Under the dim moonlight, Jiro Sakai led his men through the unknown path. Although the journey was difficult and dangerous, for them veterans who had been fighting for many years, no matter how difficult the road was, it was nothing more than a trivial matter.
After nearly half an hour of running, they finally arrived at the gate of Sanming County. A simple head count showed that there were forty or fifty casualties out of a thousand people.
The unnamed path can help them reach Sanming County, but the road is extremely difficult to walk. It is surrounded by cliffs. Plus it is night, and there is a risk of falling off the cliff if they are not careful.
Although there were forty or fifty casualties, as long as the raid mission was completed, no matter how heavy the casualties were, it was still worth it.
Sakai Jiro swept his eyes and waved his hand. The people behind him immediately spread out according to the pre-planned plan and sneaked in directly through the back door left by Zhong Liang in advance.
After confirming that there was no danger, the vanguard troops who sneaked in first waved their hands to Jiro Sakai who was hiding.
After a while, Jiro Sakai quickly sneaked in with the last group of people.
Just as they thought, the city of Sanming County was very quiet at this time, and there was not a single patrol soldier in the city at all.
This is normal. After all, Sanming County City has a superior terrain, surrounded by mountains on three sides. If you want to enter the city, there is only one road in front of you. Most of the troops in the city are deployed around the main road. As for the city, there are basically not many people.
In addition, Sanming County is responsible for logistics tasks this time and is basically far away from the battlefield. Even if it is very close to Zuohai County, but with the Dongzhou soldiers watching from behind, who would have thought that someone would make a sneak attack.
Moreover, the Dongshan Army led by Su Qi'an has already started the battle. At present, they still have the upper hand. It is estimated that it will not be long before they can regain the territory of the two counties.
As a result, the security inside the city is naturally not as high as outside the city.
This was exactly what Jiro Sakai wanted. After sneaking into the city, he did not hesitate and immediately ordered more than 900 people to disperse into several groups.
According to the information provided, they arrived at the granary area in the city one after another and took out the fire seals on their bodies...
After a while, the quiet and dark city suddenly burned with a huge fire. The fire rose, and the soldiers in the city boiled instantly. They were dispatched one after another to put out the fire.
At the same time, the main streets in the city were ringing with the sound of gongs, and the sounds of various firefightings were heard one after another, and the city instantly fell into chaos.
Taking advantage of this chaos, the various units that had completed their tasks quickly returned to gather. Under the leadership of Jiro Sakai, they once again escaped through the back door that had previously entered the city.
From sneaking into the city, to getting angry and setting the granary on fire, to finally successfully escaping, it took no more than two quarters of an hour.
As for the people who came back, except for more than a hundred people who were discovered and fought with the defenders in the city, the rest of them all returned one after another.
It can be said that this raid mission was completed extremely smoothly, even more smoothly than the last raid.
Sakai Jiro stood in the distance with only 800 people left, watching the raging fire rising in Sanming County City, and listening to the noise coming from the city.
The emotion on his face was far less exciting than that of his men. Instead, he frowned slightly. For some reason, he always felt that tonight's raid went too smoothly.
This kind of smoothness made him feel unspeakably uneasy. Sakai Jiro's eyes flashed as he repeatedly recalled all the steps of this operation.
But no matter how he thought about it, he still didn't find anything special about this raid.
After recalling to no avail, Sakai Jiro shook his head. Just as he was preparing to leave with his men, suddenly, a low cold drink suddenly sounded.
"Sakai Jiro, I didn't expect that you were really planning on planning the granary of Sanming County. You've already arrived, do you think you can still leave?"
Sakai Jiro raised his head suddenly. In front of him, Wu Dingguo's figure suddenly appeared, and with him appeared countless Dongzhou soldiers.
Looking at the Toshu soldiers surrounding him, Sakai Jiro not only had no fear at all, but instead had a strong expression of excitement on his face. This was the scene he wanted to see.
It's not that he insists on seeking death, but as a raider, even if he catches others off guard in a raid mission like this, the opponent will basically be able to defeat him due to their numerical advantage.
Able to wipe out all attacking enemies.
During this raid, Jiro Sakai had no intention of returning alive. Anyway, his goal had been achieved. The 50,000 stone granary was burned, and the Dongzhou soldiers were no longer able to initiate a large-scale attack in a short period of time.
The balance of victory has been tilted towards them from this moment on. As long as they can complete the mission, it doesn't matter if they die here.
How could such an important granary like Sanming County not be heavily guarded? Jiro Sakai was not surprised at all when Wu Dingguo appeared here.
There was a lot of excitement on his face, he drew his knife and shouted to Wu Dingguo.
"Brothers, the time has come to repay His Majesty the Emperor, come and kill me!"
Then, Jiro Sakai took the lead and rushed over.
A group of Dongzhou soldiers were equally aggressive. Under Wu Dingguo's order, they launched an attack on Sakai Jiro and about 800 people.
A battle broke out instantly between the two sides, with various roars mixed with the sound of weapons clashing, resounding outside the city.
At the same time, on a remote road about forty or fifty miles away from Sanming County, Zhong Liang was riding a horse and galloping all the way.
After passing through a forest, Zhong Liang reined in the horse's rope, slowed down slightly, and seemed to feel something. He raised his head and looked into the distance. The direction he was looking at was none other than Sanming County.
Although there is nothing in the distance, just darkness, according to Zhong Liang's estimation, the current Sanming County City is probably caught in a fierce battle.
If the granary is burned, Su Qi'an, who originally had the upper hand, will most likely retreat and lose the opportunity to regain the two counties. In the end, the pirates and Japanese pirates will consolidate their stronghold and finally invade in full force. Dongzhou's future destiny may be bumpy.
But these have little to do with him. As the old saying goes, people die for money and birds die for food. Zhong Liang does not regret taking such a path.
Zhong Liang took a deep breath, clamped his legs around the horse, and was about to leave. But after taking a few steps, an arrow suddenly swished through the night sky and hit the horse's feet.
Zhong Liang's eyes narrowed, he held the horse rope in one hand, and the other hand was already on the handle of the knife at his waist. He shouted coldly, "Who are you, don't hide your head and tail, come out!"
The scoldings fell, and after a while, a figure slowly walked out of the darkness ahead.
Zhong Liang looked around and said in surprise, "Is it you?"
This person is none other than Fang Jingzhi. Zhong Liang is somewhat familiar with this person, not least because this person is currently following Su Qi'an and is a famous person around him.
The main reason is that in the past few years, Fang Jingzhi served as the magistrate of Jianghe County on the Dongzhou Front for several years. The Jianghe County Magistrate at that time was one of his jurisdictions, and he had many dealings with him in those years.
It's just that most of the interactions back then were unpleasant memories.
Before Zhong Liang could speak, Fang Jingzhi cupped his hands and said softly, "Haha, it's been a long time no see, Governor Zhong. I didn't expect to see you, Governor Zhong, in this wilderness. I didn't know that Governor Zhong was alone and wearing night clothes. Why are you leaving in such a hurry?"
Zhong Liang's expression changed, he quickly regained his composure, and said with a smile, "Oh, it turns out to be County Magistrate Fang. We haven't seen each other for a long time, but now is not the time to reminisce about old times. I received an order from the Grand Governor to return quickly. We have important matters to discuss in the prefecture, so please ask Magistrate Fang to get out of the way so as not to waste the governor’s time.”
As he said this, Zhong Liang wanted to ride a horse and ride towards Fang Jingzhi.
But just as he was about to take action, Fang Jingzhi's cold voice suddenly sounded. ..
"I advise Governor Zhong not to act rashly. Before I take a step forward, I cannot guarantee that Governor Zhong will not be shot into a sieve."
The moment Fang Jingzhi's voice fell, the sounds of several bow strings were clearly heard in the darkness behind.
Zhong Liang quickly reined in his horse and stopped. With a bit of anger on his face, he said coldly.
"Magistrate Fang, what do you mean by this? There are so many people waiting for me to ambush in advance. Could it be that they want to kill me. You are so brave, who gave you the courage..."
Zhong Liang's scolding did not stop, and he seemed to want to continue. At this time, Fang Jingzhi raised his head, looked at Zhong Liang with an indifferent expression, and said neutrally.
"Captain Zhong, I know who you are as a person. If you want to take advantage of the opportunity to kidnap me, I'd better restrain myself. With Governor Zhong's intelligence, I should be able to guess why I'm here and why I have the courage to deal with you." You do it."
As soon as these words came out, Zhong Liang's face instantly froze, and he couldn't help but clasp the hand on the hilt of the knife. Fang Jingzhi was right. He really wanted to take advantage of the undecided situation and use the force of thunder to kidnap Fang Jingzhi.
But he didn't expect to see it. This wasn't what shocked Zhong Liang. What shocked him was that everything he did was expected by others. To be more precise, everything he did, step by step Falling into other people's temptations?
Before Zhong Liang could think about it, Fang Jingzhi's voice sounded again.
"Captain Zhong, you are right. Every step you take, whether it is the reminder given to you by the Governor in advance, or the inspector asking you to escort food and grass, or even tonight, you deliberately pass on the message to Jiro Sakai, asking him to The raid on Sanming County, the burning of the granary, and even the escape route you thought of for yourself, everything was within the expectations of the supervisor."
"And the lower official's mission is to lead people in advance and ambush you on the road you must pass by Governor Zhong."
"Originally, the Inspector wanted to give you a chance to start over for the sake of the Grand Governor, and the Grand Governor reminded you like this, but you are stubborn and have to go down this wrong path. It's a pity."
"Captain Zhong, do you want to be captured without mercy, or do you want me to take your body back with you? It's your choice."
Fang Jingzhi's words made Zhong Liang pale. He was not afraid of Fang Jingzhi's threat to him.
But everything was exactly as he thought. From the moment he was escorted, even if he was reminded by the Grand Superintendent in the middle, the path he took in the end was still based on the calculation of the inspector.
It can be said that this was a blatant conspiracy. He originally had the opportunity to change, and Su Qi'an also gave him a new path, but in the end he was defeated by his own selfishness. Now he understands, but it is too late. .
