The next day, the scorching sun had risen over the roof, and there were few pedestrians in the streets and alleys of Ningyuan City, but there was a solemn atmosphere. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Lu Shanji was in the temporary residence on the upper floor of the north gate of Ningyuan, and Wu Xiang, Yang Guozhu, Zu Dabi and others arranged the troops and defense arrangements in the city together, and suddenly heard Sun Chan report outside the door: "Lord Inspector, just now there is news from the south gate, saying that it is someone from the east factory of the Beijing Division, and he is outside the city, and he eagerly asks about the whereabouts of the supervisor. The subordinates thought that this matter was urgent, and asked the supervisor to make a decision as soon as possible. ”

After another night's rest, Lu Shanji is now sober-minded and quick-witted, and after a little pondering, he knew what was going on, so he immediately said: "Quickly go to the order, please come to the north gate to meet you!" ”

After saying this, he instructed Wu Xiang and the others to go down to the city to bring their own soldiers and horses, and be ready to respond at any time.

After a quarter of an hour or so, I saw more than 300 horsemen, galloping along the road under the city from a distance, and finally stopped outside the north gate.

Sun Chan asked the guards to put down a hanging basket, then put it in the city, checked the other party's token, confirmed that it was the personnel of the East Factory, and immediately ordered the city gate to be opened and put more than 300 horsemen into the city.

Fang Zhenghua didn't reveal his identity all the way, and now that he has arrived in Ningyuan City, there is naturally no need to hide it. Therefore, as soon as he entered the city, he said to Sun Chan and the others: "This official Dongchang Commander Fang Zhenghua, where is your family supervisor Lord Lu, quickly bring this official to meet him!" ”

Lu Shanji, who was just above the city tower, was taken aback when he heard this from a distance, and immediately said: "Gonggong Fang actually came to Ningyuan in person, please come up, please come up!" ”

Lu Shanji said as he hurriedly went down to the city to greet him.

When Sun Zhan and others heard Lu Shanji say this, they also hurriedly saluted, and at the same time sent people to settle the people from the East Factory who came with them.

Lu Shanji took Fang Zhenghua up to the city tower, entered a hall, waited for Fang Zhenghua to drink a few sips of tea, relieved his strength, and then said: "Father-in-law Fang is not far away, and he came to Ningyuan to meet me in person, thinking that His Majesty already knew about Ningyuan's mutiny." I don't know if the emperor has an edict to bring to Lu? ”

Fang Zhenghua put down the tea bowl and said with a smile: "Lord Lu is really a god!" Our family came to Ningyuan precisely at the behest of His Majesty. Now that the situation of the Ningyuan mutiny, His Majesty already knows, but he doesn't know it. Therefore, His Majesty led the Military Aircraft Department to agree that the disposition of the Ningyuan mutiny was entirely up to Lord Lu. Our family is here, one is to pass the decree, and the other is to cooperate. ”

After saying these words, Fang Zhenghua turned back to a personal entourage and said, "Zhu Jiasan, take out the things!" ”

The stout Dongchang spy named Zhu Jiasan immediately unwrapped a package from his body, took out a box from it, opened the lid, took out a roll of paper from it, and respectfully handed the paper roll to Fang Zhenghua's hand.

Fang Zhenghua took the scroll of paper and said to Lu Shanji: "Lord Lu, this is the emperor's secret decree. Except for you, the emperor only showed our family, and sent our family to cooperate with Lord Lu to put an end to this chaos as soon as possible. ”

Lu Shanji saw that Fang Zhenghua said solemnly, and hurriedly took the secret decree and opened it to look at it silently.

Emperor Chongzhen asked Fang Zhenghua to bring Lu Shanji's secret decree, in addition to telling Lu Shanji his own principles for dealing with the generals and soldiers who participated in the rebellion in the Zhenwu Battalion and Guangwu Battalion, he also pointed out a method that Lu Shanji could take when quelling the rebellion.

This method is known as the Eleventh Kill Rule.

The law of 11 killings is a method used by the ancient Roman army to punish sergeants and pawns for collective disciplinary violations, mutiny or rebellion, and it is precisely the psychology that the law does not hold the public accountable.

Most people think that if everyone violates discipline collectively, it is not called a violation of discipline, and the above does not dare and is unwilling to impose severe punishment on everyone.

It was in order to prevent the recurrence of this herd mentality or collective discipline violations, and the ancient Roman general Sulla, who quelled the Spartacus uprising, invented this method.

For collective discipline violations, sometimes there are more people, so naturally they can't kill them all. But what if you can't afford not to dispose of it? Just choose one of the ten people by random lot, or one of the ten people who will be democratically launched and killed.

In this way, all those who follow the rebellion or violate discipline en masse are likely to be severely punished, and the deterrent effect is much better than just eliminating the first evil.

Of course, now that Emperor Chongzhen told Lu Shanji this method, in addition to setting a precedent and rules for severe punishment for the collective mutiny that may occur in the army in the future, so as to achieve the purpose of deterring arrogant soldiers and fierce generals, there are other intentions.

For example, the two battalions of rebels, who were originally gathered for profit and were not united, became even more scattered, and even internal strife and civil strife occurred.

Lu Shanji finished reading the secret decree given to him by Emperor Chongzhen, and naturally understood the emperor's thoughts, he handed the secret decree back to Fang Zhenghua's hands, Fang Zhenghua took it and handed it to Zhu Jiasan, nodded at him, Zhu Jiasan immediately took out the flint fire sickle velvet he carried with him, made a fire, and turned the scroll of paper into ashes in front of Lu Shanji.

In the blink of an eye, noon has arrived.

Yang Guozhu and Zu Dabi took Yang Shengyuan and hurried over from the city, went up to the city, and saw Lu Shanji, Fang Zhenghua and others who had been sitting on the city tower waiting for news, and immediately said: "Report to the Inspector, Peng Qigu, Zhang Zhengchao and others took the people to the Bell and Drum Tower, saying that they would meet the Inspector on the Bell and Drum Tower to discuss the aftermath of the mutiny. The lowly rank asked him to come to the north gate, but Peng Qigu, Zhang Zhengchao and others just refused to come. ”

Hearing this, Lu Shanji and Fang Zhenghua glanced at each other, nodded to each other, and Lu Shanji immediately said: "That is the case, Yang Guozhu and Zu Dabi, you lead the way, Wu Xiang, you lead people to stay at the north gate." The headquarters and Fang's father-in-law reluctantly made it difficult to go to the Bell and Drum Tower to meet this Peng hairpin Gu Zhang Zhengchao. ”

After saying this, a group of generals arranged to stop, Yang Guozhu and Zu Dabi led the troops in front, and Lu Shanji and Fang Zhenghua led people behind, all the way to the Bell and Drum Tower.

The bell and drum tower of Ningyuan City is located in the very center of this square city. The east-west and north-south main roads that run through the city meet here, and the Bell and Drum Tower are at this intersection.

The whole bell and drum tower is three stories high, and people stand on the upper floor, you can overlook the whole Ningyuan City.

If you look north at this time, if you have good eyesight, you can see clearly how many people are coming from the north gate.

At this moment, Peng Haigu, Zhang Zhengchao, Li Mingfu, and Wu Guoqi stood on top of the Bell and Drum Tower, staring at the direction of the north gate with great thoughts.

At this time, Li Mingfu said: "Big brother, they are here!" ”

The four of them are of the same age, and the eldest brother Li Mingfu refers to Peng Qigu, because in the Guangwu camp, Peng Qigu is a general, and Li Mingfu is a guerrilla, and he is his top boss.

Peng Qigu looked at Zhang Zhengchao and said, "Brother Zhengchao, you and my two battalions of brothers have followed us to this day, brother, I don't want them to end up." What do you think? Let's take a step back and earn a way out for our brothers, what do you think? ”

Zhang Zhengchao in history, although he did not get the punishment he deserved, but the dozen or so people who were finally beheaded were all scapegoats for him and Zhang Sishun who betrayed Yuan Chonghuan.

Therefore, this person does not have any belief in death, but if he is given a way to live, he will not go to the road of death by himself.

However, before Zhang Zhengchao could speak, Wu Guoqi said first, only to hear him say: "Brother Peng, in this situation, you have to rely on you, big brother, to turn around." The brothers accidentally killed those civil officials, and I am afraid that this matter will not be good. Brother, I have a heart-wrenching word, as long as a few of our brothers can keep their wealth and nobility, tie up a few bastards who burn and kill and loot, hand them over to the Governor, and cut them in public, yes, give an explanation to the emperor Lao Tzu, yes, calm the anger of the people in the city, and it is a good thing for everyone. Brother Zhengchao, don't you say? ”

Since Zhang Zhengchao took the plunge to launch the mutiny, he has not been able to sleep for a few days in a row, and now his mind is like a mess, afraid and tired, physically and mentally exhausted, and is already on the verge of collapse.

He was just about to speak, but he heard Li Mingfu, a guerrilla in the Guangwu camp, say again: "Now that we have publicly recommended Brother Peng as the leader, we should be the only brother to take the lead, this is also what you said at the beginning, brother, does this still count?!" ”

Zhang Zhengchao first rubbed his face with both hands, and then sighed and said, "What else is there to say now?!" Brother, I am already in a mess now, and I am discussing the matter of appeasement with the Inspector, how can I be a chief official, how can I interject my mouth, naturally it is all up to Brother Peng's opinion. ”