Xuanqing Guard

Chapter 364: Chapter 364: Undercurrents

News takes time to spread. Even if Liu Yuanxiang and Shen Hao started acting without a moment’s rest, it wouldn’t have an immediate effect.

Tan Bin and his group would first go to Hu Zhu Yuan to scout the situation, then return to Wu Lake—which alone would take half a month. What’s more, Liu Yuanxiang’s side also needed to make some preparations ahead of time. So there would be a gap in between.

In the hands of those with ulterior motives, this gap could really produce all kinds of trouble.

For example, after returning, Zhu Shou immediately began purchasing Barbarian Race slaves from every Slave Trade Association except for the Hongli Trading Company. He didn’t care about the specific tribe—he wanted any Barbarian, as long as they were fit for work. What’s more, he raised the price by a whole fifteen percent.

There’s always competition between brokerages—sometimes they raise prices on purpose, other times they work together to suppress the Slave Trade Association’s buying price. Zhu Shou’s actions drew some sidelong glances from his peers, but no one took it to heart.

Because over the past half-year, the Southern region’s slave catch and quality was down compared to previous years. Zhu Shou raising the purchase price a bit was perfectly normal. Some followed suit, some didn’t. All in all, no one thought there would be any major change in the supply of Southern slaves.

Only Zhu Shou knew—the way he was hoarding Barbarian Race slaves, there would soon be wild price swings, doubling or tripling in the market. With this foresight, he could turn things around and make a killing.

Meanwhile, the Hongli Trading Company was doing the same—hoarding Barbarian Race slaves, even going to the other associations just like Zhu Shou, and raising their offer by fifteen percent too.

Merchants are suspicious by nature, but there really wasn’t any sign of a market downturn. So aside from keeping some premium Barbarians, the rest of the associations dumped their ordinary Barbarian Race slaves all at once during this strange "price hike" spree. After pocketing their big earnings, they sat back waiting to see the Hongli Trading Company make a fool of itself.

In theory, after buying at that high price, the Hongli Trading Company would need to start selling off. But no—everyone saw that the Hongli Trading Company just kept hoarding, without moving a thing.

Later, some tried to fish for information. The Hongli Trading Company’s Shopkeeper, Liu Yuanxiang, replied that capturing Barbarians in the South was getting harder by the day; lately, they’d encountered more Wolf Race raiding parties, who were also hunting people—so he was worried some change was coming, and was stockpiling Barbarian slaves just in case.

This explanation didn’t sound fake. There was even news that the Hongli Trading Company had sent scouts far to the southeast Barbarian Territory to investigate.

All this showed was that Liu Yuanxiang was "cautious," nothing more. In fact, many people smirked in secret, just waiting for Liu Yuanxiang to embarrass himself.

What kind of change could the Barbarians possibly have? What a laugh! After being pillaged alive for decades, the entire people were practically crippled. What could possibly happen?

But the situation soon became bizarre. In just over half a month, everything turned on its head.

March 21st.

The Hongli Trading Company broke a story: their scouts sent to White Head Gorge lost three men, but managed to return with information about the Barbarians’ current status. And the news was utterly shocking.

South of White Head Gorge, the Barbarian lands could hardly be called wild; on the contrary, life was thriving. The big clans had gathered the small ones under their banner, division of labor was clear—those who could farm, farmed; those who could fight, fought like the Military. After years of rest, they were on the verge of rebuilding their Royal Court.

They’d even sent many patrolling raiding parties to round up scattered populations to the northwest. The reason slave catches had dwindled in the past half-year was because of this. Very soon, there would likely be direct clashes between the raiders and the associations’ hunting parties.

What’s more, at White Head Gorge, Jianchuan, and Hu Zhu Yuan, there were over two hundred thousand organized Barbarian troops stationed!

Facing organized armies, there was almost no doubt what fate awaited the Slave Trade Association.

"The Barbarians are about to upend everything!"

At first, the news was just whispered in rumors. Then, the Hongli Trading Company’s Shopkeeper Liu Yuanxiang formally reported it to the Southern Border Army, instantly provoking a new wave of anxiety.

Of course, as of the end of March, news about the Barbarians was still under control. Everyone who needed to know was aware, but the commoners, and the more distant Government Office officials, had no idea at all.

The current Southern Border Army commander was Zuo Yuliang, Senior Third Grade official, his title being Southern Military Affairs Chief Officer—managing all military and civil affairs from Hai Xia to Zhuo Huo Pass. He commanded over two hundred and fifty thousand troops—a genuine regional military governor.

But Zuo Yuliang could only serve as "Southern Military Affairs Chief Officer" for at most four years, before needing to rotate back to the Ministry of War as Vice Minister, entering semi-retirement as part of the Reserve Generals. All Military Officers ranked Junior Third Grade and above were subject to this rule—long-term command was impossible. Every few years, you’re rotated back in for some time, just to stay sharp. This had always been the Jingjiu Dynasty’s policy.

After receiving the Hongli Trading Company’s report, Zuo Yuliang didn’t believe blindly, nor did he slack off. Instead, he immediately dispatched three Vanguard Battalions and six Supply Battalions to head south out of Zhuo Huo Pass on March 25th, probing "Jianchuan, White Head Gorge, and Hu Zhu Yuan" as the Company indicated. At the same time, he set up supply transport points.

Without solid information, Zuo Yuliang would not report this up the chain. That was the duty of a local military Chief Officer.

On April 5th, the Vanguard Battalion heading to Jianchuan encountered a mixed force of three thousand Barbarian cavalry not far beyond Wu Lake. The two sides immediately fought in the open field.

A half-hour later, both sides pulled back. The Barbarians left behind four hundred dead and retreated, while the Vanguard Battalion advancing to Jianchuan lost more than two hundred men and had to regroup on the spot.

When this battle report reached Zuo Yuliang, he realized things might be far worse than imagined. In all these years, the Barbarians had always stayed shut in, never fought, and never had such large, organized armies appear before the Border Army.

This time, not only didn’t they retreat, they charged head-on instead. Just this spirit alone was completely different from before.

Sure enough, on April 6th, another report arrived: This morning, three hundred miles south of Wu Lake, a two-thousand-strong mixed Barbarian force was encountered and engaged. Over six hundred were killed on the enemy side; own casualties were over three hundred. Unable to advance further south, requesting reinforcements.

Though more enemies were slain, losing a third of their own proved how bloody this fight was. This was even open-field cavalry combat, where attacks should be lightning-fast—it shouldn’t have turned into a slog like this unless both sides were deliberately testing strength.

Judging from the results, the Southern Border Army was obviously stronger in combat power, but only just—not the sort of overwhelming domination from before.

Reading the two battle reports, Zuo Yuliang understood in his heart—the Barbarians were truly on the rise.

Afterward, Zuo Yuliang sent out three more separate armies, five thousand men each, with the same number of supply and auxiliary soldiers, once more heading south out of Zhuo Huo Pass, vowing to get close and uncover the reality of Jianchuan, White Head Gorge, and Hu Zhu Yuan.