Chapter 115: Intelligence Network
Liling County is a medium-sized county town in the eastern part of Changsha Commandery. Since it does not rely on the Xiang River, its socioeconomic status in Changsha Commandery is not high, but it has very high military value, especially in the late Eastern Han Dynasty when vassal lords were numerous. Liling County is the eastern gate of Changsha Commandery and the first stop for Yuzhang Commandery entering Changsha Commandery.
For this reason, Liu Xin heavily repaired Liling County Town before leaving. It was built according to the standards of a military city, with city walls as high as three zhang and two zhang wide. The moat was dug wider to twenty zhang. Since the city walls are several zhang away from the moat, this ensures that even if the enemy army attacks by ship, it will not work.
Liling County Town is close to the Lu River, a tributary of the Xiang River. The Lu River passes through the city, and water is drawn to form the moat and inner river. There are two water gates, east and west. Ships coming from the Xiang River can sail directly into the city through the water gates.
The perimeter of Liling County Town is about twenty li. The entire county town has only a little over three thousand households, but if the citizens in the surrounding countryside are included, Liling County has a population of over eight thousand households, making it a medium-sized county town in Changsha Commandery.
The county town has only two main streets, the east-west main street and the north-south main street, with the four city gates at their ends. In fact, most county towns have this layout. The entire county town is divided into four parts by the two main streets. One part is occupied by official institutions such as the county yamen, warehouse, and barracks, while the other part is the mansion area for middle- and upper-class families. The remaining two parts to the south are the residential areas for the lower-class citizens, with clear distinctions between wealth, poverty, nobility, and lowliness.
Both sides of the south main street are crowded with various shops: grain shops, cloth shops, meat shops, pickled vegetable shops, general stores, taverns, inns, and so on. There is an inn called Chunlai Inn, covering five mu of land, which can accommodate up to two hundred people at the same time. It is an old inn that has been operating for more than twenty years, with business that is always neither dead nor alive.
The owner of Chunlai Inn is surnamed Luo, and he is also the shopkeeper. The waiters in the shop are all his sons and nephews.
This morning, several guests came to the shop: a middle-aged man with several young men. Shopkeeper Luo greeted them, “Welcome, honored guests, to stay at the inn!”
The middle-aged man smiled and said, “I heard the shopkeeper wants to transfer the inn?”
Shopkeeper Luo’s eyes lit up. He had long wanted to transfer it, but no one had inquired.
“Does the guest want my shop?”
The middle-aged man nodded, “Let’s talk!”
“Please come to the room and sit!”
Shopkeeper Luo quickly invited the middle-aged man to his shopkeeper’s room and poured him a bowl of thick sweet rice wine, “This is brewed by me myself. Please taste it!”
The middle-aged man picked up the bowl, tasted it, and praised repeatedly, “Not bad! The flavor is very authentic.”
“May I ask the guest’s honorable surname?”
“My humble surname is Du, and I am also in business.”
“So it’s Owner Du. Listening to Owner Du’s accent, you should be from the southern part of Yuzhang Commandery!”
“The shopkeeper can tell?”
Shopkeeper Luo chuckled, “Running an inn, I’ve seen people from all over!”
“My ancestral home is in Liling County, but I’ve been living in Luling County of Yuzhang Commandery. Now that I’m old, I want to return to my ancestral land to live out my days.”
“I see!”
After a few pleasantries, they got to the point. The middle-aged man said, “I plan to buy an inn. I’ve looked at several in Liling County, and your shop has a relatively large area, which is what I like.”
“If Owner Du is interested, I can transfer it, but we need to talk about the price.”
The middle-aged man nodded, “I heard there’s also a mansion behind the inn that belongs to you?”
Shopkeeper Luo nodded, “That old mansion also covers five mu. This inn of mine was converted from half of the old mansion. If Owner Du wants it, it can be transferred together.”
“I do want it. Shopkeeper, please give a total price!”
Shopkeeper Luo took a piece of cloth, covered his hand, and the two bargained under the cloth. Finally, they both laughed heartily, and the deal was made.
The middle-aged man took out a package of silver and pushed it to the shopkeeper, “Shopkeeper, just give me the deed, and I’ll handle the transfer at the county yamen myself. I need it urgently, so I hope the shopkeeper can complete the handover today, and please take the waiters along too.”
That afternoon, Shopkeeper Luo dismissed the waiters, packed his things, and left.
The middle-aged man was Du Jin, a military advisor in the intelligence camp under the Yuzhang Army strategist’s mansion, ordered to lurk in Liling County, establish an intelligence network, store armor and weapons, and prepare for capturing Liling County.
Du Jin arrived in Liling County four days ago and observed inside the county town for three days. He then took a fancy to this Chunlai Inn. Across from the inn is the inner river, only a dozen steps away, allowing supplies to be transported to the inn by small boat.
Additionally, not only is the inn large, covering five mu, but the adjacent mansion also belongs to it and can be bought together. In the future, it can store armor and weapons and hide soldiers.
That night, Du Jin brought several subordinates to renovate the inn, breaking through the courtyard wall to the adjacent property and building a small door. The front courtyard of the inn continued normal business, while the back courtyard was locked.
Then, in the adjacent mansion, he raised several carrier pigeons, which could send intelligence at any time to Yichun County in Yuzhang Commandery, three hundred li away.
The next day, a small boat delivered dozens of large boxes, all containing armor and weapons. This was the first batch. Du Jin and his subordinates carried the boxes to the adjacent mansion to hide them.
After settling down, Du Jin began observing and inquiring about the garrison situation in the city. He soon found out: there were three thousand garrison troops in the city, commanded by Yang Ling, a commandant. His reputation was average, his martial arts average, with nothing particularly outstanding. He was just a mediocre military general. Du Jin experienced this himself: when entering the city, as long as money was given, goods were not inspected at all.
At the same time as the intelligence point was established in Liling County, intelligence points were also set up in Linxiang County, the administrative seat of Changsha Commandery, and Baling Town by Dongting Lake. The leaders of these two intelligence points were Wei Kan and Xi Ping, transferred from Wan County.
Wei Kan was the shopkeeper of a restaurant in Linxiang County Town, responsible for collecting intelligence in Linxiang County. Xi Ping opened a fisherman’s restaurant in Baling Town. The advantage of a fisherman’s restaurant is that through fishermen and soldiers, he could learn about the nearby navy situation. Next to Baling Town was a large naval camp with five thousand navy troops and hundreds of warships of various sizes.
On rest days, navy soldiers would flock to Baling Town to eat, drink, whore, and gamble, bringing copper coins and various intelligence.
This morning, Lu Su came to Gan Ning’s official residence and presented him with the latest intelligence on Changsha Commandery.
“These are the latest pieces of intelligence. This subordinate has summarized them. Please review, my lord.”
Gan Ning opened the intelligence and read it carefully. The few hundred words of intelligence outlined the basic situation in Changsha Commandery.
Prefect Liu Xin, army of over twenty-three thousand, including ten thousand garrison in Linxiang County, commanded by Liu Xin and Huang Zhong; five thousand Dongting Lake navy, stationed in Baling Town, commanded by navy colonel Cai Zan; three thousand garrison in Liling County, commanded by Yang Ling.
Additionally, five thousand garrison in Xiangnan County, commanded by commandery Sima Han Xuan.
Gan Ning was somewhat puzzled, “Why does Xiangnan County have a garrison of five thousand?”
Lu Su saluted and said, “This subordinate received a piece of news that has not yet been verified. It is said that Liu Biao has not fully occupied Changsha Commandery. Two years ago, Prefect of Changsha Zhang Xian contacted the Jingnan Three Commanderies to rebel together. Liu Biao sent Liu Xin to lead troops to campaign against Zhang Xian. Soon Zhang Xian was defeated, fell ill, and died. His son Zhang Yi continued to lead the remnants to resist Liu Biao.
Zhang Yi took Ling County in the south as his base, controlling more than a dozen counties in southern Changsha Commandery, Guiyang Commandery, and northern Lingling Commandery, with over ten thousand troops.
This subordinate believes this rumor is likely true. The five thousand in Xiangnan County were deployed to deal with Zhang Yi.”
Gan Ning thought for a moment and said, “If that’s the case, this Zhang Yi is a good piece. If we can use him, it will be greatly beneficial for us to take the Jingnan Four Commanderies.”
“I’m just afraid this Zhang Yi has too much ambition. Once we use him, he might become a second Huang Zu—nominally submitting, but actually independent. My lord, this is a double-edged sword. We must not make hasty decisions.”
