Chapter 302: Hiding in the Soldier Cave
Mountains north and south hide themselves, and their idle minds are busy chasing horses' hooves. ----------Ming Yuan Zhongdao's "On the Road to the City"
It is said that Chen Long worked tirelessly all the way, concealed his identity, and arrived in the famous city of Hongshan in a low profile. Hongshan is an important town that connects eastern Liaoning and western Liaoning. It is heavily defended, but it still cannot stop Chen Long in disguise.
Chen Longfu went to Hongshan, bought a load, purchased several small commodities, pretended to be a small salesman, and walked through the streets. The official office in Hongshan is adjacent to the city lord's palace, and Liu Bei is single, so he can work across the courtyard wall. The guards led by Wu Anguo set up defenses at key parts of the gate and courtyard walls, but their numbers were not large. With Chen Long's hand, he might not have a chance to break through, but there are five thousand standing troops stationed in the city nearby, led by Qi Zhou. If he can't succeed for a while, Chen Long may have no choice but to escape from the city for a while.
When Chen Long passed by the gate of the city lord's mansion with a load of goods on his back, he once saw Wu Anguo patrolling the door. When Chen Long walked by, his steps were deliberately heavy and slightly staggering, mingling with the crowd on the street, for fear of being noticed by the experts.
When Chen Long approached the City Lord's Mansion, Wu Anguo happened to walk down the steps of the City Lord's Mansion. Because Chen Long had restrained his momentum, Wu Anguo did not notice his special internal strength. However, Chen Long was tall and Wu Anguo couldn't help but glance at the salesman.
Chen Long immediately felt an extremely dangerous feeling in his heart, just like the prey being stared at by a tiger, as if it had substance. Chen Long suppressed the urge to take a look at Wu Anguo, and couldn't help but re-evaluate Wu Anguo's martial arts. This feeling of danger is by no means inferior to the oppression Chun Yuqiong put on him. It seems that Wu Anguo's martial arts skills are at least not inferior to Chun Yuqiong's.
Chen Long steadily carried the load of goods and moved forward slowly, completely putting aside the urge to observe the city lord's palace and selling goods to potential customers on the street. Wu Anguo deliberately approached the cargo load, observed it for a while, and found nothing unusual. He suddenly called out: "Soldier, come and take a look at the cargo."
Chen Long secretly screamed that something was wrong. He looked around in confusion on the surface, pretending that he had just discovered Wu Anguo, and quickly walked over with a smile on his shoulder. Wu Anguo casually picked up the things in the cargo pole and suddenly hit the head of the pole. One end of the pole suddenly received force, and the other end jumped up like lightning, hitting Chen Long's right arm with a loud bang.
With Chen Long's skill, he could easily dodge even a short-blade sneak attack at close range, not to mention the shoulder pole, which was slow to dodge. However, Chen Long had already expected that Wu Anguo wanted to try his idea, so he pretended to be caught off guard and was hit hard by the pole. He fell to the ground with an ouch, holding the wound and crying out in pain.
Wu Anguo lifted him up, took the opportunity to inspect his injuries, pinched his arm and said, "What is your name, salesman, and where are you from? Do you know martial arts? You are very strong!"
Chen Long bared his teeth and rubbed the sore spot, and responded: "The little one's surname is Zhou. He has no real name, only a nickname is Xiao Hu'er. The little man was born in Jizhou. He has traveled all over the country since he was a child. He is somewhat stronger, but he has no martial arts skills. The general is joking."
Wu Anguo picked a few items at random and finally let Chen Long go, keeping his eyes on his back. Chen Long walked a little smoothly when he was staring at him, so he tried to walk away as calmly as possible. But he was not sure if he was too calm, which would arouse Wu Anguo's suspicion. Therefore, the performance was somewhat nervous and frightening, but the suspicion was somewhat resolved.
After this contact, Chen Long never took the risk of appearing around the city lord's mansion in broad daylight again. Because masters will definitely remember some of their own characteristics and gait, it is inevitable that their whereabouts will be revealed. If Wu Anguo finds himself in the surrounding area again, his unfavorable intentions towards Liu Bei will be revealed immediately, causing unnecessary trouble for the assassination.
Chen Long began to look for the pattern of Liu Bei's departure from the city. Hongshan County's main army camp is in the east of the city, including Tadun's cavalry, which is mainly used to defend against sneak attacks from Liaodong. The traitor inside Hongshan, Gongsun Ji, is Gongsun Du's undercover agent and has not yet revealed his identity.
Liu Bei would personally inspect the troops every few days, accompanied by Wu Anguo, Qi Zhou and other ministers in charge of the troops. On the way, you will pass through the East Street in the city. After passing the East City Gate, you will ride on horseback along the official road to Hongmiaozi, then go into the mountain to the foot of Yuanbao Mountain, and you will arrive at the military camp. Among them, the villages and towns around Guandao were relatively concentrated, so it was not easy to attack. Only after entering the mountain, the roadside was full of tall birch trees. Chen Long's eyes were fixed on this place, and he began to inspect and determine the location to attack.
Chen Long figured out Liu Bei's patrol pattern several times and hid in the bushes, and his timing became more and more accurate. Since the mountain road has eighteen bends, Chen Long chose a place with a big bend in the mountain road. This place is not only densely jungled and can block the sight of the front and rear guards, but is also suitable for escape. Once you get into the jungle, it is almost difficult to track.
Chen Long stayed here several times, and every time he stayed motionless in the thick leaves, holding his breath and concentrating. Although Wu Anguo had not discovered it, Chen Long also discovered a pattern. Whenever Liu Bei's escort entered a dangerous mountain road, the horse team would slow down extremely slowly, and Wu Anguo and several guards would surround him tightly. Around Liu Bei, it is quite difficult to shoot or sneak attack Liu Bei at the core through the crowd, and kill him with one blow.
Chen Long didn't expect Liu Bei to be so careful, so he had to wait silently. In fact, Liu Bei was so defensive because he had something in his heart. He personally made Liu He and seized Liu Yu's power and status. He couldn't even sleep peacefully, so he came up with the plot to come to Wu Anguo to be his bodyguard.
After waiting several times, there was no suitable opportunity. Chen Long secretly cursed that Wu An was a dog and Liu Xuande was a rat, so he had to choose the assassination location again. Chen Long's eyes returned to the city. After all, it was still the most likely opportunity to find Liu Bei alone in the city. Chen Long went in and out of the East City Gate several times. The soldiers guarding the gate gradually got to know the tall salesman who came in and out, and began to pay attention to him. Chen Long secretly thought something was wrong.
On this day, Chen Long returned to the inn without success again, and sat cross-legged on the bed. His blood flowed slowly, and the Tuanxi Kung was working silently. His anxious heart finally calmed down. Chen Long closed his eyes, and Liu Bei's patrol route clearly appeared in his mind again. Chen Long looked back at Liu Bei's patrol route carefully as if playing a movie, hoping to find loopholes and find a fatal blow. , and a place where you can escape smoothly.
His thoughts were like an aerial shot. Following Liu Bei's route, the camera started from the city lord's palace and passed through the east city gate. Outside was the yellow and green countryside, which seemed to be flawless. Chen Long's brow suddenly jumped, and the camera turned from the countryside and focused on the east gate of Hongshan.
The design of the east gate of Hongshan City is not significantly different from the wall design of other fortified cities. As a large-scale military fortification in ancient times, in addition to tall and solid walls and urns and other buildings, there are many supporting facilities on the city wall. military facilities, and the most distinctive and combat-defensive feature of Hongshan City today is the hidden military cave.
Chen Long thought, if he could hide in the cave where Liu Bei was hiding, and shoot Liu Bei in the back of the head with a strong bow and crossbow when Liu Bei rode out of the city gate, he would have a chance of success. Afterwards, the enemy would not be able to guess where he was hiding. There should be plenty of time to escape.
Thinking of this, like clouds opening and rain dispersing, Chen Long took advantage of the cover of darkness and easily sneaked onto the city wall to check the details of the hidden soldier cave. There are four soldier-hiding caves of different shapes at four locations under the battlements of the east city wall. The Tibetan Soldier Cave is divided into two layers: the upper layer is equipped with six arrow holes, and the lower layer is equipped with five arrow holes. Each arrow hole is built with an arc-top bunker. The arrow holes are slanted and can be opened and closed; there are passages in the cave. There are arrow holes on three sides, and the front perforations are aimed at the moat to facilitate shooting enemies climbing the city. There are battlements on the cave, which are integrated with the city wall to ensure the safety of the cave. There is a back door at the back of the cave for hiding soldiers on the city wall, so that elite soldiers can be dispatched to protect the city and attack the enemy at any time. Not far from the bottom is the city gate. If there is a foreign enemy attacking the city, a volley of hidden arrows will be fired from the perforations, catching people off guard.
In the darkness, Chen Long visited four caves where soldiers were hidden and found an excellent ambush location. This is a warehouse specially set up in Zangbing Cave to store various materials and equipment for city defense. Now that there are no foreign enemies attacking the city, very few people will go to the warehouse to take inventory. Even during the day, the soldiers only patrolled the city walls and watchtowers, and rarely went to the Tibetan Soldier Cave to watch the enemy. What's even better is that the location of the warehouse in the Cangbing Cave just crosses an external archery opening. Not only does it have light, it also provides the best exit for Chen Long to shoot arrows from here.
Chen Long determined the best ambush location in the Tibetan Soldier Cave. He was secretly happy. He pulled out the crossbow from his arms and made a posture through the arrow release port. He frowned and felt sad again.
It turns out that although the broken crossbow is exquisite, its range is limited. From the perspective of the Cangbing Cave, it was about four to five feet away from the city gate. If the cavalry rushed out of the city gate and found Liu Bei's back, the distance would have to be ten feet away. To hit Liu Bei's vital point was more difficult than Lu Bu's halberd shooting at the gate. In addition to the long distance, Liu Bei was still a moving target on horseback.
Chen Long rummaged through the warehouse, and his hard work paid off, and he actually found several three-stone strong bows. Chen Long pulled hard a few times and chose a relatively handy one. He also selected some iron arrows and kept them at hand. Unfortunately, he couldn't shoot an arrow in advance to test the range. He could only shoot one arrow, and if he missed, he would have to give up and escape.
Before Liu Bei left the city, martial law was put in place at the city gate as usual, and there was a lot of movement. Chen Long could predict the approximate time of Liu Bei's departure from the city in advance just by relying on his hearing. With the arrangement in the hidden soldier cave, Chen Long was more confident in annihilating Liu Bei.
A few days later, as usual, it was time for Liu Bei to go on patrol, and Chen Long had prepared everything in the Tibetan Soldier Cave. As the sky dawned early in the morning, a group of soldiers rode over to announce that the city lord was out on patrol, and the city gates were immediately under martial law.
Chen Long grabbed the strong bow, recognized the iron arrows, tightened his arms, and already had the bow fully drawn, waiting. Because he was afraid that the master would hear the sound when he drew his bow temporarily, Chen Long had already decided to wait with his bow drawn, just to put in more effort. Chen Long concentrated his attention and stood quietly by the archery port. The group breathing skill was functioning as usual and his breath became more stable. He was just waiting for the moment when the great hero Liu Bei rushed out of the city gate. Today was the day for his death.
If you want to know what happens next, listen to the explanation next time.
