Chapter 466 General Xing
The Zuowuwei Camp located in the East City is not far from Jindefang. Both are in the north city of Luoyang, only a few towns apart.

At this time, a high platform had been set up in the camp. When Zhu Deyu returned to the camp, he immediately ordered people to escort the old soldiers who had committed crimes over.

More and more people gathered outside to watch.

Zhu Deyu was usually very dignified and fair in the camp, so the soldiers were all afraid of him and convinced.

"Zhang Gou'er, Liu Ping, Zhao Sanlang. You are all from the same hometown as me, Zhongli, and you are old brothers from the Huainan Right Camp. You all have military merits in the Battle of Ruxukou and the Battle of Yingchuan. In the Battle of Xiangcheng, the three of you followed Tang He and Hu Kuohai into the city first, and therefore you all received promotions. Did I miss anything in what I said?"

"Huihui. General, no."

"Then let me ask you again, have your military pay and annual festival rewards ever been deducted?"

"Back to General, no."

"Well, since there is no such thing, let me ask you, why don't you pay back your debts? How dare you molest decent women and hurt people's lives! Have you forgotten the military law?"

"What are your origins? Now that you have an official position and a sword on your waist, you dare to bully the people? I, the Zuo Wuwei, have always been the confidant of His Royal Highness the King of Qi. If it weren't for the King of Qi's kindness, you would still be digging for food in the dirt. Now that you have just returned to Luoyang for a few days, you dare to violate military discipline. You are bringing disgrace to the King of Qi. Since you are all veterans, you all know military law. Now I will punish you according to military law. Do you have any objection?"

Several people lowered their heads in fear, not daring to speak. Even though they had no fear in facing the enemy's swords and guns on the battlefield, they were filled with fear and shame at this scene and could not utter a word.

Zhang Gou'er wanted to say something to beg for mercy, but Tang Ya grabbed his jaw and patted him on the shoulder. "It has come to this. I have done my best. Please be decent."

Afterwards, the three men were dragged to the front of the camp gate, identified, sentenced to death, and beheaded for public display.

The poor lady knelt on the ground and cried, feeling as if she had gotten revenge. She had even lost confidence in this matter for a while, but when she saw the heads of the villains who had beaten her husband to death fall to pieces, the emotions that had been suppressed for a long time were finally released.

Zhu Deyu then said, "Tang He, you are not strict in disciplining your troops and you are protecting your subordinates. Is that true?"

Tang He's heart was beating fast, but he still responded loudly, "Yes, General."

"Okay, I'll punish you with a hundred military sticks according to military law. Are you convinced?"

"Reply General, I am convinced."

"Alright, His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi was the first to know about today's incident and ordered me to deal with it. I am also responsible for negligence and should be punished with 100 military sticks! In addition, anyone above the rank of Zhechou Duli in the camp who knew about this incident and did not report it will be punished with 50 military sticks. Execute immediately!"

The people who were watching the fun were all dumbfounded. These were all the personal troops of the King of Qi. Are all these generals going to be beaten?
Is this fake? I'm serious.

A dozen big men lined up in a row and started beating with their military clubs. They all gritted their teeth and endured the pain. Some people thought it was a show, but when they saw the sweat on the heads of Zhu Deyu and the blue veins on their foreheads, they knew it must be real.

When beating these generals, the soldiers who were carrying out the executions had their hands full. Could they really beat them to the point of breaking bones and tendons? They had their hands full, but not breaking bones and tendons did not mean not breaking flesh and skin. It still hurt. And the sound of a stick hitting them was not small.

After the beating, Xu Qiande, Tang Yun and others who were beaten with fifty sticks were fine, but Tang He who was beaten with a hundred sticks fainted. Old Zhu was still somewhat conscious, and left a message to ask someone to find General Xiao to take charge of military affairs and asked Xu Qiande to report to His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi. He could not bear it any longer and was sent back home.

Xiao Shizhi and Zhu Deyu were both generals of the Zuowuwei, but in fact, he was in charge of the ten Zhechongfu under the Zuoweiwei and Youweiwei, which were mainly composed of the surrendered soldiers of the former Dayan Central Army. After listening to the messenger's report of what happened, Xiao Shizhi was still thinking, "Old Zhu, you are giving me a problem."

Afterwards, he prepared to go to the palace to report. Although he was the General of the Left Guard, he still had to ask for instructions from the King of Qi when he was in charge of military affairs.

However, he did not expect that Gao Kan, a Zhonglang official, would bring a note written by Li Yuanhui himself, asking him to temporarily go to the Zuowuwei camp to take charge of the guard affairs.

When Xiao Shizhi saw the instructions on the letter raft, he immediately took the order.

On the other hand, Xu Qiande was strong and limped all the way into the palace to ask for an audience.

"Greetings, Your Majesty." After entering the study room of Changchun Hall, Xu Qiande struggled to bow. Li Yuanhui looked at him with amusement and said, "Forget it. I don't think you can sit down even if you ask you to. Let's stand and talk."

Xu Qiande said, "Your Majesty, General Zhu was seriously injured and was sent home to recuperate, so I came to report the details to Your Majesty."

"Just tell me."

"General Zhu brought back Tang He and several other soldiers who committed crimes. He then beheaded the soldiers in public as a warning to all, and punished Tang He with 100 military sticks for shielding his subordinates and failing to supervise them properly. He has now fainted. All of us commanders and lieutenants who knew about the incident but did not report it will be punished with 50 lashes."

Xu Qiande recounted the entire incident in detail, including Zhu Deyu's claim that he was acting on the king's orders.

Li Yuanhui smiled, very satisfied with this matter, and then said: "Qian De, do you think it is unfair for you to be punished with fifty military sticks?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Qiande said, "Your Majesty, I am not wronged. Although my subordinates have not committed any murder, I cannot guarantee that they have not done anything to bully people or refuse to pay debts. Recently, the discipline of the Left Guard has been somewhat lax, so today's military beating is not wrong."

Li Yuanhui was very pleased and said, "Okay, Qiande, go back and tell the officers of your Zuo Wuwei that they should all remember the taste of today's beating. Zhu Deyu is a strong and upright person who values ​​friendship and loyalty. His 100 beatings are to protect Tang He and the reputation of your Zuo Wuwei. In the future, if there are such people who bully men and women and have no respect for the law, they should be killed. If there are those who are partial to others and commit fraud, they will be punished with the same crime. If you are reluctant to use your sword, my sword can also kill people."

Xu Qiande broke out in a cold sweat when he heard this. Most of the Zuo Wuwei had returned to Jianghuai for rest and recuperation. Maybe many people only remembered that His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi was kind, but he had been in the Luoyang war zone the entire time. He could not forget that this great king had personally gone into battle and chopped people down until even his tempered steel knife had cracks on it. He also enforced strict military laws on weekdays. Did he really think that this great king was kind-hearted?

Then he saluted and said, "We, the Huainan warriors, were chosen by the king to be where we are today. We dare not disobey the king's orders. In the future, we will never disturb the king's ears and eyes with this matter again."

Li Yuanhui said: "Qian De, you don't have to be like this. I know you are always steady and a great general. You must warn them after you go back. Okay, go back and recuperate."

"Yes, Your Majesty. I will take my leave now."

After watching Xu Qiande leave, Li Yuanhui stood up and walked to the front of the hall. Seeing that the setting sun in the west had dyed half the sky red, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

The timing of this matter is just right. It is a perfect warning to Zhu Yuanzhang and those arrogant generals of the Zuo Wuwei. As for the You Wuwei, Zhang Jian and Chang Yanheng are both brave and loyal people. You don't have to worry too much. Just tell them what you want to say.

He really wanted to have a good start and a good end with these generals, and create a good story between the monarch and his subjects.

So, what I said to Xu Qiande was the truth. Some of you should stop forcing me to undergo surgery.

(End of this chapter)