Chapter 218: The Counter-Intelligence Scheme

Jiang Jiang Mingyu heard the scout had returned and hurried forward to ask, "What's going on? Tell me quickly!"

The scout hurriedly said, "My lord, Dongning Commandery is no easy place to deal with. There are several factions; the largest is Zhao Xiang, with over twenty thousand men under his command. The other few factions combined total only about ten thousand, and they are all undermining each other, so no one has managed to eliminate the others."

"Logically, Zhao Xiang should be occupying Dongning City now. The other smaller factions have fled to the surrounding county towns."

Jiang Jiang Mingyu said, "Since that is the case, let us first eliminate Zhao Xiang; the remaining small factions will be nothing."

The scout, however, shook his head and said, "My lord, it is not that easy. Zhao Xiang heard long ago that we captured Dingdong and Xiawei, so he knows our next target must be Dongning. He has already built fortifications in Dongning to defend, swearing he will not leave the city."

Jiang Jiang Mingyu's face darkened: "From Xiawei to Dongning is seven or eight hundred li. Our provisions are limited. This Zhao Xiang intends to hold out and exhaust our strength, then launch a counterattack."

At this moment, Zhang Zhang Jiaqi asked, "What clothes do Zhao Xiang's men wear?"

The scout was stunned for a moment, then replied, "Zhao Xiang's forces are limited; his soldiers have no unified uniform. They all dress like ordinary commoners."

Zhang Zhang Jiaqi smiled mysteriously and said to Jiang Jiang Mingyu, "Brother Jiang, I have an idea to capture Dongning City!"

Jiang Jiang Mingyu was overjoyed and pressed her for her strategy. Zhang Zhang Jiaqi whispered a few words into Jiang Jiang Mingyu's ear. After listening, Jiang Jiang Mingyu laughed heartily, repeatedly praising her as extremely brilliant.

Jiang Jiang Mingyu exclaimed, "Zhang Jiaqi, how did I not know you were so incredibly smart? Whoever marries you in the future will truly be blessed!"

Zhang Zhang Jiaqi could not help but blush, stammering and at a loss for what to do.

At this moment, Tu Tu Kesiluo walked in, saw their expressions, and asked in confusion, "You two, what were you just discussing that made you so happy?"

Zhang Zhang Jiaqi quickly made an excuse and left.

Jiang Jiang Mingyu invited Tu Tu Kesiluo to sit and explained to him, "Just now, Zhang Jiaqi gave me a brilliant plan to capture Dongning..."

He then told Tu Tu Kesiluo Zhang Zhang Jiaqi's plan in full detail.

After listening, Tu Tu Kesiluo also laughed heartily: "Too cunning, brother! I will go prepare immediately!"

Jiang Jiang Mingyu said leisurely, "Old Man Zhong will rack his brains but never guess Zhang Jiaqi's plan! Haha, just wait and see the show!"

Jiang Jiang Mingyu thought to himself, Zhao Xiang has met his match this time!

Early the next morning, Jiang Jiang Mingyu ordered, "I will lead twenty thousand troops to Dongning. Goudan will remain at Xiawei. Tu Tu Kesiluo, Zhang Jiaqi, and I will go!"

No sooner had he spoken than Tu Tu Kesiluo led the twenty thousand troops, disguised and transformed to look like ordinary commoners, and set off at high speed.

Three days later, they arrived near Honghe County, the easternmost county of Dongning Commandery. This was a remote and backward small county town with a population of less than ten thousand. It was said that a band of righteous army still held sway in the county town, led by one Qian Dadan.

Jiang Jiang Mingyu decided to capture this place first, then attack other county towns to the west. He and Tu Tu Kesiluo hid in the mountains and observed for half a day, then said in a low voice, "Men, bring the map."

A small soldier quickly brought a map and handed it to Jiang Jiang Mingyu. Jiang Jiang Mingyu looked at the location of Honghe County marked on the map, pointed with his hand, and said, "Start from here."

He looked up at the sky: "It is still early. Tu Tu Kesiluo, tell the brothers to rest well and set off in the afternoon; proceed according to the plan."

Tu Tu Kesiluo nodded: "Alright, boss, rest assured."

Time passed quickly; in the blink of an eye, it was afternoon. Jiang Jiang Mingyu waved his hand: "Set off!"

His five hundred soldiers, who had already changed into commoner clothing, slipped into Honghe County in batches. The rest were led by Tu Tu Kesiluo to lie in ambush on the spot, waiting for Jiang Jiang Mingyu's signal.

Entering Honghe City, Jiang Jiang Mingyu looked around and muttered quietly to Tu Tu Kesiluo, "Is this broken place even called a county town? It really feels like a desolate land of poverty and evil." Tu Tu Kesiluo also lowered his voice and said, "Yes, brother, it's even more broken than our Shangmu. This Qian Dadan really has no ambition, managing to get only this much territory!"

Honghe County was not a large place; the county town was very narrow, even smaller than the former Shangmu. The commoners in the county town wore tattered clothes, their faces dull, living in dire straits.

The righteous army leader, Qian Dadan, lived in the county yamen. He was a fat middle-aged man with a face full of coarse flesh; one look at him revealed he was a greedy and shameless rogue. The soldiers under his command were lounging in groups of three or five by the street, basking in the sun, brandishing weapons to show off their power and oppressing the common people.

If not for the weapons in their hands, they would be no different from ordinary commoners in the slightest. Jiang Jiang Mingyu's five hundred soldiers blended into the crowd like this, waiting for the opportunity.

Jiang Jiang Mingyu watched helplessly as Qian Dadan's men below the city wall got drunk and indulged in lust, every single one looking like a prodigal son. He silently cursed in his heart: "Qian Dadan, you stinking hooligan. With such poor military discipline among your men, how do you expect to achieve anything great? Heh, it's simply a joke."

As the sky grew dark, Jiang Jiang Mingyu made a hand signal to his men and said in a low voice, "Begin, brothers!"

No sooner had he spoken than the five hundred men immediately acted; soon, fires broke out simultaneously in many places within the city.

Qian Dadan's men panicked: "Damn, it's on fire! Put it out!"

At this moment, Tu Tu Kesiluo outside the city heard the news and rushed in with his men, beating gongs and drums while shouting, "We are men of my lord Zhao Xiang, here to requisition grain from you! I set the fire just now; do you dare bring out the grain now?"

Qian Dadan was already drunk out of his mind; this jolted him awake. Wiping off the effects of the alcohol, he climbed to the city wall and saw a large group of people standing below.

He waved his sword and roared, "I have never provoked your Lord Zhao! No grain for you! If you want to fight, I will accompany you to the end!"

Tu Tu Kesiluo sneered: "No grain means death! Brothers, loose the arrows!"

Immediately, a shower of arrows rained down, killing and wounding over a hundred of Qian Dadan's men.

Qian Dadan was furious: "Go to hell, Zhao Xiang! Are you trying to die?"

Tu Tu Kesiluo had no intention of engaging in a direct clash; he turned his horse and ran: "The enemy is numerous and we are few; let us first report back to Lord Zhao!"

Jiang Jiang Mingyu had already slipped away. Tu Tu Kesiluo's forces suffered no losses and completed the mission easily.

Seeing Tu Tu Kesiluo flee, Qian Dadan felt a surge of anger in his heart but did not dare to chase them out of the city. He could only order the fires to be extinguished and the aftermath to be cleaned up.

He secretly cursed in his heart: "These damn dogs, I don't know where they came from, yet they dare to oppose me! I must find their nest and exterminate them all!"

He did not know that all of this was a scheme by Jiang Jiang Mingyu and Tu Tu Kesiluo. They had long investigated Qian Dadan's true strength, knowing his men indulged excessively in wine and women and that military discipline was lax. They took the opportunity to sneak into the city, disperse the firepower, and create chaos. They also deliberately disguised themselves as men of Zhao Xiang to draw Qian Dadan's attention, making him mistakenly believe Zhao Xiang was causing trouble behind the scenes.

Their goal was to distract Qian Dadan so he could not focus all his strength on attacking Xiawei Commandery. At the same time, it bought them time to prepare for the next step of their actions.

Jiang Jiang Mingyu and Tu Tu Kesiluo returned to the camp in the mountains and reported the results of this operation. Jiang Jiang Mingyu said with a smile, "Now Qian Dadan must be distracted and anxious; we just wait and see how he handles the situation."

Tu Tu Kesiluo nodded and said, "Yes, this young man is too arrogant; he should have been taught a lesson long ago. However, we cannot be careless. If he discovers our tracks, we will be in trouble."

Jiang Jiang Mingyu shook his head and said, "Rest assured, we acted very secretly; he cannot discover us. Moreover, we have one trump card."

Tu Tu Kesiluo's eyes lit up as he said, "You mean that..."

Jiang Jiang Mingyu nodded with a smile and said, "Yes, that very thing. When the time is ripe, we will use that to give Qian Dadan a surprise."

Tu Tu Kesiluo also smiled and said, "Great, that is our killer move. I can hardly wait to see that stinking face of Qian Dadan's."

The two exchanged a smile.

Qian Dadan looked at the blood and flesh scattered on the ground, and his anger flared up three feet high. "Zhao Xiang, you son of a bitch! Laozi will not live as a human until I kill you!"

A soldier beside him hurriedly advised, "My lord, let us pursue." Qian Dadan kicked him away and scolded, "Pursue what nonsense? Look at how many troops they have. Our ragged lot isn't even enough to fill their teeth."

"From now on, guard the city gates tightly. If such an incident happens again, Laozi will castrate you all!" The soldier nodded repeatedly in fear and cautiously asked, "Then shall we just let today's incident go?"

"Let it go?" Qian Dadan sneered. "I reckon that this damn Zhao Xiang, having failed to seize grain here, will surely go cause trouble elsewhere."

"When he angers the righteous armies of other counties, we will join them in attacking, and then we will deal with him!" Just as Qian Dadan had expected, things unfolded exactly as he thought.

Half a month later, those dogs serving "Zhao Xiang" had practically scoured every county town in Dongning.

A few county magistrates even more unfortunate than Qian Dandan — for no clear reason — had the grain they had painstakingly hoarded snatched clean away.

In the end, the seven rebel armies aside from Zhao Xiang hurriedly banded together. They mustered over ninety thousand troops and, bristling with killing intent, marched on Dongning City.

Dongning City was the seat of Dongning Commandery, its fortifications immensely sturdy.

But facing a siege by eighty thousand rebels, the garrison inside the city was also terrified.