Ning Xi'er put him into her space because she trusted him; he didn't have the habit of rummaging through things.
After waiting for a while, Ning Xi'er took him out of the space.
Yan Lang acted swiftly and decisively, separating and interrogating the arrested soldiers.
When necessary, certain military laws were invoked.
The situation was quickly clarified: the silver ingots found in the hands of the two supervising soldiers, and the bribe silver found in the checkpoint sentries and granary guards...
Yan Lang quickly ordered his men to purchase grain rations in Pingyuan County, Daolin.
Even if lunch is a little late, at least we can eat.
According to military law, the two supervising soldiers were required to hand over the embezzled funds and each would be punished with one hundred strokes of the military rod.
But after all, the garrison had over two thousand mouths to feed, so they weren't considered exiled prisoners...
Executing them is easy; replenishing the food supply is more important.
In particular, Yan Lang ordered a thorough investigation, which revealed that the warehouses storing military equipment and daily necessities had been completely emptied...
Even though some soldiers provided information that they saw two soldiers loitering around the warehouse, no one actually witnessed it firsthand...
The two guards resisted to the death...
Yan Lang and his entourage speculated that the weapons and supplies might have been smuggled out by these two audacious scoundrels into the grain wagons.
With irrefutable witness testimony and physical evidence, the two supervising soldiers could not deny it.
Yan Langnian and his men endured ten years of hardship in the desolate land, presenting them with two choices:
Either obediently accept one hundred lashes and be a law-abiding citizen in your next life;
Alternatively, each of them shall pay a fine of one thousand taels and receive fifty strokes of the military rod.
It's like paying money to save your life.
The two came from poor families; otherwise, they wouldn't have stayed in the desolate region for ten years.
Unexpectedly, after Yan Lang issued the punishment decision, the two of them chose the latter without prior agreement.
This unusual behavior, however, caught Yan Lang's attention.
Yan Lang arranged for a few people to accompany them back to raise money.
The returning men reported that the two men had each hidden several hundred taels of silver in their homes, either under the stove or under the earthen bed...
With the addition of loans from surrounding areas, they managed to raise a total of one thousand taels of silver.
This unusual situation prompted Yan Lang to conduct another round of harsh interrogation...
I just learned that the several hundred taels of silver the two had accumulated were all obtained by extorting prisoners over the past ten years.
The imperial court provided rations to exiled prisoners, but they would skimp on the amount, sometimes reducing it to a single meal. Intentionally or unintentionally, they would also whip and bully some of the refugees who had no relatives...
However, the number of people is not reported, which reduces the food expenditure per person and the number of people, thus saving a significant amount of food each year...
If you sell it outside, you can get several thousand taels of silver.
Such matters were generally overseen by the Left Military Supervisor, who was responsible for the living conditions of exiled prisoners.
The money distributed each year was taken by the supervising officer and the left and right supervising officers, with the remaining soldiers split equally...
Even the lowest-paid person would receive one or two taels of silver.
Ten years of accumulation is not a small amount.
In addition, the Right Military Supervisor was responsible for the corvée labor and security management of the exiled prisoners.
He often personally, or with the tacit approval of his subordinates, physically assaulted the convicts.
The convicts, driven to desperation by the beatings, would request permission from their families to send money as bribes to the guards, hoping to receive less abuse in return.
Even so, their lifespan depends on the frequency and amount of their "tribute"...
If the family couldn't afford much, they would either die from poverty and illness, or be beaten a few times and buried in a pit.
Yan Lang has only been here for two months and is not specifically in charge of these trivial matters.
In addition, Sun Zuo and Meng Yi had always disliked him and were quite wary of him, so they restrained their behavior and didn't let him see much of it.
Upon hearing this, Yan Lang's eyes reddened, and he realized what kind of place he had come to—a place that devoured people without spitting out their bones.
He glanced around, his gaze sweeping over the soldiers and those kneeling on the ground...
After a long silence, he sternly ordered, "From now on, no one, regardless of who they are, is allowed to withhold rations from prisoners, and they must not shortchange them..."
Even more unacceptable is the killing of innocent prisoners!
Anyone who disobeys will be executed!
The soldiers in front of us all have a lot of hidden wealth at home...
Right now, the military supervisors haven't mentioned any pursuit of funds or punishment, so they're much more relaxed and wouldn't dare to raise any objections.
Yan Lang was mainly responsible for the management of the refugee areas, but all the border soldiers were under the command of the garrison commander.
The theft of a grain warehouse is no small matter.
Yan Lang personally led two supervising soldiers, along with the soldiers who had corrected them and the signed confessions, to report to the garrison commander.
Unexpectedly, the garrison commander was drinking when he heard the report from his soldiers. He immediately instructed them to relay the message to Yan Lang, telling him to simply do as he was told...
Yan Lang didn't even get to see the commander.
As I left, I seemed to hear the fawning laughter of women inside the tent.
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