klisemfg Chapter 564 Accountability
Chapter 564 Accountability
Shen Changgong looked at Liu Huai'en in front of him and said slowly,
"Liu Huai'en, if you went to the banquet this time and the county governor gave you 20,000 taels of gold and asked you to secretly transport cannons and shells out, would you do it?"
Liu Huai'en immediately knelt down and said quickly,
"Your Majesty, even if I had a hundred courages, I would never dare to do such a thing.
The Yuying Army only has twenty muskets, and that's a fixed number. If one is missing and discovered the next day, I won't be able to escape responsibility. I would never dare to do that."
Shen Changgong looked at me with a playful look, and said slowly,
"There's a commander-in-chief of the Shenji Camp and six commanders. Why did Yu County Magistrate choose you over anyone else?"
"Your Highness, I am innocent. I am innocent!"
Liu Huai'en was so scared that he kowtowed repeatedly.
"A fly won't bite an egg without a crack. As far as I know, among these people, only you, Liu Huai'en, would go to Xuzhou City every time you have a day off to enjoy the mountains and rivers and have fun. You are also a frequent visitor to brothels, getting drunk every night. Even if you don't have a day off, you would still ask for leave to go there.
Your most glorious achievement was how many you found in one night?
Oh yes, six of them, their battle record is comparable to that of a certain prince of Dayan."
Southern King Ma Ling: ???
Shen Changgong continued,
"Because of your various actions, the county governor knew that you were the easiest person to take advantage of and the one most easily tempted by money and sex.
That’s why he chose you, right?”
"Your Highness has taught me this lesson. I will never dare to do it again. Please punish me, Your Highness."
Liu Huai'en said while kneeling.
Shen Changgong waved his hand, asked him to stand up, and said seriously,
“You haven’t done anything wrong, but I just want to give you some advice.
The artillery, muskets and thunder of the Shenji Camp are the powerful weapons of our Great Yan. They are the foundation of our country and the foundation of our army. They are of paramount importance!
Therefore, today I want to warn you with the most serious attitude.
In the army, in the Shenjiying, there must not be any problems.
I don't want the day when the shells fired by our artillery fall on the heads of our own people.
You have witnessed with your own eyes how powerful artillery is.
Who do you want the bombs to fall on? Your head, mine, or the enemy's head?
Everyone answered quickly,
"It must be the enemy's head!"
"The more powerful the artillery is, the more the enemy will covet my weapons and try every possible means to get them.
No matter how much I sacrifice my life on the battlefield, I must bring something back.
No matter if I have to pay a huge sum of money, give women as gifts, or threaten my family, I have to get one and take it back for research!
I have established a military rule here: no matter who it is or what the circumstances, if anyone loses the artillery, their entire family will be executed!
If there is a damaged artillery piece during training and you want to replace it with a new one, you can take the old one. Even if it has been broken into a pair of loose pieces or iron blocks, you must take it to exchange for the new one. If the old one is not found, the new one will not be given and a thorough investigation must be carried out!
During war, if there is a situation of defeat and retreat, the artillery must be destroyed before retreating.
There are always two divine thunders next to each cannon. If there is no time to pull the cannon away, they will be ignited and stuffed into the barrel to blow it up.
If you blow up the cannon, I won't blame you, but if you lose the cannon, it will be a serious crime!
At all costs, the artillery must not fall into enemy hands!"
"As ordered!"
All the generals and commanders of the Shenji Camp stood up to answer the order.
After returning this time, they will give a lecture to the entire army, convey this matter, and thoroughly check the number of artillery pieces to make sure nothing is lost.
Southern King Ma Ling also nodded and said,
"This incident has also sounded the alarm for us. The enemy's hand has reached out to our artillery.
Everyone must take this as a warning. If you are invited to a dinner by someone you don’t know well, don’t go if you can avoid it, especially those of you who have a sensitive identity.
With so many military achievements, you are no longer short of money. I believe that the men of Dayan are all good men and will not do short-sighted things.
"Is it to bring honor to your ancestors and be remembered in history, or to be labeled a corrupt official and a traitor, and to be recorded in history as a disgrace for eternity? I believe you all know clearly in your hearts and know which choice to make."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Then, Shen Changgong let them go.
Only Prince Nan, Prince Lanling, Gongsun Wan'er and Tu Que Ling were left in the general's tent.
Shen Changgong handed Yu Shanglin's confession to King Nan. It was several pages densely packed with evidence of Yu Shanglin's crimes. He only asked for a lighter sentence, to kill only him and not to harm his family.
After reading it, the Southern King chuckled and said,
"Okay, now it's time to punish me. For the past six months, I have been in Xuzhou City. However, I have not been in charge of government affairs and rarely go into the city. Most of the time I am in the military camp.
It is indeed because of my laziness that I allowed this fellow to do so many evil things right under my nose, which are too numerous to list.
Tell me, how are you going to punish me this time?"
Shen Changgong shook his head heavily and said,
"Why would I punish you? We're on the same level, I don't have the power or qualifications to punish you.
I let you see these because I want to say that these are only the evidence written by Yu Shanglin himself. There are still too much evidence that we have not found out.
Just these are enough to execute him by slow slicing.
Under our noses, a county magistrate dared to do so many things.
It is conceivable how dark the counties and prefectures that are not under our supervision are. Ultimately, it is because we expanded too fast.
When it comes to governance in various places, officials are selected based on their reputation and writings, and their moral character and ethics are not strictly controlled.
These old nobles don't take the lives of the people seriously.
When we passed by Luyao Town before, we found many problems, including collusion between officials and businessmen, collusion between officials and bandits, and the people were living in dire straits.
In fact, most people are ignorant and do not have much national hatred or family feuds.
Their demands are simple, that is, to have enough food and clothing and to survive.
As long as we do better than the previous dynasty, they will not rebel.
However, these people, these officials, continued to oppress and exploit them, even taking away their last chance of survival.
You say, if they don’t rebel, what are they waiting for?
Waiting for an opportunity, waiting for a natural disaster, waiting for a large number of refugees to appear, waiting for a leader, raising his arms and shouting: Are kings, princes, generals, and ministers all born with a special kind of blood?
And then lead them to overthrow this corrupt dynasty?
We are a new dynasty, yet we have become corrupt to this extent.
There has to be a major purge."
The Southern King nodded and said,
"You're right. This time, we have to take real action. These officials are too unscrupulous."
Shen Changgong said,
"Wan'er, send these charges to His Majesty and write her a memorial informing her of the current situation across the country and asking her to rectify the administration.
Tell her that this time, I will hold the imperial court and the Nine Heavens Tower accountable, and let them handle it themselves!"