Three Kingdoms, I open a tavern in Xudu

inside the tent.

"It's you!"

The moment Zhang Wang saw Cao Cao, he exclaimed, and then he looked worried, worried that Cao Cao would do something to him.

At this point, Zhang Wang probably knew that he had offended someone he couldn't afford, and he was still in a military camp, so he was even more worried.

However, what he didn't expect was that the person who captured him turned out to be Cao Cao.

At this time, Zhang Wang's hands and feet were tied, and he sat on the ground in embarrassment, while his followers were either killed or imprisoned in other places.

If it wasn't for Chen Yang's sake, Cao Cao would have ordered Zhang Wang to be killed.

Because when he was in the Chen Mansion, Zhang Wang's attitude made Cao Cao very dissatisfied. Although he couldn't kill Zhang Wang to relieve his hatred, it didn't prevent him from letting Xu Chu arrest him in the barracks, and then educate him well.

"Who are you?" Zhang Wang asked.

Cao Cao sat in front of him unhurriedly, and said after a while, "My surname is Cao, and this is Cao's camp. Who do you think I might be?"

"You are Cao...Prime Minister Cao?"

The word "Cao Cao" suddenly appeared in Zhang Wang's mind, and he said in surprise: "Impossible, Chen Yang is just a street guy, he absolutely refuses to know you."

According to his understanding of Chen Yang, he is just an ordinary citizen, and even he doesn't like it. How could Cao Cao take the initiative to marry his daughter to Chen Yang?

Cao Cao looked at him and said coldly, "Why is it impossible? If it wasn't for worrying that Shopkeeper Chen would get angry with me, you would be dead already, you know?"

Zhang Wang was startled, he gritted his teeth and said, "What do you want to do to me? I am from the Zhang family. If you dare to kill me, you will offend all the families in the world. You have to think about the consequences."

Hearing this, a murderous intent flashed in Cao Cao's eyes.

Today's aristocratic families are defiant, which is one of the reasons why Cao Cao wants to suppress the aristocratic family. A mere Zhang family dares to threaten him like this.

Cao Cao wanted to kill Zhang Wang right now, but as he said, it would anger those aristocratic families and cause displeasure to shopkeeper Chen, so he had to endure it for now.

"I brought you back, not to kill you, I just want to tell you that this world is not the world of your family." Cao Cao said, stood up and said, "Zhongkang, take him in and lock him up for a few days. Let him go hungry for a few more days, and let him go after a bit of suffering."

"Yes!" Xu Chu nodded.

"No, prime minister, let me go, you can't treat me like this..."

Zhang Wang still yelled and struggled. As for what he said later, Cao Cao didn't want to hear it, and couldn't hear it, so he strode out of the tent.

"Go back to Xudu!" Cao Cao said again.

Dian Wei was about to arrange to return to Xudu, when Cao Ang came over again, frowning and said, "Father, Sima Lang is here, and he asked us to release Zhang Wang."

"Oh!"

Cao Cao was slightly taken aback, he didn't expect the people from Sima's family to come so quickly, after pondering for a moment, he said, "Bring Sima Lang in, and let Zhang Wang go."

Not long after, brothers Sima Lang and Sima Yi appeared in front of Cao Cao.

"Meet the prime minister!"

Brother Sima bowed and saluted slightly, then Sima Lang said first: "Prime Minister, we heard that Uncle Zhang Wang is in the army, I wonder if it is true?"

Cao Cao squinted his eyes, he could see that Zhang Wang's arrival was also arranged by the Sima family, otherwise how would they know that they had captured Zhang Wang?

These families are really united.

The unity made Cao Cao very unhappy.

Thinking of how Sima Yi dared to assassinate shopkeeper Chen before, Cao Cao almost couldn't help but let someone take him down.

Sima Yi has been paying attention to Cao Cao's expression, and saw the faint killing intent, he said quickly: "Prime Minister, Uncle Zhang came here to meet my father, but when he was leaving today, he was robbed by thieves, and one of his followers escaped by chance. , came to Xu Du to ask my father for help, we had just arrived, and accidentally learned that it was the prime minister who rescued Uncle Zhang, so we came to the barracks to ask to see Uncle Zhang."

The killing intent on Cao Cao's face slowly faded away, he nodded and said, "That's true, come and bring Zhang Wang here."

The brothers of the Sima family all came to ask for someone, so Cao Cao couldn't help but give him this face.

After a while, Zhang Wang was brought by Xu Chu.

"Uncle Zhang!" Sima Yi said first.

"Bo Da, Zhong Da, it's you..." Zhang Wang walked over excitedly, but gave Cao Cao a cautious look.

Sima Yi smiled, and said again: "Uncle, just after you left Xudu, you encountered bandits. Thanks to the Prime Minister's rescue, our Sima family is here to thank the Prime Minister for his great kindness!"

Zhang Wang suddenly understood what was happening, and said with a smile: "Old man Zhang Wang, thank you, Prime Minister!"

Cao Cao waved his hand and said, "Okay, since there is nothing wrong, you all can go."

"Thank you, Prime Minister!"

The three of them said a little hypocritically, and then walked out of the camp impatiently.

"Prime Minister, Sima Fang has eight sons, and the other seven are incompetent, but his second son, Sima Yi, is not simple. He has a good heart." Guo Jia said with a frown.

"What Feng Xiao said is that shopkeeper Chen and Sima Yi are enemies, and I'm afraid it will be dangerous." Xun Yu also said.

Cao Cao snorted coldly, and said, "If it wasn't for the fear of those aristocratic families, and the fact that Sima Fang had recommended me when he was in Chang'an, his Sima family would have been wiped out by me."

Guo Jia said again: "However, although Sima Yi is powerful, I think shopkeeper Chen is not bad at all. It's hard to say who will win."

-

With the passage of time, another ten days passed in the blink of an eye, and there was still half a month left before the expedition to Yuan Shu.

During these ten days, grain prices continued to soar, reaching a sky-high price of [-] yuan a stone. Because of this, countless grain merchants came to Xudu seeing the benefits. Some of the grain is sold out.

During this period of time, Xudu Ling Manchong was definitely the busiest, because he had to maintain the order in the entire Xudu, and don't let those grain merchants mess around.

In addition, many aristocratic families in Xudu also saw the high price of grain. They bought a large amount of grain and stored it at home, waiting for Cao Cao to buy it. They also wanted to earn back the money spent on wine. .

As one by one grain merchants entered Xudu, Kuai Liang from Jingzhou was among them.

However, what Kuai Liang didn't know was that Jia Xu, a counselor under Zhang Xiu's command, also came. He changed his disguise and mixed in with the grain merchants' team, and walked into the city gate of Xudu smoothly.

"At the sky-high price of [-] yuan, can Cao Cao really buy those grains?"

After entering the city, Jia Xu was shocked when he heard the price of grain at this time. At the same time, he had an ominous premonition in his heart, thinking that Cao Cao had deceived the people of the world.

After all the food was settled, Jia Xu asked his followers to stay in the inn. He left alone, walked through the streets of Xudu, and soon walked into an alley.

This area is the residence of those gentry families. He walked to the back door of Sima's house and knocked gently on the door.

The door opened quickly, and a man who looked like a servant asked, "Who are you?"

"I'm from Jingzhou. My surname is Jia. If I want to see Sima Yi, the second son of the Sima family, you can just go in and pass it on!" Jia Xu said in a deep voice.

The servant heard this, and immediately said: "Second Young Master has already ordered, Mr. Jia, please come in!"