Brushing aside the thoughts in his mind, Yanyan knew very well that even if he wanted to pull off something big right now, he simply couldn't.
First of all, this was the Warring Period, with the Seven Powers standing side by side. Everyone was on guard against the Confucian School and dared not employ them. Secondly, raising disciples was terribly expensive; without money to lecture on grand principles and paint grand pictures for the future, who would be willing to listen to you and follow you?
Reject mental internal friction; when something comes up, just go crazy!
The ancients were entirely capable of doing just that. When people couldn't even eat their fill or keep warm, what was the point of talking about literature or propriety?
Information isolation and lag were also characteristics of this era. At the very least, Yanyan wasn't entirely certain which era of the Warring Period this was right now!
The only useful piece of information was that the Chu State was about to move its capital to Shouchun, yet Yanyan had forgotten the exact time when the Chu State moved its capital from Juyang to Shouchun.
Over the years, the Chu State had taken a rather severe beating from the State of Qin, moving its capital all the way from Yingdu to Chen County, and then from Chen County to the present-day Juyang instead of Shouchun, as known by later generations.
In reality, Shouchun did not serve as the capital of the Chu State during the Warring Period for very long—only nineteen years.
And the capital of the Chu State right now was Juyang!
Walking on foot from Wujun to Juyang was a grueling journey. Uninhabited wilderness stretching for thousands of *li* was a common sight, and completely paved official roads didn't even exist.
There were no shortage of bandits and outlaws along the way, and in many places, even bandits refused to make a den.
Fortunately, since Juyang was, after all, the capital of the Chu State, there were still quite a few caravans setting out from Wujun toward Juyang.
Therefore, Yanyan's very first stop after leaving Yushan Academy was the commandery city of Wujun.
Here, one could not help but mention the chaos of the Chu State's administrative units. In the State of Qin, the commandery-county system was practiced, with clear hierarchies ranging from the capital down to commanderies, counties, and villages.
Not so in the Chu State. The commanderies and counties of the Chu State were utterly chaotic; some commanderies were larger than counties, while some counties were larger than commanderies. But this was also a characteristic of the Chu State: the autonomy of local aristocrats!
For instance, although Wujun looked vast, it was merely the jurisdiction of a single county and had no authority to manage the various counties beyond the commandery city, bearing no subordinate relationship to them whatsoever.
When trouble arose in the subordinate counties, they acknowledged that they fell under the governance of Wujun; when there was no trouble, they utterly ignored Wujun's orders.
When there was trouble, you were Wujun; when there was no trouble, you were merely Wu County!
"The Inn with a Story?" Upon entering Wu County, Yanyan had originally planned to casually find an inn to stay in, and then inquire which large trading house was heading to Juyang so he could hitch a free ride.
To his surprise, however, he encountered such a peculiarly named establishment. At first glance, it looked very much like a shady black inn.
Yet, this was indeed a shady establishment; even the innkeeper and the servants were dressed in black-and-white martial attire with swords and sabers tucked at their waists.
"The Mohist School!" Yanyan walked openly and directly into the Inn with a Story. If an inn run by the Mohist School wasn't safe, then nowhere else could possibly be safe.
"Surname Yan, Shudong, Yushan!" After briefly reviewing Yanyan's bamboo slip of identification, the innkeeper looked somewhat surprised.
Living in Wujun, naturally no one was unaware of the Yan Family, and the direct lineage of the Yan Family belonged precisely to the Shudong branch.
The innkeeper pressed heavily with his brush beneath Yanyan's name, reminding the inn's servants to pay closer attention and look after him properly so that nothing untoward would happen.
Especially that bamboo book box strapped to Yanyan's back—if even a single scroll were lost, selling all of them might not cover the compensation!
In this era, the most expensive things were not gold and silver jewelry, but books of this nature!
"Innkeeper, let me ask you: is there any caravan in the city heading to Juyang?" Yanyan asked directly.
Local tyrants like the Mohist School certainly knew more about affairs within the city than he did, especially major events like a caravan setting out.
"Little Master is heading to Juyang?" the innkeeper asked with an impassive expression.
"Yes!" Yanyan had nothing to hide and readily admitted it.
"In three days, the Wu Family Caravan happens to be heading to Juyang, and they have engaged our Mohist School as guards. If the Little Master is willing, I can speak with the Wu family manager on your behalf and let you tag along for the ride!" The innkeeper spoke directly, seeking to plant a good seed of affinity.
Yanyan nodded, bowed, and said, "Then many thanks to the innkeeper!"
Actually, without the Mohist School stepping forward, given the Yan Family's standing in Wujun, a single word from him would make other caravans more than happy to take him in, especially since the Yan Family had its own caravans traveling to Juyang.
However, apart from the junior fellow apprentices and masters at Yushan Academy, Yanyan didn't know anyone else from the Yan Family, nor did he know when the Yan Family's caravan was setting out.
When the manager of the Wu Family Caravan heard that a direct descendant of the Yan Family would be accompanying them, he was only slightly surprised. The Yan Family had its own caravans; why would he want to travel with them? Yet, he did not refuse.
Traveling with a caravan was far from safe, and the Wu family was merely a minor clan in Wu County, completely incomparable to a behemoth like the Yan Family. Encountering highway robbers, the identity of a Yan Family member was far more useful than anything they possessed.
Almost all throughout the Chu region, once it was known to be a Yan Family caravan, very few highwaymen dared to make a move.
Taking advantage of these three days, Yanyan also prepared some rations. There was no telling how long this journey would take, and sleeping in the open air was a certainty. The Wu family letting him tag along didn't mean they would prepare food for him; he was going to ask others for a favor, not the other way around.
Three days later, the Wu Family Caravan officially set out—a grand procession of over a dozen carriages laden with the local specialties of Wujun, such as marine fish and coral.
Because it was the bitter winter, it was much easier to preserve seafood; if it were summer, this trip would have been sheer torture.
"Little Master can ride in the carriage!" The manager of the Wu family hospitably invited Yanyan to board.
Yanyan shook his head. Unearned rewards are not to be accepted!
With his book box strapped to his back, he slowly walked alongside the carriage convoy.
Aside from their own personnel, caravans would also hire guards when traveling, such as the Mohist disciples at his side, who made excellent guards.
Similarly, some wandering knights were also among those invited by the caravan. However, these wandering knights not only received no reward money from the Wu family, but they even had to pay the Wu family for the privilege, and in times of danger, they were required to step up and defend the cargo.
There were also ordinary commoners who followed along the edges of the caravan, who likewise had to pay a fee in order to travel with them.
"Tell me, Manager, why are there still so many empty carriages in the caravan?" Yanyan walked in the middle of the caravan, drawing close to the manager of the Wu Family Caravan.
"Is this the Little Master's first time traveling away from home?" the manager asked with a smile.
Yanyan nodded.
"A caravan doesn't travel by packing everything with cargo and rushing straight to Juyang!
Only large trading houses can manage that. As for smaller trading houses like ours, along the way we carry daily necessities for the common folk—cooking pots, salt, sugar, tea, and the like—to trade with the local villagers." The manager explained with a smile.
Yanyan nodded. The caravan's journey was long, and a single trip took half a year to a year. Therefore, they supplied daily necessities to various places, then exchanged them for local specialties, trading all the way until they reached Juyang.
Only goods with extremely high profits would be brought all the way from Wu County to Juyang, such as Wu County's marine fish, pearls, and coral.
"May I give it a try?" Yanyan asked with curiosity.
The manager, however, was momentarily stunned. Among the four social classes of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, merchants held the lowest status, ranked alongside vagrants, scoundrels, matrilocal sons-in-law, and convicts. Ordinarily, scholars would never lower themselves to engage in such work.
Especially a direct descendant of the Yan Family like Yanyan!