However, Li Muxian did not give Ma Shiyao much time to delay. At that time, he led a flood of believers to the outside of Zhendingfu City. For a while, the lights outside the city were shining and noisy for miles.
When they first heard about the civil unrest, they thought that there would be no more than a hundred people at most, but later Lu Bufan reported that there were thousands of people. However, looking at the continuous fire and deafening sounds outside the city, Ma Shiyao and Ren Jirong felt chilled. There were tens of thousands of people like this.
Alright.
Since ancient times, ordinary people like to follow the crowd and make noises. The prototypes of rebellions in the past dynasties all originated from this mentality, which is the herd effect. As long as there is a leader, countless people will follow blindly. Li Muxian pretended to be a ghost and called himself Fang Zhenren again in the small town.
They killed thieves and punished evil, and used various magical techniques to brainwash, confusing more than a thousand believers. As for Gaocheng, they also lured the refugees into the city to rob the granary. This move won the hearts of the people, and in the blink of an eye, a real person became a half-immortal, with greater influence and more deception.
Strong, people continued to join us all the way west, and there were already tens of thousands of people outside the city of Zhending Prefecture.
But this is just the beginning.
Zhending City is a prefectural city, and countless refugees gather outside the city. They were originally indifferent and just waiting to die. Suddenly, a large number of refugees came shouting slogans and rushed towards them. They even became excited before they could figure out the situation.
I joined just because those slogans are so tempting.
You need to open a granary and stock up on food to survive, and you need to eat if you don’t die in vain...
Nothing is more tempting these days than food.
Almost as soon as Ma Shiyao and others had discussed how to quell the civil unrest, all the refugees outside the city had been lured into joining Li Muxian's food begging team. Tens of thousands of people were shouting outside the city, and the momentum was overwhelming. Everyone on the city walls changed their colors.
"General, the refugees have started knocking on the door." His subordinates rushed to report. Ma Shiyao's face was ashen and he turned to look at Ren Jirong, only to see a murderous look on his face.
The refugees outside the city made a noise and clamored to open warehouses to stock up on food. Seeing that the bandit army did not respond, they started to knock on the door to enter the city with the help of Li Muxian. This move aroused the murderous intention of the bandit leaders in the city.
However, they cannot be killed. These refugees neither stand on their own hills nor carry a flag to rebel. They only live for food rations. Killing people will force them to rebel, and it will have a great impact on the image of the rebels, not to mention the tens of thousands of refugees outside the city at this time.
Did you kill them all? Both Ma Shiyao and Ma Shiyao feel embarrassed, but if they don't stop it now, they may get worse.
As a last resort, Ma Shiyao shouted at the top of the city to calm the people. At first, the refugees listened attentively, but after seeing that he kept talking empty words, they lost patience. The shouts started again, and Ma Shiyao's voice was drowned in saliva.
Seeing that appeasement failed, Ma Shiyao came up with another plan. He announced to the outside world that he could send representatives of public opinion into the city to negotiate, and the rest would retreat a few miles and not disturb the city, otherwise they would be killed without mercy.
Most of the refugees are booing, and they get a little timid when they hear about killing people, but Li Muxian is neither timid nor stupid. He confuses the refugees and the law does not punish the people. As long as we have food and we don’t rebel, the rebels don’t dare to kill. If we kill people, can we still call them rebels? How can they be called rebels?
If they dare to kill people, we will rebel. They can attack the city and plunder the land without worrying about food and drink. Why can't we stand on our own as kings and be self-reliant? Why should we look at their faces and beg for food...
These words were so inflammatory. When the refugees were instigated, their emotions immediately rose. They clamored even more and did not take Ma Shiyao's threat seriously at all. As for sending public opinion representatives out of the city to negotiate, ordinary people would believe it, but for Lao Jianghu
Li Muxian came to tell you, you are a big-headed ghost. He knows that as soon as he enters the city, he will be captured and killed by the bandit army. Outside the city, there is a group of rabble, and the swarms of insects disperse without a leader in the blink of an eye.
One did not dare to use the knife, the other did not dare to enter the city, and the two sides fell into a confrontation.
It was late at night, and Li Muxian's chaos outside Zhending City made Ma Shiyao anxious. Chang Yu, dozens of miles away in the north, also encountered great trouble and was in danger.
However, they said that because they were walking too slowly, Jiang Fa stole the horse and five others rode northward, taking advantage of the cover of night to gallop all the way to Wuji County, but something went wrong halfway along the way.
Along the way north, refugees would gather in every larger village or town. A few people on horseback were worried about being too ostentatious and deliberately avoided the crowds. They traveled quickly through the wilderness, but they still encountered trouble. They had just detoured from a refugee gathering place and walked less than two miles.
Suddenly fire broke out everywhere, and he was surrounded by more than ten horsemen, who scolded him and got off his horse.
Suddenly, several people were shocked. Wu Zhong and Qiao Sanxiu were about to get angry, but Chang Yu stopped him with his eyes, because he found that this group of people were holding knives and bows. These were no ordinary thieves blocking the road. They were most likely members of the bandit army.
spy.
Why not a spy from the Ming Army?
The reason is very simple. Baoding Prefecture is a war zone for thieves within hundreds of miles. Ming army scouts enter the country in various disguises and sneak around. How can they dare to be so blatant?
Wuzhong is worthy of being a veteran. He reacted quickly and was the first to dismount his horse and kneel on the ground to beg for mercy: "Master, Master, we are all good citizens..."
When Chang Yu and others saw him, they hurriedly dismounted and knelt down, begging for mercy.
"Good people?" Several thieves sneered: "Where do good people come from and why do their horses travel at night?"
Yes, these ten or so people were indeed scouts from the bandit army. They were wandering around the village next to where they were resting. They heard the sound of hooves and chased after them, only to see five sneaky suspects, four large and one small.
"Master Jun, you are really a good citizen. This trip is to return to your hometown to pick up the young master and the young lady on the order of the master of the family..." Wu Zhong kept making up a story about the mutiny in his hometown where the master was doing business in the capital, so he ordered the servants to
He returned to his hometown to take his children to the capital for refuge, but because there were too many refugees on the way, the servants had to travel all night...
It was rare that he could make up this story according to circumstances, but it was also very reasonable and impeccable. When the thief saw two strong men, a skinny servant (Jiang Fa) and a young girl and a girl, he believed it.
However, Wuzhong made a fatal mistake, that is, the thieves hated or favored the wealthy squires from top to bottom, and tortured them wherever they went. Now that they heard that they were children of rich families, they were not willing to let them go.
It's just that Wuzhong didn't say that, and it couldn't be justified. How could ordinary refugees come to mount it? Moreover, a group of five people and four strong men was really suspicious.
"How can I believe you just because your words are untrue?" A thief snorted coldly and drove his horse forward. The steel knife in his hand flashed coldly. Nangong Yu raised her head and caught a glimpse. Her breathing immediately became rapid. Chang Yu reached out and pulled her.
"Master, if you don't believe me, you can search me. We are unarmed and only have a few pieces of silver left on us. Master, you can take all you have. I just want to let me go." Wu Zhong said, stretching out his hands, as if you could come and search us.
.
The thief had originally intended to search him, but when he saw his behavior, he believed him again. He returned to his horse and talked in a low voice with the remaining thief, seemingly discussing how to deal with him and the others.
Chang Yu lay on the ground with murderous intent growing in his heart. He knew very well that these thieves could not let them go so easily. Wuzhong's just-fabricated identity was destined to be fatal. He just suffered from being unable to resist for a while. If there was a knife on weekdays,
I don't even pay attention to the dozen or so people in my hand.
However, during this sneak attack, in order to cover his tracks, he did not carry a knife, nor did he carry a bow, only a short blade for self-defense. However, the thieves and spies around them were very cautious, with long knives unsheathed and several bows aimed at them at all times. These were spies.
The difference from ordinary soldiers is that they have a very high sense of danger and military literacy.
Just when he was thinking about how to deal with it, the thief came back on horseback, held a torch and circled around a few people, and then he smiled and said: "Take out the money yourself and leave the whole body of the woman, Kerao Er, etc..."
Chang Yu and others felt a chill in their hearts. The other party not only had murderous intentions but also lustful intentions. Although Nangong Yu was only eleven or twelve years old, she was a naturally beautiful woman. If not for this, she would not have been targeted by thieves in Zhaozhou City.
So much so that the family was destroyed.
"Master Jun, Master Jun, wait a minute, wait a minute," Wu Zhong said quickly: "We only have a few taels of silver in our possessions. Master Jun can't make a fortune even if he takes it. But my master has a fortune of thousands of dollars, and he loves the young master and the young lady very much.
If you military masters had not let us go, the master of the family would be very grateful."
The money and silk moved people's hearts. When the thief heard this, he raised his eyebrows and said, "It's a long way to the capital. If I let you go without coming back, it would be like drawing water from a bamboo basket in vain."
"How could it be possible? I am willing to use the young master and young lady as hostages and let me go back to Beijing to communicate. The master of the family will definitely be willing to pay a lot of money in return," Wu Zhong begged.
The thief was overjoyed. He looked at Nangong Yu with a lewd smile on his face and said: "If the reward is in place, I can naturally protect your young master and young lady. I'm afraid that your young lady will fall in love with me and don't want to leave, so I have to let your family
Master, please prepare more dowry."
The remaining thief couldn't stop laughing, thinking that this servant was not stupid in his tactics, and he readily took his young master and young lady as a hostage to save his life. Nangong Yu was shaking all over, her face was pale and her lips were bleeding, Chang Yu looked up expressionlessly and said
Several people in Wuzhong looked at each other with a vague look.
"That's it, that's it. The young master will take the few taels of silver he has on him to spend first. After he goes to the capital, he will bring the silver to redeem the young master and the young lady..." Wu Zhong stood up with a humble smile and stretched out his hand to his arms.
Take out the money and get close to the thief. (To be continued)