Chapter 46: Letter of Submission
Zhang Xuanning looked around.
Outside the city of Kuaiji, there is the East Lake in the east and the Jian Lake in the south. Strictly speaking, these two lakes are not natural lakes. The former is the masterpiece of quarry workers, and the latter is the political achievement of Ma Zhen, the governor of Kuaiji in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Kuaiji County is a vast plain with endless fertile fields. In between are crisscrossing rivers and numerous lakes, forming a dense water network. Even at this time, this city has a history of 1,000 years. In addition, after the migration to the south, it is one of the few key development areas in the south. It is indeed one of the first groups of people in China who are worthy of being an emperor.
Arriving at the lakeside, what catches your eye are the jagged and rugged rocks, the green waters of the East Lake, the mist-shrouded clear waters and the gentle breeze, which broaden one's mind, refresh one's eyes and ears and invigorate one's spirit.
However, such a beautiful scenery must be used as a battlefield.
Zhang Yi next to him whispered, "They are coming!"
Zhang Xuanning watched coldly. Sure enough, a large number of people poured in. Looking at the number of people, he silently estimated that there were more than five hundred people, which surprised him.
Jiao Lie looked at them intently and said, "My lord, there are people from Xujiazhai participating , so there are only 500 of them."
"Is Yuan Zong here?" Zhang Xuanning asked.
"Here!" Jiao Lie observed for a while and said.
"It's good that you're here. I don't care about anything else." Zhang Xuanning sneered: "Come on, follow me to take a look."
Zhang Yi followed, and the two of them used martial arts to rush forward. Although there were dense forests and hidden places everywhere nearby, the others were not fools. 500 people formed a group spanning dozens of meters. Not to mention strict security, the number of people alone was enough to make the area near their heads an unapproachable space.
Even with Zhang Xuanning's skills, it is impossible for him to get close to the opponent's leader in public. This is the advantage of power.
In a distant jungle, the two men lay prone on the ground, with their ears pressed against the direction they were heading. Concentrating their power on their ears, the sensitivity of their hearing immediately increased exponentially, allowing them to hear the footsteps of hundreds of people, as well as the sounds of their talking and even the heavy breathing as they ran a long way.
But this was not enough. Zhang Xuanning closed his eyes and made choices in his mind in this world of sound, filtering out all other unimportant sounds until he heard the voices of the leaders in the middle.
"Today, Xujiazhai and I have formed an alliance. Working together, we will surely make Jiao Lie surrender." This was a man's voice, and you could tell from the sound of him that he was very old.
Zhang Xuanning suddenly realized that this person was Yuan Zong, and heard another voice asking, "Jiao Lie is just a small villain. The leader said he wanted to use the power of our family to eliminate him. Of course, this matter is very serious. What is going on here?"
In fact, what he meant was, you can just kill Jiao Lie, can't you do it? Besides, killing Jiao Lie won't bring much benefit, but what you promised already includes most of the benefits, what are you thinking?
Zhang Xuanning was shocked and focused. He listened carefully and heard Yuan Zong snort coldly: "To form a gang or a faction, to make a living on the road, one must be kind, righteous and honest. Jiao Lie killed his leader and established himself. This trend must not be allowed to continue. If it is allowed, the rules of the road will be gone."
Of course, if the subordinates are always thinking of rebelling, how can the superiors survive? Of course, they must be severely suppressed.
But everyone didn't think that this was enough to justify such a big fuss. Sure enough, Yuan Zong continued, "Moreover, the situation is not that simple. Jiao Lie brought a group of people with him. Although they tried their best to cover it up, there were still some clues, which happened to be discovered by Lord Yun. Lord Yun was deeply worried and asked us to solve the problem quickly, so he invited you to come."
Suddenly, the man from Xujiazhai lowered his voice and said, "Master Yun? Is he the official in charge of the city's public security?"
Yuan Zong also lowered his voice and said, "That's right. It is said that among the people brought in by Jiao Lie, there is one who privately calls himself "Sir" and calls each other by their official titles. Unfortunately, the other party is on high alert. Once the news came out, it has never come out again. Sir Yun is very worried, so he asked us to solve it quickly. This time when we take action, the few people over there are government officials. They are monitoring the whole process, so the most important thing is to be clean, don't leave any survivors, and don't talk or watch too much, so as to avoid future troubles!"
The people of Xujiazhai immediately expressed their opinions: "Don't worry, Boss Yuan, we will do a good job. But why don't you just arrest him directly and let us take action? Also, can that person be trusted?"
"This man was originally Lord Yun's spy, so he should be trustworthy. Moreover, we can't say anything based on just a few fragments of his words. He might involve people from other government offices. Lord Yun doesn't want to get involved. Since this man appears as a thief, let's just kill him. That's what I think. I don't know how Lord Yun really thinks."
"Then are we in danger? If so, what should we do?"
"Don't worry too much about that. We are all powerful. It won't be easy for the government to investigate. They won't easily use us as scapegoats."
"That's good, that's good." Having said this, the team has slowed down and approached the negotiation site. The leaders didn't say much, just gave orders, probably to prepare in advance.
Zhang Xuanning broke out in a cold sweat after hearing this. He really underestimated the power of the government. Even though he was keeping a close eye on things, the news still leaked out. However, it was just luck.
Whether you know this news or not, your attitude towards the government will be completely different.
Logically, there must be a process of negotiation between the two leaders and then a breakup, but Zhang Xuanning was not prepared to do that. He sneaked back, mounted his horse without saying a word, and fifty riders rode forward.
"Let's charge forward. Zhang San, you command the others."
"Yes!" Zhang San responded immediately.
Zhang Xuanning believes in these words: You must prepare for everything in advance. Those who don't plan will be useless, and those who plan more will win. At the same time, maintaining strength is the first priority. For the above goals, running away is not shameful, but at the critical moment, you must have the courage to fight bare-handed and risk everything.
Especially since the enemy did not have the three powerful weapons to restrain cavalry: spears, military formations, and fortified cities, no matter how many people they had, it would be of no avail.
At that moment, one rider took the lead, and fifty riders shouted at the same time and charged towards the enemy head-on.
Seeing the cavalry appear and charging forward, the gang members who were preparing looked at each other in shock.
Even though they knew some clues, it was still difficult for them to accept the fact that such an army actually appeared before them.
At this moment, the two men holding sticks in front had to shout loudly and attack forward, hoping to resist the cavalry's charge by joining forces.
Zhang Xuanning was at the first sharp point of the charge. He let his internal energy flow down along the horse and slightly adjusted his steps. Although this action seemed simple, it actually involved extremely superb horsemanship and put him in the best position and time to attack.
The long sword was swung out.
"Bang!" Blood splattered everywhere. The two men didn't even have time to resist. They were hit in the vital parts and fell straight down. Without even a struggle, they were covered by the hooves of the horses behind them and turned into meat paste.
Taking advantage of the situation, he killed and killed more than 20 big men on the route, causing them to fall left and right, and none of his men could match him.
The target of his attack was the leader of the coalition forces. At this time, the leader had turned pale when he saw the coming force. However, they were still on the brink of death after all. Although the more than 20 big men showed shock on their faces, they still stood in front of him.
Zhang Xuanning's eyes were filled with murderous intent as he rushed forward.
At this moment, a good guy in the gang finally reacted. He roared and rushed forward with a spear. He was a rare person in the gang who wielded a long weapon.
Zhang Xuanning didn't even look at it. He pointed his long sword at the tip of the spear. Although it seemed light, the spear shook violently, and the skilled fighter spurted blood from his mouth. He was thrown backwards and knocked down another person. The person behind him also vomited blood immediately, rolled to the ground, and couldn't get up.
At this time, Zhang San issued an order, and more than fifty people turned into a group of soldiers and attacked forward in the simplest battle formation. Behind them, the war drums beaten by two personal soldiers echoed throughout the vicinity.
Just opposite, an enemy could no longer suppress the fear in his heart. He shouted, turned around and ran away. Zhang Xuanning didn't care. His horse passed him at lightning speed and rushed towards the enemy's leader.
With two "puffs", two more thugs were killed on the spot. Zhang Xuanning rushed forward and said with a smile: "They are really a bunch of rabble. Just give me their heads!"
After saying that, the horses had already rushed in front of these people. At the critical moment of life and death, these people also shouted, each holding a weapon, and rushed forward. The two teams intersected. Zhang Xuanning's whole body shook, and a few spots of blood appeared. Behind him, two heads had already flown through the air, and blood was like a fountain.
Seeing this, the coalition forces were thrown into chaos. The smarter ones immediately shouted for surrender, while the stupider ones tried to escape, but they could not escape the horses and were killed one by one.
It didn't take long for the Battle of East Lake to end.
Zhang Xuanning rode on the horse, laughed dumbly and said, "It really is vulnerable."
The court that Zhang Xuanning originally served was a peasant when he started the rebellion, so the peasants of all generations were treated better, especially in propaganda, as if the officers and soldiers were corrupt and incompetent, while the rebels fought bravely. Now he knows that it was all bullshit.
Without hot weapons to make up for the gap, the rebel army in any dynasty would not have a good ending in terms of physical strength and organization.
Liu Bang was not a simple rebel from the beginning. He was appointed as an official by the Chu State and ruled the army with military law. Especially when he arrived in Shu, he was named King of Han and implemented regular military and political affairs. Only then could he conquer the world in the future.
In the future, for thousands of years, peasant uprisings would often number hundreds of thousands or even millions, but they were all massacred. This was especially true during the Three Kingdoms period, when it was easy for only a few hundred or a few thousand soldiers to defeat tens of thousands of Yellow Turban bandits.
In fact, the underworld is not much stronger than the peasants. Although their individual bravery is much better than that of the peasants, if they are not organized, they are no match for the army.
Of course, the big gangs in this world already have some military organization.
However, this group of people cannot be considered a big gang at all.
"Eighty-seven people were killed and four hundred and nine were captured. No one escaped." After a while, Zhang Yi came to report.
"Have you found out who the government official is?" Zhang Xuanning said coldly.
"It's been found out, it's these few people." As he spoke, a group of more than a dozen people were pulled out. All of them had pale faces, and there was no trace of official demeanor left.
"Also, find out the core members of the gang for us. " Zhang Xuanning said with a cold snort.
As soon as the order was given, Jiao Lie, a traitor in the gang, stepped forward and found the core members of the gang one by one. They were originally gangs in the same city, so who didn't know their details?
Hundreds of them were found at once. At this time, everyone was in trouble, but they were disarmed. Facing 50 cavalrymen and a dozen archers, everyone trembled. Although they resisted, they were immediately hacked to death, so they were tied up obediently.
People are so mean, this is a very common thing. Zhang Xuanning looked at them one by one, and then sneered and said to those who were not backbones: "Do you want to live or die? If you want to die, don't move. If you want to live, come over here."
Some people hesitated and refused to leave.
The army had seen many such situations, so a personal soldier approached with a grim smile and asked a man directly: "My lord is asking you, and since you don't move, you must be willing to die?"
"I've been in the underworld for more than ten years, I'm not afraid of anything, if you have the guts, you can kill me?"
The personal soldier grinned grimly, said nothing, and stabbed him with a knife. With a "puff" sound, the knife went straight into the man. The man's throat suddenly gurgled and he showed an expression of disbelief. Then he slowly fell to the ground and died.
The most shameful thing about Zhang Xuanning is that with a knife on his neck, he still stubbornly shouted: "Kill me if you dare."
Do you really think that others dare not kill you?
Please, it’s about killing others, not yourself. Just send the knife away. Isn’t it simple?
With a knife on his neck, he was still so arrogant and looking for death. This level of stupidity is simply unimaginable. Of course, the kind of person who refuses to kill and says, "If you want to die, I won't kill you."
It's completely brain-dead. However, if the two are combined, it becomes a standard brain-dead script. It is said that it was very popular for a while.
However, the rest of the people were not aware of this script. Seeing this, all their sense of shame and loyalty flew away immediately. The rest of the people shouted and ran desperately in the direction designated by Zhang Xuanning.
The original location was suddenly empty.
"Very good. If you want to live, come forward one by one and chop off one hand and one foot of each of those people. There are more than a hundred of them, and you have three hundred people. You can also give them a hand and a foot. If it is not enough, you can dig out one of their eyes. Go ahead. If you want to live, you must go ahead."
Suddenly, everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. The personal soldiers stepped forward and hacked a few more to death. At this time, the others shouted again, and stepped forward with their hands and feet, dug out the eyes of the eldest brother and the official, and then used knives to chop off their hands and feet.
Suddenly, the ground was covered with blood and screams were heard everywhere.
Zhang Xuanning sneered. This was a token of allegiance. Any hero who wanted to join the gang had to submit it to show that there was no turning back.
The term "loyalty letter" appeared in the later "Water Margin".
The eleventh chapter of Water Margin, "Zhu Gui shoots arrows at the water pavilion and Lin Chong goes to Liangshan on a snowy night", describes that Wang Lun asked Lin Chong to bring a human head as a gift .
Lin Chong said: "I have committed a capital crime, so I came to join the gang. Why do you doubt me?"
Wang Lun said, "If you really want to join us, please write a letter of surrender." Lin Chong said, "I can read a few words. Please give me paper and pen to write it."
Zhu Gui laughed and said, "Coach, you are wrong. All heroes who join the gang must pledge their allegiance. I'm asking you to go down the mountain and kill a man, then present his head to the gang, and there will be no doubts. This is called a pledge of allegiance."
But this kind of surrender is completely useless, because killing a passerby is nothing, and it actually has little binding force. Now they are asked to dig out the eyes of the backbones of their own gang and government officials, and chop off their hands and feet, but they don't kill them completely. This is more difficult to reverse than killing them completely - apart from anything else, these victims will never forgive them.
Although the problem has not been completely solved, at least for now, I can control this group of thugs, and that is enough.
If there was enough time, he would not want to use this method, but now that the government has discovered clues, he has no choice. Even if he has to use fear and killing, he must make it impossible for this group of people to turn back and force them to do it.
Of course, to be honest, this is not enough, but the following things will make them unable to turn back.
