mtl008 Chapter 732 Sun Lang Falls into the Trap During the Prison Break
Chapter 732 Sun Lang Falls into the Trap During the Prison Break
Things always develop amidst contradictions; if one side wants peace and quiet, the other side will force you to move forward.
The same applies to espionage behind enemy lines. The Han Dynasty's secret agents wanted to remain hidden for a long time and develop their grassroots base, but Tian Yu, Gao Rou, and other officials in Yuzhou naturally disagreed.
Therefore, after giving Wu Qi a grand funeral, Tian Yu applied to Cao Pi to have Gu Zhen, the clerk of the Imperial Secretariat, transferred to assist him.
Under Tian Yu's command and with the combined experience of the School Affairs Office, the Han spies in Runan suffered another severe blow, forcing Li Gousheng to even consider abandoning Runan.
However, abandoning Runan was simply unrealistic, because the same was true for other places. Don't forget that Yuzhou was the heart of the Central Plains and the core area where Cao Wei rose to power. Cao Wei's emphasis on Yuzhou was far greater than that of other prefectures and counties, and the appointment of Tian Yu as the governor of Runan was the best proof of this.
If Tian Yu, with his talent, was only a prefect, then how could the prefects of other prefectures be unknown figures?
Besides, if you give up at the first sign of difficulty, what's the point of struggling in Yuzhou? You should hurry back to Jiangnan and take care of your child.
Therefore, faced with the relentless pressure from Tian Yu and the School Affairs Office, Li Gousheng chose to confront them head-on. He ordered his spies in various places to evade capture while launching a counterattack, seizing opportunities to attack members of the School Affairs Office and make them less reckless.
Thus, the spies in Runan were in trouble. They had to evade capture, develop their grassroots support, expand their ranks, plan actions against the school administration, and even bribe officials in various counties. They were so busy that they wished they could be in two places at once.
Fortunately, Guan Xing had taught them all these things, so although they were difficult, they knew how to do them. They weren't like headless flies, completely clueless when faced with problems. Moreover, with the passage of time and the accumulation of experience, the spies became more and more adept at doing this.
Tian Yu was in the same boat, busy with searches, interrogations, and infiltrating the puppet Han spy network with spies.
As the covert struggle between the two sides intensified, the tension escalated, and within a few months, the conflict escalated into open warfare. Han spies within the country mobilized their forces to confront Tian Yu head-on, while Tian Yu began to mobilize troops to encircle and suppress them from all sides. The covert struggle between the two sides gradually turned into an open war.
June in Huainan is already very hot. The cicadas are buzzing incessantly, and the farmers turn to go home and do their farm work at night.
However, on the official road leading from Shenyang to Pingyu, Sun Lang lay in the grass, frowning as he looked in the direction of Shenyang, and asked from time to time, "Are you sure the escort team is coming today?"
Sun Yuan replied, "I am absolutely certain. This message was personally delivered by the brother-in-law of the magistrate of Shenyang County. It cannot be wrong. Moreover, this time it was personally escorted by the Office of the Directorate of Education. I heard that the escort team consisted of more than a hundred people."
Sun Lang said fiercely, "So what? Even if there are thousands of people, we will still rescue our brothers Hu Kun and Hu Lun."
Their mission was to rescue the Hu brothers, who were responsible for Shenyang County and had been arrested after being betrayed.
Recently, their plans in Runan have been greatly disrupted by Tian Yu, and they have lost nearly ten students. This time, the Hu brothers must not be taken to Pingyu.
Sun Lang patiently waited for half an hour while chewing on a foxtail grass. Finally, the escort team came into view. Following Sun Lang's gaze, he saw hundreds of soldiers escorting two prison carts, each containing a man with disheveled hair whose face was obscured. He wondered if they were the Hu brothers.
Sun Lang ordered everyone to wait patiently. Once the convoy was within range of the arrows, Sun Yuan asked nervously, "Brother, should we move out?"
Sun Lang raised his arm, about to order an attack, when suddenly he realized something and his pupils contracted sharply. After observing the prisoners inside the vehicle for a moment, he decisively said, "They're not the Hu brothers inside. We've fallen into a trap. Retreat quickly."
Sun Yuan asked in surprise, "How could that be?"
Sun Lang replied, "I slept in the same tent with the Hu brothers for more than half a year. I can recognize their figures even without seeing their faces. These two are obviously not my brothers. Tian Yu must have deliberately found two people to lure us into a trap."
"The fact that they deliberately hired someone to impersonate me proves that the Hu brothers did not betray us; otherwise, Tian Yu would have known about my relationship with the Hu brothers."
"Furthermore, since Tian Yu chose to fish, he must have other plans. Perhaps the encirclement and suppression army is right behind the escort team. As soon as we make a move, Tian Yu will immediately lead several times our number of elite troops to attack."
Sun Yuan's expression changed slightly, and he quickly asked, "Then what should we do?"
Sun Lang said, "Immediately fire arrows, unleash a volley of arrows at the escort team to make them think we're about to attack. Then, while they're resisting, escape immediately. We must get out of the encirclement before Tian Yu catches up. That damned Tian Yu is really troublesome."
At Sun Lang's command, hundreds of arrows were fired at the escorting convoy simultaneously.
The Cao Wei general in charge of escorting the prisoners was none other than Lin Mahu, an old acquaintance of Sun Lang and Sun Yuan. Seeing the arrows coming, Lin Mahu was not alarmed but rather delighted. While parrying with his sword, he shouted, "Brothers, Sun Lang has actually come to break into the prison cart! Hold him off! Once General Tian arrives, we'll have achieved a great victory..."
He froze before he could finish speaking, because he saw that after Sun Lang's bandits fired arrows, they didn't charge at him as he had expected, but instead turned and ran away...
Ran……
Lin Mahu's expression changed drastically, and he exclaimed incredulously, "He found out! That damned Sun Lang, how did he figure it out? What went wrong?"
"Quickly inform General Tian that the plan has changed. The rest of you follow me and make sure to hold off Sun Lang to buy General Tian time to arrive."
Without a second thought, he chased after Sun Lang. He only had about a hundred men, while Sun Lang had five or six hundred. One hundred men chasing five hundred men—Lin Mahu was truly brave.
It is clear that Sun Lang has been busy during this time, and his team has grown several times larger than when he first arrived. However, Lin Mahu is not worried at all because Tian Yu is right behind him. As long as he can hold Sun Lang back for half a quarter of an hour, Tian Yu will be able to kill Sun Lang and capture him alive.
Compared to capturing spies like the Hu brothers, capturing a general like Sun Lang would be far more advantageous.
Just as Lin Mahu led his troops in pursuit, the messenger he left behind lit two beacon fires to send a message to Tian Yu. The two beacon fires meant that the situation was extremely urgent, and Tian Yu would definitely come to kill them as soon as he saw them.
After the messenger lit the beacon fire, he didn't dare to delay. Fearing that Tian Yu wouldn't see the fire, he immediately mounted his horse and went to find Tian Yu. As soon as he left, the two brothers in the prison cart became anxious and hurriedly shouted to everyone's backs, "Don't all leave! Leave someone to let us out! What will we do if you all leave?"
Meanwhile, ten miles away.
Upon seeing the beacon fire, Tian Yu's expression changed drastically. He lashed out with his whip and shouted sharply, "The plan has changed! Follow me immediately!"
After saying this, he spurred his horse and charged ahead, followed quickly by a thousand cavalrymen. However, they hadn't gone far when they encountered the returning messenger. Tian Yu hurriedly asked, "What's going on? Why has the beacon fire suddenly been lit?"
The messenger replied, "I don't know. Sun Lang somehow saw through our plan, fired a volley of arrows at us, and then ran away. Lieutenant Lin has already given chase."
Tian Yu cursed, "Sun Lang must have recognized that the people in the prison cart weren't the Hu brothers, damn it..."
These spies, who had been trained under Guan Xing for more than half a year, must have been familiar with each other, so it was normal for them to see through each other. There was only one way to avoid being exposed: put the Hu brothers in a prison van.
Although Tian Yu knew that taking the Hu brothers with him was the safest option, he couldn't do it because the Hu brothers had escaped from prison.
The Hu brothers were originally imprisoned in the Shenyang County jail, but as you know, the county jail cells were just a single layer of bricks haphazardly stacked together, and they were in extremely poor condition due to years of disrepair; you could easily smash a hole in the wall with a simple bump...
The Hu brothers, whom Tian Yu had worked so hard to capture, escaped so easily. Frustrated, Tian Yu just wanted to bang his head against the wall.
But now is not the time to be frustrated. We finally managed to lure Sun Lang out, so we must hurry up and chase after him, keep him pinned down, and then annihilate him in one fell swoop...