The national conditions of Qin are completely different from those of Chu.
I still remember that when Zhao Hongrun attacked Chu State, the common people of Chu State welcomed the Wei army. The main reason was that the ruling class aristocrats of Chu State brutally suppressed and oppressed the common people, which made the Chu people's hearts at odds.
The contradictions intensified to the point where ordinary civilians were almost unwilling to become enemies of the Wei army for the sake of the nobles. Later, Zhao Hongrun even effortlessly led nearly two million Chu people to move to Wei.
But the Qin State is a country that is on the rise. Compared with the late Chu State, the Qin State is more energetic and more united. This is because the Qin State in the four counties of Xiagui, Lintong, Gaoling, and Fenghao strongly resisted the invasion of the Wei army.
It is not difficult for the army and the people to see that in these four cities, the fiercest battles the Wei army encountered were not siege battles, but after the city was broken, the Qin people in the city spontaneously supported the Qin army to resist the Wei army, and even attempted to defeat the Wei army.
Drive out of the battle outside the city.
The people of Qin did not welcome the Wei army, rejected the Wei army, and were hostile to the Wei army. This is a very dangerous signal!
This means that if the Qin army in the direction of Xianyang organizes a counterattack, the Wei army occupying the four counties of Xiagui, Lintong, Gaoling, and Fenghao will not only have to fight the Qin army outside the city, but also be wary of threats from within the city - no one will
There is no guarantee that the Qin people in the four counties who were temporarily suppressed by the Wei army will stab the Wei army in the back when their Xianyang army attacks the city.
Therefore, the people of Qin in these four counties are like a time bomb, and Zhao Hongrun cannot leave them behind.
It was on this basis that Sima An, the general of the Dangshan Army, put forward the suggestion to "slaughter all the Qin people in the four counties."
In Sima An's view, this move could not only resolve the instability in the four counties, but also be used to frighten the Qin people. It was a strategy that killed two birds with one stone.
However, Zhao Hongrun did not want to do this.
There are two reasons.
First of all, it is morally unsound to wantonly slaughter the Qin people. This is different from Zhao Hongrun's acquiescence to Sima An's slaughter of the Wuxu tribe a while ago.
You must know that although the Wuxu Tribe, Jie Tribe, and Ling Tribe did not join the Sichuan-Luo Alliance a few years ago, they had an agreement with the Wei State. The most fundamental one is to jointly resist any foreign forces setting foot in Sanchuan.
within the territory.
On the basis that the Wusu Tribe, Jie Tribe, and Ling Tribe all accepted this agreement at that time, Zhao Hongrun expressed his willingness to continue to recognize the "Wuxu Oath" and was willing to lease the land of Sanchuan to the Sichuan people free of charge. Later, he and the Jie Tribe
, the Antelope tribe launched an illegal slave trade.
To put it bluntly, the general environment in Sanchuan at that time was like this: as long as no external forces intervened, the Wei State did not force the Wuxu Tribe, Jie Tribe, and Ling Tribe to surrender to the Wei State, and they could do whatever they wanted.
But later, because of their own selfish desires, the Wuxu tribe, the Jie tribe, and the Ling tribe fell to the Qin State when they were defeated by the Qin army's invasion, trying to bring the Qin State to the dining table of Sanchuan to compete with the Wei State for their convenience.
To profit from it and obtain benefits is a violation of the agreement made back then.
Therefore, Zhao Hongrun decided to eliminate the Wuxu Tribe, Jie Tribe, and Ling Tribe from the territory of Sanchuan. This can also be interpreted as punishing the betrayers, which is at least somewhat reasonable.
But the Qin State is different. The Qin State has nothing to do with the Wei State. When the two countries are at war, no matter how many Qin troops the Wei army kills, it will not damage the Wei army's reputation. But massacring civilians is unjustifiable. This will make the Wei army unjust.
The reputation of the Wei army became extremely bad, which further affected Wei's image in the Central Plains.
This is one of them.
As for the second point, just like what Zhao Hongrun said to Sima An, the Qin people are fierce and strong. This is not a nation that can be forced to surrender through force. I believe that if the Wei army kills more powerfully, the Qin country will become more united.
, this will cause the Wei army to gradually fall into an ocean war with the people of Qin, making it difficult to escape.
It is undeniable that, in addition to the Yanling Army and some Sichuan and Luo Yi warriors, Zhao Hongrun has nearly 150,000 troops who have either set foot on Qin's territory or are about to set foot on Qin's territory. This is indeed a huge force, but the problem is
, how many Qin people live in the hinterland of the Qinling Mountains, which is 800 miles away? Five million? Six million? Even like Wei, close to ten million?
In the face of this war between the Qin people and the ocean, which was measured in units of "millions", the 150,000 Wei troops were likely to be like pebbles thrown into the stream. At most, a bubble would appear, and then there would be no more.
This kind of war with the Qin State is not what Zhao Hongrun wants.
Therefore, it is absolutely unacceptable to massacre the Qin people in the four counties of Xiagui, Lintong, Gaoling, and Fenghao. It will only make the Wei army passive and unite the entire Qin state.
But keeping the Qin people in these four counties was not an option. The Wei army did not have the energy to deal with the resistance of these Qin people again and again.
Therefore, it is the best way to expel the Qin people in these four counties from the city and let them flee to Xianyang.
First of all, by driving these civilians out of the four counties, the Wei army can get a lot of food. Of course, these Qin civilians will basically not starve to death or freeze to death in the ice and snow, because Xiagui, Lintong, and Gaoling are
Fenghao is not far from Xianyang, so people will not starve to death halfway.
Of course, when these civilians flee to Xianyang, they will become completely hungry people. Unless Xianyang allows its people to starve to death outside Xianyang City, Xianyang will only be able to release grain, which is a disguised form of food.
The ground weakened Xianyang's military supplies.
The Wei army received a large amount of food, but Xianyang lost a huge amount of food. One was a loss and the other was ebbing. The Wei army took an advantageous position at the beginning.
"...When our army captures Qin's city again in the future, we will repeat the same tactics. After several attempts, Xianyang may not even be able to raise the rations to send troops to fight with our army. How can we fight with our army?"
, Zhao Hongrun smiled and said: "Unless Xianyang is ruthless and allows its people to starve to death... But in this case, it is absolutely impossible for the Qin State to unite and fight our army."
Sima Jing listened to Zhao Hongrun's story quietly. He had to admit that His Highness Prince Su's strategy was better than his, and also more ruthless.
In fact, when his suggestion of "massacre" is actually implemented, it will be met with a crazy counterattack by the Qin people, which is very likely to cause casualties to their Wei army; and His Highness, King Su, seems to have deliberately let these Qin people go.
The people were given a way to survive, but in fact, the Qin State was pushed back into a pit of dilemma.
If the hungry people are relieved, there will not be enough military food, and without enough military food, there will be no way to send troops to repel the Wei army; if the hungry people are allowed to starve to death, the hungry people will definitely hate Xianyang, causing the King of Qin to lose the support of the people, and the Qin State will lose the support of the people.
Still unable to pose a threat to the 150,000 Wei army.
Anyway, Qin State and Xianyang have lost the opportunity and can only be led by His Highness Prince Su.
As for releasing the Qin people in these four counties, Zhao Hongrun was not worried about whether these Qin people would join the Xianyang army and return to attack the Wei army - they would have to endure hunger and trek for dozens of miles in the ice and snow.
, these Qin people are believed to be exhausted even when they arrive in Xianyang. What threat can they pose?
Of course, if some Qin people really join the Qin army, then Zhao Hongrun will never show mercy.
In his opinion, if civilians took up arms, it would be like voluntarily giving up their status as "civilians". In this case, Zhao Hongrun would naturally regard them as Qin soldiers and would have no chance of showing mercy.
After thinking to himself several times, Sima An nodded convincingly: "Your Highness is far-sighted."
At this point, he made a rare joke: "Your Highness is so anxious to summon the general to come here, is he trying to make him become the villain?"
It is obvious that the Qin people in the four counties will not be willing to leave the county where they live, not to mention that they are not allowed to bring food and family property. Therefore, if the Wei army wants to expel these Qin people, someone must stand up and act as a villain to intimidate these Qin people.
.
It is very likely that during the process of intimidation, some strong-blooded Qin people will jump out to resist the Wei army. At that time, the Wei army will have to suppress them through force.
And this kind of notoriety is naturally not suitable for the world-famous "Wei Gongzi Run" to bear, and the reputations of other people in the Wei army are not loud enough. After thinking about it, only Sima An of the Wuxu tribe and the Jie tribe can be slaughtered.
.
However, Sima An didn't care about this. After all, when he massacred the Xiao family of Nanyan, he had gained the reputation of a "tiger" and a "human massacre". He had long looked away from his reputation.
What's more, if King Su Zhao Hongrun hadn't stopped him this time and put forward a better suggestion, he, Sima An, had indeed thought of massacring all the Qin people in the four counties to frighten the Qin people. Therefore, being a villain was no big deal to him.
.
Faced with Sima An's joke, Zhao Hongrun smiled bitterly and shook his head. Although he also felt that the general in front of him was an excellent candidate to be a villain, Sima An's joke still made him feel a little uncomfortable, as if he was
It seemed like he was deliberately letting Sima An take the blame.
After coughing, Zhao Hongrun changed the subject: "Actually, the king summoned the general for another matter."
After hearing this, Sima An immediately stopped joking and said seriously: "Please give me your instructions, Your Highness."
Zhao Hongrun glanced at Sima An and Bosile and said in a deep voice: "That's it. I hope that the general will lead the cavalry to attack the entire territory of Qin, attack weakly defended cities, and after the city is captured, he will still drive out the Qin people in the city.
As for the captured grain, take it away if you can. If you can't take it away, just burn it with a fire and the empty city...Furthermore, I also hope that the general will destroy the farmland, water canals, and captured farm tools that he passes along the way.
destroy……"
Listening to Zhao Hongrun's words, Sima An had a strange look in his eyes.
He reasoned that he was already ruthless enough, but the facts proved that his so-called "ruthlessness" was nothing in front of His Highness Prince Su.
The Prince Su in front of him is called ruthless. This is obviously a strategy to destroy the Qin Dynasty!
The strategy of destroying a country without killing people!
"...Only in this way can it be possible to make Qin surrender." Looking at Sima An, Zhao Hongrun said in a deep voice.
Sima An nodded.
He had no doubt that if the King of Qin really refused to surrender, even if he was dead or alive, he would definitely fight to the death with Wei.
Then, it is very likely that Qin will die before Wei!