The next day, after breakfast, Ding Qian, Xu Gang, and Yang Kai disguised themselves as horse dealers. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Although in order to weaken the combat effectiveness of the Song army, the Empress Dowager Xiao of the Liao State ordered that the Liao people were not allowed to sell horses to the Great Song Dynasty, but driven by interests, those horse dealers did not listen to the ban of the Empress Dowager Xiao at all, and they opened up a smuggling channel by bribing the Liao generals who guarded the border, and Xu Gang was very familiar with this channel.

In order to avoid arousing the suspicion of the Liao army, Ding Qian decided to avoid crossing the river from Xiongzhou, but to make a detour to Yi County, from where he infiltrated Youzhou City, an important southern town of the Liao army, to spy on important information.

Yi County is in the northwest of Xiongzhou City, which was originally under the jurisdiction of Xiongzhou Prefecture, but has now been occupied by the Liao army.

Yang Zongbao, Zhang Zhifu and others sent Ding Qian, Xu Gang, and Yang Kai to the west of the city, and said to Ding Qian: "Lord of the army, this time I went behind enemy lines, it is best to spy on intelligence, if not, don't force it, life safety is the most important." ”

Ding Qian smiled and said lightly: "Marshal, don't worry, you must return with a full load." Although it is dangerous to go to Liaojing, it is not a tiger's den, and it is a tiger cub. What's more, there are two brothers Xu Gang and Yang Kai to assist! ”

Governor Zhang said to Xu Gang: "Xu Tuanlian, this time your task is to protect the safety of the adults joining the army, do you understand?" ”

Xu Gang nodded and said, "Lord Prefect, don't worry!" As long as I Xu Gang is here, I will definitely ensure that the adults who joined the army will return intact. ”

Yang Zongbao also said to Yang Kai: "Yang Kai, you have been joining the army with Ding for more than ten days, you must be vigilant when you go!" ”

Yang Kai patted his chest and said, "Marshal, don't worry, I don't know what others know, you don't know!" ”

Yang Zongbao said: "Yang Kai, you are all right there, but you are a little blind and arrogant, this is not very good, you are going to go deep into Youzhou, Youzhou is an important town for the Liao people in the south, not to mention that the king of the southern courtyard who has been in the town there is the imperial uncle of the Liao country, so Youzhou City must be very strictly guarded, not a place that is easy to enter and exit." ”

Yang Kai nodded and said, "Marshal, you know, you will definitely act carefully." ”

Yang Zongbao said: "Okay, then you should hurry up and get on the road, there is still a long way to go from here to Yi County!" ”

Ding Qian, Xu Gang, Yang Kai and others jumped on horseback, hugged their fists to Yang Zongbao and Zhang Governor's Mansion and said, "Marshal, Governor, please go back!" ”

Yang Zongbao, Governor Zhang clasped his fists and saluted back: "Take care!" ”

Ding Qian gently patted the horse's neck, and the yellow horse ran out of the city gate and ran in the direction of Yixian, Xu Gang and Yang Kai also urged the horse to catch up from behind.

Yi County is more than 100 miles away from Xiongzhou City, and the three of them arrived at the east gate of Yi County at noon.

Xu Gang stopped his horse and said to Ding Qian and Yang Kai: "Both, if there is a Liao army defending the city when you enter the city for a while, you try not to make a sound, and I will deal with everything." ”

Ding Qian nodded and said, "It's easy to say!" Let's get into town! ”

The three men jumped off their horses and walked towards the city gate with the slowly moving crowd, where on each side stood four Liao soldiers with scimitars and soap tassel guns, led by a small army commander, to check the pedestrians entering and leaving the city gate.

The little commander of the Liao army, who was standing there looking around, saw three people dressed as horse dealers, and hurriedly came over and shouted: "Stop, you three people are from where you come from, and you are going there again." ”

Xu Gang hurriedly stepped forward and said, "My lord, I ran out of Xiongzhou City, don't go back to your hometown in Youzhou through Guibaodi." ”

Xiao Wu said: "I heard that there are 100,000 troops of the Song Kingdom in Xiongzhou City, is it really true!" ”

Xu Gang nodded and said: "Yes, my lord, those Song soldiers are now red-eyed, and when they see our Liao people, they will arrest them to build city walls, moats or something, so we escaped, otherwise if we escape late, I am afraid that this little life will be lost in Xiongzhou City." ”

Xiao Wu said: "Don't talk nonsense, don't pretend to be pitiful, there is no Bodhisattva here!" As he spoke, he stretched out his right hand to Xu Gang, and the three fingers were still twisting there. Xu Gang looked at his heart and said: "No wonder your kid hurriedly ran over as soon as he saw the three of us coming, oh, I thought that the horse dealers were all rich masters who came to beat us in the autumn wind." So he took out five taels of silver from the jacket he was carrying on his shoulders and stuffed it into the hand of the little Wu Chang and said, "My lord, it is not easy for you to abandon your family and business to guard here, so take out these few taels of silver and buy some wine to drink!" “

Xiao Wu Chang took the silver and smiled: "Okay, your boss is worthy of being a person who goes south and north, just start a business, hurry up and go to the city!" ”

Xu Gang waved his hand behind him and said, "Two brothers, the adults have already let you go, hurry up and enter the city!" ”

Ding Qian and Yang Kai hurriedly led their horses and followed behind Xu Gang, and the three of them entered the city very smoothly.

When you go to the street, you can see that although it is a wartime and the street looks a little depressed, many shops are still open in order to survive, but few people are interested in them.

After walking for a while, Yang Kai said, "Xu Tuanlian, can you find a place to eat first." ”

Xu Gang turned around and glared at Yang Kai and said, "What are you calling at me?" Didn't I tell you when I came out that we called each other brother or brother? ”

Yang Kai hurriedly said: "Yes, Brother Xu, I'm really sorry, I forgot about it in a hurry just now, I will definitely pay attention to it next time." ”

Ding Qian said: "Yang Kai, this is under the jurisdiction of the Liao Army, you must be careful when you speak and do things." Don't be careless. ”

Yang Kai nodded again and again: "Okay, two old brothers, I know, carelessness will lose Jingzhou." ”

The three of them walked forward along the street for a while, and Xu Gang pointed to a small shop on the street with a Ma Ji flatbread and said, "Two brothers, let's have a bite at this shop, it was opened by a friend of mine." ”

Ding Qian nodded and said, "Okay!" ”

The three of them tied their horses to the stakes in front of the door and went into the bunks.

As soon as the shopkeeper saw Xu Gang coming, he hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Xu Tuan......"

Xu Gang hurriedly interrupted him and said, "Brother Ma, is business okay now?" As he spoke, he glanced at Brother Ma.

Brother Ma came over and said, "What's good, it's good to deal with the bastard food, Brother Xu, you are going to sell horses again!" ”

Xu Gang shook his head and said: "What kind of horses are you selling in this mess, why don't you go back to your hometown in Youzhou with these two old brothers, and avoid it for a while!" ”

Brother Ma said: "Okay, let's sit down quickly!" ”

Ding Qian sat down, and then carefully looked at this small cake shop, this shop is indeed very small, and it can only set three tables when it is small.

Ding Qian, the three of them occupy a table, and two middle-aged men occupy a table, and the other table has no guests for the time being, so it seems that this business is also very light.

Brother Ma said: "What are the three of you doing?" ”

Xu Gang looked at Ding Qian, Ding Qian didn't speak but nodded, which meant that he could just have something to eat.

Yang Kai said: "Shopkeeper Ma, if you have any good wine and good food, just go to the top, you have been running for most of the day, and your stomach is so hungry that you really have to treat the five stove gods." ”

Brother Ma said with a smile: "Look at what this little brother said, now that the war is in chaos, what good wine and good dishes are there, only flatbread and freshly boiled hand-grabbed mutton, and the village wine brewed by the local villagers." ”

Yang Kai said happily: "It's best to have this hand-grabbed mutton, hurry up and bring a big pot, come to two jars of village wine, by the way, a few more garlic." ”

Brother Ma said: "Okay, wait a minute!" As he spoke, he pushed open the door and entered the kitchen, and soon came out with wine and meat and placed it on the table.

Yang Kai seemed to be really hungry and couldn't be humble, stretched out his hand and grabbed a large piece of mutton from the basin and dipped it in salt, and devoured four or five pieces of garlic, then he took the wine jar and poured a big bowl of wine, drank a big sip and said: "Enjoyable, enjoyable!" It's been a long time since I've eaten meat like this! ”

Ding Qian slowly chewed the mutton and said, "Then you should eat more, so as not to cry hungry again on the road." ”

Yang Kai said: "It's okay, isn't this shop selling flatbread, let's bring more flatbread when we leave for a while, and we won't be hungry halfway." ”

Xu Gang smiled and said, "Brother Yang, you kid is really not stupid. ”

Yang Kai smiled proudly: "Of course, brother, I am also a person who often runs outside, and I don't know how to prepare more dry food for walking, is this called being prepared!" ”

At this time, the two middle-aged men at the next table had finished their meals and walked out of the store.

Brother Ma then walked over and said to Xu Gang: "Xu Tuanlian, you didn't stay in Xiongzhou City, why did you come here." ”

Xu Gang said: "Brother Ma, I was ordered by the marshal to go to Youzhou to spy on the military situation of Liao, and these two are my companions. ”

Brother Ma said with concern: "Oh, then you must be careful, I heard from the Liao soldiers who came here to eat that the Empress Dowager Xiao of the Liao State has also allocated a lot of soldiers and horses from Xinglong Mansion to Youzhou City, and is preparing to go to Xiongzhou to meet Marshal Yang Zongbao!" ”

Ding Qian asked: "Brother Ma, do you know how many Liao troops have come this time, and who led the army." ”

Brother Ma smiled and said, "The people who come to eat here are all small soldiers, and I can only listen to the detailed information there." But it seems that there are a lot of them, what three rivers and six countries, nine ditches and eighteen villages, and thirty-six tribes have been dispatched. ”

Xu Gang listened and said: "His grandmother's, it seems that Mrs. Xiao of Liao is really ruthless this time, and she has the meaning of not giving up if she does not enter the Central Plains." ”

Ding Qian said: "Brother Xu, don't look at the menacing Liao army, but it's not terrible, their soldiers and horses are all patched together by various tribes, it should be that the face and heart are not in harmony, each has its own heart, and its purpose is no wonder that it is just to take the opportunity to get some benefits." ”

Xu Gang said: "That's right, every tribe is willing to work hard for Mrs. Xiao." ”

Brother Ma said: "Actually, none of the small soldiers in the Liao army are willing to fight. I was afraid that I would die in the Central Plains and become a homeless lonely ghost. ”

Ding Qian nodded and said: "So don't look at the Liao army now, in fact, it is already the people's back." Those who have not yet gone to war have shown signs of defeat. ”