Honglou: This bastard is too persuasive.

Chapter 744 Know everything
Therefore, under the command of Jia Changsheng, everyone was busy making final preparations for the upcoming siege of Guangling City. And this carefully planned battle was about to begin on the land of Guangling City, determining the future direction of both forces.

While Zhao Gang led the team to investigate the situation in the west city of Guangling, Jia Changsheng also arranged two teams to investigate the other two cities closely related to the defense system of Guangling City, the South City and the North City. These two cities echoed each other and played an important supporting role in the safety of Guangling City. If you want to successfully capture Guangling, you must know their situation well.

The captain in charge of the investigation of Nancheng was Wang Meng. He knew that this mission was difficult and that any carelessness would expose their whereabouts and bring disaster to the entire plan. Wang Meng selected 25 meticulous and agile soldiers to form a capable reconnaissance team. Before setting off, he said to the team members seriously: "Brothers, our mission to Nancheng this time is important. Everyone must be careful and cautious, do not easily reveal your identity, and collect as much valuable intelligence as possible."

Taking advantage of the night, the group cleverly avoided the patrolling enemy troops and quietly sneaked into the South City. Once in the city, Wang Meng asked the team members to divide into several groups and conduct investigations according to the pre-planned routes. Wang Meng himself took two team members, disguised as small business vendors, carrying loads, and shuttled through the streets and alleys of the South City. While pretending to sell, they kept an eye on the surrounding situation.

When passing by a barracks, Wang Meng heard a few soldiers chatting. One of the soldiers complained, "It's boring to guard the South City every day. I heard that Guangling City seems to be unstable. I don't know if anything will happen." Another soldier said, "What can happen? Our South City is well defended. Even if the enemy comes, they will not get away with it."

Wang Meng's heart moved, and he pretended to approach casually and continued to listen to their conversation. From the conversation between the soldiers, he learned that there were about 3,000 soldiers stationed in the South City Barracks. The soldiers were worried about the surrounding situation, but they were quite confident in the defense of South City.

Wang Meng continued walking and came to the market in the south city. The market was crowded with people. He saw several people who looked like ordinary people gathered together, talking about something anxiously. Wang Meng went over and heard an old man say, "The city has been collecting food and grass recently. I don't know what to do. The food stored at home is almost gone." A young man next to him echoed, "Yes, I heard that they are going to transport it to Guangling City. There may be a big movement over there."

Wang Meng realized that the movement of food and grass might be a key clue. He found a stall owner who looked relatively kind, bought some sundries, and asked during the chat: "Boss, I heard that the city has collected a lot of food and grass recently. Is it going to fight a war?" The stall owner looked at him warily and whispered: "I don't know too much, but they have collected a lot and transported them to the warehouse in the west of the city."

Wang Meng looked in the direction pointed by the stall owner and memorized the location of the warehouse. Afterwards, he met up with his team members and shared the information they had collected. After several days of careful investigation, Wang Meng found that most of the food and grass in the south city were concentrated in the warehouse in the west of the city. Although there were many guards in the warehouse, the shift change time was fixed and there was a certain pattern. At the same time, the defense of the east gate of the south city was relatively weak because there was a residential area nearby. The enemy was worried that the people would be affected when attacking the city, so they deployed relatively few troops.

Wang Meng felt that the time had come, so he led his team members quietly out of the city and rushed back to the camp to report to Jia Changsheng.

The captain who went to the North City was Li Yong. He led 30 soldiers who were good at covert operations and sneaked into the North City like ghosts. Li Yong knew that the North City was a military stronghold and the defense must be more strict, so they acted with extra caution.

Li Yong and his team first targeted the military horse farm in the north city. The military horse farm is crucial to the mobility of the army, and understanding the situation here can provide important reference for subsequent operations. They took advantage of the night and quietly approached the military horse farm. There were high fences around the military horse farm, and there were many guards patrolling. Li Yong observed for a while and found that every once in a while, a carriage full of fodder would enter the horse farm.

He suddenly had an idea and led several team members to quietly go around the road that the carriage must pass. When the carriage passed by, he suddenly attacked and subdued the driver and the accompanying soldiers. They changed into the enemy's clothes and drove the carriage into the military horse farm. After entering the horse farm, Li Yong and others dispersed and pretended to be soldiers carrying fodder to secretly observe the situation in the horse farm.

They found that there were a large number of war horses in the North City, about 2,000, and the horses were well-fed, which showed that Sun Quan attached great importance to the cavalry of the North City. In conversations with other "soldiers", Li Yong learned that the commander of the North City was a cautious person who often personally inspected the city defense and had extremely high requirements for the guards of each stronghold.

After leaving the military horse farm, Li Yong led the team to the armory in the north city. The armory is located in the center of the north city and is heavily guarded. There is a guard every three steps and a sentry every five steps. Li Yong and others did not dare to approach rashly, so they found a hidden place nearby to observe. After a long period of observation, they found that when the guards of the armory changed shifts, there would be a short handover gap. Although this gap was only a few minutes, if they grasped the opportunity, they might be able to sneak in.

Li Yong also noticed that although the walls of the North City were tall and strong, there was a section of the wall in the southeast corner. Because it was close to the mountain, the enemy seemed to think it was not easily attacked, so the defense was relatively lax, with only a small number of soldiers patrolling.

After several days of hard exploration, Li Yong collected important information about the military strength and defense deployment of the North City. He led his team to cleverly avoid the enemy's search, successfully left the city, and returned to the camp to report to Jia Changsheng.

With the return of Wang Meng and Li Yong, Jia Changsheng integrated detailed intelligence from Guangling City and the surrounding South City and North City, and had a clearer understanding of the entire battle situation. It also provided rich and critical information for the formulation of a comprehensive siege plan. A major battle around Guangling City and its surrounding defense system is about to begin.

Wang Meng and Li Yong returned to the camp one after another. After Jia Changsheng learned the news, he immediately summoned all the generals and counselors in the big tent. The candlelight in the tent flickered, and the atmosphere was tense and serious. Everyone knew the importance of this intelligence to the attack on Guangling City.

Wang Meng was the first to step out of the line, kneeling on one knee, and said with his hands clasped, "My Lord, we have already gathered the intelligence on South City. There are about 3,000 soldiers stationed in the South City barracks, and most of the food and fodder is concentrated in the warehouse in the west of the city. Although there are many guards in the warehouse, the shift change time is fixed, every three hours. In addition, the east gate of South City is close to the residential area, and the enemy may hurt the people, so the defense is relatively weak."

Jia Changsheng nodded slightly, signaling Wang Meng to stand up, and then looked at Li Yong. Li Yong hurried forward, also knelt on one knee, and reported: "My lord, the situation in the North City has also been explored. There are about 2,000 war horses in the North City Military Horse Farm, and the horses are excellent. The armory is located in the center of the city and is heavily guarded, but there is a short gap of about five minutes when the guards change shifts. The southeast corner of the North City wall is close to the mountain, the enemy's defense is relatively lax, and there are fewer patrol soldiers."

After listening to the two's reports, Jia Changsheng pondered for a moment, then stood up and walked to the map in the center of the tent. He stared at the symbols of Guangling City and its surrounding South City and North City on the map, and quickly thought of a siege strategy in his mind.

At this time, counselor Xu Shu said: "My lord, based on this information, when we attack Guangling City, we can adopt different strategies for the South City and the North City. The defense of the East Gate of the South City is weak, we can send a surprise force to pretend to attack the South City, attract the enemy's attention, and force them to send troops to rescue. At the same time, take advantage of the regular rotation of guards in the South City warehouse and arrange an elite team to sneak in, burn the food and grass, and cut off their supply. In this way, we can not only weaken the South City's ability to support Guangling City, but also disrupt the enemy's morale."

Jia Changsheng frowned slightly, thinking about Xu Shu's proposal, and said, "This plan is feasible, but we must be careful not to go too deep into the enemy's encirclement when feigning an attack on the South City. In addition, we must be cautious when burning food and grass. Once exposed, not only will the lives of the team members be in danger, but it may also affect the entire siege plan." Pang Tong continued, "My lord, the horse farm and the armory are key to the North City. We can take advantage of the gap when the enemy changes positions and send people with superb light skills and agility to sneak into the armory and destroy some key weapons, such as bows and crossbows. At the same time, arrange people who are good at horse riding to mix into the horse farm to disturb the horses and prevent them from fighting normally. After the defense of the North City is weakened, the ability to support Guangling City will also be greatly reduced."

Jia Changsheng nodded in agreement and said, "Shiyuan, this is a very good plan. Although the enemy's defense in the north city is strong, as long as we find the right time and strike, we will be able to disrupt their deployment."

At this time, Huang Zhong stood up and said loudly: "My lord, where should we focus our attack on Guangling City? I am willing to lead my troops to charge into the battle!"

Jia Changsheng looked at Huang Zhong and said firmly, "Han Sheng, regarding Guangling City, combined with Zhao Gang's previous exploration of the West City, our main attack direction is set at the northwest corner of the city wall. The city wall here has been in disrepair for a long time, the bricks and stones are loose, and the patrol soldiers are lazy. When attacking the city, we will first use catapults to concentrate bombardment on the northwest corner of the city wall to create a siege momentum and attract the main force of the enemy. At the same time, arrange for the death squad to approach the city wall while the chaos is in progress, take advantage of the weakness of the city wall, and force a breakthrough. Once a gap appears in the city wall, the army will immediately launch a general attack."

Zhao Yun also said: "My lord, I am willing to lead a team of light cavalry to patrol around Guangling City to prevent the enemy from breaking out and escaping, and at the same time block possible reinforcements from other directions."

Jia Changsheng said: "Zilong, this mission is handed over to you. You must pay close attention to the battlefield situation and respond flexibly. If the enemy shows signs of breaking through, you must do your best to intercept them."

Wei Yan then said, "My lord, I am willing to be in charge of commanding the siege equipment and ensure that catapults, ladders and other equipment can effectively cooperate with the siege operation."

Jia Changsheng nodded and said, "Wen Chang, siege equipment is of vital importance. You must debug it in advance to ensure that it plays the greatest role in the battle."

Jia Changsheng looked at the counselors and generals again and said, "Although we have a lot of information about the enemy during this attack on Guangling City, Sun Quan's garrison will definitely fight to the death. We must not take it lightly. All armies must cooperate closely and act strictly according to the plan. Anyone who disobeys military orders will be punished by military law!"

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

Jia Changsheng looked at the high-spirited people with confidence. He knew that after collecting and analyzing detailed intelligence on Guangling City and its surrounding cities, a carefully planned siege battle was about to begin, and this battle would be a key step in defeating Sun Quan and expanding his power. Under Jia Changsheng's command, the army began to make preparations for the war in an orderly manner, and when the time was right, they would launch a thundering attack on Guangling City.

Sun Quan was handling military affairs in the camp with a solemn look on his face. The battle with Jia Changsheng during this period made him feel extremely stressed. At this moment, a soldier hurried into the camp, knelt on one knee, and reported in a panic: "My lord, something bad has happened! According to the spies on the front line, Jia Changsheng suddenly disappeared and his whereabouts are unknown."

Sun Quan stood up suddenly, his eyes wide open, and shouted angrily: "What? How could Jia Changsheng suddenly disappear? What do you do for a living? You can't even keep track of his whereabouts!"

The soldier was so frightened that he trembled all over and said, "My lord, please calm down. Our spies have been keeping a close eye on Jia Changsheng's camp, but last night, the camp suddenly became quiet. When we went to check this morning, we found that there was no one in the camp, and all the supplies and weapons were gone."

Sun Quan paced back and forth, his heart full of doubts and uneasiness. He knew that Jia Changsheng had not disappeared for no reason, and he must be planning some major action. After thinking for a moment, Sun Quan immediately ordered: "Pass my order, order all spies to search for Jia Changsheng's whereabouts. Expand the search area, not only the surrounding areas, but also all the important roads and cities in Yangzhou. In addition, notify the garrisons of each city to strengthen their vigilance and guard against Jia Changsheng's sudden attack."

Soon, a group of generals and counselors rushed to the camp. Sun Quan informed them of Jia Changsheng's disappearance, and they were all surprised.

Zhou Yu said: "My Lord, Jia Changsheng's actions are very strange. He must be brewing a big conspiracy, and we must not take it lightly. The most urgent task is not only to search for his whereabouts with all our strength, but also to review our defense deployment and find out the loopholes and fill them."

Sun Quan nodded and said, "Gongjin is right. Pass the order down, and each city should strengthen patrols and send more sentries. Especially important cities such as Guangling City and Jingkou, they must be on high alert. At the same time, send people to investigate Jia Changsheng's every move before he disappeared, to see if they can find any clues."

As a result, Sun Quan's spies rushed in all directions like a tide, and launched a carpet search in all parts of Yangzhou. They shuttled through the streets and alleys, asking everyone who might know the truth. However, after a few days, they found nothing.

The soldier who was in charge of investigating Jia Changsheng's actions before he disappeared came back to report: "My lord, according to our investigation, a few days before Jia Changsheng disappeared, he had been discussing frequently with his advisers and generals in the tent, and seemed to be planning some action. But our spies could not find out the specific content. After that, he ordered the soldiers to prepare a large amount of dry food, water bags and marching supplies. It seemed that he was going to go on a long march."

(End of this chapter)