Chapter 485: First Awe, Then Profit

485. Chapter 485: First Awe, Then Profit

The first squad of household troops raised their long spears and marched past the wooden platform — this was the First Company of the personal guard. The company commander at the front bellowed a command, and the household troops gripped their spears tight, stepping in parade march past the platform. As one, the troops turned their eyes toward the platform. Zhao Jin and his comrades pressed their fists flat to their chests in salute.

The Yangzhou salt merchants had been perfectly at ease, but the moment the household troops stepped into their parade march and fixed their eyes on the platform, every one of them shuddered. They ducked their heads and shrank back by instinct. Some stumbled and sat down hard right on the platform, yet no one had the presence of mind to laugh. Their faces were all pale; they simply felt they could not bear to meet those eyes.

The second company passed. The third company passed. The entire Yangzhou salt merchant contingent stood there trembling. Hardly anyone dared raise their head. An occasional stolen glance would snap back in an instant — they did not even dare look longer.

Few even noticed the neat ranks and synchronized steps of the Zhao Battalion. All they felt was how terrifying each company of Zhao Battalion troops passing below truly was — those gazes, cold and utterly indifferent. To say nothing of meeting those eyes, even being looked at made their whole bodies run cold.

This must be what they called "killing intent." One moment's carelessness and these tigers and wolves below would tear them to shreds. A few even found themselves thinking of watching the tidal bore — the great tide rolling in, magnificent to behold, yet everyone watching it trembles with fear, knowing full well that to be swept into that mighty surge means certain destruction, body and bone.

These Zhao Battalion troops marching forward to the drumbeats were no different from those raging waves and towering breakers — and they were so close. A single glance set the heart pounding with terror.

Company after company of soldiers passed by. Zhao Jin and his comrades stood ever more erect, every man ramrod straight. As the parade march passed below, they saluted with solemn gravity.

Watching the neat ranks below, soldiers radiating killing intent from head to toe, the armor on their bodies, the weapons in their hands — a deep satisfaction and pride welled up unbidden in Zhao Jin and his comrades. This was the force they had trained, the force they had led through life and death together.

In the beginning, a dozen or so companions sparring together at the freight yard, and when the enemy came, only one man followed. Then a hundred-odd men facing over a thousand fierce foes. Then several hundred facing nearly a hundred thousand refugees. Time and again they had charged through, time and again they had built up their strength, until at last they had reached the scale before their eyes. It was indeed something to be proud of.

Compared to Zhao Jin and his comrades, whose hearts surged with emotion, Ruhui had been watching everything around him with a faint smile — watching the household troops pass below, watching Zhao Jin and the others. What he watched most of all were the Yangzhou salt merchants.

By the time the cavalry company passed the wooden platform, some among these Yangzhou salt merchant managers could no longer keep their feet. Their legs would not stop trembling, their faces were drenched in cold sweat, and they clenched their jaws just to keep from collapsing onto the platform.

These men of wealth and ease would steal a glance up at the platform below, then hurriedly lower their heads. Every one of them stooped and bowed, looking less like honored guests at an inspection and more like condemned prisoners at the execution ground awaiting their sentence.

The cavalry numbered only a hundred-odd riders in neat formation. The Tatar cavalry had just arrived and could hardly be said to have any formation at all — they followed behind in a chaotic jumble. But the men from Yangzhou could not notice this at all. They had been utterly shaken to the core.

They had heard all sorts of tales about the Zhao Battalion before, and knew some of the facts. They thought the Zhao Battalion was strong, very capable in a fight — but just how strong, they had never known.

Today they saw this spectacle. The process was tedious — monotonous drumbeats, ranks marching past in perfect order, and those young faces, expressionless and radiating killing intent.

What this signified, the men from Yangzhou did not truly understand. Yet by instinct they reached a judgment: the Zhao Battalion was indeed that strong. If anything, it was even more formidable than the rumors claimed.

By this point, no one dared crack a joke. They did not even dare exchange glances. The bolder ones merely pulled out handkerchiefs to keep wiping away sweat; the timid ones did not dare even that much, likely just praying for it all to end quickly.

Ruhui observed from the wooden platform, the smile on his face growing thicker by the moment.

Unit by unit, each company of the Zhao Battalion stationed at He Village marched past the platform, then formed up in sequence before it. Once all had passed, they assembled into large formations according to their assignments — the personal guard, the cavalry, the First Regiment, and the Second Regiment each standing in their own block.

Zhao Jin glanced back over his shoulder. He saw the Yangzhou salt merchants trembling in fear, and exchanged a look with the broadly smiling Ruhui.

"Eat your fill and dress warmly every day. Train diligently every day. Do not slacken!" Zhao Jin roared. As he shouted this line, the personal guard company standing at the front below repeated it in a thunderous unison, making sure every man heard it clearly.

When that was done, a great roar rose from below: "Sweat more in peacetime, bleed less in war!"

Over two thousand men roaring as one — it was truly a peal of thunder. The salt merchants on the platform had never imagined such an eruption. The ones at the very front sat down hard on the wooden platform; those behind crouched down and covered their heads.

Ruhui hurriedly said with a smile, keeping his voice low, "It's nothing, nothing. Do not be alarmed, everyone!"

Yet the field was not all order and solemnity. Zhao Jin's own cavalry mounts and the Tatar cavalry's horses had been startled by the sudden thunderous roar. The horses bucked and whinnied in chaos. And here a subtle difference from earlier became apparent: when they had formed ranks before, the Zhao Battalion's own cavalry had been orderly while the Tatar cavalry had been scattered. Now, calming the startled mounts, it was the Tatar cavalry who settled their horses first.

Dong Bingfeng, standing on the wooden platform, looked somewhat embarrassed and glanced toward Zhao Jin. Zhao Jin merely furrowed his brow. As for the salt merchant contingent, they were in no state of mind to notice such details.

"... The Xuzhou region is now pacified, yet roving bandits still move freely in all directions..."

"... Refugees have been settled on the grassy flats and barren shoals, but the outlaws remain undeterred and seek to attack..."

Zhao Jin spoke a few simple words. He wanted to instill a conviction, a belief, in the household troops of the Zhao Battalion — that what the Zhao Battalion did was to protect the land and bring peace to the people, that everything was done in the name of justice and the greater good.

"The Zhao Battalion shall prevail!" Zhao Jin roared at the end.

"Prevail!" Another thunderous roar rose from below in perfect unison. This time, the Yangzhou men on the platform could no longer care about dignity. Some sat on the platform, some covered their ears, and some simply turned their backs, unable to face it.

After this shout, the companies of household troops were dismissed. They had the day off — after standing guard and keeping busy for so long, a brief rest and recovery was necessary.

The household troops left the parade ground, but Zhao Jin and his comrades did not hurry away. The Yangzhou men on the wooden platform all let out a long breath, every face wearing an expression of having narrowly escaped death.

"Gentlemen, you have seen the Zhao Battalion's inspection. Do you think my household troops can keep Xuzhou safe and secure?" Zhao Jin asked with a smile.

The moment he spoke, the Yangzhou contingent scrambled to straighten up and answered in a flurry: "Master Jin's household troops are truly extraordinary, incomparably crack and fierce. They can certainly keep Xuzhou safe!"

"Forget Xuzhou — in my humble opinion, they could keep Huai'an Prefecture safe as well!" One man, never shy with flattery, climbed right up the pole.

Yet no one found this an exaggeration. Before coming, none of them could have imagined the Zhao Battalion was this formidable. Having seen today's inspection, they all felt it was only reasonable that the Zhao Battalion had designs on Huai'an Prefecture. With strength like this, Xuzhou truly could not contain them.

Zhao Jin nodded with a smile and gestured for them to proceed. The Yangzhou men felt as if they had been granted a great pardon — at last they could get down from this accursed wooden platform. They stood obsequiously at the platform's edge, insisting that Zhao Jin go first.

"I, Zhao, will speak plainly. When you gentlemen smuggle salt to various places, you must send men to escort it and hire carts and horses to transport it. Within the Southern Metropolitan Region, things are manageable — you have official and underworld connections to look after you. But once you leave the province, there are bound to be all sorts of inconveniences. You inevitably have to give a cut to the local officials and strongmen, and even then, safety is not guaranteed. Am I right?" Zhao Jin said with a smile.

Hearing him speak, everyone's first instinct was to deny any connection to the salt smuggling. But they immediately realized that denial was pointless — it was something everyone knew perfectly well. To deny it in such a setting would only invite ridicule.

"Master Jin speaks the truth!"

"Smuggled salt may look like huge profit, but you still have to grease palms everywhere. Otherwise, they turn on you and seize your goods, and you've got nowhere to cry about it. Either you swallow the loss and say nothing, or you use underworld methods to get it back — but either way, it costs money. When you tally it all up, you're only making a bit more than the official channels, and you spend the whole time scared out of your wits!" One man complained, and the others all chimed in agreement.

"Official channels" here did not mean government salt, but rather the tacitly accepted system of private salt distribution that had become a near-open institution, one that officials privately sheltered and looked after.

Zhao Jin nodded with a smile and continued, "It's hard work sending your salt out to various places. If the buyers were to come here instead, I imagine the trouble would be much the same — strangers in an unfamiliar land. They buy the salt, and before they can even head back, they get swallowed up right here in the Southern Metropolitan Region. Again, nowhere to cry about it!"

The Yangzhou contingent could only laugh awkwardly. Since this was salt smuggling that could not see the light of day, getting robbed by fellow criminals was naturally something you could not take to the authorities. The Feng family kept nearly a thousand private soldiers, and the other salt merchants also had their share of desperate men. None of them could claim they had never engaged in such dealings.

No one knew why Zhao Jin was bringing this up. At that moment, Ruhui cut in from the side: "Gentlemen, both your delivery men and their sellers suffer hardship on the road. Operating away from your home territory, danger lurks everywhere. With that worry hanging over you, business is bound to suffer. It's all too easy for others to slip in and take advantage. Henan and Shandong — it's not as if our salt is the only salt they can buy. If this goes on, others will easily steal your business!"

"Mr. Cao makes a good point. Yanzhou Prefecture used to consume nothing but Huai salt, but these past few years, that Changlu rabble has been sneaking in. Word is they're shipping it by water all the way into Henan to sell!" someone chimed in.

In the Northern Metropolitan Region lay the Changlu Salt Fields. Though smaller in scale than the Huai salt works centered on Haizhou, their output was by no means small.

One man's casual remark set everyone chattering at once.

"... What Master Jin said is true. There are a few families elsewhere who've done business with my family for decades. Last year, someone — we still don't know who — robbed them, and they suspected my family did it. In the end, the Feng family poached them away..."

"... Yours is nothing. Don't you all know what happened to my family? Last year, in Guide Prefecture in Henan, we were robbed. Dozens dead and wounded, and I had to pay all the compensation out of my own pocket..."

As they spoke, they arrived at the guesthouse where they were being hosted. The moment they stepped inside, the innkeeper promptly served fragrant tea. Though watching the inspection had involved no physical exertion, every man felt utterly drained. The hot tea went down, and fatigue immediately washed over them.