Zhou Qing did not pursue the escaped bandits, but tortured the captured bandits one by one. At first, these bandits were very tough, but they couldn't stand the punishment and they all were killed.
It turned out that they were bandits from Hao County, Anhui Province. They fled to Yongcheng and tried to kidnap a few wealthy people to make some money. They happened to meet the Song family who had left the city with Xinrou in a panic. After the bandits arrested them and tortured them, they found out that the bank had gone bankrupt.
Since there was no money to be squeezed, it was natural for them to seek wealth and sex. The men of the Song family were trapped and killed in a ditch, and the women were brutally killed by the bandits after they were ruined.
According to the confession of the bandits, Zhou Qing sent regiment members to find the bodies of the Song family and ordered the withdrawal of troops.
After returning to Yong'an Town, Zhou Qing gave a detailed report to Han Baihang. Han Baihang was filled with admiration after hearing what happened to the Song family. He lamented that this was the troubled times of the Republic of China, and human lives were like nothing, but that was all he felt. Since he came here,
During the Republic of China, he had long been used to seeing life and death, and was almost numb.
Han Baihang walked around in a circle with his hands behind his back, waved his hand and said: "Please hand over the bodies of the Song family and the bandits to Pang Yumin for disposal, and this matter will be over."
"yes!"
Zhou Qing nodded and retreated.
Han Baihang's expression was a little complicated. He never believed that the Song family was massacred by bandits. After suppressing bandits for so many days, he still knew a little about the rules of bandits. If there was no grudge, bandits usually only seek wealth and not kill anyone.
.Especially for bandits. The first thing bandits usually do when they arrive at a place is to pay homage to a mountain. Worshiping a mountain means finding a friendship with the most powerful bandit in the local area. Only when the relationship is established can the bandit stop and do business in this place.
, to put it bluntly, it is robbery and kidnapping, but this robbery and kidnapping has conditions. The first is to abide by the rules, which is to rob the rich and give to the poor, take ill-gotten gains, not to kill indiscriminately, etc. The second is to keep hostages, and generally treat the homeless people as prisoners.
The more important leader among the bandits stayed behind and was given good food and drink. Once the bandits broke the rules, the hostage would have to be lit as a sky lantern.
With these two restrictions, few bandits dared to mess around, so he could conclude that there must be an instigator behind this group of bandits. But whether this instigator was Ding Zuopeng, he put a question mark in his mind. There was always something specious about it.
It feels like the real culprit is someone else.
But he didn't intend to know who the real culprit was. Ever since he learned that the gentry in Yongcheng was cultivating opium, he felt deeply that the water in Yongcheng was murky and deep, so he acted extremely cautiously. Just today, he still
Received a handwritten letter from Mei Changyuan, in which Mei Changyuan wanted to ask him to return to Yongcheng to jointly deal with Ding Zuopeng, who was acting more and more domineeringly.
Han Baihang felt a pain in his forehead as he held the letter. Yongcheng was a den of right and wrong. He didn't want to become Mei Changyuan's tool to control Ding Zuopeng. That was not his original intention. To paraphrase a sentence in the play, Yongcheng would listen to the instructions but not the propaganda.
If something really happened in the city, he would not just sit idly by.
…
On the threshing floor at the head of the village in Yong'an Town, all the old and young in the town gathered here. Thousands of people surrounded the threshing floor. In the middle of the threshing floor, there was a man with a white cloth on his forehead, kneeling on seven quilts.
Pang Yumin stood in front of the corpses scattered with white cloth. He kowtowed to the corpses with tears in his eyes, and cried out: "In-laws, my daughter, it was me who harmed you..."
Behind him were dozens of Pang family members, old and young, all dressed in mourning clothes, crying loudly after him, like a funeral.
The people in the town sighed. They all knew that Mayor Pang’s family had been harmed by bandits. Thinking of the disaster that Yong’an Town had suffered from bandits not long ago, the people around them gritted their teeth and kept cursing the bandits. They must die well.
So much.
At this time, two young men from the Pang family picked up a guillotine and threw it into the middle of the threshing floor. The sharp-eyed people recognized it and told each other: "This is the guillotine that Captain Han used."
The eyes of the people suddenly became fanatical. They had all heard that Captain Han in the town used this guillotine to chop off more than 80 heads in Heifeng Village. Later, this guillotine was enshrined in the village temple by the people, and was considered by the people to have been killed.
With spirituality.
"Mayor, it's three o'clock at noon!" A nurse ran up to Pang Yumin and said.
Pang Yumin stopped crying, stood up staggeringly, and gritted his teeth and said: "Bring the bandits up, I will use their heads to pay tribute to the souls of my relatives in heaven!"
"Bring him up!" the people shouted in unison.
The nursing home escorted eighteen bandits with their skins torn to pieces. It was obvious that they had been lynched for a long time, but no one in the public sympathized with them, and they all wanted to kill them with their eyes.
At this time, Pang Yumin walked to the guillotine. He held the handle of the guillotine tightly and lifted it up. The sharp blade flashed with dazzling light. He shouted: "I want to do it myself!"
"Mayor Pang is a man!" The men in the town gave a thumbs up and praised each other.
The guard picked up a bandit's collar and pushed him under the guillotine. Pang Yumin screamed and the sharp guillotine pressed down. The bandit's head rolled two meters away, and the blood from his neck spurted all over his face.
"Happy!" Pang Yumin wiped the blood on his face like a maniac, and continued to cut off eleven heads. After all, he was old and weak, so the guillotine cut off half of the unfortunate bandit's neck.
He didn't die, and screamed like a slaughtering pig.
"Pang Shiju, come and avenge your second sister!" Pang Yumin panted heavily and called to his second son, but the second son was only seventeen years old and still young. He was frightened by the bloody scene and refused to come up.
.
"Coward!" Pang Yumin was furious. He dropped the guillotine and ran quickly to his second son. He grabbed his collar and pulled him down in front of the guillotine. He said ferociously: "Everyone in the town is looking at you.
, if you give up, I won’t have an unfilial son like you in the future.”
"ah!"
Pang Shiju shook his body, closed his eyes and guillotined the bandit behind him. When he opened his eyes and saw the headless corpse in front of him, he rolled his eyes and passed out.
Pang Yumin glanced at his son with disgust. In his heart, the son he loved most had lost the qualification to inherit the family business.
Pang Yumin buried Song Qiyuan's family in the sorghum field at the east end of the town. The seven new graves were filled with heads.
…
After Zhou Qing came back, he told Han Baihang what happened in the threshing floor. Han Baihang was also surprised by Pang Yumin's actions. He was a soldier who had experienced life and death on the battlefield. He also had nightmares for several nights after beheading people that day. Unexpectedly, Pang Yumin
It really impressed him that a country squire dared to kill someone so spontaneously.
"None of these wealthy locals have a fuel-efficient lamp!" Han Baihang said, smacking his chin.
Zhou Qingshen nodded in agreement and whispered: "Company commander, the spies just came to report, the victory or defeat on the mountain is about to be decided."
Han Baihang perked up and said with a smile: "Don't tell me yet, let me guess, Zhu Chunzi is going to win, right?"
Zhou Qing said with surprise on his face: "Company Commander, how did you guess that?"
"I also guessed that Zhu Chunzi must have lost first and then won, and only with the help of other gangsters did he turn defeat into victory." Old God Han Baihang said.
Zhou Qing said with surprise on his face: "Company Commander, what you said is absolutely correct, amazing!"
Han Baihang smiled and said: "Actually, the reason is very simple. As long as Heifeng Village exists, other gangsters will not be able to develop. Only when Heifengzhai is gone can these gangsters take advantage of the situation to grow. To put it bluntly, Heifengzhai has committed a crime long ago.
There is public outrage, and now that Zhu Chunzi is leading the charge, others will certainly not let go of this opportunity to add insult to injury."
Zhou Qing said solemnly: "Then they are not afraid that Black Wind Village will survive this test and take revenge in the future?"
Han Baihang said: "Heifeng Village is isolated and helpless. It is already a doomed situation. Why should we be afraid of revenge?"
Zhou Qing said: "The bandits have suffered a lot of damage from the firefight this time. It seems that they won't cause trouble for us in the short term. It's best to survive the harvest."
Han Baihang said: "You are wrong. Once Zhu Chunzi eats Heifeng Village, he will target Yongcheng again." Facing Zhou Qing's doubts, Han Baihang explained: "Bandits are the same as the army. Invincibility is not enough to establish prestige.
, Heifeng Village has defeated Yongcheng and returned. If Zhu Chunzi makes a profit, he can legitimately replace him. Therefore, if we want to live a peaceful life, we cannot let the bandits live in peace!"
Zhou Qing nodded: "That's the truth!"
Han Baihang's eyes flashed with coldness: "Initiate plan No. 2. You hand over the command of the militia to the second platoon leader Huang Yizhong, and take the first, second, and third platoons to dress up as bandits overnight to help Feng Guanglin. Don't let him lose.
But don’t let him win, understand?”
"Understood!" Zhou Qing gave a military salute and hurried away.