Chapter Sixteen: Extortion and Blackmail

  Liao Hua burst out laughing and said, "I thought you were also surnamed 'Zi'! Li Dage is surnamed Zi Hui, Taishi Jiangjun is surnamed Zi Yi, and then there's... Ah yes, that Zou Fang is surnamed Zi Fang."

  Li Chong suddenly remembered that there was still a big gold owner in the mountain stronghold, and he slapped his head, saying: "Quickly bring Gao Fang, he still has great use!"

  Zuofu returned to Xucheng and hurriedly went to see Zu'e.

  Over a hundred people returned to Xuzhou, and it was impossible to deceive Zou Jue. He was also waiting for Zou Fang to return and report the situation. As soon as he saw Zou Fu's face full of sorrow, but without any sign of Zou Fang by his side, he secretly thought something was wrong.

  Indeed, as soon as Zou Fu saw Zou Zhu, he immediately knelt down on the ground and wept, saying: "Sir, our grain has been robbed by mountain bandits, and even Zi Fang has been captured by the thieves."

  Miao Zhu felt a sudden darkness in front of his eyes and almost fell to the ground, Miao Fu quickly jumped up and supported the swaying Miao Zhu, just about to go call for a doctor.

  Miao Zhu pulled Miao Fu back and shook his head, saying: "No need to call anyone else, you quickly tell me what's going on?"

  Seeing that Mo Zhen was unharmed, Mo Fu then recounted the events.

  At first, he listened with a frown, but when he heard that Taishi Ci had captured Miao Fang alive in one move, his expression became strange. He didn't expect there to be such a powerful warrior either.

  Li Chong had taken away all of their armor and weapons, leaving them with nothing. Suddenly, Zou Ji's expression changed to a calm one.

  Five hundred stones of grain, some weapons and armor, it doesn't matter, as long as Mei Fang is safe. Since the bandits were able to capture Mei Fang alive, they could have easily killed her too, but since they chose not to, they probably didn't intend to kill her. Moreover, since they let everyone else go, they probably didn't plan on silencing anyone either.

  It turns out that as the head of the family, Zou's thoughts are indeed meticulous, and he has guessed Li Chong's mind to be about 70-80% correct. However, he underestimated the extent of Li Chong's shamelessness.

  The tangled thoughts were smoothed out, and the misfortune retreated.

  As soon as Mei Fu reached the door, Mei Zhu suddenly stopped him and said solemnly: "You pass it down, no one is allowed to leak out the fact that the grain was seized, do you understand?"

  This is not about being afraid of losing face, but rather the undercurrents in Xuzhou City are surging, with the Mi, Cao and Chen families mutually restraining each other, vying for power and profit, all wanting to climb on top of each other.

  The weakest force is the Mi family. If Mi Zhu hadn't been appointed as a deputy by Tao Qian, the Mi family would have been trampled underfoot by the Chen and Cao families long ago.

  At this time, if the news leaks out, Zou Zhu doesn't know how these two families will react. The worst result is that the two families will join forces to put pressure on the mountain bandits and use the mountain bandits' hands to get rid of Zou Fang, which is equivalent to cutting off one of Zou Zhu's arms.

  After the arrangement was made, I began an anxious wait, which lasted for more than a month.

  On this day, Mi Zhu sent someone to wait at the gate of Xucheng as usual. Suddenly, Mi Fu rushed into the room in a hurry.

  Meng Zhen was sitting at his desk reading a book, when he saw Meng Fu enter. He put down the book in his hand and asked: "Is there any news about Meng Fang?"

  Mò Fú took out a letter from his bosom and handed it to Mò Zhù with both hands, saying respectfully: "This is the mountain bandit's letter to you, sir."

  "Where is the mountain bandit who sent this?" Zou Ji looked at the seal of the letter and found no signs of damage, only then did he ask.

  "I've already arranged for the mountain bandits who are delivering the message to stay in the backyard, no one else knows." said Zou Fu.

  Only then did he put his mind at ease, open the letter and read it carefully.

  It turns out that the letter doesn't need to be examined so closely, as it was dictated by Li Chong and written by Tai Shi Ci. The reason is simple: during the Han Dynasty, the characters used were Lishu and Xiaozhuan, which Li Chong couldn't write.

  So, this is a vernacular article with a very simple meaning: it's just that I and Miao Fang hit it off, inviting him to live in the mountain stronghold for a period of time. However, Miao Fang has a rather violent and irritable temper, smashing things worth several tens of millions of dollars.

  At the same time, Mei Fang, due to his daily martial arts practice, has destroyed twenty good bows, fifty sets of armor, and fifty ring-headed knives. Additionally, he injured fifty war horses. The mountain stronghold is relatively poor and hopes that the Mei family can compensate for these losses.

  "Hah... these scoundrels! Do they think we're easy to bully?!" Zou Yun's anger reached its peak, and with a burst of laughter, he slammed the letter to the ground, his chest heaving violently.

  Miao Fu carefully picked up the letter, saw that Miao Zhu did not object, and quickly read it through. His face also turned gloomy, and he had to say that Li Chong's blow was not light. Not to mention other things, just those 50 war horses were enough for the Miao family to prepare for a while.

  It is said that when Zhang Fei was garrisoning in Xuzhou, he seized several hundred warhorses from Lü Bu, which led to Lü Bu's great anger and his nighttime raid on Xiaopei.

  It can be seen from this that the importance of war horses at that time.

  Zou Fu knew that Zou Jiu was just temporarily angry and could only advise: "Sir, I think it's better to prepare as soon as possible. The second general has been in the hands of the bandits for some time now, who knows what kind of suffering he has endured?"

  After panting for a long time, he finally calmed down and said, "Don't make too much noise, oh! Where's the messenger?"

  "Sir, there's no need to worry about the messenger's intentions," said Zou Fu with a wry smile. "The mountain bandit who brought the message said that his life is worthless compared to General Zou's noble status."

  "Hmm..." Zou Yu spat out a mouthful of turbid air and slowly knelt down.

  Li Zhong's conditions were very harsh, deliver the goods first and then release the person. But Zou Zhu was forced to accept it with a heavy heart, and Li Zhong made another big gain.

  Out of caution, Li Chong was very careful with the handover of the hostages. He first had his own men lead the way and bring the extorted goods to a valley near the mountain stronghold, then sent someone to transport them back to the stronghold. Only after everything had been taken care of did he release Zou Fang.

  Near the twelfth month, Li Chong made preparations for the expedition. This time's plan was to have Kan Hui guard and Li Chong lead Taishi Ci, Liao Hua, and 200 soldiers to Chenliu. The 200 soldiers were not many, but their equipment was extremely fine, with 50 cavalrymen alone, which was already a high proportion in the Three Kingdoms period, also greatly increasing the combat effectiveness of these people. In this regard, Li Chong also had to thank Mi Zhu for his full support.

  Before Cao Cao could make his move, Li Chong decided to set out ahead of time. He didn't want to have a run-in with Kong Rong of Beihai, which would inevitably lead to a fierce battle.

  History did not change, in December 189, Cao Cao failed to assassinate Dong Zhuo, disguised himself and escaped from Luoyang, returned to Chenliu, Cao Cao scattered his family's wealth, recruited righteous soldiers, issued a proclamation to punish Dong Zhuo, and the late Han finally entered the era of vassals contending for hegemony.

  Li Chong received the news and was overjoyed. He immediately ordered the whole army to speed up, determined to arrive at Chenliu as soon as possible.

  They rushed all the way, and after a month of traveling, they finally arrived in Chenliu in January 190. Because Li Chong had been intentionally training his troops to march quickly on the road, he didn't have the opportunity to experience the local customs of the late Eastern Han Dynasty. It wasn't until they arrived in Chenliu that Li Chong was able to relax and carefully observe the situation there.