Zhu Pingjin and Luo Yuhong climbed hand in hand to the open space in front of the temple and looked up.

The temple is layered on top of each other, with countless roofs painted with black lines, intricately and neatly stacked together. Beyond the roof of the temple, there is a cliff with a thousand blades in the background. The huge Buddha head and dozens of large and small caves around it are deeply embedded in the mountain cliffs.

On the right side of the Big Buddha, there is a faint stone path along the rock wall. The path spirals upwards and disappears at the end. There is a cornice above the head of the big Buddha stretching out of the cliff, that is the main village of Niujiao Village.

The caravan launched a twilight raid on Niujiaozhai with great success. Except for the main village on the top of the cliff, the other areas of Niujiao Village have been fully controlled.

Thousands of panicked women and children poured out of the temple gate, blocked the way down the mountain with bright knives and guns by the soldiers, and had to scurry around in the encirclement. Some soldiers rushed into the temple, drove out those who refused to come out, and forced them into the open space in front of the temple.

The encirclement gradually narrowed, and finally the black crowd was crowded into a large area. Other soldiers began to go into the house and rummage through the cabinets, and in a short time several women were dragged out by the hair, one of whom was holding a crying toddler.

Although Luo Yuhong hated the bandits to death, she was born with a knife mouth and a tofu heart, so she couldn't bear to look at it anymore, so she had to quietly close her eyes.

Zhu Pingjin doesn't have time to care about her now. He was discussing with Song Zhenzong, He Youyi, Gao Antai, Liu Hongting and others how to take the main village. Half an hour ago, the first tentative attack of the second company and a platoon on the main village had failed, and a soldier who had been wounded by a stone was still left on the mountain road, unable to carry it down.

"Mr. He, there are a lot of mountains in your Baoning Mansion, how can you attack them in this situation?" Zhu Pingjin asked.

"This cliff is almost vertical, and you can't climb it." He Youyi shook his head and said that he was fine.

"Then I'll choose a few death squads, all with big shields and two layers of armor! There must be a brave man under the heavy reward, this is the words of Grandpa Qi. I don't believe it, and I can't take a small cow horn village! Song Zhenzong yelled fiercely. He had just led the charge when his face was hit by a falling piece of rubble, and he was bleeding. He was ruthless, and his face looked particularly hideous.

The mountain road is too narrow, and it is close to the cliff. The superior forces of the attacking side were completely impossible to deploy, and the entire route up the hill was threatened by stones falling almost vertically. More than a dozen pounds of stones fell from the mountain, and no armor or shield could stop it. At present, there is no development of climbing equipment, and if you want to go up, you can only take the mountain road, that is, take the lives of soldiers to fill in.

As a native of Sichuan, Zhu Pingjin visited Hejiang Diaoyu City several times in his previous life. He had marveled at the miracle of the Creator who had shaped such an unbreakable terrain. Compared with Diaoyu City, the main village in front of me is far inferior in scale and momentum, but it is also a little similar.

But Zhu was in no hurry to refute Song Zhenzong's suggestion. He turned around and asked Luo Yuhong to come over to help and bandage the wounds of Song Zhenzong and the injured soldiers, which moved Song Zhenzong, a Qin man, with tears in his eyes.

Seeing that the prince did not say anything about Song Zhenzong's suggestion, He Youyi stepped forward and said: "The terrain of the main village on the top of the mountain is favorable to defend and is not conducive to attacking, and the minister suggests postponing the attack. Anyway, we can't go up, and they can't get down. As a last resort, we slowly trapped the bandits! As he spoke, he pointed to the women and children in the open space in front of the temple and added, "Before the siege, we have to solve the troubles below!" ”

This was the first time that Liu Hongting participated in the battle under the personal command of Zhu Pingjin. She carried a sword at her waist and wore a red cloak, looking heroic. Seeing Zhu Pingjin's inquiring gaze, she clenched her fists and replied: "There are so many women and children, there must be bandits on the mountain among them." Now that we are pinching in our hands, I am not afraid of the bandits in the mountains and do not panic! ”

Zhu Pingjin took a few steps forward and stood on the stone steps in front of the temple. Condescendingly, the crowd in front of him was densely packed with fear, which made him hallucinate in front of his eyes. The crowd in front of him seemed to be a fellow countryman in the base, and he was the captain of Kameda's team. He raised his Toyo sword and threatened an unyielding old man with a white handkerchief:

"Who is the Eight Roads? Not to mention the dead, the dead! ”

He blinked, trying to clear his mind. After being silent for a long time, he instructed the generals:

"There's no hurry, we have time! Go find Liu Mingsheng. He is familiar with the inside story of the village, and he also knows which are the family members of the bandit leaders. Sun Tzu said: Only by knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent can one not be defeated in a hundred battles. Sun Tzu also said: Attacking the heart is the first, and attacking the city is second! ”

The clifftop eaves that Zhu Pingjin and his wife saw were a corner of the Juyi Hall in the main village. However, the gate of Juyi Hall is still two or three feet away from the edge of the cliff.

Zhang Guangpei, the adulterer and adulteress, were tied to two large pillars in front of the gate of the Juyi Hall. They were naked, and underneath they were just baggy and sloppy pants.

The woman had passed out for a long time, and her long hair had come down to cover her face, making it impossible to see her expression. Zhang Guangpei was stabbed by the cold wind sweeping over the top of the mountain, and his mind came to his senses again. His cheeks were bruised and his eyes were bloodshot, and he watched viciously as dozens of bandits jumped up and down the edge of the cliff, smashing stones down desperately. A slender middle-aged man is directing the bandits, pulling down several small houses nearby with ropes, picking out usable bricks and stones and piling them on the edge of the cliff.

"Li Fugui (Note 1), you dog!" Zhang Guangpei yelled and scolded at this thin middle-aged man: "Give us the dog of the Zhang family to lick the ditch (Note 2)!" ”

Li Fugui walked over with a short knife. He wiped his pointed chin and smiled contemptuously at Zhang Guangpei: "What are you calling nonsense? Save some effort! As soon as the big boss comes back, you will wait to disembowel and light the sky lantern! ”

Zhang Guangpei laboriously spit out a mouthful of bloody thick phlegm, and continued to scold: "Li Fugui, you dog!" Your father licks the ditch for my father, and your brother licks the ditch for my eldest brother. Your Li family is the life of licking the ditch! If you want to be in Lao Tzu's position, you have to wash your tongue first, so as not to smell of when you speak! ”

Li Fugui is only a small leader among the bandits, but he is the eyeliner left by the big boss in the village, and it is he who led people to arrest Zhang Guangpei. Now that the army of officers and soldiers is pressing, Zhang Guangpei is tied to the pillar again, and the cottage group has no leader, so he has to be pushed to be the leader.

Li Fugui was not angered by Zhang Guangpei's words. He sneered a few times and said: "Sixth Master, I am the life of licking the ditch, but I have never licked you, I am the big boss!" When I have repelled the officers and soldiers, how do you say that the big boss will reward me? As he spoke, he smiled and came up to pull Zhang Guangpei's fat face, "Sixth master, you obediently accept your fate!" You have such a big brother, which is both a blessing and a curse for you! ”

Zhang Guangpei wanted to spew fire out of his eyes and burn this bastard, but he couldn't. His chest heaved and heaved, making the rope jump tighter and tighter. Suddenly, Zhang Guangpei laughed, he regained the high-minded demeanor that the six masters usually have, and laughed proudly.

"This is virtuous, what are you laughing at?" Li Fugui was stunned by Zhang Guangpei's laughter and asked puzzled.

Lao Tzu smiled...... Lao Tzu smiled...... Your whole family will always be the life of licking the ditch! Zhang Guangpei laughed breathlessly, "Your father licks the ditch for my father, and you two brothers lick the ditch for my eldest brother...... Your mother-in-law and two babies will lick the ditch for thousands of officers and soldiers in the future! ”

The area of the main village on the top of the cliff is narrow, and in addition to the Juyi Hall of the meeting, only the house of the head and a number of warehouses are built. A low-level bandit like Li Fugui could only live in the temple under the main village, so his family members were all killed by Zhu Pingjian's raid. Shu Guoping and Liu Mingsheng were responsible for screening these thousands of bandits, and Liu Hongting, Cheng Xiangfeng, and more than a dozen soldiers with rough writing also stepped forward to help.

The method of screening was taught by Zhu Pingjin on the spot, and it was basically the same as the public security household registration check in later generations: active registration and mutual certification. The voluntary registration items include name, age, gender, occupation, family members, home address, who the chief and the village elder are, when and why they went up the mountain, whether there are relatives and people they know on the mountain, etc. After the registration is completed, the groups are separated according to the place of origin and residence, and then the confessions of each person are compared with each other, and finally the materials are synthesized, and a person basically appears in his original form.

According to the people's police, this is called "not afraid that he will not admit it, but afraid that he will not speak." ”

Proving each other is simpler. It is impossible for a bandit in the mountains to be trained in stealth, and there is no need to hide his identity in ordinary times. As long as one person recruits, through identification, he can snowball out a large list, and those who draw out can point to each other. I'm afraid that there are only a very few people who go up the mountain alone, silent, and not long, so everyone doesn't know his true identity.

As soon as the registration began, several women who were splashing and rolling around were immediately consciously dragged out and beheaded in public, and their heads were hung on trees. Seeing the bloody head, the bandits immediately cried and did not dare to talk nonsense. Calm people, especially women, are only a very small minority. Some women, without waiting for registration, immediately knelt down and beckoned, asking what they wanted, without hiding everything they knew. Those who voluntarily confessed were escorted to the vicinity of the registration point, where they continued to be interrogated while identifying those who were later registered.

When registering, the bandits were forced by the soldiers one by one to walk in front of the people who had already confessed. Many of the family members of the bandit chiefs were easily identified, registered, and joined the designators.

The expected mass slaughter did not materialize, but instead there were hopes for a swift solution. Seeing that the screening work was progressing smoothly, Zhu Pingjin eliminated the shadow in his psychology and regained his interest. He took Luo Yuhong's hand and said to Song Zhenzong: "The army must not only fight, but also be educated. We are going to fight bandits, rogues, so we have to be different from them. General Song, you see, there are still too few soldiers who can read and write! If we can increase the ratio to 10%, we will complete the screening much faster! ”

Song Zhenzong's head was wrapped like a zongzi by Luo Yuhong, leaving only his eyes, nose and mouth exposed, and he was so swollen that he couldn't even wear a helmet. He listened absentmindedly to Zhu Pingjian's instructions, and his mouth responded insincerely, but his eyes rolled on the faces of the women passing by.

Xiaohong fell in love with Song Zhenzong at first sight on the imperial city dam on Chinese New Year's Eve, and her handkerchief was thrown to Song Zhenzong through Luo Yuhong and then through Zhu Pingjian.

Seeing Song Zhenzong's unyielding appearance, Luo Yuhong knew what he was thinking. She glanced at this iron-clad fool and said, "Don't look for it, your sweetheart must be in the crowd!" There are a lot of boys and girls here, I'm fine, what can happen to her? ”

Little Red was really found without incident. She had a soot face, still the same as the day she was arrested, and it was clear that she hadn't washed her face during this time. Seeing Luo Yuhong, Xiaohong ran over and hugged her and cried, saying that if she lost Miss Luo, she didn't know how the prince would punish her, and would she sell her into the kiln?

Looking at this little maid who was covered with tears, and hearing that the more she talked, the more unpleasant she became, Zhu Pingjin had no choice but to give the impatient Song Zhenzong Nunu mouth and let him express himself on the side.

Xiaohong was found, but Li Sixian was nowhere to be found. It stands to reason that Li Sixian is a little eunuch, and his voice and appearance are difficult to hide in the bandits' den. Could it be that he has revealed his identity and been captured and tortured to death? This made Luo Yuhong feel guilty.

Li Sixian was arrested to protect her. When the bandits searched the kitchen water tank, Li Sixian saw that his master was in danger, so he took the initiative to jump down from the hidden beam, and ran out of the yard quite quietly, which immediately attracted the attention of the bandits. It's just that he ran into a bandit who happened to enter the door, and he was caught in Niujiaozhai. If it weren't for the old bandit Zhang who was stabbed to death by Liu Mingsheng and came in thirsty to find water to drink, Luo Yuhong might not have to go through this catastrophe.

Zhu Pingjin communicated with his wife in depth about what happened to everyone during this time, and he knew her worries. While comforting his wife, he instructed to speed up the screening.

Those bandits who had been found out pulled to the edge of the cliff and launched a psychological battle against the main village above their heads.

Note 1: Pay tribute to the famous second devil Li Fugui.

Note 2: Ditch, Sichuan dialect, that is, the buttocks, also refers to the seam in the middle of the buttocks.