mtl008 Chapter 749 The Official Granary is Acquired
Chapter 749 The Official Granary is Acquired
Thinking of the consequences of running out of food, Guan Yan couldn't sit still any longer and immediately went down to the city to discuss the matter with Peng Yu.
Peng Yu's recruitment point was set up near the North City. At this moment, the area was crowded with people. Those who had not yet enlisted were lining up in long queues, while those who had already enlisted were standing in formation waiting for training.
Guan Yan squeezed through the crowd and pulled Peng Yu aside to explain the situation, saying, "We must stop the gentry from transporting the grain, otherwise even if we take Xiling, we won't be able to hold it."
Peng Yu patted his chest and said, "That's easy. I've already recruited six hundred men. I can lead them to capture the other city towers and stop the grain supplies from leaving the city."
Capturing the other city towers will be a bit difficult, but not a big problem. The garrison is exhausted, and the gentry have no fighting power. Defeating and dispersing them will not be difficult.
Guan Yan shook his head and said, "No, if we do that, the gentry might be driven to desperation and set fire to the grain. Burning the grain or transporting it away makes no difference to us."
“This is indeed a problem.” Peng Yu frowned and pondered for a long time before saying, “Then we can only solve the problem at its source. If the gentry really intended to burn the grain, they must have already sent people with torches to wait at the entrance of the granary. In that case, we might as well gather special forces to infiltrate the granary and subdue the people who are burning the grain, and then send new recruits to rush into the granary to take control.”
In the past few days, team members from outside the city have also come in. Currently, Guan Yan has a total of 26 special forces team members who have trained with him in Jiangling, which is enough.
Guan Yan said, "Let's do it this way. Assemble a team of ten special forces members to infiltrate the granary and deal with the arsonists. Then send troops to guard and protect the granary. After that, leave at least three special forces members to guard each granary. Tell them that no one is allowed to sleep tonight. Even if they have to hold out, they have to hold out until Sun Lang arrives."
Peng Yu nodded and said, "Understood. I will lead the men there myself. But what about the five thousand garrison troops inside the city? Should we send troops to attack and prevent them from leaving the city?"
Guan Yan shook his head and said, "Secure the food supply first. As for the garrison inside the city, we can send people outside the camp to shout and shake their morale. We don't expect them to surrender immediately; we just need to make them think wildly."
"Understood!" Peng Yu didn't say anything more, immediately went to recruit special forces members, and then rushed to the county government's granary.
The official granaries must hold the most grain; we must seize them first.
After gathering the special forces team, Peng Yu did not dare to delay and quickly arrived near the official warehouse.
They couldn't just swagger in through the front door, so they had to climb over the wall at the back and crouch along the eaves. Soon they arrived at the back of the room closest to the granary.
Peng Yu peeked out from under the eaves to observe, only to discover to his dismay that they were behind the granary. The wall behind the granary was piled high with firewood, and every three meters there was a constable holding a torch.
It was obvious to anyone with their feet that the officials were standing there; they were preparing to light the firewood and escape immediately if attacked.
In other words, if Guan Yan really led his troops to launch a strong attack on Guancang, the granary would probably catch fire before they even reached the gates.
That damn Wen Dai, he's not leaving himself any way out!
Hearing the urging voices of "hurry up and transport the grain" coming from in front of the granary, Peng Yu pondered for a moment, turned around and gestured to his brothers. The brothers understood immediately, leaving four of them to wait in place, while the rest went around to the front of the granary from the other side of the room.
Four torchbearers stood behind the granary, and their field of vision was exceptionally wide. Unable to capture all four at once, they could only rush to the front and take advantage of the chaos to find another opportunity to fight.
Peng Yu secretly observed the front of the official granary and found that there were still yamen runners holding torches to guard the area, and a constable was leading a dozen yamen runners to direct hundreds of laborers to quickly move the grain.
That damned Wen Dai actually sent so many yamen runners to stand guard with torches; he's being far too cautious.
Fortunately, there were still laborers. Peng Yu waited patiently for a moment and saw a laborer slip and fall to the ground, attracting the attention of everyone, including the constable and the yamen runners. He then decisively stepped out of his hiding place and swaggered toward the grain cart.
It was still daytime, so they wouldn't be foolish enough to travel in night clothes. Instead, they wore the same coarse linen clothes as the laborers, blending into the crowd and immediately becoming laborers themselves.
Peng Yu led four men straight to the warehouse to move the grain, while the remaining two silently walked toward the constables who were urging the laborers to work, preparing to capture the leader first.
Peng Yu arrived at the door, and just as he was about to enter, he and his companion struck simultaneously, delivering a merciless elbow strike to the yamen runner holding the torch.
There were only two torchbearers at the gate, both of them looking up at the sky, lost in thought. They never expected to be attacked suddenly during the grain transport, so they were caught off guard and were knocked unconscious by Peng Yu and another team member with an elbow strike.
While knocking out the constables, Peng Yu grabbed a torch and rushed with his teammates to both sides of the room, where there were also constables holding torches.
This all happened so suddenly that by the time Peng Yu had run several meters away after hitting the man, everyone present had already reacted. The head constable, enraged, immediately shouted, "These thieves actually dared to steal our grain! Kill them... ah..."
As he was shouting, two special forces members silently crept up to him. So, the moment the word "kill" left his lips, a dagger was pressed against his lower back, and another was held directly to his neck. The constable was shocked, his face turned pale, and he broke out in a cold sweat. Before he could recover from the shock, he heard a chilling voice say, "Constable, the grain belongs to the government, but your life is your own. Do I not need to teach you how to do it?"
The constable quickly raised his hand and said with a smile, "No need, no need, brothers, put down the torches, we surrender to the Han."
He was a constable, a hereditary profession whose interests were not affected even if dynasties changed, so naturally he would not risk his life.
Unfortunately, that's what he thought, but the yamen runners who set off the fire might not have thought so.
Peng Yu didn't expect him to do anything. He turned the corner and rushed toward the two yamen runners holding torches on the side of the house. The two runners were chatting together out of boredom. When they saw Peng Yu suddenly appear, they hurriedly scolded him. Before they could finish speaking, they were each punched in the face.
Seeing Peng Yu make his move, the four special forces members hiding behind the other side of the building decisively stepped out, raised their crossbows, aimed at the four yamen runners carrying torches behind the granary, and shouted, "Put down the torches, put your hands on your heads, and squat down, or you will die."
They could have shot the four constables dead, but fearing they might fall in the wrong direction and their torches might fall into the woodpile, they chose to rebuke them, letting the four choose between life and death.
The main reason was that Peng Yu succeeded, and they were only a few steps away from the back of the granary. Even if some of the yamen runners were not afraid of death and chose to set it on fire, they could quickly rush up, clear away the dry grass, and control the situation.
The four torch-bearing constables dared not move in the face of the gleaming crossbow bolts, obediently throwing away their torches and crouching down with their heads in their hands.
The special forces team quickly split into two groups. One group continued to use crossbows to intimidate, while the other group quickly stepped forward to tie them up and subdue them with the yamen runners' belts, and then escorted them to the front of the official warehouse.
With the constable subdued, the people in front of the official warehouse dared not make any rash moves. By the time Peng Yu led his team to clear the left and right sides and the rear and returned, the situation was completely under control.
Peng Yu looked at the crowd and shouted sternly, "All laborers, go home! Have you been paid yet? You're working so hard."
The laborers were eager to get away from this chaos, and upon hearing this, they scattered without saying a word.
The constables were temporarily subdued by Peng Yu by tying them up with ropes. Peng Yu then took the dry grass to the courtyard and set it on fire. The army in the distance would see the flames and rush over quickly.
Peng Yu had other things to do and didn't have time to waste, so after finishing these tasks, he left five people to guard the grain in the granary and led the rest of the people to the Huang residence.
As the head of the Jiangxia gentry, the Huang family's grain reserves were certainly second only to the official granary, and they had to get their hands on so much grain no matter what.
Less than fifteen minutes after he left, a member of the team who had not participated in the operation of the granary led three hundred soldiers into the courtyard to take over the defense line, and only then was the official granary finally in their hands.