Fenghou

Chapter 218 Black Brocade

In the Xixia camp, Li Liangfu was concentrating on a map, and sitting opposite him was a man in black in his thirties. The man was tall and thin, with eagle-like eyes.

The man's name is Liang Gui, and he is the vice-commander of Xixia Heijintang. He came here from Xingqing Mansion specially to give Li Liangfu a map of Ganquan Fort.

This map is naturally important information sent to Heijintang by the Xixia spies from Fort Ganquan.

If it had been sent to Li Liangfu two days earlier, he would not have suffered such a big loss yesterday morning, losing a full [-] troops.

Only now did Li Liangfu know that the two hundred steps close to the city wall were all blank areas. There were two walls on the east and south sides of the city wall, but none on the west side, but the west side was a barracks.

There are also two warehouses marked on the map, one is in the northwest corner, and the other is in the middle of the city. It is estimated that the one in the middle of the city is the main warehouse.

If I knew it was such an arrangement, I should have put the trebuchet in the west and stormed the Song army's camp.

But there is still a chance. I am repairing the catapults and assembling ten more, bringing the total number of catapults to twenty.

"Thank you Hei Jintang for your timely help. This map is very important!" Li Liangfu shook the map in his hand.

"We are very honored to be able to help the general. This time I have brought thirty subordinates with high martial arts skills. I wonder if there is anything we can use?"

Li Liangfu's eyes lit up, and he said with a smile: "If you say this, I really have a difficult task for you. If you succeed, I will definitely report your great achievements to the emperor."

Liang Gui smiled lightly, "Heijintang also has some special rules, and commissions are generally required."

Li Liangfu immediately understood that Heijintang came to him to find business. Of course he knew the rules of Heijintang, that is, they will only do things if they pay money. Except for the emperor who can use them for free, anyone else, even the emperor Arranged tasks must also be paid.

It is false that they came to Ganquanbao to send letters, and their purpose is to solicit business.

Li Liangfu really needs a group of people with high martial arts skills to act for him. He also knows that the people in Hei Jintang are highly skilled in martial arts, and if they send out a group of famous desperadoes, they might really do things for him.

"I wonder how much silver you want?"

"That depends on what we need to do?"

Li Liangfu whispered a few words, Liang Gui narrowed his eyes and stretched out five fingers.

"500 taels of silver?"

Liang Gui shook his head, "5000 taels!"

Li Liangfu took a few steps behind his back. If they could really accomplish this great event for themselves, 5000 taels would not be too expensive.

"5000 taels is 5000 taels, but it will be given to you after the work is done!"

"According to our rules, pay half first, and pay the other half after the event is completed."

Li Liangfu stared at him for a while, then nodded, "Then we've made a deal!"

……

The characteristics of the Xixia people like to build special forces, such as the famous three special forces, the Poxi Army, the step kite and the iron kite.

Because of this tradition, Xixia also established its own intelligence agency, Heijintang, which raised hundreds of spies of various types, as well as a team of highly skilled Heijintang warriors.

This group of warriors came from complicated sources, including Dangxiang people, Han people, Qiang people, Khitan people, Huihe people, etc., all of whom were desperadoes.

In addition to doing work for the Xixia Emperor, they themselves also took on illegal jobs outside, killing people and stealing goods, and often went to the army to take jobs because the army could charge high prices.

5000 taels of silver is equivalent to [-] guan coins. This is definitely a huge temptation for the Heijintang warriors to be willing to sacrifice their lives, but it is also quite difficult. They sneaked into Ganquan Fort and burned the warehouse of the Song army master.

The warehouse that Li Liangfu wanted them to burn was not the warehouse in the northwest corner. He could burn down that warehouse with a trebuchet. It was the main warehouse in the middle of the city. According to the logo on the map, the main warehouse should be composed of tents.

Once the Song Army's grain and grass warehouses are burned, there is no need to attack the city at all, and the Song Army will surrender without a fight after besieging the city for ten days.

……

Liang Gui observed for a day and found that the three directions of east, west and south were impossible, and the only hope was the north city wall.

There are cliffs outside the northern city, and it is impossible to attack the city at all, so the Song army did not arrange many patrols on the northern city wall. If they missed the patrols, there was indeed hope of sneaking into the city.

But the sentry posts of the Song Army were equally tight, and it was impossible to go around from the east and west to the north. The roads were all stared at by the sentry posts of the Song Army.

The cliff is more than ten feet high, which is equivalent to more than a dozen floors in later generations, but it is not a smooth cliff, with many abrupt boulders and cracks on it.

It may be difficult for ordinary soldiers, but it is not difficult for Hei Jintang warriors with high martial arts skills.

At the second watch, [-] warriors gathered at the foot of the mountain. They used long cables to climb continuously. When they were about to reach the top, an accident happened. They climbed up and alarmed the residents living on the cliff, a large group of rock swallows.

Rock swallows are very common birds in the Northwest. They usually build their nests in the crevices of cliffs. Liang Gui thought of everything, but he didn't expect there to be rock swallows on the cliffs. Suddenly dozens of rock swallows were startled, fluttering and flying, circling in the air .

Liang Gui was so shocked that his scalp would explode, they were less than ten feet away from the top of the mountain, but at this critical moment, something went wrong.

Everyone was still for a while, and there was no response from above. At this time, the circling rock swallows also returned to their nests, and the cliff returned to silence.

It was still very quiet on the top of the city, and there was no sound of soldiers asking, Liang Gui felt relieved, and gestured to everyone, and they continued to climb up.

After a quarter of an hour, all thirty warriors climbed up the cliff, climbed more than ten feet on the ground, and stuck to the base of the wall.

……

At night, [-] soldiers of the Song Army patrolled and defended the city above and below the city to prevent the enemy from raiding at night.

There are really not many patrols on the northern city, only 300 people, divided into five teams, patrolling the four-mile-long city wall, and [-] soldiers as fixed guards.

A guard standing in the middle is a 19-year-old soldier of the Song Army called Xiao Qun, from Zhongnan County, Jingzhao Prefecture. His parents and brothers were killed by the Jinren butcher knife. He followed his father to Zhongnan Mountain to hunt and practice since he was a child. It's all about being astute.

He also saw the circling rock swallow just now, and it is common for the rock swallow to be frightened at night, as snakes or other wild animals attack the swallow's nest.

Although nothing abnormal was found, Xiao Qun was more vigilant, and it was this vigilance that saved Xiao Qun's life.

Just when he was about to probe to check again, a black figure suddenly appeared in front of his eyes, and before he could react, a sharp long sword pierced his throat at an extremely fast speed, just like a leopard pounced on him when he was hunting with his father. Towards his throat, Xiao Qun instinctively fell backwards, avoiding the fatal blow.

His agility was revealed at this time. He rolled on the ground, jumped up again, and avoided the fatal sword that pierced his back. Xiao Qun jumped off the parapet without hesitation.

The Heijintang warrior who assassinated Xiao Qun was the leader Liang Gui. He stabbed twice in a row, and the opponent had already jumped out of the city with the third sword.

At the same time, several black shadows also climbed to the top of the city, and another guard who was a hundred steps away from Xiao Qun was knocked down by the opponent.

Liang Gui stomped his feet in resentment, but they didn't have time to stay, everyone rolled over at the same time and jumped off the parapet...

Their timing was very ingenious, it happened to be the gap that the two patrols had just left. This gap was only a short moment, and they caught it. They only needed to deal with the two fixed sentries.

They killed one, only to be escaped by another soldier.

This is their second accident tonight. The first one is Yan Yan, and the second is this soldier. They escaped the crisis caused by Yan Yan, but what about this soldier?

Liang Gui searched around, but did not find the soldier. At this time, it was too late.

He waved his hand, "Go!"

A large group of men in black ran towards the middle of the county like a pack of black wolves.

Dozens of steps away, a black figure stood up from the broken water tank behind the residential wall. It was Xiao Qun. The other party didn't have time to search carefully, otherwise he would not escape the disaster.

Xiao Qun's leg was sprained. He endured the pain, took off his bow and arrow, pulled out a gunpowder arrow, and lit the match with a torch. When it burned to the end, he stretched his bow and shot towards the sky.

The gunpowder arrow emitted a bright red light, went straight into the sky, and went 'crack! ' the explosion.

Chapter 219 Arrest

The main officer on duty tonight is Zheng Ping. He happens to be in Beicheng, but he is at the easternmost end of Beicheng, looking at the enemy camp.

"Look, general!" shouted a soldier behind him.

When Zheng Ping turned his head, he saw a gunpowder arrow flying into the sky. Zheng Ping was taken aback. What's going on?

At this time, there was a commotion ahead, and the patrol found the injured Xiao Qun.

Zheng Ping got on his horse and galloped up.

"What happened?"

"General Qi, a brother was injured, and it is said that a man in black turned over to the top of the wall."

The man in black actually entered the city?

Zheng Ping's eyes widened. Seeing the injured Xiao Qun, he asked anxiously, "Did you shoot the gunpowder arrow?"

"It's the villain!"

"How many men in black are there, and where did they go?"

"Reporting to the general, there are about 30 to [-] people going to the city..."

Xiao Qun pointed to the middle of the city, Zheng Ping looked at the dark city, he suddenly realized, "Not good! Sound the alarm immediately!"

Zheng Ping has already realized that the other party must have gone to the warehouse, that is the grain and grass warehouse!Once the grain depot is burned down, the consequences will be unimaginable.

He was so anxious that he led hundreds of soldiers to the grain and grass depot.

At this time, the alarm bells in the city rang out, 'Dang!when!when!when! '

The whole castle was awakened by the alarm bell. Chen Qing hadn't fallen asleep yet. When he heard the alarm of gunpowder arrows, he immediately got on his horse and led a large number of soldiers to the middle of the city.

……

The central part of the city pool was originally the Town God's Temple, which was transformed into a grain and grass warehouse by the Song army. Tall board walls were built around it. The wood used was captured from Zhang Zhongxiong's army. It is a city within a city of four miles.

Grain, money, kerosene, gunpowder, and other important supplies are stored here. Two thousand soldiers are on duty day and night, and no one is allowed to approach easily. kinds of supplies.

The general on duty at the warehouse tonight is Commander Li Jing, who is also a veteran who has been following Chen Qing. He is from Linyou County. He participated in the Battle of Jiandao Pass and was promoted from Dutou. This is a warning sign.

Li Jing immediately ordered hundreds of subordinates to pay attention to the situation in the north with crossbow arrows in hand.

At this time, he saw dozens of men in black rushing from the north, and he immediately shouted: "Warning!"

A dozen arrows were shot, and the soldiers shouted: "Stop!"

But instead of stopping, dozens of men in black sped up their speed.

Li Jing made a decisive decision and shouted: "Shoot the arrow!"

Random arrows were fired, and hundreds of arrows were shot at the men in black. Although the men in black were highly skilled in martial arts, they couldn't dodge the powerful and dense crossbow arrows, and more than a dozen people were shot down.

At the same time, three gunpowder arrows shot into the sky to warn for help...

Liang Gui, the vice-commander of Heijintang, also saw the gunpowder arrow above the north city wall. He knew that it must have been shot by the escaped sentry.

Liang Gui and his men didn't care about being exposed, they went straight to the warehouse, even if the other party warned them, they didn't stop.

After the opponent finished shooting a round of arrows, he seized the gap of the winding string, and he shouted, "Throwing guy!"

Each of them carried three short torches, made of hardwood, about half a foot long, and weighed one catty. They were not easy to extinguish after being ignited, and they were very convenient for throwing. This was also an arson tool developed by Heijintang.

More than a dozen martial artists in black lit the torch, but before they could throw it, the second round of hundreds of crossbow arrows shot over the city first. Except for five or six men in black hiding under the eaves, the men in black on the street All of them were shot, and they held lit torches in their hands, and they were the targets shot by soldiers of the Song Army.

At this time, Zheng Ping came from behind with hundreds of soldiers. Liang Gui, who was hiding under the eaves, was about to despair. He suddenly jumped out and threw the burning torch in his hand into the warehouse. , enough to throw a dozen feet away.

Seeing that the torch was thrown into the warehouse over the high wall, at this critical moment, an arrow 'whoosh! The shot came from the ground and hit the torch in the middle of the air. The torch lost its power and fell on the board wall with a clatter, where the soldiers grabbed it and stomped it out.

As soon as Liang Gui turned his head, he saw a cavalry rushing out from the side. The leading general was wearing a red-tasseled pocket, wearing mountain-patterned armor, holding a riding bow in his hand, and was aiming at himself.

Liang Gui was taken aback, rolled over, and before he got up, he said, 'Pfft! An arrow hit him between the eyebrows, Liang Gui screamed and died instantly.

The chief general of the cavalry was Chen Qing. He led his men to take a small path and intercepted the most critical torch.

Zheng Ping's army also rushed forward, pressing and binding the last men in black who knelt and surrendered.

……

Not long after, Yang Yuanqing stepped forward and said: "Just now, I interrogated several arrested persons separately and confirmed that there were 31 of them in total, all of whom were warriors from Xixia Heijintang. Their leaders have been shot and killed by the commander. There are a total of 28 dead bodies on the ground, and three people are missing."

Chen Qing said with a gloomy face: "The whole city is under martial law, and another 3000 people will be sent to surround the warehouse. Anyone who gets close will be killed. Those who report meritorious service will be rewarded with a hundred guan. The barracks must also be strictly guarded."

"Follow the order!" Yang Yuanqing hurried away.

Zheng Ping came over, pointed at the soldiers beside him and said, "This is the brother who escaped the assassination by the black-clothed warrior and shot the gunpowder arrow in time!"

This soldier has indeed made great contributions. If he hadn't called the police, something serious would have happened tonight. Chen Qing nodded approvingly, "What's your name, where are you from?"

"The villain's name is Xiao Qun, from Zhongnan County!"

"Have you avoided the assassination of enemy warriors and practiced martial arts?"

"Reporting to the control system, the villain has not specially trained in martial arts, but he followed his father to hunt in Zhongnan Mountain since he was a child, and his skills are relatively agile."

"If you have meritorious service, you will be rewarded, and you will be rewarded with a hundred coins, and you will be promoted to the escort team!"

Xiao Qun was just an ordinary pawn. He was immediately promoted to the escort team. He was overjoyed and knelt down on one knee, "Thank you for the reward!"

"Let's go! Lead the way ahead, I want to see the enemy's way up to the city."

……

At this time, the entire Ganquan Fort was under martial law. Yang Yuanqing mobilized 3000 troops, 3000 surrounded the warehouse, [-] protected the camp, and [-] soldiers searched for the three escaped warriors.