weaving

Yuzhai, a solemn and murderous atmosphere lingers around the entire Yuzhai Mountain.

All the bandits who had just surrendered in the mountain stronghold had their weapons taken away. Led by small leaders, they were divided into groups in the east and the west, each more than a hundred steps apart.

Of the three remaining big leaders in Yuzhai, two of them followed Ji Zhiying and stood on the high martial arts stage. They didn't even dare to breathe, for fear of bringing disaster upon themselves.

Lei Peng is different from the other two, because he used to be a general under Ji Zhiying, so he is closer to him than the others. In addition, Ji Zhiying really needs someone who understands the internal situation of Yuzhai and is slightly loyal to him to do things.

There were about 5,000 bandits in Yuzhai, among whom there were more than 1,000 servants, menial workers, and dependents. Only about 3,500 could truly be called bandits.

Although Lei Peng is also one of the five chiefs of Yuzhai, he is not very favored by Ren Chen, so he has only four or five hundred bandits under his command. If the miscellaneous ones are removed, there are only about three hundred people who can fight.

However, "the times are different now", and now Lei Peng can be said to be in high spirits!

As the saying goes, "When you are in power, everyone praises you; when you are in disgrace, everyone despises you." How unpopular Lei Peng was in the past, how respected he is today. No matter they are ordinary thieves or those big and small leaders, they all look at Lei Peng with envy in their eyes.

Everyone knew very well that Lei Peng might be the leader of Yuzhai in the future, so naturally they tried their best to curry favor with him, so as not to lose their current status in Yuzhai in the future.

However, the purge that the thieves expected did not happen as planned!

Although Ji Zhiying ordered Lei Peng to pick out all of Ren Chen's former confidants one by one, he did not make things difficult for them. He simply escorted them out of the village with courtesy and gave each of them three taels of silver as severance pay.

In order to show his loyalty in front of Ji Zhiying, Lei Peng once suggested killing all these people so as to establish his authority and intimidate these villains in Yuzhai to prevent them from feeling dissatisfied.

But Ji Zhiying saw further than him. In Ji Zhiying's eyes, Yuzhai, a mud village, was not that important. The mission he was shouldering at the moment was much more important than this mud village!

The more than ten earthen strongholds controlled by Ren Chen could at most gather ten thousand bandits. Although they had swords, guns, sticks and other weapons in their hands, they were just a mob after all, and could not compare with the one thousand elite soldiers under his rear.

However, although Ji Zhiying did not take Ren Chen and his gang seriously, he was also afraid that they would secretly defect to the rebel Li Zicheng and cause trouble for him in the rear, or report his movements to the rebel...

This is all something Ji Zhiying cannot tolerate, and it is also the reason why he is willing to resort to such a violent fight to kill Ren Chen!

At present, Ji Zhiying has completely controlled the inside and outside of Yuzhai. All the weapons of the bandits have been confiscated, and he is now counting the number of people and reorganizing them.

Among the one thousand strong and brave soldiers in the rear of Ji Zhiying, one hundred of them were deployed at the front mountain gate to guard the key points; another one hundred elite soldiers strictly guarded the back mountain passage. It can be said that Yuzhai has been completely isolated from the world.

The remaining 800-odd soldiers in the rear were all deployed inside the Jade Village. Various types of artillery were mounted on high platforms, walls, and gates. Teams of musketeers were also deployed on high places, ready to shoot and kill anyone who dared to resist at any time.

Those armored sword and shield soldiers patrolled back and forth in Yuzhai continuously to prevent any sudden situations that they would not be able to respond to in time, and at the same time to deter the bandits more effectively.

"General Ji, everyone is gathered. What do you think we should do next?" The big boss Tong Guanchu asked in a low voice.

Ji Zhiying did not give any direct instructions, but changed the subject and asked him: "Do you know why I must kill Ren Chen?" Another leader replied anxiously: "Ren Chen is determined to oppose the court and is willing to work for King Chuang. He deserves to die."

Ji Zhiying did not continue his words. Tong Guanchu saw that he looked unhappy and quickly interrupted, "What Brother Wugui said makes sense, but I think it's mainly because Ren Chen didn't care about the old friendship. When General Li came back, he didn't even come down the mountain to pay his respects. This alone is a capital crime."

With Tong Guanchu's reminder, Shang Wugui immediately reacted and hurriedly said, "Yes, yes. We are all brothers brought up by Li Zongzhai back then, and we will never forget Li Zongzhai's kindness.

In the past, we couldn't find Li Zongzhai, so we had no choice but to occupy Yuzhai and become bandits again. But now that Li Zongzhai has returned today, we should naturally return to his command, serve him like a cow or a horse, and go through fire and water for him. That is our obligation!"

Only then did Ji Zhiying smile, and he said gently: "You are so insightful, it's worth it that my elder brother still remembers you old brothers."

Tong Guanchu immediately responded, "Ah! Chief Li is still thinking about our group of brothers?"

"No!"

Ji Zhiying said with a big smile on his face: "Brother, this time you followed the Earl of Yongning to help suppress Henan. It was an opportunity that you have been striving for, and it is for you old brothers.

Otherwise, Kaifeng is about to defeat Li the bandit, and it is the critical time to make great achievements. Why would you ask to lead the troops to western Henan? Isn't it to find a good way out for you guys? "

Shang Wugui also said: "That's right, I'm right. Brother Tong, did you see that? General Li has not forgotten us!"

Ji Zhiying also took advantage of the situation and said, "Brother is now the deputy general, and even I have become a guerrilla officer. Now I am serving as a soldier with the Earl of Yongning and getting paid. If I kill bandits and make contributions, I will also get extra rewards. I can't even describe how comfortable my life will be."

"I will follow General Ji in the future. I will be very satisfied if I can serve as a general under your command."

Tong Guanchu rolled his eyes at Shang Wugui and said with a charming smile, "Look at how little you have achieved. General Ji follows Li Zongzhai, and in the future, Li Zongzhai will definitely become a general. At that time, General Ji will at least be a lieutenant general or deputy general. It's not too late for us to follow Master Ji now. If we can't become a guerrilla in the future, at least we can be a thousand-man general."

Ji Zhiying glanced at the two of them and said, "O Lord Yongning has defeated the bandit Li, and the next step is to wipe out people like you who have taken over the mountains and become bandits. If that happens, I'm afraid it will be difficult for you to survive.

It was because Brother Li knew about this that he volunteered to come to western Henan to cut off Li's retreat. In fact, it was not to save you old brothers. "

"Yes, yes. We will never forget the kindness that General Li saved our lives."

Ji Zhiying stopped Tong Guanchu and asked him, "Is Zhang Ding still alive? Where is he now?" (End of this chapter)