Northern Dynasties

Chapter 1351: Falling into a trap
The distance from Fuchun to Wukang was not far, and it would only take a few hours to travel back and forth by fast horse. However, since Xiao Mohe and his party had to avoid the scouts of the Tang army, they had to be cautious and hide during the day and move at night, and they tried to choose remote wilderness and avoid densely populated residences and docks, so the time was naturally extended. It took nearly two days to reach Wukang.

On the way, Xiao Mohe was also carefully observing the situation of the people in Wuxing. At the same time, he was secretly puzzled: "Didn't they say that Wuxing was already full of starving people and the people were living in misery? Why don't I see much chaos..."

Not only is there no chaos in the countryside of Wuxing, it can even be said to be quite orderly. Farmers can be seen in the wilderness plowing and drying the land in preparation for the spring farming season that will soon begin.

This alone has far surpassed that of Kuaiji. Nowadays, most of the adult men in Kuaiji have been conscripted by Hou Andu on the south bank of the Qiantang River, or have become desperate bandits. Few of them are still interested in farming.

However, it may also be that he and his party have not yet been to a densely populated area, so they have not seen the real chaos in the Wuxing area. After all, the Tang army is an external force, and it is difficult to spread the chaos to all areas in a short period of time.

Xiao Mohe guessed so in his mind, but he still did not dare to let his guard down. After entering Wukang, the group hid in the reed marshes near Xitiao Creek at night. They only sent out a few soldiers from Wuxing to disguise themselves as pedestrians and quietly went to Shen's manor in the direction of Xiaxi.

In the Shen family manor, Shen Zhong had been eagerly looking forward to the personnel news from the south. When he learned that the envoy of King Linchuan had finally arrived, he was overjoyed. He quickly asked his servants to bring the envoy into the manor, and he met him in private and asked King Linchuan about his future plans and when he was going to launch an attack on Wuxing.

When Shen Zhong learned that the divisions on the south bank of the Qiantang River needed some time to prepare for battle, and that they were only here to temporarily transfer their families to the south, he was somewhat disappointed. But he quickly cheered up and said, "It is indeed a good thing to be cautious in using troops. After all, the Tang army is in high spirits right now, and we must be fully prepared to increase our chances of winning. As for temporarily avoiding Kuaiji..."

At this point, Shen Zhong was in a dilemma. Of course, he also hoped to ensure the safety of himself and his family. Not long ago, his nephew Shen Keqing was sent to the Tang army camp by him and there was no news of him. He didn't know whether he was alive or dead. The Tang army didn't tell them what kind of punishment they had given Shen Keqing. This made Shen Zhong a little worried that the Tang army's malice towards his family had not been eliminated, and they might attack him at any time.

But he was a little worried about leaving home like this, and he was reluctant to give up the huge fortune he had accumulated with great difficulty. Especially since the King of Linchuan had not yet given an exact date for his counterattack, even if their personal safety was temporarily guaranteed, their secret contact with the King of Linchuan would be exposed, and they didn't know when they would return. They would not be able to take too much of the family's wealth with them, and they didn't know how much would be left when they returned...

After weighing the pros and cons, Shen Zhong decided to stay in the village to observe how the situation develops, so he said to several messengers: "Although my village has fallen to the enemy, we still need someone to stay here to defend the order and morality of the village. I am dying, and I don't want to run to other places for a moment of peace, so I will stay here and wait for the king's army to return. Please go back and tell King Linchuan that there are loyal people in this village who are eager for the righteous army to return. When the army returns, I will sell my family to help strengthen the army and donate 3,000 stones of rice to help the king reward the army!"

When the envoys heard Shen Zhong's generous and heroic words, they were all impressed and expressed their willingness to convey his feelings and ambitions to King Linchuan.

But when Shen Zhong stood up to see them off, several people looked a little embarrassed. They lowered their heads and remained silent for a moment before one of them spoke up, "We were ordered to sneak back to our hometown to contact the villagers. For the convenience of traveling, we did not bring too much food with us. We hid during the day and went out at night and did not dare to light a fire to cook. So far, we have not eaten a grain of rice for a whole day and night..."

After Shen Zhong heard this, he immediately frowned, turned his head to look at the sky outside the hall, and said with some embarrassment: "It's hard to live in the countryside, and it's not easy to run a family. My family's grain will soon run out, and we have made a family rule not to cook after noon..."

He promised to provide King Linchuan with 3,000 dan of grain, which was a hook to attract King Linchuan to come to Wukang quickly after crossing the river, so that his family could escape danger as soon as possible. As for these pawns, they neither brought any good news nor were they prominent figures, so Shen Zhong was reluctant to entertain them.

"There is no need to light the fire. Just sweep any leftovers from the kitchen into the jar and let us eat a little. Then we will have the energy to report back to the general. We will be very grateful!"

The few people did not think that Shen Zhong was unwilling to provide meals because he was stingy. After all, his previous statement was very passionate. Moreover, they often saw villagers with pale faces when they entered the village. It was obvious that they did not come from a well-off family. And Shen Zhong in front of them was only wearing old clothes with patches on the front of the collar, which showed that his family expenses were very poor.

Therefore, these people felt quite ashamed. If they were not really starving, they would not have been embarrassed to stay and eat for free.

Seeing that these people were still a little difficult to deal with, Shen Zhong raised his hand impatiently to signal the servants to lead them to the kitchen. However, their family ate at regular times and fixed quantities every day, so it was possible that there was not enough food, so how could there be any leftovers?

So when the servant raised this question, Shen Zhong thought about it and then ordered: "Since the Linchuan royal army will not be returning in the near future, there is no need to feed the cattle and horses. Collect the remaining soybean meal and beans, add a fire to the stove, and feed these hungry soldiers."

This was a bit harsh, but the servants of the Shen family had long been accustomed to their master's behavior, so they didn't care after hearing it, and turned around to make arrangements. The soldiers naturally didn't know that the Shen family's manor was full of grain, and they only thought that the family was about to run out of food. When they thought about the fact that Shen Zhong was going to donate thousands of stones of grain to the Linchuan Royal Army under such a poor situation, they naturally admired such a village elder even more, gritted their teeth and ate half a bowl of soybean meal feed, and then hurriedly said goodbye and left the Shen family manor.

Xiao Mohe had been following Hou Andu since Lingnan, and had little contact with the Wuzhong people. He didn't know what kind of person Shen Zhong was. After hearing the report from the soldiers, he couldn't help but feel that this old man was really generous and heroic. Since Shen Zhong was unwilling to move to Kuaiji, the next step was to find other targets to contact.

However, Xiao Mohe did not plan to continue to sneak into Wuxing because the risk was too great. During the period of time he was hiding here that day, he secretly saw several cavalry squads of the Tang army passing nearby, which was enough to show that the Tang army was also trying its best to strengthen its control over Wuxing.

His main purpose of this trip was to investigate the military situation of the Tang army's rear route, and contacting the local righteous men was just a side job. Therefore, Xiao Mohe planned to split his troops into small groups and go to the vicinity of the Tang army's military road to observe. If he could find out the route for the Tang army to transport supplies and the location where the military supplies were stored, it would be much more meaningful than contacting a few local righteous men.

Of course, doing so is risky, but since you have already come to the enemy's rear, you are already taking a risk. After taking such a risk, it would be more worthwhile to gain more.

So the group continued to wait for the night in the reed marsh, and shared the dry food they brought with them. Because they did not dare to make a fire to cook, they could only eat the wet, cold and hard rice balls, and their necks were straightened by choking. The experience was not much better than the soldiers eating feed in Shen Zhong's house.

In the evening, when Xiao Mohe was still assigning the next tasks to the soldiers in the hiding place, the soldier who was on guard outside the reed marsh suddenly shouted: "General, there is a situation! A large number of troops are coming here!"

After hearing the news, Xiao Mohe also walked to the outskirts and looked outside the reed marsh. He saw thousands of infantry and cavalry soldiers coming in this direction in the distance. His brows immediately frowned and he whispered, "Maybe they are passing by, not necessarily coming this way."

Having said that, he still signaled his soldiers to put on their armor and weapons and prepare for battle. Previously, in order to keep their horses secret, they were led deeper into the reed marsh, and now he ordered them to be led out quietly.

As the team outside got closer, Xiao Mohe also saw the whole picture of the team. There were thousands of Tang cavalrymen escorting the same number of Wuzhong villagers. Those villagers were holding ropes, net bags, sickles and other tools in their hands. It seemed that they came here to harvest reeds and were not deliberately targeting them.

"Let's wait for a while. It's best not to engage in a fight with the enemy. It's getting dark now, and they won't be working here for too long!"

After seeing this scene, Xiao Mohe looked up at the sky again, and then signaled his men to be patient, retreat slightly into the reed marsh, and try not to expose their whereabouts.

The team stopped a few miles away and began to harvest reeds. Xiao Mohe and others retreated further into the reed marsh, just pricking up their ears to listen to the movements outside.

Those Tang army soldiers were very domineering. They kept shouting at the villagers to harvest better quality reeds. So the villagers could only keep picking and harvesting in the reed marshes. The scope of their activities expanded, which inevitably increased the chances of Xiao Mohe and others being exposed.

"Wait a little longer, it will be dark soon..."

Xiao Mohe signaled his troops to continue to retreat inward. At this time, their men and horses had gathered together. Even if they were discovered, they could mount their horses and break out from the north.

However, just as Xiao Mohe was thinking about this, there was a sudden sound of hurried horse hooves from the northeast. Xiao Mohe's face suddenly changed when he heard the sound, and he shouted, "Hurry up and break out from the east!"

At the same time, the Tang army knights who had been shouting at the villagers to harvest reeds also laughed and shouted into the depths of the reed marsh: "You daring thieves, if you don't want to be burned to death by the raging fire, get out now!"

After hearing the roar, Xiao Moha's forehead was covered with cold sweat. It turned out that the Tang army had always known that they were hiding here. They had deliberately ordered the villagers to harvest reeds, one to paralyze them, and the other to lock their location. Now that the goal has been achieved, the real purpose is revealed. The two cavalry forces are divided into two directions to encircle them. Once the reed marsh is burned, they will probably be killed!