Chapter 90 Military Sticks

Yang Yong was already accustomed to the cheers of the people. The total number of people in Yingzhou was only more than 40,000. At that time, in Chang'an, tens of thousands of people cheered for him, whether they went to the army or returned to the capital. When they returned to the capital, all the officials in Chang'an were waiting for him outside the city. The more than 100 personal soldiers brought by Yang Yong had also experienced this, so they were not panicked, but just looked around with their eyes vigilant to prevent anyone from assassinating Yang Yong.

It was the first time that the local officers and soldiers in Yingzhou had experienced it. Although they were floating in their hearts, they were afraid of damaging their image. They couldn't help but stand upright and sit on the horse seriously.

However, the people of Yingzhou were far more enthusiastic than the people of Chang'an. When they saw the army coming, many people vortexed regardless of the soldiers blocked by the side, cheered long live, and at the same time stuffed some food from their homes into the hands of the soldiers. Some girls even boldly threw their handkerchiefs, purses and other personal objects over, and the whole greeting scene was suddenly in chaos.

Yang Yong's personal soldiers were shocked and quickly surrounded Yang Yong on three floors inside and three floors inside and outside. Fortunately, everyone was riding on horseback, and the people couldn't squeeze in and had to give up. In this way, Yang Yong received several purses immediately, which made Yang Yong laugh and cry.

He returned to the governor's mansion in a little embarrassed manner, and the enthusiastic people dispersed. Yang Yong said to Wei Shikang who was following behind: "The people of Yingzhou are so enthusiastic. If the people of Chang'an were the same, I would not be able to bear it."

Wei Shikang smiled: "I personally led a large army to eliminate the two evils in Yingzhou, and it is also necessary to get such enthusiastic support from the people."

Yang Yong suddenly asked, "By the way, how about the second prince of Goguryeo, Gao Jianwu?"

"Sir, Gao Jianwu was imprisoned in the governor's mansion. Except for his slightly depressed spirit, there was no problem." Wei Shikang said respectfully.

Yang Yong pondered for a moment: "This time our army captured more than 300 Goguryeo people. One of the prisoners was Princess Pingkang of Goguryeo. She was Gao Jianwu's sister. You might as well let them meet and then lock them up opposite each other."

Wei Shikang couldn't help but hesitate: "Sir, Princess Pingkang..." The army was moving slowly, and Wei Shikang could get detailed reports from the army every day. Naturally, he knew that Yang Yong had saved Princess Pingkang with his own hands and lived in the same tent for several nights. Like others, he had already regarded Princess Pingkang as Yang Yong's woman.

Seeing Wei Shikang's expression, Yang Yong guessed what he was thinking and said angrily: "She has no problem with me, don't think about it."

"Yes." Wei Shikang responded, but he felt a little unbelievable. Since the woman was a princess of a country, she was naturally pretty. Yang Yong was full of energy and had no resistance, so how could he remain unmoved? He just thought Yang Yong's face was tender and refused to admit it.

Yang Yong had just returned to Yingzhou, but the dust of the expedition had not been eliminated, but many things had to be dealt with with Wei Shikang immediately. He promised that the soldiers' rewards must be distributed as soon as possible. So many cattle, sheep, horses and other livestock must be resettled quickly. Yang Yong once promised that more than 300 women brought from Gao Baoning were allowed to surrender if they had relatives in the Great Zhou Dynasty, and they would be properly resettled if they did not.

Since Yang Yong's identity was made public, he was going to the grassland to reward the Khitan tribes that he had contributed this time, but he directly announced that Luo Yi would serve as the captain of the Dongyi school, and he would preach the Khitan tribes with his priest.

After dealing with these, it was already dark. Yang Yong waved his hand and asked Wei Shikang to go back. Several personal soldiers brought the supper. Yang Yong hurriedly took a few mouthfuls. He remembered the incident and couldn't eat at all. He asked Yang Shi who had been following him, "What's the arrangement?"

"General, the chief officer of Wei Chong has asked the best doctor in the city to investigate the injury of Lord Zheng. Now, Lord Zheng has been arranged to rest in the inner courtyard."

"Well, I'll go see him." The only regret for going to the expedition this time was Zheng Xiong's serious injury. Zheng Xiong has been loyal since he served as the captain of Yang Yong's personal soldiers, just like Yang Yong's right-hand man. His injury made Yang Yong quite uncomfortable.

This yard is naturally the yard where Yang Yong lived before he went to the expedition. During Yang Yong's expedition, everything in Wei Shikang remained the same, but there was no need to clean up. As soon as Yang Yong came back, the yard was taken over by Yang Yong's personal soldiers. At this time, the lights everywhere had already lit up, and the whole yard was brightly lit. Seeing Yang Yong and Yang Shi, the personal soldiers guarding everywhere saluted: "General!"

Yang Yong booed all the personal soldiers who bowed, signaling everyone to speak carefully, and pushed open Zheng Xiong's ward with his own hands. It was just dark at this time, and several personal soldiers who were not on duty were talking around Zheng Xiong's bed. When he saw Yang Yong, he hurriedly bowed. Zheng Xiong also struggled to get up.

Yang Yong quickly pressed Zheng Xiong's body down: "You have injuries on your body, you don't have to be too polite."

Seeing Yang Yong come to see him, Zheng Xiong was both grateful and ashamed: "Sir, I am incompetent and I am so embarrassed that I should be damned."

After being injured, Zheng Xiong rode up the mountain and lost too much blood. He only said a few words to Yang Yong and then fell into a coma. After waking up, Zheng Xiong realized that since no one could fight, Yang Yong ordered people to kill the Goguryeo general in secret. This was a huge harm to Yang Yong's reputation, which made Zheng Xiong even more blameless. These days, he was worried every day when he was recuperating. Otherwise, at least he should have suffered both defeats and injured both of the Goguryeo people.

Yang Yong quickly comforted softly: "You have done your best, don't blame yourself. Remember, I will need you, and it is the right thing to do to cure your injuries as soon as possible."

Zheng Xiong choked and said, "General, obey the order." Before Yang Yong looked at him, Zheng Xiong had always had a knot in his heart. Seeing that Yang Yong did not blame him, the knot in his heart was untied.

Yang Yong stayed in Zheng Xiong's ward for a while and asked about Zheng Xiong's detailed injury. He knew that his injury would be healed only after several months of rest. He felt relieved, fearing that Zheng Xiong would delay his rest before leaving.

Although Yang Yong appointed Luo Yi as the captain of the Dongyi school to handle Khitan affairs, he also mentioned it to him in the middle of the night, after all, he was still worried. During this period, Yang Yong continued to be stationed in Yingzhou. On the one hand, he was always paying attention to Luo Yi's progress, and on the other hand, he waited for Zheng Xiong to recover from his injuries.

When he got up early the next morning, Yang Yong took a deep breath in the yard. It was early winter, but the yard still had a lot of green, which made Yang Yong, who had just been rushing on the grassland for more than half a month and had dry grass in his eyes, felt very comfortable. He was about to stretch his muscles and bones, but when he saw Wei Shikang rushing over, he couldn't help but ask: "Governor Wei, what's the point of being so hurrying?"

"Sir, although it is not a big deal, it involves the personnel brought by the Sir, so the officials also have to ask the Sir to make a decision."

Yang Yong said "Huh": "What's involved my people?"

Wei Shikang had a bitter face: "Sir, Liu Hu killed a Goguryeo prisoner."

"Liu Hu?" Yang Yong did not react for a moment: "Who is Liu Hu?"

"Sir, Liu Hu is the boy brought to Yingzhou by the Sir."

"Oh." Yang Yong remembered that he did bring a young man named Liu Hu the day before he came to Yingzhou. When Yang Yong went to war, although Liu Hu wanted to follow him, he thought he was too young and left him in the governor's mansion. Remembering Liu Hu's origin, Yang Yong hurriedly asked, "Why are you going?"

It turned out that when Liu Hu heard the army brought back more than 300 Goguryeo prisoners, he ran to the place where the prisoners were imprisoned early in the morning to watch. Liu Hu was Yang Yong personally instructed to stay in the governor's mansion. He was familiar with the governor's mansion these days. The guards didn't care about Liu Hu. Unexpectedly, when Liu Hu saw the face of a prisoner, he suddenly refused to control himself. He actually snatched the sword of a guard and stabbed the prisoner to death.

The entire cell caused a stir. If it weren't for all the Goguryeo prisoners being detained and the guards were suppressed in time, I'm afraid all the Goguryeo prisoners would have to riot. It would be a trivial matter to die a prisoner, but without ordering to kill the prisoner without authorization in the rear was a big matter. It was just that due to Liu Hu's identity, Wei Shikang was inconvenient to deal with it, so he had to come and report to Yang Yong.

After hearing the details, Yang Yong almost jumped up: "This bastard dared to kill someone so young. He really rebelled against him. Where is he? Take him over." Yang Yong called others a bastard, but he forgot that he was not older than him, and the personal soldiers around him did not realize that there was something wrong.

As soon as Yang Yong finished speaking, the two guards of the governor's mansion immediately took Liu Hu over. The guards were very polite to Liu Hu, but they just confiscated the weapon that Liu Hu had seized, and did not cause any trouble.

After killing someone, Liu Hu had no fear on his face, but instead looked relaxed. Yang was not brave enough. This little bastard had to follow him, but he didn't let him do anything but caused trouble. He shouted to Liu Hu: "Kneel down."

Although Liu Hu grew up in a mountain village, he was not unfamiliar with worldly affairs. Not only did the officials along the way respect Yang Yong, but even the governor's office dared not neglect him. Naturally, he knew that Yang Yong was an amazing person. He did not resist and knelt down with a plop.

"Say, why do you want to kill someone?"

"Sir, it was the Goguryeo man who killed my father. I killed him to avenge his father."

It turned out that Liu Hu had been thinking about seeking revenge on Goguryeo people in the past two years. When he was hiding in the pile of firewood by his father, he had seen the appearance of several Goguryeo people through the gap. One of them had a mole on his face, which was particularly profound. When he heard that there were Goguryeo prisoners, he hurriedly checked out the enemy who killed his parents. Unexpectedly, the net was vast and he really found the man. Without saying a word, he took advantage of the guards' attention and kicked the knife and killed him.

Yang Yong felt incredible about Liu Hu's words. It was not that coincidental. Could it be that Liu Hu thought of eliminating the crime? It was just that Liu Hu looked like he was talking about panic. Two years ago, the Goguryeo people who were disguised as Gao Conservative, could really be the same group as the Goguryeo people who were annihilated this time. But even so, this matter was too coincidental.

Yang Yong turned to Wei Shikang: "Governor Wei, do you see if he is talking about the truth?"

"The Xiaguan thought Liu Hu's words were credible. Before coming, Xiaguan asked the guards. Liu Hu checked other Goguryeo people without any abnormality. Only the Goguryeo person who saw a mole on his face suddenly went crazy."

"Well, I also think that Liu Hu didn't say panic. It's just that although it's understandable, the law is inevitable. Yang Shi, what is the crime of killing prisoners without permission."

"Sir, twenty military sticks."

Yang Yong felt that it was understandable that he would only kill a person and beat a military stick after he died. In this era, prisoners were not regarded as human beings at all. If it weren't for the army, after the prisoners were demoted to slaves, they would probably be fined at most if they were killed, and they wouldn't even have to be beaten by military sticks.

"Liu Hu, you are arbitrarily killing prisoners. I am sentenced to beat you twenty military sticks. Are you convinced?"

Liu Hu kowtowed a few times: "Sir, I can avenge my parents, and I am willing to be beaten to any number of sticks."

Yang Yong was no longer polite: "Pull it down and beat twenty sticks again."

Wei Shikang couldn't figure out how Liu Hu's status in Yang Yong's heart, so he quickly pleaded: "Sir, he is still a child, and the twenty-six military sticks are too heavy. Can you reduce the exemption as appropriate?"

Yang Yong shook his head: "Military law is military law. How can we take the lead and fight as appropriate?" Since Yang Yong insisted, Wei Shikang no longer advised each other to avoid making trouble for himself.

The two guards were about to drag Liu Hu down, but Yang Yong suddenly said, "Wait, drag him to the place where Goguryeo prisoners were imprisoned for execution. Yang Shi, you go to the prison sentence and get me strong. No one is allowed to favoritism."

"Yes." Yang Shi hurriedly followed the guards and escorted Liu Hu to the execution.

Seeing that the matter was resolved, Wei Shikang said goodbye and left. After Yang Yong finished his skills in the yard, Yang Shi returned and reported to Yang Yong: "Sir, that boy is so greedy that he beat twenty military sticks and didn't even snort."

Yang Yong nodded: "It's good to have the seeds. Go and invite the doctor who treats Zheng Xiong's wounds to treat him. Never leave any future troubles. Since it is a material that can be made, it cannot be wasted."

"Yes." After receiving the order, Yang Shi hurried down again.

In order to facilitate the treatment of doctors, Liu Hu was arranged to recover from the wounds in the inner courtyard, next to Zheng Xiong's room. This kid did not scream when he was beaten, but the doctor was screaming so shocking when he was treated, which made Yang Yong secretly amused. After all, he was a child. Knowing his thoughts, he probably wouldn't want to show weakness in front of the Goguryeo people. Now the pain is unbearable, so he screams so loudly.

The day passed quickly. After nightfall, Yang Yong returned to the living room for meals, but he was stunned. He almost thought he had gone to the wrong place. The candlelight in the hall was lit up and a table of food and drinks had been set up. In addition to the two personal guards at the door, a woman was sitting upright at the table waiting.
Chapter completed!