Chapter 551: A very short encounter

"Brother Wan, I'm afraid I'm going to bother you again, so I'll go out of the city overnight......"

As soon as he sat down, Wang Luo got straight to the point and went straight to the point.

This dangerous job of going out of the city to liaise is only capable of Wan Shouqi.

At present, the West Gate is definitely impassable, and if you want to get out at night, you can only go to the Tang City Ruins in the northwest corner.

At this time, after being destroyed six years ago, Yangzhou City, which was rebuilt on the ruins, was an irregular square city, and in terms of the scale of the city, the area was much smaller than before the destruction.

The most obvious change is that in the northwest area of the city, three miles north of the Slender West Lake, the ruins of the Tang City outside the ancient ditch and at the foot of Guanyin Mountain were directly abandoned outside the city.

In addition to the lonely tomb of King Guangling of the Han Dynasty, as well as the left side of the tomb of Emperor Yang of Sui, there are still some remnants of bricks and broken monuments, which have long been deserted, and there are barren mounds overgrown with weeds everywhere.

The original two west gates of the old city, now there is only one water west gate, which is directly built near the Yuban Bridge in the Slender West Lake.

Not only that, along the Slender West Lake waterway to the north two miles, the northwest corner of the city, is separated from the Tang City by a ditch, the former extremely prosperous Song Jiacheng ruins, now has become a ruin.

Due to the massacre of the city by the Tartars, coupled with the continuous war and chaos, the number of residents in Yangzhou has decreased greatly, and the rebuilt houses and streets are basically in the southeast corner, near the canal.

Today, the ruins of this gloomy and barren site are crisscrossed with ditches, overgrown with weeds, and full of stinking ponds, and over time it has become a place where residents dump their excrement.

Therefore, except for rats and wild beasts, there is no trace of this area on weekdays, and ordinary people are reluctant to set foot in it.

Because of this, the Tartars were also negligent in their defense, and there were few soldiers stationed there, except for sending men to patrol from time to time along a ruined city wall on the periphery......

Therefore, as time goes by, it has become a hidden passage for lake bandits and thieves to enter and exit Yangzhou, kill people and steal goods.

Because of their livelihood by trafficking in illicit salt, Wan Shouqi and his family naturally knew all the mysteries of how to cross waterways, climb over walls, and how to hide from soldiers.

Wan Shouqi is young and strong, agile and flexible, and he is mainly responsible for leading the guys to secretly sell goods.

Therefore, Yangzhou City is full of water and land, where there are dark passages, where is the dead end, he is the most familiar with it.

As for Wang Luo himself, he is a person who sits at the counter, and is usually mainly responsible for building relationships and dealing with people from all walks of life on the bright side, and he is not good at everything in the field.

Secondly, only Wan Shouqi knows where to go after leaving the city to smoothly contact Mr. Gu and the leader of the Ming army.

It's just that at this tense moment when all the plants and trees are soldiers, even if Wan Shouqi goes out, this trip will definitely be very dangerous, so unless it is absolutely necessary, Wang Luo will not come forward and take the initiative to take this matter......

"Brother Wang doesn't have to worry too much, it's incumbent on you."

After listening to Wang Luo's introduction and ideas, Wan Shouqi didn't say a word, and was full of promises.

"Okay, then it's all up to Brother Wan."

Wang Luo got up and clenched his fists and shook deeply.

Without further ado, he immediately wrote a letter in secret language.

Until the letterhead was put into the envelope, Wang Luo was still very nervous, he chattered endlessly, repeatedly told Wan Shouqi that he must pay attention to safety, and after he got out of the city, he must hand over the letter to Mr. Gu as soon as possible, and then Mr. Gu went to the leader of the Ming army......

As for what kind of means the Ming army will take, it is not up to him to influence.

"Brother Wan, be careful in everything,"

Before leaving, Wang Luo took a deep breath and told again, "In case you encounter a tartar patrolling the city, don't be reckless, and act at the opportunity." ”

"Brother Wang, don't worry, I have a way, and I will definitely live up to my mission,"

Wan Shouqi's face was solemn, and he arched his hand and said, "It's just that today's farewell, the family members will have to worry about Brother Lao again." ”

"Don't worry, I will protect you with my life!"

……

In the evening of the same day, the Admiral Yamen gave a banquet to the merchants of the city.

However, there were not a few big families and chief executives who should come to the banquet, and only one of the big families who really had weight came to Cheng Da.

Although only one guest came, a large group of people followed.

For a time, hundreds of people blocked the entrance of the yamen to petition, shouting that they didn't know which rumor had spread, saying that Master Ma was going to set fire to the city, bringing all the men, women, and children in the city to burn......

The old, weak, sick and disabled knelt down on the street and cried together, asking Master Ma to "take the common people in the world as his bosom, and open the city without blood......

The news spread very quickly, and in half an hour, the city was full of storms, and the whole Yangzhou city was boiling, and the streets were full of people scurrying around like headless flies......

The uproar and commotion in the city attracted the attention of the reconnaissance team of the guard company outside the city.

Although they couldn't tell what was going on in the city, they still sent people to report to Company Commander He according to the regulations.

At this time, He Shouxin, who had not slept all night, was in the cabin, discussing something with Yang Yuan, the deputy company commander......

Yesterday evening, from the confessions of the captured soldiers, he only knew roughly that the situation in the city was unstable and the order was very chaotic, but to what extent the chaos was and what the officials from Ma Jinbao and below were planning, the soldiers knew very little.

However, from the confession of the soldiers, He Shouxin faintly felt that these Tartars who were trapped in the lonely city were likely to still set fire to the city when it was broken.

This worries him very much.

Once the Tartars are determined to break the jar at the risk of their own safety, not only is Yangzhou likely to be destroyed again, but the grain and salt that were originally planned to be requisitioned on the spot will also be reduced to ashes......

In the early hours of the morning, Yang Yuan rushed back to report to him an incident that aroused his greater vigilance.

At the end of last night, Yang Yuan, the deputy company commander, took the reconnaissance team and went all the way to the north of the city under the leadership of the guide.

As a result, around the clock in the middle of the day, a reconnaissance detachment led by him himself had a very short encounter with a strange group of centaurs.

There are three reconnaissance detachments, and according to the plan, one team is responsible for squatting and monitoring in the area of Guanyin Mountain in Shugang; The other team advanced to the area of Yinjiazhuang, north of Tangcheng; The third team was led by Yang Yuan himself, bypassing Tang City and continuing to search eastward, he wanted to go directly to the north gate to feel the movement of the Tartars.

At that time, they searched all the way along the north bank of the ancient ditch, and gradually touched the area around the north gate, but unexpectedly, when they reached the vicinity of the tomb of Emperor Yang of Sui, they suddenly bit the tail of a group of people and horses.

This group of people was less than a hundred people, and they marched silently, but the speed was extremely fast, and when Yang Yuan found them, he could only faintly see the back of the black press.

They immediately chased after them, and the gang soon spotted them, and as a result, they were the first to shoot their crossbow arrows backwards.

Obviously, the other party was not ordinary people, Yang Yuan immediately made a decision, and immediately organized the soldiers to attack, and after being knocked down by seven or eight people by the carbine, the gang dispersed in a hurry and quickly disappeared into the night.

Because the terrain was unfamiliar, Yang Yuan and more than a dozen soldiers chased after each other, but found that there was no one in front of them......

With doubts, Yang Yuan immediately examined the body.

Judging from the outfits, these corpses are not too strange, dressed in black clothes and black pants, and the blades in their hands are almost all simple knives, which is no different from the families raised in ordinary large villages.

However, Yang Yuan felt that things were not simple - ordinary family members of large families generally had few archers.

When the burden on their backs was opened, Yang Yuan's suspicion was immediately confirmed—these people must be the personal soldiers of a certain Tartar official!

The stakes were so high that he decided to rush back to the headquarters and report to Company Commander He in person......