Chapter 170 Will the Truth Hurt People (Part 3)
The surrendered soldiers shouted and accused from the courtyard where they were being held. The Jinan defenders who were trying to plunder the surrendered soldiers' money became furious. The officers of the garrison were especially angry. They rushed in with their men . They pointed at the surrendered soldiers and cursed, "It's because you are useless that we have to guard the city while we are watching over you! Why don't you let the thieves kill you!"
As soon as these words came out, the grief and anger that the surrendered soldiers had suppressed for a long time completely burst out. Several surrendered soldiers rushed forward to argue, and the defending soldiers immediately drew their swords and pointed them at the surrendered soldiers. Looking at the opponent's blade, the surrendered soldiers with bare hands and only a pair of pants left could not move forward. They jumped up and cursed: "We are fighting desperately outside, and you cowards are hiding in the city. What are you pretending for!"
Seeing that the surrendered soldiers dared to speak like this, the defenders in the city also felt a little guilty. This was not the first time that defeated soldiers and released surrendered soldiers returned to Jinan City. The fierce fighting power of Huo Chong's men had long been spread among the defenders in the city. These defenders had been guarding the city strictly and refused to go out because they did not dare to fight Huo Chong.
But there were many smart people there, and one of the defenders immediately shouted back: "If we hadn't defended the city, you wouldn't even have a place to go back to! You're not grateful..."
Smart people never stay on one side. Someone on the surrendered side was already cursing: "Bullshit! You let us into the city, but you want our money!"
Zhang Shiwu wanted to shout this out later, but someone else shouted it out first. He looked closely and saw that it was a brother with a full mouth of chest hair.
The Han army treated the surrendered soldiers equally, bandaging their wounds, but only leaving them with a pair of trousers when they were released. Although this brother was not showing off intentionally, just standing there was already a sense of oppression.
When the surrendered soldiers mentioned the money that was robbed from them, they were all angry and started to curse. The defending officer on the opposite side could not help but retreat two steps when he saw the officer on the opposite side retreat. When the surrendered soldiers saw the officer on the opposite side retreat, they took a step forward.
The officer immediately shouted: "Go back, go back!"
"What if we don't go?" the surrendered soldier asked.
Seeing that the situation was about to get out of control, the defending officer made up his mind and shouted to his men : "Teach them a lesson! There will be rewards after you finish fighting!"
Since there is a reward, why not take action? Besides, the defenders also feel the danger from the surrendered soldiers. If they don't get rid of the anger of the surrendered soldiers, the defenders will be even more uneasy.
The surrendered soldier with the hair on his chest was unable to dodge and was kicked in the chest. The hair looked impressive, but it had no effect. The soldier cried out in pain and fell backwards.
However, the beating did not scare the surrendered soldiers. At that time, they surrendered to Huo Chong's Han army because they would die if they did not surrender. More importantly, Huo Chong's Han army had already occupied an overwhelming advantage. They shouted again, "Surrender your weapons and you will not be killed!"
Unconsciously, those people laid down their weapons in order to save their lives.
At this time, they were deprived of the money that even Huo Chong's Han army had not deprived them of, which was their life-saving money. Compared with Huo Chong's army, the defenders did not have the ability to make people fear.
It is unknown who among the surrendered soldiers started the fight first, but once someone started the fight, the rest of the situation could not be controlled. Although these surrendered soldiers were defeated by Huo Chong's army and surrendered obediently, it does not mean that these Green Camp soldiers had no resistance against the defenders in Jinan City. In terms of combat effectiveness, these surrendered soldiers were actually better than the defenders.
Shandong Governor Chen Shiguan was awakened by the shouting and killing in the city. Since the battle began, Chen Shiguan had basically not slept. Even if he was too sleepy, he would sleep with his clothes on.
Huo Chong wiped out all the government troops outside the city. While posting notices, he also shot a lot of stones wrapped with notices into the city. Chen Shiguan, Master Chen, knew what happened outside and that Huo Chong led the army to retreat. He was able to fall asleep.
After all, Huo Chong was not born a bandit. He was an official and a former major taxpayer. Apart from the rebellion itself, Chen Shiguan felt that everything Huo Chong did was understandable and even acceptable.
Huo Chong said that he had won the battle and wanted to go back to rest. Chen Shiguan also thought that Huo Chong should rest. Everyone in the officialdom knew that Emperor Yongzheng had commented that Huo Chong "could make the truth sound like a lie". So no matter how strange Huo Chong's words looked, it would be fine to treat them as the truth.
Awakened by the chaos outside, Lord Chen Shiguan first thought that Huo Chong was dishonest and attacked Jinan City. He was angry and annoyed.
After hearing his subordinates report that it was not Huo Chong who broke into Jinan City, but the surrendered soldiers in the city who were causing chaos, Chen Shiguan, the Lord Chen, was immediately shocked. Since it was not Huo Chong, Lord Chen immediately stood up and shouted to his subordinates: "Pass the order, kill all the surrendered soldiers! We will not allow them to cause chaos!"
In the midst of this chaos, Zhang Shiwu sneaked out and ran straight to a designated location along the temporarily empty streets.
Sure enough, there was a set of clothes hidden under the haystack in the southeast corner of the small, broken courtyard. Zhang Shiwu quickly changed his clothes, went out and continued walking. Not far away, the small door on the right side of the back door with the door god painting torn off diagonally was closed. After knocking on the door three times according to the secret code, the door suddenly opened, and someone dragged Zhang Shiwu in directly as agreed.
Although Zhang Shiwu knew this was an agreement, he was still shocked and instinctively wanted to resist. But at least he had been trained, so he didn't move. The door was closed, and Zhang Shiwu was held down by several people inside and searched for a while. Then they exchanged a secret code with him, "Heavenly King Covering Earth Tiger"
"The pagoda suppresses the river monster," Zhang Shiwu replied in a low voice.
"Why is your face yellow?"
"Cold-proof wax."
The dialogue was smooth, but the actual content was too funny. After confirming that they were on the same side, the people on both sides looked at each other and suddenly laughed.
However, in this chaotic moment, everyone immediately covered their mouths with their hands to prevent the laughter from spreading out, and then walked back into the house with their backs twitching from trying to hold back their laughter.
The surrendered soldiers were ultimately unable to completely disrupt Jinan City. After all, they had few weapons, while the defenders were fully armed. The defenders were local residents, guarding the key transportation points and the houses of the rich. This controlled the core areas of Jinan City.
Relying on the cleansed area to start the counterattack, the defenders had a backbone. After a few rounds of counterattacks, the surrendered soldiers were repelled. Seeing that the situation was not right, the surrendered soldiers could only break into ordinary people's homes, steal some food and clothes, and take some weapons such as kitchen knives and sticks, and escape from the city.
All of this was recorded and written into a secret letter and sent into the city. Because the people observing the situation were not only people from the court, but also people planted by Huo Chong, some of the information was sent to Huo Chong.
When Old Thirteen saw the latest news, he was so anxious that sweat broke out on his forehead. "Your Majesty, Huo Chong... just did all the evil things openly! This thief is too cunning!"
