Xiao Li took control of Yanping Prefecture and sent someone to Taiping City with a token to pick up Rong Qing. However, the news he received was that Rong Qing was fine and had already taken his men to attack Changzhou.
Ziyue: "That's great, Brother Rong is fine."
Xiao Li was not as optimistic as him. He thought everything would have to wait until he met Rong Qing.
Changzhou had many soldiers and generals, as well as soldiers from other countries, but King Xian was assassinated in public, which seriously shook the morale of the army.
And those smoke bombs caused many people to accidentally kill their companions, not to mention that Prince Xian's Mansion was razed to the ground, it was like the collapse of the sky.
King Xian is almost dead, let alone treason.
The things like Wenquxing, Wuquxing, and destiny have all become jokes.
And those so-called heroes who came here because of the heroic invitation have now become a mob fleeing in all directions.
Seeing the chaos in the city, Lu Ling and Jiang Zhou fled on horseback.
Especially when he saw Rong Qing appear, Lu Ling's excitement was hard to conceal: "It's the Empress, the Empress is here!"
"Great, let's go and see the Empress."
Jiang Zhou's face was filled with despair: "The Empress is here, but the King of Wei hasn't been found yet. I'm doomed, I'm doomed!"
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Xiao Li had Lu Suyun taken away, but he didn't expect that it was Wang Wanqing who interrogated her in the end. No one knew where that girl had learned this trick from, but she didn't shed any blood, and she just fooled Lu Suyun into telling him everything.
As for whether it was true or not, every time Lu Suyun said something, someone would immediately verify it, and in the end it was proven to be true.
Duan Ji's head was chopped off and hung at the city gate. Some soldiers spoke up for him, saying that he was a brave general who had conquered a country for the empress and had made outstanding contributions. He should not be beheaded and his body should not be left exposed for humiliation just because he was disrespectful to the empress.
Xiao Li just found it funny. Duan Ji had made contributions, so didn't she reward him?
He is a horse trainer, and all he has achieved today is thanks to Xiao Li's promotion.
Not to mention that the greatest contribution in the battle against the State of Yue was Xiao Li's mortar, but if he wanted to be made a king just because he won this battle, then if he won two more battles, wouldn't he think he should sit on the throne?
Xiao Li didn't even bother to talk about the fact that he lived in the main house but arranged the emperor to live in the princess's embroidery building.
He deserved death just for occupying the palace without an imperial edict, proclaiming himself king, and occupying the widow of King Ping of Yan.
Not to mention what Lu Suyun later revealed about what he had done.
Xiao Li was too lazy to argue with anyone. He directly ordered people to move the treasures of Prince Yanping's Mansion to the army, and then asked people to list Duan Ji's crimes in detail.
He embezzled the treasures of the Yue Kingdom, squandered military pay, established a private army, and forcibly abducted young women around him and kept them in his villa for himself and his confidants to enjoy.
He killed anyone who disobeyed him and tried to make corpse puppets, although he had not yet succeeded.
Yang Jun stood on the high platform and recited Duan Ji's crimes word by word.
The soldiers and onlookers below were all furious, especially those whose girls were kidnapped. They cried loudly and told how their daughters and young wives were kidnapped. The people around them were filled with righteous indignation and cursed Duan Ji to death.
It would be too easy for him to be beheaded with one sword. He deserves to be cut into pieces, his bones crushed to ashes, and trampled by thousands of people.
Xiao Li fulfilled their wish, burned Duan Ji in public, mixed iron sand into a stone tablet and placed it at the gate of Yanping City.
All future generals, take this as a warning!
As for those who were on good terms with Duan Ji, every one of them would be investigated, and after their guilt was confirmed, they would be beheaded in public.
However, some soldiers were not happy. They only knew that the person who was going to die was their best friend. They had been drinking and eating meat together just two days ago, but today they were going to be chopped off by the empress.
What evidence? They are together every day, how could they not know?
A group of people knelt outside, seemingly begging for mercy, but actually threatening, saying that the empress was unfair and killed innocent people indiscriminately.
Xiao Li was so angry that he laughed. They thought that the empress and the emperor had two different meanings. She, as the empress, was not as majestic as the emperor, right?
Goodness cannot establish things, and kindness cannot command troops.
If they still threaten her, then I'll kill them to show them.
This group of brainless and reckless men are mostly illiterate, stubborn, and mindless in their chivalry.
It is useless to reason with them; only absolute evidence and iron-fisted tactics can intimidate them.
As a result, when these reckless men saw people die, they became even more radical. Some wanted to die with them, while others wanted to take off their armor and return home.
It instantly became a huge military mutiny.
Xiao Li just found it funny. This group of people couldn't tell right from wrong.
Being a soldier means you can plunder property at will and take it for yourself. Being a soldier means you can seize decent women and do whatever you want?
Military orders are as heavy as a mountain. Right is right and wrong is wrong.
Could it be that the emperor was going to tolerate the soldiers robbing women, engaging in group fornication, and embezzling military pay?
Or because the empress was a woman, she lacked dignity, so she... filled it with killing.
She wants all the soldiers to tremble in fear at the mention of the empress!
All the ringleaders of the mutiny were captured and beheaded in public.
Then, when all the soldiers were shocked, Yang Jun announced the new military law:
All soldiers and their families can be allocated good farmland, and those above the rank of centurion are exempt from taxes for life.
The state will arrange jobs for all injured soldiers and provide them with disability allowances.
The state will pay silver and money monthly to all soldiers who died in battle to support their parents, wives and children.
All wives of meritorious soldiers have priority access to the Empress Factory. The following are the factory benefits...
......
"Your Majesty hates corrupt officials, and hates high-ranking officials and soldiers who indulge in luxury and disregard human lives."
"Your Majesty desires a world where civil officials are honest and upright, military officials are righteous, a wise ruler and virtuous ministers work together to create a prosperous era, not a world of chaos and chaos that brings disaster to the people and bullies the weak."
“You haven’t studied, but please feel your own spine.”
"Whether you are upright, whether you have a clear conscience, whether you are worthy of respect."
"Your Majesty never forces anyone. Now, Your Majesty gives all of you a chance. Those who do not wish to stay may voluntarily disarm. However, you will be considered a deserter and will be barred from joining the army or the court for three generations, nor will you receive any future benefits."
The silver-armored guards rode back and forth on horseback, repeating Yang Jun's words over and over again.
Finally: "Those who want to leave, go to the left, those who want to stay, go to the right. You have a quarter of an hour to think!"
A quarter of an hour later, most of the people on the right were standing, and more than 30% of the people on the left were standing.
There were a total of 15,000 soldiers in Yanping Prefecture, and about 5,000 of them wanted to leave.
They heard about the benefits the empress had given them, but they were still resentful of her cruelty.
He felt that he was too proud and was unwilling to be loyal to such a cruel empress, thinking that since he had more people than her, the empress would definitely compromise.
But they forgot that the empress was the one who ruled the country. She had so many civil and military officials behind her. If she wanted to recruit soldiers, there were plenty of people willing to risk their lives. How could she be threatened by such a small number of people like them?
And the bigger the noise they make, the better, as it will be a good opportunity to rectify military discipline and serve as a warning to others.
This will serve as an example to the armies of other cities. Next time, anyone who dares to cause trouble will have to think carefully about whether they can afford the consequences.
Yang Jun shouted: "Take off your armor!"
"Leave your name behind when you leave the camp!"
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