Qin Official

"Let's find a coffin and bury the Huang family on the spot."

After listening to Zhang's account of what Huang had done before his death, Heifu remained silent for a long time. He did not behead Huang again, but had her buried properly.

"She is also a good wife and loving mother, with a deep love for her calves. It's a pity that she was born in a time of chaos... What a pity." He did not say too much hypocritically, and waved his hand to let a few Qin soldiers handle the matter.

How could there be glorious justice everywhere in the process of unification? Under the majesty of the Qin army, countless wives and children were separated, and their flesh and blood were separated.

Although Heifu can guarantee that the Hufu Township where he is located has the best military discipline in the Qin army's garrison area, and he cannot say that Qiu has committed no crimes, at least there has been no bullying of men, women, or local people. But he couldn't always be a good guy, and he especially didn't dare to neglect his duties and let the wanted criminals escape knowingly. Zhang Bo didn't keep the matter secret enough. If someone found out about it later and started to investigate, it would be a good thing for Heifu.

At this time, Chen Ping, who had been busy all night, came over and seemed to have something to say.

"Youyou, what should I do with this son?" Chen Ping pointed at Zhang Er's son, Zhang Ao, who was stuffed into a small room by Dongmen Leopard and locked up.

"Sent to Waihuang or Daliang for mission, and the superiors specified that they should be alive, so as to coerce Zhang Er to bring him to justice. Now Zhang Er's wife is dead, leaving only an orphan..."

He smiled helplessly: "At least it proves that we have indeed captured Zhang Er's wife and son. The reward of twenty taels of gold is enough for my soldiers to return home in fine clothes."

Although Heifu seemed to have heard of Zhang Er in his previous life, he had no idea what his deeds were, nor did he know that the child crying for his mother in the room was actually the historical King Zhao, Liu Bang's unlucky son-in-law.

But Chen Ping shook his head: "I have heard a saying that when those who govern a country see evil, they should be like a farmer eager to weed weeds, hoeing off its blades of grass and digging out its old roots, and not to let it grow. To grow again...this is the only way to eradicate the roots."

Heifu looked at Chen Ping: "What do you mean?"

Chen Ping showed a trace of cruelty in his eyes, and compared his hand to a knife, he swung it downwards: "Rather than leaving it as a future trouble, it is better to kill it. Have you not heard about Xia Shaokang's revenge?"

Hei Fu disagreed: "After this child was handed over to the superiors, he was probably taken back to Guanzhong and treated as a minor official. He will be a prisoner for the rest of his life, living with dirt and bricks, so there is no need to worry."

He asked himself if he was not cowardly enough to kill a seven-year-old child to eliminate his fear and calm his heart.

Chen Ping wanted to persuade him again, but Hei Fu had already made up his mind: "When you go back, prepare your luggage and transport food the day after tomorrow. You can also come with me!"

After what happened yesterday, Zhang Bo was ill and could not be a director, so Zhang Fu, the third elder, temporarily took over his stingy husband's duties. Zhang Negative thanked Heifu for letting Zhang go in this matter and agreed to all his requests for food. With the strength of Hedong and West, two thousand stones of grain, and dozens of cattle, horses and carts are being prepared, and they can set off the day after tomorrow.

When they learned that the Qin people were requisitioning grain, the villagers complained, but when they heard about Zhang's loan of grain, the people in the village were all happy, because this could enable them to survive the lean period of late April and early May. As a result, there was not much opposition when they were called up to collect food, and it was enough to gather more than a hundred people.

This is the power of the local tyrants. Without Zhang's help, these things would have been impossible to accomplish with Heifu and the fifty Qin soldiers who couldn't speak the language. This is why he would rather sacrifice the Huang family than drag the Zhang family into the same boat with him.

After Chen Ping left, Zhong Ming came to Heifu's side, looked at Chen Ping's back and said: "At first I thought Chen Ping was just cowardly and filial, but now it seems that his heart is even crueler than ours. I don’t want to let go of a seven-year-old boy.”

Heifu shook his head, thinking of Chen Ping's reputation in history as a "housekeeper". This was indeed his style.

"A scholar kills people, sometimes more ruthlessly than a martial artist!"

"Because they only need to give orders and let others do it for them, without having to stain their hands with blood."

But if you think about it carefully, how could it be that you were not like this yesterday?

So Hei Fu stopped mentioning the matter and asked Zhong Ming, who had been arranged by him to communicate with Zhang Zhai, "What's going on in the city?"

Zhong Ming said: "Zhang Fu asked me to report Youyou. Zhang Er's friend Chen Yu (u) sent people to contact him, but he ran away after realizing something was wrong. They failed to capture him alive and could only shoot him..."

"Chen Yu?" Heifu frowned, it was another person whose name he had never heard of.

"Zhang Fu said that this man was a Confucian scholar in Daliang and a close friend of Zhang Er. Later, Chen Yu went to Zhao. Although the Zhao Kingdom was destroyed, Chen Yu is still a famous scholar in Zhao, and his reputation even spread to Hanoi County. He has many subordinates. There is a hero from Yanzhao, but the person who came to contact him is dead and has not returned. I am afraid that Chen Yu already knows that things have changed. He hopes that Youyou will be more careful..."

…

Zhou Shi was repairing his crossbow machine when he learned that the group of visitors from Zhao were looking for him.

Zhou Shi is about thirty years old and has a sparse yellow beard, which is his most obvious sign. He was from Huangchi, and his family had been soldiers of the Wei state for generations. Both his ancestors and father died in battles with the Qin army. Therefore, Zhou Shi hated the Qin people and wished they could eat their flesh raw.

But his anger alone could not stop Qiang Qin. In January and February of this year, the Qin State used an unstoppable offensive to destroy the last main force of the Wei State, surrounded Daliang City, and sent troops to conquer the surrounding counties and villages.

Zhou Shi's Ma Libing, who was serving as a military official in Yangwu County, planned to be loyal to the Wei State and defend this place. Unexpectedly, Yangwu Ling listened to Zhang Bo's advice and chose to surrender to Qin!

Zhang Bo was a person with a small personal interest, but no great interest in the survival of the country. When Zhou Shi heard the news, it was too late, so he could only lead some of his men who were willing to follow him to fight out of Yangwu and live in exile in the woods of Nozawa.

But he did not give up, because as long as Daliang did not fall for a day, Wei would still have hope. As the soldier with the highest loyalty to Wei, Zhou Shi began to avoid counties and villages, wandering in the mountains and forests of Lilu where the Qin army could not reach, absorbing people who were willing to join him, and soon gathered more than a hundred Wei people.

They began to attack the lone Qin people, blocked the Qin army's riders from various counties, and even organized an attack on the Yangwu County grain transport team. Unfortunately, the Qin people had already taken control of the arsenal of Yangwu County and were well-equipped. Zhou Shi and others only had time to burn part of the food and grass before retreating, leaving more than a dozen corpses behind.

"Our strength cannot compete with the Qin army stationed in the county."

After understanding this, Zhou Shi stopped trying to recapture Yangwu and began to turn his targets to various townships.

The Qin people's rule in the countryside is not strong. They usually only send a group of fifty people to maintain order. At present, all places are transporting grain to Daliang. This is the time when defenses are most vulnerable. Zhou Shi can choose to lead people to attack the grain team. You can also directly attack the towns. As long as you capture a town, the Qin army will have to send people to chase him.

In this way, maybe we can buy a little time for Daliang...

The one Zhou Shi wanted to attack most was Hufu Township. Zhang Bo persuaded the magistrate of Yangwu to surrender, but Zhou Shi always held a grudge against him.

It is a pity that since the Qin people stationed in Hufu Township, the relationship between the Qin Army and the Zhang family has not been as tense as in other townships. The Qin Army of more than 50 people has not intimidated the people and insulted the women like the garrisons in other places. , causing mass incidents.

The peaceful Hufu Township left Zhou Shi speechless.

I thought that the grain requisition might arouse the resentment of the people in Hufu Township. However, people sent by Zhoushi to inquire came back and said that everything in this township was as usual. The Zhang family had reached an agreement with the Qin army and was willing to lend grain to the people to serve as a requisition and help They weathered the storm...

Zhou Shi was disappointed, but fortunately, when his men brought back the news, they also brought back a group of people.

In other words, they were brought back under the pressure of those people.

Zhou Shi stopped what he was doing and looked at the man standing in front of him with his head held high, only to see that this man was less than thirty years old, eight feet tall, wearing Confucian clothes and a Confucian crown on his head, except for a A sword.

"Are you Chen Yu? A famous scholar from Zhao?"

"That's right." Chen Yu's eyes were red, either because he had not slept all night, or because he had just cried.

Zhou Shi always looked down on weak Confucian scholars, thinking that they were useless and would only run away with ritual vessels and slips when the country fell. He smiled and said: "I don't know why Chen Sheng took my men hostage and insisted on looking for me." thing?"

Chen Yu cupped his hands towards Zhou Shi and said: "When I led people to sneak into the realm of Yangwu, I heard that Lord Zhou recruited more than a hundred warriors to fight against the Qin Dynasty with his own strength. I admired him very much. Now I am willing to take my ten knights from Zhao to help you. With one hand, I will attack Hufu Township with you..."

Zhou Shi was very wary of this Confucian scholar who spoke with an authentic Daliang accent and sneered: "Recover Hufuxiang? Although you are from Wei, you have already gone to Zhao for no reason. Why did you help me?"

"To be honest with Mr. Zhou, I am an acquaintance of Zhang County Xia from Waihuang. Before Waihuang City was destroyed, he sent his wife and son to the Zhang family in Humo Township for temporary refuge, and then I picked them up secretly. I thought that Although Zhang Bo surrendered to Qin, he still missed his old friend and kept his promise. Who would have expected..."

Chen Yu gritted his teeth and said, "Unexpectedly, the day before yesterday, Zhang suddenly repented and informed the local Qin officials about the matter. The Qin officials, together with Zhang, forced my sister-in-law to death, laid her body outside, and kidnapped my wife." My seven-year-old nephew is now imprisoned in a camp outside the city..."

After Zhou Shi heard this, he shook his head and said: "I only have more than a hundred people under my command, which is not enough to besiege the countryside. Listen to what you mean, since the Qin officials are compatible with the Zhang family, there are fifty soldiers, plus Zhang's two hundred child servants. , and the people of Hufu don’t want to rebel against the Qin Dynasty, so they want to attack Hufu and rescue your nephew? It’s nothing more than a fool’s dream.”

"Then I have a second plan."

Chen Yu was unwilling to give in and said again: "When my retainers were investigating outside the village, they saw dozens of oxen and horse carts gathered in the city, and grain was continuously transported from Zhang's house. They thought they were going to Daliang for the Qin army's operation. Food, either tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow! My nephew will definitely be brought along by then, and I hope Mr. Zhou can join us in attacking the food team."

"This strategy is not a bad idea."

Zhou Shi stood up, looked at Chen Yu who was eager to try, and said with a smile, "Of course, a Confucian scholar can also kill people?"

Chen Yu was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.

"Mr. Zhou is biased against Confucian scholars!"

"I once heard that Zhongni had a disciple, Zhongyou, who was vulgar in nature and fond of bravery. He wore a rooster's crown and a pig's sword. Later he worshiped Confucius as his teacher, learned Confucian etiquette, and became a Confucian scholar."

"Zhong You served as the governor of the city in the home of Kong Kui, the official of the Wei Kingdom, and governed the city for him. At that time, there was civil strife in Wei, and the rebels besieged Kong Kui. At that time, all the warriors under Kong Kui fled out of the city, but Zhong You entered the city in the opposite direction. When they met the rebels, they were killed. When they arrived at Kong Kui's home, the rebels ordered hundreds of people armed with spears to besiege Zhong Yu. Zhong Yu, armed with a sword, defeated hundreds of people with the power of one man, and suffered dozens of wounds on his body, but he still stood firm. , counterattacked and killed more than ten people..."

"In the end, Zhong You couldn't help it, and his crown and belt were cut off by a sword. He said, 'A gentleman will inevitably wear his crown when he dies,' so he tied his tassel and died..."

After saying this, Chen Yu suddenly drew the two-foot sword from his waist. Zhou Shi's men all took a step forward nervously, but Zhou Shi raised his hand to stop them.

Chen Yu sat on the ground and flicked his sword and said: "Although I am a Confucian scholar and like Confucianism, I admire Zilu and hope to be a Confucian knight. That's why I got in touch with Zhang Er and became a close friend."

"Mr. Zhou asked me if I could kill people? Hahaha. When I was in Liang Dynasty, even though I was young, I drew my sword and killed an evil boy who bullied the market, and then fled to Zhao. In Kuxing, Zhao State, I met a bandit and wanted to seize the land. With my clothes on my face, I drew my sword again and killed two people. Only then did the local wealthy Gongcheng clan surprise him and call me his son-in-law. With the wealth of my wife's family, I became famous in Zhao land..."

"It's a pity that within two years after that, Bao Qin conquered Handan, and Kuxing was also included in Hengshan County. Qin's laws were strict, they didn't like Confucianism, and they banned knights, so the old economics met, talked about the past and present, and the former husbands got together to play games , tragic songs and generous songs are all gone... My sword has also been covered in dust for a long time..."

After Chen Yu sighed, he stood up with his sword again, bowed his hands respectfully towards Zhou Shi and said:

"Zi Lu said that those who eat their food will not avoid danger; as far as I am concerned, those who cut off their necks will not avoid danger! Now is the day when I will kill the Qin officials with my long sword, punish the traitors, and drink blood again. "

"It would be nice to teach Lord Zhou that Confucian scholars can also kill people!"