Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 574 Double Agent
"Sir Huang, that wasn't an inducement, it was a threat!" Zhou Sen quickly explained. "Amin's words were nice, but they were just for show. If you think about it the other way around, you'll see he's threatening me not to stop cutting off their supply. Otherwise, he'll make me follow in the footsteps of that cripple Li!"

"Is that how it is?" The Ming soldier surnamed Huang leaned forward, grabbed the corner of Zhou Sen's clothes, and wiped the oil off the knife.

"Yes! Although these barbarian chieftains refuse to submit to the king's rule, they are often arrogant and self-righteous," Zhou Sen panted rapidly, his entire body trembling slightly. "To be frank, don't be fooled by Amin's enthusiastic face. In fact, he simply despises merchants like me. From the beginning, he never considered acting as a matchmaker or offering us any kind of matchmaking. And we can't agree to this matter. We can only prevaricate! Otherwise, Amin will definitely think that I am working for the court."

"Heh," the Ming soldier surnamed Huang continued to slowly stroke the blade of the knife with the corner of Zhou Sen's clothes, "So, Master Zhou is working for the court. Why couldn't I see that?"

"Me, you..." Zhou Sen's eyes were fixed on the tip of the deer antler knife, his eyes seemed to be looking at the bleeding knife in the hands of a butcher. But unlike the pig, Zhou Sen didn't dare to cry out or run away. "Even if you want to kill me, wait until we are safe."

Over the past six months, the government has actively cracked down on smuggling, apprehending numerous smugglers and spies involved in trafficking various goods to Nurhaci. Because Xiong Tingbi possessed the Imperial Sword and the Imperial Banner, the government typically dealt with these individuals by beheading them directly upon finding conclusive evidence, with their relatives also implicated. However, the government also adopted a policy of appeasement for certain smugglers who possessed connections to high-ranking Jin officials and were willing to cooperate with the government.

Zhou Sen was such a lucky but unlucky smuggler. His misfortune was that he had been concealed very well, so much so that under the high pressure of the government he began to lay off peripheral employees and prepare to retire, but he was still betrayed by others.

Zhou Sen was lucky because the government did not arrest him in a big way. Instead, they sent a few people to his home to negotiate a deal. A deal in which he would cooperate honestly in exchange for the survival of his entire family.

"I'm killing the donkey after it's done its job?" The Ming soldier surnamed Huang stared into Zhou Sen's eyes, following the sunlight reflected from the blade. "I'd like to ask which mill this donkey of yours was pulling? I only saw you selling salt, tea, cloth, and sugar to that little chieftain named Amin, and then exchanging them for a few carts of ginseng, animal skins, and a box of pearls. What's the use of these useless things? Are you going to use them to bribe the eunuchs in Haizhou? How do you want me to explain this to General Xiong when I get back? Will you use your head, or mine, Huang Degong's?"

Huang Degong, a native of Kaiyuanwei, was assigned to the staff of the previous governor, Yang Hao, as a member of the governor's personal guard, due to his two-level first-class merits. On August 2, the 47th year of the Wanli reign, Xiong Tingbi took over from Yang Hao in Haizhou, and Huang Degong was transferred to Xiong Tingbi's staff, remaining a member of the governor's personal guard. He was eager to achieve great things, and he took this extremely risky assignment on his own initiative.

"This is the only way!" Zhou Sen's pupils trembled. "Can I just ask Amin where we're going to attack next? Amin is very cautious. From the moment he stepped into the tent, he's been testing us and observing us. Did you forget? The first thing he asked was about your identity. If you want to get information from someone like Amin, you have to dispel his doubts first."

"Everyone has to ask a question when seeing a stranger, right? I became your nephew just for this reason?" Huang Degong smiled gently. "If my mother knew I found her such a big brother, she would definitely hang me up and make me kneel on the stool legs."

Hanging the prisoner from the legs of a stool is a common interrogation method. The usual method involves first tying the prisoner's hands and body, then making him kneel on an upside-down four-legged stool, and finally hanging a rope around his neck. Once he kneels, his knees will be extremely painful, and his center of gravity will likely be unstable. If he falls, he will be immediately caught by the rope around his neck. But don't worry, because there are guards watching. They will rescue the prisoner before he is hanged, and then repeat the previous interrogation steps until he confesses. If the interrogator doesn't need the prisoner's confession, then it is pure torture.

"That, that was just the beginning! After that..." Zhou Sen's fear was almost unbearable, and his voice tone slowly became higher.

"Don't scream!" Huang Degong tugged hard at Zhou Sen's Hufu, then tapped his own neck twice with a clean knife. "If you have something to say, talk it over nicely. Don't scream. If I die here, no one in your family will be able to escape."

Zhou Sen took several trembling, deep breaths. The air rushed into his throat, piercing his soul. "Master Huang, think about it again. When Amin gave me the quote, didn't he ask about the horse first?" Zhou Sen forced a smile.

"I was just about to ask you, why didn't you change horses?" Huang Degong asked back, "If you bring the horses back now, even if we don't get any useful information, we can still get our mission done."

"It's impossible to exchange! This is also a test. The imperial court is suppressing bandits right now, how could Amin exchange horses? Believe it or not, if I dare to agree to exchange his horses with commercial goods, he will have us arrested right away?" Zhou Sen suddenly felt a sense of fear. Fortunately, this fool didn't say anything at that time. If he had interrupted, he would have sent all of them to jail.

"How do I explain this?" A thoughtful look appeared in Huang Degong's eyes.

Zhou Sen explained, "Amin knows more than just me, a smuggler. He must have other sources of information. The government has been dealing with horse regulations for so long, it's impossible for Amin to be completely unaware of this. At the time, I had no choice but to refuse and then, like before, bargain with him for the ginseng and animal skins. That way, he would believe that I was really there to discuss business."

"Hmm." Huang Degong used the tip of the knife to scrape the mud from between his nails. "By the way, how much can you earn this time?"

Zhou Sen was stunned for a moment, confused as to why Huang Degong suddenly asked this. He opened and closed his mouth several times, but finally managed to continue, "If we sell them all according to the market conditions of previous years, we should be able to get a few hundred or a thousand taels of silver."

"Hundreds of taels? Are you kidding me?" Huang Degong's eyes widened, and he patted the sacks of ginseng. "Even if the market is bad, these two thousand kilograms of ginseng are worth more than ten thousand taels of silver, right? If we could sell them back inland, who knows how much we'd get. And then there are hundreds of fine furs. You exchanged these for salt, sugar, and that brick tea that's too bitter to even soak your feet. How much is this worth?"

"Damn it! A single resale yields hundreds of times the profit. If you hadn't seen it with your own eyes, you wouldn't even dare to imagine it." Huang Degong grasped the deer horn knife and smacked Zhou Sen's face several times with the blade. "No wonder you, a bastard, dared to risk your entire family's life by aiding the enemy."

The coldness rose and fell, making Zhou Sen tremble with fear. Zhou Sen was really afraid that Huang Degong would get angry and suddenly stab him. Zhou Sen was not afraid of dying, but if Huang Degong could not return, his whole family would be buried with him.

Zhou Sen quickly defended himself, "It's not as much as you think! No matter how big my business is, I'm just a merchant handling commercial goods. Why should I take all the profits? Ginseng, mink fur, pearls, these things are valuable, and the profits after reselling are indeed huge, but if I don't make arrangements in advance and distribute the profits everywhere, they will never leave Liaodong." "In normal years, from Fushun Pass to Shanhaiguan, which level of government doesn't need silver to make arrangements and maintain the goods on this thousand-mile road? After the commercial goods leave the capital, the nobles and their lackeys in the capital will also try to lower the price and take advantage of the difference. A pound of ginseng can make a profit of ten taels of silver, but I'm lucky to make a profit of one or two taels." Zhou Sen's mind turned quickly, and he brought the matter back to the point in a few words:

"Besides, even if I return this batch of goods, I won't be able to sell them for money, right? These two thousand kilograms of ginseng, five hundred animal skins, and these pearls," Zhou Sen patted the pearl box beside him, "will all eventually go into the treasury of the Governor's Office. Mr. Huang, I have to perform that act well first to save our lives."

"Haha. Acting?" Huang Degong interrupted Zhou Sen with a smile. "Master Zhou, what you call acting is telling that little barbarian chief all about our military deployment?"

"I tried to brush it off, but Amin insisted. What else could I do? Think about it carefully. Wasn't I always trying to avoid important matters?" Zhou Sen said bitterly. "If I had insisted on not saying anything, Amin's 'come here' wouldn't have brought in a few cups of milk tea."

"But do you really need to explain it in such detail? Can't you just give a perfunctory answer?" Huang Degong's expression softened slightly. "You've leaked all the information about the defenses around Liaoyang, Shenyang, and Fengji. Are we spying on them, or is he spying on us?"

"I've thought about it, and this is the only way. I can't be less detailed." Zhou Sen went on to explain, "These Jurchens have just withdrawn from the area around Shenyang. Amin should know the defense situation in that area better than I do. If I were to lie, Amin would know it the moment he hears it. And as I just said, Amin must have other sources of information. The Jurchens occupying Fushun will also continue to investigate the situation between Shen and Feng and tell him. If I miss something this time, wouldn't it be dangerous for me to come here next time?"

"Do you want another chance?" Huang Degong put the knife back into its deerskin sheath. "Do you really think General Xiong sent us here to trade for ginseng and sable fur with that little chief? No matter how nicely you say it, we've messed up this time. I won't get any credit, and as for you, haha."

Zhou Sen felt relieved when he saw Huang Degong seemed to believe his story. He wiped his hand across his face, wiping away the cold sweat. "That's not entirely true, we did find out a few things."

"What are you exploring?" Huang Degong rolled his eyes at Zhou Sen. "You didn't ask any serious questions, and he didn't even show you a map. After this trip, we don't even know what's going on in Kuandian."

"But at least we know that Amin is in great need of salt and tea." Zhou Sen pulled the reins lightly, and the mule turned smoothly and passed the corner of the mountain road.

"That's all. What's the use?" Huang Degong didn't care.

"It's very useful!" Zhou Sen said, "After Lieutenant General Hu burned down the Liubao area in Kuandian, it became almost a wasteland. The Han people who lived here were all relocated. Although the Jurchens have been trying to reclaim land after the Han people moved away, this place is too close to Phoenix City and it's simply not safe to live here, so there have never been many people living here."

"What's going on?"

"If no one lives here, there's no one to eat the salt," Zhou Sen said. "We brought him two thousand kilograms of salt this time."

"It's not us, it's you!" Huang Degong interrupted Zhou Sen and pointed the tip of his scabbard-wrapped knife at him, saying, "You were the one who delivered two thousand kilograms of salt to him."

"It was me, the humble servant, who brought it for him." Zhou Sen frowned and nodded. "In any case, if these two thousand kilograms of salt are used sparingly, they can feed ten thousand people for a month. But Amin asked me to bring him more salt and tea, which means there are probably many people stationed in Kuandian, and maybe even a lot of cattle and horses."

Zhou Sen swallowed hard and looked toward the fortress perched on the hillside ahead. It had once been the garrison of the Ming army, but now it was occupied by the Jin army. "Besides, we've passed so many Jurchen outposts along the way. If Amin hadn't settled civilians or even garrisoned troops in Kuandian, why would they have done all this?"

"That makes some sense." Huang Degong also looked in the direction he was looking.

At this moment, the Jin soldiers stationed at the watchtower also cast their gazes towards them. However, because their convoy was holding the trade flag that Amin had given to Zhou Sen, the Jin soldiers only yawned and looked at them, with no intention of coming over to ask questions.

Zhou Sen felt like Huang Degong's praise must have melted his bones. He continued, "Actually, there's more to this thought! Why would Amin station troops around Kuandian? He's the Second Prince of the Jin Empire. He personally led his army to Kuandian. Either he wants to run the place, or he's plotting to plunder the land."

"Plundering the land." Huang Degong withdrew his gaze and pondered for a moment, "Are you saying they are going to attack Phoenix City?"

"Yes! There is no other possibility!" Zhou Sen actually began to look a little excited. "The only major city around Kuandian worthy of Amin personally leading his troops to attack is Phoenix City. Only by taking this place can the Jurchen Tartars manage Kuandian with peace of mind!"

(End of this chapter)