novelAbuy Chapter 29 Rectifying Military Discipline
Chapter 29 Rectifying Military Discipline
"Ying'er is truly remarkable; she has already rallied more than five thousand defeated soldiers." Liu Bang was overjoyed.
Liu Bang's army was far too small, and he desperately needed to gather these defeated soldiers. Liu Ying managed to gather over five thousand defeated soldiers in just two days, a feat far exceeding Liu Bang's expectations.
Xiahou Ying was also delighted: "There are many defeated soldiers here. Using cavalry to gather them is a really good idea."
"Judging from this, once we reach Xingyang, we can gather tens of thousands of defeated soldiers and stabilize our position," Lü Ze said happily.
In the Battle of Pengcheng, Liu Bang commanded an army of 560,000. Xiang Yu did not kill many; the greatest casualties were the hundreds of thousands of Han soldiers who drowned after being driven into the Sui River by Xiang Yu. After all, Xiang Yu only had 30,000 elite cavalry, and with insufficient manpower, he could not possibly kill many.
Therefore, a great many defeated soldiers escaped and returned.
Liu Ying led two hundred cavalrymen, marching swiftly. He killed any defeated soldiers who had slaughtered civilians, and gathered up any defeated soldiers who had not committed serious atrocities.
Through his efforts, he managed to gather over ten thousand defeated soldiers in just five days.
With more defeated soldiers, trouble ensued, including a lack of organization and discipline, and all sorts of chaotic and messy things began to happen.
One night, a defeated soldier named Wu attempted to assault a woman, but Liu Ying apprehended him on the spot.
With a cold expression, Liu Ying ordered Li Bi and Luo Jia to escort Wu straight to Liu Bang's royal tent.
At this moment, Liu Bang was enjoying himself immensely in his royal tent, eating meat and drinking wine, even pulling Xiahou Ying and Lü Ze into a drinking contest with him. Seeing Liu Ying bring Wu in, he was quite impatient: "Ying'er, what has he done wrong?"
"He attempted to humiliate the woman," Liu Ying recounted.
"Kill him!" Liu Bang roared.
"King of Han, why did you kill me? I didn't even succeed!" Wu was very indignant.
"You're still not convinced? It's not wrong for a man to play with women, but it's wrong to force himself on them." Liu Bang sneered, "Only a spineless man would force himself on a woman. I despise men like you the most."
"You..." Wu opened his mouth but remained silent.
Liu Bang patted his chest, beaming with pride: "I've had my way with many women, but I've never forced a single one of them; they were all willing."
Liu Ying rolled her eyes. "Your lechery is considered a virtue?"
"Take him out and behead him," Liu Bang urged, waving his right hand.
Liu Ying looked at Liu Bang and said, "This is an opportunity. You should take this chance to rectify military discipline."
"Improving military discipline now would destabilize the army and be very disadvantageous to us," Liu Bang refused.
"You think morale is stable?" Liu Ying sneered, "When I was rallying the defeated troops, do you know what they said most often?"
"What?" Liu Bang glanced sideways at Liu Ying.
Xiahou Ying and Lü Ze perked up their ears.
"They cursed you as 'Liu Bang, the traitorous dog,' saying that your 560,000 troops couldn't defeat Xiang Yu's 30,000 men, that you were a bandit and unworthy to be the King of Han." Liu Ying quoted the defeated soldiers directly.
"You unfilial son, who are you cursing?" Liu Bang was furious. He grabbed a wine cup from the short table and smashed it at Liu Ying.
The force was considerable, creating a whooshing sound.
Liu Ying dodged aside, glared at Liu Bang, and shouted, "You can only be fierce to me? Is this all the so-called King of Han has to offer?"
"You unfilial son, I'll beat you to death!" Liu Bang was even angrier and jumped up, wanting to hit Liu Ying.
"King Han, please calm down," Xiahou Ying hurriedly stopped him.
"Although the defeated troops have been regrouped, their discipline is completely gone. You think you can rely on them to fight Xiang Yu and conquer the world? That's just a pipe dream." Liu Ying scolded, "Use this opportunity to restore discipline and rebuild your prestige. That's the most urgent thing to do. I've presented you with such a good opportunity, and you've refused it. You're truly foolish."
"To rebuild prestige?" Liu Bang suddenly stood up.
"Good!" Xiahou Ying agreed.
"Good!" Lü Ze echoed.
The Battle of Pengcheng shattered Liu Bang's prestige, making it desperately necessary to rebuild it. Without restoring his authority, Liu Bang would be unable to command his army and fight against Xiang Yu.
"But... if we were to rectify military discipline now, it would inevitably cause unrest." Liu Bang had his doubts.
"Right now, we can rely on the Xiayi army to rectify military discipline. If we wait a while before rectifying military discipline, and allow the bad habits of defeated soldiers to spread, the discipline of the Xiayi army will also fall apart. By then, it will be impossible for you to rectify military discipline." Liu Ying saw things far ahead and pointed out the crux of the matter.
"Excellent!" Liu Bang suddenly realized.
"This matter has to be done," Lü Ze agreed.
"It has to be done." Xiahou Ying had no objection.
"Gather the army to prevent any unrest," Liu Bang said to Lü Ze.
"Yes, sir." This was necessary, and Lü Ze gladly accepted the order.
Lü Ze commanded the troops of Xiayi to surround the defeated soldiers, making it impossible for them to escape.
"What are we doing?" The defeated soldiers were completely baffled.
Riding a tall horse, escorted by Tian and others, Liu Bang rode into the ranks of the defeated soldiers. His gaze, sharp as a sword, swept over them, and he roared, "I, the king, wielded my three-foot sword to punish the tyrannical Qin and pacify the world. How dare you disobey my military discipline? Today, I will restore order to the army, and all those who break the law will be executed!"
"Reform military discipline?" The defeated soldiers heard this but didn't take it seriously.
Liu Bang waved his right hand, and Li Bi and Luo Jia escorted Wu over.
Liu Bang pointed at the filthy woman and said, "This man disregarded my military orders and dared to humiliate a woman; he deserves to be executed!"
"King of Han, there is no such military order."
"Excellent! The King of Han's military orders absolutely forbid playing with women."
The defeated soldiers were completely bewildered. They thought and thought, but couldn't recall any such military rule.
"I allow you to play with women, but you cannot force them! Forcing a woman is a violation of military law," Liu Bang said in a deep voice.
"Is that even a claim?"
"It seems so."
The defeated soldiers thought for a long time before remembering the military law established by Liu Bang: it was permissible to have sex with women, but not by force, and the women had to consent.
Liu Bang was driven by lust, so it was impossible for him to forbid his soldiers from having sex with women. Therefore, he established this military law.
"Aren't there many like him among you? Quickly expose him! Those who successfully expose him will be granted a rank of nobility! Those who dare to conceal him will be considered accomplices and be executed!" Liu Bang's sharp gaze swept over the defeated soldiers.
Many of the defeated soldiers had shifty eyes.
But no one exposed it.
Liu Bang increased the rewards: "Those who expose wrongdoing will be granted a rank of nobility and a reward of one jin of gold."
The defeated soldiers remained unreported.
"Those who expose the crime will be granted two ranks of nobility and a reward of two catties of gold." Liu Bang doubled his reward.
"Is the King of Han really telling the truth?" someone asked tentatively.
Many defeated soldiers looked at Liu Bang with hopeful eyes.
"Last year, when I entered Guanzhong, I made a three-point agreement with the people. Has anyone violated it?" Liu Bang asked proudly. "I always keep my word," he replied.
"Very well, I believe in the King of Han." A defeated soldier tried to expose him: "I know..."
Liu Bang waved his right hand, interrupting him, "Let me remind you of something: if you falsely accuse someone, you will be punished for false accusation. Have you thought it through?"
The practice of punishing false accusations was a method introduced by Shang Yang during his reforms in the Qin state to punish those who made false accusations.
If you report someone for murder, but they haven't actually committed murder, then congratulations, you've been charged with murder.
"Every word I have said is true. If even a single word is untrue, I am willing to accept punishment," the man assured, patting his chest.
"That's good! Go ahead," Liu Bang said.
The defeated soldier immediately revealed: "On the way to escape, he..."
"You dare?" The person who was exposed attempted to commit the crime but was apprehended on the spot.
When the man successfully exposed the crime, Liu Bang ordered someone to bring him gold ingots and personally bestowed them upon him, saying, "Congratulations on your meritorious service. You have been granted two ranks of nobility and are hereby rewarded with two catties of gold."
What was referred to as "one jin of gold" at the time was actually "one jin of gold".
It refers to a gold ingot, not a pound of gold.
Holding two gleaming gold ingots, the man smiled broadly.
"What is your name?" Liu Bang asked.
"I dare to tell the King of Han: My name is Xin." The man was overjoyed.
With Xin as their role model, the defeated soldiers immediately became excited and began to expose each other.
For a time, curses and arguments filled the air.
Liu Bang ordered Lü Ze to oversee the accusations. Lü Ze, along with his men, began accepting accusations.
There were quite a few things that were exposed, and it took two whole days to deal with them.
In order to deal with this matter, the team remained in place and did not set off.
Two days later, all the crimes were revealed, including not only the abuse of women but also the massacre of civilians.
The system of collective punishment and heavy rewards was truly a good thing; it was effective, and almost all the criminals among the defeated soldiers were exposed.
Of the more than 10,000 defeated soldiers, more than 2,000 were criminals, a considerable number.
"Kill them all!" Liu Bang said without the slightest hesitation.
At Liu Bang's command, more than two thousand defeated soldiers were brought over and made to kneel on the ground. Row upon row, they looked quite impressive.
"Execute!" Liu Bang rode over and personally oversaw the execution.
Swords flashed, heads rolled, blood splattered, and more than two thousand headless corpses fell to the ground, twitching continuously, looking extremely horrifying.
The defeated soldiers, seeing this, paled and trembled with fear; some even dared not utter a sound.
They never imagined that Liu Bang would be so ruthless, killing more than two thousand people without hesitation.
Not to mention the defeated soldiers, even the Han army in Xiayi felt a chill in their hearts as they watched so many people being killed.
This was a ruthless move, but it was extremely effective. The defeated soldiers' discipline changed drastically, and they were put in good order.
The discipline of the Han army in Xiayi has also improved significantly, becoming even better than before.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Liu Bang reorganized the defeated troops, mainly using the Han army of Xiayi, and selected a group of people from them to become military officers and let them lead the defeated troops.
Among the defeated soldiers, select a group of innocent men to serve as military academy students.
Gu and Xin are two of them.
As for the matter of taking things from the common people, there's no way to punish it. If we were to truly punish them, it wouldn't just be the killing of over two thousand, but the execution of all ten thousand defeated soldiers, which is clearly unrealistic.
After this reorganization, the army's appearance and discipline underwent a dramatic transformation, which pleased Liu Bang greatly.
Once everything is settled, let's set off.
Liu Ying then led his cavalry to gather the defeated soldiers. Those who had massacred civilians were executed on the spot, while those who had committed no major offenses were gathered together and reorganized into the Han army.
Of course, these newly recruited defeated troops must be purged and reorganized.
Soon, Liu Ying had gathered more than 30,000 defeated soldiers.
Moreover, the Han army became more disciplined and stopped disturbing the people. The people trusted Liu Bang more, and many were willing to move with him.
As a result, the ranks grew rapidly, soon exceeding 150,000.
"I dare to inform the King of Han: our grain supplies are almost gone." Lü Ze scratched his head.