Song Xin walked up to the captured general and knelt down and asked, "Zhang? Where have you gone?"
Unexpectedly, the general was still a tough guy. He spat hard at Song Xin, then turned his head and said nothing.
"Pah!" Zhang Hu stepped forward and slapped him, "I asked you to tell the truth. How dare you be rude to the captain!"
Zhang Hu's slap was so severe that blood oozed from the corners of the mouth of the general. The Tunjiang glanced sideways at Zhang Hu, with a trace of fear flashing in his eyes. He spat out another mouthful of bloody spit, then turned his head to the side, biting his lips tightly and still not saying a word.
Song Xin caught the fear in his eyes and knew that the general was afraid. He smiled faintly and stood up, "Behead him and hang his head outside the camp gate."
Zhang Hu sneered and pulled out the knife without saying a word. When the general saw the shining knife, his face instantly turned pale. Before the death threat, his spirit was still on the verge of collapse.
At this time, Zou Yi came over and saw the general on the ground and couldn't help calling out, "Zhao Tuo?"
When the general heard someone calling his name, he suddenly raised his head and saw that it was Zou Yi. He was like a drowning man grabbing a life-saving straw and shouted for help, "Brother Zou, save my life!"
Zou Yi ignored him, walked up to Song Xin, bowed and whispered: "Master Xiaowei, this man's name is Zhao Tuo, and he is a fellow countryman of mine."
Song Xin raised an eyebrow and asked, "Oh? Your fellow countryman?"
After hearing this, Zhao Tuo thought he had a way out, but Zou Yi's next words made his heart fall to the bottom.
"Well, this person is a villain and cannot be let go. He will definitely report to Zhang?" Zou Yi lowered his head and said.
When Zhao Tuo, the commander of the garrison, saw that Zou Yi not only refused to save him, but also allowed Song Xin to kill him, he immediately gritted his teeth and cursed loudly: "Zou Yi, you are a traitor to the enemy! You and I, who are from the same country, actually saw death." No help!”
Zou Yi was not angry after hearing Zhao Tuo's insults, and said calmly: "You rebelled against the imperial court, how dare you say that I surrendered to the enemy?"
The general of the camp, Zhao Tuo, retorted and said, "Bah! What kind of court is this? You are just a traitor trying to usurp the Han Dynasty! General Chen treats you well, but you actually rebelled, and you still have the nerve to teach me a lesson?"
"Do you treat me badly?" Zou Yi sneered, "Relocate my deployment so that I can't guard civilization. Is this considered unfair?"
"I have followed him for many years, going through life and death, and I have dozens of large and small wounds on my body. When he knew that I surrendered, he imprisoned me and my brothers' family members, and forced my weak wife and children to be slaves and block arrows in front of the army. Is this considered worthy? "
Zou Yi looked at Song Xin, his eyes full of gratitude, "If Captain Song hadn't sent troops to rescue me, my wife and children would have been used as military rations."
Speaking of this, Zou Yi's eyes fell on Zhao Tuo again, and he gritted his teeth full of resentment and said, "Is this treating me well?"
Commander Zhao Tuo bit his lip tightly. He wanted to retort, but he couldn't say the words. Before the expedition, Lei Xu also moved his family members to a special camp. If they escaped or surrendered, what was waiting for Zhao Tuo's family members would be to be sold as slaves or directly killed to be used as military rations.
Lei Xu and Chen Lan were indeed cruel to their soldiers, killing them at every turn.
In fact, in this troubled world, warlords from all walks of life treat their soldiers in similar ways. Once they are found to have surrendered to the enemy on the battlefield, their family members will be punished, or sold into slavery, or killed directly.
Back then, Song Xin's father, Song Jin, was killed by his uncle Song Chou and then framed for defecting to the enemy, which resulted in Song Xin's family being imprisoned. Song Xin was almost killed. If the jailer hadn't been greedy for money and secretly sold him to the Wei family, Song Xin would have died long ago.
"Didn't you say something harsh just now? Why are you afraid of death?" Zhang Hu took a step forward at this time and patted the commander Zhao Tuo's cheek with the steel knife. The cold chill from the blade penetrated directly into his skin and penetrated into his skin. In the bones.
Zhao Tuo's spirit had already reached the edge of collapse, and it was like a flood finally bursting. He plopped down on the ground, "Please spare my life, sir. I had no choice but to rebel against Lei Xu, just to make ends meet."
Song Xin turned around, stopped Zhang Hu who was about to kill someone, smiled and said: "Okay, I can give you a chance. Tell me where Zhang Hu is, and I won't kill you."
"They... went to Jackdaw Ridge."
Song Xin frowned, "Jackdaw Ridge? In the middle of the week, get the map."
Zhou Zhong immediately took out a piece of sheepskin from the bamboo tube behind him and unfolded it. Song Xin looked at it carefully for a while, suddenly felt a chill, and thought to himself: "This is to attack the back of Zhang Liao's army."
On the map, there is a mountain ridge about a hundred miles southwest of Tianzhu Peak, called "Jackdaw Ridge". There is a mountain road under the ridge, and the terrain is dangerous. If you cross this mountain road to the northeast, you will reach a small piece of flat land. Zhang Liao's army Just camp there.
"Zhang Xin wanted to go around to the rear of the army to launch a surprise attack." Song Xin thought to himself.
In fact, Zhang Liao had already set up camp at the exit of Jackdaw Ridge Mountain Road in advance to guard against the enemy's attack on the camp. When Song Xin thought of this, she wasn't too worried anymore.
"Zhang? How many troops and horses did you bring this time? How many infantry and cavalry?"
Zhao Tuo stammered: "I brought one... fifteen thousand..., thirteen thousand infantry, and cavalry..."
When Zhao Tuo said this number, Song Xin's eyes suddenly widened, "What did you say? Fifteen thousand?"
Zhang Hu and Zhou Zhong were also shocked. The intelligence they received clearly stated that the enemy army only had 7,000 troops, but their own scouting horses actually underreported their strength by more than half.
"Oh no, General Zhang's camp in Jackdaw Ridge only has a thousand people, how can he stop fifteen thousand enemy troops!" Song Xin said in surprise. Then he looked at Zhou Zhong and said, "Zhong Zhou, send someone to the camp immediately to report the news! No delay!"
In the middle of the week, he sang his promise loudly, and immediately found a few capable soldiers to ride on fast horses to report the news to Zhang Liao.
At this time, Niu Chuang finished sorting the captured grain, grass and weapons and led his men over. He was shocked when he saw Song Xin sending people back in a hurry and asked why.
"Zhang Hu actually deceived me. I thought he only had seven or eight thousand men, but I didn't expect that he actually had fifteen thousand soldiers and horses!" Niu Chuang looked at the more than a thousand men under his command and couldn't help but tremble in his heart.
"In the middle of the week, Zhang Hu ordered all the troops to mount their horses and follow me to meet the enemy!"
When Niu Chuang heard Song Xin's words, he was so frightened that he grabbed his sleeve and said, "Zhang? There are fifteen thousand troops. Aren't you going to die with so many of your men?"
"No, if he gets behind the army, Chen Mei, the two thieves on Tianzhu Peak, will inevitably lead their troops to rush down. By then, our army will be attacked from both sides and will be defeated." Song Xin looked decisive, and said in front of Zhao Tuo He spoke out his plans without any hesitation.
Although Zhao Tuo looked pitiful on the side, he sneered in his heart: "He is indeed a young boy. How dare you attack Mr. Zhang with such a small amount of people?"
At this time, Song Xin ordered: "The military situation is urgent now, and we can't take care of the prisoners. Leave some people to watch them, and we will set off immediately!"
"Captain, it's better to kill these people and leave them to waste food. If they escape, it will definitely reveal the true nature of our army." Zhang Hu grabbed Song Xin's sleeve in a hurry.
"Didn't you hear the order I just gave?" Song Xin glared at Zhang Hu, who immediately did not dare to persuade him any more. Song Xin looked at Zou Yi again, took out two rolls of paper and put them into his hands, "I'll give you a hundred brothers. Watch them here and don't let them get away."
Then he patted Zhang Hu's shoulder with a gentle expression and said: "It has been said since ancient times that the killing and surrender are unknown. If you kill prisoners indiscriminately, you will definitely suffer bad luck!"
Niu Chuang also wanted to persuade, but when he saw Song Xin blinking at him, he understood immediately. He deliberately snorted and said: "Humph, I didn't expect you to be a womanizer. If you don't kill this person, you will be harmed by him. Pedantic, pedantic!" Niu Chuanghu made a face, cursed and walked away.
Zhang Hu and Zhou Zhong were also surprised and didn't know why Song Xin was like this.
After Song Xin led his people out of the camp, Zhao Tuo and others were ordered by Zou Yi to strip off their clothes and armor and imprison them.
As night fell, gusts of cold wind blew into the camp. The prisoners were shivering from the cold and huddled together. At this time, two pawns came over and opened the wooden door. They said expressionlessly: "Zhao Tuo, come out, Master Zou wants to see you."
Zhao Tuo's face froze, thinking that it was over now, Zou Yi must be taking revenge on him because he insulted him today.
He stood up shivering and followed the two pawns to the tent where Zou Yi lived. As soon as I entered, I felt a sense of warmth. There was a copper wine pot on the shelf of the charcoal brazier on the ground, and several sheepskins were prepared next to the charcoal brazier.
Zou Yi was sitting inside. When he saw Zhao Tuo coming in, he smiled and said, "Brother Zhao, you have been wronged."
Zhao Tuo looked confused. He looked at Zou Yi, then at the brazier and wine pot on the ground. He didn't know what to say. He was stunned for a moment.
"Brother Zhao, don't be afraid. Come, have a glass of wine to warm yourself up." Zou Yi stood up, picked up the flask, poured a cup of hot rice wine and handed it over.
"What...what do you mean?" Zhao Tuo asked.
"I just had no choice but to say those words. I hope Brother Zhao will understand my difficulties."
Zhao Tuo was stunned for a moment and then said: "Speak clearly when you have something to say, don't beat around the bush." He took the rice wine and drank it. Suddenly, a feeling of warmth hit my stomach, dispelling the coldness.
Zou Yi smiled lightly, "You and I are both from the same country, so I won't beat around the bush. I surrendered out of helplessness, and Song Xin didn't believe me at all."
Zhao Tuo remained silent and looked at Zou Yi suspiciously.
"He is a man who wants to gain fame and reputation. He doesn't want to bear the infamy of killing prisoners, so he just wants to kill people with a borrowed knife." As he said this, he took out a piece of paper and handed it to Zhao Tuo.
Zhao Tuo opened it and saw a cold sweat on his back. There was an order written on it for Zou Yi to behead all the prisoners.
Zou Yi saw that he looked nervous and continued: "He knows that the enemy situation here is complicated, but he only left me a hundred soldiers. If I encounter the enemy situation, I will die without a burial place. How can I sit still and wait for death?"
Zhao Tuo nodded, "You mean, you want to let me go?"
Zou Yi smiled and said: "If Brother Zhao can help me deal with it in front of Mr. Zhang, I am willing to act as an internal agent."
"Huh, Zou Yi, do you think I'm a three-year-old? Even I can't hide a mere surrender plan, let alone Master Zhang."
Zou Yi gave a wry smile and said with a struggling expression:
"The place where Zhang Jucao collects grain is in the valley southeast of Jackdaw Ridge, right?"
Zhao Tuo was stunned when he heard this, "Does he want to attack our army's food and grass?"
