Escape from the Ghost

But within an hour, the sky and the earth suddenly changed color, dark clouds hung down heavily, and it was dark.

Song Muzhi took the lead, leading four officials, five generals, and the rest of the deputy generals through the army and into the main camp.After everyone stood firm, they dared not make any unnecessary noises in the camp.The oppressive atmosphere circulated in the tent, and the air hit the cold armor, as if a thick layer of ice had formed.

Song Muzhi opened the battle report just presented, and immediately sank his expression. All the battle situations in the battle of Yicheng were readily available and recorded in detail.He frowned and stared, his hand holding the bamboo slips became tighter and tighter, his knuckles suddenly turned white, he stood up suddenly and put the bamboo slips on the table, and shouted: "Kill more than [-] people, you... Li Zhaoling! Xia Houyong! Zhao You !"

Li Zhaoling knelt down on one knee, his whole body seemed to be tensed, and said, "It's none of their business, it's my order!"

"Okay! Okay..." Song Muzhi looked at Li Zhaoling, stepped back half a step, "Tell me, why are you fighting?"

Li Zhaoling held his breath and said sharply, "Kill the enemy...survive!"

Song Muzhi stood up from the chair, rushed down from the chief seat, grabbed Li Zhaoling by the collar, pulled him to the front, and said through gritted teeth, "What do you think of me as the Song Family Army? A rebel who wants to survive and save his life?"

Li Zhaoling's eyes were fixed, with a stubborn light shining, and he said every word: "I didn't!"

Song Muzhi let go, took half a step back, bit his bloodless lips, and said with disappointment in his tone, "Say, why did you kill and surrender?"

Xia Houyong stepped forward and said: "The enemy is heavy and we are few, and we are afraid of violence|chaos!"

Song Muzhi scolded coldly: "I didn't ask you! Go back!"

Xia Houyong immediately shut up.

Song Muzhi looked at Li Zhaoling again, and Li Zhaoling said with a icy face, "Damn Mu Yi!"

Song Muzhi let out a heavy breath and asked, "Do you know that the two armies have fought continuously for several years, and there is no way that these fifty thousand people are just Zhao people?"

"I know!"

Song Muzhi took a step closer, and asked again: "Duckweed in troubled times, do you know that other countries have long been eyeing the Northern Wei Dynasty, and any disturbance may break this delicate balance? It can be fought...but not slaughtered!" His last few days The words were spoken in an abnormally heavy manner, with a slight trill.

"I..." At the end of the sentence, Li Zhaoling silenced in a daze.

Song Muzhi closed his eyes and said, "Do you know that wars have plagued the country for years, corpses are strewn all over the fields, and death wailing. After this battle, who will surrender to the enemy we have encountered?"

Li Zhaoling knelt down with the other leg, lowered his head on both knees.

Song Muzhi opened his eyes, approached Li Zhaoling, put his hands on his shoulders, and said slowly: "He's bloodthirsty, he doesn't care about human relations, from the beginning to the end, all you can think of is his own murderous desire, the Song family army doesn't have a general like you! "

Li Zhaoling raised his head with a look of bewilderment: "General..."

Song Muzhi slowly put down his hands, clenched his fists and turned his back, no longer looking at the kneeling person in front of him, and said in a deep voice: "Wang Canjun, according to the military law, killing and surrendering on the battlefield, involving soldiers, how about the law?"

Wang Xin trembled all over, hurriedly bowed to his knees, clasped his hands together and said, "According to the law... it should be cut...but..."

Song Muzhi lowered his eyes, his lips trembled, and murmured: "Since the military order is so, then...behead..."

Li Zhaoling raised his head, his eyes widened with fear and panic, and he looked at Song Muzhi motionlessly.

Everyone was stunned for a moment, then knelt down together, cupped their fists and saluted, "General, please think twice!"

Song Muzhi turned around, reached out to take the token, threw it in front of Li Zhaoling, and shouted: "Decision!"

Xia Houyong knelt and took two steps forward, and said, "General! You can't beheaded. The army just won the battle. If you kill the general after the battle, everyone will not accept it!"

Zhao You glanced at Li Zhaoling, beckoning him to be soft and begging for mercy, but the man froze on the spot and didn't move, so he hurried forward and said: "General Li has made great achievements in battle. Death in vain!"

Su Ningzi stepped forward and pushed Li Zhaoling, and said in a low voice, "You still refuse to bow your head?"

Li Zhaoling leaned forward, kneeled straight again, clasped his fists with red eyes, and said, "Yes! I shouldn't ignore the overall situation, but I don't regret it!"

Song Muzhi looked at Li Zhaoling, nodded, gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, behead...behead!" He glanced at the others, and said angrily, "What are you still doing in a daze? Drag it on! Behead——"

"Ah??? Yes... yes..." The two soldiers beside him were about to drag Li Zhaoling up.

Xia Houyong shouted: "General, you can't be beheaded!"

All the soldiers kowtowed together to intercede:

"General, you really can't kill him!"

"General... think again..."

Song Muzhi raised his right hand, and the soldiers were ordered to stop. He asked Li Zhaoling, "Do you have anything else to say?"

Li Zhaoling chuckled suddenly, looked at Song Muzhi with deep eyes, seemed to have endless things to say, and after a long time, he only said one sentence, "I'm sorry, I let you... down..."

Song Muzhi waved his hands, turned his back, refused to look at Li Zhaoling, and said, "Take it down."

Xia Houyong wanted to persuade again: "I will..." Zhao You dragged Xia Houyong and shook his head solemnly.

Li Zhaoling was dragged through the long corridor until he walked to the beheading platform in front of the formation.He clasped his hands behind his back to the ground, and in front of him was a red-clothed executioner holding a big knife. When he fixed his eyes on the person who came, he couldn't even believe it, and looked around in panic.

The sound of horseshoes galloped past, and all the soldiers hurriedly got off their horses, rushed to the front of the main camp, knelt down, and said in unison: "Please forgive me, General Li!"

Zhao You winked at Duan Fuzun, and Duan Fuzun retreated secretly, went to the door to look around, returned to the main tent and said, "General, all the soldiers from the Qianfeng Battalion heard the news and came to intercede for General Li! They are Li Zhaoling's soldiers. , brothers who were born and died together on the Yicheng battlefield!"

Zhang Xun stepped forward and said: "The Ze of the same robe, the love of brothers, I also ask the general to show mercy outside the law."

Xia Houyong kowtowed again: "General, in the eyes of everyone, Li Zhaoling is a good soldier. Some of the people outside the house have been with him since the first time he entered the battlefield, and some of them are life and death friends who have been saved by him. All of us left our homes and families and came here not for war, but for peace, for the peace of the country, general, please spare him!"

Everyone in the camp knelt down and kowtowed again, saying: "General, please think twice!"

The three armies outside the tent clasped their fists together and shouted in unison: "General, please think twice!"

Li Zhaoling slowly straightened his body from the ground, staring blankly at all the people who begged for him in front of him, shouting like thunder, hitting the softest part of his heart again and again, making his eyes red unconsciously.Standing in the cold wind, there seemed to be a voice telling him, what is the purpose of fighting?

In the camp, Song Muzhi lifted his feet forward, helped Xia Houyong up from the ground, and then slowly helped Zhang Xun and Duan Fuzun. It's not me, Song Muzhi, nor any general in this camp. It's the rigor and pride of running the army, the brotherhood of united will and the same hatred, and the heart of loyalty and courage to defend the family and the country. Today Since all the generals plead for mercy, the death penalty can be avoided, and the life penalty cannot be escaped, so I am ordered to go down and fight a hundred troops."

Xia Houyong clasped his fists together and said, "One hundred military battles...will the punishment be too heavy?"

Su Ningzi looked nervous and said: "General, a hundred battles will kill him."

Everyone said again: "Yes! You..."

Song Muzhi sighed heavily, waved his hands, and said in a cold voice: "Don't beg for mercy, otherwise...there's no need to fight..." When everyone heard it, you looked at me and I looked at you, and immediately silenced.

Outside the camp, Li Zhaoling was stripped of his armor, dressed in white obscene clothes, and pressed on the execution platform. After the battle, the prisoner yelled loudly:

"one two Three……"

……

"67, 68...69..."

All the soldiers stood upright, watching Li Zhaoling being tortured in public.The white obscene clothes on his back were already bloody and black, and his pale face was drenched in cold sweat. He kept clenching his teeth and did not yell out. Zhao You, who was next to him, looked at his heartache and said anxiously: "Li Zhaoling, don't you?" Endure it, yell out, yell louder, until the general's heart softens, maybe he will spare you..."

Li Zhaoling let go, raised his head slightly, looked at the door of the big tent, a few strands of hair were blowing in the wind, he forced a smile, lowered his eyes, and passed out.

The soldier carrying the stick stopped his movements and stared blankly at Zhao You, not knowing what to do.Zhao You rushed to the jailer under the stage, blinked vigorously, and the jailer still looked at him suspiciously...

Zhao You couldn't bear it anymore, pulled his neck, pointed to the door of the big tent, and said loudly: "Go!"

Only then did the prison guard suddenly realize that he bowed his body into the big tent and said to Song Muzhi, "Report to General, General Li...he's already fainted...do you still want to beat him?"

Song Muzhi's hand holding the brush paused, and said for a moment: "Wake up, continue!"

The prison guard shook his head, and froze on the spot without moving.

Song Muzhi raised his head slightly, and asked in a deep voice, "Why, didn't you hear it?"

Xia Houyong clenched his fists, stared at Song Muzhi and said loudly, "I'll go!" He strode out majesticly.

Su Ningzi said with a sullen face, "General, do you really want to kill him?" After speaking, she led the prison guards to follow in a hurry!

The ink from Song Muzhi's pen dripped on the paper, and the smudges melted away. He raised his hand, picked up the paper on the table, squeezed it into a ball and threw it on the ground. The paper ball rolled twice, and rolled into several scattered waste paper balls , finally stopped.Song Muzhi put down his pen, and put his hands on his chest in a daze.

The prison guards came out of the camp with a cold voice: "Prepare water, wake up, continue!"

Xia Houyong strode forward, pushed away the little soldier on the execution platform who didn't know what to do, picked up the salt water bucket from the ground, and poured it head-on. The hand holding the bucket was shaking all the time. He knew that it would hurt a lot if the bucket of water went down. Under the circumstances, Li Zhaoling will never faint again, but if he can't bear it, he will be tortured to death.

When the water fell, Li Zhaoling finally couldn't restrain himself, and yelled out the first time in great pain: "Ah—" Everyone lowered their heads, unable to bear to look any longer!

Xia Houyong threw away the barrel and said loudly, "Keep beating—"

With purple eyes, Su Ning held Li Zhaoling's face and said, "Hold on, don't give up..." In a panic, she quickly stuffed the snow ginseng slices in her hand into the man's mouth, and was pulled away by the people on both sides.

"Haha..." Li Zhaoling laughed boldly, his eyes were so determined that the person holding the walking stick suddenly stopped. Xia Houyong stepped forward, grabbed the walking stick, and paused every word: " I hit!"

Li Zhaoling yelled: "Xia Houyong! Come! Don't be cowardly, show your courage to kill the enemy on the battlefield!"

"it is good--"

"88, 89, ninety..."

When he heard Li Zhaoling's screams, Song Muzhi's hands trembled unnaturally, he let out a long breath, finally settled down, put the envelope away and handed it to Wang Xin, saying: "Be sure to send the letter to Wang Xin before tomorrow evening. Send it back to the capital."

"Yes."

Wang Xin accepted the order and left the camp.

Song Muzhi supported the table and stood up. At this time, his upper body was completely numb, only a certain part of his chest was in pain.With a slight movement, a certain nerve in his body has been pinched in the back of his head, tearing back and forth, his body trembled slightly, and in an instant, he clenched his fists again and walked towards the outside of the tent.

"93, 94..."

The prison guard's voice passed through the tent sentence by sentence and reached Song Muzhi's ears.He watched all the soldiers lower their heads and clenched their fists, staring at the bloody people on the stage.

"boom!"

There was a thunder in the sky, and the raindrops fell on the ground, like a ball of mud, quickly smashing one hole after another.

"98, 99, one hundred..."

Xia Houyong finally took over the military battle, and together with Zhao You carried Li Zhaoling off the execution platform, and carried him in front of Song Muzhi.Li Zhaoling's hair was disheveled, his face was pale and bloodless, he slowly raised his head, and murmured, "Thank you...general...for your kindness not to kill me?"

Song Muzhi sighed, "It's not that I want to save you."

The corners of Li Zhaoling's mouth twitched into a bitter smile.

Song Muzhi was numb, raised his hand to help Li Zhaoling smooth the messy hair on his forehead, stroked it behind his ear, and asked in a low voice, "Do you hate me?" At the end of the voice, there was a trill, so weak that it didn't even look like what he said tone.

Li Zhaoling shook his head slightly, murmured, but still said: "I'm sorry, I let... let you down..." After finishing speaking, he tried his best to close Song Muzhi's ear, and whispered, "I... I..." Before he finished speaking, he lowered his head and passed out completely.

Song Muzhi clenched his hands, straightened his body, and said coldly, "Take it down."

He looked at all the soldiers, surrounded Li Zhaoling back and forth, and retreated together, and whispered a few words to Su Ningzi, then turned and entered the tent, but before taking two steps, he passed out on the ground clutching his wound.