Fang Yuan didn't answer his words, and asked indifferently, "Chigutai, as the commander in charge of the Northern Expedition, why did you propose a westward expedition at the military meeting?" ”

Chigutai hurriedly defended, "Regent, now the cavalry of the Xuanjia Army is only 40,000 or 50,000 horses, and there are less than 100,000 war horses. Moreover, there are 20,000 or 30,000 newly trained cavalry, if the northern expedition is hastily encountered, and the iron cavalry of the Manchu Eight Banners is encountered, the odds of victory are too small. I want to go west, first find the thief's rogue army to practice my courage! ”

Chi Gu Fang is an upright man in the army, he may be corrupt, but it is absolutely impossible to lie and try to hide from Fang Yuan's eyes.

Fang Yuan had already accepted Chigutai's explanation in his heart, he just had a private relationship with Zhu Yihai, but he didn't want to subvert the regime, he just accepted Zhu Yihai's bribe.

In terms of military law, Chigutai should be punished. However, it is human nature to be greedy for money. Chigutai was a Mongolian mercenary before, and what he did was to trade his head for silver. Following Fang Yuan is not to mix a wife and a son and have a lot of money. If they are strictly required not to be greedy, in this troubled world, it is difficult for strong people.

Moreover, embezzlement is embezzlement and bribery is bribery, which are two completely different concepts and cannot be generalized. Even before the crossing, corruption was a heavy punishment, and the punishment for accepting bribes was much lighter.

Chigutai's corrupt behavior, of which Zhu Yihai's tribute of 80,000 taels should be regarded as bribery, belongs to the private transaction of the two, and is related to the cost of Chigutai's protection of Zhu Yihai, and there is no deliberate traitorous act. Therefore, this part of the corrupt silver should be punished lightly, or pardoned and not punished.

The crime that Chigutai should really crack down on is to receive a kickback of 20,000 taels from Zhu Yihai to buy war horses. This silver is wool from the sheep, and the ten taels of silver earned by Zhu Yihai at a higher price are ultimately paid for by the military expenses of the Xuanjia Army. Therefore, this 20,000 taels of silver should be counted as the military expenses embezzled by Chigutai.

The commander of the Xuanjia Army, who has made great contributions, is also the first to follow Fang Yuan's fierce generals, but he embezzled 20,000 taels of silver, which is actually a trivial matter, of course, the crime is not death.

Fang Yuan 'beheaded' Xi Benzhen with tears before, and he had already regretted it a little these days, and he couldn't do it. The young and vigorous Shen Xiang wants to replace Xi Benzhen, who is old and heavy, and he really owes some fire.

As for Chigutai, another fierce general in the army, Fang Yuan also decided that the small punishment and the big admonition were punishments, "Chigutai, withdraw the 20,000 taels of silver obtained from corruption, and then go to receive a hundred military staffs, and then deduct a year's fine." ”

Chigutai was kidnapped to the palace with great fanfare, and he was involved in 100,000 taels of silver, and he was still worried about whether he could keep the position of deputy marshal of the Xuanjia Army. Who knew that Fang Yuan had downplayed the punishment, and still did not touch his real power. As for the return of money, the punishment of the cane, and the deduction of fines and bribes are the most light punishments in military law.

Chigutai's grateful Chong Fangyuan half-knelt on the ground and gave a military salute, "Thank you for the regent's extrajudicial kindness." ”

Fang Yuan's gaze fell on Li Zongze again, Li Zongze's problem was obviously much more serious than Chigutai's. Chigutai was not involved in Hou Fangyu's case, and Li Zongze actually sent someone to Hou's house to inquire about the news, which was obviously inextricably linked.

Fang Yuan looked at the Xuanjia Army general in front of him, before that, he would not believe that Li Zongze would be in tandem with Hou Fangyu who was plotting to subvert the regime behind his back. But Jin Yiwei was stolen and captured, so he couldn't believe it.

Fang Yuan said in a deep voice, "Zong Ze, we are brothers who have known each other from the past. Thinking of your past military exploits, I don't want to punish you, you honestly recruit it! ”

Li Zongze's face was gloomy, his teeth were clenched, and his whole body was trembling, "Regent, I did collude with Hou Fangyu in private to incite the regent to go west at the military meeting. ”

Fang Yuan'er's heart was also painful, and his eyes were full of anger and frustration, "Zong Ze, do you know that Hou Fangyu instigated the Western Expedition to take advantage of our army to send troops and copy Jiangnan's lair?!" ”

Li Zongze said gloomily, "I didn't know it at first, but then I knew." ”

Fang Yuan ordered Jinyiwei to take the whip of punishment, took a few steps forward and pointed at the door in front of him and scolded him sharply, "Jiangnan is the foundation we have laid together, what are you for?!" Did the imperial court in the capital spend money, or did you promise you a high-ranking official? ”

Li Zongze lowered his eyes in shame and said, "The imperial court promised that after the capture of Jiangnan, I would be promoted to the governor of Zhejiang, and the seal of the governor of Zhejiang was given to me in advance." ”

"Bang Bang!"

Fang Yuan whipped him three times fiercely, leaving three blood marks on his back.

Li Zongze was very tough, and he didn't frown, and scolded angrily, "You brainless haven't heard of the death of a cunning rabbit, the lackey cooking, the birds are exhausted, and the good bow is hidden?" Do you really think that if you betray the Xuanjia Army, the imperial court will make a rebel general of the enemy army sit in a tax-paying place like Zhejiang? Li Zongze, you neurotic have heard clearly, and if you leave the Xuanjia Army, you are nothing! ”

Li Zongze gritted his teeth and endured Fang Yuan's whipping, listening to Fang Yuan's scolding of 'brain dead' and 'neuropathy', which he didn't understand, raised his head and looked at him, "Regent, I deserve to die for my crimes, but, but I don't accept it!" ”

"Bang bang!"

Fang Yuan whipped him more than a dozen times in a row, so that Li Zongze's skin was open, blood foam was flying, the entire hall was silent, and the needle drop could be heard, and there was a sound of whipping.

Although Chigutai had a holiday with Li Zongze, he saw that Fang Yuan beat him too hard, if it weren't for the fact that he himself was a piece of shit, he also wanted to stand up and plead for Li Zongze.

He looked at Jing Jie hesitantly, Li Zongze was Jing Jie's brother, and only Jing Jie could save him.

Jing Jie was silent, if Fang Yuan really wanted to punish Li Zongze, he would have sent Jinyi Wei to arrest Li Zongze a long time ago, and he would not have personally whipped him and swore words. The harder Fang Yuan beat and scolded at this time, the safer Li Zongze was.

Fang Yuan was tired of fighting, so he sat back on the king's chair and said angrily, "Li Zongze, what are you not convinced, say!" ”

Li Zongze barely supported his body, looked at Fang Yuan and said, "Because the regent's reward and punishment are unknown!" I, Brother Jing, and Chigutai were the first old people to take refuge in the regent. I asked myself that I had never avoided the war and made great military achievements for the Xuanjia Army. ”

"In terms of promotion, I don't like Brother Jing and Chigutai, so I will admit it. But now even Ma Lin and Feng Ting, who were promoted later, are in charge of Zhejiang and Fujian; The general Gan Hui was promoted to the governor, and the general Zhang Ying became the commander-in-chief of Guangdong. Even Zhao Quanzhong was entrusted with important tasks, and he would be promoted to governor after the Northern Expedition. I'm the only one, I was the commander of the artillery battalion when I first arrived in Jiangnan, and I am still the commander of the artillery battalion after five years, I don't accept it! ”

"Every time we go on an expedition, the artillery battalion is the first to storm the city. But the first credit after the war went to the cavalry battalion and infantry battalion, and the artillery battalion was raised by a concubine?! ”

Fang Yuan listened to Li Zongze's complaints, and the essence of his eyes flickered. If we talk about the importance of the arms, in this era of alternating hot and cold weapons, the credit of the artillery battalion cannot be erased. Without an artillery battalion, the attack on the fortified city would have resulted in heavy losses.

However, the Xuanjia Army's military merits are recorded by the enemy troops they have won, and the role of the artillery battalion cannot be quantified in military merits, so the first merit after each battle is almost given to the cavalry battalion and infantry battalion that kill and injure the enemy the most.

Li Zongze's artillery battalion has made meritorious contributions in every battle, but no matter whether the artillery battalion is in command, it is still a thousand or hundreds of households, but it has not been promoted all year round, and in the final analysis, there was a major omission in the previous calculation of military merits.

Jing Zhuo came to his knees and pleaded guilty to Fang Yuan, "Boss, I think Zong Ze's words really hit the Xuanjia Army's negligence in calculating military merits. Zong Ze also mentioned it to me a few times before, but I thought that he was his own brother, and in order to show justice, I categorically rejected his suggestion every time. As the commander of the Xuanjia Army, I am also to blame for this rebellion, and I am willing to accept the guilt together! ”

In all fairness, in this rebellion of Li Zongze, the regent Wang Fangyuan, the commander of the Xuanjia Army Jing Jie, and Li Zongze himself, the three of them should each be hit by 30 boards.