In the afternoon, among the mountains and woods, Zhang Yanling and a group of twelve people were resting in the forest.
From last night to now, after more than ten hours of non-stop driving, the group has arrived less than five miles southwest of Ningxia City. When people and horses are exhausted, they need to rest. In addition, the most important thing is to discuss how to proceed.
city.
Needless to say, the current city of Ningxia must be heavily guarded. Riding a horse into the city in a swagger is obviously not possible. Chen Shiyi's idea is to wait until dark to see if there is a chance to climb the city wall and enter the city. But
This idea was quickly rejected.
Because he learned from Ma Zhanbaokou who was accompanying him that the walls of Ningxia City were several feet high and there was a moat five or six feet wide surrounding the city. Of course, this was not a big problem for Chen Shiyi. But for others, it was
It is an insurmountable chasm.
Moreover, the rebels must patrol the city wall very closely, and the danger is even greater at night.
There was no good solution for everyone at the moment, so they rested and frowned in thought. Zhang Yanling was anxious and came to the edge of the forest to look outside. To the north of the forest is the official road, and you can see the official road from a distance.
Cars and horses were passing by. From time to time, loaded carts slowly made their way from the official road to the city of Ningxia. It was unknown what kind of goods were loaded on the carts.
"Brother Ma, what are those carts carrying into the city?" Zhang Yanling asked in a low voice.
Ma Zhanbao squinted his eyes for a while and said in a deep voice: "Report to the Marquis, these are the things that people from outside the city bring into the city to sell. There are firewood, vegetables, furs, rice, grain and other things. This happens every day. The villains hit them.
The furs of wild animals are also driven to the cities of Ningxia by carts and sold. They are sold to restaurants, shops and wealthy families in the city in exchange for some money."
Zhang Yanling had an idea and whispered: "Let's stop a few large trucks on the official road and pretend to be delivery people. Maybe we can sneak into the city. It's just a matter of spending money to buy their goods. Brother Ma
I came forward to negotiate with them and told them that we came from the city to buy goods. The price was easy to negotiate."
Everyone thought about it and felt that this plan was feasible. In this case, the weapons could also be hidden in the car and avoided inspection at the city gate.
Zhang Yanling carried a lot of money with him, and silver notes may not be used here. Fortunately, he still had more than a hundred taels of cash, which should be enough. In order not to arouse suspicion, Zhang Yanling personally took Ma Zhanbao to the official road to stop the car.
Buy goods.
Ma Zhanbao is a local, and his accent is local in every aspect, which does not arouse suspicion. Zhang Yanling took off his armor, darkened his face, and followed him without saying a word, like a young companion, and he didn't know how to
Arousing suspicion. The two waited on the official road for a while and stopped two large trucks full of firewood.
Ma Zhanbao came forward to negotiate and proposed to buy firewood and the cart. He said that his family urgently needed firewood for an important event, and expressed his willingness to pay a high price. The two people driving the cart refused at first, but after Ma Zhanbao took out a few silver ingots, the situation was reversed.
.
Facts have proved that as long as the price is in place, nothing is impossible.
A large cart of firewood delivered to the city only cost about three taels of silver. Ma Zhanbao directly gave a high price of ten taels of silver. The broken cart was sold for five taels of silver. The total was fifteen taels. This was an offer that was hard to refuse.
price.
The two people even suspected that the other was a liar. But when they had fifteen taels of silver in their hands, they believed it was true. The two hurried away with the mules pulling the cart without looking back, for fear that the other would regret it.
.
A cart of firewood, including the mules that drove it, was worth at most ** taels of silver. These two people didn't even include the mules, so they gave them fifteen taels. Now they made a fortune. That big cart,
I cut down two trees and built it in half a day. It costs only five taels for something that costs nothing. It’s crazy.
The two commoners hurried away on mules. They were discussing whether to come back tomorrow to try their luck. At the same time, they were worried about whether the other party would regret it and whether they would ask for their money back tomorrow. They were filled with uneasiness and surprise.
Don't mention it.
Zhang Yanling was also happy. With these two large carts of firewood, he could hide his weapons and sneak into the city. The reason why he didn't need the two mules pulling the cart was because with the mules, he couldn't sneak in with the cart.
There are many people. A cart of firewood requires four or five people to push the cart, so there is no loophole.
Armored horses cannot be brought into the city and can only be left in the woods. A personal guard was left outside the city to take care of the horses and armor. The rest were all dressed in shorts and dressed like ordinary woodcutter.
They rolled up their trousers, rolled up their sleeves, and wrapped their hair in a bun with a strip of cloth, making it look messy. They hid all their firearms, weapons, and other items in the pile of firewood, and they pulled two carts toward Ningxia City.
Originally, Zhang Yanling didn't want Ma Zhanbao to follow him into the city for adventure. But Ma Zhanbao took the initiative to ask to follow him into the city. Ma Zhanbao said that he was a local, he had been to Ningxia City many times, and he was familiar with the street terrain in the city, so he could
Help.
When Zhang Yanling thought about it, it was indeed the case. Being in an unfamiliar place and speaking with a different accent would cause many inconveniences and flaws. Ma Zhanbao has also proven to be a trustworthy person. Moreover, his fathers, Ma Fusheng and Ma Zhanyin, both
He didn't dare to play any tricks in his own hands, so he agreed.
After walking for several miles, under the setting sun, a tall and majestic city stood in front of the horizon. A few miles away from the city gate, there were already patrols of soldiers and horses.
However, there was no problem for the civilian vehicles that came into the city to deliver firewood and supplies. They were only stopped and asked and then let go.
However, the entrance to the city gate of the suspension bridge was heavily guarded. A large number of horses and wooden crossbars were placed in front of the city gate to block the way. There were soldiers inspecting both ends of the suspension bridge. Up and down the city gate, rebel soldiers were patrolling back and forth, and there were many of them.
Zhang Yanling and others looked at the tall city wall and wide moat, and were secretly glad that they did not choose to climb the city wall at night. As the seat of an important town in the northwest, the scale and strength of Ningxia City are incredible. Such a strong city, let alone three thousand
Even if a cavalry force of 100,000 troops comes to the city, it will be absolutely impossible without suitable siege equipment and siege methods.
"Stop and check." The soldiers in front of the suspension bridge shouted loudly and stopped the two large vehicles.
Ma Zhanbao stepped forward and bowed his hands in salute: "Hello, Lord Jun, hello, Lord Jun."
A man who looked like a small rebel leader shouted and asked: "What's in the car?"
"Oh, it's some firewood. It's given to Liu Dashan's family in the city. It was agreed." Ma Zhanbao said hurriedly.
The rebel leader walked around the cart, pulled out a few bundles of firewood and inspected it briefly, then frowned and said, "With two carts of firewood, do we need so many people to follow?"
Ma Zhanbao said hurriedly: "Master, mules and horses are expensive, how can we who chop wood afford them? These belong to the same village. Everyone chopped a load of firewood and made two large carts. Everyone followed the cart together.
.Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to pull it such a long way.”
The little leader glanced at the others, waved his hand and said, "That's it, let's go."
Ma Zhanbao hurriedly bowed to express his thanks, and everyone pushed the cart onto the suspension bridge. They did not expect that it would go so smoothly.
However, when we crossed the suspension bridge and were about to enter the city gate, someone suddenly shouted: "Those people pushing carts, stop!"
Everyone was stunned and had no choice but to stand. A rebel who looked like an officer slowly walked over from the city gate and looked at everyone up and down.
"Which Zhuangzi are you from?"
"Back to Master Jun, we are all from Majiazhuang, Luqiao. My name is Ma Zhanbao." Ma Zhanbao said with a hurried smile.
"Majiazhuang?" The officer frowned and thought for a while, but he didn't seem to know where Majiazhuang was.
"You guys are tall and strong, and you all look strong. Why didn't you join the army? Did you all run away when the prince recruited troops? You are so brave." The officer shouted sternly.
"Ouch!" There was a buzz in the minds of Zhang Yanling and others. This was an extraneous incident. They had heard the Ma family and his son talk about this before, but they didn't pay much attention to it. Now it's hard to explain.
Ma Zhanbao was also stunned and didn't know how to answer.
Zhang Yanling suddenly covered her mouth and coughed violently, coughing until she was breathless and spitting out her mouth. Several other people also coughed. A group of people coughed together.
"What's wrong? What's wrong with you?" the officer stared and asked.
Ma Zhanbao was also confused. He didn't know what Zhang Yanling and others meant, and he was very confused.
"Master... I didn't join the army because... I was sick. Ahem, cough! We originally... wanted to join the army... but the military didn't let me. Say... Ahem, cough, say I'll...
…can infect others.”
Zhang Yanling was hoarse, coughing and wheezing, and seemed to be about to collapse. Speaking like this, there was no accent problem at all, because it was not normal speech at all.
"Ah? What disease do you have?" the officer asked with a frown.
"No ... I don't know, cough, they said ... what ... what is the disease, what's the disease, saying it is heir." Zhang Yanling panting.
"Ouch! Do you have typhoid fever?" The officer was startled and quickly retreated. Upon hearing this, a dozen rebel soldiers around him also quickly retreated and cursed.
Typhoid fever is a fatal disease, it is no joke. If you get typhoid fever, you will naturally not be able to join the army.
"No...it's not...it seems to be the wind and cold." Zhang Yanling said hurriedly.
"Oh." The officer and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. If he had typhoid fever, he wouldn't even be allowed to enter the city and would have to be driven away. Wind-cold is also contagious, but it's not that scary.
Ma Zhanbao's mind turned around and he understood what Zhang Yanling meant, and said hurriedly: "Yes, yes, it's the wind and cold. When the military men went to our village to recruit people, some of us wanted to join the army. But we got cold when we went up the mountain to chop wood.
Everybody got the wind
Cold. The military master said that we can wait until the wind and cold get better before joining the army. We want to serve the prince. This time when we went to the city, we sold firewood and went to see the doctor and take some medicine. When the wind and cold gets better, we can
Let’s join the army and kill the enemy together to achieve great success.”
After hearing this, the officer covered his mouth and nodded: "That's it. Go in. You haven't recovered from the cold, so don't wander around and infect others. Get the medicine and go home quickly to recuperate. Don't harm other people."
Ma Zhanbao said hurriedly: "That's natural. Thank you, Master Jun. Thank you, Master Jun."
"Come on, come on, don't stay here. Stay away from us." The officer frowned and waved his hands, as if to ward off a group of disgusting flies.
Everyone coughed as they pushed the cart into the city gate. Soon, they were in the wide and quaint streets of Ningxia City.