Chapter 1106 Total Mobilization
The moment Padi Tu saw the Xilankapu, his heart swelled with delight.
The Heavenly Lord had sent him to inquire about the Tujia people's specialties, to discover ways to foster cultural and commercial exchange between the Tujia and Han people. And now, he had found one!
Padi Tu reached out, taking the patterned coverlet. "Little sister," he chuckled, "this Xilankapu you've woven is truly excellent. Is it made with coarse linen thread? The stitches are quite wide."
The young woman nodded. "Cotton thread is too expensive; we can't afford it, so we use coarse linen thread for our coverlets."
Padi Tu: "Even though it's woven from coarse linen, it's quite exquisite and beautiful. The coarse thread actually gives it a unique charm. Oh, I don't quite know how to describe it... but it's beautiful, simply beautiful."
Such was the way of the unlettered; they could see beauty but struggled to articulate it.
After a long moment of awkward silence, Padi Tu finally spoke. "Seeing this Xilankapu, I've suddenly thought of a business opportunity with you all."
Ran Ke was greatly surprised. "Business? What kind of business?"
Padi Tu: "We'll trade things like grain and celestial fertilizer for your Xilankapu."
While Xilankapu was pretty, it was undeniably a bit "rustic." Made from humble, coarse linen thread, its patterns and craftsmanship were also quite "earthy." Han people, who preferred delicate, intricate, and refined goods, generally didn't think much of Xilankapu.
That's why Xilankapu was primarily woven for their own use as coverlets, earning it the name "Tujia's rustic coverlet."
They never imagined these Han people would be willing to trade grain for it. What was the difference between this and trading gold for iron scraps?
Padi Tu: "Besides this, do you have any other specialties?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" an elder eagerly interjected before Ran Ke could speak. "We also have water bamboo mats, woven from water bamboo. They're incredibly cool, making them very comfortable for sleeping in the summer."
Padi Tu: "Oh, that's excellent! The north is plagued by severe drought right now, and the summer heat is deadly. I'm sure many people would love your water bamboo mats. Let's trade for some of those too."
The Tujia people were thrilled. "We also have fragrant silk fans, crafted from premium mountain stream phoenix-tail bamboo and top-grade silk. They undergo 72 steps of traditional hand-carving, drilling, scraping, bleaching, and sizing, hand-painted and hand-written, making them popular even among the gentry in the capital! However, we don't produce silk here; it has to be transported from the Jiangnan region. Lately, due to the wars, merchants haven't been bringing silk, so we can't make our fragrant silk fans."
Padi Tu laughed. "That's simple, a minor issue. We have connections in the Jiangnan region; transporting some silk here is a trifle. How about this: we'll bring the silk and sell it to you, then you craft it into fragrant silk fans and sell them back to us. We'll then transport those fans to sell to the wealthy gentry."
The Tujia people were overjoyed.
Ran Ke was also pleased, knowing that as the entire mountain village prospered, he, as the chieftain, would undoubtedly grow wealthier too. "Lord Rabbit," he expressed, "I am truly grateful to you."
Padi Tu laughed heartily. "A small matter, just a small matter."
Here, he suddenly shifted his tone. "However, with the bandits running rampant and so severe in Sichuan, hiding everywhere in the mountains, our trade will be very difficult to establish quickly. What are we to do? What if our caravans, passing through the mountains to the Ba people's village, are robbed by bandits along the way? Then... alas!"
Hearing this, Ran Ke's expression darkened.
He had originally intended to ignore the bandit armies outside. What did he care if external floods raged? As long as the blood didn't splash on him, he wanted no part of it. But Padi Tu's words made him consider the long-term implications...
If the bandit menace wasn't eliminated, trade wouldn't flourish.
If trade couldn't flourish, how could the Ba people, trapped within the Ba Mountains, ever prosper?
Once this causal relationship became clear, some things simply *had* to be done.
Ran Ke spoke gravely. "Lord Rabbit, since we've discussed it to this extent, we must also consider our own future. I have decided, in my capacity as the Kaixian Pacification Commissioner, to issue a general mobilization order, calling upon all nearby mountain villages to rise together and drive the bandits out of these surrounding mountains."
In the past, he hadn't truly committed, which was why Kaixian County city had nearly fallen.
But once he put his full effort into it...
Forget a few bandit armies; even the later, seemingly invincible Qing forces would find it difficult to throw their weight around in Sichuan.
Soon, the general mobilization order from the Ba people's village was issued.
All the mountain villages and settlements within the surrounding Ba Mountains began their total mobilization...
"Drive out the bandits!"
"We want to do business!"
"We want to make money!"
"We want to prosper!"
Deep within the Ba Mountains Grand Canyon, a roving bandit army was hiding in a small cave.
They had fled into the Ba Mountains Grand Canyon after being defeated by Padi Tu's forces.
However, after escaping into the mountains, they showed no signs of remorse. Their bandit chief snorted, "That strange arquebus unit might be powerful, but they can't enter the mountains."
Another bandit soldier chimed in, "Exactly. The arquebusiers can only swagger from a distance. If they come into the mountains, with all these rugged terrains and ravines, their range will be useless. Once we get close, we'll stab them all, one by one."
The bandit chief cackled arrogantly. "Yes, if they don't dare to enter the mountains, then no matter how powerful they are, it's useless. As long as we hide in the mountains, they're helpless. And we can charge out from the mountains to attack them anytime, putting ourselves in an invincible position."
"We're not afraid!"
The bandit soldiers shouted a few times, bolstering their own spirits.
Just then, an arrow suddenly flew from behind a distant tree, striking with a *thwock* directly into the throat of the bandit soldier who had just cried, "We're not afraid!" The man couldn't even let out a scream, clutching the arrow shaft in his throat as he slowly collapsed.
The bandit soldiers were startled. "Enemy attack!"
"Quick, engage the enemy!"
All the bandit soldiers grabbed their weapons and leaped up.
Then they discovered they were already surrounded.
A large group of young, dark-skinned men, haphazardly dressed, with no unified uniforms and wearing straw sandals, had encircled them.
The only consistent piece of equipment among these young men was a peculiar long spear with a wooden shaft.
At first glance, one might have thought they were White Pole Soldiers, but a closer look revealed they were not.
Their spear shafts were not white!
The general leading them, clad in lamellar armor, declared loudly, "I am Ran Ke, the Kaixian Pacification Commissioner! You bandits, do you think you're safe just by running into the mountains? Let me tell you, these mountains beneath your feet are called the Ba Mountains, and our Tujia ancestors were called the Ba people! We have lived here for thousands of years. You think you can play hide-and-seek with us here? You're far too green!"
The bandit army was greatly alarmed.
The bandit chief fumed, "Are you kidding me? The mountain I crossed yesterday was also called Ba Mountain? What's wrong with you people here? Can't you come up with some proper names for your mountains?"
Ran Ke roared, "Kill!"
The large group of Tujia soldiers, brandishing their wooden-shafted spears, charged forward...
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