Chapter 422 Cao thief
"You and I have agreed three chapters here today!"
"The murderer pays with his life, the wounder pays with money, and the one who insults his wife and daughter pays with his wife and daughter."
The sky was drizzling, and the smell of blood was washed away.
All the 20,000 mountain barbarians knelt down and listened to Qin Lang announce his decision.
Da Hei Niu took the lead and stepped forward. He pulled out his knife in public, cut three cuts on his face, and let the blood flow down.
Qin Lang only demanded to kill people to pay for their lives. How many people died in the wild chaos, how many people should be handed over by the barbarians to pay for their lives. The barbarians who died in battle are not counted. According to statistics, the barbarians need to hand over 377 people to resist their lives.
This is brutal, and there is no room for bargaining.
Three hundred and seventy-seven people from Hunan and Guangxi died tragically under the swords and axes of barbarians in just a few days. Now Qin Lang must uphold justice for them.
Wars are always cruel. Even if it is a rebellion that lasts only a few days, many people still die.
Including the more than 2,000 barbarians who have died, in fact, the barbarians also suffered heavy losses this time.
But now no one cares how many barbarians died at the hands of Qin Lang's subordinates, Qin Lang only asks for a life for a life.
He asked Hei Niu and others to hand over so many people, but he didn't force them to find out those who killed in the rebellion. He only asked them to hand over a corresponding number of people to take their lives. As for who should be chosen to take their lives, that's left It was given to the black cows to decide for themselves.
Although Ah Huang said that these people will definitely hand over some old, weak, sick and disabled to make up for it, and the real murderer will not be handed over, Qin Lang doesn't care.
Every barbarian is a human life, and those who are selected will be executed. This is a difficult decision, and the black cow and others are very painful.
But they had to agree to Qin Lang's conditions and hand over those people, otherwise the matter this time would be hard to settle down. Qin Lang's other conditions were already very good. Not only did he promise not to register as a registered permanent residence, not to relocate people down the mountain, not to collect taxes and share labor, but even to set up a separate county government for them, and they themselves would serve as county magistrates.
Hei Niu cut his own face, which is self-punishment for his ineffective leadership.
Many village owners danced one after another, and then sang while dancing, and finally took out a knife and cut their faces, letting the blood flow.
The wizards of the stockade chanted ancient prayers there.
In the end, as Ah Huang expected, Hei Niu and other village master wizards held a tribal meeting on the spot after jumping the big rope.
In the end they decided that the old, the weak, the sick and the disabled should take on this mortal task.
But to Qin Lang's surprise, none of the village masters forcibly selected someone out.
The old men, the sick, and even those injured and disabled in the various villages, wept and shed tears, but they took the initiative to stand up.
At this time Feng Shan told Qin Lang a custom of the barbarians.
"It is said that there is a custom among the Wuling Man. When encountering famine and hunger, some old people among the mountain man will voluntarily leave their homes and go to the deep mountains."
"Suicide?"
"Go feed the beast."
There are even some elderly people who can’t move, and let their sons carry them into the mountains.
"Near every tribal village, there will be such a valley and such a cave, known as the Holy Land."
Very cruel traditional customs, but it also reveals the hardships of these barbarians after they retreated to the mountains. When the family was unsustainable, the old people took the initiative to sacrifice and save rations for the young and children.
Just like now, when it is necessary to sacrifice 377 people to make the rest of the people fall, these old, weak, sick and disabled people took the initiative to stand up again.
The young people in the tribe stood there watching, very sad.
Qin Yong said angrily, "Those young barbarians are not filial."
But Feng Shan told him, "These young barbarians will also grow old, and when the day comes when they need to sacrifice, they will not hesitate. Generations of barbarians have come here like this, so there is no question of filial piety. , to them."
Dugu Yanyun couldn't bear to see the hundreds of old, weak, sick and disabled people who came out, "Mr. Xuan, do you want to forgive them?"
Qin Lang couldn't bear it, but his face remained expressionless.
Finally, he said slowly, "Their spirit of sacrifice is very precious, but if I just forgive it, it would be too cheap, and it would also disrespect other people who died. After these people die, we can pay homage to them."
He did not pardon them.
Because it was not Qin Lang who chose them to come out to be tortured, they voluntarily stood up to replace the young people in the tribe, and sacrificed for their own tribe and their children and grandchildren.
Qin Lang recruited Hei Niu.
"I have heard about the traditions of your tribe, and I admire your spirit of sacrifice, but blood debts need to be paid in blood, do you understand?"
Da Hei Niu nodded helplessly, with a silent expression on his face.
"Look up and take a good look at this scene. They were not sacrificed because of natural disasters or hunger. They were just because of the stupidity and impulsiveness of you people. They sacrificed their lives for you. Remember this scene and think twice before doing things in the future. Then go."
Hei Niu looked pained, the bravest warrior in the mountain, blushed with shame, full of self-blame.
But Qin Lang ignored him and insisted on letting them carry out the execution in person.
"They died because of you, so you must carry out the execution yourself!"
A white-haired mountain man sang an ancient song and came to Hei Niu.
He smiled at him, "Son, Abba is going to reunite with your mother first. Lead the people well. Although that Qin Xuanxiang is ruthless, he has benevolence in his heart, remember."
After speaking, he knelt down on the ground, put his gray head on a thick pine log, and closed his eyes.
Hei Niu, a strong man, couldn't help but shed tears from his eyes.
But countless people were watching him.
He can't be selfish, and his father took the initiative to stand up to maintain his prestige and save his prestige that collapsed due to the defeat of the army.
Hei Niu knelt down and kowtowed three times to his father.
Brother Buffalo stepped forward and kowtowed three times to his father, and then he handed him the black bull's iron axe.
Holding this weapon that was like his life, for the first time, Hei Niu's hand trembled, feeling that the ax that was usually commanded by his arm was as heavy as a thousand catties.
Qin Lang stood there, looking at the barbarians who were watching the execution solemnly.
He found that these barbarians were very holy, as if they were performing a sacred ceremony. At this moment, they showed no fear, no panic, and even no ignorance and backwardness on their faces.
Qin Lang felt that he had done nothing wrong, and it was right to recruit An Shanman, otherwise, if these barbarians were really forced to have no way out, the court might pay a huge price for it.
Hei Niu raised the ax silently, and swung it down with his eyes closed.
The gray head was cut off and the corpse was separated.
Hei Shi seemed to have all the strength taken away from his body, and he sat down on the ground all of a sudden. Brother Buffalo helped him up, but Hei Niu just choked up and said, "Help me get Abba's body back!"
Manzi village masters and elders took turns to fight, and they executed their relatives with their own hands.
Three hundred and seventy-seven mountain barbarian old men, men and women, basically all gray-haired old men, followed them down the mountain, their hands were not stained with blood, but now they went to the execution ground for their children and grandchildren.
"One life pays one price, is the debt cleared?"
Hei Niu walked up to Qin Lang with red eyes and said.
Qin Lang nodded, "The life debt is settled, and I don't want the interest. Remember this lesson, because your stupidity and impulsiveness caused thousands of lives to die in vain at the foot of the city."
Hei Niu scratched the frozen wound on his face with his fingers, and the blood flowed out again.
"I will never forget it, I will never forget it for the rest of my life, this is a lesson of blood, I, Aba, was chopped down by myself."
Those who hurt people lose money, those who humiliate their wives and daughters want to accompany their wives and daughters to others as slaves, these barbarians also recognize them.
The **** bull was depressed.
"Cao Wuzheng did all of this. It was him, Guizhou Sima. He was originally the younger brother of Cao Wuche, who was known as the Holy Lord in Chenzhou at the end of the Sui Dynasty. At the beginning, he led the Cao family's army to attack Guizhou several times, but led to Chenzhou. Cao Wuche was defeated and killed by Xiao Xian's army in Yueyang, and Cao Wuzheng was defeated by Li Xizhi later, so he simply led his troops to surrender, and has been in command of Guizhou's troops and horses for these years, sharing civil and military affairs with Li Xizhi."
He told Qin Lang that it was Cao Wuzheng who sent people to spread the word about the imperial court's plan to force the mountain people to naturalize and immigrate down the mountain. Cao Wuzheng was very dissatisfied with this, saying that he supported them to rise up and resisted, and that he was also willing to contribute.
If the imperial court insists on going against the grain, he will also contact Tan Dian, Ning Ju, etc. to raise the flag to revolt, and block Wuling at that time, so that they will no longer be oppressed by the Central Plains.
"I was fooled by someone surnamed Cao and harmed everyone."
"If Xuan Shuai wants to attack Cao Wuzheng, I will do my best!"
Qin Lang was not very surprised when he heard this. He had long suspected that the Shanman's chaos this time was not simple, and even guessed that it had a lot to do with Guizhou.
Unexpectedly, it was Guizhou Sima Cao Wuzheng, but he was bold.
His elder brother dared to call himself the master of Tongtian, did he think he could be the master of Tongtian? Then this Cao Wuzheng thought he was the Monkey King?
Courting death!
Qin Lang is still willing to leave a leeway for a mountain barbarian like Da Hei Niu. But for Guizhou Sima like Cao Wuzheng, who wants to split the regime, he will never tolerate it.
Eating food from the imperial court, but still doing the opposite, eating guys who crawl inside and outside.
"Your matter has come to a conclusion. This matter is over. You can go back to the mountains. The outside matter has nothing to do with you." Qin Lang said.
"More than 2,000 lives have been lost. I want to ask someone surnamed Cao to recover this blood debt. Please allow me."
Looking at the gnashing of teeth of the **** cow, this guy dare not put the blood debt on Qin Lang and the court, and now it can only be blamed on the surnamed Cao.
"Since this is the case, then I have a plan to kill Cao Wuzheng. You just need to follow my plan."
"I always listen to Xuan Xiang."
(end of this chapter)