Chapter 20: Infiltrate into Tancheng

Hearing these words like tears and poetry, Fang Ling was moved even though his heart was as firm as iron. He reached out to touch the woman's hair, gently brushed it, and cursed with a smile: "You girl, have you never seen me cry, so you are satisfied to make me cry?"

Song Ying'er's eyes were filled with tears, and she burst into tears and said, "How dare I? I just worry that Your Highness is in a dilemma..."

Of course Fang Ling understood what she said, and was talking about the woman Xiao Xue in his heart. He smiled slightly and said calmly: "Have you forgotten my identity? I am the king, so I don't allow anyone to say no, let alone the woman I like!"

Feeling the domineering and arrogant in Fang Ling's tone, Song Ying'er not only felt disgusted, but instead felt a sense of being protected. She was even more moved and almost threw herself into Fang Ling's arms and cried.

As for Fang Ling, he naturally knew how important Song Ying'er was in his heart. He had been together for three years and went deep into the underworld to save her and redeem her five-year life. Her status in her heart was long unsuccessful, not to mention that she has also entered the Immortal Sect and is considered a fellow disciple with her.

Therefore, even Xiao Xue will definitely not be able to change the fact that Song Ying'er is by her side!

At night, Shen Ling came and talked to Fang Ling, and told him to be careful when he went to Tancheng. Fang Ling thanked him, but he had his own little plan in his heart. Of course, he would not tell Shen Ling the real purpose of going to Tancheng.

Although it does have the element of reconnaissance of the enemy situation, there is another important thing, that is, to find the deputy general Shi Baoliang who has the clone mirror. If the thing is in Shi Baoliang's hands, then things will be relaxed. Even if it is not there, it will be better to dig out the new owner of the clone mirror from his mouth.

The next day, Fang Ling and his party left Dongqiong Pass, took a detour and rushed to Tancheng in the north of Xingzhou.

The place where Tancheng is located is actually the border between Xuzhou and Xingzhou. This area is a plain area formed by the impact of multiple rivers. Although the terrain is flat, the excessive river flow makes the cities here live in many water.

Originally, there was only a big river passing by outside Tancheng. Later, my first person dug a hundred feet wide moat outside the city. There were ferocious crocodiles in the canal. If you want to enter the city, you can only use a wide bridge placed down through the four city gates.

When Fang Ling and others arrived at Tancheng, they witnessed the scene of crocodiles outside the city. The moat was densely filled with crocodiles, with hundreds of heads, one head long.

The soldiers on the city wall were throwing cows and sheep into the river and feeding the crocodiles. Under the powerful jaws and claws of the crocodiles, the huge cow was torn into several pieces like pieces of paper, and the blood dyed a large area of ​​river water red in an instant.

When the soldiers saw the crocodiles fighting for food, they all laughed and thought it was a very fun thing. People from other places were so scared that their faces turned pale when they saw this scene.

A wooden bridge placed on the city gate is outside the city. The wooden bridge can be used for ten horses to run parallel and is very wide. It is made of thick whole wood and is quite thick. Several thick and long cables are tied to the wooden bridge, which is straightly connected to the hole of the city wall. The wooden bridge can be pulled up or lowered through the gears in the hole.

On both sides of the wooden bridge, there are two rows of wooden fences three meters high. In this way, crocodiles cannot climb up the bridge, and no matter how crowded the people on the bridge are, they cannot fall into the river. Once in the evening, after the bridge is pulled up and erected on the city wall, the entire city of Tan becomes an isolated island in a crocodile pond. As Huang Longhu said, it is impossible to cross the river without knowing it. After all, no matter how many people go down the river, they will become food for crocodile.

Fang Ling slowly walked across the wooden bridge, observed all the details outside the city, came to the city gate, and submitted the road guide. Road guide is a proof of leaving the hometown. All countries in the land have this rule. Anyone who leaves a hundred miles away from their hometown needs to provide documents such as pass certificates, that is, road guides, so that they can prove their identity.

Fang Ling's Lu Yin is naturally forged. When it comes to the king's level, there are quite a lot of resources that can be used in his hands. Just one sentence, a Lu Yin issued by the official can easily fall into his hands, and it will not arouse others' suspicion at all.

This road led to the sign that Fang Ling was a native of Dingzhou in the north. His family was a prominent family and had been doing business for generations. His entourages carried relatively expensive silk and other supplies. Since Tanzhou was mainly guarding against people from Xingzhou, Fang Ling and others entered the city very easily.

Tancheng is a relatively small county, with a population of only a few hundred thousand. As a county town, Tancheng has a population of only tens of thousands. Now, 150,000 Yizhou troops have suddenly poured in, making the entire town seem quite crowded, and patrolling soldiers can be seen everywhere.

After finding the inn to stay and the group chose the room, Fang Ling asked Lu Bei to take the waist card to find Huang Longhu's spies.

Not long after, Lu Bei returned with a thin young man. The young man was only twenty-seven or eight years old and was as thin as a monkey, but he walked lightly, which shows that he had great achievements in light skills.

Fang Ling couldn't help but secretly admire him. After he had read the list of spies, he sighed that Huang Longhu's subordinates were quite capable. The young man was named Hou Qi, and he was a lieutenant in the army. Because he was good at spying on light skills, he took on the spying mission in Tancheng.

As soon as the young man entered the door, he immediately knelt down on the ground and shouted respectfully: "Hou Qi pays homage to you!"

When Fang Ling heard this, he knew that Huang Longhu did not mention his identity in the secret letter to the spy. This is good. The fewer facts he is the King of Stone City, the fewer people know. After all, this is in the enemy camp of more than 100,000. A little leak of the news will cause a disaster.

He waved his hand slightly and said, "It seems that Brother Hou has received a secret letter from General Huang, so I won't have to explain it."

Hou Qigong bowed and said, "The general's secret letter ordered that all the twenty-nine spies under me and I obey the orders of the Lord."

Fang Ling nodded and said, "Very good, then Brother Hou, please tell me about the distribution of the enemy troops in Tancheng."

Hou Qi took out a prepared map of Tancheng from his arms, spread it out at the table, and then pointed and said, "Sir, the enemy's current total strength is about 150,000, and is commanded by the southern general Chang Bai. Chang Bai lives in the princess's mansion. There are 3,000 defenders inside and outside the mansion, which is very tight. There are two large military camps on the left and right sides of the mansion, with a total of 40,000 troops. The four major city gates each garrisoned 10,000 troops, and the remaining more than 60,000 troops are scattered in important areas in the city."

Fang Ling nodded repeatedly when he heard this, and said, "It seems that General Chang is also very cautious. There are more than 40,000 people in the place where he lives, and it is only a problem to assassinate him."

Hou Qi agreed and said: "That's right, Chang Bai is a very cautious person. Since capturing Tancheng, he has always been living in seclusion. Due to the strict guards, we cannot find out his whereabouts, let alone plan to assassinate."

Fang Ling smiled when he heard this. He was just saying a word to test it. It seemed that Huang Longhu had indeed had the idea of ​​assassinating, which showed that General Huang was not a vegetarian. He continued to ask: "Where are the troops and horses around Tancheng?"

Hou Qi replied: "The nearest county to Tancheng is Bai'an County, where 100,000 troops from the Dongzhou National Army are stationed, which is only half a day away."

Fang Ling touched his chin and said to himself: "If you want to solve the 100,000 troops in Tancheng, you have to return to Dongqiong Pass before the Dongzhou army comes. It's only half a day. This is indeed a difficult problem." He pondered for a while, stretched out his fingers and knocked on the chair handle, and asked again: "What generals and deputy generals are there under Chang Bai? Have these people investigated clearly?"

Hou Qi replied: "General Chang has six generals and officials of the second, third and fourth ranks, and each general has more than two deputy generals around him." As he said that, he explained the age, characteristics and other situations of these generals.

Fang Ling couldn't help but secretly praised them for their careful investigation. Moreover, judging from the investigation, these generals and officials were either greedy for money and lust, or were eager for success and profit. In the end, the matter naturally came to Shi Baoliang.

Hou Qi said: "Shi Baoliang is the deputy general of the fourth-rank general Liu Tan. Although this person is only in his thirties, he is said to be a distant relative of Chang Bai and is highly valued by him and can be regarded as a confidant. This person is very conceited and likes to make money. Every time he leads troops to attack the city, he always goes to the homes of famous local families to plunder them."

Fang Ling asked intentionally or unintentionally: "I heard that this person also likes to show the treasures he has plundered to outsiders?"

Hou Qi nodded and said, "This person likes to show off, especially doesn't like others to overshadow his own limelight. Fortunately, he is a relative of General Chang, so General Chang turned a blind eye to him and let him go. After all, he has made a lot of military achievements."

Fang Ling continued to ask some questions, and then let Hou Qi leave. When he was left with only his own people in the room, he smiled and said, "Xing'er, let's go to Shi Baoliang's mansion now to see what treasures he has plundered?"

Song Ying'er smiled sweetly, nodded obediently, took out the Yexing suit from her bag and changed it to Fang Ling.

Shi Baoliang occupied a mansion of a prominent family in Tancheng. The house was filled with his confidant soldiers, with a total of hundreds of people, but these people could not pose any threat to Fang Ling and Song Ying'er.

The two sneaked into the mansion and looked around. Soon after, they found that the backyard was guarded by heavy troops. Fang Ling guessed that this should be the place where Shi Baoliang stored the treasures.

Fang Ling's plan is very simple. First of all, there is no need to have direct contact with Shi Baoliang. Instead, go to his treasure house to take a look. If you find the clone mirror directly, it is the best situation and it will be fine in one go. But if you can't find it, you have to contact Shi Baoliang.
Chapter completed!