knife

Chapter 570 Changes
On the drill ground, three thousand soldiers stood solemnly. In front of the ranks were more than a dozen long benches, each with a person lying on it, their bare buttocks exposed. On either side stood two soldiers holding long staffs.

This is to apply military law.

Su Qi stood below the stage, glancing back occasionally at Zhan Zhao, the flag leader standing on the stage.

Zhan Zhao's publicly known identity is not that of the leader of the Thick Earth Banner under the Five Elements of the Demonic Sect, but rather a captain commanding three thousand soldiers.

These three thousand people were all members of the Demonic Cult brought from Yong'an County.

Zhan Zhao, who was above, ignored the pleading look in Su Qi's eyes below.

Su Qi turned around helplessly and shouted, "Execute them!"

The long board was raised and slammed down, a loud crack followed by a painful scream. A red mark was immediately imprinted on the white buttocks, which quickly turned purplish-black.

Before the howling could subside, the second blow came down.

Compared to those being flogged, the heads hanging on the tall flagpole at the edge of the drill ground, swaying back and forth in the wind, with blood splattered all over the ground, were far more frightening.

Before being reorganized into an army, the men under Zhan Zhao's command were nothing more than ordinary farmers.

During the Yong'an Incident, they participated in the siege of Yongxing and other places with Su Qi. Although Lin Hong was eventually killed, they could not return home and could only settle down in Xingning and Ningning counties with Zhan Zhao and Su Qi, where they were reorganized into an army.

This time, by cooperating with Feng Kuan in the battle, their force finally returned to their hometown.

That's when the problem arises.

Some soldiers, having returned to their hometowns as occupiers, immediately felt a strong desire for revenge. Regardless of the consequences or the strict military discipline, they would sneak out of the camp at night with a few friends, go to their enemies' homes, and wipe out the entire family.

How can this be done?
The ringleader was sentenced to beheading.

Those who followed suit, those lying on the benches, were sentenced to thirty strokes of the military rod.

Thirty strokes of the military rod can really be fatal.

Therefore, the execution was carried out in three stages, with ten blows each time.

I'll write down the rest for now and see when I have time to type them.

Of course, if you have done something good between these two occasions, you might as well get some sticks as a reward.

However, the military law from Beiting outside the Great Wall had some incomprehensible aspects. No matter how great your merits were, you could not get the rest of your punishment reduced. At most, you could get a third of it reduced. In other words, if you were sentenced to thirty strokes of the cane, you would get at least twenty-one strokes.

The original intention of those who drafted this military law was to warn everyone that military law is as solid as a mountain, and anyone who thinks they can do whatever they want just because of their high merits is mistaken.

Because the most important clause in this military law is that the death penalty cannot be commuted.

Compared to the original troops of Xingning and Ning counties, Zhan Zhao's group of subordinates suffered the most military punishments.

The troops left behind by Zhang Quanyi were already a well-trained elite force, accustomed to strict laws and punishments. The group that followed Luo Liang and his men back from Changfengcang came from Wu De's inspection brigade, and most of the officers were from outside the Great Wall. Such military law was nothing new to them; they were used to it. Those from the canal gangs, who had previously been bound by extremely strict gang rules and regulations, adapted quickly to this military law.

It was this army of farmers under Zhan Zhao who inadvertently violated military discipline.

In battle, they are the fiercest.

However, they were also the ones who violated military discipline the most. After ten strokes of the rod, the buttocks of the person being punished were covered in blood, which looked extremely frightening. Fortunately, the executioners were all skilled, and the blows only injured the skin and flesh, without damaging the tendons and bones. After applying medicine and waiting for four or five days for the skin to scab over, the person could move around almost without any problems.

The thought of being beaten again in front of so many people in a while made him feel ashamed and angry.

For some people, being beaten is not a problem.

But being beaten in front of so many people like this is quite problematic.

Luo Liang strode over, glanced at the situation on the training ground, and smiled.

Such scenes occurred frequently in Zhan Zhao's camp, and as an ally, he was already used to it.

Luo Liang and Zhan Zhao each led three thousand men, stationed in two large camps on the left and right, while dozens of miles behind them was the main force of five thousand men led by He Yiming.

This entire army of ten thousand men was the force that Xingning and Ning counties came to assist Feng Kuan in this battle.

This is only what is visible on the surface. In the shadows, there is another force unknown to outsiders: the White Tiger Brigade, which belongs to the area outside the Great Wall.

There were only five hundred people, but the weakest of these five hundred people were all at least at the fourth level of the Profound Origin Qi Control realm.

Both the Azure Dragon and White Tiger battalions belong to the Action Division of the Zhi Qiu Institute. The Azure Dragon Battalion became famous for the battle a few years ago when it rescued Tiele from the Northern Yuan Imperial Palace. Although it suffered heavy losses, it managed to snatch Tiele out of the most central part of the Northern Yuan Imperial Palace.

The White Tiger is as famous as the Azure Dragon, which speaks volumes about its strength.

This team has been hidden among He Yiming's main forces and has never made a move.

They are waiting for the perfect moment.

"Someone from the main camp has arrived, summoning the two of us to return to the main camp immediately for a meeting! Since your main camp is under martial law, the messenger went to my place first."

Luo Liang walked up to Zhan Zhao and whispered.

In terms of martial arts cultivation, Luo Liang is currently only at the seventh rank of Xuan Yuan, while Zhan Zhao was originally at the peak of the eighth rank of Xuan Yuan. After being captured by Lin Hong and then rescued, and after being treated by Li Dachui, a super healer, he smoothly entered the ninth rank of Xuan Yuan.

However, sometimes a person's status cannot be described by martial arts cultivation alone.

Luo Liang came from beyond the Great Wall, and his nephew Luo Ying was a confidant of Zhang Bing and Zhang Qingyun, the third-in-command of Zhi Qiu Academy. Zhan Zhao would naturally not underestimate him. Nominally, as the vanguard, Luo Liang was to be under Zhan Zhao's command, but Zhan Zhao always treated Luo Liang with courtesy.

"It's only been three days since the last meeting. What happened?" Zhan Zhao frowned. The last meeting emphasized military discipline and strictly prohibited the army from harassing local areas or settling personal scores. These violations of military law by his subordinates were exposed during the meeting. Originally, Zhan Zhao wanted to gloss over it.

But to everyone's surprise, the commander-in-chief already knew perfectly well...
There was no other way but to execute them using military law.

Luo Liang's voice was even lower: "It's the Protector-General who's back. There's been a dramatic change in Chu. If I ask him any more questions, he won't say anything more! He just says he'll know once he gets to the camp!"

Zhan Zhao took a deep breath.

That's what connections are all about. If you asked that messenger yourself, you probably wouldn't get a single word out of him.

However, now that the Protector-General has returned, Elder Ke should also be back. Finally, I have someone to discuss things with. Elder Ke is senior and can support me, unlike now when I am somewhat weak and alone.

(End of this chapter)