There are no clouds in the sky and the sun is shining brightly!
On the Mongolian Gobi Desert, a caravan is marching under the scorching sun. The team is very large, with more than 800 men. Each man is equipped with three camels, one for riding and two for carrying goods. , the cargo bags are all bulging.
The guys all carry weapons, including swords, crossbows, spears, and muskets. Their equipment is so sophisticated that it is better than the average Ming Dynasty frontier army!
The strange thing is that this caravan has no identification flags or any signs.
Moreover, during the march, rangers were sent from time to time to investigate the surrounding situation. If there was the slightest sign of trouble, they would immediately be on guard. Such a cautious look did not look like they were guarding against thieves, but rather like they were committing thieves!
That's right, he is a thief!
It turned out that this huge caravan was the smuggling team sent by the eight Shanxi merchants!
Nowadays, the war in Liaodong is fierce, and the Jurchen army is in urgent need of supplies, so they sent people to contact the eight major Shanxi merchants, willing to pay high prices to buy grain, copper and iron, cloth, cotton, medicine... various military supplies.
In line with the principle that as long as there is money to make, even the biological father and mother can be sold, the eight major Shanxi merchants immediately agreed to the Jurchens' request, and then organized a smuggling caravan, carrying a large amount of supplies out of Shahukou, and headed for Liaodong. trade.
The laws of the Ming Dynasty clearly stipulate that it is strictly forbidden to export grain, copper, iron, cotton, and other military supplies. Violators will be punished for collaborating with the enemy and will be executed!
Nowadays, the eight major Shanxi merchants are smuggling goods out of the customs on a large scale. Do the border guards in Shanxi Province just ignore it?
It really doesn’t matter!
Because the eight major Shanxi merchants used their free money to open the road, they had already bought the border guards in Shanxi. Some of the garrison generals were even in charge of the descendants of the eight major Shanxi merchant families. Naturally, everything went smoothly and the road was smooth. .
Could it be said that there are no generals who are selfless and unwilling to accept bribes?
have!
It is a pity that such generals either lost their official positions inexplicably or lost their lives inexplicably.
Now on the ground in Shanxi, the eight major Shanxi merchants can almost cover the sky with one hand!
…
"Where are you ahead?"
"Reporting to the Thirteenth Young Master, if we walk about twenty miles further, we will reach Yanjixiahaizi. We can replenish drinking water there, take a good rest, and wash away the dust on our bodies!"
"Okay, after eating sand for more than ten days, we are finally going to see water. Tell the guys to speed up and camp next to the sea in Yan'er today."
"promise!"
The leader of this team is a young man in purple robe in his early twenties. He is slender, handsome, and has sharp eyesight. He is an alert person at first glance.
The guys in the caravan all respectfully call the young man the Thirteenth Young Master, because his name is Fan Renxiong, he is the thirteenth son of the Jiexiu Fan family, and he and the Ninth Young Master, Fan Renjie, are full brothers.
The amount of goods smuggled this time was extremely large, worth hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, as well as several priceless rare treasures. For safety reasons, it was originally planned to let the most capable Ninth Young Master, Fan Renjie, be in charge of leading the team.
But recently, there has been rumors that the Suide-Xue family has contacted a group of Qin merchants and is preparing to open a bank, print banknotes, and then communicate with the world!
After hearing the news, the eight major Shanxi merchants were shocked. After some discussion, they decided that they must get the money bank and banknotes before the Qin merchants did, and seize the opportunity. This matter was fully taken care of by the Ninth Young Master, Fan Renjie. Now, Under intense planning.
Fan Renjie was so busy that he asked his younger brother Fan Renxiong to lead the team to Liaodong to trade with the Jurchens.
Fan Renxiong knew that the smuggled goods were very important, so he was careful along the way for fear of accidents.
Fortunately, it has been more than ten days since I came out, and everything is safe and sound!
…
The team advanced for more than twenty miles, and indeed a large lake appeared in front of them. It was Yankexiahaizi, one of the very important water sources in the Great Gobi Desert!
Haizi means lake in Mongolian.
"Water, such a cool lake water. I can drink enough now and wash the dust off my body. Hey, there is a white wooden stake with words on it. What is written on it?"
"Don't go there, everyone, don't go there, no one is allowed to drink the lake water here, it's poisonous!"
…
The team walked in the Gobi Desert for more than ten days. The sun was scorching and the wind and sand were blowing. Everyone turned into monkeys and their mouths were extremely dry.
Now that I saw the lake, I immediately rushed over with cheers and prepared to feel comfortable. However, when I arrived at the lake, I found that there were split white wooden stakes stuck in the ground at regular intervals, with both Mongolian and Chinese characters on them. .
Literate people were immediately dumbfounded after reading it.
It turns out that the wooden stakes read: Recently, a plague has occurred on the nearby grasslands, and sick cattle and sheep have died by the lake, causing the lake to be polluted. Warning to nearby herdsmen and passing business travelers, thousands of Don't drink the lake water here to avoid catching the plague.
At the same time, some guys saw several large piles of cow and sheep skulls on the shore of the lake, which were neatly stacked and surrounded by stones.
This is one of the customs on the grassland. It tells the illiterate herdsmen that the lake water has been polluted and must not drink it.
As a result, this scared the hell out of the guys.
You know, the plague on the grassland is quite terrible, killing people at every turn, and is extremely contagious.
During previous wars, once the nomadic people lost their sights, they would bury their dead cattle, sheep, and horses near important water sources, allowing them to breed diseases, and use this method to kill the attacking Han troops!
It is said that the famous champion Huo Qubing was infected by this plague and died young at the age of twenty-four.
In the face of life and death, no one is afraid. Even if they are extremely thirsty, the caravan guys still retreat one after another. No one dares to take a sip of the lake water, even if they want to wash their faces.
You can imagine the pain of having water in front of you but not being able to drink it.
What's more important is that the team has been in the Gobi Desert for more than ten days and has consumed most of the drinking water they brought. If they don't replenish their drinking water, the team will be unable to move forward. It will even be difficult to return, and they will be trapped alive in the Gobi Desert.
And after the guys observed it carefully, they felt a little confused, because the lake was very clear and there were schools of fish swimming around, and it didn't look like it was infected with the plague at all.
Is there some fraud in it?
The guys didn't know what to do, so they quickly reported the situation and asked the Thirteenth Young Master, Fan Renxiong, to come up with an idea.
"It is better to believe that there is a plague than to believe that it does not exist. Tell everyone that no one is allowed to drink the lake water here, otherwise they will be killed without mercy. Send more people to check nearby to see if there is a clean water source. Once you find it, report it to me immediately!"
"promise!"
Fan Renxiong went to the lake to check it out in person. After weighing it repeatedly, he decided to be more careful.
There were too many goods carried this time, worth hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, and several rare treasures. They were gifts to the Jurchen Great Khan, Huang Taiji, so there must be no accidents in his hands.
As for the water source, we can only pray to God for blessing.
Not to mention, God was really kind to me. About half an hour later, several guys who went out to investigate came back: "Reporting to the Thirteenth Young Master, we found two yurts about 20 miles southeast, and there are other yurts nearby. Several Mongolian herders are carrying water to drink from the sheep!"
"Drinking Sheep, there is water, okay, let's go over and have a look!"
…
Fan Renxiong directed the team to move southeast. Not long after, he saw two yurts, which were complete with all kinds of daily necessities. There was also a large pot of milk tea boiling on the stove. It was fragrant, but there was no one there. It seemed that they had escaped. .
Not surprisingly!
In the wilderness and grasslands, there is lawlessness and murder is common. Suddenly seeing a large group of people approaching, it would be strange if the original owner did not run away!
In fact, since the smuggling team entered the Great Gobi Desert, they will immediately kill any herdsmen who are stranded, firstly to prevent the news from leaking, and secondly to snatch cattle and sheep to supplement food.
There is a large circular pit dug by hand next to the yurt, about two feet deep. There is water in it, which is very clear... There is a long wooden water tank beside the pit, and a large group of sheep are eating green grass.
"Thirteenth Young Master, this must be a puddle dug by Mongolian herdsmen to make a living after the plague. It is relatively far from the lake, and the water in it should be drinkable!"
"Well, having said that, it's better to be careful. Get some water and give it to the sheep to drink and see how they react."
"promise!"
Fan Renxiong also believes that the water in the pit should be clean and drinkable, but he is alert by nature, so for the sake of safety, it is better to give it a try.
Next, more than a dozen workers worked together to fetch water with wooden buckets and poured it into the water tank on the ground. The sheep immediately rushed over to drink the water, bleating non-stop.
After drinking the water, some sheep continued to eat grass, while others let loose and ran back and forth on the grass...
At the same time, Fan Renxiong ordered: Set up a tent next to the puddle, bury the pot to cook, prepare to have a good night's rest, and see the results tomorrow morning.
The plague on the grassland is fierce. If there is a problem with the water in the pit, one night will be enough to make these sheep sick.
A night of silence.
The next morning, the first thing the guys did after leaving the tent was to check on the sheep.
As a result, the night passed, and nothing happened to the sheep, but they were particularly energetic.
There was a veterinarian accompanying the team. They caught a few fat sheep and carefully inspected them to make sure there were no problems. Now the guys were completely relieved and gathered around the water hole, scrambling to drink water, clean them, and, by the way, Filled all the water bladders I carried.
Next, some water was brought up to drink for the camels carrying the cargo, but an accident happened.
"Ouch, my stomach hurts!"
"Ouch, I have a stomachache too. It hurts so bad, it feels like my intestines are broken!"
"Uh-uh!"
Among the hundreds of workers, some suffered from severe stomach pains, some suffered from nausea and vomiting, some had splitting headaches, and some even fainted from the pain... It was obvious that this was collective poisoning.
Everyone became ill only after drinking water. Could it be that the water in the pit was poisonous?
The question is, the sheep also drank the water from the pit, so why did nothing happen to them, but they were particularly lively?
Before the problem could be clarified, another situation occurred.
"Da da da!"
"Surround them all, don't let anyone go!"
"There are robbers, fight them... Ouch!"
A team swept in like a whirlwind. There were approximately more than 400 people, all wearing black cloth masks, riding camels, and wielding machetes... They quickly surrounded the smuggling team.
The guys wanted to resist, but they were all poisoned and their internal organs were about to vomit out. They had no strength to resist, so they could only become prisoners obediently. They were all tied up, and no one escaped.
…
Who is so bold as to rob and kill the smuggling team of the eight major Shanxi merchants on the way, and do the job so beautifully that he can capture a large, fully armed caravan without losing a single soldier?
Of course it’s the bold and resourceful Qin Feng!
