The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 110 The Tatars are not fat or plump!

Zhao Rui, the eldest son of a concubine in the Ningyang Marquis's household, returned home after his father.

The steward of the Marquis's mansion informed him that his time kneeling in the ancestral hall would be extended by another day.

Having received a tip from her trusted confidant, Aunt Ni was planning to run to the front yard to plead with Marquis Ningyang for mercy.

Before she could even reach the second gate, there was an urgent knocking on the main gate of the Marquis's residence.

A border soldier rode up on horseback to report: "General, several hundred Tatar riders have suddenly appeared in Yongning County."

Zhao Muyun, Marquis of Ningyang and General of the Border City, jumped up from the bathtub.

He demanded sternly, "How many people came? Did you engage them in combat?"

"Sir, it shouldn't be more than a thousand cavalrymen. They were raiding the blacksmith shops in Yongning County when they were caught by the county inspector."

The constables were no match for these Tatars and lost more than a dozen lives in vain.

"What else did you steal? Tell me all of that!"

"After leaving the blacksmith's shop, they went to several restaurants and pried off all the large iron pots from the kitchens."

"hiss!"

The consequences of looting iron pots are far more serious than those of looting grain or gold and silver.

Iron products can be melted down and used to make weapons or armor.

This is why the imperial court only allowed nine key border towns to trade once a year, and why it strictly controlled the trade of large iron pots.

Zhao Muyun quickly dressed and had his personal guards fetch him a musket.

"Quickly, catch up with them! If they've come, just leave them here! Have the scouts investigate thoroughly to find out which road they came from."

The Tatars' raids on the border at this time of year are somewhat unusual.

Yongning County is only twenty miles away from Huaiqing Prefecture.

If the Tatars find a shortcut to Yongning County to steal iron pots, they can easily reach Huaiqing Prefecture by simply raising their horses' hooves.

We mustn't let anyone take down our base!
The alarm above the General's head immediately went off.

No matter how fast a horse runs, it can't keep up with the beacon fires used by the border guards to transmit messages.

The Ningwei Border Army cavalry, which is closest to Yongning County.

They had already arrived by the time the Tatars ran to the restaurant's kitchen to pry open the pots.

Compared to the Han Chinese, the Tatars had a more distinctive appearance.

Besides their distinctive nomadic clothing, they have wide faces, prominent cheekbones, single eyelids, and sparse hair and beards.

He was only about five feet two or three inches tall (about 1.65 meters in modern terms), and he wasn't fat at all.

They were even shorter and thinner than the border troops!

But the fierce glint in their eyes revealed a deep-seated hatred for the Han people.

Moreover, the Tatars showed no fear even when facing a border army that outnumbered them by a factor of two.

He truly deserves the title of brave!
The young chieftain of the Ejina Torghut tribe raised his scimitar:

"Brave warriors, to bring back these precious iron pots, quickly kill these border soldiers!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Ningwei's border troops rode up to meet the enemy.

Both sides treated the main street of Yongning County as a battlefield.
Half an hour later, Zhao Muyun arrived on horseback with his personal guards.

From afar, they shouted, "Where are they? Where are they?"

"Reporting to the General, we have killed 220 Tatars, and the cavalry battalion is in pursuit."

"What are the casualties of our troops?"

"One hundred and eighty-one dead, ninety-two wounded."

Zhao Muyun was very dissatisfied with this number.

Judging from the clothing of the Tatars lying on the ground, they should be ordinary herders from the Tatar tribe.

They weren't even a regular army, yet they managed to injure so many of them!
Less than half a day.

The cavalry battalion pursuing the Tatars also discovered the secret passage that the Ejina Torghut tribe had dug through Mount Junma.

The news reached Zhao Muyun, who was furious. He immediately issued an order: "Now that the autumn harvest is over in the military fields, it's time to intensify training."

Leaving aside the series of chain reactions triggered by the Tatars coming to Yongning County to steal the large iron pot in that remote border town.

A caravan of merchants from the Western Regions, running outside the Longshan Pass, encountered the exiles halfway back to Xijing City.

Upon seeing the uniformed yamen runners, the merchant leader couldn't help but come forward to complain.

They not only condemned Guan Jun's banditry.

between words.

They boldly revealed their identities, claiming that they were nobles in a certain country in the Western Regions.

This was no ordinary robbery of merchants from the Western Regions; it concerned the peace between the State of Bei and the various states of the Western Regions.

They stated that they would not let the matter rest and would definitely seek an explanation from the prefect of Anxi Prefecture.
After such a long and rambling speech, the merchant's companions, who were even more indignant, left the officials completely bewildered.

At first, they thought there was some kind of mountain king on Longshan Mountain.

I only understood it later.

It turned out to be a robbery staged by the soldiers of Longshan Pass.

They had dealt with the troops stationed at Tianshui Pass, Hangu Pass, and Tong Pass.

Greed is the universal impression!

But this is the first time I've heard of someone openly robbing passing merchants.

I'm a bit confused.

"What to do? What to do?"

"They're plotting a rebellion! They don't want their military status anymore."

"Didn't they say that 70% of the military households in several garrisons in the north have deserted? There's not enough food, and they're not getting paid. It's not surprising that they'd do anything to survive!"

"Damn it, even rabbits don't eat the grass near their burrows! If you really want to be a bandit, you should go somewhere far away and get rid of that skin on your body!"

"Hmph, rabbits don't eat the grass near their burrows because they eat the grass outside first, leaving the grass near their burrows for winter! Given this year's natural disasters and man-made calamities, those Guan soldiers will probably starve to death right at their doorsteps!"

"What I'm afraid of is that once they get a taste of the thrill of robbery, they won't even spare us."

Only those who are barefoot are not afraid of those who are wearing shoes.

There really wasn't much money to be made from exiled prisoners.

But didn't they also earn some extra money?

The officials touched the small silver notes in their pockets, feeling a pang of sympathy.

The two leaders naturally couldn't seek justice for the merchants, and repeatedly explained to them that they didn't belong to the same system as the government office.

They have no jurisdiction over each other.

The leader waved to them dismissively, then called to his companions and continued riding his camels toward Xijing City.

The smelly camel quickly disappeared from sight.

The exile caravan was forced to halt its advance.

The two leaders discussed the matter for a long time before finally seeking advice from Zuo Wenkang.

Zuo Wenkang thought for a long time:
"If they try to ambush and rob us, we definitely can't win. There are at least a thousand troops stationed at each checkpoint."

The court did not reach a conclusion regarding the Western Region merchants' one-sided account.

What good can come of it for an exiled convict who kills a border guard?

Besides, given Guan Jun's familiarity with the terrain of Longshan, it would be futile for us to resist.

Most importantly, the Longshan Pass is the only way to the border town; we simply cannot bypass it!

The two leaders looked up at the sky speechlessly.

"So, we can only let them slaughter us, let them steal our public funds? And then go hungry and beg our way to the border town?"

Zuo Wenkang smiled broadly:

"I do have another, less-than-honorable idea, but it depends on whether you're willing to cooperate."

(End of this chapter)