In the Xixia camp, Li Liangfu was looking at a map with concentration. Opposite him sat a man in black in his thirties. The man was tall and thin, with eyes as sharp as an eagle.
The man's name was Liang Gui, the deputy commander of Xixia Heijintang. He came all the way from Xingqing Mansion to give Li Liangfu a map of Ganquan Fort.
This map is naturally important information sent to Heijintang by the Xixia spies from Ganquan Fort.
If it had been delivered to Li Liangfu two days earlier, he would not have suffered such a big loss yesterday morning, losing a total of 10,000 troops.
Only now did Li Liangfu realize that the two hundred steps close to the city wall were all blank areas. There were walls on both the east and south sides, but not on the west side, but there was a military camp on the west side.
There are also two warehouses marked on the map, one in the northwest corner and one in the middle of the city. It is estimated that the one in the middle of the city is the main warehouse.
If he had known that this was the arrangement, he should have placed the trebuchet to the west and stormed the Song army's camp.
But there is still a chance. I am repairing the trebuchets and assembling ten more, bringing the total number of trebuchets to twenty.
"Thank you Heijintang for your timely help. This map is very important!" Li Liangfu shook the map in his hand.
"We are very honored to be able to help the general. This time I have brought thirty men with strong martial arts skills. I wonder if there is any place where we can be used?"
Li Liangfu's eyes lit up and he said with a smile: "If you say so, I really have a difficult task for you. If you succeed, I will definitely report your great achievements to the emperor."
Liang Gui smiled lightly and said, "Heijintang also has some special rules, which generally require payment of commission."
Li Liangfu immediately understood that it turned out that Heijintang came to him to find business. Of course he knew the rules of Heijintang, which was that they would only do things if they had to pay money. Except for the emperor, they could use them for free. No one else, even the emperor, could use them for free.
You must also pay for the assigned tasks.
They came to Ganquan Fort to deliver letters under false pretenses, but to solicit business is their purpose.
Li Liangfu really needed a group of people with strong martial arts skills to take action for him. He also knew that the people of Heijintang were highly skilled in martial arts and had a group of well-known desperadoes, who might actually be able to do something for him.
"I wonder how much silver you want?"
"Then it depends on what we need to do?"
Li Liangfu whispered a few words, Liang Gui narrowed his eyes and stretched out five fingers.
"Five hundred taels of silver?"
Liang Gui shook his head, "Five thousand taels!"
Li Liangfu took a few steps with his hands behind his back. If they could really do this big thing for him, five thousand taels would not be expensive.
"Five thousand taels is five thousand taels, but I can only give it to you after the matter is completed!"
"According to our rules, we pay half first and the other half after the transaction is completed."
Li Liangfu stared at him for a long time and nodded, "Then we will make an agreement!"
...........
The characteristic of the Xixia people is that they like to establish special forces, such as the famous three special forces, the Poxi Army, the Bu Kites and the Iron Kites.
Because of this tradition, Xixia also established its own intelligence agency, Heijintang, which raised hundreds of spies of various types, as well as a group of highly skilled Blackjintang warriors.
The origins of this warrior group are complex, including Dangxiang people, Han people, Qiang people, Khitan people, Uighur people, etc., and all of them are desperadoes.
In addition to working for the Xixia Emperor, they themselves also took on illegal jobs, including killing people and stealing goods. They also often went to the army to take jobs because the army could offer high prices.
Five thousand taels of silver is equivalent to twenty-five thousand guan. This is definitely a huge temptation for the Black Jintang warriors to sacrifice their lives, but it is also quite difficult. They sneak into Ganquan Fort and burn down the main warehouse of the Song Army.
The warehouse Li Liangfu asked them to burn was not the warehouse in the northwest corner. He could burn that warehouse with a trebuchet. It was the main warehouse located in the middle of the city. According to the signs on the map, the main warehouse should be composed of tents.
Once the Song army's grain and grass warehouses were burned, there was no need to attack the city again. After another ten days of siege, the Song army would surrender without a fight.
.........
Liang Gui observed for a day and found that the three directions of east, west and south were impossible. The only hope was the north city wall.
There are cliffs outside the North City, making it impossible to attack the city. Therefore, the Song Army arranged few patrol posts on the North City Wall. If the patrol posts could be missed, there was indeed hope of sneaking into the city.
However, the Song Army's sentry posts were equally tight. It was impossible to go around from the east and west to the north. The roads were all marked by the Song Army sentry posts. The only way was to climb up the northern cliff.
The cliff is more than ten feet high, which is equivalent to more than ten floors in later generations. However, it is not a smooth cliff. There are many abrupt boulders and cracks on it.
It may be difficult for ordinary soldiers, but it is not difficult for Heijintang warriors who are highly skilled in martial arts.
At two o'clock in the morning, thirty warriors gathered at the foot of the mountain. They continued to climb using long ropes. When they were almost at the top, an accident happened. Their upward climb alarmed the residents living on the cliff, a large group of rock swallows.
Rock swallows are a very common bird in the northwest. They usually nest in the crevices of cliffs. Liang Gui thought of everything, but he did not expect that there were rock swallows on the cliff. Dozens of rock swallows were suddenly startled, flying up and hovering in the air.
.
Liang Gui was so shocked that his scalp was about to explode. They were less than ten feet away from the top of the mountain, but something went wrong at this critical moment.
Everyone was still for a moment, but there was no response from above. At this time, the circling rock swallows returned to their nests again, and silence returned to the cliff.
It was still very quiet on the top of the city. No soldiers were asking questions. Liang Gui felt relieved and made a gesture to everyone, who continued to climb up.
A quarter of an hour later, all thirty warriors climbed up the cliff, climbed another ten feet on the ground, and clung to the base of the wall.
...........
At night, 4,000 Song soldiers patrolled and defended the city to prevent enemy forces from raiding at night.
There are indeed not many patrol posts on the North City. There are only three hundred people, divided into five teams, patrolling the four-mile-long city wall. There are also fifty soldiers as fixed sentries.
One of the sentries standing in the middle was a 19-year-old Song Army soldier named Xiao Qun. He was from Zhongnan County, Jingzhao Prefecture. His parents and brothers were tragically killed by the Jinren butcher's knife. He followed his father to hunt in Zhongnan Mountain since he was a child.
He has developed agility.
He also saw a circling rock swallow just now. It is common for rock swallows to be frightened at night. Snakes or other wild beasts may attack the nest.
Although nothing unusual was found, Xiao Qun felt a little more vigilant, and it was this vigilance that saved Xiao Qun's life.
Just when he was about to poke his head to check again, a black shadow suddenly appeared in front of him. Before he could react, a sharp long sword pierced his throat at an extremely fast speed. It was like a leopard jumping when he was hunting with his father.
Aiming at his throat, Xiao Qun instinctively fell backwards, dodging the fatal sword blow.
His agility was revealed at this moment. He rolled on the ground, jumped up again, and dodged the fatal sword stabbing his back. Xiao Qun jumped off the parapet without hesitation.
The Heijintang warrior who assassinated Xiao Qun was none other than the leader Liang Gui. He stabbed the air with two swords in a row, and with the third sword the opponent had already jumped off the city.
At the same time, several dark figures also climbed up to the top of the city, and another sentry a hundred steps away from Xiao Qun was knocked down by the opponent.
Liang Gui stomped his feet in anger, but they had no time to stop. They both rolled over at the same time and jumped off the parapet...
Their timing was very clever. It happened to be the gap where the two patrol sentries had just left. This gap only lasted a short moment. They caught it and they only needed to deal with the two fixed sentries.
They killed one person, but unexpectedly another soldier escaped.
This was their second accident tonight. The first was Yanyan, and the second was this soldier. They managed to escape the crisis caused by Yanyan, but what about this soldier?
Liang Gui searched around but did not find the soldier. At this time, it was too late.
He waved his hand and said, "Let's go!"
A large group of men in black ran toward the center of the county like a pack of black wolves.
Dozens of steps away, a dark figure stood up from the broken water tank behind the wall of a residence. It was Xiao Qun. The other party did not have time to search carefully, otherwise he would not be able to escape.
Xiao Qun's leg was sprained. He endured the pain, took off his bow and arrow, took out a gunpowder arrow, lit the match with a fire stick, and when it burned to the end, he opened his bow and shot into the sky.
The gunpowder arrow emitted a bright red light, shot straight into the sky, and exploded with a 'pop!' in the air.