When Yuan Zongdi, Liu Tichun and others heard the words of the two of them, they were all confused, and hurriedly asked what was going on: "It's a thousand cuts again, and it depends on what kind of person the emperor is, I said, what do you mean?" ”

Li Guo didn't speak, but Li Laiheng immediately told what had happened, roughly repeatedly, and finally said: "If my father-in-law stays, he will probably be killed, can you persuade my father-in-law?" ”

"Laiheng, it's okay!" Li Guo listened, but said to him first, "King Chuang is my own uncle, no matter what, if I can see the fate of the left thief, even if I am killed by the official army and go underground, I can talk to my uncle, and let my uncle be happy!" ”

Speaking of this, he turned his head to look at Gao Yigong and said, "You guys go quickly!" ”

A group of people waited, listening to what they just said, and they couldn't help but look at each other.

No wonder there were suddenly a lot fewer officers and soldiers, it turned out that they were transferred by the emperor to save people?

But...... But how could the emperor be such a good emperor? This shouldn't be!

Most people think this way, and for a while, they have a hard time accepting this reality. Even Hao Shaoqi questioned: "The emperor has been on the throne for so many years, why have I never heard of such a good thing before?" If it's really so good, why has our Qin land suffered disasters year after year, and we haven't seen the emperor like this! ”

"It may be that the emperor doesn't know the true situation of the people and has been deceived by those traitorous ministers!" Li Guo pondered for a while and said, "But these don't care, the most important thing is that I will bet this time to see if I really cut this little rabbit cub in front of the left thief!" ”

Speaking of this, he urged again: "Don't delay any longer, let's go, it's enough for me to bring this little rabbit cub to the official army!" ”

Not everyone has this mind and is willing to send it to the door themselves. If you can escape, you will naturally choose to escape. Otherwise, after falling into the hands of the officials and soldiers, they will be regarded as old thieves, and they will be killed by the imperial court if they don't do well.

Therefore, these seventy or so people have different choices. Some decided to flee immediately, some hesitated, feeling that they were not righteous, and some said that they wanted to stay, and followed Li Guo and Li Dingguo to see the left thief taste the taste of family ruin.

In the end, only Li Guo, Li Dingguo, Li Laiheng and Liu Tichun stayed, and the others were driven away by Li Guo regardless of whether they wanted to stay or not.

Watching a large number of people go away, Li Dingguo turned around to look at Zuo Mengeng with a little anxiety about the future, and it was okay if he didn't look at it, and immediately covered his mouth and nose and said: "This guy is incontinent!" ”

Speaking of which, Zuo Mengeng is blessed by his father, and he has not suffered many hard days, he is served by someone on weekdays, and he enjoys life very much, which has also developed his personality of being greedy for life and afraid of death.

Originally, he thought that it would be a terrible thing to be hacked to death by these thieves. However, after hearing it, he heard that his father was caught by the emperor, beat his buttocks, and wanted to arrest him back, and he was cut with a thousand knives in front of his father, remembering that he couldn't survive without asking for death, and it would be strange if he had to die with so many knives in pain, and he didn't incontinence!

In fact, at this time, he actually wanted these thieves to hack him to death, however, it was clear that these thieves would not cut him.

Zuo Menggeng, desperate!

…………

In Nanyang City, more than 10,000 officers and soldiers participated in the rescue operation, and at this time, Emperor Chongzhen finally did not have to participate in person. Under the repeated persuasion of Chen Qiyu and others who rushed to hear the news, Emperor Chongzhen went to take a hot bath and changed into a set of dragon robes to put on.

However, he did not stay in the feudal palace. Instead, he went to the head of Nanyang City, where he could see the rescue progress of the entire Nanyang.

One of the benefits of the military's involvement in the rescue is that it is very organized. The area to be rescued was assigned according to the establishment of the army, and when an order was given, it was like a war, there was a command, and they were all young and strong. Therefore, the rescue efficiency is very high.

From time to time, generals in the army reported the rescue situation to the city, and the death toll was better than expected.

This has something to do with the fact that most of them are just bungalows today, and if they are replaced by high-rise buildings in later generations, the houses will really collapse, and the death toll will definitely be high.

But even so, Chen Qiyu, who was following Emperor Chongzhen's side, couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "It's all thanks to Your Majesty's timely assistance to the people, otherwise, Weichen estimates that at least several times more people will die." ”

Hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen not only was not proud and happy, but sighed and said: "It is the court that is not good enough to make the people desperate for the court, and so many people have become thieves!" ”

Speaking of this, Emperor Chongzhen thought about it, so he asked Chen Qiyu: "How is the situation of the thieves over there?" ”

When Chen Qiyu heard this, he hurriedly replied: "There is no place to detain them for the time being, so the soldiers will watch them in the field." At present, more than 60,000 points have been arrested, and the combing has been continuing. ”

Speaking of this, he paused and peeked at the emperor's face before continuing: "What has been confirmed so far is that under the leaders of the thieves, Liu Zongmin of the Chuang Wang's department has been killed, and there are ...... others."

After Chen Qiyu reported the names of more than ten people, he said helplessly: "The situation is chaotic, and the rest of the thieves have not yet been sorted out, and they may hide among the captives or escape in the barren mountains and wilderness." As long as it is among the captives, it will be verified by Liu Guoneng, the general of the thief and counselor, and it should be found out sooner or later. As for those who haven't been caught yet, Wechen thinks ...... I thought it would be a bit difficult to arrest and bring it to justice! ”

Emperor Chongzhen was slightly disappointed when he heard the few names he had heard in later generations, but that was all. He also heard it, according to Chen Qiyu's meaning, the leaders of the thieves who were still on the run basically couldn't be caught.

After thinking about it, he explained to Chen Qiyu and said: "Forget the others, just that Zuo Menggeng, the portrait is already there, go back and distribute it to all armies, especially the cavalry, you must be arrested!" ”

In the era when there were no photographs, it was only possible to identify by portraits. However, it goes without saying how unreliable the portrait is. If people run for their lives, they will definitely change their faces, and if they want to be caught, it will be difficult!

"Wechen obeys!" Chen Qiyu knew that Zuo Mengeng was going to arrest a thousand knives to warn against all those thieves who didn't take the lives of the people seriously, so he hurriedly said, "Before Wei Chen came to Nanyang, he had already found a painter and asked General Liu to determine the portrait. ”

Obviously, Chen Qiyu had already thought of it first and was doing it.

In this regard, Emperor Chongzhen nodded, which was quite satisfied.

"Your Majesty, there are so many thieves, I don't know what to do afterwards?" Chen Qiyu, as the governor of the five provinces, was the first person under the emperor to lead the matter of thieves. In addition, when he was in the past, he made a mistake in the matter of placing the thieves, and he almost caused him to recover, so he seized the opportunity to ask Emperor Chongzhen for instructions.

For this, Emperor Chongzhen has already considered it. But now, when he looked at the ruins in Nanyang City in front of him, he had changed a little.

I only heard him say to Chen Qiyu: "For the thieves from the border army, as well as those old thieves, they will all be sent to Governor Lu. If Dongjiang Town is to be reopened, an army capable of fighting is indispensable. It's behind enemy lines, and these thieves are running around all year round, so it should be more suitable for that side, and I believe that Governor Lu can suppress them! ”

Speaking of this, Emperor Chongzhen paused, his face became serious, and he said in a stern tone: "These thieves, if they don't make trouble, they will all be killed, even if they escape halfway, they must be pursued and killed to the end, and there will never be any more possibility of pardon; But if they go, I will pardon their previous crimes, treat them like ordinary soldiers, and as long as they make meritorious service in the Dongjiang River, I will give them the same reward! ”

After finishing speaking, he looked at Chen Qiyu and said, "These thieves, regardless of the rebellion at the beginning, were they forced?" At least one fact is that they have plagued many people. If you kill all the thieves in one go, it will hurt the peace of the heavens, so be it, I will give them a chance to atone for their sins! ”

"Your Majesty is wise, let these thieves go to war with Jianyu, no matter who dies, the court will kill two birds with one stone!" After Chen Qiyu listened, he immediately said with admiration.

In this regard, Emperor Chongzhen actually did not have this idea, but these thieves became the main force to resist the Manchu Qing in the original history, and some even paid a great price for it. In any case, it has embodied the blood nature of the Han people.

If in the original history, if there were no these thieves to resist the Qing Dynasty, those officials of the original Southern Ming Dynasty, the face of the Han people would have been lost to them.

For this reason, I can't say it, and Emperor Chongzhen doesn't want to say it.

"Your Majesty, what about the remaining thieves?" Chen Qiyu saw that the emperor didn't say anything, so he asked for instructions again.

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he didn't answer immediately, but glanced at Nanyang City, and suddenly asked Chen Qiyu: "Is there any news about the grain?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, there should be news back in the next two days." When Chen Qiyu heard this, he hurriedly replied, "There is a war here, even if there is food coming, it will definitely stay outside the battlefield, but Weichen has been ordered to send someone to check the situation before, I believe that the grain that arrives nearby will definitely arrive, and the other grain that has not arrived should also know the reason!" ”

Emperor Chongzhen nodded when he heard this, and then pointed to the city of Nanyang and said, "The people affected by the disaster this time, saving them from the ruins is only the first step in disaster relief. I thought that the rest of the thieves would be organized to let them work, and if they had completed a certain number of years, or if they performed well, they could be pardoned and returned home, and even those who had meritorious service could be rewarded. For example, in front of them, let them clean up the ruins and help the people of Nanyang rebuild their homes. If you do a good job, you can pardon part of it on the spot. As for the rest, building roads and bridges, building water conservancy, etc., all require a lot of manpower. ”

Hearing this, Chen Qiyu understood why the emperor asked the question of food first. It is only when there is food that these thieves have the physical strength to work.

In this way, all these thieves will be arranged, and those who have the ability to fight will be sent to the Dongjiang River; those who have no ability to fight are to be used as laborers; This kind of differentiated resettlement method is indeed much better than just letting them all go home in the first place!

Thinking of this, Chen Qiyu said respectfully: "Your Majesty is wise, in this way, Weichen believes that the problem of these thieves can be solved, so that they will not rebel again!" ”

Who knew that Emperor Chongzhen shook his head when he heard this: "The root cause of the rebellion is that they can't see the hope of living, or they are too oppressive." Therefore, food must be in place, and as long as these thieves work well, do not discriminate against them, and do not deliberately oppress them. There is also a need for clear rewards and punishments. ”

"Wechen understands!" At this time, Chen Qiyu fully realized the emperor's understanding of the thieves' rebellion, from which he could see that the emperor really wanted to solve the problem of thieves at one time, so as not to repeat.

At the same time, he also knew that he still had to come to deal with the final aftermath, so the emperor explained to him again and again.

Chen Qiyu was thinking about it, and suddenly, he heard a crazy voice from the direction outside the city, and after listening to it for a while, he heard that it was Zuo Liangyu's crazy voice. I can't help but feel a little strange, why did this guy hanging at the city gate, who had been like a dead man, suddenly go crazy and shout?

Emperor Chongzhen naturally heard it, and it was also a little strange, so he took the lead and walked to the battlements to see the situation outside the city.

I saw Zuo Liangyu staring at a group of people on the official road back to the city, shouting in pain. On the official road, a group of cavalry escorted five people back. However, it can be seen that these officers and soldiers seem to have a good attitude towards four of them, and only one of them is tied up.

Liu Yue, who was already a thousand households in Jinyi, had been by the emperor's side, and after seeing the situation outside the city, he said with a little surprise: "Your Majesty, the person who is tied up is Zuo Mengeng, the son of the traitor Zuo Liangyu!" ”

"Oh!" When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he understood why Zuo Liangyu went crazy.

Chen Qiyu also heard it, and couldn't help but play happily: "It seems that the left thief has done too many evil things, God won't let him go, and he can catch his son, it's really God's eyes!" ”

Emperor Chongzhen naturally knew that the thieves who had escaped for a day, especially when he had already ordered the army to come back for disaster relief, it should have been very difficult to catch a specific thief again. After all, the portrait is not accurate, and I don't know where he fled there, even if the people below are caught, they may miss it.

Of course he didn't know that he could catch Zuo Mengeng, not because of God, but because of Emperor Chongzhen himself.

The others, needless to say, are Li Guo and Li Dingguo. took the initiative to greet the remaining thieves who were still being searched, and just like that, they returned to Nanyang City.

This cavalry, because of their performance, also won their favor.

It was a surprise for them to come out and surrender so actively, and also to bring the thief that the emperor had ordered to be caught.

Therefore, when Li Dingguo, Liu Tichun and others couldn't help but ask about the emperor, these officials and soldiers were also proud, so they all told them about the emperor.

What these officers and soldiers didn't expect was that after they finished speaking, these thieves were silent, and no one spoke anymore, as if they were very thoughtful. Until I went to the city of Nanyang, I saw Zuo Liangyu hanging there.