My vicious dog, my horse, I can do whatever I want with it

Chapter 225 Taking great pains

Zong Yanli dealt with military affairs for three full days before he saw a glimmer of hope.

However, Monkchi and others who had been away for the past three days had not returned yet. Long Feiguang sent someone to bring back news that many greedy people had sneaked into the border and were trying to steal the property of the dead. He caught several of them and killed them on the spot. He suspected that there was a gang, so he planned to track them down.

Zong Yanli naturally gave him the authority to investigate.

This went on for three days, and finally, Monk and his companions were seen returning.

Their faces were greasy, and they had gained so much weight in just two months. Zong Yanli squinted his eyes and looked at Meng Qi and Lu Hao who were holding wine in their arms, laughing and not looking serious, and the corner of his mouth twitched imperceptibly.

As Monk and his companions reached the camp gate, they saw Zong Yanli standing at the door looking at them indifferently.

It’s over——! ! !

Monk and others, who had looked so happy just now, suddenly changed their expressions and got off their horses in a hurry. They didn't have the bearing of a general at all and slid to their knees in front of Zong Yanli in panic and guilt.

Zong Yanli stepped forward. Even at such a distance he could smell the strong aroma of alcohol and the greasy smell of cosmetics from them.

Zong Yanli held the whip in his hand, raised his hand and used it to push away Meng Qi's face. Seeing the red lip balm on his neck that had not yet been wiped off, he immediately smiled and said, "It seems that you have been having a very happy and romantic life these past few days?"

Meng Qi shook his body and quickly reached out to wipe it. When he saw the woman's lip balm on the back of his hand, his face flushed instantly. He lowered his head and apologized, "General, please forgive me!"

"I usually teach you to act with moderation, but I think you got carried away after winning a few games and even resorted to such tricks?" Zong Yanli was not actually angry. He just felt that it was normal for people to have seven emotions and six desires.

But what is wrong is that you don't know how to restrain yourself. Such greedy and indulgent behavior will sooner or later bring disaster.

She never asked them to study hard and practice like her day after day, but only asked them to abide by military discipline.

Zong Yanli took a deep breath and said, "He left his post without permission, acted recklessly, and disregarded military law."

"Go down and each receive thirty military sticks." Zong Yanli said this and turned away.

Gao Feilin looked at them with pity, lowered his head and hurriedly followed Zong Yanli away.

Monkie, Jie Hu and the others hung their heads, as if they had accepted their fate and led the army to fight. When Wen Nian came over, Monkie and the others had already been beaten to a pulp. They knelt in the tent, sweating profusely from the pain.

Zong Yanli sat upright on a high seat, lowered his eyes and looked at the few people and said, "Do you feel regretful? If you had known that I would come back so early, you should have kept some tricks and let someone tip you off?"

Monk and his companions felt their hearts skip a beat and looked a little flustered. For a moment, Monk did think so. Perhaps it was because their status in the army was rising, or perhaps it was because our army had won consecutive victories, and they gradually became arrogant.

They felt that if they left the army there would be no one to replace them, so they became increasingly arrogant.

This time Zong Yanli was not in the army, and the thought in his mind that "when there is no tiger in the mountain, the monkey will become king" was obvious. They were very happy at the moment. After wine and meat could not satisfy them, they thought of leaving the camp to seek pleasure.

After all, he still had some fear and didn't dare to bring the woman back to the camp. Otherwise, today he might not just be beaten with a stick, he might even be skinned alive!

"Is it because I am too lenient with you that you have forgotten the military rules and laws?"

"You guys dared to act like this today. If you ask your soldiers to follow suit, what do you think will happen?"

"Do you really think the war is over?"

Zong Yanli's words were sharp and stern. She sat upright on the high seat, lowered her eyes and looked at the few people, smiled and said, "Yes, with the military merits you have accumulated now, it is enough for you to live a rich and worry-free life."

She paused and said, "Since you no longer have the ambition to be a general, it would be better for you to resign and leave the camp as soon as possible."

When they heard Zong Yanli's words, Meng Qi and his companions panicked. They endured the pain and bowed, saying, "General, calm down. We know we are wrong!"

Zong Yanli calmed down for a moment, then stood up and said, "I will not keep any parasites under my command, let alone those who cannot restrain themselves according to military rules and laws."

After saying this, Zong Yanli angrily left with his sleeves swung. Monkie and the others were frightened when they heard this, and they knelt down and begged for mercy. They wanted to get up and chase after him, but they were in so much pain from being hit by thirty military sticks that they couldn't get up. Gao Feilin looked at Monkie and then at Zong Yanli who was walking away angrily.

He turned around and said to Monk and the others, "Don't worry, generals. The general is still angry. Please go down and apply the medicine first."

Gao Feilin's words did not comfort them at all. Ever since they met Zong Yanli, Zong Yanli had always treated them gently and kindly, and had never been so angry. Perhaps it was precisely because of Zong Yanli's special treatment that Monk and others had such thoughts.

They thought Zong Yanli would punish them, but it would only be a brief punishment.

They never expected that Zong Yanli would be so cruel and wanted to expel them from the tent with just a few words!

At this moment, Monkie and the others were truly afraid of regret. The general attached great importance to military discipline and law, and would not let off even their personal soldiers and generals if they committed a crime!

When Monk saw Wen Nian leaving closely behind him, he immediately cried out like a drowning man grabbing a life-saving straw: "Brother Nian! Brother Nian, help us! We really know we were wrong. Can you, sir, help us and ask for mercy from the general?"

Everyone cried and wailed, Wen Nian frowned and stared at them, sighed deeply and said: "The general has always acted decisively, she may not listen to me."

"The general has always been close to you, he will definitely listen!" Monk was about to cry, and said quickly: "I ask for another twenty military sticks! I swear I will never covet pleasure again! If you disobey my will, my head will be used as a sacrifice to the military flag!"

The rest of them swore that they would never do it again.

Wen Nian looked at them in embarrassment, and after a moment's hesitation, he said, "I'll try my best."

Monkie and the others were overjoyed and thanked Wen Nian with tears in their eyes. Finally, they went back to their tents to apply medicine.

In the military tent, Zong Yanli heard Wen Nian mention the request for help from Meng Qi and others after she left. Wen Nian looked at Zong Yanli uncertainly and said, "General, do you really want to drive them out of the army?"

Zong Yanli snorted coldly and said with narrowed eyes: "I know their thoughts too well. They just think that Daqian is now in a high position and all the countries have submitted to the world. They think that they are great contributors who cannot be underestimated because the war has stopped."

"If I indulge them today and let it slip easily, they will become even more arrogant."

"Wen Nian, I don't think they did anything wrong. Everyone makes mistakes."

"What I want is for them to know their mistakes!"

Zong Yanli straightened up slightly and said, "In the next few days, you will come once a day to summon Long Feiguang, Pei Liang and others to return to the camp."

She raised her chin and said, "Just say that I want to expel Monchi and his men from the tent and bring them in to intercede for him."

Wen Nian was stunned for a moment, unsure of what Zong Yanli was going to do. It looked like he was going to kick the person out of the tent, but he didn't seem to want to...

He didn't have the brain to think so much, so he obediently followed Zong Yanli's words and turned around to go out and deliver the message.

Perhaps it was because the matter was too big. Within two days, Long Feiguang, Pei Liang and others returned without stopping. Gongsun Pu and Xiao Tianhe lagged behind by two days. After they came back and heard the whole story, even Gongsun Pu couldn't help but take a deep breath.

"General Meng, you are so confused, so confused!" Gongsun Pu looked at Meng Qi and others with great sorrow.

"Humans have desires, but they must also control themselves, and a general should be even more so!" Zhan Haoyue was also in a great headache. Our general attaches great importance to military discipline and regulations, and now that he is so angry, I am afraid it will not be easy to comfort him.

After Gongsun Pu, Long Feiguang and others came back, they took turns to persuade and offer suggestions, but Zong Yanli remained unmoved. Only when he met Gongsun Pu did he finally reveal his sorrow.

Every word was a cry of pain, expressing her disappointment in Monkie and the others. She had originally placed high hopes on them, but now she was so disappointed.

She also mentioned in her words, "The world is so big, how can the war stop?" She said that the northern countries would invade if they wanted to, and she would never stop there. She must go north to seek justice for her brothers who were supposed to follow her in the northern expedition.

But now she is blinded by the greed in front of her, how can she not be heartbroken?

Gongsun Pu repeated Zong Yanli's words to Monkie and the others verbatim. After hearing these words, they burst into tears. At this moment, they truly understood what they had lost and what they regretted.

That night, Monk and his men knelt in unison in front of Zong Yanli's military tent to plead guilty, stating their mistakes sincerely in every word, which attracted the attention of many patrolling soldiers.

"The general really puts a lot of effort into this..." Zhan Haoyue said with a deep sigh as he looked at the scene in front of him.

"Ahem..." Gongsun Pu suppressed his cough, looked at the scene with a distant gaze and whispered, "It's very difficult to make a person truly admit his mistakes and repent."

"If they are just beaten, they won't know where they really went wrong." Gongsun Pu pulled his cloak, and then saw Zong Yanli finally come out after they admitted their mistakes so sincerely, and they staged a drama of reconciliation.

Gongsun Pu also retreated back to his own tent. Zhan Haoyue followed him. Hearing Gongsun Pu's panting, he couldn't help but ask, "Why hasn't your condition improved at all?"

Gongsun Pu shook his head, no longer having the strength to speak, so he returned to his tent and went to rest.

Zhan Haoyue was left alone, looking worriedly at the military tent where Gongsun Pu was. Although he had known that his friend had an old illness, he did not expect that his condition seemed to be getting worse day by day in the past two years.

Even so, he still doesn't want to leave. He is so... stubborn.

As Monk's farce came to an end, Long Feiguang finally had time to mention to Zong Yanli the group of people who sneaked into the battlefield and dug up soldiers' armor, swords and other things.

Countless people died in the wars, and even when cleaning the battlefield, it was not possible to clean it up completely. As for the corpses of the enemy soldiers, they might just dig a huge pit and bury them hastily, or even burn them with fire, but it would not be completely burned, and some things would always be left behind.

What that group of people did was to search through the corpses for things to sell. There had been people like this before, but this time they went too far. They actually dug up the corpses' pits to search for weapons and ironware to sell.

In their eyes, everything is a treasure, including the ironware embedded in the hooves of dead war horses, saddles, damaged and broken swords. It can be said that treasures are everywhere.

"This group of people are very bold and unusual." Long Feiguang was patrolling the border, but he didn't see the enemy. Unexpectedly, he ran into this group of people digging graves when he came back. He was very angry.

"Is there a gang behind this?" Zong Yanli heard Long Feiguang mention that this group of people had a clear division of labor, and it was obvious that the things they got were very marketable.

"Yes, I sent people to follow and track them down, and found that this group of people are from Haiyuan Town." Long Feiguang frowned and said, "It's a pity that they disappeared after entering Haiyuan Town. I suspect that someone is secretly supporting them. I'm afraid they are quite powerful."

Zong Yanli sneered when he heard it, "I was just worried about having nothing to do, and this is really delivered to my door."

There were many people picking up things on the battlefield, and some were even called "bone pickers". Most of them were in pairs, and they were in awe of corpses. Although they took iron tools and other things, they would help dig pits to bury the bodies, and would not take anything personal if they saw it.

No identity card or anything else will be taken away, and if the name is known, a monument will be erected for it.

That's why they are called bone collectors.

They would never be like these people, who would actually go and dig up people who have already been buried.

Long Feiguang should not have been so angry, it was because these people not only dug up the mass grave, but they even dug up the resting place of our soldiers. Such a lack of respect and awe was really unbearable, so Long Feiguang killed them on the spot.

"I could have gotten more clues, but I killed him in a rage, and I'm afraid I've alerted the person behind the scenes." Long Feiguang said while gritting his teeth.

"No problem." Zong Yanli narrowed his eyes, turned around and called Gao Feilin and said, "Ask Sang Caijie to come over."

As long as people are still in Qingyuan Town, they can't escape.

Zong Yanli called Sang Caijie and asked Long Feiguang to describe the appearance of those people. She also secretly sent people to wait in various places on the border where wars had occurred. She then delivered a letter to the State of Jin to inform them of the matter. She suspected that this group of people might not only be causing trouble on the territory of Daqian.

The territory of Jin State was also under surveillance, so they immediately sent a letter to give a warning and then sent troops to keep an eye on it.

Just as Long Feiguang guessed, those people were alarmed and had not appeared for several days. However, this group of people was indeed brave. Seeing that Daqian had been discovered, they secretly crossed the Juqu River and entered the territory of Jin State.

When the three men were caught, Zong Yanli was still eating breakfast. He didn't even want to look at them and directly asked Long Feiguang to send them to the torture room for interrogation.

These people were just ordinary people after all. They could not stand the torture in the army. They confessed everything within an hour. However, Zong Yanli did not expect that the government was involved.

Zong Yanli looked at the confession submitted to him and almost laughed out of anger when he mentioned the magistrate of Hezhang County.