Chapter Sixty-Six: Night Exploration of the Barracks

However, it was said that the eleven stick monks of Shaolin Temple did not get rice grain in Luokoucang, so they had to watch General He let the officers and soldiers close the camp gate.

Master Zhide saw that the sun was setting in the west mountain, and it was getting late, so he had to discuss with the monks: "We were ordered by the abbot to come to borrow grain, and now we are empty-handed, how can we go back to recover our lives, why don't we sleep here for one night?

Cause said: "Master, we received the abbot's decree to go down the mountain to get food, so go back empty-handed, the disciples are a little unwilling?"

He also said, "Master, because what Senior Brother said is that the disciples also think the same way, how can we work hard all the way in vain?"

Zhide saw the anger around him, and he nodded at himself, and then looked at Xu Zhi, An Jingsi and Xue Atan. An Jingsi said: "Master Zhide, the three of us also have the same idea as the senior brother, it is better to sleep nearby for one night tonight, everyone will discuss a good way to get food, and it will not be too late to return to Shaolin!"

As soon as An Jingsi finished speaking, Xue Atan also echoed: "What Brother An said is that if we don't get rice and grain, we will never go back to the temple!"

Seeing that all the disciples had the same meaning, Zhide had to lead everyone to settle down in the willow forest south of the granary.

At this time, a full moon rose, and the surroundings were like a white veil, and there was silence. Xu Zhi saw that the monks were sitting cross-legged, reciting the scriptures silently in his mouth, very pious, he didn't want to disturb the monks' homework, and quietly walked away. An Jingsi and Xue Atan saw Xu Zhi bowing his head and was silent, knowing that he was upset, they also followed.

Xu Zhi was striding leisurely, pondering what He Mengjiao said during the day, and felt that she had something to say and hinted at herself, but she couldn't be sure for a while.

Xu Zhi saw An Jingsi and Xue Atan following him closely, not leaving an inch, so he simply led the two out of the willow forest, and said to the two: "Two virtuous brothers, the eldest brother thinks that today's Qincha is very similar to Miss He, but I'm not sure, do you think it looks like it?"

Xue Atan replied: "The Qin cha of this court is seven or eight points long, like He Mengjiao's girl, especially the jade flute she holds in her hand, I, Xue Aniu, can pack the ticket, the Qin cha is Miss He, and Miss He is the Qin cha of the imperial court!"

An Jingsi also said: "Originally, I was very sure, but when I called her Sister He, she laughed at me for recognizing the wrong person!

Xue Atan shouted again: "Brother Xu, if you want to know if Qin Cha is Miss He, what's so difficult about this? Instead of guessing here, the three of us should ask her face to face!"

Xu Zhi couldn't help but applaud: "Brother Xue, good idea! The eldest brother decided to visit the military camp tonight to find out if that Qincha is a girl, I don't know what the two virtuous brothers think?"

An Jingsi first echoed: "Regardless of whether that Qincha is Sister He or not, even if the Luokoucang in front of him is the Longtan Tiger's Den, Jingsi is willing to go with the eldest brother!"

Xue Atan also replied: "Since the two eldest brothers don't care about life and death, they can't forget the younger brother if they have difficulties together!"

Xu Zhi said with a smile: "The two virtuous brothers are going, and they must follow the eldest brother along the way!" An and Xue both nodded in agreement.

Xu Zhi and the three of them took advantage of the bright moonlight to carefully inspect the topography and defense of the Luokou granary, there is a high lookout platform at the east, west, north and south gates of the granary, and the soldiers on it hold torches to patrol all night, and there are soldiers patrolling in line below. The granary is so well guarded that it may be difficult for even a bat to break in.

Just when the three of them were at a loss, Xu Zhi saw that the gate of the granary slowly opened, and a general and two retinues rushed to the camp gate on horseback and went straight to the willow forest.

Xu Zhi saw that the three horsemen were getting closer, and he thought about it, and whispered to An Jingsi: "Jingsi, when those three people get closer, you shoot them down with stones!

An Jingsi nodded in agreement, he looked at the direction of travel of the three people, shot six stones, and hit the front hooves of the three war horses respectively, the horse neighed a few times, raised its front legs high, and threw the three generals off their backs.

The leader of the general scolded: "Damn beast, blind, I want to kill this general, if it weren't for you to be useful, Lao Tzu would have slaughtered you a long time ago!"

The two attendants also scolded: "General, what's wrong with this horse tonight? The three horses won't all run into evil, right?"

Xu Zhi nodded at An Jingsi and Xue Atan, they jumped out of the grass violently, pressed the three generals against the vital point of the three generals with wooden sticks, and asked, "What other tasks do the three generals have to perform at night?"

Seeing that Xu Zhi and the three of them were very fierce, the leader trembled and said: "A good man spares his life! Now that the granary is besieged and disturbed by the hungry people day and night, the imperial court has sent a young and beautiful female Qincha, who is not careful, and as soon as she comes to the barracks, she will privately give the military food in the warehouse to the victims. The guard general Chen was afraid that Qin Cha would be merciful, but he missed the military affairs of the imperial court, and sent the villain to Dengfeng overnight to ask the court for his life!"

Xu Zhi asked again: "I see! How can I enter the granary?"

The general said: "The heroes want to enter the granary? There are three teams of archers and three battalions of spearmen, and they are well defended, not a villain boasts, even a fly can hardly fly in!"

Xu Zhi asked, "What is the specific layout of the granary?"

The general said: "The whole granary has four gates in the southeast, northwest and northwest, there are three layers of fences inside, each layer of fence is one zhang high, the camp of officers and soldiers is on the outer layer, and the innermost two layers are thousands of stacks of tunzi, which stores nearly one million loads of grain and grass. ”

Xue Atan said to himself: "According to this, such a large camp is both a granary and a barracks?"

The general smiled and said, "That's what the good man said!" An Jingsi interrupted: "Silly Niu, do you still need to say this? This even a fool knows, and you still need to ask?"

Xu Zhi suddenly asked, "Since this camp is a big barracks, where are your equipment and war horses placed? Do you want to consult General Chen for the transfer of war horses and ordnance?"

The general said: "We have two armories and stables, respectively in the northeast and southwest corners of the camp! The good man guessed correctly, and all arrangements in the army must be approved by General Chen!"

Xu Zhi glanced at An Jingsi, An Jingsi nodded, and said viciously: "We are all hungry people with red eyes, killing people without blinking their eyes, if you can't say a good way to enter the camp tonight, we will kill you!"

In the hazy moonlight, the general saw An Jingsi's hideous appearance of Lei Gong, and couldn't help but gasp, and said reluctantly: "Good man spare your life, the little one really doesn't know how to let you get into the granary!"

At this time, an entourage took advantage of Xu Zhi's inattention, struggled with his body, turned over a few times, and wanted to take the opportunity to jump into the river to escape, but was unexpectedly discovered by An Jingsi, An Jingsi didn't have time to think, and popped out two stones with both hands, blinding his eyes, and the man twisted his body painfully and let out a scream of "whoop".

Xu Zhi sneered: "Then how did you enter the granary freely, don't the guards worry about the enemy's spies getting in? If you don't say it again, that entourage is an example for the two of you!", after speaking, he pointed to the entourage who was lying on the ground and howling.

Seeing that Xu Zhi said a word, the general didn't dare to hide it anymore, so he had to helplessly take out a gold medal from his waist and said: "Good man, we don't dare not tell the truth anymore, we are free to enter and exit the granary with this gold medal!"

Xu Zhiyi snatched the gold medal from the general's hand, saw the three words "Luokoucang" engraved on it, and said with a smile: "I have wronged the three of you first, if everything goes well, I will naturally let you go, otherwise today next year will be your sacrifice day!", after speaking, he and An and Xue changed into the clothes of the official army, and gagged the three generals and tied them to three big trees in the depths of the dense forest.

Xu Zhi and the three of them led the three wounded war horses, and then turned back to the south gate of the granary camp, the general guarding the gate supported his sleepy eyes, checked the token handed over by Xu Zhi, yawned, and asked, "Why did the three of you complete the task so quickly?"

Seeing that the guard was looking him up and down, An and Xue secretly lowered their heads, clenched the weapons in their hands, and if the situation was not good, they just waited for Xu Zhi to give an order, and rushed in.

Xu Zhi lowered his head and replied: "We were ordered to go to Dengfeng to ask for help, but we didn't go far, when this damn beast passed through the dense forest, it was better to be frightened, and his front leg was injured, and he actually overturned the three of us to the ground, why don't we ask General Chen, whether to change the three war horses and set off again!"

The guard general said impatiently: "You three are really unlucky, you go quickly, it's too late, the general is going to rest!"

Xu Zhi and the three of them entered the granary camp with apprehension, and the deployment of the entire camp was as the general said, the granary was heavily guarded, and it was impossible to ransack the camp.

Xu Zhi and the three took advantage of the darkness of the night, lowered their heads, and led the injured horse to the southwest corner first, and saw that there was indeed a big stable over there, and there were many war horses of various colors neighing, and the three of them had the courage to hand over the injured horse to a soldier who managed the stable, fortunately, the soldier saw that they were wearing the robes and armor of the official army, and did not have suspicions.

Xu Zhi and the three decided to go to He Mengjiao to discuss countermeasures, but the three of them saw that the outer layer was densely covered with tents, and the three of them didn't know which tent He Mengjiao would live in, and they were worried that they would be noticed by the soldiers patrolling the night, so the three of them had no idea for a while, and they couldn't identify them one by one.

An Jingsi whispered to Xu Zhi: "I remember that Sister He can play the jade flute, why don't you use the flute to contact her, Brother Xu?"

Xue Atan said: "Although this method is good, it is also too dangerous, if there are soldiers who are alert and come to investigate, the three of us will not only not be able to see Miss He, but will also expose our identities!"

Xu Zhijian'an and Xue's words made some sense, but in danger, he didn't dare to take a risk, so he had to find another way.

Xu Zhi pondered for a while, and suddenly had an idea in his heart, he whispered: "Miss He came to inspect the Luokou granary at the behest of Princess Xiuyun, and the main general guarding the camp will inevitably hold a banquet to welcome her, so as long as we find the main general's Chinese army tent, we may be able to meet Miss He!"

Xue Atan asked stupidly again: "What Brother Xu said makes sense, but how can we find the main general's Chinese army camp tent?"

An Jingsi said: "Since it is the big tent of the Chinese army, it must be the innermost middle! I don't know which direction is the middle of the southeast, northwest, and northwest?"

Xu Zhi said: "Jing Si, you have made great progress in thinking now, if you are right, then Brother Xu guesses that it should be the center of the South Gate camp?"

An Jingsi was puzzled: "Why is Brother Xu so sure?"

Xu Zhi smiled and said: "Have you all forgotten that this south is respected, as the commander of the first battalion, he must have the most noble status, and his residence must be the camp of the Chinese army at the south gate?"

An and Xue both praised: "Brother Xu is so meticulous in judgment!"

According to Xu Zhi's judgment, An Jingsi and Xue Atan went straight to the camp at the south gate, Xu Zhi followed closely, and sure enough, two guards with knives stood outside a camp tent, and the tent was brightly lit, noisy, and staggered.

An Jingsi and Xue Ah Tan walked around the back of the two guards, slammed them on the back of the head, knocked them unconscious and dragged them to the grass not far away, and then the two of them replaced the two guards and stood in the doorway.

Xu Zhi saw that An and Xue were very alert, nodded and smiled at them, he saw that there was a dense big willow tree behind the big tent of the Chinese army, he jumped on the willow tree silently, coiled the branches with his feet, hung a golden bell upside down, put his ears close to the tent, held his breath, paid full attention, and used the internal strength of Wudang Qianli to listen to the words in the tent.

The voice of a chief general said: "General He came to us today to convey the princess's greetings, and all the generals of our Longmen Cang are deeply grateful." General He, I'm ashamed to say that although we have a lot of food, we don't have a lot of delicacies to entertain Qincha, only a glass of water and wine, and I invite General Haihan!"

He Mengjiao smiled: "General Chen, you are too polite. Now the people of the Central Plains are struggling to make a living, starving all over the land, and the general is sitting on a huge amount of money, but he still has to cry poverty?"

The chief general said with a smile: "General He doesn't know, without the holy decree of the imperial court, even a load of rice and grain can't provide disaster relief, so today's subordinates have to stop the general from continuing to provide disaster relief, and ask General He to understand the difficulties below!"

He Mengjiao said with a smile: "Ben Qincha didn't mean to blame General Chen, but he also brought the princess's edict under him, and ordered Luokou and Longmencang to transfer 100,000 loads of grain and grass each, and transport them to Xuzhou and Dengfeng respectively, and there must be no mistake!", after speaking, he took out the edict of the imperial court.

Lord Chen hurriedly knelt down to take the decree and praised: "The minister received the decree, may the princess be a thousand years old!"

After He Mengjiao read out the edict, she asked: "General Chen, how do you escort these 100,000 loads of grain and grass to Dengfeng, this has to pass through the territory of Shaolin Temple, I heard that the Shaolin monks have coveted these rice grains for a long time, how can the general ensure the safety of the grain and grass and not fall into the hands of those monks?"

Lord General Chen patted his chest and said: "Please also ask Her Royal Highness the Princess and General He to rest assured, I will lead 3,000 troops in the next meeting and personally escort this batch of granaries to Dengfeng!"

He Mengjiao asked again: "What route do you plan to take, can you guarantee that nothing goes wrong?"

Lord Chen said with a smile: "We plan to walk more south and bypass the Shaolin Temple, so as not to worry about those bald donkeys, but the granary is transported to Dengfeng, and we must pass through the Xingxing Gorge under the Shaolin Mountain, if we are ambushed in this place, it will be wasted, and please Xiuyun and General He send troops to support and occupy the canyon in front of the Shaolin Temple!"

He Mengjiao said with a smile: "General Chen's words, I will definitely tell the princess when I go back." The general is far-sighted, so that he admires it. ”

Master Chen said with a smile: "Only in this way can we ensure that nothing goes wrong!" But General He doesn't have to worry too much, as far as I know, the imperial court has eyeliner in the Shaolin Temple, so every move of the Shaolin monk can't escape the princess's eyes, haha!"

He Mengjiao said with a smile: "Then I wish the general a successful grain delivery! However, I am a little overwhelmed, and I want to go back to the tent to rest earlier, and if I am disrespectful, I ask the general for forgiveness!"

General Chen hurriedly persuaded: "General He, didn't we say okay, don't you get drunk?"

He Mengjiao deliberately said incoherently: "Chen, General Chen, in the next, I have to rush back tomorrow, rush back to Dengfeng to return to the princess, I really can't drink anymore!", after speaking, he deliberately shook his hand, causing the wine glass to slide to the ground and shatter.

Seeing that He Mengjiao was indeed overwhelmed, Lord Chen shouted, "Come on, help General He go back to the tent to rest!"

He Mengjiao stopped: "Just let the guards outside my door help me back?"

Xu Zhi saw that the banquet in the tent was about to end, so he hurriedly jumped down from the tree, thinking, I broke into the Chinese military tent at this time, pretending to be He Mengjiao's guard, Boss Chen definitely didn't know me, I was afraid that He Mengjiao's subordinates would be suspicious, but in order to see her, I might as well take a gamble.

Xu Zhi lowered his head, hunched his waist, walked into the big tent of the Chinese army, saluted the generals in the camp, walked straight to He Mengjiao's side, and shouted softly: "General He, the last general will help you back to the camp to rest!"

He Mengjiao opened her eyes wide, glanced at Xu Zhi, stood up and scolded: "Get out, is General Ben drunk? Isn't General Ben still able to walk on his own?", After speaking, he deliberately staggered two steps in front of everyone, and fell drunk in Xu Zhi's arms.

Xu Zhi hurriedly hugged He Mengjiao to prevent her from falling, and said: "Generals, the last general will retire first!", after speaking, he helped He Mengjiao out of the Chinese army camp.