In the late Ming Dynasty, rising from the grassland

Chapter 69 There are so many carriages that you can’t even count them.
Zhangjiakou Fort is located among the mountains to the north of Xuanfu Town. It has always been an important gateway for the Yanyun area to exit the Great Wall and enter the grassland.

This pass is located in a canyon between two mountains. Going out of the valley to the north is open grassland, and dozens of miles to the south is Xuanfu Town, the seat of Wandu Division, so the geographical location is particularly important.

Although it is only a small Baihu Fort, it is stationed with heavy troops all year round. In addition, it is an important route out of the customs, and there are also numerous civilian forts and cargo stations built by nearby merchants.

Among the many Shanxi merchants, Fan, Wang and other eight families have done the largest business. Especially since the Jurchens defeated the Chahar tribe and unified all tribes in Monan, the eight families have almost monopolized the business on the grassland. .

Since the beginning of spring this year, the eight families have begun to prepare supplies, vehicles and horses. As soon as the snow melts, the caravan begins to set off for the grassland.

At this moment, only carriages loaded with goods were seen driving out of the gate, and the team could not be seen to the end.

Faced with such a spectacular scene, the Ming army officers and soldiers guarding the gate just watched the excitement. Not a single carriage was inspected. Instead, they commented at the critical moment.

"Tsk, tsk, this time there are even more fleets from the eight companies than last year. I'm afraid there must be four to five thousand vehicles, right?"

"I think there's more. By the way, I heard that the Fan family's caravan was robbed on the grassland last year, and even the third son of the Fan family was killed. Have you heard about it?"

"Why haven't you heard of it?"

"I heard that Mr. Fan was so sad last year that he almost didn't get over it."

"No wonder there are more guards this year than in previous years. I dare to take revenge!"

"You know what the heck, I don't need to take revenge myself. Those Jurchens will watch the Fan family's caravan being robbed. I'm afraid they might not have cut the gang of horse bandits into thousands of pieces last year."

"Hou San, you're dying for your fucking life, don't say this nonsense."

A low-level military attache shouted in a low voice. Although the others rolled their eyes, they also changed the subject in an interesting way.

From morning until dusk in the afternoon, the convoys of the eight families all drove out of the pass and gathered in the open valley.

Looking around, the eight families combined had nearly [-] coachmen, horsemen, and guards, and as many as [-] large vehicles. The scale was truly astonishing and unprecedented, like a marching army.

For a time, the open valley was filled with the sound of people shouting and horses neighing.

"Brother Fan, the snow will melt later this year. I don't know if we can catch up."

"If we don't delay on the way, we should be able to catch up."

"I don't know if the group of horse bandits last year were wiped out. If not, we can't let them take advantage of the loopholes this year. It's best to come back from Liaodong and trade with the tribes along the way."

"Brother Wang, you are worrying too much. The horse bandits were just a moment away, but they were all killed by Dorgon long ago. How could they wait until today?"

"That's right, even if they weren't wiped out, our eight families would have wiped them out easily."

"Hey, let the Jurchens worry about this! I'll just do business, and it's better to get less involved in the killing."

In the big tent, eight middle-aged men in colorful clothes were chatting while changing glasses. Except for one middle-aged man with a long face and a tall and thin face, whose face was a little gloomy, the other seven were obviously in a good mood.

The tall and thin middle-aged man was none other than Fan Yongdou, the head of the Fan family whose three sons died last year.

The remaining seven people are also the heads of the other seven families, Wang Dengku, Jin Liangyu, Wang Dayu, Liang Jiabin, Tian Shenglan, Zhai Tang, and Huang Yongfa.

The reason why the heads of the eight families went to the grassland at the same time this time was because they received a personal letter from the Jurchen Great Khan Huang Taiji last year, inviting the eight people to go to Liaodong to observe the ceremony at the beginning of this year and participate in the enthronement and emperor ceremony at the end of March.

After receiving the invitation letter, the eight of them were all flattered. In addition, Huang Taiji was their financial sponsor and their parents, so they naturally had to go to congratulate them in person.

Due to time constraints, the team set off early the next morning. The tribes they passed along the way only sent people to explain, and did not stop or leave a group of people to start trading. Instead, they marched northward in a mighty manner.

With such non-stop carriages and horses, it took only seven days to cross the southern part of the Liaohe River and enter the northern part. Although he felt that the group of horse bandits had been eliminated by the Jurchens, Fan Yongdou still sent people to investigate, apparently because he wanted to Personally avenge his son.

On a mountain in the distance, a dozen Mongolian girls looked at the convoy that stretched for several miles to the south, their eyes widened, and their mouths were so shocked that they could not close their mouths.

"Bell, Mrs. Belle, why are so many people coming to the caravan this time?" "How many people and cars are there?"

"I can't even count them. How should I report them when I go back?"

After the girls recovered from the shock, they all looked at Hubbell.

Hubbell's eyes were shining brightly, and she was sizing up the caravan while pinching her fingers, muttering in a low voice.

Everyone knew that she was counting the number of carriages, but they didn't say anything. It wasn't until Hubbell stopped that they hurriedly asked: "How is it? Has Mrs. Belle counted the number?"

"There are too many to count. Let's go and go back immediately!"

Hubbell hammered her head angrily, then raised her whip and galloped away with a dozen girls.

The girls all had one person and three horses, and all of them were the best horses in a hundred. In addition, the girl was light in weight. Switching horses back and forth, it only took half an hour to run out of a hundred miles and arrive near the Chatu Department.

"Belle..."

"Call..."

It wasn't until a group of cavalry rushed over and shouted that Hubbell had to slow down his horse and pull the reins to stop.

"Brother, what's going on? I have something urgent to do and I have to go back in a hurry!"

"Belle, you're so shameless. Now that I have a man, I don't even want my father or brother. I don't even say hello when I pass by the house." Hutch complained as soon as he came up.

"Brother, don't I have something urgent? I'll come back to visit you and dad next time." Hubbell explained with some embarrassment, and turned the horse's head after saying that.

"What's going on? You're in such a hurry. Look how tired your horses are. If they keep running like this, they will have to be scrapped. Besides, it will get dark soon. It's too dangerous to travel at night. It's better to go The tribe will rest for the night and go back tomorrow.”

Hutch saw that both the horses and people were tired and sweating, and he was also a little curious about what they had discovered and why they rushed back in such a hurry.

"No, no, brother, it's really urgent." Hubbell waved her hands quickly.

"Belle, Abba also has something urgent to ask you, so we should go to the tribe to take a rest first." Hutch had no choice but to explain.

"Okay then." Seeing that Abba was in trouble, Hubbell had no choice but to dismount, then led the horse and followed Hutch to the tribe.

"Abba..."

"Look at how wild you are all day long, and your men don't care. Don't they Han people not allow their women to run around?"

Looking at his daughter's tired face, Chatu also said angrily.

As for his daughter becoming the woman of the Han family, he had already been mentally prepared for this from the beginning. Otherwise, he would not have let Belle join in the first place.

"Haha, Dad, if you don't understand, don't talk nonsense. We are going out to find out information, okay? My husband said, this is our mission!"

"Belle, how does your man treat you?" Seeing his daughter smiling brightly, Chatu felt relieved.

"My husband is so kind to me. Not only does he let me take care of more than 200 people, he also doesn't have to do any work except to inquire about information."

Hubbell followed Chatu to the big tent with a happy face.

"So how is your relationship with Queen Khan? Do you get along well?" This is what Chatu is most concerned about.

"Queen Khan is also very kind to me. She even calls me sister!"

"That's good. Remember to have a good relationship with Queen Khan, you know?" Chatu asked again worriedly.

(End of this chapter)