The gloomy prison smelled of decay, flies were buzzing, and humidity and heat were mixed together. The severe pain and discomfort stopped for a moment, and the ragged Su Wenfang huddled in a corner of the cell, shivering.
In Zizhou Prison, there were still wailing sounds coming from afar. It had been a day and a half since he was arrested here, and nearly a day of torture had caused Su Wenfang to collapse. At least in his somewhat sober consciousness, he felt that he
Already collapsed.
Maybe it would be easier to die if I died then...
Continuous pain and discomfort will make people's perception of reality tend to dissipate, and many times there will be memories and hallucinations of this kind in front of them. After being tortured for a day, the other party threw him back to the prison to rest for a while.
It felt better and his mind gradually became clearer. His body was shaking and he cried silently. His thoughts were confused. Sometimes he wanted to die, sometimes he regretted it, sometimes he was numb, and sometimes he thought of his experiences over the years.
This was the first time in his life that he had experienced these things, whipping, sticks, clamps and even soldering irons, beatings and waterboarding over and over again. From the first time he was beaten, he felt that he would not be able to hold on any longer.
He never felt that he was a strong person.
Over the years, he first worked with Zhuji, and later participated in the war and became a member of the Chinese Army. His journey was not easy, but relatively speaking, it was not difficult. Following his sister and brother-in-law
, can learn a lot of things, although he has to put in enough seriousness and hard work, but for other people in this world, he is happy enough. Over the years, from the efforts of Zhuji Xiacun to the regicide of Jindian
, then traveled to Xiaocang River, defeated Xixia, and then spent three years in bloody battles and several years of running the Southwest. As an administrator in the Black Flag Army, he had seen many things, but he had never truly experienced the hardships of bloody battles, life and death.
The great terror between.
Many times when he passed the miserable wounded barracks, he would feel a chill in his heart.
Over the years, he has met many people who are as strong as steel. But Su Wenfang has always been afraid deep down in his heart while traveling outside. The only weapon against fear is rational analysis. When the situation outside the Liangshan Mountains began to shrink, the situation
When chaos arose, Su Wenfang was also afraid of what he would experience. But the results of rational analysis told him that Lu Qiaoshan could see the situation clearly. Whether it was war or peace, the safety of his own group was also of the greatest importance to him.
Interested. In today's southwest, the military actually has a huge say.
But things ended up going in an uncontrollable direction.
Since he was taken into prison, the torturer asked him to tell the list of members of the Chinese Army who were still outside the mountain at this time. Naturally, he was unwilling to tell it. The torture that followed was unbearable every second, Su Wenfang thought.
Those companions who died in front of him thought, "Hold on, hold on." Within half an hour, he began to beg for mercy.
You can get a certain period of respite by begging for mercy, but no matter what you say, as long as you are unwilling to confess, the torture will always continue. The skin and flesh will soon be torn on the body. At first, Su Wenfang imagined that members of the Chinese Army lurking in Zizhou would come.
The hope of rescuing him did not come true. Su Wenfang's mind wavered between confessing and being unable to confess. He cried and begged for mercy most of the time, and occasionally threatened the other party. The injuries on his body were too painful, and he was later spilled.
Salt water, he was pushed into the bucket again and again, suffocating and fainting. More than two hours passed, and Su Wenjiang begged for mercy and confessed.
The words of confession were on my lips, but I couldn't say them out.
Over the years, those figures on the battlefield, the black flag soldiers who died in the fight with the Jurchens, the piercing shouts from the wounded barracks, the broken limbs, the veterans who survived those fights but were already disabled... these things
Shaking in front of his eyes, he simply couldn't understand why these people experienced so much pain and still shouted that they were willing to go to the battlefield. But these things made it impossible for him to say a confession.
He sat at the table and shivered for a while, then began to cry again. He raised his head and cried: "I can't say..."
Next, naturally came more vicious torture.
Every moment he felt that he was going to die. The next moment, more pain continued, and his mind was already buzzing with blood. He cried, cursed, and begged for mercy. Sometimes he cried and said to
The other party was moved with emotion: "We fought against the Jurchens in the north. In the past three years in the northwest, do you know how many people died and how they died... When we were sticking to the Xiaocang River, how were the battles fought? There was little food.
At that time, some people were starving to death... retreated, but some people did not retreat... Ah - we are doing good things..."
"Please... don't fight..."
"Please……"
This weak voice gradually developed into: "I said..."
Then it changed to: "I can't say..."
This cycle repeated over and over again, and the torturers changed several times, and then they got tired. Su Wenfang didn't know how he persisted, but those tragic things reminded him and made him unable to speak. He knew that he was not a hero,
Soon, a certain person who can't hold on may have to confess, but before that... hold on... I've been suffering for so long, let me bear it again...
Maybe rescuers will come?
At some point, he was thrown back into the cell. When he could recover from his injuries, he huddled there, and then began to cry silently, complaining in his heart as to why his rescuer hadn't come yet. If he didn't come, he wouldn't be able to hold on.
Went down... I don't know when, someone suddenly opened the cell door.
Su Wenfang was extremely tired, but he suddenly woke up. His body began to huddle towards the corner of the cell, but two men came over and dragged him out.
Su Wenfang struggled hard, and soon after, he was half-dragged and half-dragged back to the torture room. His body was slightly relieved, and when he saw the torture instruments, he became more and more frightened. The torturer came over and asked Su Wenfang.
He sat down at the table and put down paper and pen: "I've been thinking about it for so long, brother, give me some face and just write down a name... Write something unimportant."
Su Wenfang was trembling all over. The man's hand pressed on his shoulder, touching the wound, and the pain surged again. Su Wenfang burst into tears again: "I can't say that my sister will kill me, and my brother-in-law will not let it go."
I……"
"They don't know."
"They know... Haha, you don't understand at all, there are people around you..."
"...who?"
"I don't know, they will know, I can't say, I can't say, you haven't seen, how those people died... In order to fight the Jurchens, the Wu Dynasty could not fight the Jurchens, they died to resist the Jurchens, why did you
,Why is this..."
After he said this, the torturer slapped him to the ground and shouted: "Tie him up——"
Several people nearby tied Su Wenfang to the rack. The torturer came over and said, "If you don't want to speak, your tongue is useless. But you only have one, and I gave you face. If you don't want to write if I ask you to, you have ten fingers."
Hey, let’s play slowly!”
"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, don't do this..." Su Wenfang struggled and shouted loudly. The other party had grabbed one of his fingers and came closer with an iron needle in his other hand.
"Say or not -"
"We are gold miners! Many of us died! I can't say!"
"Give me a name—"
"My brother-in-law will kill you! Kill your whole family. Kill your whole family. Let me go. I can't say it. I can't say it-"
Crazy shouts with blood foaming from the mouth continued like this for a while, and then, the iron needle was inserted, and hoarse screams came from the torture room...
What follows is a scene from hell.
************
In the Liangshan and Liangshan Mountains, the encirclement and suppression of the Mangshan Ni people has begun in earnest.
The autumn harvest is still in progress, and the Chinese army in the mountains has been mobilized, but it has not been officially launched yet. In the dull autumn, Ning Yi returned to Hedeng, waiting for negotiations with the mountains.
On the surface, Lu Qiaoshan's attitude towards war or peace is not clear. He respects Ning Yi on the surface and is willing to have a face-to-face negotiation with Ning Yi, but he is a little confused about the details of the negotiation.
The Chinese envoy who came out this time received Ning Yi's order. With a tough attitude, Lu Qiaoshan finally made concessions.
The date of the negotiation was postponed for two days due to preparation work, and the location was set in a valley outside Xiaoliang Mountain. Ning Yi brought 3,000 people out of the mountain, and Luqiao Mountain also brought 3,000 people over. No matter what the idea was, they would be discussed in detail.
Be clear - this is Ning Yi's toughest attitude - if you don't talk, then start a war as quickly as possible.
This day was already the 21st of July in the ninth year of Jian Shuo of the Wu Dynasty. In the morning, the autumn wind became a little cooler and blew through the grassland outside Xiaoliang Mountain. Ning Yi and Lu Qiaoshan met in a dilapidated pergola on the grassland.
In front of them, there were three thousand troops in the distance behind. After greeting each other, Ning Yi saw Su Wenfang brought over by Lu Qiaoshan. He was wearing a neat-looking robe, with a patch on his face, and the fingers on the sleeves of the robe.
They were all bandaged up, and their pace seemed frivolous. For this negotiation, Su Tan'er also followed. When she saw her brother's expression, her eyes turned slightly red. Ning Yi walked over and gently hugged Su Wenfang.
Su Wenfang's face showed a slight look of pain, and his weak voice seemed to come out with difficulty from the depths of his throat: "Brother-in-law... I didn't say..."
"I know, take good care of yourself."
"...it was the scholars who took action. They wanted to force Luqiao Mountain to go to war..."
"good."
Su Wenfang finished speaking in a low voice with difficulty, then separated from Ning Yi and walked towards Su Tan'er.
Ning Yi faced Lu Qiaoshan. Lu Qiaoshan cupped his hands and smiled attentively: "Misunderstanding is not what Lu meant, Mr. Ning, it is a misunderstanding."
Ning Yi nodded and made a gesture to sit down. He glanced behind him and said, "After all, he is my brother-in-law. Thank you, Mr. Lu, for taking the trouble."
"Hey, that's right. It's all the rotten scholars who are causing the trouble. They don't have enough wisdom and strategy. Mr. Ning will definitely calm down."
Ning Yi nodded and smiled. Neither of them sat down. Lu Qiaoshan just held his hands. Ning Yi thought for a while: "That's my wife over there, Su Tan'er."
"My siblings are both talented and virtuous. I have admired them for a long time."
Ning Yi did not answer the words, and continued in the tone just now: "My wife was originally from a merchant family, Jiangning City, the third cloth merchant. When I married, the accumulation of several generations, but at a very critical point
At that time, no one in the third generation of the family was successful. Grandpa Su Yu finally decided to let my wife Tan'er take charge of the house. Wen Fang and others would follow her to do mundane chores and do some miscellaneous tasks. At first, I thought that these few rooms would be able to be used in the future.
If you keep it, you will be lucky."
Lu Qiaoshan nodded.
"Of course, later on, due to various reasons, we did not take this road. The old man passed away a few years ago. He had no world in his heart. He was always thinking about the family around him. When he left, he was very peaceful, because although he later built
On the contrary, the Su family still has successful children. The young man from more than ten years ago was a slut and a dogfighter. Maybe he would be a playboy who was accustomed to spending his whole life, and his horizons would never be better.
Jiangning City. But the fact is that today, General Lu, you see, my brother-in-law is a truly upright man. Even if you look at the whole world and compare with anyone, there is nothing he cannot stand."
Ning Yi looked at Lu Qiaoshan, who was silent for a moment: "Yes, I received your message from Mr. Ning and when I made up my mind to save him, he was already beaten into a human shape. But he didn't say anything.
"
Ning Yi raised his head and looked at the sky, then nodded slightly: "General Lu, in the past ten years, the Chinese army has experienced a very difficult situation. In the northwest, at Xiaocang River, it was besieged by a million troops and faced off against the Jurchen elite.
, they have never really been defeated. Many people have died, and many people have become truly upright men. In the future, they will still face off against the Jurchens. There are still countless battles to fight, and countless people have to die, but they must die well.
...General Lu, the Jurchens have gone south. I beg you, give them a way to live this time, give your own people a way to live, and let them die in a place more worthy of death..."
The mountain wind blew over and rolled up the thatch on the pergola. Ning Yi looked at Luqiao Mountain and cupped his hands.