Chapter 41 : The Journey (2)
Borderlands, the lands that form the nation's boundaries, are highly valuable as frontline bases during wartime, but their value plummets in times of peace. Still, Yunnan was in a better situation than other border territories that had nothing. It had an environment well-suited for cultivating tea and mines that produced high-quality iron. Tea was a luxury resource, and iron was a strategic one. The wealthy went mad for luxuries, and the imperial family went mad for strategic resources, so there was no shortage of money.
Of course, where there is money, unsavory forces always gather. There were those who wielded ruthless violence like the Serpent's Path Union or the Black Serpent Union of the Unorthodox Faction, foreign powers that crept in stealthily, bands of wanted criminals who had fled from the Central Plains after committing crimes, and the Green Forest of the Eighteen Mountain Fortresses. All of them were capable of tormenting merchants with force.
But even so, the merchants of Yunnan were able to endure. That was because of the Diancang Sect.
The Daoists of the Diancang Sect held the virtue of "one good deed a day." They believed that if one performed a good deed each day, without a single interruption and without a single act of immorality, for 1,500 consecutive days, they would become a Terrestrial Immortal. Punishing evil men was a good deed.
The point of this story is that, until now, the merchants had considered the Daoists of the Diancang Sect to be a rather easygoing bunch.
They had failed to see their true nature.
"Fools, fools! Father, the general manager, they're all idiots. I knew this would happen."
Jin Sangran wept, her long hair tied in two ponytails swaying. She had tried to stop her father, the owner of the Jincheol Merchant Guild, over and over. She had told him not to provoke the Diancang Sect, clinging to his trousers and begging him several times. But her father had not listened to her and left. Her words, coming from a girl not yet of age, lacked credibility. No matter how much she had been called a prodigy or a genius, her words had clearly crossed a line.
The Diancang Sect is dangerous. You must not provoke them. They might resort to violence.
To the adults, her earnest pleas were regarded as nothing more than a child's nightmare, afraid the sky would fall. It was something to be ignored.
"Diancang Sect or Daoists, if you peel back one layer, they're all the same kind of people. Why don't they understand that?"
These people called martial artists were all the same, regardless of whether they were from the Orthodox or Unorthodox Faction. When words failed, they used force. Even when the situation was not in their favor, they used force. Since every conclusion was destined to be settled by force, you should not provoke them if you lack strength.
"Martial artists are all beasts!"
Even an ordinary merchant might feel the urge to kill someone who caused them a loss of thirty silver taels. But that was just a feeling. A martial artist would actually kill a person over a loss of thirty taels. Her father, ignorant of this fundamental difference, had gone with the owners of the other merchant guilds to confront the Diancang Sect.
That was already two hours ago. Enough time had passed for them to have returned if things had gone well, but still, no one had come back.
Jin Sangran's tears stopped. She shouted at the porters.
"We have to run away, quickly. The Diancang Sect will come."
"Young Miss, what are you talking about? Why would the Daoists of the Diancang Sect be coming?"
"How many horses do we have right now?"
"We have twenty in total."
"Then pack up everything valuable right now. And load it all onto the twenty horses!"
"Young Miss, what kind of joke is this?"
"I'm not joking right now. Shut up and move quickly."
This was urgent. If the Diancang Sect had really killed her father and the other guild masters as she predicted, they would immediately descend Mount Diancang to silence any witnesses. She had seen the martial artists' lightness skill once before; they were as nimble as swallows and as fast as the wind. If they didn't hurry, they would face a great disaster.
"Quickly! Quickly! You sluggards, please move faster!"
As Jin Sangran caused a commotion, the workers looked at each other awkwardly before starting to move. They packed valuable goods into bundles and lined up the horses. Once lined up, they saw there were not twenty horses but fifteen; they had forgotten that five had been lent to another merchant guild. It was something worth a stern scolding, but Jin Sangran suppressed her anger and mounted the fine horse at the very front.
"Listen carefully. Those of you who know how to ride, get on a horse. Those who don't, run to the government office right now and request protection."
"Young Miss, so..."
"Please! Just shut up and do as I say."
"What in the world is going on..."
"Whatever valuable goods are left in the guild are all your severance pay. Take as much as you can carry, and if you have someone you trust, hide close to them."
"Young Miss!"
"Everyone, let's go."
The decision was swift, and the action was swifter.
Before the martial artists of the Diancang Sect finished their great slaughter on Mount Diancang and descended the mountain.
She left Yunnan.
And that night.
"One, two, three, four."
"One, two, three, four."
"This side is a little short, isn't it, Daoist Hyeonyang?"
"I think so too, Daoist Hyeoneum."
"Did they run away?"
"They must have."
As they piled up the corpses of the people who had not believed Jin Sangran's words, the two Daoists of the Diancang Sect spoke.
"Can you track them, Daoist Hyeonyang?"
"When it comes to tracking, I am the best on Mount Diancang, Daoist Hyeoneum."
"Haha, my eyes see nothing. What is it that you see, Daoist Hyeonyang?"
"I see the tracks of those who, mad with greed for wealth, were heavily laden with their desires."
The hoofprints of fifteen horses, fully loaded with baggage, were clearly visible under the moonlight.
* * *
"It's raining, it's raining!"
"Heeeyah-!"
Yang Gwan and Jang So-gil ran like the wind and threw open the doors of the shrine. A cloud of dust rose, but they were in no position to worry about it now. They hurriedly unloaded their baggage, stacked it neatly inside, and tied the horses under the eaves. As soon as they did, the rain began to pour down with a whooshing sound. Yang Gwan prodded the poorly maintained eaves, which were dangling under the weight of the rainwater, with his spear and said.
"That was a close call. We were almost in big trouble."
"We worked so hard to earn this money, it would have been absurd to lose it all. If Shu brocade gets wet, its value drops by ninety percent. That was truly fortunate."
"Should we clean the inside first, or should we reinforce the eaves to make a place for the horses to take shelter? There's a stable, but it's in such bad shape I'm worried the horses will get wet."
"Let's reinforce the eaves and use them. The people we saw coming from the west will need to use the stable, won't they?"
"Come to think of it, there were people like that. I'll check on them now."
Yang Gwan leaped like a flying squirrel and climbed a tree. From the treetop, he gazed to the west and then shook his head.
"They're running without changing their course. They'll pass by here in about fifteen minutes."
"So, what do you think they are?"
"Judging by the baggage hanging all over their horses, they look like merchants."
"As I thought, merchants."
When Yang Gwan came down, Jang So-gil tossed him a dry cloth. Yang Gwan caught it, wiped his face, and naturally headed for the eaves. Martial artists had the advantage of being strong, so they didn't need tools when fixing facilities like this. He tore off planks as if peeling off dried rice cake and repaired the eaves. As he was doing so, Jang So-gil stood with his arms crossed, gazing to the west.
"Young Master So, do you know who they are?"
"Seventy percent chance they're merchants running from the rain. Twenty percent chance they're merchants from Yunnan who fled to escape the Diancang Sect. Ten percent chance they're amateur merchants being chased by the Green Forest bandits."
"Uh, then how should we respond?"
"If they're amateur merchants, it's none of our business. Do you know the law of the Green Forest?"
"The law of the Green Forest?"
The law of the Green Forest is extremely simple.
Pay the protection fee.
This protection fee has a dual meaning.
The first is to pay the protection fee directly to the Green Forest.
The second is to pay a protection fee to the martial artists of a sub-sect or an escort agency to receive protection from the Green Forest.
Whether it's the Green Forest, a sub-sect, or an escort, merchants have to pay a protection fee to someone.
A merchant who does not pay the protection fee cannot be protected by anyone.
"The official roads are the lifeblood of the Central Plains. They are the blood vessels that allow blood to flow. So the government officials protect the roads, and believing in that, there are sometimes idiots who break the law of the Green Forest. They do it to save a coin or two on protection fees. I've never seen one of them live to a ripe old age."
"But still, a life is precious. Shouldn't we help?"
"Don't. If we get on the bad side of the Green Forest bandits, we'll be the ones in big trouble. This is the fault of the one who broke the law in the first place. It's common sense to know that much if you're going to engage in commerce. Tsk."
"Then what if they're just merchants caught in the rain?"
"In that case, we'll give them a corner of the shrine and the stable, and spend the night together."
"I understand. But if they are merchants from Yunnan..."
"If that's the case..."
The corners of Jang So-gil's mouth lifted.
"No matter what, I must make the leader of that group my general manager."
"Why is that?"
"The fact that merchants from Yunnan are now in Hubei means they've been running for their lives ever since the slaughter began. It means they fled before the Diancang Sect's encirclement could even form, which means they have the brains to read the flow of events and the drive to act immediately on what they realize. Such a person is bound to be a good merchant. A very seasoned merchant, I'd say."
"So the twenty percent chance means it's unlikely."
"That's right. So just focus on fixing the eaves."
"Understood."
There was no way he would let his beloved horse, Yang Hwangbi-jeon, get wet.
Yang Gwan moved quickly.
Just as the repairs on the eaves were finishing.
"We're saved."
A group of merchants ran toward the shrine. They had seen the light from the shrine. The young woman at the lead, Jin Sangran, led her horse into the stable, and the others followed suit, leading their horses in. The stable was narrow, barely able to fit three horses. The roof was in poor condition and leaking rain, so they immediately found planks and reinforced the stable. It was a rather skilled movement. They're not Green Forest bandits pretending to be merchants, Jang So-gil observed, and just then, Jin Sangran approached and bowed her head.
"Thank you for letting us use the stable."
"There's a saying that all men within the four seas are brothers. Shouldn't merchants help each other out?"
"Thank you for your kind words. Would it be alright if we joined you?"
"A shrine is originally for travelers. It is not mine, so how could I refuse?"
As Jang So-gil displayed his manners as smoothly as flowing water, Yang Gwan flinched in surprise. The Jang So-gil he knew would have demanded money and then some, but for some reason, he was quiet this time. The idea that a shrine was for travelers was just a saying; on a rainy day, a shrine belonged to whoever got there first, and they were king. Fights to the death over the right to a shrine for one night were commonplace, so demanding money was actually the gentlemanly thing to do. At a time when he could be making money, why was he being so humble?
As Yang Gwan looked at Jang So-gil with a puzzled expression, Jang So-gil smiled inwardly.
'My goodness, this is a big catch.'
The clothes the two men were wearing were made of hemp from Yunnan. Judging by the color of the iron used in the horse tack, it was also iron from Yunnan, so they were clearly people from Yunnan.
So who was the highest-ranking person among them? Who was the one who came up with the plan to escape from Yunnan all the way here?
Jang So-gil's eyes scanned the group sharply. Then his gaze stopped on the young girl.
The jade hairpin awkwardly pinned in her twin ponytails was a jade hairpin from Mount Yuhyeong, worth at least a hundred silver taels, and her clothes were Shu brocade. Her shoes were tiger-step shoes. Each item was a luxury good that ordinary commoners could never even dream of seeing. And yet, amusingly, the overall combination was not very harmonious.
'That means she didn't wear those luxury items because she likes them, but because she grabbed every expensive thing in her house and wore it. Except for her, everyone else is plainly dressed and unremarkable. They don't look like merchants, just porters and workers.'
The conclusion was clear.
These were merchants from Yunnan, and their leader was the young lady with the shyly blushing face.
"It may only be a connection for one night, but let's get along well."
Jang So-gil smiled brightly.
(End of Chapter)