My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 333 Internal and external cooperation
At Liu Feng's command, the three armies mobilized and marched south. Zhou Yu received the order first, Zhao Yun marched the fastest, but it was Taishi Ci who arrived at the war zone first.

Wucheng is located directly above Yuhang and Qiantang, with Tianmu Mountain to the west and Dongtiao River to the east. There is a corridor in the middle that allows direct access from Wucheng to Yuhang and Qiantang.

Taishi Ci led Xu Huang's two troops, traveling day and night, and arrived at the outskirts of Yuhang in just three days.

Taishi Ci did not go out of the mountain directly, but first set up camp inside the mountain pass, and then sent out spies brought from Wucheng to investigate the situation in Yuhang and Qiantang.

Because Fuchun was far away, only a few people were sent to scout it. The focus was on Yuhang County, which was closest to the mountain pass on the Qiantang River Plain.

Yuhang County is only twenty li away from Taishi Ci's camp, which can be reached in half a day by forced march.

Taishi Ci was still waiting for news from the scouts in the south when he suddenly received a report that several spies had been captured.

Taishi Ci's heart sank, fearing that his position had been exposed. He immediately ordered the spy to be brought into the main tent so that he could interrogate him personally.

Soon, the two spies were brought into the main tent. When Taishi Ci entered the tent, he found the two men to be acting strangely.

Spy agents are usually chosen for their average looks and figure, ideally the kind that would blend into a crowd and go unnoticed.

But these two spies were burly and strong, clearly carnivores.

These days, even spies can't afford meat.

Taishi Ci was somewhat puzzled and was about to ask when he noticed that the spy on his left, upon seeing him, immediately stood up and shouted, "I am being presumptuous, may I ask if you are General Liu, the General of the South?"

Taishi Ci remained silent with a somber expression, but his gaze remained fixed on the other person.

The man looked somewhat nervous, but he stubbornly straightened his body and looked back at Taishi Ci with a firm gaze.

"So brave."

Taishi Ci praised him, then sat down on the stool. He then changed the subject and probed, "A fine man should make achievements and establish a career. Why would he be a spy?"

The man's face turned ashen, and he replied loudly, "I am not a spy; I have an important mission to fulfill."

Then he asked a second time, "May I ask which of Liu Zheng's subordinates the general is he?"

Taishi Ci then nodded: "I am Taishi Ci of Donglai, a Lieutenant General under Liu Zhengnan. What important mission do you have, and why do you request to see me?"

The man was overjoyed and quickly replied, "I am Xu Zhong, a cousin of Xu Zhao. I have been sent by my cousin to see Liu Zhengnan and to give a detailed account of the military strength of Wu Nansun's army."

After discovering that Wu Jing had entered Yuhang, Xu Zhao immediately consulted with Gao Dai. The two discussed the matter at length and, after making a plan, found an opportunity to send Xu Zhong north to meet Liu Feng.

After leaving the city, Xu Zhong did not take the main road northward, but instead followed the Tianmu Mountains, intending to take the valley passage northward to Wucheng, and then take a boat to Wu County.

As soon as they entered the mountain pass, they saw Taishi Ci's camp, with Liu's banner flying high. This made Xu Zhong realize that Liu Feng's army had secretly sneaked to the vicinity of Yuhang.

Xu Zhong immediately sent two of his men back to Yuhang to report to Xu Zhao, and then took the remaining man to the main camp to request an audience. However, they were caught by a patrol team as they approached the camp and were mistaken for spies.

Upon hearing this, Taishi Ci was overjoyed, but his expression remained unchanged: "Oh? What token do you have?"

Xu Zhong looked at his chest and said, "My cousin has a silk letter that I sewed into my cotton coat. General, you may have someone open it and take a look."

Taishi Ci gave a signal, and one of his personal guards stepped forward, tore open Xu Zhong's cotton-padded coat, took out the silk book inside, and then turned around and presented it to Taishi Ci's desk.

Taishi Ci took the silk scroll and examined it. He found that it did indeed bear the signatures of Xu Zhao and Gao Dai. It also described the distribution of Wu Jing's various camps and the enemy's actions of rushing to transport grain to the south bank of the Qiantang River.

Xu Zhao expressed his desire to serve Liu Feng very frankly, and Gao Dai also endorsed Xu Zhao in the silk scroll.

Don't underestimate this. Gao Dai is quite famous throughout Jiangdong for risking his life to save Sheng Xian, especially in Wu County, where he is widely praised as a righteous man.

If Gao Dai is willing to endorse Xu Zhao, then the credibility of Xu Zhao's story increases by at least several times.

Before arriving, Liu Feng gave Taishi Ci orders along with a letter.

The letter reminded Taishi Ci to try to win over Xu Zhao and Gao Dai depending on the situation.

Therefore, Taishi Ci felt as if he had been blessed by heaven, as if someone had delivered a pillow to him just as he was dozing off.

Xu Zhao's silk scroll not only detailed Wu Jing's troop distribution, but also clearly recorded the city's defenses.

This can't really be blamed on Wu Jing. Xu Zhao is a local strongman, and Wu Jing is new to the area and busy transporting grain, so naturally he can't guard against Xu Zhao's spying.

Wu Jing is now personally stationed in Yuhang with 4,000 soldiers, but there are only 3,000 men in the city at most, while the other 1,000 are escorting and transporting grain along the way.

Qiantang and Fuchun each had 2,000 soldiers, half of whom were stationed in the city and the other half were used for escorting goods.

Yuhang City has four gates. Wu Jing arranged two hundred men at each gate and three hundred men at each city wall. The remaining one thousand men were divided into four groups: six hundred to guard Wu Jing in the Yuhang County Government Office, serving as a reserve force, and four hundred to patrol the city and suppress any unrest.

Taishi Ci immediately decided that he would take full credit for this great achievement.

He first sent someone to invite Xu Huang over, explained the situation, and then outlined his plans.

The plan was quite simple: use Xu Zhao as an inside man to work together from the inside and outside to directly capture Yuhang. If Wu Jing could be captured alive or killed in battle, that would be even better.

Xu Huang was a steady and composed person. When Taishi Ci spoke, he listened attentively without interrupting him.

After Taishi Ci finished speaking, Xu Huang finally spoke, asking only one question: "Are Xu Zhao and Gao Dai trustworthy?"

"Believable!"

Taishi Ci nodded solemnly. He had thought about this question carefully and felt that the other party was not trying to trick him.

Since he had only been in the vicinity of Yuhang for a day, even if the other party discovered their location immediately, it would be impossible for them to formulate such a meticulous plan so quickly.

Moreover, Taishi Ci was confident because most of his and Xu Huang's troops were veterans, and the new recruits were all surrendered soldiers, all of whom had combat experience.

Even in a head-on confrontation, he was not afraid of Wu Jing in the slightest.

Moreover, they haven't even contacted Xu Zhao yet, and it would take at least two or three days for them to exchange information. In that time, it's hard to say what will happen to the spies sent to Fuchun, but the spies in Qiantang will definitely be able to get back.

Once the intelligence is verified, it will be clear whether Xu Zhao is telling the truth.

If it's a lie, the information won't match up, and you won't fall for the trap.

If it's true, Wu Jing only has three or four thousand men. Even if the other side has a conspiracy, I'm confident I can defeat them with force.

As long as we are careful when entering the city and make sure our own people take control of the city gates, once we successfully enter the city, what do we have to fear from Wu Jing turning beans into soldiers?

Since Taishi Ci's guarantee was credible, Xu Huang had no further objections. He cupped his hands in a respectful gesture towards Taishi Ci: "I am willing to obey the general's orders!"

Taishi Ci was overjoyed: "Excellent!"

Following Taishi Ci's instructions, Xu Zhong quietly returned to Yuhang.

In ancient times, cities generally would not close their gates unless the enemy was discovered at the city walls.

Because the city's demand for supplies is too great, requiring large quantities of firewood, rice, oil, salt, vegetables, fruits, and most importantly, firewood.

Without firewood, there is no cooked food and no way to keep warm.

Ordinary people don't have much money, and the vast majority of them buy firewood on the same day, with almost no overnight wages.

This is also an objective reason why the city gates cannot be closed easily.

Xu Zhong was a local, speaking fluent Yuhang dialect, and returned to Yuhang city without any difficulty.

When Xu Zhong told Xu Zhao about the situation, the latter was overjoyed. He hadn't expected that Liu Fengjun was already right under his nose when he made the decision.

This is truly as if divine intervention.

Xu Zhao immediately sent someone to secretly invite Gao Dai over, and then explained the situation.

Gao Dai was pleasantly surprised upon hearing this.

“Kong Wen, I can mobilize about 1,200 to 1,300 men in the city, and I currently have 600 retainers in my residence.”

Xu Zhao made no reservations and revealed his trump card directly: "If you give me another two or three days to prepare, I can gather one or two thousand people from outside the city and bring them into the city in batches."

"No, we absolutely cannot summon people from outside the city. It would be too much of a commotion and would only alert Wu Jing."

Gao Dai immediately refused, and after a moment of contemplation, said, "We can't call everyone in the city; we can only gather the most reliable people."

“My wise ruler, we are risking our lives. If the Wu traitor finds out, we will both die without a burial place.”

Gao Dai cautioned, "It's not about the quantity of manpower, but the quality. They must be absolutely trustworthy; otherwise, if things aren't kept secret, failure is inevitable!"

Xu Zhao was immediately persuaded by Gao Dai and decided to focus on the six hundred retainers in the manor. The others in the city would be contacted after the operation was launched. They didn't need to attack the city gates; they just needed to create chaos in the city to attract Sun Ce's army's attention.

Soon, the two sides finished their discussion. This time, instead of writing a letter on silk, they directly informed Xu Zhong of their reply to prevent the other party from being arrested unexpectedly, leaking the news, and causing the death of Xu Zhao's entire clan.

Fortunately, Xu Zhong's departure from the city went quite smoothly, and the advantage of being a local once again came into play.

Sun Ce's army mainly investigated outsiders, after all, just a few months ago, Yuhang and Qiantang had joined Zhu Zhi in rebellion, contributing money, food and manpower, and leading a force of several thousand people northward to cooperate with Sun Ce in attacking Youquan.

Zhu Zhi had only been gone from Yuhang for three to five days, and no one could have imagined that someone in Yuhang would actually rebel.

After leaving the city, Xu Zhong headed straight for Taishi Ci's camp.

Taishi Ci and Xu Huang had been waiting for him for a long time.

After meeting, Xu Zhong revealed Xu Zhao's plan: at midnight the following day, Xu Zhao would lead his troops to seize the north gate, and they agreed that the city's outsiders must provide timely support.

Otherwise, if Wu Jing reacts, even if we seize the North Gate, we may not be able to hold it against Wu Jing's army's counterattack.

Taishi Ci did some mental calculations: he would cook lunch, set out with his troops at 3:45 PM, and arrive outside the city before midnight.

There was no other way to set this time. It was 3:45 PM in the Shenshi era (4:30 PM in later times), when it was almost dark and the sun was setting. At this time, there were hardly any people in the countryside.

However, since it wasn't completely dark yet, the elite troops could use the daylight to travel for a while.

Since they couldn't march with torches after the raid on the city, Taishi Ci specially selected three thousand elite soldiers without night blindness, led by Xu Huang, to serve as the vanguard.

Taishi Ci himself led the follow-up troops out one by one. If the sneak attack failed, he would immediately switch to a full-scale attack, not giving Wu Jing the time and energy to quell the internal strife.

While waiting for news, Taishi Ci has already built more than a dozen cloud ladders, and will continue to build more. He will also bring them with him when marching tomorrow night, determined to kill Wu Jing in one blow and not give him any chance to make adjustments.

Having received Taishi Ci's approval, Xu Zhong returned to Yuhang excitedly and reported the news to Xu Zhao and Gao Dai.

When the two heard that Taishi Ci had agreed and inquired carefully about what Xu Zhong had seen and heard, they breathed a sigh of relief.

"Wise ruler, General Taishi's troops are all elites, this is a good thing."

Gao Dai specifically reminded Xu Zhao, "The success or failure of this matter hinges on the city gate; we must take it down in one fell swoop."

Xu Zhao was also filled with fervor and immediately declared, "Kong Wen is absolutely right. I will personally lead my troops and command them in battle."

Gao Dai nodded, and then said, "Since Your Majesty has made your decision, I will naturally accompany you. Let us act together."

Xu Zhao wanted to persuade him further, but Gao Dai's attitude was very firm, so he had no choice but to compromise.

In fact, Gao Dai's actions were not entirely out of loyalty. His mother was also in Yuhang City. If Xu Zhao failed, he and his mother would be trapped and unable to escape.

Since that's the case, he might as well go into battle himself. If they encounter any emergencies, at least he can give Xu Zhao some advice.

After the discussion, Xu Zhao immediately slaughtered pigs and sheep to reward his troops. At the same time, he prepared the weapons, taking out several sets of iron armor, more than twenty bows, even ten heavy crossbows, and more than a hundred sets of leather armor from the warehouse and distributing them to his elite troops.

The next day, the soldiers under Xu Zhao and Tai Shici got a good night's sleep, a rare treat. When they woke up, smoke was already rising from the mansions and camps, indicating that food and rations had been prepared for them.

At 3:45 PM, the gates of Taishi Ci's camp opened wide, and Xu Huang led the way, sending his team out in single file. Guided by the guides sent by Xu Zhao, they sped towards Yuhang.

Meanwhile, in Xu Zhao's residence in the city, apart from the lack of wine, Xu Zhao provided a large amount of meat and fine rice for his retainers to enjoy at their leisure.

Later that evening, after everyone had finished their meal and rested for an hour, by the time the moon was deep and it was nearly noon, Xu Zhao's men were fully armored, their long swords and halberds gleaming coldly in the moonlight.

"action!"

Xu Zhao gave a low shout, and four burly men pulled hard, opening the gate of the Xu residence.

Subsequently, Xu Zhao's men, exuding murderous intent, left the Xu residence in an orderly fashion under the guidance of their respective officers, heading towards the north gate of the city according to the pre-arranged plan.

Wu Jingjun only had three thousand men in the city, and only five patrol teams. They couldn't possibly patrol them all. Xu Zhao, the local tyrant, had already figured out their patrol routes and times.

Therefore, the journey went quite smoothly, with none of the men speaking and no patrols encountered.

(End of this chapter)