Chapter 7: Punishment
“Someone once told me that the simpler the torture device, the more pain it causes. The more crude the torture device, the more violent the consequences. The secret of the school of tomb raiders is a joke in my opinion. Dragon hunting? Incense casket? Bronze coffin? Vertical burial pit? Or coffin grave? Is there anything I don’t know?” Yun Ye smiled all the time while talking, and his tone was gentle. He was as kind to the weasel as an old friend.
The desperation in Huang’s eyes grew stronger and stronger. The more gentle Yun Ye was, the more desperate he was. He tried to straighten up, but he was tied up by the ropes and couldn’t move. The veins on his neck were jumping wildly, and he shouted with his mouth open, “You know everything, why are you still doing this to me? If you have the ability, kill me with a knife.”
“Why? The reason is a bit ridiculous to say, but I’m not allowed to laugh. The reason I want to torture you is not because you dug up someone’s ancestral grave. In my opinion, they were delusional about being rich after death, and wanted to take the wealth created by the people of this world to the next world. This is a serious act of smuggling, which has caused a lot of waste. You dug up the wealth they buried with them, allowing them to see the light of day again and re-enter circulation. You have done a good deed without any fault.”
The weasel did not understand what Yun Ye was saying. He only understood that Yun Ye said he had done a good deed: “Since a certain family has done a good deed, why should they capture a certain family and let a certain family continue to do good deeds?
Yun Ye kept shaking his index finger: “No, no, no. You are a scourge. Scourges must be punished, otherwise justice will not prevail.”
He took out the black donkey hooves he had received from Li Gang and lightly tapped them on the wooden board.
“This is the real reason why I want to punish you.”
“Black donkey hooves? This is just a common magical tool used by certain families. Since you are familiar with my tomb-opening skills, you know that black donkey hooves are necessary when opening coffins. What is wrong with that?” The weasel was a little confused.
“Is the black donkey yours? You killed a black donkey for no reason, almost causing the death of a family of six. You don’t lack the money to buy a donkey, but you had the idea of stealing it. From this, it can be seen that you are a bad person. For the villager who was almost driven to suicide by you, I punish you. Is there anything wrong with that?”
“It’s just a peasant. Do you, a marquis, need to stand up for her?” Huang Shu was completely confused. Is there really such a marquis?
“Shut up! Who else would I be a marquis for if not for the villagers? I’ll pay for the donkey, but I’ll take four or five catties of your blood to make some tofu.” He then stabbed the rat’s wrist, which was tied to the plank.
The weasel’s soul flew out of his body. He heard the sound of his own blood dripping into the basin. It was a copper basin.
“Hey, you’re crying. Aren’t you a tough guy who’s traveled all over the country? You can’t stand it after just a little bit of torture? This reminds me of a strong woman I heard about before. The punishment she suffered was unimaginable. For a great ideal, her mind overcame the pain from her body and withstood all kinds of torture, like this one.”
Yun Ye picked up the bamboo needle in the wooden tray and lightly stabbed it into the weasel’s face a few times: “Use a small hammer to slowly hammer it into the gaps between your fingernails until it comes out of your fingers. Last time, I accidentally got my finger caught in the door and it hurt so much that my heart broke. I don’t know how that brave lady survived it. You must be very brave to steal graves and dig up corpses. Enjoy it slowly. Good people can withstand the punishment, and you, a villain like you, should be able to handle it.
The weasel’s face was covered in sweat, and he tried hard to keep his eyes open so they wouldn’t close. His pupils rotated with Yun Ye’s hand, and his eyes never blinked.
Yun Ye seemed to have forgotten something, and picked up a bamboo syringe from the wooden tray. The thick needle was made from the finest and hardest bamboo twigs, not as good as the metal needles of later times, but it was still fine for piercing the skin and muscles. The best thing was that there was a hole in the middle, which was a completely natural substitute for a needle.
“Have you heard of corpse poison? I took it out of the corpse’s mouth.” He then pushed the syringe lightly to let some green liquid spray out from the needle part, dripping on the wooden board to produce many bubbles. In a short while, the place where the wooden board was splashed turned black.
The weasel struggled to twist its body to keep the needle from touching it, shouting, “I give up! I’ll be your engineer! I’ll be your engineer!”
The needle still pierced his body, and the weasel shook his body in despair, but he didn’t move.
The door was suddenly pushed open, and a large group of students, including Changsun Chong, Li Huiren, Yuchi, Li Tai, and Li Ke, rushed in. They all covered their noses and looked at the unconscious grave robber, who was covered in urine and feces.
“This damned tomb robber is really useless. I didn’t really bleed him, I just scared him a little and he passed out. He’s bold, I spit on him.” Chang Sun was very angry.
“Xiao Chong, give me 200 coins. Don’t be a cheapskate! Who told you to bet that the grave robber would survive? I knew that Xiao Ye would be up to no good, and that the guy wouldn’t get off lightly.” Li Huai Ren happily demanded payment from Chang Sun Chong. Everyone in the academy only had one coin of pocket money per month to pay for various expenses. Poor Chang Sun Chong had to make steamed buns for the rest of the days. No matter how much money his family had, it was useless in the academy. Only bills printed by the academy were recognized in the academy.
“Ye Zi, why did you get a grave robber? This kind of guy will be hanged. You might as well use the corpse poison to kill him, and get rid of a scourge of the world.” Li Tai is worthy of being from the royal family. He does not hesitate to kill decisively when faced with problems.
“You only know how to kill. This guy is good at digging holes. We need to find a coal mine, dig up jade, dig a cave, change the water flow, and use it. Where can you find such a good long-term worker? Besides, this bastard is full of sins. He can’t die until he repays his sins.” Yun Ye didn’t comment on Li Tai’s suggestion.
“Then you say, Yezi, can this method be used on the Turkic people who have surrendered? A few days ago, the court official Dou Zhong reported that a group of Turks who were being chased by Xie Li had nowhere to go, so they came to I came to our Great Tang for help. My father was very troubled. He was not afraid of Xie Li’s anger, but these guys are not good at serving and rebelling. They are not suitable for any place. The officials of the prefectures and counties are unwilling to let the Turks enter the places under their jurisdiction. Li Ke is a good boy, with the wisdom to draw inferences from one example.
“How many?” Yun Ye suddenly became interested.
“I heard that there are more than 10,000 people of all ages, men and women, young and old. The leader is called Boluo, and he is now lingering in the Yunzhong area.” Li Ke’s words explained why Yun Ye had met Dou Zhong at the palace gate a few days ago.
Li Er is going to attack the Turks this year. This is a rare victory in history against a nomadic people. Li Jing, Chai Shao, and Xue Wanche are shining in this great battle, especially Li Jing, who has established his status as a military god of his generation with the heads of the Turks.
In August, in the cool and refreshing autumn of August, the Turkic people were about to fall.
“Ake, why don’t you recruit the young and strong into the army? It’s not bad to be a soldier and fight in battle. The rest can be used to build roads and bridges in the counties and prefectures, so that my country doesn’t have to conscript laborers and cause complaints all over the world.”