The Emperor ordered Zhao Tang

Chapter 52: The Evil Army

In Chang'an, the rain had been falling all day with no let-up in intensity, and it kept pouring down in the night.

Such a rainy night is not suitable for work, and Shimin has already fallen asleep. There was a sudden commotion outside the walls of Yongjiali, and the clacking sound of armor plates colliding drowned out the sound of the rain. A pickpocket who was waiting for an opportunity to steal in the dark heard it and ran back home.

The crowd on the street marched into the Yingwu Army camp in the heavy rain, some carrying tools, some carrying ink.

Ta-ta-ta-ta.

The sound of footsteps suddenly became hurried.

Wearing straw hats and raincoats, Ren Guo, a doctor of the Ministry of Justice, and Huangfu Yi, a deputy director of the Ministry of Justice, walked side by side, each holding a handful of awl needles. Behind them were two heads of the Ministry of Justice, with a group of clerks and craftsmen following closely behind them.

"Stop..."

Arriving at the gate, Ren Guo, a doctor in the Ministry of Justice, raised his hand, turned around and looked at the clerks and craftsmen: "The sage has given this matter to the Grand Chancellor, who has chosen and chosen, and entrusted it to me. You are all skilled craftsmen in the Ministry of Justice, measuring and weighing, observing and calculating, carving and chiseling... all of you are quick-witted. You will be tattooing in a while, and you must be meticulous and accurate, and also quick and agile. You will finish the work at dawn."

"Once you have done your job well, I will go to the Grand Chancellor and ask him to ask the Saint for a reward for you all."

"Otherwise, go to the Ministry of Agriculture or the Ministry of the Imperial Household to raise horses!"

He finished his lecture in one breath and held his forehead with his hand: "--Oh, I forgot. The Ministry of Justice notified the Grand Chancellor that the imperial edict also required that the beards and hair of these warriors be shaved, and that they be subjected to the most humiliating punishment besides corporal punishment, and then be exiled to the eight rivers in the capital to dredge the canals, so as to temper their fierce nature through corvée labor."

"Yes!" The clerks and craftsmen responded in unison.

Under the command platform of the Yingwu military camp, more than ten wooden eaves had been temporarily erected to provide shelter for the craftsmen and clerks to work. Torches were lit everywhere, and a large group of soldiers entered from various gates. As soon as they entered, they set up barricades, took out their bows and crossbows, and stood behind them, ready for battle.

In the middle of the camp, a large group of strong men with their hands tied behind their backs and their feet chained were kneeling. These people were the 2,000 captured Bin soldiers. Some of them were kneeling in the rain, some were silent, some were looking around, and some were crying. Many more had bloodshot eyes, their teeth were gnashing repeatedly, and their ferocious appearances were exposed.

"Hehe, I'm Wang Congxun, the commander of the left wing of the Yingwu Army!"

Wang Congxun stood up suddenly and said with a grin, "You are the leader here, the most senior military officer. If it were up to me, I would definitely kill you to prevent future troubles. But the saint is kind-hearted and scolded me."

"I will recite the original words of the saints for you." At this point, he paused, rubbed his hands excitedly, rolled his eyes upwards, and recalled: "Have you ever been forced to do Latin and couldn't escape?"

“Is there anyone who doesn’t want to eat meat but is forced to eat it?”

"Is there anyone who didn't want to fight and rebel, but was forced to attack and kill the emperor?"

"Is there anyone who wants to redeem himself by working on the land?"

"If so, the saint is willing to give you a chance to turn over a new leaf and start a new life, and let you serve as corvée in the suburbs."

Upon hearing this, the prisoners calmed down and began to discuss with their comrades.

They had robbed a group of saints before the New Year, and they had been living happily in Fengxiang for so long. The nobles who usually looked straight ahead had to kowtow to these rough men like pounding garlic, and their wives and daughters were beaten day and night, and were half dead. If they got tired of it, they could exchange it with others. If they were unhappy, they could slice off their heads, and the delicious ones could be cooked as meat.

In Fengxiang Prefecture and County, from the mansion to the thatched cottage, people burned whatever they wanted, took whatever they wanted, and chopped down anyone they disliked. Even the emperor, who was respected by all the people, shot arrows and ridiculed him at will under the city of Chang'an during the New Year. As a result, now, isn't the saint still holding his nose and asking everyone to "redeem themselves"?
Listening to the discussion of the buzzing Weng, Wang Congxun felt inexplicably irritated and shouted, "Are there any? Stand up!"

The Bing soldiers look at me and I look at you.

The death penalty has been waived! In the silent atmosphere, this news that made everyone excited was conveyed through each other's eyes.

Tuntian? What a bird farm!
As long as you leave the capital, isn't it up to you to decide whether to stay or go?

"Mr. Wang, I was forced to do this. I want to farm the land." A soldier stood up and laughed.

"Me too."

"I am a good man who was captured. I don't want to fight, so I redeem myself."

"..."

"Okay!" Wang Congxun clapped his hands on his thighs and said loudly: "Be quiet for a while, but there is a "but" to exempting from punishment and corvée labor."

As soon as he spoke, the relaxed Bining soldiers took over the conversation in twos and threes.

"This guy is so noisy, why not finish it in one breath?"

"Go ahead, go ahead." "If Wang, who is so young, can be a commander, then I can do it too."

"Are you looking for a fight?" Jiang Tao, the tenth general of the personal guard, picked up the bow, aimed and was about to shoot.

Wang Congxun raised his hand to stop his personal soldiers, sat down gently, and said hoarsely: "But the premise is to tattoo, shave the hair and beard, and then organize them into a city for easy control. The army name is the Evil Army. Those who are still willing to cultivate the land, stand up."

As soon as he finished speaking, a clamor was heard in the rainy night.

The Yingwu soldiers who were watching were talking about it in surprise. All the hair and beards were shaved off. Are they going to become the White Tiger Army? How humiliating! But it was a good idea to use it against the Bing Army. But the captives in the field reacted violently, shouting and cursing loudly, and some even stood up and bared their teeth at Wang Congxun. Only the few 400 to 500 soldiers who had been silent stood up and walked aside, bowed their heads and admitted their guilt and accepted punishment.

"Arrow arrows, maintain order, and those who disobey will be killed." Wang Congxun directly ordered the Yingwu Army to suppress the rebellion.

"You want me to be a bald donkey? Fuck you!"

"Fuck the saint, I really want to strangle the little Li to death."

"If you humiliate me today, you will be killed with swords and axes tomorrow."

"In this world, everyone eats people, robs people, and commits adultery, so why should we? Rather than sitting there and being humiliated, why not fight to the death?"

Wang Congxun clapped his hands and laughed, "They are all stubborn and hopeless people. Even Guanyin Bodhisattva would be speechless now."

"Shoot!" The officers waved their flags, and a rain of locust arrows flew into the prisoners from all directions. The unarmored prisoners were harvested like wheat. Many of them fell to the ground without even making a sound.

"Stab!" The fully armed infantrymen marched out with spears in neat steps. Blood spurted all over the ground and merged into the rain water to form streams.

In just half an incense stick of time, all 1487 Bing soldiers were lying on the ground under the powerful attack of bows, arrows, swords and spears. Looking at the corpses and broken limbs still twitching all over the training ground, Wang Congxun ordered his personal soldiers to check and kill all those who were still breathing, regardless of whether they begged for mercy or shouted.

The air was filled with a strong smell of blood. The craftsmen and clerks working under the wooden eaves felt a chill all over their bodies and had a new evaluation of the saint's character.

"good!"

"Mighty man!"

Wang Congxun was very satisfied with his men's performance of such efficient and neat execution. He jumped off the platform, walked to the middle of the neatly lined soldiers, patted their shoulders heavily, and announced the reward.

Ren Guo, the doctor of the Ministry of Justice, and Huangfu Yi, the deputy doctor, looked at each other and could not help but recall the story of Wang Shi capturing and killing the Silver Knife Army twenty years ago.

Xuzhou's silver swords, carved flags, door spears, and horse-carrying troops were arrogant and domineering, and all the rich and powerful merchants suffered greatly from them. The court appointed Li Su's brother Li Ting to command the Wuning Army. Ting's troops heard that the Xu army had a bad reputation - they liked to eat raw human flesh, so they did not allow Ting to take up the post.

In the third year of Xiantong, the Silver Knife Army rebelled again, and the governor Wen Zhang led all the civil and military officials to flee. The scholar Wang Shi volunteered to lead the army to suppress the rebellion. When he arrived at the town, he killed thousands of Silver Knife Army soldiers and their families, and the Xu army stopped being brutal.

"Hurry up!" Coming back to their senses, Ren and Huangfu urged the two Yu brothers to move faster.

There are four or five hundred people, so don’t let them keep busy until dawn!

——On the first night of May in the first year of Jingfu, a thousand stubborn people in Binshi were killed. The remaining 487 people were tattooed with green tattoos on their faces and their hair and beards were removed. They were organized into a group and called the Evil Army. They were forced to do hard labor in the suburbs to wear down their morale.

Since the middle Tang Dynasty, the arrogance of the military has been increasing, and their destructiveness does not distinguish between classes. Farmers take over their fields, and merchants plunder their goods. The Hu people slaughter their tribes, and beautiful women kill their husbands, and take them away and rape them. The emperor can also draw his sword if he disagrees with something. Officials and generals are often sidelined, and the military use their power to seek rewards and honors, and they make orders on their own. If they do not obey, they will die. However, the wealth of the Jiedushi is limited, but the desires of the soldiers are unlimited. Today they are rewarded with five silks, and tomorrow they are rewarded with ten silks, and then they can sleep well for one night, but when they wake up and look inside, the warriors will be restless again. There are dozens of Jiedushi in the world, but few of them have a good end. From the central government to the local governments, from the emperor to the Jiedushi, from officials to the people, all levels of the state machinery serve the warriors. Agricultural and commercial production was severely damaged, the tax burden was further deepened, the safety of civilians could not be guaranteed, the society was turbulent, and the order quickly collapsed.

————Reflections on the Rise and Fall of the Tang Dynasty

The warriors trained the government from bottom to top, which was the fundamental reason for the chaos of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. It was also the helplessness of the fact that the kings of Liang, Tang, Jin, Han and Zhou were all warriors. The saying that he who wins the hearts of the people wins the world failed in this period. Only those who buy the most warriors can win the world. Soldiers are greedy for profit, so there are blood teachings of Zhu Wen, Zhu Yougui, Li Cunxu, Li Conghou, Li Congke, Liu Chengyou and others. Whoever makes a promise to the warriors will be supported, and whoever is alienated by the warriors will not die well. Huangfu Hui, a rogue, was able to incite the Yellow River to rebel, causing the three emperors to die in ten years. The underlying reasons make future generations think deeply.

————"On Reading in Shiquge"

"The Yangtze, Huai River, Yellow River and Ji River swept the east and west for two thousand miles." So many arrogant warriors caused a century-long disaster to the Chinese nation. This is confusing. Did they become bad after joining the army, or were they not good believers before joining the army? If they were thieves before joining the army, then we need to study how thieves entered the army. If they became bad after joining the army, we need to think about why the identity of a soldier can turn a good person into a devil.

————Meditations

　I received an email last night that a project had a problem. I was in a meeting in the morning to understand the situation, and was working on a remedial plan in the afternoon, so there is only this one update, which is also the last chapter of free content for the public - editor's notice, it will be on the shelves tomorrow.

　　I put an interjection at the end of this chapter. Since this is a free chapter, it does not require you to pay to subscribe to it. If you don't like it, you can skip it. The rest of the words will be put in the release remarks.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)