MLMD -Chapter 135 Stirring Up Trouble

As soon as Zhang Zongheng finished speaking, the aide smiled. “Your Excellency, there’s no need to rush. This humble student has already made inquiries. Aside from livestock and hides, that merchant caravan was also escorting a large amount of silver. Judging from the wheel tracks left behind, those stalls estimated there to be at least several tens of thousands of taels of silver.”

“Several tens of thousands of taels!”

Zhang Zongheng’s eyes immediately lit up. At this moment, he was an official about to leave office, his mind filled with thoughts of squeezing out one last big haul before departing. All the hypocritical restraint and pretended dignity that officials usually maintained had been tossed far out of his mind.

“Then how should we get our hands on those goods?” Zhang Zongheng asked, his voice carrying a faint hint of menace.

The middle-aged aide let out a sinister smile. “It’s very simple. We only need to do this, and then that…”

Under the cover of night, Datong lay immersed in darkness. As a city close to the frontier, a curfew was indispensable. Every evening at the hour of Xu, anyone without an official pass or special permit was forbidden from going out. Anyone who violated the order would be locked up for three days. As a result, the streets were completely silent at this hour.

As the largest inn in Datong, the Four Seas Inn had already shut its doors. All the guests had finished eating and were either resting or already asleep.

Suddenly, a burst of urgent knocking came from the main gate.

Bang bang bang… thud thud thud…

“Open up! Open the door! Hurry up and open the door for your father!”

The frantic knocking startled everyone inside the inn. Many travelers who had already gone to sleep were jolted awake.

“Coming… coming…”

The attendant, who had just been about to turn in for the night, was full of irritation as he went to the door. It took him quite some effort to open it. Before he could curse out loud, the sight before him gave him a terrible shock. A vast array of raised torches lit up the area brilliantly, and several hundred fully armed soldiers stood there, glaring at him like hungry tigers.

The officer at the front had a face full of bulging flesh. Upon seeing the attendant, he barked loudly, “We have received intelligence that spies have mixed into a merchant caravan that just returned from beyond the passes. By order of the Provincial Administration Commissioner, we are to inspect all caravans coming back from outside the passes. Everyone is to cooperate. Any resistance will be punished by immediate execution! Men, go in and search!”

“Yes!”

With a single command from the officer, hundreds of soldiers surged into the courtyard like wolves. Soon, panicked shouts and angry curses echoed throughout the inn.

Before long, the officer led his men into a large courtyard and drove everyone inside out. Nearly a hundred people—attendants, guards, and the like—were herded together. When they saw the courtyard packed with soldiers and blazing torches, their faces all turned pale.

The officer shouted, “Who’s in charge here? Step forward at once!”

A man in his thirties with a capable appearance quickly stepped out and cupped his hands. “Replying to you, sir, this humble one is the leader of this caravan.”

“Oh? You’re the leader?” The officer sized him up. “What’s your name? Where are you coming from and where are you headed? What’s loaded on the carts? Are there any Tatar spies among you?”

“Replying to you, General,” the man said. “My surname is Xiao, given name Ran. There’s nothing special on the carts—just some livestock and hides. I’m leading the caravan back to Yingzhou Prefecture.”

As he spoke, Xiao Ran wore a broad smile and stepped closer to the officer, quickly slipping a silver note into his hand.

Feeling the distinctive texture of the note, a trace of a smile appeared in the officer’s eyes. But immediately he noticed a middle-aged man dressed as a common soldier standing beside him, staring coldly in his direction. The officer’s smile vanished at once. He forcefully threw the silver note back at Xiao Ran and sneered, “Blind fool! As a mere merchant, you dare bribe an official of the court—your crime is doubled! Men, take all these carts away!”

The moment the officer finished speaking, the attendants and guards who had been standing quietly erupted. Some immediately tried to rush forward. Seeing this, the well-prepared officer sneered and raised his hand high. Dozens of soldiers armed with bows and crossbows stepped out behind him, drawing their weapons. The sharp arrowheads gleamed coldly in the torchlight.

The officer sneered, “You unruly commoners—don’t think that just because you’ve done a few trips beyond the passes you’re something special. Let me tell you, this is the realm of the Great Ming, not a place where you rabble can do as you please! If any of you think you’re tired of living, go ahead and try it. Let’s see whether your fists are harder or my powerful crossbows and sharp blades!”

At this moment, Xiao Ran quickly restrained the caravan’s attendants and guards, preventing them from moving forward.

Only then did the officer smile smugly. “Heh heh… I thought you had stronger backbones than this. Turns out you’re nothing special after all. Men—haul all these carts away!”

“Wait!”

Xiao Ran hurried forward a few steps and stood before the officer. Taking a deep breath, he said in a low voice, “General, this caravan belongs to Wuli Village of Yingzhou Prefecture and is under the command of General Mingwei. If you’re a bit short on funds, you can just say so. Our lord loves making friends, and if you were to—”

“Pah!”

Before Xiao Ran could finish, the officer spat a mouthful of phlegm onto him and sneered, “I don’t know any damned General Mingwei. All I know is that you people are carrying prohibited items of the court. According to the laws of the Great Ming, everything is to be confiscated. Men, take it all away! I’d like to see who dares to stop us!”

“Yes!”

The soldiers behind him shouted in unison. Soon, many of them stepped forward, hitched the carts to horses, and drove them out of the courtyard. As the carts were taken away, the attendants and guards watched with eyes splitting in fury. Some hot-headed men couldn’t help but rush forward to stop the soldiers, but all were blocked by Xiao Ran.

Xiao Ran’s actions were clearly seen by the officer. He said nothing, but the mocking look in his eyes said it all. Only after all the carts had been taken away did he sneer, “You know what’s good for you… let’s go!”

The soldiers came swiftly and left just as quickly. Before long, they disappeared from everyone’s sight. The attendants and guards immediately surrounded Xiao Ran.

“Leader Xiao, why did you stop us just now? Those carts contained thirty thousand taels of silver—the payment for the goods we bought beyond the passes! Are we really just going to let the soldiers take it?”

“That’s right, Leader Xiao! If we go back like this, how are we supposed to explain it to Lord Yue?”

Faced with their furious complaints, Xiao Ran took a deep breath and shouted, “What do you know? Didn’t you see the expressions on those men’s faces just now? I guarantee you—if we had made the slightest reckless move, none of us would have lived to see tomorrow’s sun!”

Someone asked, “Boss, what’s the background of those soldiers? How could they not even give our lord any face?”

Xiao Ran snorted coldly. “Although that officer claimed to be from the Provincial Administration Commissioner’s office, he couldn’t fool me. I’m certain those men were from the Governor-General’s residence. Those soldiers were all from the banner camp—their arrogant air gives them away. Ma Lao’er, make preparations immediately. At daybreak, we leave the city and return to Yingzhou.”

“Boss… shouldn’t we try negotiating with the authorities?” Ma Lao’er hesitated.

“Negotiate? This is clearly a setup against us. What good would negotiation do?” Xiao Ran’s face was frighteningly grim. “We’ll return to Yingzhou at once and report this matter to our lord—that’s the proper course. Just wait. This matter is far from over! Don’t worry—before long, we’ll make that scum who spat on me lick everything back up!”

That very night, the carts were rushed to the Governor-General’s residence. Growing impatient from waiting, Zhang Zongheng ordered the chests on the carts to be opened. When he saw box after box filled with gleaming white silver, Zhang Zongheng laughed so hard that the fat on his face quivered.

What he did not realize, however, was that he had already stirred up a very big trouble…