On the first Sunday of December, the North Free Market in Thorn City was a little deserted. First, because it was a Sunday and many believers went to several large and small churches outside the city to worship. Second, because the weather was getting colder, and the vendors active in the free market had to hide indoors to spend a warm winter.
Although it is not as lively as usual, this neighborhood is definitely not lacking in popularity. After all, there are still many vendors living in the city and shop owners on both sides of the street still operating.
About five hundred steps south of Shuimen in the North City, there is a large-scale mansion in a busy area of the city. This mansion is different from the open layout of most houses in the city. Instead, it is surrounded by an eight-foot-high stone wall. There is a courtyard in the mansion. Walking more than ten steps through the courtyard is the three-story main house of the mansion. The main There are several low single-story wooden houses on each side of the house, which are obviously the residences of servants and the place where horses, livestock, food and supplies are kept and stored...
This kind of layout is usually only found in monasteries or lords and aristocratic mansions, so it is enough to show that the owner of the house has a special status or a high net worth.
As winter approaches, many farmers on the outskirts of the city drive their mules, donkeys or ox carts into the city to sell firewood for the winter.
On the street at the front entrance of the mansion, there is a man who looks like a farmer, leading an ox and pulling a two-wheeled wooden cart, walking from east to west with a cart full of chopped and bundled firewood. Every time he comes to a shop or house, the farmer will stop and hawk a few times, or after hesitation, tap the wooden door cautiously.
But it is already getting late today. Apparently most of the nearby private houses and shops have already bought firewood, so the farmer’s firewood has not been reduced much.
"Sir, do you want to buy firewood? It's all split and dried pine wood."
"Let's go, my family has bought enough."
"Madam, do you need firewood? I only need three soubles for a large bundle~~~Two soubles will do."
"One soubie!"
"You see, it's not easy for us. We have worked hard for half a month to prepare this firewood. Can you show your kindness and give me two sops for two bundles?" The front of my shop affects my business." The farmer hesitated for a long time, walked to the oxcart, took down a large bundle of firewood, carried it to the back kitchen of the cloth shop and put it under the stove. Then he went out and took another bundle of firewood to the back kitchen.
The female cloth shop owner threw the two missing soubies to the firewood farmer, then sat back on the chair behind the counter and ignored them.
"Madam, this~this little copper coin is damaged~" the farmer said weakly, and wanted the female shopkeeper to exchange a few intact copper coins.
“That’s it, take it if you like it, and return it to me if you don’t want it. Even a lowly farmer is picky.” The fat female shopkeeper yelled at the farmer with disgust, squinting her eyes.
The farmer had never seen such a shrew before. Seeing her tough attitude, he had to put the small copper coins into his rag purse and bow slightly before leaving.
It was sold all the way, and when we arrived in front of the mansion, there was still a large amount of firewood piled on the oxcart behind the farmer.
The farmer pulled the ox cart slowly to the mansion, let go of the ox rope and walked to the wooden door. After hesitating for a moment, he raised his hand and knocked on the wooden door.
“Sir, do you want firewood? They are all chopped and dried pine wood.” The farmer shouted a few words to the door and knocked on the wooden door a few times.
After a long time, no one responded except for a few barks. The farmer had to turn around and prepare to leave with a look of disappointment on his face.
Just as the farmer led the ox cart a few steps away, a gap opened in the door of the mansion, and a man who looked like a cook stuck out half of his head, "Firewood seller, please come back."
The guest room window on the second floor of the hotel diagonally across from the mansion opened a gap slightly. Two men in country squire costumes stood behind the gap and looked at the door of the mansion opposite. Another young man who looked like a follower also looked around through the gap in the wooden frame of the window.
The man in country squire clothes turned to the follower-looking guy and asked, "Stanley, have you noticed anything unusual about the whistles just now?"
Stanley took a step back from the window and replied, "Sir, the sentry on the second floor of the corner tavern is not here today. I wonder if the sentry position has been cancelled. The apple stall in the free market and the beggars at the gate of the mansion were all active just now. Oliver knocked on the door and called the house just now. They were obviously nervous as they approached the gate of the mansion, and I saw them taking out hand crossbows and daggers from their clothes; but the grocery vendor fumbled close to Oliver's cart and then handed a message to two secret sentries, so the two of them did not take action. "
Angus observed at the crack of the window for a while, and asked Art softly: "Sir, how are you training these soldiers? They are so good at acting. If I hadn't known that he was a task force soldier, I would have thought of him as a weak farmer who went to the city."
"Oliver was originally a woodcutter, and he didn't have to act like going to the city to buy firewood. "
"No wonder."
This is the scene of the operation of the sentry team. The farmer pulling the bullock cart selling firewood is a soldier of the task force. The sentry team has been secretly observing the mansion for four days. They based on the number of the cooks in the mansion who went out to buy grain and vegetables. The number of people hiding in the mansion was roughly estimated to be less than thirty. After excluding the servants in the mansion, the number of Assassin killers should be around twenty-four or five. This number is generally consistent with what the traitor said. However, the traitor did not say that there were two vicious dogs guarding the mansion at night.
After four or five days of sentinel reconnaissance, the task force has basically figured out Assassin’s traces, the pattern of hidden sentry operations, etc.
The weather is getting colder and colder, and the mansion has not purchased enough firewood for the winter recently, so Art asked the soldiers of the sentinel team to disguise themselves as farmers buying firewood and approach the mansion. One is to test whether the enemy's reaction is sensitive, and the other is to try to see the details of the layout of the mansion. After all, the opponent is a capable killer, and relying solely on the confession of a traitor is not reliable.
"Sir, Oliver failed to enter the mansion." Stanley said to Art.
Matt went to the window again and looked towards the gate of the mansion. He saw two men who looked like servants coming out of the mansion. Under the command of the cook, the firewood on the two oxcarts was carried to the mansion, while Oliver was driven aside and waited obediently.
Seeing that the firewood was almost finished being moved, Oliver had no chance to peek inside the mansion. At this moment, a servant who had just walked to the door broke the rattan that bound the firewood, and the firewood was scattered on the floor.
Oliver seized the opportunity and hurriedly stepped forward to help the servant pick up the firewood scattered on the ground.
"No need for your help, just go away and wait!" the servant yelled at Oliver.
Oliver stood up with a look of horror on his face, and put a few pieces of firewood in his arms into the hands of the servant. Taking advantage of the motion of getting up, Oliver quickly glanced at the mansion.
"Master, I, you have to hurry up, I have to leave the city and go home before the city gate closes~" Oliver said condescendingly to the servant, and immediately retreated to the oxcart.
The servant glared at Oliver fiercely and walked towards the mansion.
After moving the firewood, the man who looked like a cook took out five copper pfennig and threw them to the somewhat cautious Oliver. He turned around and entered the mansion without even asking for change. He closed the door of the mansion with a clang...
Oliver, who had sold the firewood and got the copper coins, was very happy. He took the ox cart and prepared to turn back and leave the city. When passing the apple stand next to the mansion, he spent a whole copper pfennig to buy a lot of apples, saying that he would take them to the children at home, and then hurriedly dragged the empty cart out of the city before the city closed... "Sir, Oliver has left the city." Stanley panted and returned to the second floor of the hotel.
"Have you left the city with your tail?"
“No, I followed him to the city gate and saw Oliver leaving the city before returning. Oliver should not have been exposed.”
"Okay! Let's retreat too. The sergeant major and I will go first, and you should follow behind to be careful."
Several people left the hotel one after another and walked in a circle towards the private house in the northwest of the city.
…..
The abandoned monastery in the dense woods two miles outside Thorne was dark.
Twenty men in black wearing tight-fitting black coats and robes were walking around the monastery. The soles of their boots were wrapped with a piece of cotton, so they walked very lightly.
About twenty people were divided into three groups, relying on the dilapidated walls of the monastery and the holes in the house walls to practice wall-climbing and sentrying at night and melee combat drills. The crossbows in their hands made several "bang bang" strings from time to time, and occasionally they could hear the sound of the scabbard hitting their bodies...
This is the assault team stationed outside the city that is conducting night raid training. According to the secret message sent by Yat, the situation in the city has been basically figured out. The next day or two will be the day for action, so the soldiers of the assault team are training in the dark.
Can the soldiers see clearly in the dark? The answer is yes, because two years ago, after Art was chased by a group of gangsters for an afternoon in the birch forest and lost his way at night because of night blindness, Art began to add animal livers such as pork liver and apples and other fresh fruits and vegetables to the army's meals. These foods have indeed given many soldiers a certain degree of night vision "Eagle Eye" ability.
While the soldiers of the assault team were training in the dark, an empty ox cart from the east of the monastery came towards here.
"Stop!!!" Two secret whistles holding crossbows suddenly stood up from the grass.
“Apple stew!” the man driving the bullock cart yelled at the two black figures standing in front of him, holding crossbows facing each other.
"Wheat beer." The two soldiers holding crossbows replied, put down the loaded crossbows in their hands, and walked towards the bullock cart.
"Oliver? Why are you out of town at this time?" A dark figure saw the driver clearly through the faint moonlight through the dark clouds.
"In the past few days, we have figured out the situation of the target, and today we will approach the mansion again. According to the Lord's arrangement, after I leave the city and shake off my tail, I will come to give orders to Lord Ron. The raid team will enter the city in batches tomorrow morning, and the city has already arranged a response..."