Originally, Liu Xian thought that he had Huang Zhong's help, and this time he was doing business, if there was really an inconspicuous thief along the way. Then it is not them who block the road and rob, but their own opportunity to make a fortune.

Especially now that Huang Zhong mentioned that he would let the men of these secret camps go out to investigate the situation along the road, and if there were bandits and robbers nearby, he might take the initiative to eliminate them.

In this way, it is equivalent to taking all the money and food of those bandits and robbers for themselves, even their people. As long as you catch them, you are actually your own free labor.

But Liu Xian thought about it, so he didn't say much about it. The main thing is that there should be no real bandits and robbers in this area now. Even if there is, it is estimated that they are all Yellow Turban thieves hiding in this area. These Yellow Turban thieves, they shouldn't dare to jump out and do evil at this time, they will only hide well.

Moreover, these guys should have no money and food, and no oil and water for Liu Xian to go to the black and eat the black. In this way, Liu Xian naturally had no expectations, and did not deliberately ask Huang Zhong to exterminate those thieves along the road and seize their property.

With Huang Zhong leading the people of this secret camp to clean up the potential safety hazards on the road ahead, Liu Xian was naturally relieved. As long as he doesn't encounter thousands of troops, he can deter those unscrupulous thieves with Huang Zhong's magic arrow.

Liu Xian didn't say anything more, just told them to be careful, and then watched Huang Zhong lead these people to the front, and he stayed behind and waited for the caravan behind to follow.

There are many things, and it is true that Liu Xian does not need to do it himself.

Let's say that Huang Zhong and Zhu Xiang, the captain, led their people all the way along the official road.

Along the way, Zhu Xiang told Huang Zhong that they had sent a total of more than a dozen scouts to the front to reconnoitre.

In addition, they don't just keep an eye on the front, they will go to scout every time they pass some suspicious places. Whether it's a village, a hill, etc.

However, there are no big mountains in this area, and there are no bandits.

This way to the north, walk twenty or thirty miles before leaving the boundary of Yangshi County and entering the boundary of other counties.

It is also from this time that the road will be a little more complicated, and you will enter a hilly area.

In this area, there were some mountains at first, but there were usually no bandits on those mountains. Because the mountains are not high enough and not dangerous enough. Generally speaking, it is difficult for bandits to survive in the plains. The officers and soldiers of the government are not vegetarians, and if they knew what mountains were occupied by bandits, they would definitely send officers and soldiers to suppress the bandits.

But this situation refers to before the Yellow Turban riots.

Now, it's hard to say whether there are bandits or bandits.

Liu Xian used more than 2,000 women to transport goods this time, and the goal of such a team is too big, and everywhere it passes, it will attract attention. Especially more than 2,000 women, if there are really strong people and thieves, they will inevitably have some crooked ideas.

To the north of Yangshi County is Zhaozhou, which is actually the same as Yangshi County, which belongs to an alluvial plain. Even if it's hilly, it's only a small area.

But it really made the people in the dark camp find out about the situation.

At this time, it was almost noon.

It was when we were about to cross this small hillside and hilly terrain.

At this time, it had already left Yangshi County for forty or fifty miles.

The woman carried the goods on her back and walked forty or fifty miles in a row, which was indeed a little tiring.

That is, more than 20 kilometers, normally speaking, it takes about four or five hours for the average person to walk, but with goods on their backs, they will walk more slowly. And so, about three hours passed.

The Liufu caravan, more than 2,000 women, set off from Yangshi County, this road was slow, passing through many villages and towns. In this half a day, it is estimated that there is such a team of women and a team carrying goods, and the news may have spread long ago.

This ordinary bandit and robber did not, but on the north side of this hillside and hill, there was a town market, and there was a strong man here.

This so-called strongman is actually a landlord and tyrant of a similar nature as Yang Jie, but his money and food were almost robbed by the Yellow Turban Army. But he is usually a domineering person in the township, and he himself is also a bit brave.

Later, he gathered the township, with a hundred or dozens of people under his command, and occupied a hillside area to fight against some Yellow Turban thieves who came over.

Now, Zhaozhou County has also rebuilt the official government, but he is not so lucky that he has not been appointed by the government to any official position.

Originally, they should have disbanded and returned to their respective homes to find their own mothers. On the government side, it will not allow such a group of people to exist.

However, this guy was unwilling.

He felt that if according to the government's intentions, all these gathered villagers were dismissed, then he would be nothing. He no longer has the wealth he had before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, but he still has land, and these fields, whether they are the Yellow Turban Army or some lawless officers and soldiers, they can't be taken away at that time.

However, his title deeds and all that were burned and lost. He only has one person left, what if the government doesn't recognize those fields as his? It's going to be hard for him to live in the future.

Therefore, he did not dismiss those villagers according to the orders of the government. He directly built the area he occupied into a cottage, and reported it to the government as a manor. His men were all the servants of his estate, the servants who cultivated the fields for him.

Not only did he not dismiss the people, but he absorbed some more. So that he now has more than 200 men.

Not to mention this, this situation is somewhat similar to the situation in Yangshi County. The county orders and officers and soldiers sent by the government above are generally dozens. At this point, the number of officers and soldiers has not been able to deter those local forces with more than 100 people under their command.

In such a situation, it is not said that it is Yangshi County or this Zhaozhou County. Even in other counties, this situation basically exists.

That is to say, the situation in the entire Jizhou, the areas that have been recovered by the officers and soldiers, and every county town, will be very complicated. The people sent by Huangfu Song, the officials appointed and appointed, they are actually very difficult to carry out their work.

It can be said that in the entire southeastern region of Jizhou, there are few counties that can almost restore normal life and production order like Yangshi County. At present, those county towns are still facing a lack of food for the people, and the government officials are unable to solve this food crisis for the people.

And now this caravan that suddenly appeared so big that along the way, there were many yellow-faced and thin-skinned people who wanted to block the caravan and ask for some food.

The common people are short of food, and the government is also short of food, even those who have men and horses in their hands are also short of food.

At this time, there is still food, it is estimated that it is like Yang Jie, who can hide their grain well, and has not been searched by the yellow turban thieves, and has not been forcibly recruited by officers and soldiers. However, situations like Yang Jie are rare.

Liu Xian's caravan also spread like the wind, and it actually spread to the front, to the ears of the "strongman".

This guy is called Yan Nan.

As soon as he heard that such a caravan of women was passing by him, he naturally thought of getting something out of it.

Food was what he most desperately needed. Now he is staying, but he has to solve the problem of eating, drinking, and Lazar for hundreds of people.

The reason why there are hundreds of people, it is naturally impossible that there are only one or two hundred young and strong villagers. There are also those parents, wives and children of the villagers.

Because he had someone in his hands, he had already reported his original property to the government, and not only that, but also belonged to him all the ownerless land that did not belong to him but whose owner had died. This is indeed different from the people and horses in his hands, and the government does not dare to confront him easily. Those fields, he said that they were his own, they were his own, and the government could only obediently remake the book for him.

If there is time, when he is given another half a year, and the crops are planted in those fields and there is a harvest, then the rise of a new local landlord can be foreseen. But in the current difficulties, he scratched his head.

He even thought about pulling his men and horses to rob passing passers-by and merchants. However, in the current world, where will there be any merchants passing by?

Liu Xian's caravan, two thousand women, everyone is carrying a big burden, how many valuable things will there be in it? These two thousand women must also eat and drink, right? It would be nice if you could get a batch of grain out of it.

In this way, Yan Nan decided to set up a roadblock to stop the caravan and ask the caravan for tolls.

This guy, although he doesn't plan to rob directly like ordinary bandits and bandits, but this behavior of setting up roadblocks and collecting tolls is actually no different from the behavior of ordinary bandits.

They are not government officers and soldiers, who gives them the power to set up roadblocks and collect tolls?

They were setting up barricades and gathered more than a hundred people while waiting. Huang Zhong and the others discovered their actions one step earlier.

Thus they made it clear that the chariot and the horse were in the way of the road.

These need to be cleaned up and solved by Huang Zhong and them.

However, if they were real bandits and bandits, it would be easy to do, Huang Zhong could directly kill them. But they claimed to be from the nearby Yanjiazhuang. This area belongs to their Yanjiazhuang, so they set up barrier road cards here to collect tolls.

In such a situation, Huang Zhong could not kill him directly. I had to ask someone to report to Liu Xian and explain the situation here.

If it is a road card of the government, a certain toll is charged to passing merchants, which is very common in Dahan. But what kind of manor people dare to set up barricades to collect tolls? As soon as Liu Xian heard this, he knew that this was coming for his caravan.

It's really not easy to kill this directly.

Liu Xian saw that it was almost noon, so he asked the caravan to stop, and Mr. made a meal, rested for a while, and then continued to hurry when he was full of food and drink. He himself went to see the situation first.

"Young master, we have found out clearly, they are indeed from a manor in this area. Not bandits. ”

As soon as Liu Xian arrived, Zhu Xiang immediately explained the situation here to Liu Xian.

"Well, Ben Gongzi knows. Hum! What kind of manor would dare to stop our caravan? ”

Liu Xian snorted coldly, beckoned directly, and asked Huang Zhong to follow and step forward.

"What are you doing here? Also, who is in charge? Tell the master of your manor to come out and speak. ”

Liu Xian walked to the barricade and shouted at the people with his head held high.

"Who are you?" A seemingly leading one responded.

"My son-in-law is Liu Xian, the young master of the Liu Mansion in Liulin Village, Xiatao County. He is also the master of the Liu Mansion caravan, and our caravan is going to pass through here, but you are setting up roadblocks here, which is simply bold. Let your principals come out and speak. Liu Xian shouted.

The person who responded just now, Liu Xian was not the real person in charge at first glance, so his tone became stern.

"Liufu in Liulin Village, Xiatao County? Haven't heard of it. ”

"Hmph, haven't you heard of it, why did you set up this barricade? And now the Lord is coming, will you not call your master out? Liu Xian was a little impatient.

"Okay, wait."

The man answered, and ran behind the barricade.

Not long after, a team of people rushed over and walked out surrounded by a tall and sturdy middle-aged man.

"You're the master of that caravan?"

As soon as he came out, he looked at Liu Xian twice, squinted his eyes and asked.

"Didn't you already say it, who are you?" Liu Xian waved his hand and looked at him coldly.

"I, Yan Nan, am the owner of the Yan family manor. This area belongs to my Yan family. Therefore, I don't care which county or province you are from, if you want to pass through my Yan family's territory, you must leave the toll money. ”

Yan Nan said in a tough tone: "I have someone who has investigated your caravan, there are a total of two thousand people, and everyone is carrying a big burden. They must all be valuable goods, right? I don't want much, after all, it's not easy for you to run a business, so you have to make money too, right? Therefore, if you leave a tenth of your goods as a toll for the passage, or, if you leave a grain of equal value, we will send you across the border. ”

Yan Nan set up roadblocks here for the purpose of demanding food from this caravan. However, he also knew that the caravan was unlikely to carry too much food, so he asked for some appropriately.

In his opinion, his request was reasonable.

"Haha, it's really lard." Liu Xian laughed and said mockingly: "Master Yannan, you really dare to speak." You haven't really figured out the situation, so you dare to ask my Liu Mansion caravan for tolls here? And as soon as you open your mouth, it's a tenth of the goods? ”

"Oh? Is it possible, what else do you have to come from? ”

"Coming from? Hehe, I'm afraid you won't be able to hold back when you say it. ”

Liu Xian brushed some dust from his body and said to him: "First of all, our Liu Mansion caravan is a legally operated caravan, and there is a road guide issued by the government. Even if it is a checkpoint fortress of an ordinary imperial court, we can pass freely. The lord of your manor in a mere place dares to set up a roadblock here to collect tolls from my Liu Mansion caravan? ”

"Second, do you have permission or order from the government to set up barricades here to collect tolls? If not, hehe......"

Liu Xian looked at Yan Nan with a sneer.