Chapter 1180: Unexpected Gains
It is not too difficult for Shi A to find out information in Bingzhou. He had lived in Bingzhou for many years with his master Wang Yue, and his style of speaking and doing things was basically the same as that of the locals in Bingzhou. In addition, his own personality He is the person in charge of intelligence, and he has already prepared several different identities for himself to use, so his intelligence gathering in the Hyun family and Gaodu went very smoothly.
When Shi A rushed to the gate of Changzi City, the sky was already dark. Seeing that the city gate was about to close, Shi A quickly walked a few steps. As he walked, he took out a road guide from his arms and handed it to The soldier Zhao at the city gate looked at Shi'a's road guide, then at Shi'a, then pointed to a box next to him and said, "Ten coins!"
Shi A understood and said in a thick Bingzhou accent: "Thank you, Master Bing!" As he said this, he took out ten coins from his arms and put it in the box next to the soldier. After hearing his accent, the soldier nodded with satisfaction. Nodding, he waved his hand and said, "Go in! Next one!"
A big man behind Shi A walked in, and the soldier took his road guide and inspected it carefully.
Changzi City is the county seat of Shangdang County. However, because Bingzhou is a state among the fourteen states of the Han Dynasty that is only better than Liangzhou, plus Bingzhou, even a county like Changzi City is inferior to the Central Plains region. The middle-level counties are only a little better.
After entering the city, Shi'a did not immediately go to find the Shadow Guard's stronghold in the city. Instead, he first found a restaurant on the street, sat in front of the window, ordered a table of wine and food, and ate leisurely. While carefully observing the surrounding situation, he was also listening to the discussions of everyone in the hall downstairs.
Half an hour later, Shi Ah finished his dinner, and then he found an inn near the south gate and settled down. After entering the room, he took a shower and then climbed into bed to sleep.
He has been running around outside these days, and he led everyone to survive in the wild for such a long time in the past few days. After finally entering the city with great difficulty, there is no reason not to take a good rest. You know, he is in the Hyun family and Gaodu also rested in the inn for a day before continuing to inquire about information.
As a veteran spy, Shi A knows what he should do at what time. After a day's rest, Shi A was full of energy and walked around Changzi City early the next morning. On the surface it looks like he is looking around without any purpose, but in fact, there is a reason for every place he goes.
He has already understood the general layout of the eldest son's city: in the north of the city are the Taifu and Duwei's houses, as well as the residences of a group of officials and wealthy gentry. Behind the Taishou's and Duwei's houses is a military camp, which is a small military camp, and the eldest son The city's military camp is located in the southwest corner of the city. The south city is basically the area where businesses and markets are located, while the east and west cities are residential areas for ordinary people.
According to the original information provided by Shadow, there are a total of 12,000 soldiers and horses in Changzi City, including 5,000 combat soldiers and 5,000 ordinary county soldiers. These 10,000 soldiers are all infantry; there are also the prefect Zhang Yang and the captain Hao. Meng each has a thousand personal soldiers, and these two thousand soldiers and horses are ordinary sword and shield cavalry.
Twelve thousand soldiers and horses seem to be a lot, but according to the establishment of the Tang army, there are only 10,000 guards in the county and city. In other words, there are 10,000 ordinary soldiers in the county. In addition, there are at least two to three schools stationed in each military camp. In the county town, there were twenty to thirty thousand soldiers and horses, which was more than double that of Shangdang. However, the size of Shangdang is only the size of Zhongxian County in the Central Plains. If it has more than 10,000 troops to defend the city, it is still relatively sufficient.
At noon, Shi A did not go back to the restaurant near the inn where he was staying to eat. Instead, he came to a restaurant near the Duwei Mansion in the north of the city. Halfway through the meal, Shi A suddenly heard several voices coming from a private room on the second floor.
"Brother Chen, I heard that your Majesty is planning to lead his troops out to sweep away the Xianbei dog thieves on the grasslands in order to avenge last year's attack. Is this true or false?"
"Yes,
Brother Chen has an acquaintance in Jinyang. He must know about this news, right? Tell me, brothers! "
"Well, that's right. Today's drink will be on someone's side. Brother Chen, just drink freely..."
Although the words of several people were not loud, they were all heard by Shi A one by one. Hearing them talking about Lu Bu, Shi A listened carefully and calmly.
"Okay, since you brothers are interested, I will quietly reveal some news to you." It was probably the man known as Brother Chen who spoke. As soon as he spoke, everyone else immediately fell silent.
Seeing this, General Chen lowered his voice a little, and then said: "It is said that the king does intend to send troops outside the fortress, and General Wei, the state lieutenant, also supports the king's opinion, but both the Prime Minister and General Zhang suggested that Wuyuan Shuofang should be pacified first. Stabilize the two counties, then go south to pacify Shangjun and Hexi, and bring the entire Bingzhou under the rule of Zhao. After stabilizing the internal affairs, we can send troops outside the wall. "
Seeing that everyone was listening carefully, the speaker chuckled, and then said: "In the end, King Qiankun made an arbitrary decision and decided to send troops to the grassland to expel the Xianbei people first, and then quietly mobilized the infantry to go to Yunzhong when the king sent troops. , and then when the king returns, he will wipe out the two counties in one fell swoop.”
"Then if the king sends troops to the grassland, to what extent will he go?" one of them asked;
"It is said that the king wanted to drive the Xianbei thieves to the depths of the grassland within four or five hundred miles, but after the persuasion of the prime minister, the king finally narrowed the range to two hundred miles, that is to say, all the Xianbei thieves within the range of two hundred miles must be killed." General Chen said at the end, with a chill in his tone, but everyone was very happy to hear it, gnashing their teeth and shouting in a low voice that they wanted to take revenge.
Shi A didn't expect that his luck would be so good that he could hear such secret news. It seems that this general Chen did have someone in the court of the State of Zhao in Jinyang, and this person's status was not low, otherwise he would not have been able to get such detailed news.
When Shi A was about to continue listening, the topic of the people in the hall changed again, and became romantic, no one mentioned military and political affairs anymore, but some people envied those cavalrymen who could follow the king and take the opportunity to get something back from the grassland. After confirming that there was no more useful intelligence to eavesdrop on, Shi A hurriedly had lunch and left the restaurant.