Chapter 385 "You all kneel down immediately and kowtow to Prince Buzhen to apologize!"
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After the loud shouts came a cacophony of curses and yelling, and a few breaths later, there was the sound of something being knocked over and falling to the ground.
After putting down her chopsticks, Li Qiutian went to pull Xie Mingyue.
Mr. Zhou bowed slightly to Yelü Jiujin to express his apology before asking Xie Mingyue, "Wife, why don't I go out and see what's wrong?"
Xie Mingyue nodded in agreement, but she did not go out herself; instead, she continued to sit in the felt tent.
Li Qiutian didn't leave either, but sat down next to Xie Mingyue, her right hand already touching the long sword at her waist.
Yelü Jiujin, however, remained calm and continued eating his mutton soup noodles. As he ate, he said to Xie Mingyue, whose expression had changed, "My friend from Dalong, don't be afraid. There are fights here every day. It'll be over in a bit."
But things didn't turn out as Yelü Jiujin had predicted. Instead, with a "bang," Mr. Zhou fell to the door of the shed.
Li Qiutian drew his knife in a flash. "Madam Xie, hide behind me. Let's go out and see what's going on."
Yelü Jiujin wiped his mouth haphazardly with the back of his hand and followed Li Qiutian and Xie Mingyue toward the entrance of the shed.
When they came out, they found the ground in complete disarray.
The pure white snowflakes of salt were scattered on the grass, and the beautiful brocade lay fallen to the side.
Li Qiutian looked up and saw the barbarian with a head full of braids stepping on the head of a servant of the Xie family, laughing "heh heh" as if he were something dirty.
"My wife!"
Xie Mingyue stepped forward and helped Mr. Zhou, who was lying on the ground, up. The three of them, no, including Yelü Jiujin who was standing to the side, should be four people, and they confronted the dozen or so people opposite them.
Mr. Zhou was helped up. Despite the pain, he quickly explained their current situation to Xie Mingyue.
Actually, it's very simple: someone wants to steal their goods.
Yes, it wasn't buying, it was robbing, blatant robbing!
Those people on the other side probably thought Xie Mingyue and her group were just new Han merchants with no connections or tribal leaders, and that they were easy to bully.
Upon seeing the priceless brocade and fine salt, the hard currency of the grasslands, on Xie's stall, they immediately had the idea of snatching the goods.
"...My lady, they pretended to ask about the price, saying they wanted to taste the quality of our snowflake salt."
Xiao Liu followed the rules and scooped some food for the person to taste. But when Xiao Liu handed the spoon over, the person pretended to take it but deliberately didn't, causing the spoon to fall to the ground.
Xiao Liu tried to scoop another spoonful, but they wouldn't let go of him, saying that Xiao Liu, a Han Chinese, looked down on them!
What happened next was quite simple: the other side captured Xiao Liu, and when the Xie family went to rescue him, the stall collapsed, and the snowflake salt and brocade fell haphazardly to the ground.
Then, Mr. Zhou came out to help, wanting to reason with the person or at least endure the pain and bleed to settle things peacefully.
As a result, the other side wouldn't let go, and even kicked Mr. Zhou to the ground.
That's the gist of it—a simple case of blatant extortion and plunder.
If it were an ordinary Han merchant, he might have been intimidated when he saw those dozen or so barbarians on the other side;
Not to mention, at this moment, several richly dressed barbarians with knives hanging at their waists emerged from behind the group in front.
Most caravans would swallow their anger for now, hoping to save face later.
But who are Xie Mingyue and the others?
They are Turks who came with Li Shiyue and Zhou Yiran's delegation!
They have powerful backers!
They are not afraid!
What are you trying to do?
Release our people!
This is a market town for the Turks; you are not allowed to act recklessly here!
Xie Mingyue stepped forward and spoke these words sharply to the group of noble barbarians opposite her.
Li Qiutian stood beside Xie Mingyue with a knife in her hand. She stared at the people opposite her and realized that they were people she had seen before!
"Haha, haha, haha!"
Before Li Shiyue could even tell Xie Mingyue who was on the other side, the barbarians started laughing loudly.
After laughing, the barbarians not only glared at Xie Mingyue with hostility, but also looked her up and down.
Then they pointed at the knife in Li Qiutian's hand with their fingers and then pointed at Xie Mingyue in the air.
No one on Xie Mingyue's side could understand the barbarian language. Oh, Yelü Jiujin could understand Turkic, but at this moment, he had already shrunk to the side.
Even though Xie Mingyue couldn't understand the barbarian language, she could guess from the lewd appearance of the people opposite her that they were saying some vulgar and obscene things.
However, as if to find a better excuse, the barbarian standing in front clapped his hands, and a Han Chinese man with a bowing and scraping posture walked out from behind them.
After the barbarian spoke a few words to the Han man, the Han man took a few steps forward and came to Xie Mingyue and the others.
The Han man, now looking like a smug fox who had gotten his way, with his belly sticking out, looked at Xie Mingyue with his ugly, slanted eyes, "You also know that this is Turkic territory?"
Who do you think is the person opposite you?
It was none other than Buzhen, the sixth prince of the Turks!
You all kneel down immediately and kowtow to Prince Buzhen to apologize!
Then hand over all your valuables as an apology to Prince Buzhen!
Hurry up!
Otherwise, none of you will be leaving this market today!
After saying these words, the traitor turned around and bowed and scraped to Bu Zhen. His fawning expression was so disgusting that it was repulsive at first glance!
At this moment, Li Qiutian finally had a chance to get close to Xie Mingyue and whisper in her ear: "The three people standing at the front across from us, the one in the middle is the sixth prince of the Turks, Buzhen, and the two people on his left and right are his cousins from the Heishui Mohe."
I saw all three of them that night at the banquet in October!
While listening to Li Qiutian's words, Xie Mingyue was pondering what they should do now to protect themselves and get out unscathed.
Did the report say they were actually from the Anton mission?
Or should we fight them head-on?
She couldn't just tough it out. This time, Xie Mingyue only brought her own servants to the market, along with Li Qiutian, who was protecting her closely.
Li Shiyue originally offered to protect Xie Mingyue and her group, but Xie Mingyue refused.
At the time, Li Shiyue did not insist. Li Shiyue and Xie Mingyue thought that no one could provoke Andong like this on Turkic territory.
However, Li Shiyue still asked Li Qiutian to protect Xie Mingyue.
As for kneeling down?
There's absolutely no way I'd kneel!
The brocade and fine salt on the ground were quite valuable. Although Xie Mingyue was somewhat reluctant to part with them, the money was nothing compared to her life.
Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, Xie Mingyue spoke to the other side: "We came with the delegation that came to Andong this time, and I have a sheepskin tag that Inspector Liang personally registered for us!"
Today, these goods are our way of apologizing to Prince Buzhen.
"These," Xie Mingyue said, glancing at the brocade and fine salt on the ground, "and these too, we'll give them all to Prince Buzhen!"
We hope that the prince will consider the delegation's feelings and allow us to leave.
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