Chapter 48: The Robbery of Food (3)

Zhao Gang's small suggestion played a big role, and sure enough, there will be traitors anywhere, and they are not monolithic, which really fulfills the famous saying "People die for money, birds die for food".

In less than two days, he bought several Yuan soldiers from Gucheng, Nanzhang, and Xinye. The condition is to send information for ten taels of silver, including the departure time, transportation route, and troop allocation.

Zhao Gang originally wanted to buy a few more traitors as an internal response, but was vetoed by Li Chao. He only thinks that he needs to spend more money to buy the Yuan people of the pro-Song faction. Because since the traitors can betray the Great Song Dynasty, it is very likely that they will be tricked to ask for merit for the Yuan people and benefit themselves.

Although his suggestion was rejected by Li Chao, he agreed with Li Chao's opinion: it is necessary to spend more money to buy the pro-Song faction, so that the information obtained will be more valuable and the battle will be easier to win.

After Li Chao sent a few agents, he reported the specific content to Shi Bin for approval. Shi Bin adhered to the principle of "employing people without suspicion and without suspecting them", and instructed these agents to be directly responsible for Li Chao, and only need to send a list to Changsha for the record.

"Acting cheaply" mostly refers to military operations, and ordinary military commanders of covert operations such as intelligence agents are not qualified to intervene.

But Shi Bin let him take full control, which really made him happy and worried, happy that Shi Bin trusted him so much, worried that he was afraid that he would live up to Shi Bin's trust in him, after all, intelligence work is not much more difficult than fighting on the battlefield.

But with such a great freedom of movement, he naturally made him full of energy, and he admired Shi Bin's courage and courage even more.

In order to repay Shi Bin's absolute trust in him, Li Chao immediately scattered more than 20 intelligence officers near Xiangyang, who were specifically responsible for exploring the grain transportation routes and military deployments of the Yuan people. And let some soldiers with drawing ability also draw a rough picture of the terrain.

The first location was Valley City, where there were indeed many Yuan soldiers patrolling, and there was hardly any chance of attack.

The second location is Nanzhang, where the grain guard is very conscientious and guards the five miles from the airtight.

The third location is Xinye, where the grain is generally transported by a battalion of Yuan soldiers and two battalions of puppet soldiers, but since Shi Bin burned grain, once the amount of grain transported exceeds 1,200 stones, two battalions of Yuan soldiers and two battalions of puppet soldiers will be sent to protect the grain.

According to what the Yuan Bing said, he knew that the grain guard was more utilitarian and liked to compete for merit. Therefore, the amount of grain and grass transported is quite large, and there is hardly anything less than 1,200 stones.

But the Grain Warden is a cautious and suspicious person, and will stop moving forward at the slightest mistake. Although he was so often ridiculed, his bread was the hardest to eat.

However, because of this, his grain is the best, and once the grain robbery is successful, the profit will be the greatest. This war is not like doing business, and it will not engage in any trickle. Those who are bold and starve to death must seize the opportunity.

Now that there is time, route, quantity of grain and grass, temperament of the grain guard, and the opportunity to calculate or not, if you don't make a move, it will only attract shame.

Thinking that there were still a few brothers in Tanzhou who looked at them enviously, hoping to come to rob the grain, Li Chao and the others immediately checked the route on the map. There are two official roads from Xinye to Xiangyang, one leads to the south of Xiangyang City, and the other leads to the north of Xiangyang City.

Although there is also a waterway from Gucheng to Hujiawan, the river is too shallow and the water and land are staggered and not suitable for large-scale grain transportation, so they can only take the land route. After Hujiawan, you can take both water and land, that is to say, there are a total of three roads to Xiangyang, which will greatly increase the difficulty of robbing grain.

In this way, the best place to start is the land route between Chengwan and Xinye, and there are many valleys in it, which are very suitable for ambushes, but not suitable for cavalry pursuit, so Li Chao slightly modified the original plan.

In the end, Li Chao decided to lay an ambush in a valley closest to Chengwan, dividing his four battalions into three parts: one battalion of the army equipped with firearms blocked the way back to Xinye County; The first battalion of dart divisions and the first battalion of bandits lay in ambush on the hills on both sides of the valley, the first battalion of sailors blocked the way of the grain guards to Chengwan, and the last battalion of sailors guarding the water transit station pressed in the direction of the valley after seizing Chengwan to assist the army in preventing the escape of the Yuan soldiers' grain guards.

Zhao Gang proposed: Once the Yuan soldiers retreat, in order to return to the city safely, the combat effectiveness will be greatly increased, and it is likely that there will be soldiers who will cross the blockade line to the county seat to move to rescue the troops, and the battalion army that blocks the retreat of the Yuan soldiers should be equipped with more firearms, increase long-distance killing, and try to avoid hand-to-hand combat. Zhao Gang himself was responsible for stopping the advance of the Yuan soldiers and trapping them in the valley.

Li Chao stressed that the combat effectiveness of the soldiers on both sides and at the front end of the valley is not very strong, and more rolling wood and crossbows should be arranged, and the naval army should be ready to respond and prepare enough transport ships.

After setting a battle plan, Li Chao and Zhao Gang drove the army and went straight to Xinye. When they arrived near Xinye, the scout cavalry really found the grain guard, as the Yuan traitor said, the grain guard officer was a very cautious and suspicious person.

Every twenty miles, they ordered the army to rest, and they would be on guard whenever there was any trouble, and their scouts and cavalry would advance for at least five miles, which made it difficult for Li Chao and them to start.

Although the puppet army is hanging, they also have the appearance of an army under the command of this grain protection officer, at least they can march in a neat line, and they still seem to have some combat effectiveness, and they are not completely a rabble.

Just as Zhao Gang was looking at the group of soldiers in a daze, Li Chao ordered a few soldiers from mountain people to set up a few traps for catching beasts. Zhao Gang was very puzzled by his inconsequential order. What to do before a war to do a trap? What is this for, scaring the snake?

The mountain people are very good at making traps, and those soldiers will not die if they are hit, but will only hang on to that one and call "help". Slowly, Zhao Gang seemed to understand something, but he still didn't think it through. I only think that this is to let Yuan Bing get used to this silent mountain forest, there is a little sound.

But he still didn't understand it at all, and couldn't help but think that if such a regular soldier fell into a trap, wouldn't it attract the attention of the grain guard?

Seeing the change in his face, Li Chao had no choice but to explain with a smile: "Brother Zhao, I believe you have already guessed a little." It is indeed to let the Yuan soldiers get used to the sound of this forest, which will also make the grain guard a little vigilant. ”

However, he didn't explain anymore, but his face revealed a wicked smile.

Sure enough, after the Yuan soldiers and puppet soldiers who were scouts and cavalry were hit a few times in this hilly area, but were rescued unscathed, everything began to change a little.

You know, there are only a thousand days to be a thief, and there is no thousand days to prevent thieves. No one can bear to be tied up by the traps of the mountain people every once in a while, and because of this, the entire food protection team has repeatedly fallen into a tense atmosphere.

It is precisely this point that after the vigilance happened a few times, the Yuan soldier food guard team has become accustomed to this trap, and for the sake of safety, the detection range has also been reduced from the original five miles to three miles, and it is already exhausted.

Seeing a series of changes in Yuan Bing, Zhao Gang pointed at Li Chao and laughed, and said: "Li Chao, Li Chao, I thought that only Wang San was 'Zhiduoxing', but I didn't expect you to be a water bandit, and you southern monkeys are too powerful." ”

"Brother Zhao has won the award, I am not as good as Wang San. What's more, this strategy may not be successful, the grain guard looks like a resourceful battlefield general, you see that although he is very tired, he still insists on scouting the way, it is estimated that it will be difficult to get into the trap. ”

After three times when the detective horse fell into the trap, the grain guard did continue to move forward and did not immediately retreat to Xinye. However, when the old fritter entered the valley, he divided the troops into two parts, one battalion of Yuan soldiers and two battalions of puppet soldiers in front, and one battalion of Yuan soldiers in the back.

Li Chao couldn't help but admire the strategy of this grain guard when he saw this arrangement, but he couldn't retreat after he gave a military order, and this battle must be fought no matter what.

He also correspondingly changed the original battalion of men and horses that blocked the enemy's retreat into a battalion of firearms and half a battalion of cold weapons, and equipped those soldiers with more wooden handles and thunderbolts.

At the exit of the valley towards Hujiawan, only half a battalion was left to hold on, and Zhao Gang was ordered not to seek total annihilation, as long as he guarded until most of the Yuan people in the valley were annihilated, and everything was subject to his orders.

The two battalions of puppet troops in front of the Yuan soldiers had just entered the valley, and Li Chao did not order an attack, until the four battalions of men and horses had completely entered and walked two miles, and the Yuan soldiers of the rear battalion were almost on the mountainside, he ordered the tiger squat cannon and the wooden handle to attack with all their might. The half battalion of cold weapons soldiers used bows and crossbows to shoot the Yuan soldiers to consolidate the defense on the top of the mountain.

Firearms and cold weapons are an absolute advantage, and the terrain is very favorable to the Song soldiers, the most important thing is that the strongest combat force is from behind, and they are caught off guard.

Although there were two battalions of rabble in the Song army, they did not participate in hand-to-hand combat, but only pushed some rolling wood and stones halfway up the mountainside.

Although the grain guard officer was captured alive, he was still full of arrogance, and when he saw Li Chao coming over, he said: "I really didn't expect that I would capsize in the gutter of your little guy for more than ten years." ”

Knowing that although the rank of this Yuan soldier general is not high, he is definitely a warrior, so he motioned to his subordinates to loosen his ties and chatted with him: "The junior wants to ask a question, I wonder if you are willing to solve my doubts?" ”

"Say!" The Yuan General said coldly.

"You seem to have seen my little carving skills, otherwise you wouldn't have divided your troops. But why keep going and not be in the city? Li Chao asked.

"I can indeed see that although I am cautious, the current Song army is vulnerable, so I am ready to attack and annihilate Er and others in front and back. It's just that I didn't expect you to be bold, not to burn grain but to rob it. It must be known that it is difficult to transport back this looted grain, and I don't think Song Jun has the guts. If you want to kill, you don't have to bother talking... ”

Li Chao knew that it was his luck and the advantage of weapons that he succeeded in robbing grain, not how high the plan was.

What's more, the grain guard thought that he was not enough to see these young people who could only use animal traps, so he was recruited because he took the initiative to enter the trap because of the light enemy.

Although the grain guard would rather die than give in, Li Chao still killed him, he didn't think that if he spared that Yuan Ren's life, he would be grateful to Dade for no longer fighting against the Great Song Dynasty.

Ordered to take all the heads of the Yuan soldiers cut off and the 1,400 stone grain and grass looted to Chengwan Wharf.

As for those puppet soldiers, after Zhao Gang angrily cut a few, they were released by Li Chao, but they were asked to bring back a piece of news: it was the army under Shi Bin, the commander of Tanzhou, who robbed the grain.

Everything was as planned, the ship went down the river through Xiangyang City, temporarily stockpiled grain and grass in Jingzhou, and gave Jia Rudao twenty Yuan soldiers' heads.

In Changsha City, Shi Bin was so happy that he didn't sleep for three days when he received Li Chao's good news, and sent the good news to Meng Heng in an expedited manner of 600 miles.

Such a best-in-class result made Shi Bin, Meng Hui, and Jia Yidao all happy.

Meng Hui and Jia Yidao each sent their cronies to Shi Bin to express their support for Shi Bin's grain robbery, but they needed to know the two of them.

Shi Bin didn't care about Song Ting's reward, he was happy that Meng Heng and Jia Yidao's recognition gave him greater freedom of action. As long as he can make good use of it, there will be another way to expand his strength.

Because as his reputation increases, the territory will also get bigger, and in the end, he will definitely sweep through the Yuan soldiers and turn the entire battle situation around.