The Jurchen leader did not stay in an inn, but stayed in a carriage shop.
The goods carried by the caravan were all given to them by Dai Jin. After a round of the grassland, he could exchange them for more things, so he decided to keep the goods here.
As he is a bodyguard, doing so is not out of the ordinary and will not arouse suspicion from outsiders.
Although he was staying with the caravan goods, he did not need to personally guard the carriage of the goods. This kind of thing was done by the people below. He opened a room in the carriage and horse shop and lived in it.
The people who shared his room were all from Daikin.
As for those who came from the Ming Dynasty, they either went to the inn with the Ming Dynasty officials. Those who stayed in the carriage and horse shop either lived in other rooms or stayed next to the goods, together with the animals and cars.
Dozens of people moved into the carriage and horse shop at once, and the clerks in the shop prepared fodder for the animals and meals for the guests who came in.
The food in the carriage and horse shop has two characteristics: large quantity and low price.
If you want to eat better meals, you need to go to the restaurant in the town and buy them separately.
However, people who stay in large carriage shops generally don't pay attention to these things. They can eat dry biscuits and cold water when they are on the road. Needless to say, the meals provided by the carriage and horse shops are still hot.
The guys who stayed at the carriage and horse shop with the caravan's goods were content with having enough food to eat, but those who came from Daikin did not eat the food provided by the carriage and horse shop at all, and only ate the dry food they carried with them.
The dry food they carried were bought on the way.
After buying it, you don't rush to eat it. Instead, you give it to your companions to eat first. After waiting for two days to make sure everything is fine, you give it to your own people. And no matter where they go, they will not eat the food provided by the local area.
Even when I drank the water, I watched it being pumped out of the well and watched the clerk in the carriage shop boil it.
And their unusual practices were naturally noticed by the clerks at the horse and carriage shop.
After all, they have received so many merchants from the past, and they have never seen such a cautious merchant.
A clerk from the carriage shop came to the main room counter.
"Shopkeeper, those people are really weird. They fetch water from the well and cook it themselves, without our waiters getting involved. This is treating us like a black shop." The waiter complained to the shopkeeper behind the counter.
The shopkeeper who heard this had a straight face and said, "Don't be weird here. These people have seen too many things from all over the world, so it's normal to be a little defensive."
"It's hard to say whether it's normal or not. Anyway, there are a lot of merchants who come to stay here. This is the first time I've seen such merchant guards." The waiter said.
The shopkeeper said: "Okay, just say a few words and I'll go take a look. You can keep an eye on it for me here."
With that said, the shopkeeper walked out from behind the counter.
The carriage and horse shop was located in a courtyard, and the shopkeeper came alone outside the room where the Jurchens were resting.
"The guest is disturbing me, can I come in?" the shopkeeper said standing outside the door.
"Who is it?"
came the rough response from within the room.
The shopkeeper waiting outside the room said in a calm tone: "I am the shopkeeper here, come here to see what the guests need!"
"come in!"
The door of the house was opened, and the shopkeeper walked in from outside the house, but he just stood at the door of the house and did not go inside.
After opening the door, he glanced inside and noticed that the people in the room were eating dry pancakes mixed with hot water, so he asked: "Guest, why don't we cook some soup and send it to you? The pancakes are too dry to eat." ”
As he spoke, he looked at the Jurchen leader.
As a shopkeeper, he still has basic vision. Although he doesn't know that the person in front of him is a Jurchen, he knows from the respectful attitude of the people around him that he has some identity.
"No need." Zuoling refused in Mongolian.
The shopkeeper also understands Mongolian, so he immediately changed to Mongolian and said: "It doesn't matter, we give the soup to the guests for free without any additional charge."
"No need." Zuo Ling refused again with a cold expression.
Seeing this, the shopkeeper smiled and said, "If the customer needs anything, he can come to me at the counter or talk to the waiter."
"I know, I'll call you if anything happens." Zuo Ling said.
The shopkeeper backed out of the room and closed the door.
After returning to the main room, the waiter guarding the counter said: "Are you the shopkeeper? I'm not wrong. These people soak dry biscuits in hot water and eat them. At a glance, they think we are a black shop."
"You can eat as others like, and do your own thing." The shopkeeper returned behind the counter, picked up the duster on the counter and knocked the waiter twice.
"Okay, you are the shopkeeper, you have the final say."
The clerk jumped away from the counter, dropped a quip, and ran off to do other work.
The shopkeeper stood behind the counter and shouted to him: "Let the kitchen cook a pot of soup and deliver it to the people guarding the stable in the backyard later so that they can also warm themselves up."
The boy's back disappeared from the main room.
One night passed,
As soon as the light outside cleared up, the caravan guys in the backyard began to get busy, feeding the horses with fodder and water.
The carriage and horse shop also began to prepare for breakfast.
The Jurchens led the people as before, fetching water and boiling it themselves, and the food they ate did not pass through the hands of the people in the carriage and horse shop.
At around 3:30 p.m., Fan Wencheng and Ming officials who were staying at the inn came to the carriage shop.
"Is everything okay last night?" Fan Wencheng came to Jurchen Zuoling and asked in a low voice.
Zuo Ling glanced at the carriage shop clerk not far away and said, "Everything is normal."
"That's good." Fan Wencheng breathed a sigh of relief and said immediately, "Datong is where the tiger thieves started. Try to be careful. It will be safe when you reach the grassland."
Zuo Ling pulled away and glanced at Fan Wencheng, and said: "You don't need to remind me, I know it well, but you and the Mingguo official should pay attention to it. The caravan's goods were left in the carriage shop, and the people went to the inn. Not like the owner of the caravan either.”
"I didn't think carefully enough. Next time, I can't let these people from the Ming Dynasty leave the caravan and live outside alone." Fan Wencheng glanced at the Ming Dynasty officials and the few imperial guards who were standing not far away.
The caravan quickly left the carriage shop and headed towards Taiyuan.
The only way to enter Datong is through Taiyuan. This road is also a road often taken by caravans. Naturally, they cannot create other ideas to go in other directions, otherwise it will easily arouse suspicion.
The more something is on my mind, the more I think about it. I never dare to mess up if I do anything wrong, for fear that someone will discover my secret if I do something wrong.
It wasn't until the caravan successfully left the border area from Xinpingbao and arrived on the grassland that Fan Wencheng dared to take a breath and no longer had to think about the caravan being so cautious in Shanxi and Datong.
(End of chapter)
