Fenghou

Chapter 309 Leaks
There is a three-story restaurant in the middle of Jingzhoumen Street in Xiangyang, which is called Jingzhou Restaurant. It ranks among the top five in Xiangyang City. Because of the unrest in the war, the original owner has always wanted to transfer it, and some people want to take it over, but The price cannot be negotiated.

This time the puppet Qi aggressively attacked Jingxiang, and the cloud of war shrouded the land of Jingxiang. The original owner had to sell it at half price, and finally sold it at a price of [-] guan not long ago.

The person who bought this restaurant was naturally Hu Yanlei. Before that, he sneaked into Xiangyang with a dozen of his men, and later sent Feng Shaoyou and his apprentice to Changshou County.Explore the news of Yingzhou.

Hu Yanlei not only bought this restaurant with gold, but also bought the Hanshui Inn Hu and the Wolong Chariot and Horses in the south of the city, which are about three miles away. It became Huyanlei's intelligence center.

But traveling by car and horse is relatively hidden, which is their way of retreat.

The small courtyard that Huyanlei rented was in the alley diagonally opposite to the restaurant, very close.

Of course, after the war, restaurants, taverns, and carriage and horse shops will not fail to sell, and will become the military property of Chen Qing's army.

At noon that day, Hu Yanlei came to the restaurant for dinner as usual, and the owner of the restaurant, Xie, gave him a wink. This old Xie was called Xie Ming, and he was about fifty years old. He opened a tavern at home and was spotted by Hu Yanlei, so he became a member of the second scout battalion.

Hu Yanlei understood, and went directly to the shopkeeper's room in the backyard. After a while, Lao Xie walked in quickly. He looked out and immediately closed the door.

Hu Yanlei smiled and said, "Old Xie, do you have any news?"

"Just now three puppet Qi army generals came over for a drink. They mentioned that they seemed to be doing a boat test in East Lake tonight. Then I asked Xiao Si to deliver food to East Lake. Let's see what's going on?"

East Lake is located in the east of the city, close to the city wall. It is a narrow and long lake with a small area of ​​only a few tens of acres. It is surrounded by farmers’ vegetable fields. Generally, few people go there. Now that it’s cold, they don’t even go there.

'Ship' is definitely a sensitive word, so the shopkeeper Lao Xie immediately noticed it.

Hu Yanlei is also interested, and actually wants to test the ship. Does Xiangyang still have ships?

"Shopkeeper!" Someone shouted outside, it was the bartender Xiao Si who came back.

Lao Xie quickly opened the door and let Xiao Si in. Xiao Si accidentally saw Hu Yanlei, scratched his head and said, "The Commander is here too!"

Hu Yanlei glared at him viciously, and Xiaosi was so frightened that he quickly changed his words, "So the owner is here!"

"If you dare to make a slip of the tongue, you will definitely be transferred."

"Don't dare!"

"Tell me! What's going on at East Lake?"

"Thousands of troops came from the East Lake. They set up big tents and surrounded the East Lake. The vegetable farmers around said that they were no longer allowed to grow vegetables. It was designated as a military area, and anyone who dared to go would be killed."

"What's going on in East Lake, have you seen it?"

Xiao Si shook his head, "Soldiers stand guard densely, no one is allowed to approach, and I don't know what is going on in the lake?"

Hu Yanlei thought for a moment and smiled, "I'm going to donate some incense money to Hongfu Temple, and I'll live in the temple tonight."

"Good plan!"

Lao Xie gave a thumbs up. Hongfu Temple is about two miles away from the East Lake. There is a prayer tower in the temple, which is the second tallest building in Xiangyang City, second only to the Beicheng Tower. Although there is a Zhuge Mountain near Beicheng, there is a Jia The Lenta Tower can overlook the whole city, but unfortunately it is too far away to see the situation of the East Lake clearly.

That night, Hu Yanlei donated fifty sticks of incense money to Hongfu Temple, saying that today was the anniversary of his grandfather's death, and he would stay upstairs for one night to pray for his grandfather.

For the sake of fifty sticks of incense, let alone one night, ten nights are fine.

Hu Yanlei entered the pagoda with a quilt and two followers that night.

The two attendants stood guard below, and Hu Yanlei came to the top of the tower alone, where he could really see what happened in the East Lake.

The lake was brightly lit, dozens of small boats were loaded with soldiers, and there was a big boat in the middle of the lake. Huyanlei recognized the big boat as a painted boat teahouse, and it was moored on the Qinghe River. A very distinctive boat-shaped teahouse was forced by the army. levy.

The painting boat moved slowly, and the boats in all directions were besieging the painting boat. They threw black objects onto the boat, and then threw a few torches, and the painting boat burst into flames.

Hu Yanlei suddenly realized that what they threw up must be clay pots of kerosene, and these guys were practicing siege of warships.

You don't need to ask Hu Yanlei to know that the target of the puppet Qi must be the Song Army warship in the Han River.

He widened his eyes and carefully observed every detail of the boat in the lake.

Since the two armies contracted and ceased fighting, many places occupied by the puppet Qi army have temporarily relaxed their control, but Xiangyang still maintains a high degree of tension. Dong Xian has set up a strict system, and only opens the city gate for an hour every morning. , and only limited to the west city gate, farmers outside the city were allowed to come in to sell vegetables, they had to get a sign when they entered the city, and they had to return the sign when they left the city. Anyone who violated the rules and did not hand in the sign, or did not leave the city in time, would be severely punished.

The same is true for going out of the city. To leave the city temporarily, you need to apply to the government. If you have a good reason to leave the city, you must pay a sum of money as a deposit. At the same time, you need a famous person in the city as a guarantee. Bring one piece with you, and you must come back before the city gate is closed, otherwise you will be regarded as an escape, and the deposit will be confiscated, and the guarantor will be implicated.

Early the next morning, the shopkeeper, Lao Xie, submitted an application to the county government to go out of the city to purchase food materials. The reason was very good, and with the guarantee of the famous gentry, the county government quickly issued a city card for the restaurant after collecting a deposit of [-] yuan. , It can be used for two months, but the premise must be that every time you leave the city, you must return to the city in time, otherwise you will be caught by the military and you will bear the consequences.

The shopkeeper Lao Xie took the bartender Xiaosi to drive a donkey cart out of the city. They were going to buy fish. There were no fishing boats and fishermen in Hanshui, but there were people fishing in Tanxi Lake, and there was a small village there.

More than half an hour later, Lao Xie and his two bought hundreds of catties of fresh fish and came back with a smile. They handed in the check at the city gate and got back the city exit card. Next time, they can go out of the city to buy vegetables and sake with the two city exit cards. such as.

At night, two vehicles and boats rumbled across the Han River. There were not many vehicles and boats at night, and only a dozen of them patrolled the river to prevent the puppet Qi army from building a pontoon overnight. Most of the ships were moored around Yuliangzhou, an island in the middle of the Han River. A large military camp was also set up on the island, and [-] soldiers were stationed in the military camp.

Five thousand of the eight thousand soldiers were originally prisoners of war in Yang Yao's army. Chen Qing used them to trample and steer the vehicles and boats. A vehicle and boat used fifty men, and a hundred vehicles and boats were exactly [-] people. But now the five thousand prisoners of war have been Reorganized into the Song Army, they took turns patrolling the Han River, and Niu Gao trained them in the rest of the time to become qualified soldiers of the Chen family army.

But tonight all the training was stopped, all the soldiers were in their positions, and the official Song army of the [-] army was all on board, waiting to face the sneak attack at night.

Hu Yanlei set up a point by the Tanxi Lake, where two of his subordinates were stationed there, using fishing as a cover. Lao Xie just told him the information inside the city, and then the two subordinates outside the city reported the information to him. Forward it through Eagle Letter,

The original intention of setting up an intelligence point outside the city was to prevent Xinying from being discovered by the soldiers in the city. I didn't expect that it would be very suitable to limit the request to leave the city. As long as the shopkeeper Lao Xie pretended to come outside the city to buy vegetables, he would send out the information.

It was from them that Niu Gao got the news that the puppet Qi army will use small boats to attack patrol cars and boats at night in these two days.

Time gradually arrived at one o'clock. When a group of vehicles and boats patrolled westward, dozens of small boats sailed silently into Hanshui from the Cao River connecting Xiangyangcheng and Hanshui.

They quickly drove towards Yuliangzhou along the south bank of the Han River, but they didn't know that just as they left the Caohe River, the mouth of the Caohe River was blocked by several large fishing boats coming from the opposite bank, and the retreat of dozens of small boats was blocked. cut off.

(End of this chapter)