Yu Baocheng held the knife and looked at the child rushing towards him in horror. I don't know if it's because he's too tired, his breathing is heavy and heavy. He could barely lift the knife, and could only look motionless at the killer who was constantly approaching him. Chen Weili saw that the situation was wrong, rushed over with a knife, and shouted: "Leader Yu." ”

Maybe it was Chen Weili's shouts that played a role, or maybe Yu Baocheng had planned to start acting. At the moment when Chen Weili's shout sounded, the little white wolf of Jinding Mountain flicked his backhand and knocked the chopped waist knife away. Then, with a slash, the heroic boy fell to the ground clutching his neck.

Chen Weili was about to applaud, but he suddenly felt that the state of the sentry leader Yu Baocheng was very wrong. His breathing was so heavy that it looked like he had exhausted all his strength from the battle. But he knew that Yu Baocheng's strength was not bad, and he shouldn't have been tired like this in such a short period of battle.

Chen Weili was a little suspicious that Yu Baocheng was injured somewhere, or that something was wrong. So he opened his mouth and asked, "Leader Yu, are you okay?" ”

Yu Baocheng didn't reply, he just stepped aside and turned the head of the leader of the thief sentry to the child lying on the ground. After that, he looked at the child who kept gurgling without saying a word. The boy stretched out a hand and clutched the head that was rolling towards him, still giggling and unable to speak. Yu Baocheng raised his waist knife with both hands and gave the child a happy heart.

After that, Yu Baocheng ordered a young thief who had fainted to the ground and tied him up. At the same time, he stopped the bleeding of the thief who had broken his arm on the side, and prepared to return to the camp with the two alive. Chen Weili asked Yu Baocheng again if there was anything wrong, Yu Baocheng's breathing gradually calmed down, and he replied that it was okay.

After cleaning up the battlefield, the unscathed officers and soldiers rushed back to the camp with the captured weapons and two live ones. On the way back, Yu Baocheng, who has always been optimistic about topics, became silent, and his face was gloomy and ugly. The other six didn't know why Yu Baocheng's mood had deteriorated, and they didn't dare to make a sound. So on the way back, it was clear that the officers and soldiers who had won a battle without injury, and the atmosphere was as bad as if they had suffered a big defeat.

……

"What's the matter with Bao Cheng, is he injured or sick. The whole person was gloomy and did not speak for a long time. I stayed alone in the tent and didn't come out, and he blasted me out when I went in. He Zongwei originally heard that Yu Baocheng, who went out to investigate, came back from a small victory without injury, and he wanted to congratulate him, but he was directly deflated and driven out.

"I don't know why I'm in a bad mood, leave him alone. Let him think about it alone, and he will talk to us when he wants to say it. Zhao Wankui had seen that Yu Baocheng was in a bad mood before, so he directly suggested that the big boss let Yu Baocheng go back to the tent to rest. At this time, Wei Heyong walked over, and some of the blood stains left on his body added a little bit of blood to the tent.

When Zhang Mengjin, the big boss, saw Wei Heyong's expression, he knew that there was already a result, so he opened his mouth and asked, "How are the two tongues that were caught?" ”

"The mouth is quite hard, and it is not a matter of whipping or soldering iron. In the end, I still came up with a housekeeping job, and they spit out everything they knew, but I haven't used these red embroidered shoes for a long time, and I wanted to try the brushing method. Wei Heyong was very excited because he was back in his old business. kept talking about his torture methods, and forgot to answer what Zhang Mengjin wanted to know. (Note 1)

Hearing the red embroidered shoes, the scalps of several of the former thieves in the tent were a little numb. The red embroidered shoe is actually a special iron shoe, which is burned red and put on the prisoner's foot, so the name is red embroidered shoe. If that's all it takes, it won't frighten a few thieves in the tent who have done all the bad things. It's that Wei Heyong is a little perverted, and he will perform some of his own special tricks after the red embroidered shoes.

First, the charred flesh from the prisoner's feet was cut off, and the prisoner was stuffed into his mouth, and the prisoner was asked what it tasted like. If the prisoner is still stubborn, he will stuff the prisoner's feet into a covered wooden cage, which is full of rats who have been hungry for a long time. The prisoner may have been numb to the pain before, but after the mask is lifted, the prisoner's mental defense will completely collapse when he sees the rat eating him. According to Wei Heyong's private statement, his master also taught him a follow-up move, but Wei Heyong had not yet encountered the opportunity to use it.

"You can't raise rats again, didn't Xiucai say that thing is not clean. Don't go crazy, and finally bring the plague god over. He Zongwei and Zhang Mengcheng once watched Wei Heyong's torture once, He Zongwei could barely hold on, but Zhang Mengcheng vomited directly. But then there was something that made Zhang Mengcheng even more devastated, Wei Heyong actually used human flesh to feed rats in the cottage. In the end, Zhang Mengcheng had to make up a statement that rats would provoke the plague god, so that Wei Heyong's little hobbies could be settled.

"I haven't touched a mouse in a while, and you just let me use it, and I can't find it in a while. The two thieves just put on the red embroidered shoes, and they recruited everything. Although there are some doubts about what Zhang Mengcheng said that rats will attract plague gods. But the brothers were all suspicious, and Wei Heyong never raised those little things anymore.

"Okay, Lao Wei, don't talk about those methods that make people panic, just tell the news you received." Zhang Mengjin didn't want to waste time, so he directly pulled Wei Heyong back to the point.

Seeing the displeasure of the big boss, Wei Heyong also realized that he had some Meng Lang, so he directly told the information. In addition to asking about a few hidden outpost locations, he got some information about the bandits. The most important news is that the thieves did not escape, and Hao Lin'an and others closed the door in Tiejiao City. Moreover, there is not much food in the old camp of the thieves, and if you can quickly attack and block them in the lair, it will be easy to clear out the thieves in Iron Horn City.

After listening to the information asked by Wei Heyong, Zhang Mengjin thought for a while and said, "Do you think you should tell Yang Jiamo, He Huchen and others about this news?" ”

"I said forget it, now Yang Jiamo and He Huchen know how to grab credit. And don't they look down on us degraders, why should we stick cold butts. "Guan Zhiqing was outside the security city and fought with He Huchen. When chasing and killing He Huchen's defeated army that day, Guan Zhiqing also almost killed He Huchen. This time, he led troops to support the big boss, and was recognized by He Huchen, so something unpleasant happened.

"Those officers and soldiers are really unpleasant, if it wasn't for Uncle Jiu to stop me last time, I would have chopped up those cheap miscellaneous pieces a long time ago." Zhang Zhaoen also remembered what happened to everyone outside the official army tent after Guan Zhiqing arrived that day. "Eighth uncle, let's just leave them alone and kill directly to Iron Horn City, grab all the credit, and see what they are arrogant."

After Guan Zhiqing and Zhang Zhaoen, the other leaders also remembered the wretchedness they had suffered in the past few days, and they all said that they wanted to get rid of the other officers and soldiers. Zhang Mengjin, under the encouragement of other leaders, also became more and more angry the more he thought about it, and finally decided to lead the people of Jinding Mountain to go it alone.

But in the following days, Yang Jiamo, He Huchen and others also marched quickly with their troops. They planned to continue to go deeper and attack the Iron Horn City two hundred miles away. It seems that the sentinels of the two generals have also collected some information for them. And the two gave an order to Zhang Mengjin and asked him to lead the team to deal with the periphery, not wanting him to snatch the credit.

Although Zhang Mengjin is in the Yansui Town system, he doesn't care so much about the orders of the two general soldiers of Gansu Town and Ningxia Town. But Zhang Mengjin's official position is not as good as Yang Jiamo and He Huchen after all, so some things are not easy to do too obviously. He could only restrain his hands and feet and rush to Tiejiao City, but Zhang Mengjin, who had ordered Confucius, still caught up with the battle of Hugou.

On the fifth day of the second month of the fifth year of Chongzhen, the official army brigade rushed to the ditch more than 30 miles outside Tiejiao City. Naturally, the thieves could not sit idly by and watch the officers and soldiers trap themselves, and several bandit leaders were stationed on the top of the mountain with thousands of troops to start a big battle with the officers and troops under the mountain.

……

"Huzi and his people hurried up to support, regardless of Yang Jiamo's words. As long as we take the mountain, the court will not care how we take it. Zhang Mengjin suddenly appeared on the battlefield with the team. Yang Jiamo, He Huchen and other officials and soldiers and the thieves on the mountain were a little caught off guard. Finding that the thieves' attention was focused on the troops of Yang and He, Zhang Mengjin decisively gave the order to attack the mountain.

The foot soldiers of Jinding Mountain, holding shields in their hands, swarmed up. Some of the thieves who reacted hurriedly cast rolling logs and falling rocks to block the attack of Jin Dingshan and others. However, because most of Mu Shi moved to the other side to block the troops of Yang and He, the foot soldiers of Jinding Mountain were not hindered too much, and they went up the mountain to fight with the thieves.

Ho Chong Wei struck with a shield shield and hit a thief who was blocking. His men immediately rushed forward and immediately forced the other thieves back. He Zongwei took advantage of this opportunity to solve the thief who was knocked down in front of him with a knife. At this time, a soldier from Jinding Mountain arrived and cut off the enemy's head. Since the battle had already been decided to offend people, Zhang Mengjin asked the team to select a beheaded soldier, and tried not to let the credit be snatched away by others.

"Leader He, quickly lead someone to come forward and kill him, Leader Li is going to kill him from there." A golden herald ran in front of He Zongwei and conveyed the latest military information. He Zongwei turned his head to look, and Li Yang's men and horses really killed from the other side.

At this time, Zhang Zhaoen's reinforcements are also about to arrive, and with them stationed here, there is no need to worry about the counterattack of the thieves. Therefore, He Zongwei immediately decided to continue to charge with his own troops, preparing to join Li Yang's men and horses. "Brothers, follow me, don't embarrass me in front of Lao Li."

Attacked by the officers and troops from several directions, the thieves suddenly felt overwhelmed, and soon gave up resistance, and everyone fled in the direction of Iron Horn City. And the officers and soldiers were unwilling to give up this opportunity to beat the water dogs, and began the pursuit with all their might. There were also some thieves of the organization who lost the last order in the retreat. The escapees dispersed the attackers, and the interceptors retreated because the brothers' brothers had lost sight of them. The officers and soldiers pursued them until they were outside the Iron Horn City before they regrouped their troops.

Yang Jiamo and He Huchen were disgusted by Zhang Mengjin's grabbing of merit, and demanded that his men and horses hand over the captured heads, and the credit should be divided by the battalion. Zhang Mengjin and the others naturally refused, and after a quarrel between the soldiers on both sides, there were several fights.

Although Zhang Mengjin's subordinates were well-equipped and well-trained, Yang and He were outnumbered after all. Therefore, Zhang Mengjin's side was deflated in the fight, and was robbed of a lot of heads by the other party. Zhang Mengjin, who was angry, immediately decided to be stationed separately from other officers and soldiers. However, Yang and He reacted faster, and arranged their troops in the open space around Iron Horn City in advance.

In the end, the 500 men and horses of Jinding Mountain had to set up their own camps farther away. It's just that Zhang Mengjin and others later discovered that the more than 3,000 officers and soldiers in Ningxia Town and Gansu Town were also stationed separately, and they faintly restrained each other. It seems that Yang Jiamo and He Huchen also have a lot of scruples about each other, and the two Ming army generals are not of the same mind.

No matter how filthy the more than 3,500 officers and soldiers outside the city. The thieves of Iron Horn seem to have despaired, and they send messengers to beg for peace from the officials. In the camp of the official army, the sub-guard of Hexi Province was strong on Sunday, and once again began his own policy of appeasement. Although the original trilateral governor Yang He has fallen, he still has not given up his governing philosophy. So he agreed in principle with the thief's idea, and now awaits the thief's further reply. (Note 2)

Regarding the distrust between the officials and troops outside the Iron Horn City, Sunday Qiang has already found out. Now that the thieves of Iron Horn City are ready to surrender, Sunday Qiang doesn't want things to go wrong. Therefore, he is ready to personally visit several brave generals to mediate the contradictions between the two sides one by one and smoothly pass this waiting time.

PS: Note 1: Red embroidered shoes have been introduced in the ancient novel "Tianyu Flower", 855 pages of the 1984 edition of Zhongzhou Ancient Books Publishing House. In the forty-first volume of the "Licheng County Chronicles" in the 37th year of Qianlong, it is recorded that the peasant army used it to collect wages. In the third volume of the "Xiaoting Continuation", "Picture and Text Xianggong Houde", it is recorded that this punishment was later abolished by the Qing Dynasty. However, according to the records of historical materials such as "Xiaoting Continuation", the red embroidered shoes may have been just torture by the Ming Dynasty Zhenfu Division, and other prefectures and counties may not have this punishment. As for the matter of the rats in the back, it is not an inherent punishment in the Ming Dynasty, but only Wei Heyong's own interest in this book, so readers who are interested in learning about it need not care about the original record here.

The brush is from Shen Wen's "The First Political Record of the Holy Monarch", which was created during the Zhu Yuanzhang period. During the execution, the executioner would strip the prisoner naked, lay naked on an iron bed, and pour boiling water on him several times. After that, an iron brush was used to brush the flesh and skin of the prisoner's body, just like the way the folk slaughter pigs were scalded with boiling water and then brushed. Generally, if the prisoner can't hold up the flesh and skin to expose the white bones, he will die directly. Because the original text says that "at the beginning of the country, there was a scrubbing outside the execution of Ling Chi", so this kind of punishment should only be a serious crime, and it is not an ordinary torture punishment, and it seems that it only existed in the early Ming Dynasty.

Note 2: Zhou Zhouqiang was originally the governor of Ningzhou, and under the promotion of Yang He, he got the position of guarding Hexi Road. Readers should note that this officer was stationed in the city of Qingyang Prefecture, and was two separate positions from the branch patrol of Yan'an Prefecture.