Chapter 546: Beginning of the Troubled Times [On Merchants]

The people in the city heard some noise, and the noise finally spreads to the people of the city

There is merchants that knows the story.

But even if they know the story, the story they know is not the full story

After all, they are merchants that is trading in another land

The fact that they have news at all is good enough compared to the peasant that knows nothing about the matter of those high above

Merchants has always had an extensive intelligence capacity.

The reason is simply because those without information could easily die.

Opening a trade route in the ancient times was not easy.

There is the geographical obstacles.

They need to know how many mountains they need to traverse, whether they are deserts of not to determine supply, what kind of jungle they had to pass through, whether there is lake, or oceans.

Without accurate maps, one could ventured into unknown and dangerous terrains. Easy passage could be blocked by large mountains, deserts or stormy seas.

Then one needs to know the composition of people there.

Most remote region is controlled by warlords, tribes and sometimes even bandits that would make mountains and jungles as their strongholds and bases.

One is a challenge of information gathering

The other is the challenge or strength.

Most large caravans have armed escort or they establish contacts with these warlords, these tribes and bandits and pay bribes or tributes to pass through safely

Even in the modern world, such places exist in some nations where the government are weak and warlords controls a few regions of the nations

Because the ancient world is divided into many small kingdom and empires, each with its own taxes, tariffs, laws and borders.

A merchant need dozen of different permission and have to negotiate with many rulers to pass through

Then there was the lack of infrastructure.

The further away a place from large cities, the more such apparent difficulties abound.

Because in the ancient times, political fragmentation is the norm. And in some parts of the world, it is worse than some other places.

There is also the climate, seasonal risk, harsh weather, monsoons in the sea, sandstorms in the desert, winter snow in the tundra could destroy caravans, ships, take lives and buried them all in distant lands

There is limited communication, there is cultural and language barriers, there is high cost and there is high risk

These are all the risk that any merchants had to bear when they open new trade route. Even a route they are familiar with could be a death trap if they do not know the changes of that land

Hence, why most merchants also have great abilities in sniffing out information. Gathering intelligence is their bread and butter.

For profit, they could wade through terrifying swamps, they could sail through the seas, they could traverse mountain and ride through the hot desert.

It needs the merchant to be bold, to have luck and to have a sound strategy

But most important of all, these merchants must have their own information gathering abilities to know where are the mountains, where are the lakes, which tribes’ control which area, what kingdom would they have to pass, what profit they could make, and many more problems that needs to be solved even before they take the first step to trade their wares.

And it is because of this ability, that even though the matter that happens in the pavilion was highly restricted, they still find a way to know…some…. of the inside story.

And these merchants, whether they were merchants that started their career in Brolgadhr or the travelling merchants that would stay here for a while to sell and buy stuff, they all have a common interest and they would protect each other.

And so, this information were shared with allied merchants.

One merchant shares it to one, the other one shares it to another, two become four, four become eight and so on and so on it goes, until most merchants knows that contrary to the peaceful exterior of the city, there might be a storm in the horizon

The thing that is about to happen might seem like good news. But who knows what is behind the scene and whether good news is really good news?

It all depends on the decision of the Kan.

What they hear was just a rumor and until confirmation came, they could only guess.

But some merchants are always bolder than the others and make preparations and some has already created plans and scheme to take advantage for what is about to happen.

The news then spread to the servants of these merchants.

They also heard some chatter and some whispers. And these servants traded stories with other servants and some other people hear it as then more and more people knows about it.

It was almost like the news was deliberately fanned out to the entire city.

Because then not only the servants hears the news, even the common people knows it. Different people listening to the news have different reaction.

The merchants, the nobles have different reaction compared to when the common people hear it.

Because these two classes of people have different perspective on why this happen.

And what is the news?

It has come out that the Fuxa tribe chief daughter would marry the Kan.

If this marriage is allowed to happened, then this daughter of the Fuxa tribe would be the second wife of the Kan.

It is shocking that after all this time, the Kan finally took a second wife.

But this did not shock the people so much.

After all, a man like the Kan to have only one woman after all of this time made even some people think that he is a “weak” man

Strong in the battlefield, weak at night.

That is some of the rumors that went on the streets

After all, if you are capable in the Steppe, woman surely would like you.

A strong man would have many women because a strong men could protect their woman from raids and from other evils of the world.

They could protect their children and could give a future in this harsh world.

There is nothing wrong with it.

Feelings like love could always be cultivated.

But for the common people, survival is the first priority.

Only when they have a full stomach, a cloth on their body, a roof over their head, only then could they learn about all of those high principle and only then could they learn words, learns etiquette, and only then could they learn dignity is sometimes more important that life

But they first have to have their stomach filled, they first have to have clothes to wear, have a house to shelter them before they could do all of that

Only then one could think of all of those things that could only be thought of after you have enough time to think

If your life has always been a constant battle between you and the world, it does not make sense to think too much and waste too much time

Life is uncertain, death is inevitable. Love passionately and hate honestly, follow your feeling and be free like the winds of the prairie!

There is nothing more fun in this world than fighting against the world!

There is certain romanticism that only the people living in this era would have.

The whole world is still a blank space, there is many seas that is not yet being sailed on, many more lands has not be discovered

Adventure could be found everywhere.

Good and evil clashed and for those who are brave, they could ride their horses and travel the whole world and find adventure wherever they wanted

All of the people of the Steppe knows this and because of that their love and dislike could easily be seen and there is this kind of heroic honesty to their pursuit of happiness.

The city heard the news and the common people semes to rejoice. The chiefs and elders of the Elder Council also thinks of sending their daughter to the Kan

They have try before and stopped

Because in the past, when they were first conquered by Aeryon, many of these chiefs and tribes wanted to send their daughters or their relatives to marry Aeryon

There is nothing more secure than to share a blood.

Of course, the other way is to sworn brotherhood with Aeryon but are they worthy to swore brotherhood with Aeryon now?

Not to mention the gap in age, there is also the question of whether their heart is compatible.

Those who swore brotherhood in the Steppe sometime feel that they are bosom friends, their temperament is similar, the direction they are looking are the same, and one could feel that their heart is the same, hence, bow to heaven and earth, cut a bit of blood, said the sacred oath and swore brotherhood to seal the sacred bond.

Sometimes, they share the same desire and the way to achieve it is hard so they swore brotherhood so that they could help each other

Sometimes, they admire a person and so they wanted to swore brotherhood with each other.

And sometimes, they were good friends when they are children and so when they grow up, they are as close as brothers

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Creation is hard, cheer me up!

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