Honglou: This bastard is too persuasive.

Chapter 743 Reporting the News
After entering the city, Li Qiang and his men immediately dispersed and explored along the pre-arranged route. Li Qiang led two soldiers and headed towards the barracks in the east city. They followed the wall and moved forward quietly under the cover of moonlight and shadows.

When they approached the barracks, they heard snoring coming from inside. Li Qiang signaled the two soldiers to keep quiet, and he carefully approached the barracks gate. Through the crack in the door, he saw that most of the soldiers in the barracks were sleeping soundly, and only two soldiers standing guard at the door were yawning.

Li Qiang was secretly happy, it seemed that the enemy's guard was not strict. He gently pushed open the gate of the barracks and sneaked in with two soldiers. They carefully shuttled in the barracks, observing the distribution of tents and the number of soldiers. After some investigation, Li Qiang estimated that there were about 2,000 soldiers stationed in the East City Barracks.

After leaving the barracks, Li Qiang and his companions went to the granary in the east city. The granary was heavily guarded, with two teams of patrolling soldiers walking back and forth. Li Qiang and his companions lay in the bushes, patiently waiting for the patrol team to pass by.

After the patrol team left, Li Qiang and others quickly stood up and rushed to the granary. The door of the granary was closed, and there was a small house next to it with a faint light coming out. Li Qiang guessed that it should be the resting place for the soldiers guarding the granary.

He quietly approached the hut and heard a conversation between two soldiers inside. One soldier complained, "It's so boring to have to guard this granary in the middle of the night." Another soldier said, "Don't complain. This is a granary. If something happens, we can't take the responsibility. I heard that Jia Changsheng's army is nearby and may attack at any time."

Li Qiang's mind moved, it seemed that the enemy had been alerted. He signaled the two soldiers to prepare for action, and then kicked open the door of the hut. Before the two soldiers in the hut could react, they were subdued by Li Qiang and others.

Li Qiang asked in a low voice: "How much food is there in the granary?" A soldier replied tremblingly: "My lord, the food in the granary is enough for all the people in the city to eat for half a year." Li Qiang asked again: "Are there any other important things?" The soldier thought for a moment and said: "There is also an armory behind the granary, which stores a lot of weapons and armor."

After Li Qiang got the information he wanted, he tied up the two soldiers and stuffed cloth strips in their mouths to prevent them from making any sound. Then, he took the two soldiers out of the back door of the granary and found the armory. The armory was also guarded by soldiers, but not many. Li Qiang and others easily dealt with the guards and entered the armory to check. Various weapons were neatly arranged inside, and armor was piled up like a mountain. It seemed that Guangling City was well-equipped.

After completing the exploration of the East City barracks, granary and arsenal, Li Qiang and two soldiers quickly evacuated. They returned along the original route, successfully climbed up the city wall, and slid down along the rope. After leaving the city, Li Qiang immediately led the team to Jia Changsheng's camp, ready to report the details of the East City to the lord. At this time, another team responsible for exploring the West City was also carrying out the task intensively. The secrets of Guangling City were gradually revealed by Jia Changsheng, and a war was about to begin.

The team responsible for exploring the West City was led by the resourceful lieutenant Zhao Gang. This team of 30 people had sneaked into Guangling City at the same time as Li Qiang's team. Zhao Gang quickly thought about how to fully understand the situation in the West City without exposing their whereabouts. He knew that as an important part of Guangling City, the West City must have strict defenses, and conventional exploration methods would easily attract the attention of the enemy.

Zhao Gang observed the streets of West City and found that there were many beggars in the city. These beggars were quite familiar with the streets and alleys in the city and the ways of the people. If they could be mobilized to help investigate, perhaps they could achieve twice the result with half the effort. So Zhao Gang decided to take a risk.

Zhao Gang found a relatively secluded place, gathered the team members together, and whispered: "Brothers, if we want to find out the situation in West City, we may not be able to do it by ourselves. I plan to mobilize the beggars in the city to help. What do you think?"

One of the team members frowned and said, "Captain, can the beggars be trusted? It would be terrible if they revealed our whereabouts."

Zhao Gang nodded and said, "This is indeed a problem, but we can find a way. These beggars live in poverty, and we can use money and food to impress them, and tell them that we are here to overthrow Sun Quan's tyranny and seek welfare for the people, so that they understand that helping us will also benefit them. As long as we can explain it to them with reason and appeal to their emotions, we should be able to gain their trust."

After hearing this, the team members thought this plan was feasible and nodded. Zhao Gang then arranged the task in detail: "We will divide into several groups and disperse to find beggars who look smart and reliable. Remember, you must be careful and don't reveal your identity."

After receiving the order, the team members dispersed and mixed into the streets and alleys of West City. Zhao Gang himself came to a busy street corner and saw a group of beggars sitting together, seemingly sharing something. He walked up to them, took out some change from his pocket, and said, "Brothers, I have some silver here, I would like to ask you for a favor."

When the beggars saw the silver, their eyes lit up, but some still asked cautiously, "Who are you? What do you want us to do for you?"

Zhao Gang smiled and said, "My name is Zhao Gang. We are a righteous army. We cannot stand what Sun Quan did and want to overthrow him so that the people can live a good life. We need to know the situation in West City, such as where the barracks are, how many guards are there in the grain and grass warehouse, what are the weaknesses of the city defense, etc. As long as you can help us collect this information, the silver will be yours, and there will be more benefits after we succeed."

After hearing this, the beggars began to talk among themselves. One of the older beggars stood up and said, "Are you telling the truth? How can you prove that you are a righteous army and will not harm us?"

Zhao Gang said sincerely: "Old man, do you think we are dressed and behave like bad people? Moreover, if we wanted to harm you, why would we take out this money? We really want to do something for the people. Sun Quan's tyranny and extortion have made the people suffer terribly. We are here to change all this."

The old beggar thought for a moment and said, "Okay, we believe you. But you have to give us some money and food first, so that we can help you."

Zhao Gang distributed the change to the beggars without hesitation, and ordered his team members to buy some food. After receiving the silver and food, the beggars expressed their willingness to help.

Therefore, Zhao Gang and his team began to ask the beggars in detail about what they knew about the situation in Xicheng. At the same time, they arranged for the beggars to explore some key information that they had not yet learned.

In his conversation with the beggars, Zhao Gang learned that the barracks in the west city were located in the corner of the city, surrounded by a small river that was not deep but had a fast current. The guards of the barracks changed shifts regularly, every two hours. The grain and grass warehouse was located near the city wall and was heavily guarded, with three levels of sentries.

Zhao Gang felt that this information was not comprehensive enough, so he asked the beggars to focus on other details of the granary and barracks, such as the morale of the soldiers and the amount of food reserves.

In the next few days, the beggars took active actions. They took advantage of their convenience in the city, cleverly avoided the patrols of the enemy army, and collected various information. Some beggars pretended to beg near the barracks to observe the daily training and morale of the soldiers; others wandered around the grain warehouse, trying to inquire about the specific storage of grain. After some efforts, the beggars fed back the collected information to Zhao Gang one after another. Zhao Gang learned that although the grain warehouse in Xicheng was heavily guarded, due to the recent heavy rain, the foundation of the warehouse was somewhat loose, which might be an opportunity to take advantage of. Moreover, the soldiers in the barracks were somewhat demoralized due to their long-term garrison, and they also complained about Sun Quan's rule.

When investigating the weaknesses of the city defense, the beggars found that the northwest corner of the city wall of the West City had been in disrepair for a long time, and some of the bricks and stones were loose. Although it was not visible on the surface, if it was hit hard, it was likely to be broken. In addition, the patrol soldiers here were lazy and often slacked off.

After carefully sorting and analyzing this information, Zhao Gang believed that the northwest corner of the city wall and the foundation of the grain warehouse were two weak points that could be exploited. If he could concentrate his forces to attack the northwest corner of the city wall to attract the enemy's attention, and at the same time send people to quietly destroy the foundation of the grain warehouse to cause chaos, he might be able to greatly increase his chances of success.

Zhao Gang did not dare to delay, and took the detailed intelligence and led the team to quietly leave Guangling City under the cover of night. They rushed back to Jia Changsheng's camp without stopping, preparing to report the situation and analysis results of West City to the lord, providing key decision-making basis for the upcoming siege. At this time, Li Qiang's team's intelligence on East City had also been delivered. Jia Changsheng combined the intelligence of the two teams, and a thorough siege plan for Guangling City was gradually taking shape in his mind.

Zhao Gang rushed all the way and finally rushed back to Jia Changsheng's camp. At this time, the camp was brightly lit, and Jia Changsheng was discussing the war with a group of advisers. Hearing that Zhao Gang had returned, Jia Changsheng immediately stopped the discussion and said anxiously: "Quick, Captain Zhao, what's the situation in West City?"

Zhao Gang walked quickly into the tent, knelt on one knee, bowed and said, "My lord, I have fulfilled my mission. The situation in West City has been thoroughly investigated." After that, he reported all the intelligence he had collected and his own analysis to Jia Changsheng.

"My lord, after we entered the city, considering that conventional exploration methods would easily expose us, we managed to mobilize the beggars in the city to help. After much exploration, we learned that the West City Barracks is located in the western corner of the city, next to a small river with fast-flowing water. The guards of the barracks change shifts every two hours, and the soldiers have low morale due to long-term garrisoning, and they have many complaints about Sun Quan's rule."

Jia Changsheng nodded slightly, motioning him to continue.

"The granary is close to the city wall, and the security is extremely strict, with three levels of sentries. However, there has been a lot of rain recently, and the foundation of the granary has loosened. This may be an opportunity to take advantage of. In addition, the northwest corner of the city wall has been in disrepair for a long time, and some bricks and stones are loose. Although it is difficult to detect on the surface, it may be broken by hitting hard. In addition, the patrol soldiers here are relatively lazy and often slack off."

After listening to this, Jia Changsheng fell into deep thought. After a moment, he looked up and asked, "Captain Zhao, in your opinion, how should we use this information?"

Zhao Gang stood up and pointed at the map in the tent and said, "My lord, I think that when we attack the city, we can first concentrate our forces to feint and attack the northwest corner of the city wall. The wall here shows signs of loosening, and the enemy's patrols are slack, so we can use this to attract the enemy's main force. At the same time, send an elite team to quietly approach the grain warehouse while the chaos is going on, and use the weakness of the loose foundation to try to destroy the grain warehouse. Once the grain catches fire, the enemy will surely be in chaos. At this time, we can attack the city with all our strength, and we will definitely get twice the result with half the effort."

Xu Shu, the counselor beside Jia Changsheng, nodded and praised: "This is a brilliant plan. First, use a feint attack to distract the enemy's attention, and then directly attack their food and grass lifeline. When the enemy's formation is in chaos, our army can break through in one fell swoop."

However, another strategist, Pang Tong, expressed a different opinion: "Captain Zhao's plan is good, but the enemy's grain and grass depot is heavily guarded. Even if the foundation is loose, it will be difficult to approach and successfully destroy it. Moreover, if the enemy sees through the feint attack on the northwest corner of the city wall, we may be in a passive position."

Jia Changsheng looked at Pang Tong and asked, "Shiyuan, what do you think?"

Pang Tong thought for a moment and said, "My lord, while we are feinting an attack on the northwest corner of the city wall, we can arrange another team to create momentum from the east side of the city and pretend to attack the city. In this way, Sun Quan's defenders will inevitably disperse their forces and find it difficult to concentrate their forces to deal with them. As for the grain and grass depot, we can prepare some smoke bombs and throw them near the grain and grass depot during the feint attack to create chaos and disrupt the enemy's line of sight. Then we can send a team to approach and destroy it in the chaos."

After hearing this, Jia Changsheng weighed the pros and cons of the two options. At this time, Zhao Gang said, "What Military Advisor Pang said is very true. This can further disperse the enemy's forces and increase the chance of success. However, the smoke bomb must be fully prepared in advance to ensure its effectiveness."

Jia Changsheng nodded and said, "Okay, let's follow Shi Yuan's plan. Captain Zhao, you have worked hard this time and have a thorough understanding of the situation in the West City. When we attack the city, we will need you to continue to contribute. You are familiar with the West City, so you can lead a team to be responsible for the feint attack on the northwest corner of the city wall, and make sure to attract the main force of the enemy."

Zhao Gang clasped his fists and said, "My lord, rest assured. I will do my best to help you capture Guangling City."

Jia Changsheng said to Pang Tong: "Shiyuan, you are responsible for preparing the smoke bombs and ensuring the quantity and quality. At the same time, arrange a team to create momentum from the east city. Make sure it is realistic so that the enemy will think we are really going to attack the city from the east city."

Pang Tong took the order and said, "Don't worry, my lord. I will make proper arrangements."

Jia Changsheng then said to Xu Shu: "Yuanzhi, you should pay close attention to the battlefield situation, pass on information in a timely manner, and coordinate the actions of various teams. When attacking a city, things change rapidly, and we need to adapt to the situation."

Xu Shu said: "Don't worry, my lord. I will always keep an eye on it and ensure smooth communication between the teams."

Jia Changsheng looked at everyone and said firmly: "Everyone, the battle of Guangling City is crucial. It is related to the success or failure of our great cause. Now we have mastered the key information in the city. As long as everyone works together and acts according to the plan, we will be able to capture Guangling City and severely damage Sun Quan."

Everyone responded in unison: "We will obey the Lord's orders!"

(End of this chapter)