Chapter 42: Arrival at the Destination

Xiao Chu looked at Prince Heng and asked, "Your Highness, should we bring those eight men in for questioning now to see who is behind this?"

"No hurry," Prince Heng replied, looking at the devastated camp. "Take care of the men's injuries first."

The night passed in silence. Just before dawn the next day, a guard rushed to report to Xiao Chu, "It’s terrible, Commander Xiao, something has happened."

"What is it?"

"All eight of them are dead. They were bleeding from their seven orifices—they’ve been poisoned," the guard replied hurriedly.

"How could that be?" Xiao Chu said, rising quickly to head toward where the captives were being held.

"I don't know, sir," the guard explained, following behind him. "I was on guard all night. Just a moment ago, they started wailing in agony. I rushed over to check and saw black blood pouring from their ears and noses. Within moments, they were all dead."

"Did anyone come by during the night?"

"No one."

When Xiao Chu reached the captives, he found only corpses, each face twisted in agony, their seven orifices bleeding as if they had suffered immense torment before death. Xiao Chu knelt to examine them. He pried open one man's mouth and peered inside by the light of a torch; the mouth was filled with thick, viscous blood, but the teeth were intact, showing no signs of hidden poison compartments. He checked another with the same result. Could they have swallowed poison in advance, only for it to take effect just now? Xiao Chu pondered silently.

After daybreak, Xiao Chu reported the matter to Prince Heng. The Prince’s expression turned grave upon hearing the news. A personal guard standing nearby spoke up: "Your Highness, during the attack on the camp yesterday, I heard one of the bandits shout, 'Lord Xue has ordered that everyone be killed, leave no one alive! Ten taels of silver for every head!'"

"Lord Xue? Could it be the Zhang family?" Prince Heng mused.

"Your Highness, this matter requires a thorough investigation," Xiao Chu said. "Assassinating royalty is an act of treason; it is unlikely anyone would commit such a crime while announcing their own identity."

"Indeed, I am well aware of that. We shall decide how to proceed after I return to the capital and report to the Emperor."

The guard recalled something else and added, "Your Highness, those commoners from last night have disappeared. I had men watching them, but they never left their tents before the fighting started. After the bandits attacked, the guards watching them withdrew. When we went to check later, the camp was completely empty. They must have left under the cover of darkness."

Prince Heng waved his hand, signaling his indifference. Anyone would have fled in the face of such danger.

At that moment, Wang Dayong and his group of several hundred were already more than ten miles away, having traveled through the night. When he first heard the sounds of fighting, Wang Dayong had gone to investigate. Seeing the carnage from afar, he did not linger. He returned to the camp, woke everyone, hitched the horses, and led them out of the city from the opposite gate, heading east. The people he was escorting were ordinary folk, many of them women. He did not know who the opposing sides were, nor did he have the ability or the desire to intervene. His only goal was to ensure the five hundred slaves purchased by the Prince of Yan’s estate were not slaughtered. Fortunately, they were only two or three days' journey from Yan City, and they would soon reach its borders.

Prince Heng’s convoy did not continue immediately. On Xiao Chu’s advice, they remained in Mozhou County for a day of rest—partly because the convoy had suffered heavy losses and needed to bury the fallen men, and partly to wait for Lu Biao’s transport team so they could merge forces before moving on.

By noon on the third day, Lu Biao’s men arrived. Upon hearing Xiao Chu’s account, he felt a cold chill; had they arrived even a moment later, disaster would have surely struck. Xiao Chu took the tents and carts abandoned by Wang Dayong’s group. It wasn't that he wanted them, but he had left in such a hurry that he hadn't brought enough supplies. With many of Prince Heng’s own tents destroyed by fire, he had to make do with what he found. He was surprised by the sheer number of tents and, unaware they belonged to Wang Dayong, mocked, "What a wasteful spendthrift."

"Achoo!" Traveling in the biting wind for a day and night, Wang Dayong couldn't help but sneeze. "Damn it!" he cursed, glancing back toward Mozhou.

Three days later, Lu Biao parted ways with Prince Heng. Xiao Chu escorted the Prince toward the capital, while Lu Biao headed for Weizhou. Weizhou City was located not far from the north bank of the Yellow River. Across the river to the east was Shandong Circuit, the territory of the Fang family. When the Jie tribe had occupied Weizhou, the Fang family had stationed one hundred thousand troops on the south bank to prevent the Jie from crossing and invading Shandong. To the south lay the imperial territories; Weizhou was the city closest to Bianzhou and the designated rendezvous point mentioned in Tian Qi's letter.

Shortly after arriving in Weizhou, Lu Biao received the grain transport team sent by Manager Huo. The first shipment consisted of fifty thousand catties, filling fifty carts pulled by oxen, horses, and mules. After taking delivery, he did not linger. After resting for half a day, Lu Biao led his men to escort the grain back. Before leaving, he gave twenty horses to the delivery team, asking them to tell Manager Huo that next time they would bring a hundred horses specifically for transport, so they should prepare more carts.

Meanwhile, Wang Dayong and his group of over five hundred finally stumbled into Yan City. The city guards, seeing such a large crowd, grew suspicious and immediately closed the gates to conduct an inspection. Only after Wang Dayong displayed the Prince’s estate token were they allowed entry.

Zhao Bin was pleased to see the five hundred people. He ordered Cao Li to settle them in a newly designated area. He had previously ordered timber to be cut, which had been sitting unused. Zhao Bin did not want the people of Yan City involved in this matter, and he felt it was best handled with discretion; using the purchased slaves was the most suitable approach. As someone from the modern era, Zhao Bin did not approve of slavery, but it was the best solution at the time. He promised everyone that if they served the estate for three years, they would be granted their freedom, given legal household registration, and allocated land.

The people were overjoyed. In that era, once a person sold themselves into slavery, they rarely had a chance to turn their lives around, and masters were legally entitled to kill their slaves. When Zhao Bin’s promise was spoken, some wept with gratitude, while others laughed aloud, their laughter filled with hope for that future day. That evening, they ate fragrant, hot meals, including mutton, which they had never dared to dream of—a luxury unimaginable for those who had been struggling on the brink of death.

In the main hall of the estate, Zhao Bin and Wang Dayong sat face to face. Wang Dayong recounted their time in the capital: how they had rented the land, decorated the shop, prepared for the opening, the bustling scene of the grand opening, and how they had made over ten thousand taels of silver in a single day—something he had never dreamed possible. He also mentioned the incident on the return journey, though Xiao Chu had already reported it to Zhao Bin, who had broken into a cold sweat upon hearing of the danger.

Despite the setbacks along the way, all parties had successfully reached their destinations.

In the capital, the fine salt shop reopened after a half-month hiatus. With the New Year approaching, those who had previously failed to buy fine salt flocked to the shop to purchase it.