Chapter two hundred and twentieth massacre if you don't let go
When Qian Mengjiu heard that Li Xuan said that he would send people to negotiate with Su Jiakang outside the city, he was extremely panicked. He was afraid that his emperor would completely lose the confidence to resist because he was besieged in Zhengtai County and failed to break through.
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And this kind of thing is very bad. Not to mention that Li Xuan's own life will not be saved after Li Xuan surrenders, and the lives of the main civil and military officials of the Tang Dynasty will also be risked.
Although in most cases, in order to reduce the impact and disintegrate the cohesion of the rebel gang, the court often only pursues the first offender, and the followers are generally treated lightly. Some less important ones are either sent into exile or slapped with dozens of bans.
Those ordinary soldiers would even be dismissed on the spot.
But the followers mentioned here only refer to some less important personnel. As for Qian Mengjiu, Fang Dongquan and other core members, the treatment they enjoy will not be any better than that of Li Xuan. The best result is to be beheaded.
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In addition to ending miserably, Qian Mengjiu also did not want the Tang Dynasty to perish. This man was similar to Liu Bagou, who had the dream of being a founding hero, and even had a hint of stubbornness unique to literati.
He has decided to rebel. Unless he dies, don't expect him to give up this idea.
Over the past year or so, Qian Mengjiu, Liu Bagou and others have worked hard to develop the Tang Dynasty from a few hundred people to more than 4,000 people. Now that Li Xuan wants to surrender, he will naturally agree.
of.
Li Xuan glanced at Qian Mengjiu, who was already extremely worried, and said quite speechlessly: "When did I say that I surrender? Sending people to negotiate does not necessarily mean surrender!"
Qian Mengjiu didn't understand, and immediately said: "If it weren't for negotiating surrender, what else would we have to talk to Su Jiakang?"
These two groups, one is an officer and a soldier, the other is a rebel bandit, have nothing in common. Is it possible that they can still sit together and discuss how to rebel and how to suppress it?
Li Xuan continued: "I want them to make way for us to break through!"
Qian Mengjiu said: "If that's the case, we can naturally talk about it, but in this situation, I'm afraid the Ming army won't give us a way to break through, right?"
Su Jiakang was bent on annihilating them all, and even captured Li Xuan alive. Although their two attacks failed in the afternoon, they will definitely continue to attack in the future. As long as they break through Zhengtai County, then
Su Jiakang has no final say in the fate of people like him.
In this case, would Su Jiakang take the initiative to let them go?
Li Xuan did not speak immediately, but turned around and looked at the city. At the same time, he said softly: "If he doesn't let us leave, I will order the massacre of the city tonight. No one of the more than 8,000 people in the city will be left alive, and then a fire will be fired."
It’s all burned!”
Hearing Li Xuan's words, Qian Mengjiu was stunned for a moment, so much so that he didn't speak for a long time. After a long time, he murmured: "Massacre the city?"
Even though he had been a bandit for many years, even though he had looted many villages, even though he had once slaughtered an entire village of young men and kidnapped the women and children, Qian Mengjiu was still taken aback after hearing these words.
stunned.
This is not ordinary burning, killing and looting, but a massacre of the city!
At this time, there were more than 8,000 people in the inner and outer cities of Zhengtai County. These were all unarmed ordinary people. In order to force Su Jiakang outside the city to give them a breakout passage, Li Xuan actually planned to massacre the city.
.
Qian Mengjiu looked up at Li Xuan and suddenly realized that he no longer recognized the young emperor in front of him.
Since when did this young man become so ruthless?
A year ago, Li Xuan was just a young man they forced to ascend to the throne of the emperor. At that time, Li Xuan was not to mention decisive and ruthless in killing. He was even soft-hearted in many cases. He once blocked the bandits from Huangzhu Mountain from coming out.
Harvest grain'.
However, in order to break through the encirclement now, he dared to use the lives of the people in the city as a bargaining chip to force Su Jiakang to retreat.
When Qian Mengjiu was thinking this, he had no idea that Li Xuan had never expected that Su Jiakang would let him leave because of the lives and deaths of thousands of people in the city.
After experiencing so many things, Li Xuan's mentality gradually changed, and now he is able to look at things with the mentality of a superior with peace of mind.
What is the mentality of those in power, that is, the life and death of the people is not a matter at all. There is no essential difference between a hundred dead and ten thousand dead, it is just that the number on paper is larger.
Li Xuan dared to say such things as slaughtering the city, and he believed that Su Jiakang dared not care about the life and death of the people in the city!
But this is not important. The life and death of the people in the city is indeed not important. The death and injury of thousands of people may be unacceptable to many people, but it is nothing to a superior person.
What is really important is that once Li Xuan massacres all the people in the city and finally burns down Zhengtai County, Su Jiakang will definitely be beheaded by the court and his house will be confiscated.
Because in this way, news of Zhengtai County being conquered or even massacred will fly all over the sky. Reports will be sent to the provincial capital and even the capital along the way. Song Zhiwen and Su Jiakang will never be able to cover up this big hole even if they have three heads and six arms!
By then, let alone Su Jiakang, it is estimated that the prefect Song Zhiwen will be dismissed from his post or even beheaded.
When Li Xuan said he wanted to massacre the city, he was actually telling Su Jiakang that if you don't let me leave alive, then I will make the matter bigger. If I die, you will be finished, and at worst, everyone will lose all their credit.
Qian Mengjiu and the others lacked knowledge and could not yet understand the deeper meaning of Li Xuan's plan to massacre the city, but this was still not important to Li Xuan.
Soon, Qian Mengjiu called over a young man wearing a long robe. This man was also an official of the Tang Dynasty, named Zhou Yibao. His life experience was also miserable. He was born in an ordinary peasant family. When he was young, he also studied
The person who wrote the book said that his father died in the labor force three years ago, and his stepmother was so exhausted that she could not bear the heavy farm work for a few months and died.
Two years ago, there was another famine, and the family's fields failed to harvest. His wife and eldest son starved to death. Later, he fled the famine with his children to the mountains, and like many refugees who entered the mountains, he became a bandit.
Many villagers who cannot survive outside the mountains will choose to flee into the mountains and become bandits. Otherwise, how could there be so many bandits in the mountains, because every year a large number of fleeing refugees join them.
A year ago, the Tang Dynasty rose to prominence in the mountains and gradually incorporated bandit dens large and small within a radius of a hundred miles. He also took advantage of the situation and joined the Tang Dynasty.
Because he had read books when he was young and could barely read and write a few words, he became an official and became a doctor under the Ministry of War.
As for why he was able to serve as a doctor just by knowing a few words, it was because the Tang Dynasty did not establish civil service positions below the fifth-grade doctor.
The reason why Qian Mengjiu called him here today was not because he was full of poems and books, but because he was usually eloquent and courageous. He was the most suitable person that Qian Mengjiu could find to serve as a negotiator.
Later, Li Xuan personally explained how he should negotiate with Su Jiakang. When this person heard that Li Xuan threatened to massacre the city, his performance was much calmer than Qian Mengjiu's, but his expression changed slightly.
He is also a person who has seen life and death. When there was a famine in his hometown two years ago, almost half of the people in the entire village starved to death. On his way out of the famine, he saw countless people dying of hunger on the roadside.
If it weren't for thousands more people dying, it would be difficult to shake Zhou Yibao's mood.
After Li Xuan finished speaking in detail, he said: "Your Majesty, don't worry, I will definitely convince Su Jiakang to open the passage!"
Li Xuan nodded slightly and said: "Well, when you talk to him, there is no need to exaggerate or threaten, just tell him exactly what I said!"
Li Xuan knew that Su Jiakang, the magistrate of Zhengtai County, was a smart man. If he was not a smart man, he would not have been able to squeeze into the single-plank bridge of the imperial examination with thousands of troops and pass the imperial examination and become an official. But from the past year and this
Judging from Su Jiakang's dealings, this Su Jiakang doesn't look like a fool.
It is very simple to deal with smart people. You only need to tell them what you want to do, and then they will judge the impact of your doing so, and there is no need to waste your words trying to persuade them.
Not long after, Zhou Yibao was put down in a hanging basket by the new army of the Tang Dynasty on top of the city. Holding a torch, he walked steadily towards the Ming army camp outside the city.
The movements of the Tang Dynasty's new army on the city wall were naturally monitored by the Ming army at all times. Less than a hundred meters away, two Ming army soldiers came forward with swords. One of them shouted loudly: "Stop!"
Zhou Yibao advanced with a torch, and he was unarmed and wearing robes unique to literati. That's why these Ming soldiers did not shoot arrows at him at the first time, but sent people to inquire.
Because many people can guess this situation, Zhou Yibao must be the envoy. The two armies are fighting without killing each other. This is an old tradition for many years.
Besides, since the puppet Tang bandit army sent an envoy, they must want to negotiate, maybe they want to surrender.
Soon, the news that the puppet Tang thief army sent an envoy out of the city was reported to Su Jiakang!
"Messenger? Could it be that these pseudo-Tang rebels failed to break through and want to surrender?" Su Jiakang thought to himself, and immediately showed a hint of joy on his face and said: "Let him in!"
It didn't take long for Zhou Yibao to be escorted into Su Jiakang's camp by several Ming soldiers. In order to prevent Zhou Yibao from turning into an assassin and injuring others, these Ming soldiers had searched his entire body very carefully.
, and then brought him in after confirming that he did not carry any weapons such as daggers.
After Zhou Yibao entered Su Jiakang's tent, he immediately heard Su Jiakang yell loudly: "Who is here? Kneel down quickly!"
Zhou Yibao, however, was unmoved and said angrily: "I am a doctor in the Ministry of War of the Tang Dynasty. I have come here to discuss matters with the magistrate of Su County on the orders of His Majesty the Tang Dynasty?"
Seeing Zhou Yibao talking about his official position and saying something like His Majesty the Tang Dynasty, Su Jiakang showed a trace of sneer and said: "Humph, even a stupid person in a mountain village dares to call himself an official in vain. Come on, drag him down and behead him!"
After Zhou Yibao heard this, he remained unmoved and allowed the Ming soldiers around him to grab him and drag him out. A sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth and he said: "Zhou came here today with the intention of dying.
Come, but Magistrate Su, I don’t know if you are also prepared to face the loss of your family!”