Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1223 Infiltration

The person waiting for Yang Feng was Guo Jia. He sat on the couch, fanning himself with a feather fan, and said leisurely, "I didn't expect Commander Yang to take the risk himself. It seems that in the days ahead, Yecheng will be very lively."

Yang Feng raised his eyebrows and looked at Guo Jia's crossed legs, thinking about something, but he didn't point it out. Instead, he said, "I just entered the city and heard about what happened in the city, so I came to see you, sir."

"The events at Cao's residence and even at the Four Friends were planned by you, sir, right?"

Guo Jia waved his feather fan and said, "That's right. Otherwise, with the abilities of those people, they wouldn't have pushed Cao Cao to this point."

Yang Feng asked, "Sir, what are your plans for the next step? Is there anything I can help you with?"

Guo Jia smiled and said, "Commander Yang has come at the right time. There are not many opportunities to use strategies in the city now. The remaining opportunities are just a process of struggle. I am no longer of much use. I just need you to defeat the cleverness with force."

"But using force is not the same as acting recklessly. There are many Cao's soldiers and generals in the city now, so it is not easy to confront them head-on. Therefore, the commander must choose the right target."

Yang Feng said, "The most suitable targets are naturally Cao Cao and his most trusted generals and officials."

"Zhong Yao, Xun You, Xiahou Dun, oh, and Cao Pi, who else?"

Guo Jia said: "The commander is very clear, and it saves me from a lot of nonsense."

"But before I came, the lord had someone he cared about very much. This person was second only to Cao Cao, and even higher than Zhong Yao."

Yang Feng asked: "Who is it?"

Guo Jia replied: "Sima Yi."

"This man has grown very fast. He was the one who led the defense of the city by Cao Wei recently. Otherwise, when Cao Cao was seriously ill, the city might have been breached long ago."

"But this man has always had a lot of death squad guards around him, so it's not easy to kill him."

"Cao Cao, Cao Pi, and Sima Yi, these are the three most important figures in the city."

"If any one of them is killed, Yecheng will certainly be breached, and of course the difficulty will be the highest."

"If that doesn't work, the commander will have to settle for the next best thing and assassinate some of the Cao Wei ministers who are alone."

"Of course, they will also take precautions. They will definitely place guards around them, or even set up ambushes to lure people of the same age into their trap. So you have to be very careful."

Yang Feng nodded and said, "I understand. I heard that the four friends instigated some people to attack the city gates, but when I entered the city, I saw that the four gates were safe. Were they all killed?"

Guo Jia said: "Of course not. They failed to attack the gate and fled in all directions. I had people hide them, but I don't know how long they can hide."

"The enemy outside the city has not yet reached the city gates, and Cao's army inside the city still has enough strength to fight. It is not wise to continue the civil strife at this time."

"But it will be easy now that Commander Yang is here. There was chaos in the city last night and many Cao's soldiers were killed. I sent people out at great risk to collect more than a dozen sets of armor."

As soon as he said that, the guards around him opened the boxes stacked in the corner of the room. Inside were the armor commonly used by Cao's soldiers, most of which were torn in the middle.

Guo Jia said: "Don't think it's too little, Commander. This is the best the Procuratorate has done. Several people even lost their lives because of it."

Yang Feng walked over and picked up a breastplate. Seeing that it was stained with large patches of dried blood, she straightened up, put it on, and said, "No, the Procuratorate has done a good job. Leave it to me next."

"I also want twenty of the best spies."

Guo Jia said: "No problem, I will send someone to give the order and ask them to come and gather."

Yang Feng shook his head and said, "No, as soon as possible, I will go find it myself."

After hearing this, Guo Jia took out a scroll of silk and handed it to Yang Feng, saying, "This is the list of spies and their locations."

Yang Feng took it and glanced at it for a moment, then handed the silk back to Guo Jia and said, "I'll make a note of it. If anything unexpected happens, I'll notify you in time."

Guo Jia was surprised: "So fast?"

"The commander has a good memory."

Yang Feng said calmly, "I know most of them. They were originally trained by Black Mountain."

Guo Jia laughed and said, "I forgot, when it comes to infiltrating and spying, who can compare to the Saintess of the Taiping Dao?"

"The next thing will depend on the commander."

Yang Feng nodded, picked up the box containing the armor and walked out, "We will send back news every day. If there is no news, it means that I have failed and died. Then you can do what you want."

Guo Jia watched Yang Feng leave and thought to himself that this was going to be interesting. It looked like there would be a big show in the city in the next few days.

The next morning, Zhong Yao received news that two Cao Wei officials and generals were assassinated last night. When he heard this, his body shook violently, and the assassination in Huaicheng that year came to his mind.

He was sure that these were most likely assassins sent by the Jin army, and they were the same group of people from Huaicheng last time!

He was holding a letter in his hand with an amusement look on his face. Ding Chong died in the assassination. His two sons should have hated Xiong Hu very much. But now Ding Yi and Ding Yi followed Yang Xiu and Cao Cao to become enemies. This was helping Xiong Hu in disguise. How could this not be unfilial?
Xun You, who came to report the news, said angrily: "This vicious tiger's methods are too despicable!"

"You dare not fight in an upright battle, but use such a despicable thing. It's simply despicable!" Zhong Yao said calmly: "Two armies are fighting each other, each using their own methods. Didn't we also massacre villages before? All of them were to expose the opponent's flaws. No one is stronger than the other. It all depends on the final result."

Xun You said depressedly: "The city is already in chaos. If this continues, Yecheng will be undefendable!"

Zhong Yao asked softly, "Gongda, do you think that Yecheng can hold out for a few more days?"

Xun You was startled, "How many days?"

"There are still 70,000 to 80,000 people in and around Yecheng. They can hold out for a month until winter, right?"

While the two were talking, a guard reported that the city guards had changed positions. Sima Yi came back to rest, but he wanted to see Zhong Yao. Zhong Yao knew that Sima Yi must have something to do, so he let him in. Sima Yi bowed to Zhong Yao and Xun You and said, "I think the situation in the city is not good, and I want to see the King of Wei."

Because Cao Cao was not in good health the day before, all affairs were handed over to Zhong Yao, so Sima Yi said this. Zhong Yao heard it and said, "The king needs to rest. Tell me what's going on first. I will take you to see the king if I think it's necessary."

Sima Yi said: "Based on the situation of the Jin army arriving in the past few days, I believe that the Jin army's offensive this time is a cover for the full-scale war later."

"The real idea is not to make a fuss about the attack and defense of Yecheng, but to eliminate all the Wei troops outside Yecheng, and then completely besiege Yecheng."

Xun You was surprised and said, "The Jin army is outnumbered by us, can they really do it?"

Sima Yi explained: "I suspect that the current tactic of the Jin army is to muddy the waters and divide its forces into multiple groups to engage in a mixed battle with the reinforcements, just as they did in Qingzhou before."

"In this situation, it all depends on the performance of the generals, but because the Jin army has previous experience, their mobilization and reaction speed in this kind of large-scale melee is much faster than ours."

"This advantage will gradually accumulate and become the key to victory or defeat on the battlefield!"

After hearing this, Zhong Yao asked Xun You, "What does Gongda think?"

Xun You thought for a long time before he said, "It is indeed possible."

He then said angrily: "Damn the fierce tiger, why did he choose such a coincidence!"

"If it weren't for the king..."

Sima Yi's heart skipped a beat. It looked like Cao Cao's health was really failing!

Zhong Yao interrupted Xun You at the right time and said, "Zhongda doesn't know yet that there are assassins in the city."

"Several officials have been killed. The three of us may also be targets, so we must be careful from now on."

"Never go out alone. Even if you do go out, bring at least a hundred soldiers with you."

"I am also very worried about the king's condition. Let's go together now."

When Sima Yi heard this, he felt relieved. This meant that Zhong Yao had already regarded him as one of his own. This statement was equivalent to officially pulling himself into this small circle.

The three men got on their carriages and left the mansion. The total number of guards from the three parties was as high as two or three hundred, and they surrounded the three carriages tightly.

The convoy passed slowly on the street. Due to the war, the city was under control and no outsiders were allowed to go out on the streets, so the streets were empty. Only two or three shops were barely open, and the patrons were all from wealthy families who came out to buy things. Ordinary people could only stay at home even if they ran out of food.

They looked through the cracks in the windows and watched the convoy pass by their front door. Some people could not help but say indignantly, "Let's fight, but you can't even let us go out on the street. We are running out of food at home. Are you going to let people starve to death?"

The person next to him said, "Shouldn't we blame the Jin army outside the city?"

"If they don't attack the city, doesn't that mean there will be no attack at all times?"

"And the notice said that as long as you go to the top of the city to defend it, you will have food to eat."

The man said angrily, "Forget it! Look at how they treat us Jizhou people. They took away our food. Who will work for them now?"

The other person said leisurely: "Then we can only wait for the Jin army to enter the city."

The man who had come before sneered, "When we see lone Wei soldiers, we'll have to kill a few of them!"

In another dilapidated house, Yang Feng counted the number of people on the long street, then turned around and said to the people behind him: "There is no chance, let's go."

"Pay attention to gathering information, and try not to go out during the day to avoid being noticed."

After hearing this, the remaining few people went into the back room, walked into the tunnel through the hole under the window, and then left in various directions.

Yang Feng stayed at home to rest, thinking that Zhong Yao was an old fox, but Sima Yi was also a young man who was so afraid of death. It would be difficult to find any flaws in him when he brought so many servants with him when he traveled.

The only solution now is to temporarily find another target.

Her eyes suddenly narrowed. The direction the other party was heading was obviously towards Prince Wei's palace. Was it that Cao Cao summoned her for something, or did something happen to Cao Cao himself?
The three men arrived at Cao Cao's mansion and saw that everything outside the gate was quiet. The gate guard welcomed the three men in, and the remaining guards blocked the gate in three layers inside and outside, making it impossible for anyone to get in.

Sima Yi thought to himself, what's the use of blocking the door? What if the assassin is waiting in the Prince of Wei's mansion?
Fortunately, what he worried about did not happen. The three of them walked all the way to Cao Cao's house. Mrs. Bian opened the door and welcomed the three in.

Cao Cao sat on the couch. From Sima Yi's point of view, his complexion actually looked better. But before Zhong Yao could speak, Cao Cao asked, "Any news about the two of them?"

(End of this chapter)