Chapter 47: Carrying Private Goods

The Evil Plague has ravaged the world; fewer than one in ten have survived, and the population has plummeted.

The two or three hundred people in Luhua Lane, who would have been negligible in the past, must now be viewed as five or ten times more significant!

The display of strength by the people of Luhua Lane that day made a name for them and established their authority within the County Town.

Now, among those in Bai Lu County with even the slightest ear to the ground, who doesn't know of Luhua Lane? Who doesn't know of Lin Erdangjia, who calls the shots there?

People are even shouting and proclaiming it on street corners and alleys, practically stuffing the news into the ears of the residents!

Even those who have been hiding in their homes these past few days couldn't possibly block out the sound, could they?

Many scattered residents in the city, who previously refused to join various factions for fear of being sold out or having no one to rely on, now find this Huwei Escort Agency rather impressive; in a fit of excitement, they have been running toward Luhua Lane.

Many faction leaders are gnashing their teeth in anger.

How did they never notice that Luhua Lane was hiding such talent before?

Inside the County Office, County Lieutenant Zhang wears a gloomy face.

"That... what was it, Tiger Head Escort Agency..."

"Sir, it is the Huwei Escort Agency," a subordinate whispers in reminder.

"What is that Lin Laoer from that escort agency doing now?"

County Lieutenant Zhang cares nothing for whether it is Tiger Head or Huwei; he only cares about the future movements of that group from Luhua Lane!

The subordinate replies: "We have already sent people to keep an eye on them. Logically, that Lin Er should come to the County Office to show some gesture."

It's not as if Luhua Lane is going to start a fight with the County Office, is it?

Just as they are speculating, Lin Erdangjia actually arrives.

The key power players in the County Town are all there, and after closing the doors to talk, the atmosphere is much more relaxed when they emerge; even County Lieutenant Zhang wears a smile.

Those watching from the outside, who were guessing whether Luhua Lane was about to turn the world upside down, are even more confused.

However, the confusion does not last long.

Soon, the news spreads.

Lin Er and his group from Luhua Lane are about to head north to establish a branch; they are accepting commissions starting today, and anyone wishing to head north can come to place an order. If terms are agreed upon, they will head north together.

As for exactly where they are going, it is not disclosed, only that with so many great clans from the South migrating north, there must be plenty of places to choose from.

At first, Lin Erdangjia planned to mobilize about thirty escorts for the departure, but after the eldest sister-in-law said she wanted to take the children north and requested more guards, the number suddenly expanded to over fifty.

And as the number of hiring orders continues to increase, more young, able-bodied men in the County Town have joined their Huwei Escort Agency as escorts, with the security team expected to expand to eighty people.

With Wen Gu's reminder, they have been selective when accepting commissions.

They do not take on those who are high-maintenance or likely to drag them down. If such people want to head north, they can wait for the next large group migrating from the South. Don't follow a small escort agency like ours; we can't cater to you!

In Bai Lu County, they have established the headquarters of the Huwei Escort Agency in Luhua Lane and hung up a plaque.

More people are staying at the headquarters, and Lin Erdangjia is instructing those remaining behind on how to handle matters.

The big clients are left to County Lieutenant Zhang and his ilk. Their Huwei Escort Agency focuses mainly on small and medium-sized groups heading north, escorting them across the bridge. They can help handle all matters in between; as long as the payment is sufficient, everything is negotiable.

County Lieutenant Zhang's attitude toward them is much better now. Although he is quite wary because Luhua Lane rose to power too quickly, he now knows that the leaders of the Huwei Escort Agency are all heading north and that most of the elite are going with them; while the people remaining in Luhua Lane are numerous, they pose little threat.

The top authority remains County Lieutenant Zhang, and his position is unshaken.

Furthermore, County Lieutenant Zhang also has relatives who want to head north.

Every time a group comes from the South to head north, people in the County Town follow them and leave.

Some people in the various factions within the city also want to head north, but they have reservations and do not trust unfamiliar groups.

Now that the people from Luhua Lane are heading north to open a branch and have left a group at the headquarters, everyone has reached a cooperation agreement.

We will look after your people who remain in the city. We entrust you to protect those heading north, and you must take good care of them too!

Compared to other groups from the South, Lin Erdangjia and his people are truly known quantities. Whether something is good or bad is only revealed through comparison.

Some are even discussing in private that this escort agency seems to have potential, and perhaps they should set one up themselves.

Lin Erdangjia and his group hear some rumors and curse loudly: "Damn copycats!"

"But we are one step ahead and are about to head north to set up a branch! You lot can continue fighting in this tiny Bai Lu County!"

With the work in the city arranged, the escorts are also preparing for departure.

Lin Erdangjia and Lady Liang discuss it and specifically arrange a carriage for Wen Gu as a token of gratitude.

It is also a gesture of goodwill.

Xiao Liu and the others are very excited when they see the carriage.

"We have a carriage?!"

Compared to their crude mule carts, donkey carts, and ox carts, this carriage is simply luxurious!

This must have belonged to some wealthy family in the city before it fell into the hands of that group from Luhua Lane. Now, they are bringing it out to show goodwill.

"The Huwei Escort Agency is really generous!" Xiao Liu exclaims.

"Escort agency? What is an escort agency?" someone in the group asks, having missed the key information.

"You don't even know this? An escort agency is..."

Xiao Liu goes over to "educate" him on what an escort agency is.

When the others in the group see that even Xiao Liu, a villager, knows about it, it must have existed in the past!

"Oh, I see! So that's it; we come from a small place and haven't heard of it before."

Qingyi Daozhang often suspects that his own travel experience is insufficient, as he cannot even compare to this Gou Shusheng.

Is Gou Shusheng just spouting nonsense, or is it truly knowledge gained from his Study Tour?

When the agreed-upon departure time arrives, someone from the Huwei Escort Agency comes to meet them.

They also bring a donkey, which Wen Gu rented from the escort agency.

Their group has a two-wheeled Wooden Board Cart, which they modified over the past few days so it can be directly hitched to the donkey to pull it.

In this way, Wen Gu's original group now has one carriage, one ox cart, one mule cart, and two donkey carts.

In the eyes of ordinary people, this was already quite impressive.

That was until they saw the escort agency's procession.

That long line of carriages made people stare in disbelief.

Some of those carriages carried people, while others carried cargo.

The four cargo carriages of the escort agency had flexibly installed slots; depending on the size of the cargo crates, different catches were installed, so that when lifting the crates, they would not easily collide or slide off, and it was also convenient for tying ropes.

There were two carriages for passengers, one of which was used by Lady Liang, and one for the escorts to take turns resting.

There were also mule carts and donkey carts, but they did not belong to the escort agency; those belonged to other employers.

Besides this, looking out, there were also higher-ranking escorts riding horses, led by Lin Erdangjia.

The horses were limited and were assigned to those in the team who were responsible for combat power to protect everyone's safety.

Such a lineup made people wonder if Huwei Escort Agency had mobilized all the horses in Luhua Lane?

The truth was not far off.

Most of their elite were out; if they left too much valuable equipment at home, it might not be secure, so it was better for them to take it all away together.

Lin Erdangjia of Luhua Lane became Lin Biao, the head escort of Huwei Escort Agency, once he left the city.

Wen Gu's gaze lingered for a moment on the horse lance held by Lin Biao, and then he led his team to merge into the procession.

The guards of the Floating Bridge stood on both sides, clearing a path.

More people were leaving the city today, but they were not worried.

Scattered refugees often fled here and would choose to stay in Bai Lu County; the autumn and winter seasons were exactly the time for increasing the population. Therefore, generally speaking, the number of people in the County Town did not fluctuate much; the missing numbers would soon be filled, and there would always be someone to do the manual labor.

They had been notified long ago and were considered "their own people," so when crossing the bridge, the guards only symbolically collected a few things.

Since this was handled by the escort agency, it was enough to keep up appearances.

However, when this procession crossed the bridge, the Floating Bridge guards saw a few very unfamiliar figures.

Are these also from our city?

They wanted to stop them and ask: Is your Huwei Escort Agency smuggling private goods?

But catching a glimpse of those tall and fierce escorts from Huwei Escort Agency, they held back.

They comforted themselves inwardly: They didn't recognize the faces of everyone in the County Town who could afford to hire escorts. It was reasonable that they, as guards, didn't recognize those with status and backgrounds who usually didn't go out to work and stayed hidden at home.

Look at those escorts, each one of them looked righteous and confident, not the least bit guilty.

Sigh, forget it, forget it; even if they were really carrying private goods, they would just pretend not to know. This group from Huwei Escort Agency had been hot-headed lately, and seeing as they were about to leave, it was better not to provoke them.

During this time, the people originally in Wen Gu's team were actually quite bewildered.

When they first arrived here, they were thinking about how to get past the heavy guards on the Floating Bridge, or how to pay less of a bridge toll.

Now, not only could they cross the bridge, but they even had an extra group of guards!

Wen Scholar is truly a capable person!

He Da's followers were now even more convinced that they only needed to follow orders from now on; difficult problems would be solved by the leader.

After crossing the Floating Bridge and the river, Wen Gu sat in the carriage and pondered things.

Now that the number of people had increased, combat power had improved, and the ability to resist risks had strengthened. Later, when they encountered teams moving north, they could openly and boldly inquire about news.

If they were lucky enough to meet a Post Messenger or Letter Messenger, perhaps they could send a letter to his aunt's family far away in Beidi. He wondered if they were safe and how many troops they had?

If relatives could not be relied upon, he would have to strive on his own.

However, he still hoped that his uncle's family could be of some help, ideally so he could borrow their strength as soon as he arrived.

Since leaving Ge Village and walking all the way here, he had not yet encountered a team heading from south to north.

Communication was inconvenient, and important long-distance news and some important matters still needed to be delivered by trusted Letter Messengers, rather than through high-risk messenger birds.

The autumn and winter seasons were exactly when the north-south Letter Messengers were most active.

He wondered if those Letter Messengers were willing to earn some extra money.

Sigh, wait until he meets them to decide.

The escort agency's procession moved further and further away from Bai Lu County, and there was no need to hide anything afterward.

The scattered employers in the procession finally discovered the anomaly at this time—the attitude of Lin Biao when he spoke to Wen Gu was unusual!

Lin Biao, who was famous in Bai Lu County, was actually quite respectful when facing that scholar!

Look at Wen Gu's group, then look at Huwei Escort Agency.

So it turns out that all the tricks you played in Bai Lu County were guided by an expert behind the scenes!

Who exactly is this frail-looking scholar?

(End of chapter)