Zhou Ping hurriedly bowed and said: "My husband recommends me so much, I can only be inexplicably grateful, but the killing of prisoners is unknown -" Wang Ziwu made a gesture to stop Zhou Ping's persuasion, and his face became serious: "This matter is my official's. The decision has been made. Supervisor Zhou just obeys the order. " Seeing this, Zhou Ping had no choice but to bow down and accept the order. Wang Ziwu nodded and stood up to demotion to see him off. Zhou Ping had just come out and saw six or seven people standing in the hall. They were Xue Liangyu, Xue Liangwu brothers, Li Bao, Yang Zaixing and others who had gone south with him. These people had different expressions, and they all gathered around Zhou Ping when they saw him. Come up. Xue Liangyu was the youngest and most impatient. He asked, "Brother Zhou, what did the commander-in-chief tell you when he asked you to come down?" "I didn't say anything. You just asked me to be careful about defending the city." Zhou Ping looked gloomy, still thinking about it. What happened just now was unpleasant. "That's good, that's good!" Xue Liangyu breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this and said, "I also said that Brother Zhou disobeyed the army just now and made him angry!" "Xue Laosi, those big turbans are so evil. It's deep!" Li Cheng on the side heard this and sneered: "Tens of thousands of Mani thieves are about to come, no matter what, we have to help him get through this! Don't say a few words at this juncture! Anyone who disobeys him, even if his daughter and her family are detained, will be handed over obediently. Otherwise, when the Mani thieves come in, Wang Tongjun and Niu Zhizhou will all be dead!" "Li Cheng, don't worry! Nonsense!" Zhou Ping interrupted Li Cheng and said solemnly: "The commander-in-chief has high hopes for us, and we will do our best to kill the traitors!" "The general is here!" Yang Zaixing responded. "You take more crossbow bolts from the treasury and bring them to the stronghold. The Mani bandit army is coming. Make more preparations!" "Here!" Yang Zaixing crossed his arms and saluted before leaving. "Everyone, go back, have a good rest and prepare for the battle!" "Here!" Everyone responded in unison, and the rich voice startled a crow on the withered locust tree in the yard. Zhou Ping watched the crow fly away with its croaking. The black bird in front of him couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "In a few days, I don't know who will become the food of this bird!" There was originally a vegetable field near the west gate of Xiuzhou City. All the houses in the city within fifty steps of the city wall were demolished, and the few vegetable growers' huts next to the natural vegetable fields were not spared. After Zhou Ping led his army to defeat the vanguard of Fang La's army. The more than a thousand people captured were driven into an open space at the corner of the wall. After being imprisoned, these poor people found some scattered materials such as bamboo poles and reeds, and built a hut to block the cold wind. It was already the twelfth lunar month of winter, although Xiuzhou was located in the south of the Yangtze River. It's not as bitter and cold as the north. But Jiangnan is very humid. The north wind blows on me. Don't have a hard time. Zhong Zhe'an lay on the ground, digging through the soil laboriously, trying to find some vegetable roots, radishes, etc. in the soil that was originally a vegetable field. It was already the fourth day since the day of capture. But in the past four days, the total he imported was three bowls of gruel and a piece of cake bait. The cake bait was the remaining dry food that he didn't bother to eat before he attacked the city and stuffed it into his arms. Whenever he thinks about it, When he picked up the piece of cake bait, Zhong Zhe'an felt his stomach twitching violently, as if there was an invisible hand grabbing it. He began to regret why he ate it in three bites so quickly instead of taking a small bite at a time so that he could last longer. "It would be great if I could escape!" Zhong Zhe'an sighed and looked at the antlers not far away. The aroma of food and laughter came from the hut behind. Over there were Yidu guards guarding the prisoners. People thought about escaping, but in the end they all ended up as corpses hanging on the city walls. The reason is very simple. Almost all of these Manichaeans were from eastern Zhejiang, and Xiuzhou is from western Zhejiang. Even in modern times, The Wuyue dialect is also famous for being difficult to understand and complicated, let alone Xiuzhou at the turn of the Song Dynasty. Moreover, the city gates were tightly closed, and every city in the city was guarded by strong men. These prisoners could not escape at all. Suddenly, Zhong Zhe'an's fingertips touched a slender and wriggling object, and he instinctively grabbed it out of the soil. "It's an earthworm!" Zhong Zhe'an wiped it twice in surprise and stuffed it into his mouth. He almost swallowed it without chewing, and his stomach wriggled violently. He coughed twice and continued searching frantically in the soil. When he couldn't find an earthworm, he stuffed it into his mouth. An animalistic instinct to survive took control of his whole body. "Did you see, this Mani thief even eats mud!" A burst of laughter made Zhong Zhe'an raise his head. He was surprised to find that there were more than a dozen guards standing around him at some point, looking at him with a kind of expression. The monster's eyes were fixed on him. Zhong Zhe'an wiped his mouth with his sleeve in fear and wanted to stand up, but maybe he had been hungry for a long time and his legs were weak. He tried his best and instead of standing up, he sat down on the ground. "Did you see this Mani?I can¡¯t even stand up anymore, I¡¯m just like a bird, and I still want to rebel! "A soldier with pimples on his face laughed and pushed the soil from the field in front of Zhong Zhe'an with his feet, and said loudly: "Thief, I'll give you all this soil, so that you can eat as much as you like! " Another soldier next to him had good eyesight. He could clearly see the earthworms squirming in the pit dug by Zhong Zhe'an. He smiled and said: "They are eating soil there. They are obviously eating earthworms. Look at whether there are any more earthworms in the soil. few! " The man with pimples on his face could see it clearly, but he was very tough on his words and argued forcefully: "What did I say wrong? Earthworms also eat soil. If they eat earthworms, don't they just eat soil? " "well! Eat dirt, eat dirt! His companion was too lazy to argue with him and said, "I think they are hungry. Hey, these Mani thieves are also pitiful. What can't they do? They want to rebel, but rebels can do it?" As soon as the army arrives, everything will be destroyed! "The soldier looked like he had been reading for two days. He started shaking his head when he said this, like a storyteller in a teahouse. The soldier with pimples on his face felt quite uncomfortable when he saw Zhong Zhe sitting on the ground, covered with dirt. It's boring. The guards have been watching here for four days. During these four days, some of the prisoners escaped, but no one resisted. The initial caution was long gone, let alone those watching from the top of the city. The 800 soldiers brought by Zhou Ping were blown away by the battle, as if they could defeat the millions of Mani thieves with just a flip of their hands, and they didn't even care about the embarrassed guy in front of them. "By the way, you Mani thieves must abide by the precept of eating meat, right?" "Zhong Zhe'an didn't know the other party's intention and nodded blankly. "That's good! "The soldier turned around and ran towards the hut. After a while, he came back with a pottery bowl in his hand. He threw it to the ground, and inside it was a few pieces of meat bones that had been chewed. "Hey! If you chew these bones, you will no longer be a Mani thief, and we will let you go! "When the pimple-faced soldier said this, he winked at his companions and said with a smile: "If not, he is a stubborn person and he will be killed immediately! " Zhong Zhe'an looked at the bones in the pottery bowl. There were still some uneaten tendons on them. The aroma of the meat stimulated his nasal mucosa and stomach. His usual teachings had long been forgotten. He pounced. He went up, stuffed the bones into his mouth and began to eat and suck them crazily. The scary eating scene made the soldiers startled. ¡°Bah! I thought this guy wouldn't eat it! The soldier spat boredly, kicked Zhong Zhe'an away, picked up the pottery bowl and said, "Go back, it's windy here, it'll be very cold if you stand for a long time!" " At this moment, a group of people ran towards us. The leader was Zhang Dujian from Xiuzhou City. The soldiers panicked and hurriedly crossed their hands and saluted. Zhang Dujian snorted coldly and said : "Gather these thieves together quickly, I have something to say! " "Here! "The soldiers responded and shouted loudly. Soon after, the weak prisoners gathered. Zhang Doujian frowned and looked at it, and said loudly: "You heard clearly, Wang Tongjun is showing mercy, Let you go home. If you dare to join the rebellion again, you will be executed! " There was a commotion in the crowd. Some of the Manichaeans who were closer looked at the military attache with a fierce look in confusion, while people further away couldn't hear Zhang Doujian's words at all, and they whispered to each other and asked each other. More than a thousand people The voices of people merged into a hum. Zhang Dujian's face turned gloomy when he saw everyone's reaction. He suppressed the anger in his heart, urged his mount to take a few steps forward, and shouted with a louder voice: "Wang Tongjun pardons your innocence and lets you go out of the city and return to your hometown! " This time, most people heard it clearly, but people's eyes were filled with confusion rather than joy. When did the government become so easy to talk to? When Zhang Dujian saw this, he knew that one bad move would arouse In response to the unexpected incident, he wisely said: "Fang Qifei's army is about to arrive. The commander-in-chief is worried about leaving you in the city and wasting food. I just want you to get out early!" What? Don't want to leave? " After hearing this, all the Manichaeans believed the truth told by Zhang Doujian, and hurriedly kowtowed and thanked him. Zhang Doujian then breathed a sigh of relief and deliberately pretended to be vicious: "I can't talk about my ugly words until now. The army did not let you go back to let you become thieves. Ambassador Tong's 100,000-strong army will arrive soon. Confronting the imperial court is a dead end! If the officers and soldiers catch him again! He smiled evilly and made a pinching gesture: "Don't blame me for being rude!" " Having said that, Zhang Dujian didn't care what the prisoners said, he rode to the west gate, climbed up the tower, and asked the guarding captain with a mysterious look on his side: "How are the preparations? " "Everything is ready! The captain guarding the gate said with a flattering smile on his face: "The axes of the two city gates have been well oiled, and two layers of iron bars have been added. Even if you use a big axe, you can't cut them open for a while. There are three hundred people lying in wait." Archers, torches, bundles of firewood, kerosene, etc."Everything is well prepared, and a reward of one thousand guan has been prepared -" (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature, the novel is better and updated faster!