Operation 050

  Stealing things from the Han army for personal use is not shameful for Cao Pi, historically, Cao Cao had established the position of Mocheng Xiwei, which was responsible for tomb raiding, this is a hundred times more shameful than him. So his little tricks are nothing compared to Cao Cao's, it's like a small sorcerer meeting a great one.

  After returning to Chen Cang, Gao Fei began to let Zhao Yun and Lu Heng secretly plan, while he himself sat quietly in the county government office, and called up the deputy county captain Ma Jiu, letting him and his group of yamen runners participate, serving as a messenger to transmit messages.

  In the late afternoon, Fu Xie and Gai Xun returned from inspecting the Han army's camp in the east of the city. As soon as they entered the county government office, they were surprised to find Gao Fei sitting in the main hall. This was the first strange thing that had happened in half a month. For over ten days, Fu Xie and Gai Xun had not seen Gao Fei, but fortunately, there was nothing wrong at present, so they didn't need to ask what Gao Fei had been doing these days.

  "Master Hou is in a great mood today, sitting here reading books!" Gai Xun said with his hands clasped together as he saw Gao Fei sitting in the county government office carefully savoring a book on Sunzi's Art of War.

  Gao Fei smiled and put down the book in his hand, stood up and bowed to Fu Xie and Gai Xun, saying: "It's been a long time since we last met, I don't know if everything is going well for you two gentlemen?"

  Fu Xue, Gai Xun and Gao Fei exchanged a few pleasantries before the three of them sat down in the county yamen. Fu Xue cupped his hands and asked: "Lord Hou has been busy with what matters recently? You're always out of sight, even your personal attendants can't be seen anywhere. The entire county yamen only has one person temporarily acting as county lieutenant, Ma Jiu."

  "Oh, nothing in particular, I just brought my own troops to inspect the road from Chen Cang to Han Yang. I wanted to learn more about the rebel army's situation so that when the imperial army arrives, I can brief General Huangfu on the current state of the rebels."

  Gai Xun said: "Lord Hou is indeed a model for our generation. Recently, I and Lord Fu have also sent out some scouts. Except for knowing that the rebel army retreated to Ji City, we couldn't gather any other information. Does Lord Hou's side have any more detailed military intelligence?"

  Gao Fu said: "Lord Gai is right, I have already dispatched my own ten personal guards to infiltrate Liangzhou and have some understanding of the rebel army's movements. It is said that the Western Regions' Wu Ji Colonel who was stationed in Dunhuang suffered a fierce attack from the rebel army's burning of Dangchang, the Colonel died on the battlefield, and Dunhuang was also occupied by the rebels. In addition to this, the leaders of the rebellion, Bian Zhang and Han Xi, have continued to win over many Qiang and Hu people. Now in Liangzhou, there are almost 250,000 rebel troops. Based on my speculation, the rebels want to temporarily spend a severe winter in Liangzhou and wait until next spring to launch a full-scale attack on Sanyuan. By the way, where is General Huangfu's army?"

  "According to the news received yesterday, General Huangfu has already sent Zhonglang Jiang Dong Zhuo and Bao Hong with 30,000 troops as the vanguard to Chen Cang first. He himself will lead the main force of 70,000 troops afterwards. By now, they should have arrived at Hongnong. As for Dong Zhuo and Bao Hong's advance party, it is estimated that they will arrive here tomorrow afternoon."

  "So soon? Didn't you say a month?" Gao Fei was slightly surprised, but what surprised him wasn't the time, it was Dong Zhuo. The one who had truly set off the struggle for hegemony in the great Han dynasty would finally meet him in this small Chen Cang. Besides feeling a bit disgusted, he also felt an inexplicable excitement. He wanted to see Dong Zhuo and take a look at what kind of person he really was.

  "Ah, this time the reaction is a bit fast, after all, the Qiang Hu rebellion in Liangzhou is not comparable to those Yellow Turbans. The Qiang Hu people are fierce and warlike, if we don't suppress them, I'm afraid it will affect the entire Han Dynasty. The Yellow Turban Rebellion was just some commoners who were deceived and blindly followed, it's nothing but a small wave. By the way, Lord Hou, today there is an imperial edict, since you are not in Chen Cang, we two had to accept it on your behalf. His Majesty has formally appointed you as the General of Suppressing Rebels, and ordered you to follow Huangfu General into Liangzhou to quell the rebellion. Congratulations, Lord Hou, on your promotion!" Gai Yun said with a joyful face, bowing his hands.

  Gao Fei smiled and was about to speak, but Fu Shuo added: "However... the governor of Liangzhou appointed by His Majesty has already been officially assigned to General Huangfu Song, and he has also been given a token. This is because His Majesty wants General Huangfu to focus on suppressing the rebellion, so it's not that His Majesty doesn't trust you, please don't be secretly heartbroken."

  "There's nothing to be sad about, previously Your Majesty had me temporarily take over, I also understand the reason behind it. Now that I've been given the title of General Who Pacifies the Rebels, it's already a recognition of my worth. The two of you don't need to worry about me."

  Gai Xun then took out an imperial edict and a seal, handed them to Gao Fei, and said: "Please, General... take good care of it!"

  In these days of the Han Dynasty, Gao Fei thoroughly understood the differences between the major and minor official positions and titles in the Han Dynasty. For example, he was previously a Marquis of Douchang and Magistrate of Chencang, but even among marquises, there were many levels, his fiefdom was one thousand households, which is a thousand-household marquis, this kind of marquis although also a marquis, but in the Great Han Dynasty, this kind of marquis is the lowest level, basically has no power, if not for the position of Magistrate of Chencang, he would not be able to mobilize everything in Chencang, and his fiefdom was only to periodically pay taxes to him, just like a landlord.

  Only marquises with more than 5,000 households can establish their own fiefs, set up their own troops and official positions. Therefore, his Marquis of Douchang is in a sense just an empty title, something the imperial court uses to reward meritorious individuals, equivalent to military ranks. Now that Emperor Ling of Han has appointed him as General Who Suppresses Rebels, this is equivalent to giving him a good position. Although it's a miscellaneous general, at least he is a general, which is better than nothing.

  They continued to chat and the sky gradually darkened, while a plan codenamed "Night Hawk" quietly unfolded under the cover of night. Gao Fei secretly congratulated himself on choosing tonight for action, as the rebel army would arrive tomorrow. He had set an accurate target for his Flying Feather troops: 5,000 stones of grain, 1 million arrows, 2,000 sets of knives and shields, 2,000 long spears, 2,000 strong crossbows, and 1 million crossbow bolts. As for gold, due to the large quantity being stolen, considering that gold is a heavy item, it was not included in the scope of theft.

  Gao Fei listed the stolen resources, apart from rice, knives, shields and long spears, arrows were the main resource stolen. Gao Fei had personally gone to the armory before, where there were one million arrow shafts and crossbow bolts each in storage, with ten thousand fewer arrows for the Han army, which was not a significant loss, but it would take some time to bundle up these two hundred thousand arrows and transport them away on horse-drawn carts.

  After nightfall, Gao Fei used his remaining authority to summon Zhao Yun to the city gate and assigned him to guard duty. Lu Heng hid in the city, ready to set fire at any moment. As for the patrol team inside the city, Gao Fei temporarily excused them from their duties, citing good public order and the soldiers' hard work. Ma Jiu led twenty constables to participate in the operation, guarding the county office and responsible for "protecting" Fu Xue and Ge Xun's safety. Ma Jiu also took on the task of transmitting messages.

  Pang De and Hua Xiong led a force of two thousand men, secretly lying in ambush outside the west gate of Chen Cang Castle. Each man wore black clothes and had his head and face covered, revealing only his eyes, looking like ninjas.

  It was approaching midnight and there was still a moment of time left. Zhao Yun looked at the night sky, estimated the time, and said to the soldier standing on the city gate tower: "Brother, are you tired?"

  The soldier replied: "Thank you for your concern, sir! I'm not tired at all!"

  "Alright, alright. We've been together for a long time now, we're all like brothers from the same family. It's already been half a month since anything happened, I believe nothing will happen tonight either. I saw you yawning just now, if you're tired, go rest in the Bell Drum Tower first, it's warm inside. This cold weather is no good for you, don't catch a chill. I'll take care of things on Lord Hou's side."

  Since the rebels left, the number of soldiers on night duty has also decreased relatively. There are only a few dozen people on the city wall. In fact, all this was also cleverly arranged by Gao Fei. As early as when he established the Flying Feather Corps, he wanted to get something out of the Han army's arsenal, so he kept reducing the number of soldiers on night duty, just for today.

  The soldiers were no strangers to Zhao Yun, and after hearing his sincere words, dozens of them hid in the Zhong Drum Tower. Zhao Yun also walked in, and after waiting with the soldiers for less than a moment, he soon heard the sound of the soldiers snoring. He took advantage of this to slip away from the tower on the city wall, quickly descended the wall, covered his face, and swiftly knocked out two gatekeeping soldiers before quietly opening the gate.

  As soon as the city gate was opened, Pang De and Hua Xiong led a thousand men into the city stealthily, leaving Zhou Cang, Guan Yu, Pei Yuan Shao, Xiahou Lan and Fei An with a thousand soldiers waiting outside the city gate.

  Zhoa Yun led Peng De, Hua Xiong, Li Wenhou and Liao Hua with a thousand soldiers to sneak into the treasury. The guards on the treasury had already been knocked unconscious by Gao Fei, who was also wearing night clothes waiting there, waving at Zhao Yun and others.

  Everyone gathered together, Gaofei asked: "Is everyone here?"

  Zhao Yun nodded and said: "Everyone is here, my lord. I will go back now. My lord, be careful with everything!"

  "Go ahead and don't worry, just make sure to behave well for a while. I'll wait here with them for Bian Xi's key."

  Zhao Yun immediately removed the black cloth covering his face and ran back to the west gate in big strides, leaving only Gao Fei and others waiting at the entrance of the treasury. The large gate of the treasury was made of fine steel, not only locked but also wrapped with iron chains, and after opening the gate, there were several smaller gates that separated the storage of grain, silver, gold, weapons and equipment. If one door is pried open one by one, it will take a lot of time and effort, and it's easy to make noise and attract unnecessary trouble. That's why Gao Fei asked Bian Xi to steal the key, using the key can save a lot of trouble.

  County government, Bian Xi had been hiding in Fu Xie's room early on, hiding under the cold bed. He had been waiting until now, but this time it wasn't so smooth. Fu Xie kept reading by lamplight, showing no intention of sleeping, which made Bian Xi anxious. It was almost midnight, and if he couldn't successfully steal the key, he would be unable to explain himself in front of Gao Fei, and it would damage his reputation as a master thief.

  Fu Xie held the handwritten copy of "Hanshu" compiled by Ban Gu, carefully reading it. Although there were some bloodshot eyes, he didn't feel a bit sleepy, and his heart was racing. Just after turning over a page, he suddenly noticed that the lamp in front of him flickered, and a black shadow suddenly appeared on his side. He faintly felt a sense of foreboding, and quickly drew out a long sword from the nearby weapon rack. When he turned back, he saw a black shadow standing there, and shouted: "How dare you, a reckless thief, to break into my residence at night!"

  Bian Xi was very anxious, he crawled out from under the bed, wanting to slap Fu Xie unconscious, but didn't expect that usually gentle and weak-looking Fu Xie would react so quickly. His palm wind hadn't even descended when Fu Xie had already sensed him and jumped out. Fortunately, Bian Xi covered his face, so Fu Xie couldn't see him, but in this situation, Bian Xi could only think of ways to knock Fu Xie down and get the key.

  Fu Xi saw Bian Xi didn't respond and didn't ask again, he swung his long sword and stabbed at Bian Xi.

  Pan Xi didn't bring any weapons like swords this time when he came to steal, and he didn't expect things would turn out like this. He saw Fu Xiu not being afraid of him at all, but instead attacking calmly and quietly, without shouting or yelling, as if Fu Xiu was fully capable of handling him. Pan Xi sneered and thought to himself: "Let's see what a scholar-official like you is capable of! I'll knock you out first!"

  Unexpected, purely unexpected.

  Fu Xi's swordsmanship far exceeded Bian Xi's expectations, and under the dim light, the room was filled with a cold glow, the long sword's blade gleaming, forcing the unarmed Bian Xi to retreat repeatedly, without any power to fight back.

  "You daredevil, today I'll let you witness my prowess! If you know what's good for you, surrender now and I might spare your life!" Fu Xie said confidently as he wielded his sword at Bian Xi.

  Bian Xi's face was filled with a mixture of pain and bitterness, never expecting today's events to be so unfavorable, and yet he was being forced into such a desperate situation. However, as the Flying Heaven Thief, he wasn't one to be trifled with; if he didn't have some tricks up his sleeve, how else could he have evaded capture all this time? Cornered by Fu Xie in a dead-end alley, with Fu Xie's sword flashing towards him, Bian Xi steeled himself and lifted his right leg at lightning speed. His right hand swiftly retrieved a sharp dagger from his combat boot, and just as Fu Xie's sword was about to strike, he lightly flicked his wrist, sending the dagger flying straight out.

  Fu Xi saw the situation change suddenly, his sword move had already been made and could not be taken back. In a moment of unpreparedness, he was stabbed by that dagger into his own right shoulder socket. He felt a sharp pain and let out a loud cry. His right hand and entire arm were now powerless, and the long sword in his hand fell to the ground with a clear ringing sound. He covered his injured right shoulder, continuously retreating backwards, just wanting to shout "Someone come!", when he saw Bian Xi's figure flash before him. Before he could even get the words out, he was struck by a palm and felt his vision go black, his entire body going limp on the ground.

  Bian Xi couldn't care about that anymore, hastily searched for a string of keys on Fu Shuo's body, then rushed out the door, came to the county government courtyard and quickly climbed over the wall with agile movements, running towards the treasury.