Chapter 33: The Pit Sacrifice

Gu Baihua and the others, who had been waiting outside the forest for a long time, saw Gao Tengdou come out and said hello, and then several people gathered together and began to discuss the method of sweeping the temporary camp in the forest of the officers and soldiers.

Luo Shifan felt a little unfinished. There was hardly any commotion, except that he rode back and forth for a while, and saw the backs of several enemies fleeing into the forest from a distance. However, after all, he was born as a young master of the county, and he was curious at most, and his desire to personally participate in the killing was far less strong than that of the warriors.

Guan Jianlin is different, although people in this era do not understand the truth that the feeling of adrenaline surge will gradually become addictive, but the picture of blocking the front of the good brother and the little master and immediately slashing the enemy general angrily has been haunting in his mind for most of the day since last night, and in the end he just ran back and forth a few times, and he had nowhere to vent his strength, and he was so irritable and uncomfortable that he wanted to cut a few knives no matter what he saw. At this moment, I heard that there was still a camp that had not been copied, and no one could stop me if I wanted to participate in it anyway.

Gu Baihua and Gao Tengdou were helpless to quarrel, so they had to agree, and Guan Jianlin stopped. However, it is easy to pull out an auxiliary camp, but it is a bit difficult to wipe out all the dog officers and soldiers: the auxiliary soldiers in the camp will be very scattered during the day when hunting, cutting grass and chopping wood, and they themselves are located in a place where it is convenient to enter and exit. There are many places in the forest that need to be led on foot to pass, and cavalry is difficult to use...... Guan Jianlin didn't care about that, and noisily brought twenty foot soldiers to cut it all the way - in order to stop him from making trouble, the two scared him and stayed honestly on the side, otherwise they wouldn't take him there, so he closed his mouth angrily and circled around.

The two discussed for a long time and didn't come up with any clues, Gu Baihua suddenly glanced at Gao Tengdou and snorted at Luo Shifan. Gao Tengdou turned his head to look and saw that the little master's head was crooked again, and he was drawing on the ground with a branch in his hand, and he stopped his mouth in understanding, patiently waiting for him to figure out the ghost idea. It didn't take much effort, Luo Shifan figured it out, turned his head and said: "Two big brothers, I have a ...... plan" Halfway through speaking, he noticed that the two guys were looking at him with a wicked smile on their faces, and he was stunned for a moment, and asked, "Why do you look at me like this?" ”

Gu Baihua smiled: "We are waiting for the little master's clever plan. The little master speaks quickly. ”

Luo Shifan scratched his head and smiled embarrassedly: "The two eldest brothers laughed. I think it's okay for them to fall into the net......"

The sun shone through the leaves of the trees in the west, and the auxiliary soldiers of Yanchang County returned to camp one after another. Today's harvest was not big, only a hare was trapped, but fortunately, a few big fish were caught in the extended water. After a while, seeing that the food was almost done, everyone stretched their legs and sat down to wait for the soldiers to return. After a while, I heard someone shouting in the distance, and they all got up alertly, and someone walked a few steps in the direction from which the sound came from and listened carefully.

"Come and help!" The shouting was closer, it was Han Dong's voice.

The two auxiliaries hurriedly ran over, and the others gathered together and whispered and speculated.

Running along the newly opened path for more than ten zhang, turning a bush, I saw Han Dong holding a person from a distance, his head resting on Han Dong's right shoulder, the iron helmet was crooked and he couldn't see his face clearly, his left arm was wrapped around Han Dong's neck, and the other half of his body was covered with a bloodstained cloak, thinking that the injury was not light.

Seeing someone coming, Han Dong's body tilted, as if he couldn't hold it anymore, so he leaned on a tree beside him and shouted: "Call them all, we are ambushed, and there are wounded people behind!" ”

The two turned around and waved and shouted, "Come here, come here to help!" Hearing this, the auxiliaries rushed to the trail and crashed headlong into the ambush circle.

In the evening, near the auxiliary barracks outside the east gate of Yan'an Mansion.

The auxiliaries were holding a wooden bowl mixed with a little meat and a few stars of oily flowers and wild vegetable soup in one hand, and holding a multigrain cake in the other, excitedly squeezing into a semi-circular circle, pushing and hugging each other, trying to get closer to see more clearly, and those behind simply moved wooden stones and stepped on them, stretching their necks to look into the circle. The inner layer of the semicircle is the armor soldiers who went out today, pressing the handle of the knife with their hands, and their jaws are so proud that they have to tilt for half a day. The innermost layer is the death squad members who walked before the gate of the ghost gate today, holding sticks and leather whips in their hands, cursing, and mercilessly whipping the captured officers and soldiers who were digging the pit.

The officers and soldiers all know that they have no physiology, and the only thing they can hope for is that death will come sooner, and it is better to leave a whole corpse, and not to be a headless ghost in the underworld, starving all day long, and being bullied by others.

The first excavated soil was piled up into a mound for the altar, and a few incense sticks were ceremoniously inserted in front of it. This was Luo Yonghao's idea. According to Guan Shengyun, he killed all the officers and soldiers, and threw the corpses into Yanshui, how simple. It's best to drift down the river to Yanchang and teach those dog officers a hard lesson. Master Luo didn't want to startle the snake too early, and he needed to boost the enthusiasm of the auxiliary soldiers, so he suggested that a memorial ceremony be done for the coolies to see. The reason is very good, Master Luo is the backbone of the handsome, so there is this scene. In fact, Master Luo still has a trace of unbearability in his heart: he is also unwilling to turn so many people into headless ghosts - in that era, people looked at the afterlife much more seriously than today.

Leaving a whole corpse for the enemy is also a kind of helpless kindness.

Master Luo's wish not to let the dying suffer more sins was not fully realized: just now, there was a guy who saw that he was going to dig a pit by himself, and he knew that he would die, so he tried to struggle and resist with a wooden shovel. The end was very miserable: several spearmen teasingly surrounded the fellow, and when he had lost his strength, first several guns were pierced into the thighs, and when he fell to the ground, his arms and shoulder blades were pierced again, and the man collapsed into a pile like soft noodles, and was immediately tied to the altar and became the first sacrifice.

There has always been a craft in the Ming army: slashing living people.

In particular, in siege warfare, whether it was against the northern rebels who resisted the officers and soldiers in the fortified villages, or the Miao barbarians in the southwest who killed officials and rebelled, this performance almost became a pre-war repertoire, which could greatly boost the morale of one's own side, deal a heavy blow to the enemy's arrogance, and spread terror. Gao Tengdou was born in the old Ming army, and he had seen the craftsmanship of the commander in the past, so he pulled his sleeves and went down in person.

The performance in the army is very different from the "torture" on the execution ground.

The punishment is a thousand knives in folklore, and the most is the "fish scale cut" that has to cut 3357 knives, and the meat picked off each time is only the size of a fingernail. The more famous one is the eunuch Liu Jin, which lasted for a total of three days. On the first night, in order to keep him alive and continue to suffer, the guards even fed him a bowl of porridge to drink. Another famous person was later Yuan Chonghuan, and every piece of meat that the executioner picked up was bought by the onlookers and "eaten raw......

However, these two cases are imperial orders and cannot be sloppy. In other cases, the executioner will also watch the people do something on the plate. For example, if the sufferer's family has money, he can suffer less - if he has enough money, "according to me, he will pierce the heart first"! Kill with a knife, and the rest is just a formality. Of course, there is no deception for clearly marking the price, and there are rules for how much money to be given, how many knives to be killed, and then to death. Otherwise, everyone wants to lower the price, and the executioner's income is not guaranteed. The money is not all the main knife, and a considerable part of it has to be "honored". Don't look at the dignified adults who are muttering "gentlemen are far away from cooking", the blood on their hands and the money in their pockets are much more than the executioners with a fierce and evil appearance!

Those who don't have enough money to buy a good time will have a different story.

In fact, not only the execution, but even the most "gentle" hanging, the death penalty, is business. Give enough money, "one twist will make you lose your breath", otherwise, when the person faints, put it down, and the executioner sits on the side and waits for the cold water to splash the death row prisoner back to the sun, and hang it again! The most is the "nine twists": wake up eight times and hang nine times.

Whether it is beheading and abandoning the city or cutting with a thousand knives, there are prison officials, and he is the one who gives the order to execute. The prison presents a wooden sign with the name of the prisoner written on it, and the prison officer uses a red pen to tick it, which is called "hook execution", which is regarded as completing the final procedure. At that time, people were generally superstitious and afraid that evil spirits would ask for their lives, so the prison officer would not sit on the side facing the execution table, which meant that I couldn't see you, it had nothing to do with this matter, and don't come to me in the future. Legend has it that ghosts are afraid of red, and the official uniform represents the unsurpassed authority of the imperial court, and all evils are inviolable, so they must wear a red official uniform. When the sentence is decided, the supervisor will not directly tick the mark, but hang the pen there, and the prison will put the wooden sign with the name of the prisoner on the tip of the pen and drag it, and then throw the pen away, which still means that the person's killing has nothing to do with himself: your name is not my tick, I just raised a pen, and if you want to ask for your life, please find someone else. The prison holding the sign also has something to say: I just hold up a sign and shake it, who knows that there is a hook pen there!

Everybody is carrying out orders, everybody seems innocent, everybody has a set of rhetoric. However, everyone has blood on their hands that cannot be washed away for a lifetime!

The executioner will first salute the offender, say the scene: "I am acting on orders, do not complain about this, who should be found in the future", and then punch the prisoner in the chest as he exhales. A breath has been exhaled, the heart and lungs are hit again, squeezing out the only remaining air in the chest, the body will reflexively open its mouth wide to try to inhale more air, at this time, the executioner will put the hemp walnut held in his left hand into the prisoner's mouth, so as not to cut the flesh for a while and exhale in pain and affect the mood of work. The first two blows should be stabbed on the upper eyelid of the prisoner, and before it could be cut, it should be lowered to cover the eyes—as a rule, the executioner did not want to touch the gaze of the victim. The next two knives will rip off the two breasts of the criminal: the legendary Xingtian was beheaded by the Yellow Emperor and used the milk as the goal, and the executioner was also taboo.

The big slashers in the army are not so particular, but they are more tragic. While shocking the enemy, you must also ensure your own safety, so as not to be injured by the enemy's bow and arrow, you have to perform outside the enemy's arrow - such a distance, if you want to produce the best audio-visual effect, you must not gag your mouth, the louder the shout, the better, the cut meat must be long enough for the enemy to see clearly, and it must be delayed for a long time, so that the enemy can gather more audiences...... It is said that some generals are so skilled that only skeletons are left in their limbs, and their stomachs and intestines are flowing all over the ground, without harming their vocal cords or respiratory system, and the tortured people can still scream.

So, it's also a technical job.

Gao Tengdou did the first operation, but the effect was not the best, and after a little more incense, the guy tied to the stake was silent. Later, he himself felt that it was no fun to cut it any further, so he took a step back and slashed his knife across his neck, picked up the head on the ground and threw it in front of the altar, ending the performance. However, this scene was enough for those officers and soldiers to honestly dig a hole for themselves.

Seeing that the sky was darkening and the big pit was dug deep enough, Guan Shengyun ordered to light a torch, walked to the altar and bowed with his fists and said, "Brothers, Guan Mou has avenged you!" ”。 There was a heartfelt cheer from the auxiliaries - apparently, they had no memory of who had caught them here and landed in such a field not long ago.

Guan Shengyun actually disdains this. However, Master Luo said that the dead are the greatest, and the boss personally officiating at the sacrifice can greatly boost the morale of all the brothers, so he came over and went through the motions.

Seeing his companions with their arms and legs tied being forced to jump into the pit with knives and guns, Han Dong turned around and knelt on the ground, and kept crying and begging Guan Jianlin: "General, general! You promised that the villain would not kill the villain if you lured them out! The general spares his life, the general......"

Before Guan Jianlin could speak, Gu Baihua smiled gloomily: "It's true that he agreed." I hear you. ”

As if grasping a life-saving straw, Han Dong took a few steps to Gu Baihua's knees and kowtowed again: "Thank you, General!" Thank you to the general for saving his life, the villain will remember the general's great kindness and virtue for the rest of his life......"

Gu Baihua interrupted Han Dong's cry with compassion: "I did hear him agree. But did you hear me say yes? ”

Hearing this, Han Dong was stupid on the spot.

Gu Baihua then roared sharply: "Even if the general agreed," he stretched out his hand and pointed at the group of decoy auxiliaries who escaped death, "Did you hear them agree?" Will they say yes? ”

The old man, who had begged for mercy earlier, approached and flew a kick: "Dog thief! Did you ever have the slightest thought of sparing us before? As he spoke, he raised the wooden stick in his hand and struck at him until Han Dong rolled into the bottom of the pit.

The auxiliaries rushed over and began to fill the pit, and a few guys who were trapped by Han Dong at the bottom of the pit braved the sand flying from their heads, gritted their teeth and struggled to move towards Han Dong, their arms were tied and they lowered their heads and opened their mouths to bite them, Han Dong's sharp cry quickly turned into a whimper, and after a long time, the sound in the pit gradually weakened.

When it is buried in the chest, the person's breathing becomes more and more rapid. The chest cavity is squeezed by the soil and sand, and it will naturally expand desperately to try to accommodate more inhaled air, but with exhalation, after the lungs empty the air, the chest cavity contracts, and the gap with the soil will be filled with the falling sand again, and with each breath, the chest cavity can expand less and less...... Repeat until you suffocate.

Guan Shengyun did not wait to fill in the big pit before ordering the troops to be withdrawn. He suddenly remembered the moment when he paid tribute to his father-in-law Lu Yong, he wanted to leave these dozens of naked human heads outside and rushed to the altar.

Master Luo originally wanted to persuade a few words to go into the ground and die a hundred times, but after thinking about it, seeing the auxiliary soldiers out of the camp every day can also boost their motivation. According to the current progress, there are still two days at most, and the raft will be enough for the troops, and it will not be impossible for people to bury it then, so there is no sound.

As everyone knows, these dozens of heads really came in handy later.

This knowledge point:

All kinds of death penalty cats.