Chapter 1308: The Horse Bandits Attack

"Master Sun, something's not right. By the sun, we've been traveling for two hours, but in those two hours we've only seen people coming toward us — no one has followed from behind. I fear the road has been cut off." The guard instructor of the Yanbei Trading Company had already come over to report.

Sun Chuanting nodded and said, "We've already been marked. An hour after we set out, they started following from behind. Right now, I reckon they're circling around, preparing to trap us from both front and rear."

He spoke calmly enough, but the Yanbei guard instructor shuddered violently. Marked? He caught on at once. Over a hundred large wagons, so many camels, and all along the way they'd traded openly and noisily — they must have made a good deal of silver. Of course they'd be marked. And the Sun family caravan's people rarely showed up at the markets, only joining up when it was time to move out. A caravan flush with silver and goods, yet looking from the outside like it had no guards — wasn't that just a slab of fat meat in other people's eyes? They'd probably been marked not just by horse bandits, but the tribes along the Lower Water Sea had long been ready to make a move!

"What do we do?" The guard instructor had seen his share of bloodshed, but thinking about what was coming, his voice trembled. If a thousand or so Mongol horse bandits came pressing in, the caravan's few hundred guards would be no match. Mounted against foot — the difference would show at once.

Sun Chuanting fixed the guard instructor with a stare, his eyes cold and piercing, then said in a deep voice, "What can we do? When they come, we fight. Sun Hu, you go back with Instructor Gao. When the time comes, keep the situation under control — don't let anyone fall apart on their own!"

The man called Sun Hu answered and came over to Instructor Gao's side. The Yanbei instructor immediately fell silent. The dozen or so headmen around Master Sun were all hardened fighters — their bearing and manner were very much like men from the army, and their martial skills were top-notch.

"Instructor Gao, let's head back." Sun Hu came up to him and said plainly.

The Yanbei instructor wanted to say a few more words, but he saw Sun Hu's eyes glaring wide. Instructor Gao was a man who'd drawn a blade and seen blood himself — he was no stranger to that kind of look. One more wrong word, and the man would kill him. Instructor Gao couldn't help shivering. He glanced at Sun Chuanting and found Sun Chuanting's gaze very cold.

Back with his own company, Instructor Gao wanted to have a few words with the lead manager, but when he looked up, he found the other man smiling with deep meaning. He understood everything at once.

Sun Chuanting's guard headmen each went to one of the merchant companies. Once there, they said little and just followed along quietly. Aside from the Yanbei company, no one else thought anything was amiss.

They pressed on for the time it takes two incense sticks to burn. Then, suddenly, the faces of the caravan's seasoned guards and hands all changed. More than one man jumped down from horse or wagon and lay flat on the ground to listen. After doing so, their faces changed even more. They rose and shouted, "A large mounted force is closing in — something's wrong!"

"Both front and rear — it's definitely horse bandits!" The experienced ones heard even more and made a more precise judgment. Whether it was some noble's cavalry or herders from a small tribe didn't matter. The move they were making — that was horse bandits.

They'd done business smoothly the whole way, thinking they'd make their fortune once they got back inside the passes of Shanxi. Who could have guessed they'd still run into a large band of horse bandits, and in this place with no help in front or behind? Everyone's face changed. Not long after, someone said in a muffled voice, "I'm afraid it's over a thousand riders!"

The man who said this regularly traveled the Guihua City–Datong route and was highly experienced in such matters. His judgment was nine times out of ten correct. Hearing this, everyone's last hopes were shattered. Many managers and hands, even guards, turned ashen as the dead. More and more people instinctively looked toward Sun Chuanting. Master Sun had been calling the shots the whole journey — now it was his turn to decide.

Sun Chuanting did not hesitate. He called the column to a halt directly, nimbly climbed onto a wagon, and shouted, "Everyone, don't panic! Right now we can only respond with calm. One moment of chaos and we're all dead. From now on, everyone follows my orders. If anyone disobeys, I won't be polite. Your one life isn't worth our thousand-plus lives and tens of thousands of taels in goods and silver. Lads, form up and prepare!"

After speaking briefly from atop the wagon, Sun Chuanting simply waved his hand to give the order. The guard headmen he'd earlier dispatched to each company immediately sprang into action. They set the drivers and hands to work, linking the wagons head to tail to form a large circle, then herding the livestock into the center.

Everyone watched as the Sun family guards moved without pause, pulling long spears from the Sun family wagons one after another and distributing them — there were even over two hundred bird guns. At the sight of the long spears, people's minds settled a little. At the sight of the bird guns, quite a few faces fell. What damn use were bird guns? They couldn't kill or wound — how could they compare to bows and arrows?

Only when they saw that some men also carried bows did they manage to breathe a little easier. At a moment like this, everyone ought to pull together, and the caravan people understood that logic. They expected their own guards and hands would all be put to use. To their surprise, Sun Chuanting only called for the guards who carried bows — the rest were not needed. Instead, he had them watch the hired Mongol herders. His instructions were crystal clear: if those herders made any suspicious move, kill them at once. No softness.

At this point, the panicked managers and hands calmed down somewhat, understanding what Sun Chuanting meant.

"Could there be planted agents and spies among those hired men?" someone murmured. Their company was a mid-sized merchant outfit. They'd thought this trip would be uneventful, so they'd brought along a younger brother to gain experience. They hadn't expected to run into a calamity like this.

The younger brother looked around, then said quietly, "Brother, doesn't it seem like Master Sun set this situation up on purpose…"

Halfway through, his elder brother clamped a hand over his mouth. His brother's face was stern as he hissed, "You think you're the only clever one? Who can't see it? At a moment like this, staying alive is what matters. Save your useless talk — the blade is in someone else's hand!"

The mounted scouts sent to the front and rear came galloping back at full speed. When they reached the circle, someone pushed a wagon aside to open a gap. They came in panting and reported: over six hundred riders were closing in from each side. In less than half an hour they'd be here. Inside the wagon circle, there was no hiding it — another wave of turmoil and panic swept through.

The herders penned in by the guards were also growing restless. But in this situation, even if they wanted to act, how could they face the guards' sharp blades barehanded? Whether they were planted agents or not, they could only stay put obediently. Out here on the steppe, killing people had nothing to do with the king's law.

The Yanbei instructor, Gao, had some standing and didn't have to watch the herders. The Sun family guards didn't need him to fight either — they only had him protect the Yanbei manager. Seeing that everyone else was some distance away, Instructor Gao leaned close to the lead manager's ear and muttered, "Manager Zhou, are we just going to watch Master Sun mess around? These are all our lives, and the company's goods and silver!"

"What are you panicking for? The Sun family young master has a steady temperament. He wouldn't do something he's not sure of," the lead manager said in a deep voice. After speaking, he saw that Instructor Gao's expression was still off, so he added with a smile, "Yanbei Trading Company owes the Sun family too much. Even if every one of us died here, we still couldn't repay it."

With the words put that way, what was left for Instructor Gao not to understand? He just cursed inwardly, gripped his blade, and studied the weak points of the wagon circle. When the time came, he had no intention of dying here.

As the scouts returned inside the circle, a faint trembling could already be felt in the ground. The oxen, horses, and camels began to grow restless. The drivers were all busy soothing them. Meanwhile, the Sun family guards had piled cargo into a high platform. Someone stood atop it, scanning in all directions, and from time to time shouted down reports.

Before long, the sound of hoofbeats could be heard. The hoofbeats grew louder and louder, gradually rumbling like thunder. The Sun family guards, armed with long spears, pole blades, and bird guns, crouched behind the wagons. They'd even rigged coverings with tents and such above them — from outside, the details inside were completely invisible.

Arrogant laughter, shouts and curses — all could now be heard clearly. There was Mongolian, and there was Han speech with a Shanxi accent. Inside the wagon circle, people were already cursing under their breath. They'd definitely been marked back at the Lower Water Sea. Most likely horse bandits, herders, and merchant outfits had banded together to make a move — otherwise how could their judgment be so precise? Others who still hadn't figured it out were grumbling that it was their own carelessness, that they'd broken the great taboo of flaunting wealth, and that was what had brought this disaster upon them.

"Folks inside, young and old — we only want your money, not your lives. Be sensible and hand over your valuables, and we'll leave you traveling money to get home." Someone outside was shouting. The Shanxi mandarin was perfectly pronounced — no Mongol could speak it like that.

These words weren't enough to fool anyone, but everyone was just cursing. This had to be a military man from the Great Ming turned horse bandit. No one inside made a sound. The shouting outside came twice more, and still there was no response. The men outside were growing impatient. Someone shouted a few lines in Mongolian, and from among the herders under guard, someone suddenly answered with a hoarse cry.

Among the caravan people, many understood Mongolian. Someone immediately shouted, "This Tatar is tipping them off outside — he's telling them we're on guard inside!" The guards watching the herders did not hesitate. At a moment like this, it's either you die or I live — mercy was out of the question. They charged in with blades drawn, and with a flash and a fall, those who hadn't shouted but looked suspicious were cut down just the same. Amid the screams, a dozen or more lives were snuffed out in an instant. The situation was immediately brought under control.

The screams could be heard clearly outside. The men outside flew into a rage at once. Shouts and roars rang out, and the hoofbeats that had just fallen silent started up again. They were now riding circles around the wagon enclosure. The sound made everyone inside the circle even more tense.

"Manager Zhou, the horse bandits are looking for a gap. The moment they see a place they can break through, they'll charge straight in. At a moment like this, they'll also be shooting arrows — be careful!" Instructor Gao knew his business and spoke in a low voice.

Scattered arrows were already flying in. Some people were so frightened they cried out instinctively, but the arrows didn't hit anyone. It was only then that Instructor Gao realized: every step in setting up this circular formation had been carefully calculated, including how the cargo was stacked. Arrows shot from outside had no chance of hitting anyone who was taking cover according to the rules.