The Golden Age Chapter 99: Inner ghost

In the Juyi Hall of Heishui Village, Zhou Hongji's face was extremely ugly, and Shen Xuan felt also frowned.

"Big brother, it's not that we didn't work hard." Du Zitong explained with a sullen expression: "They set a trap and used weird weapons. The brothers have never seen that kind of weapon, and suffered heavy casualties. They were panicked. I want to gather everyone to fight hard, but the scene is chaotic...!"

Zhou Hongji said angrily: "Five thousand people, you only brought back more than one thousand people, tell me, how can I explain to the mountains?"

"They are not dead, they just ran away." Du Zitong said hurriedly: "They know the way back, and they will be back soon."

Zhou Hongji was angrily and anxious, saying: "Before sending the troops, I said that you have to discuss this matter with your second child, but you have to lead the troops yourself. Now it's fine. This battle is fatal to the elite of the Montenegrin army. Even if they ran back, they would inevitably be frightened to the officers and soldiers from now on. If Long Ruijun gathers the Liaodong army and kills them together, what do you think?"

"Big brother, I deserve to die." Du Zitong raised his hand to give himself an ear, annoyed: "How do you punish, I will not blame you."

Shen Xuan sighed: "Fourth brother, no matter how chaotic the situation is, it won't be enough to bring back so many people. The five thousand people you brought out are almost my family in Montenegro. I only worry about yesterday. In the late chaos, the brothers fled everywhere. The officers and soldiers seized the opportunity to hunt down. If they were all buried in the grassland and few people returned, we would be in disaster in Montenegro."

Zhou Hongji looked at Zhou Yuanbao and frowned, "Yuanbao, why don't you speak?"

"Foster father, has been defeated, and now it is useless to complain." Zhou Yuanbao stood up and said: "The most important thing now is to find the inner ghost. If the inner ghost is not found, then the inner ghost and the officers and soldiers Collusion inside and outside, that is the imminent disaster."

"Inner ghost?" Zhou Hongji didn't react for a while: "What inner ghost?"

Du Zitong seemed to have caught the life-saving straw, and hurriedly said: "Yes, big brother, there is a ghost on the mountain. He revealed our plan to send troops to Long Ruijun. Long Ruijun knows the time and strength of our troops, this Just set up a trap. You said before, know yourself, know your enemy, and win every battle. Let’s send troops this time, and Long Rui’s army knows everything well, and we lost from the very beginning." To find out the inner ghost, he betrayed Montenegro and killed countless brothers. Then he will probably continue to collude with the officers and soldiers, unite inside and outside, and come to the mountain."

"You mean our plan is known to the officers and soldiers?" Zhou Hongji said in amazement.

Du Zitong nodded and said: "Long Ruijun clearly set a trap for us. If we didn't know our plan to send troops in advance, we would never have this defense. They dug a big hole and waited for us to jump in. "

Shen Xuangan frowned and said, "But there are only a handful of people who know about the plan to dispatch troops. Apart from the four of us, who else knows? Even the second brother kept the secret of this matter, and so did he You only learned about it when you descended the mountain."

"What did he say?" Du Zitong couldn't help asking.

Shen Xuangan shook his head and said: "When you went down the mountain, there was a lot of movement. He already knew it even if he was a deaf person, but he didn't come over and say a word. It must be because it is a foregone conclusion. He knows that it's useless to say more." After a pause, he asked: "Fourth brother, Yuanbao, have you mentioned this to others?"

"I only talked to two of my confidants." Du Zi channeled: "Song Lun and Zhao Ping are confidants who have followed me for many years, and they have done a lot. They will never collude with officers and soldiers." Looking at Zhou Yuanbao, asked Said: "Yuanbao, who did you tell?"

Zhou Yuanbao shook his head, the meaning was obvious. Before the troops were dispatched, no one was revealed.

Shen Xuangan frowned and said: "I only mentioned it to the two deputy chiefs of our Zijinzhai. This time they will go down the mountain with you. You all know them. They are all old people on the mountain. It is absolutely impossible to betray us."

Zhou Hongji's face was solemn, and he said, "Could it be that Qin Xiao's long ears won't be successful?"

"During our discussion that day, was anyone eavesdropping outside?" Shen Xuangan whispered: "Brother, who was in charge of the guard here that day?"

Zhou Hongji waved his hand and said: "Iron Bull is also following

"Even though Song Lun is the fourth child, he has been rushing with his second brother all these years." Shen Xuan felt close to Zhou Hongji and whispered: "The brothers in all villages are mostly in awe of the second brother, even quite a few. Everyone felt that the only way to win the battle was to follow the second elder brother. Song Lun learned that the second elder brother was not the leader of this troop. Song Lun might feel a little uneasy in his heart. He leaked the news to the second elder brother. He didn't personally take charge as he thought, but had other plans."

Zhou Hongji shook his head and said: "Not to mention that it is impossible to be sure that Song Lun will leak the news to the second child. Even if it is true, will the second child betray us? Although his personality is weird and sometimes too stubborn, he I can still trust his character, he is definitely not a villain who betrayed his brother. And if Song Lun really told him, how could he not say a word after he knew it? With his character, I am afraid he would have come to stop him a long time ago."

"Big brother, the second child is indeed a man of loyalty, but also a man of arrogance." Shen Xuan sighed softly: "We planned to send troops this time, but we did not let him know. This is never before. What do you think about the things you have done if you are the eldest brother?"

Zhou Hongji was startled, and Shen Xuan said softly: "When the second child knows, he is definitely not comfortable in his heart. He likes to think about it. We are just worried that he will hinder the dispatch of troops, so we hide him, but in his opinion , It’s possible to think that we are ostracizing him, or even no longer treating him as our own brother. He knows that we are determined, even if we run to stop it, it may not be useful, so why bother? Maybe take this opportunity to plan otherwise, but it’s not known. ."

"What's your plan?" Zhou Hongji sneered: "What good is it for him to betray us? Does he still want us to die in the hands of officers and soldiers?"

Shen Xuangan shook his head and said, "That won't be enough. But if the fourth child returns in triumph this time, he is worried that the military power will be in the hands of the fourth from now on. Huangtu Village is already very small, if there is no leader. The power of soldiers will have no room to speak on the mountain in the future. Just because he talks about loyalty, the first thing he considers is the people under him. If Huangtuzhai loses power on the mountain, the people under him will not be much in the future. It’s better.” After a pause, he slowly said: “If the fourth child is defeated, everyone on the mountain will think of the invincible second master when he blames the fourth child. In this way, troops will be sent in the future, never again. He is indispensable."

"For this, he secretly informed Qin Xiao, and then watched his brother lose his army?" Zhou Hongji shook his head and said, "The third child, I really don't believe he would do this. The Black Mountain Army was frustrated, and he couldn't help it. Okay."

"Have you forgotten that big brother, this time the army is dispatched, Huangtu Village does not have a soldier or a single soldier." Shen Xuan said: "The brothers who are going down the mountain are all brothers from other villages, and the Huangtu Village did not even go down a horse. Even if the losses were heavy, no one in Huangtu Village was lost."

"Stop talking." Zhou Hongji sternly said: "The third child, what do you mean by these words? Are you trying to provoke the friendship between brothers?"

Shen Xuangan stood up abruptly, raised his finger to the door, and said in a deep voice: "Big Brother, Wuzhai in Black Mountain, men, women, old and children add up to 20,000 people. Once we are negligent and are succeeded by the inner ghost, we should cooperate with the inside and the outside. The army rushed into the mountains, have you ever thought about the consequences? Although the four Northeast counties have vast land, apart from Black Mountain, where is there a place for us to shelter? If we don’t catch the inner ghost, we will have a knife hanging on our head day and night. Falling down. The eldest brother does not tell me, I will also pick out the inner ghost with my own hands, so if anyone is suspected, I will not let it go."

Zhou Hongji's expression was solemn, Shen Xuan felt his voice lightened: "There are only a few people who know this, but these are all old brothers in the mountains. I don't believe any of them will betray Black Mountain. But it must be. I choose the most suspicious person among them, and then choose the one who has the most motivation to do so. Except for my second child, I can't think of anyone else who has the motivation to betray us." After a pause, I sat down slowly with a look. Solemnly said: "We have won many battles over the past few years, but almost all of them led the second child. The brothers in the mountains respected the second child. On the contrary, it is our other brothers whose reputation is not as good as each day. Every time he wins, the eldest brother rewards the brethren, and the second elder brother almost never rewards. Most of them are distributed to other brothers. What is this? Now the brothers in each village are willing to follow him to fight, not only can they win the battle, every time The harvest is not small, and you can get a great reward, brother, don’t you know that there are some big things in Montenegro now, the first thing the brothers think of is not you, but the second one."

The corners of Zhou Hongji's mouth twitched, and there was a sharp look in his eyes.