In the twelfth year of Tianfu, April 7, Xuzhou, Xiapi.

Today is the day of the market, Xiapi as the county seat, but also the surrounding villages and towns to catch the market, so it is a little more lively than usual, and at noon, it is precisely the time when the flow of people is the most, not to mention the restaurants, that is, the street stalls and vendors are crowded with customers, most of them just eat a bowl of the cheapest somen noodles, and then start to sell their goods along the street.

Fresh vegetables, freshly picked fruits, woven bamboo baskets, delicately embroidered shoes, and a separate street for farmers to sell their chickens, ducks and piglets.

Wang Kun and his entourage rode into the city, but they were not interrogated by the guards at the city gate, but it is not surprising that today is the day of the market, if the guards check one by one, maybe until dawn the next day, they may not be able to finish the investigation.

The guard just glanced at Wang Kun's customs clearance document casually, and looked at the style or something, so he waved his hand and let Wang Kun and them in, and the people behind him didn't even look at the customs clearance document.

"It saves us a lot of trouble," Wang Kun shook his head and smiled bitterly, and said softly, "Is it really good to still act like this in this troubled world?" ”

"Prince, this town is lively," Ye Lang suddenly stepped forward and asked, "I wonder how long we will stay in Xiapi?" Something to visit nearby? ”

Wang Kun still shook his head, "No, Xiapi, no one...... Accessible. ”

"We're just resting in Xiapi and resupplying, and then we're going to continue south, and what is really worth our visit is further south."

"Huaiyang?" Ye Lang asked tentatively.

Wang Kun nodded, and suddenly said to the people behind him, "Let's go, go find a place to live, if you want to go shopping, settle down before going." ”

......

......

In the evening, the bazaar began to disperse, leaving only a mess everywhere.

The few men who went out shopping also returned to their residences one by one, because it was a market day, an inn did not have so many empty rooms, so their group was divided into two waves, Wang Kun, Ye Lang, Liu Yichen, and Liu Qin and Liu Cheng, plus two of the twelve Golden Armor Guards lived in one inn, Wu Ji, Wen Yu, and the remaining nine Golden Armor Guards lived in another one, fortunately, the two inns were not far apart, but two or three hundred steps.

Those men returned to the inn with large bags of things, and those who didn't know thought they were sellers from where they came from, if it weren't for the innkeeper who was impressed by these burly men, maybe they would have been driven out.

Wu Ji, Wen Yu and other eleven people did not return to the room, they asked the shopkeeper in the lobby of the inn to serve a few plates of snacks and food, and brought a few pots of wine, it seems that they are going to "drink" a few glasses before going to sleep.

Wang Kun actually gave them a tael of silver for the odd spend, but each of them came back with a large bag of things, not that they were forced to buy and sell, relying on their vicious appearance to bully those who sold goods on the street, but those things were really cheap, and their whole money of one or two silver was only found in those big shops on the street.

Wu Ji still remembered that he only bought a few mountain fruits, five cents, when he took out the two silver, the old man who sold the goods was so frightened that he hurriedly waved his hand, saying that he didn't want the money, let Wu Ji take it directly, Wu Ji had to put down the things, go to the nearby store to find change, and then go back here to buy those few mountain fruits.

When I asked afterwards, I learned that this was a common trick used by those scoundrels in the county town, buying a little cheap little things, and then taking out a tael or even more silver, so that these small traders could not find it, and then took something to say that they were looking for money, so they left, plus Wu Ji's eyes were a little vicious, so the old man who sold goods unconsciously regarded Wu Ji as one of the scoundrels.

A man put down a big bag of peanuts he bought, took a handful of them to the table with both hands, and said with a smile, "Eat, eat, everyone, this big bag of peanuts costs me seventy yuan, if it is in the imperial capital, it is less than three hundred yuan, and I will definitely not be able to buy it!" ”

Wu Ji grabbed a few peanuts, peeled off the shell, and threw the peanut kernels into his mouth, which tasted really good, and then he patted the man's shoulder, laughed and said, "Haven't you ever eaten peanuts?" How do you buy so much at once? ”

"Anyway, you can put the peanuts away, buy more and eat them on the way," the man smiled and said, "I'm afraid that these won't be enough to eat in the next place." ”

Several other men also sent handfuls of small snacks they bought to the table, mountain fruits, candied fruits, pancakes, as well as sticky gray candy, sesame sugar, inch dates, maltose......

These things, they can indeed be a seller, Wu Ji even doubted that they had bought all the things of the person who sold them.

Everyone gathered in the lobby, talking and laughing, a few glasses of wine, everyone's face with a hint of red, the inn's Xiao Er watched from a distance, quietly swallowed his saliva, those things on their table, they also wanted to eat, originally planned to go out to buy some today, but there were too many guests, too busy, the shopkeeper did not let go, he had to give up.

Thinking about it, Xiao Er suddenly sighed, he shrunk his neck, hid himself behind the counter, and took a nap.

"Hey, head, speaking of which, I seem to have seen a few weirdos today." The man who had bought a big bag of peanuts said suddenly.

"Weirdos?" Wen Yu couldn't help laughing, "I think a few of you are weirdos!" How can anyone buy something and buy all the stalls? ”

"Doesn't this make him go home early and rest?" The man scratched his head and laughed, and the others laughed as if they weren't one of the "weirdos."

"Then tell me what kind of weird person you are, even weirder than you." Wen Yu said, raised his head again, drank the wine in the bowl, Wu Ji held a wine jar, saw that Wen Yan's wine bowl was empty, without saying a word, stepped forward to pour him full, and then poured it for himself, raised the wine glass to everyone, and took a small sip.

The man cleared his throat and said, "I'm a person, if nothing else, I have a specialty. ”

"What's the specialty? Could it be ......" the other man next to him couldn't help but tease.

"Go, go, don't interrupt," the man who bought the peanuts scolded with a smile, and returned to his serious face, "As long as I meet someone once, I will not forget, no matter how ordinary his appearance is, I will not confuse him with others." ”

Wen Yan nodded and motioned for him to continue.

The man paused, and then said, "When I went to the street today, I saw three people, they gathered together, walking along the street, like tourists shopping, but in fact, they were not, their eyes were never on the goods on the side of the street, but kept staring at the city wall, I thought it was the first time they entered the city, I had never seen it, so I wanted to look at it a few more times, so I didn't care, but soon, when I went to buy peanuts, I saw them again, they were, they were still looking at the city wall, so coincidentally, when I went to eat noodles, I met them again, They were also at the noodle stall, while eating, while whispering to the city wall to discuss something, so I became interested, and after eating noodles, I quietly followed them for a while, and found that they were observing the manpower deployment of the city wall all the way, probably ...... I want to know about the city defense situation of Xiapi. ”

Hearing this, everyone's faces became solemn, and Wu Ji also put down the wine jar in his arms and asked in a low voice, "Are you sure you didn't admit your mistake?" Are they really the same people? ”

"Yes." The man nodded heavily.

"Then Xiapi, it may not be safe." Wu Ji sighed.

"What do you mean by that?" Wen Ji turned his head and asked, Wen Yu is the guardian of the imperial city, he is a martial artist, but he is not proficient in marching and fighting, because he himself plays the role of "guard", and Wu Ji, who is the general in charge of guarding the city, knows things and must know more than him.

"You guessed right, they are spying on the situation of Xiapi's city defenses," Wu Ji raised his head and said to the man who had just spoken, "They pretended to be ordinary people and entered the city, wrote down the general security arrangements of Xiapi city defenses, and estimated the approximate number of defenders in Xiapi, in order to find out the weakest point of the city defense during the siege, and then break through in one fell swoop." ”

"But I have a question," Wu Ji frowned, "Xiapi's city defense is not weak, he is a county in Xuzhou, and the defenders have not 10,000 but 8,000, and here, if you want to defeat Xiapi, it can't be someone from Tuoba Yan's side, and now he comes to attack Xiapi, it will be of no use to him at all, but he will lose his soldiers in vain, there are only two possibilities, or, it is a nearby state and county, planning to attack Xuzhou and annex Xuzhou, the most likely, it is Yingzhou Mu Xu Muzhi, he has the greatest ambition, other state pastors, They won't do it until the others start to open the curtain of the melee, but Xu Muzhi has been busy clearing out the rebels in Yingzhou recently, and he has long been anxious, and it is impossible for him to draw his troops at this time and cross so many states and counties in Xuzhou to fight a Xiapi close to the south, and the last possibility is those. As far as I know, the main force of the Red Turban Thieves is still north of the Chijiang River, and the strength of the other small groups of rogues is not enough to defeat Xiapi, or rather, they will not risk losing most of them to take Pi. ”

After listening to Wu Ji's analysis, Wen Yu was confused, he hesitated for a moment, but still spoke, "What is that ...... Who will come to lay down Pi? ”

Wu Ji pondered for a moment, and finally spoke, "Probably those rogues. ”

"If they form an alliance."

......

......

Twenty miles away from Xiapi, Yulin Town.

The spies who inquired about the defense of Picheng finally returned to Yulin.

"General Bao, we have counted carefully today," the man in the lead half-knelt in front of Xu Zhi, hugged his fists and said, "The Xiapi garrison, about 9,000 people, including the south of the city, the west of the city, the east of the city, the defenders on the city wall are about 500, and the north is a little more, about 800, in addition, the camp of the Xiapi army is one mile south of the city, and there are about 2,000 garrisons stationed in the city. ”

Xu Zhi nodded slightly, he raised his head and glanced at the people around him, "Everyone, your people...... It's all here, right? ”

Night is approaching, and crows are chirping.

Outside Yulin Town, several dense phalanxes were gathering towards Yulin Town, and the guards in Xiapi were still dreaming of peace.