Chapter 1 Nothing Difficult with an Experienced Guide

With Wei Li'an, an experienced guide, there was naturally no problem passing through Zongwang Village. In order to pave the way for Wei Li'an and leave a deeper impression of him on Qiang Wang and the Xi Yu father and son, Ye Tao ordered that the amount of goods left behind be slightly less than Qiang Wang had requested. It could be said that he was giving both sides face and a way out. Although there were some twists and turns, it was indeed a situation that could be considered a win-win. Xianju Village was even less of a problem. Xianju Village was still adopting a very laissez-faire policy towards passing merchant caravans. As long as they paid the toll, they could do whatever they wanted. They warmly welcomed merchant caravans seeking refuge, and naturally, they would occasionally exaggerate the dangerous situation in Yinan, so that those merchants would sell their goods to them at low prices. Xianju Village benefited a lot from this. As for those merchant caravans who wanted to risk passing through the war zone, Xianju Village would advise them, but would never stop them. In this day and age, there were still some brave merchant caravans who were willing to take risks at this time in order to pursue higher profits. Counting combat effectiveness and luck, a very small number of merchant caravans actually succeeded.

However, when Ye Tao and his party arrived at Xianju Village, they still attracted everyone's attention. This merchant caravan, which did not look ordinary at first glance, readily sold its goods and even most of its carriages to Xianju Village. At the same time, Ye Tao and his party purchased a small building and a courtyard in Xianju Village, leaving behind five or six people, plus a few reliable people introduced by Wei Li'an who were not yet affiliated with any Dongping organization, to guard some documents and materials that were not easy to move, as well as a considerable amount of cash. According to Ye Tao and Tan Weixin's style, the cash would naturally be handed over to the local intelligence bureau and Qihai Trading Company personnel in Yinan to provide them with convenience. The other things would be transported back to Yunzhou after the war subsided.

Afterwards, Ye Tao temporarily chartered a forge and a woodworking shop to modify a total of five carriages. Although the technology was limited and there were no good materials, the performance of the modified carriages was greatly improved in all aspects. Ye Tao actually used simple materials and structures to create four-wheel independent suspension carriages. The lengthened shock-absorbing wheelbase and sturdy chassis greatly increased the carriage's ability to pass through rugged terrain. The carriage walls used iron bars cast into a frame, inlaid with handmade iron wire mesh, and then covered with double-layered silk, which was the internal frame of the entire carriage. The inner and outer layers were also covered with two layers of thin wood. Although this type of carriage could only comfortably accommodate four people, or somewhat crowdedly accommodate six people, in order to take into account the balance of weight, it was basically impossible to penetrate with stray arrows, or even crossbows at close range. Unless they encountered heavy weapons such as the Shenbi crossbow (divine-armed crossbow) or ballista, or were directly shot at close range by strong archers, they could basically ensure the safety of the occupants in the carriage.

The modification of the five carriages took a total of six days, and in these six days, the entire merchant caravan completed the transformation from a seemingly harmless merchant caravan to a murderous military force. This transformation surprised everyone in Xianju Village even more. This time, the soldiers of the Special Operations Camp did not bring the military uniforms specially designed for them in Yunzhou all the way, but weapons and some small equipment were never separated from their bodies. They purchased a considerable amount of coarse cotton cloth and other things in Yinan, and they equipped themselves with those simple and durable clothes and equipment in just a few days. Weapons and small equipment could be hung in the positions they were most familiar with. In an emergency, this familiarity and ease might come in handy. The Special Operations Camp, martial artists, and the guard team were also mixed and reorganized according to their respective characteristics. A total of 300 people were divided into six teams of 50 people each. The remaining people, such as Liu Yong, Jin Ze, Guan Huan, and Zhou Rui, were paired one-on-one to ensure the safety of Ye Tao, Tan Weixin, and the maid Sisi. In fact, Sisi felt that she might be a burden to everyone and hesitated whether to stay in Xianju Village and wait until the war subsided, but Zhang Wei, who was specially assigned to the core team to protect important people this time in order to strengthen the core force, vowed to protect Sisi. Seeing that Zhang Wei was obviously moved by Sisi, and Sisi seemed to be a little moved, everyone was happy to see it happen. In fact, Sisi should be with Tan Weixin most of the time, hiding in the carriage, so it should be fine.

After staying in Xianju Village for a while, they set off. Wei Li'an spent a lot of time collecting intelligence in the past few days, and finally determined the road they would take to Yanan Port. Each firm had different relationships, and the transportation methods were divided into water and land, and the transportation costs and the transportation time of the goods had to be considered. There were quite a few routes from Xianju Village to Yanan Port, but this time, in order to ensure speed, Wei Li'an suggested taking a route that was mainly land, with only two ferry crossings. Although it was slightly longer, it was more suitable for Ye Tao and his party, who had a large number of horses.

When they left Xianju Village and headed towards Yanan in a mighty manner, they didn't hide it much. They had attracted too much attention in the past few days, and it was really impossible to leave secretly. Since this was the case, it was better to be generous.

"My lord, a merchant caravan is following us. It's not someone from the Bei Yi Trading Company. It looks like an independent merchant caravan. What are we going to do?" A scout came to report the situation after an hour of departure.

"If they can keep up, let them follow. Our marching speed has only just begun to show its effect." Ye Tao said lightly. Ye Tao was not traveling in the carriage, but riding a horse with everyone. After all, he was a leader who controlled one side, and his riding skills were now quite good, although not as good as those of the grassland tribes who grew up on horseback.

Their marching speed was indeed gradually increasing. Due to the complex situation in the war zone, they could not send out scouts far away, but instead sent observers to several high points near the marching route. Generally speaking, there was one in front, two on each flank, and one in the rear, for a total of six observation points, each with a group of four people. The trailing group immediately returned to the team if they lagged behind slightly, and a team would take over the observation task at another distance. The flanks and the front were also rotated in this way. This marching method and observation method were quite different from the Special Operations Camp's highly emphasized and advocated method of lurking and reconnaissance. As everyone gradually became familiar with it, it became smoother and smoother, and the handover of several observation posts gradually did not require the main force to fine-tune the marching speed to cooperate. The Yunzhou army, Ye Tao's army, was unmatched in the world in its precision of operation.

After more than two hours, when the speed of their party increased, the merchant caravan behind them was increasingly unable to keep up, but the merchant caravan behind them actually sent a group of people to take a shortcut and bypass them to their front, asking to see their manager. This time, since they were in the wild anyway, Ye Tao simply came forward in person, so as not to have to negotiate with Liu Yong and the others. They were really racing against time now.

"Get out of the way and don't obstruct our passage, or we'll just kill you all." Ye Tao threw a sentence stiffly, and the other party quickly dodged to the side of the road. Then, a strong middle-aged man jumped out and asked, "Can you meet your manager? We want to travel to Yanan with you. We... are willing to pay the expenses according to the cost of hiring a security escort."

Ye Tao said impatiently, "Your money is not as important as our lives. Letting you follow is already giving you a lot of face. What else do you want? If you can keep up, then keep up. If you can't keep up... then do as you please. I'll say it first, even if you keep up, if anything happens, it has nothing to do with us."

The middle-aged man was obviously used to bossing people around, and he was very impatient when Ye Tao snapped at him like this, but he still suppressed his anger and said, "Is there anything we can discuss? All of the things we are transporting are of high value, but there are not many of them. It won't delay your speed much. Not only money, but even in other aspects, as long as you can bring it up, it's not impossible to discuss. Our boss has a lot of influence in the entire southern part of Xi Ling. If you need anything, he should be able to do it."

"We can do it ourselves. Please go back." Ye Tao raised his hand.

"Don't refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit. No matter who you have behind you, in this southern part of Xi Ling, you have to give our boss some face. You... you..." the middle-aged man roared.

"Unfortunately, this is not Xi Ling now..." Ye Tao shrugged, with a helpless expression, and turned his horse and left.

At this time, the observation post sent back a situation. "There is a battle between two armies ahead. The number of people should be around seven or eight hundred. What should we do?" Zhang Wei, who had deciphered the signal, ran over and reported carelessly. Now Zhang Wei and Ye Tao were basically wearing the same clothes. Ye Tao had long instilled in everyone that during marching, especially when marching and fighting that might be exposed to the enemy's crossbow range, try not to emphasize the distinction between superiors and subordinates so much, so as to prevent the commander from being recognized and sniped. In the Special Operations Camp and the guard team, which had received extensive sniper training and had many sharpshooters, this was very recognized by everyone. In addition, Ye Tao had always been easygoing, so everyone was very casual, not only ignoring etiquette, but also ignoring many titles. Now that there were outsiders, it was not convenient to call him "My Lord", "General", or "Ye Jinglue".

Ye Tao just frowned and said, "Withdraw the scouts on the flanks and in the rear, concentrate the team, and go straight through the battlefield. No matter who attacks us first, retaliate to the end. After passing through the battlefield as quickly as possible, deploy the observation posts again."

"Yes!" Zhang Wei obviously liked this order very much. He turned his horse and immediately went to make arrangements.