On the fifth day of the eighth month of the twenty-third year of Chongzhen, Jirgalang led his troops to Jinzhou.
The imperial edict had been delivered before Jirgalang arrived in Jinzhou.
After entering the city, he immediately called a meeting of his generals.
At the meeting, Man Dahai went through the handover procedures with Jirgalang in front of everyone.
After everything was ready, Man Dahai began to report military intelligence.
"After the Ming army captured Ningyuan, they also captured Zhaierbao, Lianshanyi, Tashanbao, Jiǎmuchongbao, Daxingbao, Dafubao and Xingshancheng (now Xingshan Township, Linghai City)."
"It's less than 20 miles away from Songshan City (now Songshan Village, Taihe District, Jinzhou City) where our army is stationed!"
When he said this, Man Dahai showed a puzzled expression: "What's strange is that the Ming army has not made any movement for ten consecutive days from the time they captured Xingshan City on July 26th to today, August 5th."
"No movement at all?" Jirgalang was a little puzzled.
"Yes," Man Dahai nodded, "The Ming army neither launched a large-scale attack nor made small-scale attempts. They just sent out scouts every day to investigate the situation!"
"This is too weird!" Jirgalang frowned, "What on earth is the Ming army doing?"
"I'm not sure." Man Dahai shook his head.
"Didn't we leave some spies behind when we evacuated Ningyuan? Can we find a way to contact them and ask about the situation?" Jirgalang asked.
"Before evacuating Ningyuan, we did plant some spies among the civilians, and agreed with them on a location to deliver information. I sent people to keep an eye on the agreed location, but we didn't see anyone for ten days, and no one touched the note we left there." Man Dahai was helpless.
"Hiss!" Jirgalang gasped, "It's getting more and more weird!"
"That's right," Man Dahai's eyebrows twisted into a knot, "Those spies are as good as dead."
"Wait a minute," Jirgalang suddenly raised his right index finger, "The Ming army is probably trying to catch a traitor!"
Man Dahai suddenly realized: "Prince Zheng is right. No wonder the Ming army is silent. It turns out they are trying to catch the traitor!"
Is the Ming army catching a traitor?
Yes, but not entirely.
The Battle of Ningyuan lasted for two months, which was a torment for the Eight Banners soldiers and the Ming army.
In order to boost morale, Wang Yongji began to reward the three armies after recaptured Xingshan.
The generals ate meat and the soldiers drank soup.
The soldiers all said the rice tasted delicious after eating the bone soup.
Then the soldiers were given leave in batches.
Although the soldiers have very few ways to entertain themselves, they can still keep them happy.
While the soldiers were eating, drinking and having fun, Wang Yongji ordered Li Laiheng to catch the traitor according to Chongzhen's method.
Chongzhen’s method of catching traitors can be summed up in seven words: rely on the power of the masses!
"As far as I know, there are Jiannu spies among you," Li Laiheng said to the thousands of people in the parade ground from the high platform, "According to my idea of killing the wrong person rather than letting the guilty go, I would have chopped all of you off long ago."
"But your majesty is kind-hearted and will not allow people to kill people indiscriminately."
"But..." Li Laihenning smiled, and the smile on his face looked very ferocious under the sunlight: "I hate traitors the most in my life. I feel uncomfortable when I can't find the traitor."
The people below all lowered their heads, not daring to speak or look at Li Laiheng.
They were afraid that the other party would kill them if they didn't like them.
"If the traitor comes out now, I can save your life! If you are caught by me, I will make sure you live a life worse than death!" Li Laiheng continued to threaten.
The school grounds were silent, and no one stood up to respond.
"I've already given you the chance," Li Laiheng put away his smile, "Since no one has taken the initiative to admit it, I won't be polite next time."
In the horrified eyes of more than a thousand people, Li Laiheng shouted: "Those who know each other, stand together."
After the soldiers conveyed the order, the people began to line up again.
More than a thousand people formed hundreds of teams of varying sizes.
Some teams have more than a dozen people, while some teams have only one person.
Just when the people thought that Li Laiheng was going to identify them one by one, Li Laiheng reorganized the single-person team into groups of ten.
Then he said: "Starting tomorrow, you will go to the city wall according to your current groups to repair the battlements. After repairing the city wall, we will also repair the fortress, bridge and official road. Let's put it this way, there is plenty of work!"
"Of course! It's not in vain, each person will be provided with two meals a day! In addition, each person will be paid two taels of silver per month as wages."
What?
The people thought they had heard wrongly.
Not only did they not kill them, they also provided them with two meals and paid them for their work!
Compared with the Jiannu's behavior of not treating people as human beings, he is simply a living Bodhisattva.
"Did you hear everything clearly?" Li Laiheng asked.
"Listen, we hear it clearly." The people answered excitedly.
"Okay," Li Laiheng changed the subject, "I just said that there are Jiannu spies among you."
"You have been divided into groups now. Each group must supervise each other. If a spy is found within the group, only the spy will be killed, and the rest of the group will be safe. If a spy is found by people from other groups, everyone in this group will be executed!"
"In addition, anyone who exposes the spy and eventually proves his identity will be rewarded with 100 taels of silver!"
The people were frightened at first, and then surprised.
Exposing a spy can earn you one hundred taels of silver, which is simply a business that makes a lot of money with no investment.
"I'll give you an hour to get to know each other. I'll sit here and wait. Anyone who wants to expose something can come over at any time."
The people immediately took action.
They passed each other in groups.
First check if the face is familiar, then ask about the other person's background, address and family members.
If there is anything wrong, ask carefully immediately.
Some traitors used false identities to disguise themselves.
Under the questioning of the people, the flaws were soon revealed and he was exposed on the spot.
The traitors who were not exposed hid in the crowd and trembled.
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