C183

The Henei County was located at the back of the mountain, which was the most important food base for Yuan Shao. In the city, other than the prefecture chief mansion's treasury, there were also three large granaries constructed near the military camp at the north of the city. These three granary had a total of over four hundred thousand stones, and in addition to the rations stored in the prefecture chief mansion's treasury, it was enough to support an army of a hundred thousand soldiers for several months.

Usually, there were more than three thousand county soldier s guarding the granary, and the patrolling team was also constantly patrolling the area day and night. Their greatest function was not to prevent the enemy from seizing the grain, but to prevent and stop the fire as long as they could, because once such a large granary was set ablaze, it was basically impossible to put it out. In the past few days, due to Gongsun Xu's army surrounding the city, Gao Gang assigned two thousand county soldier s to assist them in defending the city. Now that there were only a thousand plus old soldiers guarding the city, they were slightly lacking in manpower and they were all worried about the change in the situation.

"Old Ox, stop bullshitting. Where did all these tricks come from?" You don't know yet, do you? Gongsun Xu gave Envoy Cao an ultimatum, requesting him to return to Yanzhou. The deadline was today at dusk. If Envoy Cao does not agree to withdraw from the Yanzhou at dusk, Gongsun Xu will definitely attack the city overnight! "

"Ah?" What should he do? If the Envoy Cao led the troops and retreated, how could the rest of us withstand the attacks of the White Horse Camp? "

"Who says it isn't? But then again, if Envoy Cao refuses to retreat, he will definitely provoke Gongsun Xu, and once he unleashes an even fiercer attack, who knows how long Envoy Cao and General Gao will be able to hold on? "

"Sigh, regardless of whether the Envoy Cao leaves or not, our days are going to be very sad! Actually, I do hope that the Envoy Cao will not withdraw his troops, the food in the city is sufficient, we have worked together to help the Cao Army, we should be able to protect the city, right? "

"That may not be so!" A piece of the city wall had already collapsed, and the White Horse Camp s were not afraid of death, so once they rushed in, even the Cao Army s would not be able to block them! I heard that in just one day yesterday, Cao Army lost two to three thousand people! Envoy Cao only brought twenty thousand people, if this continues, then there will be no one left in Cao Army in less than ten days! "

"The thief's soldiers are well-paid, their equipment is good, and if they die, they will also receive heavy compensation. If it's me, I will also risk my life to serve Gongsun Xu."

"What are you waiting for?" A sudden shout interrupted the old pawns' chitchat.

The old servants looked up and saw that Gao Tie and the twenty odd people had unknowingly arrived at the main entrance. The loud shout from before was obviously from Gao Tie.

All the old servants stood up and cupped their fists as they bowed, "This lowly one greets Commander Gao!"

Gao Tie snorted, and asked coldly: "What's wrong?"

The old guard in the lead replied respectfully, "Reporting to the Commander Gao, there are no abnormalities!"

Gao Tie peeked through the fences to look inside, only to realize that the granary was extremely quiet. The usually patrolling team had also disappeared, and other than the few old servants at the entrance, he could not even see a single person inside.

A few old servants noticed that Gao Tie was looking inside and felt extremely fearful. They all lowered their heads and did not dare to breathe too loudly — — Gao Tie was usually extremely strict.

Gao Tie retracted his gaze, and indifferently instructed: "Open the door, I want to go in and take a look."

The old servants heaved a sigh of relief and quickly opened the door to let Gao Tie and the rest in.

The old guard waited until Gao Tie and the others were far away before he hurriedly pointed at two people, telling them to go inform the others in the camp. Unexpectedly, Gao Tie suddenly turned around and waved towards him.

"What should we do?" one of them asked.

Another person whispered, "What else can we do?" Hurry up and go over! If your hands and feet are too slow, you will be struck! "

The few old servants did not bother looking at the door as they ran to Gao Tie's side and waited respectfully.

"There's no need to inform anyone else. This Academy Officer will leave once I take a look!" Gao Tie instructed with a calm tone, then casually pointed at four people, "You, you two, and you two, lead the way! The others continue to watch the door! "

The old servants saw that they would not be punished, and immediately heaved a sigh of relief. The four people that Gao Tie had pointed out led the way at the front, and headed deeper into the granary.

The granary at the side of the treasury was made of green brick and was extremely sturdy. It looked more like a fortress. The granary at the side of the barracks was very simple to construct. Hundreds of huge wooden houses were tightly connected, covered with felt and straw, with thick yellow mud poured on top, which could serve as a fire extinguisher.

Because there were too many wooden houses, there weren't too many big locks on the doors. As a result, the doors of the wooden houses could only be locked from the outside, making it very easy to enter and exit.

Gao Tie stopped when he reached the northwest corner, and casually pushed open a wooden house that was closest to him and entered.

Inside, there were over a hundred bags of food that Yuan Shao had spent the past two years on, piled up like a mountain.

Gao Tie took out his blade from his waist, and casually stabbed it into a gunny sack a few times, causing grains of wheat to surge out. He sheathed his blade, grabbed a handful of wheat grains and brought them to his nose to sniff. With a look of reluctance, he turned around and shouted, "All of you, come in!"

Four old men and more than twenty men walked in. The huge wooden house was suddenly overcrowded. The four old servants did not notice that Gao Tie's men had surrounded them. On both sides were piles of gunny sacks and it was difficult for them to even turn around.

At this time, Gao Tie's face suddenly turned. He stared at the four old servants and shouted sternly, "You all are guarding the important areas of the granary.

"Huh?" The four old men were at a loss. Weren't they fine just now? How could the Commander Gao suddenly change his expression?

Gao Tie's next sentence made the four of them feel as if they had heard lightning through the blue sky, "This Academy Officer suspects that you are Gongsun Xu's spies! Someone, arrest him! "

The four old men turned pale with fright as they shouted in succession.

"The Lord Commander is very clear. This lowly one has always served here and has never come into contact with anyone from the Youzhou. How could I possibly be a spy?"

Lord Commander, did you get it wrong? The four of us are all from Henei County, and we all came under General Gao Qian's command early in the morning, so we are definitely not spies! "

"Lord Commander, we are innocent!"

Gao Tie turned a deaf ear to their shouts and shouted sternly: "Hurry and take them down!"

The people who had followed Gao Tie all flocked over at the same time and caught the four old men who had nowhere to run to. The four of them were at a loss and could only beg for mercy, not knowing what they had done wrong.

"Let's begin." Gao Tie looked at the person who had followed him here, and gave an indifferent command.

The person wore a wide robe. He nodded in agreement, then took out a clay pot from under the robe. After opening it, he poured the liquid on top of the sack.

One of the old guard sniffed with all his might, and his face suddenly changed as he screamed: "Flaming oil! Commander Gao, what are you planning to do? "

Gao Tie sneered: "All of you are Youzhou's spies. You can secretly sneak into the granary and set it on fire. In order to avoid getting into the underworld, Yama Minamiya was still a fool when he asked! "

The four old servants finally realised that Gao Tie was trying to frame them! They all implored Gao Tie to let them go, crying and crying. They were both scared and angry, as they understood why Gao Tie wanted to do this.

Gao Tie waited until the man poured all the fire oil in the jar onto the gunny sack, then waved his hand: "Kill!"

Without waiting for the four old guards to react, they were already stabbed by a few sabers into a bloody gourd. They all fell to the ground, full of confusion and anger.

Gao Tie asked his men to place the corpses of the four old men at the door. After bringing his men out, he shouted in a low voice: "Light the fire!"

The man who had been oiling the sack shook the paper on fire and tossed it onto the oiled sack. The gunny sack quickly began to burn, and in the blink of an eye, the surrounding burlap sacks were set on fire. The raging inferno quickly spread in all directions.

When Gao Tie led his group and ran dozens of steps away, four or five nearby wooden houses had already been set ablaze. The flames and thick smoke soared to the sky and a wave of heat assaulted them, forcing them to continuously retreat into the distance. Gao Tie turned around and looked at a well not far behind him, and the corner of his mouth curled into a cold smile. There were many wells dug into the granary, and he had intentionally set fire to a place close to the well, in order to prevent the soldiers in charge of the granary from getting any water to save the fire after it had spread and thereby increase the difficulty of the fire.

At this time, the county soldier who were in charge of taking care of the food finally discovered the huge fire. They scuttled out of the army camp one after another, and started shrieking like headless flies.

"This is bad!" "I've lost!"

"The granary is running out of water!" Hurry up and put out the fire! Where's the bucket? "

"It's over, it's all over!" Such a big fire, how can it be saved! "

Seeing that the fire was unstoppable, Gao Tie sneered, then rushed to the front of the scattered soldiers, and shouted sternly: "What are you panicking for! You damned fools, the Youzhou spies have already snuck into the army camp and set the place on fire, but you didn't even notice! "Quickly find some furniture to put out the fire, we must put it out before it gets out of control!"

The county soldier s guarding the granary all knew Gao Tie, and now that he had shouted, they felt that he had a backbone. The chaotic scene gradually calmed down, the soldiers picked up their pots, pans, and anything else that could hold water, and quickly ran towards the nearest well.

At this time, Cao Cao was waiting for Gongsun Xu to come over from the top of the city wall. Suddenly, he heard a loud noise coming from the north side of the city.

Xun You retracted his gaze from the fire, barely restraining the shock in his heart, he cupped his hands: "Reporting to my lord, that seems to be a grain depot!"

Cao Cao was surprised and angry, and hurriedly shouted: "What? Granary? Why would there suddenly be a fire in the granary? "

Everyone looked at each other in dismay. They had been following Cao Cao the whole time, not knowing what was happening at the granary.

Sima Yi was the first to speak. "My lord, please send someone to find out what exactly happened!"

"Zhong Da is right!" Cao Cao Cao quickly regained his senses and instructed Sima Yi, "Zhong Da, go and take a look at the situation. Report quickly!"

Sima Yi cupped his hands in acknowledgement before dashing down the city walls, bringing along his followers and horses as they galloped towards the northern part of the city.

Xiahou Yuan made a gesture, and a few people below the city walls also jumped onto their horses, closely following behind Sima Yi.