Chapter 77: Rush for Food (Part 1)

  Gao Yuan was also startled by this, and the courage of these people is too great. Isn't this openly going against the Zhao State court? It's not an exaggeration to say they're rebelling.

  In this era, the consciousness of individual resistance is still very strong. Because China is currently in a state of division, the ruling power of the country is not enough, and the majesty of imperial power has not been established yet. Confucianism has not become the orthodox ideology, and the whole society does not follow the idea of "emperor is emperor, minister is minister, father is father, son is son". Instead, it is more about "if you don't support me here, I will find someone who will" kind of thinking. Therefore, as long as one feels that the monarch is not good to them or they have been treated unfairly, they would either leave and abandon their lord or take up arms and rebel. Nobody takes the authority of the emperor very seriously.

  At this time, Li Mu nodded and said: "In the past, when Handan was besieged, Mozi made many contributions to defend Handan. I, Li Mu, remember these things. However, now the Qin state is eyeing us from outside, our great Zhao is in danger every day. If you continue to use force to break into the prison and rescue Zhi, even if you succeed, it will inevitably lead to internal chaos in Zhao. If the powerful Qin takes advantage of this opportunity to attack, Zhao will surely perish. Do you want to see such a result? The Mohist school has always been known for its justice and righteousness, I think even Zhi would not want you to do this."

  Cheng Gui lowered his head, remained silent for a moment, then said: "But now that Ju Zi has been captured and her life or death is unknown, we can't just abandon her, can we?"

  Li Mu said: "If you trust me, Li Mu, I will take care of your affairs. Within three days, I guarantee that your children will return safely. But now you must disperse and not gather again to cause trouble."

  Cheng Gui was still hesitating, and Wu Lie had already become somewhat impatient. He said: "How is it? Since General Wu An has guaranteed that your son will return within three days, he must be able to return. If you can't even trust the words of General Wu An, then who else can you trust?"

  Cheng Gui listened and finally nodded, saying: "Alright, since General Wu An has said so, we all believe in General Wu An's promise. However, if Ju Zi still hasn't returned after three days, we will gather again to storm the prison and rescue Ju Zi. At that time, please don't stop us, General Wu An."

  Li Mu also nodded and said: "Alright, I promise you. If after three days, I still can't rescue Zhai Zhongzi, do whatever you want to me, I won't stop you."

  Cheng Gui bowed to Li Mu again and said, "Regardless of whether Wu Anjun can rescue Ju Zi or not, Wu Anjun is a man of noble integrity. We Mohists will never forget this, so please forgive us for any disrespect towards you." After finishing speaking, he returned to the crowd of Mohist disciples and advised them to leave, and the other Mohist disciples also left one after another.

  Li Mu said, "Gaoyuan, Yinghong, you can go."

  Gao Yuan nodded and led the soldiers away with Li Yinghong.

  Yun Jia Society has a shop in Lu City, but 300,000 dan of grain, converted to modern weight is over 90,000 tons, which cannot be stored in a single shop. Therefore, they are all stacked in the warehouse, and this warehouse is next to Guo Kai's mansion, with a large gate connecting them, actually it is Guo Kai's own granary. Gao Yuan and Li Yinghong also led soldiers directly to Yun Jia Society's warehouse.

  At this time, a group of soldiers were standing guard at the entrance of the Yunhe Society warehouse. When they saw Gao Yuan and Li Yinghong leading a team of soldiers approaching with an air of urgency, the leader of the guards stepped forward to block their way, saying: "What army are you from?"

  Gao Yuan looked at him and said, "Is this the warehouse of Yun Jie Society?"

  The captain said: "Not bad, it's here, who are you?"

  Gao Yuan asked: "Is the grain bought from Qi State inside?"

  The team leader asked twice, but Gaoyuan ignored him. He was also somewhat annoyed in his heart and said, "Do you care about so much? If nothing happens, hurry up and leave." In fact, he saw that Gaoyuan's group were all Zhao soldiers, and there were more people than himself, so he was a bit more polite. If they were ordinary civilians, they would have been driven away by now.

  But Gao originally came for the grain, and wouldn't care what he said. He said: "I am Daifu Gao Yuan, under the order of Wu An Jun, I have come here to transport the grain purchased from Qi Guo. If you understand, then get out of the way. If not, don't blame me for being impolite."

  This little team leader also has an official rank, but he is only a sergeant. The two big hats of Wu Anjun and Shang Dafu are pressing down on him, and he was slapped severely. If it weren't for Guo Kai's orders to guard the grain here, he would have let go long ago. Guo Kai also said that if anything unexpected happens to the grain, he will be held accountable first. Now he has no choice but to grit his teeth and say: "Sir, I am following the State Duke's orders to guard the grain here. If you want to move the grain, please report back to the State Duke. If there is an order from the State Duke, I..."

  He hadn't finished speaking, and Gao Yuan was already fed up. He suddenly took a step forward, his right hand bent into a hook shape, locking onto the captain's neck, while his right foot shot out from behind the captain's left leg, using both hands and feet to exert force. Before the captain could even react, he was flipped over onto the ground by Gao Yuan.

  The soldiers under him saw it and immediately wanted to rush up to rescue, Gao Yuan held the captain's neck and shouted: "Who dares to come over, kill anyone who disobeys."

  Li Yinghong also made a "heng" sound beside Gao Yuan, drawing his own pair of swords. Zhong Sunqi, Wu Zhanpeng, and Wu Honglian also drew their swords one after another, while the soldiers behind them had their bows at the ready, forming a tight array.

  The soldiers guarding the granary were not many, only a hundred people. Therefore, when they saw Gao Yuan, they put on this posture of being ready to fight to the end, and their number was more than their own. Moreover, their leader was controlled by Gao Yuan, so they did not dare to come forward again. So Li Yinghong immediately ordered the soldiers to move forward, collect their weapons, and then Gao Yuan also released the captain, letting them gather on one side of the warehouse, and sent fifty soldiers to guard them.

  Then the plateau ordered people to break open the warehouse door and enter the warehouse. Inside, there were indeed piles of grain from the house to the yard, and more than 50 vehicles for transporting grain were parked. However, in the warehouse, there were still a dozen or so household guards on duty. Seeing the plateau and others rush in, they thought it was the soldiers guarding the granary. The person in charge immediately came over, looking very unhappy, saying: "What are you making a fuss about outside? Why did you break open the door again?"

  Before he could finish speaking, he was already pushed to one side by the plateau and grabbed by two soldiers. Several other family members rushed over, just about to take action, but were all knocked to the ground by the soldiers.

  Gao Yuan Dao: "Zhong Sun Qi, you go and guard the way to Guo Kai's mansion, don't let anyone in. Wu Zhan Peng, take men to keep watch outside the warehouse. Du Yi, command the soldiers to load up immediately."

  Everyone responded in unison and immediately began to busy themselves. At this time, the person in charge finally came back to his senses and trembled with fear, saying: "Who are you people? What do you want to do?"

  Gao Yuan Dao: "I am Gao Yuan, the senior official of the Zhou Dynasty. I have been ordered by Wu An Jun to come and transport the grain purchased from the Qi State."

  That official, upon hearing this, finally understood what was going on and hastily said: "I didn't know it was Lord Gao who had come. If I had known it was Lord Gao who came to transport the grain, I would not have dared to block his way."

  "Shut up and stay still, we'll let you go once we've moved all the grain. If you don't behave, we'll kill you."

  The official was taken aback and didn't dare speak again.

  The soldiers' movements were swift, and before long, all the vehicles were loaded. However, there were 300,000 dan of grain and fodder in total, and with only 50 or 60 large carts, it would take at least 70 or 80 trips to transport them all. Therefore, Gao Yuan also ordered Du Yi and Wu Zhanpeng to lead the cavalry and 300 infantrymen to escort the convoy along the way, and asked Li Mu to allocate a portion of vehicles and livestock to come and assist.

  After Du Yi led his men and vehicles away, someone came to report to Gao Yuan that a team of soldiers was rushing towards the warehouse.

  Gao Yuan immediately ordered Zhong Sun Qi and Wu Hong Yan to guard the warehouse, while he himself led 300 soldiers with Li Ying Hong to prepare for battle.

  Two men led the soldiers onto the main street, and sure enough, they saw a team of soldiers rushing towards the warehouse. There were two war chariots in front, and Gao Yuan took a crossbow from one of the soldiers beside him. With a "whoosh", an arrow shot out diagonally and landed right in front of the chariot. The two chariots immediately came to a halt, and the people on them jumped off. It turned out that the two men who got off the chariots were Zhao Cong's two sons, Zhao Yang and Zhao Bin.

  On Zhao Yang's chariot, there was a fat man with a face full of flesh, but at this time he had a big sweat on his face. After getting off the chariot, he immediately rushed towards Gao Yuan and Li Yinghong, panting while running, and shouting: "It's that bastard who ate leopard gallbladder, dare to come and rob my food from Grandpa, without even asking, who I am, Guo Yun, Guo Dage is who, dare to move on my Taishou head, also don't see me... Ah yo."

  Originally, Gao Yuan had already taken two steps forward and slapped Guo Yun's face with a loud slap, causing Guo Yun to spin around twice on the spot and retreat several steps backward. If it weren't for Zhao Yang and Zhao Bin rushing up to support him, he would have definitely fallen to the ground on his butt. However, his cheek had also turned red and swollen, making his face look even chubbier.

  Guo Yun is Guo Kai's nephew, relying on Guo Kai's power in Handan City, he has always been lawless and never suffered such a loss before. Suddenly, flames rose to his head, he pushed away Zhao Shi brothers who were supporting him, and rushed to Gao Yuan's face, saying: "Who are you, dare to hit me..."

  He hadn't finished speaking when Gao Yuan swung his palm, "slap slap slap slap", and slapped him four times, only to make Guo Yun's eyes see stars, both cheeks numb.

  Gao Yuan shouted: "Now Zhao Guo is suffering from disaster, with hundreds of thousands of refugees, all of whom are starving and hungry. You uncle and nephew have hoarded all the grain bought from merchants in Qi Guo, raised the price of grain, and made a huge profit. It's really shameful to die. Today I will move all the grain out of the warehouse, even if Guo Kai comes, he can't stop me."