News about this incident quickly spread in the military camp. Some of the news was passed down through normal channels to appease people, but most of the news was spread privately by soldiers, and some people added their own imagination intentionally or unintentionally:
It is said that a lot of Cao Jun's spies sneaked into the military camp. They rushed into the tent where the gunpowder carts were placed and killed many soldiers guarding the gunpowder carts. Although the soldiers guarding the gunpowder carts resisted, they were unable to do so due to the incident. Suddenly, coupled with the desperate attacks of these craftsmen, these craftsmen succeeded, igniting a gunpowder cart, blowing up a tent, and killing several guards. Beach of flesh and blood. 1 (1) The entire Shu camp is now under martial law, and all soldiers are prohibited from entering or exiting.
Although the soldiers were a little surprised when they heard this, they didn't cause too much trouble in their hearts. Most of them muttered: "Oh, that's it!" Then they relaxed and fell asleep again.
This loud noise also startled Liu Jia, who had just fallen asleep, and the quilt on his body was thrown to the ground by his panicked body. He jumped up and loudly asked the guards around him: "What happened?"
Naturally, the guards looked confused and looked at each other with pale faces. They didn't know how to answer Liu Jia's question. The officers such as E Huan and others were much smarter. They shouted and arranged for the guards to pour in from outside. The soldiers ordered them to surround the tents of Liu Jia and others, and at the same time sent people to the scene of the accident to inquire about the news.
When the news reached Liu Jia, Pang Tong, Xu Shu, Zhang Song, Li Hui and others also came over. Of course, Huang Zhong, Zhao Yun, Wei Yan and others, who were good at running the army, led their guards and generals to patrol the barracks calmly, scolding and suppressing the panicked soldiers. After most of the soldiers have settled down, they will capture those Cao Jun soldiers whose whereabouts have been exposed.
When Wu Tu Gu heard that it was Cao Jun's trick, he was so angry that he shouted: "Damn Cao's thief, he actually did such a dirty trick! Search! Search the whole camp, ask questions one by one, we must kill these bastards Fish them out, **, I¡¯m going to eat them alive!¡±
Several generals naturally agreed with this habitual approach. Everyone stared at Liu Jia with wide eyes, waiting for Liu Jia's order. So they went out and searched tent after tent, devouring the fine work alive.
Liu Jia was naturally filled with anger, and was even more shocked that Cao Jun had so many tricks lurking in his military camp. Fortunately, their main purpose this time was to burn the gunpowder carts. If they were targeting him, then wouldn't he have any? Dead? Thinking of the previous assassination of Guan Feng, Liu Jia felt a chill in his bones. It seems that this counter-espionage work needs to be further strengthened. Li Hui's work must be devoted to this aspect. Liu Jia also knew that with these meticulous actions, he would not be able to kill himself who was well-defended. But if they attack desperately like tonight, it is entirely possible to kill their own generals or counselors.
Thinking of this, Liu Jia looked at Pang Tong, Xu Shu and others in panic, especially Pang Tong. He took a few more glances, because according to the true appearance of that time and space, this ugly Pang Tong died in Yizhou by random arrows from Zhang Ren's soldiers. Under the situation, he did not die because he was born out of the blue. Who knows whether his destiny has been completely changed by his arrival or whether he may return to the old path of short-lived life?
But Liu Jia discovered it. When he looked at Pang Tong, he saw Pang Tong indicating something with his eyes. He was a little confused at first about what Pang Tong meant, but soon he calmed down and thought of something. He said to the general who was looking at him and giving orders: "Let's stabilize the troops first. First, I would like to ask you generals to work harder. Walk around in the camp more to calm the frightened soldiers. Now that the water is dripping and turning into ice outside, it's so loud to shout like this. Let's get them out of the tent with a loud shout. Maybe our own soldiers have frozen to death before Xizuo catches them. We can wait until daytime tomorrow to discuss everything."
"Yes!" Several generals were puzzled. They clasped their fists in salute and then filed away.
Li Hui, who was responsible for counter-espionage, apologized and asked: "I deserve to die! I really didn't expect that there were so many agents of Cao's army in the military camp. I don't know why the King of Shu didn't take advantage of the agents' panic to deal with them. If they ran away, Or hide among our troops again, then we will still be in trouble in the future."
Pang Tong interjected: "Sir, don't blame yourself for now. Just do more in this area from now on. Cao Jun has been at war with us for so many years, and we have captured so many of his soldiers. Most of the strong soldiers have been incorporated into our army." troops. We have no way to figure out their thoughts one by one. It is still possible to hide dozens or even hundreds of craftsmen among the tens of thousands of soldiers who come here anyway. This is mainly because we pay so much attention to it. At the same time, through money To change them, they can use material guidance and win battles to change them. Now on the surface, it seems that Cao Cao's army has the upper hand. A few people who are determined to follow Cao Cao make careful instigation.?It is possible that the soldiers who were still wandering around and were uneasy followed them. Through this operation, there must be a lot of details about following Cao Cao with all his heart. In the future, our counter-espionage work may be better. Sir, first go and take a look at the places where we hide gunpowder and stone paint. Especially those places where large amounts of gunpowder are stored must not be discovered by others. "
Li Hui quickly got up and left, almost running. It seemed that he was really anxious and scared. Several people smiled silently when they saw Li Hui, who was usually very steady, losing his composure. Zhang Song and others also went out to do repair work, and only Liu Jia, Pang Tong, and Xu Shu were left in the house.
Pang Tong sat down in front of a roundtable, smiled and said to the two of them: "Haha, good thing. I just don't know if any of these craftsmen have escaped. It would be better if a few of them escaped."
Liu Jia said in confusion: "Just now Shiyuan stopped Jia from raising troops at night, and Jia understood it. Now Shiyuan says that this is a good thing, and hopes that Cao Jun's secret work will escape and inform Cao Jun, so Cao Jun will not be allowed to do it." Did you know that we loaded the gunpowder in the car to blow up Cao Ying? How good is this?"
Pang Tong asked with a smile: "How is the effect of our treatment? What is the purpose of our suffering here now? Have you remembered?"
Liu Jia was still a little puzzled, and Xu Shu asked: "The effect is average. After all, there is not much gunpowder. Isn't it that we are enduring the severe cold here just to defeat the main force of Cao's army and rescue General Ma Chao and the others? But this has nothing to do with Xizuo's plan. What's the relationship? What good will they do after they take our news out?"
"Ahem! Why don't you think about what we have been doing for the past ten days? Aren't you digging pits day after day? Isn't it that we want Cao Jun to believe that our gunpowder must be buried underground to be useful? Without pits, there will be no gunpowder. How useful is it? They have always been doubtful. Now someone has revealed this information to Cao Cao, so why not do it? Haha" Pang Tong's smile did not diminish.
The other two people looked like they were suddenly enlightened. Liu Jiaze quickly called a guard to come in and ordered him to summon Wei Yan, who was guarding the camp gate tonight, to come in.
Seeing that the two men understood this meaning, Pang Tong added: "In addition to reporting false news to Cao Cao to stabilize their inner doubts, another advantage of today's incident is that the details hidden in our troops will basically be revealed. Exposed.¡±
"Basically everything is exposed?" Liu Jia asked in surprise.
"Of course. They risked their lives to invade the place where we stored the gunpowder carts. Unless they were determined to follow Cao Cao's meticulous work, they would not do it, and they would not have the courage. This time, more than twenty people died. At least half of them are soldiers who were loyal to Cao Cao and wanted to serve him. Isn't it a good thing that they died?" Pang Tong asked.
Pang Tong continued: "Think about it, we have also sent detailed work to Cao Ying and Soochow. Are we willing to let them act so recklessly for one thing? They are the source of our information, and we will not do such big things. We are so willing to give it up. This is what we have worked hard for many years, poured in countless efforts, and spent countless money to make it. We will never do this kind of thing unless we have to. There are two reasons why Cao Jun is doing this now. One is that this The battle is too important to allow for any mistakes. Even if all these workers die, it is still worth it as long as they can achieve their goals. Secondly, what they want to do is too important, and they must do it."
"Is it about burning down our gunpowder cart?" Xu Shu asked.
"It's very possible. The King of Shu sent a letter to Cao Cao saying that they have severe cold weather to take advantage of. We have gunpowder to rely on, especially when we used gunpowder twice in Jiangyou Town and Shangyong City to achieve great victory, which made Cao Cao suspicious. They really couldn't figure out what the power of this gunpowder was. During this period, instead of retreating, we mobilized large troops from various places to garrison in the city. In addition, we played the game of digging holes day after day. Cao Cao was afraid and became more confused. . He must be thinking, is this gunpowder worse than the cold? Why are we still digging the pits and trenches when we know they can¡¯t be dug? He couldn¡¯t sleep without figuring this out. So they did this." Pang Tong analyzed.
At this time, Wei Yan, who was responsible for guarding the gate tonight, walked in dusty, hugged Liu Jia and others, and then stood in front of them waiting for Liu Jia's questioning.
"General Wei, since the explosion, has anyone ran out of our camp and gone to Cao's camp?" Liu Jia asked.
"Back to the King of Shu, absolutely not!" Wei Yan replied affirmatively, as if he was afraid that they would not believe it, so he added another sentence. "Not to mention this special period after the explosion. As soon as the sound rang out, we sent extra manpower, and the number of patrolling soldiers doubled. Even in normal times, our military camp is under martial law. There are no special symbols, not to mention the human company. No dog can escape. Absolutely not, Wei can use the head on his neck as a guarantee."
? ?The president smiled and said: "No? It's a bit difficult to handle! It seems we still have to find a way."
Wei Yan was stunned when he heard this and thought: "What happened to this gunpowder explosion? How come even the resourceful Mr. Pang Tong was blown away?"
At this time, Pang Tong said: "General Wei, you should go back to the military camp to rest now, and General E will do it when you are on duty. Tomorrow morning you will lead five thousand soldiers to Cao Jun's camp to challenge!"
"Yes!" After hearing the order, Wei Yan immediately calmed down and replied loudly.
Just as he was about to turn around, Pang Tong ordered again: "Before departure, briefly explain today's situation to the soldiers. Tell them that a group of Cao soldiers who were hiding in our camp rushed into the place where we placed the weapons at the risk of death at night. Lighted one of our gunpowder carts. They not only killed ten of our guards but also eight of our soldiers. We are going to avenge them. At the same time, we told them that we also captured their people. Our soldiers killed The gunpowder exploded and killed three of them. In addition, General Wei pretended to be frank and said that Cao Jun was struggling to his death. We are not afraid. We still have four gunpowder carts in the camp. Less than 10% of our gunpowder land, we will continue to transport more gunpowder from Chengdu. Today they blew up one of ours, and tomorrow we can replenish ten! It won¡¯t take long before we can use ten, hundreds, Thousands of vehicles to blow up these disgusting Cao soldiers."
"Wow! This is all true. So once word reaches Cao Ying, Cao Cao will be unhappy to death?" Wei Yan said.
Liu Jia said: "General Wei, just do what Shi Yuan said. By the way, the general can also privately say that the details of the internal affairs of the military camp will be handled after returning from Cao's camp, and that these people will not be able to escape sooner or later. You can say that"
At dawn the next day, Wei Yan ordered five thousand men and horses seemingly casually according to Li Huidi's prompts. After urging the soldiers to eat a few potatoes for breakfast, they gathered in the square.
According to Pang Tong¡¯s order, Wei Yan told the soldiers that yesterday¡¯s situation was 30% false and 70% true:
"Yes, these thieves sent by Cao were hiding in our troops, but did they succeed? No! Although they killed eighteen of our loyal soldiers, they also exposed themselves . Even the craziest they are, they can't stop us from defeating Cao's army, or from finally wiping out the traitor Cao Cao. Yes, they can't stop us. Although one of our five gunpowder carts was blown up, we still have four, and our gunpowder The loss is less than 10%. As long as our vehicles are made, we can make ten or a hundred of these vehicles. Can they stop us? No! We want to avenge our dead soldiers!"
The anger in the soldiers' chests was ignited and their morale was aroused. As soon as Wei Yan finished speaking, the soldiers started shouting. Although the shouts were of various kinds, there was no doubt about their passion. Only the excited shouts were heard in the camp, and even the surrounding soldiers who were not training for combat tasks also shouted and shouted. :
"Avenge the dead soldiers!"
"Kill Cao Cao!"
"We will use one thousand or ten thousand gunpowder carts to blow up Cao Jun."
"Go directly to Xuchang and blast the Cao thieves into pulp!"
"Cut them into pieces with a thousand knives!"
¡¡
At this time, a low-ranking officer in the team shouted loudly from below: "General Wei, why don't we find the soldiers in the barracks first before attacking Cao Jun? Maybe there are soldiers sent by Cao Jun in our team. They want to attack Cao Jun." What if we are stabbed in the back while fighting on the battlefield?¡±
Hear this cry. The five thousand soldiers almost all stopped shouting at the same time. They all watched helplessly as Wei Yan stood in front of them, riding a war horse and about to go into battle. Wei Yan pondered for a moment and said loudly: "Brothers, don't let everyone be in danger. After all, the number of soldiers sent by Cao Jun is very small. After such a battle yesterday, almost all of them died. There may be some in our team. One or two craftsmen, but they didn¡¯t dare to make any moves. Yes, they didn¡¯t dare. Even if they had the courage, they wouldn¡¯t dare to do anything behind our backs! Besides, since they were craftsmen, they must have hidden it very well. One or two We can't find anyone here at the moment. Our main task now is to fight. If we can't find these two details now, won't we go to war? Absolutely not! Someone in the military camp is investigating yesterday's incident. Things, when we come back from the war, those little tricks will be caught.¡¡±
Another voice said loudly in the team: "Actually, it's easy to find out who is a spy."
As soon as this sound came out, some of the small voices just stopped and became quieter. They were all looking at each other and listening quietly, wondering if there was any good solution. Several people in the team felt huge tension in their hearts.
Wei Yan, who was standing in front of the team, was also stunned.He asked loudly and freely: "What's the easy way?"
The voice said: "It's very simple. Whoever got up before the explosion last night may be Cao Jun's spy."
After hearing this, many people became excited: some cheered loudly; some began to look around; some had pale faces, but because they were tightly wrapped and most of their faces were frostbitten, others didn't know ; Some secretly rejoiced; others simply pointed at other people and shouted:
"Yes, you got dressed and went out yesterday!"
"It seems like you haven't slept either!"
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But soon someone objected, and some shouted with trembling voices: "It's unfair! The little one got up to pee."
Many people seemed to be waiting for the advice and rushed to say:
¡°I¡¯m also peeing down there!¡±
"The younger one is changing his frostbite medicine, Niu Er can testify!"
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When Wei Yan saw that the soldiers were in a mess: some were trying their best to argue, some were giving random instructions, and some were gloating, he quickly shouted: "Stop! There are so many details in the military camp? Don't be suspicious, and Those who make loud noises will be punished as disrupting the morale of the army and will be killed!"
The noisy soldiers suddenly fell silent. It's just that their hearts didn't really calm down, and a few of them even broke out in a cold sweat in such a cold weather.
The team led by Wei Yan set off quickly and arrived in front of Cao Jun's camp. Cao Jun also unexpectedly came out of the camp today to greet him. Maybe they also wanted to find out what happened in the Shu camp last night. Although it is difficult to ask directly from Shu soldiers, as long as a few prisoners are captured, it is not difficult to understand what happened last night.