Chapter 198 The King
Zhang County is not a big city, and it is not the most important city that Zhang broke through, but it is of great significance at this time, because once Zhang County is broken, it can be said that Dongping Kingdom has no more soldiers to fight, and it is the last obstacle for the Taishan Yellow Turbans to enter Dong County. It was swept away.
Zhang Chong, surrounded by assault and collision teams, rode on horseback on the streets of Zhangxian County.
Since Zhangxian's resistance was not fierce after entering the city, there was not much damage in the city except for the burned-out government office in the distance.
The Zhangxian soldiers who had opened the city before selected a few leaders to see Zhang Chong. They were also frightened in their hearts. After all, they had killed Taiping Taoist disciples in Zhangxian County with Huang Cen before. I wonder if this Taiping Taiping Taoist would do it. Unload the mill and kill the donkey.
Don't you think it's strange? Why didn't these soldiers think about this when they killed Huang Cen to offer the city? Sometimes, after holding a knife for a long time, I really feel too lazy to use my brain. How could there be only a few soldiers in the Five Dynasties who were as eager for quick success as these soldiers?
Zhang Chong is also thinking about how to deal with these capricious people. To be honest, according to his original idea, he wanted to kill this group of people. Just because they massacred the Taiping Taoists, these people would not be able to survive.
But what He Kui meant outside the city before was that after all, these thieves were successful in opening the city, so just kill them like this. From now on, anyone with their Taiping Dao blood on their hands will be our mortal enemies.
Zhang Chong understands what He Kui means. He is not a fool. If he follows the one drop of blood principle and wants to kill anyone who is stained with the blood of Taiping Dao, then Zhang Chong will have killed too many enemies.
Sometimes it’s not that people don’t kill, but that they can’t kill now. And if you want to kill, you have to find another reason to kill.
Later Zhu Yuanzhang used this strategy to perfection. When conquering the world, be open-minded and ignore past grudges. After conquering the world, that means finding a reason to kill everyone one by one. Among them, the reason of corruption is always tried and true.
Looking at these Zhangxian soldiers, Zhang Chong smiled:
"You have done a good job in opening the city, but you are stained with the blood of our Taiping Dao. You will definitely not be able to enter this Taiping Dao, but I will still reward you for your merit. I will open the treasury later and let you carry as much cloth as you want. It’s yours. But there’s a condition.”
The leading Zhangxian soldiers looked at each other, and then a bearded man said:
"I don't know what the conditions are for a general?"
Zhang Chong said calmly:
"Nothing, as long as one of you chooses the one with the most blood debt and hands it over to the Taishan Army, the blood debts of the rest of you will be wiped off."
There were ten soldiers from Zhang County who came to see Zhang Chong. In other words, these people all have their own general status. Now Zhang Chong wanted them to hand over someone, but he did not name his own person. So what will these people choose? It must be someone else. If they hire someone of their own, how can these generals lead the team?
The ten Zhangxian soldiers thought about it for a while and decided that this matter was not a problem at all. They could get the cloth and didn't have to worry about retaliation. They just had to deal with the unlucky guy from another team. What's wrong with that?
Therefore, the ten Zhangxian soldiers agreed without much thought. Just as they were about to select people, Zhang Chong stopped them over there:
"You go and carry the cloth first. Whatever you carry is yours. As for choosing someone, you can choose after you finish carrying the cloth."
Ten people had no idea. They would do whatever Zhang Chong said.
Then these Zhang County soldiers were taken down, and someone took them to carry the cloth.
Then Zhang Chong continued to move forward despite He Kui's complicated look, until he came to a group of kneeling people. They were the civil and military soldiers who surrendered after entering the city.
Before Zhang Chong could speak, a man walked up from the kneeling crowd over there. He had wide sleeves and a wide belt. As soon as he came out, he said loudly:
"The great general who soared to the sky, worked hard with his martial arts, and saved the people from hanging upside down. It was so hard for everyone in Zhang County to wait for the general."
Zhang Chong was stunned. It was rare to see someone give a straight ball like this. He asked doubtfully:
"Who are you?"
"The general, the villain Xiangyang Xu Si, is the chief administrator of Jibei Kingdom."
Zhang Chong seems to have heard of this person's name, but he is not sure what he does, but he is still a minor celebrity. Since Xu Bang wanted to join him, although the scene looked a bit obscene, the impact was still great. So Zhang Chong immediately dismounted, picked up Xu Si, and said warmly:
"Xu Jun abandons the darkness and turns to the light, which is a great kindness."
Then Xu Si started to cry. He actually burst into tears right in front of Zhang Chong and the people behind him. He was crying and sobbing at the same time:
"It is so painful for us to look forward to your father-in-law. The Han Dynasty has no virtue and makes the living people miserable. The world looks forward to your father-in-law like a long drought looking forward to dew."
Several generals behind Zhang Chong couldn't stand hearing Xu Si's words. It was rare to see such a shameless person.
Zhang Chong also thinks that this person's acting skills are really good and he can cry whenever he wants. This is someone who can play politics. He was also disgusted with this person in his heart, but this matter still had to be taken seriously. Zhang Chong pulled Xu Si and said solemnly:
"The Han Dynasty has no virtue, so we, the Taiping Dao, are responsible for upholding justice for heaven and punishing the people. In this process, there will inevitably be virtuous people like Xu Jun who join the Taiping Dao and achieve great things together."
Xu Si was good, but Zhang Chong reciprocated the favor and directly invited him to join the palace. This was an invitation rather than a surrender. The two situations were completely different.
Xu Bang naturally heard it, and he was ecstatic, and he tried harder:
"General, the elites behind me are all trying to change their ways. This is also a small contribution I can make to the cause of Taiping Dao."
Hearing this, Wen Wu, who was kneeling with Xu Bang, cursed this man's shamelessness in his heart. Basically, these people, like Gao Yi, Zhao Shu, and Li Zou, were deceived by Xu Bang. He kept saying that he had a way to survive, and coaxed these people to put their hope of escape on him.
But then what? Is this the way to survive that Xu Si mentioned? Lead them to become thieves?
But at this moment, no matter how angry they were in their hearts, they did not have the courage to stand up and rebuke Xu Si, saying:
"Hans and thieves cannot stand together." Such a fierce man committed suicide when the Yellow Turban Army entered the city.
To put it bluntly, these people didn't want to die, but they felt ashamed to surrender. They scolded Xu Bang in their hearts, just to make him take responsibility and release their shameful and restless hearts.
But those kneeling inside were not all duplicitous, at least not the brave general Zhao Shu. He did feel that joining Tai Ping Dao was a way out.
In fact, it can be seen from his name that this person does not come from a wealthy family. He was somewhat brave, but he was also ridiculed by the scholar-bureaucrats. He brought his people to join Li Zan before, and Li Zan also promoted him and placed him in the shogunate. Once, Li Zan held a banquet and lamented at the banquet that in recent years, the lack of discipline in the court had allowed eunuchs to run rampant. At that time, Zhao Shu asked Li Zan doubtfully:
"Master Fu, who is this Ji Gang? Why is he so important?"
As soon as this statement came out, the whole audience was stunned, and then burst into laughter. In the end, even Li Zan teased:
"Zhao Shu's innocent heart is extremely valuable."
Later Zhao Shu found out that Li Zan was calling him stupid, like an ignorant child.
Now the reason why Zhao Shu voted for Zhang Chong is very simple. If you, the Han Dynasty, do not pay attention to common men like us who hold swords, we will find someone who knows the goods and loves a strong man like me.
Zhang Chong saw that these people all wanted to join him, so he said it nicely, but he didn't take it too seriously. How many of these people can be trusted? However, having these people take refuge would naturally help him divide the Han camp formation. He only regarded these people as tools, and it didn't matter whether they were sincere or not.
After that, Zhang Chong comforted him. Just when there was harmony, someone in the corner was crying and laughing at the same time. This annoyed Ding Sheng who was following Zhang Chong. He angrily said:
“You’ve already voted, why are you crying and making trouble in your Hanting court here?”
The man's crying stopped immediately after being scolded, while several Han officials nearby who also surrendered felt ashamed:
"My Han family is still righteous after all. Although we are afraid of death, we still admire such brave men."
But who would have thought that the man who was crying and laughing would return to Ding Sheng with a grievance on his face:
"I'm crying because the general's humility is so touching. I'm laughing because the Han family will be destroyed forever."
As soon as this statement came out, the whole audience was shocked.
This, this, this, really dares to be shameless and flattering. Can such a person survive being an official of the Han family?
There was a farce here, and a few Zhang County soldiers came over there hating each other.
This time, they were no longer as relaxed as before. They all seemed to have something on their minds. They just told Zhang Chong that they had already chosen the person with the "most" blood feud.
Zhang Chong nodded and then let these people go.
The Zhangxian soldiers who were still walking in the wave were now accepted, and carrying cloths on their backs, they flew out of the city in groups of three or five, leaving only ten Zhangxian soldiers with ashen faces. They were selected Come down and die.
Zhang Chong looked at the departing figures of Zhang County soldiers in front and sighed:
"Another easy kill!"
He Kui heard this and he hesitated for a moment before admonishing him. But just as he was about to open his mouth, he heard Zhang Chong say:
"I know what you are going to say, Shulong. Do you think I'm plotting against them? Yes, I'm plotting against them. They think they can enjoy themselves with money and silk as long as they draw someone else, but everyone in these ten teams has drawn someone else. , then the hatred is established. And I have to let them carry the cloth before they draw it. Why? It is to make them hate each other more. Carrying the cloth is related to physical strength. The more the body is, the better. How can you not be jealous when you see others carrying so much? At that time, they will most likely be criticized, so the ones who are abandoned in the end are either the innocent warriors in the team or the honest people who are usually disliked. This is how I use it. Let them choose people without blood feud. These people will survive.”
He Kui was silent, then turned around, bowed to Zhang Chong:
"Qu Kuai, you are the one who wants to be the king. Don't use the conspiracy if you can. If you really want to kill these people, then we will just and openly try their crimes and punish them. This is what people say to kill the donkey. We It's not a shame. But now? We are playing this kind of trick in order not to save anyone's attention. He is planning a cunning plan. But can this really stop everyone from talking about it? Qu Kui, my servant has something to learn from it: The king is the king of the world and the leader of all people, so he has something to say. If you do it, you will do it. If your body is upright, you will not do it if you are not told. If your body is not right, you will not follow the order. ”
After saying that, He Kui bowed deeply.
Zhang Chong was horrified, and immediately helped He Kui up, and then bowed deeply to He Kui in front of many Taishan generals and captives.
At this time, a voice came from behind:
"The Zhangxian soldiers who had just left the city fought fiercely."
The cleverness that Zhang Chong brought to him in his previous life is still there. Perhaps only experiencing troubled times can help him develop first-rate wisdom!
(End of chapter)