The situation suddenly changed. Xu Huai also sorted out a clearer timeline from the newly emerged memory fragments, and concluded that there was no need to take the risk of assassinating Cai Qi. Yesterday afternoon, he followed Zhou Jing and rushed back to Tangzhou to report the news to Xu Wuqi, but he did not
I thought that just over a day had passed and Zhou Jing had returned to Lanzhou!
But looking at Zhou Jing's expression, it didn't look like he had encountered an accident like the sky was falling. Xu Huai said something about the training to Wang Zhen and Lu Xiong in a leisurely manner. When the dusk deepened, he saw them off and then went on first.
I went to inspect the barracks and was not in a hurry to see Zhou Jing.
In addition to the more than one hundred soldiers who were originally organized into five teams, who took turns to guard Wang Zhen, Wang Fan's private residence in Nanyu Lane and the official hall of the Supervisory Army, the remaining more than 400 prisoners were mixed into 40 Zhufengtang guards.
The post-training training is less than a month old.
But today, Xu Xin'an and Tang Pan received a message from Xu Huai, and they urgently selected more than fifty prisoners before they could be transferred to the Xiang army.
These people may be very capable or have their own skills, but they still don't know how to integrate into the army and fight side by side.
In the remaining time, Xu Huai and the others are racing against every second.
Not only did Xu Xin'an, Tang Pan, Yin Peng, Tang Qing and others all stay in the barracks and could not leave easily, Xu Huai also prepared bedrooms here, and also prepared a large number of rosin torches and large candles for night training.
Whether prisoners or soldiers, they were used to hard labor, eating rotten grains and chaff, and suffering physical and mental torture. But now, in addition to the prescribed morning and evening meals, the meals are provided in sufficient quantities according to the standards, and there is also a good meal for night training.
Seeing that they can eat meat and vegetables as a snack, the hard work of training is really nothing. Instead, it becomes something that the five hundred prisoners look forward to.
After using Twilight Eclipse, the night training mainly focused on small teams as a unit, explaining and practicing small team siege tactics indoors.
Several generations of Xu family members entered Tongbai Mountain. No matter how difficult their livelihood was, they insisted on squeezing out limited rations to run clan schools. After Xu Wuqi and others returned to Tongbai Mountain, they insisted on teaching their children martial arts and training clan soldiers using the method of military formations.
, at this time the superiority is fully reflected.
Limited by personal talents and family background, Zhufengtang guards cannot all be powerful masters. However, they can be proficient in pen and ink calculations, swords, shields and sticks, and when it comes to leading several people to ten
A group of several people retreating together to attack together is much stronger than the elite grassroots officers of the so-called Forbidden Army.
The barracks were separated from the Zhouma Infantry Army Prison, and the conditions were relatively simple. However, in addition to several rows of barracks hastily converted from cells, there were also public halls inside the entrance of the compound for the commanders to rest and discuss affairs, as well as watch rooms.
watchtower.
Xu Huai confirmed that the night training of each team was carried out as usual and that the guard duty inside the barracks was not slack before returning to the public hall.
"But you can keep your composure!" Not only Xu Wukun and Zhou Jing were waiting in the public hall, but Su Laochang also rushed over from Nanyu Lane at this time. Seeing that Xu Huai and others had finished everything, they came over.
Can't help but wonder.
"I don't have three heads and six arms, so I can't do everything one by one?" Xu Huai said, "Looking at Zhou Jing's expression, it doesn't look like the sky is about to fall!"
The barracks were separated from the Ma Bujun Prison, and a wooden fence wall was temporarily erected to separate them.
The Mabujun Prison was nominally under the jurisdiction of the Military Envoy, but it was Guo Zhongxiong's people from beginning to end. Xu Huai had no doubt that Yue Hailou would arrange one or two people there to keep an eye on this area. Zhou Jing suddenly turned back.
As long as the sky is not falling, Xu Huai has to be patient.
At this time, he sat down and asked, "Uncle Wu Qi has arrived in Lanzhou?"
"How did you guess it?" Xu Wukun asked.
"What's so hard to guess?" Xu Huai asked.
There is no need for special instructions. Zhou Jing should know very well in his heart how high the priority is to find Xu Wuqi to report the message. Since he turned back midway, it doesn't seem like there is any other major event that the sky is falling. The only possibility is that he was on his way back from the south of the city on a starry night.
Met Xu Wuqi.
"I was passing through Taiyuan and heard that grain and grass had recently been escorted from Tangzhou. I took a closer look and went to Taiyuan to inquire. The people escorting grain from Tangzhou happened to be the leader of Xu Wuqi..." Zhou Jing said.
"Where is Uncle Wu Qi at this time?" It was one thing to guess, but Xu Huai was still extremely happy to know that Xu Wu Qi was really in Lanzhou at this time.
Of course, Zhou Jing and his men traveled south day and night to report the message, not forgetting to inquire about information along the way, but he showed extraordinary ability and meticulous thinking.
If Zhou Jing and Xu Wuqi happened to pass by each other, and Xu Wuqi's people in Taiyuan may not find the opportunity to come to Lanzhou, then they may be separated from Xu Wuqi for a long time before they can contact him.
"Wu Qi is in the secret courtyard on East Street right now!" Su Laochang said, "Zhou Jing and I will go back to Nanyu Lane, and you and Wu Kun will go see Wu Qi!"
…………
…………
Xu Huai, Su Laochang, Xu Wukun, Zhou Jing and others left the barracks in a carriage at the same time. Halfway through, he and Xu Wukun got off the car and headed to the secret courtyard on East Street under the cover of night. They saw Xu Wuqi dressed as a merchant.
.
"What exactly did you discover, and why do you think the situation will change drastically?"
I haven't seen him for more than half a year, and Xu Wuqi's face is still as thin and stern. Looking at Xu Huai, Xu Wukun rushed over at this time, frowning and asked.
With Wang Fan returning, it is indeed possible for Wang Zhen to make a comeback, but as long as the northern expedition against Yan is successful, Cai Qing, as the leader of the main war faction, will definitely have an even more indestructible position.
Although Xu Wuqi had the death wish to assassinate Cai Qi, he could not do it before the Northern Conquest of Yan was over, and he never wanted to see Xu Huai, Xu Wukun and others sabotage the Northern Conquest of Yan in Lanzhou.
Beyond that, he saw no need to terminate the assassination plan.
Xu Huai walked to the window, looked through the wooden lattice towards the Sujin Building diagonally opposite, and signaled the two informants on duty to go downstairs to rest, leaving them in charge now.
"The Sujin Building opposite also operates mules and horses, and provides food, tea and wine. It is basically certain that the Khitans secretly used it to communicate and deliver news - Chen Zixiao has walked into Sujin Building many times, Guo Zhongxiong, and Yue Hailou representative Cai Xilan
The state has no doubts about Chen Zixiao..." Xu Huai said.
As an outsider, Chen Zixiao can gain a foothold in Hutou Village. Of course, no one would think that he is a simple person. But in the battle of Huangqiao Village, whether it was Chen Zixiao’s powerful skills when he led the charge into the battle or his personal
The elite of the village army he led were beyond everyone's imagination.
But to say that he was a Khitan spy, Xu Wuqi still looked shocked and found it unbelievable. He said: "Even if the Khitans had noticed a secret intention of our dynasty and the Chihu people to jointly attack Yan years ago, they only deliberately
They sent people to infiltrate our country and start civil strife in order to contain it, but a figure like Chen Zixiao should not be an unknown person in Khitan. Have you found any corresponding suspicious candidates?"
After Xu Wuqi "took refuge" with Dong Cheng, in order to avoid leaving any clues, Xu Huai did not send anyone to contact him, so many things needed to be discussed from the beginning.
Xu Huai covered the window with a cloth curtain to prevent the lights from leaking out through the gaps and causing unnecessary alertness after talking here for too long.
"Today we officially obtained some of the border intelligence collected in recent years from the Hedong Economic and Strategic Envoys through the name of the Military Supervisory Envoy," Xu Huai said. "Although the work of the Hedong Economic and Strategic Envoys in this area is very crude, But there are also several boxes of files that need to be picked up, but they haven’t been found yet..."
Although Xu Huai has always tried his best to collect information about the Khitans and Chihu people, the results have not been high.
If he hadn't suspected that something was wrong with Chen Zixiao, he wouldn't have discovered the problem with Sujin Tower.
This is not because Liu Qiong'er is incompetent in taking charge of this matter, but because Lanzhou is located on the border, the resources they can mobilize are extremely limited.
Zhufengtang's direct lineage manpower is very limited, and they are all outsiders who find it difficult to integrate into the local area in Lanzhou. Before Wang Fan arrived in Lanzhou, Xu Huai was ostracized by the local officials and had to do everything possible to avoid the Cai people. Eyeliner is naturally limited in what it can do.
Wang Fan served as the military supervisor of the West Route Army. Although he could not truly compete with Ge Boluan and Guo Zhongxiong in Lanzhou and the West Route Army, the change in the situation could be said to be a huge difference from before.
Even if Xu Huai could not say with certainty that the Northern Expedition to Yan would suffer a heavy setback, even if they wanted to seek revenge from Cai Qing, they really did not need to take the risk of imitating a lone wolf in assassination:
"Don't worry that after the defeat of Yan is successful, Cai Qing's position will be more stable and no one can shake it - you know, the dynasty was extremely guarded against powerful ministers, which also destined Cai Qing's reputation to flourish and decline after it reached its peak. Find out Cai Ting's revenge is not difficult in my opinion, and I am not too concerned at this time. I am more worried that the Northern Expedition to Yan will go astray under the control of Cai's troops, and that will be something that will be regretted forever."
"Yeah!" Xu Wuqi nodded.
The main reason why he "taken refuge" with Dong Cheng before was because he did not want to drag the Xu family into revenge that might lead to overthrow.
Now Xu Huai, Xu Wujiang, Su Laochang, and Xu Wukun have integrated the core strength of the Xu family into Zhufengtang, and one of the core purposes of Zhufengtang is to fight Cai Qing and his family. Of course, he has no longer Fight alone.
"How many people are there in Tangzhou to escort grain and grass this time?" Xu Huai asked.
"This time the food and grass transportation was very urgent. Instead of recruiting civilians, we directly used thousands of Xiang army soldiers. Two Xiang army commanders came with me," Xu Wuqi said. "After Zhou Jing found me, I originally wanted to I wanted to go directly to the Hedong Economic and Strategic Envoy to ask for a fight in order to keep these thousands of troops in Hedong, but the two cowards were unwilling and had a big quarrel with me. The most distressing thing now is what name should be used to keep these people in Hedong. A thousand soldiers are coming to Lanzhou!"
The war is imminent, hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses have gathered, and grain and grass from various Luzhou prefectures have also accelerated to the north of Hedong Road.
The men and horses escorting grain and fodder from various states can naturally return to their original route after arriving at their destination. However, if the state officials or generals responsible for escorting the transportation strongly request to participate in the war, they are sincere to the imperial court and no one will refuse.
The problem was that Tangzhou had a thousand soldiers and horses. Xu Wuqi was sent by Dong Cheng to supervise the transportation of grain and grass, but he was not the official commanding officer.
After the task of supervising the transportation of grain and grass was completed, Xu Wuqi could not convince the two commanders of the Xiang Army, so there was no way to forcibly pull a thousand people to Lanzhou...
