Lijia Village, with only 80 households, is a small village located 20 miles north of Dangtu City. The past three days in Lijiacun can be said to have been eventful.
The day before yesterday, a group of officers and soldiers suddenly ransacked the village, leaving many families filled with sorrow and tears.
Yesterday, another group of officers and soldiers came to the village to make compensation. The villagers were frightened and went to report the losses, but they actually received compensation, which made them a little confused.
Today, a large army of officers and soldiers came unexpectedly. They stopped on the road in front of the village. There was a huge crowd of people. I don’t know how many people there were. The villagers were a little scared and wanted to escape up the mountain, but they were stopped by the old village chief.
Where can I escape? There were so many officers and soldiers. It really annoyed the adults and they didn't know what would happen.
The old village chief led a group of villagers to the entrance of the village to wait, and saw four people walking out of the army on the opposite side.
Three generals in fierce armor followed a scholar and walked over.
The old village chief knew that this scholar was probably a great person, but he didn't know how big an official he was. He only regarded him as the leader of these soldiers. He cautiously clasped his fists and bowed deeply.
"I wonder if this gentleman has any instructions for coming to our small village?"
Ji Shu quickly stepped forward to support the old man and said apologetically.
"My father-in-law has offended me. My supervision was not strict, and some soldiers dared to commit robberies. Originally, I didn't have the face to come to see the villagers, but my subordinates made mistakes, but as their general, I did not dare to hide. No matter what. This time I am here to apologize to all the folks."
"Don't dare! Someone has already come to make compensation. I don't dare bother the general to come and apologize in person."
The old village chief was startled, and the villagers behind him also looked at each other.
Ji Shu didn't care about this, he said to Hou Cheng.
"Bring everyone here."
Hou Cheng turned around and went back. After a while, Han Zong, who was tied up like a rice dumpling, and 100 soldiers under his command were led to the front.
"The two soldiers who raped the woman were pulled out and beheaded!"
Ji Shu's words were light but ruthless.
"General, we were wrong, we were wrong! Spare us this time!"
The two soldiers were escorted to the front. They were also frightened and looked at Ji Shu begging.
But Ji Shu had no intention of letting them go. The sword and ax hand rose and fell, and the two heads rolled down, blood splattered on the ground.
Some of the villagers screamed, while others looked at the two heads with fear and pleasure.
Two thousand soldiers of the Yulin Army watched this scene quietly behind them, and everyone understood that Ji Shu was serious.
"In addition to robbing people's property, are there others who have damaged people's crops and molested women?"
Ji Shu spoke again, and all the soldiers who committed the crime were frightened. Normally, their crimes would not lead to death, but the two heads just now made everyone panic.
Seeing that the soldier who committed the crime was sweating profusely and the onlookers had solemn expressions on their faces, Jiang Qin suddenly had a different feeling. He looked at Ji Shu with gleaming eyes and stepped forward to answer.
"We have already investigated clearly. There are more than 20 people who damaged people's crops. The others are not as bold as the two dogs just now, and none of them molested women."
Ji Shu turned to look at the village chief. He saw the village chief looking at Ji Shu with some respect and nodding his head repeatedly.
"That's true. Most of these officers and soldiers entered the village and robbed the money, rice, chickens and ducks hidden by the villagers. I didn't hear that other girls were touched. Only Widow Li, who lives at the end of the village, is pretty tall. It was beautiful, but in the end, I was punished by those two officers and soldiers just now."
Ji Shu nodded and looked at the soldiers. Suddenly everyone trembled and only heard him say.
"If you rob people of their property, you will be given twenty sticks. If you damage the crops, you will be given twenty more sticks. Do you have any complaints?"
The number of twenty sticks may seem small, but the punishment sticks in the army are different from the small wooden sticks used by some fathers to teach their sons. They are all thick and large boards.
When this stick hits, the entire internal organs feel as if someone has been hit with a sledgehammer. No matter how strong the body is, the soldier can tremble in pain. After twenty sticks, the skin was bruised and the flesh was swollen, and he lay down for two or three days. After forty sticks, the skin and flesh will definitely be torn, and it will take more than half a month to rest. Sixty strokes of the stick are enough to break bones and tendons. It can only be said that it depends on whether your life is strong enough. Eighty sticks are enough to beat someone to death.
The board that used to scare the soldiers, now everyone breathed a sigh of relief and said one after another.
"No complaints!"
Ji Shu turned to look at Han Zong, who shrank completely.
"Let the soldiers commit crimes and give them twenty sticks. Do you have any complaints?"
Han Zong gritted his teeth and replied.
"No complaints!"
Xu Tu and Hou Cheng were anxious and hurriedly came forward to plead for mercy.
"Sir (General), Han Zong is still a child, twenty sticks are too heavy!"
Ji Shu glared at the two of them fiercely.
"There is no child's play in the army. If you have merit, you will be rewarded, and if you make mistakes, you will be punished. Even though he is young, I will still reward him heavily if he has merit. Do I have to give him a light punishment if he only makes mistakes?"
"Bring the torture stick with you! Untie them all, take off your shirt, lie down on the ground, and torture!"
After Ji Shu gave the order, some soldiers immediately came forward to loosen their bonds and brought up the torture stick. The offending soldier also obediently took off his armor and lay on the ground. When Han Zong saw this scene, he couldn't help but said timidly.
"Teacher, I know I was wrong. But can I go back and hit again? In front of a large crowd, lying on the ground, this, this is too shameful."
Han Zong is the only son of the Han family. Although the Han family is not a wealthy family, it is still prestigious in Jiangdong. In front of a group of villagers and two thousand soldiers, he had to lie on the ground and be tortured. This was more intolerable to him than being beaten.
Ji Shu was furious. Now he knew how to face it. Now he remembered that he was from the Han family?
"Shame? Those who feel shame are those who have had glory!"
"You have no glory, so where does the shame come from? Or do you regard trampling on others as a kind of glory?"
Ji Shu pointed at the two soldiers and said.
"Take off his armor."
"beat!"
After hearing this, the soldiers hesitated for a second and then carried out Ji Shu's military order.
After a while, there was a muffled sound of a board being slapped on the muscles, mixed with the groans of the soldiers enduring the pain.
Ji Shu saw the executioner hitting the executioner four or five times and shouted stop. When others hit him with a stick, there was a deep red mark. But Han Zong had four or five blows and couldn't even see a shallow mark on his body. This kid actually imitated others and cried out in pain.
He glared at Xu Tu and Hou Cheng, who quickly avoided Ji Shu's eyes. Ji Shu snorted, pushed away the soldier who was executing Han Zong's punishment, took the cane and struck him himself.
"Your father has a great reputation throughout his life. He was loyal to the country and asked for orders for the people. How dare you, such a rebellious son, send troops to commit murder!"
Ji Shu hit him hard with the board, and Han Zong, who had been showing off just now, suddenly felt his whole body tense up in pain.
"I advocated the justice of the princes, destroyed the aristocratic families, promulgated the "One Tax Law" and the "Law of Qi Min", determined to quell the chaos in the world and build a peaceful and prosperous age. How dare you, a rebellious minister, bring trouble to your hometown!"
Ji Shu went down another board. Han Zong's little body was so red that it looked like he was about to bleed. Han Zong shed tears of pain but did not dare to quibble anymore.
"Your mother, Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, your uncles, and my lord all have high hopes for you. They hope that you will be better than the old, better than General Han Dang, and become a pillar of the Chu Kingdom in the future! You Good thing, I learned from Dong Zhuo! Do you want to make your mother and uncles angry to death?"
Ji Shu just scolded him every time he hit him with the cane. He was speaking from his heart, but he didn't know how much this bastard could hear.
After all, Han Zong is only 12 years old. Even if he has practiced martial arts since he was a child, his skin and bones will be torn apart by a dozen sticks. Even Jiang Qin couldn't help but stepped forward to persuade him. The villagers had already received compensation, and now they were relieved to see the two thugs beheaded. Seeing such a small child being beaten like this, they completely forgot that this child was the one who allowed the soldiers to rob the village, and they all asked the old man. The village chief also came forward to intercede.
Ji Shu originally wanted to recalculate twenty strokes, but Xu Tu, Hou Cheng, Jiang Qin, and the old village chief came forward to stop him and persuaded Ji Shu to give him only fifteen strokes.
Seeing Han Zong's body shaking in pain, but suppressing his moans, he threw the torture stick to the ground and let out a long sigh. Looking at the old village chief and the villagers behind him, Ji Shu knelt down on one knee, cupped his fist and lowered his head.
"My father-in-law, my supervision was not strict, and something like this happened. I apologize to you again here."
Kneeling down on one knee is the most important etiquette in the military. The old village chief never dreamed that one day a general would do this to him, so he hurried forward to help him.
"What's wrong! What's wrong! Sir, get up quickly, you're going to hurt the old man."
The scenes in front of him made the 2,000-feathered Lin Army behind him feel anxious.
Apologizing is not a shame, he was as tall as a monument while kneeling there. The soldiers looked at their general in a daze.
At this moment, the soldiers of the Yulin Army recalled the lessons they had not listened to carefully.
At this moment, it seemed as if I had stepped from reality into a book.
At this moment, something changed in their hearts.
After this day, the Yulin Army had its own military regulations.
"Three Cuts and Seven Sticks"
1. Escape from battle; 2. Rape women; 3. Massacre common people. Kill these three.
1. Steal people's property; 2. Use threats and deception to do business with people; 3. Injure people without reason; 4. Damage crops without reason; 5. Abuse captives; 6. Tease women; 7. Use troops to commit murder. These seven are sticks.
This military regulation later became the iron law that the Yulin Army of Chu State had used for hundreds of years.
