readytorunbook Chapter 310 The Vast Ocean of People's War
Chapter 310 The Vast Ocean of People's War
While capturing He Qi wasn't urgent, finding him and keeping him under close surveillance was much more pressing. After all, He Qi was a local tyrant in Kuaiji, and who knew how many dens he had within the territory?
Therefore, Yu Xing dared not delay. After discussing the countermeasures with Xie Chong, he quickly left to meet Yu Gang at the agreed location.
It's more than 200 li from Shanyin to Yuhang. When Yu Xing came, he contacted his comrades along the way and set up several temporary outposts similar to post stations. Considering that He Qi was also heading to Shanyin, he went through each outpost on the way back. As long as He Qi passed by, Yu Gang would definitely contact the outpost.
Yu Xing had thought He Qi would be almost at Shanyin by now, but the guy was moving slower than a snail. Yu Xing contacted three outposts but couldn't get any news. It wasn't until he entered the fourth outpost that he found Yu Gang sleeping there. He kicked him awake and asked, "Why are you sleeping here? Where's He Qi?"
Yu Gang, who was suddenly kicked awake, was a little angry, but when he saw that it was Yu Xing, his anger immediately turned to joy, and he asked excitedly, "Village Chief, you're back. Did you see Prefect Xie Chong?"
After asking, he noticed that Yu Xing had a gloomy face and no intention of answering, so he quickly explained, "I only arrived here two hours ago. I'm so tired that I'll take a nap. Don't worry, brother, He Qi has Wang Fei keeping an eye on him, he won't get away."
Wang Fei was a comrade-in-arms who returned from the Great Wall with them, and the stronghold where they were located was Wang Fei's home.
Upon hearing this, Yu Xing breathed a sigh of relief, briefly recounted his meeting with Xie Chong, and then said, "Prefect Xie ordered us to keep a close eye on He Qi and use him to lure out the troublemakers in the prefecture and wipe them out in one fell swoop, so our mission is very important."
“Gangzi, if we handle this matter well, we will gain the favor of Prefect Xie and our rise to prominence will be just around the corner. This is a great opportunity for the two of us and even our entire Yu family to turn our lives around. You must keep your spirits up.”
When the army was reorganized, they chose to retire and go home, but that was only because they had family matters to attend to, not because they really wanted to stay at home and farm. Now that they have seen their relatives and the matters have been resolved, it is natural for them to rejoin the army.
Yu Xing originally planned to gather his brothers back to the team in a couple of days, but He Qi returned and they bumped into each other. So naturally, they had to get the credit first.
Upon hearing this, Yu Gang's spirits lifted, and he quickly wiped his face, saying, "I'll go keep an eye on He Qi right away and make sure he doesn't get out of our sight."
Yu Xing said urgently, "Let's go together. I won't feel at ease if we don't see He Qi."
The two brothers left and followed the marks left by Wang Fei for five or six miles before finally finding Wang Fei hiding in a tree. The two climbed up the tree trunk and came to Wang Fei, asking, "How is it? Has He Qi made any moves?"
Wang Fei parted the branches and pointed through the gaps in the leaves to the manor a short distance away, saying, "Do you see that manor? That's the manor of the Quan family of Qiantang, or more precisely, the manor of Quan Shang, Quan Cong's nephew. He Qi went there."
They are currently located in Qiantang County. The Quan clan of Qiantang, to which Quan Cong belongs, is the largest clan in Qiantang County.
Although Guan Xing's land reform divided up the land of the gentry, it did not deal with these manors, which remained in the hands of the gentry.
It wasn't that Guan Xing was merciful, but rather that fortresses like manors could only generate profits when they fell into the hands of gentry; distributing them to commoners would be of little use.
The common people have limited resources, and he couldn't possibly digest the manors if he took them. It might even cause many unnecessary conflicts. Therefore, Guan Xing hadn't figured out how to deal with these manors and could only leave them in the hands of the gentry for the time being.
Yu Xing pondered, "If I remember correctly, Quan Shang has already been invited to Shanyin City by Prefect Xie Chong, right? Who did He Qi contact when he entered the manor?"
With the war between the Han and Wu armies still raging, these aristocratic youths were the biggest hidden danger affecting the outcome of the war. Xie Chong naturally wouldn't let them wander around outside the city. Instead, he had long ago invited them to live in Shanyin, ostensibly for temporary residence but in reality under house arrest.
Although this approach is completely different from Guan Yu's method of inviting Zhang Zhao and others out of Jianye, it is still a practical one.
Firstly, Jianye City has high walls and thick walls, making it difficult to breach from the outside without internal turmoil, while Shanyin does not have this advantage.
Secondly, Guan Yu only wanted to defend Jianye and attract Wu's troops to create conditions for Liu Bei's eastern expedition. He planned to return from Jiaozhou after Liu Bei recovered Jingzhou and did not intend to stay in Jiangdong for long. However, things developed too unexpectedly, and Guan Yu's plan died before it was even implemented.
Xie Chong, however, was different. He truly treated Kuaiji as his own territory and would never allow the sons of the aristocratic families to stay outside the city and recklessly exert their influence.
Since their objectives are different, their strategies will naturally differ as well.
Wang Fei explained, "I don't know, but my wife works as a helper in the manor's kitchen. We'll find out when we come out."
The manor needed cleaning and maintenance, and the aristocratic lords naturally couldn't do these menial tasks. They could only leave them to the servants, who were obviously summoned from nearby villages.
Wang Fei's family had been tenant farmers for generations, so it wasn't surprising that his wife worked on the family estate.
The three stopped chatting and waited patiently while perched on the tree. Before long, the Yu Xing and Yu Gang brothers fell asleep and even started snoring. Startled, Wang Fei quickly took off his clothes and stuffed Guan Xingfa's socks into their mouths.
After waiting for several hours, until it got dark, a woman came to the tree and skillfully climbed up the trunk to Wang Fei, saying, "Husband, as you instructed, I bribed the maid who serves He Qi in the mansion. From the maid, I learned that He Qi wrote a letter and sent it to Shanyin City."
"Don't worry, that maid has received favors from me and knows the consequences of leaking information, so she wouldn't dare to speak carelessly. She is absolutely trustworthy."
The woman was naturally Wang Fei's wife. She worked in the kitchen and couldn't possibly get close to He Qi, so she had to bribe others to find out information. Fortunately, she had been in the manor long enough that everyone there knew her.
After working for many years, who doesn't have a few friends in the workplace?
Wang Fei asked, "Is it possible to get the letter?"
The wife said irritably, "How would I know? But the messenger was Quan Feng. He's Quan Shang's cousin after five degrees of kinship, and his status in the manor isn't much higher than ours."
Xie Chong had invited all the direct descendants of the aristocratic families to Shanyin, so He Qi could only rely on these extremely remote branches of the family.
Upon hearing this, Wang Fei turned around and looked at the two Yu brothers, asking, "What should we do?"
Yu Xing pondered, "Now that we're beyond the fifth degree of kinship, things will be easier. Do you know Quan Feng?"
Wang Fei nodded and said, "Of course, we've drunk together before."
Yu Xing then asked Wang Fei's wife, "Sister-in-law, how long has Quan Feng been gone?"
Wang Fei's wife replied, "They haven't left yet. He Qi said it's not safe to travel during the day, so he told him to set off at night."
Yu Xing said excitedly, "That's really heaven helping me! Gangzi, you keep an eye on things. Afei, come with me to see Quanfeng."
After saying that, he pulled Wang Fei down from the tree and left. They were currently on the west side of the manor, while Shanyin was on the east side. If they wanted to intercept Quan Feng, who was heading to Shanyin to deliver the message, they had to go around to the east side of the manor.
The two went around in circles and hid near the official road leading from the manor to Shanyin. They lay on the ground and waited for more than half an hour before finally seeing a figure walk out of the manor.
The two held their breath and waited patiently. When the figure was almost upon them, Wang Fei whispered, "Quanfeng, Brother Feng..."
The figure was Quan Feng, who was startled by the sudden shout and quickly asked, "Who is it?"
Wang Fei continued to shout, "It's me, Wang Fei! Over here!"
Quan Feng led the donkey to the roadside. Upon seeing that it was indeed Quan Feng, he angrily scolded, "What are you doing here in the middle of the night instead of sleeping? Are you trying to scare people?"
Wang Fei said in a low voice, "What else could we be doing? We're here to arrest you on the orders of Prefect Xie Chong. The prefect already knows that you delivered the message for He Qi. Are you going to talk about it now or come with us to the prison to be tortured before we talk?"