Chapter 53: Excesses

Due to the fierce toxicity of the huge poison quenched on the dagger by Lu Qian and others, and Zeng Zhilin's short but fierce fight with the assassin after being stabbed, which accelerated the speed of the toxin's invasion of the body, although the military doctor of the Right Route Army tried his best to rescue him, he still could not get him out of danger, and Zeng Zhilin was still in a coma.

The commander was assassinated, seriously injured and did not wake up, Wu Pingdong, the deputy general of the Right Route Army and the commander of the Fourth Composite Infantry Division of the "Flying Dragon Army", did not dare to slack off at all, he ordered to closely monitor the movements in Jurong City, and on the other hand, he ordered people to rush to Jinling City with his own handwritten letters, and reported to the commander of the Southern Expeditionary Army, the fifth brother Wang Kunjun, and asked for help.

Although he did not fully approve of what Lao Twenty-six did, although he felt that Lao Twenty-six paid too much attention to his own prestige and overemphasized that it was wrong to "surrender without a fight", although he thought that it would be beneficial for Lao Twenty-six to act more cautiously and cautiously in the future, although Lao Twenty-six himself and his personal guards should bear some responsibility for the occurrence of the assassination incident, although the mastermind of the assassination was not the Jurong County Commander but Lu Xuan, who had a deep grudge against the Zhou army because he was defeated and annihilated, but no matter what, The success of this assassination incident was caused by the fact that Jurong County ordered to listen to the demagogy of others and allow members who had nothing to do with the matter to enter the negotiation site without authorization, so the necessary punishment could not be avoided.

Due to the fierce toxicity of the huge poison quenched on the dagger by Lu Qian and others, and Zeng Zhilin's short but fierce fight with the assassin after being stabbed, which accelerated the speed of the toxin's invasion of the body, although the military doctor of the Right Route Army tried his best to rescue him, he still could not get him out of danger, and Zeng Zhilin was still in a coma.

The commander was assassinated, seriously injured and did not wake up, Wu Pingdong, the deputy general of the Right Route Army and the commander of the Fourth Composite Infantry Division of the "Flying Dragon Army", did not dare to slack off at all, he ordered to closely monitor the movements in Jurong City, and on the other hand, he ordered people to rush to Jinling City with his own handwritten letters, and reported to the commander of the Southern Expeditionary Army, the fifth brother Wang Kunjun, and asked for help.

Although he did not fully approve of what Lao Twenty-six did, although he felt that Lao Twenty-six paid too much attention to his own prestige and overemphasized that it was wrong to "surrender without a fight", although he thought that it would be beneficial for Lao Twenty-six to act more cautiously and cautiously in the future, although Lao Twenty-six himself and his personal guards should bear some responsibility for the occurrence of the assassination incident, although the mastermind of the assassination was not the Jurong County Commander but Lu Xuan, who had a deep grudge against the Zhou army because he was defeated and annihilated, but no matter what, The success of this assassination incident was caused by the fact that Jurong County ordered to listen to the demagogy of others and allow members who had nothing to do with the matter to enter the negotiation site without authorization, so the necessary punishment could not be avoided.

Originally, according to the plan of Wang Kunjun and Xu Shao'an, they forced the residents of Jurong County to hand over Lu Qi, the initiator of the assassination incident, and his close confidants, and beheaded these people together with the Jurong County Order. What Wang Kunjun and Xu Shaoan didn't expect was that Lu Xuan, who knew that he could not escape the blame, in order to protect himself, or in order to increase his bargaining chips with the Zhou army, after missing the opportunity to escape, he began to spread rumors in Jurong City, saying that the siege of the Zhou army because of the assassination of the commander was the Zhou army's rebellion, and took the opportunity of negotiation to detain the county commander and his entourage and secretly kill them, so that the soldiers and civilians in the city lost their backbone, so as to provide conditions for their subsequent destruction and plunder. The reason why the Zhou army wanted to slander himself and his entourage as the main messengers of the illusory assassination incident was because he was currently the highest official in the city and the only official who knew the military battle array.

As a result, when Muter, who was in charge of taking over Zeng Zhilin's post, and Xue Yongren, the "Xue Divine Doctor" who was responsible for saving Zeng Zhilin's life, rushed to the camp of the Right Route Army outside Jurong City for three days, they sent Wang Kunjun and Xu Shaoan two pieces of news, one good and one bad.

The good news is that after Xue Yongren's treatment, and also thanks to the dividends brought by crossing the physique, Zeng Zhilin has woken up and can communicate with others. Although he has not been able to get out of bed for a short period of time, he is no longer in danger of life; The bad news is that because of Lu Juan's demagogy and incitement, the military and civilian officials of Jurong County not only rejected Muter's request to hand over Lu Qian and his accomplices in exchange for the safety of the lives and property of the gentry and people in the city, but also took advantage of the unpreparedness of the envoy to suddenly release cold arrows and shoot him to death under the city.

Zeng Zhilin woke up and was out of danger of his life, which made Wang Kunjun and Xu Shaoan breathe a sigh of relief, but as the so-called "two countries exchange troops, do not kill the envoys", Jurong County's refusal to hand over the assassin and shoot the messenger to death is neither reasonable nor reasonable, and Wang and Xu can't help but be angry and angry. At this time, their attitude towards Jurong County was much worse than when they first heard that Zeng Zhilin had been assassinated and injured, and they began to have the idea of not only dealing with those directly responsible for the assassination incident, but also punishing the military and civilian officials, gentry and common people of Jurong County who did not know right from wrong and were gullible in people's words.

However, considering that although the gentry and people in the city refused to hand over the murderer and shoot the messenger to death, they were after all bewitched by others and did not resist the southern expedition from the heart, so although Wang Kunjun and Xu Shaoan were angry in their hearts, they had not completely given up on the gentry and people of Jurong County, and still regarded them as objects to be fought for. Therefore, on the one hand, Wang Kunjun ordered the Right Route Army to continue to besiege Jurong County and not teach one of them to escape, but on the other hand, he also ordered the "Dark Feather" branch of the county to try to spread the truth of the assassination in the city, as well as the real demands of the Southern Expeditionary Army to the gentry and common people in the city, in order to refute the rumors.

Wang Kunjun and Xu Shaoan hoped that the gentry and people of Jurong County would distinguish between things, recognize the form, and make the right choice, but Lu Qian and his confidants in the city obviously did not think so. Because once the gentry and people in the city find out the truth of the matter, they will be abandoned by everyone like a cover, and handed over to the Zhou generals outside the city who hate to eat their flesh and sleep on their skin. Therefore, as soon as he discovered that some people in the city seemed to be deliberately spreading remarks contrary to what they had said to the people, Lu Qian took advantage of his current temporary control of the power of the Jurong government to order the officials of the county government and the defenders in the city to monitor the whole city. For a time, there was a lot of noise in Jurong County, and everyone was in danger, and hundreds of people were arrested and put in prison in just a few days, including two "dark feather" agents.

Although these two "dark feather" agents denied that they were involved in the spread of news, they did not admit that they were Zhou Jun's secret agents. But in a relatively closed space, in a small county town where the neighbors in the streets and alleys are familiar with each other, in front of the high reward offered by Lu Juan, under the personal participation of Lu Qian and his confidants in the interrogation, and after some careful peeling off the cocoon, Lu Qian finally found out the two "dark feather" agents.

It stands to reason that in wartime, when enemy spies are discovered and captured, they will either be tortured and excavated, or beheaded for public display, sacrifice the flag and swear to the army, or go all out to rebel and use it for their own use. But Lu Qian had other thoughts in his heart at this time, in his opinion, although now under his own strong pressure, even if the gentry and people in Jurong City have heard some news about the actual situation outside the city and the Zhou army, there is no clear opinion and understanding of this matter for a while. But after all, the paper can't contain the fire, as time goes on, more and more people will know the truth, and they will become more and more trusting of this statement, if it is allowed to develop, I am afraid that the gentry and people in the city will soon figure out the ins and outs of various situations inside and outside the city. At that time, as the pressure of the Zhou army on Jurong City increased, I am afraid that there is no need for them to make any more demands, and the gentry and people in Jurong City will tie themselves and their subordinates to the Zhou army.

The only way to do this now was to use these two Zhou spies to try to arouse the resentment of the gentry and people in the city against the Zhou army, and tie them to their chariots, so that they had to fight to the death with the Zhou army outside the city. Therefore, after careful discussion with a group of confidants and cronies, Lu Qian finally did not deal with it according to the previous combat practice, but pushed out the two "dark feather" agents and eight other eight other main participants who were considered to be the main participants in spreading the so-called "rumors", and gave them the identity of the Zhou army's secret agents, plus the charges of finding out the movements in the city, misleading the people, and facilitating the Zhou army's siege of the city, and displayed them in front of the county government to arouse public anger.

Lu Qian may not be very qualified as a commander of the army, but as a conspirator who instigates the people and inspires public resentment, he is very qualified. Through the instigation and demagogy of him and his confidants, he not only succeeded in mobilizing the anger of the onlookers against the Zhou army, but also successfully channeled the anger of the people to the ten so-called Zhou army spies, and added fists and kicks to them. As a result, in just one meal, ten so-called Zhou Army secret agents, including two "Dark Feather" agents, were beaten to death by the group, and none of them were spared.

Killing the spies who spread rumors and made secret agents for the Zhou army gave some catharsis to the depressed mood of the people in Jurong City during this time, but how did they know that it was precisely because of this kind of excesses that seemed to them to be very enjoyable and dripping, but it brought them a catastrophe.