Tiger Owl

Chapter 299 Recapture of Yu County
Jiang Ying remained the county magistrate of Yu County. In the past two months, he had done everything he could to cooperate with all of Pan Zhang's requests. At Pan Zhang's repeated requests, Jiang Ying tried his best to recruit two thousand young men for him and recommended a general named Guo Chuan, a local resident. Guo Chuan was highly skilled in martial arts, steady, and had good leadership abilities. Pan Zhang was very satisfied and appointed Guo Chuan as the commander of the new recruits, responsible for training them.

That noon, a merchant requested an audience with County Magistrate Jiang Ying, saying he was from the same hometown and had brought him a letter from his family.

Jiang Ying knew perfectly well what was going on, and ordered his men to take the merchant to the inner hall. "Where are the letters from my family?"

Seeing that no one was around, the merchant took out a letter and handed it to Jiang Ying. This was not a letter from home, but a letter from the strategist Pang Tong to Jiang Ying.

After reading the letter, Jiang Ying said to the merchant, "I understand. Please tell Military Advisor Pang that I will carry out the plan."

After seeing off the messenger disguised as a merchant, Jiang Ying immediately found Guo Chuan. Guo Chuan was indeed a local, but his true identity was a captain under Wang Ping.

The two thousand soldiers were all selected from the Western Chu army. They all shared the characteristic of being from Yu County or the surrounding area. They were recruited and gathered by Jiang Ying in various ways and recommended to Pan Zhang, becoming new recruits.

There is actually a loophole here. If Pan Zhang had seriously investigated the backgrounds of Guo Chuan and the new recruits, he would have discovered some clues. These soldiers had joined the Western Chu army several years ago.

However, Pan Zhang was an outsider after all, and he didn't have many channels to inquire about the situation, nor did he think that deeply about it.

"County Chief Jiang, shall we take action tonight?"

Guo Chuan was somewhat taken aback, "It's not my shift tonight!"

Jiang Ying smiled and said, "I have a way to get them to assign you to tonight's duty."

That afternoon, Jiang Ying collected all the wine in the city and drove hundreds of fat pigs and more than a thousand sheep to the military camp. He made a good excuse: today was the local custom of winter sacrifice day, on which people needed to eat meat and drink wine to worship the God of Wealth and pray for good things to happen in the coming year.

Pan Zhang was overjoyed. He immediately agreed and ordered the slaughter of pigs and sheep to reward the army that night.

The Third Battalion is on duty tonight to defend the city. Due to the strong demands of the soldiers, the Third Battalion Commander handed over the city defense to the recruits. The recruits are just a footstool; of course, they don't get to enjoy good things like drinking and eating meat.

As night fell, more than a dozen bonfires were lit in the military camp, and the soldiers drank and ate meat around them, creating a lively atmosphere.

On the city wall, soldiers from the new recruit camp paced back and forth. Guo Chuan stood on the west gate, gazing at the large grove of trees south of the official road to the west. Zhao Yun's army should be lying in ambush in the woods. As agreed, he would open the city gate at the first watch of the night.

It was almost the first watch of the night when a soldier shouted, "General Pan is here!"

Guo Chuan was startled and quickly went to greet him, clasping his hands in a salute and saying, "General, what brings you here?"

Pan Zhang reeked of alcohol. After all, he was the commander-in-chief, and even after eating and drinking his fill, he still had to come to the city wall to inspect it.

Is there anything unusual?

"Reporting to the general, there is nothing unusual!"

Guo Chuan was very nervous. It was already past midnight, and if Pan Zhang discovered anything, he would have no choice but to take action.

Pan Zhang nodded, feeling a little guilty. He patted Guo Chuan on the shoulder and said, "You've all worked hard tonight. Next time we reward the soldiers, you'll definitely get a share!"

"Reporting to the general, this is our duty!"

Pan Zhang was very satisfied. He turned around and was about to leave when he suddenly noticed a glimmer of light in the corner of his eye. He was startled and turned to walk towards the city wall. He was not mistaken; there were three torches flickering not far away.

"What's going on?" Pan Zhang asked in astonishment. Guo Chuan knew he had been discovered. He gave a signal, and several soldiers stepped forward and forcefully pushed Pan Zhang off the city wall. 'Thump!' Pan Zhang landed in the moat, splashing water everywhere.

Pan Zhang's dozen or so men were also overthrown and taken off the city wall. Some fell into the moat, while others crashed heavily onto the muddy ground in front of the moat.

"Light the fire! Open the city gates."

Three torches were lit on the city wall, the city gate slowly opened, the drawbridge was lowered, and in a short while, Zhao Yun took the lead and led 30,000 troops into the city.

Most of the soldiers were drunk and incapacitated, and all became prisoners of war of the Western Chu army. Pan Zhang and a few soldiers tried to escape, but they were also captured by Zhao Yun's men. No one in the entire city was able to escape.

To prevent any accidents, Pang Tong sent Wang Ping with 5,000 soldiers to set up a roadblock on the east side in advance to prevent any from escaping.

The following morning, strategist Pang Tong entered Yu County.

Jiang Ying stepped forward and bowed, "This humble servant greets the Military Advisor!"

Pang Tong smiled and said, "County Magistrate Jiang has made the greatest contribution this time, and the Marquis of Chu greatly appreciates him. He has a bright future ahead of him!"

Jiang Ying was overjoyed and quickly said modestly, "This humble servant only did what was within his duty."

Pang Tong nodded and asked again, "Does Magistrate Jiang know how Pan Zhang and Sun Ben are in contact?"

“This humble servant knows that, according to the deployment of their strategist Wei Jing, Pan Zhang must send a messenger to Damu County every three days to deliver a message. Today is the day to deliver the message.”

Pang Tong immediately prepared a letter according to Pan Zhang's method, and ordered one of his men to impersonate a messenger and take the messenger's token to Da Mo County.

The net has been cast wide, and we are just waiting for Sun Ben's army to arrive.

Gan Ning did not stay in the government office or the military camp. He spent most of his time in his own residence, which was the same house he had lived in when he lived in Nanchang. It had not been moved to any other use and remained their residence.

The front hall of the villa served as his temporary official residence. Messengers constantly delivered Pang Tong's reports and the latest intelligence. Gan Ning simply watched silently, occasionally making some marks on the sand table with small flags. He could understand every step Pang Tong took.

Gan Ning did not interfere with Pang Tong's command and strategy, as that was the authority he had granted to the strategist. He simply watched quietly from the sidelines as Pang Tong did everything, and would only intervene if he discovered any major mistakes or significant objections.

In fact, they had formulated a plan several months ago. However, this plan was only a general framework, and the specific actions had to be adjusted in a timely manner and changed according to the circumstances. Therefore, Gan Ning handed over the decision-making power for these details to Pang Tong.

Gan Ning only cared about the overall framework, which was also the concern of those in power. As long as Pang Tong's actions did not deviate from the overall framework, he let Pang Tong give full play to his intelligence and talents.

There was no one in the main hall except Gan Ning. The guards stood guard vigilantly in the courtyard outside, watching everything around them.

Just then, the back door opened, and Xiao Qiao came in carrying ginseng tea. "Husband, have some tea first!"

Gan Ning took the tea, took a sip, and asked with a smile, "What time is it?"

"It's almost noon, I came to find you for lunch."

Gan Ning downed the ginseng tea in one gulp and laughed, "I'm really hungry, let's go!"

(End of this chapter)