Volume 2: The King's Way Chapter 131 Trial
In the military camp of Jinling Wengcheng, Bai Tu sat on the commander's seat in the martial arts arena. In the center of the stage was Pan Zhang, who was prostrating himself, and around him were hundreds of officers of all levels.
In the future, the Privy Council will be responsible for hearing cases related to "military discipline". Unlike civil criminal cases, only military law will be applied, and there will only be two types of punishment - death penalty, and "overdraft withdrawal + never re-employment".
The former was sentenced to death, and that was the end of it; the latter... was sent back to the Ministry of Justice and continued to be tried according to normal laws.
Now the framework of the Privy Council has not been set up yet, Bai Tu will personally go on the trial!
If these officers had seen this scene when they first arrived in Nanjing, even if they knew what Pan Zhang had done, they would inevitably feel sad for him - not necessarily because he had any bad intentions, but out of a natural sense of faction.
But now...
As soon as they arrived in Jinling, they were taken away and flattered. They thought about the stone tablets in the Humin Temple, the children who looked at them admiringly, and then they thought about... the military pay and benefits promised by their lord.
A sense of honor had already sprouted in their hearts, which made them much more distant from Pan Zhang, who "violated discipline and harmed the people", in terms of their sense of camp.
At the same time, they were also concerned about the "benefits" promised by their lord - if they surrendered under the orders of their superiors, their resettlement fees would not necessarily be confiscated, but if they plundered the people, their resettlement fees would definitely be taken back and all their honors would be stripped away.
Bai Tu also invited representatives of the victims, especially representatives of the villages where people had died, to come forward and list Pan Zhang's crimes.
Bai Tu did not invite anyone to the incident of defiling the woman, nor did he announce which village it happened in. Bai Tu personally testified...
Afterwards, Bai Tu also announced the punishment for the three dubos and six shichangs involved in the matter.
One dubo and three shichang were sentenced to death for directly participating in the looting that resulted in the deaths of civilians.
Another dubo and two sergeants were punished for less serious crimes... When Pan Zhang did something too extreme, he did not dare to bring these non-direct confidants, so they were only sentenced to the maximum reduction of manpower and then sent to the Ministry of Justice.
Just like what Yuan Shu did to some of Sun's family generals, their physical strength in the future will be far inferior to that of normal people. Moreover, this is only a decision made by Bai Tu on behalf of the Privy Council regarding their status as officers. Their actions will be further judged by the Ministry of Justice.
Contrary to previous rumors, another dubo and a shichang were actually exempted from punishment - the reason was that many victims testified that they would warn the village in advance, and when they looted with Pan Zhang, they only obeyed on the surface and secretly protected many people.
Although the illiteracy rate of ordinary farmers in the Eastern Han Dynasty was almost 100%, they had sharp eyes. They were able to distinguish who was truly in cahoots with the thieves and who was forced to be with the thieves and secretly protect themselves!
With these testimonies, the two were pardoned by Bai Tu, but were transferred from their original army.
There was also a Du Bo who was dismissed by Pan Zhang and was specially invited back from Yangxian by Bai Tu.
This is what really needs to be promoted, the example of not going along with the corrupt officials and keeping oneself clean. Not only was he rewarded with land and property, but he was also appointed as the new Sima of the separate department, in charge of the Yangxian garrison!
According to some "rumors" before, Bai Tu wanted to kill everyone, and even those who knew about it but did not report it would be punished as well!
If Bai Tu had not been so popular among the people and Lu Bu had not been personally in charge of the garrison in Nanjing, chaos might have really occurred.
However, it seems now that everyone understands that the previous rumors were simply fanning the flames - as long as you keep yourself clean, the lord will not treat you harshly. Even if the orders from the lord are difficult to disobey, at least... you have to "obey in public but disobey in private"!
This is just a deterrent to the officers above the rank of captain in the front.
Bai Tu cannot encourage mutual reporting in the army now, otherwise the chaos that will occur will not be a matter of cutting off one's own arm, but a matter of casting one's own sword...
However, Bai Tu has now set a correct example. There is no need for the junior officers below to be in a dilemma, and to avoid the emergence of a "second Pan Zhang" or even a "Pan Zhang" at the level of a general, which would lead to a downward collapse of corruption due to the principle of absolute obedience between superiors and subordinates in the army.
As for the main culprit Pan Zhang himself...
"In addition to these, I have several other volumes about Pan Zhang, which are praising his merits and praising his military capabilities... Zhang Xing, you come and read them to everyone." Bai Tu suddenly said.
Not to mention the officers below, even Lu Su and others did not expect that Bai Tu had prepared this.
Normally, it is too late to cover up his achievements at this time, and judging from Bai Tu's current expression, he does not want to disprove these achievements, nor does he want to "offset his merits and demerits."
Zhang Xing is a sergeant of the Chaisang garrison who had won an award before. He looked very young and was a relatively rare officer who came from a peasant family. The vast majority of officers were at least from wealthy families. After all, grassroots soldiers were recruited from various sources, and more manpower was extracted from ordinary farmers, which would also affect their future physical growth.
However, after Zhang Xing joined the army, he not only trained seriously, but also studied diligently and was able to recognize commonly used characters.
At this time, the young boy began to recite Pan Zhang's achievements...
"Perhaps someone will ask me, Pan Zhang also fought for Jiangdong, is what he did really unforgivable? For this question, I suggest you ask the families of the victims present here, and... you can imagine, if it was your parents, wife and children who were killed by the 'hero' because of personal greed, would you still be able to accept that he was your comrade who fought side by side with you?
Zhang Xing, Song En, Bu Hu, Xu Zhu...please answer everyone, can you forgive this behavior? "
Bai Tu pointed out a few names, including those of officers whose relatives were killed by the rebellious army. Bai Tu would definitely kill Pan Zhang, but he had to do it with good reasons and make the others convinced!
Even if some people are unhappy, they must be unhappy because they are illuminated by Bai Tu's majestic image, and they should not have the opportunity to make excuses.
"No!" "No!" ... "Unforgivable!"
Not only the few people who were named, but also many ordinary grassroots officers were infected by this atmosphere.
There were actually a few lieutenants who were hesitant about whether to speak out and plead for mercy. There was even a small number of officers from aristocratic families who were dissatisfied with Bai Tu, who wanted to use this as an opportunity to incite...
However, seeing that the public was getting excited, they decisively put their thoughts aside - otherwise, not to mention Bai Tu, they were afraid that the sergeants and squad leaders under their command would rebel against them first.
"My lord, I agree with everything you said... but Sima Pan is loyal to you after all. Even if he is guilty, he should not be without a chance, right? I am willing to pay the 'ransom' on behalf of Sima Pan, and let him be under my command and under strict discipline in the future. Is that okay?" At this time, a stubborn voice suddenly sounded.
"Are you Xu You, the cavalry commander of Fuchun County?" Bai Tu recognized the man.
This was one of the people that Bai Tu focused on after the list of military officers coming to Jinling came out - Fuchun was a county under Wujun, the hometown of the Xu family, and Captain Xu's background was self-evident.
Such people would not be allowed to exist in several important armies. However, among the garrison forces like the Fuchun garrison, there are many generals from aristocratic families. This is a historical problem. Without a good reason, it is not easy for Bai Tu to eliminate all of them.
Moreover, they are just garrison troops, so if something really happens to them, the threat won't be too great. The Lu and Yu families also have such clansmen, and even the garrisons of many small cities are "sponsored" by aristocratic families. They are considered part of the power of the aristocratic families, and this is also included in Bai Tu's plan to gradually rectify this in the future.
Xu You originally came to Jinling with the intention of creating a big event, but now it seems... he can only disgust others!
