Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 184 I Can’t Tell You Anything

The main force of the Western Route Army consisted of 25,000 soldiers and 30,000 local militiamen.

Although Henan Governor Gao Mingheng had an army of more than 50,000, he did not dare to take the risk of confronting the main force of the bandit army. However, he did not dare to disobey General Yang's strict order to attack the bandit army.

So he led his army to march for a day and stop for half a day, keeping a safe following distance and carefully observing the real-time movements of the enemy army.

Perhaps the bandit army did not like the government troops following them, so they suddenly accelerated their march towards Jiaxian and Xiangcheng.

Although the main force of the rebel army accelerated its retreat, the scouts they left behind went crazy for some unknown reason. They frequently approached the government army camp under the cover of night and engaged in battles with the outposts.

The beggars killed people recklessly, but they retreated many times with superb organization and coordination, and then continued to kill.

Gao Mingheng once thought that the Qihuo bandits would take the opportunity to lead the main force to attack at night, and he remained highly vigilant at all times.

However, the night attack did not take place. Only the outpost battle lasted from night to day, with the lives of both sides constantly being exchanged.

What's even more outrageous is that more than ten scouts of the government army surrounded three beggars in a dilapidated village and were about to capture them alive for questioning.

Unexpectedly, the three bandits hugged each other, ignited the gunpowder tied around their waists and abdomens, and committed suicide, killing half of the government scouts.

This bravery stunned the survivors and deeply shocked the high-ranking officers and generals. It was no exaggeration to say that the elite rebel army was fearless and unafraid of death.

Fortunately, these fearless elite soldiers are only a few backbones of the rebel army, and every death is one less.

As long as the government troops can use their numerical advantage to replace the elite troops of the bandits, the Qihuo bandits can be pacified in no time.

Perhaps the numerical advantage of the government army played a role, and the scouts finally captured the enemy's tongue after dozens of battles.

"Master Futai! We caught seven tongues!" The personal guards shouted happily outside the tent.

Gao Mingheng was delighted when he heard this, and the other generals also smiled as if they had let go of their anger, "Bring it up."

Seven captives, covered in wounds and blood, were brought up. Their hands were tied behind their backs, their ankles were tied with thorns, and their clothes, shoes, and socks were stripped off, leaving only their underpants to cover their bodies.

Scouts had all suffered from the bandits' self-destruction before. Once they caught a bandit alive, they would search his body, even his anus, to avoid stuffing him with gunpowder bombs and blowing him up in the face...

The guards around Gao Mingheng immediately shouted at the man: "Why don't you kneel down before the governor?"

"Kneel down!" Everyone shouted in unison, and even kicked the prisoners' knees to force them to kneel down.

However, several captives were quite tough. They stood with their necks stiff and stared at Gao Mingheng. No matter how the government soldiers and their servants beat, scolded or humiliated them, they refused to kneel.

A deputy general raised his whip and lashed the stubborn prisoner.

Just as he was about to raise the whip for the sixth time, he suddenly saw Gao Mingheng winking at him, and his lips seemed to be making some shape movements.

The deputy general immediately understood what he meant, restrained his violent temper, and ordered away the other soldiers who wanted to come up and attack.

The deputy general forced a smile and laughed heartily to ease the atmosphere as he approached the captives. "Tai Gao has the greatest respect for brave and resourceful men. If you will just kneel down and surrender, and tell me the details of the rebel army, I will give each of you the position of a captain!"

When these words were spoken, several deputy generals and guerrillas around were shocked. They had led their troops in battles across the country and gone through life and death for many years, but only now had they been promoted to the rank of magistrate.

Now we have to give new rewards to some newly caught tongues. This is unfair!

The depressed general looked at Gao Mingheng intentionally or unintentionally, but the latter still looked at the captives who refused to surrender with interest and had no intention of correcting his mistake.

"The Qihuo Army has been so kind to me, don't even think of asking me to betray you!"

"Your Ming Dynasty doesn't have many years left. If you continue to work for the pseudo-Ming, your whole family will be buried with you! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha..."

One of the captives was about to attack Gao Mingheng, but his hands and feet were bound by ropes and thorns, and he was pinned to the ground by his personal guards before he could take two and a half steps.

"Bah! You filthy little bugs dare to surrender to me!" another captive cursed loudly. "Even if I die and go to hell, I will destroy the ghosts you will turn into in the future!"

"You're so brave!" He Renlong took a step forward, but was overtaken by the deputy general of the battalion.

"How dare you!" The deputy general was furious and slapped the prisoner in the face.

Seeing that the captives were stubborn and unyielding, Gao Mingheng decided to use torture. He believed that these soldiers would have a way to pry open the mouths of these bandits.

Nail piercings with needles, bodies branded with branding irons, fingers severed with clamps, legs broken with tiger benches...

Even under torture, a tough person remains tough. The hot iron imprints on his chest make a sizzling sound like frying meat. "I can't possibly tell you anything. Hum...ah...ah...ah..."

The prisoner sitting on the tiger bench had his legs raised so high that his knees and calves were almost broken by the exaggerated angle.

Yet, the captives, seemingly born without legs, still found the leisure to hum a leisurely, lighthearted tune: "In the blue sky, amidst the Milky Way, there's a little white boat. On the boat, there's a sweet-scented osmanthus tree. A Jade Rabbit is playing around... Oh yeah! The brave warriors of the Beggar Army are fearless! Keep going! I can sing you another 300 nursery rhymes!"

"Use a little more force!" The captive whose nails were pierced spitted, "My fingers and toes are thirsty for blood! Hurry up! It doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt!"

"Okay, I told you to be tough!"

The torturer also got excited. While putting the prisoner in the tongs, he poured salt water on the wounds on his fingers and toes. An ordinary person would have fainted from the severe pain in his fingers and heart.

However, the prisoner was still full of energy, with his mouth corners drooping and one eyebrow raised, he looked up and down at the torturer with disgust. Is that it?
It was as if the beauty was mocking the man with a silent expression, "Is that okay, little dog?"

The young generals were dumbfounded. The sense of accomplishment they felt from carrying out the sadistic torture was gone, replaced by confusion and anger.

Fortunately, there are those who would rather die than surrender, while there are those who cannot withstand the torture.

"I'll tell you! I'll tell you!" One man, unable to bear the torture of having his fingers pierced, cried and begged for mercy. The officers and soldiers stopped the torture and gave him a bowl of water to restore his strength.

"Have you said it yet?"

"I, I'll tell you everything!"

"You're such a coward! You can't say it! Have you forgotten the great kindness the Marshal has shown you?" The tough guy who was still being branded with the iron cursed.

"The main force of our Qihuo Army, 40,000 men, has been besieging Ruzhou for many days. The supply routes to the rear are blocked, and the army is beginning to run out of food. After careful consideration, the commander-in-chief has decided to withdraw to Xiangcheng for food..."

"Bullshit, you son of a bitch!" the tough guy roared. "My beggar army follows the will of heaven and saves the people. We uphold justice. The people are all welcoming our righteous army with food and drink! How could there be a food shortage? You traitor, I'm going to kill you!"

Several other tough guys shouted, "My beggar army has 100,000 soldiers, not just 40,000! You damn traitor, you're demoralizing our side, you'll die a miserable death!"

Another spineless man added, "The commander-in-chief learned that the government army had 50,000 elite soldiers. He was afraid of the government army's majesty and did not dare to advance to fight, so he sent us to cover their retreat."

"You are talking nonsense! We are glorious soldiers who volunteered to stay behind, not cowards like you who are afraid of death!" The captives who would rather die than surrender loudly refuted, but were silenced by the government troops with a rag stuffed in their mouths one by one.

"Everything I said is true! We are the last ones to leave, just to delay the progress of the Heavenly Soldiers. I have told you everything I know. Please spare my life!"

The first captive who rebelled shouted, "I've had enough of these beggar bandits' arrogance and their wanton killing of innocent people! I beg you, sir, to give me a chance to kill them and serve my country. The bandits are short of food, their morale is low, and they are only focused on retreating and getting food. This is a good opportunity for our army to crush them!"

"Wuwuwuwu..." Even though their mouths were blocked, the tough guys were still struggling desperately.

They stared at the traitor who "betrayed" their brother, their eyes filled with bloodshot anger, like a tiger locking onto an unsuspecting prey.

The information provided by the "traitor" quickly attracted Gao Mingheng and the generals to come.

Gao Mingheng turned his head and whispered a few words into the deputy general's ear. The latter understood and personally stepped forward to untie all the prisoners.

"You traitor dog, I want you to pay with blood!"

The moment the restraints were released, the five tough guys, wearing only their underpants, pounced on the two cowards like tigers.

The two former teammates scuffled, but the tough guys, after all, outnumbered the cowards and quickly gained an overwhelming advantage.

They strangled the traitor's neck, punched his head and genitals, and spoke words of hatred. Soon they killed the thief who leaked the friendly forces' intelligence.

Then they rushed towards the Henan Governor with roars, but were killed by muskets one by one along the way.

The last captive spat out blood and raised his arm tremblingly, pointing at Gao Mingheng and the others. "Even if I become a ghost, I won't let you insects go!"

As all the captives died, the information from both sides of the bandits merged and fermented.

The beggar bandits really don't like to coerce the people, and their minions are all strong and capable. Their total military strength does not seem to be as large as other bandits, which may number hundreds of thousands or even tens of thousands.

Gao Mingheng thought to himself that excluding the minions left behind in the city, the Beggar Bandits only had 40,000 main forces, which was consistent with the intelligence observations in recent days.

"Do you think what the bandits said is credible?"

Gao Mingheng looked around, and generals such as He Renlong, Li Guoqi, Zheng Jiadong, Niu Chenghu, and Zhang Shun looked at each other.

Li Guoqi was the first to respond, "I believe what the bandits say is true. The main force of the bandits consists of only a few thousand elite soldiers, with tens of thousands of followers. They dare not confront our 50,000-man army. This is indeed a good opportunity to follow them and defeat them."

"Only a few thousand brave soldiers dare to fight the beggar bandits, and the rest are just a mob. As long as our army arrives, the bandits will surely flee in panic." He Renlong patted his chest, looking very confident.

Other generals also agreed, believing that the bandits were weak and it was a good time to defeat them in one battle and seize the first credit for suppressing the bandits.

If the main force from Xiangyang came north and the commander-in-chief's direct troops squeezed in, how could they have any chance of achieving great success?

"Okay!" Gao Mingheng immediately ordered to speed up and catch up with the enemy and fight a decisive battle with them.

At the same time, at the mall's "resurrection point", several players woke up from open stone coffins, square altars, plate knight armor models, and picture frames hanging on the wall.

"Good boy, you acted really well in 'selling' the information just now." The seven players clapped their hands in celebration.

"You're not bad either. The rage you showed when you were betrayed by a traitor and wanted to eat someone alive is really touching."

"That's right. I'm a top ten actor in the Qihuo Army. Otherwise, why would you ask me to cooperate with you?"

"It all depends on whether the government troops believe our acting skills. If they do, the first step of our plan to annihilate the Western Route Army will be accomplished."

"Hurry up and get to the dock to catch the boat! Although I'm afraid we won't be able to catch up with the second step of the ambush, we can still catch up with the third step of the strategy."

"Quick! Quick! Quick! Charge! Charge! Charge! The 4WD warriors are in action!"

(End of this chapter)