August 8th.
Inside Jinzhou City, the moonlight is like water.
Ma Chaoxing was wearing dark clothes and walking in the shadow of the wall.
He walked while looking around carefully.
After dodging two rounds of patrolling soldiers, he arrived outside a dilapidated house.
Seeing that there was no one around, Ma Chaoxing stopped, bared his teeth and pursed his lips and started blowing air.
Squeak-squeak-squeak
Two faint but clear mouse calls were heard in succession.
After a moment.
A cat's meow came from inside the door.
Then the gate opened slightly and a head popped out.
After seeing Ma Chaoxing's appearance clearly, the man let Ma Chaoxing in.
The gates were closed and the streets became quiet again.
There were quite a few people standing in the yard.
Some were standing still and practicing boxing, while others were holding sticks and practicing chopping.
Some people also stood near the courtyard wall to keep watch.
Whatever they were doing, no sound was made.
The whole yard exuded an eerie silence.
Ma Chaoxing followed the man across the yard, into the house and closed the door.
"Ma Chaoxing, you are late!" Hu Dedi, who was standing at the door, said immediately.
“Sorry,” Ma Chaoxing clasped his hands together, “Normally, I would only encounter one group of patrolling soldiers at this time. Today, I encountered two groups of people on the road in succession, so I am a little late.”
"Two groups of people?" Hu Dedi frowned, "Could it be that Jian Nu has noticed something?"
"No," Ma Chaoxing shook his head. "My brothers and I have been transporting supplies for the Jiannu. Previously, we were transporting supplies from Jinzhou City to Songshan City. Recently, we changed the location from Songshan City to Nanshan. In addition, the sound of artillery coming from the south a few days ago and the continuous flow of wounded into the city, I guess Songshan City has fallen into the hands of our Ming army."
"In order to maintain order in the city, the Jiannu have increased the intensity of night patrols."
Hu Dedi stood up suddenly, "That means...it's just a matter of time before the government troops recapture Jinzhou?"
"That's about right," Ma Chaoxing nodded. "If we can take Ningyuan, we can take Jinzhou. In half a month at the shortest and a month at the longest, our army will be able to reach the city of Jinzhou."
"In this case, we have to find a way to cooperate with the government troops, otherwise it will be difficult to break through the city with external forces alone." Hu Dedi said.
"It's difficult!" Ma Chaoxing sighed, "We only have less than 800 people now. Let alone armor, we don't even have many decent weapons. Apart from the dozens of machetes we secretly made, the rest are farm tools."
"On the other hand, the Jiannu not only have complete armor and weapons, but also have deployed 5,000 garrisons in the city. If a real fight breaks out, we won't be enough to stop them."
"What should we do then?" Hu Dedi also began to sigh.
"I need to think about it carefully!" After saying this, Ma Chaoxing fell into long and deep thought.
Hu Dedi sat on the stool next to him and thought together.
After an unknown amount of time, Ma Chaoxing suddenly asked, "Hu Dedi, what are you and your brothers going to do tomorrow?"
"Although the Jiannu manager didn't say anything, I vaguely heard him and another person saying that they would carry logs and stones to the city wall tomorrow to prepare for defending the city!" Hu Dedi replied.
"That's easy!" Ma Chaoxing showed an evil smile.
"Do you have any good ideas? Tell me about them quickly." Hu Dedi immediately became interested.
"My task tomorrow is to take care of the wounded Jiannu soldiers, boil water for them, wash their clothes and cook for them." Ma Chaoxing began, "The wounded Jiannu soldiers are all in the North City area. I can take this opportunity to find a place to store the weapons and armor of the wounded."
"You mean that before we start the rebellion, we should first seize the warehouse where the armor and weapons of the wounded are stored?" Hu Dedi blinked.
"Yes," Ma Chaoxing nodded quickly. "The fastest way to get weapons and armor is to grab some horses. When the time comes, we will wear Jiannu armor, carry Jiannu flags, and ride Jiannu horses. The soldiers guarding the city will definitely regard us as friendly forces."
"When the government troops attack the city, we just need to sneak onto the city wall, kill the defenders and open the city gate. The government troops will take care of the rest."
"What about me?" Hu Dedi pointed at his nose, "What am I responsible for?"
"Aren't you going to carry logs and rocks to the city wall tomorrow?" Ma Chaoxing asked.
"Yes!" Hu Dedi nodded.
"When moving the rocks, you must reserve enough space for the artillery to store gunpowder and shells. Ask your brothers to pay attention to the size of the space reserved on the city walls. This way, we can know the focus of Jiannu's defense and attack from the weak points in the defense."
Hu Dedi thought for a while and nodded vigorously: "That makes sense! I will tell them to write it down. Is there anything else you want to tell them?"
"Yes, it took us several years to gain the trust of the Jiannu. We must be careful and not reveal our true colors recently, otherwise all our efforts will be wasted!"
"Don't worry, I'm used to pretending to be your grandson, Jian Nu won't notice!"
In the following month, Ma Chaoxing and Hu Dedi collected intelligence while continuing to be honest and do their work conscientiously.
As time went on, more and more wounded soldiers were sent into the city.
Ma Chaoxing soon found the place where the wounded soldiers' weapons and armor were stored.
Hu Dedi found out the situation of Jiannu's gunpowder warehouse.
On the seventh day of September, there were shouts and roars of cannon fire outside the city.
The shouting and killing lasted from morning to evening.
After nightfall, Ma Chaoxing found Hu Dedi.
Hu Dedi was the first to speak: "I heard from the wounded that the Ming army tried to cross the Xiaoling River several times, but was beaten back every time. We have to think of a way to help!"
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