open sea

Chapter 120

Along the trails in Xiangshan County, Zhou Xing led two entourages to ride lightly on horseback, looking anxious.

He was overjoyed that Chen Mu went back and forth to calm down the local bandits in Huangliangdu in just three days. When he got the news, the head of the youngest Xu had been sent to Guangcheng. One, the speculation that Xu Jinmei wants to attack Guangzhou.

When Zhou Xing arrived at the Qianhu Office in Xiangshan, a high platform was erected in the open space of the Qianhu Office, and the Banner Army was carrying out the execution.

There are more than 70 people, who are the first offenders, and each of them has [-] army sticks.

The sound of crackling was endless, and the Qijun and Yu Ding of the entire Qianhusuo were gathered together. Looking at the sticks to the flesh in the sun and listening to the continuous screams made people feel chills down the spine.

Sun Ao took the lead in execution, and he and Deng Zilong were also punished. One was fined three months' salary and the other was fined one month's salary.

Deng Zilong's troops were late, but Sun Ao didn't arrive directly, regardless of whether the mountain road was bombed or there was no road at all, the military law doesn't care about these.

Chen Mu specifically told Sun Ao, who was executing the execution, to tell the banner troops not to beat him to death, but to beat him to death, not to mention twenty army sticks, one stick can cripple a person for life.

But even so, the injury would not recover within two months.

After a full four rounds, more than 70 battlefields disobeyed the orders of the Shangguan and dispersed to pick up money, and those who were timid to fight were all cleaned up. They were supported by the flag army and stood barely under the high platform, with their noses full of snot. tears.

Sometimes crying is not a person's counsel. It is not difficult to hold back tears in pain, but it is not difficult to humiliate.

Dare to be angry but dare not speak out, it is humiliating to the Banner Army.

The banner troops under Fu Yuan all came from the families of tenant farmers in Xiangshan County. They had neither the courage to go to sea to plunder nor the talents to obtain scholars through the imperial examination. two silver.

Silver ingots weighing more than a catty are thrown all over the floor, and they can be picked up by bending over. Who can resist?

They changed places and put 20 taels of silver in front of them, and the poor and frightened people would dare to kill the whole family.

Shangguan took the money away before it was warmed up in his hand, and returned to the guard in exchange for a severe beating, who would not be wronged!
"Chen ordered you to be beaten, twenty army sticks per person, do you know why? I don't know, there are two reasons!"

After the execution was over, Chen Mu walked up to the high platform, waved his hands and swept across the soldiers who were standing in the front row, and said, "The local bandits in Huangliangdu are just small characters, not even enemies. 22 people died on the mountain, three died on the mountain, eight were carried down the mountain and six were rescued, 27 flag soldiers were killed in battle, one lost an arm and two became crippled."

"Going to war is to fight, and you will die if you fight. You put your head on your waist, don't talk about defending your home and country. You were born and raised here, and it is not an exaggeration to protect the country and the people. You don't fight the enemy bravely, but grab the war. Others are desperately shedding blood, and you get the money, is that the money you deserve?"

"One of the reasons is violating the military law by robbing and hiding war profits. This is because you only have [-] army sticks for your first crime. Otherwise, you will be fined half a year. What will your family take to survive?"

"The second reason is that you are damned! The enemy is on the battlefield, but he abandons his robes and loots petty profits, causing chaos in the army. If there is no flag army awake to stop the enemy, even if you rob money, you can come back alive? "

"It will only bring more comrades to die together!"

In fact, Chen Mu could understand that even though he looked like scolding while standing on the high platform, he could understand in his heart what the flag army was doing.

Understanding is understanding, but people have feelings and laws are ruthless, especially when the matter of stating military laws involves the interests of everyone on the battlefield in the future.

"After the punishment is over, keep it in mind. Follow Chen and listen to Chen. I dare not say that each of you will be rich and rich, but I will never let you and Yu Ding go hungry and cold. After the battle, the meritorious Chen A certain will naturally reward, what is yours is yours, what is not yours, so what if you rob it? Pay a hundred households!"

Fu Yuan, who was standing under the stage, straightened his body and listened, when he suddenly heard Chen Mu calling his name, his whole body was frightened, and he didn't have the courage to lead his troops to jump over the door to kill the local bandits. refer to.

Even though he couldn't understand the meaning of Chen Mu's action, Fu Yuan rushed to stand on the stage in three steps at a time, cupped his hands and said, "Qianhu..."

Chen Mu waved to his side, Wei Balang walked over with the wooden box in his arms, and opened the wooden box, which contained neat silver, Chen Mu took out two ingots and gave them to Fu Yuandao: "Fu Baihu fought bravely and took the lead in attacking the gate of the village. Shu Wu was rewarded with 40 taels of silver for his meritorious service in staying calm when he was tempted; if you take it well, I hope you will fight bravely in the future."

After Fu Yuan thanked him, Chen Mu called Shi Qi up again and offered him ten taels of taels; followed by more than 50 bannermen from two hundred households, including some bannermen who had been beaten for picking up silver in the battlefield, all of them were rewarded according to their meritorious deeds. , Those who get the first level will be rewarded with three to five taels, those who have no head but who have fought bravely will be rewarded with one tael, and those who have fought will be rewarded with five coins.

In addition, those who were injured received five qian of decoction and five qian of silver for wound recovery; the pensions of those who died in battle were distributed to their families two or two, and one Yu Ding was recruited as a banner soldier.

All rewards were handed out to Junyu by Chen Mu, which seemed to have become the tradition when Chen Qianhu distributed silver and food.

When handing the silver to the Banner Army while holding his wrist, Chen Mu said a word or two of encouragement to everyone.

"I saw you. You were very brave in battle. Next time you perform meritorious service, Chen will reward you with silver!"

"It's okay to be punished. He's a good man when he recovers from his injuries. He obeys military orders in battle, and there will be plenty of rewards in the future!"

"I remember you have two sons, and summer is about to pass, use this money to buy some cotton to make winter clothes, don't let the dolls freeze!"

Even those flag soldiers who were beaten because of the military law couldn't feel any dissatisfaction at this time. Those who got the rewards were all happy and grateful, but those who didn't got the rewards also looked at Chen Qianhu on the high platform with twinkling eyes.

"Don't sigh if you don't get a reward, practice hard, there will be battles to be fought in a few days, and come back alive! Let's go!"

In less than two hours, Chen Mu didn't feel distressed at all after spending more than 300 taels of silver. In a few days, the Guangzhou government will allocate a reward for the local bandits in Huangliangdu, even if a head is only two taels, there are more than 70 corpses There are also hundreds of taels of silver, and he has made a lot of money.

For the rest of the money, you can consider changing the clothes of the Banner Army, leather armor and iron armor, there is still a big gap.

If you have good armor and use several times more troops and better weapons to fight against the local bandits in Huangliangdu, you will save at least ten more casualties!
The flag army dispersed in a mess, and when Chen Mu turned around, he found Zhou Xing, the magistrate of Xiangshan County, waiting with the yamen servants, watching Chen Mu walk down with a smile.

"Why didn't you tell Chen when the county magistrate Zhou came?" Chen Mu asked Qi Zhengyan, the leader of the family soldiers, as he walked, approached and cupped his hands and said, "Brother Zhou, why do you have to go there yourself? If there is anything, let your subordinates pass the word That's it."

"It's okay, Chen Qianhu, don't blame the family soldiers, it was Zhou who refused to let the report be reported, and Zhou only saw today what is reward and punishment Lixin!"

Zhou Xing smiled and shook his head with emotion, then stretched out his finger to the north, cupped his hands and said to Chen Mu: "That day when thousands of households sent troops, Zhou saw the poor uniforms of the thousands of households' banner soldiers, so he wrote a letter to the state government when he returned, asking you to come down." A hundred pairs of iron armor, two hundred pairs of leather armor, and three hundred pairs of cloth armor are for urgent needs."

(End of this chapter)