Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 297 Sneaking into the City but Not Recognized

When Liu Huai was eager to capture the Jin navy base, Wei Sheng, as if with telepathy, also surrendered to the remnants of the Wuxing Army in Yishui County.

Outside Yishui County, there used to be a bustling market at the water gate leading to Yishui. However, since the war began, the caravans have disappeared, and the prosperous trade has quickly declined. The market has become deserted, and it looks eerie in the cold rain, like a ghost cave.

In the evening of that day, when it was getting dark, Dianlun put on a straw raincoat, held his belt, and began his inspection on the top of the city wall.

The man first looked at the smelly human head on the pole, sniffed unconsciously, and sneezed twice because of inhaling a lot of cold air.

Someone behind him quickly said, "Master Adian, have you caught a cold? Do you want to put on more clothes?"

Dian Lun held the knife and shook his head, saying, "It's okay, I was just a little bit bothered by the smell of Master Zhu San."

The five people who followed him on his inspection tour of the city wall burst into laughter. The person who had just spoken said, "Sir, you are joking. This is also Mr. Zhu's fault. If this guy hadn't contradicted the commander-in-chief, he wouldn't have suffered such a terrible thing and implicated his entire family."

The head lifted up by the high pole was naturally Master Zhu Tianshou.

To be honest, Meng Tian, the state guardian, had wanted to kill him a long time ago, because the inexplicable military intelligence document he produced was too eye-catching.

Not to mention that Tu Danzhang, who wrote this confidential document, has no trace left and the army he led was completely wiped out, so the landlord Zhu Tianshou at the time is highly suspected.

Although Zhu Tianshou may have various explanations, Meng Tian, the guardian of the country, was not a prosecutor or a magistrate, and there was no need for evidence to kill people.

What's more, since it concerns the entire army, they would rather kill the wrong person than let him go.

The only reason Zhu Tianshou could survive for a few days was to serve as a dog and help the Jin army oppress the people of Yishui County.

When the people of Yishui County were finally exploited, Zhu Tianshou was no longer useful.

A few days ago, at a small banquet, Zhu Tianshou, who thought he had escaped danger, was hit to death on the spot by Meng Tian, the state guardian, with a copper pot because he was just a little slow in raising his glass.

The Wuxing Army soldiers, who had been prepared in advance, attacked together, surrounded the Zhu family compound, rushed in, killed and looted everyone.

Dian Lun naturally knew about this. In fact, he even directly participated in the operation to besiege and kill Zhu Tianshou's forces.

When the Wuxing Army retreated in defeat, Dian Lun immediately realized that the opportunity had come. He quickly seized the opportunity and, when Meng Tian was at his weakest, he recommended himself as a member of the Jurchen nation, saying that he was willing to live and die with the army.

Dianlun's identity was real, and he had lived in Liao for a long time. His accent and habits were recognizable at a glance, and he was quickly accepted by the Wuxing Army. In order to boost the morale of the army, Meng Tian, the guardian of the country, immediately appointed Dianlun as the marching commander.

In any case, the Wuxing Army suffered a great defeat, with heavy casualties. The ranks of the marching officers suffered heavy casualties and there were many vacancies.

Dian Lun was also decisive and directly brought all the brothers of the Wu Gang under his command. This was a form of protection and also a preparation for the next war.

Now the Loyal Army is only besieging the city but not attacking it.

If the siege officially begins, Dianlun can use some tricks, or even directly send in the Loyal Army.

"You two, go watch from either side." When they reached the left side of the water gate, Dian Lun held his sword and pointed at two of his men, saying, "I want to have a private conversation with Mr. Song. Do you know how to do it?"

"I know, I know!" The two men responded hurriedly and quickly walked away in both directions along the top of the city wall.

Dian Lun looked around and saw that the view of this corner on the city wall was blocked and no one was paying attention to it. He immediately called Song Tiezhang and Zhang Bo behind him, took out a thick hemp rope from under the firewood pile, and threw it under the city wall.

There was a tall house under the city wall that seemed to be built by tax collectors, but it had been mostly demolished and only ruins remained.

The figure who had been hiding in the shadow of the low wall ran out quickly, took a running start, jumped up from the low wall, grabbed the rope, exerted force with his arms, and kicked with his legs, climbing up the city wall like a monkey.

When the four men met, they just nodded to each other and threw the rope under the firewood pile. Then they heard a "General" from the north.

This was the signal given by the soldiers who had just been sent out on sentry duty. It should be that an officer from the Wuxing Army was coming.

However, at this time, the four of them were all standing on the top of the city wall. There was no shelter around them, and there was no place to hide. Song Tiezhang and Zhang Bo immediately became a little panicked.

"Shut up and look outside the city!" Dian Lun and the people outside the city remained calm, only shouting: "Pull your straw hat down."

Song Tiezhang and Zhang Bo quickly did as they were told.

Just as the two men had finished packing, the rustling of armor mixed with footsteps came from around the corner of the tower. Three armored soldiers wearing straw raincoats were patrolling the city walls. Dian Lun recognized one of them; it was Ba'atul, the head of Meng Tian's personal guards.

The man's arm seemed to have not recovered yet, his posture was a little crooked, but his steps were still firm.

"General!" Dian Lun knelt on one knee and said loudly, "I am patrolling the city. Please give me your orders."

Atu'er was about to say hello, but was embarrassed by Dian Lun's words. He quickly waved his hand and said, "Dian, don't be so polite every time we meet. I'm not a general, I'm just a guard."

Dian Lun said nothing, but remained kneeling on one knee until he pulled Atu'er up. Then he said, "General, is everything okay?"

"It's fine, it's fine." Ba'atul nodded and looked outside the city again.

Although the current situation is that the Zhongyi Army is attacking and the Wuxing Army is defending, the defenders of Yishui County are not always nervous.

On the one hand, the Loyal Army did not launch a large-scale attack. More importantly, there were two Zhujiazhuang villages to the south of the county seat as barriers. The three places supported each other. The Loyal Army had no way of skipping Nanzhuzhuang and Zhushuizhuang and directly attacking Yishui County.

Sending Atu'er to patrol the city was just a routine inspection, not to target anyone. He had nothing to say about Dian Lun, a low-class Jurchen who relied on the Wuxing Army to rise to power.

At this point, if we don’t trust the Jurchen nation, who else can we trust?
However, just as Atu'er was about to leave, he suddenly saw a man from outside the city with whip marks all over his face. He felt that he had never seen him during his patrols in the past few days. He frowned and asked, "Who are you? What's your name?"

Song Tiezhang listened from afar, a drop of cold sweat mixed with the cold rain and flowed down from his forehead. His right hand, which was holding the sword, tightly grasped the handle under his straw raincoat.

"General, my name is Xiemao Zhanggu," the man from outside the city replied in standard Liaodong dialect. "I used to be a cavalry slave in Zhu Tianshou's household. I joined the army a few days ago and followed General Adian."

"Riding slave?" Ba'atur was instinctively skeptical, but looking at the whip marks on the man's face, he suddenly understood something. After a moment's hesitation, he said, "Are you really called Xiemao Zhanggu?"

Although Xiemao Zhanggu was nervous, he remained calm on the surface: "It is indeed Xiemao Zhanggu."

Ba Tuer sighed to the sky, looked into the other person's eyes and said, "Then I'll give you another tip. Since you said your name is this, don't change it in the future."

Having said that, Atuer shook his head and left with the soldiers, leaving the four of them looking at each other in bewilderment, not knowing what was going on.

After walking a distance, one of the Jin soldiers couldn't help but say, "General, shouldn't we question that man carefully?"

Before Atu'er could answer, another soldier said impatiently, "What else is there to discuss? This man has calloused hands, broad arms, and bow legs. He's obviously a fierce cavalryman."

The soldier who asked the question still had some doubts: "Didn't this guy say he was a riding slave?"

Ba Tuer interjected, "This man is clearly a fierce soldier, a warrior even in our army. Is Zhu San crazy to abuse him instead of trying to win him over?"

The soldier gradually understood and became a little panicked again: "Then this man is the First Meng An..."

"Shut up." Ba Tuer scolded, "You're keeping this to yourself. The number one Meng'an is almost gone. If you take the lid off him, he'll be killed. Who will benefit from that? He's suffered so much, so let him live on under another identity."

It was normal for Tu Danzhang's 600 armored cavalry to suffer heavy losses in an ambush, but it was abnormal for the entire army to be wiped out and not a single person escaped.

Meng Tian, the guardian of the state, was also puzzled, but he found the answer a few days ago when he strangled the Zhu family. In the backyard of the Zhu family compound, the Jin army found the remains of more than 20 knights, almost all of whom had been poisoned.

In the cellar, several Jin army knights who had been tortured to the point of being half-human and half-ghost were found.

This naturally made Atuer almost furious. At that time, he thought that except for these people, all the survivors of the First Meng'an were killed by Zhu Tianshou.

But when he saw Xiemao Zhanggu today, Aturu quickly realized that there must be some people who escaped for fear of military law, and even some Jin army knights who defected to Zhu Tianshou.

What should we do with these people?
If the Wuxing Army was at its peak, it would be fine to kill or pardon them, but now... alas... it's already like this, why bother forcing our own brothers?

Moreover, Xiemao Zhanggu was a good man after all. He did not leave, but rejoined the army and lived and died with the Wuxing Army.

Looking at the whip marks on the other person's face, I think he must have surrendered to Zhu Tianshou because he couldn't bear the torture. Why not pretend to be confused?

Thinking of this, the three of them fell silent at the same time and just continued to patrol the city in the drizzle.

(End of this chapter)