Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 212 Caravan Attacked
Zhu Shenzhu hurried back to Pingyang City.

Originally, he planned to stay in Luzhouwei for a few more days, but after only a few days, people from Pingyang came and learned that something big had happened in the company. Zhu Shenzhui did not delay for a moment and set off that day and hurried back to Pingyang.

When he arrived in Pingyang, Zhu Shenzui went to the trading company without even going home. He dismounted and walked quickly into the yard. Upon hearing the news, Kang Youfu ran out to greet him. When Kang Youfu was about to salute him, Zhu Shenzui waved his hand and asked anxiously what was going on.

"A few brothers were injured, but their lives were not in danger. However, most of the goods were lost."

Zhu Shenzhui's face relaxed slightly. It was good that the man was fine. As long as the person was there, the goods were lost. He was shocked when he heard about the caravan being attacked in Luzhouwei, and hurried back. On the way, Zhu Shenzhui was thinking about what happened. His caravan had been traveling between Ming Dynasty and Mongolia for more than a year. It was peaceful before. How could it suddenly be attacked? And it was attacked in Mongolia.

This shouldn't happen. Ming merchants seldom encounter attacks when doing business in Mongolia. This is a common practice on the grassland. The grassland is short of supplies, and many things have to be transported by Ming merchants. Traveling as a merchant has a special meaning for the Mongols. In order to ensure the safety of the caravan, successive Mongolian Khans have made regulations that no one is allowed to attack Ming merchants who come to the grassland without authorization.

From this point of view, this has long been the rule on the grassland. Robbing caravans will cause merchants to stop coming to the grassland. If merchants do not come, no one can transport supplies from the Ming Dynasty, and no one will buy cattle and sheep skins and other things from the Mongols.

The consequences of this were very serious. Without tea, salt, cloth and even ironware from the Central Plains, the Mongols' lives would be in jeopardy. Therefore, it was always safe to do business on the grasslands. As long as you showed your identity as a merchant, no Mongols with a normal mind would do such a thing, except for desperate people who had lost their tribe.

Moreover, Zhu Shenzhui's caravan was different from other caravans. Because of the Tana tribe, Zhu Shenzhui's business had formed an alliance with the tribe, and the two coexisted. On the grassland, the caravan had two flags, one was the flag of the business, and the other was the flag of the Tana tribe. The Mongols understood the flags at a glance, so how could they attack the caravan?
"How many brothers were injured? Have they all been brought back?" Zhu Shenzhui walked inside and asked as he walked.

"Not counting the minor injuries, there are five with more serious ones. One stayed in the grassland to recuperate, and the four who came back are now being settled in the backyard. Sixth Master, please come with me..." Kang Youfu said as he took Zhu Shenzui to the backyard.

Ma Shizhou was sitting on a stone bench in the backyard, with his head down, thinking about something. Hearing hurried footsteps, Ma Shizhou looked up and saw that it was Zhu Shenzhui and Kang Youfu, so he stood up quickly.

"Sixth Master!"

"Uncle Ma, are you okay?" Zhu Shenzhui took two steps forward, raised his hand to stop Ma Shizhou from saluting him, and looked him up and down.

"Thank you for your concern, Sixth Master. I'm only slightly injured. Thanks to my brothers' efforts, otherwise I might not be able to come back as an old man..." Ma Shizhou said with emotion.

Seeing that Ma Shizhou was fine, Zhu Shenzhui was relieved and continued to ask about the injured brothers. Ma Shizhou took Zhu Shenzhui to the back room, where the four injured were now being accommodated.

After entering the house and checking on these brothers, I found that the injuries of the four were not light, but fortunately they were only flesh wounds without damaging the muscles and bones. The caravan had already bandaged them with the medicine they brought on the grassland, and after returning, they invited a doctor to see them. After a few days of rest, the four men didn't have any serious problems. The doctor said that they would be fine after a few days of rest, and would recover in another ten days or half a month.

He comforted the injured with a few kind words and instructed Kang Youfu to allocate thirty taels from the counter to each of them as a reward. As for the expenses during the recuperation period, they would all be borne by the company. They must use good medicine and food, and must not treat the brothers unfairly.

The brother who was more seriously injured was currently being nursed in Tana's tribe, and could not return for the time being due to the bumpy road. After asking about the situation, Zhu Shenzhui learned that the brother who was most seriously injured in the tribe had lost an arm, and would be disabled even after recovery.

Hearing this, Zhu Shenzui showed a hint of anger between his brows. He suppressed his anger and told Kang Youfu to send 100 taels of silver to this brother's family, and bring him back after he recovered from his injuries on the grassland. He would then arrange for him to do other things in the company, and his treatment would remain the same as before.

After leaving the room, Zhu Shenzhui's face was as gloomy as water. He had never expected that his company would be attacked this time. Fortunately, although some people were injured, one of them was seriously injured, but after all, none of his people died. However, half of the goods were lost. Zhu Shenzhui was extremely angry in his heart. He had never suffered such a big loss before, and he couldn't understand why such a thing happened.

Taking Kang Youfu and Ma Shizhou with him, Zhu Shenzhui went straight to the main house and sat down in the main seat.

After a while, a waiter brought tea and was originally planning to make tea for Zhu Shenzhui. However, Kang Youfu, who was standing by, saw that Zhu Shenzhui looked unhappy, so he waved his hand to let the waiter leave. After the waiter left, Kang Youfu personally made tea for Zhu Shenzhui.

"Uncle Ma, tell me what's going on?" Zhu Shenzhui asked after a moment of silence, looking at Ma Shizhou who was sitting next to him.

Ma Shizhou immediately started talking and explained what had happened.

According to Ma Shizhou, they had a smooth journey from Daming to the north and out of the Great Wall. After reaching the Great Wall, they headed in the direction of the tribe as before. If everything went well, they would reach Tana's tribe in a few days. The caravan had taken this route several times before, and everyone was familiar with it. The caravan had always been safe on this route, and everyone naturally relaxed after walking for a long time. In addition, it was very safe to travel on the grassland. Compared with the Mongols, the wolves that roamed the grassland were more dangerous.

Moreover, the caravan of Hengtong Trading Company is not a small caravan. Now there are two or three fixed caravans traveling between Daming and the grassland, usually led by Ma Shizhou, Hu Lin and Wang Hai. However, Wang Hai is temporarily staying in the tribe to take care of Tana due to Zhu Shenzui's arrangement, so the leader of Wang Hai's team is a person from Wangjia Village.

Each caravan had nearly forty horse-drawn carts and more than twenty people, carrying swords, as well as powerful weapons such as bows and crossbows. The people in the caravan were all selected by Zhu Shenzui himself, with the elderly from Wangjia Village as the backbone, as well as the young and strong from Yangtou Mountain and the Mongolian guards from Tana.

These people are all strong and have received rigorous military training. Their combat effectiveness is no worse than that of regular troops of equal number, and may even be better.

Everything seemed to be going well, but an accident suddenly happened on the third day after entering the grassland.

That evening, Ma Shizhou saw that the sky was gradually setting in the west, so he prepared to set up camp at a camping spot not far ahead and continue his journey after a night's rest.

But unexpectedly, at this moment, a group of Mongols suddenly appeared from nowhere. There were quite a few of them, more than 30 riders. At first, Ma Shizhou didn't pay much attention to it, thinking that he had encountered a small tribe nearby, but soon he felt something was wrong, because these Mongols rode their horses straight towards them after seeing them.

Ma Shizhou was a veteran in the army. He immediately judged that this group of Mongols had ill intentions. He quickly asked the caravan to be on alert, gathered all the carriages and horses together, surrounded them with iron chains to form a barrier for protection, and at the same time took out weapons and prepared for battle.

The caravan reacted quickly and formed a defense before the Mongols arrived. When the Mongols arrived, the caravan was already prepared. The Mongols seemed a little surprised at the caravan's quick reaction, so they did not attack the caravan directly, but slowly slowed down their horses.

Seeing this, Ma Shizhou breathed a sigh of relief. When the other party approached, he hid behind the car and loudly asked about the other party's origins, while stating his identity. Normally, as long as they stated their identities, they had the status of a caravan, plus the flag of the Tana tribe, and the Mongols would usually retreat.

But who would have thought that these Mongols did not leave, but surrounded them secretly. The leading Mongol wore a mask and said to Ma Shizhou in a muffled voice that as long as they handed over the goods they were carrying, they would let Ma Shizhou and others go. If they refused, don't blame them for being rude.

Of course, Ma Shizhou would not do what the other party asked. These goods belonged to the merchant company. Not to mention that they were brought all the way from Daming, the value of the goods was not low. As the leader, Ma Shizhou was the person in charge of the caravan. Naturally, he had to consider the safety of the caravan's goods. Moreover, since he followed Zhu Shenzhui, Zhu Shenzhui treated Ma Shizhou well. Not only did he give him shares in the merchant company, but he also got dividends from every profit he made from the business.

In addition, Zhu Shenzhu also helped Ma Shizhou solve the problem that he had been worried about, that is, he allowed him to resume his official military position in the garrison. Ma Shizhou kept such a great favor in his heart, how could he not repay it?

After a few words, the two sides failed to reach an agreement, and then they started to fight directly.

When the Mongols saw that Ma Shizhou and others refused to surrender, they drew their knives and began to rob.

Ma Shizhou and his companions naturally did not show any resistance when they saw the other side taking action, and a fierce fight broke out between the two sides. The Mongols, who had originally thought that they could easily take down the caravan by relying on their numbers, never expected that Ma Shizhou and his companions would be so difficult to deal with.

Then, in the defensive circle formed by carts and pack horses, Ma Shizhou and his men fought with the Mongols. After several rounds, the Mongols not only failed to capture Ma Shizhou, but also injured several people on their side. Seeing this, the leading Mongols were furious and ordered their men to attack the caravan, and the battle became more intense.

As time went by, some people on Ma Shizhou's side were injured one after another, but the losses were much smaller than those on the other side. In addition, Ma Shizhou and his men not only carried conventional weapons, but also long-range weapons such as bows and crossbows. With these, the Mongols on the opposite side suffered a great loss if they could not break through the fierce charge.

The situation was deadlocked for a while. Seeing that they could not capture Ma Shizhou and others, and several of them were injured, the leading Mongolian was extremely angry and ordered his men to attack the goods carried by the caravan. As the enemy attacked, several people lit torches and attacked with fire. The goods on several carts suddenly caught fire, and the defense circle of the caravan was also exposed because of the fire.

Seeing this, the Mongols were overjoyed and were planning to use this opportunity to break through the defense circle and completely eliminate Ma Shizhou and his men. However, Ma Shizhou decisively took out the musket given to him by Zhu Shenzhui, and fired the two muskets one after another, knocking down a Mongol who was rushing in front with one shot. The Mongol fell off his horse without a sound after being shot.

The other shot was originally aimed at the leading Mongol, but it missed due to the distance and hit another Mongol beside him instead. The Mongol groaned and was injured and almost fell off his horse. The leading Mongol never thought that Ma Shizhou actually had a weapon like a musket and could shoot so accurately. He was so shocked that he dared not continue to attack. He randomly fired a few more rockets at the caravan, threw a few torches, whistled to call his men and turned around and ran away.

(End of this chapter)