BANG BANG BANG!!!
A burst of gunfire rang out, and suddenly only a few of the remaining thirty Japanese were left standing.
There were only fifty or so Ti cavalrymen at the front who fired the shots. Their accurate hit rate formed a sharp contrast with the previous musketeers.
Remember, this was just one round of shooting, and it was done on horseback.
Nearly half of them have been hit.
Seeing those shining armored cavalrymen and the flags fluttering in the wind behind them, how could the Zhenhai Guard not be familiar with them? These were the Xuanjia Guards directly under the command of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.
The advanced riding skills were so breathtaking that the captain of Zhenhai Guard was filled with envy.
Among the more than 300 Ti cavalrymen galloping, there were traces of military formations.
At this point, the captain had already understood that the Zhenhai Guard must have been targeted by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for a long time.
At the same time, in the base camp of the Japanese merchants.
The Japanese merchants were completely unprepared and had no ability to resist the charge of 1,500 Zhenhai guards.
The remaining 200 people all surrendered immediately upon meeting each other.
There was no need to struggle; the number of people was too obvious.
The villagers fell to their knees one after another, trembling all over.
Sha Hongguang, the captain of Zhenhai Guard, frowned immediately, without any joy at all.
The captain next to him whispered, "Boss, if we capture him alive like this, I'm afraid the credit won't be enough."
After saying this, he looked specifically at the villagers who were kneeling on the ground.
How could Sha Hongguang not understand what his trusted subordinates meant?
This is not just about killing prisoners, but also about killing innocent people to gain credit.
Only by doing so can the merit be maximized and the reward from the superiors be large enough.
"How can you report that we wiped out thousands of Japanese pirates without causing any casualties?"
"If we report this, it will expose the matter to the public. If the higher-ups investigate, who will be held responsible?"
Sha Hongguang said in a deep voice.
Although killing innocent people to claim credit is a common practice, it cannot be put on the table. The Ming Dynasty law has very strict punishments for this, and it can even be considered a crime of collective punishment.
After Shang Yang's reforms, the Qin State established a system of conferring titles based on military merit.
The Qin law stipulates: "If one beheads one head, he will be promoted one level in rank; if he wants to be an official, he will be promoted to an official of 50 stones. If one beheads two heads, he will be promoted two levels in rank; if he wants to be an official, he will be promoted to an official of 100 stones. The promotion of official rank is commensurate with the achievement of beheading one head."
That is to say, if one beheaded a level, one could be promoted to a higher rank; if one became an official, the annual salary would be at least 100 dan. According to the 20-level military merit system, the lowest-ranking official was also rewarded with one hectare of land, a house and a servant; 100 dan of grain was about 20,000 jin, which was equivalent to the grain output of 100 mu of land at that time.
Stimulated by the generous rewards, the Qin army was delighted to hear about war. They were fearless and invincible on the battlefield. They beheaded hundreds of thousands of enemies at a time and eventually wiped out the six eastern countries.
After the fall of the Qin Dynasty, the system of conferring titles based on military merit was abolished, but some practices were also inherited.
Because this method is the best way to boost morale, the idea of offering a certain amount of silver for killing a person in later movies and TV shows often comes from this.
The Japanese pirates also invaded the coast of the Ming Dynasty. During the hunt for the pirates, there was a rule that a certain amount of reward would be given in exchange for each head.
Therefore, the Ming Dynasty's practice of killing innocent people and claiming credit for their achievements started with the Japanese pirates.
The main reason is that there is not much difference between the Japanese pirates and the Han people of the Ming Dynasty. For example, the Ming people along the coast have lived by the sea for a long time, so it is difficult to distinguish their impersonation behavior.
Especially if the head is chopped off and smeared with lime, even an experienced autopsy expert would find it difficult to tell the difference.
This gave many soldiers an opportunity.
Usually the superiors are well aware of this and even get involved to take the largest share.
After hearing what the thousand-householder said, the hundred-householder felt unwilling.
Now, due to the arrival of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, many of the brothers' sources of income have been cut off, and no one knows how long it will take to recover.
If His Royal Highness the Crown Prince stays here for a month, will there be no movement for a month?
Many soldiers of Zhenhaiwei, because of their sudden wealth, started to spend lavishly, especially treating their superiors to wine and feasting, which was extremely common.
If anyone fails to treat others to two drinks, he may end up with less than half the money the next time the money is divided.
Besides, by inviting the superiors to drink, they can also have fun together. They can get things done and have fun at the same time. With this excuse, the soldiers rushed to join in.
There has been less money recently, but the soldiers have long been accustomed to this kind of life. Whenever they are off duty, they go to the restaurant to eat and drink.
In less than ten days, many soldiers were already short of money and were eager to make another fortune.
And now, the windfall is right in front of them.
Perhaps for the new recruits, killing innocent people for credit is a little hard to accept, and they may not be able to get over that hurdle in their hearts.
But for veterans who have been on the battlefield for a long time, they have long been numb to death, whether it is the enemy or themselves.
"Look, boss, there are at least hundreds of young men here. Even if we take them to the inspection department, no one will be able to recognize them."
"As for casualties, we can let a group of brothers retire first and stay with the Cao Gang for a few days. They can also receive pensions."
"Once His Royal Highness the Crown Prince leaves, we will change the household registration and let the brothers come back."
"This way, we can kill two birds with one stone."
The captain's eyes moved rapidly and he soon came up with an idea.
It has to be said that the bolder the person, the more productive the land will be. This way of operation really made Sha Hongguang and several other households in the surrounding area shine.
After Sha Hongguang thought about it, he found that this method was indeed feasible.
The eyes of several centurions in the surrounding area showed desire.
The Ming Dynasty's pension is not low, especially for veterans like them, it can make money faster than killing Japanese pirates.
Just do some calculation in your mind and it’s a huge amount of objective wealth.
Just when everyone was eager to try, Sha Hongguang suddenly said, "No."
Several centurions were stunned and thought they had heard it wrong.
Sha Hongguang said in a deep voice: "It's a good idea, but it can't be used now."
"Think carefully about this. Who will get the credit for killing the pirates this time?"
The captain said, "Of course it's for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
Sha Hongguang asked again: "Then let me ask you, should we only kill the young and strong, or should we massacre the entire village?"
This question immediately made several centurions feel conflicted.
A centurion opened his mouth to speak, but immediately swallowed his words back.
Because in everyone's mind, they would definitely use the heads of young and strong people to pretend to be Japanese pirates in exchange for money.
But this involves a problem, which is also a problem that the centurions subconsciously ignore.
What if these elderly, weak, women and children report to the authorities?
The matter has been completely exposed.
In order to prevent being exposed, they have to be killed all together.
In order to prevent people from killing innocent people and taking credit for their achievements, successive dynasties have summed up a set of effective methods.
The Qin State was the first to implement the system of conferring titles based on military merit. It also had a set of measures to prevent the killing of innocent people for credit, and had strict regulations on beheading: when beheading, the head should be cut off at the base of the neck, exposing the Adam's apple, to prevent the army from taking children and women to make up the numbers.
The heads must be handed over to officials for verification within three days after victory to prevent counterfeiting.
Officers are not allowed to kill the enemy. Officers’ rewards are calculated based on the total number of enemies killed by the army after combat, to prevent commanders from using their power to “grab heads”.
After the heads were handed in, there was also a set of inspection methods. The first thing to look at was the shape of the hair. During the Warring States Period, the hair styles of the Qin people were different from those of the six eastern states.
Qin was located on the border, and its people wore their hair in a bun on the right. Han, Wei, Zhao, Qi and Yan preferred the middle bun, and all of them wore their hair in a bun. They could tell the enemy and ours at a glance from the heads handed in, and effectively prevented people from cutting off their own heads and claiming credit.
In addition, the level-up requires the testimony of teammates and superiors, and the phenomenon of stealing heads will basically not occur.
The Liye Qin Bamboo Slips recorded a case of killing an innocent person and claiming credit for his crimes.
A soldier killed a sentry on duty in the military camp and came to report his achievement overnight with the head.
The officer who examined the head discovered that the fatal wound on the head was caused by a dagger, not a spear, halberd, or bow and crossbow. In a battle between two armies, most fatal wounds should be caused by spears, halberds, or crossbows, and killing people with a dagger is extremely rare.
He immediately ordered officers at all levels to count the number of soldiers, and if there were any missing persons, they should come forward to claim the heads. It turned out that the man was killing innocent people and claiming credit for the crime.
The Ming Dynasty today also continues to use this firm approach.
Although the Zhenhai Guard was strong, at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, even if there was corruption in the army, it was not completely rotten to the core, and in many aspects, it was relatively strict.
It was not until the middle and late Ming Dynasty that people began to go along with the crowd and become corrupt, mixed together, pretending to be ignorant while knowing the truth, and doing good for everyone.
Now, the centurions also became conflicted.
An entire village was massacred. In times of chaos, no one would care, but now, it is considered a major case and might even alarm the capital.
If the impact is big, the problem will be difficult to solve.
These people all have registered residence in the Ming Dynasty, and each of them has to pay taxes.
Even if the tax revenue of a village disappears, how long can it be concealed?
Even if you use your connections to suppress the matter, how much money will it cost, and you will have to pay for it yourself.
Even if it is suppressed temporarily, who will pay the taxes for this village?
The government is not stupid. They will definitely not say that they will make up for the loss to Zhenhaiwei. Zhenhaiwei has more than one thousand households. How can others help without getting some benefits?
Are you going to use the money in your own pocket to help fill the hole here?
If we calculate it this way, we have to pay taxes every year and let Sha Qianhu and his brothers make up for it? That would be a huge loss.
"Damn it, with this calculation, the brothers have to pay money to support him."
One hundred households said cursingly.
The centurion who had raised the issue earlier was still a little unwilling and suggested again: "How about saying that they are colluding with the Japanese pirates?"
As soon as these words came out, the other centurions looked at him as if he were a fool.
Especially Sha Hongguang, there was something strange in his eyes: Are you trying to trick me?
He thought he was the King of Yan and could kill people however he wanted.
As a captain of Zhenhaiwei, how could he have such great power?
The key is that once the higher-ups investigate, there’s no way to escape.
Perhaps other brothers could still survive, but he would definitely be executed.
"Tie up all the pirates and go back to claim the credit. Don't bother with those evildoers. Our brothers here have families to support. If anything happens, no one can afford it."
"I still have an old mother, a wife and children to support at home. It's better to lose a little than to lose my life."
Following Sha Hongguang's words, even though he felt a little unhappy, there was nothing he could do.
However, all this anger was directed at the Japanese merchants, and the soldiers who kidnapped them would slap them in the face if they were not satisfied.
The Japanese merchants were beaten so hard that they screamed in pain.
Hearing the shouts, the soldiers of Zhenhaiwei became even more excited. They swung their swords and started beating the man violently, leaving him with a bloody head.
Sha Hongguang didn't care. Even if he killed dozens of people, it wouldn't be a big deal, and he wouldn't say that anyone cared.
The fate of these Japanese pirates was doomed to be death from the moment they were captured.
This kind of thing is tacitly approved by the higher-ups.
However, Sha Hongguang suddenly thought of something while walking, and shouted:
"Kill fewer people. We need people to repair the road in Zhenhaiwei. These pirates seem to be quite strong."
"I heard that the imperial court has allocated funds for road construction. If we use these Japanese to replace corvée labor and get some allowances, we should be able to earn some money. If we kill them, we will only get a bounty for their heads."
When the soldiers heard this, their eyes suddenly lit up. They looked at the Japanese as if they were shining precious banknotes, and immediately stopped beating them.
The centurions looked at Sha Hongguang with a hint of admiration in their eyes.
After all, he is a thousand households high, and his ability to fleece the poor is truly unmatched by ordinary people.
…
"It seems that the people of Zhenhaiwei still have some conscience." Zhu Ying said with a smile.
The spies in the distance reported every detail of Sha Hongguang's situation.
Of course you couldn't hear what was said, but you could see them pacifying the villagers and kidnapping the Japanese pirates.
Zhu Ying's requirements for these soldiers were quite low. In Zhu Ying's opinion, as long as they did not kill innocent people indiscriminately, they were considered very good and had already surpassed 80% of the soldiers in the garrison.
Zhang Bo said at this time: "Boss, these soldiers are very evil. I guess they feel that the benefits of slaughtering the village are too poor, so they acted like this."
Zhu Ying shook his head and said, "No matter what they thought, at least they didn't do it."
"Most of the ordinary soldiers, including those at the rank of centurion or thousand-man level, have never been to school. We cannot expect them to have the same standards as us. It is enough for them to think of these things."
Zhang Bo lowered his head and said, "Master is right. I was worrying too much."
Zhu Ying waved his hand and said, "Give the order and let's go. We can go to Zhenhaiwei for a visit."
…
The news of the Crown Prince's appearance reached Zhenhaiwei in a very short time.
The captains of Zhenhaiwei, especially the commander-in-chief Chai Bai, suddenly became nervous.
This is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, the future Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
It is a great honor to personally inspect Zhenhaiwei.
But to Zhenhaiwei, this honor was almost like bad news.
They have done so many things. If any one of them is known by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and he holds on to it, Chai Bai's position as the commander-in-chief will be in jeopardy, not to mention others.
"Let me put this on hold for now. If anyone displeases His Royal Highness, please do not blame me for not respecting our past brotherly love."
In the parliament hall, Chai Bai looked coldly at the thousand households sitting there and said viciously.