Brocade clothing as the country

Chapter 718 Caravan on the Grassland
Caravans that come to the grasslands often travel together.Fatty Ma's caravan is also with several other caravans. Fatty Ma has more than [-] large carts, and there are ten large carts and three large carts in the rest.

Fatty Ma’s caravan had three to four strong men beside each cart, holding swords and spears, and even four blunderbusses. The rations and equipment of these guards were transported in two carts. .

There were more than a hundred guards, half of them were on horseback, and there were special people dispatching and directing them. This kind of style was indeed extraordinary. When he left the pass, several other caravans who were waiting to join him to leave the pass followed. Come up, talk it over, this time we will go to Daqingshan with a partner, and go to Guihua City to give Ma Fatty five taels of silver for a cart.

Fatty Ma and his group are indispensable. It is common for Han Chinese caravans on the grassland to form partnerships. The caravans that came up with them only have [-] large carts. They are all carrying ordinary goods. They are here for a trip. For a hundred taels of silver, at the very least, the guards will have enough food to go back and forth. A penny saved is an extra penny earned. If there are too many people, they will be taken care of.

When leaving the customs, the guards of Fatty Ma’s convoy were just armed with anti-thief items such as simple knives. The faces of the caravans were all pale at the time, and they also had guards, but there were ten or eight of them. If this fat man had malicious intentions on the grassland, everyone would not be able to go back.

Walking into the night tremblingly, they found that Fatty Ma, the caravan's guards, kept a close eye on his own cart and showed no contempt for other people, so everyone was relieved.

In fact, from the border of Datong to Guihua City, the road is not a vast grassland, and there are no people. It is similar to the post station on the Ming side. Within the range of a day's journey, there are also some small tribes of Mongols stationed. A small tribe of 100 or hundreds of people makes a living by doing small business with the caravan traveling north and south.

In the evening, the group camped on the spot, and among the caravan teamed up with Fatty Ma, the family with ten carts said hello to the other families. After they made a total calculation, they bought it from a nearby small tribe. He bought two sheep and let the small tribe cook them. The lamb was roasted on the fire, and the lamb was stewed in a pot. He invited the people from the fat man's side to come and eat together.

After walking for a whole day, they ate cold dry food at noon, smelling the aroma of meat, Fatty Ma and his men couldn't help it, and sat down after a few polite excuses.

Fatty Ma was unambiguous, so he asked the people below to bring a jar of wine and some spices in the car, and when the wine was opened, it was roasted in Fenhe, and the spices were spread on the sheep and put into the pot. People from the nearby small tribes were all brought over. Before the sheep passed the exam, the leader of the small tribe came over to greet the guests with a bag of kumiss.

Fatty understood what he meant, and said with a smile:

"Old Cleo, who would want to drink your rambunctious booze? You want to have a bar with me. So many people want to drink it, so you can have a bowl, too."

The man came over and took the bowl of Fenhe Shao with a smile, took a few sips, squinted his eyes for a long time and didn't open them, looking extremely contented, then said a few polite words, and then retreated.

With wine and meat, even if everyone is not familiar with each other, after a few sips of strong wine, they will become acquainted. The leaders of several caravans chat with each other, but they are flattering this fat man either explicitly or secretly. Fenhe Shaoxing is known as "sweet in the mouth, mellow in the throat, and fire in the belly", and it is also a strong wine. If you drink too much, the fat man will talk too much.

"Don't look at the politeness of that Tartar, that is, come with me, the four carts, you guys come here by yourself, kill you in the middle of the night, throw the corpses three miles away, cut up and feed the wolves, the carts and goods yourself If you sell it to Guihua City, you won't even have a chance to sue."

"Why don't you partner up with you, Ma Ye? For a small business, the silk and homemade cloth sold in Zezhou can't afford to hire any guards!"

Fatty Ma cut a piece of mutton with the dagger at his waist, dipped it in the plate in front of him, put it in his mouth, then served it with wine, and said nonchalantly:

"We Shanxi's own silks and satins can be sold at a high price elsewhere, but not in Guihua City now. The nobles and heads over there pay attention to wearing silk from the south of the Yangtze River."

"They understand this too!?"

"This brother has never been there at first glance. The people in Guihua City are no worse than our nobles in Datong. They are very particular about food and clothing, and they are willing to spend money. They also have money!"

After a few questions and answers over there, Fatty Ma also said with a big tongue and a smile:

"Do you know what I'm sending this trip? Silk from Suzhou and Hangzhou, spices from the West, and jewelry from Tianjin Wei in the capital. You can sell them for a lot of money there!"

Everyone was flattering again, and they all said:
"These things can only be obtained by people like Mayor and you. We are a small business, how can we afford this business."

The flattery was so happy that they had to open another jar of wine. Everyone knew in their hearts that this kind of strong wine could also make a lot of money on the Tartar side, and this fat man was really good at it.

Early the next morning, they set off again as usual. Fatty Ma had a moderate capacity for alcohol, and he felt uncomfortable covering his head early in the morning, but the team continued to march as usual. After leaving the tribe for half an hour, they had already seen the mountains to the north. The mountain area is Guihua City, but it takes two days to walk in the mountains.

Fatty Ma was lying on a large cart in the middle, sleeping soundly there. The man who dispatched the guards rode over and said in a cold voice:
"Fatty, if you drink too much cat pee, you will go crazy. I would like to remind you for years of brotherhood. If you really want to tell the truth and ruin the business, I will not show mercy."

Fatty Ma rubbed his forehead with his hands, and said angrily:
"You need to say, I have run this business a few times, how can I not know the importance, didn't I just talk about spice silk and satin last night, no one at the border and Shanxi Xuanfu knew about this, I didn't say anything else, later Is there anything weird about those houses?"

"It's nothing weird. Last night they arranged the night watch very honestly. They should be doing business."

"Do a ticket on the way?"

"There's no oil or water. There are a few guards following the car from the two families. It's hard to explain if our people are killed or injured. Let's forget it this time."

The two exchanged a few words, and the fat man fell into the car again and fell asleep.

At the back of the team, the carts of the small caravan were loaded with a lot of things and the horses were average, so they fell behind the team. This is also the normal state of the small caravan. We ate meat together last night, and everyone got to know each other well. Looking at the joke, a young man playing with a bronze mirror was jokingly said:

"It's hard to even wash your face on this prairie, what are you old man doing looking in the mirror?"

"What do you know, this mirror can earn three taels of silver at least in Guihua City, go back and get a silver hairpin for my mother-in-law, you go first, I will relieve you!!"

"Be careful, don't be bitten by the wolf that sprang out of the grass, and it's useless to buy a silver hairpin!!"

There was a burst of laughter, the young man laughed and cursed, and fell behind the team, walking in the grass, but the young man did not rush to untie his belt, instead he looked up at the direction of the sun, raised his bronze mirror to meet Facing the sunlight, it shook a few times in one direction, then put the bronze mirror back into its pocket, and hurriedly followed.

Drinking too much water and mutton soup made it much more convenient today, which is not surprising. This young man went to "convenience" every time he walked, and was laughed at by everyone.

Walking to a water source in the mountains, we will camp here. It is already autumn, the grass and trees are withered and yellow, and there is no shortage of fuel, but there is no such thing as eating sheep yesterday. Everyone takes out their own dry food. Take water from the pot, then boil the water, heat the dry food and pickles, and prepare to rest.

The river valley in the mountain is quite flat, and the trees on the mountain are still flourishing. Could it be that birds and beasts could be heard coming from somewhere, which made those newcomers quite uneasy.

"Today is also unlucky. If we can meet a caravan coming back from Guihua City, they will usually follow with a flock of sheep, and we can still have meat... Don't look around, there are said to be Xiong Na in this mountain, These wild beasts are afraid of fire and dare not come close to them, you should sleep peacefully!!"

The freshness of just arriving on the grassland has disappeared. After a long day of travel, everyone is also exhausted. After resting early, the guards on Ma Fatty's side are still doing their duty, and they still have a shift on duty.

Surrounding the convoy, piles of bonfires were lit, and the guards stood by the bonfire, warming up and guarding the fire. In the mountains in autumn, it was very cold, so it was necessary to have a fire.

After spending two days and one night together, the guards on Fatty Ma's side and the caravan they partnered with were no longer wary, so they stopped paying attention there.

Guarding the inner circle of the four-barrel blunderbuss, the blunderbuss can break leather armor within [-] steps and kill people within [-] steps. Just a little taller than the others, just stay in the camp surrounded by carts at night, no need to go out to guard.

There was a fire, and even though he didn't take off his clothes, he still slept deeply, but the guards were warriors after all, so they were much more vigilant than ordinary people. When they heard the slight noise in their ears, the first reaction was a snake. It is impossible for snakes to exist on the ground, but there was a clear idea there, and he opened his eyes suddenly.

As soon as he opened his eyes, he suddenly felt that his mouth was tightly covered by a big hand. He was about to struggle, but he felt the chill on his neck, and he froze immediately. Looking at the companions holding the firecrackers, they were all restrained.

Someone picked up the four guns and tiptoed away. Not long after, a loud bang was heard, which was clearly the sound of the guns being fired.

I don't know if I was alarmed by this sound, I could hear the birds chirping and flying up, the whole convoy was alarmed, and I heard the guards outside shouting loudly:
"There are people on the mountain, and there are people coming down from the mountain!!!"

(End of this chapter)