Changfeng seems to have capsized in the gutter. After more than ten years of weathering many storms, this small city of Salt Lake fell into the hands of the Tatars.
The leader, the short, fat man in black, gave the order: "Search!"
His men found a Jinyiwei waist badge from Chang Feng.
The short, fat man in black laughed: "You turned out to be the Chang Butcher of the Jin Yiwei, our Vulture Association's biggest enemy! I didn't expect that you would fall into the hands of our Vulture Association today."
"We have been lurking in the Ming Dynasty for many years. This time we finally made a great contribution to Dayan Khan!"
The Dayan Khan mentioned by the short, fat man in black is the little prince mentioned by the Ming Dynasty.
Chang Feng smiled bitterly: "Alas! I thought I was smart all my life, but I was confused for a moment. I was only busy guarding the granary, so why didn't I leave a guard at the county government office?"
"That's it, I admit defeat. I just ask you prairie warriors to spare my life. I am willing to work hard for Dayan Khan."
Fatty Xu cursed loudly: "You are a weakling! On weekdays, I only see you punishing others. But now that you are in the enemy's hands and others don't even need to punish you, are you giving up?"
"I'll use a few machetes to scare you, so I'll sell you for glory! Litong is a traitor to the country!"
"Your wife has been interested in me, Fatty, for a long time. She would wink at me if she had nothing to do. Originally, I was extremely greedy, but considering our brotherhood, I couldn't enter Hong Kong."
"I should have known this. I should have slept with your wife! Such a beautiful, mature and charming wife, it would be a waste of money to give you a weakling to sleep with!"
Chang Feng cursed in his heart: Damn it, you damn fat man, you can't say what's on your mind, right?
The short, fat man in black gave Fatty Xu a slap and said, "Stop talking nonsense."
Then the short, fat man in black pointed at Balmen: "Who is this man? Why does he look like one of us?"
Chang Feng confessed: "This person is Chahar Daru Huachi under Dayan Khan's tent, and his name is Balmeng."
"His true identity is the hidden stake sent to the grassland by our Nanzhen Fusi!"
"He came to me this time to report to me the important movements of Dayan Khan's army!"
The face of the short, fat man in black changed: "It turns out to be a traitor! I'm afraid of a traitor in everything!"
"Fortunately, we vultures will catch you all in one fell swoop. Otherwise, Dayan Khan's great cause will be delayed by this traitor!"
"Come on, chop him!"
Balmen remained silent all that time.
Several men in black pressed Balmen's head onto the table.
The short, fat man in black shouted: "For Dayan Khan, I will cut off the traitor's head and sacrifice it to the Immortal Heaven!"
After speaking, he raised his machete high.
Balmen suddenly shouted: "Brothers of the Condor Society, you have all misunderstood!"
"I am the fake Palemon! I came to Yanchi to deliver false information to Chang Feng! This is a counter-intelligence plan!"
The short, fat man in black put down the knife in his hand: "Be more careful."
Fake Balmen said: "We are both family members and colleagues. We all run secret errands for Dayan Khan."
"The real Balmeng was indeed a thorn in the side of the Ming Dynasty in the past. But in the past thirty years, he has risen to the high position of Chahar Daruhuachi. He no longer wants to serve the Ming Dynasty."
"This time he marched south to the front of Helan Mountain. He mustered up the courage to reveal his identity to Dayan Khan."
"Dayan Khan not only did not punish him, but instead rewarded him with six female slaves from Oara."
"He suggested to the Great Khan that he send me to pretend to be him and come to the Ming army's territory to deliver false information and disrupt the line of sight. Then he would use counterintuitive tactics to find a way to get rid of Datong veteran Zhang Jian."
The short, fat man in black sat across from the fake Palemon and poured him a glass of wine: "Oh, it turns out he is one of our own."
Chang Feng cursed at the side: "In other words, Dayan Khan's real goal is not Datong, but still Helan Mountain?"
"Isn't Zhang Jian a traitor to the country? You bastard is trying to trick me!"
The fake Balmengan sneered: "Oh, so what if I'm tricking you? I just learned a few secret words from Lord Balmengan. You believe everything I say."
"Alas! It's a pity that the brothers of the Vulture Society have poor communication with the grassland. Their move directly disrupted the exquisite trap set by the Great Khan and Lord Balmeng."
The short, fat man in black suddenly changed his tone and asked Chang Feng: "Master Chang, is this okay?"
Chang Feng nodded slightly. The men in black next to him put down the knife on his neck and put it on the fake Palemon's neck.
The fake Balmen was stunned: "You?"
The short, fat man in black raised his hand to the fake Balmen: "I am not the leader of the Vulture Society. I am the head of the household in Yanchi County of the Ming Dynasty."
"Although I am of Mongolian descent, I am loyal to the Ming Dynasty. These brothers are all!"
Fake Balmen then came back to his senses and said, "Chang Feng, are you deceiving me?"
Chang Feng said: "So what if I'm tricking you?" Then he and Fatty Xu looked at each other and smiled.
Fatty Xu pinched his waist like a large teapot, pointed at the fake Palemon's nose and cursed: "With this little trick of yours, just a touch of your upper lip and a bump of your lower lip. You just want to lead 80,000 Ming." The army’s nose is gone?”
"You still want to wrongly accuse Mr. Zhang. Hey, you are really killing a rabbit with a straw, killing two birds with one stone!"
"It's a pity that your opponent is our Jin Yiwei Master Chang! With a little trick, your prototype was revealed."
Chang Feng said: "Stop talking nonsense. Let this Tatar see our great memory recovery technique in the Central Plains!"
The dining room of the Yanchi County Government Office was turned into a torture hall.
Chang Feng and Fatty Xu used the torture of three great memory restoration techniques on the fake Balmen.
Lugan is the "Laozhou County" in the northwest. After being an official for so many years, I have often given severe punishments to people.
But the cruel torture of Jin Yiwei still made Lu Gan frightened, sick and dizzy. After a while of retching, he was helped out of the dining room.
Qiu Yue is a border warrior with a sword that licks blood. After every battle, the dead man's head was hung around his waist in exchange for a reward of silver.
He, who was used to seeing bloody scenes, also felt physically uncomfortable with Jin Yiwei's torture.
Qiu Yue muttered: "No wonder people say that the people in Jinyiwei are the living kings of hell."
"No, you are worse than the King of Hell. When the King of Hell sees you, he will cut your waist and fry it."
Chang Feng sprinkled the last handful of salt on fake Palemon's chest and ribs, which were full of scars.
The fake Balmen finally couldn't stand the torture and shouted: "I'll attack! I'll attack them all!"
Chang Feng said: "Pour cold water on him to wash away the salt on his body."
"Wow!" Fatty Xu poured a basin of cold water on the fake Balmen's head.
Chang Feng asked: "'Black Willow' Balmen on that day took refuge in the little prince. Where is the other important secret stake? Is the one whose status is no less than that of Balmen?"
Fake Palemon said weakly: "I have never heard of any other hidden stakes."
Chang Feng felt lucky: Fortunately, Sun Guishou had set the rule of one-line contact decades ago. "Black Willow" and "Panshi" do not know each other's identity.
If two people are in cross contact, there is an intersection. When the black willow rebels, the rock will be exposed.
Senior Sun is really thoughtful. Looking at it now, the rock should still be safe.
Chang Feng sat on the chair and took a sip of tea: "This time the little prince entered Kou Helan Mountain, what is the specific troop deployment and military strategy? Tell me!"
The fake Balmen said: "I am just a hidden scout doing secret errands for the Great Khan. The Great Khan will never tell me how to use his troops."
"Only a few generals in the Khan tent know about it."
Chang Feng asked again: "How did you know that I was in Yanchi?"
The fake Balmen confessed: "I not only know your figure in Yanchi. I also know that Yanchi is the place where the Ming army stores food for the Western Expedition."
"There are 80,000 frontier troops in the northwest. Among them are more than 20 secret agents bribed by our Tatars. Such a large-scale transfer of food and grass cannot be concealed."
Chang Feng took a breath of cold air: Fortunately, the fake Balmen arrived at his door that day. If he doesn't come, how will I know there is a spy in the army. Has the food storage location been exposed?
In case the little prince sends cavalry to surprise the salt pond. One hundred thousand stones of military provisions were robbed or burned. The Western Expedition would end with the failure of the Ming army.
Commander Wang brought the willow coffin from the northwest, which will really come in handy.
Chang Feng said: "Do you know the list of these twenty-odd hidden stakes?"
The fake Balmen suddenly said vaguely: "Oh, this is me."
Chang Feng said coldly: "I will show you a clear path. You help me catch more than 20 traitors and spies in the Ming army. I will give you one thousand taels of silver."
"I will build you another 500 acres of fertile land and a big house in the Ming Dynasty."
"Finally, I'll find you a wife and eight concubines."
"You can be a carefree rich man in Ming Dynasty."
Palestine was silent that day.
Chang Feng said again: "Don't leave the Yangguan Road I pointed out to you. Come on, come on, take a look at this embroidered spring knife on my waist."
"Do you think this knife is very short, like something a woman would use?"
"You know, the Ming Dynasty had the habit of castrating prisoners of war and sending them to the palace as eunuchs."
"This Xiuchun knife is specially used to castrate prisoners of war. If you don't agree, I will raise the knife and drop it. I will make you a monster that is neither male nor female!"
After speaking, Chang Feng pulled out the Xiuchundao and shouted at Fatty Xu: "Tear off his pants!"
Fatty Xu smiled and said, "That's right! I like to see you, Mr. Chang, eunuch the most!"
His trousers were taken off and he could see clearly, Chang Feng's embroidered spring knife was gesturing at his area.
Fake Palermo's psychological defense was completely defeated. He shouted: "I'll do it! I'll do it!"
"We bribed a total of twenty-three Ming army secret agents. I know the names and official positions of eleven of them."
"They often exchange information and communicate with each other. As long as those eleven people are captured and interrogated strictly, the rest can be arrested."
When it comes to intelligence work, the Tatars obviously cannot keep up with the Ming Dynasty.
The secret stake they bought was not a single line of contact. But cross-connection.
Chang Feng put away the embroidered spring knife: "Wouldn't it be less troublesome if I confessed earlier? It would also save me the trouble of taking off my pants and farting."
The fake Balmen will confess the names and official positions of the Ming army traitors that he has memorized in his heart.
Chang Feng was shocked after hearing this. Among them were hundreds of families of soldiers around the commander-in-chief of the town, as well as scribes from the yamen of the three-sided general administration.
Even though their official positions are not high, they all have the opportunity to have access to top-secret information of the Ming army.
He began to feel lucky that the Tatars had used such a not-so-smart trick to divorce. Let him catch the fake Palemon, the big fish. Otherwise, the consequences will be disastrous.
In fact, any war from ancient times to the present will be accompanied by underground intelligence warfare.
The Ming Dynasty can send hidden stakes to the Tatars, and the Tatars can also bribe the scum in the Ming army.
Chang Feng picked up the list and handed it to Fatty Xu. I'll give you three hundred people. You are assigned according to the list to capture the traitors throughout Ningxia.
After catching people, they will be tortured and interrogated, trying to get them to reveal their wings that we have not yet grasped.
Fatty Xu cupped his hands and said, "Yes."
Chang Feng discussed with Qiu Yue again: "Yanchi City is no longer safe. Go to Lingwu immediately and report the situation to Commander Wang. Ask him to set up another food and grass storage point."
Qiu Yue said: "But grain transport teams from all over the country are still coming to Yanchi in a steady stream."
Chang Feng said: "I will send people to let them camp on the spot temporarily and wait for the next order."
Qiu Yue raised his hand and said, "Yes, Admiral Chang. I will return to Lingwu right now."
Fatty Xu thought of something before leaving. He pointed at the fake Balmen and said, "Master Chang, aren't you going to kill this guy?"
"He has already revealed the list of traitors. He is of no use to us anymore."
Chang Feng shook his head slightly: "Keep it for now, maybe it will be useful."
In the next ten days, the twenty-three-person intelligence network that the Tatars had woven in the northwest frontier army was almost uprooted.
After checking the number of people, only one fish slipped through the net.
Wang Yue personally visited Yanchi City and found Chang Feng.
Wang Yue smiled and said: "Chang Feng, I didn't bring you to the northwest for nothing."
"I asked you to accompany me for two purposes. One is to use your strengths and manage intelligence affairs. You did a great job in digging out the Tatar intelligence network buried among the border troops before the war."
"The second is to ask you to use your reputation as a royal guard to urge local civil servants to raise military rations. You also handled this matter beautifully."
Chang Feng said: "Commander Wang, now is not the time to praise me. The food storage location of Yanchi has been exposed, and there is a danger of being attacked by Tatar cavalry at any time."
"We must find another place to store food immediately."
Wang Yue shook his head slightly and said a few awkward words: "That's wrong. The Tatar intelligence network has been uprooted by us. The little prince already knows that we know that the Yanchi grain storage place was exposed."
"The little prince will definitely think that we will choose another place to store food. He will never send troops to attack Yanchi City."
"Right now, the salt pond, the most dangerous place, is actually the safest place."
Chang Feng thought for a moment and said: "What Commander Wang said is absolutely true. If I were the little prince, I would never send troops to Yanchi again."
Wang Yue said: "You will still be responsible for guarding the Yanchi Granary. I will still give you three thousand soldiers. Come on, follow me to the granary to check the rations."
Often the butcher is in charge of the food and grass affairs of the Western Expedition. Local civil servants did not dare to neglect. The 100,000 stone grains that were originally planned to be collected within a month were already paid in full in less than half a month.
The quality of the military rations is also very good, and they are all made of top-quality wheat, millet, and beans.
After Wang Yue checked it, he patted the sack containing grain with satisfaction.
He praised: "Chang Feng, when this battle is over, I will give you a piece of paper to ask for credit. The battle is not only about the bravery of the soldiers on both sides."
"There is also a competition between the two sides to see who has more food and grass. Who has better information."
"You did both of these things well."
Chang Feng said: "There is a fly in the ointment."
Wang Yue asked: "Oh? What's the shortcoming?"
Chang Feng replied: "Nanzhen Fusi has placed two hidden stakes at the core of Tatar power. One of them has already defected to the little prince."
"The other person should also know the little prince's troop deployment and military strategy in Helan Mountain."
"If that person is still loyal to the Ming Dynasty. If you can contact him, you can know yourself and the enemy, and you can fight without danger!"
Wang Yue said: "How can everything be perfect and fulfill everyone's wishes? That's all. After checking the military rations, I feel relieved."
"I'll go back to Lingwu City first."
After Wang Yue left, Chang Feng praised Fatty Xu, who followed Wang Yue back to Yanchi: "You did a good job. You followed the instructions and tortured you to extract confessions, and you almost dug out all the scum and traitors in the army."
Fatty Xu said: "Well, you said we were almost there. According to the confession of that fake Palermo, there is still one person left to be caught."
Chang Feng said: "Yes. I don't know who this fish slipped through the net."
(End of chapter)
