Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 30 Granting Gold
On the way back, Zhao Huaian walked in the dilapidated Tutuan camp, enjoying the attention of the Tutuan.

It’s nothing, Zhao Huaian’s cloak is just too sexy.

The wealthy people in the Tang Dynasty knew what was good. They knew that this cloak alone was worth at least dozens of strings of cash. Who was this person? He was truly wealthy.

When Zhao Huaian returned to his camp, he saw Fatty Dou standing and talking to Lao Liu. When he saw his cloak, his cross-eyed eyes widened.

Then Fatty Bean trotted along and complimented:
"Zhao Da, this cloak is so beautiful, where did you get it?"

Zhao Huaian ignored the fat man's thoughts and snorted directly:

"It was given by Envoy Song."

After saying that, Fatty Dou was left standing there in a daze.

Zhao Huaian walked over to Zhao Liu and called all the key members into the big tent. He had something to say to everyone.

Zhao Liu nodded, then took the four five-inch men and started calling people from each tent.

Everyone in the team squeezed into thirteen felt tents, surrounding six baggage carts to form an independent small camp.

Zhao Huaian’s team already has quite a few members.

There were nine of them, including him, Lao Liu, and his disciples. They also freed twenty-three slaves, bought twelve slaves from Tongshan, recruited sixty-three people from the mountain sheds, and collected fifty-three parts later.

When he came back, Zhao Liu told him that Fatty Dou from next door brought six craftsmen over, exchanged two sheepskins, and then left.

So, before he knew it, Zhao Huaian's team had grown to 157 people. It was a pity that those people in the mountain huts were about to leave.

Among these people, those who were prestigious and those who were leaders were all called out by Zhao Liu one after another and gathered towards Zhao Huaian.

Zhao Huaian was just about to enter the big tent when he suddenly heard a ghostly scream from Fatty Dou behind him. The man jumped up nimbly on the spot and was about to run towards him.

Obviously, Fatty Dou finally remembered who Envoy Song was that Zhao Huaian had just mentioned.

But Zhao Huaian didn't want to pay attention to him. He pointed at Fatty Dou's tent and cursed:
"roll!"

Even though he was pointed at his nose and scolded, Fatty Dou didn't feel offended at all and ran back to his tent in a simple and honest manner.

The main thing is to be obedient.

Zhao Huaian was also amused by Fatty Dou, and his previous irritable mood finally improved a lot.

Sure enough, this irritability never disappears, it just moves.

……

When Zhao Huaian sat cross-legged on the sheepskin mat, a group of people squeezed in. There were more than ten of them, and the tent was packed.

Zhao Liu ran to sit next to Zhao Huaian and said:

"They're all here."

Zhao Huaian nodded, glanced at everyone, and then said to Aqi Mo:
"Lao Mo, call the two old barbarians who are with us as well. This is related to them as well."

Achimo understood immediately, nodded and went out to call for help.

In fact, the two barbarians behind also wanted to follow Zhao Huaian. After all, seeing the team growing larger, they changed their minds.

But unfortunately, Zhao Huaian despised them for abandoning their companions and never agreed to let them join, so now these two people have been reduced to sitting at the table with the children, and they are not called when there is something.

After a while, two barbarians followed Aqimo in. Seeing that the tent was full of people, they smiled awkwardly.

They thought Zhao Huaian agreed to let them join.

When Zhao Huaian saw the two people coming, he took out two horseshoe gold coins from his bag, both weighing a standard one-jin.

This was the spoils Zhao Huaian had seized when he ambushed the Nanzhao people.

He waved to the two barbarians to come over, and then handed the two horseshoe gold coins to them.

The two were confused by each other, then hurriedly bowed down, speaking in barbarian language.

Achimo on the side helped translate:

"My Lord, they said they don't want the gold, they just want to work for the Lord."

Zhao Huaian was stunned for a moment. He didn't even want the gold? He wanted to be with him?

After thinking for a while, Zhao Huaian said to Aqi Mo:

"Well, tell them that the gold is their reward. If they want to follow me, then they should follow you, Old Mo, and do a good job in the future."

Achimo nodded and told the two of them.

This time, the two of them were really smiling. They hurriedly took the gold and ran behind Achimo.

Achimo shook his head and said nothing more.

After dealing with the two barbarians, Zhao Huaian began to call Sun Tai and Zhao Hu to come up.

These two men had been following him in battle and had made many contributions, so Zhao Huaian gave each of them an iron armor, promoted them to sidekicks, and allowed them to sleep in Zhao Huaian's tent.

After that, it was Yang Mao and Wang Li's turn. These two had not yet mastered their martial arts, but they already had the courage to kill, so Zhao Huaian gave each of them a horizontal sword and asked them to practice diligently.

Afterwards, Zhao Huaian called Niu Li, gave him a sheepskin coat, and asked him to lead the liberated slaves, and perhaps bring soldiers with him.

Niu Li thanked him profusely, took the sheepskin coat and put it on, with snot hanging from his nose, and stood there grinning foolishly.

Afterwards, Zhao Wenzhong's four adopted sons also came up. They also made contributions in the ambush of the Nanzhao people. Zhao Huaian gave each of them a set of leather armor. Perhaps they slept in their own tents.

Zhao Wenzhong was the most sensible. He brought his three other adopted sons, knelt down and kowtowed to Zhao Huaian, then stepped aside.

Finally, Zhao Huaian called He Wenqin up. He admired the shed very much and asked:
"Although you are my disciple, your uncle is going back to the mountain with the people. Will you go?" He Wenqin didn't even look at Uncle He behind him, and just fell to the ground.
"I wish to stay with my husband."

Zhao Huaian nodded and said to him:
"From now on you will be my attendant. Your merits do not yet entitle you to a horse, but I will grant you a broadsword and a saddle. If you perform more merits in the future, I will give you the brown horse."

He Wenqin was overjoyed, took the sword and retreated.

Then came the remaining new recruits including Han Tong, Qian Tiefo, Wei Jingang, Lu Zhongyuan, Zhou Dexing, Chen Fahai, and Guo Congyun.

Because they had no merit, Zhao Huaian only gave each of them a string of copper coins to encourage their training during this period.

These people didn't expect that they would also receive rewards, and they hurriedly crossed their hands to thank Zhao Huaian for his generosity.

Now, there are only four mountain shed leaders left. Zhao Huaian called He Bo, Li San, Fei Chuangu, and Zhang Dai up and said with a smile:

"I, Zhao Da, thank you for accepting my call and for following me all the way. Today I will give you your reward."

After saying that, Zhao Huaian promised each of them a bucket of coarse salt and a foot of coarse cloth.

He Da and the others thanked Zhao Huaian profusely and called him a good husband. If it weren't for his family, they would really follow Zhao Huaian around.

After hearing this, Zhao Huaian smiled and looked at Fei Chuangu to see his final attitude.

This guy is very cunning, but Zhao Huaian needs someone who can use his brain, so he still has expectations for him.

But Fei Chuangu didn't even raise his head, and was determined to go back.

Forget it, a forced melon is not sweet.

But an unexpected surprise came. Zhang Dai, who had been silent all the time, suddenly raised his head and expressed his willingness to follow Zhao Huaian.

He made an agreement with several people in the mountain shed that they were all willing to follow Zhao Huaian, and the coarse cloth and salt would be taken back by other people in the village.

Zhao Huaian was happy now. He patted Zhang Dai and gave him a sword.

Finally, Zhao Huaian said to the remaining He Bo, Fei Chuangu, and Li San:
"You will take the mountain shed and Lao Liu to get the things later, and then go back the same way. Don't go to the south, because there will be a big battle soon."

Previously, Lu Zhongyuan and Zhou Dexing said that these mountain tents would be subject to military law once they entered the camp, but later when Zhao Huaian met Song Jian, he asked about this matter.

People just said:
"I don't care about things outside the camp."

So these people living in mountain huts can leave.

This was not something that made Zhao Huaian happy, because the subtext of Song Jian's words was that these local rioters outside the camp were cannon fodder and they didn't care whether they lived or died.

But it just so happens that Zhao Huaian's team is also part of the cannon fodder, which makes it very uncomfortable.

Suppressing his annoyance, Zhao Huaian signaled Zhao Liu to take the three mountain tent leaders out.

Zhao Liu felt as if his flesh was being cut. Zhao Da was such a coward that he really didn't know how to manage the family. He gave away all kinds of supplies at will. Most of the family fortune that he had saved with great difficulty was gone.

But when Zhao Liu heard Zhao Da say that they were going to have a war, he immediately understood what Zhao Da meant. He wanted everyone to fight to the death.

Although Zhao Liu is short-sighted and money-loving, he is wise enough in life.

He knew that now was the time to use the money, so he retracted his legs, stood up and left with He Bo and the other two.

But when Fei Chuangu reached the edge of the curtain, he turned around and clasped his fists towards Zhao Huaian. Zhao Huaian smiled and said:

"I, Zhao Da, am a man of my word. If you ever come to surrender to me, I will always keep my tent open for you."

Fei Chuangu nodded heavily and left with He Bo and the others.

As soon as these people left, Zhao Huaian stopped talking and just patted his thigh gently to calm himself down.

The tent was completely silent.

……

It was a long time before Zhao Liu came back.

He had just distributed the coarse salt and coarse cloth to the mountain huts. Even the coarse cloth in the car was not enough, so he went to the fat man next door to get some.

I don't know why, but that fat guy was so generous at this moment, and his words were so nice, like "we are one family, so we should keep our distance from each other", which made Zhao Liu think that Zhao Da had also become brothers with this fat guy.

Zhao Liu was a careful person. After distributing the supplies, he personally led He Bo and the others out of the camp. Many people looked at him along the way, but when they saw that it was the person next to Zhao Huaian, no one said anything.

In this way, Zhao Liu sent them all the way to the mountain pass, told He Bo and the others to be careful along the way, and then walked back on the snow.

As soon as he came in, he shuddered all over, then walked to Zhao Da and nodded.

Seeing that everyone was present, Zhao Huaian finally told them about the important matter:

"Shortly after we arrived in Qiongzhou, the Nanzhao people sent an envoy to Chengdu, asking our Jiedushi to open a passage so they could go to Chang'an to meet the emperor. But they were later killed by our Jiedushi. If it weren't for this heavy snow, war would have broken out earlier. Now that the snow has melted, the war is inevitable."

After hearing this, everyone had different expressions. Zhao Huaian's disciples and adopted sons didn't care at all, and even the four five-inch strong men were happy to hear about the war.

However, Lu Zhongyuan and his four guards thought a lot and realized that Lang Zhu really had someone.

In the past, when their armies were fighting, they would always fight whenever their superiors told them to, without knowing the reason. It's not like now, oh, it turns out that it was the Jiedushi who killed the Nanzhao envoy.

Just based on this detail, the four guards felt that Zhao Huaian had a promising future.

But if Zhao Huaian knew what they were thinking at this moment, he would definitely curse them, saying that they had no future at all. He had already planned to run away after this battle.

It's not that he's a coward; even Song Jian could be betrayed, which shows how scheming the Tang army is right now. In this situation, there's still hope for a standoff across the river, but if they take the initiative to attack, they're doomed to failure.

Moreover, Zhao Huaian was very sure that although Song Jian did not say it, this Envoy Song would definitely run away.

Since the big guys are all running away, why would he risk his life just to eat a few dishes?
(End of this chapter)