Heads beheaded on the battlefield will not perish easily if soaked in salt.
But if you want to preserve it for a longer period of time, it would be better to use lime. Of course, if you don’t care about the integrity of the preservation and the clear appearance, it is actually not bad to soak it in tar.
The heads that are beheaded on the battlefield actually have hierarchical treatment. After the heads of ordinary soldiers are beheaded, most of them will be hung on the waist by the winner. After the merit is calculated, they will be thrown into the designated pit.
Or it is possible to directly seal the earth and build a Jingguan to show off your martial arts.
The heads of generals must be preserved for a longer period of time, and may even be sent to the capital, which requires dehydration and embalming. As for the heads of chiefs, they may even have to be preserved for a long time.
For example, Xiong Tingbi, a general in charge of Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty, was involved in a party dispute and was executed. After his death, his head was reported to nine sides. After special treatment, his head was patrolled around the country for four years, and finally he was buried with his body with Chongzhen's permission.
Of course, the worst thing was that of the time traveler Wang Mang. After his death, his head was cut off and he was kicked around like a ball by the people. Even his tongue was cut off and eaten. Finally, the broken head was in the arsenal with the snake-cutting sword. Confucius
It lasted nearly three hundred years once the clogs were released, and was finally destroyed by the fire.
In the battle at Yehuling, 10,000 people were captured and 50,000 heads were captured.
The troops of the Youzhou Army were guarding the capture and garrison. The soldiers around the city, their disciples, and the regiments went into battle together, and beheaded every enemy corpse. They held the braids on the heads of the Turks and lined up to record their merits.
There were so many heads cut off that the military clerks were exhausted. They not only had to record the crimes, but they also had to verify them to prevent good deeds from taking credit for their merits.
The book should record the basic appearance of the head, such as approximate age, male and female, main characteristics, etc. It should also record the name of the soldier who took the head, the military town it belonged to, etc.
Although the Tang army focused on collective military merit, they also attached great importance to individual merit.
Fortunately, the weather is cold, otherwise it would be very terrible to have so many heads rotting. In the ice and snow, there are piles of heads everywhere. Each registered head has to be marked with a special mark with a knife to avoid being used again.
People use it to take credit.
These clearly marked heads became useless rubbish, thrown in piles there, waiting for the auxiliary troops to come and transport them away.
The final solution was very simple. Throw it into a ditch. The weather was cold and the ground was frozen hard. It was difficult to dig a hole and bury it. There was not much firewood to burn. So I had to find a remote ravine and throw it as far away as possible.
point.
The corpses with their heads cut off will be stripped naked and finally hauled to a nearby ditch for disposal.
In the cold wind, the battlefield was full of circling crows. It was like their feast. For many days, the sky was covered with black clouds, and the crows were even more terrifying.
In the ice and snow, the logistics auxiliary troops continued to collect the corpses, transported them and abandoned them. Someone once suggested to Wu Huaiyu that several grand temples should be built in front of Badgerzui Mountain in Yehuling. There were 50,000 corpses, enough to build five.
Thousands of people gathered in Beijing to watch.
Wu Huaiyu refused, thinking it was a bit boring.
Not only is it labor-intensive, but it is also not easy to build in the snow and ice. When spring comes and the flowers bloom, the mountain pass will become decomposed and no one can approach it, making it easy to spread the plague.
In fact, among the 50,000 heads, many were Tuli's subordinates, and there were also many Xi, Khitan, Ling, and Sogdian Hu tribes. But whether they were Tuli, Kedu, or the Great Hemo Society, they
In the end, I just looked at the battlefield, let the shaman do a dance, then cut his face with a knife, and cried a lot.
Those heads were proof of the Tang army's military exploits and must be cut off.
As for the abandoned corpses, it is no longer easy to identify their identities, and there is no better way to dispose of them. They can only let crows peck at them and return to dust.
Ten thousand surviving prisoners,
Most of them came from the Yin Mountains. These young warriors are now suffering from cold and hunger in the cold wind, and they have to line up to be auctioned.
The auction is very simple and efficient, with groups of ten people selling in packages.
The one with the highest price gets it.
With previous experience of auctioning 20,000 Sogdian slaves, Fatty Wu was very efficient this time. He immediately attracted all the wealthy families in Youzhou, as well as Youzhou officials, including the generals of the Youzhou Army who had just made meritorious deeds on the battlefield.
These Turkic warrior captives are very strong, so it is good to buy them back. You can use them yourself or resell them.
In just one day, more than 10,000 Turkic warrior captives were auctioned off. The prices were pretty good. There were many people buying and the competition was fierce. Even if they required ready-made money and silk transactions, it did not affect the popularity of the auction.
In this auction, there were even many Sogdian Hu merchants and Turks from Youzhou. For example, Princess Yang Muyun of Huainan is now a rich woman with a huge fortune. She even grabbed ten orders and bought a hundred Turkic prisoners.
, and He Luohu also raised his cards one after another,
This Turkic special agent, who had just formally worshiped Wu Huaiyu as his foster father under the request and witness of his father, Tuli Khan, is also a wealthy man with no reputation. He now lives in Youzhou. He said he came to Youzhou to study, but in fact
They are Wu Huaiyu's hostages.
Now his father, Tuli Khan, also went to Chang'an to show his loyalty, and he also bought a hundred Turkic prisoners in one go.
If it weren't for the inconvenience of buying more due to their status, Yang Muyun and He Luohu could buy more.
Of course, Wu Huaiyu was not polite, he also bought a hundred of them himself, and then Fatty Wu, Wu Junbo and other Wu family disciples also bought a lot of them very arrogantly.
The Kunlun slaves Tang Fengxiao, Peng Zizi, Duan Gongzi, and Kang Po from the Shuofang Guild Hall also bought a lot.
Of course, the local elites in Youzhou bought the most.
Ten thousand captives were auctioned off in half a day. Although these slaves were all Tibetan slaves, among Tibetan slaves, Turkic slaves were more valuable than Qiang slaves, Xun slaves, raccoon slaves and other southern slaves.
Moreover, slaves were divided into domestic and barbarian slaves, as well as men and women, as well as young and old.
The Tibetan male Din slaves are second only to the Han male Din slaves, and the slaves who were once Turkic warriors are more valuable. Each slave can basically be sold for the price of several horses.
, Jie Lifa, special service and other bodyguards, especially those of Khan's son-in-law Li Langqi, the price is higher. Of course, the noble chiefs are not included in the auction this time.
All the prisoners with good status were sent to Chang'an by Wu Huaiyu's people along with Tuli. This was called the prisoners' sacrifice, and they also had to be presented to the Ancestral Temple.
When these people go to Chang'an, as long as they are respectful, they will not end up too bad. They can either become royal guards and put on a show for the emperor. Even some high-ranking nobles can be awarded officials, titles and houses, which will serve as auspicious signs in Chang'an.
It can be used as a decoration during a palace banquet, or as a dance or a toast.
Of course, if the level is not high, it is possible to put it back, or their family members on the grassland can pay to redeem it.
Po Kang made a suggestion to Huaiyu, which was to send some high-ranking nobles to Chang'an. The rest did not need to be auctioned, but were locked up first and asked them to write letters to their family members in the grassland tribes and ask them to pay a large sum of money to redeem them.
This suggestion is quite reasonable and common, but Wu Huaiyu feels that this is a bit like a mountain king. Isn't this kidnapping and extortion? But it is actually quite common, especially in the Western Region where Kang Po's ancestors were from, and even further west in Persia, Roman Frank.
This is even more common in Gothic and other places. Let alone capture the nobles, even if they capture the knights, they will never be cut down and wasted, nor will they simply be sold into slaves. Their families must pay for the redemption.
For example, the British king Richard the Lionheart who once led the Crusades. After he led his army to leave the Holy Land, his fleet encountered a storm and was forced to dock in the Byzantine Empire. Although Richard, who had a bad relationship with Byzantium, left quickly, he was unlucky.
When there was a storm, he had to give up the waterway and take the land route. As a result, he was arrested by the Archduke of Vienna when he passed through Vienna. The Archduke of Vienna once went to Jerusalem with Richard, but they had a grudge because of Richard's slowness. Although the Pope came forward and asked the Archduke of Vienna to release Richard.
However, the Grand Duke did not buy it and directly transferred Richard to the Holy Roman Emperor.
The Shinra Emperor had also been unhappy with Richard for a long time, so even if the Pope excommunicated the Shinra Emperor, he still did not release Richard, but offered a ransom of 150,000 marks.
This is equivalent to several times the British annual fiscal revenue. It is said that in order to raise this ransom, Richard's younger brother rebelled. Later, the British Queen Mother still found a way to raise the money and levied a special crown tax. Every British
The subjects were reportedly forced to pay a quarter of their property to redeem the king.
Of course, Richard himself also liked to extort ransom. For example, when Richard passed through Sicily during his eastern expedition, he extorted 20,000 ounces of gold from the local monarch. He also sent troops to rob Messina. When he passed Byzantium on the way, he also took the island of Cyprus.
, fled away after a robbery, which also paved the way for his final arrest.
After he captured the Arab city of Acre, he had a conflict with King Philip II of France because he took too much of the loot and refused to divide it equally.
Richard later took the 3,000 captured prisoners to negotiate with Saladin and extorted a hundred thousand ransoms and a Holy Cross from Saladin. Later, because Saladin failed to pay the ransom on time, Richard directly massacred all the prisoners.
For Kang Po, whose hometown is in the river in the Western Region, asking for ransom is normal and very cost-effective. You can ask for ransom when you attack a city, you can ask for tribute when you win, and you can even ask for ransom when you are captured. Anything can be exchanged for ransom.
, cities, kings, nobles, captives, etc.
But how could this be the case in a country of etiquette in the Central Plains?
The emperor of the Central Plains captured the khans and chiefs of the grasslands. Not only did he not kill them, he also kept them well in Chang'an and gave them rich salaries and mansions as slaves.
Luo Khan of the Western Turks was forced to enter the dynasty during the reign of Yang Guang, and was granted the title of prince and general. He stayed in the Central Plains for many years, and later became a courtier of Emperor Li Yuan of the Tang Dynasty. It was not until later that Shibi Khan sent people to Chang'an to kill him.
The prince of Tuyuhun also entered the Central Plains during the Sui Dynasty and stayed there for many years.
For example, in this dynasty, Duke Shi Danai of the Kingdom of Kang, whose original name was Ashina Danai, was a special agent of the Western Turks. He followed the Chuluo Khan and surrendered to the Sui Dynasty. He led his troops to settle in Hedong Loufan. He conquered Goguryeo from Yang Guang, later surrendered to Li Yuan, and entered from the Long Dynasty.
Guan, followed Li Shimin in the east and west expeditions, paid homage to the Shangzhu Kingdom, was granted the title of Duke of Kang, and was given the surname Shi. Now he is worshiped as General Youwei. He was also awarded ten thousand pieces of silk and satin because he followed Li Shimin to pacify Liu Heita.
Shi Danai's son Shi Renbiao was even married to the eighth daughter Princess Pu'an by Emperor Li Shimin and became the emperor's in-laws.
Hundreds of Turkic noble generals were all sent to Chang'an, so that Emperor Zhenguan could directly gather a Turkic guard for Emperor Zhenguan.
The auction of more than 10,000 prisoners of war yielded hundreds of thousands of dollars at once. This income was not small. Wu Huaiyu was quite satisfied, and there was no need to use these Turkic nobles to extract ransoms.
