Li Xu understood those people who locked themselves in the wall. If he were still in Yixian now, he would also be holding a bow and hiding behind the fortress with the elders of the clan. When the court could no longer protect the people, everyone had to find a way
Protect yourself. Zhang Xutuo once mentioned to him that in the last troubled times, bandits usually would not attack a relatively strong fortress. Instead, they would come up with a number based on the fertility of the surrounding fields, and the defenders in Zhuangzi would
Decide whether to pay. If both parties can reach an agreement, they can live in peace.
Everyone calls this kind of transaction a security fee, which means spending money to buy peace. Zhuangzi paid the bandits for the materials they requested, and the other party could not attack again within a year, otherwise they would be laughed at. Most bandits can do
You keep your word, but there are bandits who don't abide by this rule. In that case, the men in the fortress will take up weapons and fight to the death. Once the village is broken, no one will survive.
The village owners from all over Henan obviously classified the government troops and bandits into the same category in their hearts, so when Zhang Xutuo's banner appeared outside their fortress, the first thing they thought of was to pay a part of the "security fee" and invite the army.
Men, hurry up and get on your way. As for opening the village gate to welcome guests, that is absolutely impossible, because even if the officers and soldiers outside are genuine, their discipline may not be much better than that of the bandits. Moreover, in the past year, there have indeed been officers and soldiers
They pretended to be bandits and robbed people everywhere. Bandits pretending to be officers and soldiers to defraud people also happened from time to time.
After joining the Wagang Army, most of the bandits active in Dongjun, Dongping, Jiyin and other places adopted this method of collecting "safety fees". Based on what he learned along the way, Li Xu was surprised to find that several bandits with guns blazing
The money collected by the bandits under the banner of Wagang Army from Zhuangzi seems to be lower than the current taxes of the Sui Dynasty. Of course, this refers to the actual tax collection figure. If you only look at the part levied by the court on the surface, the amount of taxes collected by the Sui Dynasty is
Every family of the common people should be extremely rich. But if they do that, local officials and subordinate staff will have no money to make money. They will not work for the court in vain.
"The thieves collected less than the government!" While thinking about these absurd facts, Li Xu led his brothers to move closer to the main force. In the afternoon battle, thirty-six of his brothers were killed and one hundred and eleven were injured.
Fourteen people. Added together, the number of people was reduced by exactly 150. The defeated rebel army was about 10,000, and not many were killed on the spot. Most of them escaped over the mountains and ridges. There were also a few people who were injured because of their legs and feet.
Those who were not able to rope or were seriously injured by arrows were captured by the officers and soldiers of Qi County. Li Xu ordered people to tie up the neatly dressed ones with ropes, tie them in a bunch at the waist, and escort them to Zhang Xutuo's Chinese army by his own soldiers.
Torture the enemy everywhere.
"Victory?" Zhang Xutuo saw Li Xu returning safely, smiled and stepped forward to greet him, and asked.
"A complete victory! We killed more than 470 people on the spot and captured more than 200 prisoners. Some of them may be the leaders, so I took them all over!" Li Xu waved his hand behind him, signaling Zhou Xing and others to take them.
Bring the prisoners.
"Okay, let me come and see how many generals Li Hou captured today!" Zhang Xutuo joked, stroking his beard.
Introducing the organization of officers and soldiers into the rebel army was a major initiative Li Mi made after arriving in Wagang Mountain. Now, the bandits following Wagang's banner have their own names, and the big and small leaders are no longer called simple
The land is the head of the family, but it has a complete series of official titles from general to halberd commander. For example, the original leader Zhai Rang of Wagang is now elected by the bandits as the Duke of Dongjun, the general, and the superior.
Zhuguo. And Xu Maogong, the original second in command of Wagang Mountain, became the champion general and the general manager of the internal army.
In the past year or so, the Wagang army has expanded too fast, and the leaders who came to join the army did not belong to each other. In order to be fair, the official positions Li Mi assigned to everyone through Zhai Rang were a bit high.
According to estimates by Li Xu and others, those with 3,000 minions in the bandit army can be regarded as generals, and those with more than 5,000 can be regarded as generals. They have so many officers that the two sides have been fighting for more than half a month.
They have killed a general Zhongwu, a general Xuanwei and a general Dingyuan, and also captured alive a dozen generals of the fifth rank.
The officers and soldiers of Qi County had already learned about the situation of the generals in Wagang through the mouths of the prisoners a few days ago, so everyone was amused by Zhang Xutuo's words and burst into laughter. When they had laughed enough, the guards wiped away the tears from laughter.
While walking towards the prisoner team, select the one with the best armor and pull it outward. This is the best way to identify the identity of the prisoner, and it is basically a sure thing. Once people who seek to protect the heavens get benefits, they often first
Keep the benefits to yourself.
The first person who was pulled into the Chinese military tent by the swordsman introduced himself as a ranger general, and his words were quite stubborn. Zhang Xutuo asked him a few questions about the specific tactical arrangements of the Wagang Army.
, he claimed not to know anything. Luo Shixin threatened, but the man sneered and cursed: "Kill if you want, the scar on your head will not be bigger than a bowl. Anyway, I have never thought about living a long life since I embarked on this road.
!”
"Forget it, I will bury your body here, and your name will be engraved on the tombstone!" Zhang Xutuo saw that the other party had no intention of begging for mercy, so he waved his hand and ordered someone to take him away.
"Thank you very much. The name engraved on the monument is Kuangcheng Li Huating!" Wagang Ranger General Li Huating smiled and strode out.
"This man is quite a man!" Looking at the enemy general's back, Luo Shixin admired in a low voice. "It's a pity that he became a bandit, otherwise it would be in line with my temperament!"
"In times of war, many heroes died." Zhang Xutuo also shook his head with emotion. If it were five years ago, an upright man like Li Huating might not be able to do things for the country. But now, he can only do things early.
The earth turned into a handful of loess in the middle of the wilderness.
"Who would be willing to become a rebel if they had the chance to get married? Didn't Mr. Zhang see it? This man is not afraid of death, but he cares about his official title and surname very much!" Bei Hai, who came with everyone to beg the thief.
The county magistrate Wu Yulin was careful and reminded him in a low voice.
His words caused a sigh. Everyone in the tent had been fighting with bandits for many years. Earlier, the reason why most people became thieves was that they could not survive. But starting from this year, a large number of low-level military officers appeared among the enemy.
, low-level officials in the government and frustrated scholars. They joined thieves in order to get ahead. They had a clear purpose and played a considerable role among rogue thieves. With the help of these people, many large-scale rogue bandits were defeated.
He settled down and began to manage his own sphere of influence city by city.
If the imperial court could give some space to people of civilian origin when selecting officials, perhaps the rebellions in various places would not be so serious. But this assumption is impossible to realize. The government of the Sui Dynasty was in the hands of aristocratic families, and they could not
Will take actions that harm their own interests.
The second prisoner who was pushed into the central military tent was obviously still a child. The beard on his mouth had just grown, and his voice was a bit childish. He had an arrow wound on the heel of his thigh and a huge hole on his chest.
There were horse hoof marks, so he was not very stable when walking. But when he answered Zhang Xutuo's words, he tried his best to straighten his body.
"Is this year a strong man?" Learning from the previous lesson, Zhang Xutuo decided to change the interrogation method. Based on his experience in dealing with bandits for many years, young people do not have much scheming, and it is easier to make excuses from them.
"What are you talking about? I don't understand!" The young man's eyes widened and his voice had a very strong local accent.
"My lord asked you how old you are this year?" Wu Yulin repeated Zhang Xutuo's question again.
"Fifteen, I am a chicken. Why are you asking this? Do you still want to let me go home?" The young man puffed up his chest and tried hard to look like an adult.
"I can let you go home, but you must first tell me your name, what officer you are in the bandit army, where are the other teams, and what arrangements has Li Mi made!" Zhang Xutuo smiled kindly,
said.
His face was not too fierce, and his smile looked more like a loyal elder. Unexpectedly, the other party was not fooled, and spat bloody spit on the ground, proudly saying: "My name is Huang Gou Sheng, I don't have a big name. Yes.
Colonel Zhenwei of the Weicheng Camp of the Wagang Army. The brothers in our battalion were defeated by the big black guy among you today. The other battalions are on the nearby mountains. I don’t know where exactly! As for what Master Li did
He will definitely not tell me about the arrangement. So it’s useless for you to ask me!”
"Lie! Since you are already a lieutenant in the first military academy, you should naturally know the specific arrangements for this battle. Could it be that Li Mi just mentioned a place and you guys just came to die without asking?" Zhang Xutuo said with a straight face.
He put on a ferocious look and shouted.
"Since you know I can lie, why are you still asking me?" Huang Gou Sheng opened his dark eyes and looked at Zhang Xutuo without fear.
There was only calmness and determination in those eyes. Li Xu watched from the side and couldn't help but feel sad for the other person. This year is the year of Yihai, and the person born in the Year of the Rooster is just over fourteen years old, almost the same size as when he left the country. It's just that he
He was lucky enough to avoid conscription back then, and he made great contributions due to various opportunities thereafter. If nothing unexpected happened, the life of the young man in front of him was about to end. The county soldiers traveled a long distance, and with the enemy still waiting for them, it was impossible to stay for too long.
Many prisoners were taken. Those who confessed quickly could be detained as coolies in the rear camp. As for those who refused to surrender, they were basically killed immediately. The young man obviously chose the latter and had no fear.
"Don't you want to go home? Think about home, think about your grandparents!" Unwilling to let the young man die, Li Xu leaned close to him and almost used a begging tone to enlighten him.
"I have no home. My grandfather was captured by you and went to Liaodong the year before last, and he has not come back yet. My mother was weak and could not stand hunger. She also died last spring. My lord, please let me go home. My home is here.
Down there, do I still need to beg you to let me go?" Huang Gou Sheng tilted his head and glanced at him, then replied with a sneer.
"I'm not a thief, you are!" He spat out another mouthful of blood and cursed bitterly. (To be continued)