[Red House] The First Imperial Merchant

Chapter 37 Xue Pan Hosts a Hongmen Banquet

"--The current emperor is sympathetic to the pressure of your livelihood. If you are willing to put down your weapons, you will surrender today before the sun goes down. You and other refugees will not be held accountable for the crime of treason. If you are stubborn, you will send troops tomorrow. In the name of anti-thief, all the nine clans will be punished..." The whole hill echoed the words just now, and when the voice fell silent, Xue Pan continued, "Didn't the imperial court immediately send relief money to Lu for the drought? The disaster relief money was robbed, and it was the villain who robbed you of the money who wanted to cut your way. His Majesty thought of you, and specially sent the second prince to come forward to appease you. What rebellion? Think about it, have you forgotten the days of peace and clothing in the past? For those who want to repent, Xue Pan is waiting before the sun sets."

After finishing speaking, Xue Pan turned his horse back to camp.

Shake the morale of the army.Li Rubai knew that Xue Pan's words just now were intended to shake the morale of the army, but he felt that it made sense after hearing it, not to mention the yellow and emaciated refugees behind him.But the heads of the rebels are all up, and the soldiers under him can surrender and bypass their lives, but he can't, he is a leader, and immortality is unacceptable. Since he is forced to this kind of field, surrender is death, and the rebellion may still survive in the end. Open up a new dynasty, winners and losers!Li Rubai gritted his teeth, and said ruthlessly: "The words of those outside of you are trustworthy? It was all designed to trick you into beheading in the past. He did it in the past by burning and looting granaries and weapons warehouses. Can the current emperor let you go? Don't dream! Follow me You will be indispensable for promotions and titles in the future, if you don’t open your eyes and run over to surrender, then don’t blame me, Li Rubai, for not thinking of everyone’s kindness!” After talking softly and hard, the chaotic crowd calmed down a little.

At noon, Xue Pan ordered all the soldiers to collect firewood and barbecue on the spot.There are very few prey in Mount Roe, and some are small like rabbits and pheasants. It depends on luck if you don’t catch many. Since the black lotus taught to live in the mountain, the small rabbits and pheasants in the hills have almost been consumed. Xue Pan made preparations early on, and purchased live animals such as pigs and chickens from the villages near the radius, and gave more money than the town, and the local villagers were very happy.

There is meat to eat, and the soldiers are nimble and quick to move. Although I don't know why the new chief has a celebration banquet, but as long as he eats meat, it will be nonsense.Within a quarter of an hour, the hill was filled with the smell of barbecue, and the little guards beside Xue Pan specially invited Xue Pan to come over to eat with him. Xue Pan did not refuse, and sat with the soldiers. Drooling while staring at the sizzling barbecue on the fire.

Xue Pan smiled and said, "Focus on the taste, and sprinkle more chili noodles." He looked up at the Black Lotus Sect not far from the hill, and it was lunch time. You can't see the small cakes clearly, but you can tell that they are not white flour pancakes.

The smell is getting more and more fragrant, at least Xue Pan is a little bit tempted to do it.The little soldier just now had sharp eyes. When he saw that the meat was ready, he cut a piece of meat and handed it to Xue Pan, implying that Xue Pan would move first.

As soon as the words fell, the crowd around exploded, tearing the meat with bare hands, screaming hotly and stuffing it into their mouths, licking their tongues twice, calling it delicious, and the whole hill shouted deliciously, deliciously. The sound of incense.

The heavens are beautiful, and the fragrance reverberates throughout the hills. Ji Chongxiang, who was lying in ambush behind him, just sniffled and cursed bitterly: "Damn it, this smells better than all the celebration banquets I've ever eaten!"

The confidant took out a piece of hard pancake from his bosom and handed it to Ji Zhong, drooling and inhaling the aroma from the tip of his nose, he said, "Boss, do you think Mr. Xue did this to greedy our brothers?"

Ji Chong took a bite of the hard pancake, and smelling the aroma made him feel even more tasteless in his mouth. Hearing what Xiaobing said, he held up the pancake and pointed it at Xiaobing's head, "You are stupid! Xue Pan is not greedy, we are obviously greedy." Rebel against them!"

Xiao Bing stretched his neck to look in the direction of the Black Lotus Sect, and he saw a crowd of people looking in Xue Pan's direction, and he couldn't help boasting: "Boss, Mr. Xue is quite powerful, unlike ordinary scholars---- "

"This is all General Cheng's leftover trick, but this Xue Pan is really not to be underestimated." Thinking of the severed head, Ji Zhong felt a little more afraid of Xue Pan. As long as the prince can use it, otherwise he can only get rid of it.Thinking of the meaning of Cheng Guogong before he left, Ji Chong's eyes became a little more thoughtful.

The barbecue lasted until after three o'clock in the afternoon. During this time, some people from the Black Lotus Sect wanted to surrender one after another. When they were discovered, Li Rubai beheaded two people in public. But what Li Rubai didn't know was that the seemingly submissive refugees became more determined to surrender.

Before the sun went down that afternoon, 13 refugees from the Black Lotus Sect secretly surrendered.That night, the army rested, and Xue Pan would launch a war tomorrow morning.

That night, the moon was bright and the stars were sparse and the breeze curled up.The tents on the hill were black and shiny, and the soldiers with the handles outside were patrolling. Xue Pan had just finished performing the wordless exercises and was about to go to bed when he heard the noise outside. He ran over quickly with a torch, and said, "Master Xue, Li Rubai has been tied up—"

The footsteps of the patrol behind were hurried, and after a while they arrived in front of Xue Pan, the leader stepped aside, revealing Li Rubai who was tied up in the middle and wearing obscene clothes, and said with a strange face: "I just found a group of people sneaking up, and the subordinates will listen to the leader if they catch them." Zhang Laisi said that he personally tied up Li Rubai and surrendered."

Xue Pan whispered to Xiao Bing twice, and soon the four came to identify him. They were frightened by Xue Pan's swordsmanship, and nodded repeatedly when they saw Li Rubai, confirming that they were right.

When Zhang Laisi heard it, he said happily: "My lord, it was Li Rubai who incited us to rebel. We didn't want to fight against the court. Now we have tied up Li Rubai on our own initiative. Your lord has spared us the crime of rebellion... ..”

Li Rubai had a cloth ball stuffed in his mouth, grunting and grimacing, as if he wanted to bite Zhang Laisi off.

The soldier who surrenders without fighting is the superior.

The next day, a good news was issued.Xue Pan asked Ji Zhong to bring [-] soldiers and horses to escort the main rebels of the Black Lotus Sect to return to the court first, and he took the remaining [-] soldiers and horses back to Ludi with the refugees.Ludi is in chaos now, the local yamen guards are all wiped out by the group of Black Lotus Sect, plus there is a famine, the whole Ludi has no order, smashing and looting, there have been many cases of vandalism while taking advantage of the chaos Commercial firms abducted and trafficked women and other cases.

Ji Zhong had no objection. Emperor Pingkang sent him to follow Xue Pan to fight against the forwards. Now that he wins with a barbecue, there is nothing wrong with him.Last night, Ji Zhong and Xue Pan went through it roughly, and there were 280 rebels who were the loudest and killed local officials and other villains. These 280 rebels were brought back according to the severity of the crime and asked Emperor Pingkang to review and judge. The rest are coaxed and have no opinion, and Xue Pan takes temporary care of them. When they return to Ludi, they will record the roster one by one. Those who should be fined should be imprisoned. In short, if they do it, they will bear the consequences. In the beginning, the rebellion was not forced by Li Rubai with a knife on his neck. What Xue Pan could do was not to sit still or punish the nine clans, and try to mitigate the crime as much as possible.

A group of people marched to Ludi, the city gate was wide open, no one was guarding it, the yamen was in a mess, the upright plaque was thrown on the ground and trampled on the ground, all the valuable ornaments inside were gone, even the tables and chairs were taken away When the firewood was chopped and burned, the entire wall of the backyard of the yamen was covered with blood, and it was clear that a tragedy had happened here.The whole city is in disarray, the streets are in a mess, and the doors of every house are tightly closed.

Now is the time for employing people. Register the refugees and let them go back first. If it is found that they have escaped, the entire village will be imprisoned once it is verified. Knowing the seriousness, they all nodded honestly.The main reason for sending troops back is to tell the village that if this person escapes, you will be punished even if you sit down, and the village name is so frightened that it sends people to watch all day long.Among them were the servants of the landlord's house, who had no relatives and no reason, and Xue Pan stayed to help clean the streets and do odd jobs.

When he left that day, Xue Pan knew that the first purpose of coming to Lu was to eradicate the Black Lotus Sect, the second was to find the whereabouts of the second prince, and the third was to rest and appease the people of Lu.Now that the first is completed, the next step is the second and third. Xue Pan sent elite soldiers to search for the second prince's last disappearance at the cliff. On the one hand, he personally summoned the merchants in the whole Lu area. Xue Pan is a businessman. There are several hands left behind, and I don't believe it at this moment, there is no food left in the whole Ludi!First make do to solve the urgent need, he sent a letter to the court early to ask for food.

As for the past few days, there was still a lot of food and grass left over from the [-] soldiers he brought with him that day. Ji Zhong took a small part with him when he left, and the rest could last for more than ten days, but the people couldn't wait, and they ate grass roots. Guanyin soil eats soil, and food is still critical. Now people are starving to death in the countryside. Fortunately, the weather is cold, otherwise the outbreak of epidemics will be bad.

That night, Xue Pan held a Hongmen Banquet to invite merchants in Ludi, won't you go?Alright, I was handcuffed and shackled and sent to jail, you ask me why?Is this alone enough to hinder the official work of the court?not enough?Okay, the remnants of the Black Lotus Sect have not yet been investigated, and you look so dark that you look like a black lotus flower, maybe you are the remnants, take it down for strict investigation and torture...

Looking at the means of doing things, who would dare not go?

It was raining lightly at night, and all the merchants with their stomachs full of oil and water came as agreed. The location was set in the backyard of the Yamen. The blood on the wall was not cleaned up by Xue Pan, and the soldier walked straight with a lantern on his back. Leading the way ahead, the lanterns flickered brightly and dimly on the blood stains on the wall, and the merchants who saw them felt gloomy and desolate.

The small merchants were not invited, but all the local well-known century-old households or upstart local tyrants who emerged in the past ten years were invited. There were only eight of them. If you name them, even the children in the Ludi village would know them. The eight invited by Xue Pan were both proud and frightened, while the small merchants who did not receive the invitation were rejoicing while secretly thinking that they would also do this in the future.

On the table, prepare some thin wine, a pot of rice wine, a plate of peanuts, a plate of cold bitter vegetables, a plate of fried green vegetables and a plate of fried cabbage. The only big pot on the table is a pot full of roasted sweet potatoes, two cold dishes and two hot dishes. , The staple food is roasted sweet potatoes.

There was no one in the hall, and the soldiers led the eight people to sit down with a serious attitude, then closed the door and left.There were only two main lamps in the hall, and the long bloodstains shining on the door outside seemed to seep into people, and the eight merchants looked at each other, and communicated with each other on the way here, no matter what Master Xue said, he couldn't let go. Doing money-losing business.The arrogant eight sat at the dining table, no one paid any attention to them, as if the wind was blowing, it made everyone's hearts gloomy, and the arrogance just now began to be slowly thrown aside.

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good night!