"Second uncle, my nephew wants to say, is it possible that someone in our family secretly defected to the government?" Tang Jingyan said in a very low voice that only the two of them could hear clearly.
"Impossible! Impossible!" Tang Shipeng was stunned for a moment, and then said. His voice was a little louder, which attracted many people to look at him. But when he stared at him, he quickly turned his head and continued to eat with his head down.
"Second uncle!" Tang Jingyan called out again and was about to speak when he suddenly saw several jailers coming over and hurriedly kept silent. He wanted to wait for the jailers to leave before continuing to talk to Tang Shipeng, but the jailers walked up to him.
In front of their cell, they shouted loudly: "Tang Shipeng! You are going to be interrogated." As he said this, a jailer took out a key and opened the door of the cell. Several others drew out their swords and looked at the Tang family members in the cell warily.
Although the Tang family members all had iron chains on their feet, there was no precedent for the captured Jiangyang robber taking advantage of the jailer's negligence to kill the jailer and seize the key to escape. Although he failed to escape in the end, from then on, people all over the Central Plains
The yamen have become more vigilant against criminals.
Of course, the Tang family would not try to escape from prison. Even if they ran away, hundreds of clan members in their hometown would not be able to escape. Maybe the men would behead the women and children and be exiled. Even for the sake of the clan, they could not escape. They watched Tang Shipeng walk to the prison door.
Before that, he was escorted out of the prison by these jailers.
"Why are we, the Tang family, singled out for interrogation at this time?" One person said with confusion and some worry. No one from the other families who were caught here was interrogated, only Tang Shipeng was interrogated, which is very strange.
Tang Jingyan also felt strange in his heart. Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly remembered something and whispered: "It's probably that person. I don't know who he is yet."
Tang Shipeng was led through door after door and house after house. He felt a little strange in his heart: 'I remember that I didn't take this road last night. Where on earth are they taking me? Am I going to be tortured today?
Torture me?' When he thought of torture, he couldn't help but feel a little scared. Even a countryman like him had heard of the bad reputation of Jin Yiwei. Thinking of the punishments of Jin Yiwei once mentioned by the scholar from the next village, Tang Shipeng even thought of hitting the wall.
Thoughts of suicide.
Just as he was thinking about it, the jailer had stopped in front of a house, gently opened the door and took Tang Shipeng in. He then asked him to sit on a chair and then turned around and left the room. At this time, except for Tang Shipeng, there was no one in the room.
, there was only a man in Feiyu suit standing two feet away in front of Tang Shipeng, and there was no one else.
This is a very strange move. Firstly, to prevent prison escapes, and secondly, to ensure the authenticity of confessions. Jin Yiwei always interrogates prisoners with at least two people together. There are also two school lieutenants responsible for escorting prisoners. There are at least two people in the room
There should be four people to deal with it. Tang Shipeng has also been interrogated by Jin Yiwei in the past few days, but he was not tortured, so he should be surprised.
But Tang Shipeng couldn't care less about his surprise at this time. After seeing the appearance of the man in front of him clearly, he stood up from the chair and pointed at him with his trembling left hand. He was speechless. He felt chest tightness again.
I was short of breath and couldn't help but bend down and cough violently.
"Second Uncle, what's wrong with you, Second Uncle." The man was about to speak, but when he saw Tang Shipeng suddenly coughing, he hurriedly stepped forward to support him and said.
"Get out of the way!" Tang Shipeng pushed him away, coughed a few more times to regain his composure, pointed at him and said, "Jing Yu, you, you actually took refuge in Jin Yiwei!"
Of course, this person is Tang Jingyu. Yesterday, he was interrogating the prisoners captured by the Jinyi Guard Captain and the guardsmen at another very important place. Today, he rushed to Binzhou at dawn and finally arrived at Binzhou Jinyiwei Yamen at noon.
After resting for a while and eating something, he ordered the jailer to bring the clan leader.
"Second uncle, my nephew has indeed taken refuge with the Jin Yiwei." Tang Jingyu replied in a deep voice.
Although after seeing him wearing Feiyu uniform, he was able to confirm that Tang Jingyu had indeed surrendered to the imperial court and became a member of the Imperial Guard, but when he heard his answer with his own ears, Tang Shipeng still felt that the world was spinning and he couldn't help but fall down on his chair.
"Second uncle." Tang Jingyu hurried forward to help him up.
This time, Tang Shipeng did not push him away, nor did he immediately pay attention to him. Instead, he murmured to himself: "If I had known that you had surrendered to the imperial court, why would I have let my people suffer like this."
"Second uncle, what did you say?" Tang Jingyu asked, not hearing what he said clearly.
"It's nothing." Tang Shipeng said, putting aside all other emotions, and asked: "Can you protect our family from being punished by the court?" Since Tang Jingyu is already a member of Jinyiwei, their family must be White Lotus followers.
It has been exposed. The most important thing for the entire family at this time is whether Tang Jingyu can keep the family safe.
"Second uncle, my nephew cannot make this guarantee." Tang Jingyu said with a bitter look on his face: "To be honest with my second uncle, my nephew was also arrested by the court because his identity was leaked and had to seek refuge with the Jin Yiwei. It was just that the court wanted to eliminate 3, so he allowed the nephew to
The nephew was not put to death because of his meritorious deeds. If he had done great service, he might have been able to escape the crime. But my nephew's visit to Shandong this time was not of much use to the Qing Dynasty. I don't know if Peng Ju had already done something to the Qing Dynasty.
We were prepared for the rebellion, or it was a normal change. The places where the incense sticks are located in each hall are different from those more than eight years ago. Although Pengjiazhuang has not been moved, the main altar has also been moved to other places. Those who happened to be there at that time
Those of us in Shandong Temple in Suzhou are more useful than me."
"Since my nephew had no choice but to take refuge, Dai Zui has not made much contribution. It is not clear how he will be dealt with by the court in the future. How can we protect the entire family from being dealt with?"
"Then what should we do with the Tang family!" Tang Shipeng shouted. Yesterday, he refused to admit that he was a White Lotus cultist no matter how many members of the Jinyiwei family asked him. He would definitely be penalized. Tang Jingyu could not protect the family, and the Tang family might
received severe treatment.
"There is nothing we can do about it." Tang Jingyu said. Seeing that Tang Shipeng was so worried, he advised: "Second uncle, even if he is punished by the court, he will not be punished too much. Except for me, our family is just an ordinary believer. Your Majesty
If you also cherish human life, no one will be executed, and most of the people will be exiled overseas."
"Exiled overseas." Tang Shipeng couldn't help crying. He had guessed yesterday that the punishment for his family being found to be a 2 would probably be to be exiled overseas. If they were willing, how could they not recognize the 2 status?
Seeing Tang Shipeng, who was already in his fifties, crying, Tang Jingyu couldn't help but worry about his family. Moreover, he knew more than his tribesmen. He knew that the imperial court was sending troops to attack India. If he was exiled overseas, he would probably go to India. Although he heard that
India is a very rich place with fertile land, but it is a newly occupied land after all. The local natives will not be willing to watch so many Han people from the east occupying their fields. There will be fights and even killings. How can it be better than settling down in their hometown?
.
"It would be great if we could catch Peng Ju." Tang Jingyu murmured to himself: "Peng Ju is the leader of the Shandong altar. If we catch him, it will be a great achievement. Our family will probably not be exiled overseas."
"What did you say!" Tang Jingyu originally said casually, but Tang Shipeng didn't want to ask immediately.
"Second uncle, I said it would be great if we could catch Peng Ju."
After hearing this, Tang Shipeng's face became uncertain. After a while, he said to Tang Jingyu: "Uncle knows where Peng Ju is."
"Second uncle, do you know where Peng Ju is?" Tang Jingyu was stunned for a moment and asked subconsciously.
"I know where Peng Ju is."
A trace of guilt flashed across Tang Jingyu's face, but it passed quickly, and he hurriedly said: "Second uncle, tell me where he is quickly. No, second uncle, let's go find Deputy Commander Fei right now. Tell him face to face Peng Ju
where!"
…
…
"Brother Peng, Qingcheng County is fifteen miles ahead. Should we rest here or rush to the outside of the county to rest?" Brother Zhang said.
"Just rest here." Peng Ju scanned the surroundings again and felt that the small forest where they were now was quite hidden, so he said. Although brothers Zhang and Liu could go into the city to buy some food when they arrived at the county seat, they were still carrying
There was no shortage of food for cooking cakes, and he remembered that there was no hidden place around Qingcheng County where it was difficult to hide, so he might as well stay here.
"Okay." Brother Zhang and Brother Liu agreed. Brother Zhang untied the baggage on his back and took out a broken straw mat stolen from a village and spread it on the ground. Brother Liu quietly walked out of the woods to fetch water from the river.
After a while, Brother Liu came back with three small water bottles, handed them to Brother Peng Ju and Brother Zhang respectively, took out three cooking cakes from his body, and started eating.
Peng Ju took the cooking cake and could not help but frown when he smelled the smell of sweat coming from the oiled paper. Of course they did not dare to light a fire on the way, but in the winter there was only cold water, and the cold and dry cooking cakes were not at all
It was hard to swallow, so Brother Liu put the cake close to his body and used his body temperature to ensure that the cake would not get cold. But it was inevitable that the cake would be stained with sweat. Although Peng Ju was a gangster, he had never suffered anything since he was a child, and he didn’t want to eat anything in front of him.
Sweaty cooking cakes.
But after he frowned, he still took the cold water and started eating. Now is not the time to be pretentious. If you don't eat, you will starve to death. Only by eating can you live and have the strength to walk to Jinan. Not only did he eat, but he also ate in big mouthfuls.
I finished eating this pancake in a short while.
"Brother Peng, after eating these three cakes, we have nothing to eat. Fortunately, we met two scholars on the road. After we killed these two scholars, we found several hundred coins from them. Let's go tonight
I've had enough sleep. I'll set off early tomorrow morning. When I pass Qingcheng County, I'll go into the city to buy some more cakes. It'll be enough to eat all the way to Jinan City." After eating the cakes, the three of them lay down on the broken straw mat to sleep, but it's still dark now.
It wasn't dark yet, and he couldn't sleep for a while, so Brother Zhang said. As the leader of the Shandong Altar, Peng Ju, of course, had his portrait painted and posted everywhere in Shandong, but Zhang and Liu were not that important. They had no portraits. They could enter the city.
"Brother Zhang, I always feel that it is not good for us to kill those two scholars. After all, they were two scholars and we are locals." Brother Liu said.
"If you don't kill them, where will the cooking cakes and money come from? Go steal it in the village? Not many people care about the two broken straw mats, but no one is willing to lose the food and money. We can't steal it at all, we can only rob it openly.
In the village, if one family calls, the whole village will come to help, and even if we have martial arts, we can't escape," Brother Liu said.
Brother Zhang sighed, knowing that what Brother Liu said was the truth and irrefutable, so he could only stop talking.
"Brother Liu, I know that you respect scholars. My eldest brother also respects scholars, but now that we are in urgent need of power, we can only kill them." Peng Ju said again.
"Yes, elder brother, younger brother knows." Brother Liu said, but his voice was still muffled.
Peng Ju was about to say a few more words when he suddenly felt a tremor on the ground. He quickly turned over and stared at the direction of the tremor. Brother Liu and Brother Zhang also felt the tremor and turned around to lie down on the ground.
After a while, more than ten cavalry and dozens of infantry appeared from the official road more than ten feet away from the woods. After seeing the woods, they stopped and the leader, a man on horseback wearing a flying fish suit and carrying an embroidered spring knife at his waist, loudly ordered:
: "Twenty of you, go search this grove."
"Sir, there is no need to search every forest." said a general bannerman.
"What do you know!" the Jin Yiwei scolded: "Hurry up and search! If you dare to disobey orders, I will definitely report it to your superior officer and deal with you!"
Then he said: "General Feng, it's just a hard work these days. When the work is done, I will invite all the soldiers to drink! And even if Peng Ju cannot be caught, it is still a credit to catch one or two ordinary believers who have escaped. The superiors will definitely
If there is a reward, Mr. Feng may be promoted to the rank of 100 households."
After hearing this, the commander-in-chief named Feng stopped refuting, shouted a few times, and walked towards the grove with about 20 people.
"Brother Peng, what should we do?" Brother Liu immediately asked in a panic.
"Yes, Brother Peng, what should we do?" Brother Zhang also asked. It's not dark yet, and they will definitely be discovered if they escape from the woods. And they don't have time to put away all the straw mats, even if they hide in a tree hole.
Traces will also be found. They will definitely search carefully and there will be no way to escape.
Peng Ju didn't answer immediately. He stared at the front carefully for a few more times, turned his head and glanced at Brother Zhang, then looked at Brother Liu on the other side. After hesitating for a moment, he said: "Brother Zhang, Brother Liu."
"Brother Peng." "Brother Peng."
"Brother, I have something to ask you." Peng Ju said: "When the court's dog came to search after a while, you brothers hid together. When the dog saw the straw mat, he rushed out to attract the attention of the court's dog. After that,
after,"
"Brother Peng can take advantage of the chaos and run out of the woods." Brother Zhang said: "Brother, I understand. We will definitely attract the attention of the court dog and let Brother Peng run out." "Brother, I know what to do, don't worry, brother
, The younger brother will definitely drag these court dogs and let the elder brother run out." Brother Liu also said.
Seeing their agreement without hesitation, Peng Ju felt sour and almost cried.