Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 12 Quick Knife
Zhao Huaian, who was eight feet tall, stood out in the crowd, and the group of barbarians had already noticed him.

Now seeing Zhao Huaian talking loudly, one of them, who understood Tang language, turned around and scolded:
"Tang people, don't meddle in other people's business, or you will be in great trouble."

Zhao Huaian listened to the poor Tang language, pushed away the old Mexican standing next to him, and walked out of the crowd.

He put his hands in his sleeves and hummed to the barbarian warrior who could speak Chinese:

"If the road is uneven, someone will step on it; if things are unfair, someone will intervene. What has this old man done wrong? He deserves this beating from you."

When Zhao Huaian said this, the other two barbarians had already surrounded him from both sides. One of them had already circled behind Zhao Huaian's right hand side, staring at him hungrily without saying a word.

The one on the left, the short man who had just stepped on the old man, walked to the front of Zhao Huaian's left and was talking some trash in his dialect.

The three men held the scabbards in their hands and looked Zhao Huaian up and down. If anything went wrong, they would kill this reckless Tang warrior immediately.

Zhao Huaian did not react to the malicious intentions of the three men. He just glanced at the barbarian behind him on the right and sneered.

He looked at the barbarians in front of him with disdain and laughed:
"A bunch of pigs and dogs, truly beyond redemption."

This sentence directly ignited the anger of the three barbarians. The barbarian in the middle who could speak Chinese stepped forward, drew his knife and slashed at Zhao Huaian.

But Zhao Huaian had his hands in his sleeves, but he was the first to arrive. He drew his sword with his right hand, from bottom to top, and after holding the sword high, he chopped it into the gap between the waist and abdomen of the barbarian warrior.

After a scream, Zhao Huaian quickly put away his knife, stepped back with his right foot, and changed his position smoothly.

At this time, the barbarian standing at the right rear had just raised his knife to his forehead, ready to chop, when he saw the Tang man suddenly facing him, leaning forward and diving, with the knife in his hand cutting across his stomach.

In a flash, there was another scream. The barbarian's stomach was cut open, and the water and blood flowed all over the ground.

After Zhao Huaian quickly dealt with the two men, he turned to look at the only remaining barbarian.

At this time, the man also raised the knife above his head, but his body was already stiff with fear. Seeing the "evil ghost" looking at him ferociously, he was so scared that he quickly stepped back.

But Zhao Huaian did not intend to let him go. He stepped forward and cut the man's knife from the right, directly cutting off the man's knife-holding arm, and then cut his neck horizontally with the knife.

"puff"

The lifeless body fell heavily to the ground, blood spurting out from the wound in its throat.

The entire market seemed to be still, and then the next second, someone cried out:

"Killed!"

Then the crowd that had gathered to watch the "excitement" suddenly exploded and fled in all directions like birds and beasts.

After Zhao Huaian shook off the blood on his sword, he sheathed it, told Aqi Mo to take the old man's bamboo basket, and then quickly evacuated the still dazed old man.

Shortly after Zhao Huaian and the other two left the market outside the camp, a group of Tibetan soldiers ran out of the camp. They first took a look at the three bodies lying on the ground, then captured the people in the market and questioned them, and then withdrew their troops.

All of this was seen by Zhao Huaian who was not far away, and then he took Aqi Mo and the old man back together.

……

When Zhao Huaian came back, he saw that the Yi people and Xianyu Yue and the other two were sitting on both sides, while Zhao Liu and his three disciples were sitting in the middle. No one spoke.

At this time, Zhao Liu saw Zhao Huaian coming back, and hurriedly stood up and patted himself, while Yang Mao, Sun Tai and Zhao Hu behind him also stood up quickly and came to greet him.

Zhao Huaian patted Lao Liu, then took the initiative to walk over to Xian Yuyue and said:
"I've checked the situation inside the pass. Those Tibetan soldiers must have arrived temporarily. There are at least twenty of them."

This is probably the number of Tibetan soldiers who just ran out of the camp, and it is unknown how many are left in the camp.

Hearing that the number of Tibetan soldiers was small, Xianyu Yue's brows relaxed a lot. However, when he saw Zhao Huaian's clothes stained with blood, he wondered:
"Did Lord Zhao engage in battle with the Tibetans?"

Zhao Huaian shook his head:
"No, I just killed a few scum."

After saying this, he called the old man over and said in a gentle voice:

"Old man, those people have accomplices. You can't go to that market anymore. Sell me the rice and bacon you have here."

The old man had come back to life at this time. He kept expressing his gratitude to Zhao Huaian and said that he would give the basket of things to Zhao Huaian for free.

How could Zhao Huaian take advantage of this? Besides, he has money!
So he shouted to Zhao Liuyi:
"Sixth Brother, give your silver ingot to this old man."

Zhao Liuyi felt his heart ache when he heard this, and he shook his head desperately:

"No, I have copper coins here, enough for this basket of rice."

Zhao Huaian was too lazy to talk to Zhao Liu, so he snatched the silver ingot from his belt and cursed:

"Sixth Brother, you are also going to do great things, why are you so fussy about this? There will be plenty of money in the future. Besides, can the old man carry it if you give him copper coins?" Then Zhao Huaian handed a silver ingot weighing five taels to the old man.

How dare the old man accept it, but Zhao Huaian kept pushing it, and in the end he was "given" it. Even so, the old man kept saying:
"That's too much."

Zhao Huaian ignored this and asked about the camp:
"Father, I see you are from Tang, why are you selling rice here?"

This was just a normal greeting, but strangely, the old man hesitated for a long time and still did not directly answer Zhao Huaian's words, but just kept thanking him.

Zhao Huaian didn't understand what was going on, but Xian Yuyue behind him quietly pulled his clothes, so he didn't ask any more questions, but asked the most important question:
"Old man, do you know the situation at Tongshan Pass?"

This time, the father-in-law knew everything.

It was also through the old man's intelligence that Zhao Huaian and others learned about the Tibetans in Tongshan Pass.

It turned out that more than a dozen days ago, about hundreds of Tubo tribal soldiers arrived at Tongshan Pass. Because the pass wall had been in disrepair for many years and had collapsed beyond recognition, these Tubo soldiers set up wooden fences on the south side of the ruins.

However, after these Tibetan soldiers seized Tongshan Pass, they did not ban the mountain market here. Instead, they also traded in the market themselves.

With the addition of these Tibetan soldiers, the scale of this small mountain city has grown significantly, and some tribes deeper in the mountains have also crossed mountains and rivers to come here to trade.

These Tibetan soldiers stayed here until the day before yesterday. It is said that several Nanzhao people came here, and then the Tibetan soldiers in the camp rushed out to the south.

The old man couldn't say how many were inside now, but it was definitely not many. Since the Tibetan soldiers left the camp, the remaining Tibetans had never been to the market again and had been hiding in the camp.

If not for this, those wandering barbarian swordsmen would not be so arrogant and domineering in the market.

After the old man finished saying this, Zhao Huaian asked Lao Liu to take out all the dried meat and rice in the bag and distribute them to everyone, and then he took Xian Yu Yue aside.

The two sat cross-legged on the meadow and talked in low voices.

"Old Yue, please tell me."

Xian Yuyue thought for a while and said happily:
"Mr. Zhao, if that escapee isn't lying, then now is the time for us to break through."

Zhao Huaian was stunned for a moment:
"Escapee?"

Xian Yuyue knew that Zhao Huaian must be unaware of the situation again, so he explained it.

It turned out that in this lawless area, there were not only tribes such as Tubo, Yi, Qiang, and Qiong, but also a large number of Han refugees. They all fled into the mountains to avoid government taxes.

Xianyu Yue told Zhao Huaian that this situation was very common in Shu. Although Shu was rich, precisely because of this, the taxes were heavier. Not only did they have to supply the imperial court, but they also had to maintain the defense lines on both sides of Tubo and Nanzhao.

In recent years, the imperial court has fought several major wars in succession, especially the suppression of Pang Xun's rebellion five years ago. In order to raise food and wages, the imperial court levied heavier taxes in Shu, which immediately triggered panic among the people in Shu.

Many residents of Jiannan counties fled, and some even fled entire villages near the Ba, Min, and Qiongshan areas.

The local authorities simply cannot contain it.

After these refugees moved into the mountains, they reclaimed fields on the mountain meadows and were self-sufficient at ordinary times. Only when there were fixed trade periods would they go to the market to sell some grain and mountain products in exchange for daily necessities.

After hearing this, Zhao Huaian suddenly realized that this was exactly what the old man looked like. No wonder he hesitated when asked how he got here.

However, Zhao Huaian didn't know that Xianyu Yue only told part of it, and the rest was not convenient to say because of his status as a noble family.

Because a large number of escapees not only fled into the mountains and forests, but were also absorbed by these powerful families, and then used to open up wasteland and build manors.

Nanzhao also benefited from these refugees. They hadn't had a good time in recent years, but why did they insist on attacking Jiannan this year? It was because a large number of refugees had fled to Nanzhao in recent years, allowing Nanzhao to know the strengths and weaknesses of Shu.

These things are definitely not convenient to talk about with Zhao Huaian, so Xian Yuyue did not take the initiative to talk about them.

Zhao Huaian didn't understand the twists and turns here. He thought about it and suddenly came up with a solution:
"I just made some noise in the market. Although the Tibetans didn't come out to chase us, they must have been alert. So I plan to lead the team to test the waters again and try to lure the Tibetans in here. Then you can lead the rest of the people to join me in an ambush."

Xian Yu Yue thought about it and thought that although this strategy was not very sophisticated, it might be useful in this kind of enemy-to-enemy situation.

Xianyu Yue agreed, but still asked what to do next. After all, even if the plan worked, it would only trick out some of the Tibetan soldiers. What about the rest?

Zhao Huaian did not answer directly, but smiled and took Xian Yuyue back to eat dried meat.

After returning, Zhao Liu and Yang Mao had already divided the dried meat with knives. Regardless of whether it was Yi or Han, each piece was the size of a fist. Then each person was given a bamboo tube of raw rice and water.

Zhao Huaian came and saw that everyone had not eaten yet. He was satisfied and clapped his hands:

"Everyone eat, there will be a fortune for everyone later."

After saying that, he ignored everyone's surprise, picked up the dried meat and took a bite.

So hard!
(End of this chapter)