At the beginning, Deng Mao assigned two guards to Liu Xiang, one named Zhang Hu and the other Li Niu. They guarded Liu Xiang and monitored Liu Xiang.
Liu Xiang's feelings for these two people are very complicated. They lived and died together with Liu Xiang and never abandoned them. They witnessed Liu Xiang's growth and changes.
Liu Xiang was on guard against them, but he couldn't bear to silence them.
When they are weak, they are naturally a threat that must be eradicated.
As Liu Xiang's power grows stronger, their threat will become smaller and smaller, and eventually disappear.
These two people were imprisoned by Liu Xiang a few days ago.
Liu Xiang decided to give them a chance and asked his soldiers to bring them over.
Li Niu was silent and could not say a few words a day. When I saw Liu Xiang today, he just knelt down and said nothing.
Zhang Hu is quite good at speaking, and he usually travels to spread messages for Liu Xiang.
"Sir, I don't know what mistake I made, which made me angry. Please forgive me for once because you were diligent in the past." Zhang Hu knelt down and begged for mercy as soon as he came.
Liu Xiang looked at them indifferently, "You have been with me for a long time and have lived life and death together. I actually don't want to kill you.
There are some obstacles in between, and I can't feel at ease.
Just tell me how to contact Deng Mao, and you will survive."
After listening to Liu Xiang's words, Li Niu remained silent. Zhang Hu quickly cried out, "It's unfair, sir, it's unfair.
The commander-in-chief sent a certain person to protect my husband. They are my bodyguards. They have always been loyal to their duties and never dare to slack off. They will not have any affair with others. They always regard themselves as members of my husband's family. Sir, you are wronged."
Zhang Hu spoke with emotion and tears, but Liu Xiang didn't believe it, so he still said in a light tone:
"There's no need to quibble. Whatever the matter is, just understand it in your heart. I don't want to waste words with you. I don't want to pursue old scores anymore.
You must know that there is a limit to a person's tolerance for pain. I am quite knowledgeable in medical skills and know a few ways to make people miserable.
I’ll give you one last chance to tell you how to contact Deng Mao.”
Li Niu was still silent, and Zhang Hu was still crying out, repeating his injustice over and over again.
Liu Xiang waved his hand, interrupted Zhang Hu, and said: "You two are indeed loyal. In this case, I can only use torture.
I know a kind of water torture, which involves covering a person's face with linen cloth, and then watering the linen cloth. If the prisoner refuses, add another layer of linen cloth, continue to water, and so on.
The feeling of being choked by water and suffocated can put people into extreme fear and even drive them crazy. I heard that few people can add three layers of linen."
Liu Xiang observed the expressions of Li Niu and Zhang Hu and continued:
"I also know a kind of laughter punishment, which involves removing people's shoes and socks, tying them to a rack, smearing salt water on the soles of their feet, and leading a sheep to lick them, which will make people laugh endlessly.
It's funny at first, but as time goes by, you'll laugh till you're all inside, and finally, you'll die from laughing so hard that your heart and lungs will burst.
I’m very curious, what does it look like to laugh so hard that your heart and lungs are broken?”
After speaking, he pointed at Zhang Hu and said in a deep voice: "Pull him down and torture him separately. Give Zhang Hu water torture. This will make him die faster and with less pain."
He pointed at Li Niu again.
"Give Li Niu a laugh torture. Smile a little more. If he laughs to death, just dig it out and see what it looks like to laugh until your heart and lungs are broken."
The soldiers captured the two men and were about to take them away for execution. Li Niu suddenly said: "Sir, I did everything. Let Zhang Hu go. It has nothing to do with him."
Liu Xiang said in a nonchalant tone: "Tell me how to contact Deng Mao, and both of you can live. I don't want to settle old scores, and I don't care what you have done."
Li Niu sighed: "The commander-in-chief arranged for people to pretend to be porters and goodsmen to watch at the city gate. While I was entering the city with my husband, I sent several letters. I never said anything bad about my husband."
"Can you identify them?"
"I don't know you. Every time you go into the city, sir, there are people following you secretly. You just need to throw it on the roadside and someone will pick it up."
This method is really secretive when you don't know it, but it's not difficult to crack it once you know it.
Liu Xiang continued to ask: "Do you know where Deng Mao is?"
"I don't know, I've never received a message."
"Based on your observation, are there many Yellow Turbans sneaking into the county?"
"Every time I enter the city, there are different people. There should be quite a few."
Judging from the meaning in Li Niu's words, Deng Mao has been sending people to sneak into Yuyang, and there are definitely a lot of Yellow Turbans in the county.
Liu Xiang lowered his head and pondered, tapping his fingers unconsciously on the table. After a while, he looked up at Li Niu and said:
"You send another message, saying that the camp is becoming more and more unstable, I can't control it anymore, and I advise Deng Mao to start trouble as soon as possible.
If this comes to pass, I will let you and Zhang Hu go. After it comes to pass, I will give you a piece of land, and you can farm honestly. I hope we can both live well. Do you understand?"
"Thank you sir for not killing me. I understand." Li Niu did not dare to disobey, so he wrote a secret letter in his normal tone and showed it to Liu Xiang.
Liu Xiang read it over and found that there was nothing wrong, so he took Li Niu and a few soldiers to the city to deliver the message.
Not to mention that Liu Xiang pretended to be fine and took people around the city.
It was only said that there was a firewood collector who picked up the letter and wandered around the county town. After walking through the streets and alleys for a while, he didn't find anyone following him, so he turned around and headed out of the city.
The woodcutter walked carefully all the way until he arrived at a forest thirty miles southwest of the county town. The forest was deep and dense, far away from the main road, and rarely visited by people.
He got into the woods and continued walking for seven or eight miles until he reached a village.
The stockade is not big, with only twenty or thirty households. It is built next to a creek, with a fence around it and a watchtower at the gate of the stockade.
He walked into the village gate and saw Deng Mao in the largest wooden house.
Deng Mao read the secret letter, handed it to the person next to him, and whispered: "Liu Xiaolang imprisoned the Yuyang soldiers for a month, which is not bad."
The person next to him said: "I wonder what method Liu Xiaolang used to spread the plague into the military camp without spreading it to the people. It is really miraculous."
"Perhaps he studied at home. His father Liu Zhong was said to be very knowledgeable. He made a special trip to visit him, but he didn't want to die, so he brought him back.
If Brother Tiedao is interested, you can ask him later.
Now thinking about how to capture Yuyang is the most important thing."
Hearing this, Tie Dao said: "Now there are more than a thousand people sneaking into the county town. There are also more than five thousand people pretending to be refugees in the rural pavilions around the county town. If we gather around, we can attract more than ten thousand refugees.
Send people to block the Yuyang camp, and the rest of the people will cooperate from inside and outside, and it will not be difficult to capture Yuyang."
Deng Mao shook his head and said: "There are a thousand armored cavalry in the Yuyang Camp. Who is going to stop them? How to stop them?"
"It's been a month since the plague started. How many people are still able to fight?"
Deng Mao shook his head again and said: "You can't gamble. When Liu Xiaolang gave me advice, Yuyang could only outwit it, not attack by force. It had to be done in the city."
I think it makes sense, so I still want to take action in the city."
Tie Dao was unwilling and persuaded: "There are only a thousand people in the city. Without weapons and armor, wouldn't they be destined to die?"