Chapter 145 Merchant Group Crisis

From Changqing Pass to Ningzhou City, the scenery of Yiqiu State is in full view.

In contrast to Qin State, Yiqiu State pays more attention to noble families and despises ordinary people. Entering Ningzhou City, it is a small county with a population of less than 10,000. People on the street are all wearing tattered brocade clothes, and it is rare to see people wearing fine cloth and linen.

In Yiqiu State, only the children of noble families can wear brocade clothes and jade pendants. Ordinary people are poorly clothed and hungry. In order to enjoy more rights, some people from distant branches of noble families are unwilling to separate from their families. Over time, the number of noble families has increased, and the proportion of ordinary people has decreased.

Many children of noble families in Ningzhou City actually do the work of ordinary people, but they wear tattered brocade clothes just to express their noble family identity to others. Hua Kai also saw many serfs who look like grassland herdsmen here. They are the lowest level of society.

The reason why Yiqiu State is so powerful is that they have nearly one million noble families. Although many of these people can't make any contribution to the country, when the country is in danger, they can always be the first to fight for the country.

As for the policies and customs of Yiqiu and Qin, most people praise Yiqiu and belittle Qin, because Yiqiu can produce more new ideas and new culture, and the Yiqiu family likes to study bell and drum music, and the whole country seems more prosperous.

Hua Kai looks at these two countries from the perspective of two generations, and it is obvious that Qin has greater development potential. As the world's largest country, he has no objection even if Chu has a land area more than four times his, but Hua Kai knows that Qin's own problems are no smaller than Yiqiu.

Qin regards military force as the only goal of national development under the oppression of surrounding powers, which looks good, but when one day he finds that this country cannot last long by relying on military force alone, it may be too late to make up for its other shortcomings.

No longer consider these, the development and future of a country may not be determined by the people or even the monarch of this world. Sometimes in a certain environment, this country will naturally make its own choice.

Yiqiu State is mountainous, with few wild beasts. Basically, a noble family builds a city or a large manor to fight against wild beasts alone. In winter, there is rarely any help from others.

Compared with Guangxian City, the survival pressure here is less, there are more farmlands, and the people are at least not afraid of starving to death, so the density of cities and villages is much smaller than that of Qi State.

But there are also bad things here. Wild beasts are rare, there are few trees, the number of spiritual trees is dozens of times less than that of Qi State, and weapons and wooden furniture are much rarer than that of Qi State.

Different places have different lifestyles. Hua Kai experienced different customs and cultures in Yiqiu State. As he went north, the closer he was to the northern country Xiaoyuezhi, the more tents he saw. Yiqiu State is mainly nomadic, and the tribes of the northern grassland countries are all based on Yiqiu State. Therefore, Qin State has exhausted countless troops and food for so many years, but it has not been able to take over an inch of Yiqiu State.

On May 13, after more than ten days of long journey, Hua Kai finally arrived at the Xiaoyuezhi Kingdom in the north of Yiqiu Kingdom, 6,000 miles from Anyi City in Wei State.

Xiaoyuezhi Kingdom is just like a county town in the Central Plains. It is just a large tribe with a population of more than 100,000. It is attached to the Dayuezhi Kingdom in the northwest. Its main function is to buffer the Yiqiu Kingdom and Dayuezhi Kingdom.

After entering Xiaoyuezhi Kingdom, the grassland began to become barren. There was no forest on the road. The sun shone on the face. It was hot.

The three of them began to travel in the morning and evening. The vast grassland turned into flat grassland. They could walk thousands of miles a day. In two days, they crossed Xiaoyuezhi and entered the Buryat tribe in the southwest of the Xiongnu grassland.

As soon as they entered the Buryat tribe, Hua Kai saw a team of grassland cavalry coming towards the three of them. Hua Kai did not dare to negotiate with the other party peacefully. They brought two divine horses and seven BMWs. In the Central Plains, the noble families might consider their face and influence and not take action, but in the grassland, these big tribes would not have any scruples to rob.

Hua Kai and his two men ran ahead on horseback, and dozens of Buryat cavalrymen behind them chased them for more than an hour before giving up. They could not catch up with the speed of Hua Kai and his two men.

They traveled eastward for more than 2,000 miles from the Buryat tribe to the Chahar tribe. After the Chahar tribe, it was the Huhan tribe. Now the Hua family caravan has been trapped on the rocky beach for two days.

Hua Xing rode on the flames and looked at the horse bandits in the distance. The number of the other party had exceeded 20,000, but they still followed the caravan and were unwilling to launch an attack.

These horse bandits seemed to have the Guangxian caravan led by the Hua family in their grasp. They were unwilling to approach the caravan and have a direct conflict with it. They followed slowly at a distance of more than a thousand meters. As long as you show a little flaw, they will pounce on you like a wolf.

"Grandpa Hua, this horse bandit group has been following us for two days. We can't leave. If we leave them and they don't take the initiative to attack, it may be dangerous to enter our caravan like this." Huang Guangwen said to Hua Xing with a sad face.

"This bandit group has got us in their sights, and they are going to eat us up in one bite as usual. How long do we have to wait like this? The number of bandits seems to have increased a lot today, but when will there be a merchant group behind us!" Yue Jiateng said on the side.

"It's not a good idea to wait like this. The strength of Qi's merchant group has been reduced by more than half this year. These bandits have also seen this, so they are wasting us like this. I think we have to teach them a lesson." Er Zhuang waved his hand and said loudly at this time.

"Hehe, do they think we are a piece of fat meat? Then let them eat their teeth off... Tomorrow morning, all merchant groups will maintain the current formation and move forward slowly. All members of the 'emergency team' are ready to fight with me." Hua Xing shouted loudly while sitting in the main seat.

Even at this time, all the merchant groups of Guang County are still full of confidence in the Hua family. At night, everyone follows the Hua family's instructions to take turns to keep watch. Everyone should sleep when they should. Even if there is a problem, the Hua family will be there to support them!

At night, Hua Xing entered the [Family Secret Space] and exchanged information with Hua Kai and Hua Zichen. He knew that Hua Kai would reach the rocky beach area in about 3 days. He told Hua Kai the current situation of the caravan and asked him to stay outside the rocky beach.

"The horse bandits dare not get too close to us. They must know that there are many masters in our caravan. We can also use this to get out of their control!" After listening to his grandfather's introduction, Hua Kai couldn't help but think of the attitude of the horse bandits this time. It was obvious that someone had leaked their bottom to the horse bandits.

"Who leaked the news of our caravan to these horse bandits? Was it the Shen family? No, the Shen family does not have the strength to get involved with these grassland horse bandits. Could it be the Han family?" Hua Kai thought of the Han family, and finally thought for a moment that it was unlikely.

The Hua family brought the elite forces of Guang County. If they were all lost in the rocky beach this time, the influence of the Han family in Qi would also decline. He would not lose nearly a thousand elites in Guang County here to deal with the Hua family.

Suddenly Hua Kai thought of another hostile force in the family attribute panel. This time, the Bu family might be involved, but Hua Kai had no way to find out.

If so, the horse bandits followed the Guangxian Merchants just for profit. The merchant group had 8 Qi training masters, which might be able to take the initiative on the battlefield.

On May 18, the Guangxian Merchants led by the Hua family ignored the horse bandits a thousand meters away and slowly moved west along the road. Seeing this, the horse bandits sent 2,000 troops to approach the merchant group. Hua Xing brought more than 100 masters of the late Kaiyuan realm and above between the merchant group and the horse bandits, and seemed to want to rely on these 100 people to escort the entire merchant group to get rid of the 20,000 horse bandits.

"Dad, they stopped moving 200 meters away. Should we charge for a while?" Hua Zihuan asked Hua Xing while looking at the horse bandits not far away.

"Don't worry about it. Let the caravan continue on its way. If they dare to attack our merchant group, we will make them pay an unimaginable price." Hua Kai said while staring at the horse bandits in the distance.

The Hua family caravan stood motionless in front of the caravan. The 2,000 horse bandits organized a charge to kill the Hua Xing's 100 people, but Hua Xing was not moved at all. He seemed not afraid of the other side's charge. As long as they dared to approach the caravan, the Hua family would let them know what pain was.

But the horse bandit group seemed to know the power of the 100-man team. They actually wanted to lead the 100 people away, so that the nearly 20,000 horse bandits behind him would be dispatched to entangle the 100 elites of Hua Xing. The horse bandit group would then gather most of its forces to break through the caravan's defense, and then the 100 elites would be useless.

The caravans in Guang County closed the distance and moved forward slowly on foot. The 2,000 horse bandits on the other side stopped halfway through the charge. They also saw that this caravan was not afraid of fighting to the death with them.

All the caravans could not help but admire Hua Xing's courage. The 20,000 people on the other side did not kill them directly. If they were given a day, the caravan would enter the next rocky area, and the horse bandits would not dare to catch up.

At this time, the bandits were also quarreling. They just watched the "fat meat" slip away from their mouths. Wouldn't it be a waste of so many days of hard work? But who should consume the strength of the merchant group first? After a long discussion, they still couldn't come to a conclusion.

Every year, they robbed and killed the merchant group to rob the goods, not to die. After half a day of discussion, the bandits finally formed a team of 5,000 people, intending to rush and kill the merchant group first. As long as the opponent's strength is not too strong, there will always be a flaw. At that time, the remaining 15,000 bandits will give the merchant group a fatal blow.

Hua Xing also saw the actions of the bandits. The merchant group asked if they wanted to stop. Hua Xing shook his head and said no. If the caravan wants to successfully pass the rocky beach, it must fight with the bandits. At this time, if the caravan stops, they will rotate 5,000 troops to harass the merchant group behind them. In the end, it is better to kill them directly to let the other party recognize the strength of the Guangxian merchant group.