readsfreenovel Chapter 331 5 flowers tied up
Chapter 331 5 flowers tied up
Zhang Hou then told the story of how he found unusual footprints while patrolling the border, and how they followed the footprints to Dongxi Village. His story was a little exaggerated, but it was roughly correct.
Ding Qi frowned upon hearing this, and with a thud he drew his sword from its sheath, pointed it directly at Chu Xiaomu's face, and shouted, "Why did you order the massacre of the villagers of Dongxi Village?"
Chu Xiaomu was still staring at the ground, not feeling scared at all. At this moment, his mind was filled with scenes of villagers rushing towards him. Among them were men, women, old people, and children. They all had simple and innocent smiles on their faces... But the sword in his hand seemed to be disobedient, and just kept stabbing, stabbing, and stabbing again... These men, women, old people, and children in Dongxi Village were stabbed to death one by one, and their faces still showed simple and innocent smiles...
Seeing Chu Xiaomu's distraught look, Ding Qi could no longer question him, so he waved behind him. Nearly a hundred soldiers jumped off their horses, holding spears in their hands, and surrounded Chu Xiaomu and his twenty men.
Everyone was shocked and didn't know what Ding Qi meant by this.
Chu Xiaomu finally came to his senses and asked, "Ding Zhongjun, you...you...are you going to arrest us?"
Ding Qi also put away his anger, sighed deeply, and said, "How can I forgive you for committing such a big mistake?"
Chu Xiaomu wanted to make some excuses, but suddenly remembered that when he was in Nanding Army, he racked his brains to find excuses, but he was either beaten with a military stick or imprisoned. This Ding Zhongjun seemed to be easier to get along with than Zhou Bo, but who knows what kind of personality he has? If he angered him, it would not matter if he was beaten or imprisoned, but it would be against his will to make his brothers suffer. Thinking of this, he simply threw the black iron sword in his hand to the ground and waited for his hands to be tied.
Zhou Weide usually had a bad temper in front of Chu Xiaomu, Zhang Hou and others, but when he saw Ding Qi and was surrounded by a large group of soldiers in shining silver armor, his arrogance immediately disappeared and he threw his spear to the ground. Others including Gao Tinggeng's team in the East Zhenying did not dare to resist and also surrendered their spears.
The soldiers of the Dongzhong Army took out hemp ropes and tied up the twenty or so people tightly.
Ding Qi said: "I have a general idea of what happened in Xidong Village. Now the matter has not been fully verified. You should not kill them under any circumstances. Such a sin cannot be forgiven by heaven!" He looked up at the sky, tears rolling down his eyes.
When the soldiers saw the corpses of so many old people and children, each of whom had died in such a miserable way, they all shed tears.
One soldier could not help but yelled, "You bunch of beasts, you are worse than beasts!" He kicked Chu Xiaomu to the ground. The other soldiers could not bear it any longer and punched and kicked Chu Xiaomu and his group without mercy.
The crowd did not resist and let them yell, scold, kick and beat them. Su Mishun and Zhou Weiyi burst into tears.
Ding Qi waved his hand to stop the Dongzhong Army soldiers, and said to a sturdy man with a small head and a thick body: "Yangying Officer, take your men to search the village inside and outside to see if there are any surviving villagers." Yangying Officer's name was Yang Shouzhong, and he was the camp officer of Nanzhen Camp where Gao Tinggeng was.
Yang Shouzhong received the order and went with 40 to 50 people. The rest of the people still guarded Chu Xiaomu and others, staring angrily at the 20 or so people lying on the ground.
Chu Xiaomu's hands and feet were tied, and he was kicked down and lying on the ground, with his right face pressed against the ground. In addition to the blood spots and blood clots splashed all over his body after killing people, he was also covered with dust and sand, and his whole body was covered with dirt. Thinking of the dozens of villagers who were killed, he finally couldn't bear it anymore, and he curled up and burst into tears.
Ding Qi ordered the soldiers of the Dongzhong Army to keep a close watch on Chu Xiaomu and others, and led several guards to check the bodies of the killed villagers.
The Dongzhong Army soldiers did not help them up, leaving them lying on the rocky ground crying and screaming.
Chu Xiaomu was kicked twice in the stomach by a soldier, causing unbearable pain.
He curled up on the ground, watching Yang Shouzhong leading the soldiers in and out of the tents. Unfortunately, only a few people went in and only a few came out, and no surviving villagers were found. Then Yang Shouzhong asked his soldiers to ride on horses and disperse to the surrounding areas of the village, probably to look for surviving villagers scattered outside.
I watched Ding Qi order the guards to lay out the bodies of the villagers one by one in an open space, squatting beside the bodies, lifting their heads to check the back of their necks, opening their eyelids to check their eyeballs, prying open their mouths to check their teeth and tongues, taking out a knife to cut off a small piece of meat from the neck of a corpse and wrapping it in cloth... He was extremely careful and cautious. Ding Qi's face was tense, and his expression became more and more solemn and ugly.
After an unknown amount of time, Ding Qi finally ordered his men to pull Chu Xiaomu and the others up from the ground and ordered them to stand still. He said, "Follow me and return to Bicheng immediately. I will explain the whole incident in detail. The general will make the decision on how to deal with them."
Without waiting for Chu Xiaomu and the others to answer, Yang Shouzhong asked, "General, how should we deal with Gao Tinggeng in my camp?"
Ding Qi thought for a moment and said, "Pull him over here and I'll take him back to Bicheng."
Yang Shouzhong said, "That's the best. This matter is indeed strange, and perhaps only the general can see the clues." He ordered his men to bring Gao Tinggeng, who was tied tightly to the horse's back and still making strange noises, and hand him over to one of Ding Qi's guards.
Ding Qi ordered Yang Shouzhong to deal with the corpses of the villagers and to patrol the area around Dongxi Village. He also ordered two followers to return to the Nanding camp to fetch the messenger eagles and asked them to report to Bicheng immediately if there was any situation. Gao Tinggeng's team of soldiers were taken back to the Dongzhong camp for custody, and either punished or released, waiting for the general's order.
Yang Shouzhong took the order and led the soldiers there like wind and thunder.
Chu Xiaomu couldn't help but say, "General Ding, our team's duty is to patrol the Lone Pine Ridge area to prevent a surprise attack by the Sand Countrymen. This matter is more important, we can't go back to Bicheng!"
Ding Qi glared at him fiercely and said angrily, "You patrol the border well!" Thinking of riding back to Bicheng on horseback, he had to order the guards to untie the nine people of Chu Xiaomu, but he could not give them weapons such as spears, bows and arrows.
According to the laws of Bicheng, killing innocent people in Bicheng will be punished by beheading.
Chu Xiaomu and others thought that they had not only killed a few civilians, but had massacred an entire village, with nearly a hundred people killed. There was no greater crime than this.
After returning to the city, we must explain the helpless situation to the general. Only if the general understands the whole story and shows mercy, may we be able to escape the death penalty.