Late Han Dynasty: Did the Yellow Emperor truly descend?

Chapter 87 Internal Rectification

In just two days, Xiapi County was like a completely different city.

The bloodstains on the street have been cleaned up, shops have gradually reopened, and people are now daring to walk around on the streets.

Under Li Sheng's strong control, the Taiping army temporarily restrained its behavior and stopped disturbing the people.

Li Sheng stood in front of the county government office, feeling the small town that had come back to life, his gaze calm.

Li Shi strode in from outside and clasped his hands in greeting.

"Brother Sheng, a messenger has arrived from the Zhou family's fortified village outside the city, saying they are willing to surrender."

Li Sheng nodded.

"Have Li Feng take men to inventory the granaries, weapons, and people, and register them all. Remember, don't let anything go wrong."

"promise!"

Li Shi nodded in agreement, then turned and walked out.

At this point, Xiapi County had finally fallen into our hands.

Looking back on these days, he led the villagers in farming, taking every step steadily and practically, which is why they have achieved today's harvest.

However, the challenges ahead were no less difficult than taking over the county town.

That is, how to distribute the benefits.

Li Sheng decided to start with the land.

But before he could take action on the land, he had to first clean up the internal affairs.

In the past two days, he has acted decisively and ruthlessly, and everyone inside and outside the city knows that the Taiping Army has a leader named Li who has absolute authority. There are also many people in the army who have a lot of opinions about his leadership.

However, Li Sheng was not in a hurry.

He had a list in his hand, which Liu Lu had gradually compiled over the past few days.

Liu Lu is truly a talented individual; he remembers every detail about those guys on the list perfectly.

Li Sheng called Liu Lu to the back room and looked at the list again.

"That's all?"

"That's all. They don't hide anything when they do these dirty things, so it's not difficult to investigate."

Liu Lu chuckled, then lowered his voice, "Brother Sheng, wouldn't it be a bad idea to deal with them now? Should we wait a bit?"

"I'm not waiting anymore."

Li Sheng folded the list and put it in his sleeve.

"If we wait any longer, these people will start to conspire together. Before they realize what's happening, we should take them all down at once."

That afternoon, Li Sheng summoned all the army leaders to the county government office for a meeting.

The leaders of the seven townships, along with representatives from each village, numbering over twenty, crowded into the main hall, whispering amongst themselves, wondering why their leader had suddenly summoned them. When Li Sheng emerged from the back hall, he had changed into clean robes, a sword hanging at his waist, and his face remained calm.

He glanced at everyone in the hall, and his first words stunned them all.

"I've called you all here today for no other reason than to settle some accounts."

He took the list out of his sleeve, unfolded it, and began to read it aloud.

"Liu Dazhuang from Liujiaji secretly withheld two bolts of silk and three thousand copper coins when distributing grain outside the city. Wang Laosi from Shuangliushu allowed his men to forcibly occupy a civilian's house and embezzle five shi of grain. Zhao Tiezhu from Dawangzhuang withheld his subordinates' pay, lied about casualties, and embezzled compensation..."

Each line was so clear it was as if I had seen it with my own eyes.

The person whose name was called changed his expression and wanted to stand up to refute, but Li Sheng pressed him down with one hand.

"Don't rush to speak. Since I dare to read it aloud, I'm not afraid you won't recognize it."

He paused, his gaze falling on Liu Dazhuang, his tone softening slightly.

"Dazhuang, do you admit to these things?"

Liu Dazhuang's face flushed purple, veins bulging on his forehead. He opened his mouth, wanting to deny it, but in front of so many people, he knew it was useless. It must be that Liu Lu guy; these days he's been running around between villages, what news hasn't he gathered?

He gritted his teeth and tried to stand up, but Li Sheng pressed him down with one hand, preventing him from moving.

He made a flimsy excuse with an ugly expression.

"Li Sheng, we've been through thick and thin together. What's wrong with me taking a little more? You can't just..."

"Can't what?"

Li Sheng interrupted him, his voice not loud, but it was like a bucket of cold water being poured over him.

"You think you can take more just because you can't treat yourself unfairly? Don't you know how much your men have taken?"

Liu Dazhuang opened his mouth, but couldn't say a word.

The room was so quiet you could hear your own heartbeat.

Seeing Li Sheng subdue Liu Dazhuang with one hand, everyone else knew that their leader possessed unparalleled strength. Those whose names were called all knelt down, some with trembling legs, others with reddened eyes. The leaders who weren't called also tensed up, fearing they would be next.

Li Sheng did not continue reading.

He put the list back into his sleeve, stood up, walked to Liu Dazhuang's side, and looked down at him.

"According to the rules we agreed on before, you can't save your life."

Liu Dazhuang trembled all over and kowtowed repeatedly.

"Alliance Leader, spare me! Alliance Leader, spare me!"

"But I won't kill you."

When Li Sheng said this, everyone in the hall was stunned.

Li Sheng turned around, facing the crowd, his voice steady.

"We all come from humble backgrounds and have fought for so long. Who wouldn't want to earn more? Who wouldn't want to live a better life for themselves and their families? Put yourself in our shoes. I don't blame you for having been greedy."

He paused.

"but!"

His tone suddenly turned cold.

"Greed must have a bottom line. Withholding the rations of our brothers and embezzling their hard-earned money—I, Li Sheng, will not tolerate such things. I am not killing you today not because I am soft-hearted, but because our Taiping Army still needs you. From now on, your lives are the lives of the Taiping Army. If you commit this offense again, you will be punished for both crimes, without any leniency."

He turned to look at Liu Dazhuang.

"You must return double the amount of silk and copper coins you embezzled. From today onwards, your rank is demoted to platoon leader, and Liu Xing will take over. If you do well, you may have a chance to be promoted back. If you commit another offense..."

Liu Dazhuang kowtowed, his forehead covered in blood.

"Thank you, Alliance Leader, for sparing my life! Thank you, Alliance Leader!"

The others were dealt with in turn, some fined, some demoted, but no one was executed. However, everyone knew this wasn't because Li Sheng was merciful; this man was ruthless! They had no doubt that if Li Sheng wanted to kill them, he could single-handedly wipe them all out.

Seeing everyone's trembling expressions, Li Sheng knew that the intensity was about right.

It is better to make mistakes than to make merits.

He has leverage over these people, so he'll have to work twice as hard from now on.

As for the vacant positions, Li Sheng had already made arrangements. He promoted a few from his old brothers in Siyang Township, and selected a few from those leaders who had been fair and incorruptible in distributing money and grain, and filled the vacancies.

As a result, at least one-third of the Taiping Army's mid-level leaders were replaced by Li Sheng's loyal followers.

Of the remaining two-thirds, some were already aligned with him, while others had been terrified and were now completely subservient to him.

After the rectification was completed, Li Sheng did not rush to adjourn the meeting, but instead raised the second topic.

"Brothers, I have something to announce."

He walked to a map spread out in the hall and pointed to the location of Xiapi County.

"We've taken the county seat, but the manors and fortified villages of those powerful families outside the city still occupy large tracts of land. That land originally belonged to the common people, but they seized it by force, taking it acre by acre. Now that Xiapi County belongs to our Taiping Army, it's time to return this land."

The hall was silent for a moment, then erupted into a buzz of discussion.

"Does the alliance leader mean... to divide the land?"

Someone asked in a trembling voice, their eyes gleaming.