Mikuni convenience store

"Master Hanxing, please speak."

Huan Jie always looked respectful and it was impossible to tell whether he was happy or angry.

"If Envoy Zhang is willing to provide some collateral, then this IOU is actually unnecessary."

Zhuge Tian narrowed his eyes slightly and said with a smile.

"Collateral?" Huan Jie shook his head. "We didn't bring any valuables on this trip."

"No, you do!" Zhuge Tian said, looking at the guard behind Huan Jie. "Doesn't Envoy Zhang still have 500 elite soldiers? Just take off everyone's armor and other things and use them as collateral."

"Helmet... Armor..." Huan Jie said with a wry smile, "Our armor is no match for the ones from Wolong Village."

"It doesn't matter. It's still worth a lot outside."

After all, these were Zhang Xian's personal soldiers, and it was no exaggeration to say that they were the best-equipped army among the three counties of Changsha.

"If you don't pay me back by then, I'll sell these armors."

In fact, this was Zhuge Tian's plan from the beginning, but he bullied Zhang Xian too harshly at that time.

The man was so angry that his high blood pressure developed and he fainted.

That's why he felt a little bit of sympathy.

Now that I think about it, it’s really hard to be a good person. These guys are more sinister than each other.

He actually tried to sow discord between him and Liu Biao behind the scenes.

Since that’s the case, Zhuge Tian won’t show any mercy.

"Yuanzhi, if Mr. Boxu can hand over the five hundred suits of armor as collateral before today, give them a receipt."

"If he doesn't come, write me eight or ten IOUs from Envoy Zhang. Write them large and have our carriages take them to the gates of Xiangyang."

"Yes!" Xu Shu nodded with a smile.

After Huan Jie left, Xu Shu said to Zhuge Tian, ​​"We've completely offended Zhang Xian this time. Sir, please send a letter to Kong Ming as soon as possible and ask them to be careful."

"Row!"

Zhuge Liang followed Cai Mao to the southern part of Jingzhou to clean up the local foreign rebellion, and their location was near Guilin and Lingling County.

That is all Zhang Xian’s sphere of influence.

When Zhang Xian returns, there is no guarantee that he will not cause trouble for them.

I still need to know about it.

However, as long as Zhang Xian does not rebel now, the Jingzhou army led by Cai Mao will not dare to do anything excessive openly.

Just be careful not to trip someone up from behind.

One morning, Zhang Xian secretly took his men and left Xiangyang.

This time I originally planned to come to Xiangyang to get some money and food, but I didn't expect to lose both the wife and the soldiers.

Liu Biao was just being perfunctory at first.

After he lost the bet, he was too embarrassed to ask for it.

In the end, not only did he not get the money and grain, but he also suffered a huge loss in Wolong Village.

After Zhang Xian left, Zhuge Tian naturally continued to repair his own city wall.

During this period, Liu Biao came again, saw how Zhuge Tian and others built the city, had a meal and then left.

Nothing else was said.

But Zhuge Tian knew that it was Kuai Liang who played a role in this.

Liu Biao came to see whether it would cost so much to actually build the city wall.

After confirmation, I was afraid that it would be too painful to build the entire Xiangyang into this state, so I didn't mention it anymore.

Another month passed and the city wall was basically repaired.

The first and only city wall built with cement and bricks in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.

Because the city wall was not too long, there were only two gates in total.

Then divert the Yu River into the moat, and a small city will be built.

"Hahaha, should we change our name to Wolong Village from now on?"

Liao Hua asked proudly.

"Your name sounds like a bandit's den!" Gan Ning complained disdainfully.

"Pah, why does it look like a bandit's den?" Liao Hua jumped up like a cat whose tail was stepped on. "It has the word 'zhai' in it, so it means a bandit's den? Then what do you call your water bandit's den?"

"We are called Jinfan Group." Gan Ning said lightly.

Liao Hua: “…”

Zhuge Tian shook his head and asked Liao Hua, "Is there still no news about Kong Ming and the others?"

Zhuge Liang and Zhao Yun have not returned yet, and the last news they received was more than a week ago, which was not common before.

"Not yet." Liao Hua said, "But with Zilong following them, and them following Cai Mao's main force, there shouldn't be any problems. It's probably just that there's been a lot of rain lately, making travel inconvenient."

It is early spring now. In a few days, Zhuge Tian and his team plan to start this year's spring plowing.

After hearing what Liao Hua said, Zhuge Tian thought about it and agreed.

I heard that there was a lot of rain in the south this spring, so it’s really not easy to get news back.

But in this world, good things don’t work, but bad things do.

A few people had just talked about Zhuge Liang and Zhao Yun in the morning, and received the news in the afternoon.

But this news was sent by Cai Mao.

Zhuge Liang, Zhao Yun and a group of soldiers from Wolong Village disappeared together.

"What did you say?"

Gan Ning grabbed the collar of the messenger and asked, "They went with your military advisor, why are they the only ones missing?"

"No... they're not the only ones. There are... many people missing."

Originally, this matter was a secret. Cai Mao sent someone to deliver the letter because Zhuge Liang was, after all, the husband of his niece, and they were engaged.

In recent times, he has basically wiped out the foreign tribes in the south and plans to take his people back to Xiangyang.

As a result, groups of soldiers began to disappear inexplicably.

They were all sent out during the day and never came back at night.

When there were only one or two teams at the beginning, Cai Mao didn't care.

Later, they were shocked to find that about 500 people were missing.

Call Zhuge Liang and the others, ask them to be more careful and help investigate.

During this trip south, Zhuge Liang performed brilliantly in the process of suppressing the alien races.

He anticipated the enemy's moves many times and made every possible plan.

Cai Mao had never fought such a comfortable battle before, so he relied heavily on Zhuge Liang.

But unexpectedly, Zhuge Liang and his men left the camp and never returned.

More than 500 people were lost together.

In other words, at this point, Cai Mao's army, together with the more than one hundred people from Wolong Village, had lost nearly one thousand two hundred people.

There was no other way, Cai Mao could only gather everyone together and send people to Wolong Village to find Zhuge Tian.

In Zhuge Liang's words, his cousin was the son of an immortal and had some extraordinary abilities.

This was the only solution he had.

After hearing what the messenger said, Gan Ning let the messenger go, then looked at Zhuge Tian and said, "I'll take some people to look for him."

Zhuge Tian frowned. With Zhuge Liang's intelligence, Zhao Yun's martial arts, and more than a hundred well-equipped soldiers from Wolong Village, how could they disappear quietly?

The place where he disappeared happened to be right next to Changsha County.

It was his son who later paid back the debt owed by Zhang Xian. He also said some harsh words at the time, which roughly meant that the mountains are high and the rivers are long, and asked Zhuge Tian and others to be careful.

Could it be that Zhang Xian is really behind this?

After hesitating for a moment, he took a deep breath and said, "Yuanzhi is leading the villagers to prepare for spring plowing. Let's go together and take people over!"

The population of Wolong Village is now close to 7000, with a total of 2000 combat-ready soldiers.

Anyway, there is a new city wall. Even if Zhuge Tian takes away all 2,000 soldiers, there will be no problem defending the city with the remaining 5,000 people.

Without tens of thousands of people, there is no way we can take down Wolong Village.

Now Cao Cao, who is in the north of Wolong Village, is still planning to attack Chang'an and has no time to come here.

So you don’t have to worry about your home being robbed.

"Okay, then let's go gather the troops!"

Gan Ning and Liao Hua were usually responsible for training the soldiers in the village. It only took them one day to get all the soldiers ready.

Zhuge Tian went to Xiangyang City.

He just told Liu Biao that Zhuge Liang and his men were in trouble in the south and he wanted to go and help.

Liu Biao didn't think much about it. He now regarded Wolong Village as a vassal force.

Liu Biao's control over the entire Jingzhou was largely achieved through controlling its vassal forces.

Zhang Xiu, Huang Zu and Zhang Xian under him are actually all such forces.

In name, Liu Biao was the superior, but he also had some rights to act independently.

He gave Zhuge Tian a token and told them to be careful along the way.

That night, Zhuge Tian led his men southward overnight.

They set out from Xiangyang and sailed down the Han River.

The Han River flows into the Yangtze River at Xiakou, and they then go upstream along the Yangtze River to the southwest.

It only took ten days to reach Yueyang.

After entering Dongting Lake, continue south along the Xiangjiang River all the way to Hanchang County.

This is the approximate location of Xiangyin County in later generations.

Cai Mao set up camp on the bank of the Xiangjiang River.

I finally breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Zhuge Tian coming with so many people.

"Hanxing, you are finally here."

Zhuge Tianlai's speed was far beyond his imagination, but he was already waiting here anxiously.

Although Zhuge Liang has no official position now, he is the son-in-law of the Huang family and the favorite disciple of Pang Degong.

In this era, the status of a disciple is no lower than that of a son.

If Zhuge Liang were lost, the Huang, Pang and Kuai families in Xiangyang City would probably be offended.

"Greetings, uncle." Zhuge Tian followed Zhuge Liang in calling Cai Mao "uncle." "Can you tell me the details?"

"It's the mountains behind us. It's too strange." Cai Mao said with lingering fear: "At that time, we cleared out the foreign tribes in the south and were about to return to Xiangyang. On the way from these mountains to Hanchang, something happened."

"We lost a century at the beginning. After being out for so long, their food supplies were running low. That century was sent out to search for food supplies. There were eight centuries out at the same time, but one was missing from the group."

"Wait, we're running low on food and fodder?" Zhuge Tian asked. "With Kong Ming here, how could he not know that food and fodder should be sent first? Why are we running low on food and fodder?"

Cai Mao gave Zhuge Tian a strange look and said, "We've been out for so long, so we naturally need to find food and fodder right here."

"Initially, we mobilized food and fodder from Guiyang and Lingling counties. But later, these counties all said they were experiencing a shortage of food within their territories and had no extra food and fodder."

"Fortunately, after receiving your letter, Kong Ming has been leading us to fight to support the war. Every time we clear out the foreign tribes, we collect as much food as possible from them."

"So there weren't any problems at first, but on the way back, there were no more foreign raids, and our food supply was cut off, so we gradually became short of food."

After hearing this, Zhuge Tian understood that it was because of their relationship.

Judging from the time, after Zhang Xian returned to Changsha, he probably sent a message to the following counties, asking them to cut off the food supply to Cai Mao's army.

He himself wanted food and had to go to Xiangyang, so it was understandable that he couldn't raise any.

"Then what?" Zhuge Tian asked.

"At first, we didn't take the loss of the centurion seriously. After all, it's normal to be stuck in the mountains for a day or two when hunting for food. Especially since it's still raining here, the roads are slippery and difficult to walk on."

"But we didn't expect that we would lose every day, and every time we lost, the entire team wouldn't come back. That's when we noticed something was wrong."

"At that time, Kong Ming said he would take Zilong and the soldiers from Wolong Village to look for them. I thought it would be no problem for them to go, so I agreed."

"Then……"

Zhuge Tian was speechless. Cai Mao talked for a long time, but it was no different from saying nothing.

When asked if he had looked for any clues later, he didn't send anyone else.

But after leaving the forest, they hid by the Xiangjiang River, and asked people to buy food from nearby and send it here via the Xiangjiang River, waiting for Zhuge Tian and others to arrive.

He did send someone to ask Zhang Xian in Changsha, but Zhang Xian's reply was naturally that he knew nothing.

"So Kong Ming and the others have been missing for almost a month!"

Zhuge Tian really wanted to pick up Cai Mao and beat him up again.

This guy really lives up to his name, he's such a wimp!

But beating him up would be of no use now.

Zhuge Tian could only ask everyone to rest first, and go into the mountains to look for clues early tomorrow morning according to the direction Cai Mao said.

"Brother Tian...are there really any ghosts in this mountain?"

Xu Shu did not come, but he asked little Lu Meng to follow Zhuge Tian and the others out to broaden his horizons.

When Cai Mao was describing it just now, he had been intentionally or unintentionally wondering whether this matter had something to do with ghosts and gods.

Hearing this, Lu Meng felt uneasy.

"Where are the ghosts?" Zhuge Tiancai didn't believe it. The world he came from had become such a doomsday, and he had never heard of any ghosts.

"Even if there is, I'm going to pull his tail out!"

The next morning, Zhuge Tian and his companions went into the mountains in the rain.

So much time has passed, and it has been raining recently, so the footprints are no longer visible.

Zhuge Tian could only ask everyone to cheer up and look for all possible clues.

Fortunately, many of these people were bandits who followed Liao Hua.

Entering the mountains is like going home.

After walking for most of the day along the direction where Zhuge Liang and his companions disappeared, they finally found some clues.

"Found this in the dirt."

Liao Hua handed the thing in his hand to Zhuge Tian.

It was a piece of iron, but it was obviously something Zhuge Tian bought from the system, because the two-centimeter iron piece was painted with red and white paint.

"It seems the place is correct. Kong Ming and his companions did pass through here."

Zhuge Tian frowned and asked, "Did you find anything else?"

"Not yet." Liao Hua knew what he meant: "No signs of fighting have been found."

"But the people down there found something strange!"