Everything was as early as Zhou Yu expected, and Sun Ce camped outside Wu County. And Zhou Yu led hundreds of people to Wujiang, took a deep breath, and dived into the water.
Wu County is connected to Taihu Lake in the west, and the waterways are criss-crossing. It is early spring and the water is icy cold. As soon as Sun Ce's army arrived, the four doors were closed tightly. Zhou Yu led hundreds of people into the water, like a school of fish, sneaking into the city along the waterway. At night, there was a sound of water splashing, and Zhou Yu came out of the water on the bank dripping wet.
In the cold spring, Zhou Yu was so cold that his lips were blue and purple, his heart and lungs were tightened, and he almost couldn't catch his breath. Secret Road has neglected to practice martial arts in recent years, if not for the help of soldiers, he would have almost sunk in the water.
That night, the city was unprecedentedly quiet, Zhou Yu instigated other people and said, "Everyone follow what we discussed earlier."
The soldiers nodded and scattered into the streets and alleys.
Zhou Yu's clothes were almost frozen, and the robe was hanging straight on his body. Taking a deep breath, he tremblingly walked across the long street at night, leaped onto the beam with all his strength, dragged the broken ice softly, and ran all the way to the north of the city.
The lights were still on in the Captain's Mansion, Zhou Yu leaned over the eaves, heard a conversation coming from inside, gently removed a tile, and saw Xu Gong, Zhu Zhi and a big bearded man whom he had never seen standing in the study.
"Sun Ce is like his father." Zhu Zhi said, "He is headstrong, he acts without thinking, he never thinks twice, he is too young."
Xu Gong said: "If the governor leaves the city, what are the chances of winning?"
Zhu Zhi heaved a sigh of relief and said, "It's hard to say. If he decides on one thing, and his head is broken, he has to stick to it. With my ability, I can't persuade him."
Xu Gong and the bearded man looked at each other, and Xu Gong said: "How about writing a letter and sending it to the future general, Lord Yuan Shu?"
The big bearded man stepped forward and knelt down, and said in a deep voice, "Lord Xu!"
Xu Gong and Zhu Zhi hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Please get up quickly."
Zhu Zhi also said: "Brother Yan, please get up."
"I set up a stronghold to raise troops." The bearded man said, "It has been eleven years so far. At the time when the Yellow Turbans were in chaos and the people were in dire straits, I drove out the Yellow Turbans. The adults in Wu County all saw it."
"It's natural, it's natural." Xu Gong wiped off his sweat, and hurriedly said, "As long as Xu guards Wu County for a certain day, brother Yan will definitely be fine, just don't worry?"
Zhou Yu saw it and knew that the man was Yan Baihu. The whole city of Wu County was tightly closed, Xu Gong knew that if Sun Ce relied on a strong attack, this force would not be his opponent, and now he was just taking advantage of Sun Ce's unexplainable advantage, so he rushed to Zhu Zhi to discuss it at night.
Xu Gong was nearly fifty years old, his body was fat, and he was anxious after standing for a long time. Even though it was a spring night, he was still covered in sweat.
Zhu Zhi was pacing in the study, and heard three soft knocks from the windows and doors, so he didn't look back, he went forward and closed the front door first, and looked back, Zhou Yu was sitting in front of the desk covered in ice, breathing heavily. white mist.
"General Zhu." Zhou Yu stepped forward and bowed to Zhu Zhi.
Zhu Zhi hurriedly came over to help, and said: "I guess there will be a messenger tonight, but unexpectedly it is you."
Zhou Yu knew that people like Zhu Zhi and Huang Gai had followed Sun Jian in the early years, and they were like elders to Sun Ce, so he didn't dare to offend him, and said, "I don't worry about other people coming, so I have to go there myself."
"General Zhu thinks, is this the right time?"
Zhou Yu didn't test Zhu Zhi, and he didn't say, for example, that Sun Ce is outside the city, should you follow him now, or not? For one thing, if Zhu Zhi has already lost his mind, he will rashly ask him for help. If Zhu Zhi is indecisive, it will easily ruin the big event. Secondly, if Zhu Zhi has always been loyal these days, and waited for Sun Ce to summon him and open his mouth to test him, it would appear that he underestimated Zhu Zhi.
When Zhou Yu asked such a question, Zhu Zhi laughed.
"I bid farewell to the Major General from Gushan, Chaohu Lake." Zhu Zhi said, "Yuan Shu sent me to Wu County, and everyone had the same thoughts. I knew you had been spying on the room for a long time, and you were hiding some things. Xu Gong, you don't have to take it to heart."
When Zhou Yu heard this, a big stone fell from his heart.
"In this case, I would like to ask General Zhu to borrow a suit for night travel." Zhou Yu's eyebrows and hair were covered with frost, and said, "There is still a small matter that needs to be dealt with urgently."
Zhu Zhi went to get Zhou Yu's night clothes in person, and Zhou Yu looked up at the map of Wu County posted on the wall in the room. After Zhu Zhi came back, Zhou Yu didn't avoid him, so he changed into black clothes in the study and held a blower. Zhu Zhi asked, "Are you the only one who entered the city?"
"There are four hundred and twelve people accompanying me." Zhou Yu said, "I am lurking in the whole city. Please ask the general to arrange it for you."
Zhu Zhi said: "It's enough to settle in our army. When you come back later, I will distribute the waist badge to you."
Zhou Yu nodded, still turned out of the window, and merged into the night. The sky began to rain lightly, and the security in the city was strengthened, but Zhou Yu couldn't be stopped. The flying feather fluttered down from the night sky and landed on Zhou Yu's arm.
"Hush." Zhou Yu gently stroked Feiyu, took it up to the roof, and found the prefect's mansion according to his memory.
Sure enough, the light was on in the fourth room on the east side of the west chamber, where there was a study room, probably where Xu Gong was writing letters.
Just as Zhou Yu was about to take a step, he felt vigilance in his heart. He felt that the drizzle was rustling everywhere. Zhou Yu hesitated for a while, but finally did not dare to act rashly.
He waited patiently for a full half an hour, until one of them left the backyard and rode out on his horse, and then followed him over the roof and walls. Xu Gong sent a messenger to go out along the road west of the city. Zhou Yu tore off the strip of cloth and released the flying feathers. The flying feathers streaked across the dark night sky, flung to the west, and flew into the woods outside the city.
Sun Ce was also in night clothes, and led dozens of people to guard the forest in the west of the city. The flying feathers flew over and landed on Sun Ce's shoulder. Sun Ce pursed his lips and whispered a few times, the white falcon flew up again, and the group of people passed through the woods quietly.
The courier drove his horse into the secret road in the forest, and immediately pulled the bridle rope, causing a group of people to fall on their backs. Sun Ce's soldiers rushed forward, and in the quiet night, all their swords came out, and cut down the messenger in an instant, and then dragged him into the depths of the woods.
"General Sun!" His subordinates came over with torches and pointed at Sun Ce. Sun Ce frowned and glanced at the letter hastily.
This is Xu Gong's letter to Yuan Shu, and it is nothing more than a request to send troops to help, or send a messenger to dispatch Sun Ce to leave Wujun, otherwise Sun Ce may attack the city.
Sun Ce sneered, read the letter, sealed it as it was, tied it to Fei Yu's feet, and put it back in the city.
In less than a cup of tea, Zhou Yu appeared in front of Zhu Zhi again.
Zhu Zhi took the badge and said, "Come with me."
Zhou Yu got on his horse, passed Jingye Long Street with Zhu Zhi, and arrived at the Duwei Barracks in the east of the city. Zhou Yu said, "The guards at Xu Gong's mansion are excellent. There are secret sentries in all directions. I dare not sneak in rashly."
Zhu Zhi said in a low voice: "Xu Gong's wife is from Jiang Hu, and has many followers, Gong Jin, I have something to discuss with you, you have to take it to heart."
Zhou Yu hummed, dismounted from the horse outside the barracks, fetched the sky lantern that Zhu Zhi had prepared for him, and lit it with a flick of a torch.
"Although Yan Baihu is a gangster," Zhu Zhi said, "he is also a hero after all."
"I know." Zhou Yu nodded, the light reflected his handsome face. Zhou Yu, who was dressed in black and held a sky lantern, attracted many soldiers in the barracks to stare at him.
"If you can't kill him, try not to kill him." Zhou Yu said, "But before the city is broken, brother Yan must not be trapped once. I can guarantee his life will be safe."
Zhu Zhi nodded, Zhou Yu let go, and let the sky lantern go.
A faint and dim sky lantern, swaying in the cloudy drizzle, flew towards the sky.
The dead soldiers lurking in the whole city raised their heads, looked at the lights, and gathered towards Zhou Yu's place from all directions. Fei Yu spread his wings and landed again, carrying Xu Gong's letter.
When Zhu Zhi saw Fei Yu again, he seemed to be in a lifetime. He felt a lot of emotion for a while, and reached out to touch it. Fei Yu still remembered him, turned his head, and rubbed his fingers affectionately. Zhou Yu took the letter, went back to the barracks with Zhu Zhi, unfolded the letter, glanced at it hastily, and dipped his pen in the ink.
"General Zhu, General Huang, General Cheng Pu... After you leave," Zhou Yu spread out a piece of paper and said in a deep voice, "Bo Fu has been in a daze all day long, and he just wants to go back to Jingzhou to avenge the old general."
"Why don't we want to take revenge?" Zhu Zhi said, "If we can successfully take down Wu County today and take root here, I think Brother Wentai's spirit in heaven can comfort him a little or two."
Zhou Yu sighed, and Zhu Zhi said, "After Brother Wentai died in the battle, the brothers were like wild dogs without a home. Now that you are here, Bofu is also here. It is really a blessing in my life."
Zhou Yu wrote according to Xu Gong's brushwork, and actually copied the whole letter once. Zhu Zhi laughed when he saw it, and said: "Bo Fu has you as his assistant, so why not be afraid of failure."
Zhou Yu replied: "In the past, I was often criticized by my father as a strange skill..."
Zhou Yu wrote a new letter according to Xu Gong's handwriting, most of the original sentences were used, but at the end of the letter, he added the matter of Yan Baihu, mentioning that Yan Baihu will be tied up by the doormen in the near future. Send it out of the city and hand it over to Sun Ce.
"I wanted to ask General Zhu for a handwritten letter from Xu Gong, but I didn't expect to deliver it to my door." Zhou Yu looked at Xu Gong's official seal and private seal under the light. Conscientiously redoing, Zhou Yu cut the wood, took out the seal knife, and illuminated the dim lamp to forge the seal.
Zhu Zhi prepared the fire stamp, Zhou Yu engraved the three seals in a short time, and sealed it upright, folded the letter, Zhu Zhi sealed the fire stamp, soaked the end of the letter in water, opened a little opening, and said: "Send Yu Yan Baihu, yes and no."
Zhou Yu nodded and said, "General Zhu must know what to say."
Zhu Zhi replied: "Let's just say that my subordinates intercepted this person leaving the city. First, they read this letter and realized that this matter is not trivial, so they came here to inform you."
Zhou Yu replied: "Exactly." As he spoke, he stroked his sleeves, crossed the Red Army sword, and stroked lightly on his arm, spattering a little blood on the envelope.
Zhou Yu got up and said, "I still have to send someone to inform Xu Gong."
Zhu Zhi said, "I'll arrange it myself."
Zhou Yu and Zhu Zhi made an appointment for a follow-up, and the two split up and sneaked into the night.
At four o'clock, Zhu Zhi personally knocked open the place where Yan Baihu was staying in the cold night. Yan Baihu lived in a small courtyard outside the prefect's mansion. Zhu Zhi coughed and came over with a lantern.
"Call your master." Zhu Zhi said, "Let him come out now."
That servant was a follower of Yan Baihu for many years, and he was always winking. Although Zhu Zhi was dressed in casual clothes, he knew at a glance that he was a big shot, so he immediately went back and invited Yan Baihu out.
Yan Baihu was wrapped in a single robe, standing on the porch, apparently having not slept all night, Zhu Zhi handed out the letter and entered the courtyard.
Yan Baihu didn't say a word, took out the letter and glanced at it, suddenly shocked, and looked at Zhu Zhi.
"It must be burned immediately after reading it." Zhu Zhi said.
"Where is the messenger?" Yan Baihu asked.
Zhu Zhi replied: "I have already killed him, and his body sank in Taihu Lake."
Yan Baihu paced down the corridor for a few steps, trembling uncontrollably. Zhu Zhi nodded slightly, and was about to say goodbye and leave, but Yan Baihu's knees softened, and he knelt down and said, "Lord Captain, save me!"
Yan Baihu's family, young and old, took shelter of Xu Gong's sect, Xu Gong's family members, everyone in Jiangdong knew that at this moment the prefect was determined to trade him for peace, anyone who asked for love would be useless.
Zhu Zhi sighed, and said: "For the present plan, brother Yan has to go out of the city overnight, and there is no further delay. Sun Ce and Chen Bing's south gate, you have to get out of the west gate, that's the best policy."
At the same time, the watchman played the bang and passed outside the gate of the prefect's mansion.
Zhou Yu nodded to Zhu Zhi's subordinates.
"Report—" A messenger entered the gate of the mansion, "Lieutenant Zhu has a secret letter for the prefect!"
Xu Gong was also tossed about most of the night, just fell asleep in a daze, was helped up by his concubine, sat down in front of the hall, and lit a dim lamp.
"Yan Baihu packed his luggage overnight and took Qi's family with him." The messenger said, "I'm afraid he will abscond overnight."
Xu Gong's face was startled immediately, and he ordered people to inquire. Not long after, the doormen came and reported: "Report to my lord, Yan Baihu has already set up a car, summoned the people in the city, and is indeed going out of the city."
"This idiot!" Xu Gong said angrily, "Where's Zhu Zhi? Send a letter to Zhu Zhi immediately! Tell him to lead troops to defend the city gate! Order to strictly guard the gate! Don't let him go out of the city!"
"Let's go." Mrs. Xu said lazily, "Isn't it just right for Sun Ce to chase after him?"
"Hey!" Xu Gong said anxiously, "You don't know, how far did Yan Baihu escape? If Sun Ce caught him outside the city, why would he be afraid? Find an excuse, search for the remaining party, and rush into the city Here we go! If I go to General Yuan again to punish me for harboring bandits, Wu County will fall into his hands!"
Xu Gong got up immediately, asked someone to prepare the car, changed his clothes, and brought his dead men to stop Yan Baihu himself.
After the group left the prefect's mansion, Zhou Yu, who was waiting in the backyard, silently calculated that many people had withdrawn. Now that the defense is empty, it is the best time to launch a surprise attack.
Sun Ce was standing outside the west city gate, when the flying feathers flew in, his breath trembled, his brow was covered in sweat from nervousness.
Zhou Yu was in the courtyard opposite the prefect's mansion, surrounded by a group of subordinates, and the child couldn't help crying. Zhou Yu hurriedly hissed, made a gesture, and his subordinates protected the owner of the room to enter. The group bowed down, pulled a huge long kite on the ground, and poured kerosene on it.
Xu Gong drove to the outside of Yan Baihu's mansion, and the dead soldiers surrounded the whole mansion with torches.
"Brother Yan!" Xu Gong hurriedly got out of the car and said, "What are you doing?"
"Needless to say!" Yan Baihu said, "Let me go today, you and I can still be friends! If you want to stop me! It's just paying off with your life!"
Xu Gong changed his face and said: "Absolutely not! Xu has absolutely no intention of harming you. Who have you heard lies..."
But Yan Baihu didn't give him any chance, hundreds of his subordinates had already gathered in the house, he immediately raised his sword and shouted: "Brothers, follow me to kill!"
After Xu Gong retreated in shock, Yan Baihu rushed out with people, and there was a massacre on the long street. It was almost dawn in Wu County, and the people on both sides of the road were awakened by the shouting and killing. Fight and shout. Xu Gong didn't expect Yan Baihu's determination to break through the encirclement to be so determined, unable to stop him several times, he hurriedly retreated.
The two sides started a street fight, Yan Baihu knew that he would die if he stayed, and he would only survive if he rushed out of the city tonight. , but it was too late.
"kill-"
Yan Baihu led his men to kill Xu Gong's subordinates, and rushed past the prefect's mansion. Xu Gong was in a panic and wanted to flee towards the west gate. All the people in Wu County woke up in the middle of the night, and all the lights in every house were turned on.
Seeing that the last wave of guards in the mansion also came to support, Zhou Yu immediately whistled, ran quickly on the roof, and jumped with the kite.
The soldiers behind flicked the fire, threw it on the kite, and suddenly burst into flames.
Immediately afterwards, it rose from the ground like a fire dragon, and flew into the prefect's mansion amidst the exclamation of countless people. The kerosene was thrown away, and it ignited immediately after touching the fire. There was a loud bang, and the prefect's mansion burst into flames!
"Prefect Xu was assassinated—" Zhu Zhi roared.
"Xu Taishou was assassinated!" The messenger rushed across the long street and shouted, "Go back to the house and hide! Don't go out!"
Immediately afterwards, Sun Ce saw the fire burning in the city and began to lead his army to charge the city. Zhou Yu's men who had already ambushed rushed to the city gate and opened the gate.
Inside and outside the city, there was chaos. Yan Baihu had just rushed to the gate of the city, and the road was not good. He turned to escape, but was caught by the Liyang army led by Sun Ce.
There were flames everywhere, and Sun Ce's army armed with strong crossbows, shot sharp arrows quenched with anesthetic, knocked down the first wave, and rushed to the prefect's mansion immediately.
Zhou Yu let go of the kite string and rushed into the eunuch's mansion. The flames blazed into the sky, and everyone had escaped. When he was about to leave the mansion to join Sun Ce who was entering the city, a white line suddenly rolled up from the side and wrapped around his ankle.
Zhou Yu immediately fell down and hit the tile.
"Who!" The woman shouted sharply, followed by a barbed thorn. Zhou Yu didn't dare to make a sound, turned over on the spot, waved his hidden weapon, and Bai Lian dragged him again. Zhou Yu was tall, but he was dragged by this woman for nearly a foot. He suddenly knew that this person practiced martial arts, so he couldn't take it lightly.
With a hula-la leap, Zhou Yu circled in the air against Bai Lian's momentum. The woman trembled three times, but couldn't trap him. Instead, Zhou Yu broke free. She waved her dagger and swiped it. Zhou Yu didn't land on the ground and dodged sideways in the air. Broken, flesh was injured, and blood burst out.
Zhou Yu leaned down suddenly, pinching the ground with one hand, avoiding the second dagger swung by the woman, and then facing up to an iron bridge, the mask was swung down, and he drew the red army sword around his waist, and the two weapons collided, " "Ding", the woman's dagger snapped.
Zhou Yu swished two swords, forcing her to retreat.
"Zhou Gongjin?" the woman asked in surprise.
Zhou Yu's heart was shocked, he didn't know how the woman identified her identity, so she stopped talking immediately and stepped back.
"Stay!"
"There will be a period later!" Zhou Yu said in a deep voice, then turned over, crossed the courtyard wall, and disappeared.