Lady forced to seek prince

The grand master made a decision. The army would first go north, and then move east. The ultimate goal was to make a circle and go south.

Why do you want to go to war like this? Naturally, you are afraid of being noticed by Xiao Yu.

Another advantage of traveling like this is that you can look for traces left by King Xiang's soldiers and horses along the way. During this period, if Xiao Yu attacks, they may respond immediately.

The Grand Master left himself a long time to make arrangements.

When the army was resting on the way, Du Mo and his men went to the countryside to inquire about the news.

The old farmer tending the fields was stopped for questioning.

"Have you seen any troops passing by here recently?"

The old farmer nodded without thinking: "Yes, about five days ago, a large army passed by, and they also collected rice from the countryside."

After saying this, the old farmer looked at Du Mo carefully: "Are you a general?"

Dumo nodded.

The old farmer hesitated to speak.

Seeing this, Du Mo reached out and took out a piece of broken silver and handed it to the old farmer. The old farmer's expression changed when he saw this, and he immediately waved his hand: "No, no, how can I accept your money? If you have anything to say, just ask me."

Du Mo persuaded him again and again, but the old farmer looked at the silver with a clear expression of longing. His hands were still trembling in his sleeves and he refused to take anything.

Du Mo sneered in his heart, the farmers were like this when they saw the officials. Even if they took the initiative to give them rewards, they would not dare to reach out to receive them.

Putting the money away, Du Mo said, "If you have anything else to say, it doesn't matter."

When Du Mo asked the old farmer this question, he had to say honestly: "Those soldiers... let their horses enter the fields and destroyed a lot of crops. Five nearby villages suffered disaster, and everyone wanted to go to the government office to file a complaint."

Du Mo was overjoyed and told the old farmer: "Take me to check immediately."

In this way, Du Mo saw the horse hoof prints in the field with his own eyes. Judging from the depth and shape left behind, there was no doubt that they were war horses.

In addition, the soldiers who were sent out to inquire about the news also came back, and brought a woman with them. The woman told how those people entered the house and robbed food.

"Not only did they take away the food, they also took away the chickens and geese at home. If my uncle and his family hadn't helped, even I would have been humiliated."

"They also left a bag of grain and said they exchanged it with us. The grain had already been soaked in water, and most of it was inedible."

There was still food in the woman's house that had not been discarded, and the soldiers found it and brought it to the grand master.

Such situations abound.

What everyone was sure of was that there was indeed a group of soldiers passing by, and they were traveling in the northeast direction.

How many soldiers and horses Da Qi has has long been in the mind of the Grand Master, and the behavior of those soldiers is the same as the soldiers and horses under the command of the Prime Minister.

The rice grains left behind further prove this point.

When the Prime Minister led his troops to leave in the rain, the rice grains would definitely get damp. If they could not be eaten in time, some of them would inevitably go bad, so they robbed the people of their grains along the way.

Du Mo said: "From this point of view, it is certain that they have stayed here. Unless it was deliberately arranged by Xiao Yu, the Prime Minister's army is not far away from us."

It was really arranged by Xiao Yu, so that's fine. In order to confuse them, Xiao Yu sent troops and horses to make this trip. If they didn't fall for the trick, Xiao Yu's trip would be in vain.

Du Mo felt that it was impossible for Xiao Yu to do this.

The Grand Master said: "Let's go and ask if there are any deserters?"

What comes out of the mouth of a deserter is the truth.

Du Mo naturally sent his men forward, but the grand master did not wait, but continued to move forward along the traces of King Xiang's army. The horseshoe marks in front never disappeared, and an invisible army was marching in front of them.

On the third day, Du Mo's people brought back two deserters. After interrogating them, they determined that they were following the Prime Minister's troops.

Du Mo asked: "Why escape?"

The deserter had long been frightened out of his wits and stammered back: "We were assigned to the Fourth Young Master... Just ten days ago, after we went out to inquire about information, when we returned to the camp, we found that the camp was in chaos. It was Xiao Yu who ordered people to attack the camp."

"The prince was afraid that Xiao Yu would come again, so he ordered the army to set off overnight."

The deserter said this with a bit of pain on his face: "Because we scouts failed to detect the sneak attack in time, and the Fourth Young Master was also blamed by the prince, the Fourth Young Master turned his anger on us, and we were frequently dealt with by military law. Give meals.”

The deserter said, showing the scars on his body: "We have no choice. If we don't escape, we will be beaten to death. Please forgive us for our difficulties and give us a way to survive."

The deserter didn't look like he was lying.

Du Mo ordered people to take the deserters down to take care of them, then he stepped forward and whispered to the Grand Master: "What should we do now?"

By now, the Grand Master was sure that, as he had speculated, the Prime Minister was scared away, and Xiao Yu took the opportunity to send him false news.

"Xiao Yu's troops should be ambushing on the way to the southeast," the Grand Master said, "This is our opportunity."

After the uprising, he waited for the best opportunity.

"Let the troops and horses continue to follow the traces left by the Prime Minister," the Taishi said. "Leave five thousand elite soldiers and follow me south. There is no need to inform the Prime Minister. Since we are going to make a sneak attack, those who know will be more careful." Less is better.”

If Xiao Yu notices their whereabouts, he will only think that they are going to rendezvous with the Grand Master. No matter how powerful Xiao Yu's scouts are, he divided his troops twice and cannot figure out his intentions in a short period of time.

And five thousand elite soldiers are enough to do a lot of things.

Du Mo's face was full of excitement.

After hiding for so long, I can finally have a good fight.

……

Taking five thousand people away quietly might not have been possible for others, but the Grand Master was different. He still left a lot of secret chess behind, just enough to open the passage for him in advance, and he walked smoothly to Weizhou.

Take a boat from Weizhou to Xucheng. There are not many soldiers and horses left in Xucheng. He can easily capture the city. If everything goes well, he can go straight to Fengqiu.

This was enough to scare the little emperor and the Qi court.

When retreating, just cross the river again.

When the Weizhou officials opened the city gate, the grand master felt that his many years of arrangements had indeed been in vain. The official immediately bowed down. If not for the grand master, he would have died in prison long ago. Thanks to the grand master for redressing his injustice.

The grand master helped Kou Wei up: "I didn't want to bring trouble to you, but now we are forced to have no way out."

Kou Wei looked excited: "If the teacher doesn't come, I'm going to lead my troops to defect. If the teacher doesn't take charge, there's no need for us to be loyal to the court anymore. After helping the teacher succeed this time, the students will bring Weizhou's soldiers and horses with the teacher." Leave together."

The Grand Master reached out and patted Kou Wei on the shoulder: "Is the boat ready?"

Kou Wei responded: "The students will take the teacher to see it now."

The grand master followed Kou Wei and saw more than forty large ships moored there. He couldn't help but feel a little shocked: "You have gathered so many ships?"

Kou Wei showed a proud expression: "This is the property that the students have accumulated privately over the years in Weizhou. They were all hidden in the past, but now they can finally be put to use. When the teacher boarded the ship, the students were also with him. Take charge personally for the teacher.”

The grand master finally showed a look of relief: "If you gather the ships in one place, I'm afraid you have alarmed the people nearby. Without further ado, we will set off tomorrow."