Chapter 482: A Long-Prepared Escape Route

Just as the scream rang out from the front, chaos and screams erupted in the rear courtyard as well. The two men sitting there chatting grabbed their weapons and rushed out. The moment they charged out, they saw a comrade from the rear courtyard staggering toward them. Before he could take more than a few steps, a sharp whistle sounded, and he pitched forward onto the ground — two feathered arrows nailed into his back.

Li Dajin, bow drawn and arrow nocked, stepped out from the rear courtyard. The two headmen standing by the house door felt a chill run through their entire bodies. Who could have imagined that Li Dajin would not only return, but also know there was an ambush in the courtyard, and know they had infiltrated?

The rear courtyard had already fallen silent — the men over there must have all been dealt with. And this Li Dajin was actually holding a bow and arrow. With that weapon in hand, he had certainly seized the initiative.

"The master has already set a bounty..." one man said viciously. Before his words finished, a feathered arrow drove straight into his throat. He collapsed, clutching it.

The other man, however, was quite clever. The moment his comrade voiced the threat, he turned and fled toward the front courtyard. Just as he reached the gate of the second entry, he ran into Li He, who had already switched to a podao. The blade ran him straight through.

"Your Feng family raised nothing but this sort of trash. Utterly useless." Li He wiped his podao on the corpse a few times and spoke with contempt.

Li Dajin nocked another arrow onto his bowstring, scanning around warily. He asked, "I got seven on my side. How many on yours?"

"Counting this one on the ground, five in all!" Hearing that answer, Li Dajin finally relaxed. He said in a muffled voice, "All swept clean!"

Li He reached down and rifled through the corpse's pockets, pulling out two bits of broken silver. He asked, "Should we deal with all the outsiders in the courtyard too?"

"No need. Herd them into a room and lock it from the outside. There are no spies among them. Killing them would be pointless."

Not long after, all the male and female servants in the compound were herded into the woodshed. The doors were bound shut with iron chains on the outside, then locked.

Li Dajin's wife and two sons had long since changed into the clothes of farming folk from outside the city. They had also prepared a set for Li Dajin, and there was one for Li He as well.

As Li He changed clothes, he sneered and said, "I really don't know what you see in this job. You had this escape route prepared all along."

"Caution never leads to great error. The Feng family has done far too many ruthless things — burning bridges after crossing them. One always needs a precaution." Li Dajin spoke in a muffled voice. After speaking, he looked at his wife. She patted the bundle she carried over her arm. Li Dajin nodded.

Li Dajin and Li He kept only short blades for self-defense. Each carried a child on their back. The three adults went out the door and walked swiftly. Two streets away, a horse cart was waiting there. Once they arrived, the cart driver took his silver and left on his own. Li Dajin drove the cart and headed north.

After the Feng family had gambled away their armed strength in that battle at Grass Hollow, their control over Yangzhou Prefecture had weakened considerably. The Feng family did not discover that Li Dajin had secretly moved his family away until the following day. Feng Bao, who had been strutting around so smugly these past days, was summoned and given a harsh scolding.

After that, word spread from the Feng household: the guard headman Li Dajin had colluded with river-and-lake bandits, working from inside and out to plunder the Feng family's merchant convoy, seize goods, and kill people. The evidence was conclusive, and they petitioned the authorities to issue a warrant for his arrest.

The authorities would of course grant the Feng family this much face. The matter immediately became a major case, with wanted posters and sketches circulated everywhere.

Privately, the Feng family also posted a bounty: Li Dajin's head, dead or alive, for two thousand taels of silver. The Feng family still had no shortage of silver.

Two thousand taels was a great fortune, and many desperadoes were quite tempted. Of course, the salt merchants throughout the city all watched the Feng family with schadenfreude — it was rare to see the Fengs handle something with such fury and desperation.

At the same time, the Wolf Mountain Vice Brigade Commander submitted a report. The Military Defense Circuit, the Fengyang Grand Coordinator, the Nanjing Ministry of War, and the Ministry of War in the capital all received a dispatch stating that a sudden epidemic had broken out at Wolf Mountain. Over three hundred men and more than two hundred horses had fallen ill and died. All had been burned and buried. The Vice Brigade Commander considered himself to have handled the matter poorly and requested disciplinary action.

However, a little over three hundred soldiers was no great matter at all. Besides, this Vice General Lu had made thorough arrangements with bribes up and down the chain, so everyone granted him this face. The Ministry of War issued a written reprimand, while also allocating funds for disease treatment and ordering Vice General Lu to replenish his ranks.

The battalion that had fallen ill was also reassigned. East of Haimen County lay a place called Lüsichang, a remote coastal garrison. This battalion was stationed there. As a result, few people noticed that this battalion stood empty for seven or eight days, after which a group of men returned, faces full of exhaustion and dishevelment.

In the middle of the third month, the Feng family bled once more, sending Vice General Lu a full fifteen thousand taels of silver.

And so the great battle at Grass Hollow faded away in silence. Those who should know, knew. Those who did not heard vague, hazy rumors — but it would never be brought into the open before the authorities.

While the Feng family was furiously putting out fires and covering things up here, the other salt merchant families, having finished what needed to be done at the start of the year, sent trusted confidants if they were powerful, or went in person if they were weaker. Their destination was one place alone: Xuzhou.

The landscape of the Lianghuai salt trade was about to change. Everyone had assumed the Feng family would go on for a thousand, ten thousand years. Who could have imagined that suddenly, everything would be completely different?

"Husband, there are still many refugees coming over from Shandong. The Xu estate cannot accommodate so many." In the large cart inn at the edge of He Village, Zhao Jin and his wife had a rare moment of leisure — though what they discussed was hardly idle husband-and-wife talk.

After much consideration, Zhao Jin had still moved his private residence out of He Village. The entire cart inn had been requisitioned. A few private courtyards were still decent enough and served as his dwelling, while the other areas were being rebuilt.

As for the traveling merchants coming from all over, they would henceforth stay at a new inn two li away from the cart inn. That place had been built directly to the specifications of a small fortified enclosure. In both quality and security, it was far superior to before.

"Your side will take people in for a few days, screen and train them according to my rules, then send them over. From now on, we must keep sending people to Grass Hollow without pause," Zhao Jin said in a deep voice.

Xu Zhenzhen was leafing through an account book on the other side. As she read, she said, "My husband has several estates. The one in Suzhou, Fengyang Prefecture, is also very large. You cannot only look after Huai'an Prefecture and forget the one right beside you."

There might have been a double meaning in those words. Zhao Jin grinned but pretended not to catch it. He said, "Suzhou has far too many people. It's a thorn in the eye and a spike in the flesh for every side. After what happened last year, I'm afraid no more refugees will come in. But we can't just leave it unattended. When the time comes, we'll hand it over to Cloud Mountain Temple to farm. After all, the land is good, so the yield will certainly be good too."

Xu Zhenzhen closed the account book and busied herself about the room. A red-clay stove, silver-thread charcoal, good tea and good water — all were at hand. Before long, the fragrance of tea filled the room. Zhao Jin sat in his seat. Xu Zhenzhen loved drinking tea, and she loved brewing it for Zhao Jin. Whenever this moment came, Zhao Jin felt his mind and spirit grow utterly still, deeply at ease.

They had just drunk one cup of tea when singing drifted in from outside. The song was melodious and plaintive, but not in Chinese. Heard at night, it carried a distinct flavor.

As Xu Zhenzhen poured more tea, she said with a light laugh, "If someone who had been beyond the passes or beyond the frontier heard this, they might think they were still out on the grasslands!"

Zhao Jin also laughed and shook his head. Leisurely, he said, "In the past, I heard Second Uncle speak of things like 'camels see willows, Mongols see wine.' Back then I listened in confusion. Only after coming here did I learn that camels love eating willow branches and leaves, and Mongols cannot move their feet when they see wine!"

After speaking, Zhao Jin drained his cup of tea in one gulp, then opened the door and went out into the courtyard. The guard retainers at the door immediately saluted. Zhao Jin said, "Send someone to notify those Tartars: since they have come to my place, they will act according to my rules. When everyone else is sleeping, they sleep too. Otherwise, they will be punished."

The retainers immediately acknowledged the order. Someone ran off at a quick pace. Zhao Jin thought for a moment, then called them back. He added, "Let them enjoy themselves tonight. Starting tomorrow, it begins. But still go and tell them — say that drinking and revelry are only permitted because of merit!"

On the day the refugees set out for Huai'an Prefecture, the Zhao Character Battalion began standing guard, while simultaneously assembling all forces capable of riding.

It was also at this time that Wang Ziyang, who had left the previous year, returned to Xuzhou leading the cattle and horse merchants. Every autumn and winter, the cattle and horse merchants had to set out for the border regions or directly onto the grasslands to purchase livestock — cattle and horses — then drive them back to the interior of the Great Ming to sell.

Wang Ziyang and his companions had taken a large shipment of strong liquor north last year. Judging by this trip, the profits had been exceedingly rich.

First, the quality of the cattle and horses was far better than the previous year. Vigorous horses, sturdy oxen, fat sheep — though they had lost considerable weight from the long trek south, their superior quality was still evident. The numbers had more than doubled compared to the previous year. Second, aside from these livestock meant for sale, there were over a hundred camels and more than thirty large carts. The camels and carts were all loaded with goods. A single round trip had yielded this much more than the previous year — the profits were clearly substantial.

The cattle and horse merchants, along with their underlings, were all dark-faced and covered in the dust of travel, yet their spirits were high. Nothing compared to the joy of striking it rich.

Beyond all this, Wang Ziyang had also brought one hundred and sixteen able-bodied Mongol youths. These were the recruits he had promised to find for Zhao Jin the previous year.

"... They say they're strictly guarding against foreign spies, strictly guarding against the Tatar slaves, but in truth, spending silver works better than anything. I won't hide it from you, Master Jin — we few have been going in and out for years. Without connections to the border generals, it's impossible..."

Compared to the evasiveness of the previous year, Wang Ziyang and his people now held nothing back.

"... In fact, the border generals are more than happy to send people into the interior. These wanderers on the grasslands — who knows when they might turn into horse bandits and harass the border? Besides, the Tatar officers among the border generals can't bear to see their own people suffer..."

Zhao Jin had heard of these Tatar officers. Within the Great Ming's border armies and various garrisons, aside from the personal retainers and close guards, the most effective fighters were the Mongol and Jurchen soldiers. Perhaps because their wild nature was yet untamed, or perhaps because they had no means of survival other than selling their lives, they fought with exceptional ferocity.

Being of the same tribe and clan, they naturally felt a trace of sympathy for those wandering and roaming the grasslands. With silver spent on top of that, the men were let through.

However, among these Mongol youths — half horse-bandits, half herdsmen — over thirty had fallen ill from being unaccustomed to the climate and environment. Wang Ziyang knew where his loyalties lay and told Zhao Jin directly not to bother with them, to let them live or die on their own.