Fenghou

Chapter 304 The Plague
Three cavalry came galloping on horseback from outside the city. They all had arrow wounds on their bodies, and one of them was semi-conscious with an arrow stuck in his back.

The cavalry led by Changshou County hurriedly opened the city gate, and several cavalry rushed into the city.
The chief general Jiang Yanxian hurried over with a group of generals. In front of the steps, a spy was covered in blood, but the wound had already been bandaged.

"Have you found the camp of the Song army?" Jiang Yan asked urgently.

"Just over ten miles to the south of us, the security is heavily guarded. We couldn't get through during the day. We lurked in the middle of the night, but we were discovered. More than a dozen brothers were killed, and only the three of us escaped."

"What's the situation at the Song army's camp?"

"There are large tents, barracks, and ditches covering an area of ​​hundreds of acres. There are three layers of defense on the periphery, which are very tight."

"What about the ship?"

"The grain boat is on the shore, but it seems to be empty, and the draft is not deep."

Lieutenant General Liu Quan said in a low voice: "Why don't we try a night attack and set fire to the opponent's camp!"

Jiang Yan shook his head first, "Wan Yanchang said that the other party made his fortune by attacking at night, and told us not to make sneak attacks. He has learned a painful lesson, and we must listen to his advice."

Liu Quan immediately said in a hurry: "But...the other party wants to spend with us, and we can't afford enough food for a few days."

Jiang Yan sighed first, and said to the generals behind him: "We have only two choices, either form an array and fight the opponent to the death, or withdraw the troops and return to Xiangyang, which one do you think is more suitable?"

Commander Li Yong said: "Although we have [-] troops, the opponent has [-] cavalry, but the initiative is in the hands of the opponent. They will fight if they are favorable, and retreat if they are unfavorable. We are very passive, and it is easy to lose due to morale failure. Jurchen cavalry battles are all about this problem, they are defeated before fighting, and finally they are massacred one-sidedly, unless we also have a considerable number of cavalry, otherwise the humble office does not approve of a decisive battle with the opponent."

The other generals were also chattering, meaning the same thing. Now the soldiers are hungry, morale is low, and the battle is bound to be a disastrous defeat. Anyway, they just don't want to fight the Song army.

Jiang Yan first said to Liu Quan: "They are all generals above the commanding ranks, and the generals are afraid of fighting, not to mention the soldiers, will General Liu persist?"

"But even if we retreat, we can't outrun the opponent's war horse!" Liu Quan sighed.

Jiang Yanxian smiled faintly, "I have my own way to make the soldiers retreat!"

On the street, there was a long queue in front of the porridge point. The food in the city had already been plundered by the puppet Qi army. The people could only rely on the army to provide porridge once a day in the morning and evening. It is said that soon there will be only one porridge at night. The people are panicked.

A man picked up the porridge bowl and looked at it, and suddenly said angrily: "Is this still porridge? It's clearly rice soup, and the rice particles can't be seen!"

The porridge soldier said coldly: "If you like to drink or not, go away!"

The man became even more agitated, threw the porridge bowl on the ground, waved his arms and shouted: "You have stolen all my rice, so just give us this, how shameless you are?"

At this moment, the man suddenly staggered and fell headlong to the ground, his whole body twitching, "Scared the people around to get out of the way and watch from afar!"

At this time, a military doctor ran over, showed the man, and suddenly shouted: "Everyone, go away, it's the plague!"

Hearing that it was a plague, the people were so frightened that they stumbled and fled in all directions.

The atmosphere in the city suddenly became tense, and the soldiers were under martial law throughout the city, but news continued to spread, 'The family of XX, the whole family is dead! '

Through the windows and cracks in the doors, many people saw soldiers dragging carts passing by on the street. The carts were wrapped in mats, but their feet were exposed. These were people who died of the plague and were sent for burial.

The whole city was suddenly enveloped in a kind of extreme fear
There is a courtyard near the south gate, where two subordinates of Huyanlei live. They are a pair of masters and apprentices. Carrying the medicine box for the master, grabbing medicine, brewing medicine, they were forced by the army to see a doctor for the soldiers before, and now they have returned.

Perhaps because of the martial law, although they are doctors, they don't have much business during the day, and only at night, some people will sneak up to see them for medical treatment.

"Master, we still have to go tonight!"

Wang Du said with a sad face: "The pile of graves are full of people who died of various diseases, what's there to see!"

Feng Shaoyou shook his head and said: "In the past few nights, I have seen many patients, saying how serious the plague is, and every family has died everywhere, but I have never seen a plague patient, nor have I seen the so-called extermination of the whole family. It's a rumor, someone spreading rumors with ulterior motives."

"It's all under martial law, how can rumors spread?"

"That's the problem! Martial law is in place, why do you hear the same saying, whose family died today, and whose family died yesterday, exactly the same saying, who do you think is spreading it?"

"Ah! Could it be the soldier who gave out porridge?"

"Except for them, there is no one else. The other armies are trying their best to hide the truth, lest the people's hearts and the army's will be confused, but here it is reversed, lest everyone will not be chaotic."

Feng Shaoyou sighed, "If something goes wrong, there must be a demon!"

Speaking of demons, the king became even more frightened, and begged, "Master, don't go to the graves! Maybe they burned them and buried them deep. Where can you find the dead bodies of the plague?"

"It's true, look at your useless appearance, you are still a scout! Forget it, let's go to another party tonight, and we can find out the truth!"

Half an hour later, the master and the apprentice came to a yard under the cover of night. Feng Shaoyou looked at the yard for a long time and said, "This is the shopkeeper Wang's house of a grocery store that died yesterday. Let's go in!"

The two climbed over the wall and entered the yard. There was no one in the yard. The room was pitch black and the door was locked. Looking through the window, the room was empty, with only some tattered furniture left, and the lock on the door was corroded. Looking at the kitchen, the mice have made their nests in the stove.

Feng Shaoyou sneered and said: "See, the weeds in the yard are as high as my knees, and the house has been closed for at least half a year, which is enough to prove that the whole family's death from the plague is an out-and-out rumor .”

"Master, I still say the same thing, what's the point of the puppet Qi army spreading rumors? It's ruined the army's morale."

"I do not know either!"

Feng Shaoyou was also at a loss, what was the other party's intention in doing this?
The point is that he has to spread the news?
Feng Shaoyou pondered for a while and said: "Last time I heard that someone had a way to get out of the city, but it was more expensive. Let's give it a try and let you go out to deliver letters!"

At three o'clock the next day, Chen Qing had already fallen asleep, but was woken up by the guards on duty.

"Dutong, there are scouts in Changshou County to deliver the letter."

Chen Qing was slightly taken aback, but he immediately understood that they were Hu Yanlei's subordinates, the two doctors and apprentices.

"Let him come to see me!"

Not long after, the soldiers brought a young man up, and the young man knelt down on one knee to salute, "All low-ranking kings see Du Tong!"

Chen Qing heard from Zhang Hua, the head of the scouts, that the apprentice doctor was only sixteen years old. He nodded and said with a smile, "Isn't Changshou County closed to prevent the people from going out? How did you get out?"

Wang Du said with bitterness on his face: "Qi Du Tong, someone is doing business in the city, and the dead body is going to be transported out of the city for burial. My master paid a high price to let the humble official go out of the city pretending to be a corpse."

Seeing his bitter face, Chen Qing couldn't help but burst out laughing, and asked again: "You bother to go out of the city so much, do you have any important news to report?"

"Reporting to Dutong, there is indeed important news. The plague is breaking out in Changshou County."

Chen Qing was taken aback, "Is there really a plague?"

"There is no such thing. My master and I have checked it out. There is no outbreak of plague at all. It is completely a rumor fabricated by the puppet Qi army, causing the whole city to panic?"

"Why do you do this?" Chen Qing asked puzzled.

"We don't know either. Master guessed that it was because there was no food, and the puppet Qi army was going to describe the starving people as plagues to cover up their crimes."

Chen Qing nodded slowly, it is indeed possible!
He pondered for a moment, and said to the soldiers: "Go and invite Zhang Canjun!"

Just as the soldier was about to leave, Chen Qing called to stop the soldier again, "Forget it, don't bother joining the army to rest, let's talk about it tomorrow morning!"

(End of this chapter)