Chapter 380: The carriage and horse business was robbed]
Seeing him like this, Shen Fenghe asked, "What's wrong?"
Shopkeeper Zheng let Chen Fenghe into the inner room, then whispered, "What I was worried about has finally happened. Last night, our clerk was robbed by a group of bandits on his way back from delivering the goods. He was robbed of the eighty taels of silver he had collected for the goods, as well as our horses, mules, and mule carts!"
Upon hearing this, Chen Fenghe couldn't help but frown and asked, "Are our driver and fellow drivers safe?"
Shopkeeper Zheng said, "Those bandits kept their word. Our men handed over their belongings as you had instructed, and they took the money and retreated back into the mountains. They didn't hurt anyone."
Upon hearing this, Chen Fenghe smiled and said, "We are fortunate that our people are safe and sound. I still say what I said before, I won't ask you to compensate for the losses. Tell everyone not to worry."
Shopkeeper Zheng breathed a sigh of relief. Although Shen Fenghe had said so before, that was several dozen taels of silver. How could he just let it go? So he didn't believe it in his heart.
Now seeing that Shen Fenghe was most concerned about the safety of the people after hearing about this matter, and then said again that he would not pursue the matter, he finally believed it and couldn't help but respect her in his heart.
I don't know where this boss came from. Eighty taels of payment for the goods, plus the mule and horse carriage, was almost one hundred taels, and they were all robbed. This boss didn't even change his expression.
If it were him, he would have been so heartbroken that he would have vomited blood!
Shopkeeper Zheng said again, "Boss, I suggest that we should not put up those flags on the trucks from now on. When it comes to transporting goods, the most important thing is to keep a low profile. Otherwise, if it happens again, there will definitely be a second time, and I'm afraid the losses will be even greater in the future!"
Chen Fenghe didn't answer, but asked first: "Manager Zheng, you have been in this area for many years. Do you know which mountain and who robbed us this time?"
Shopkeeper Zheng replied, "I heard from the coachman that there's a group of bandits active in the Huling area, and their stronghold is called Huling Stronghold. They're the most famous bandit group on the road from our town to Youzhou City. However, they don't rob people on the official road. Most of the time, they rob merchants who bring goods from the south here and intend to secretly sell them to the Northern Rong. Those merchants are smugglers and usually don't dare to use the official road. Even if they are robbed, they can only consider themselves unlucky. No one dares to report it to the authorities, otherwise they might not only not get their goods back, but they will be arrested and executed by the government. Therefore, Huling Stronghold is a gang of bandits, and the government doesn't intervene, so they are fearless. I just don't know why they suddenly came to rob our goods that were traveling on the official road this time."
After hearing this, Chen Fenghe couldn't help but frowned and didn't answer for a while.
Seeing this, Shopkeeper Zheng tentatively asked, "Boss, are you asking this because you want to report to the authorities to eliminate those bandits and get your money back? If that's the case, it's better not to report to the authorities."
Chen Fenghe was stunned and asked curiously, "Why? If an ordinary person was robbed by bandits, wouldn't the most appropriate thing to do be to report it to the police?"
Shopkeeper Zheng smiled and said, "Boss, you don't know. If it were just some ordinary thief who robbed us, reporting it to the authorities might be helpful. But with bandits like those at Huling Village, firstly, they've been able to rob each other and live in peace with the government for years because they pay dividends to the government every year. Otherwise, the government wouldn't have turned a blind eye. Secondly, there's a long history of tigers in Huling. The government has sent troops to suppress the bandits before, but they encountered the tigers before they could even find the bandit camp. Many soldiers were mauled to death or injured, unable to escape, so how could they even think of suppressing the bandits? Over time, the government gave up on suppressing the bandits."
After hearing this, Chen Fenghe nodded and said with a smile, "So that's how it is. However, we still have to keep our carriage and horse company flag flying. We can't just get scared and take it down because of this one robbery. Otherwise, if those bandits find out, they'll think we're weak and we'll inevitably be robbed again in the future."
Upon hearing this, Shopkeeper Zheng became anxious and said, "Boss, are you really going to do this? If those bandits get greedy and come back to rob us again, we'll suffer huge losses. Luckily, this time it was your own goods, so you said no compensation. But if it was an outside customer's goods, we would have to pay the full price. If this happens two or three more times, this carriage and horse business will definitely close down!"
Chen Fenghe smiled and said, "Of course. Firstly, as you just said, the bandits from Huling Village don't usually rob people on official roads. So, last night might have been a sudden incident, and there's no guarantee it'll happen again. Secondly, we're not smuggling, we're doing legitimate business. We've been robbed repeatedly on official roads, and even if the government didn't do anything once or twice, they can't always do it, right? I don't think those bandits would dare to act too recklessly. Thirdly, if they surrendered after being robbed once, our customers would see that, and the trust we've worked so hard to build would vanish immediately. Then, our business would be even more difficult to sustain."
Shopkeeper Zheng was stunned for a moment. These ideas were exactly opposite to his own. But when he thought about it carefully, he felt that what the boss said made sense.
He was determined to take a cautious approach, but his boss was taking a more dangerous approach.
Seeing that Manager Zheng was still hesitant, Chen Fenghe smiled and said, "Manager Zheng, just do as I say. If we get robbed again, whether it's my own goods and money, or the customers', our carriage and horse agency won't have to compensate. I'll handle it myself. Just tell everyone not to worry. One more thing..."
As she spoke, she lowered her voice slightly and said, "From today on, you will set aside an extra ten taels of silver from your account and give it to the driver. If the bandits from Huling Village come to rob us again, you will have the driver take out these ten taels of silver and tell them that if they are more lenient and let our caravan pass, these ten taels of silver will be given to them free of charge. In the future, every first day of the month, you will also give them a few taels of silver for tea and water. Let's see what they say. If they don't agree, then we can continue as before. As long as they don't harm our lives, let them take all the silver, money and goods."
Shopkeeper Zheng looked bewildered: "Boss, I don't quite understand. They robbed us, so why should we give them more money?"
Chen Fenghe smiled and said, "I have my own reasons, just do it."
Manager Zheng had no choice but to agree.
After Chen Fenghe finished explaining the matter, he and Manager Zheng came out from the inner room.
As soon as they opened the door, they saw a waiter peeking towards the door. When he saw them come out, he immediately turned his head away as if he was doing something.
Chen Fenghe glanced at the clerk indifferently, without showing any expression. Accompanied by Manager Zheng, she walked out of the store and disappeared around the corner.
However, she did not go back directly to a deserted place through space as usual, but quietly teleported back to a secluded place in the backyard of the store, where usually no one would come. It happened to be where she could see the driver and the guys resting.
I saw that the guy who was peeking out before was indeed talking to a rickshaw driver named Zhang.
They were quite far away, so Chen Fenghe didn't hear what they said, but it didn't matter. She just had to wait and see what happened in the next month or so.
Chen Fenghe didn't stay long and went straight into the space and returned to Shili Village.
In the following month, just as Chen Fenghe had expected, the goods of the carriage and horse company were robbed several times.
Every time, either the driver surnamed Zhang or the other guy would escort the rickshaw. However, when both of them were escorting the rickshaw, it had never been robbed.
And without exception, all the goods looted were Chen Fenghe's.
Chen Fenghe wasn't anxious, but Shopkeeper Zheng was. He said, "Boss, even if you have a mine at home, you can't afford to be robbed every other day like this? Although we don't have to pay for it, and you've covered it all, it's not a big deal. Our carriages are still flying flags, and everyone in Youzhou City is almost aware that our carriage and horse business was robbed! Who will dare to come to us for business in the future?"
Chen Fenghe smiled and said, "Did you pay the extra ten taels of silver I asked you to give last time? Did you also carefully convey the instructions to those bandits every time?"
Shopkeeper Zheng said, "Oh! My good boss! We always do as you tell us, but now there are dozens of taels of silver and goods to rob. How could they stop just for ten taels of silver and a monthly tribute of three taels of silver? Boss, you're giving away an extra ten taels of silver for nothing. I'm afraid those bandits are almost laughing to death!"
Chen Fenghe blinked and asked, "Manager Zheng, are these bandits really from Huling Village? They usually don't rob people on the official roads, so why are they so arrogant this time? And... they specifically targeted our family. As the saying goes, even a cornered rabbit will bite. Aren't they afraid that we'll report them to the authorities?"
Upon hearing this, Shopkeeper Zheng was stunned for a moment.
After hearing what Chen Fenghe said, it did seem a bit strange. Why would the wealthy Huling Village risk robbing people on the official road? And besides their Gu's carriage and horse business, they hadn't heard of any other families being robbed.
Chen Fenghe continued to ask, "Do you think... could it be that someone is pretending to be from Huling Village?"
Upon hearing this, Shopkeeper Zheng immediately shook his head and said, "That won't happen. Huling Village has always only robbed people of their wealth, not their lives. As soon as they appear, they will display a token unique to Huling Village. Once the robbed person sees this token, all they have to do is hand over their goods, and their life will be saved. Therefore, this token is well-known in this area, and all our drivers recognize it. Boss, why don't you close down for a few days? This is unbearable..."
After hearing this, Chen Fenghe shook his head and said, "We can't close down the business. Just arrange the shipment as usual. I'll take care of this matter."
Shopkeeper Zheng said with a heavy face, "Boss, are you planning to report this to the authorities? I'm afraid those bandits have gotten their fill of this and are already thinking we've been taken advantage of. The authorities might not even intervene..."
Chen Fenghe comforted him a few more times, letting him relax, and then left.
She asked someone on the street to draw a map, roughly marked the location of Huling, and then teleported directly to that vicinity through space.
It turned out that Huling was a northern extension of the Yanshan Mountains that they had passed through during their exile.
Yanshan Mountain is full of mountains and ridges, and has always been frequented by scattered soldiers and thieves from the Northern Rong or bandits from the Dayu Mountains. However, because the mountains are complex, winding and deep, it is possible to cross Hejian Prefecture directly without passing through other towns such as Youzhou, so the desperate smugglers have forced themselves to create a complex wild road.
Where there is a road, there is a response. Chen Fenghe discovered that this area was located in the mountains and should be very poor. However, all the villages he saw looked very wealthy without exception. They were no worse than the villages near the prosperous towns, and at least a hundred times better than the dilapidated houses in Shili Village.
However, after a little thought, I figured it out.
So many smugglers took the risk to pass through here. It is impossible for them to sleep in the open air all the time. They also need to stay in hotels. These villages along the way must be doing this for their livelihood.
After walking for a while, Chen Fenghe saw the sign of a teahouse fluttering in the wind. She walked over, sat down and ordered a pot of tea.
After taking two sips of tea, Chen Fenghe called the waiter over, took out a piece of silver and placed it on the corner of the table, and asked him about the route the merchants took.
When the waiter saw the silver coins, he looked at Chen Fenghe warily, but in the end he obediently pointed her in a direction.
Chen Fenghe took out another piece of silver and asked, "Where do the heroes of Huling Village usually hang out?"
The waiter became even more wary when he heard this and asked, "Why are you asking this?"
Chen Fenghe didn't answer and took out another piece of silver.
The waiter looked at it for a moment, then lowered his voice and said, "It's also in that direction leading into the mountains. There's a narrow path that looks like a crack in the sky, which is a must-go for merchants... Sir, you are a spy for the government, right? If you capture anyone from Huling Village, don't tell them I told you, otherwise my whole family will be in danger..."
After Chen Fenghe asked what she wanted to know, she nodded and whispered "Don't worry", then she went in the direction the waiter pointed.
Arriving at the so-called "One Line of Sky" path, Chen Fenghe found a relatively secluded place to hide and observed secretly.
After a while, a merchant disguised himself as a farmer, accompanied by a porter, and pushed a wheelbarrow past through the path.
Just as they reached the middle of the trail, suddenly more than a dozen people rushed out from all directions, including the cliffs of the narrow passage, and surrounded the two men.
The two men still wanted to play innocent and beg for mercy, saying that the things on the cart were just some chaff for pig feed and were worthless. However, the leading bandit chopped them on the shaft of the cart with a knife, and they were so scared that they immediately knelt down.
The bandits lifted the cloth covering the wheelbarrow and saw several boxes. When they opened them, they found rolls of exquisite Suzhou and Hangzhou silk!
The handicraft industry in Beirong was underdeveloped, and these silks and satins sold very well in Beirong and were expensive, so merchants liked to smuggle these things and sell them.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
