Chapter 288: Military Reform

By the time the first person finished being plucked, he had already fainted from the pain several times; every time he fainted, Baifeng would have someone splash him awake with water, the purpose being to make him endure every bit of the agony.

The result was just that, making those watching below tremble with fear; they had never imagined that, besides beheading, whipping, and that pitch-black room without a sliver of light, there could be such terrifying things for punishing people.

The only deserter who had not yet been injured was so scared that he truly could not hold on any longer; he stood up shakily, wanting to flee, for he would rather have his head chopped off by a knife than endure such torture.

But just as he stood up and hadn't run two steps, he was pushed to the ground by Chi, who was watching from the side. Seeing this, Baifeng had Chi carry out the next punishment on him first.

The blacksmith's large hammer was a good thing, heavy enough in the hand; Chi weighed it in his hand, then smashed it fiercely onto the knees of the constantly retreating deserter. Only a 'Crack!' sound was heard, followed by the deserter's wailing and howling to the heavens.

The women and children were all so frightened that they kept weeping.

Everyone in the tribe had a new understanding of their Tribal Chief; their Tribal Chief was not only kind, but also had such a terrifying side.

The people in the Soldier ranks were also terrified, because these punishments would most likely be used on them in the future; if they showed the slightest bit of retreat on the battlefield, they would face exactly the same thing, or else flee alone into the wilderness to wait for death—it was impossible for one person to survive in this wilderness for long. Moreover, even if they fled, their families were still here; judging by the Tribal Chief's intent, their families were also targets for punishment.

That Soldier who had just been pulled out of the ranks and judged a deserter—no, he should be called a Slave now—was so scared he was at a loss; from the moment he was demoted to a Slave, his brain had been in a state of system failure.

His wife and children were still watching from the ranks of the tribesmen; hearing the Tribal Chief's punishment for them, his wife nearly fainted from a held breath.

He now did not know whether to feel fear or relief; although he had been judged a deserter, at least he did not have to endure such pain.

Xiong had pulled out all the fingernails and toenails of the three deserters; to tell the truth, he felt somewhat uncomfortable inside listening to the screams—it was completely different from the feeling of killing someone. If one's psychological fortitude was a bit weak, one really couldn't handle this kind of pure torture.

After the nails were pulled out, Chi began to smash their knees. Originally, Baifeng had intended to smash all their limbs, but it looked like the effect of intimidation had already been achieved; the stench of urine before him was so strong he didn't even want to stay.

After the punishment was finished, the eyes of the few deserters were already somewhat dull; they had fainted, been splashed awake, and then fainted again, repeating back and forth until they were completely exhausted.

Seeing that it was about time, Baifeng had a few Soldiers from the Soldier ranks drag these deserters around the square, letting everyone see what the end of being a deserter would be like, including their families, who followed behind their own men as they circled, torturing them mentally.

After being dragged for a circle, the few of them were already nearly out of breath. Baifeng also felt it was about enough, so he had the executioner, who had been carrying out the death penalty, behead the three of them. Hearing that they were to be beheaded, the three deserters actually revealed expressions of relief.

With heads hitting the ground, the matter of these deserters could be considered to have come to an end, but the main problems brought about by this had only just begun.

First, Baifeng, in front of everyone, recounted and pronounced the crimes of these few people once more, and punished their family members.

Following that was the formal sentencing of the deserter who had just appeared, and from this, Baifeng proposed the military reform he had been thinking of.

"After this incident, I have discovered that the military quality of the Soldiers of the Baifeng Tribe is extremely low. I had originally thought that the Soldiers of the Baifeng Tribe should be the strongest on this land; I did not expect you to disappoint me so much."

Speaking up to here, the people in the Soldier ranks lowered their heads in unison, waiting for Baifeng's criticism.

Baifeng continued: "In view of this, I have decided to carry out a major reorganization of the Military Department of the Baifeng Tribe! Including personnel selection, resource allocation, training content, and ideological education, everything must start anew!"

Xiong and Chi stood up straight; the following words were mainly for the two of them, because after Baifeng made the arrangements, it was the two of them who would execute them. If they did not execute them properly, the responsibility would fall on their shoulders.

"First is the composition of the teams. Our Military Department not only manages our Soldiers, but also our hunters. I have always treated hunters as Soldiers, but now it seems that won't do; they must be separated."

"In the future, the Hunter Team will be split off and managed by people from the Agriculture Department, just like fishing—it's all similar work. Given that the work of the Hunter Team is relatively more dangerous, their treatment will be slightly higher than that of the people in the Agriculture Department, canceling the original treatment equal to that of the Soldiers."

In the Baifeng Tribe, the treatment of Soldiers was different from that of others, being much higher than that of the Agriculture Department. For this, Baifeng had explained to the tribesmen that because when war arrived, they were the first ones who needed to rush up, including when other tribes attacked or wild beasts raided, they were all to rush to the very front.

So, don't look at it as being relatively easy in normal times; after all, it was the easiest to die, and they were all the elite of the tribe—they had good bodies, great strength, and ate more, so the better treatment was something the tribesmen had no objections to.

The hunters heard this news and felt it was very terrible, because their work content remained the same as before, but their treatment had suddenly dropped a level. No one would be happy about that, but with the warning example right before their eyes, they dared not voice their objections.

"Another thing is the reform of the military system. I seem to have been too good to you all, so good that you have no sense of discipline at all, no rules at all. Your Leader tells you to stand properly and you aren't even willing to stand; is it really that tiring and painful to stand there? Huh?"

Baifeng walked toward the Soldier ranks with his hands behind his back: "You don't want to stand, but I insist that you stand. Starting tomorrow, I will formulate a new training plan, starting with standing straight and standing properly. Anyway, you don't have to work and are supported by the tribe, so you had better do your military training well for me!"

"Another thing, I will state it clearly first: the subsequent training will be more bitter and tiring day by day. What is standing for a while? If you feel you might not be able to persist, tell Xiong and Chi later, say you are not a qualified Soldier and want to quit, then you can quit; it won't count as desertion."

"Let the Household Registration Department arrange other work for you. Starting tomorrow, you can bring it up within three days. If you want to leave after that because you can't persist, you will be treated as deserters without exception. There is nothing so easy in this world!"