The city of Zhangxian County was not big, and it was not the most important city Zhang conquered, but it was of great significance at this time, because once Zhangxian County was defeated, it could be said that the Dongping Kingdom no longer had any soldiers to fight, and it was the last obstacle for the Yellow Turbans of Mount Tai to enter Dongjun County. It was thus swept away.
Zhang Chong, surrounded by assault and collision teams, rode on horseback on the streets of Zhang County.
Since Zhang County's resistance was not fierce after entering the city, there was not much damage in the city except for the burned-out government office in the distance.
Zhang County soldiers who had previously opened the city selected a few leaders to see Zhang Chong. They were also frightened in their hearts. After all, they had killed Taiping Taoist disciples in Zhang County with Huang Cen before. They didn't know if this Taiping Taoist man in Mount Tai would do it. Unload the mill and kill the donkey.
Don't you think it's strange? Why didn't these soldiers think about this when they killed Huang Cen and presented the city? Sometimes, after holding a sword for a long time, your brain is really too lazy to use it. Like these soldiers, who are so eager for quick success in the Five Dynasties How can the period be so small?
Zhang Chong was also thinking about how to deal with these capricious people. To be honest, according to his original idea, he wanted to kill this group of people en masse. Just because they massacred the Taiping Taoist disciples, these people would not even have a chance to survive.
But what He Kui meant outside the city before was that after all, these thieves were successful in opening the city, so just kill them like this. From now on, anyone with their Taiping Dao blood on their hands will be our mortal enemies.
Zhang Chong understands what He Kui means. He is not a fool. If he follows the one-drop-of-blood principle and wants to kill anyone who is stained with the blood of Taiping Dao, then Zhang Chong will have killed too many enemies.
Sometimes it's not that people don't kill, but that they can't kill now. And if they want to kill, they have to find other reasons to kill.
Zhu Yuanzhang of later generations used this strategy to perfection. When conquering the world, he was open-minded and did not care about past grudges. After conquering the world, he would find a reason to kill everyone one by one. Among them, corruption was the reason that proved to be effective every time.
Looking at these Zhangxian soldiers, Zhang Chong smiled:
"You have done a good job in opening the city, but you are stained with the blood of our Taiping Dao. You will definitely not be able to enter this Taiping Dao, but I will still reward you for your merit. I will open the treasury in a while and let you carry cloth. No matter how much you carry, it will count. Yours. But there’s one condition.”
The leading Zhangxian soldiers looked at each other, and then a bearded man said:
"I wonder what the general's conditions are?"
Zhang Chong said calmly:
"It's nothing. As long as each of you chooses the one with the most blood debts and hands it over to the Taishan Army, the blood debts of the rest of you will be wiped off."
There are ten soldiers from Zhang County who came to see Zhang Chong. In other words, these people all have their own general status. Now Zhang Chong wants them to hand over one person, but he has not named his own person. Then How will these people be chosen? They must be someone else. If they hire someone of their own, how will these generals lead the team?
The ten Zhangxian soldiers thought about it for a while and decided that this matter was not a problem at all. They could get the cloth and didn't have to worry about retaliation. They just had to deal with the unlucky guy from another team. What's wrong with that?
Therefore, the ten Zhang County soldiers agreed without much thought. Just as they were about to choose someone, Zhang Chong stopped them:
"You go and carry the cloth first. Whatever you carry is yours. As for choosing someone, you can choose after you finish carrying the cloth."
Ten people had no idea, so they did whatever Zhang Chong said.
Then these Zhang County soldiers were taken down, and someone took them to carry the cloth.
Then Zhang Chong continued to move forward despite He Kui's complicated expression, until he came to a group of kneeling people. They were the civil and military soldiers who surrendered after entering the city.
Before Zhang Chong could say anything, a man with wide sleeves and wide waistband came up from the kneeling crowd over there. As soon as he came out, he said loudly:
"The great general who soared to the sky, worked hard to save the people from hanging upside down, it was so hard for everyone in Zhang County to wait for the general."
Zhang Chong was stunned. It was rare to see such a straight ball. He asked doubtfully:
"Who are you?"
"The general, the villain Xiangyang Xu Si, is the chief administrator of Jibei Kingdom."
Zhang Chong seems to have heard of this person's name, but he is not sure what he does, but he can be regarded as a minor celebrity. Since Xu Si intends to join him, although the scene looks a bit obscene, the impact is still very big. So Zhang Chong immediately dismounted.
, picked up Xu Si and said warmly:
"Xu Jun abandons the darkness and turns to the light, which is a great kindness."
Then Xu Si started to cry. He actually burst into tears right in front of Zhang Chong and the people behind him. The person was crying and sobbing at the same time:
"It is so painful for us to look forward to our king and father. The Han Dynasty has no virtue, which makes the living people miserable. The world looks forward to your king and father like dew in a long drought."
Several generals behind Zhang Chong couldn't stand hearing Xu Si's words. It was rare to see such a shameless person.
Zhang Chong also felt that this person's acting skills were really good. He could cry when he asked. He was a man who could play politics. He was also disgusted with this person, but this matter still had to be taken seriously. Zhang Chong pulled Xu Si and said solemnly:
"The Han Dynasty has no virtue, so we, the Taiping Dao, are responsible for upholding justice for heaven and punishing the people. In this process, there will inevitably be virtuous people like Xu Jun who join the Taiping Dao and achieve great things together."
Xu Si was good, but Zhang Chong reciprocated the favor and directly invited him to join the palace. This was an invitation rather than a surrender. The two situations were worlds apart.
Xu Bang naturally heard it, and he was ecstatic, and he tried harder:
"General, all the elites behind me want to correct their evil ways and return to the right path. This is also a small contribution I can make to the cause of Taiping Dao."
Hearing this, Wen Wu, who was kneeling with Xu Bang, cursed this man's shamelessness in his heart. These people were basically like Gao Yi, Zhao Shu, and Li Zou, who were deceived by Xu Bang.
He kept saying that he had a way to survive, coaxing these people to put their hope of escape on him.
But then? Is this the way to survive that you Xu Si said? Lead them to become thieves?
But at this moment, no matter how angry they were in their hearts, they did not have the courage to stand up and rebuke Xu Si, saying:
"Han thieves are not at odds with each other."
Such a violent man committed suicide when the Yellow Turban Army entered the city.
To put it bluntly, these people didn't want to die, but they felt ashamed to surrender. They scolded Xu Bang in their hearts, just to make him take responsibility and release their shameful and restless hearts.
But the people kneeling inside were not all duplicitous, at least not the brave general Zhao Shu. He really felt that joining Taiping Dao was a way out.
In fact, it can be seen from his name that this man did not come from any big family. He was a bit brave, but he was also ridiculed by the scholar-bureaucrats. He brought his people to Li Zan before, and Li Zan also promoted him and placed him in the shogunate.
One time, Li Zan held a banquet and lamented at the banquet that in recent years, the lack of discipline in the court had allowed eunuchs and ugly people to run rampant. At that time, Zhao Shu asked Li Zan doubtfully:
"Master Fu, who is this Ji Gang? Why is he so important?"
As soon as this statement came out, the whole audience was stunned, and then burst into laughter. In the end, even Li Zan teased:
"Zhao Shu's innocent heart is extremely valuable."
Later, Zhao Shu found out that Li Zan was calling him stupid and like an ignorant child.
Now the reason why the concubine Zhao voted for Zhang Chong is very simple. You Han Dynasty don't pay attention to us common men with swords, so we will find someone who knows the goods and loves a strong man like me.
Zhang Chong saw that these people all wanted to take refuge, so he said nice things, but he didn't take them too seriously. How many of these people could be trusted? However, having these people take refuge would naturally help him divide the Han camp array, and he
I only regard these people as tools. Whether they are sincere or not, it doesn't matter.
After that, Zhang Chong comforted him. Just when there was harmony, someone in the corner was crying and laughing at the same time. This annoyed Ding Sheng who was following Zhang Chong. He angrily said:
"You've already voted, why are you still here crying about your Han court?"
The man's crying stopped immediately after being scolded, while several Han officials nearby who also surrendered felt ashamed:
"My Han family is still righteous after all. Although I am afraid of death, I still admire such brave men."
But who would have thought that the man who was crying and laughing would return to Ding Sheng with a look of grievance:
"I'm crying because the general's humility is so touching. I'm laughing because the Han family will be destroyed forever."
As soon as this statement came out, the whole audience was shocked.
This, this, this, this, really dares to be shameless and flattering. Can such a person survive as an official of the Han family?
There was a farce here, and a few soldiers from Zhang County over there came over, hating each other.
This time, they were no longer as relaxed as before. They all seemed to have something on their minds. They just told Zhang Chong that they had already chosen the person with the "most" blood feud.
Zhang Chong nodded and then let these people go.
The Zhangxian soldiers who were still walking in the wave now got the approval, carried cloths on their backs, and flew out of the city in groups of three or five, leaving only ten Zhangxian soldiers with ashen faces. They were selected
Come down and die.
Zhang Chong looked at the departing figures of Zhang County soldiers in front and sighed:
"Another easy kill!"
He Kui heard this and he hesitated for a moment before admonishing him. But just as he was about to open his mouth, he heard Zhang Chong say:
"I know what you are going to say, Shulong. Do you think I'm plotting against them? Yes, I'm plotting against them. They think they can enjoy themselves with money and silk as long as they draw someone else, but everyone in the ten teams draws someone else.
, then this hatred is forged. And I have to let them carry the cloth before they draw it. Why? It is to make them hate each other more. Carrying the cloth has something to do with physical strength. The more the cloth is carried, the better the body is. Those
How can you not be jealous when you see others carry so much? When the time comes, they will probably point to these people. So those who are abandoned in the end are either the innocent warriors in the team, or the honest people who are usually disliked. This is how I use it,
Let them choose people who have no blood feud. These people will survive."
He Kui was silent, then turned around, gathered his clothes and bowed to Zhang Chong:
"Qu Kuai, you are the one who wants to be the king. If you don't need the intrigues, you can ignore them. If you really want to kill these people, then we will just and openly judge their crimes and punish them. This is what people say to kill the donkey. We
It's true. But what about now? In order to keep people's voices at bay and to punish them, we resort to such cunning and cunning tactics. But can this really stop everyone from talking? I have something to say
, I hope to learn from this: The king is the king of the world, the leader of all people, and the leader in the four directions. Therefore, if the superiors do something, the subordinates will follow suit. If his body is upright, he will not act according to orders. If his body is not upright, he will not follow orders even though he is ordered.
.”
After saying that, He Kui bowed deeply.
Zhang Chong was horrified, and immediately helped He Kui up, and then bowed deeply to He Kui in front of many Taishan generals and captives.
It was also at this time that a voice came from behind:
"The Zhangxian soldiers who had just left the city were engaged in a fierce battle."