Chapter 135: Condemning the people
Qi Ling is a local tycoon in the east of Tugu County. He owns a dock and only has two hundred people. His voice is barely audible in Tugu County.
In the early morning of this day, Qi Ling was suddenly awakened by a dream.
He had a dream last night, in which a monster with a long neck suddenly fell to his knees in front of a person whose face he couldn't see clearly. Suddenly the long-necked monster began to utter human words, and then cursed at the man opposite. Suddenly the man took out a gun and cut off the head of the long-necked monster. Then the monster suddenly turned into a human, its four hooves turned into limbs, and the head turned into a withered human head. Then he looked again, wasn't this head Qi Ling himself?
Qi Ling was frightened and quickly found a well-known witch in the countryside and begged her to interpret his dream.
The witch woman also looked at Qi Ling. At this moment, he was distracted and his eyes were darkened. She knew that this dream had really frightened him and made him unclear. The witch woman speculated that this man was probably killed after killing his father.
That's right, the man named Qi Ling in front of him probably killed his father last year and took over the family business this year.
Why is it called should? Because no one has seen it, everyone just guessed it.
Last year, news suddenly spread that Qi Ling's father had died. It was said that he fell into a manure pit while going to the toilet and died. But everyone didn't believe it, because they knew that although the Qi father and son were father and son, the father was neither kind nor the son filial. Qi Ling's father died so strangely, it was probably Qi Ling who was responsible.
At this moment, the witch woman also believed this rumor, otherwise why would Qi Ling suddenly have this strange dream. But the witch naturally didn't dare to say directly that it was your father who came to ask for your life. How can you not be afraid of such a sinister person?
What to do? I can only tell him a lie to smooth things over.
The witch grabbed Qi Ling's head, then started to shake her whole body, then started to babble, then rolled her eyes and fainted.
Qi Ling was so anxious that he scolded the servants beside the witch and asked:
"What's going on?"
The servant said calmly:
"This is the witch asking for help. Don't be impatient, Mr. Qi."
Sure enough, the witch suddenly stopped vomiting, the whites of her eyes stopped rolling, and she stood up straight, which shocked Qi Ling. Then I heard the sorcerer’s empty voice:
"That long-necked beast is the holy beast Qilin. Your name is Qilin, so this Qilin deserves to be Qilin. And your dream should prove that Confucius hunted to the west and caught Qilin, so you have to be careful. If you meet a saint, you Avoid it, otherwise you will be killed. ”
As soon as he heard this, Qi Ling became angry. Just as he was about to catch the witch, he heard the witch say again:
"If you can avoid it, then your dream will be auspicious, and the holy head will be in your arms, which is beyond words!"
As soon as he said this, Qi Ling showed his face and praised the witch for her accuracy.
After that, Qi Ling left.
As soon as he rushed back to Wubi, Qi Ling saw the body of a strong man with a hole in his head still hanging on his big locust tree. Looking at the flying mosquitoes, he felt disgusted and hurriedly called for a disciple to help him. The corpse was removed and thrown into the pit ahead.
Qi Ling's family is not ordinary people. His family has been working as road thieves for two generations. But his father's generation was still timid and just became thieves. But when Qi Ling started to take charge, they became more and more courageous. He is so big that he dares to kill officials.
That was last year, when the former county magistrate of Tugu County returned to his hometown for his old age and passed by Wubi in Qiling. The Qi Ling family slaughtered pigs and sheep and entertained them wholeheartedly.
During the dinner, Qi Ling and the old county magistrate drank until their faces turned red. Then the old county magistrate's two maids came to drag the old magistrate back to his residence. At that time, Qi Ling fell in love with these two maids and said that he wanted to buy them.
Unexpectedly, the old county magistrate immediately cursed:
"Things like dog slaves, do you also care about my concubine?"
Qi Ling was stunned at that time, and then immediately took advantage of the drunkenness and apologized quickly. In the next few days, he even invited me to treat him as an apology. After that, the old county magistrate left, but at the farewell pavilion, Qi Ling gathered all his children, violently robbed and killed the old magistrate, not only took away his property, but also took all his wives, daughters, and concubines back. The old wife wanted to live before she died, and also asked to be Qi Ling's maidservant. But Qi Ling thought he was old, so he hanged him.
After that, Qi Ling began to pretend to be kind and entertain business travelers here, and then plundered and killed them along the way. That's how the dead body hanging on the tree today came from.
These people were traveling traders. They were going to Dongpingling, but they were in a hurry, so they stopped by Qiling to stay overnight.
After that, they were attacked by Qi Ling, and he dragged back only that man. He wanted to use this man to test his new skills.
He has a thing called "punishing the people for punishment".
Although the words are very well-written, the content is actually very cruel. He took a big iron hook and tied it with a rope and hung it on the tree. Then he hung the strong man on the iron hook. With a pop, the iron hook penetrated from his chin to the top of his head. The strong man's eyes were full of blood. He trembled twice and then died.
This is the crime of punishing the people.
When Qi Ling entered the hall, he saw that his fellow brothers were all arguing together. His temper suddenly rose, he kicked over a horse and cursed:
"Why are you making noise? We keep making noise every day. Damn it, it's so noisy that it makes your head buzz."
Then one of the black men with scabies, wearing a woman's clothes and a flower on his head, said rudely:
"Aling, we found a big sheep. It is said that he is an official of Dongpingling. What about the convoy of more than 300 cars? But I think the person with the knife is the man No. 100. You said such a big sheep, We don’t want to eat?”
Someone in the crowd over there immediately objected, and he said:
"Let's not cause this trouble. These people are not easy to mess with. I'll let it go."
After he finished speaking, someone on the other side said:
"Forget it, the ruts are so deep, I'm afraid there's no gold, so you let such a big fat sheep go?"
As soon as the gold came out, Qi Ling's eyes widened. He moved a maza, and immediately leaned to the side of the companion, put his arms around his neck, and said with a smile:
"Agou, did you read that correctly?"
The companion named Agou nodded hurriedly.
Qi Ling clapped his hands and applauded:
"Then kill this fat sheep. After this is done, let's have a good rest!"
——
Zhang Chong was riding on his horse, reflecting on his actions during the Pinglingyi Incident.
On the way, Tian Jun kept complaining, saying that Qu Kuixun should stop showing off. Let's just say that when they entered Dongpingling, their entire army numbered four to five thousand people, and they couldn't find anyone.
Isn't it just to hoe a traitor? Why don't you just go for it? Go into the city, find the person, pick off the head and go back to the mountain. And now? You are in danger yourself. It's not always possible to escape safely.
Zhang Chong turned a deaf ear to Tian Jun's question and was just thinking to himself.
Do you want to say dangerous? Zhang Chong must have made some calculations. For example, regarding the arrangements for this trip, he actually felt that they were very safe.
Enter the city to find people, hoe the traitors, and then leave the city through connections.
In doing so, he was worthy of Zhang Goudu and also explained the feelings of the old brothers. But things gradually went wrong.
First of all, Gou Donkey didn’t know anything and didn’t sell them Taishan Fanghe Taiping Road. Is he a traitor? He must be, but Zhang Chong felt that he could no longer follow the original plan to eliminate the traitor, because the sin of the dog and donkey was mainly in Shigu Mountain. Due to the feelings of the old brother, he wanted to take the dog and the donkey back and clarify the canon in front of his allies and brothers. punishment. Isn't this more convincing than his own assassination?
Secondly, he did not count Tang Zhou as a potential enemy. Because of Tang Zhou's obedience, he gradually lost his due vigilance. Sure enough, this Tang Zhou is a poisonous snake and will give you a bite at any time. This time, Tang Zhou taught Zhang Chong a good lesson: never relax or underestimate the enemy, and kill him as soon as possible.
The last thing is the temporary attack on Dongpingling. He knew it was done impulsively. Although he has captured a lot of things now, in fact, this matter will cause endless troubles.
The most important thing is that a man of two thousand stones died, which is a huge event. It is conceivable that this matter will soon reach Kyoto, and then the encirclement and suppression of Taishan will come like a storm. Is Taishan Fang ready?
Another one is the relationship with Taipingdao. It can be expected that when the Han Dynasty encircles and suppresses Taishan Fang, Taiping Dao will definitely not give any support. For Taiping Dao, good luck in the Year of Jiazi has always been the first.
Therefore, in the end, they can only rely on Taishan. Are they prepared?
Originally, this year, he was going to lead Taishan Fang to deepen the foundation, so that when the Jiazi year came out, they would be more confident in the uprising.
But what now? It can be said that long-term interests are harmed for the sake of small immediate profits, which is a loss.
Do you regret that Zhang rushed to him?
Touching the box containing the heads of dogs and donkeys, he felt no regrets. If a dog and donkey can stand up to him, then Zhang Chong must be able to stand up to a dog and donkey and live up to him. Why should those who killed him live? What if they killed one person for two thousand stones?
Anyone who bullies his brother, no matter who he is, must die.
However, Zhang Chong really had to think carefully about how to deal with Han Ting's encirclement and suppression in the future.
While Zhang Chong was thinking about the important matter of life and death in Youguan Taishan, suddenly a group of villagers came ahead. They blocked the road ahead with water and rice in their hands.
One of them had a simple and honest face, and he knelt down and shouted:
"Are they the officials from Dongpingling? My master specially ordered me to wait here, saying that he would guide you so that the officials can rest on our dock wall."
Seeing Zhang Chong thinking about something, Ren Yun took the initiative to step forward and asked impatiently:
"What's going on? Why don't you leave? Do you have to go to your home?"
That honest and humane way:
"My lord, I don't know anything. There is no place to stay if you go ahead. Our host is the most hospitable. Business travelers traveling to and from Dongpingling are used to resting in our dock. Moreover, our dock also has our own home-brewed wine. The wine is of the highest quality, and no one who has tasted it has disapproved of it.”
Ren Yun thought for a while and asked:
"Do you want to spend money?"
The honest man immediately expressed his feelings:
"We can't bury our master. How much does it cost to live in a land? Why do we still need money? But, it's not easy for farmers to make our wine. We have to pay some money for this. And if the nobles think that we The wine is doing well. If it can help us sell it elsewhere, maybe we can do big business together?”
Ren Yun understood, these villagers were planning to sell illegal alcohol!
Then Ren Yun asked the honest man to wait here, and he went back to report to Zhang Chong.
Hearing that these people had private wine, all the brothers were greedy and clamored to go. Zhang Chong looked at the head of the honest man in front and smiled coldly:
"Okay, let's go try this private brew and see what it tastes like."
(End of chapter)