Chapter 2: Carrot and Big Stick

  A group of people had already left the Fengxiang border at night and arrived at a small mountain valley on the edge of the mountain, where they stopped after seeing that it was dark all around. The leader, Xiao Tianjian, raised his hand to stop his men and ordered: "Rest here tonight, we'll talk about where to go tomorrow!"

  The bunch of people who were already exhausted to death immediately lay down on the ground after hearing this, while the dark-faced man walked over to Xiao Tian's side, took over the reins, and led the horse to a place with some green grass. He loosely tied the reins to a dead tree that had been stripped of its bark, allowing the horse to lower its head and graze on the small amount of newly sprouted green grass on the ground.

  At this time, a short and sturdy young man came to Tie Tou's side, looked at the horse and said: "Tie Tou, this horse has been exhausted by that dead goods today. If we don't give it some fine feed, I'm afraid it will be ruined! We must give it some fine feed!"

  "Jiang Fuzi, let's feed the beans we saved to the horses!" Tiedou, who had not spoken much, first looked at the young man and then at the war horse. After hesitating for a moment, he turned his head and said in a low voice to a middle-aged man in the crowd.

  The middle-aged man known as Jiang Fuzi responded with a "yes", but first turned his head to look at Xiao Tianjian, seemingly waiting for Xiao Tianjian to speak.

  Xiao Tianjian nodded after listening and said: "You just follow Tie Tou's words, take out some soybeans for the horse!"

  After Xiao Tianjian's reply, Jing Fuzi quickly took out a handful of beans from a cloth bag he was carrying and handed them to Tie Tou. Tie Tou fed the yellow beans to the starving war horse, which ate them in one mouthful and then stretched its head on Tie Tou's hand to search for more. Tie Tou saw that the war horse was pitifully hungry and said to Jing Fuzi: "Bring two more handfuls over, this little bit is not enough for this beast to eat!"

  Jing Fu Zi then hastily returned, took some soybeans and handed them to Tie Tou. He sat down and took out some dark and coarse cakes from his saddle bag to distribute to these people to eat. Of course, he couldn't carry so many things by himself, and two thin young men helped him share the load.

  Everyone stared as the horse crunched away at the big bowl of beans, someone swallowed a mouthful of saliva and shook their head slightly, seemingly regretful that such good food was being wasted on this beast. People couldn't even eat their fill, yet they had to feed it to this animal, apparently everyone was somewhat perplexed, but no one dared to raise an objection.

  Xiao Tianjian glanced at the people around him, a faint, disdainful smile playing on his lips: "Don't be too attached to these beans, this horse will come in handy for us later! Feng Gouzzi, you've been hoarding those silver coins you got today, now it's time to hand them over to me!"

  A thin man with a black mole on the corner of his mouth immediately tensed up after hearing this, and a flustered expression flashed in his eyes. However, he quickly forced himself to calm down and smiled awkwardly, spreading out his hands: "What's the meaning of 'palming the silver'? What silver do we have? Everyone was watching when they searched that official today! Right, Zhao Erdu?"

  Zhao Erdui looked at Xiao Tianjian, who was staring at Feng Gouzishou, with a puzzled expression and nodded in confirmation: "Palm plate, today I and Feng Gouzishou searched that dead official together, didn't see him take anything!"

  Xiao Tianjian stood up with a cold smile, took big strides to the side of the short and small Feng Gouzi, his 1.8-meter-tall stature appeared exceptionally tall in front of Feng Gouzi's less-than-1.6-meter frame. He stretched out his large hand, and like holding a monkey, he lifted up Feng Gouzi. With one twist of his single hand, he twisted Feng Gouzi's arm behind his back, not allowing him to struggle at all. Then, he reached into his chest and rummaged around for a while before pulling out a silver ingot weighing five taels.

  When everyone saw the silver ingot in Xiao Tianjian's hand, Feng Gouzi's face turned pale and his lips began to tremble. As soon as Xiao Tianjian loosened his grip, he immediately knelt down with a thud and begged: "Master, spare my life! It was all my fault for being greedy. When I searched that person today, I found this silver ingot and had the idea of secretly keeping it for myself. Master, please don't drive me away! I beg of you, Master!"

  Xiao Tianjian weighed the silver in his hand, then turned and threw it to Jing Fu Zi, saying to these people: "When I accepted you, I told you that I would not treat you unfairly, and I absolutely do not allow anyone to secretly hide spoils of war behind my back!"

  What we robbed is everyone's, no one can only care about themselves and ignore everyone! But you, Feng Gouzzi, still did this today!

  "Today I won't say how to deal with you, let everyone discuss how to deal with you!" After that, Xiao Tianjian swept his gaze over the surrounding subordinates.

  Zhao the Second Donkey got up and kicked Feng Dogzi in the head, scolding loudly: "Good! Feng Dogzi! You really hid things today and even let me vouch for you. Do you want to harm me? I'd rather drive this guy away and be done with it, who cares if he lives or dies?! He was a thief from the start, keeping him around is just asking for trouble!"

  Feng Gouzi was so scared that he immediately wet his pants. He understood the ways of the world better than anyone else, and if he were to be driven out at this moment, alone and without anywhere to go, he would either be killed and eaten by others or starve to death. Fortunately, it was Xiao Tianjian who had taken him in back then; otherwise, he estimated that he would have starved to death long ago. And so, the frightened Feng Gouzi, with a nose full of snot and tears streaming down his face, threw himself at Xiao Tianjian's feet and began to wail.

  "Take the plate! It's all my fault, I'm to blame, I deserve to die! Please spare me this time, sir! I won't dare do it again! I deserve to die, it's my fault. Brothers, considering we've been together for so long, please don't drive me away! My grandfathers, please, considering we're all from the same hometown, just forgive me this time! I won't dare do it again!" Feng Gouzzi cried and begged everyone while fiercely slapping his own mouth.

  Everyone's eyes showed a hint of intolerance, and a sturdy man walked over, first kicking Feng Gouzi with his foot, spitting saliva on his face, before carefully walking over to Xiao Tianjian with a smile and advising: "Let it go! This matter is not his fault, if you want to say drive him away it's not excessive, but we currently have so few people. In my opinion, whipping him a few times will do, after all he's just a first-time offender, teach him a lesson, as long as he doesn't offend again in the future that's enough! If he dares to make another mistake in the future, it won't be too late to drive him away then! What does everyone think?"

  As soon as the man finished speaking, two or three others chimed in.

  Xiao Tianjian saw someone standing up to plead for this Feng dog son, and then turned his head again, staring at Feng dog son: "I hate corrupt officials the most in my life. The reason why the world has become like this is because of the corruption of officials. You see a little money and have greedy thoughts. If someone wants to bribe you, will you sell our brothers?"

  Feng Dogzi, frightened, hastily kowtowed and cried out: "I dare not, I dare not! Palms have shown us mercy, how could I be so ungrateful? This time I was wrong, and I will never dare to do it again! If I do it again, Palms can cut off my paws directly, and let me die a terrible death!"

  Xiao Tianjian saw Feng Gouzi and had a regretful tone, so he nodded slightly and said: "Since that's the case, I won't drive you away this time. However, while the death penalty can be avoided, the living penalty cannot be spared. Zhao Er Liu, take the whip and give him ten lashes, let him remember today's matter. In the future, if anyone dares to secretly hoard spoils of war behind my back again, I will absolutely not be polite anymore!"

  Zhao Erdui responded with a grunt, and then took out the whip. With a few swift strokes, he began to flog Feng Gouzzi. The whip sliced through the air with a sharp "whooshing" sound, striking Feng's skin with a series of loud cracks. Feng let out pained yelps, but still managed to thank Xiao Tianjian. Zhao Erdui was afraid that Xiao would say he was being too lenient, so he didn't dare hold back. He struck with moderate force, and soon the ten lashes were over. When they finished, Feng's tattered clothes had been reduced to even more rags, revealing his bony spine. His back was a bloody mess, with several lash marks visible.

  Everyone looked at each other in fear, standing around silently, not daring to make a sound. They now understood the temperament of the person in front of them even more, absolutely a decisive and ruthless character. So they all secretly warned themselves, never to offend him like that Feng dog, or else who knows what would happen, might be worse than Feng dog!

  Xiao Tianjian beckoned to one of his men and shouted: "Yang Mantun, go find some herbs!"

  The summoned Yang Manyun's rabbit-like creature scurried around and quickly found a handful of herbs by the moonlight at the edge of the forest, handing them over to Xiao Tianjian.

  Xiao Tianjian walked over to Feng Gouzi, who was shivering all over, with the herbal medicine in hand. He squatted down beside him, and Feng Gouzi, frightened, shrunk his neck, wanting to dodge away, but also didn't dare to.

  Xiao Tianjian glared at him and said: "Don't move, it's over after a fight! Since I didn't drive you away, then you're still my brother! Don't move!"

  After that, he first used the clear water in the bamboo tube to pour on Feng Er Gou's wound and cleaned his whip injury. Then he put the herbs in his mouth and chewed them vigorously. The bitter herb juice made Xiao Tian Jian frown, but he still persisted in chewing all the herbs into a pulp.

  "Plop!" With a sound, Xiao Tianjian spat out the herbal medicine into his hand and then applied it bit by bit to the whip scars on Feng Gouzi's back.

  Feng Gouzi immediately felt a cool sensation coming from the wound on his back, and the scorching pain slightly alleviated. Feng Gouzi suddenly felt very moved in his heart. Since he escaped from the village, he had been living by stealing and swindling, and every day he was either despised or beaten, with no one treating him like a human being. Today, his old habit recurred, and he secretly hid silver coins, earning himself a severe flogging! To be honest, he did feel a bit resentful towards Li Dage earlier, but unexpectedly, Xiao Tianjian beat him up and then personally treated his wounds. This made him regain the feeling of being human. As he felt the coolness on his back, Feng Gouzi's heart was filled with mixed emotions, and suddenly he had a moment of regret for his behavior, thinking that he was really too shameful. It had been a long time since he last felt this way. Suddenly, Feng Gouzi couldn't hold back tears and burst into loud sobs, falling to the ground.

  "Alright, old masters, it's just a few lashes, isn't it? Don't cry like a woman! Everyone go to sleep too! According to my original arrangement, take turns keeping watch. Whoever falls asleep while on watch will be careful if I find out!" Xiao Tianjian patted his hands, rubbed off the remaining herbs, and let Jing Fuzi bring over the clothes they had obtained today to put on Feng Gouzishen's body.

  Everyone responded in unison and lay down in the surrounding area, leaving Feng Gouzi alone to sob. One person sat at the edge of the forest on guard, lest someone enter their campsite, while also being vigilant against midnight mountain wolves dragging one or two people away while they slept!

  After taking good care of the war horse, he also got some herbal medicine to apply to the wounds on the horse's legs, and then wrapped the horse's injured leg with a cloth strip. Only then did he hand over a bamboo tube full of water in front of Xiao Tianjian.

  Xiao Tianjian rinsed his mouth, and with great difficulty, he managed to reduce the bitterness of the herbal medicine in his mouth. He nodded at Tie Tou, leaned against a tree, and closed his eyes.

  The bitter taste in his mouth made Xiao Tianjian very uncomfortable, and it was cold at night. Their clothes were tattered, and even when they lay down, he still couldn't sleep a wink. The reason he wanted to deal with this Feng dog today was to establish his authority in front of everyone, to let everyone know that his orders were not to be disobeyed. In order to make these rough men obey him obediently, some means had to be used, but things couldn't be done too extremely. After all, he only had so many subordinates at the moment, and excessive suppression might have the opposite effect. So today, he was using a combination of carrot and stick tactics on Feng dog, wanting these people to know that he treated them like brothers. For now, it seemed that the effect was quite good.

  New book uploaded, need everyone's support, leave your precious red ticket! Thank you thank you!

  ，！