Chapter 662 - Business deals in the grasslands (1/2)

Chapter 662: Business deals in the grasslands

At the border between the Northern Plains and the Central Plains, a group of refugees were sitting by the Shenmu River with a campfire burning next to them.

This place was located at the northern edge of the Wang Consortium and bordered the grasslands. However, there were barely any signs of human activity here since the Wang Consortium’s troops rarely patrolled the area.

A group of people had gathered around the campfire to keep themselves warm. The clothes they were wearing clearly had a lot of patching, and it did not look like they were frequently washed either. These people were even carrying improvised firearms with them, so it was obvious they were bandits who lived in the wilderness throughout the year.

A rat-faced middle-aged man said, “Boss, do you think they’re gonna appear? The set date has passed.”

“I dunno.” A burly, middle-aged man rubbed his hands together. “Who knows what’s going on in the grasslands? I heard that it’s quite chaotic over there as well. Some of the smaller tribes have been wiped out just like that.”

“Then should we keep waiting? We’ve already been waiting for two days.” The rat-faced middle-aged man cursed and said, “If the goods that they bring here ain’t as good as they claim, we’ll have wasted a trip.”

“Wang Ergou, can you stop mouthing off for a moment? I’ve been listening to your nagging for the past two days. If you don’t wanna wait, you can go back by yourself,” said a man in the group who then spat on the ground.

The leader of the bandits did not say anything further. He had been waiting here for two days, not because of his integrity or anything, but because he would soon be unable to make ends meet.

They lived in the Central Plains along the route leading to the Northwest, but the trade route between the Northwest and the Central Plains had been cut off for an indefinite number of years. The bandits who used to live gloriously were now forced to farm every day, and it felt really degrading to them.

Although they heard the trade route was going to reopen, it still wasn’t open yet, right? They had encountered several merchant groups and wanted to rob them. But the merchant groups that could travel between the Northwest and the Central Plains at the moment were all big-time merchants who were equipped with much better weapons than them.

And he was a smart person. Who were the ones running the trade route? Fortress 178!

Fortress 178 was different from the consortiums. If the bandits continued plundering the merchant groups in the future, those damn fucks from Fortress 178 might just disregard everything and come to exterminate them all.

The leader of these bandits thought that since there were risks in continuing as bandits, maybe he could take advantage of the situation and start a business as well.

But what kind of business could he do? He had no goods on hand.

Therefore, when a nomad riding a horse arrived from the north and said he wanted to do business with them, this bandit leader named Su Lei was immediately tempted.

That nomad rode in on a rugged and muscular horse and said they had a lot of fur hides harvested from the prey they hunted in the grasslands, as well as beef and mutton they could trade.

These items, be it in the Northwest or the Central Plains, were all very scarce!

Fur coats, in particular, were one of the favorite items of the aristocrats in the strongholds. It was the same reason why exotic meat was so in demand. If you could wear a beautiful fur coat that was obtained from the wilderness, you would be the most dazzling presence at a banquet.

Of course, Su Lei only heard about this from others and did not see it with his own eyes.

But in the towns of the Zong Consortium’s strongholds, it was true that the grocery store owners there would often take in fur coats from people selling them.

No, wait! Those strongholds were now under Fortress 178’s control.

The Shenmu River was very shallow, and due to the cold weather, it had frozen over.

There also had to be a reason why nomadic tribes always chose to travel south during the winter, and part of the reason was probably because they could cross rivers.

While the leader of the bandits, Su Lei, was deep in thought, he suddenly heard the faint sound of horses galloping coming from afar. He looked up and was surprised to see a group of people coming towards them on the surface of the frozen river. They were led by a young man at the front.

Su Lei stood up. “I’m Su Lei. You people are late.”