After dark, Fang Jie and others gathered together again.
"General, there are no people in the city!"
Nie Xiaoju said: "At least hundreds of yards were inspected, but no people were found living there. There are only rebels in Sui County."
"I found out where the rebel general lives."
Mu Xiaoyao said: "Several people with good cultivation in the city gathered at the same place. They turned their fans in and took a look. They were sure that it was the residence of the chief general of the rebel army. This person's cultivation is not high, at most he can only reach the sixth grade. If not Fearing that it will affect your plan, Qing Fan can capture people at that time without being noticed."
Fang Jie hummed and said, "Eat something first, and then go meet him at night."
He untied the dry food bag and handed it to Mu Xiaoyao, and took a sip of water himself: "Dagou and I walked around the city, but we couldn't find any place to store food and grass, so we can only stay in the camp. It is difficult to seize food and grass, even if we can open the city gate and let the cavalry rush in, there are tens of thousands of elite rebels in the city, and if we get together, we will lose a lot."
He sat down on the kang, and quickly calculated how to get the food and grass in his mind.
"Now we need to figure out what is the purpose of Li Yuanshan's deployment of heavy troops behind Xiangcheng. Sui County is five hundred miles away from Xiangcheng. Even if tens of thousands of elite troops are stationed here, it is hard to guarantee that there will be no troops stationed elsewhere."
"Let's have a rest, I'll visit the house of the rebel guard later in the night."
Although it is the end of February, the cold night in the northwest is still so cold that people are at a loss. Fortunately, these few of them are people with good cultivation. If it were ordinary people, they would have been shivering from the cold in such a dilapidated house. After late at night, the north wind finally stopped, and the night sky seemed to be washed thoroughly by water. The moon was still hidden behind a cloud, but the starry sky was extremely bright.
Fang Jie and the others calculated the time, and estimated that it was past You hour, so he asked Nie Xiaoju, Big Dog Yan Kuang and Mu Xiaoyao to wait outside, and he and Shen Qingfan jumped in from the wall of the guard's house. Shen Qingfan came once after dark, Fang Jie followed her and found the guard's study without much effort.
There are secret sentries in the courtyard, but with their cultivation base, unless they deliberately exposed their whereabouts, it would be difficult to find them with the skills of those secret sentries.
Fang Xie stepped on his feet, and flitted past behind a clump of evergreen cypress trees. His palm cut like a knife on the neck of a guard guarding outside the study. The man fell limply without even making a muffled groan go down. Fang Jie took the man by the neck and threw it behind the cypress tree, then changed the livery and armor on the man with the fastest speed, put on the leather helmet and lowered the brim of the hat, and he went out and stood outside the study so blatantly.
Fifteen meters away from him was another guard, but that man kept facing outside and didn't even notice that his companion was turned over.
Fang Jie stood at the door of the study and listened carefully, and found that there were at least three people in the room.
Judging from the shadow cast by the light on the window, the person sitting was obviously the general of the rebel army in Suixian.
"The inspector should arrive tomorrow."
Someone in the room sighed and said: "King Dingxi arranged us here, and he doesn't know what the picture is. He transferred all those mobs to the front line, but we stayed instead. It's really puzzling. But the order will come down." There is no explanation, and people can't figure out the reason even if their heads are broken."
Another person said: "General, why bother, we have an army stationed in Sui County, Shang Huoxi's army is in Le Town, Qiu He's army is in Guan County, we know that the West King will be settled within 150 miles. They deployed at least 30,000 elites, obviously with a big plan. King Dingxi didn’t say anything, presumably because he was afraid of leaking some news in advance. We are still far away from Xiangcheng, and the imperial court’s troops will not be able to reach here for a while. The most troublesome thing now is the inspector."
The person who spoke before hummed and said: "King Dingxi must have left a large number of troops in the west of Xiangcheng, and they are all elite troops. He sent inspectors to patrol the counties and cities, and the last inspector took less than two days. In a few months, the second inspector will arrive again. Last time the one surnamed Zhang took two thousand taels of silver and left, and this time it must be the same amount.”
One person said: "Those bastards are using King Dingxi's military order as a way to make money. I heard that Shang Huoxi didn't give money at the beginning, but the inspector wrote a letter and sent someone back to Xiangcheng, insisting that Shang Huo Xi neglects his duties and is unbearable to take on such a big responsibility, if it is not for Shang Huoxi's uncle from the same clan or Shang Jin, the servant of the Ministry of War, I am afraid that Shang Huoxi will not end well."
The person sitting sighed: "We laughed at Yin Poshan and others at the beginning, but we were not taken seriously after following King Dingxi for many years, and we were actually excluded when we led hundreds of thousands of mobs. But think about it now, those of us who stayed in Dingxi The people around Wang are not as comfortable as Yin Poshan and the others. At least, they don't have inspectors to oppress them."
"The Inspector's power is too great, so it can be seen that King Dingxi doesn't trust us. The Inspector has the right to mobilize troops and horses to change defenses, and has the right to dismiss the generals of the first army. Who dares to offend!"
"Let's save money and avoid disaster, just treat it as being bitten by a mad dog."
One of them said: "I really hope that the inspector will meet a horse thief on the way and die cleanly!"
Fang Jie, who wanted to go in, hesitated for a moment after hearing these words, and quietly retreated back. He gestured to Shen Qingfan, and the two jumped up a tree to watch. After a while, the door of the study room opened, and two people came out of the study room, chatting in a low voice while walking out. Shen Qingfan and Fang Jie exchanged glances, and then rushed out of the house.
…
…
In the residential house where Fang Jie was hiding, the rebel general who was captured by Fang Jie looked at these people in front of him with a pale face. He was knocked unconscious from behind on the way home from the general's house, and he was already here when he woke up. The people in front of him all covered their heads and faces with black scarves, which made him feel a little relieved. He used to be a horse thief and knew some habits of the Tao. For example, when he was doing business in the past, he would cover his face with a black scarf if he didn't want to kill the captives. If you want to kill, you don't have to hide anything.
"You guys... do you have any orders?"
He swallowed hard and asked in a low voice. The tower-like man standing beside him gave him tremendous pressure. He didn't doubt at all that this man could flatten his face with just one slap.
"May I have your name."
The thinnest man sat on the kang and asked him with cold eyes.
"Zheng Duobao."
The general of the rebel army quickly replied: "Don't worry, if you have any questions, just ask. I won't shout loudly. I just ask some good men not to kill me."
The skinny man nodded: "As long as you answer honestly, we will naturally not make it difficult for you. We are looking for money, and we will not kill you easily."
"Yes Yes Yes."
Zheng Duobao nodded quickly.
"How many people are there in this city?"
asked the skinny man.
Zheng Duobao quickly replied: "One army, 12,000 combat soldiers, 2,000 auxiliary soldiers, plus miscellaneous servants and others, the total is less than 15,000."
"Who is the chief general?"
"Li Liao, this person is from the same family as Li Yuanshan, but the relationship is not very close."
The skinny man hummed and asked: "Our brother has pulled a team, and we are still short of some food and grass. Is there any way you can get some to send out of the city?"
"ah?"
Zheng Duobao shivered in fright: "It can't be done, the grain and grass are all in the big camp, and no one has the right to use the grain and grass without Li Liao's order. There are more than 10,000 horses in the city, and you are too courageous... Let’s talk about it. If you only want money, it’s easy to say, I’m willing to donate my family property, and I can also tell you that there is also a lot of money in the general’s yamen, as for food and grass, there is really no way to get it out.”
The skinny man asked: "I'm curious about something. Li Yuanshan mobilized a large number of people to go to Xiangcheng, why didn't he transfer you?"
"This... I really don't know, not even Li Liao."
"All right."
The skinny man sighed and said, "It seems that you don't cooperate at all, so don't blame us for being merciless."
He reached out to tear off the black scarf on his face, Zheng Duobao hurriedly lowered his head and dared not look at it: "Don't, don't, I'm telling the truth. There must be many people in Xiangcheng who know why King Dingxi made such an arrangement. , but none of us here know, oh... the Inspector should know."
"Who is the Inspector?"
"It's not a fixed person. Every once in a while, Xiangcheng will send people to inspect the garrisons in various counties. They have great power. The inspectors even have the right to take down a general of the army before reporting it to King Dingxi. It is said that there are seven or eight people in total. Each person patrols back and forth between a dozen counties, and then these people will switch, so no one knows who the next inspector will be."
"You mean, there are troops stationed in every county west of Xiangcheng?"
The skinny man spat and scolded: "Fuck, I thought Li Yuanshan had emptied his troops, so he dragged the team out for a walk. His mother was hiding in various counties. It seems that I have to go back as soon as possible." .Don’t end up being bitten by a weasel instead of not being able to steal the chicken.”
"right."
Zheng Duobao hurriedly said: "As far as I know, there are garrisons in every county and they are still elite troops. It's better for you not to walk around carelessly. You guys, just say what I know. When will you let me go back?"
"It's not difficult for you."
The skinny man said: "One last question, when will the inspector come to your place?"
"Hurry up, I guess I will definitely arrive before nightfall tomorrow, and no later than noon the day after tomorrow. I heard that the inspector has arrived in Guan County, which is only a hundred miles away from here. The inspector brought three hundred spirits." Ride, go fast."
The skinny man hummed and said, "Goodbye."
"Goodbye."
Zheng Duobao stood up, wishing he could turn around and run away. He didn't dare to look at those people, for fear of arousing the other party's murderous intent.
"Seeing that you speak so happily, I will give you some benefits."
The skinny man suddenly stopped him and asked: "Is there any general in the army who has a problem with you? Tell me the name, and we will go to his house to do business again tonight."
Zheng Duobao was stunned for a moment, and then said cautiously: "Yes... That guy Jiang Yunlai has been targeting me!"
"Lead the way."
The skinny man smiled: "If you find a lot of money from his house tonight, you won't die."
…
…
That night, the rebel general Zheng Duobao somehow sneaked into Jiang Yunlai's home and assassinated Jiang Yunlai. He was seriously injured and died of excessive blood loss while fleeing. Of course, Li Liao, the general of the rebel army, would not think that there was nothing hidden about this matter, and immediately ordered to investigate what was going on!
Just before dawn, Li Liao was also killed.
It was only after dawn that people discovered in horror that six or seven generals had been assassinated overnight. Of the generals above rank five, only one was left alive.