Chapter 9 Chapter Eight Conflicts and Surprises

Ma Dai walked through the crowd anxiously. In order to hide his eyes and ears, he wore a set of coarse clothes and covered his face with a piece of cloth.It was very noisy around him, double-shaft carts full of goods rumbled over the loess street, vendors on both sides of the street were selling roasted sweet potatoes, salted fish in white water, and boiled water mixed with sliced ​​ginger and salt. Running with a kite. He turned a blind eye to all of this, and hurriedly walked towards the "Xuanwu Pool" with his head down. The "Xuanwu Pond" is actually just a small pond with a square of two miles. The water surface in the pond is often covered with straw, cloth pieces, food residues and dirt, and occasionally a woman's menstrual belt.There is a stone tablet under the big sycamore tree next to the pond, on which the words "Xuanwu Pool" are written in official script.There is no historical record of when this small pond was dug and built, and there is no evidence of who gave it such a name.However, the residents near Zhumadian don’t care about these things. The water source in Hanzhong is scarce. They are very lucky to have such a pond for bathing, washing clothes, and even cooking. As for the name of the pond, they don’t care. .

Ma Dai came to the locust tree by the pond and looked around.On the left, two civilians are squatting on the root of a tree and chatting, while on the right, a group of children are happily digging up earthworms; in the distance, a girl from a wine shop is scooping up wine for the drinkers, and the nearby blacksmith shop can hear the sound of iron striking.The crows on the tree croaked hoarsely.He took a deep breath, took out a piece of red silk from his pocket, bent down to pretend to tie his shoelace, and tied the silk to the root of the locust tree closest to the stone tablet. This simple action seemed to consume all of Ma Dai's physical strength, he straightened up in a hurry, and returned on the same road in a little panic.As he left the pond and returned to the street, a voice suddenly came from behind him.

"Has General Ma finally figured it out?" Ma Dai hurriedly turned his head and saw a young girl standing behind him and looking at him with a smile.This woman is about twenty years old, wearing a lily bun, wearing a plain silk skirt, and a green silk belt tied around her waist. She is dressed like a typical wine shop girl. "Yes...it's you..." "After last year's farewell, is General Ma safe?" the girl asked with a bright smile, no one would have thought that she was actually a pawn of the Five Dou Rice Sect.Ma Dai nodded in embarrassment, and did not dare to answer more, so he glanced sideways.Two people from the Jing'an Department stood watching him from a distance, and one of them was Pei Xu.

"It's not convenient to talk here, let's go to my restaurant for a while." The girl said. "Your wine shop?" "It's right next to it. If you don't mind my lord, you can sit there and have a slow chat with my father." The girl waved her hand when she said this, "There is no one there, so you can rest assured, my lord." Ma Dai followed the girl's fingers, and happened to see the sign of "Liu Ji" in the wine shop by the pond, and realized that she was the woman in the wine shop just now.There are only a few sparse small trees between the counter of the restaurant and the pond. She can easily monitor the movement of Xuanwu Pond just by sitting on the counter. No wonder she can detect Ma Dai's appearance so quickly.

"Oh, how should I put it, that's it. I just want to warn you not to approach me again, or I will report you all." Ma Dai said in a stern manner according to Xun Xu's explanation beforehand, and then waited for the girl to say anything. Responding, he quickly turned and left.The girl didn't expect him to say such words all of a sudden, and she couldn't help being taken aback.She folded her arms in front of her chest and looked at his back as he left, with a bewildered expression on her pretty face covered in white powder. Pei Xu, who was standing at the far corner of the street, saw all this, waved his hand, and said to another subordinate: "Let's go, the target has been confirmed, and today's mission ends here."

"But... General Ma Dai left just like that? Shouldn't he pretend to cooperate with them to obtain further information?" The subordinate asked in bewilderment. He was recruited into the fifth station by Pei Xu A man named Liao Hui was about the same age as Pei Xu. Pei Xu glanced at the Liu Ji Restaurant for the last time, and replied: "After all, Ma Dai is a member of the military, and he cooperated with us because of Mr. Xun's intimidation. If other people know about this cooperative relationship, we will have great confidence." Trouble. So it is enough for him to lure out the lurking ghost pawns."

"What should we do next?" "Hey, it depends on Master Xun's taste." Pei Xu said with a smile, he already had a plan in mind. Pei Xu and Liao Hui returned to the "Taoist Temple" and immediately reported to Xun Xu secretly.After Xun Xu received Pei Xu's report, he ordered to find out all the information about Liu Ji Restaurant immediately, and then set off to meet Ma Dai himself.At Ma Dai's house, Xun Xu assured him that the Jing'an Division would keep complete silence on the matter. When Xun Xu returned to the "Taoist Temple" from Ma Dai's house, the fifth station led by Pei Xu had already sorted out the background information of Liuji Restaurant.According to the information, the owner of the restaurant is named Liu Min, fifty-two years old, male, originally from Hanzhong Nanxiang, and his household registration type is military household.His wife died early, and he has two sons and a daughter.The eldest son, Liu Cheng, was conscripted by Cao Cao's army in the 23rd year of Jian'an, and died in Dingjun Mountain the following year; the youngest son, Liu Yao, is currently under the direct command of General Chen Shi, serving as the head of the village, at Chi'an at the southern foot of the Qinling Mountains in the north of Yangping Pass. Tuntian.Liu Min's daughter is Liu Ying, who is nineteen years old and unmarried. She works as a receptionist at Liuji Restaurant with her father.

Pei Xu also obtained some things that could not be found in the official records: Liu Ying is quite prestigious and popular in the local area.Many soldiers and generals often went to see her in Liuji's restaurant in order to relieve the boring life during their service, which caused more than one jealous fight. "But according to regulations, a girl with military household registration must marry a soldier at the age of sixteen. Why is she still single?" Xun Xu asked. "There are rumors that a high-ranking official also admires her. She once wrote that she would serve her father, hoping to delay her marriage. The official was happy to see her remain single, so he exerted influence on the civilian officials, Let her application be approved, and she was awarded the honorary title of a dutiful daughter."

Xun Xu clicked his tongue twice and exclaimed, "You can even inquire about this kind of thing?" Pei Xu looked back at the members of the fifth station standing behind, and replied with a smile: "Because we also have her admirers in our station, I go to Liuji every month to drink because of her." Most of them blushed and lowered their heads involuntarily, only one of them held his head up and didn't move. "Today is March 1st, and there is no time to delay. Ordinary methods are too slow to work. We have to take a risk and try a more extreme method." Xun Xu rubbed his fingers, emphasizing that he had a strong premonition that the enemy hiding in the darkness had already started to move.

"I've already made a plan, and I believe this method should achieve good results." Pei Xu handed Xun Xu a plan.Xun Xu opened it to look at it, and nodded with satisfaction: "Well, this is similar to my idea, so let's do it like this!" Pei Xu's plan is to exploit one of the most primitive human emotions: love.He learned that Liu Ying would go out of the city every two days to go to the government-run wine kiln to collect the share of the day-private wine making is strictly prohibited in Shu, and only a small amount of new wine can be produced by the government-run wine kiln. Quota collection - she usually does not return to Nanzheng until late in the evening.Pei Xu planned to have a few people from Channel 5 pretend to be idlers to pester her, and then send another person to pretend to be a lieutenant in the army to rescue her, so as to gain her trust, and then wait for the opportunity to obtain information.

Due to the limitation of the times, the Jing'an Division of the Shu Kingdom lacked experience in dealing with the enemy's female spies, because there were no women in the government and army.They have only had a few cases of training female spies to seduce enemy generals.For the first time ever, a male investigator was sent to get close to a female spy.Xun Xu thought that there was no time to talk about love slowly, and must let Liu Ying fall into the trap in the shortest possible time, and extreme measures must be taken. Pei Xu drew up this plan according to this spirit. "Then Ma Zhong, Liao Hui, and Gao Tangbing, you three will pretend to be stalkers; as for the work of rescuers, leave it to our handsome Ah She." Xun Xu assigns tasks. Everyone laughed loudly, and the young man named Ashina scratched his head in embarrassment.He is from Nanman, and he also enlisted when Prime Minister Zhuge recruited the "Wu Dang Flying Army" in Nanman. Later, he was assigned to work in the Jing'an Department because of his outstanding performance in the intelligence field.He has strong bronze muscles and a baby face. He is tall and is quite popular among Hanzhong women. He is the best candidate for this operation. Suddenly, Gao Tangbing raised his hand. He was the only one in the team who kept his head up and maintained a serious expression. "I have a question." "Just ask." "Why don't we just arrest Liu Min, Liu Ying and his daughter? I think torture can also obtain the information we want." "The problem is that we don't know how much they know about Wei Guo's spies. We have to put a long line to catch big fish." Pei Xu replied, Gao Tangbing nodded silently, and retreated to the team without making a sound. Xun Xu walked up to them and patted their shoulders one by one, and said in an encouraging tone, "This time it's up to you Jing'an Division elites." "Everything is for the revival of the Han Dynasty." The four young people said in unison. While the youths of the Jing'an Department were shouting this slogan, Lao He was working hard under this slogan.This slogan was written in limestone on the wall of the Sixth Crossbow Machine Workshop. The font was huge. Every time the workshop leader gave a lecture, he would point to the ten words on the wall and ask the craftsmen to repeat them several times. Lao He is a Grade A craftsman in the sixth crossbow machine workshop. The department he works in is responsible for assembling "Yuanrong" and also producing "Shudu".Although these two weapons are powerful, they are extremely troublesome to manufacture, requiring meticulousness and extreme patience.Recently, the military has been pressing very hard. On average, Lao He has to work six or seven hours a day buried in the pile of parts, and he is often unable to straighten up when he is off work.He was a little dissatisfied with this, the heavy labor made him feel that he was about to be exhausted, and he couldn't help feeling disgusted when he saw the parts of the crossbow.Sometimes, Lao He even wanted to stand in front of the test-fired crossbow machine and let the crossbow arrows shoot him through. As a crossbow machine craftsman, he knew that this machine was fully capable of doing this. His mentality has changed since yesterday.The food convoy came to the Sixth Crossbow Machine Workshop yesterday, and one of them was his distant relative named Yu Cheng.Yu Cheng used to be a Wudoumi believer. When delivering food, he secretly handed Lao He a piece of paper that was crumpled in the palm of his hand.Lao He didn't dare to open it until he returned to the dormitory. It read: "See you in the granary tonight." Old He didn't know what it meant, Yu Cheng didn't say anything, but just gave him a wink.In the evening, the artisans who had worked hard all day went back to bed to rest.Old He tossed and turned, and finally decided to follow the note to see.He got up from the bed, told the people next to him to get up at night, then put on his clothes and went out quietly.He was very familiar with the layout of the workshop, and knew how to walk to avoid the sight of the patrols and sentry towers. He turned around and arrived at the granary without the guards noticing. There were no guards at the gate of the granary. He quietly opened the door and walked into the granary. In the darkness, he could only see a mountain of grain bags.Old He didn't know what to do, so he had to walk around, coughing from time to time.At this time, a person suddenly appeared behind him, which frightened Lao He out of his wits, almost shouting loudly.The man rushed over to cover his mouth and pressed him to a corner. "Shh, my own." Lao He's eyes widened in surprise, and now his eyes gradually adapted to the darkness, and he could barely see the face of the person coming.It was a completely unfamiliar face, and the man in black claimed to be one of his own. "Who are you..." Old He asked timidly. "It doesn't matter who I am, what matters is whether you want it or not?" The stranger's eyes had a sharp penetrating power, and Lao He was a little afraid to look at him. "Do I want something?" "Do you want to leave this ghost place and live a life of abundance?" Lao He's face was a little pale, what was this man talking about.The man in black went on to say, "Are you willing to spend your entire life in this ridiculous country?" "Hey, don't say such rebellious words!" Old He stammered and reprimanded, while his heartbeat started to speed up. The stranger smiled, took a step forward, and said to him as if whispering in a whisper: "You just have the heart to watch your wife and children being bullied in the North, living a lonely life without a husband and a father?" These words hit Lao He hard, he suddenly felt a little dizzy, and two drops of dirty tears flowed out involuntarily.He was originally from Fufeng. When Wei Taizu Wu Emperor Cao Cao attacked Hanzhong, he and his family came to Nanzheng with the army.As a result, Wei and Shu failed to compete for Hanzhong, and were forced to move the people of Hanzhong to the pass.His family was also on the move, but he was captured by the Shu army because of the defeat of General Xia Houyuan, and he has been working as a craftsman until now. "who are you?" "To tell you the truth, I am an envoy sent by Wei Guo to welcome you back." "Don't be kidding, I'm just a small craftsman, how could he find me." Old He couldn't believe it. The stranger pointed to the outside: "Because you have something we don't know: the skill of making crossbows. Now our country really wants to get the manufacturing technology of the two weapons 'Yuanrong' and 'Shudu'. You must know." "This...this is treason...he will be beheaded." "Hehe, treason? What kind of country? You were originally from my Great Wei, but you just lived in Shu. Now you are just returning to your homeland." The stranger paused and continued, "If you are willing to go back, we can let you You are the Cao Cao of the crossbow machine workshop, and you will be given a generous salary, and you will be reunited with your family." Old He seemed a little tempted, but he said with a wry smile: "Return? To put it lightly, how can I go back, I can't even get close to the fence of this workshop, the outside control is so strict." The man in black made a reassuring gesture , said: "You don't have to worry about this, as long as you have the intention of returning, I will plan the escape plan. Your distant cousin Yu Cheng is a believer in Wudoumi Cult, and they will fully assist, so you can rest assured." "Why should I trust you?" "You don't need to believe me, I'm offering you a chance, it's up to you whether you want it or not." The man in black pointed to the guard tower far outside the door, "If you don't believe me, go over there and report me Then, I will be a craftsman here for the rest of my life.” The man in black finally convinced Lao He, on the one hand, because the eyes and words of the man in black are very convincing, and on the other hand, Lao He felt that he had no choice.The two briefly talked about the details of how to escape, and the man in black asked him in detail about where the crossbow blueprints were stored.Lao He said that he is just a craftsman, and he can only apply for drawings for reference when needed, and he rarely has the opportunity to get them.The last time he saw the blueprint was in the General Directorate of the Weapon Workshop. After all these discussions are over, the man in black retreats into the darkness, and he will wait another six hours in this narrow space, waiting for the connector to come and get him out.Old He left the granary full of expectation and apprehension, making psychological and physical preparations for his escape plan in the next few days. The next day, March 1st, Lao He and other craftsmen were called up by the supervisor early to start work.While eating breakfast, Lao He glanced at the granary, thinking that guy must still be inside.If it was him who stayed in that narrow and dark place for two days without eating or drinking, he would definitely go crazy.Thinking of this, Lao He felt an extra layer of awe towards him. At noon, the carts full of food rumbled in again.This is unusual, because usually the Sixth Ballista Workshop will deliver food every eight days, and it was replenished just yesterday.According to the grain guard, this is a special care from a high-level person, hoping to boost morale and complete the military task as soon as possible.Although Huang Xi, the supervisor, thought it was strange, there was nothing wrong with having more food.The guards checked it out, and there were some good meats, and even a few jugs of wine.So the people in the workshop happily opened the gate of the camp and let the convoy in. But a problem soon appeared. The granary was already full of things, and the newly transported materials could not hold it.At this time, a village chief who claimed to be Huang Yu suggested that it is better to drive the convoy directly to the gate of the granary, and then let the farmers under him be responsible for rearranging the inventory.Huang Yu promised that the whole work would be completed before sunset, and Huang Xi readily agreed. So Huang Yu led his men to drive the carriage to the granary, lifted the things out of the warehouse, and then sorted them into categories according to different food types.This is quite a tiring job, and more than 20 farmers kept carrying it back and forth without stopping.The chief of the workshop felt a little sorry, and asked if he needed to send some craftsmen to help. Huang Yu replied that he did not dare to delay the construction period, and politely refused. After packing for about an hour and a half, Huang Yu reported to Huang Xi that many expired and unedible foods had been cleared out of the warehouse.Huang Xi thought it was lucky to check it out, otherwise if the craftsmen swallowed it by mistake, the construction period would be delayed, so he hurriedly asked them to clean it out.Huang Yu said that although people can't eat these things, they can be fed to pigs when they are taken back. Huang Xizheng was worried that he had nowhere to throw them away, so he agreed in a hurry. So Huang Yu ordered his men to throw the moldy food in the warehouse into bags into the car, and then carry the fresh food into the warehouse.It took another full hour and a half before the moving work was completely finished.The farmers were too tired to speak, and could only lie on the carriage one by one, panting against the bags of rotten food. When the convoy left, the guards at the camp gate pinched their noses with one hand, touched the rotten garbage bags with their long guns in disgust, and let them go.Huang Xi stamped the approval document with satisfaction, saying that if he had the opportunity, he would definitely say a few more good words for this period of corvee. The convoy drove about ten miles away from the Sixth Crossbow Machine Workshop, Huang Yu ordered the whole car to turn off the official road, rest in a nearby woods, and let the horses drink water.At this time, the sun was setting, the convoy was covered by the trees, and no fire was raised, and its movement could not be seen clearly even from twenty paces away.Suddenly, a bag on a certain carriage moved, Huang Yu went over and untied the rope around the bag, and helped Mi Chong out who had been lurking in the granary for two days.He looked haggard and his muscles were stiff, but he was in good spirits.Huang Yu fetched running water to wash away all the rotten food on his body, and then took out some dry food and water for him to eat. Huang Yu didn't ask Mi Chong whether the meeting was a success, he believed that if this person did it, it would be a success. At the same time, in Nanzheng City, seventeen miles away from where the convoy stopped, Liu Ying was walking in a narrow alleyway.She had just gone to the government-run wine kiln to collect the quota, and had someone send it back to the Liuji wine shop; then she bargained with the kiln owner for a long time, and finally won the quota for the next kiln to increase by five jars.As a result, she was delayed for a while, and now it was a little while before the curfew, she quickened her pace, hoping to get home before dark. Behind her, four men kept a distance and followed closely.Among them, three civilians were dressed as Ma Zhong, Liao Hui, and Gao Tangbing, while the southern barbarian Ah Shena was dressed in a handsome armored uniform, and the crown on his head was extraordinarily gorgeous. When Liu Ying turned to a relatively remote road, Ma Zhong, Liao Hui, and Gao Tangbing quickly followed up, while Ah Shena was thirty steps behind them.Pei Xu's plan is very simple, Ma Zhong, Liao Hui, and Gao Tang Binghui will harass Liu Ying, and then ask Ah Shena to come forward to make a rescue. The three of them got closer and closer, and just as they were about to speed up and overtake Liu Ying, four people suddenly appeared in front of them.They were all wearing Shu army uniforms, walking staggeringly, apparently just drunk.When these Shu soldiers saw Liu Ying, they all burst into laughter, and the four of them stood in a fan shape and walked towards Liu Ying. Liu Ying obviously noticed that the four soldiers had bad intentions, she subconsciously stood still, collected herself, tried not to look at the soldiers, and continued to walk forward. "It's such a beautiful dress, let me smell it." One of the soldiers bent down and gently lifted Liu Ying's skirt, and said drunkenly.Liu Ying was furious, she slapped her face with her backhand, and shouted, "Presumptuous!" "Oh! Dare to hit my uncle! You are against me!" The soldier who was beaten was furious, grabbed Liu Ying's slender arm, and dragged her to the ground.Three soldiers surrounded her with smiles, and Liu Ying lay on the ground terrified, her shoulders trembling uncontrollably, only her willow-leaf eyes were still glaring at her. "Come on, sing a little song with us, and I'll let you go." "Hey, why are you in such a hurry, we'll have a drink with you after singing the ditty." "No, no, this person is still out of the curfew time. He violated the law, and he must be punished properly..." Several people surrounded Liu Ying and talked more and more vilely. Although Liu Ying was usually able to deal with men freely, she was just a weak twenty-year-old woman in this situation, and she had no ability to resist. This unexpected turn of events was unexpected by several people at Channel 5.Ma Zhong, Liao Hui, and Gao Tangbing looked at me and I looked at you, all at a loss.Ah Shena behind them didn't know what was going on, and stopped in her tracks.While they were hesitating, those soldiers had already stripped Liu Ying's shoes off, and the girl's pair of jade feet were completely exposed to the greedy eyes of the miscellaneous men. "Help... help..." Liu Ying struggled and shouted, a soldier rushed forward, stuffed her mouth with a dirty cloth strip from his waist, and said obscenely: "Master wipes his mouth with this every day, you Try it too." Liu Ying, who couldn't make a sound, could only twist her body in vain, two lines of tears running down her fair face. "Stop it!" Suddenly a thunderous sound interrupted the soldiers.One of the soldiers stood up and shouted back in extreme dissatisfaction: "Who dares to interrupt the gentleman's elegant mood?" "I!" Gao Tangbing came out of the shadows and stood in front of them with a dignified expression.This is not a backup plan in Pei Xu's plan, but Gao Tangbing really can't tolerate this kind of thing happening in front of him.When Ma Zhong and Liao Hui saw him stand up, they had no choice but to stand up accordingly.Ah Shena, who didn't know where he was, stood in the distance, a little baffled. The soldier was furious, picked up the scabbard as a weapon and threw it at Gaotang Bing, but the elite of the Jing'an Department dodged sideways.He took advantage of the weakness in the soldier's flank, and punched him.Hearing a scream of "Ouch", the soldier was punched to the wall and lay down on the ground.The other three soldiers drew out their knives and surrounded him when they saw the situation was not good. Gao Tang faced the challenge calmly with no expression on his face. He didn't make many moves, but every time he punched out, someone would fall down.After a while, all four soldiers were knocked down and unable to get up. Ma Zhong and Liao Hui did not step forward to help. Gao Tangbing was the number one striker in Jing'an Division and even the entire Si Wencao. His master was Hua Tuo's disciple Wu Pu, who was good at Wu Qin Xi.Fisting with him was the misfortune of those soldiers. After knocking down the four soldiers, Gao Tangbing walked up to Liu Ying, took out the dirty cloth in her mouth and threw it away, took out a skin bag from her bosom, and said coldly: "Here, rinse your mouth." Liu Ying didn't seem to react at first, until Gao Tangbing repeated it, she took the skin bag, washed her mouth, and handed it back to Gao Tangbing, the latter.Gao Tangbing reached out to take the skin bag back and hung it on his waist. He accidentally touched her hand, which made the girl blush instantly. "Can you stand up and walk by yourself?" Gao Tangbing didn't help her up, just bowed his head and said to her. "Yes..." Liu Ying nodded.Hearing Liu Ying's answer, Gao Tangbing said lightly: "Please take care", and then turned to leave.Liu Ying let out an "hey" and stretched out her hand to stop him. "Anything else?" "No, not anymore..." Liu Ying half-supported her body, but hesitated to speak.Gao Tangbing glanced at her, turned and walked towards the other side of the alley with a blank face, Ma Zhong and Liao Hui followed behind as if they were followers. Back at the Taoist Temple, Xun Xu and Pei Xu, who had been waiting for a long time, asked how they were doing.Ma Zhong told the whole story, Xun Xu bowed his head in deep thought and didn't express his opinion, while Pei Xu bit his cheek, with an expression that couldn't tell whether it was anger or wanting to laugh. Gao Tangbing stood up, looked ahead and said, "I am responsible for the failure of this operation. It was my rash action that caused Ah Shena to be unable to get close to the target and win relationships with him. I am willing to take responsibility." Xun Xu raised his head, tapped on the table with his fingers, and answered half seriously and half jokingly, "Are you really willing to take responsibility?" "Of course! A man will never shirk." Gao Tangbing straightened his chest. "You messed up the plan, then it's up to you to make up for it. Then... you'll take the place of Ashina and get closer to Liu Ying." Xun Xu's words surprised everyone in the room.Gao Tang has a staid and upright personality, is unsmiling, and has no other entertainment except work—at least his colleagues have never found out that he has any entertainment—he is a guy who is too serious to be too serious.But now Xun Xu wants to send this person who is least likely to flirt with women to seduce Liu Ying with a beauty trick. "Our purpose is to make the target have a good impression of our people. It doesn't have to be Ah Shena, anyone can do it. Now that Gao Tangbing is a hero to save the beauty, he already has a foundation of affection, so it is logical to send him." Xun Xu tried to explain to them, but others, including Gao Tangbing himself, showed helpless expressions.This personnel arrangement is really unbelievable.