Li Xu understood that those who locked themselves inside the walls, if he was still in Yi County, he would also take a bow and follow the elders of the clan to hide behind the fortress. When the imperial court could no longer protect the people, everyone had to find a way to protect themselves. Zhang Xutuo once mentioned to him that in the last troubled times, bandits would not usually storm a stronger fortress, but would come up with a number according to the fertility of the surrounding fields, and the defenders in the Zhuangzi would decide whether to pay or not. If the two sides can reach an agreement, they can get along well.

Everyone calls this kind of transaction peace fee, and obtaining it means spending money to buy peace. Zhuangzi paid for the supplies demanded by the bandits, and the other party was not allowed to attack again for a year, otherwise he would be ridiculed. Most bandits do what they say, but there are bandits who don't follow this rule. In that case, the men in the fortress will have to pick up their weapons and fight hard. Once the Zhuangzi is broken, usually no one will survive.

The owners of the farms in Henan obviously put the officials and bandits into the same category in their hearts, so when Zhang Xutuo's banner appeared outside their fortress, the first thing the owners thought of was to pay a part of the "peace fee" and ask the soldiers to hurry up and get on the road. As for opening the village gate to welcome guests, it is absolutely impossible, because even if the officers and soldiers outside are genuine, their discipline may not be much better than that of bandits. Moreover, in the past year, there have indeed been officials and soldiers pretending to be bandits to rob everywhere. And bandits pretending to be officials and soldiers to deceive people also happen from time to time.

After joining the Wagang Army, most of the bandits active in Dongjun, Dongping, Jiyin and other places adopted this method of collecting "peace fees". According to what he learned along the way, Li Xu was surprised to find that the money collected by several bandits under the banner of the Wagang Army from Zhuangzi seemed to be lower than the current tax of the Great Sui Dynasty. Of course, this refers to the actual expropriation figures, if you just look at the part of the imperial court that is expropriated on the surface, the people of the Great Sui Dynasty should be very rich. But if that happens, the local officials and officials will have no oil or water to fish. They won't work for the court in vain.

"The thief collects less than the government!" While thinking about these absurd facts, Li Xu led the brothers to get closer to the main force again. In the afternoon battle, thirty-six of his brothers were killed and one hundred and fourteen wounded. Add it together, and it is exactly one hundred and fifty reductions. There were about 10,000 defeated rebels, but not many were killed on the spot, and most of them fled over the mountains. There were also a small number of people who were captured by the officers and soldiers of Qi County because of their weak legs and feet or serious arrow wounds. Li Xu ordered people to tie up the neatly dressed ones with ropes, tie them around their waists, and escort them to Zhang Xutuo's Chinese army to torture the enemy.

"Victory?" Seeing Li Xu's safe return, Zhang Xutuo stepped forward with a smile and asked.

"Victory! More than 470 were killed on the spot, and more than 200 prisoners were captured. A few of them may be the ringleaders, and I'm betting them all over! Li Xu waved his hand behind him and motioned for Zhou Xing and the others to bring the captive.

"Okay, let the old man come and see how many generals Li Hou has captured today!" Zhang Xutuo stroked his beard and joked.

The introduction of the establishment of officers and soldiers into the ranks of the righteous army was a great innovation made by Li Mi after he arrived at Wagangshan. Nowadays, the tributaries who follow Yu Wagang have their own names, and the big and small leaders are no longer simply called the masters, but have a series of quite complete official titles from the general to the halberdier. Like the original Wagang leader Zhai Rang, now he is publicly promoted by the thieves as the Duke of Dongjun, the general, and the Shangzhu Kingdom. And Xu Maogong, the original second leader of Wagangshan, became the champion general and the head of the internal army.

In the past year or so, the Wagang army has swelled too fast, and the leaders who came to defect turned out to be not subordinate to each other, in order to show fairness, Li Mi assigned the official positions to everyone through Zhai Rang's hand is inevitably on the high side. According to the estimation of Li Xu and others, those with 3,000 minions in the thief army can be worshiped as generals, and those with more than 5,000 are generals. There were so many officers that the two sides had been fighting for more than half a month, and the county soldiers had already beheaded a Zhongwu general, a Xuanwei general and a Dingyuan general, and also captured more than a dozen Zhengwu Pin Lang generals alive.

The generals of Qi County had already learned about the flood of Wagang generals through the mouths of the captives a few days ago, so everyone was amused by Zhang Xutuo's words. When they had enough of laughing, the guards wiped their tears from laughter as they walked over to the captive team. Pick the best armor worn among them and pull it outward. This is the best way to identify the status of a captive, and it is basically nine out of ten. Once people who do the right thing for heaven get the benefits, they often take the benefits to themselves first.

The first person to be dragged into the tent by the axe man introduced himself as a ranger general, and his words were quite stubborn. Zhang Xutuo Wenyan asked him a few questions about the specific tactical arrangements of the Wagang Army, but he claimed that he did not know anything. Luo Shixin threatened to threaten him, but this person sneered and scolded: "If you want to kill, you will kill, and your head will not fall off but a big scar in the bowl." Anyway, since Lao Tzu embarked on this road, he never thought about living a long life! ”

"Well, I'll bury your body here, and have your name and surname engraved on the tombstone!" Seeing that the other party had no intention of begging for mercy, Zhang Xutuo waved his hand and ordered someone to escort him away.

"Thank you, the stele is engraved with Kuangcheng Li Huating!" Li Huating, the general of the Wagang rangers, smiled and strode out.

"This man is a man!" Looking at the back of the enemy general, Luo Shixin praised in a low voice. "It's a pity to be a bandit, otherwise it would be in line with my temperament!"

"When there is a war, it is a heroic man who dies." Zhang Xutuo also shook his head with emotion. If it were five years ago, a man like Li Huating might not be able to do things for the country. And now, he can only turn into a handful of loess in the middle of the wilderness early.

"If there is a chance to get a career, who wants to be a thief? Didn't Master Zhang see it? This person is not afraid of death, but he cares very much about his official name and surname! Wu Yulin, the Beihai County Cheng who came with everyone to beg for thieves, was careful and reminded in a low voice on the side.

His words caused a sigh. The people in the tent had been fighting with the bandits for many years, and earlier, most of the people were thieves because they couldn't survive. Since the beginning of this year, a large number of low-level government officers, low-level officials and unambitious scholars have appeared among the enemy. They are thieves in order to get ahead, with a clear purpose, and they play a considerable role among the thieves. With the help of these people, many of the largest rogues settled down and began to run their own nests from city to city.

If the imperial court had given a little space to people from civilian backgrounds in the selection of officials, perhaps the rebellions in various places would not be so serious. But this assumption has no possibility of realizing at all, and the government of the Great Sui Dynasty is in the hands of the family, and they will not make measures to harm their own interests.

The second prisoner who was pushed into the tent was obviously still a child, with a beard just growing from his mouth and a somewhat childish voice. He had an arrow wound to his thigh and a large horseshoe print on his chest, so he could not walk steadily. But when answering Zhang Xutuo's words, he tried to straighten his body.

"Strong man is expensive this year?" Learning from the lesson of the last time, Zhang Xutuo decided to interrogate in a different way. Based on the experience he has summed up in dealing with rogues for many years, young people do not have many scheming, and it is easier to get out of their mouths.

"What do you say? I don't understand! The young man's eyes widened, and his voice was extremely strong.

"Your Excellency asks you how old you are?" Wu Yulin repeated Zhang Xutuo's question again.

"Fifteen, of the chickens. What is this for? Do you still want to let me go home? The young man puffed up his chest and tried to look like an adult.

"It's okay to let you go home, but you have to tell me your name first, and what kind of officer you are in the thief army. Where are the other teams, and what arrangements have Li Mi made! Zhang Xutuo smiled kindly and said.

His face was not too fierce, and his smile was more like that of a loyal elder. Unexpectedly, the other party was not fooled, spit bloody spit into the ground, and said proudly: "I am called Yellow Dog, there is no tuba." He is the captain of Zhenwei of the Weicheng Battalion of the Wagang Army. The brethren of our battalion were defeated today by the big black man among you, and the other battalions are on the nearby hills, and I don't know where they are! As for what arrangements Master Li made, he would definitely not tell me. So it's useless for you to ask me! ”

"Lie! Since you are already a military cadet, you should naturally know what the specific arrangements for this battle are. Could it be that Li Mi casually said a place, and you came to die without asking? Zhang Xutuo straightened his face and made a fierce appearance and shouted.

"Why do you ask me if you know I'm going to lie?" The yellow dog stared at the black and slippery eyes, and looked at Zhang Xutuo without fear.

There was only calmness and determination in those eyes, Li Xu watched from the side, and couldn't help but feel sorry for the other party in his heart. This year is the year of Yihai, and the Rooster is just in his early 14th, about the same size as when he came out of the fortress, but he was lucky enough to avoid the conscription that year, and since then he has made great achievements because of various opportunities. And if nothing else, the life of the young man in front of him is about to end. The county soldiers had traveled long distances, and they were still under the support of the enemy, so it was impossible to leave too many prisoners. Those who confessed quickly could also be taken to the back camp as a coolie. As for those who refused to surrender, they were almost immediately killed. The young man clearly chose the latter, and was undaunted.

"Don't you want to go home? Think about home, think about your grandmother! Unwilling to let the young man go to his own death, Li Xu leaned to the other party's side and almost enlightened in a begging tone.

"I don't have a home. Grandpa was arrested by you the year before last and went to Liaodong, and he hasn't come back yet. A-Niang's body is weak and she can't stand hunger. Also died last spring. My lord, if you let me go home, my home is underground, do you still need to beg you to let me go? Yellow Dog Remnant tilted his head and glanced at him, and replied with a sneer.

"I'm not a thief, you are!" He spat at another mouthful of blood and cursed hatefully.

[Remember the URL . 三五Chinese网]