Chapter 38: Chapter 38 Farewell
Hua Kai sat in the middle of his own caravan. The carriage was specially designed with seats for passengers. Three people sitting in the front did not seem crowded. Because the carriage was equipped with shock absorbers, Hua Kai did not feel any bumps when sitting on it, and the horse pulled it very easily.
The people of Huajiabao followed the caravan and were reluctant to leave. The long caravan continued to move forward on the official road for several miles. Many young people who were doing business for the first time were very curious about all this. They did not want to sit on the shaft to rest their feet, and ran around the caravan.
More than 10 miles out of Huajiabao, Hua Kai came to the most famous mountain here, called Wangfu Mountain.
Wangfu Mountain is only about ten feet high, and it looks no different from ordinary mountains. But at this time, the top of the mountain was full of people. Hua Kai estimated that there were probably hundreds of people.
Hua Kai saw his grandmother, mother, Xue Pan and others standing on the top of the mountain and looking at him quietly. He suddenly felt a strong sense of mission in his heart. He waved to his grandmother and mother. Grandpa Hua Xing rode over at this time.
"Okay, stop looking! The caravan will speed up after passing Wangfu Mountain. You sit in the car and don't leave the caravan easily. This is the first time for our family to go a long way, so we have to be extremely careful. If you are tired, just lie down and rest in the car." Hua Xing was worried that his grandson was too young to endure the hardships of this business trip, but this business trip was related to the future of the entire Huajiabao. Although Hua Kai was only 13 years old, he was the backbone of everyone.
"Grandpa, don't worry, I will stay in the carriage and not go out... Xiaoqiang, you stay in the carriage and don't come out."
Hua Kai saw Xiaoqiang sticking his little head out of the carriage and shouted hurriedly. Xiaoqiang retracted his head into the carriage when he heard his master's voice. Hua Kai didn't want to take it with him this time, but the little guy seemed to know that he was going to leave with the caravan. He followed him these days and didn't dare to leave, so Hua Kai took it with him.
The golden mastiff only recognizes one master in its life. When the master dies, it will starve to death and be buried with the master. Hua Kai was afraid that the little guy would do something when he was not at home, so he simply took it with him.
The several-mile-long caravan quickened its pace after passing Wangfu Mountain. The distance between the caravans gradually widened, and the footwork between the teams was very obvious at this time.
The Shen family and most of the family caravans in Guang County could not move fast because of the poor horses and heavy goods in the carriages. The caravans following the Han family to the Xiongnu were faster, and soon the two teams were divided into two. The Linhu merchant group led by the Shen family accounted for about 70%, and the carriages following the Han family caravan accounted for only about 30%.
Hua Kai sat in the carriage and watched the scenery on both sides of the road moving backwards. The shadow of Wangfu Mountain had disappeared from the caravan. The old team members had begun to tell the new team members about the things to pay attention to when traveling for business. Traveling for business is a very deep knowledge. If you want to really become a caravan leader, a novice needs at least two years of training.
At noon, the caravan had walked more than 40 miles. Some caravans were already unable to keep up with the pace and began to slowly distance themselves from the main force.
The Huajia caravan kept moving forward steadily, surpassing several caravans that slowed down, and began to move to the front of the caravan.
If you can, you should try to move forward when you follow the caravan. This is the experience left by the merchants for many years.
Generally, when a caravan encounters bandits, they will attack from the back of the caravan, because the caravan at the back is generally the weakest in physical strength, and the caravan guards are relatively weak. In addition, it is difficult for the caravan in front to rescue. Some caravans estimate that the enemy is too strong and will choose to abandon the caravan at the back. Last year, the Huajia caravan was abandoned by the Shen family.
The entire caravan set out in the morning and lasted until noon. The horses' physical strength had been almost consumed. Some people began to ask everyone to get off the carriage and walk to save some physical strength for the horses. Huajiabao has been walking in the middle and upper reaches of the entire caravan without rushing or slowing down.
In this world, ordinary people live in cities because cities can bring people a sense of security. Therefore, there will be no villages or pedestrians along the way. If you meet pedestrians on the road, they are basically bandits.
After noon, Wei Baotou told Hua Kai that they had walked 50 miles and were still 120 miles away from Xinwen County. Generally, the merchant group would walk for 5 hours in the morning at the beginning, and then rest for 4 hours in the afternoon. When the sun was not so scorching in the afternoon, they would walk for about 3 hours. If it was the second half of the business trip, they might only walk for about 6 hours in the morning.
When all the members of the merchant group felt tired, the Han family caravan in the front finally stopped. They surrounded all their carriages in a circle and made a fire to cook inside. When all the caravans saw the Han family stop to rest, they also looked for a suitable place to gather their own caravans together, so that if they were suddenly attacked, they could stop the reaction on the spot.
Because Huajiabao was at the front of the merchant group, Wei Baotou saw a good hill position as soon as the Han family stopped. After they pulled all the carriages together and unloaded the horses to rest, the caravans behind slowly caught up.
Er Zhuang led all the horses to a place not far away to let them eat some grass. Hua Xing organized everyone to make a fire and cook. After eating, he fed all the horses some fine feed, and then the people and horses began to rest.
Hua Kai and the family sat together to listen to Wei Baotou briefly tell some small stories on the trade road. Although these stories sounded less reliable than Yu Jun's storytelling, everyone was very happy to hear them.
The trade road is not only dangerous but also boring. Only when someone tells stories can everyone be energetic and spirited.
"Wei Baotou, you have told this story almost a hundred times! Is there any new one!" A leader shouted from the side.
"It's... Yu Shusheng, aren't you a storyteller? Tell everyone a story! Last time, your young swordsman didn't finish half of his story!" Er Zhuang is not very old but has been a leader of the caravan for 4 years. He looked at Yu Jun who was listening with relish.
"I promised the head of the family that I would not tell stories!" Yu Jun said in a deep voice.
"Just tell one! Anyway, everyone is free." A villager instigated.
"Yu Jun, this is not in the village. Since everyone wants you to tell a story, just tell one!" Hua Kai said.
"This..." Yu Jun lowered his head and remained silent, which surprised everyone, and the scene suddenly became a little cold.
"Report to the head of the family, I will not tell any more stories before my novel is completed. Please forgive me, head of the family." Yu Jun said.
After he finished speaking, many team members were dissatisfied. They asked you to tell a story but you still procrastinated. The head of the family said that you still acted like this when you were asked to tell it. Do you think you are not a member of the caravan, but a member of Huajiabao?
Hua Kai saw that everyone's eyes on Yu Jun were different all of a sudden. He only sighed that Yu Jun could not speak. Novelists have some rules, but you have to be more tactful when you refuse! Most of the caravans are rough people who have not even read "Spring and Autumn".
"In this case, let me tell you a story!" Hua Kai felt that this break time was also a good learning opportunity, and he could make full use of it.
"Okay!"
"Master, give us one!"
Everyone shouted happily when they heard Hua Kai was going to tell a story, completely forgetting Yu Jun beside them.
"Then I will tell you a story from the Three Kingdoms. It is said that the Han Kingdom had a vast territory, and the whole world was a vassal. The Han family was a large family. After hundreds of years of reproduction, hundreds of surnames appeared, and the Liu family was the main family. Because the Han family was powerful, no family in the world could compete with it, and the head of the Han family was called the Han Emperor by all the people. ... At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the world was in chaos... At that time, there were three brothers in Taoyuan who swore brotherhood. One of them was Liu Bei, who was a descendant of King Jing of Zhongshan..."
Hua Kai slowly told the story of the Three Kingdoms in his mind, but now he didn't dare to say "long-term unity will be divided. Long-term division will be united", because this world has never been unified, and wild beasts are still the biggest enemy of mankind.
Everyone in Huajiabao listened quietly. It was the first time they heard such a good story. Hua Kai told them a brand new world.
Hua Kai described Guan Yu and Zhang Fei as masters of Qi training, and all the counselors as thinkers with magic and supernatural powers. Liu Bei was a poor branch of the Liu family, and Zhang Fei was the head of a noble family who sold thousands of acres of good farmland and abandoned the village to save the Han Dynasty with Liu Bei.
Everyone listened attentively, and even Hua Xing sometimes couldn't help asking about details he didn't understand. Hua Kai would stop and explain carefully to everyone when someone asked.
The Three Kingdoms described by Hua Kai became a story of the interweaving of major noble families, and martial artists fighting for the Han Dynasty. The personalities of each character in the Three Kingdoms were described by Hua Kai as if they were real people.
When Hua Kai talked about the Three Kingdoms characters who were kind to the people, everyone laughed happily, and when they heard that someone succeeded by relying on tricks, everyone gritted their teeth.
Gradually, the righteous image of Liu Bei and his three brothers was quickly established in everyone's hearts, and everyone was happy to hear about Liu Bei and his three brothers every time.
"The Han family is gone!" Suddenly a soldier shouted.
"Hurry up! We haven't washed the cooking pot yet! Harness the horses."
The entire Huajiabao didn't notice that time was passing quickly. After resting for more than three hours, the Han family team started to hurry on.
They traveled more than 50 miles in the morning, and the merchant group walked another 40 miles in the afternoon. The entire Huajia team discussed the plot of "Three Kingdoms" told by the Huajia family in the afternoon. It was not until noon that they talked about Zhang Jue's death. Everyone was curious why this book was called "Three Kingdoms".
Hua Kai could feel that everyone looked at him differently in the afternoon. There was awe and admiration in respect. No one had ever thought that a story could be told so well.
Yu Jun looked at Hua Kai from time to time in the afternoon, with a different look in his eyes. He had long known that Hua Kai was a genius novelist, a more talented person than his ancestor Yu Chu. Wasn't he staying in Huajiabao hoping that this guess would be confirmed?
At night, the caravan stopped to rest at a place called Yu Village, 30 miles east of Xinwen County. When all the caravans had set up tents outside Yu Village for the night, Hua Kai was directing people to feed horses, make fire and cook. Someone from the Han family asked the Hua family to send a representative to the main tent.
The main tent was the camp of the Han family caravan. Hua Xing was afraid that his grandson would not know some of the rules of business for the first time, so he accompanied him to the Han family's main tent.
The Han family was also a caravan of the Hua family. They used carriages to form a circle. All horses were tied to the outside of the carriages. A tent was raised in the inner circle of the carriages. The main personnel of the team lived in the circle of the carriages, and the others set up a circle of tents around the carriages. Hua Kai saw the heritage of the seventh-grade family for the first time.
The Han family carriages were all made of the best wood. The carriages were light but very strong. There were 4 people sitting in the main tent. The leaders of the Han family were all in the Qi training realm. Among them, the middle-aged man sitting in the center was the strongest and had reached the 8th level of Qi training.
"All 13 representatives have arrived, and there are some new faces. I hope everyone can work together on this business trip. Today, I called all the representatives here to reiterate the following business rules. Some caravans may not be clear about it." The head of the Han family said, looking at everyone present.
"The caravans cannot fight on the road, otherwise the caravans of both sides will withdraw from the caravan. Those who can't catch up with the journey will choose to give up some goods. Tomorrow morning, we will stop outside Xinwen County for half a day and meet up with the caravan in Linzi City. At that time, everyone will look at the Han family flag and follow the embarrassment. It may be much more difficult to enter the Huhan tribe. You will have to pay a lot more money. So tomorrow, if you feel that your caravan is struggling, you can sell some goods in Xinwen County."
After the person in charge of the Han family said this, some people disagreed, and some people began to fall into deep thought. Everyone wanted to go to the Xiongnu to make more money, but if they left the big team and lost the protection of the Han family, it would be a problem whether they could go to the Huhan tribe.
The Han family mainly reiterated the rules of business. Fair trading cannot be sold as good, and the reputation of the entire caravan will be damaged. Finally, the Han family mentioned the formation of a "vanguard emergency team".
The role of the "vanguard emergency team" is to detect possible dangerous situations around, and gather all the high-level fighters of each caravan together so as to eliminate the crisis on the road to the greatest extent and not slow down the pace of travel. In case of friction with other caravans, it would be better for the Han family to handle it in a unified manner.
"Each family should not send too many people, but the cultivation should be at least Kaiyuan Perfection or above, and it would be better if they can send out masters of the Qi training realm. I will arrange the team for the caravan according to the situation of the masters sent by each family, and the order of the caravan will be determined in the future."
After the person in charge of the Han family finished speaking, everyone began to whisper. In the Shen family, there was no talk of drawing people from the caravan. Hua Kai looked at his grandfather, and his grandfather also shook his head to indicate that he didn't know.
"I will personally lead the Han family, don't worry. The high-level fighters are also pulled out so that the caravan can reach the Xiongnu Kingdom safely. I heard that many horse bandits appeared on the border between Linhu and Xiongnu this year. This way we can give the horse bandits enough deterrence. The 'advanced emergency team' will only gather when the caravan is on the road, and at other times they will return to their own teams."
Everyone was relieved when he said this, and the heads of each caravan were considering who they should send out.
Soon everyone determined their own personnel. The Hua family sent Hua Xing, whose strength ranked third among the 13 families. The first Jia family sent two early Qi training realm masters and three Qi dynamic realm masters. Hua Kai checked that at least three families in the ordinary families of this caravan had Qi training realm masters. These families were all closely related to the Han family, which showed that the Han family was much stronger than it seemed.