"Chen Tou, those people in front look like Han people, not like northern barbarians from the grassland." A guard from Fubiao Camp in Xu Ji's motorcade raised his hand and pointed at the crowd coming from a distance.
The person called Chen Tou by the other party was a general flag officer of Fubiao Camp, and the guards who came to the grassland with Xu Ji's caravan were all members of his general flag officer.
Chief Flag Officer Chen glanced at the crowd in the distance, frowned, and said, "Even the Han people are probably a group of trouble-making and bandit Han people. How many ordinary people dare to come to the grassland."
"Could they be from the Tiger-Character Banner?" the guard asked tentatively, "The Tiger-Character Banner has been doing business on the grassland, and so many Han people suddenly appeared, maybe they are from the Tiger-Character Banner."
Chief Flag Officer Chen watched for a while and found that the crowd in the distance was coming in their direction, so he said: "Tell the brothers, no matter who the other party is, be vigilant. This is the governor's business. If something happens to any of us, I can’t afford it either.”
The guard patted his chest and assured: "Don't worry, Mr. Chen, our brothers are here to ensure that the convoy and cargo are safe."
The dozens of surrounding convoy guards looked very calm, and did not appear panicked because of the approach of unknown people.
After all, they are also the elite of the Fubiao Camp. They are not military households like the guards who only know how to farm. They do not pay attention to ordinary bandits at all.
As the crowd in the distance slowly approached, Chief Flag Officer Chen's frown deepened.
Someone noticed it and said, "What's wrong with you, sir? Are you worried about something?"
Chief Flag Officer Chen frowned deeply and said, "Something's wrong. Look at the group of people coming from a distance. They're all well-organized. Do they look like people from the border army?"
The guard on the side looked towards the crowd in the distance.
At this time, the crowd in the distance was still more than a mile away from them, and something could already be seen in the unobstructed grassland around them.
Chief Flag Officer Chen asked: "Did you see anything?"
The guard thought for a while and said, "If the people coming are border troops, the direction should be the direction of Xinping Fort, but why did General Li's people come to the grassland?"
As he spoke, his face showed confusion.
"Could they be here for us?" another guard warned.
"It shouldn't be!" said the guard from before: "General Li Shen wants to take action against us. He doesn't have to wait until now. He can take action when the convoy passes Xinpingbao."
Another guard said: "Maybe it's to deceive others. Don't forget, General Li has a sworn relationship with Liu Heng of Tiger Character Banner, and Tiger Character Banner has always sent a convoy to the border of Beilu. This time we will follow Xu Ji's The convoy going to the grassland is equivalent to stealing the business of the tiger flag, will General Li Shen be happy with it?"
"What does this have to do with General Li?" Someone was puzzled.
The guard explained: "I heard someone said that the sale of the Tiger Character Flag in the grassland is related to the Commander-in-Chief Zhang. General Li is a subordinate of Commander-in-Chief Zhang. The convoys of the Tiger Character Flag often leave from Xinpingbao. Grassland, there must be some connection between this that we don’t know about, maybe Li Shenjiang, the smuggling business of Tiger Flag, is also involved.”
Several people around him nodded in agreement.
It is no longer a secret that the Tiger-Character Banner smuggled Beibei soldiers. Many Datong officials, including the General Military Office, were involved in the Tiger-Character Banner smuggling business.
"They are not General Li's people." Chief Flag Officer Chen shook his head and said, "If General Li sends people over, he will never send only infantry and no cavalry."
As the chief flag officer of the Fubiao Battalion, he knew very well that the elite border troops were all servants raised by generals at all levels. If General Xinpingbao really sent people to deal with their convoy, he would definitely send cavalry to lead the team instead of It will be all foot soldiers.
"Look, these people are holding mostly muskets and spears. Hiss, everyone actually wears armor. It couldn't be that some general sent his own soldiers here!" a guard said. Take a breath.
The distance between the two sides was only a few hundred steps, and they could already clearly see each other's armor.
"They are the people of the Tiger Character Flag." Suddenly a guard pointed his finger at the people coming from the opposite side and shouted, "Only the Tiger Character Flag has so many people who use bird guns, and everyone wears armor."
After saying the words "armor piercing", the corner of the speaker's mouth twitched.
Tiger Flag is just a shop in Datong, but even for such a shop, all the guards it raises are wearing armor, and the worst ones are cotton armor. But they, who are from Fubiao camp, can only wear tattered cloth clothes. Even if there is a piece of cotton armor worn on the body, it is always in tatters. The iron pieces inside have long been gone, leaving only two pieces of rags with some hay stuffed inside, which has no protective ability at all.
In this way, wages were often not paid, and often they could only receive one month's wages in three months. Many of the wages paid were dirty money, and the few buckets of grain given were often moldy.
Soon, when the distance between the two sides was less than 200 steps, the team on the opposite side stopped.
At this distance, each other can already see each other.
Chief Flag Officer Chen ordered someone beside him: "Go and ask them what they want to do and why they surrounded our convoy."
The guard nodded, took a few steps forward, and shouted loudly: "What are you going to do? Why are you blocking our convoy? Get out of the way."
After hearing this, Cao Guang in the team stood up and said, "I don't want to embarrass you. As long as you keep the goods in the car, I can let you go."
When General Chen heard this, his heart sank.
He could feel that the other party was coming for Xu Ji's motorcade.
Thinking of this, he took a few steps forward and shouted: "You tiger-character flags are so brave, but if you know whose business this caravan is, you are not afraid of giving your tiger flags the idea of this caravan." Is Dongzhu Liu of Ziqi causing trouble?"
"Haha, what a fucking joke." Cao Guang laughed and said immediately, "This is the grassland, not Datong. The Ming Dynasty's law has no control here. Here, the competition is about whose fist is stronger."
Chief Flag Officer Chen pursed his lips.
He knew in his heart that if he really wanted to take action, the dozens of people around him would definitely not be the match for the hundreds of people in front of him.
Even if they are all the so-called elites of Fubiao Camp, they are only a little better than the military households in the guard station who only know how to farm. They are far better than the elites of the border army, let alone the servants of the soldiers.
Even compared with the people of the Tiger Flag in front of them, he is the only one in Fubiao Camp who has an iron sword, the rest use spears, and only he, the chief flag officer, wears half-length mail armor. , but on the other side, he saw several pairs of iron armor alone, and the rest were all wearing 70% to 80% new cotton armor, which was completely different from the deceptive cotton armor of their Fubiao camp.
"Tou Chen, what should I do?" the guard at the side asked Chief Flag Officer Chen.
Chief Flag Officer Chen ignored him and shouted to the person opposite: "This is Governor Xu's business. If you touch the Governor's things, even your boss Liu can't protect you."
Facing the other party's threat, Cao Guang curled his lips disapprovingly and said, "I don't care if it's the governor's business or not. As long as you dare to come to the grassland, I will take it."
Hearing this, Mr. Chen Qi's expression changed.
He didn't expect the people in the Tiger Flag to be so courageous that they would dare to snatch the governor's goods. He simply didn't take the governor seriously.
At this time, he felt some regret in his heart, regretting that he should not have accepted this mission.
He knew that Xu Ji's convoy brought several thousand taels of goods this time. If the goods were lost from his hands, he would definitely be blamed by the governor when he returned to Datong. He would definitely be dismissed from his post and would also be imprisoned. .
