More than a hundred people were tied into the camp. Yi Xiaodao looked at everyone's faces one by one with a smirk, and then whispered a few words in Wei Youming's ear. Wei Youming nodded repeatedly and went down to make arrangements.
Soon, the soldiers tied up the bandits, took them into camps one by one, and interrogated them.
More than a hundred people were separated for interrogation, and no other questions were asked. They were asked to identify each other, and told all the other people's daily crimes of stealing, burning, killing and looting, and threatened to kill them on the spot if they concealed anything.
In fact, there is no need to scare them. These people eat, drink, and have sex together on weekdays, and they know everything about the other party. When you think about it, it is a separate interrogation. If you hide it for him, can he hide it for yourself? For a time, everyone was digging the earth and digging the grave, kicking in the widow's door and everything was wiped out.
The night passed and the next morning dawned.
Yi Xiaodao listened to the soldiers' reports with great interest. If it was petty theft or robbery of money and property, he would turn a blind eye. If he committed murder, arson, or other evil deeds, he would be imprisoned and dealt with later.
"Chen Youcai, a native of Lincheng, a tenant farmer. He captured Lincheng, beheaded and killed the Lincheng County Magistrate with his own hands, occupied Yangcun, and killed 17 wealthy businessmen. Yesterday he stabbed and killed an old man." The soldiers told Yi Xiaodao the truth about the results of the interrogation. Report.
Yi Xiaodao raised his eyebrows. The bandits before had killed three or four people, and as many as five or six, mostly out of revenge. How could there be another one who killed nineteen people?
"Bring this person to see me." Yi Xiaodao said.
Soon, Chen Youcai was brought to Yi Xiaodao.
"I heard that you killed nineteen people?" Yi Xiaodao asked straight to the point.
Chen Youcai lowered his head, his hair falling down to cover his face, and said in a loud voice, "I can't remember clearly."
"Raise your head." Yi Xiaodao said.
Chen Youcai turned a deaf ear and didn't even move. Two soldiers on the side were about to grab Chen Youcai's cheek.
Chen Youcai hit the two soldiers left and right, knocking them away, and said angrily: "Dog officer, what do you want to see! Is there anything good to see!"
When the other soldiers saw that Chen Youcai was about to get violent, they quickly drew their swords. If Chen Youcai had any evil intentions, he would be killed on the spot.
"You were the one who wanted to surrender yesterday, but you are the one who is dishonest today! Let me ask you, most of the nineteen people were wealthy businessmen. Hey, the wealthy businessmen provoked you? They killed someone yesterday... Wait, who did you kill yesterday? ?" Yi Xiaodao finally realized what he was doing and asked aloud.
"Hmph, you are the one who said Old Yangtou gave him the money, right? You still have some conscience. Yes, I killed Old Yangtou, how about it?" Chen Youcai was singled out by himself, and he knew that a disaster was coming. Admit it frankly.
Yi Xiaodao was silent for a moment and asked, "Why did you kill him?"
"We gave him some free flour, and when we saw that he was lonely and pitiful, we often helped him. He actually dared to lie to us. I will kill every one of these people who are greedy for money!" Chen Youcai felt that he was righteous and became angry.
The man was already dead, and Yi Xiaodao didn't ask what Old Yangtou had lied to him about. There was no way for such a person to reason with him. He had his own reasons.
"Then why did you kill those wealthy businessmen?" Yi Xiaodao calmed down and tried to temporarily forget about the trembling old man yesterday who still wanted to steam buns for himself, so he changed the subject.
When Chen Youcai heard about the wealthy businessmen, he became even more arrogant: "Those rich people? They deserve to be killed! The rich don't help the poor, but they only squeeze money from us poor people! And that King of Donglu, die well! The court wants to Sui Gong, instead of looking for these rich people, you only look for the poor, damn it!"
Yi Xiaodao raised his eyebrows and asked: "The imperial court has paid tribute in full every year for six hundred years. Why are you so angry just now? Are you charging too much?" Yi Xiaodao followed suit.
"More than just overcharging? In the past, a family only had to pay one tael a year, but now it has become 20 taels! How many families have been forced to die? Do you think this King of Donglu should be killed? Should he die?" Chen Youcai He was so excited that the soldiers put a knife on his neck, but he was not afraid at all and shouted loudly.
"The annual tribute is too heavy...provoking a civil uprising...Twenty taels, twenty times more, what is Donglu going to do..." Yi Xiaodao unexpectedly caught a few bandits, and unexpectedly learned the cause of the Donglu uprising. , couldn't help lowering his head and thinking.
When Chen Youcai saw Yi Xiaodao lowering his head and said nothing, because the soldier's knife was already placed on his neck, and some of the blades had cut his skin, his mood became more stable: "Your court has been asking for annual tributes all day long. Who cares about the life and death of the people?"
"Take it down." Yi Xiaodao waved his hand.
Two soldiers grabbed Chen Youcai and were about to drag him away. Chen Youcai laughed and said, "You have nothing to say! Dog officer, dog officer!"
When Wei Youming saw Chen Youcai being taken away, he asked, "It is useless to keep such a person, so why not kill him?"
"It's useless to keep it, but it's a pity to kill it. Keep it first, it will be useful after all." Yi Xiaodao said.
Yi Xiaodao called the soldiers: "Have you asked about their dens?"
The soldier quickly replied: "My lord, I have asked them all. As your lord expected, it is indeed in the west, fifteen miles outside the village. Originally there were five or six hundred people in the village, but recently we had a few fights with the bandits to the east. , the casualties were heavy, there are only 300 people now, 100 were brought out, there are still 200 people in the village, and a few people said that if we go, they are willing to lead the way!"
Yi Xiaodao laughed dumbly: "First divide them into two groups and imprison them."
"They are all bandits, why should they be imprisoned in two groups? Ah, Mr. Yi, the general did not question your intention, but he was a little confused and asked for your advice." Wei Youming really didn't understand what Yi Xiaodao wanted to do.
Yi Xiaodao said: "As I said, we came to Donglu to save people, not to kill. These bandits are also poor people who had no way to survive and had to turn into bandits. I have an idea, among these bandits , if there are still those who have not lost their conscience, I am ready to turn the bandits into civilians and teach them to abandon evil and do good. If they are stubborn, if there is a war in the future, I can also drive them as vanguards, what do you think?"
Wei Youming followed Yi Xiaodao's words and said thoughtfully: "I already know your true intention, and this is indeed a good thing. But... what should we do with people like this? Even if they are sent as vanguards, there is no guarantee that they will not attack us in turn. "
Yi Xiaodao shrugged and said: "I haven't thought about this yet? But I will definitely need it. Let's not talk about it for now. I will go to the east to check the situation first." Yi Xiaodao said and was about to get up and go out.
Wei Youming stood up and stopped him: "Mr. Yi, today is different from yesterday. I didn't know what was going on yesterday, so I was just looking for people to ask for directions, so you just went. Now that we know there are two groups of gangsters nearby, you will commit such a crime again." It’s not appropriate to take risks.”
"How can I not know this? Even if you let me go alone, I wouldn't dare." Yi Xiaodao rolled his eyes at Wei Youming, who was immediately embarrassed.
As soon as Yi Xiaodao left the camp, a soldier came to report: "Master Yi, another group of people were found in the woods."
"Oh? These two groups are not over yet? General Wei, let's go out and take a look." Yi Xiaodao shouted to the tent.
Wei Youming came out with a gun in hand early in the morning and said with a smile: "Master Yi, I haven't said anything yet. I quite like doing this."
"Hahahaha, General Wei also has the potential to be a bandit."
Outside the camp, just like yesterday evening, a group of men also came in from outside the forest: "What's going on here? Why didn't the chief let us come here? Brother Zhuzhu, do you know?" A thin young man said. I looked around and saw nothing, so I asked the middle-aged man next to me.
The middle-aged man has scars on his hands and body. He is not as thin as the person next to him, but he doesn't have that much flesh. He looks like he has been hungry for a long time. At this time, he stared at the young man beside him and whispered: "Why are you talking so much? Just do what the Taoist priest tells you to do, and hold back all the words you say! I can tell you, even if you don't have anything, don't go back. Damn, can you hear me?"
The other men beside him didn't say much, and looked around cautiously.
Yi Xiaodao was in front of the camp, but no one came out, so he reined up his horse and walked into the forest. Wei Youming arrived first and walked in front of Yi Xiaodao.
"Swish, swish, swish", several feather arrows flew out from the forest. Before Wei Youming raised his gun to block, the arrows missed their target and drifted to the side. Otherwise, they were not strong enough and did not reach Wei Youming. In front of Yi Xiaodao.
Yi Xiaodao looked at the feather arrows, but they were just twigs with a few chicken feathers stuck on them. Even the arrow clusters in front were sharpened stones. It was impossible to hit the target with such an arrow. It would be simple at most. Be a deterrent.
Yi Xiaodao looked at these feather arrows. This kind of feather arrows was all too familiar. When he was a beggar in Wancheng, he often saw children playing with these homemade bows and arrows.
"General Wei, wait!"
Yi Xiaodao shouted to stop Wei Youming, who was about to rush into the forest, and then shouted to the forest: "People inside, listen, we are the officers and soldiers of the imperial court, come out quickly, we will not harm you!"
The forest was quiet and motionless.
"If you don't come out, we will kill them all, leaving no one behind!" Wei Youming acted like a villain at the right time.
"Swish, swish, swish", several more feather arrows were shot out, but they were still without any lethality.
Yi Xiaodao whispered a few words to the deputy general beside him. The deputy nodded, waved behind him, and returned to the camp with dozens of soldiers.
Wei Youming turned around and looked at Yi Xiaodao, who raised his hand to signal waiting.
After a while, the deputy general led the group of soldiers and came out with a large steamer. More than a dozen large steamers were placed side by side in front of Wei Youming. When he opened the lid, they were filled with big white steamed buns, steaming and fragrant.
The fragrance drifted into the woods, and soon, there was a sound of restlessness in the woods, and then figures rushed out of the woods, threw themselves in front of the steamer, grabbed the steamed buns and stuffed them into their mouths.
"Smells, this steamed bun is delicious."
"It's just a little small, but it's still wooden? Give me another one!"
"It would be more fragrant if there were green onions!"
A group of skinny men, two each, grabbed them and hid aside to eat. After eating, they went to get them again without fighting or fighting.
Yi Xiaodao didn't say anything and just let them eat. It wasn't until more than a dozen steamers were finished that Yi Xiaodao said, "Is it enough? It's not enough. I still have it in the camp."
When the men heard Yi Xiaodao's words, they leaned together again. They all grabbed the poles and hatchets in their hands and looked at Yi Xiaodao warily.
Yi Xiaodao put on a smile that he thought was very kind: "It's enough."
