished his horsewhip to lash at those who were grabbing the most fiercely, only then controlling the chaotic situation.

"Hmph, so that's all there is to it." Seeing this scene, "Blood Dagger" gave a contemptuous laugh.

Before he retired, he had once commanded several Bandit Groups that had good relations with him, totaling over two hundred people!

Everyone did a big job together in the neighboring county! At that time, although he was also flustered and had a splitting headache while commanding and managing those people, he never let his subordinates have this kind of chaotic situation of grabbing water.

With this kind of inferior organizational management ability, it would be fine if the location of the task wasn't far, but once the distance exceeded the need to camp overnight, it was estimated that such a team would be difficult to maintain by the next morning.

"Just a pair of incompetent trash brothers, leading a group of trash." "Blood Dagger" turned and returned to the woods, going to drink water and continue on his way.

"Hell, why are the people in the village so hard to manage? Clearly, everyone's performance during the annual plowing and harvesting is quite good, isn't it?"

Da Aokesi, that is, Kado-Aokesi, was also riding on horseback. This tall horse was a Western warhorse specifically ordered from a horse merchant in the Western Province.

But at this moment, he didn't have the feeling of being mighty and imposing while riding on the tall horse, because his line of sight was high, and he had completely seen the scene of the farmers grabbing drinking water just now.

This had made him furious!

You must know, he had always considered himself to be wise, learned, and resourceful. Whether he was actually that smart was hard to say, but at least the side he showed to others was like that.

Including the Oakes Family controlling the entire village, opening an inn at the trade route crossroads, getting in touch with the merchants in Duoen Town, and secretly opening an Underground Black Market in the inn using the method of individual introductions—these things, which seemed very complicated to ordinary people and would be worth being proud of if one could complete just one in a lifetime, were nothing more than things he handled casually in his spare time while reading and entertaining himself.

It wasn't that he hadn't conscripted farmers from the village before to help him clean up and suppress some Bandit Group. Those things were also handled easily, but how come this time, things were a bit troublesome, chaotic, and unrefined.

"It can't be my problem; most of the people called this time have participated in several actions in previous years. Then, there is only one answer."

He raised his head and looked at the sun radiating infinite heat in the sky.

"This scorching sun is really annoying enough."

He whispered this complaint; after all, many Farmers in the village held Faith in the Sun God, and he dared not say such things aloud in front of everyone.

Xiao Aokesi and Bota-Aokesu also squeezed through the crowd on prairie horses: "Big Brother, I have the situation under control. Everyone is just losing patience from the heat; it is not that they don't know how to line up for water in an orderly fashion."

After speaking, he pointed at a trusted subordinate and roared: "You, why were you in such a rush to bring people out overnight? With neither food nor water prepared and brought along, do you expect everyone to rush into battle on empty stomachs?"

The subordinate being roared at felt very aggrieved; the order had been given in such a hurry, and who knew that the group departing from the inn with the Oakes Brothers had only brought enough food and water for themselves.

Logically speaking, the inn was closer to the assembly point, and the supplies stored there were enough for over a hundred people for several days; having the people from the inn bring them along when they departed would have been the most reasonable and best approach.

But this subordinate dared not say this. All the trusted subordinates knew that despite Da Aokesi usually appearing steady and reliable, if anyone suggested that Da Aokesi was not good at these matters requiring management wisdom, that person had better be careful.

At best, they would be marginalized; at worst, they would simply disappear.

"I apologize, Big Brother Bota. It is all my fault for being too anxious, which is why the Villagers rushed over having only brought things for fighting. It is my responsibility; in this battle, I will be the first to charge!" The subordinate lowered his head and loudly took responsibility.

Da Aokesi raised a hand to stop his younger brother from using his horse whip on the man: "Forget it. The food carried by the brothers from the inn is enough for everyone to eat today. And as for drinking water, can't this tide us over for now? Once we deal with those annoying outsiders this evening, we will have enough food and water just from the spoils of battle."

Xiao Aokesi thought this was reasonable, so he merely glared fiercely at the subordinate and reorganized the people, who had finished drinking their fill of water, to begin moving across the wilderness.

However, this was a miserable affair after all. Under the scorching sun, the skin exposed to the sun, especially on the arms and the back of the neck, felt a stinging pain. Even though the Farmers were exposed to similar sun throughout the summer in previous years—constantly tending to crops in the fields without rest—this year's sun seemed far more intense than in years past.

The air seemed to carry a foul smell of dust, as well as the scent of withered plants broken into powder. These dust particles were inhaled into everyone's noses, making everyone walking feel dizzy, their bodies and footsteps growing increasingly heavy.

Some Farmers had brought hats woven from Wheat Straw when they came, and at this moment, these inconspicuous little items had become hot commodities in the group. People fought over them, and among the inn's people, some even offered the price of one Silver Coin to buy a Wheat Straw hat that was likely only worth one Iron Coin.

Many people were still thirsty even after drinking their fill of water, and they did not want to say a single word. Others, however, were full of endless complaints, complaining about this operation, the difficult route, the terrible weather, and that the Sun God was being too harsh on everyone.

It was somewhat amusing that everyone dared to complain about the scorching sunlight, yet no one dared to complain about Da Aokesi himself, who had initiated this operation.

Having walked along the Shanglu for half a day, Jier grew increasingly silent.

There was naturally no problem with his team or the Dwarf team, as both were experienced at traveling. But the Caravan following behind the convoy seemed to be behaving more and more absurdly.

They were clearly the professionals who should have been the most adept at traveling, yet for some reason, they were performing well below their standard today.

At noon, during the convoy's rest break, they actually intended to set up a fire to cook lunch?

No, it wasn't that people couldn't eat lunch; after all, Jier could manage his own team, but he couldn't control how many meals other teams ate in a day. However, for a Caravan that frequently traveled the Shanglu, if they were to eat at noon, shouldn't they have prepared simple, easy-to-eat lunches in advance from the supplies the Caravan had prepared?

By pre-baking thin wheat flatbreads in a large flat pan, rolling in some green vegetables washed and cut that morning, and adding some salty dipping sauce, they could have quickly finished a lunch.

As it turned out, when Jier's convoy had finished resting and was preparing to depart, Jier noticed the Caravan had not yet boarded and went over to check, only to discover they had absurdly lit a fire and were preparing to roast meat!

Absurd.

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