Chapter 33 Pit Sacrifice
Gu Baihua and others who had been waiting outside the forest for a long time saw Gao Tengdou coming out to say hello, and then they gathered together to discuss ways to clear out the temporary camp of the officers and soldiers in the forest.
Luo Shifan felt a little unfinished. I saw almost no excitement, just rode back and forth for a while, and saw the backs of several enemies fleeing into the forest from a distance. However, as a magistrate, he was at most curious, and his desire to personally participate in the killing was far less intense than that of the warriors.
Guan Jianlin is not the case. Although people in this era have no idea that the feeling of adrenaline rush will gradually become addictive, the image of standing in front of the good brother, the young master, and immediately killing the enemy general with a sword has been lingering in his mind since last night. After spending most of the day, I just ran back and forth a few times in vain. I had nowhere to vent my strength. I was so irritated and uncomfortable that I couldn't describe it. No matter what I saw, I wanted to chop a few times. At this moment, I heard that there was another camp that had not been raided. I was clamoring to participate no matter what, and no one could stop me.
Gu Baihua and Gao Tengdou were helpless by the quarrel, so they had no choice but to agree, and then Guan Jianlin calmed down. However, it is easy to set up an auxiliary camp, but it is a bit difficult to catch all the dog officers and soldiers in one go: the auxiliary soldiers in the camp will be spread out widely during the day when hunting, cutting grass and wood, and it is located in a place with easy access, so the large group of people is so straight. When I drove in, it was inevitable that a few guys would run away in a hurry. There are many places in the forest that require horses to be passed on foot, so it is difficult for cavalry to come in handy... Guan Jianlin didn't care about that, and he clamored to bring twenty infantry all the way to cut through - in order to prevent him from causing more trouble, the two of them To scare him, he would stay aside and not take him there, so he shut up angrily and walked around in circles.
The two discussed for a long time but couldn't come up with any clues. Gu Baihua suddenly winked at Gao Tengdou and pouted at Luo Shifan. Gao Tengdou turned around and saw that the young master's head was tilted again and he was drawing on the ground with a branch in his hand. He understood and stopped talking, waiting patiently for him to come up with his idea. After a short time, Luo Shifan figured it out, turned his head and said, "Brothers, I have a plan..." Halfway through, he noticed two guys looking at him with evil smiles on their faces. Stunned, he asked: "Why are you looking at me like this?"
Gu Baihua said with a smile: "We are waiting for Junior Master's clever plan. Junior Master, tell me quickly."
Luo Shifan scratched his head and smiled sheepishly: "The two eldest brothers are laughing at each other. I wonder if we can let them fall into the trap..."
The sun shone through the leaves in the west, and the auxiliary soldiers from Yanchang County returned to the camp one after another. I didn't get much harvest today, I only trapped a hare, but fortunately I caught a few big fish in Yanshui. After being busy for a while, everyone saw that the food was almost ready. Everyone stretched their legs and sat down to wait for the soldiers to come back. After a while, I heard someone shouting in the distance, and they all stood up alertly. Someone walked a few steps in the direction of the sound and listened carefully.
"Someone help me!" The shout came closer, and it was Han Dong's voice.
The two auxiliary soldiers hurriedly ran over following the sound, and the others gathered together to whisper and speculate.
I ran along the newly opened path for more than ten feet, turned around a bush, and saw Han Dong riding a man in the distance. His head was resting on Han Dong's right shoulder. His iron helmet was tilted and he couldn't see his face clearly. The armband was placed around Han Dong's neck, and the other half of his body was covered by a blood-stained cloak. He was probably seriously injured.
Seeing someone coming, Han Dong leaned forward, as if he couldn't hold on any longer, and leaned against a tree beside him, shouting: "Call them all, we are in ambush, there are wounded behind!"
The two turned around and waved and shouted: "Come here, come here and help!" Upon hearing this, all the auxiliary soldiers ran towards the path and ran into the ambush.
In the evening, near the auxiliary barracks outside the east gate of Yan'an Prefecture.
The auxiliary soldiers were holding wooden bowls of wild vegetable soup mixed with a little bit of meat and a few stars of oily flowers in one hand, and clutching grain cakes in the other hand. They crowded excitedly into a semicircle, pushing each other and crowding around, trying to get closer. To see more clearly, those behind simply brought pieces of wood and stepped on them, stretched their necks and looked into the circle. The inner layer of the semicircle is the soldiers who are going on the expedition today. They are pressing their hands on the handles of their swords, and they are so proud that their chins are raised for a long time. On the innermost floor were the team members who had gone through two lifetimes of death before the gate of hell today. They were holding sticks and whips in their hands, cursing, and mercilessly beating the captured officers and soldiers who were digging holes.
The officers and soldiers all know that they have no physiology. The only thing they can hope for is that death will come quickly, and it is best to leave a whole body. When they go to the underworld, they should not be headless ghosts, hungry all day long, and allowed to be bullied.
The first soil dug out was piled into a mound that served as an altar, and a few incense candles were ceremonially placed in front of it. This was Luo Yonghao's idea. Following Guan Shengyun, it was so easy to kill all the officers and soldiers and throw the bodies into Yanshui. It would be best to float down the river until the end of time and teach those dog officials a lesson. Master Luo did not want to alert the enemy prematurely, but also needed to boost the enthusiasm of the auxiliary soldiers, so he suggested holding a memorial ceremony for the coolies to see. The reason is very good, Master Luo is the commander's backbone, so this scene happened. In fact, Master Luo still felt a little unbearable in his heart: he was also unwilling to turn so many people into headless ghosts - in that era, people took things after death much more seriously than people today.
Leaving the enemy's body intact can be considered a kind of helpless kindness.
Master Luo's wish not to make the dying people suffer more was not fully realized: there was a guy just now who saw that he was going to dig a hole for himself and knew that he would die, so he tried to resist with a wooden shovel. The end was very tragic: several spearmen surrounded the guy teasingly, and when he lost his strength, several spears were pierced into his thighs. After he fell to the ground, his arm and shoulder blades were pierced again, and he was paralyzed like a soft noodle. They formed a pile and were then tied to the altar and became the first sacrifice.
There is a craft that has always been popular among the Ming army: beheading a living person.
Especially in siege warfare, whether it is against the rebels in the north who form a stronghold to defend themselves against the officers and soldiers, or the Miao barbarians in the southwest who kill officials and rebel, this performance has almost become a pre-war repertoire, which can greatly boost one's own morale and deal a heavy blow. Enemy's arrogance and spread terror. Gao Tengdou was born in the old Ming army. He had seen the skills of his superiors in the past, so he rolled up his sleeves and left the field himself.
The performance in the military is very different from the "beating" on the execution ground.
Punishment is a method of being cut into pieces by a thousand cuts in folklore. The most common method is the "fish scale cut" which requires 3,357 cuts. Each time the meat removed is only the size of a fingernail. The more famous one was the mutilation of the eunuch Liu Jin, which lasted for three days in total. On the first night, in order to allow him to breathe again and continue suffering, the guards even fed him a bowl of porridge. Another famous figure was later Yuan Chonghuan. Every piece of meat the executioner picked off was bought by the onlookers and "eating it alive"...
However, these two cases are imperial orders and cannot be taken carelessly. In other cases, the executioner will also watch the person doing the dishes and do some tricks. For example, if the sufferer's family has money, he can suffer less - if he is given enough money, "if you obey me, you will stab his heart first"! Kill with one knife, and the rest is just a formality. Of course, if the price is clearly stated, there are rules. Otherwise, everyone will try to lower the price, and the executioner’s income will not be guaranteed. Not all the money belongs to the master, but a considerable part needs to be "honored". Don't look at the sanctimonious adults saying "a gentleman stays away from the cook", but the blood on their hands and the money in their pockets are much more than those of the executioners with sinister looks!
Those who don't have enough money to buy some fun will have a different experience.
In fact, not only beating, but also hanging, the most "gentle" of the death penalty, is a business. If you give enough money, "you will be hanged to death", otherwise, the prisoner will be put down when he faints, and the executioner will sit aside and wait for the cold water to splash the death row prisoner back to death, and then hang him again! The most common one is "nine hangings": rescued eight times and hung nine times.
Whether it is beheading, abandoning the city, or cutting into pieces, there is a supervising official, and he is the one who issues the execution order. The prisoner presents a wooden sign with the prisoner's name written on it, and the prison officer uses a red pen to tick it off. This is called "Gou Jue", which is considered to complete the final procedure. At that time, people were generally superstitious and were afraid of evil spirits seeking their lives. Therefore, the executioner would not sit directly facing the execution platform, but would sit sideways, which meant that I cannot see you and it has nothing to do with this matter. Don't come to me in the future. According to legend, ghosts are afraid of red, and official uniforms represent the supreme authority of the court and are immune to all evil, so they must wear bright red official uniforms. During the execution, the prison officer would not directly make a tick, but would hang the ink pen there. The jailer would bring the wooden sign with the name of the prisoner to the tip of the pen, drag it, and then throw away the ink pen. It still has the same meaning. It means that this person's murder has nothing to do with him: I didn't tick your name, I just raised a pen. If you want to claim your life, please find someone else. The prisoner holding the sign also said: I just held up the sign and waved it, who knew there was a life-giving pen there!
Everyone is following orders, everyone seems innocent, and everyone has a story. However, everyone has blood on their hands that cannot be washed away in a lifetime!
The executioner would first salute the prisoner and say something formal: "I am acting under orders. Don't blame me for this. I will look for whomever you should look for in the future." Then he would punch the prisoner in the chest while he was breathing out. The breath has been exhaled, and the heart and lungs are hit hard again, squeezing out the remaining air in the chest. The body will reflexively open its mouth to try to suck in more air. At this time, the executioner will stuff the sesame walnuts held in his left hand. Put it into the mouth of the prisoner, so as not to affect his work mood after screaming in pain while cutting the flesh. The first two blows must be made under the prisoner's upper eyelids without cutting them off. They must be hung down to cover the eyes - generally speaking, the executioner does not want to touch the eyes of the person being knifed. The next two swords were to gouge out the breasts of the criminal: the legendary Xingtian used breasts as his eyes after being beheaded by the Yellow Emperor, and the executioner was also taboo.
The massacre of living people in the army is not so particular, but it is more brutal. While shocking the enemy, you must also ensure your own safety to avoid being injured by the enemy's bows and arrows, so you must perform outside the enemy's reach - at such a long distance, if you want to produce the best audio-visual effect, you must not gag. The louder the shout, the better, and the pieces of meat must be long enough for the enemy dozens of feet away to see clearly, and it must take a longer time to allow the enemy to gather more spectators... It is said that some generals are skilled in craftsmanship. It was so exquisite that only the skeletons of the limbs were left, and the intestines in the chest and abdomen flowed all over the floor. The vocal cords and respiratory system were not damaged at all, and the victim could still scream.
So, this is also a technical job.
The first time Gao Tengdou performed the operation, the effect was not optimal. After a little more than a stick of incense, the guy tied to the wooden stake became silent. In the end, he himself felt that there was no point in cutting it off anymore, so he stepped back and slashed the neck with the knife, picked up the head on the ground and threw it in front of the altar, ending the performance. However, this scene was enough for the officers and soldiers to dig holes for themselves.
Seeing that the sky was darkening and the pit was dug deep enough, Guan Shengyun ordered the torches to be lit, walked to the altar, cupped his fists and bowed: "Brothers, Guan has avenged you!". A burst of heartfelt cheers broke out among the auxiliary soldiers - obviously, they had no memory of who captured them here and ended up in such a situation not long ago.
Guan Shengyun actually disdains this. However, Master Luo said that the deceased is the most important, and the coach personally officiating can greatly boost the morale of all the brothers, so he came to go through the scene.
Seeing his comrades with their arms and legs bound being forced to jump into the pit with swords and guns, Han Dong turned around and knelt down, crying and begging Guan Jianlin: "General, general! You promised, the villain will take you with you You won't kill the villain after you lure them out! General, please spare your life, General..."
Before Guan Jianlin spoke, Gu Baihua smiled sinisterly: "It's true that he promised. I heard it."
As if grasping a life-saving straw, Han Dong took a few steps towards Gu Baihua and kowtowed again: "Thank you so much, general! Thank you so much, general, for saving my life. I will always remember the general's great kindness..."
Gu Baihua interrupted Han Dong's cry pitifully: "I did hear that he agreed. But, did you hear that I agreed?"
Hearing this, Han Dong was stunned on the spot.
Gu Baihua then shouted sternly: "Even if I agree," he pointed at the group of decoy auxiliary soldiers who escaped from death, "did you hear that they agreed? Will they agree?"
The old man who had begged for mercy earlier came closer and kicked out: "Bitch thief! Did you have the slightest thought to spare us just now?" As he spoke, he raised the wooden stick in his hand and pointed at him. He hit Han Dong head and head until he rolled into the bottom of the pit.
The auxiliary soldiers rushed over and began to fill the pit. The few guys trapped by Han Dong at the bottom of the pit braved the flying sand on their heads, gritted their teeth and struggled to move towards Han Dong. With their arms tied, they lowered their heads and opened their mouths. After biting it, Han Dong's sharp cry quickly turned into a sob. After a long time, the sound in the pit gradually weakened.
When it reaches the chest, the person's breathing becomes more and more rapid. When the chest is squeezed by the soil and sand, it will naturally expand instinctively and try to absorb more air. However, with exhalation and the lungs are emptied of air, the chest shrinks, and the gap with the soil will be filled again by the falling sand. Full, with every breath, the extent to which the chest can expand becomes smaller and smaller... over and over again, until suffocation.
Guan Shengyun ordered the troops to withdraw before the big hole was filled. He suddenly remembered the moment when he paid tribute to his adoptive father Lu Yong. He wanted to leave these dozens of naked heads and rush to the altar.
Master Luo originally wanted to say a few words of advice that he should be laid to rest and die, but then he thought about it. Seeing the auxiliary soldiers out of the camp every day would also encourage him to be motivated. According to the current progress, there are still two days at most, and the boats and rafts will be enough for sending out troops. It would be okay to bury them by then, so I kept silent.
Little did he know that these dozens of heads would come in handy later.
Knowledge points in this article:
All the tricks of the death penalty.
