When the eastern sky just turned white, on the official road leading to Huanbei Pavilion on the north bank of Huan River, dozens of fast horses took advantage of the gray sky and galloped northward.
Wei County is the area from Anyang City to Handan City in later generations, including Huaxian and Junxian in the south, and Guanxian, Guantao, Daming, etc. in the east. In the middle, there are thousands of square kilometers of vast land, countless fields, and villages.
,Ting Town.
As a part of the unique North China Plain, Wei County has been one of the birthplaces of mankind north of the Yellow River since ancient times. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, it belonged to the territory of the Wei State among the seven heroes of the Warring States Period, and was dominant for a while.
Huanshui is only more than a hundred miles away from Yecheng, and there are no other counties in between. However, there are countless township pavilions and countless villagers. There are many forts and villages on both sides of the official road. In recent years, with the Yellow Turban Rebellion and
After Dong Zhuo's Rebellion, all the people in the world were in danger, and they all built forts to defend themselves.
According to historical records such as "Book of the Later Han Dynasty", "Book of the Three Kingdoms", and "Book of Jin", Wubao was first established in the late Western Han Dynasty when Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty, developed in the late Eastern Han Dynasty during the period of great chaos, and spread on a large scale during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.
If Wubao was still a small business during Wang Mang's usurpation of the Han Dynasty, then in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the entire north was covered with Wubao manors, especially in Hebei. Almost as long as there were big families, they would break away from the structure of Xiangli Pavilion and create manors.
Fortress. As for the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Wubao became popular almost all over the world.
So at this time, on the official road leading to Yecheng in the north, every seven or eight miles, there must be a huge manor. There are walls to protect the outside, or water is diverted into the hospital to make trenches to protect the manor, or high wall towers are built.
, there are archers on alert to prepare for attacks at any time.
Huanbei Pavilion is located to the north of Huan River. Most of the nearby villages have the same surname and are supported by large families. They have long united and formed a Wubao to defend themselves. Wubao is located about two miles south of the official road south of Huanbei Pavilion, occupying an area of
There are hundreds of acres of land and three to four thousand villagers.
At this time, the militiamen who were on duty last night on the tower outside Wubao were drowsy. Logically speaking, the situation in Hebei has stabilized in recent years. Although Wubao has existed for a long time, people should not still be on duty. However, as Jizhou and Jizhou
The war in Luoyang, Qingzhou, and Youzhou broke out in an all-round way. The powerful families of the major families were also in danger and began to redouble their defenses.
When Chen Mu led the Luoyang army north to attack Wei County, he saw too many such fortresses along the way. In other words, he had seen too many as early as the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Including when he followed Lu Zhi north to Yiyang to win over Hu
When I was visiting Hu Yong and his son, I saw the breached Wubao along the way and I didn't know where it was.
Regarding these forts, the Luoyang Army's attitude was to try their best to get them to submit to the imperial court. If they were really unwilling, they would not force them. However, in order to prevent these forts from being crooked, Chen Mu often attacked them internally.
For example, wooing some powerful internal factions.
Because there are many Wubao in Hebei, they are local snakes. The Luoyang army considers themselves to be the righteousness of the imperial court, so naturally they cannot be eliminated for no reason. But if they are kept, it is very easy for the Wubao master to sit on his butt and tip off Wei Jun.
.
For example, the Luoyang Army began to attack Fanyang County today. The army moved out and passed along the official road. Later, there were grain and grass, reserve troops, and various types of baggage vehicles, and they would pass by these forts along the way.
Most Wubao are located near official roads, not too far away. If the people inside Wubao observe carefully, they will count the number of vehicles and horses every day, not to mention the number of soldiers of the Luoyang Army, as well as the baggage vehicles, the amount of food and grass, and the reserves of weapons and equipment.
They can all see it clearly. Once reported to Wei County, it will be a disaster for the Luoyang Army.
Therefore, every time the Luoyang Army goes to various places, it must infiltrate various Wubao manors along the way. Whether it is monitoring the people in the village or lurking there to observe the enemy's intelligence, it is very useful.
These tasks are left to the Military Intelligence Department. Chen Mu attaches great importance to intelligence work. The Military Intelligence Department's infiltration into Jizhou is comprehensive. Because such detailed work is handled well, it has indeed prevented many local powerful people and manors from sitting on their butts.
Lord, he made great contributions to the capture of Neihuang County.
What everyone doesn't know is that the Zhaojiawu Fort south of Huanbei Pavilion has actually been infiltrated by the Military Intelligence Department. This spy from the Military Intelligence Department can barely be counted as a relative of Chen Mu——
Clan of Qin Luofu.
The Qin family also belonged to a powerful family in the Zhao State. Before the family moved to Qingzhou, they once owned such a large estate. The entire clan had thousands of people. In the Zhao State, they were a large landowner with tens of thousands of acres of land.
As the father-in-law, Qin Feng still had great support for Chen Mu. Not only did he move the entire clan to Qingzhou, but he also asked the clan's family soldiers to join the Qingzhou Army to fight for Liu Bei.
The Military Intelligence Department recruits all the backbones of the army. One of the Qin clan members, a distant cousin of Luo Fu, became a member of the Military Intelligence Department. It just so happened that this person’s wife was the neighbor of the Zhao family manor in Huanbeiting.
She is a daughter, so she persuaded her father-in-law to help him sneak into Zhao's manor and has been undercover in Hebei for nearly two years.
In the ancient society of acquaintances, it was still very difficult to lurk like this. Because all the powerful people in Hebei knew that the Qin family, the original powerful powerful person in Zhao State, had defected to Qingzhou and moved his family to Linzi. Naturally, the powerful people who continued to stay in Jizhou were afraid of avoiding him.
Qin's son and Zhao's daughter are both side houses within the side house. Their clan status is not high, so naturally there is no marriage problem. Even the heads of the two sides may not know that their marriage exists. After all, there are only hundreds of people in a clan, and it is so big.
There are thousands of people. If a clan leader knows everything and has a clear understanding of the relationships between each family, it would be too exaggerated.
However, most of the clan insiders and close neighbors who are familiar with the Zhao family knew about this matter. Therefore, a hostile Qin son suddenly appeared beside them. As long as they were not fools, the close neighbors of the Zhao family could vaguely guess something.
Things, understand why he appears here.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! However, this is how a society of acquaintances is, even if they have already vaguely guessed it. As long as it is not a life-or-death feud, and when the relationship is very good, everyone is willing to pretend to be confused.
Not being able to expose him is the best protection for him.
So when Chen Mu decided to start taking advantage of the Jizhou Army, and surrounded him on both sides, the Military Intelligence Department, which had been sleeping for a long time, seemed to wake up overnight and began their combat strategy.
It was just getting bright when the Qin family named Qin Yan walked out of the gate of the manor and came to the wilderness from the side. The manor is located about a mile west of the official road. The side gate is the west gate. There are a lot of fields outside, along the field ridges.
To the north, there are countless ponds, mulberry fields, and several low hills and hills. The mountains are densely forested. There used to be a forest nearby, and the trees in the forest were lush and lush.
Qin Yan walked for about a quarter of an hour and finally arrived at the foot of the hills three miles away. There was a small river over there, which was a tributary of the Huan River. The grass on the river bank was lush. Under a tree, four people were standing or lying down.
When the men saw him coming, they stood up one after another.
"Jie Cong!"
"Um."
Qin Yan nodded.
The Military Intelligence Department is divided into five levels from top to bottom. The lowest level is the Siwei. A group of five Siwei is responsible for the intelligence work of a county. Their leader is Jie Cong.
Jie Cong is only responsible to the director, who is responsible for the intelligence work of a county. For example, the director of Wei County is currently lurking in Yecheng.
Then there are the four chief officials: Ling Shi, Cao Shi, Zhu Ji, Cao Yu, and finally Chen Mu, the commander.
Although Qin Yan was only a subordinate, he was still responsible for a large area, mainly the large Xiangting area north of Neihuang. The last time Wen Chou went south and went straight to Liyang, it was he who investigated and reported it to Chen Mu.
Several spies under his command are scattered in various countryside, the Military Intelligence Department has sufficient funds, and each of the guards can continue to develop, so his field of vision covers almost all nearby rural pavilions.
A Siwei said: "Jie Cong, Si Ming asked us to find out the location of Yuan Jun's ambush. I can only find out the hill area at the northern and southern foot of the pavilion. The specific situation is unknown."
"Why is it unknown?"
Qin Yan asked in a deep voice.
Si Wei replied: "That area is blocked by Yuan Jun's checkpoints for several miles around, and none of the villagers I sent can pass through."
Qin Yan said: "Si Ming gave a death order this time. We must find out the enemy's situation clearly. We don't regret dying. But this matter is related to whether Ming Gong can defeat Yuan Shao and whether the imperial court can regain the world. We must use our lives to go there."
Give it a try.”
"If that's the case..."
One of the guards thought for a while and said: "This morning, I saw a large number of riders traveling on the official road between Huanbei Pavilion and Huanshui. Not only the official road, but also the village roads and township roads, there were also Yuan Jun checkpoints.
, I’m afraid there’s going to be a big operation, why not ambush a group of checkpoints and ask for information?”
"not that simple."
Qin Yan shook his head: "Ordinary checkpoint soldiers just follow the orders of their superiors and are unlikely to know about Yuan Jun's military operations."
"What does Jie Cong mean?"
"Let's catch a group of rangers, they must know!"
Qin Yan's eyes flashed with cold light.
Several guards looked at each other and nodded silently.
The personnel of the Military Intelligence Department are basically the best among the elites in the Qingzhou Army. Otherwise, there would not be less than a hundred Military Intelligence Department spies in one county.
Hunting a group of rangers is extremely dangerous for ordinary soldiers. Because the so-called rangers are scouts and scouts.
In later generations, this unit was called the scouts. They were also the most elite part of an army and had strong combat capabilities.
And the most important thing is that a team of rangers does not only have a few people, but more than ten people. In ancient times, five people were in a team, and two teams were one ten. Scouts often sent out more than two teams, or even several teams of scouts.
Teams are also possible.
Although the guards of the Military Intelligence Department are elites who have fought in many battles, it is indeed difficult to deal with more than two teams of scouts. However, the military orders are like mountains. Since Qin Yan plans to take this risk, they have to prepare to start fighting.
Several people quickly arranged their tasks and went back to their respective bases to pick up weapons, fishing nets, trip wires, ropes, hoes and other tools before preparing to regroup with the hunting rangers.
Qin Yan had just returned to Zhaojiawu Fort here. Before he returned to the fort, he suddenly saw a dozen people squatting by the pond in the countryside outside.
He immediately became vigilant. The postures of these people standing and sitting were obviously unusual, but when he saw the appearance of one of them, he immediately felt relieved. This person was the subordinate who was originally responsible for the intelligence work of Neihuang. Now Neihuang is controlled by the Luoyang Army and is under the control of the Luoyang Army.
Siming sent him as his liaison.
"Old Qin."
"Old Zhou."
The two greeted each other.
Zhou Jiecong introduced a man wearing an iron mask and said, "This is Captain Tao."
"Captain Tao."
Qin Yan bowed his hands and bowed.
Ju Yi was killed by Yuan Shao and his wife was executed, so he changed his name to Tao Polu and sought revenge against Yuan Shao.
Chen Mu didn't actually trust him very much at first. Although he knew that Ju Yi hated Yuan Shao very much, his personality was too arrogant and he could easily devour the master if he didn't use it well. So he just wanted to use Ju Yi to train troops and didn't want him to control him.
real power.
But the situation is constantly changing. Now Zhu Jun's army has surrounded Anyang, involving a large number of troops from Wei County. It is obviously too late to mobilize troops from the rear, so Ju Yi from the rear can only be used to make up for it temporarily.
Ju Yi said: "The Young Master sent me to ambush Yuan Jun. Our army is no more than fifty miles away from here. There are too many Yuan Jun checkpoints outside. Have you found Yuan Jun's location?"
Qin Yan shook his head and said: "Although we are lurking among the local villagers, Yuan Jun's checkpoint does not allow us to look around. The road has been blocked. We are not allowed to go anywhere except the countryside and fields. At present, we can only find Yuan Jun.
The ambush is in the hills to the north and south of the pavilion, and the specific situation is unknown."
Ju Yi glanced at him. If it had been before when he first ascended to the Dead Soldiers Camp, if his subordinates had reported such uncertain and vague information to him, they would have been pulled out and executed long ago. But firstly, he is now living under someone else's roof, and secondly, here
Yuan Jun's actions were indeed tighter, but maybe there was nothing they could do.
After thinking about it, Ju Yi asked, "Then what are you going to do?"
Qin Yan looked at him and said seriously: "I plan to capture a group of rangers alive and ask for information."
Ju Yi's eyes suddenly lit up, he looked him up and down, laughed and said, "It's just right for me, I'll go with you!"
"Then please wait a moment, Lieutenant, while I go back to the village to get the weapons."
Qin Yan bowed his hands and turned towards the manor.
There is not just one manor in Wubao, but several or even dozens of them. This manor is where Qin Yan lives.
Less than half a quarter of an hour later, Qin Yan came out fully armed, with a knife at his waist and dragging a fishing net.
The group of people didn't waste any time and acted quickly while the sky was still not completely bright.
Qin Yan took them back to the north and waited for the team members to gather under the tree by the river. After Ju Yi joined the team, an operation that was originally thought of as dead suddenly became 100% sure.
Ju Yi did not interfere with their actions, but Qin Yan and Lao Zhou cooperated closely. Ten spies from the Military Intelligence Department quickly arranged their work. Some went to watch, some dug pits, some buried trip wires, and some prepared to cast fishing nets. The division of labor was clear and the preparations were sufficient.
.
"I'm coming."
Everything was ready, and about two-quarters of an hour later, the sky began to get brighter. At almost six o'clock in the morning, the soldiers on guard came back and issued a warning to everyone.
In fact, there was no need for warning. The clatter of horse hooves sounded, and the ground began to shake almost as soon as the soldiers on guard came back.
Looking at the prepared military intelligence officers and guards, Ju Yi suddenly had a feeling.
With such a group of people, can Yuan Shaoan remain undefeated?