Chapter 25: Officials force the people to rebel, and the people have to rebel!
In Tiefo Village, the thief chief Li Jiyu looked at the gate of the village with despair in his eyes and said in a pessimistic tone: "Now we are just meat on someone else's chopping board. We are the cutlery and I am the fish and meat. What else can we do?"
"It's useless to talk about this. Just do your best. At worst, our brothers will live and die together!" Ji Zhiying's voice was passionate and her voice was much louder.
"Brothers, follow us for a while. At the end, let me leave some thoughts for all the brothers. We still have friendship when we leave. We cannot defeat the officers and soldiers outside. There is no point in dying." Li Jiyu said and walked towards the gate of the village.
"The big boss...the big boss..."
The sound of "Plop...Plop" echoed throughout the Tiefo Village. Bandits and hungry people fell to their knees one after another. They all had desolate expressions on their faces, but except for Ji Zhiying, no one stepped forward to stop Li Jiyu.
Go ahead and throw yourself into a trap.
"Dang Cang..."
There was a crisp sound, and the weapon in the hand of an unknown bandit fell to the bluestone ground of Tiefo Village, followed by the sounds of "Dang Cang...Dang Cang" one after another.
Ji Zhiying originally wanted to persuade Li Jiyu not to go out and die, but now that he saw this situation, he knew that there was nothing he could do to save his life. Unconsciously, he felt sad, tears burst into his eyes, and he could no longer stop it.
There was silence in the entire Iron Buddha Village. Only the more than 300 war horses were still neighing stubbornly unconsciously, and the remaining nearly a thousand thieves and bandits made no sound at all.
"...tap...tap...tap..."
In Tiefo Village, only the official boots under Li Jiyu's feet stepped on the bluestone ground, making heavy footsteps that struck everyone's heart.
As he was about to reach the village gate, he saw a hungry man with a white cloth wrapped around his head, with bright red spots on it. Li Jiyu went to pull it off, then picked up a long spear and held it at the tip of the spear.
With tears in his eyes he shouted, "Open the door!"
…………
"Father, there is something going on!"
Zhang Cheng was sitting on a saddle, holding a large bowl of broth in his hand and drinking leisurely, when Zhang Jintai, who had been accompanying him, reminded him softly.
He quickly turned his head to look in the direction of Tiefo Village, and saw that the solid gate of the village had been opened, and a man was walking out holding something in his hand.
"Fang Ping, go and see what's going on."
Lin Fangping stood up in response and ran to the village gate. After a while, he ran back alone and said hurriedly: "Commander, Li Jiyu is alone and please surrender!"
Everyone was stunned, and Wang Tieren stood up cleverly and said, "Is there a scam?"
Everyone looked at Zhang Cheng and heard him ask in a deep voice: "What conditions did he put forward?"
Lin Fang said with a serious look on his face: "Li Jiyu just wants to let go of all the bandits in the stronghold, and he is willing to let the commander handle him."
But Su Laohu quit. He shouted: "That's not possible, I want him to give his head in exchange for money to drink."
"This Li Ji is quite courageous and responsible. Fang Ping, go and bring him here."
As soon as Zhang Cheng finished speaking, Lin Fangping left in response. After a while, he led Li Jiyu to Zhang Cheng and shouted at him: "You thief, you haven't paid your respects to my commander-in-chief yet."
Li Jiyu didn't talk nonsense. He leaned over and knelt down and said: "Li Jiyu of Dengfeng is paying homage to the commander-in-chief. I am willing to let the commander-in-chief decline without any complaints. I just hope that the commander-in-chief can spare the lives of the people in this village!"
"
Zhang Cheng did not express his position, but just looked at the man kneeling in front of him. He saw that he had a strong body. Although he was not tall, he was broad and round. After looking at him for a while, he said: "Li Jiyu, do you know your guilt?"
Li Jiyu raised his head after hearing this, his eyes were bulging, and said: "Li Jiyu also read some books when he was young, and he knew about loyalty and righteousness, but now there is a severe drought and locust plague, and every household is covered with grains.
No harvest,
Even the roots and bark of the grass and trees in the countryside have been eaten away. Instead of trying to help the county government, the magistrate of the county government only tried to force them to do anything, not to mention that there was no rice to hand over.
If you die, you will still die if you don't pay food.
If you are going to die anyway, why don't you have a good time? Even if it's wrong, it's the fault of the corrupt officials and the officials. If the officials force the people to rebel, the people have no choice but to rebel!"
"snort!"
Zhang Cheng said angrily: "The traitor Li Jiyu, how dare you make excuses in front of me?"
He stood up and continued: "Even if, as you said, you were forced to rebel in order to survive, you have already occupied Dengfeng and the money and food in the treasury, so you should stay in Dengfeng and use the food in the treasury to help the victims.
Organize land reclamation and canal construction in an attempt to save themselves.
But you have dominated the city, colluded with bandits, and brought trouble to the countryside. Now you are even threatening the hungry people and attacking Mi County. If I had not arrived in time, how would you have treated the people of Mi County?"
Li Jiyu was scolded by Zhang Cheng and asked several questions, but he didn't even know how to answer. He saw big beads of sweat looming on his head, far away from the overwhelming pride he had in Tiefo Village.
Zhang Cheng stared at Li Jiyu who was kneeling on the ground for a long time before asking again: "Today, you were defeated by my army. Do you accept it?"
Li Jiyu didn't raise his head until this moment. He looked at Zhang Cheng with a somewhat complicated look. After looking at it for a while, he said: "Li Jiyu was defeated by such a powerful army. Li Jiyu is convinced. Can you tell me your surname?"
Damn it, so that Li Jiyu can understand his death!"
Zhang Cheng just smiled but said nothing. Zhang Chengfang, who was standing beside him, said in a slightly childish voice: "I'm here to tell you, and I also want you to be a sensible ghost after you die."
He straightened his posture and then continued loudly: "The person in front of you is General Zhang Cheng, the deputy commander of Xuanfu Town in the Ming Dynasty and the commander-in-chief of the Henan aid and suppression campaign. King Qin came to the rescue and defeated the Tatars in the battle of Julu.
The captives were frightened, so they went into battle to kill the slave chief Yue Tuo, and won the title of champion among the three armies.
If you and other mere thieves are defeated by our elite knights in Xuanzang, it is your honor and your blessing!"
"General Zhang of Xuanzhen is a frontier army. Li Jiyu has lost a lot of money this time. He dare not negotiate terms with General Zhang. He just begs General Zhang to be accommodating to everyone in the stronghold and give him a lenient sentence."
After Li Jiyu finished speaking, he lowered his head again and kowtowed.
Obviously, Li Jiyu had not heard of Zhang Cheng's previous glorious deeds, but even though he had been working at home and farming these years, he had heard a lot about the disasters caused by the Tartars. At this moment, he heard that Zhang Cheng actually dared to attack the Tartars.
How could the commander-in-chief of the border army not be surprised?
Zhang Cheng looked at Li Jiyu with a look of regret in his eyes. Although he no longer remembers how Li Jiyu behaved in the official history, he looked at his performance and conversation at this moment.
As we know from previous interrogations of bandits and hungry people in the bandit camp in the west of Mi County, Li Jiyu was a very brave man, very righteous, and able to do good to others. He was definitely not a treacherous and evil thief.
As soon as he thought about it, he immediately asked: "Li Jiyu, if I give you a chance, will you be loyal to the master and even risk your life to repay you?"
Li Jiyu was stunned when he heard this. He raised his head again and looked at Zhang Cheng's majestic body in the sun, existing like a god in golden armor. He knelt down and kowtowed: "Commander Meng will not give up, Li Jiyu