Chapter 95: Descendants of Prince Fu Ling

Xudu!

In the first year of Jian’an, Cao Cao moved the capital south to Xu County, citing that Luoyang was ruined.

He ordered massive construction projects, built high earth platforms, and spent huge sums to erect an inner and outer city.

“This is absolutely crazy. What a bunch of idiots! They refused to move together, and now the entire upper route has collapsed. Grain carts can’t get through. Those few thousand enemy soldiers on the other side can kill us like stepping on ants.”

“My upper route collapsed, and my middle route didn’t work either. After our Village Soldiers ran out of numbers, regular Players couldn’t match Yuan Shao’s side. Plus, we had to protect the grain supplies, so we couldn’t fight freely.”

“Hehe~ I took the lower second route earlier. At first, there was no one there. I delivered a batch of grain and barely earned 10 Merit.”

“Let’s go, let’s try the lower second route again. Even if we can’t move the grain, we need to kill some brats from the Yuan Shao Camp to vent our anger. It’s so infuriating, they are obviously bullying us with numbers.”

…

Outside Xudu, when Mo Xiaobai and the other two arrived covered in dust, they could see Players rushing in and out all along the way.

Mo Xiaobai didn’t even need to ask; just the complaints he heard around him told him exactly what happened.

It was simply that five grain transport routes had existed, and half of them had completely collapsed.

“You work so hard running to Guandu, and the price for a successful round trip is at least dying two or three times. What’s the point?” Mo Xiaobai shook his head. Although he didn’t like this obviously tricky grain transport mission, he still chose to head toward the direction of the Granary managed by General of the Household Ren Jun.

The mission had been made so difficult because of the wrong approach these Players took. Mo Xiaobai was still very confident that he could make a huge profit from this mission.

Although he hadn’t entered the Guandu Instance in his past life, there were so many Players coming and going now. Following the crowd, Mo Xiaobai soon arrived at the large Granary camp in the south of the city.

The entire Granary camp was quite large, with several warehouse buildings. After all, this was where most of the rice obtained from Cao Cao’s two years of land reclamation reforms were stored. However, due to the long and fierce battle at Guandu, several warehouses were now empty.

Inside the last remaining warehouse, only a few stones of grain were left.

Mo Xiaobai looked at the current state of the Granary, a smile appearing on his face. He then walked toward the General of the Household’s tent.

Mo Xiaobai had to wait in line with other Players for ten minutes before it was his turn to enter the tent.

As soon as he walked in, Mo Xiaobai saw a young man in Armor sitting behind a desk. He had a square face, a serious expression, bloodshot eyes, and looked like he hadn’t slept well for quite some time.

“General, I am here to receive the grain protection mission.”

Mo Xiaobai stepped forward, clasped his hands, and spoke. General of the Household Ren Jun by the desk raised his head slightly, a flash of surprise in his eyes: “Baron? You are here to transport grain as well?”

The benefit of high Renown shone once again!

If this were any other Player, Ren Jun would just nod and hand over a small token before finishing. He certainly wouldn’t chat with them like this.

With thousands of Players outside waiting for missions, he couldn’t chat with each one individually.

Hearing this, Mo Xiaobai once again used the same polite phrases from before: “Although I hold a Noble Rank, I am also a Subject of the Great Han. How can I fail to serve the Emperor?”

“Good, good! The Baron cares for the Emperor. Xudu currently needs the kind of help you provide.”

Ren Jun nodded, a look of joy appearing on his face. He handed a token to Mo Xiaobai: “Holding this military order, the Baron may go to the warehouse to collect grain. Ren Jun has official duties and cannot go with you.”

“General is too polite. In the future when we defeat the rebels of Jizhou, I will drink until drunk with you, General.”

“Good. Ren Jun is waiting to drink with the Baron.”

After the brief conversation ended, Mo Xiaobai wasted no time. He took the token and walked out of the main tent.

As soon as Mo Xiaobai came out, Li Ji and Li Guang approached and asked, “My Lord, are you going to transport grain?”

“Not in a hurry. Let’s walk around a bit more.” Mo Xiaobai shook his head slightly. Instead of heading straight for the Granary, he started wandering around the area.

Mo Xiaobai’s strange behavior quickly caught the attention of the nearby Players.

“Another naive idiot.”

“Is he looking for a mission? Huh? If there was a mission here, would he be the one coming now?”

“He thinks he’s so smart. If there were extra missions here, I’d livestream my air conditioner blowing out the window.”

“It’s better he doesn’t take one. Not much grain is left here. If one less person shares, maybe we can do more missions.”

The surrounding Players chatted amongst themselves, but Mo Xiaobai ignored them completely. When he circled around to the northwest corner of the Granary, he happened to see a tall, thin middle-aged man sitting under a tree in the shade. The man was leisurely holding a bamboo scroll and reading, looking extremely relaxed.

“Tch, I thought he might find something.”

“The bookworm under the tree must be reading so much that he’s gone crazy. He clearly ignores people.”

“That’s right. Anyone who approaches will get rejected.”

The nearby Players had been watching Mo Xiaobai to see what he would find. But when they discovered Mo Xiaobai walking toward the shade, they immediately lost all interest.

That bookworm had been sitting there reading since the first day they arrived.

How many days had it been? It looked like he was still reading that very same scroll.

People like him were probably just decorations. There was no way there was a mission there.

Almost 99% of the Players thought so, but the scene that followed made their jaws drop in shock.

Mo Xiaobai arrived in front of the shade, straightened his sleeves, and bowed respectfully. “Great Han Baron Daydreaming greets a relative of the Prince Fu Ling lineage.”

As Mo Xiaobai paused, the tall, thin man leisurely reading lifted an eye corner and spoke his first words since appearing here: “How did the Baron know Lord Ye’s identity?”

Mo Xiaobai’s mouth curved into a smile, and he spoke again: “Liu Ziyang of Huainan. In the past, Xu Shao’s monthly evaluation praised him as having the talent to help the world. Now he follows his old master, Liu Xun, to return to the Emperor in the north, serving as a Clerk for the Minister of Works’ Grain Department. Is what I said true?”

“A free and easy person. The Baron truly worries about him, which makes Xu Gong’s praise feel shameful.” The tall, thin man shook his head slightly but did not refute what Mo Xiaobai said, thus confirming that he was indeed Liu Ye.

A free and easy person?

Mo Xiaobai raised an eyebrow upon hearing this and countered, “Ziyang, as the Clerk for the Minister of Works’ Grain Department now, helping the Minister of Works manage the Great Han’s grain fields, is it truly this leisurely?”

Liu Ye’s right hand holding the bamboo scroll sank slightly: “Does the Baron ask this out of true heart, or is he here to laugh at Ye?”

“Haha~ Just kidding. You look so angry.”

Mo Xiaobai laughed heartily, sat down heavily next to Liu Ye, and glanced toward the General of the Household’s tent: “Ziyang may have the talent to help the world, but you must also know that Ren Jun is capable. He has followed the Minister of Works for many years and is the Minister of Works’ sister’s husband. No matter how you look at it, it is only natural for him to oversee all grain affairs during wartime.”

“The Baron speaks, and how could Ye not know? Is this not exactly a moment to steal a little leisure from a busy life?” Liu Ye laughed as well. His eyes held freedom and decisiveness, but also deep frustration.

The laughter under the tree quickly disturbed the surrounding Players.

Watching Mo Xiaobai chat so vividly with that bookworm, the crowd of Players was collectively dumbfounded.

“What the heck? What’s going on here?”

“Does that bookworm even talk to people?”

“This doesn’t make any sense!”