On the fourth day of May, at Chen time, Di Lie, A Shu, Gao Liang and a guide from Tianping Village entered Luan City.

Although Luancheng is a county town, it has a long history. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Luan Shu (posthumous name: Wu Zi), the marshal of the Central Army of the Jin Kingdom, built Luan Yi here. It was established as Guan County in the Western Han Dynasty, and was renamed as Luan County in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Luancheng County. Since then, it has been abandoned many times, and it was not finally stabilized until the Song Dynasty.

When the Jin army invaded south, the magistrate of Luancheng County did not put up much resistance and abandoned the city and fled. The city was subsequently occupied by the Jin army. Since the Jin army invading south did not have many horses, it was difficult to capture every city after conquering it. Moreover,

The intention of the Jin Kingdom's southern strategy was only to plunder wealth, and did not intend to occupy the entire Song Kingdom. Therefore, every time the Jin Army entered a city, the most common thing they did was to tear down the city walls and destroy the defenses. In this way, even if they were later attacked by the Song Army

It was occupied and could not be defended. In the eyes of the Jin army, the Song army without city wall protection was no different from a group of ducks.

However, the situation in Luan City is different. This county is only a few dozen miles away from Zhending Prefecture. It is the southern gate of this important town in Hexi of the Song Dynasty. Its strategic location is very important, so the Jin Army did not attack it like other towns.

The city wall was demolished and a new auxiliary army was stationed to garrison it.

For this reason, A Lan chose this place to stay and wait for reinforcements.

The reinforcements did not arrive at Luan City until April 26. They were the entire Eastern Route Army of the Jin Army. Banners were fluttering, the sun was covering the sky, and hundreds of thousands of people were stretching. The front group had reached Luan City, but the rear group was

Still a hundred miles away in Gaoyi. Of course, at this time, A Lan no longer needed reinforcements.

However, the Jin army did not enter Luan City to rest, because Zhending City was already in sight. Moreover, these hundreds of thousands of troops were not something that a small county town could accommodate.

As a result, this large army just glanced at the nearly a hundred bloody heads hanging by the city gate from a distance, and then circled the city. But A Lan's three thousand men and horses and the people and supplies they escorted still stayed.

In Luan City, we acted as a rear guard. Only after the army had rested and reorganized and left Zhending City and headed north could A Lan's army set off.

This important general of the Jin Army, who had just been rewarded with Zong Wangjiamian, the head coach of the Jin Army's Eastern Route Army, because of his massive killing spree, did not know that once he stayed, he would never be able to leave again...

When Di Lie and the other four entered the city, they also saw those swollen and deformed heads. Gao Liang and the Tianping Village member both had expressions of grief and indignation. Many of these heads were familiar to them. Fortunately, there were many heads inside.

There is no Liu Tieshuan's head, but it is said that his death was more tragic - his body was trampled into pulp by random horses.

Since Di Lie came to this era, he has seen a lot of corpses along the way. He even turned many living people into corpses with his own hands. But after all, it was on the battlefield, and there was no resentment between life and death. But like now, he has turned many living people into corpses.

Hundreds of human heads were hung in front of the city gate. The cruel and disgusting visual impact made Di Lie, who was accustomed to seeing blood, feel nauseated. A resentment suddenly arose in his heart. Now, he had a more fulfilling one.

Reasons to pull the trigger!

Although the Taihang Rebel Army had been defeated ten days ago and was no longer able to pose a threat to the Jin Army in Luan City, the inspections entering the city were still very strict. Fortunately, before setting off, the guide at Pingzhai had said that, so among the four people except

Apart from a meat-cutting knife that Ah Shu had on him, basically nothing inappropriate was found, except... the sniper rifle in the gun case.

Di Lie calmly opened the gun case and showed off the exquisite parts. He smiled and said to the city gate guard: "This is a mechanical artifact passed down from my family. It's quite interesting. What do you think of it, the military lords?"

The city gate guards each took a part in their hands and looked at it over and over for a long time. Apart from feeling that the iron tool was very delicate, they couldn't see its function at all (of course they couldn't see it, unless they also traveled through time, they would have to

Traveling into the future). Although these guards couldn't understand what it was, everyone liked this exquisite steel appliance with smooth lines and dazzling luster.

Seeing the greed in the eyes of the city gate guards, Di Lie quickly took out a bunch of copper coins and handed them over. Only then did he dispel the greed of the guards. He handed the sniper rifle parts back to him and waved to let him go.

Ah Shu had seen Di Lie assemble this gun, and of course he understood what it was. He had been very nervous before, clutching the knife tightly. It wasn't until Di Lie calmly put the parts back into the box and carried it on his back that Ah Shu

Secretly he breathed a sigh of relief.

Gao Liang had never seen this thing before. Although he was very curious, he was stimulated by the heads in front of the city gate and was in a bad mood, so he had no intention of asking.

There was a reason why Di Lie chose these three people to act together. The guide of Tianping Village was from Shiyi Town, more than ten miles northwest of Luan City. He was very familiar with Luan City. This kind of local snake was about to start a fight against Di Lie.

Action is indispensable. Gao Liang is the liaison with the people in Tianping Village, playing a coordinating role. As for Ah Shu... it can be used as a sentinel during operations. The more important point is that,

Ah Shu is the only person who knows the target of this operation - Ah Lan.

Ah Shu was originally the personal guard of Gu Xin, another senior general of the Jin Army, and Gu Xin and Ah Lan had always had a close personal relationship, so Ah Shu had met Ah Lan several times and recognized his appearance, which was particularly important.

If you want to assassinate a person, but you don't know what the other person looks like, how do you kill him? So the role of A-shu is the most critical.

After the four people entered the city, the guide arranged for Di Lie and others to stay in a private house in the north of the city. This place was the residence of the guide's uncle in Pingzhai that day. The house was dilapidated and crude, and usually only his old uncle, a widower and lame, lived there.

Now that there are four more people at once, it is inevitably a bit crowded. But this is nothing to Di Lie. He has been in this era for almost a month, and he has spent at least half of the month camping in the wild. No matter what

Even if the conditions are poor, it is still much better than sitting outside on the ground.

Di Lie then observed the surrounding terrain and learned about the patrol conditions nearby, and was quite satisfied with this temporary shelter.

After repeated confirmations, Ah Lan usually stayed in the military camp in the south of the city and rarely appeared in the public eye. This meant that if he wanted to take action, he could only do it in the military camp.

Half an hour later, Di Lie and the others appeared in front of the military camp in the south of the city.

This school ground was originally a training ground for the Xiang troops stationed in Luan City during the Song Dynasty. The venue was not small, about the size of a modern football field and a half. There was also an old military camp site in the southwest, most of which were adobe houses and were dilapidated.

The national policy of the Song Dynasty has always been to have strong poles and weak branches. Good equipment, good weapons, and good sources of soldiers are always concentrated on the imperial army in Bianjing. And the local Xiang troops and Xiang Yong are all stepmothers...

No, he was raised by his second wife, so it would be nice if he didn't let you take a hoe into battle.

Under such a national policy, the combat effectiveness of the local Xiang army can be imagined. This school ground has basically become a decoration. Only when people from above come to inspect, these third-rate troops are pulled out to show off. Shangguan should be attached That’s it.

Before the lazy Jin army settled in, the school ground in the south of the city was deserted and overgrown with weeds. After the Jin army's 3,000 troops and nearly 10,000 captured livestock settled in, Jin soldiers could be seen running horses and shooting targets on the school ground all day long. Killed with a knife. As a result, the school ground was trampled until the grass stems were exposed and the soil was solid, returning to its original appearance.

It was originally a training ground for the Song army, but the Song people abandoned it. Now that the Jin army has settled in, it has truly restored its original function. This is nothing short of a great irony for the Song people.

The Jin army's defense of the military camp was very strict, and no idlers were allowed to approach within a radius of two miles outside the camp. On the outside of the camp, another trench was dug one foot wide and six feet deep, and a Luzhai defensive line was arranged outside. Ma. These military facilities left behind earlier to defend against possible attacks by the Taihang rebels are enough to make those who want to steal the camp rely on Wangzhai to sigh and return in vain.

Gao Liang and the guide had such helpless expressions at this moment. They glanced at the expressionless Di Lie, thought for a while, then Gao Liang stepped forward and said: "The defense of this military camp is extremely tight, and Ah Lan is extremely cautious. I'm afraid we have to wait until he leaves the camp to inspect the city defense before we can take action."

At this time, the guide poured cold water on him: "What the leader doesn't know is that there is a dedicated troop transportation corridor in the south campus of the city, which leads directly to the south gate tower. If you need to patrol, you don't need to go through the market at all. And there are many roads on both sides of the corridor. Inside, there are all the streets, no obstructions. If someone is still hundreds of steps away, he will be noticed by the Jin soldiers patrol outside the corridor, let alone get close. If not, the master of Fu Dazhai will have a choice that day. We can take action when Ah Lan is out on patrol, instead of sending elite troops to forcefully break into Jinlu's military stronghold."

Hearing this, Gao Liang was stunned for a long time and said in frustration: "So, Brother Guan's plan really won't work? Before I came here, I borrowed a horse-huang crossbow from Brother Meng Wei and asked my men to find a way to send it into the city tomorrow. …”

Di Lie pondered for a while and said decisively: "Let's go see that corridor."

The corridor mentioned by the guide was not far away. The four of them walked around the perimeter of the army village for less than half an hour under the cover of vegetation. They saw a long earth wall extending from the south side of the army village. Slowly Slowly approaching, you can vaguely see that the wall is mottled, with many cracks and collapsed gaps, and the wall is covered with various green plants.

Di Lie made a visual inspection and compared the nearby fence with the earthen wall in the distance. He estimated that the height of the wall was about one foot. In addition, the foundation of the wall was a little higher than the surrounding terrain. It can be said that, If you lurk in this place, you won't be able to see what's going on behind the wall at all.

Di Lie carefully inspected the surrounding terrain again. Indeed, as the guide said, within about one kilometer of the side of the corridor, there are fields and ridges, and the field of vision is very wide. It has just passed the Qingming Festival, and the fields should be like waves. , but there are only a few wheat seedlings sparsely planted on the ground. Judging from the situation, this year is probably a drought year.

Seeing such a terrain, even Ah Shu, who knew Di Lie's trump card, was discouraged and shook his head: "With such a long distance and the obstruction of the corridor, you can't even see anyone, so how can you assassinate him? Master, no one can do this job. If we can’t do it, we still…”

Di Lie looked around and suddenly pointed to the side and back and said: "Is that... a stone tower?"

The guide glanced in the direction of Di Lie's finger and nodded: "That is a pagoda built by the Wei people during the Northern Dynasties. The original pagoda was five stories high and four feet above the ground. There were more than ten carvings on the stone wall outside the pagoda.

A Buddhist allusion. Unfortunately, a war broke out in Luan City later. It was besieged by foreign enemies for several months. All arrows were exhausted, so they had to throw stones to defend themselves against the enemy. When all the stones were thrown, they demolished the pagoda to take out stones... But the pagoda only demolished

Halfway through, the city fell. The old people said that it was because they violated the gods by tampering with the pagoda..."

As a local, the guide couldn't stop talking about the anecdotes of the previous dynasty. Di Lie was afraid that he might not finish his story, so he had to interrupt him and said: "I just want to know, that broken tower

Can anyone hide inside?"

The guide was stunned for a while, looked at the broken tower in the distance, and then looked at Di Lie in front of him, swallowed dryly, and said: "This brother wants... to hide in the tower and wait for an opportunity to attack? I'm afraid that

It won’t work.”

Di Lie frowned and said, "Why? Can't anyone hide in that stone tower?"

"That's not true." The guide looked at Di Lie with an incredulous look, almost speechless, "The ruined tower is still more than two stories high now, and it is two feet and six feet above the ground. It is indeed hiding there.

You can see what's going on behind the corridor. But... the ruined tower is three miles away from the corridor. What can you do if you hide there?"

Di Lie seemed not to have heard the guide's words, and remained the same: "I just want to know if anyone can be hidden in that tower?"

"Of course you can! I climbed in there and played when I was a kid. Although there are a lot of broken rocks in the tower, it's still no problem to hide five or six people." The guide said with certainty.

"That's fine." Di Lie quickly made a decision, "From now on, Ah Shu and I will stay in the tower. Gao Liang, you go back and prepare five days of dry food and drinking water for us, plus two skins."

Zhan——I hope we can have the honor to meet this lazy gentleman before we run out of food."
Chapter completed!