However, these spies looking for information are not in a hurry, because if the salt is to be sold, it cannot be kept in the guardhouse forever! When they transport it, they will either go by land or by canal! If you take the canal, it will be even more convenient for them to do it!
But they knew in advance that these people must be walking, because a caravan had arrived here a few days ago. They brought a large number of carriages. The spies contacted them. Although they did not find out what was going on, they never found out. Judging from the fact that they don't take business from other merchants, you can guess that they must be a caravan transporting salt.
So the day after it was unloaded, the caravan really started to move! The spies watched from a distance as they loaded the first bag of salt into the car and then turned around and left! These salt lords work with salt all day long, and they know exactly how much salt a truck can hold. You can know it by estimating it. As for the number of people in the caravan, I had already found out beforehand.
He didn't care at all whether the guard station sent people to help transport it! The guardhouse itself is not big, so we can't send many people there. Even sending people here is of no use. Those military households are busy loading and unloading ships all day long, and they have long since become professional porters, no different from trash!
But this spy was careless after all! If he waits until the caravan is on the road, he will find that the guys and guards in the caravan are completely different from the same kind in the past! They walk, sit and lie very uniformly and quickly, which shows that they are from the army and they are elite!
This is why these people stayed in their own camps in the past few days and did not allow spies to have many opportunities to observe. So the spies just felt that this caravan camp was a little quieter than others, and didn't think too much about it! After all, he is not a soldier and does not understand what a real elite is like!
It can be said that the caravan was on the road calmly for two days without any abnormality, and the people in the caravan also performed their duties. The only people really running back and forth were the caravan leaders and a few people dressed as bodyguards. They often ride horses from the beginning to the end of the caravan, taking care of everything inside and out!
By the afternoon of the third day, the caravan followed its usual habit of hurrying on its way after the lunch break. But these people don't seem to be used to the heat in the south, and everyone is droopy! Even the caravan leaders and bodyguards have reduced the number of inspections. Head more often than not just stays at the front of the line.
Just as they were marching, the man who was looking sleepy suddenly sat up straight on his horse, then raised his arms high and shouted: "Stop!"
The entire caravan stopped in a very short period of time, and no one was running around. Except for the occasional neighing of animals, the caravan became completely quiet! At this time, a man dressed as an escort rode over and whispered, "Sir, did you find anything?"
This person called "Sir" is Huang Guojun, who rose to prominence during the attack on Kagoshima! He and another rising star were named and sent out to perform this task. Jiangnan and Jiangbei were each responsible for a team, which was also an experience.
I just heard him whisper with a smile: "No one or the caravan has been coming from the other side for nearly a quarter of an hour!"
The officer dressed in his own uniform immediately reacted and said: "Sir, you mean someone blocked the road ahead? That means those salt owls are hiding in the woods ahead!"
Huang Guojun stared at a small forest about 400 steps away and said, "Nine times out of ten, it's right there! I guess they still want to wait for us to get in and catch us off guard!"
The escort said with a smile: "Now that we stop here, they are the ones who are causing trouble!"
Huang Guojun also said with a smile: "That's right! It depends on whether they are willing to leave the woods! Tell the brothers below to be prepared and raid them at any time!"
The escort nodded, turned the horse's head and walked back. However, he did not speed up and let the horses kick and tap until they reached the end of the team, passing the news along the way. After receiving the news, many guards and clerks began to slowly move towards the center of the convoy.
There are four carriages in the center of the convoy. From the outside, they are no different from other salt carriages. They are all thinly wrapped with oilcloth. The only strange thing is that these four carriages are guarded by at least two people at all times. Especially after the order to prepare was passed down, the number of people beside each carriage increased to four.
And the guy next to the car has his hands on his waist! There's a knife there, ready to pull out if needed!
Just as the caravan was making preparations, the people in the woods had a dispute! In this forest, a large group of people were spreading out to enjoy the shade. But if you look carefully, you will find that the people here are roughly divided into two groups.
The larger group consisted of about 300 people. They sat a little closer together, and there were obvious differences in class. These people are the gathered salt owl. Since they usually have a hierarchy when doing distribution, they sat down according to this rule when they got together. Relatively speaking, organization and discipline are better.
Among the core of these people, there are more than fifty people who are dressed differently from the others. And they look much tougher! What is particularly surprising is that more than 20 of these people are carrying bows on their backs and quivers on their waists!
These special people are the servants gathered by the salt merchants. Each of them contributed a dozen people, which was already a great effort! These people are fed by salt merchants and specialize in doing some shameful things. As for other things, they are not needed at all, so the number is relatively small.
These salt merchants have great hands and eyes, and as long as they use money to clear the way, ordinary things can be solved. Therefore, there are not many times when one's own force is really used. So these dozens of people are already the best among their servants!
There was another group of about sixty or seventy people. They all sat in groups of three or five, very loosely, and there were even some who were alone. These people are the desperadoes hired by the salt merchants for their money!
They didn't trust each other at all, and they couldn't get along with the salt owl, so they got together alone, but they were still on guard against each other, and the distance between gangs was very large! So although this group of people seems to be in a group, in fact they simply don’t get along with each other!
Unlike the unified command on the Yangtze River, the person in charge here is a small team! The Salt Owl was pretty good, and what came out was the largest Salt Owl in this area, a strong man named Zhang Yong. Behind him stood a dozen vicious thugs.
