Seeing Ling Mengchu away, looking at the backs of the two people walking away on the mountain road, Cai Maode and the others actually had some apprehension and uneasiness in their hearts. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Of course, the combat power of these thieves is scum, but no one knows what their temperament is, judging from the fact that they would rather eat people than go down the mountain to surrender, there are definitely heinous people among the leaders of these thieves.

If these thieves jumped over the wall in a hurry, played cards not according to common sense, and in the end killed Ling Mengchu, what should they do?

However, among these people, including Zhang Cunren, the general soldier of Zhejiang, and Zheng Zhilong's younger brother Zheng Zhihu, martial artists, after this incident, they all looked at Ling Mengchu differently.

A scholar, even a scholar who has not understood the Four Books and the Five Classics, actually has such courage to look at death as home, which makes them, who have been accustomed to a life of licking blood from the knife edge, especially admire.

In the eyes of these martial artists, a scholar can only be regarded as a success if he is admitted to the Jinshi and becomes an official, and he can be regarded as a success, and like Ling Mengchu, who has studied until he is nearly fifty years old, let alone a Jinshi, he has not even been admitted to the serious lifting of people, and he should be regarded as a loser among scholars, but he did not expect that such a loser among scholars actually has such courage and insight.

A day passed and there was no news.

Two days have passed, and there is still no news.

It wasn't until the third day was dark and night was about to fall that the officers and soldiers guarding the wall could faintly see a man staggering down the mountain road in the distance.

It was only when the officers and soldiers guarding the wall lit the torches and threw them over that they could see the appearance of this person clearly.

This person is Tao Genhou, who followed Ling Mengchu, the acting commander of Zhejiang's military garrison, to go up the mountain to persuade him to surrender.

Zheng Zhihu, who had been guarding the earthen city wall under the mountain with his subordinates, did not dare to slack off, and immediately led someone to take Tao Genhou over and sent it all the way to Cai Maode.

At night, the lights were bright in the Chinese army tent of Cai Maode, the envoy of Zhejiang, and the civil and military officials who had accompanied him in the past all opened their eyes wide at this time, looking at Tao Genhou, wanting to get news from him about Ling Mengchu.

As the formulator of the entire plan to suppress thieves and quell chaos, Cai Maode's heart is actually more concerned about the success or failure of Ling Mengchu and his party than others, and when he saw Tao Genhou who had returned safely, he stared at him and said, "What about Lord Ling, is Lord Ling okay?" ”

Tao Gen, who had been hungry for two days and was very weak, said with a strong spirit: "Lord Ling is fine. Lord Ling asked the little one to go down the mountain first to report the news, and let the little one tell the adults that the matter was done. You can go down the mountain in these two days, so that you can prepare food and camp in advance. ”

Suddenly hearing this, there was a sudden exhalation in the big tent, and Cai Maode and the following civil and military generals all breathed a long sigh of relief.

Cai Maode saw Tao Genhou's situation, and hurriedly asked people to prepare food and hot water for him, only to hear Tao Genhou say again: "The small one still has a note written by Lord Ling to the adult, and the little one is illiterate, so I don't know what it is written." ”

After saying this, Tao Genhou took out a folded note from his already tattered clothes and handed it to Cai Maode's entourage.

Cai Maode took the note from the hand of his entourage and looked at it, only to see that it was written: "The student is fortunate not to be dishonored in this trip, and within two days, he should compete for all his achievements." ”

Cai Maode read the note, thought about it, and handed it to Zhao Jianji, the prefect of Huzhou, who was standing not far away, Zhao Jianji took it and looked at it, and then said: "Yes, it is indeed Ling Xuanfang's handwriting!" ”

It was only at this time that Cai Maode was completely relieved, nodded, and said: "Governor Zhao and Wen County Order, please leave the matter of preparing gruel to the two of you." ”

After saying this, Cai Maode looked at Zhang Cunren and Zheng Zhihu again, and said: "General Zhang Bing, Zheng Guerrilla, the resettlement camp after the rebels go down the mountain will be handed over to you to prepare." ”

Zhang Cunren, Zhao Jianji, Zheng Zhihu, Wen Ruoxu and others listened to it, and they all bowed down to receive orders.

After arranging these things, Cai Maode wrote a letter overnight, and sent the letter to Hangzhou to report to Wen Tiren, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, and Fan Jingwen, the governor of Zhejiang, on the progress of the suppression of thieves in Huzhou Mansion.

The time has entered March, and Wen Tiren is already very dissatisfied with Cai Maode's delay, and has repeatedly sent people to send letters to urge him to suppress him.

After all, Emperor Chongzhen's edict to open the sea has already reached the south of the Yangtze River, and he, as the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, is in the position of determining the top priority of the Kaihai area, whether it is Quanzhou in Fujian or Ningbo in Zhejiang, it is his area under his jurisdiction.

As an official who came down from the court of Beijing, he knew the emperor's thoughts, the emperor had been planning for a long time to open the sea, and now it has been announced, it is definitely a major policy of the country, and he must show twelve points of attention in order to gain the trust of the emperor and return to the court one day.

But if the chaos on Zhejiang's side cannot be pacified as soon as possible, he, the governor, will be a little incompetent, so at this critical time, Wen Tiren, who has always behaved as a treacherous and cunning, is also a little unable to hold his breath and seems very anxious.

After all, as the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang stationed in Fuzhou, it has been more than two months since he came to Hangzhou with the army of Fujian to suppress bandits, but he has not achieved an inch.

In contrast, Fan Jingwen, although he was also in a hurry, but he was relieved to learn that Cai Maode had completed the construction of the deep trench earthen wall according to the plan, and Tu Achou and his gang of thieves were besieged in Niutou Mountain and could not fly.

Because his only concern is that this group of thieves is like those thieves in northern Shaanxi, and they will ruin the situation in Zhejiang.

Now it's just two counties in the north of Huzhou Prefecture, and the situation is still under control, so he has nothing to worry about.

The messenger sent by Cai Maode also knew that the above was in a hurry, so he hurried up and did not dare to stop all the way, although it was not six hundred miles to expedit, but after a day and night, he still rushed to the outside of Hangzhou.

On the night after Cai Maode finished writing the letter, the letter he wrote was successfully delivered to Wen Tiren and Fan Jingwen.

Wen Tiren and Fan Jingwen received the report and learned that the thieves were about to be pacified, and they were both overjoyed.

And Wen Tiren also took the opportunity to propose to go to the capital of Huzhou in person and go to the front line to direct the relevant affairs of pacifying the thieves.

Fan Jingwen knew what Wen Tiren meant, when the thieves were about to be pacified, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang who came to Zhejiang to sit in the city of Hangzhou was really not very good to say, how to write it when the time came to play the newspaper?

Therefore, Fan Jingwen did not stop him, but took this opportunity to escort the last batch of grain and grass, and followed the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, Wen Tiren, to Huzhou together.

At the same time that Wen Tiren and Fan Jingwen led the army and rushed to Huzhou with grain and grass, there was a solemn atmosphere of waiting for the slaughter at the foot of Niutou Mountain.

Before the last moment that Ling Mengchu agreed with Cai Maode, those rebellious people who had been hungry and cold on the mountain for two or three months began to help the old and the young and staggered down the mountain.

These ragged, unkempt, yellow-skinned, skinny and skinny rebels have long since lost the sticks and bamboo guns in their hands, and have long lost the spirit of rushing to kill and loot, just like a group of walking corpses, walking out of the forest on the mountain where the ice and snow have not yet melted.

Some people can't get up again when they fall, because they are already dead, and those who are barely alive also look like they are dying, their eyes are empty, and they can't see any life.

Zheng Zhihu was the first to find out about this situation, first he ordered the other party to stop, but the back continued to pour forward, and the front couldn't stop at all, and in the end, Zheng Zhihu's Zheng family army shot a lot with bows and arrows and muskets.

However, it didn't work, and the crowds continued to pour down the mountain.

After the news was reported to Cai Maode, Cai Maode thought about it for a while, and ordered to stop shooting these unarmed rebels, and at the same time found a group of local villagers with loud voices, shouting loudly along the earthen wall, so that these rebels stopped in front of the deep trench, and those who entered the deep trench were not allowed to climb any further, but anyone who dared to try to climb over the earthen wall would be killed.

While giving the order, Cai Maode asked people to prepare cakes made of various coarse grains mixed with noodles, break them into small slices, and throw them inside through the earthen city wall, trying to ensure that everyone could eat a bite.

In this way, it was not until noon on the sixth day after Ling Mengchu went up the mountain that Cai Maode saw Ling Mengchu with a anxious look and a haggard face behind the more and more chaotic people.