Three generations of the Meng family were Qin generals, Meng Ao and Meng Wu, who all did similar things. Although the number of people killed was only a fraction of Bai Qi's, the Meng family had long been accustomed to the practice of killing prisoners in the Qin army.
Although this matter will be criticized by some civil servants in the court, it is actually something that is beneficial to the soldiers. The Qin army evaluates merit by their heads. A general who regards his soldiers as innocent will not hesitate to behead enemy prisoners.
With his head, he can earn them an extra level of nobility and a hundred acres of land.
If this thing is done, the benefits are so great and the possible punishment is so small, so since Shang Yang's reform, he has always existed in the Qin army like maggots attached to the bones.
Although, before Bai Qi committed suicide, he said, "In the Battle of Changping, hundreds of thousands of Zhao soldiers surrendered. If I cheated and killed them all, it would be enough to kill them." After this sentence, the phenomenon of killing prisoners has converged a lot, but on a small scale.
are still everywhere.
Therefore, killing 7,000 Huns and barbarians is really not a big deal.
Meng Yi expressed his stance, and Heifu looked at Fusu and said with a smile:
"Sir, what do you think?"
Fusu was still hesitating. After Heifu asked twice, he finally said: "Before I came to the outside of the Great Wall, I read the ancient art of war. The "Sima Law" said that if you attack an unruly country and enter the land of sinners, there will be no violence for the saints.
, no hunting in the fields, no destruction of earthwork, no burning of walled houses, no felling of trees, no taking of livestock, grain, millet, or tools. When you see old and young, do not hurt them if they come home. Even if you encounter a strong man, do not attack him if you do not guard him. If the enemy is like
If it hurts, medicine will heal it."
"Previously, my father raised righteous troops, killed the remnants of thieves, and destroyed the Six Kingdoms. Therefore, it is really not allowed to do anything to kill the people of the Six Kingdoms."
In his words, he deeply criticized the bad habit of Qin's generals to kill prisoners after every battle. He believed that this was an important reason why the people of the Six Kingdoms were still alienated from Qin even though they were merged with Qin!
"Therefore, the war between the Xia Dynasties should be based on this method, otherwise they will kill each other indiscriminately and become enemies of each other. Then the so-called world unity and the unification of the seven kingdoms will become an empty talk, but..."
Young Master Fusu raised his head and made up his mind:
"However, this method is only suitable for civil wars in the Xia Dynasty, but the war against the Rong army is different!"
"Oh?" Heifu said, "What's the difference?"
Fu Su said: "In ancient times, when Yu conquered Miao, Shang conquered Di and Qiang, Zhou conquered Xiǎnyun, and Duke Mu conquered the Rong Kingdom, they all had the ritual of offering prisoners and beheading the country. Because of their unruly nature, it was difficult to influence them. For example,
What a beast! Today, General Li Er is the commander-in-chief, hanging alone outside the fortress. Unable to take prisoners, we are still at the mercy of His Majesty, so we can only abide by the power."
"If the general agrees that he should be killed, then there is nothing wrong with this!"
Although Fusu felt a little uncomfortable with the idea of killing prisoners, he still agreed.
"Sacrifice prisoners and kill them..."
Hei Fu nodded, reading more books is still useful, but Fusu found a good excuse to kill the prisoners.
This has been the practice since ancient times. The captives were often sacrificed to ancestors and gods. I heard that the Yin and Shang Dynasties were the best. The Qiang and Zhou prisoners were piled in layers in the sacrificial pits.
Even King Wu of Zhou, who was packaged as a "teacher of benevolence and righteousness" by later generations of Confucian scholars, showed no mercy when killing Yin merchant prisoners. Hundreds of thousands of them were slaughtered like livestock. In front of the Zhou temple, there was a mountain of merchant heads.
The heads of King Zhou and Daji were hung high, and hundreds of Yin and Shang nobles, such as the ancestors of the Qin State, were thrown into the fire to make charcoal-roasted heads as sacrifices.
It was not until the Spring and Autumn Period, when the concept of "Zhu Xia" came into being, that countries agreed not to kill each other's prisoners anymore, and nobles could be exchanged with each other if they were captured, making war more civilized.
However, after entering the Warring States Period, thanks to Sun Wu, the war became cruel and deceitful again.
Heifu was a witness, and countless fights made him understand that this was a cruel era. Fighting for land, killing people filled the fields; fighting for cities, killing people filled the city.
Mencius said that those who do not like killing can rule the world. But in fact, it was Qin, the country that killed the most people, that completed the unification...
At this time, Fusu said again: "General Wei, I have another suggestion!"
"Sir, please tell me."
Fusu said: "Soldiers were killed and injured in battle. Some of them restrained themselves and were treated by doctors. But I went to the civilian area last night for inspection and found that many people were injured, but no one cared about their lives or lives."
Hei Fu nodded: "I already know about this, but there are really not enough doctors to take care of everyone."
As early as the Unification War, he proposed the establishment of medical corps and implemented it in the army. However, each camp could only be assigned one medical corps who was proficient in medical skills and could bandage. After the war, thousands of injured were injured, and they were too busy.
There was no time to sleep, and there was no time to take care of the civilian husband's minor injuries.
Fusu said with emotion: "Apart from injuries and illnesses, I think that those civilians who pushed Wugang carts, advanced and retreated with the army, and endured the rain of arrows from the Huns, had no merit but hard work. There are also those who were tired along the way.
The civilian men who died of illness also died for Qin. I don’t want these people to get nothing after this war!”
"Therefore, I hope that the general, after killing the Xiongnu prisoners and using their heads as military merits, can also record the achievements of the Guandong people in the victory report! So that the living can be rewarded, the dead can be compensated, and even be included in
In the cemetery of loyal soldiers!”
After saying this, Fusu stood up and raised his hands to Hei Fu:
"The ancients said that the Rong, Di, jackals and wolves cannot be disliked, and the Xia Dynasty is intimate with them, so they cannot be abandoned. Now that the general has killed the head of the jackal, he must not abandon and forget the people of Shandong. No matter they were people of Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, Wei, Qi in the past, now that they have entered the Qin Dynasty
The troops, who bleed and sweat outside the Great Wall, should all be treated equally without distinction of territory!"
As soon as these words came out, Meng Tian was a little shocked, and Hei Fu was also very surprised.
Because in the Qin Dynasty, serving in the head of Guizhou was compulsory and there was no reward. Unless there were special cases, such as King Zhao of Qin sent all the men in Hanoi County to help Changping, denying Zhao Jiu any food, and the entire county above the age of 15 was collectively awarded a first-level title.
Otherwise, civilian husbands would rarely receive rewards, and promotions would be even less likely.
But after pondering for a moment, Heifu still nodded.
"Young Master is very benevolent! Regarding this matter, I will submit a letter with you to seek your Majesty's consent!"
…
Three days later, at the edge of the green space, in the dry desert, corpses were strewn across the sand dunes. Everywhere you looked, there were corpses of Huns...
Seven thousand people were divided into seventy teams and led into the desert respectively. They were surrounded by the Qin army and rushed to the sand dunes to shoot them. From time to time, someone came up to kill them! The killing of prisoners continued for the whole day. By the next day, thousands of prisoners were killed.
The Guandong civilians were rushed here again and asked to put all the heads of the Huns on the cart and push them out.
"vomit!"
The smell of blood filled the desert, and a man from Waihuang County couldn't help but vomited.
Guan Ying went over to pat the man on the back, but he was fine. He smiled at the man and said, "You also boasted that you were a ranger in the past and killed people without batting an eye. How come you are vomiting like this? How many corpses have you seen these days?"
The Waihuang man wiped his mouth and said: "These barbarians will die if they die, but when I saw this situation, I couldn't help but think of the Qin general named Yang Xiong when the Qin army attacked Waihuang. He was also the ranger who surrendered.
After cutting off the head, my brother was among them. In the end, I could only look for him among a pile of headless corpses..."
"By the way, the general from Beidi County seems to have been in Huang at that time. Maybe he was the one who killed my brother!"
The scene in front of him made the Waihuang people feel sour in their stomachs. Thinking of the grudges of the past, he gritted his teeth and said, "If you ask me, the Qin people are just like the Huns, they are tigers and wolves!"
"Stop talking, be silent!"
Guan Ying quickly signaled that not far away, the small village chief in charge of them was patrolling over triumphantly. Standing on the sand dune, he said to the civilians who were collecting the heads: "I wish you good luck. General Wei and the young master will meet you."
Let me show you my merits! Although it is not possible for everyone to get a title, they can still get some rewards and even be granted land! As for those who died of illness and exhaustion, the general has said that they will be buried properly next to the loyal soldiers cemetery."
The civilian husbands looked at each other. In the Qin Dynasty, conscripts never broke the law. They would be severely punished. It would be no good if they went there, and they might even get injured. Soldiers could be beheaded in exchange for titles, but they had never heard of it.
, which general will count the merits of the people and collect the corpses.
"Master Fusu must know our hard work!"
Simple-minded people have begun to be grateful. Fusu took great care of the civilians all the way. After the war, he paid the Qin soldiers and even came to visit them. These benefits must have been obtained by the young master for them.
The foreigner Huang civilian husband whose brother died in the hands of the Qin army said in a low voice: "Bah, it's a small favor. Besides, who would be buried in the Qin people's graves? In that case, I won't be able to sleep even after I die..."
Guan Ying was deeply convinced and stared at the arrogant back of the small village leader: "Except for the young master Fusu who is truly benevolent, the rest of the Qin officials are all giving alms!"
Moreover, he had another thing to worry about.
"My family has been selling bamboo poles, not because they want to be merchants, but because there is no free land in Suiyang. If we can get land, it will be a good thing. I am just worried..."
"What are you worried about?" the foreigner asked.
Guan Ying looked at the oasis behind him and even the Helan Mountain grassland they had seen two hundred miles to the south, and said worriedly:
"I'm afraid that the land that Qin officials want to grant us is outside the wall!"
…
One month later, in mid-July of the 29th year of Qin Shi Huang, Qin Shi Huang, who was located in Zhangtai Palace in Xianyang, finally received a military report from the front line of Helan Mountain!
"Open and read!"
Qin Shihuang asked Feng Quji, the imperial censor, to read it out. This was the news that Qin Shihuang had been waiting for for a long time after receiving a report from Shangjun that the court of the Shan Yu was empty and the main force of the Xiongnu was missing!
The Xiongnu established strong walls and cleared the country, and even gave up the royal court. Of course, Qin Shihuang would not naively think that he was fleeing in a hurry because he was afraid of himself. These barbarians must have something in mind.
Although he acted very calm, he was inevitably a little irritable inside.
From the beginning to the present, this war has encountered a lot of opposition. Qin Shihuang needed a hearty victory to slap the opponents in the face, so he must not allow any mistakes!
What's more, if his son, the son of a rich man, is still outside the wall, if he dies in a dangerous hall, then Heifu, if he doesn't die in the battle, can come to see him...
After Feng Quji opened it, he found that it was not a report from his son Feng Jie. He secretly thought something was wrong, but he still read out loud:
"Beidi County Lieutenant Heifu then said: Thanks to your Majesty's wisdom, the soldiers are responsible for their lives, and the young master supervises the army and supervises the battle well..."
"I and General Li have already driven their long chariots through the gap in Helan Mountain!"
