After carefully explaining to the old servant: Even if the city is destroyed and he dies, he must find a way to bring the pile of investigation materials to Chang'an.
Ma Zhou looked at the sky dyed red by the fire in the distance, and he made up his mind. He put on a suit of leather armor and stumbled across the street to the city head.
By the time Ma Zhou struggled to climb up the wall, the battle was already over, and even the fires under the city had almost been extinguished due to lack of fuel.
In the darkness, only sporadic firelight remained, flickering in the night wind.
Braving the thick smoke rising from the city from time to time, Ma Zhou stood at the top of the city and looked around, only to find that the city wall that should have been crowded with defenders now had only a few soldiers covering their mouths and noses, shouting at them. Looking out into the distance.
"Could it be that Jinan City is broken?"
Seeing this strange scene, Ma Zhou, who was already extremely nervous, immediately felt his heart sink!
But soon, he reacted again:
If the city had been destroyed, Jinan City would have been in chaos. How could it be so quiet?
"Ahem, what's going on! How is the thief doing now?"
Think of this! Regardless of the burning ashes under his feet, Ma Zhou moved to a soldier with great effort, grabbed his arm, and asked him!
"Sa...oh, it turns out to be Mr. Ma Zhou!"
Coincidentally, the soldier who was pulled was a soldier beside Niu Jinda. He had met Ma Zhou several times, so he recognized this upright old gentleman!
At this time, seeing him asking him questions, the soldiers quickly cupped their hands and replied: "Those thieves have retreated now, and our General Niu has also led his people down to the city to rest!"
"Ah? Did you take someone down to rest?"
But after hearing this answer, Ma Zhou's expression changed drastically! He widened his eyes and shouted urgently: "Nonsense! Isn't this nonsense! The thieves outside are besieging the city. How could Niu Jinda throw down the city wall, abandon the people all over the city, and run to rest! I, if I see Your Majesty, I will definitely join him. One!"
"Huh? Old sir, it's wrong for you to talk like this!"
The soldier who was held back by Ma Zhou was polite to this old gentleman with a clear reputation at first, but when he heard that he didn't distinguish between right and wrong and wanted to interfere with his own general, he was already blackened. My face immediately dropped!
"In order to protect our family and country, our general personally led his troops to fight the traitors on the city to the death! You old guy... Ahem, why do you want to join the general?" He said with a dark face. The soldiers didn't even bother to raise their hands now, they just stared at Ma Zhou with a pair of eyes.
"It is General Guo Yong who fights the traitors to the death!" At this time, Ma Zhou was also angry with the old man's words, but he was not as experienced as this little soldier, so he could only point at the dark night sky outside the city and said angrily:
"But now the enemy is waiting for an opportunity and the situation is unclear. How dare he leave his post without permission! If the enemy attacks at this time, how can you resist!"
"Hmph, who told you that the general left his post without permission?" Hearing this, the soldier rolled his eyelids and sneered:
"How can the general's ability to strategize between the walls and win the battle thousands of miles away be understood by others? According to the old gentleman, as long as the thieves outside do not retreat for a day, the general will stay here for a day? That's not necessary. If someone beats him, he will tire himself to death first!"
"You! You! You are not enough! Ahem..."
After watching the soldier finish speaking, he waved his hands and turned around to leave. Ma Zhou, who was so angry that he kept coughing, could only stomp his feet, turned around and rushed down the city to Niu Jinda's residence.
At Jinan Guanyi, Niu Jinda, who came back from the city, washed away the blood and stains, put on his loose Yanju uniform, and started lighting an oil lamp to check today's battle damage.
Since what Lao Niu faced this time was just a group of rookies who had never experienced war, and he still had the advantage of defending the city, the damage tonight was not huge!
But judging from the battle damage list, most of those who died tonight were officers above the rank of colonel, and the death methods were varied.
Some were shot to death by sharp arrows, some had their heads tied with ropes and pulled off the city wall, some had their throats slashed with a knife, and some were even shot by hidden weapons and died of poison!
Seeing these battle damage records, Niu Jinda couldn't help but frown.
"A master of martial arts?" Niu Jinda groaned, tapping the table with his fingers, and then picked up another piece of paper on the table.
This piece of paper is different from the battle damage information just now. It has a long list of names written on it. There are as many as fifty or sixty people!
And if Li Zhen saw it, he would definitely take a breath! Because these fifty or sixty people are exactly what he calls internal agents!
At the beginning, Niu Jinda was ordered to look for Shandong. When he was passing through Jinan, he happened to encounter refugees who were revolting everywhere!
Lao Niu, who was stuck in Jinan Prefecture, originally wanted to find the local guard to study countermeasures, but accidentally discovered that there was something wrong with Hu Guanglu, the guard of Jinan City!
Therefore, Lao Niu, who had always had trouble rubbing his eyes, ignored the court rules that "no private interference in local government affairs is allowed unless ordered to do so", and directly captured him and began interrogating him overnight.
Speaking of Hu Guanglu, after he was captured, he still had a bit of luck, always feeling that the Li family would come to rescue him!
So even when he was brought in front of Niu Jinda, he still pretended to be a tough guy and refused to explain until he was beaten to death. He wanted to delay it until the day he was saved!
But he forgot that the person in front of him was not one of those easily fooled! Rather, he is an out-and-out living King of Hell!
Niu Jinda!
Since the beginning of Wagang Village, this black-faced man has been working as a military judge!
He is tough and selfless by nature, and even eight cows can't pull him back if he is determined to do something! It is useless for anyone to plead for mercy for those who have committed crimes in his hands!
Even after he came to Xiao Lizi's account, his behavior never changed!
And it was precisely because he was merciless to those who made mistakes in the army that he gradually distanced himself from him!
As time went by, Niu Jinda gained a reputation that he was not recognized by his relatives, and became the most maverick and lonely minister in the entire Tang army!
While other generals were crowded with people, the door where cattle came in was deserted and birds could be raised.
Except for a few soldiers who have followed him for many years, even Cheng Yaojin, Qin Shubao and others who came out of Wagang Village with him have had a cold relationship with him over the years. I dare not say how close they are!
Therefore, in front of such a living king of hell, let alone pretending to be a tough guy, even a really tough guy will be beaten into a puddle of mud!
"The purpose of criminal law is to inflict continuous pain on the person being punished. This pain does not need to be severe, but it must continue. As long as it continues until the other person can no longer see any hope, then no matter how strong the heart is, it will collapse instantly!"
