Chapter 333 Internal and External Cooperation
Liu Feng gave an order, and the three armies mobilized south together. Zhou Yu was the first to receive the order, and Zhao Yun marched the fastest, but it was Taishi Ci who arrived at the war zone first.
Wucheng is right above Yuhang and Qiantang, with Tianmu Mountain to the west and Dongtiao River to the east. There is a corridor in the middle that leads directly from Wucheng to Yuhang and Qiantang.
Tai Shici and Xu Huang traveled day and night, and arrived at the outskirts of Yuhang in just three days.
Tai Shici did not go out directly from the mountain, but first camped inside the mountain pass, and then sent out the troops brought from Wucheng to investigate the situation in Yuhang and Qiantang.
Because Fuchun was far away, they only sent a few people to investigate. The focus was on the nearest one, Yuhang County on the Qiantang River plain outside the mountain pass.
Yuhang County is only twenty miles away from Taishi Ci’s camp, and can be reached by a forced march in half a day.
Tai Shici was still waiting for information from the southern scouts, but suddenly received a report that several spies had been caught.
Taishici's heart sank, worried that his position had been exposed, and immediately ordered the spies to be sent to the big tent, and he wanted to interrogate him personally.
Soon, the two spies were sent into the big tent. When Taishi Ci entered the tent, he found that there was something strange about the two of them.
Generally, the details will be chosen for appearance, average figure, and preferably the kind that cannot be found among the crowd.
But these two minions are tall, muscular and powerful, and they look like carnivores at first glance.
You can’t afford meat these days.
Tai Shici had some doubts in his heart. He was about to ask, but found that the person on the left saw him and immediately stood up and shouted: "I am taking the liberty of asking the general, Liu Zhengnan?"
Tai Shici looked calm and did not answer, but his eyes were always fixed on the other person.
The man looked a little nervous, but he held himself firm and looked back at Tai Shici firmly.
"So brave."
Tai Shici praised him and then sat on the bench. Then he changed the subject and said tentatively: "A good man should make great contributions, why should he be called a spy? Huh."
The man's face showed a worried look and he replied loudly: "I am not a spy, but I have a heavy responsibility."
Then he asked for the second time: "I wonder which of Liu Zhengnan's generals is the general?"
Taishi Ci then nodded: "I am Taishi Ci, Donglai, the lieutenant general under Liu Zhengnan's command. What important responsibilities do you have? Why do you ask to see me?"
The man was immediately overjoyed and hurriedly replied: "The villain is Xu Zhong, a brother of the Xu Zhao clan. On the order of his clan brother, he asked to see Liu Zhengnan to prepare a report on the military strength of Wu Nan's thieves."
After Xu Zhao found out that Wu Jing had entered Yuhang, he immediately went to Gao Dai for discussion. , the two discussed for a long time, and after deciding on a plan, they found an opportunity before sending Xu Zhong north to ask for an audience with Liu Feng.
After leaving the city, Xu Zhong did not take the main road north, but came looking for Tianmu Mountain, intending to take the valley passage north to Wucheng, and then take a boat to Wuxian County.
As a result, as soon as he entered the mountain pass, he saw Taishi Ci's camp with the Liu flag flying high. This made Xu Zhong realize that Liu Feng's army had quietly sneaked near Yuhang.
Xu Zhong immediately asked the two men with him to go back to Yuhang to report Xu Zhao, and then took the remaining one person to the camp to ask for a meeting. However, when he approached the camp, he was caught by the patrol team and was treated as a spy.
When Taishi Ci heard this, he was immediately overjoyed, but the expression on his face remained motionless: "Oh? What's the token?"
Xu Zhong looked at his chest and said, "Brother, there is a silk letter, which was I've sewn it into the cotton coat. The general can ask him to take it apart and take a look."
With a look from Tai Shici, a soldier nearby came forward and tore open Xu Zhong's cotton coat, took out the silk book inside, and then turned around. Sent to the case of Taishi Ci.
Taishici took the silk book and looked at it, and found that it was indeed signed by Xu Zhao and Gao Dai. He also described the distribution of the battalions under Wu Jing's command, and the other party's rush to transport grain to Qiantang and Jiangnan. shore action.
Xu Zhao frankly expressed his intention to join Liu Feng, and Gao Dai also endorsed Xu Zhao in the silk book.
Don't underestimate this. Because Gao Dai risked his life to save Sheng Xian, he is quite famous throughout Jiangdong, especially in Wu County, where he is even praised as a righteous man.
Gao Dai is willing to endorse Xu Zhao, which will at least increase the credibility of Xu Zhao's matter several times.
Before coming, while Liu Feng gave orders to Taishi Ci, a letter also arrived with him.
Taishici was reminded in the letter and asked him to win over Xu Zhao and Gao Dai depending on the situation.
Therefore, Taishi Ci only felt that it was a blessing from heaven at this time. He had just dozed off when someone gave him a pillow.
Xu Zhao's silk book not only describes the distribution of Wu Jing's troops, but also clearly records the deployment of the city's defenses.
Wu Jing can't be blamed for this. Xu Zhao is a local snake, and Wu Jing has just arrived and is busy transporting food. Naturally, he can't guard against Xu Zhao's prying.
Now Wu Jing is personally in charge of Yuhang, with 4,000 soldiers, but there are only 3,000 people in the city, and another 1,000 people are escorting and transporting food along the way.
Qiantang and Fuchun each have two thousand troops, half of them stationed in the city and half of them escorted.
Yuhang City has four gates. Wu Jing arranged for 200 people at each city gate and 300 people at each city wall. The remaining 1,000 and 600 people were guarding Wu Jing in the Yuhang County Yamen. The reserve team and the other 400 people were divided into four teams to patrol the city and suppress any misbehavior.
Tai Shici immediately decided that he would take this great contribution.
He first sent someone to invite Xu Huang over, and after explaining the situation, he revealed his arrangements.
The plan is quite simple. It is to use Xu Zhao as an internal response, and cooperate with the inside and outside to directly defeat Yuhang. It would be better if Wu Jing could be captured alive or killed.
Xu Huang has a steady personality. When Tai Shici spoke, he just listened attentively and did not interrupt the other party.
After Taishi Ci finished speaking, Xu Huang spoke. He only asked one sentence: "Are Xu Zhao and Gao Dai trustworthy?"
"Trustable!"
Taishi Ci nodded solemnly. , he thought about this issue carefully and felt that the other party would not be cheating.
Because he had just arrived near Yuhang for a day, even if the other party discovered their location immediately, they would not be able to immediately formulate such a plan for Zhou Xiang.
Besides, Taishi Ci is also confident. Most of his and Xu Huang's subordinates are veterans, and the new recruits are all surrendered soldiers with combat experience.
Even in a head-on confrontation, he was not afraid of Wu Jing in the slightest.
Besides, we haven’t contacted Xu Zhao yet, and the fastest exchange of information between each other will take two or three days. In this time, it’s hard to say who will be sent to Fuchun, but the one in Qiantang will definitely be back in time. .
Once each other's information is verified, we will know whether Xu Zhao is telling the truth.
If you lie, the information will not be correct and you will not fall into the trap.
If the truth is true, Wu Jing only has three to four thousand people in his hands. Even if the other party has a conspiracy, he is confident that he can defeat it with force.
As long as you are cautious when entering the city, you must let your own people take over the city gate. Once you successfully enter the city, are you afraid that Wu Jing will spread the beans and become an army?
Since Tai Shici’s guarantee is trustworthy, Xu Huang has no other opinions. He bowed his hands towards Taishi Ci and said: "Huang is willing to follow the general's order!"
Taishi Ci was overjoyed: "Good!"
Xu Zhong won the title of Taishi. Following Ci's instructions, he quietly returned to Yuhang.
Ancient cities generally would not close the city unless enemies were discovered.
Because the demand for materials in the city is too great, it requires a lot of firewood, rice, oil, salt, vegetables and fruits, and most importantly, firewood.
No firewood means no cooked food and no way to keep warm.
Ordinary people don’t have much money. Most of them buy firewood on the same day, with almost no overnight wages.
This is also the objective reason why the city gate cannot be closed easily.
Xu Zhong was a local and spoke authentic Yuhang dialect, so he returned to Yuhang City effortlessly.
When Xu Zhong told Xu Zhaoyi about the situation, the latter couldn't help being happy. When he made the decision before, he didn't expect that Liu Fengjun was already right under his nose.
This is truly a miracle.
Xu Zhao immediately sent someone to quietly invite Gao Dai over, and then explained the situation.
After hearing this, Gao Dai also showed a look of surprise.
"Kong Wen, I can mobilize 1,2300 people in the city, and there are 600 Buqu in the mansion right now." Give me two or three days to prepare, and I can still summon one or two thousand people from outside the city to enter the city in batches."
"No, we must not summon people from outside the city. If there is too much movement, it will only alarm Wu Jing. "
Gao Dai immediately refused, and after a moment of thought, he said: "We can't call everyone in the city, we can only focus on the most reliable people."
"Mingjun, what we do is to keep our heads high. Once Wu Thief finds out about this matter, we will both die without a burial place.”
Gao Dai warned: "It doesn't matter how many people there are, but what matters is the quality. We must be absolutely trustworthy, otherwise, if things are not kept secret, we will fail!" Six Hundred Parts is the main one. Other people in the city will contact them after they are activated. They don't need to attack the city gate. They only need to create chaos in the city and attract Sun Cejun's attention.
Soon, the two parties completed their discussion. This time they did not write another silk letter, but directly informed Xu Zhong of the reply to prevent the other party from accidentally being arrested, leaking the news, and killing the entire Xu Zhao family.
Fortunately, Xu Zhong's departure from the city went smoothly, and the locals' advantage was once again brought into play.
Sun Cejun mainly investigated outsiders. After all, Yuhang and Qiantang rebelled with Zhu Zhi just a few months ago. They provided money, food and people, and pulled a team of thousands of people to go north to cooperate. Sun Ce used his fists to attack from both sides.
Zhu Zhi had just left Yuhang for only three or five days, and no one could have imagined that someone in Yuhang would rebel.
After Xu Zhong left the city, he went straight to Taishi Ci's camp.
Tai Shi Ci and Xu Huang have also been waiting for him.
After the meeting, Xu Zhong laid out Xu Zhao's plan. One day later at midnight, Xu Zhao would lead his troops to seize the north gate, and agreed to respond promptly outside the city.
Otherwise, if Wu Jing is allowed to react, even if he captures the north gate, he may not be able to hold it against Wu Jingjun's counterattack.
Taishi Ci made a calculation in his mind. He planned to cook at noon and send troops at 3:00 in the afternoon. He would definitely be able to reach the outside of the city before midnight.
There is no way to set this time. At three quarters after midnight (four thirty in later generations), it is almost dark and the sun is setting. There are no people in the wild at this time.
But it was not dark at this time, so the elite people who set off could take advantage of the daylight to travel for a while.
After all, in order to steal the city, it was impossible to march with torches behind, so Taishi Ci specially selected three thousand elites without night blindness, led by Xu Huang, to set off as the vanguard.
Tai Shici himself set out in sequence with the follow-up troops. Once the sneak attack failed, he would directly switch to a strong attack, not giving Wu Jingyou the time and energy to quell the civil strife.
While waiting for the news, Taishi Ci has built more than a dozen ladders, and will continue to build them in the future. He will also bring them with him when he marches tomorrow night. He must kill them with one blow and not give Wu Jing a chance to adjust.
Xu Zhong got Tai Shici's permission and returned to Yuhang excitedly, reporting the news to Xu Zhao and Gao Dai.
When the two heard that Tai Shici had agreed, they asked Xu Zhong carefully about what he had seen and heard, and immediately heaved a sigh of relief.
"Mingjun, General Taishi has all elites under his command, which is a good thing."
Gao Dai specially reminded Xu Zhaodao: "The success or failure of the matter depends on the city gate, so you must do it in one fell swoop. ”
Xu Zhao was also filled with enthusiasm and immediately expressed his position: "What Kong Wen said is absolutely true. I will personally lead the troops and command on the battlefield."
Gao Dai nodded and said immediately: "Mingjun has made a decision. , Dai will naturally accompany you, and you and I will act together."
Xu Zhao still wanted to persuade, but Gao Dai was very determined and could only compromise.
In fact, Gao Dai's move is not entirely out of loyalty. You must know that his mother is also in Yuhang City. If Xu Zhao fails, he and his mother will become turtles in the urn, unable to fly.
In this case, it is better to go into battle in person. If he encounters any critical situation, he can still give Xu Zhao some advice.
After the discussion, Xu Zhao immediately killed pigs and sheep to reward his troops. At the same time, he prepared armaments. He took out several pairs of iron armor, more than 20 bows, and even ten heavy crossbows, as well as more than a hundred sets of leather armor, and distributed them among them. To the elite under his command.
The next day, the soldiers of Xu Zhao and Taishi Ci had a rare sleep. When they got up, smoke was already lingering in the mansion and camp, and food and dry food were prepared for them.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, the gate of Taishi Ci camp opened wide. Xu Huang took the lead and led the team out. Under the guidance of the guide sent by Xu Zhao, they galloped towards Yuhang.
At the same time, in Xu Zhao's mansion in the city, except for the lack of wine, Xu Zhao took out a large amount of meat and polished rice for his troops to enjoy as they pleased.
A little later, everyone finished their meal and rested for an hour. When the moonlight was deep and close to noon, the middle part of Xu Zhao's Mansion had already put on armor. The long sword, sword and halberd in his hand were flowing with coldness under the moonlight. of edge.
"Action!"
Xu Zhao shouted, and the four big men pulled hard and opened the door of Xu's mansion.
Subsequently, the murderous Xu Zhao tribe, led by their respective officers, left the Xu Mansion in an orderly manner and headed for the north gate of the north of the city according to the predetermined plan.
Wu Jingjun only has 3,000 people in the city, and only five patrol teams. Wherever he comes to patrol, Xu Zhao, a local snake, has already figured out the patrol route and time.
Therefore, the operation went quite smoothly along the way. No one spoke to anyone, and no patrols were encountered.
(End of this chapter)