Zong Ze stared at Yang Zaixing, who was kneeling under the tent, with both anger and appreciation in his eyes. What is angry is that Yang Zaixing actually attaches such importance to personal favors, which is more important than the importance of military law and the importance of the 2,000 brave men who died in vain. But what I appreciate is Yang Zaixing's Spring and Autumn martyr's style. Although Cao Cheng has harmed many people, he saved the lives of Yang Zaixing's mother and son. This kind of unspeakable grace is indeed as heavy as Mount Tai.

Yang Zaixing is now just a rankless general, but he can not hesitate to give up the low-hanging position of control, and is only willing to exchange Cao Cheng's life. Since this is the case, Zong Ze decided to fulfill Yang Zaixing's righteous martyrdom.

But because Zong Ze thought about it for too long, the generals under his account had different ideas. Cao Cheng and the three of them knew that Zong Ze's military discipline was the strictest, since they could kill Zhao Shilong, who disturbed the people, Li Wang, who disobeyed military orders, and of course, they could also kill the three of them who abandoned the army and fled. Therefore, Cao Cheng has no hope of survival.

Yang Zaixing's decisive words moved Cao Cheng very much. It was only at this moment that Cao Cheng realized that he had really mistreated Yang Zaixing over the years. The roots of his ears are too soft, and he was fooled by Ma Hong, Liu You and others, and regarded Yang Zaixing, who was so loyal, as a domestic servant. Tears welled up in Cao Cheng's eyes, and he looked at Yang Zaixing and said, "I, Cao Cheng, can have a brother like you, and it is not in vain to have this life." ”

Ma Hong and Liu You did not have Cao Cheng's calmness, and the two of them were already scared to the point of weakness when they saw death in front of them. They all knelt on the ground with a thud, begging for mercy loudly with snot and tears, "Zong Shuai, the villain is just Cao Cheng's subordinate, and it was Cao Cheng's idea to fight today." The two of us are just acting on orders, and we are wronged. ”

When Cao Cheng heard that these two people had put all the charges on his head, he couldn't help but be furious, glared at Ma Hong and Liu You and scolded, "You two bastards! If you weren't bewildering on the sidelines, how could Lao Tzu run away? ”

Chen Quan sneered, "As the main general, don't you even have a little opinion?" To put it bluntly, I'm still afraid of death! If you are not afraid of death, you will not take the lead in escaping. ”

Dong Xian also answered next to him, "I have the heart to be greedy for merit, but I have no ability to make merit." Cao Cheng, the 5,000 heroes who lost nearly half of them today were all killed by your greed. ”

The other generals saw that Zong Ze was silent, and they began to sneer at Cao Cheng. It is also strange that Cao Cheng relied on the courage of the soldiers before, and was too domineering to the other rebel generals. Hardly any of the generals had a good impression of Cao Cheng. Now that Cao Cheng is in trouble, of course he has to fight up and beat the water dogs.

In the big tent, the only one who didn't speak was Yue Fei. Although Yue Fei knew that Cao Cheng was unwilling to be subordinate, sooner or later he would bring disaster to the world. Yue Fei also knew the weight of his heart in Zong Ze. If you speak by yourself, you can definitely influence Cao Cheng's life and death. But Yue Fei didn't want Cao Cheng to die now.

If Cao Cheng is executed now, the 100,000 righteous army he has entangled will definitely be scattered. No matter how powerful Yang Zaixing is, it is useless, he is just a personal general under Cao Cheng. Although Shaguzhi has been defeated now, Zong Han's hundreds of thousands of troops are on the north bank of the Yellow River, and Kaide Mansion and Huazhou City are fighting to the death with the Jin soldiers. The strength of the Song army is not as good as that of the Jin soldiers, so if you can have more strength, you must have more strength.

In addition, there was Yang Zaixing, who Yue Fei admired very much, in the middle, so Yue Fei decided to remain silent. Zong Shuai is a very assertive person, if he really wants Cao Cheng to die, no matter how many people plead. If he didn't want Cao Cheng to die, it would be useless to add fuel to the fire no matter how many people put him on fire.

But Zong Ze was unwilling to let Yue Fei be silent. He turned his gaze to Yue Fei and said in a deep voice, "Pengju, tell me your opinion?" Do you think Cao Cheng deserves to die? ”

Yue Fei pondered for a moment, and then said loudly, "Zong Shuai, the last general thinks that now that the Golden Dog army is looking at the Central Plains, and the big war is imminent, it is not appropriate to kill the general." Although General Cao is guilty, he can write down the crime for the time being, and let him make meritorious service with the guilt. If he behaves well, he will be reinstated, and if he does not behave, it will not be too late. ”

Yue Fei's words were a reminder to Zong Ze, who was as fiery as fire, that he must take care of Cao Cheng's 100,000 righteous army. These rebels were not the regular armies of the imperial court, and most of them were composed of the township party in Xiangzhou. Although they accept Zong Ze's leadership, in their hearts, they only recognize their leader Cao Cheng.

Zong Ze snorted coldly, seemingly extremely dissatisfied with Yue Fei's answer. However, Zong Ze no longer forced Yue Fei to express his position. He turned his face to Cao Cheng and said coldly, "Cao Cheng, although you have made great achievements in the past, you will also be rewarded for your achievements, and you have not owed you any credit." Today, if you have violated military law, of course the commander must also deal with it impartially. Originally, I wanted to behead you for public display to comfort the souls of more than 2,000 heroes. But for the sake of Yue Fei and Yang Zaixing's intercession for you, I will spare you from dying. ”

"Ahh Cao Cheng listened to Zong Ze's words halfway through, thinking that he was going to die. I didn't expect to escape death. Although Cao Cheng is not afraid of death, as a person with great ambitions, it is of course best not to die. So he immediately knelt on the ground, kowtowed heavily, and said, "Cheng Zi knows that today's sin is deep, the sect commander is merciful, spare Cheng immortal, and Cheng will be broken to pieces, in order to repay the great kindness of the sect commander." ”

Zong Ze glanced at his own soldiers, and someone immediately stepped forward to untie the rope for Cao Cheng.

"But the death penalty is forgiven, but the living sin is unforgivable. Come on, drag Cao Cheng down and beat twenty military staffs. ”

Cao Cheng's face showed a hint of bitterness. Twenty scepters are not easy to suffer, no matter how powerful a hero is, if he takes twenty scepters, it will be about the same. But Cao Cheng didn't say anything more. Because he understands that his life is completely picked up.

When he was taken out of the big tent by his own soldiers, Cao Cheng looked at Ma Hong and Liu You, who were still tied up by five flowers, with sympathetic eyes. When Ma Hong and Liu You saw Cao Cheng being untied, he thought that he would also be untied. Unexpectedly, after waiting for a while, no one came to loosen the tie. The two of them immediately felt a chill in their hearts, knowing that Zong Ze would not spare them.

Cao Cheng has at least one good brother, Yang Zaixing. Ma Hong and Liu You didn't even have a person to speak for them. When these two people were the kings of Taihang Mountain, their reputation was extremely bad. After being incorporated by Zong Ze, relying on Cao Cheng's relationship, he always spoke ill of other rebel generals.

Now that he is dying in front of him, he realizes how bad his popularity is.

But both men are cowards. Although he knew that he would die, he still wanted to fight for another chance to live. The two knelt on the ground together, kowtowed like garlic and said, "Zong Shuai, you can pity the poor villain." The villain is willing to give all his family wealth and just want to live. ”

Zong Ze watched the two of them perform like clowns with great disdain, and said coldly, "Push it out, cut it!" His head was hung at the gate of the camp for public display. ”

When Ma Hong and Liu You were pushed out of the big tent by their own soldiers, they were all scared. These two villains who once killed Zhang Suo in history finally have no chance to run to Jinghu South Road to kill Zhang Suo in this life.

Those who should be killed are killed, and those who should be spared should be spared, but those who should be rewarded have not been rewarded. Yang Zaixing still knelt under the big tent and did not get up. Zong Ze finally turned his gaze to Yang Zaixing again, and a smile finally appeared on his cold face.

"Yang Zaixing, get up. Ben Shuai has fulfilled your righteousness, should you also fulfill Ben Shuai's wishes? ”

Yang Zaixing knelt on the ground and said in a loud voice, "Thank you Zong Shuai for your success." Thank you General Yue for your generosity. Zong Shuai has an order, and he dares not to obey again. ”

"That's good! From this day forward, you will be the commander under my command. Ma Hong Liu You's troops are under your control, and I hope you can train another people's army for Ben Shuai. ”

Yang Zaixing said a little confused, "Zong Shuai, my credit has been exchanged for General Cao's life, and I don't dare to be so highly rewarded by Zong Shuai." ”

"There is no reason!" Zong Ze laughed and said, "Merit is merit, and passing is over." I spare Cao Cheng, I want to spare Cao Cheng. Your merits in cutting through the ancient quality of the sand are not rewarded, how can you serve the hearts of the people of the world. ”

Before Yang Zaixing could speak, Yue Fei said loudly beside him, "General Yang, you said that the sect commander had no choice but dared to disobey it, so you can't shirk it anymore." ”

Yang Zaixing finally nodded and said, "Follow the order of the commander of the sect." ”

"Now that you are a commander, you must have the appearance of a commander. You have to remember that you are no longer Cao Cheng's personal guard. In the future, you may ask me for advice on any matter of warfare, but you shall not send troops without permission. ”

Yang Zaixing claimed yes. After Zong Ze confirmed that he should be rewarded, it was already dark, and it was time for the military camp to open again. Zong Ze once again left a group of generals to dine in the camp. But Yang Zaixing clenched his fists and said, "Zong Shuai, the last general wants to go and see General Cao." ”

Zong Ze glanced at Yang Zaixing thoughtfully, waved his hand and said, "Go ahead." For personal matters, you don't need to ask me for advice. ”

Yang Zaixing walked out of the big tent and strode towards Cao Cheng's military camp. The expression on his face was like a cloud in the sky, cloudy and uncertain. But when he walked in front of Cao Cheng's tent, the expression on his face was extremely calm.

At this time, Cao Cheng's military camp was no longer the slaughter of yesterday. In the morning, the camp failed, and more than half of the 5,000 brave men who were carefully selected were lost. Most of the people who fled into the camp were wounded. Now the camp was filled with the sound of forcibly suppressed moans.

There were also forcibly suppressed moans in Cao Cheng's tent. Twenty military canes almost smashed Cao Cheng's ass. Although after returning to the camp, some soldiers gave him gold medicine. But the pain still made Cao Cheng hum.

When Yang Zaixing walked into the big tent, Cao Cheng was gulping down. Cao Cheng wanted to use drunkenness to forget the setbacks and pains he suffered today. Ma Hong and Liu You died, and his own rebels no longer respected him. This made Cao Cheng's heart extremely depressed.

Seeing Yang Zaixing walking into the big tent, Cao Cheng's eyes lit up, and he stood up from the bed all of a sudden, pulled the injury on his buttocks, and his mouth hurt crookedly. But Cao Cheng still walked in front of Yang Zaixing in a few steps, patted Yang Zaixing's shoulder with both hands, and said extremely excitedly, "Zaixing, you are finally back." You are really my good brother Cao Cheng. I used to treat you badly. I, Cao Cheng, swear to heaven that from today onwards, you are no longer my personal general, you are the second in command of the rebel army. 100,000 rebels, half of mine and half of yours. ”

Yang Zaixing looked at Cao Cheng very calmly, and said word by word, "Brother, I'm going to move out of this barracks today." Zong Shuai has just appointed me as the commander to control Ma Hong and Liu You's military horses. ”

Cao Cheng's face suddenly lost his excitement. He didn't expect Zong Ze to value Yang Zaixing so much, and actually handed over all the more than 10,000 horses of Ma Hong and Liu You to Yang Zaixing. Cao Cheng was a little skeptical that Yang Zaixing could control so many military horses. You must know that so far, Yang Zaixing has only commanded a thousand black armor troops at most.

Cao Cheng's mind spun extremely fast. Now that Yang Zaixing has become the commander, of course it is impossible to continue to be in his own battalion. So Cao Cheng said very affectionately, "Brother Yang was promoted, of course you are happy for you." However, you have never led so many military horses, in case something goes wrong, wouldn't you live up to the expectations of the commander of the sect? Or I'll send you some petty officers to help you stabilize the situation in the army first. Do you think it's okay? ”

Yang Zaixing shook his head and said in a deep but firm voice, "Brother, now your army also needs to be reorganized. I have already decided to borrow a hundred petty officers from General Yue. The combat power of the Protector Army, we have all seen, is indeed much stronger than us. ”

Cao Cheng's face darkened. "Brother Yang, are you going to leave me?"

"Brother Daen, Zaixing will never forget. But now the Jin people are in the north, righteousness is the sky, and private kindness is the earth. Zaixing came to see his brother today, first, to say goodbye to his brother, and second, to remind his brother that the Central Plains Sect Marshal and General Yue, it was better for the elder brother to let go of his unrealistic thoughts. ”

Unrealistic thoughts, of course, refer to Cao Cheng's ambition to be the king and emperor. When Cao Cheng heard this, he just snorted, and then arched his hand and said, "Brother Yang's words, Cao Cheng will naturally take it to heart." Cheng is injured, so he won't send Brother Yang. Drop-off. ”