As soon as I walked into the prison, a foul stinking came to my face.

Yu Qi explained: "After capturing Yongning City, our army captured nearly 5,000 Qing troops. Although some of them were sent, most of them had not yet completed the review and could only be temporarily locked up here. According to the practice of our army in the past, all the Qing army, more than 1,000 generals, would be beheaded immediately. But Gang Atai was the third son of the Han thief Li Yongfang, and Huang Qianshi wanted to cut him alive in public to boost the morale of the army. However, things have been complicated recently and there is no time to pay attention to him, so he temporarily saved his life."

Zhou Xian nodded and said with some thought: "The reason for beheading all the Qing generals above 1,000 generals in the past was that our army was weak in southern Liaoning, and had no time or energy to treat these Qing generals differently. But now the situation is different. Our army has tens of thousands of soldiers in southern Liaoning, and its strength is gradually increasing. If we keep the rules of killing all Qing generals, the pressure to advance north will become greater and greater. I want to change the rules to 'the surrendered ones will not die', what do you think?"

Yu Qi pondered for a moment, "The military is of course for the sake of the overall situation, but I think Huang Qianshi and others may not agree. The reason why our army can win repeatedly is not only the proper combat method, but more importantly, our army unites against the outside world. Once the Qing generals are also absorbed, who can guarantee that they are really loyal to our army? It is better to kill them directly and save trouble if they spend too much time dealing with these things. Moreover, some Qing generals regard the captives as their parents and treat them as enemies. If such people choose to surrender just because they are in a desperate situation, they can be exempted from death, how can we explain to the people and soldiers who died?"

Zhou Xian nodded slightly, paused and said, "What you said makes sense. How about changing it to 'Those who take the initiative to surrender will not die, and those who commit serious crimes will be punished'? Our ultimate goal is to recover the entire Liaodong. If we can strengthen our army's strength by dividing the Qing army, what can we do?"

Yu Qi thought for a while and said, "I think it's OK, but..."

Zhou Xian waved his hand and said, "You don't have to worry about this matter anymore. I will discuss it with Huang Qianshi later."

Yu Qi nodded, and the two continued to move up to the innermost prison. He pointed inside and said, "Military Gate, that is Gang'atai."

Zhou Xian turned his head and saw that the man was covered in stains. He was about twenty years old and was tall. He sat motionless against the inner wall of the prison. He was originally lowered his head, but when he heard Yu Qi's words, he looked up slightly, and then quickly lowered his face, looking extremely tired.

Yu Qi ordered the prison guard behind him, "Take him out."

Several prisoners responded, one of them opened the prison door, and several others broke in with sticks. They drove away the other prisoners and forced Gang'atai to come out.

Gang Atai looked up at Zhou Xian with difficulty and said, "Are you Zhou Xian? The one who defeated Prince Su?"

Zhou Xian ignored him and said to Yu Qi: "Take him to wash it up and then take him to see me."

After being washed by water, he changed into clean clothes. Gang Atai's spirit was much better. He sat obliquely on the chair, his face was very calm. But when he saw Gao Qi standing next to Zhou Xian, his veins were exposed and he rushed forward. But before he could completely step out, the two jailers waved their long sticks and hit him hard on the calves.

Gang Atai screamed and fell to the ground. He raised his head and glared at Gao Qi. "Gao Xinzhong, you dog thief, dare to betray the Qing Dynasty. One day, I want you to die without a place to bury you."

Gao Qi glanced at him without saying anything, his eyes were full of disdain. This attitude made Gang Atai even more angry, and he forced himself to move forward. The two prison guards had to press him down and prevent him from moving. But Gang Atai kept roaring, scolding Gao Qi for selling his owner for honor and not having to die a good death.

Zhou Xian's face turned pale, slowly walked out of the seat, squatted in front of Gang Atai, stared at him for a moment, and then slapped his face with a big mouth.

Ata Tai was stunned for a moment, extremely angry. Just as he was about to speak, another big mouth slapped over again. Every time he wanted to speak, Zhou Xian would suck him once, sucking him more than a dozen times. His cheeks were so blue that he swelled, and blood flowed down the corners of his mouth. Gao Qi and Yu Qi twitched their eyes, and their faces changed slightly.

Seeing that Atai stopped talking, Zhou Xian shook his stiff right hand and said slowly: "It's so shameless to be a dog. I don't want to listen to your nonsense anymore. Now I ask, answer, I'll slap you, I slap you, today I don't mind slapping you."

Gang Atai glared at Zhou Xian, but did not dare to speak again.

Zhou Xian slapped him again, "I said, I asked, you answer, and I'll reply when I hear it."

Gang Atai's gums were nipping, and since he was captured, he had never thought of living. But he was thinking about how heroic death was so that future generations would admire him. But he was slapped to death like a joke, leaving him without any interest. He was full of resentment, but he still squeezed out three words from his teeth and "heard it."

Zhou Xian smiled and said, "That's right. Your father Li Yongfang even sold his ancestors for the sake of small profits. I wonder why you are willing to die for your new ancestors! It seems that your loyalty is as cheap as your father. But it's good, and you can say something directly. I only ask you two questions. If you answer it well, I will make you die a little more happy; on the contrary, you will die miserably. People like you who have not yet repent at all are not qualified to join our army. The first question is, has Hong Chengchou betrayed the Ming Dynasty?"

Gang Atai's face changed slightly, and he was shocked by Zhou Xian's directness. He was slightly silent for a moment, and suddenly grinned and said, "Since they are all dead, why should I answer your question?"

"Bang!" Zhou Xian slapped him again, "I said, I asked, answer, don't say other nonsense." Looking at Gang Atai who was so angry that he was trembling and unable to vent, Zhou Xian softened his tone, "Okay, okay! This doesn't count, I answer you. There are many kinds of death, some are a little painful, and some are directly. I once met a Jinyiwei, and he told me how they treated prisoners. The whipping and stick shapes are the most secondary, the bracelets, and the standing heavy shackles are acceptable, and others are also skinned, playing the pipa, and clamping sticks. But what impressed me the most was a punishment that sounded very ordinary, called scrubbing. He told me that they would strip the prisoners naked and tie them together.

On a long board, then pour hot boiling water on them. Because the skin will blister when it is scalded, the prison guards will brush hard with an iron brush. They only brush until the blister breaks and even the belt and flesh falls down. Many prisoners will expose their bones after such punishment, and then they will suffer from sorrow. No one can withstand such punishment, so for the Jinyiwei, they can get the kind of confession they want; and for the prisoners, they would rather commit suicide when they heard that they were going to the Jinyiwei prison. I don’t have Jinyiwei here, but if I really can get the confession I want through this way, I would like to try it on you."

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content later! Gang Atai trembled all over and fell to the side as if he was paralyzed.

Zhou Xian patted his shoulder lightly, "The two questions I asked are not complicated. Can you tell me now? Has Hong Chengchou defected to the Qing Dynasty?"

Gang Atai nodded mumly, "Concubine Zhuang personally persuaded surrender. Hong Chengchou was grateful to Taizong for his kindness and had already surrendered to the Qing Dynasty and belonged to the Yellow Banner."

Zhou Xian didn't have much change in his heart, and then continued to ask: "Then my second question is, has Huang Taiji passed away?"

Gang Atai's face changed slightly. He looked up at Gao Qi, and finally said helplessly: "I don't know this. But I received a letter from Sony, saying that my second brother would immediately lead his troops back to Shengjing, and said that Prince Su was also rushing back to Zhongzhong urgently. The letter did not say it clearly, but it vaguely revealed that Taizong had passed away or was seriously ill and could not manage the government."

Zhou Xian asked: "Where is that letter! Li Rutai has seen it?"

Gang Atai shook his head and said, "My second brother has not returned yet, he...." He looked up at Gao Qi, "You captured the Yongning Supervisory City, and I put the letter in my second brother's study. I wonder if it is still there?"

Zhou Xian quickly turned his head to Yu Qi and said, "Go, come and find that letter to me, hurry up."

Just as Atai was taken down, Zhou Xian turned to Gao Qi and said, "What do you think about this?"

Gao Qi said: "The Qing Dynasty regulations have not yet been formed, and there is no tradition of father and son to continue, everything is about strength. Sony is a member of Haoge, and Li Lutai was also promoted by Haoge. When the army was forcing Yongning City, Sony actually wrote a letter to ask Li Lutai to lead his troops back to Shengjing. Something big must have happened there. I agree with what Gang Atai guessed that Huang Taiji had passed away or was seriously ill and could not manage the government. The purpose of letting Li Lutai return to Shengjing was to strengthen Haoge's power."

Yu Qi ran over panting, holding a letter in his hand, "Military Gate, found it, this is this letter."

Zhou Xian took out the letter and read it carefully three times, and said nothing for a long time.

When Huang Fei, Zhao Xusheng and others arrived one after another, Zhou Xian passed the letter to them to read.

After reading it, Huang Fei said happily: "Military Gate, if this news is really as we speculated, the Qing army will not attack our army in a short period of time. We can take this opportunity to consolidate Yongning Supervisory City and Fifty Posts, and build it into a solid line of defense that the Qing army cannot cross."

Zhou Xian looked at Huang Fei and said, "Chief Huang, I think we can do more than this."

Huang Fei was stunned for a moment and said, "What is the military gate?"
Chapter completed!