It is said that Zhang Mingzhe and Qin Wuye led the soldiers to the city of Yanzhou, and saw these people sitting on the ground in groups of three or five, with empty eyes and numb expressions, and they were coerced by thieves.

"Yo, so many thieves! Quick, ready to engage the enemy. Zhang Mingzhe didn't know that these people in front of him were people who had been coerced by thieves, so he was shocked and immediately ordered to fight.

So a group of soldiers, under the command of their respective officers, lined up in formation, boosted morale, and made a lot of noise.

In this process, those people who were coerced by the thieves always had facial expressions and no reaction, just watching the officials and soldiers in front of them busy with their work.

When Zhang Mingzhe commanded his subordinates to set up a formation and plan to engage in battle, he found that the positive attitude of his side had not received a reaction from the enemy on the opposite side at all.

This made Zhang Mingzhe feel a little strange.

However, this Zhang Mingzhe has dealt with thieves for a long time, and he knows more or less that thieves like to catch people as cannon fodder, so after he carefully observed for a while, he ordered to his cronies around him: "Zhang Mingyi, go and ask, are they the people who are coerced by thieves?" ”

"Yes, General." When Zhang Mingyi got the order, he turned his horse and galloped to the people, and while keeping on guard, he asked loudly: "My general asked you if you are the people who are coerced by thieves?" ”

Zhang Mingyi asked this question, but no one answered for a long time, these people are all you looking at me, I look at you, silently unable to respond.

"Hey, what do you guys say, are you all dumb!" Zhang Mingyi saw that the person opposite didn't speak, and he was a little anxious for a while, so he accentuated his tone and asked again.

At this time, an old man with half a hundred hairs stood up from the ground, staggered to Zhang Mingyi, bowed slightly, and said, "Master Jun, we are the people who have been coerced by thieves. ”

"Uncle, let me ask you, why don't you see the thieves here?"

"A quarter of an hour ago, the thieves who had slain a thousand knives suddenly gathered in the east of the city, and then went east." The old man seemed to hate the thief very much, and replied with his hatred.

"It turns out that the thieves have fled eastward, and I should report back to the general as soon as possible." Zhang Mingyi muttered to himself for a while, and then turned around to report the military situation.

But he was about to ride his horse back, not beware of the old man suddenly grabbed the reins, his voice was crying, and he pleaded: "Master Jun, thieves are hateful, when they arrive at our stockade, they kill people and set fires to do all kinds of evil, and at the end they still tattoo words on our faces, coercing us to come out and do evil, Master Jun, can you kill us as thieves, we are wronged, if you promise not to kill us, we will repay your kindness even if we are cattle and horses." ”

As soon as the old man said this, the people next to him also gathered and wanted to intercede.

Zhang Mingyi was afraid of being surrounded by the people, so he said loudly with some impatience: "Knowing that you are not guilty, we will not kill you, you wait here, don't make trouble." ”

These people were originally afraid that the officials and soldiers would kill them if they said otherwise, so they could cut off their heads and ask for merit, so when they saw the officials and soldiers coming, they silently waited for death to come.

Who knew that the officers and soldiers on this road did not mean this, which made them see the hope of survival, so they quickly seized this opportunity to intercede with the officials and soldiers. Now when they heard that they would not be killed as thieves, of course they were overjoyed, and they ran to tell each other, and for a time all the people were overjoyed.

The so-called desperate situation, the tiger's mouth escape is corresponding to this situation.

Zhang Mingyi saw that the people had dispersed, so he rode his horse and galloped to Zhang Mingzhe, and reported with his fists in his fist: "General, I just inquired about it, and these people are indeed people who have been coerced by thieves, and all the thieves have fled to the east. ”

Zhang Mingzhe heard the news, nodded first, and responded: "Got it." Then he turned his head and asked Qin Wuye: "Qin Wuye, Wang Jiayin's guy is going to the east, should we chase after it?" ”

"How not to chase, Wang Jiayin is already a lost dog, my army is strong at this time, and the combat power is strong, if you can kill this fang, it will be a great achievement, go, let's chase quickly." Qin Wuye's horse whip flat fingers, arrogant and dry.

"Okay, let's chase it now, but dare to ask the fifth master what to do with these people who have been coerced by thieves? Also, the thieves are in the township, and it is expected that there will always be some collections, do you think we should share the profits first, and then go after the thieves? ”

When Zhang Mingzhe said this, he couldn't help but have eagerness in his eyes, after all, the imperial court is now poor, and even Liaodong Town is often in arrears. Now it's easy to have a chance to make a fortune, so naturally I want to have a haircut.

This Qin Wuye is actually a money-loving character, so when he heard the words "collection and profit sharing", his eyes immediately lit up, he hesitated for a while, and then replied with a smile: "It's not urgent to chase the thieves left and right, let's ask the people first, if they are willing to return to their hometown, if they are willing, let them go back, if they are not willing to return to their hometown, let them go to Yan'an to find Hong Junmen." As for how to divide the profits of this thief's collection, let's see how many good things the thief has robbed first. ”

"Okay, in that case, then the end will come and make arrangements, Mingyi, you quickly go and ask those people, are they willing to return to their hometowns, or are they willing to go to Yan'an to wait for resettlement? Whichever one they choose, give them a ration. Zhang Mingzhe ordered.

"General, we only brought dry food for a few days, what should we do if we give them so many people?" Zhang Mingyi saw that Zhang Mingzhe said that he would distribute their own rations to the people, so he frowned and asked.

"It's not to use our rations, just see if there are rations in the thieves' barracks, if there are no rations in the thieves' barracks, let some food in the city of Dunzhou be made." Zhang Mingzhe replied.

"Yes, General." Zhang Mingyi got the order, so he took a few of his men to negotiate with the people who were coerced by the thieves.

Zhang Mingzhe followed Qin Wuye into the military camp left by the thieves to look for gold and silver treasures, and by the way, to see if there was any food to help the people.

These two and a group of their men walked around the camp of the thieves, and they found good things, but the number was a little small. For example, there are only 3,000 taels of silver, and there are also a small number of treasures to play with, and the total value is estimated to be about 5,000 taels, and as for food, it is only 300 stones.

"Damn, I thought there would be a lot of harvest, but I didn't think there was only so little. Liu Renyu got a full 50,000 taels of silver, and there are also a lot of treasures to play with, I heard that in addition, he also got a lot of women! Zhang Mingzhe said angrily.

"General Zhang, there are a lot, after all, they have just suffered a big defeat in Yan'an, and all the benefits have been taken up by Liu Shoubei. It has only been a few days since they came out of Yan'an, and it is not easy to have so many collections. General Zhang, look, how can we divide this money? Qin Wuye asked while explaining Zhang Mingzhe.

"Fifth master, if you look at it like this, these 3,000 taels, we will each have 900 taels, and the rest of the silver will be distributed to the brothers, as for the treasure to play, let's divide it in half, what do you think?" Zhang Mingzhe thought for a while and suggested.

"That feeling is good, that feeling is good, so I thank General Zhang for his kindness!" Qin Wuye smiled slightly and arched his hand.

"They are all their own brothers, why do you have to see them like this, the fifth master, you are a popular person in front of Hong Junmen, and when the time comes, you will have to bother you to say a few more good words for your brothers in front of Hong Junmen." Zhang Mingzhe said with a smile.

"It's easy to say, it's easy to say, they are all their own brothers, so naturally I want to help Brother Zhang take care of you." Qin Wuye said with a smile.

"Then there is Brother Lao Qin." Zhang Mingzhe was of course very happy to see that he had used the thief's money to buy off a person close to Hong Chengchou.

After Zhang Mingzhe was happy for a while, he ordered to the guards beside him: "Take the 1,200 taels of silver with you, and give one tael to each of the brothers, you remember, if you dare to withhold it privately, be careful of your head!" ”

"General, you just have to rest assured, what money you can take and what money you can't take, you know what you want." The guard replied.

"Okay, Brother Qin, let's share the money too, let's go chase the thief, okay?" Zhang Mingzhe suggested.

"If that's the case, let's go."

After Qin Wuye finished speaking, he walked to the barracks with Zhang Mingzhe, and first asked Zhang Mingyi how things were going, and then immediately set off to chase Wang Jiayin.

When the two arrived outside the barracks, Zhang Mingyi came over and reported to Zhang Mingzhe: "General, I have just asked, there are 3,000 people who are willing to return home, and 7,000 people say that their homes have been destroyed, and they are also afraid that the thieves will come back to coerce them, so they plan to go to Yan'an first and wait for resettlement." ”

"Okay, there are still 300 stone of grain in the thief's barracks, so I will distribute it to the people as rations, the time is urgent, and we don't have time to distribute food to them, so let them get it themselves, now let's set off quickly and chase Wang Jiayin." Zhang Mingzhe ordered.

"Yes, General, I know the lowly position." Zhang Mingyi agreed, and shouted to the people: "There is food in the bandit's barracks, you go and get rations yourself, and then, those who want to go home go home, and those who want to go to Yan'an go to Yan'an." ”

Zhang Mingzhe waited for Zhang Mingyi to finish speaking, and then said loudly: "Okay, everything that should be said has been said, let's go." ”

When he had said this, he turned his horse and went away to the east.

As soon as Zhang Mingzhe left, everyone, including Qin Wuye, also rode their horses and galloped eastward.

As soon as the officers and soldiers left, the people were stunned for a while, and then they didn't know who shouted: "Grab the grain!" ”

So all the people ran towards the thieves' barracks like crazy, after all, rations are very important in the coming days, so now they must grab food, if there is no food, this day is frozen, I am afraid that before I have reached my hometown, or I have not yet reached Yan'an, I will die on the road and become a corpse.

Since food is so important, this process of distributing food cannot of course be about respecting the old and caring for the young, or distributing it according to the head, but it is typical that whoever has thick arms can have more rations.

In this troubled world, in the face of survival, all courtesy, righteousness and shame are superfluous.

It is said that when the people were fiercely fighting for food in the barracks, the gate of the city of Juzhou opened, and I saw a civil official wearing a green official robe, a black gauze hat, and soap boots walking out of the city gate with a large number of people.

There is no doubt that this official in a green robe was the magistrate of Dunzhou, and when he saw the official army coming from the city, he planned to come out to reward him, but he could not make the trip because the city gate was blocked with bricks and stones during the defense of the city.

When the masonry in the city gate was cleared, the magistrate brought people to take a look, and he could only see the back of Zhang Mingzhe.