Drinking Poison to Quench Thirst

On Zhou Xu's side, after placing Kong Daqian there, he immediately ordered the patrol teams, including Zhuo Ge and the others, to intensify their offensive.

In less than two days, they discovered the enemy's garrison camp and forced the other side into a hasty retreat, sending them fleeing back to Black Stone City.

Meanwhile, on Yan Sheng's side...

Although Yan Sheng had already ordered a complete information lockdown over the disastrous defeat suffered by the frontline army,

paper could never wrap up a fire. The frontline army had slunk back to Black Stone City, and so many people had been wounded—how could that possibly be kept hidden?

Soon, the news spread like wildfire, racing in every direction.

At precisely the same time, Yan Sheng had also issued a Conscription Order, calling up seven thousand men.

The two pieces of news piled on top of each other. To the common people, who had yet to catch their breath after the war with the Wei Kingdom, it was practically a nightmare.

Once the news spread, the more experienced commoners immediately gathered every last bit of money in their homes and rushed toward the nearest grain shop.

When spring plowing had been affected earlier, many people had already been discussing whether this year's harvest would suffer—and whether grain prices would rise.

Now that this news had emerged, rising grain prices had practically become a foregone conclusion.

In fact, forget rising prices. At this rate, whether ordinary people like them would even be able to buy grain was already a question.

By the time they reached the grain shops, the areas outside had long since been packed with people. Even the nearby roads had been blocked so tightly that not a drop of water could pass through.

Seeing this scene, even the dullest person