At noon, Cui Jiu rode an ox cart to the east of the city and found Renhetang Pharmacy. He knew that the Western Army intelligence agents used to have an Anjiantang Pharmacy, but it was later sealed up, and now another Renhetang Pharmacy has been opened.
When I walked to the drug store, I saw that the door was locked, and there was a notice posted on it, which said, "The drug store staff have been requisitioned by the military and are temporarily closed!"
It turned out that they were captured by the military camp. Cui Jiu took an ox cart to the military camp and went directly to the military medical camp in the southwest corner. The other party was a medicine shop, so he must be working in the military camp.
Not long after, a soldier brought Liu Zhen to Cui Jiu. Liu Zhen knew Cui Jiu, who was Wan Yanchang's number one staff member. He quickly bowed and saluted, "See Manager Cui!"
Cui Jiu waved his hand and told the soldiers to get out. He smiled and asked, "Is Renhetang your shop?"
"Exactly!"
"I would like to ask, does your store have ginseng in the medicine store?"
"There should be a few good ones, decades old!"
There were soldiers standing outside the tent, and their conversation could be heard. It sounded like Cui Jiu was asking about ginseng, but he quickly dipped his fingers in water and wrote two poems on the table, "The sun is shining over the mountains, and there are thousands of people everywhere."
destroy'.
Liu Zhen was shocked. This was clearly his secret code for scouts. Only he knew it, not the other guys. Is this Cui Jiu one of his own?
Cui Jiu smiled slightly and said: "I don't want your things in vain, I will pay them according to the market price. I want a century-old ginseng, do you have it?"
"I do have one hundred-year-old ginseng, but it's not cheap. It costs three hundred guan."
"Three hundred guan is just 300 guan. I'll give you the money. You still have a few old ones that are decades old. I'll take them too."
Cui Jiu wrote another sentence on the table, 'Under the big table in the living room!'
He stood up and said, "That's it! I'll come over and pick it up tomorrow."
He ignored Liu Zhen and walked away quickly.
The writing on the table had disappeared. Liu Zhen walked out of the tent and joined the army. Shi Yuan stepped forward and said with a smile, "I heard that Manager Cui asked you to buy medicine?"
"Manager Cui wants to buy some ginseng sticks. I have to go back to the store to pick them up. Can I go out?"
Normally, Shi Yuan would have refused, but now that he was working for Manager Cui, Shi Yuan didn't dare to make things difficult.
He handed Liu Zhen a bronze medal and said, "Use this medal to go out, but only one person can go out. Hurry up and get back!"
"I know, I promise to come back soon!"
Liu Zhen returned to the pharmacy. It was deserted in front of the door. There were no patients anymore. He entered the pharmacy from the side door in the alley and went to the lobby. The lobby was covered with a thin layer of dust. There were three tables in total, two
Doctors sit in the hall to treat people. There is a long table in the middle where patients wait for treatment.
Liu Zhen glanced at the target and saw the target. There were footprints on the ground. He went directly to the doctor's table on the left. He walked forward and knelt down on one knee. He looked under the table. Sure enough, he saw a folded branch stuck on
Bottom of the table.
He took out the note, read it carefully several times, and memorized the contents on it, then put the note in his mouth, chewed it, and swallowed it.
Liu Zhen went to the warehouse to pick up a few ginseng sticks, and then left the drug store.
Liu Zhen was really under some pressure. Through Cui Jiu, he learned that the latest task His Highness had given him was to burn down the fodder warehouse. Cui Jiu also promised to help him, but the task was difficult to handle!
At noon the next day, Cui Jiu sent someone to get the ginseng, and gave Liu Zhen sixty taels of silver at the price of one to seven, but Shi Yuan extorted another ten taels of silver.
Of course, Shi Yuan didn't dare to go too far. Liu Zhen knew Manager Cui, and if he sued him, he would be miserable.
Shi Yuan gave Liu Zhen a sign. With this sign, he could enter and leave the military camp at will, and he didn't have to stay out at night. Anyway, this was a military medical camp, and the management was very lax, which was different from a real military camp.
Liu Zhen found his assistant Chang Song. The assistant was a scout with extremely high martial arts skills. He was originally a Taoist priest with the Taoist name Chang Song. His parents and siblings all died under the iron hoof of the Jin soldiers. He developed a strong and powerful army in Kongtong Mountain.
With his martial arts skills, he came down from the mountain to join the Western Army at the age of twenty, wanting to avenge his parents, brothers and sisters.
Chang Song is a taciturn man. He is very familiar with medicinal materials and has always been the backbone of the drug store's medicine collection.
Liu Zhen handed him the bronze medal and said in a low voice: "His Royal Highness King Yong gave us the task of burning down the fodder warehouse. You can go to the warehouse to investigate at night. With this bronze medal, you can enter and exit the camp at will to see if there is any chance.
"'
Chang Song nodded and accepted the sign.
The warehouse was indeed moved to the center of the city, thousands of private houses were demolished, and a warehouse city with a length and width of two miles each was built. It mainly stored grain, herbs and other plant-based supplies. The ordnance supply warehouse was not here.
The warehouse is extremely heavily guarded, with a wall two feet high and five thousand soldiers patrolling and guarding it day and night. Even the waterway is blocked to prevent anyone from sneaking in from the river. There is only one door through which large carts can be used to transport grain and grass.
Chang Song watched for more than an hour, only to see soldiers at the top of Cangcheng, one post every three steps, one sentry every five steps, and there seemed to be secret sentries watching. Chang Song didn't find any chance, and he didn't dare to force his way in, as that would scare off the enemy.
At the third watch, Chang Song returned to the military medical camp and reported his inspection to Liu Zhen, "Commander, it is impossible to enter from the outside. The sentries will notice the slightest movement. The only way is to start from the inside."
Liu Zhen thought for a moment and said, "Just wait! Maybe there will be a chance."
Liu Zhen had no choice but to wait for Cui Jiu to create opportunities for him.
At dawn, the dull sound of war drums sounded outside the city, "Boom! Boom! Boom!" This was the sound of the drums for the first attack. Tens of thousands of Jurchen soldiers rushed to the city to prepare for the attack.
An overwhelming army appeared in the east and west at the same time, with flags like clouds and magnificent momentum, and they were charging towards Daming City in a mighty manner.
An hour later, Western military formations appeared in the east, west, and north directions of Daming City. They were located two miles away. Each square formation had about 50,000 people. The dark army covered the open space outside the city, and the battle flags formed a line.
A long wall was built, there was a forest of spears behind the flags, and the soldiers had bright helmets and murderous intent.
Wan Yanchang looked at the army outside the city with complicated eyes. He also had 150,000 troops inside the city. If the Western Army only had this many people, then if his army fought out, he would be sure to win. Unfortunately, the other side had a much larger army.
The army is hidden behind.
At this time, the drum beat again and the teams separated. Huge trebuchets appeared one after another, as well as tall and thick defensive baffles. Wan Yanchang took a breath of air. This was a heavy trebuchet with a projection distance of at least three meters.
About a hundred paces.
They could only fight back with bed crossbows. Wan Yanchang shouted sternly: "Push up the bed crossbows and install them three hundred steps each in Dongcheng, Xicheng and Beicheng!"
There are a thousand crossbows in the city, which are arranged horizontally and are quickly distributed on the city. In addition, there are also dozens of trebuchets on the city. However, these trebuchets are used to deal with siege soldiers and are of medium size.
It was a bit larger and could project a fifty-kilogram stone to a distance of 150 steps. Of course, it was far inferior to the heavy trebuchets of the Western Army.
Forty-eight heavy trebuchets slowly advanced towards the city wall from three directions: east, west, north and west. Each trebuchet was pulled by eight strong oxen, and there were defensive baffles on the flat cart in front of them.
These trebuchets were all installed yesterday, but the defensive baffles needed to be made, which took another day and night, and the deployment did not begin until today.
The craftsmen of the Western Army have measured the points, and there is a wooden stake at each point. First, a huge baffle is used to prevent it, and then a huge trebuchet is parked behind the baffle.
Each one stood with their heads held high, facing the tall city wall in front of them.
"Fire arrows!" Wan Yanchang shouted from the top of the city, and a thousand crossbows were fired at the same time.