On the plains of Pingyao, two armies were locked in fierce battle.
One force was on the verge of victory when, without warning, another contingent came crashing into its rear, driving straight for the command center.
Ten twin-rider war chariots charged side by side like ten meat grinders — any ordinary soldier they touched was dead on contact, any who brushed against them fell instantly.
Each chariot was drawn by two horses and bristled with metal spikes on all sides; moving at full speed, they were nearly impossible to approach.
"Prince Dan is over there — cut through to him!"
"Kill Prince Dan and you'll all be rewarded — charge!"
The force that had been moments away from triumph fell into disarray under the sudden assault from behind.
Several of their chariots had no time to wheel around and meet the attack before the enemy was already upon them from the rear.
The centermost twin-rider chariot was deliberately herded away from the fighting.
Moments later, it was chased to the riverbank, five enemy chariots hard on its heels.
Both sides drew to a halt at the water's edge. The young Prince Dan on the chariot looked out at his pursuers and shouted, "You are not men of Ba — you are from Wei! Why do you attack us?"
"Zhao grows powerful. Our nations — Wei, Ba, Shu — are all small. If we do not stand together, you will swallow us one by one sooner or later!"
"And so we have united, to resist Zhao as one!"
Prince Dan bellowed back, "This campaign began because Ba ran short of grain and traded a city to Zhao in exchange for five hundred thousand shi of food!"
"We delivered every last grain, and Ba broke its word! It is only because of that faithlessness that my royal father raised arms against them — what crime has Zhao committed?"
"Hmph. Zhao seized on Ba's misfortune. Even if you would not give the grain, why not lend it?"
Faced with such shameless reasoning, Prince Dan nearly spat blood.
*Screw your grandmother — why didn't YOU lend it, then?*
"Enough talk. Forward — kill Prince Dan!"
Prince Dan fixed them with an icy stare, leapt from his chariot, and plunged into the freezing river below.
"Damn it, he jumped — without a body, how do we account for this?"
"Search! Find him! Alive or dead, we need proof!"
"As long as he lives, Prince Ying will have no peace!"
"Kill everyone else on that chariot — we can't risk having our identities exposed!"
---
*Splash* — Zhao Baihui lay sprawled at the water's edge, retching up river water for what felt like an eternity.
【New system loading complete.】
【Congratulations, Host. You have acquired a mysterious production space capable of generating various goods.】
"Can't even get inside? How the hell is that any different from before?"
【Starting rank: Level 1. Daily earnings: 100 yuan.】
"Oh, there's a difference all right — I went from fabulously wealthy to flat broke again."
【Level 1 automatically unlocks one product. Congratulations, Host — you have received: Coarse Grain and Wild Vegetable Flatbread.】
【Coarse Grain and Wild Vegetable Flatbread. Description: Made by unscrupulous vendors using ingredients best left undescribed.】
【Cost price: 0.2 yuan. Suggested retail price: 0.5 yuan / 5 wen.】
"And there's difference number two — my entire inventory vanished and I'm left with one crappy flatbread? Still full of mystery ingredients?"
【Each level-up grants one spin of the mystery lottery.】
"Spin it then! Go on — let's see how you screw me this time!"
【Congratulations! You have received: Black-Tech Satchel. Function: concealment and misdirection.】
【The Black-Tech Satchel is bound to you. No matter where it is, you will always know its location.】
"That's it? How is that any different from not spinning at all?"
Zhao Baihui cursed the new system up and down by the riverbank for a good long while. Eventually hunger won out — he bought one of the flatbreads, forced himself through two bites, and threw it away.
Then he picked it back up and stuffed it into the satchel.
"I'll walk from the south all the way to the north~"
"I'll walk from dawn all the way to dark~"
"This dog-crap system keeps screwing me over~"
"Now it's got me out here selling wild vegetable flatbreads~"
Zhao Baihui sang through his tears.
"Anyone want a wild vegetable flatbread? Five wen each!"
*Crossing into ancient times, building the greatest merchant caravan from scratch.*
【End of this book.】
【A new journey has begun.】