Three Kingdoms

When the morning fog rises, surrounding the high mountains and low hills near Xiangping, there are company camps all over the mountains and plains.

As the temperature gradually increased, the smell of blood and putrid smell that had been slightly solidified at night gradually began to rise again and spread in the air. It even felt like the air was turning gray-green with the naked eye.

The war fever that had lasted for many days had subsided, and what separated the two sides was not the city wall, but the corpses rotting around the city wall.

On the land from the military camp where the Ding Ling people besieged the city to the Xiangping city wall, there were countless corpses and various weapons, arrows, and damaged wooden instruments stuck on the ground or on the corpses, forming a hell-like area. The scenery is a warm and dead atmosphere.

All the bright red blood has long turned into black and purple. Some of the rotting corpses have bulging bellies, like balloons that will explode at a touch. Purple blood vessels emerge on the same black and livid skin, and then There were also maggots crawling around, as if little demons from hell were about to be born among these bulging corpses.

Occasionally, some small groups of cavalry would come out of Ding Ling's camp and then go further away from the battlefield. I don't know if they were going to perform patrol missions or to capture more unlucky people to fill this hell. middle.

Attracted by these rotting corpses, a large number of birds, animals, rats, flies, etc. were attracted to enjoy the feast on the land in the middle for days as if no one else was around. . Occasionally, due to the bite and touch of these gluttonous guys, the rotten heads or limbs fall off. These fat guys will not let them escape, but just stare at them casually with blood-red eyes, like It's laughing at human stupidity.

At first, the Ding Ling people would attack the city among the corpses without fear of death, but then they stopped coming.

Those rotten smells that turned the air dark green seemed to be able to directly invade the body of a living person without contact, making the Ding Ling people who had no knowledge of virus defense at all not sure how to avoid getting sick.

In this way, Gongsun Kang was fortunate that they were temporarily out of the battle. What protected them was not their bravery or the arrival of reinforcements, but the ordinary people of Liaodong who died. Even in death, they seemed to continue to protect the land of Liaodong. The leaders of the land are idiots, and they contribute everything they have from birth to death without complaint or regret.

Unable to eliminate the epidemic, the Ding Ling people temporarily suspended the idea of ​​​​attacking and asked the besieging soldiers to withdraw from the dangerous area to make repairs and plan for follow-up.

Although the Ding Ling people no longer continue to attack the city, it does not mean that there will be eternal peace in Xiangping City.

At the same time, city walls could not stop the invasion of disease.

Through the infiltration of water sources and mosquitoes and flies, various diseases have gradually appeared in Xiangping City, and the diseases can also infect each other, causing the city to lose its population almost every day, and this kind of casualties is simply worthless, which makes it even more difficult. People will inevitably become depressed and their morale will collapse.

If it weren't for the fact that the Dingling people were also afraid of the epidemic and could not attack one or two more times, Xiangping might have fallen.

When Gongsun Kang was almost desperate, a sudden turn of events occurred.

It rains in Liaodong.

And it’s rare heavy rain!

The pouring rain carried the dark clouds all over the sky, blocking out the sun. The occasional flashes of lightning and thunder made this area chaotic and restless.

Upon seeing this, Gongsun Kang quickly passed the resolution and took advantage of the rain to break out of the encirclement.

On a night of heavy rain, Gongsun Kang opened the city gate, leaving behind the Gongsun family's long-established property in Xiangping, leaving behind the people who supported him, and leaving behind those servants and followers who were still eager to be protected by Gongsun, no matter what. They ran wildly and fled, fearing that they would be entangled by the Ding Ling people who were pursuing them in the rain. It was not until the next morning that they stopped exhausted in the Qianshanshiling area and waited for the soldiers under their command to converge one after another.

During the short rest, Gongsun Kang recalled that only half a year ago, they were still domineering in Liaodong, and it really felt like a world away. With such sadness, when the sky was getting brighter, and after nearly two hours of waiting and counting the number of soldiers, Gongsun Kang realized that when he broke through, the nearly 5,000 Gongsun soldiers he brought out had already been sorted out. Less than five hundred!

Some of the soldiers who disappeared died in the pursuit of the Ding Ling people, some were captured, and some fell behind one after another while running away. And all Gongsun can expect at the moment is that these stragglers are willing to return one after another.

But in fact, among these stragglers, the vast majority of them will probably never come back, but flee into the mountains.

The cruel fact is before our eyes. The once glorious Gongsun Kang, the son of the King of Liaodong, is now like a frightened mouse, constantly fleeing south along the peninsula, fleeing to Lelang, and fleeing to the unknown. abyss.

It was early autumn in the sixth year of Taixing.

The once glorious Gongsun regime in Liaodong fell apart, and may soon breathe its last breath.

(:3)

When Gongsun's regime collapsed in the north, Jiangdong in the south was also facing a catastrophe.

In a place like Yangzhou, a land of plenty, we encountered a drought.

There should be enough water for farmers to grow and fill, forming full fruits. However, continuous drought has caused water shortages in many places. The decline in river water levels has also prevented some ditches from being effectively replenished. The relatively high terrain requires reliance on It is inevitable that problems will arise in the field ridges supplied by water conservancy.

This is a situation that is rare in Jiangdong for ten years, well, maybe even longer.

And what comes earlier than the bad situation of possible reduction in autumn harvest is the boiling and gushing growth of grain prices like boiling water.

Just like some big players had already made plans in advance before some good or bad news came out in the National Casino in later generations, in the current Jiangdong, when ordinary people realize that drought may cause harm to their harvest this year When the impact hit, these ordinary people were shocked to realize that compared to what they would face in the fall, the current food prices were already sharpening their swords, leaving them covered with cuts and bruises.

There is always a long queue outside Mipu.

Every time the rice shop clerk takes off the water tag, wipes it and then refills it, it always attracts countless whines and curses.

The price of ordinary millet quickly soared from four to five hundred qian to one or two thousand qian, and then dropped slightly when the government opened grain warehouses to stabilize grain prices. However, after the grain in the official warehouses poured out like a flood and collapsed embankments, The price of food rose in response, costing four to five thousand yuan!

The era of grain speculation for all people in Jiangdong has come.

At this moment, on the ground in Jiangdong, food has become as valuable as gold.

It was in such an atmosphere that the powerful nobles and local families held a gluttonous feast.

Unlike the ordinary farmers and women outside the city who were wailing all over the fields, eating grass roots, chewing tree bark and swallowing soil, in the big cities of Jiangdong, for example, the fireworks venues in Wu County and other places became extremely popular.

Those powerful people who calculate that their granaries have been converted into gold, silver, and copper coins and are rising crazily every day, while hoping that the drought will last longer, seem to feel that the money they picked up for free is not wasted, and is used for entertainment and luxury. Consumption is increasing.

At the same time, because the number of farmers selling their sons and daughters has also increased, these fireworks venues can not only promote people and raise prices, but also send people to various places to collect the next batch of thin horse seedlings. Every evening at dusk, it was the busiest time for the restaurant and the flower house. The old madam would hold on even if her voice became hoarse when welcoming guests, and she would smile so hard that the pink on her face could not hold on, and would fall off whenever she moved.

There are also many young romantics who are jealous in brothels and restaurants and beat out the brains of dogs and pigs. Most of them are injured, with bruises on the nose and face as the upper limit, but there are also some who are not careful and are beaten to death by mistake, so it is natural to cause trouble. It became a hot topic and became the source of laughter and conversation for several days, and then in the blink of an eye, these young scholars would be attracted by the remarks about the top ten courtesans in brothels, the top ten famous fireworks, dong er, the top ten techniques of painting boats, etc., and wink and wink. Brothers should take a step to speak.

This is the best place in Jiangdong.

This is the style of a noble and powerful family.

In the minds of these Jiangdong gentry children, what does it mean if hundreds of ordinary people die? Thousands of people, tens of thousands, hundreds of millions, are just numbers. As long as we can still sing and dance, it will be a peaceful and prosperous age.

Young nobles have strong energy and blood, so they can't help but get involved with flowers and plants. However, most of the older people, or those in charge of the family who have passed the situation of insufficient blood supply to the brain, do not put their minds on pure things. Instead, they exchanged information with each other early on and then met privately to discuss in secret.

When grain prices rose, it was actually not the autumn harvest yet, and Jiangdong was densely covered with water networks. Strictly speaking, the places that were seriously affected by the disaster and failed to harvest grains were not the majority, but the sudden rise in grain prices caused market chaos. , the people's hearts were so turbulent that farmers had no intention of farming, and the people in the city were restless and rioting.

Next, according to the customary operation method of the powerful nobles, food prices will continue to be high for a period of time, and then wait until the autumn harvest.

At that time, the truly fatal situation will come.

After receiving Sun Quan's edict, bigwigs from all over Jiangdong rushed to Wu County to discuss countermeasures.

Lu Su also came all the way from Chaisang. When he was approaching Wu County, there was a sudden commotion on the road, and soon there were curses, shouts and cries mixed in.

Lu Su and his party were blocked and stopped.

Lu Su sent guards to investigate, and found out that there was a car ahead carrying some grain. It was said that it was going to be sold in the city. Because the price of grain was high and there was chaos and unrest, he also invited a few guards to go with him. Thinking about the road ahead, I don’t know whether the vehicle ran into the pit or the axle was in disrepair. As a result, the vehicle tipped over and the food was spilled.

In this way, it's like gold rolling all over the ground!

It is inevitable that some people will be tempted, grab it and run away.

Then there are those who are jealous, picking up fallen items from the ground, and eventually turning into looting the remnants of overturned vehicles.

The owner and guards of the vehicle stepped forward to guard with weapons, but after the people were red-eyed and in a herd state, how could they pay attention to the threats of those people? Under the command, no one listened at all. Instead, some people threw sand and stones at the vehicle guards, and they took them without missing a beat.

Then there was blood and people died. The mob that was looting became frightened and ran away again with a bang.

But the damage has been done, and there will be no resurrection of the dead.

After Lu Su heard this, he closed his eyes and his beard trembled slightly. In the end, he just ordered the guards to clear the way. He did not get out of the car to seek justice for the owner of the vehicle or the killed passers-by, commenting on right and wrong, but continued on. Move forward.

With the scolding of the guards, the road became clear again.

Amidst the sound of wheels, Lu Su saw the bright red bloodstains on the side of the road, and saw a woman in ragged clothes holding the male corpse and howling, and beside it there were children also wearing ragged clothes. The male corpse's clothes may have been frightened, or he may have been ignorant of life and death. He looked around with a hollow and fearful expression, and his eyes met Lu Su's gaze.

Lu Su didn't have to get out of the car to roughly deduce what happened.

This family of three were obviously farmers who were affected by the disaster. They may have fled or may have been seeking relatives. However, they encountered such an incident where their vehicle overturned on the way. And the man certainly did not rush to grab food at the first time.

After all, his hands and feet were quick and his mind was quick. He had already run away after he had robbed him. But after hesitating for a long time, in the battle between heaven and man, maybe he was really hungry, maybe he couldn't bear the suffering of his wife and children, or maybe it was because there were so many people behind him. , the man eventually joined the looting ranks.

But the fleeing man didn't know that even if the vehicle guard wanted to kill him, he would still choose his target. Which one is easier to hit, the one with ragged clothes and a sallow complexion and the one with a fleshy face and a round waist?

Just like the targets of these noble families in Jiangdong, they would definitely choose the same.

Obviously, Sun Quan could not control the situation.

If Sun Quan could control it, there would be no need to call Lu Su and others back in a hurry.

So Lu Su is very worried now.

Just like the farmer man just now, if he had taken action from the beginning, he might have escaped long ago. Or if you don't take action and stay away from the incident, you probably won't be killed. But if you procrastinate, hesitate, and only think about giving it a try, you may fall into other people's calculations!

Boost! Lu Su did not go to see that sad scene, because he knew that if there was a slight delay on the road, I am afraid that more families in Jiangdong would suffer misfortune and their wives and children would be separated!

On the other side, Sun Quan was frowning and furious at Lu Yi, who was kneeling down.

It's just that this boundless anger cannot be eaten as food, nor can it immediately solve the thorny problems currently arising in Jiangdong.

Before, Sun Quan returned to Jiangdong with great pride, and then he was still immersed in the dream of how to clean up the Jiangdong nobles. As a result, he was poured a basin of cold water on his face, no, it was ice water!

From knowing that there was a drought in Jiangdong, to the skyrocketing food prices, and then to realizing the seriousness of it, Sun Quan's mood deteriorated all the way, like a heavy holding of a liquor fund for later generations.

Sun Quan initially imagined that he would hold a grand celebration, well, of course it would be a celebration where he finally won and was promoted to an official position, and he would use the momentum to suppress the Jiangdong nobles at the celebration, so that these guys would be obedient and follow suit. You can solve the food price problem with your hands

However, in the blink of an eye, the situation deteriorated.

The order to open warehouses to stabilize grain prices failed to achieve Sun Quan's ideal effect at all. On the contrary, it made the people know that the public warehouses were empty, which caused uncontrollable panic!

The rush for food, reluctance to sell, and hoarding of food in various places have caused food prices to remain high!

The order of production and life in Jiangdong was completely destroyed.

Refugees began to appear.

Those farmers who were originally farmers began to become refugees, which meant that the acres they cultivated were abandoned! Even if you wait until autumn, there will be no harvest!

Urgent documents from all over the country were falling like hailstones. All the documents were written in bold and aggravated fonts to express the critical situation, so that Sun Quan, the leader of Jiangdong, could pay attention and come up with countermeasures as soon as possible.

This is nothing new, and it is not a scene that only occurs in Jiangdong, Han Dynasty.

Natural disasters can easily turn into man-made disasters, and once they spread, even if some officials will be dealt with afterwards, they will never be beaten to death with a stick.

To establish authority, there are also procedures for establishing authority. What's more, if these officials are dismissed and held accountable, who will be left to restore order and restart production?

There are only so many people in Jiangdong, the only intellectuals who can handle paperwork and keep accounts! We are all relatives, we are all married, we are all one family!

Sun Quan still had in his hands the wounded and wounded soldiers and their families who were crying out for compensation, the meritorious generals who were waiting for their rewards, the laborers who needed to be paid for food and money, and the various weapons and weapons that needed to be repaired and rebuilt. Boat

If you don't pay these, what's the point of returning home with a great victory? Without rewards, how can soldiers be loyal? Without pensions, how can soldiers be forced to risk their lives in the future?

All in all, Sun Quan originally thought that he would be able to catch up with the autumn harvest soon after returning, and he would be able to do everything with ease, but now he has completely failed!

Not only was there no harvest, but additional payments were required. When Yang Yi tallied up all the required accounts one by one and reported them to Sun Quan, Sun Quan took a quick look and felt that his head was spinning. There was a buzz, as if the patient's family received a huge bill in the hospital.

If these fees are not paid, Jiangdong will collapse immediately!

And if you pay these fees, it means that not only will you have to spit out all the profits you finally made from the battle, but you will even have to put your savings over the years!

Incompetent person! Sun Quan was furious, veins popped out on his forehead, he pointed at Lu Yi and yelled, "I left you on campus in Jiangdong. Is this how you repay me?" !

At such a moment, Sun Quan had the urge to pick up the sword on the weapon rack next to him and poke Lu Yi through a transparent hole with one sword!