As soon as the Tiger Flag convoy left the grassland, the robbed steward of the Fan family's caravan returned to the Fan family's mansion.
The head butler of the Fan family hurriedly came to the study and saw Fan Yongdou sitting on the imperial chair drinking tea. He hurriedly walked forward and said, "Master, Fan You is back."
"Didn't Fan You go to the grassland? Why did you come back so soon?" Fan Yongdou paused when he picked up the bowl and frowned.
Butler Fan whispered: "Something happened to the caravan. Fan You came back and said that they were robbed by horse bandits just two days after they left the customs."
"What?" Fan Yongdou was startled, and the tureen in his hand almost fell to the ground, and he asked quickly, "What's going on? Didn't Taiji from Bansheng City explain anything to the horse bandits on the grassland?"
Butler Fan said: "I don't know the specific details, but Fan You is outside the house."
"Let him come in." Fan Yongdou casually put the tureen aside.
Butler Fan exited the study. Not long after, a middle-aged man walked in beside him.
"Young Fan You, I have met my boss." As soon as Fan You entered the study, he lay down on the ground, his body trembling slightly.
Unlike some shopkeepers, he was a son of the Fan family. He was given the Fan surname and assigned errands on the grassland to him. Because of this, he understood the methods of the head of the Fan family in front of him best.
Those who once competed for the position of the head of the Fan family and some disobedient shopkeepers were either bandits or died on the grassland. The person who did all this behind the scenes was the head of the Fan family sitting in the top position.
Fan Yongdou raised his eyelids, looked at Fan Friend in front of him, and said, "You have been in my Fan family for a long time, right?"
"When the great master was still here, the young father worked in the Fan family." Fan You said with his head lowered.
"It was quite a lot back then." Fan Yongdou said, and then added, "What happened to the caravan? Please tell me carefully."
Fan You trembled and said tremblingly: "The little one followed the caravan out of the pass. Nothing happened on the first day. On the second day, a group of more than 300 horse bandits appeared and took our Fan family's caravan. They were robbed, and the young ones were allowed to come back on their own."
"You mean the horse bandits only robbed goods but didn't hurt anyone?" Fan Yongdou frowned.
Fan You nodded and said: "I'm also puzzled. These horse bandits just robbed the goods and then let people go. However, I noticed that these horse bandits are very unusual. Everyone wears iron armor and helmets, with sabers on their waists." He wears a particularly short blunderbuss."
"That's a gun." Fan Yongdou reminded.
He knew more about firearms than the people below, and he had heard about handguns from a shopkeeper below.
"Yes, yes, yes, gun." Fan You nodded repeatedly.
Although he didn't know what the bird gun that was shorter than the bird gun was called, his boss said it was a hand gun, which meant that the thing should be called a hand gun.
"Continue?" Fan Yongdou picked up the tureen and took a sip of tea.
Fan You continued: "It's not like I've never seen a horse bandit before. How can there be such good armor? Even if our Ming Dynasty border troops don't stop at night, the guards around Taiji on the grassland can't all wear iron armor." Helmets, sabers, and muskets."
"You mean that the person who robbed you is not an ordinary horse bandit, or even a horse bandit at all!" Fan Yongdou narrowed his eyes.
Fan You said with an extremely certain tone: "I am sure that the ones who robbed our Fan family's caravan were not horse bandits at all."
"It's not a horse bandit..." Fan Yongdou tapped his fingers on the armrest of the seat, looking thoughtful.
Butler Fan on the side did not dare to disturb and stood quietly.
Fan You lay on the ground, not daring to move.
After a long time, Fan Yongdou said: "Besides, what else is special about those horse bandits?"
Fan You lowered his head and said: "Those horse bandits are all Han. No matter how they dress or speak, they are all Han. Unlike ordinary horse bandits, there are Mongolians and Hans."
"No more?" Fan Yongdou asked again.
Fan You shook his head and said, "No more."
"Okay, you go down and tell the guys who are going to the grassland this time not to spread the news about the caravan being robbed." Fan Yongdou waved his hand, indicating that he could leave.
"Yes, excuse me, little one." Fan You got up from the ground, bowed his waist, and backed away from the study.
As soon as the others left, Butler Fan said: "Master, do you think it would be one of the general's personal soldiers who would take action?"
"No." Fan Yongdou shook his head slightly and said, "If any of the generals really took action, they would not let Fan You and the others come back, but would directly kill people on the grassland and silence them."
"Who else could it be?" Butler Fan frowned and said, "Could it be that the guy from Qingcheng didn't want to see us getting too close to the guy from Banshengcheng, so he deliberately sent people disguised as horse bandits to rob our Fan family?" Caravan?"
Fan Yongdou shook his finger and said: "No, if it is the Qingcheng guy, he will not be left alive. Moreover, Fan You said just now that the horse bandits who robbed the caravan were all Han Chinese, and they were Han Chinese wearing iron armor."
"Who can then!" Butler Fan said to himself, "Wearing iron armor and helmets, and everyone is equipped with a saber and a gun. I'm afraid none of our Ming Dynasty's generals are so generous."
"Wait a minute!" Fan Yongdou pressed his hand on the armrest of the seat and said, "Do you still remember who told me about the gun?"
Butler Fan thought for a moment and said, "It seems to be Wang Qifu. I remember that last time he came back from Lingqiu, he mentioned handguns and said that the chest armor worn by the Tiger Flag Horse Team is two large iron plates."
"Wang Qifu mentioned something when he met me last time." Fan Yongdou said, "Liu Heng of Tiger Character Banner mentioned that our Fan family's convoy to the grassland should be handed over to their Tiger Character Banner Mule and Horse Company."
"That's what happened. Later, the master told Wang Qifu not to pay attention to them." After Butler Fan finished speaking, his expression suddenly changed and he said, "Sir, what you mean is that the one who pretended to be a horse bandit and robbed our Fan family's caravan was People with the Tiger Flag?"
"I'm afraid it's them." Fan Yongdou sneered, "The Tiger Character Banner likes to use firearms. Except for the Tiger Character Banner, I have never heard of any frontline general's personal soldiers using guns."
Butler Fan hesitated and said, "How bold is Liu Heng? He dares to touch our Fan family's caravan."
"Now that he is covering the sky in Lingqiu, why should he be afraid of our Fan family!" Fan Yongdou said in a deep voice.
Butler Fan said worriedly: "Master, if Tiger Flag is really responsible for this, our future business with Lingqiu will probably be cut off."
"It's not that serious." Fan Yongdou said, "Since they released our people and only robbed the goods, they just wanted to remind us that the grassland is not peaceful."
Butler Fan said angrily: "This is not a reminder, he is a threat!"
"I underestimated him." Fan Yongdou said calmly without any trace of anger on his face, "I didn't expect that in just one year, the Tiger Character Banner has been able to reach the grassland. It seems that the relationship between the general in Xinpingbao and the Tiger Character Banner The relationship is closer than we previously thought."
Fan Jiaguan looked puzzled and said: "Master, what do you mean?"
"Since he is qualified to serve, from now on, the escort of our Fan family's caravan to the grassland will be handed over to the Tiger Flag Mule and Horse Company." Fan Yongdou looked sideways at Butler Fan and said, "If you ask Wang Qifu to go to Lingqiu again, then Say what they said before and I agreed.”
Butler Fan bowed and said, "I'll take note of it."
