Tao Shang felt that he did not have time to argue with the county magistrate about whether to castrate him or not. His main task at the moment was to find a way to block the Yizhou Army's sneak attack.
He doesn't have time to deal with other things.
Of course, if Jinqi County was really captured by the Yizhou Army in the end, the pottery merchant felt that he would really castrate the county magistrate and his family.
Following the map given to him by the county magistrate, the pottery merchant began to study it carefully.
Judging from where the county seat is located, there are a total of five roads heading down the mountain to meet the Yizhou Army!
For potters, this matter is somewhat difficult to handle.
According to his original plan, he would ambush his soldiers and horses on the way down the mountain, and then launch an ambush against the Yizhou Army, which would be over in one battle.
But now there are more roads for the opponent to go down the mountain, which means that they may not necessarily go down that road to attack the county town.
On the mountain, these roads are relatively far from each other, and they cannot assist each other. Moreover, if we divide our troops for defense, our own troops may be insufficient.
The pottery merchant frowned, and then asked the county magistrate: "Do you know the situation on the mountains in Jinqi County?"
The county magistrate shook his head and said: "I don't know much about this, but there are many mountain people in the county who often go to the mountains to cut wood or hunt. Why don't the prime minister ask them?"
The potter looked at him with a smile: "Then bring him here quickly."
The county magistrate looked at the potter's smile. He didn't know why, but he trembled all over. He quickly turned around and ordered people to do things.
Not long after, workers from the county brought several mountain people, and the pottery merchant sent people to give them food and wine, and then asked them about the situation in the mountains.
Very smoothly, the pottery merchant got useful information from them.
It turns out that although there are only five roads into and out of the mountain, there is only one water source on the mountain within the forest.
Judging from the distance, even if the Yizhou Army crossed the mountain range, they must have insufficient supplies before going down the mountain, especially water. Therefore, this water source must be their primary target before going out of the mountain.
After the pottery merchant heard this, he immediately asked the mountain people to lead his Danyang soldiers to the water source in the mountains.
The ambush is set at this place!
After repairing it, the pottery merchant immediately led the Danyang soldiers into the mountain.
…
Early the next morning, the Yizhou Army, led by Zhang Ren, Lingbao, Deng Xian, and Zhuo Ying, finally crossed the mountains and arrived at the Qianshan territory of Jinqi County.
After several days of climbing over mountains and ridges, the Yizhou Army was already in a state of disarray. Although this journey could not be called a hardship, it would not be an exaggeration to say that it was a journey through thorns and thorns.
In addition to the Yizhou soldiers, three Taishan bandits who had taken refuge with Cao Cao, including Chang Xi, Wu Dun, and Sun Li, were ordered to serve as guides.
Chang Xi was a talkative person, but he kept nagging along the way.
"Damn it, I'm thirsty to death! For the sake of a small Jinqi County, I was made to suffer such a big crime! Based on this suffering, if the emperor doesn't grant me the title of Marquis Dangdang, I will be sorry for what I did to the Han Dynasty.
Such dedication from the imperial court.”
Zhang Ren had long been accustomed to Chang Xi's complaints along the way. He turned to look at Chang Xi and said, "Don't worry, General Chang. If we really capture Jinqi County, it will be equivalent to cutting off the pottery merchants' power."
As for the way back, let alone enfeoffing a prince, even if we add four towns and four expeditions, it is not an exaggeration."
Hearing this, Chang Xi's face suddenly showed joy: "What you said is true."
Zhang Ren nodded affirmatively and said, "Seriously."
Anyway, it was Liu Biao who requested orders from Emperor Liu Qiong, not Zhang Ren. All the mess would be piled up to Liu Biao later, and Zhang Ren didn't have to worry about it. Now he could brag to Chang Xi.
Wu Dun looked up at the sky and said, "Based on the time, we should be almost there, right?"
Lingbao said: "According to the time, it is indeed almost the same. We need to be more careful now. We will have to go down the mountain to attack the enemy soon."
Zhang Ren turned to Deng Xian and said: "Let the soldiers of the three armies temporarily stay where they are and take a rest."
When Chang Xi saw that Zhang Ren was about to take a rest, he couldn't help but get angry and said hurriedly: "We traveled over the mountains and ridges to get here with great difficulty, didn't we do it to sneak attack on him, Jinqi County? Now we are about to reach our destination.
Why don't you send troops to attack the city quickly? Why are you still delaying here? Just rush over and kill it!"
Zhang Ren turned to look at Chang Xi, not angry, and said: "General Chang kept saying, aren't you thirsty along the way? But after all, it is not safe to attack the county with a dry throat."
"Ah?" Chang Xi was stunned when he heard this.
But to be honest, he was really thirsty.
Zhang Ren said calmly: "Even if General Chang is so brave that he descends from heaven and is not afraid of thirst, our soldiers in Yizhou are all made of flesh and blood. If we don't drink some water, I'm afraid it will be impossible."
"Well..." Chang Xi's face turned red all of a sudden. He rubbed his palms helplessly and said: "What General Zhang said, alas, it's over, it's over! I'm not just anxious for a moment? In fact, I am too
I am really thirsty."
Zhang Ren turned around and ordered Lingbao: "The three armies will rest where they are for the time being. Send people to look for water sources nearby."
After a while, soldiers from the Yizhou Army came back with news that there was a mountain stream nearby.
Zhang Ren immediately ordered the three armies to set off, and they all rushed to the water source.
When I was young, I came to the side of a mountain stream and saw that although the stream was not big, it was very clear and the water was cold.
For the Yizhou army, this was undoubtedly nectar and nectar.
The soldiers of the Yizhou Army ran to the edge of the stream one after another. Many of them buried their heads directly in the stream and screamed happily.
Even Zhang Ren, who had always been calm, felt refreshed after drinking the water from the stream, and he raised his head and sighed with satisfaction.
But as soon as he raised his head, he vaguely saw someone's head poking out from behind the tree on the high slope of the mountain forest opposite, observing his own soldiers.
The man seemed to realize that Zhang Ren had seen him, and quickly retracted his head.
Zhang Ren trembled all over, and a bad premonition suddenly surged into his heart.
"There's someone!" Zhang Ren shouted loudly.
But the creek was too noisy right now. Some Yizhou soldiers even started splashing water on each other. There were very few people who could hear Zhang Ren’s shouts...
But they will soon see what Zhang Ren saw.
"Whoosh!"
A sharp arrow shot down from the mountain and hit a soldier on the back of the head. The Yizhou soldier was playing with his companions. Suddenly his expression froze, blood flowed down the back of his head, and his eyes were filled with fear.
Immediately afterwards, large swaths of arrow rain surged out from the mountain!
"There are enemies! There are enemies!"
"There's someone on the mountain!"
"Run!"
Zhang Ren pulled out his sword, fiddled with the arrows, and shouted loudly as he stepped back: "Hide, hide! Everything is hidden."