Although the Jia family was powerful, they were ultimately a family from Qingzhou.

However, the location of this brokerage firm was too far away, and the Jia family had no way of establishing any relationship with these bandits.

Besides, they are just businessmen and don't have the authority to maintain a large private army; having some guards is already quite good.

At such a distance, they naturally wouldn't dare to easily provoke these local bullies.

"If that's the case, why don't you find a security escort agency?"

"If you need a security escort agency, I have one readily available. I can help Mr. Jia get introduced to one."

Seeing how considerate Liu Feng was of him, Jia Huating was truly moved.

"No need, I don't do this business every day."

Jia Huating hurriedly waved his hand.

"There are several escort agencies in Qingzhou, some of which are quite large."

"However, those escort agencies are all the kind of people who take money but don't do their jobs. In the end, the client has to step in and spend money to get rid of the trouble."

“We invited them twice before. The first time, the housekeeper went with them, but they didn’t dare to fight back after encountering the bandits. The bandits still took our things without hesitation.”

"The second time, the steward took it upon himself to find a security escort agency, but after hearing about the bandits' prowess halfway there, he secretly slipped away in the middle of the night."

Liu Feng was extremely surprised.

Is this what you call a security escort agency?

Escort agencies rely entirely on their reputation for survival; they'd rather lose their heads than lose face.

"A security escort agency like this? How can it even stay in business?"

"There's nothing we can do. There are only three escort agencies in the entire Qingzhou. We can only accept our bad luck."

Jia Huating gave a wry smile.

Liu Feng nodded, but did not continue speaking.

This is a business opportunity! Since the escort agencies in Qingzhou are so unreliable, we can have Wu Santong open up the market in Qingzhou.

We can't miss such a great opportunity!

They camped in a mountain that night, and the next day they traveled all day. It was almost dark when they finally saw the brokerage firm in the distance.

This place is incredibly large compared to the brokerage firms Liu Feng visited before; it's practically a city.

Not only are there stone walls for defense, but also a series of arrow towers standing inside.

From the outside, it looks like a huge castle.

Moreover, it was heavily guarded.

Is this area really that chaotic?

Liu Feng asked with a smile.

"The main reason is that this place has a special location. There is only one such place within a radius of several hundred miles. This place can connect Youzhou and Yanzhou, and it can also connect with the Northern Barbarians."

"All around were small hills."

"All sorts of people come and go from this place."

"With such a large fortress in charge, of course things will be chaotic."

Compared to Siwa Village, where Liu Feng lives, although it is also at the intersection of three prefectures, its geographical location is much better.

With a large border city like Tianyong City nearby, it's naturally much safer than here.

During his two-day journey, Liu Feng only saw two small county towns, and villages were even fewer.

In some villages, there is no smoke from cooking fires at all; they are just ruins.

In a place like this, the county town's garrison would certainly be small and weak, making it easy for bandits to occupy the area, so a bit of chaos is understandable.

"This brokerage firm has managed to survive in such a place and grow to such a scale."

"I'm afraid many of the slaves inside came from bandits, and they have developed a symbiotic relationship with the bandits in the surrounding area."

"That's true, but most of the bandits were deliberately crippled."

“Some people need people like that, but we don’t.”

Jia Huating explained to Liu Feng with a smile.

As they spoke, the two had already arrived at the foot of the city wall of the brokerage firm.

However, Liu Feng did not encounter any bandits or mountain thieves blocking his way along the way.

The guards here were very familiar with the Jia family's insignia. Upon seeing that it was a Jia family carriage, they quickly opened the city gate and let them in.

Upon entering the fortress, Liu Feng was greeted by rows upon rows of rooms of different sizes on both sides, and even an exquisite restaurant.

There are also ordinary warehouse-type buildings, like large warehouses, and even dungeons.

Feng also saw a prison that looked like a livestock shed, which housed many people.

In these prisons, most of the men had no clothes to wear, only a piece of cloth to cover their private parts.

It was still very cold that season, so they could only huddle together in the straw pile for warmth.

My daughter is slightly better off, but she only has a very thin layer of clothing, and it's full of holes.

With so many people crammed together, there's no dignity to speak of.

This is just the cheapest prison in this brokerage castle.

Further up, the prisoners were even more valuable slaves, so they were dressed relatively better, and their cells had more straw to keep them from the wind and rain.

Liu Feng had no idea what the situation was further away.

Because his eyes can only see so much right now.

Not far away was a large open space where a carriage had just stopped, carrying a whole load of slaves.

Several guards were pulling them off the carriage one by one.

The newly arrived slaves were all panicked, their eyes filled with fear.

Before long, a portly merchant went up to inspect them one by one.

This is how these slaves are classified. He doesn't use any superfluous words, only three levels: upper, lower, and so on.

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