Little Pony was eventually discovered by One-eyed, but this was no longer important because One-eyed had discovered it too late. All of them had been surrounded. Even if he wanted to punish Little Pony, it was impossible. The mounted bandits under his command would not listen to him. His personal strength was limited, and he might not be able to defeat Little Pony. Therefore, he could only endure because he still wanted to live.
"What did I do?"
Foal still didn't want to admit it. He was worried that some angry Horse Gang would suddenly kill him, so he still pretended to be innocent.
One-eye's tone softened a bit, and he said, "I'm not going to punish you. I just think you did a good job. Let's surrender to the soldiers together. You can put in a good word for me. I've been trying to persuade you to surrender to the soldiers, but you refused. You can't blame me."
In order to reduce his crime, One-eye was willing to sacrifice his dignity. No, he didn't have any dignity at all. He just wanted to live, and didn't want to be executed.
Foal had to agree. He didn't dare to force him into a dead end.
"Okay, I promise you. Now it's up to you."
Foal said.
One-eye understood. He looked at the Horse Gang and said, "Brothers, we've been surrounded. Don't move. Put down all the things in your hands and line up to surrender. Don't move, and don't touch any weapons. Throw away all the daggers in your arms. Throw them all away."
After that, One-eye raised his hands and walked to the front of the soldiers, indicating that he didn't want to be a Horse Gang for a long time, but he didn't have a chance to walk on the right path. Now the chance finally came. He was willing to lead his brothers to surrender to the soldiers and be a good man from now on.
As the saying goes, a wise man knows better than to fight when the odds are against him. Now that they were surrounded, these ferocious Horse Gang had lost their temper. They obediently put down the weapons in their hands, and then walked forward in a line, away from the weapons.
Ang Lee and Lao Guo laughed when they saw the Horse Gang surrender so easily. Everything was going well, but they still had to capture the next group of Horse Gang, so they couldn't relax.
"Take away all the Horse Gang, horses and boxes, and the weapons. Clean up the scene quickly and prepare to capture the next group of Horse Gang."
Lao Guo gave the order.
Not all of the Horse Gang were taken away. Foal was left behind and taken to meet Ang Lee and Lao Guo. As their leader, One-eye was also left behind.
"Foal, you've done a great job. You have contributed greatly to our success in capturing these bandits. Speak! What kind of reward do you want? "
Ang Lee said generously.
"I want to join the army and be with my brother. I want to be a good person from now on."
Foal said.
Ang Lee said with satisfaction, "This requirement is very low! Lao Guo, do you have any reason to refuse? "
Lao Guo said with a smile, "Of course not. Our Shuofang Army welcomes talents like Foal very much."
Pausing for a second, Lao Guo looked at Foal and asked, "Is that the only request? Don't you have any other requests? "
Foal thought for a while and asked, "General, how will we deal with these people who surrendered this time?"
Lao Guo said with a smile, "How do you think we should deal with them? If it were you, how would you deal with them? "
Foal shook his head and said, "I don't dare to speculate. Please enlighten me."
Lao Guo looked at Ang Lee and said, "What's the reform that Assistant Minister Li mentioned?"
Li An nodded and said, "General Guo, it's reform through labor. To reform these mounted gangsters through labor means to make them work more and develop a good habit of loving labor. This way, after many years, they can become good people."
"Oh, yes, yes, reform through labor. Look at my memory. Foal, did you hear that? Reform through labor."
Lao Guo said.
"Hard labor. How long will it take?"
Foal asked cautiously.
Lao Guo thought for a while and said, "It's not fixed. It depends on how the reform works. As long as the reform is done, they can leave sooner. If they don't, it's hard to say how long it will take. Maybe they will be reformed for the rest of their lives. For example, you, Foal, should be reformed as well. But since you've made a great contribution, you don't have to be reformed."
"General, can you give my friend a chance to make a contribution? He's a fatty, but he's not a bad guy. He's a good man."
Foal asked.
Lao Guo smiled and said, "It's not that I don't want to give your friend a chance, but there's no such chance. Now that the Horse Gang is in the trap, how can your friend make a contribution? "
"Well …"
Pony furrowed his brows. Evidently, he too felt that his friend had lost the opportunity to perform a meritorious deed. When he had the opportunity to perform a meritorious deed, he was worried that he would be exposed, so he did not give his friend a chance to do so. Because of this, he was slightly vexed.
But then, an idea occurred to him and he said, "General, this time my friend Fatty made a great contribution to me being able to get in touch with my brother so smoothly. If he hadn't covered me all the way, I would have been suspected. So, half of my contribution goes to Fatty. General, please punish him lightly."
"Fatty? I know, your brother has already told me. He has carefully observed this fatty. This fatty likes to eat and is lazy. He is simply a lazy pig! Why do you like to be friends with such a person? Do you like his laziness? "
Lao Guo asked curiously, which amused all the people around him.
Pony scratched his head in embarrassment and said, "Of course it's not because of that. It's mainly because even though Fatty is a little lazy, he's still a good person. He's a kind person and treats everyone well. He doesn't take it to heart even if you criticize him a little. Being with him makes me feel very happy."
"According to what this little foal said, this fatty really did make a contribution! But such a lazy person really needs to be reformed, or he'll be lazy all his life. "
Lao Guo said.
Foal smiled and advised, "General, this fatty isn't actually that lazy. He's done a lot of work along the way. I hope that the general will be magnanimous and let my brother go. This lowly one will be eternally grateful."
"Well, you'd better bring Fatty here first. I want to talk to him in person. Go ahead! "
Lao Guo said.
Soon, One-eye was brought in.
Looking at the man who once spared him, One-eye was terrified. He had promised not to be a horse bandit after he left, but apparently, he broke his promise.
"One-eye horse bandit, I remember you. Didn't you leave? Why did you become a horse bandit again? "
Lao Guo was a little angry at the sight of One-eye, though he already knew that One-eye went back to be a horse bandit.
"General, I'm blind in one eye, so I don't look like a good person at first sight. I don't know how to make a living, so I can only make a living as a horse bandit. I deserve to die, but I'm not really a horse bandit. I just want to make a living. After I left last time, I planned to make a decent living. But after careful consideration, I'm afraid I can't do that. So I'm forced to seek refuge with the chief, and I've been trying to persuade him to surrender. But I haven't succeeded yet, because the chief hasn't agreed to surrender."
One-eye talked nonsense without any logic, but his purpose was obvious. He was trying to escape punishment and save his life.
"Nonsense. Do you think I don't know about your situation? 'Even in this era, you're still dishonest. Someone come!' Take him out! "
Lao Guo said domineeringly.
"Assistant Minister Li, this one-eye horse bandit is not a good guy. Shall we kill him to frighten the other horse bandits?"
Lao Guo said.
Ang Lee thought for a while and said, "It's easy to kill him, but the rest of the horse bandits will probably be scared out of their wits, which is not good for our transformation. Let's keep him! He'll be of great use. "
"What's the use of keeping such a wicked horse bandit?"
One of the captains said.
Obviously, the officers and soldiers hated those horse bandits who made a living by robbing people, especially their leader, who was the chief culprit. Such people should be killed as soon as possible. Why keep such a scourge alive? Many of the officers and soldiers didn't quite understand.
Lao Guo said with a smile, "You don't read much, so you don't understand when something happens. You don't know the story of Emperor Gaozu's conferment of Yong Chi, do you? "
The story mentioned by Lao Guo was what Liu Bang did to calm the people down in the early Han Dynasty. As the person Liu Bang hated most, even Yong Chi could be conferred the title of Marquis, not to mention the others. In this way, the rest of the officers and soldiers wouldn't be nervous. They would think they would be conferred the title sooner or later, so they wouldn't be anxious.
And the reason why Ang Lee kept One-eye alive was to let the horse bandits know that as long as they were obedient, they wouldn't be executed. They had a chance to start over in the future.
"Lao Guo is right. In order to calm the horse bandits down, we have to keep this guy. One-eye is Yong Chi in the early Han Dynasty! Haha! "
Ang Lee said with a smile.
While they were talking and laughing, the fat man was brought in by Foal.
The fat man, who was usually careless, was scared out of his wits at the sight of so many high-ranking officers. He was so scared that he couldn't utter a word. No one knew what he was talking about.
He wasn't this afraid the last time, mainly because he had been given a chance to turn over a new leaf, but he still chose to be a mounted bandit. This time, he didn't know how to explain himself. Even though Foal had said that she would protect him and told him not to worry, he was still scared witless because he was afraid that he would be a second offender.
"General, I think the fat man is sick."
Foal said.
"He's not sick. He's just scared. It's not a big deal. Why are you so scared?"
Lao Guo said.
"I'm sorry. I'm at your disposal."
The fat man finally said something, but Foal was furious. He had been teaching the fat man all the way, but it was all in vain. The fat man didn't learn anything, and admitted his crime directly.
He wanted the fat man to tell Lao Guo how he helped him to complete the task, but the fat man refused to say it and admitted his crime without hesitation.
However, Foal was too smart. How could Lao Guo not know whether the fat man was helping him to complete the task? If the fat man said he helped Foal, he would be lying, which would enrage Lao Guo even more and make him hate the fat man even more.
Now, the fat man admitted his crime directly, which made Lao Guo have a good impression of him. He thought the fat man could still be saved. He was a responsible man who could still be saved.
"You're sorry. You're really sorry. Where did you go wrong?"
Lao Guo asked sternly.
The fat man almost burst into tears. He said, "General, you gave me a chance to quit being a horse bandit, but I still did it. I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have gone back."
"Then why did you go back and continue to be a horse bandit?"
Lao Guo asked.
The fat man said honestly, "One-eye said once a horse bandit, always a horse bandit. Even if we quit, there's no other way out. I don't even have a home, and I don't know what to do. All I can do is continue to be a horse bandit in the mountains. But I'm only responsible for cooking and chopping firewood, not robbing. Can you let me off lightly?"
The fat man was quite cute. He was telling the truth, which made Ang Lee and Lao Guo quite satisfied. They thought it was not a bad idea to pardon the fat man.
"Lao Guo! The fat man didn't mean it. Why don't you pardon him? Let him follow Little Pony, it's not bad to be a cook. "
Ang Lee said.
Lao Guo nodded and said, "Sure! Let's give it a try! If he doesn't perform well and is lazy, we'll send him back to labor reform and let him suffer every day. "
"Thank you so much, General. Thank you so much."
Foal thanked him first.
The fat man also shed tears of gratitude.
After the two men left, it took quite a while for the leader's team to arrive. They slowly entered the encirclement of the soldiers. Since all the traces at the scene had been cleared, the following horse bandits didn't notice anything unusual. They entered the encirclement set by the soldiers without any vigilance.
"Lao Guo! Why don't we give Foal and the fat man a chance to persuade the latter group to surrender? "
Ang Lee suggested.
Lao Guo thought it was reasonable. He nodded and said, "That's a good idea. Let them persuade them to surrender. In this way, the effect may be better. "
After they entered the encirclement, the soldiers showed up abruptly and surrounded all the horse bandits.
"Everybody, drop your weapons and surrender at once. Those who refuse to surrender will be killed."
"Brothers, drop your weapons and surrender. This is your only way out."
Foal and the fat man shouted loudly.
The Summit
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