Lin Chong knew what Gao Kan was thinking, so he stepped forward and bowed hurriedly, and then explained what happened in the stronghold.
"The situation in the stronghold was urgent, and all the thieves fought stubbornly. They joined forces with their thieves and horses to defend the inner stronghold. The subordinates waited for several attacks before rushing into the stronghold and captured them all. They told the young master to wait for a long time and asked him to show his guilt."
Gao Kan heard Lin Chong's words and hurriedly helped him and Cao Qi up together.
"You two, please get up quickly. In this battle, we should take the lead in getting rid of all the traitors."
"Young Master is so complimentary, but my subordinates dare not." The two men responded in unison.
After helping the two men up, Gao Kan looked at Cao Qi and said, "General Cao, everything in the stronghold has been taken care of, right?"
Hearing this, Cao Qi immediately bowed and said, "Master Qi, my subordinates and Commander Lin cooperated inside and outside, and designed to guard the gate guards first. As for the other camps in the village, they only had a small number of intimidating manpower. After Commander Lin entered the village, We rushed straight into the inner stronghold to eliminate the thieves, but we didn't even have time to take control of everything."
After hearing this, Gao Kan said: "In this case, General Cao is fighting a fierce battle. He should not send more troops, but the village can only be recovered. Stability is the most important, so we have to ask General Cao to put in the effort, arrange the manpower, and take charge of everything personally." The military camp is urgent.”
"My subordinates take orders!" Cao Qi responded immediately.
Immediately after taking the troops, he divided them into different groups and rushed to the various barracks in the stronghold to suppress the soldiers and horses in them.
He then led a group of soldiers and horses on his own, from west to east, surrounding each camp in the outer village to take control of them.
After Cao Qi led the troops, Gao Kan took Lin Chong and Yang Zhi to the inner stronghold to see what happened to those people in the inner stronghold called Breakthrough.
When they entered the inner village meeting hall, they saw a dozen people tied to the ground in the main hall.
There were more than a dozen soldiers on the left and right, holding sharp weapons and guarding them closely.
When they saw Gao Kan and others coming in, all the soldiers immediately bowed to them. Gao Kan waved his hand and told them to retreat without courtesy, and then he stepped forward to see the bound people.
Lin Chong followed. When he and Cao Qi came in earlier, they had already counted and clarified the identities of these people and explained to Gao Kan.
"Sir, this guy's name is Xu Wen. He is the chief of Xilin Mountain Stronghold. He is in charge of the troops in the stronghold and takes charge of the 2,000 soldiers and horses in the stronghold."
Following what Lin Chong pointed out, Gao Kan looked towards the crowd.
I saw a guy who seemed to be about forty years old, with the head of a deer, the eyes of a rat, and a body as thin as a jackal.
His face sank and he said coldly: "Xu Wen, do you know who I am?"
"I don't know, sir, please tell me!" Xu Wen was as timid as a mouse and kowtowed to ask.
"You're a thief who rubs birds, so you can't see Mount Tai with your dog's eyes. This is my Mr. Gao, the son of Mr. Gao Taiwei, the Commander-in-Chief of Tokyo Palace!" Yang Zhi scolded coldly from the side.
When Xu Wen heard this, he quickly knelt down and begged for mercy: "It turns out to be Young Master Gao, please spare your life. I didn't know that Young Master was leading the army. If you had known that Young Master was coming, you would have led everyone to be beheaded. How dare you stay behind closed doors? Please spare your life, Young Master!" "
Gao Kan glanced at him coldly and said: "Huh, I think if you had known in advance that I was coming, you would not have waited for me to behead you, but you would have laid an ambush early and shot me with arrows in the forest so that you could cover up your presence." Wait for the traitor to act!"
"I don't dare, I don't dare, I don't dare, I'm a wise man!" Xu Wen kowtowed and cried like garlic.
It seemed that if his hands and feet hadn't been tied up, he would have crawled to Gaokan's feet crying and begging for mercy.
Gao Kan ignored him and said: "People like you who betray the country and seek glory, why don't you dare?"
After saying that, he turned to Lin Chong and said, "Lin Chong."
"My subordinates are here!" Lin Chong immediately responded with clasped fists.
"Pull these thieves down, wait until General Cao gathers the soldiers and horses in the stronghold, gathers the people in the stronghold, and all go to the inner stronghold square to behead them in public!" Gao Kan waved his hand.
"Yes!" Without saying a word, Lin Chong called on the people on the left and right to come forward and detain the person.
Suddenly, there were cries and begging for mercy in the meeting hall. The scene was very miserable, but the soldiers were as hard-hearted as they were, and they didn't care at all, dragging people out and dragging them out.
When it was Xu Wen's turn, he suddenly shouted: "Master, please have mercy. I am willing to donate gold and silver to reward the army. Master, please have mercy!"
Upon hearing this, Gao Kan finally became interested.
A thief like Xu Wen is not a good thing at first glance. There are many soldiers in the mountain village to the west, and he is stuck at the Zhending Mansion waterway pass under the Tuo River.
He didn't believe that even a character like He Zhenyuan could collect huge amounts of money from a place like Bailing Village, but Xu Wen would not have it.
At this time, since he took the initiative to explain and was willing to contribute, so that Gao Kan would have more military expenses, why not do it?
So he waved his hand, told the soldiers to stop, and dragged the rest of the people out first, leaving Xu Wen in the hall, and then dismissed the people, leaving only Lin Chong and Yang Zhi, and then gave him a chance to speak.
And Gao Kan was not busy, he walked straight past Xu Wen, walked to the main seat in the hall and sat down.
He leaned on the Taishi chair and looked at the hall with squinted eyes.
Yang Zhi and Lin Chong understood each other, dragged Xu Wen close, and kicked him to the ground.
Xu Wen did not dare to utter a single sound, and quickly rolled over, kowtowed and begged, "Young master, I beg you to spare your life. I am willing to dedicate what I have earned over the years to you. I only ask that you spare my life."
Squinting his eyes, Gao Kan said calmly: "You are a small military stronghold with jurisdiction, and you are not even a low-ranking military attaché. How much money can you have to buy a dog's life?"
Xu Wen was a smart man. As soon as he heard Gao Kan's words, he knew that selling one's life for money was risky, and he didn't dare to hide anything.
He immediately opened his mouth and explained: "Although I am a young man, fortunately, the mountain village in the west is a good place. The upper reaches of the Tuo River leads directly to Zhending Mansion, and all the merchant ships along the way pass through here. There has been some surplus for many years."
"So, you have extorted a lot of money and harmed a lot of people, and now you are using the money to bribe me?"
With a sneer, Gao Kan continued: "Who do you think I am, that I can appreciate your money-grubbing skills?"
"The villain doesn't dare, the villain doesn't dare!"
When Xu Wen heard this, cold sweat started to fall on his forehead. He kowtowed and continued: "Not only that, I also have a lot of silver in my hand, which is a hundred thousand taels. If the young master is willing to save my life, I am willing to donate it!"
Hearing this, Gao Kan was shocked.
One hundred thousand taels of silver, even though Xu Wen had to extort even a passing dog since he took office in Xilin Village, he still couldn't get so much money.
Where did he get so much dirty silver?
With a flash of eyes, he secretly exchanged words with Lin Chong and Yang Zhi. Gao Kan didn't say anything and asked them to come forward and threaten him.
After Lin Chong understood, he kicked Xu Wen down and cursed: "You are like a dog, how dare you lie to me and ask for your life?"
Yang Zhi took the words and said, "Just you, where did you get a hundred thousand taels of silver?"
"explain!"
The last sentence was spoken by both of them at the same time, both with Ling Ran's murderous intent, which frightened Xu Wen to the point of splitting his liver and gallbladder.
He hurriedly turned over and knelt down again, and said honestly: "These are not the villain's, but they come from the Beishan Mountain of Daming Prefecture, pass through Mingzhou, Xingzhou, Zhaozhou, pass Zhending Prefecture, go north to Daizhou, enter In the land of Heshuo, this road leads from Daming Prefecture to Liao Land. On the road of salt smuggling, those merchants who sell smuggled salt give the money to the river officials of Zhending Prefecture."
