Fenghou

Chapter 408
The city gate was in a mess, three mules and horse shops were looted, and even a few sick mules were taken away. Proprietor confess?

But one of the robbed mules and horses behaved abnormally. The gate was closed tightly, and the sheds at the gate were smashed and collapsed, but no staff came out.

If something goes wrong, there must be a demon. The vigilance of the profession made Hu Yanlei keep a close eye on this mule and horse shop, especially when Li Ziheng told them that this mule and horse shop has a Xixia background, which made Hu Yanlei even more vigilant.

Not far behind the mules and horses was a tall locust tree. It was early summer and the tree was full of shade. A Song army scout climbed on the tree and looked at the backyard of the mules and horses dozens of steps away. go.

The yard behind the mules and horses was also a mess, with scattered cabinets all over the yard, and the guys were cleaning up the smashed utensils from the house.

At this time, a clerk came out with a large bundle of weapons. Just as he walked into the yard, someone scolded him from behind, and the clerk quickly went back with the weapons in his arms.

Soon a middle-aged man walked out, who should be their shopkeeper. He looked around, especially his eyes on the big locust tree not far away. After looking for a long while, he found nothing unusual, and then he turned and went back to the house.

Soldiers scouting the trees climbed down like monkeys and sprinted toward the street
"You see clearly, is it a spear?" Hu Yanlei, who was standing on the street watching the excitement, asked quietly.

"You can see clearly that it is a brand new bundle of spears, about twenty!"

There should be twenty spears. There are twenty spears in a bundle without opening the package. Obviously there is more than one bundle.

Moreover, the mules and horses are close to the east gate, which is very convenient for the Xixia people in the city to seize the gate.

But it doesn't matter now. The puppet Qi army has withdrawn, and there are only three hundred state soldiers in the city. It depends on who strikes fast and strikes hard, so as to seize the opportunity and control Huaixi County.

At this time, a group of more than a hundred soldiers came running in formation, wearing disc-shaped Fanyang hats, tight-fitting cloth armor, holding red-tasseled spears, and bows and arrows on the back. This is a typical Xiang army in the Song Dynasty. They have changed everything except the flag to pseudo-qi.

Hundreds of state soldiers quickly took over the city gate, and the city gate was slowly closed.

Hu Yanlei made a decisive decision and returned to the inn. He said to the two scouts, Liu Zong and Wu Nanshan: "We need to change the plan now, we can't wait until night to act, we must seize the opportunity!"

"But we don't have weapons!" One of them said anxiously.

"Mules and horses have weapons, now it's time to wait, let the brothers gather and set off immediately!"

At this time, Hu Yantong has realized that weapons are the key, whoever grabs the weapons first will take the initiative, and the Xixia army spies are the same.

Hu Yanlei sent two people to monitor the Baichuan Restaurant, and he led the rest of the hundred men to sprint down a path backing the street. They only carried knives, bows and arrows, and no other weapons or armor.

At this time, the sky was already getting dark, and a thin layer of twilight quietly enveloped the county town. The sudden withdrawal of the army caused a kind of uneasiness in the county town. The people in the city went home early, and the streets began to become deserted. Nervous and hurried.

Not long after, a hundred Song soldiers rushed to the backyard wall of the mules and horses. There was a small door in the backyard. Hu Yanlei gave Liu Zong a wink, and Liu Zong understood, and hurriedly led a dozen of his men to the front door.

The time was ripe, Hu Yanlei gave an order, several soldiers climbed over the wall of the backyard, opened the small door from the inside, and everyone drew their knives and rushed in.

Just as everyone rushed into the yard, they saw two men coming out of the room. They saw the soldiers of the Song Army, they yelled, turned around and ran into the room.

The soldiers of the Song army rushed in, killing everyone they met, without hesitation. At this critical moment, there was no mercy to speak of, even innocent fellows could not escape death.

In just a moment, more than [-] guys in the store were killed, leaving only the family of the shopkeeper who was questioning the confession, the shopkeeper himself, his wife and young son.

The soldiers found ten bundles of spears, two hundred pieces of Song Army leather armor, two hundred shields, knives and crossbows from one room. These are the equipment of two hundred people. It can be preliminarily inferred that the Xixia spies in the city will not exceed Two hundred people.

But Hu Yanlei still wanted to ask clearly. He entered the room, and the shopkeeper's family was in the room. The shopkeeper lowered his head, looking very depressed, and secretly glanced at his son from time to time.

This is psychological warfare. During the fight just now, the shopkeeper desperately protected his wife and children, and Hu Yanlei immediately realized where his weakness was?
Hu Yanlei said coldly: "At this point, even if you deny me anything, it's meaningless. We can make a deal. You tell me what you want to know, and then I will spare your family."

The woman murmured something to her husband in party language, and the shopkeeper answered her harshly, and the room fell silent again.

A soldier who understood the party language whispered to Hu Yanlei: "The woman said, it doesn't matter if we die, but the son is still young, so he can't die!"

"What did the shopkeeper say?"

"The shopkeeper said that these Han people cannot be trusted!"

Hu Yanlei sneered and waved his hand, "Take the women and children away!"

The soldiers stepped forward and grabbed the woman and the child and dragged them outside. The boy burst into tears in fright, and the woman screamed in terror.

The shopkeeper was furious, "You bastards, give me back my son!"

He rushed forward to snatch his son back, but was pushed down by the soldier. The sharp knife pointed against his throat. The shopkeeper did not dare to move, so he had to watch his son and wife being taken away in despair.

Hu Yanlei looked at him and said indifferently: "We are the Song Army, Chen Dutong's army, and we always keep our promises. If you can't trust us, I can't help it!"

The shopkeeper stared at Hu Yanlei's eyes for a while, and finally he lowered his head and said in a deep voice, "What do you want to know?"

Xixia people began to deploy in Longxi County as early as two years ago. They stationed more than [-] spies in the county, and divided the city into three points, Baichuan Restaurant, Mule and Horse Shop, and a fur shop. Several Xixia spies pretended to be shopkeepers and operated in these three shops, but there were still a hundred spies lurking in rented rooms in the city.

Of course the Xixia people want to seize Longxi County and Gongzhou, but they are also afraid of the Jin Kingdom's ban, and dare not blatantly seize Gongzhou. They are patiently waiting for the opportunity.

After waiting for two full years, when Wanyan Wushu's army was defeated in Ganquan Fort and retreated hastily, the Xixia people realized that the opportunity to seize Gongzhou had come.

Of course, the Xixia people knew that when Chen Qing defeated Jin Bing, his next step would be to expand westward, so capturing Longxi County before Chen Qing became the top priority.

It was just an accidental bandit incident that exposed the secret of the Xixia army hiding in Gongzhou, and Chen Qing acted decisively.

The leader of the Xixia army spies is called Li Fuding. His original name was Tuoba Fuding, but he changed his Chinese surname to Li. He was the proprietor of Baichuan Restaurant. He rented a big house next to Baichuan Restaurant, and there were fifty or sixty Xixia soldiers hidden in the house. spies.

Li Fuding had already received news of the retreat of the puppet Qi army, which made him immediately realize that the opportunity had come.

The Baichuan restaurant closed early, and more than a hundred Xixia spies had already gathered in the restaurant. They were waiting for the night to fall, and then seized the east gate.

Li Fuding felt a little uneasy. He just got the news that Zhuang Ding of the Li family entered the city in the afternoon. There were about a hundred people. If it was normal, he might not care about it, but at this critical moment, what does it mean for a hundred people to enter the city?
"General, do you want to wait until the first watch?" A subordinate asked.

Li Fuding gritted his teeth and said: "Don't wait, go to the mules and horses to get weapons first, and seize the city gate immediately!"

In any case, he must seize the opportunity.

Li Fuding led more than a hundred spies in black to the mules and horses at the east gate.

At this moment, a hundred Song soldiers in armor rushed towards them, it was Hu Yanlei and his men.

He was leading his men towards Bai Chuan Restaurant, but he didn't expect them to encounter each other on the street because Yuanjia Road is narrow.

(End of this chapter)