The workshop covers an area of eighty acres. There are four to five hundred people coming and going, many of them are Taoist priests. Everyone is busy, and I don’t know what they are busy with.
Wu Shaocheng coldly glanced at everyone's face and hands. His eyes were very poisonous. He could tell who was a soldier at a glance.
"Excuse me, military advisor, where are the outsiders you recruited?"
Zhang Luanzi's heart moved. The other party didn't know how many people he had recruited?
It's right to think about it. If Wu Shaocheng knew that he had recruited a thousand people, he would have come to arrest them long ago.
"I told you that they are responsible for prospecting and mining. They went out to prospect for ore at dawn and will not come back until night."
"Why didn't the defenders see it?"
Zhang Luanzi sneered, "Your soldiers are sleeping in the morning, what can they see?"
Wu Shaocheng fell silent. He only entered the wartime state at noon. He was really relaxed in the morning and he had nothing to say.
At this time, a group of people came to an abandoned compound. Wu Shaocheng looked around and asked, "Where is this?"
"This place has been abandoned. I plan to turn it into a firearms batching workshop."
Wu Shaocheng walked in and looked around, but did not enter the house. He just peeked inside the house through the broken window. There was a strong smell of mold and rot inside.
Zhang Luanzi's heart was in his throat, a thousand people could be hiding here, and they would be over in one search.
Although these were dilapidated, Wu Shaocheng always felt that something was wrong, and his intuition told him that someone had stayed here.
Wu Shaocheng was about to let people go in to search. At this time, a soldier came to report, "General, there is a fire in the granary!"
Wu Shaocheng was immediately taken aback and cursed fiercely, "Asshole!"
He didn't bother to search the room, and saluted Zhang Luanzi with clasped fists, "Excuse me!"
Wu Shaocheng left in a hurry with his men.
Watching the other party's back go away, Zhang Luanzi breathed a long sigh of relief, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and then walked towards the house.
The strange thing is that there is no one in the room, and there are no beddings and the like. It seems to have returned to its original state. No wonder Wu Shaocheng didn't see the problem.
But where are the people?
At this time, a pile of tattered tables and chairs against the wall were pushed away, revealing a large hole in the wall. Zhang Dian and a dozen of his men emerged from the hole.
Zhang Luanzi was dumbfounded, Zhang Dian smiled and said: "We are hiding in the warehouse, and the soldiers have also been brought back to the warehouse."
Zhang Luanzi breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Fortunately, there was a fire in the granary just now and he left in a hurry, otherwise he would definitely search carefully!"
Zhang Dian said calmly, "What a coincidence. I sent two men to set fire to the granary and set fire to the fodder warehouse with gunpowder arrows."
Zhang Luanzi suddenly realized, "That's it. How could it be such a coincidence? There happened to be a fire in the granary."
Zhang Dian added: "Perhaps Wu Shaocheng will come again, so we will hide in the warehouse for the time being. Please ask the Taoist Master to prepare some dry food and water."
Zhang Luanzi nodded, "Don't worry! I will make arrangements."
The grain warehouse located in the northwest corner of Hefei City was filled with smoke and flames. Thousands of soldiers were scooping water from the Caohe River to put out the fire. Seven warehouses on the periphery burned into one piece.
At this time, Wu Shaocheng arrived. He looked at it for a moment and ordered: "Don't save the warehouses on the outside. Isolate the warehouses inside!"
The seven burning warehouses on the outside are all fodder warehouses. It doesn't matter whether they are saved or not. The key is to isolate the twenty grain warehouses inside from the burning fodder warehouses.
Thousands of soldiers began to move quickly and wrapped the roof of the warehouse with quilts soaked in water. The walls of the warehouse were made of bricks, but the top was made of wood. As long as the roof of the warehouse was covered, it would basically not be ignited.
.
But how could the fodder warehouse be set on fire? It was so heavily guarded and no one could come in. This puzzled Wu Shaocheng.
At this time, the captain on duty came to report, "For your information, General, the arsonist lit the fire from outside."
Wu Shaocheng frowned, how could it be possible? The warehouse city has a moat and a city wall. The nearest warehouse is more than thirty steps away from the city wall. Even the outer perimeter is fifty steps away and cannot be reached by throwing a torch.
"General, these are rockets. They were fired from at least a hundred steps away. More than a dozen rockets were shot on the roof of the No. 3 warehouse. They burned and fell into the warehouse. They didn't know what kind of incendiary agent it was. The firepower was particularly fierce."
"Who is it? Didn't you see it?"
The captain shook his head, and Wu Shaocheng was so angry that he yelled, "A bunch of useless cowards, raising pigs and dogs are more useful than you!"
A group of soldiers were so scolded that they were trembling and did not dare to raise their heads.
Wu Shaocheng was really anxious. He knew that his judgment was correct. There were already enemy spies in the city, but he didn't know where they were hiding?
It was already dusk at this time, and it was no longer practical to conduct a large-scale search of the city. Wu Shaocheng had no choice but to continue to issue a curfew. No one outside the army was allowed to take to the streets, and any offenders would be shot.
As night fell, the search operation that had been going on all afternoon finally calmed down. Although there were no more searches, the atmosphere in Hefei City was still tense. Wu Shaocheng implemented the most severe curfew. Except for the troops on duty, anyone who took to the streets would be shot to death.
Ten thousand troops patrolled the streets and city walls, and patrol soldiers could be seen everywhere.
The second watch has passed. In the workshop, a thousand soldiers are lined up neatly. They are all wearing the military uniforms of the Huaixi Army. In fact, the leather armor weapons of the Huaixi Army are the same as those of the Tang Army. Only the helmets are slightly different. The soldiers of the Huaixi Army
There is an extra pair of horns on the helmet, which is a horn helmet.
The Tang army mainly wore eagle-edge helmets, which were highly recognizable. Even at night, the difference could be seen at a glance.
At this time, Zhang Luanzi hurriedly stepped forward and said to Zhang Dian: "The password tonight is watertight. If anyone asks, the general will say that he is from the ninth battalion."
"Is there anything special about the Ninth Battalion?"
"The Ninth Battalion just returned from Hezhou, and most people are not familiar with it."
Zhang Dian nodded and asked, "Will the password be changed?"
"It won't change before the fourth watch. When the guard changes during the fourth watch, the password will also change."
"Thank you very much!"
"General Zhang, be careful. I won't be able to help you next time."
Zhang Dian nodded silently, and then led his men out of the side door.
Outside the side gate is a short alley. The soldiers lined up in the short alley, and Zhang Dian led a thousand soldiers towards the west gate.
"Password!"
As soon as we came out, we met a patrol team of 100 people.
"No leaks!"
"Which battalion are you from?" the other captain asked again.
"Ninth Battalion!"
Hearing that it was the ninth battalion, the captain stopped paying attention to them.
The ninth battalion was originally the state soldiers of Hezhou, with a total of 3,000 people. Their status in the army was very low, and they were discriminated against by other armies. No one paid attention to them in normal times.
So I heard it was the Ninth Battalion, and other patrol teams didn't want to pay attention to them.
The street was very quiet. They lined up on West Street. At the end of West Street was the West City Gate.
The moat in Hefei is very wide, more than twenty feet wide. A stone bridge was built. There is no road at the end of the stone bridge. It is three feet away from the stone pier on the other side. You have to wait for the suspension bridge to be lowered.
Therefore, the importance of the suspension bridge is self-evident.
At this time, the 30,000 troops who came to Gui had arrived outside the west city, about one mile away from the moat, and were patiently waiting for the light of fire on the city top.
This kind of internal and external coordination can be said to be simple or difficult. If the opponent has no defense and it is not a war, it will be very easy. There will only be a few people on duty at the city gate.
However, if it is a wartime situation, the number of city gate defenders has increased to hundreds, and they have not slept, and closely observe the movements inside and outside the city. At this time, it will be difficult to cooperate with the inside and outside to seize the city.
