Chapter 13.

　　After nightfall, Zhang Quan led the caravan directly into the dense forests of Mount Gotham. 　　The Chu family's caravan only numbered about a hundred people, the strength to resist the bandits was not strong, but Zhang Quan and his men were all old men in the caravan, experienced, unable to resist then hide, Mt. Mang is so big, with their experience they could completely bypass the bandits and sweep away the traces behind them, and leave the Mt. Mang unharmed. 　　Even if they were unlucky enough to be discovered by the bandits, Zhang Quan and the others were decisive enough to throw down their goods and run. 　　Although those bandits are ruthless in robbing and killing people, but compared to killing people, robbing money is the most important thing, so once they encounter this situation, those bandits will definitely go to take the goods they left behind first, and Zhang Quan they can also escape from the situation. 　　It was inevitable for the caravan to encounter this kind of thing, as long as it didn't happen too often, the Chu family wouldn't be blamed, and the loss would come back after a few more trips. 　　Raising his head to look at the sky, Zhang Quan whispered to the merchant team, "Walk a little further, there is a not-so-small cave ahead, let's go there to rest." 　　However, right at this moment, a voice came with a loud laugh, "No need to walk, if you guys want to rest today, you can rest here for the rest of the day!" 　　As this voice came, one by one, torches rose, the clanging sound of blades being sheathed came, and the surrounding densely packed bandits appeared in front of their eyes. 　　Zhang Quan's complexion suddenly changed, what the hell was going on? 　　This path was one that he had only recently prepared to take, and there were no bandit's cottages in the vicinity. 　　The most important thing was that even if he was really unlucky enough to accidentally stumble upon bandits, he would still be able to detect a hint of movement, and yet these human bandits clearly seemed to know about their caravan route and were deliberately waiting for them here! 　　"Run!" 　　Zhang Quan directly bellowed out, directly urging his horse to turn around and run, the rest of the stewards and the merchant caravan's people did the same, they simply couldn't think of that much. 　　However, it was different from what they expected, the quality of these bandits could be compared to the officials and soldiers, in the face of the goods they left behind, these bandits didn't even look at them, they directly killed them. 　　And these bandits among the stronger martial arts several are staring at them these merchants of the steward to kill, unusual those merchants of the martial arts they in turn is to turn a blind eye. 　　Seeing that the managers of their merchant team were caught up by those bandits and killed one by one, Zhang Quan couldn't help but feel anxious in his heart. 　　With a clench of his teeth, he pulled out a dagger and stabbed it on his horse's hip, and the horse hissed in pain and sped up. 　　However, right at this moment, a heavy sword was flying from a distance, directly smashing into Zhang Quan. 　　Although Zhang Quan is a merchant steward, but he has only practiced some shallow boxing and kicking kung fu, over the years he can be in charge of the merchant team, rely on their own means, rather than martial arts. 　　He subconsciously turned around and raised his arms to block the heavy sword, but he was directly smashed and his arms shattered, and he spat out a mouthful of blood, directly falling off his horse. 　　Behind him, Ma Cuo slowly walked over, picking up Zhang Quan on the ground with a horrified look on his face, whispering in his ear: ''Zhang Quan right? Prince Chu Huo asked me to bring you a message, Steward Zhang, have a good journey!" 　　The instant he heard these words, Zhang Quan's eyes were filled with shock. 　　Understood, he understood everything, that second son of the Chu Family had actually colluded with bandits to rob and kill his family's caravan! 　　However, at this time, Zhang Quan already had no time for resentment or regret, because Ma Cuo had already pulled out a dagger, stabbed into Zhang Quan's chest, twisted it as hard as he could, and only then did he throw Zhang Quan, who was already struggling for breath, to the ground. 　　Ma Cuo shook off the blood on the dagger and waved his hand at the rest of the bandits and said, "Go, open the goods and see how Duke Chu's meet-and-greet gift for us is." 　　Early the next morning, a message came from within the Chu Family mansion that the Chu Family's merchant caravan had been robbed and killed! 　　The entire merchant fleet of more than a hundred people, not only were all the goods lost, but also lost more than twenty people, the most important thing was that these more than twenty people included three stewards of the merchant fleet, and surprisingly, none of them escaped. 　　The Chu family has been traveling for so many years, only at the beginning of that period of time because of the unfamiliarity with the trails of Mangshan Mountain, so it caused a great loss, and the last few years have never been out of this kind of thing. 　　Inside the second madam's compound, Chu Sheng's face carried a hint of gloom: ''Mother, do you think this matter could have something to do with Chu Huo? Steward Zhang and the others just offended Chu Huo, and as a result, something happened over here." 　　The second madam also looked gloomy, "I don't know, logically Chu Huo shouldn't have that much guts, if this matter were to be known to the master, even if he was the master's own son, the master would still abolish him. 　　Moreover, even if he has the guts, he doesn't have the whole energy, the bandits on North Gotham Mang Mountain are unruly, how would they listen to him? Last time I hired out an unimpressive little mountain fortress it cost 10,000 taels of silver, where did Chu Huo get that much money? 　　Before there's any evidence, don't go out and talk nonsense about this matter, or else you'll displease His Lordship." 　　Chu Sheng nodded, but at this time he suddenly said, "Why don't we dig up those few subordinates of Chu Huo's and ask them if they know any clues?" 　　The Second Lady snorted coldly and said, "That Chu Huo has become much more cautious after returning from the South Mountain Mining Area, those underlings of his before were sent back to the South Mountain Mining Area after returning to the Chu Clan, and now there is no one to be found at all, and the only person who follows him around is only one Gao Bei. But that person is his beloved, and since Chu Huo kept him by his side, he won't be afraid of us coming to dig." 　　A trace of unwillingness appeared on Chu Sheng's face, he had always been rivaled by Chu Kai, the Chu Family's boss, but he didn't expect that this Chu Huo was the one who suddenly came out of nowhere and caused him a considerable loss. 　　The second madam waved her hand and said, "Alright, don't whine, the master will let you go to the deliberation in a while, say what you should say, don't say what you shouldn't say." 　　Chu Sheng nodded, turned around and walked out. 　　This matter of the merchant fleet was not too big, not too small, but since nothing like this had happened for some years, it also alarmed Chu Zongguang, and brought some of the stewards and Chu Huo and their sons to sit in on the proceedings for a bit. 　　Inside the council hall, Chu Huo sat there, without the slightest expression on his face, while Chu Sheng was occasionally glancing at Chu Huo, not knowing what he was thinking. 　　Below, a few members of the merchant team who had escaped death were still recounting the events of that night with terrified expressions on their faces, but unfortunately, there was nothing of value. 　　They didn't even know the other party's bandit number, and they didn't see their faces, the gang of bandits killed people on sight, they were only concerned with escaping, so how could they care about that? 　　Chu Zongguang waved his hand in a slightly annoyed manner and said, "Alright, alright, this time's lesson is all memorized for me, be more careful next time, disperse, I'll go back to my seclusion." 　　At this time, Chu Huo suddenly stood out and said, "Father, at the moment, the merchant team is leaderless, I'm willing to lead the merchant team to walk through Mount Gothic Mang once more." 　　The moment these words came out, everyone present froze, including Chu Huo's three brothers. 　　From the time the Chu family had established their family in Tongzhou Prefecture until now, aside from some wrestling struggles with other family forces both explicitly and implicitly, the number of people who had died in the merchant caravan was the second most. 　　Just like this time, bad luck foreseeing bandits, then whether you can live or not can only depend on luck. 　　Therefore, even if Chu Sheng and the others manage the merchant fleet, they will never follow the merchant fleet, they are at most responsible for deploying the goods of the merchant fleet and so on. 　　Chu Zongguang frowned: ''What are you following to add to the chaos? Without any experience at all, how are you going to lead the merchant fleet?" 　　Chu Huo said in a deep voice: "Right now, the merchant fleet is in a state of panic, if there isn't someone with enough weight to lead them, when will they be able to get back on the road? 　　Other things can be delayed, but my Chu Family's pharmacy cannot be delayed, there are some medicines in the pharmacy that will be out of stock if they are not procured back. 　　As a direct descendant of the Chu Family, I should be the first to lead and revitalize the people, so I still ask for Lord Father's permission." 　　Chu Zongguang frowned, he didn't seem to expect Chu Huo's awareness to be so high. 　　But after thinking about it he still said, "Then you go, be careful." 　　Chu Huo arched his hand and walked out amidst the others' puzzled gazes. 　　Those other three Chu Huo's brothers didn't care about him either, this kind of laborious and even dangerous thing, if it was given to them for nothing, they wouldn't even do it. 　　Previously, the people of the merchant team were all concentrated in a small compound, dozens of people were downcast, being pointed out by the Chu Clan's people who were coming and going. 　　Speaking out this time they are indeed a wimp, just entered the mountain was robbed, things did not keep, people also died quite a lot, even some people have developed a fear of the psychology, do not dare to go back to the caravan. 　　Chu Huo separated the crowd and walked in, the gang was also listless, only a few people stood up, arched their hands at Chu Huo and said, "Greetings to the Second Prince." 　　Glancing at the crowd, Chu Huo said, "All pack up and pack up, the merchant caravan is resuming its journey to Yan." 　　Upon hearing this, those people immediately became anxious, and immediately someone said, "Second Prince, we just had an incident, how can we still recuperate for a while and think of a countermeasure before leaving? What if we go into the mountains and get robbed by bandits again?" 　　The other merchants also chimed in, they were truly scared out of their wits.