Chapter 1307: The Official-Merchant

Only the outcome was the same as the previous times — after leaving several hundred corpses of men and horses scattered around the great caravan, they could only retreat in frustration. If they delayed any longer here, the cavalry of the various tribes friendly with Wang Ziyang's caravan would come to the rescue. The Shanxi merchants were certainly on good terms with the grassland nobles, but Wang Ziyang had also built life-and-death bonds over the years. In the end, it was simply a matter of who had more money.

After this one great clash, the powers on the grasslands no longer dared to make a move. No one was willing to let their own strength be badly damaged for the sake of wealth. One must understand that there are no real rules on the grasslands — if you are strong, you eat meat; if you are weak, you are eaten. Trying to steal a chicken only to lose the bait is one thing, but to throw in your own status and power as well — why bring that misery upon yourself?

Moreover, after this incident, people from Xuzhou arrived in Datong and Shanxi. At first, no one paid them any attention. They knew you were troublesome, but could you really stretch your hand from South Zhili all the way into Shanxi? After the first joint encirclement campaign was fought, however, both Shanxi and Datong reacted immediately. Several powerful merchant houses were charged with colluding with the Tatar captives, thrown into prison, and had their properties confiscated. These were the very ones who had been scheming against Wang Ziyang all along. Everyone knew in their hearts who stood behind them; they had simply been tossed out as scapegoats.

After that battle was fought at Jinghai County in North Zhili, the status of Wang Ziyang's caravan soared dramatically. It was no longer a matter of a caravan merely passing through — it was as if an imperial envoy had entered Shanxi. Civil officials and military officers alike had to treat him with the utmost courtesy. Those with a sense of decency gave him every convenience; those without any shame went straight up to fawn over him.

Around this time, instead of letting this inflate his ego, Wang Ziyang became even more savvy than before. In the past, he had practically monopolized the liquor business, but now he distributed it among the various houses to manage, setting prices that let everyone make a profit. By this point, Xuzhou liquor was not merely a source of income — it was the key to building relations with the Mongol tribes and selling other goods. Everyone had to keep some on hand.

The Shanxi merchants had already come to admire Wang Ziyang somewhat. This was the true way to run a great business. Now, compared to his former practice of trekking a thousand li alone to deliver all manner of goods into the grasslands — a venture that brought rich profits, to be sure — this method of wholesale distribution yielded even greater returns. Now Wang Ziyang sold his goods directly at the border between Shanxi and Henan. Because the distance was shorter, he could deliver more goods, need not worry about the risks of transport along the way, and could make more trips. Thus both sides profited, and everyone was delighted.

Since Wang Ziyang had shown such an attitude, everyone was willing to return those small favors. For instance, when Wang Ziyang arranged for young men from Xuzhou to work in the various merchant houses, everyone felt obliged to give him face and take them in. There were also those who, harboring suspicion and unwilling to make such arrangements, found themselves unable to get any more liquor. Once that happened, everyone knew what to do. Fortunately, these young Xuzhou men were all honest and hardworking; it wasn't as if they were there to gather information. They simply worked diligently, so hiring them was no loss.

Distribution aside, there were still some businesses Wang Ziyang had to handle personally — buying horses on the grasslands, for example, and more importantly, buying people. He needed grassland men, from eleven to thirty years old, who were skilled riders and archers, and he had to select them himself. Everyone knew of Xuzhou's need in this regard and did their utmost to help. The border garrison magnates standing behind each house naturally lent a hand as well.

After all this bustle, it wasn't long before everyone traveling east and west along the trade routes from Datong to Guihua City and the Hetao region was carrying liquor. With more caravans carrying liquor, they traveled to more places. The grasslands were so vast — who knew how many places had yet to taste this Hanjing Famous Liquor? Given the Mongol temperament, one sip and they would love it. The fine reputation and allure of this Xuzhou liquor spread ever wider across the grasslands.

Among these caravans, the one belonging to the Sun family of Daizhou in Shanxi was somewhat unusual. Most people made their fortune in trade and then spent money to purchase an official post to bring honor to their ancestors. This Sun family caravan, however, had set aside a perfectly good capital post to go run business beyond the passes. The Sun family had produced juren degree-holders for four generations, and this generation had even passed the imperial examination to become a jinshi. They were long since a family of great wealth. Yet sitting on their riches was not enough — they still had to go out and engage in trade. This was sheer greed. Everyone said this Sun Chuanting of the Sun family was a great talent seen only once in a hundred years, but now he looked like a wastrel.

Sun Chuanting's way of doing business was also peculiar. His own family's goods formed one group, and then he gathered familiar caravans from around Daizhou and Taiyuan, providing them with his family's protection so everyone could band together and go beyond the frontier. It was said that the grasslands were filled with gold everywhere — as long as you could bring your goods out and return safely, it was hard not to make money. The difficulty lay in the fickle climate of the grasslands, and the scourge of horse bandits and those posing as horse bandits. If you were unlucky, not only would you fail to make a fortune, you might even lose your life out here. Sun Chuanting had probably thought of this, which was why he acted this way.

But how much silver would you have to sink into doing business like this? What profit could possibly remain after one trip? Wasn't this just making a wedding dress for someone else to wear? Yet the Sun family was wealthy and powerful, a household of the very first rank locally, and counted among the prominent even in Taiyuan and Datong. If they wanted to do this, no one could really stop them. By all calculations, this great procession had been out for over a month and should be on the return journey by now. To forgo perfectly good wealth and comfort and go out to drink the wind — what on earth were they thinking? The minds of scholars were truly impossible to fathom.

The Sun family caravan, just as everyone expected, was now advancing toward the Datong border pass. They had gone to a watering spot north of Xiashuihai, and on the return trip had cleared out all their goods at Xiashuihai. The haul this time was truly considerable.

Including the Sun family's own caravan, there were six in total, large and small. The smallest had only seven great carts and fifteen camels. The largest was the Yanbei Firm from outside Taiyuan, with thirty-six great carts, one hundred fifty camels, and over two hundred men counting assistants and guards. The Sun family, who had initiated this joint venture beyond the frontier, had far fewer carts and animals — fifteen great carts and forty camels.

What surprised everyone was that while the Sun family caravan had few goods, it had a full seven hundred-plus men, all able-bodied and strong, among whom over a hundred were mounted. What kind of business was this? The cost of feeding men and horses along the way would eat up everything. And all seven hundred-plus of these men carried weapons, which made it seem even stranger.

If not for the Yanbei Firm's reputation for trustworthiness built over more than a century, the Sun family's exceptionally good name locally, and the fact that Sun Chuanting himself accompanied everyone on the journey, they would all have worried this was a trap — that once they were beyond the frontier pass, everyone would be wiped out in one stroke. The carts, horses, and goods represented a huge sum of money. But the men of the Sun family's senior and second branches had all gone to stay as guests at the various merchant houses — hostages had been given, so what more was there to worry about? Yet this gave rise to a second oddity in everyone's minds: why go to such a scale, and be so thorough, just for a business trip?

Throughout the journey, when it came to overnight lodging, everyone had to follow the Sun family's arrangements. Whatever you thought in your heart, at this point, you had to obey whether you wanted to or not. Those seven hundred-plus fighting men in their hands were no joke. Fortunately, the Sun family's people conducted matters with extreme discipline. Setting up camp, posting sentries, escorting the march — everything was watertight, saving everyone a great deal of worry.

Business went very smoothly. Ligdan Khan of the Chahar had not yet firmly established himself in Guihua City. On one hand, he had to curry favor with the noyan nobles below him; on the other, he had to pacify the herders and Han settlers. He also needed to sell off Guihua City's various local specialties in exchange for urgently needed supplies. For these reasons, he was not as harsh toward Great Ming merchants as before — treating them like honored guests when they were useful and slaughtering them like pigs when they were not. As a result, there were many benefits. From the west and north of the grasslands, and even from the east where blood feuds ran deep, various khan camps and tribes converged. Small tribes came directly here to graze; great tribes and major powers sent their own trade caravans, making this place incredibly prosperous.

With many tribes, many herders, and many caravans, goods were naturally easy to sell. Everything fetched a suitable price, and suitable goods were bought in return. As long as one could make it back, a fortune was assured. Apart from the Yanbei Firm, the other firms did keep an eye on the Sun family's goods. They discovered that the Sun family's carts and camels were all carrying provisions for their accompanying personnel. When it actually came time to trade, only two carts held goods. Though these goods were all prepared medicinal herbs — top-quality items that could fetch sky-high prices on the grasslands — there were, after all, only two carts. No matter how high the profit, it couldn't cover the expenses of this trip.

Moreover, after selling these, the Sun family had also bought horses and recruited over a hundred Mongol herders willing to sell their lives. When all was accounted for, there was simply no profit to speak of. The costs of this trip had been enormous. Two of the more seasoned caravan managers even went to discuss the matter with the head shopkeeper leading the Yanbei Firm, suggesting that on this return, perhaps everyone could share some of the silver costs so that the Sun family wouldn't suffer too great a loss. After all, with the protection and help, everyone had reaped considerable benefits along the way.

The Yanbei Firm's shopkeeper merely laughed and told everyone not to worry too much. Having said that much, everyone could only go back glumly, thinking to themselves: the Yanbei Firm had reached its current stature thanks in no small part to the Sun family's efforts over four generations. How could they be so cold and unfeeling? Truly, the human heart is unfathomable!

They were now over a hundred li from Xiashuihai. Standing on horseback and looking around in all directions, one could see only green grass in the field of vision — nothing else at all. Only the trade route trampled by the caravan bore some trace of human presence. Sun Chuanting rode at a gallop among the procession, while ahead, behind, and on both flanks of the entire column, the Sun family's mounted guards raced back and forth, constantly reporting something to Sun Chuanting.

"... The old Sun family is a house of books and learning — how did this generation produce a military man..."

"... Now that's just nonsense. His ancestors for three generations were all juren, and he himself is a jinshi whose name was on the golden list — that's far higher. How is he a military man..."

"... Now that you mention it, that's true. Just look at him — does he look anything like a scholarly gentleman?"

Sun Chuanting wore a suit of chain mail, dressed much the same as the mounted guards. A Xuzhou-style six-chi halberd hung from his saddle. Combined with his tall, powerful build and resolute expression, he looked every inch a military officer. He rode through the column, constantly shouting orders. By now, the guards and assistants of every merchant caravan knew that Master Sun was in charge and obeyed him willingly. When they set up camp and built the stockade at night, Master Sun would roll up his sleeves and work alongside everyone. Who had ever seen a great gentleman like that?

Some of the recruited Mongol herders had brought their own horses, but within the caravan they all had to go on foot, occasionally helping to push the great carts, digging earth and filling the road ahead, bustling about without pause.

Thanks to old friends "Duan Yichen," "Luwei 111," "Xi Shua Shua," "Qi Sanwen," "Hua Ji," and "Xiao Qi Wenming Qiji" for their tips. Thanks to everyone for your subscriptions and monthly tickets. Thank you all for your support. The Great Ming Warrior needs even more support from everyone.