Wen Qi gathered 8,000 troops and walked on the way back to the ancient city, the decisive battle of Nanyang ended with Zhang Mancheng being beaten into the eighteenth layer of hell, Huangfu Song successfully took over Nanyang City, and wrote to Jingzhou Thorn Shi Wang Rong to hand over all the cities taken back from the Yellow Turban Army to him, Wen Qi proposed that before he took Runan, he needed to block Yang and Yecheng to settle the people, then Wang Rong naturally would not have an opinion, and even he hoped that Wen Qi could help him manage a few more cities to alleviate the lack of troops in Jingzhou.

Huangfu Song took Cao Cao and Sun Jian to rescue Yingchuan, and Wenqi needed to take this opportunity to take Runan and other places from the rear.

Huangfu Song left three catapults for Wen Qi before leaving, so that he could attack the city and plunder the land, but this also slowed down the advance of the army, and Zhang Fei's injuries were not healed, Wen Qi changed the army to stay in Yecheng for two days, and escorted the troops of the catapults to continue to advance.

Knowing that Wenqi was going to Yecheng, Li Tong had been waiting in Yecheng, and after not seeing him for three months, Li Tong became a lot more mature, and after some greetings, he began to report to Wenqi about the recent situation of the ancient city.

The Yellow Turban Army in the area of the ancient city, Yecheng and Duyang was cleared by Wenqi very early, and then the ancient city sent people to plant food in a relatively safe area, and now it has been almost half a year, and it is now the harvest season, but I don't know why, the land is fertile, the rain is abundant, and the harvest does not look as good as imagined.

Wen Qi guessed that it was likely that Zhang Jiao had cast a god-level skill on the entire territory of the Han Dynasty to destroy the country and destroy the species, and he could only open up more wasteland and grow grain in the future to cope with the reduction in food production.

There is no problem in terms of public security, there are 2,000 people guarding the city in Yecheng and Duyang, and there are 8,000 people in the ancient city, and the grain and grass sent by Wenqi Po Yellow Turban City can last for at least three years, even if it is considered that there may be refugees coming to defect later, at least this year is that there is no need to worry about the food and grass, and after eating a full stomach, everyone is grateful to Wenqi, who will come out to make trouble.

"There is no news from Runan?" Wenqi led his troops to Jingzhou for nearly half a year, and the Runan Yellow Turban Army was quiet.

"There is news, but it has nothing to do with our ancient city!" Li Tong said.

Seeing that Li Tong seemed to be holding back a smile, Wen Qi asked, "Could it be that there is something wrong?" ”

"It is said that Peng Tuo, the commander of the Great Canal in Runan, was struck by lightning when he came to attack the ancient city before, and was in a coma in bed for more than half a year, but he actually survived, and after waking up, he said that the Taiping Dao was deeply sinful, and said that he wanted to be a monk, and two days ago he apostasy ran south, and those Taiping Dao believers were going to take his life, and finally chose a thousand people to hunt down Peng Tuo."

"How do you know these things?"

"Don't hide it from your lord, Liao Yuanjian saw that the Yellow Turban Army in Runan was scattered, and he had already mixed in several times, but this time he was still in Runan City, and he didn't come back!"

"It's so easy to get in, what's the situation with Runan now?" “

"Liao Yuanjian wrote a letter to the adult, and the adult knew it at a glance."

There are now 15,000 Yellow Turban Army in Runan City, more than 50 Yellow Turban Warriors, and more than 50 Yellow Turban Warlocks.

As for why Liao Hua can mix into the city of Runan, the influence of the Yellow Turban Army in Yangzhou's Shouchun to Jianye is almost negligible, and the materials here are almost sky-high prices in other places, plus most of the Yellow Turban Army in Yuzhou went to Yingchuan, many businessmen can't resist the temptation of interests, organize caravans, hire a fleet to go down the Huai River, wait for an opportunity to enter Yuzhou, sell food and clothes at high prices, and quickly get on the boat and leave as soon as they see the Yellow Turban Army coming, and the Yellow Turban Army in Runan goes out a batch every day from time to time, Let's see if we can catch some slow-moving, ill-informed caravans, rob property, people, it depends on the situation, or pull into the city to absorb into the Taiping Road, or execute on the spot, because Qu Shuai is not there, usually the city gate of Runan is wide open, and from time to time there are Yellow Turban troops out to loot, at the peak, it is more lively than catching up with the market.

Liao Hua joined the Yellow Turban Army for a period of time, was familiar with the situation of the Yellow Turban Army, knew what to listen to, what to say to bewitch himself, did not drink Fu Shui, and pretended to be if necessary, successfully deceived the Yellow Turban Army in the city, and got a lot of information.

"These Yellow Turban Army will never learn a lesson, I'm still worried that this Runan can't be attacked, according to what Liao Hua said, this Runan's defense hole is not small, as long as you find the right way, you may be able to outwit it." Wenqi finished reading the letter and looked happy.

A few days later, on the Huai River, thirty miles south of Runan City, a merchant ship was slowly heading east, Wen Qi and Huang Zhong stood in the bow, and Guan Yu stayed in the cabin with Liao Hua, who was afraid of being recognized, because of his conspicuous appearance.

Almost all the banks of the Huai River are occupied by the fleet, a large number of merchants set up stalls along the river, in addition to precious grain, clothing, there are people selling all kinds of sundries, what antique calligraphy and painting, weapons and treasures have, think that these people should be fleeing with these belongings, there is no money to buy food here, can only be sold on the spot.

"Because the Yellow Turban Army is not good at water warfare, Runan's troops come out to plunder, and it is impossible to carry a boat, as long as they find it in time and bring things on the boat, these Yellow Turban Army will have no way to take these merchants." Liao Hua said in the cabin.

Wen Qi was lamenting that people's creativity is infinite, and he heard someone on the shore beating gongs and drums, shouting that the Yellow Turban Army was coming.

As the boats docked, some merchants began to pack their belongings quickly, packing them up for boarding, and the refugees who had no boats to get on were fleeing in all directions and heading into the nearby woods.

When the Yellow Turban Army arrived, most of the merchants had already loaded things onto the ship, and then set up the ship offshore, and many of the merchants who had not had time to load it on the ship gave up the materials, and only a very small number of businessmen, I don't know whether they didn't find their own fleet, or they were reluctant to send supplies, and they were caught by the Yellow Turban Army, and the goods were robbed by the Yellow Turban Army, not to mention, they also put themselves in.

The Yellow Turban uniforms fired a few arrows at the merchant ships in the Huai River, and then sailed away.

"It's like a devil entering the village!"

As soon as the Yellow Turban Army left, the Huai River became lively again, and the boats crowded the boats and began to unload their goods in turn, and the refugees who had not bought anything just now also ran out of the woods, begging the merchants to sell their food and clothes cheaper.

But not only did these merchants not cheapen, but they also raised the price a little more, and the price was already more than ten times the usual market price.

The refugees on the shore begged bitterly, and Huang Zhong on the boat was filled with righteous indignation and said: "These businessmen, opportunistic, making huge profits, and ignoring the lives of the people, are really a bunch of moths. ”

As a traverser, Wen Qi did not have any deep-seated prejudice against merchants, and said: "Hansheng can't blame all these merchants, these merchants want to hire fleets, hire guards, and sell food and clothing here at the risk of losing both people and money, if they are sold at market prices, who will come here?" Who can these refugees buy food and clothing from? ”

"Okay, good, this brother is fair!"

On a merchant ship adjacent to Wenqi's ship, a young man who was looking at the merchant's dress clapped his hands, and when he heard Wenqi's words, he couldn't help but cry out, and there was a child of seven or eight years old beside him.

The two ships were almost close together, and when he saw Wenqi looking at him, the man hurriedly saluted and said, "Linhuai Luda, Shicai is more offended." ”

"Luda, Lu Zhishen?" Wen Qi had never heard of this person's name, and thought to himself.

Huang Zhong on the side heard it and said, "Isn't Mo the head of the Lu family, the richest family in Yangzhou?" ”

"But there is some money, not enough to worry about." Ruda Dao confessed his identity.

The seven or eight-year-old boy next to him said to Ruda: "Dad, when will you send this food to those refugees, you see they are all hungry." ”

Luda as a rich man, naturally will not send these refugees' wealth, bad reputation, this period of time the yellow scarf rebellion, the Lu family's business in Shouchun is a little stagnant, this Luda with his son to Shouchun to sit in town, heard that there are victims here every day to cross the border, so he sent a boatload of grain and grass here to help.

"Su'er, these businessmen have taken such a big risk to come here to sell food, if we send food to the refugees now, these merchants can't sell food, and tomorrow they may buy more expensive food to make up for today's losses, you help today's refugees, you may harm today's merchants and tomorrow's refugees."

This Ruda is a businessman, so he naturally does not embarrass businessmen, and he sees the essence of businessmen very clearly.

"What then?"

"When these merchants are gone, those who are left behind are those who can't afford to eat and have no money, and giving them food is the real charcoal in the snow."

After Luda finished speaking, he turned his head to Wen Qi and Huang Zhong and said, "Little Lu Su, you don't know etiquette, don't be surprised." ”。

"Lu Su!"

Wen Qi looked at Lu Su, who still had a baby face, with a complicated expression.