"Lord Mi doesn't know, Pengcheng has become dilapidated after this battle, and more than half of the city has become ruins, even if it is barely restored to its previous appearance, I am afraid that its strength is not as good as before, rather than tossing like this, it is better to re-locate and build a new city."

After Mi Zhu heard this, he stroked the green beard on his chin, nodded again and again, and said, "What you said is also true......

"On top of that, it costs a lot of money to build a strong team. What's more, Xuzhou was attacked by Cao's army and Pengcheng was not the only one, and now Xuzhou is in ruins, and there are groups of refugees...... If I ask Tao Envoy for a large amount of money to repair the city and build the army at this juncture, then the refugees will not be able to be properly resettled. However, if there is not enough money to build a city and raise an army, then it will not be possible to protect the territory and the people, and once they encounter foreign invaders, more people will become refugees......"

"It turns out that Captain Zhang is distressed about this......" After listening to Zhang Yan's words, Mi Zhu seemed to have spied into Zhang Yan's heart, and saw that Zhang Yan had always been concerned about the people in his words, and gradually became respectful.

Mi Zhu thought for a moment, and then said: "In the final analysis, Captain Zhang's troubles are all caused by money. I think that Captain Zhang came to me for help, it should also have something to do with money, right? ”

Zhang Yan smiled bitterly and said: "Lord Mi is really smart, Zhang heard that Lord Mi is the richest man in Xuzhou, and he is kind and charitable, so I took the liberty to come, hoping that Lord Mi can be generous and lend me some money temporarily, and then slowly return it to Lord Mi when Zhang is rich in the future." ”

"Borrow? Haha, I heard you right, right? Captain Zhang, you just said that you wanted to borrow money from me? Mi Zhudun was surprised, for the first time in all these years, he had heard someone use the word "borrow".

"Yes, I'm here to borrow money from Lord Mi."

Mi Zhu saw that Zhang Yan was very sincere, if he built a fortress and formed a strong army, he could really protect the territory and the people, then it would be a great good thing. He was kind-hearted, stretched out five fingers, and said to Zhang Yan: "Just borrow money." Zhang Xiaowei, Mi, as a member of Xuzhou people, should make a little contribution to the safety of Xuzhou. In this way, I am willing to give you 5,000 gold free of charge, and I hope that Captain Zhang can use it properly, build a fortress as soon as possible, and train a strong army to protect the territory and the people, and resist foreign invaders. ”

As soon as the words fell, Zhang Yan was excited in his heart, and he definitely didn't expect Mi Zhu to make such a generous move. He bowed deeply to Mi Zhu and said loudly: "Thank you Mi Daren for your funding, Mingda is grateful!" ”

"Captain Zhang doesn't have to be like this, Mi is just a gesture, not enough to worry about. The money I promised will be transported to Pengcheng within five days, and I will ask Xiaowei Zhang to personally accept it at that time. ”

Zhang Yan couldn't suppress the joy in his heart, and personally sent Mi Zhu away, and then he rode out of Pengcheng on a war horse to find Chen Deng to share this joy.

When Chen Deng heard about this, he was also a little surprised, he never expected Mi Zhu to be so generous.

"Are you sure you heard it right, Mi Zhu gave you five thousand gold, not five hundred?" Chen Deng couldn't believe his ears, looked at Zhang Yan with suspicious eyes, and asked again.

Zhang Yan nodded heavily and said, "I heard it clearly, it is indeed five thousand gold." ”

Chen Deng said curiously: "Strange! The military expenses provided by Mi Zhu to Tao Qian every year are only 500 gold, why did you give you so much money? ”

"I don't know, that's what Mi Zhu said anyway...... He's not going to just talk about it, is he? Zhang Yan suddenly became a little worried.

Chen Deng said: "Mi Zhu has always been honest, never lies, if he doesn't want to give it to you, you don't have to say such things to fool you." However, I have always been curious, Mi Zhu weishenme will give you so much money? ”

"Forget it, don't think about it. Now that we have the money, what do we do next? Zhang Yan asked.

"Needless to say? Naturally, it is to recruit displaced people, and it will take a lot of people to build a city, and the more the better. We must build the city before Cao Cao's next attack on Xuzhou. In addition, it is necessary to recruit troops, recruit talents, and train an army that can compete with Cao's army. So, we have a huge task on our shoulders. ”

After hearing Chen Deng's words, Zhang Yan also felt that the burden on his shoulders was very heavy, but he had the confidence to complete these two important tasks.

In the afternoon of the same day, Mi Zhu led the crowd to leave Pengcheng, and when he left, he left a letter for Zhang Yan.

On the second day, Xuzhou Mu Taoqian also led the crowd out of Pengcheng, handed over 10,000 soldiers, including more than 2,000 Danyang soldiers, to Zhang Yan, and he was appointed as Pengcheng's minister, with full responsibility for the affairs around Pengcheng.

Just a few days ago, Pengcheng was a thriving scene, but after the Cao army's attack, many parts of the city were destroyed, thousands of civilians were slaughtered, and many people were displaced and forced to move to other places and become refugees.

After the war, Zhang Yan took office as a new official, and he suddenly felt a lot of pressure. Pengcheng has become a mess, with no population, no food, no good land, no city.

Fortunately, Chen Deng has always been by his side, and Chen Deng put forward one reasonable suggestion after another in an orderly manner.

First, send people to recruit refugees who have fled from all over the country, promising them land, food, and shelter.

Second, let people build one shack after another outside the city as a temporary habitat for refugees.

Zuihou, re-measuring the land, dividing the fertile land, distributing it equally to the refugees, and providing the refugees with food free of charge.

After hearing these proposals, Zhang Yan felt that they were feasible, so he immediately sent a large number of scouts to walk around, and began to prepare for the reception of refugees.

Two days later, the first batch of refugees returned to Pengcheng with their hearts set in their hometowns, gathered around Pengcheng, and were properly arranged by Chen Deng in a newly built shack.

On the third day, refugees returned from all over the place, and the area around Pengcheng suddenly became lively.

On this day, Zhang Yan and Chen Deng were at the gate of the city to greet the returning refugees, when they suddenly heard a chaotic sound of horses' hooves from the northeast, and looked around, but saw a horse coming quickly, carrying a knight covered in blood on the horse's back, and two arrows stuck in the knight's back.

The appearance of this person made Zhang Yan nervous, and he immediately ordered people to disperse, and he brought more than a dozen Danyang soldiers to the front.

When the knight saw that someone was in the way, he hurriedly reined in his horse and said weakly, "Take me to see ...... Peng Cheng."

"I am!" Zhang Yan stepped forward and glanced at the knight, but he didn't know him, so he asked, "Who are you?" ”

A trace of joy appeared on the man's face, and he hurriedly said, "I'm Mi Fang......"

Before the words fell, Mi Fang's eyes suddenly darkened, and she suddenly lost consciousness, and her body involuntarily slipped off the horse's back.

Zhang Yan rushed over with an arrow step, and hugged Mi Fang, so that Mi Fang did not fall to the ground, avoiding the possibility of Mi Fang's second injury.

"Quick! Get a doctor to treat him! Zhang Yan shouted, and immediately rushed into the city with Mi Fang in his arms.

Chen Deng followed closely and asked someone to find a doctor and quickly treat Mi Fang's injuries.

Mi Fang's injuries were all skin injuries, and the two arrows were not critical, and he would get better after a period of cultivation. It's just that Mi Fang seems to be so tired that she fell asleep.

Zhang Yan saw that Mi Fang was unconscious, but he was very anxious in his heart. Before leaving, Mi Zhu once gave Zhang Yan a letter, in which he said that he would ask his brother Mi Fang to escort the 5,000 gold to Pengcheng, and asked Zhang Yan to pay attention to it at all times.

Now Mi Fang came to Pengcheng with injuries all over her body, that is to say, the 5,000 gold given by Mi Zhu had an accident on the road.

Since the retreat of Cao's army, Xuzhou has not been very peaceful, due to the crowd of refugees, the people have been displaced, and many of them have fallen into the grass and started to rob their homes.

Recently, Zhang Yan has been busy taking in refugees, and for a while he forgot about receiving Mi Fang, and at this moment, he regretted it very much.

Chen Deng saw that Zhang Yan had been pacing in the room, looking restless, so he said: "Now Mi Fang has been asleep, and we can't ask anything from his mouth, it is better to send scouts to investigate everywhere to see if there are any clues, once we find the traces of the thieves, we will immediately send troops to exterminate them, and maybe we can recover the losses." ”

Zhang Yan stopped, glanced at Mi Fang lying on the bed, and said to Chen Deng: "Mi Fang's escort is the foundation of our foothold in Xuzhou, and it is absolutely not allowed to be lost." The matter was urgent, and I personally led the cavalry to investigate along the way, and once I found traces of thieves, I directly exterminated them. After I leave, all the affairs of Pengcheng will be handled by you. ”

"That's fine, without further ado, please immediately gather your troops and horses to find out."

"Well, I want to see who ate the bear's heart and leopard gall and dared to rob my things!"

Zhang Yan sent people to the barracks, ordered five hundred Danyang soldiers, all rode on war horses, followed him out of Pengcheng, and went all the way east along the official road from Mi Fanglai.

There has been no snow for the past few days, the weather is cold, and there are few people on the road, Mi Fang rode a war horse, leaving a series of hoof prints on the snow. Zhang Yan led five hundred Danyang soldiers to search for the traces left by Mi Fang.

The group galloped for about fifty miles, and when they approached Wuyuan County, Zhang Yan suddenly saw a piece of snow stained red with blood in front of him, and there were more than thirty headless male corpses lying on the ground, and the horseshoe prints around them were chaotic, everyone was wearing the same clothes, and they should be the ones who escorted the gold with Mi Fang.

Zhang Yan walked closer, reined in the horses, looked around, and saw a line of rut marks heading south, he didn't think about it, and chased after his subordinates.

The crowd chased the rutted marks for nearly twenty miles, and suddenly saw a three-way intersection, where carriages were abandoned in the middle of the road, but the gold on the carts was gone, and there was no footprint left on the snow, as if it had disappeared out of thin air.

Zhang Yan asked his subordinates to stop in place, and he himself rode his horse to look around, but saw that there were traces of being cleaned on the snow, but there were such traces in three directions, and it was impossible to distinguish which direction the thief had gone in for a while.

Just when he was at a loss, a light suddenly flashed in the snow at the southwest intersection, and he hurriedly jumped off his horse, picked up the snowdrift, and found a gold earring. In addition, there is a lock of more expensive brocade hanging from the bushes on the side of the road.

Zhang Yan walked forward along this road for more than twenty meters, and found that the traces of snow being cleared on this road continued to stretch forward, and he immediately made a judgment and chased his subordinates along this road.

At the same time, he was also doubting in his heart, the thief was cunning, and it was impossible to leave any clues. So what happened to the gold earrings and brocade he found, could it be that someone deliberately left them?