Chapter 411: Discipline and Punishment
A temporary camp of the Xianbei people in a rural community far south of Mianzhu City.

It was early in the morning, with a drizzle of cold rain, when Budugen walked out of the requisitioned house.

The mink coat on his body was slightly damp at the moment, making him feel very uncomfortable.

The green is deep and emerald far and wide, but the coldness seeps through the short jacket.

I looked up at the dripping water from the eaves and exhaled a long breath of white air before I felt a familiar feeling.

The two Xianbei warriors on duty bowed to him. They wore straw hats and raincoats over their fur coats, making them look bloated.

But his already rosy cheeks were now redder, and Budugen just nodded when he saw this, then climbed up the ladder and onto the roof next to him.

The roof here is steep, but this residence is used by a wealthy family in the village and needs to be used for vigilance and defense against enemies.

Therefore, there is a corridor on the inner side of the roof, and each roof has such a corridor on the side facing the courtyard. The corridors between the roofs are also connected to each other, forming a sky bridge.

There are two circles of such corridors inside and outside the house, like an elongated "U" character. The wooden boards of the corridors are damp and covered with bright green moss.

It felt a bit slippery, so Budugen walked while holding onto the guardrail. The guardrail was also slippery, but fortunately there was no moss.

Budugen stood on a high place and looked down at the village. He saw smoke from cooking fires, the sounds of chickens and dogs, the dampness from rain mixed with the smoke, and he could vaguely see the figures of women walking in the courtyard not far away.

He fell into a long silence. When he was marching from the battlefield of Yuzhong to Hanzhong, he heard people talking about Shuzhong, saying that it was a land of abundance with thousands of miles of fertile land.

We can understand the vast fertile land, but the term "land of abundance" lacks sufficient understanding.

Now he felt that since he crossed the plank road, all the men and women he saw, even the servants of wealthy families, wore decent coarse cloth short coats. Even if there were patches on them, they were neatly patched. It was rare to see people in rags. Even the people from the Southwestern Barbarians were well dressed.

What surprised him even more were the women in Hanzhong and Shuzhong. All the ones he saw had rosy complexions and plump figures. Even when they were older, most of them had fair and delicate skin.

As for the women he had seen in the Shuofang and Yunzhong regions, where there was abundant water and grass, they were only beautiful when they were in their prime; after they were twenty-five or twenty-six, their looks began to fade.

Comparing herself now, she seems to be even worse than the forty-year-old woman from Shu.

Even he was so surprised, let alone the ignorant Xianbei knight.

The Xianbei's evil reputation had already spread, and men and women in Shu had long heard of it.

Due to language differences, the presence of fierce military supervisors patrolling back and forth, and Budugen's repeated emphasis on suppressing the situation, no trouble occurred.

Thinking of this, Budugen felt a chill in his heart.

The Xianbei people were very difficult to control because of their laxity. The Grand Marshal arranged the Xianbei camp on the outskirts of the city, which was like throwing a hungry wolf into a sheep pen and at the same time filling the outside of the sheep pen with sharpshooters.

Compared to the damp and chilly weather, Budugen felt just as cold in his heart.

Just as he was thinking about how to get away, a group of knights approached with the clatter of their horses' hooves. Soon, a messenger entered the inner courtyard. Budugen also hurried down the corridor to greet him. He welcomed him into the hall and said with an apologetic smile, "My lord, I am sorry for not coming to meet you from afar. Your Excellency, please forgive me."

The person who came was a personal soldier with two white feathers on his head. He took out a folded paper and handed it over: "Your Majesty is hosting a banquet, please invite the Xianbei King to the banquet."

"Yes, allow the young prince to change his clothes and give instructions to his men."

"can."

The messenger answered with one word, then turned around and sat on the low couch in the living room. Budugen did not dare to delay, and went to the inner room to change his clothes while sending people to summon the leaders. He was afraid that when he attended the banquet, his subordinates would rob people of their property or do other things.

What is taken for granted on the grassland is not applicable here, especially at this time when we need to enforce military discipline and win over the hearts of the people in Shu. If the Xianbei people violate the rules, even if they just rob a bamboo hat from a civilian, a group of people will probably die.

He even didn't dare to let his troops go out shopping. If they couldn't communicate while shopping and if they got into quarrels and fights, there would be no hope.

Budugen was on high alert here, and when he arrived at Mianzhu City, he saw pits being dug and wooden stakes buried on both sides of the road outside the South Gate. More than a dozen people had been hanged on some of the stakes near the South Gate.

When he got closer, he found that nearly half of them were dressed as Xiongnu people. Budugen looked stiff and asked the military officer who was setting up the wooden signboard and awning nearby: "What have these soldiers done wrong?"

"Some bully women, some force people to buy cloth, and some get drunk and make a lot of noise."

The officer raised his hand and pointed at three bodies in black. Their robes were soaked and stuck to their bodies. Their faces could not be seen clearly because of the black hoods wrapped around their heads. "These are the most pitiful. They are the centurion of the imperial army and two officers under his command. They were convicted of drinking together for no reason."

Budugen raised his head and took a few closer looks. At this time, another group of soldiers filed out of the city gate, escorting seven soldiers with bruised faces and dazed expressions.

With just one glance, Budugen concluded that these people were Ba people, with square faces and big eyes, very similar to Da Sima's mask.

Budugen stopped his horse and watched as the captain in charge read out the charges, fed the seven Ba people a bowl of wine one after another, and then had them put on black cloth hoods and hanged to death on the spot. He also arranged for the surrendered soldiers from Jiameng Pass to hang the hooded corpses on newly erected wooden stakes.

The officer next to Budugen looked up, raised his hand to straighten his rainproof bamboo hat, smiled at Budugen, and explained: "He was originally going to be hanged, but the struggle and shaking caused several stakes to fall. The person being tortured suffered for nothing, and the surrendered soldiers who set up the stakes also took the blame and were punished, so they strangled him to death and then hung his body."

Budugen nodded and looked up at the seven Ba warriors who were punished for fighting and died. He felt that the one thousand elite Xianbei cavalry he brought with him did not seem to be a big deal.

Just as he entered the city, Wang Fu, an envoy sent by Zhang Song, also arrived at the south city on horseback. The horse's belly and hooves were stained black with mud, but the straw raincoat on the horse was not covered with mud because of the rain.

Zhang Song's brother arrived a day earlier and was waiting near the city gate. When he saw Wang Fu and his 20-odd knights coming, he immediately went to meet them and asked anxiously, "Why is Guoshan the only one here?"

"There is also Huang Gongheng, who is in charge of the convoy and is still behind."

Wang Fu explained, turned around and pointed at the unique scenery on both sides of the road: "Why is this?"

"These are all the officers and soldiers under the command of the Grand Marshal who violated the rules last night."

Zhang Su explained and also lowered his voice to explain some of the special cases of the officers being punished.

Wang Fu was horrified when he heard this, and said with emotion: "The Grand Marshal Dian is strict in criminal law. I'm afraid this is not something you and I can easily satisfy."

Zhang Su sneered after hearing this: "So what? I have never heard of the Grand Marshal building large-scale projects or spending money extravagantly. Compared to Liu Jiyu, the Grand Marshal is far away in Guanzhong. How much resources can he take from Shu?"

Wang Fu was also silent. From the perspective of governance, the current situation was not bad for Liang Wang Liu Zhang, who was nearby, relied on the Dongzhou soldiers, and developed the Yizhou army to try to counter the Dongzhou soldiers and maintain a military balance.

As long as we avoid war and don't let Yizhou become a no-man's land like the two states of Yan and Yu in the Central Plains, it would be a simple victory.

It is not only necessary to avoid war, but also to avoid the continued consumption of war.

While paying a batch of material and human resources to Guanzhong every year, Yizhou also has other channels to enter the officialdom by selecting filial and honest people, and can also join the Grand Marshal's office.

So there was no loss to speak of, as the supplies and military service were borne by all the people of Yizhou...but the precious channels for entering the government, as well as the allocation of official positions when surrendering and taking over, were for these people to benefit the most.

What's there to be unhappy about?
(End of this chapter)