Three cavalrymen galloped in from outside the city. They all had arrow wounds on their bodies, and one of them had an arrow stuck in his back and was in a semi-conscious state.
Changshou County recognized the cavalry leader and hurriedly opened the city gate, and several cavalrymen rushed into the city.
General Jiang Yanxian hurried over with a group of generals. In front of the steps, a spy was covered in blood, but his wounds had been bandaged.
"Have you found the Song Army's camp?" Jiang Yan asked urgently.
"It was more than ten miles south of us. It was heavily guarded and it was impossible to get through during the day. We lurked there in the middle of the night, but we were still discovered. More than a dozen brothers were killed, and only three of us escaped."
"What's the situation in the Song Army's camp?"
"There are big tents, barracks, and trenches. It covers an area of several hundred acres. There are three layers of defense on the outside. It's very tight."
"What about the ships?"
"The grain boats are on the shore, but they seem to be empty and the water is not deep."
Lieutenant General Liu Quan whispered: "How about we try a night attack and burn the opponent's camp!"
Jiang Yan shook his head first, "Wan Yanchang said that the other party made his fortune through night raids, and told us not to plan sneak attacks. He has learned a painful lesson, and we must listen to his advice."
Liu Quan suddenly said anxiously: "But the other party wants to consume us, and we won't be able to sustain food for a few days."
Jiang Yan sighed first and said to the generals behind him: "We have only two choices, either to form a formation and fight to the death with the opponent, or to withdraw our troops and return to Xiangyang. Which one do you think is more suitable?"
Commander Li Yong said: "Although we have 30,000 troops, the opponent has 10,000 cavalry, but the initiative is in the hands of the opponent. They will fight when it is advantageous and retreat when it is not. We are very passive and can easily be defeated due to depletion of morale. In the past and
The Jurchen cavalry all have this problem in their battles. They are defeated before fighting, and are eventually massacred by one side. Unless we also have a considerable number of cavalry, I do not agree with a decisive battle with the opponent."
Other generals also talked about the same thing, and they all had the same idea. Now the soldiers were not full, their morale was low, and they would lose miserably. Anyway, they just didn't want to fight the Song army.
Jiang Yanxian said to Liu Quan: "They are all generals above the commander level. Generals are afraid of war, let alone soldiers. Does General Liu still want to persist?"
"But even if we retreat, we can't outrun the opponent's war horses!" Liu Quan said with a long sigh.
Jiang Yanxian smiled lightly and said, "I have my own way to make the soldiers retreat safely!"
On the street, there is a long queue in front of the porridge relief point. The food in the city has been plundered by the puppet Qi army. The people can only rely on the army to deliver porridge once a day in the morning and evening. It is said that soon there will only be one porridge relief in the evening.
The people are panic-stricken.
A man took the porridge basin and looked at it, and suddenly said angrily: "Is this still porridge? It's clearly rice soup, and you can't even see the rice particles!"
The porridge-making soldier said coldly: "Whether you want to drink it or not, go away!"
The man became even more excited. He threw the porridge basin on the ground, waved his arms and shouted: "You have stolen all my rice, and you are giving us this to drink. How shameless are you?"
At this moment, the man suddenly staggered and fell to the ground, twitching all over. "The people around him were so frightened that they all moved away and watched from a distance!"
At this time, a military doctor ran over, looked at the man, and suddenly shouted: "Everyone, go away, it's a plague!"
Hearing that it was a plague, the people were so frightened that they stumbled and fled in all directions.
The atmosphere in the city suddenly became tense, and soldiers enforced martial law throughout the city, but news continued to spread, 'The whole family of so-and-so is dead!'
Many people saw through the cracks in their windows and doors that soldiers were dragging carts passing by on the street. The carts were wrapped in mats, but their feet were exposed. These were people who had died of the plague and were being sent for burial.
The whole city was suddenly shrouded in extreme fear
There is a courtyard near the south city gate where two of Hu Yanlei's subordinates live. They are a pair of masters and apprentices. The master is called Feng Shaoyou, who is a doctor. The apprentice Wang Du is only sixteen years old and is a medicine boy in charge.
They carried the medicine box, grabbed the medicine, and boiled the medicine for the master. They had been forcibly recruited by the army to treat the soldiers, and now they have returned.
Perhaps because of the martial law, although they are doctors, they don't have much business during the day. Only at night people will sneak in to see them.
"Master, we have to go tonight!"
Wang Du said with a sad face: "The graves are filled with people who died of various diseases. What's so interesting to see!"
Feng Shaoyou shook his head and said: "In the past few nights, I have seen many patients, saying how serious the plague is, and that families everywhere are dying, but I have never seen a single plague patient, nor have I seen the so-called whole family dying. These are all
It's a rumor, someone spread it with ulterior motives."
"Martial law is in place, how can rumors spread?"
"Here's the problem! Martial law has been imposed. How come everyone hears the same statement, whose family died today, and whose family died yesterday? It's exactly the same statement. Who do you think is spreading it?"
"Ah! Could it be the soldier giving out porridge?"
"Besides them, there is no one else. Other armies are trying their best to hide the truth, lest the morale of the people and the army be chaotic, but here it is the other way around, lest everyone not be in chaos."
Feng Shaoyou sighed, "If something goes wrong, there must be a monster!"
Speaking of monsters, the king became even more frightened and begged: "Master, please don't go to the graves! Maybe they burned them and buried them deeply. Where can you find the corpses of the disease?"
"That's true, look at your worthless look, you are still a scout! Forget it, let's go to the other side tonight and we can still find out the truth!"
Half an hour later, the master and the apprentice came to a courtyard under the cover of night. Feng Shaoyou looked at the courtyard for a long time and said: "This is right here. Yesterday, there was a dead grocery store, shopkeeper Wang's house. Let's go in!"
The two climbed over the wall and entered the yard. There was no one in the yard. The room was dark and the door was locked. Looking through the window, the house was empty except for some tattered furniture. The lock on the door was rusty. Look again.
Looking at the kitchen, the mice have made their nests in the stove.
Feng Shaoyou sneered and said: "Did you see it? The weeds in the yard are as high as my knees. This house has been empty for at least half a year. This is enough to prove that the whole family has died of the plague. It is an out-and-out rumor."
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"Master, I still say what I said, what is the point of spreading rumors among the puppet Qi army? It will destroy the morale of the army."
"I don't know either!"
Feng Shaoyou was also confused. What was the other party's intention in doing this?
The key is that he has to get the news out?
Feng Shaoyou pondered for a long time and said: "Last time I heard that someone had a way to get out of the city, but it is more expensive. Let's give it a try and let you go out and deliver the message!"
At the third watch of the next day, Chen Qing had already fallen asleep and was woken up by the soldiers on duty.
"Capital, there are scouts from Changshou County to deliver a message."
Chen Qing was slightly startled, but he immediately understood that they were Hu Yanlei's subordinates, the two doctors and apprentices.
"Let him come to me!"
Not long after, the soldiers brought a young man up. The young man knelt down on one knee and saluted, "The humble king, please see the capital!"
Chen Qing heard from the scout Zhang Hua that the doctor's apprentice was only sixteen years old. He nodded and said with a smile: "Didn't Changshou County close the city and prevent people from going out? How did you get out?"
With a bitter look on his face, Wangdu said: "I would like to inform you that someone is doing business in the city. The dead body needs to be transported out of the city for burial. My master paid a high price to have the humble minister pretend to be a corpse and leave the city."
Seeing the bitter look on his face, Chen Qing couldn't help but laugh, and asked again: "You are so troubled to leave the city, what important news do you want to report?"
"Reporting to the capital, there is indeed important news. A plague has broken out all over Changshou County."
Chen Qing was startled, "Is there really a plague outbreak?"
"There is no such thing. Master and I have verified that there is no outbreak of plague at all. It is completely a rumor fabricated by the puppet Qi army, causing the people in the city to panic?"
"Why do you do this?" Chen Qing asked in confusion.
"We don't know either. Master guessed that because there was no food, the puppet Qi army was going to pretend that the people who died of starvation were just suffering from the plague to cover up their crimes."
Chen Qing nodded slowly, it was indeed possible!
He thought for a moment and said to the soldiers: "Go and invite Zhang Canjun!"
Just as the soldier was about to leave, Chen Qing called out to the soldier again, "Forget it, don't bother joining the army to rest, we'll talk about it tomorrow morning!"