Your Majesty, please spare Diao Chan; your yang energy is too strong.

Zhou Heng left.

One hundred thousand dan of grain and fodder, six hundred sets of iron armor, six hundred warhorses, and countless other supplies.

It's enough to feed tens of thousands of troops for several months.

The two Mi brothers doubled their original amount.

Moreover, the price was only half of what Zhou Heng paid.

This does not mean that Zhou Heng has convinced them to join him.

It was just a bet.

If Xuzhou changes hands in a month, the Mi family will surrender, and the younger sister will still be married.

If Xuzhou changes hands within a month, Zhou Heng is willing to let them decide what to do with it, and he will still marry his younger sister.

Because Zhou Heng would never use his woman for a transaction.

This is his bottom line.

"Brother, do you really believe he can succeed?"

Mi Fang looked anxious.

To be honest, Zhou Heng's words were indeed very convincing, but without evidence, he couldn't possibly believe them.

Therefore, they were very puzzled by Mi Zhu's decision.

"Second brother, this person is not as simple as he appears on the surface."

"To be able to build such a force in just a few days after leaving Liu Bei is not something that can be achieved with just words."

"Moreover, I have always been worried about Lü Bu. He is fickle and unpredictable, but our lord does not listen to him, and there is nothing we can do."

Mi Zhu sighed.

Like Zhou Heng, Mi Zhu also knew that Lü Bu was fickle.

He had already advised Liu Bei on this matter long ago.

Unfortunately, it was not adopted.

Because Liu Bei felt that at this time, he and Lü Bu were interdependent and would be in grave danger if one of them were to fall.

Lu Bu would never choose to ambush him at this time.

Otherwise, not only would Lü Bu be morally untenable, but he would also suffer endless infamy.

More importantly, if he dies, Lü Bu will have to face Yuan Shu's army head-on.

Neither of them individually could be a match for Yuan Shu.

Most importantly, he trusted his third brother.

He was able to keep Lü Bu in check.

After all, compared to the Mi family, Zhang Fei was the foundation of Liu Bei's power.

How could he not trust his own third brother, but trust an outsider?

“But even so, we don’t need to send him so many things. That’s a huge sum of money. Even if the Mi family were to contribute, it would be a huge financial strain. Besides, we also need to support our lord…”

Mi Fang felt a pang of regret.

"Second brother, second brother, money is nothing but an external thing, especially in this era, only power is the way of kings."

"If Liu Bei is indeed defeated by Lü Bu a month from now, at least it will be a way out for him, won't it?"

Mi Zhu said calmly.

“But, but, what if he’s just talking nonsense…” Mi Fang hesitated for a moment before saying.

"That's even better, at least it will let my little sister see what kind of person he is."

"However, I have a feeling that what he said before might come true."

"In that case, we don't need to send the profits from our Mi family's shops and outposts in various states to Xuzhou City this year. We can discuss that later."

.............

"Liao Hua, I asked you to write a letter to the Yellow Turban rebels around Xuzhou. Did you get anything?"

Copycat.

As soon as Zhou Heng returned, he ordered his men to throw a grand banquet.

After all, the old, weak, and disabled soldiers on the mountain had not eaten for many days and were already starving.

If we don't eat something soon, we're afraid we'll starve to death.

Although the tomb raiders had previously amassed a considerable fortune, the current chaos in the world makes purchasing large quantities of grain extremely difficult.

Therefore, Zhou Heng did not engage in large-scale acquisitions on the market.

They only purchased enough food for the tomb raiders.

Those who are at home can't do anything about it.

This is not to say that he does not treat everyone equally; it is just that limited resources should naturally be supplied to those on the front lines first.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have the strength, so what would they use to dig up graves?

Now that we have money and food, we naturally can't be stingy anymore.

Of course, even without money or food, Zhou Heng would not abandon the more than 5,000 elderly, weak, sick, and disabled people left on the mountain.

After all, we are all fellow sufferers in this world.

They may not be able to go to the front lines to fight like the able-bodied young men.

However, they can do some logistical work.

And these people are indispensable.

This is also why many armies have a large number of auxiliary troops.

Because you can't use the army to handle miscellaneous tasks!

These people are just enough.

Women could sew clothes from cloth or make leather armor for soldiers.

Men could do odd jobs such as cooking, building houses, and transporting grain and fodder.

That can be considered making the best use of resources.

This banquet.

Besides celebrating this great success, the most important thing is to get back on track.

Clearly, the plan was a great success.

In the past, they might have harbored resentment towards their new lord.

After all, they've been here for two or three days and we haven't managed to get them any food.

But now...

The initial dissatisfaction had long since vanished, replaced by utter admiration.

Ten thousand dan of grain and fodder, so many armored warhorses—they had never seen so many in their lives.

And from now on, these things belong to them.

How could we not excite them?

For these Yellow Turban Army members composed of ordinary farmers, no amount of extra words mattered; as long as there was food, they would risk their lives for you.

In their hearts, Zhou Heng is no longer just their lord, but their savior.

I believe Zhou Heng wouldn't even flinch if he told them to die.

After a few rounds of drinks, Zhou Heng calmed down the Yellow Turban soldiers whose eyes were filled with fanaticism.

He called Liao Hua over and asked him.

"There were some gains, though."

Liao Hua nodded.

"My lord, please look. There are no fewer than several dozen remnants of the Yellow Turban Rebellion throughout Xuzhou. However, most of them are old, weak, sick, or disabled and have little fighting ability. It is mostly these people who are willing to join us."

"Among the mountain strongholds, the factions with more young and strong men, although they did not explicitly refuse, I think they meant something similar."

"Among them, Pei Yuanshao of Zhuma Mountain is the most outstanding. He was once a general in the Yellow Turban Army. After the defeat of General Tiangong, he gathered some remnants of the defeated army and roamed the mountains and forests. Now he has become the largest Yellow Turban Army in Xuzhou, apart from us."

"I've heard that he has over ten thousand soldiers under his command."

"However, as far as I know, this is probably a lie. Like us, most of them are old, weak, sick and disabled. There are probably less than one or two thousand able-bodied men, and most of their weapons are just hoes and wooden sticks."

"If we can subdue this force, the Yellow Turban forces in the entire Xuzhou will surely surrender without resistance."

The Yellow Turban Army's strength was largely exaggerated. For example, Zhang Yan claimed to have a million Black Mountain soldiers under his command.

But in reality, 80% to 90% of them are elderly, weak, sick, or disabled, and have no fighting ability whatsoever.

Most of them have a combat strength of around 100,000.

"Oh, Pei Yuanshao? Isn't there also someone named Zhou Cang?"