[al:新概念英语（四）] [ar:MP3 同步字幕版（英音）] [ti:Royal Espionage] [by:更多学习内容，请到chazidian.com搜索“新概念”] [00:01.55]Lesson 9 [00:03.65]Royal espionage [00:12.72]What important thing did King Alfred learn when he penetrated the Danish camp of Guthrum? [00:22.10]Alfred the Great acted as his own spy, [00:25.50]visiting Danish camps disguised as a minstrel. [00:29.95]In those days wandering minstrels were welcome everywhere. [00:34.22]They were not fighting men, and their harp was their passport. [00:39.06]Alfred had learned many of their ballads in his youth and could vary his programme with acrobatic tricks and simple conjuring. [00:48.62]While Alfred's little army slowly began to gather at Athelney, [00:53.67]the king himself set out to penetrate the camp of Guthrum, [00:58.34]the commander of the Danish invaders. [01:01.40]These had settled down for the winter at Chippenham: thither Alfred went. [01:07.36]He noticed at once that discipline was slack: the Danes had the self-confidence of conquerors, and their security precautions were casual. [01:17.68]They lived well, on the proceeds of raids on neighbouring regions. [01:22.12]There they collected women as well as food and drink, and a life of ease had made them soft. [01:29.81]Alfred stayed in the camp a week before he returned to Athelney. [01:34.76]The force there assembled was trivial compared with the Danish horde. [01:39.31]But Alfred had deduced that the Danes were no longer fit for prolonged battle: and that their commissariat had no organization, [01:48.35]but depended on irregular raids. [01:51.81]So, faced with the Danish advance, Alfred did not risk open battle but harried the enemy. [01:59.36]He was constantly on the move, drawing the Danes after him. [02:03.73]His patrols halted the raiding parties: hunger assailed the Danish army. [02:10.00]Now Alfred began a long series of skirmishes -- and within a month the Danes had surrendered. [02:17.62]The episode could reasonably serve as a unique epic of royal espionage!