Sweep Yuan

Chapter 68 Rectifying Military Discipline: A Long and Arduous Task

Zeng Xing's troops captured Feng Yu, the clerk of Hong County, during the previous pursuit battle. After dealing with the turmoil in the Second Battalion, they escorted Feng Yu back to the county government to report to Shishan.

The Second Battalion of the "Red Heart Battalion" had the worst discipline, and its riots caused by Tian Jiang's execution were not unexpected by Shi Shan.

However, it was imperative to rectify military discipline. Shishan had long planned to take advantage of the chaos after the city fell to catch a few negative examples, and had made relevant arrangements before the battle. Tian Jiang was just courting death and happened to run into the knife.

All units were treated equally, and no one was targeted at the Second Battalion. On that day alone, the Fifth Battalion dealt with three disciplinary violations, executing two resisters and capturing five others (excluding Tian Jiang and his companion).

In addition, each battalion also killed eight ruffians who took advantage of the chaos.

Tian Jiang was able to see Shi Shan before his execution because of his extraordinary relationship with Chang Tietou. Zhang Dan dared not make decisions on his own and asked the commander to make the decision.

This person brought this upon himself; killing him is fine, but expecting to transform the team by chopping off a few heads is impossible.

One must eat one bite at a time, and strict military discipline cannot be achieved overnight. The handling of this matter cannot be done in a simple and brutal manner by continuing to arrest and kill people.

The "Red Heart Battalion" now has more than 2,000 combat soldiers, with a complex composition and various units that support each other. Having been tempered by bloody battles, it is no longer the ragtag group of only a few hundred men that existed when Huxi Village reorganized its army, where the loss of any one unit could cause major chaos.

The Second Battalion was not Chang Tietou's private armed force. Through several reorganizations, Shishan openly mixed in sand and stones, determined not to give Chang Tietou the opportunity to betray him. Otherwise, there would have been more than thirty people involved in this disturbance.

Before executing Tian Jiang, Shi Shan did not send anyone to explain the situation to Chang Tie Tou. After learning that Chang Tie Tou had "timely punished" the troublemaking soldiers, he did not make any statement.

Silence is also a form of expression, and with Chang Tietou's experience, Shishan believed he could understand his meaning.

Zeng Xing handled several matters well today, which satisfied Shi Shan. He left his troops at the county government office and replaced them with four battalions to take over the four city gates.

Among them, the North Gate, which was temporarily controlled by the Second Battalion, was taken over by Sun Xun personally.

Tan Youyu led some of the supply battalion to inventory the government treasury, while the five battalions continued to patrol the streets and alleys.

After the battles of the remaining units were over, they marched to the military camp in the city to prepare for a commendation and summary of their achievements.

After giving the order, Shi Shan ordered someone to bring Feng Yu in.

After the city fell, there were many complicated matters to attend to. He didn't have time to dawdle and asked bluntly, "Do you want a coffin or an official robe?"
A day later, Feng Yu saw Shi Shan again, but he was now a prisoner. He also learned that the registrar Fang Zhongwen had already surrendered to the rebels and was confessing the collusion between officials and gentry in the backyard. Fang Zhongwen immediately knelt down.

Feng Dianshi participated in the entire city defense battle and was able to provide the defenders with more details on how to respond. As a clerk, he was responsible for reporting and canceling records and drafting judgments. He also had a deeper understanding of the common people than the registrar.

Shi Shan then asked Feng Yu to draft a list of heroes from the local underworld, including their age, address, and brief deeds. He also requested that a list be compiled of any collusion between local officials and gentry, to corroborate Fang Zhongwen's testimony.

He didn't intend to "recruit others"; he wanted the list of "unstable elements" simply to understand the social structure of Hongxian County from different perspectives in order to stabilize the area as soon as possible.

Just as he ordered his men to take Feng Yu to the backyard and put him in solitary confinement in a cell, Chang Tietou’s gruff voice rang out from outside the yamen: “Chief, Old Chang begs for forgiveness.”

Shi Shan led Zeng Xing and the others out of the main hall, where they saw Chang Tietou shirtless with three brambles tied to his bronze back. Behind him, the team leader Jiao Hu was also bound with hemp rope and was being dragged along unsteadily.

"Old Chang, what are you doing!"

You don't know until you make a scene, and only then do you realize that you are outnumbered and outmatched. Chang Tietou was still in shock and made a move to kneel down on one knee, but Shishan grabbed him.

"Commander, this scoundrel instigated his men to cause trouble, nearly leading to a bloody battle between the two battalions. It was all because of my incompetent soldiers; please punish him, Commander!" Shi Shan quickly untied Chang Tietou's ropes, threw away the thorns, and complained:

"We are brothers who have shared life and death. Even if you have made a mistake, how can you treat your brother like this!"

These words were spoken very politely, but the emphasis wasn't on "brother," but rather on "even if he was wrong." Chang Tietou still wanted to kneel, but Shishan pulled him back again, so he could only stubbornly say:
"I must have been blind to produce such filthy scum in the Second Battalion!"

Chang Tietou's voice was booming, his chest heaving violently as he spoke, the hair on his chest guard shaking incessantly, clearly quite excited, but out of the corner of his eye he glanced at Zeng Xing and the others who stood behind Shi Shan, holding their swords.

"Commander, I have brought the culprit here. You may kill or punish him as you see fit. I only ask that the brothers of the Second Battalion be given a chance to atone for their crimes!"

Jiao Hu did make a mistake, but it didn't warrant being killed or tortured.

Besides, the Second Battalion isn't just Chang Tietou's Second Battalion. If you've already done all the good work, how are we, the commanders of the thousand, supposed to lead our troops?
Shi Shan grasped Chang Tietou's hand, turned to look at Jiao Hu, who was still defiant, and said:

"Old Chang, don't get agitated. Even if you want to punish him, let me ask Brother Jiao for the truth first."

"Uh—Chief, you ask."

"Jiao Hu, is what Commander Chang said true?"

Jiao Hu didn't know what Shi Shan was up to, but he hadn't come here to die, so he immediately picked up the conversation and said:
"Tian Jiang was an old brother of mine who used to chop off chicken heads and drink blood wine with me back in the day. Today, he lost his head in a muddle. I feel aggrieved and couldn't help but vent a few complaints."

"It's true that my brothers in the squad stood up for me and injured Brother Zhang. It's my fault for being incompetent and failing to manage my men properly; I'm willing to accept punishment. But I truly didn't instigate any trouble among my men. I implore the commander to see this clearly!"

"You stubborn bastard, I'll beat you to death."

Chang Tietou made a move to pick up the hemp rope from the ground and whip Jiao Hu, but Jiao Hu kept his head down, the veins on his neck bulging. Shi Shan couldn't let them continue like this, so he grabbed Chang Tietou and said:
"On the battlefield, everyone gets carried away when fighting to the death. This time, it didn't cause any serious consequences, and you handled it for me, so let's leave it at that. Although we admire Brother Jiao's character, military law is merciless. If there's a next time, it won't be as simple as getting a few lashes."

Chang Tietou's cheek twitched, looking very conflicted.

Although Shishan listened to Jiao Hu's explanation, he did not make a definitive judgment and let the matter drop, and did not mention Tian Jiang's case at all, giving no chance to overturn the verdict.

It's infuriating that he prioritized preserving his strength in this battle, and then rushed to claim credit after capturing the city, while his subordinates caused such a huge mess, drawing a lot of criticism from the other battalions.

The situation is beyond our control; turning against them now will not bring us any benefit, so we can only endure it no matter how aggrieved we feel.

"You scoundrel, why don't you quickly thank the commander for sparing your life!"

"Thank you, Commander, for sparing my life!"

"Old Chang!"

Just as Chang Tietou was about to leave with Jiao Hu, he was stopped again. He looked at Shi Shan with some confusion, only to see Shi Shan take out a plain cloth money bag from his pocket and shake out thirty strings of Zhizheng Baochao banknotes.

“I heard that Tian Jiang has a blind old mother at home. Although he died for violating military discipline, we can’t let our brothers feel disheartened. This thirty strings of cash was a personal allowance given to us by Marshal Li when we were in Xuzhou. Let’s find an opportunity to have someone take it to Luyi.”

(End of this chapter)