Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 21: Robbery (Seeking follow-up reading)

Why did Zhao Huaian jump up? To run away!

His current team would be doomed if they encountered any Nanzhao army.

The family fortune that I have worked so hard to build cannot be lost so quickly.

But just as Zhao Huaian jumped up, Xian Yuyue grabbed his hand and finished the rest of the sentence:
"A convoy is coming and passing right in front of us."

After hearing this, Zhao Huaian felt relieved and secretly cursed himself for not speaking complete sentences.

There was a dirt road in front of them. Although it was tattered, it was the official road from Yazhou to Lizhou. It was obvious that this group of Nanzhao people had withdrawn from the front line of Qiongzhou.

What can a convoy withdrawing from the front take with it? It must be the spoils of war along the way! So why not take advantage of it?
Thinking of this, Zhao Huaian's heart was pounding, and he hurriedly asked Xian Yuyue:
"Old Yue, how many people are there?"

Xian Yuyue, as the general of Chengdu, was very capable in his work. He took a breath and said calmly:
"Judging from the number of flags, it should be an army."

Zhao Huaian resisted the urge to roll his eyes. How would he know how many people were in an army?
But he didn't dare to reveal it, so he asked again:
"How many soldiers and horses are there?"

Xianyu Yue also knew that what he said was ambiguous, because whether in the Tang Dynasty or Nanzhao, the number of troops in each organization was not always fixed. Take the Nanzhao army for example, the number of troops ranged from thousands to hundreds.

But Xian Yu Yue only determined the organization of one army, and he couldn't count the exact number of people. But at this time he had to give Zhao Huaian an accurate number and make a quick estimate in his mind.

Finally, he gritted his teeth and gave Zhao Huaian a number:
"They had three or four people in each car, and there were over a hundred people in each car. Counting the ones in the front and back, there were probably around 500 people."

Zhao Huaian smacked his lips, sat back on his stool, and gave Xian Yuyue a wry smile:

"Old Yue, what else is there to say? Let's hide. We can't afford to offend these Nanzhao soldiers."

Xian Yu Yue also nodded. He didn't come here to attack with Zhao Huaian. It was his second brother who was too excited.

Afterwards, Yang Mao and Zhao Hu ran down the hill and called the four leaders in the mountain shed over on Zhao Huaian's orders.

After explaining the situation, Uncle He and the other four had no objections and promised to keep an eye on everyone to prevent any leaks.

Watching He Bo and the others walk away tremblingly, Zhao Huaian twisted his beard and suddenly said to Xian Yuyue:

"Old Yue, let's go ahead and take a look. If anything happens, we can prepare early."

Xian Yuyue nodded, he thought so too.

Having made up his mind, Zhao Huaian was decisive. He selected Sun Tai, Wang Li, and the three people from Xianyu Yue's side, and had them all put on armor and set off together.

Zhao Huaian was still wearing the Ming Guang armor, but this time he added a green cloak.

Then the six of them ran straight towards the dirt road ahead without hesitation.

……

Zhao Huaian and his six companions ran all the way, and when they reached a depression in the earth, they could already hear the sound of carriages and horses coming from the opposite direction.

The six of them tiptoed, chose a secluded hillside, and crawled up the slope.

As soon as he came up, Zhao Huaian took a breath and saw all kinds of flags fluttering on the dirt road, dust all over the sky, and the Nanzhao army lined up in an orderly manner, with cavalry in front, infantry behind, and carriages.

Looking at the Nanzhao troops again, they were laughing and shouting at each other. Although they looked lazy and disorganized, the arrogance of a victorious army was evident.

Isn’t Nanzhao the Yunnan of later generations? It’s not a big place, so how could it have such a large military force?

Here, he finally couldn't help but ask Xian Yuyue beside him:

"Old Yue, is the Nanzhao army so powerful?"

Xian Yuyue had become accustomed to Zhao Huaian's "ignorance" in certain aspects, and explained in a low voice:

"Those below should be Nanzhao's main force. They are the elite of Nanzhao, so it's not surprising that they are quite strong. But why would such a group be responsible for escorting the convoy?"

Zhao Huaian was confused again. I know that the Tang Dynasty has palace soldiers, but does Nanzhao also have palace soldiers?

But this was clearly not the time to ask that. He reminded himself once again that this was the real world and he needed to be respectful.

Seeing the arrogant Nanzhao soldiers below, Zhao Huaian had completely given up hope, but since he was already here, he might as well take a good look at the situation of the Nanzhao army.

Seeing this, Zhao Huaian was almost furious. He saw that the convoy behind was tying up groups of Tang people, some of whom were wearing military uniforms, but most of them were ordinary Tang people.

Perhaps they had already accepted their fate, so the Tang people did not cry out to the sky, but just numbly followed the convoy, stumbling back and forth.

Before Zhao Huaian could react, Xian Yuyue, who had always been a Tang Dynasty politician, exploded first. He was so angry that he pounded the meadow and cursed in a low voice:
"These are a bunch of Nanzhao slaves who eat dog intestines! These are Nanzhao slaves who eat dog shit!"

Zhao Huaian glanced sideways. This was the first time Old Yue had cursed. Usually, this elder brother was so gentle and refined, but now it seemed he could curse.

But, you call this cursing? It's too harmless.

Xian Yuyue said to Zhao Huaian:

"Second brother, do you know how those Tang slaves like Niu Li came here?"

Zhao Huaian didn't know, but he guessed that the Nanzhao people had plundered it back in this way. Then Xianyu Yue told this secret.

It turned out that more than seventy years ago, the Nanzhao people broke through Chengdu for the first time in history. Although it was only an outer city, they still abducted tens of thousands of Tang people, most of whom were women and craftsmen, and Niu Li and his grandfather was among them.

Sixteen members of the Xianyu family died in the Battle of Chengdu that year, and the blood feud between them was deep.

Seeing Xian Yuyue's eyes turn red, Zhao Huaian was afraid that he would lose his mind, so he pressed his back and advised:

"Old Yue, let's go back to Qiongzhou and kill the Nanzhao dogs on the battlefield."

Xian Yuyue took a deep breath and stared at the convoy. No one knew what he was thinking.

Zhao Huaian was also angry, but it was only based on his inner humanitarianism, so he was observing the convoy quite calmly at this moment.

Then he saw something strange. Those Tang people were all tied up with hemp ropes, but there were more than a dozen prison carts in the caravan, each holding a prisoner.

One of the prisoners was the worst off. His head was locked on the roof of the prison cart, and he could only stand on the cart with his feet barely touching the ground.

There were two Nanzhao soldiers holding spears beside him, poking him with the butt of their spears from time to time and laughing.

Zhao Huaian narrowed his eyes. This man was so pitiful. What did he do to deserve such hatred from the Nanzhao people?

Xian Yuyue beside him also saw this person, and there was some hesitation on his face. Finally, he said to Zhao Huaian:
"Did you see that prison cart? Although the man's hair is disheveled and I can't see him clearly, he looks like the vanguard envoy Song Jian."

Seeing that Zhao Huaian didn't respond, Xian Yuyue added:
"His uncle is Song Wei, the current Jiedushi of Pinglu. Four years ago, Song Jian and his uncle came to western Sichuan to provide relief and defeated the Nanzhao army at Piqiao in Hanzhou. Later, his uncle was promoted to Jiedushi of Pinglu, while Song Jian remained in Shu. I didn't expect him to be captured by the Nanzhao people now."

Thinking of this, Xian Yuyue couldn't help but sigh:

"Song Jian is a good man. If he falls into the hands of the Nanzhao people, he will surely suffer the pain of being skinned alive."

When Xian Yu Yue mentioned the skinning, Zhao Huaian suddenly thought of the corpse he saw on the battlefield that day. That person had been skinned, and there was black water on the ground. Zhao Huaian wanted to vomit just thinking about it.

But at this moment, something unexpected happened on the slope.

Suddenly, countless huge rocks rolled down from the opposite mountain and hit the Nanzhao cavalry at the front of the convoy directly.

This dirt road is located between two mountains. The Nanzhao people knew that it was easy to be ambushed here, but the Tang army had been completely defeated during this period and had been hiding in Qiongzhou.

Yazhou was considered the rear area, so the Nanzhao troops were so fearless and began to escort prisoners and slaves into the country on a large scale.

Now they were suddenly ambushed and the Nanzhao army suffered a great loss, but soon the Nanzhao people began to fight back, and teams of Nanzhao soldiers began to rush towards the mountains to the east.

At this moment, looking at the chaotic Nanzhao army, Zhao Huaian and Xian Yuyue both saw the ecstasy in each other's eyes, especially Zhao Huaian, who hammered the meadow:

"Fuck this thief, you bitch!"

As he said this, he handed his personal badge to Sun Tai and asked him to go back and tell Zhao Liu, Zhao Hu and others to organize all the mountain huts and distribute armor and weapons.

Zhao Huaian was still worried that those in the mountain huts would not want to come, so he added a sentence for Sun Tai to take back:

"People are stupid, they have a lot of money, come quickly!"

In this way, Zhao Huaian and others stared at the battlefield excitedly, looking for opportunities.

……

The cries of killing rang out as the Nanzhao soldiers continued to charge towards the eastern slope. These soldiers from the Erhai area of ​​Nanzhao were top-notch in both combat power and fighting spirit.

So far, the ambush troops have not appeared yet, which makes Zhao Huaian feel a little uneasy.

At this time, the convoy behind the slope also began to stir vaguely. The desperate Tang captives looked around excitedly, but were soon beaten by the Nanzhao army warriors nearby.

There were about fifty or sixty Nanzhao soldiers left behind in the convoy. They gathered together and looked nervously at the mountains on both sides.

Zhao Huaian couldn't see the battle situation in the opposite mountain and was hesitating when a group of people rushed up from behind. They were He Bo, Li Da, Fei Yanggu, Zhang Dai and others.

They were wearing the armor distributed by Zhao Huaian and ran straight over under the leadership of Zhao Liu and Sun Tai.

Zhao Huaian took a look and saw that in addition to the four mountain tents, Niu Li also ran over with the liberated slaves, but his clothes and armor were obviously ill-fitting and were shaking as he ran.

Several leaders and Zhao Huaian's disciples gathered around and talked in a flurry.

Among the crowd, Fei Yanggu was the most excited. He was the leader of the Fei family's mountain shed and loved to rob people on the road. When he heard Zhao Huaian say that people here were stupid and had a lot of money, he responded most actively.

The same was true for several other families. These mountain huts in the mountains of western Sichuan were truly delighted to hear the news of the disaster.

But when they walked to Zhao Huaian and looked down at the dirt road, they were all stunned.

Fei Yanggu, who was previously excited about robbing money and women, felt his mouth dry and asked Zhao Huaian with difficulty:
"Lord Zhao, the fat sheep you're talking about aren't the Nanzhao troops down there, are they?"

Seeing that Zhao Huaian didn't say anything, Fei Yanggu didn't even turn his head and prepared to take the people in the village away.

Isn’t this bullying?
I'll post another chapter at 11pm. Tuesday's follow-up reading data is very important and determines the results of the week's promotion, so I'm using this method to increase Tuesday's follow-up reading data. I'll still update at the pace of two chapters every morning, and finally ask for follow-up reading.



(End of this chapter)