Qin Official

The winter sun rose from the surface of the earth again, shining on a small forest forty miles south of Xiangcheng. The air was full of chill, more than a dozen horses were tied to the surrounding trees, and hundreds of soldiers leaned crookedly together, lying, leaning, or sitting. It can be seen from the tired face and the scars on the body that this is a defeated soldier who has suffered a lot.

In the center of the crowd, Li You, who was lying flat on the carriage, was awakened by the pain of his wound. When he opened his eyes, he saw that it was Hei Fu who was changing the bloody cloth wrapping his wound.

"Black husband."

Li You looked at the subordinate who was bandaging the wound skillfully with a complicated mood. After a long time, he said feebly: "Who gave you the courage to let you take the captain and run away?"

As soon as these words came out, everyone around them opened their eyes, especially the military judge, who stood behind Hei Fu and tightened his grip on the sword, as if he could kill Hei Fu with just one order from Li You!

But Heifu did not make any move. He continued the work at hand, using silk to re-treat the wounds that had been hastily bandaged last night. After carefully tying the last knot, he took a step back and said seriously:

"According to the order of the general, I serve as the rear guard of the army and cannot retreat even half a step. This is the duty of the captain."

"With a military order, we must move forward vigorously and behead the enemy. This is the duty of ordinary soldiers."

"Protect the left and right, protect the captain's wings, and put the captain's safety first in everything. This is a short-term duty."

"The Chu army attacked fiercely last night. Our army has resisted for more than two moments. However, we are outnumbered and the army has collapsed. The general intends to die for his country and does not want to retreat. However, if the general dies, even if our short soldiers escape successfully, they will still be held accountable. Kill me. Therefore, in the eyes of the subordinates, I am just doing my duty. If the captain thinks that I am guilty, please kill me according to military law!"

After saying this, Heifu knelt down and bowed down. Thanks to his blessing, the soldiers who had survived also gathered around. Dongmen Bao, Ji Ying, Gong Ao and others also bowed down together: "If Baijiang will do his duty, he will do his best." He is also guilty of rescuing the captain, and we shall die together!"

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, you are indeed just doing your job, what crime do you have? As for guilt, I have lost this battle, and I can't escape the crime of overthrowing the army."

Li You closed his eyes weakly. He felt that his whole body was about to fall apart, especially his chest where he was hit by an arrow. It was even more painful. The soft sunshine in the morning seemed to touch the sadness in his heart, making him inexplicably sad.

Looking back, yesterday's battle was simply a disaster. When the Nanjun soldiers who were ordered to stay behind were gradually weakened and defeated under the attack of the Chu people, Li You just wanted to curse.

He scolded Li Xin for being arrogant and arrogant, and scolded Meng Tian for arranging for him to be the queen.

Li You had two choices. One was to die in the army and die in battle. However, he had just married the eldest princess of the King of Qin. It was a time when he was enjoying a new life of drunken marriage and a prosperous career. How could he be willing to die inexplicably? At this?

The second is to abandon the army, turn around and run away, but that would violate military law.

The military law of the Qin State said: During the war, if the officials abandon their troops and go to the north alone, they will be beheaded.

Before Li You could make a decision, his position was attacked by a hail of arrows fired by the Chu army's archers. Although Heifu and other short-range soldiers immediately went to the chariot and raised their shields to block many arrows for Li You. , but the unlucky Li You was still shot in the chest by a stray arrow, and the horses of the chariot also ran in panic, throwing him off...

At this time, Heifu led others to help Li You up, shouted "protect the captain", and left the battlefield with hundreds of short soldiers before the Chu army rushed over.

Li You once wanted to blame the short soldiers for not fighting to the death and leaving the battlefield, but when he opened his eyes and saw Hei Fu carefully binding his wounds, he still didn't feel cruel after all. He was right, everyone was just loyal to each other. Just a duty.

"I was ordered to go to the rear. I outnumbered the Chu people many times. I held on to the end. I didn't abandon the army and fled."

There is a big difference between abandoning the army and fleeing and being defeated in a fight. The former will be considered a "national traitor" and the crime cannot be pardoned, while the latter is a helpless act.

Although the generals who fought hard against the enemy but were defeated unfortunately should be put to death, they could still use their titles to atone for their crimes. This system has a long history in the Qin State. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, Qin Mu Gong forgave the three generals Meng Mingshi, Xiqishu, and Bai Qibing who were defeated by the Jin army in the Battle of Wei and became prisoners. , reinstate their official positions as before. A few years later, the three generals avenged their humiliation in one fell swoop. They sent their troops to attack Jin, crossed the river and burned their boats, defeating the Jin people in retaliation for the Battle of Confucius.

Therefore, the Qin State has continued this tradition and will not be too harsh on defeated generals. After all, except Wu'an Lord Bai Qi, no one dares to say that he can win every battle.

In the past, generals such as Wang Lu and Meng Ao also suffered several defeats, even major defeats, overthrowing the army and losing territory. In the end, they relied on their titles to pay off their crimes and were not executed. After a few years of silence, they were appointed again. These generals will learn lessons afterwards and become more interested in making meritorious deeds and avenging shame.

"The main blame for this battle lies with Li Xin and Meng Tian. I will use my title to pay for the crime. At most, I will be exempted from being the head of Guizhou."

It's useless to think about things that are too far away. Let's get out of danger first. Li You raised his head and asked.

"Where is the Master of Five Hundred Soldiers?"

No one responded, and Heifu lowered his head: "The Five Hundred Lord was the captain of the imperial palace and died in the rebellion."

"Pity."

Li You sighed. Last night he was seriously injured and fell off the carriage. He was unconscious for a while. During this period, he was placed in the carriage by short-term soldiers. He was also half-conscious and lost the ability to command, so he did not know what happened next.

"How many people have you gathered in total?"

Heifu reported: "A total of more than 600 people were gathered, 400 of which were short soldiers. The military officials only had three short soldiers and one hundred generals, and another ordinary one hundred generals."

"so little!?"

Li You was shocked. The Nanjun soldiers he commanded were not full. Unlike other captains, who had ten thousand people under their command, there were only five thousand at any rate. Why did only so few people escape?

Heifu and Zhai Chong waited for a hundred generals to look at each other and said, "We haven't informed the captain yet. The situation was critical at that time. The soldiers were scattered. Most of them were running west along the Ying River, but when we saw the Chu army He also sent chariots and cavalry to pursue him, so he did not choose to go west, but went south... This matter was discussed by us together, and I hope the captain will not be surprised."

"To the south?"

Li You was startled again, and there was another pain in his chest. After he calmed down, he looked at the unfamiliar forest around him: "Where is this?"

"Forty miles south of Xiangcheng."

The haggard-looking Qin scholar Cheng Shang also came over. He was also caught in the rebel army and separated from Master Tang and Tang Duo. In the end, he could only follow this team south. Along the way, he was plotting secretly. Follow the itinerary.

"map."

Li You wanted someone to take a look at the map, but Hei Fu and the others just looked at each other in embarrassment and said awkwardly: "Captain, you retreated in a hurry and didn't bring a map."

Li You was helpless. Fortunately, he was originally from Shangcai and had an impression of the surrounding cities, so he pointed a few short-range generals and drew a rough direction on the ground.

First, there are the Ying River and Ru River flowing to the southeast, and then there are various cities dotted...

"The direction General Meng Tian should retreat to is the line between Dun and Yangcheng."

Heifu was describing the scene they saw when they evacuated last night. Meng Tian gathered about 20,000 remaining soldiers. Now they know that it was not Li Xin who led the crowd to besiege Xiangcheng, but Meng Tian.

"The Chu army's pursuit route should also be this road, or they may want to take advantage of the situation to regain the cities along the way."

Although Meng Tian gathered a small part of the Qin army and did not completely collapse, the Chu army chased them all the way to the north, and they must have killed many people. So last night, Hei Fu and the others took Li You to avoid his sharp edge and headed south, which was undoubtedly a correct decision. The Chu people came from the east and north, but there was not a single soldier in the south that had just been swept by Li Xin's troops.

"You can go to Pingyu."

Li You recalled the military situation that Meng Tian reported to them, and pondered: "Half a month ago, General Li Xin sent troops from Shangcai, defeated the Chu army in Pingyu and Qiuqiu, and left some soldiers in the area. You even have three thousand soldiers..."

As long as they reach Pingyu, they will be safe, and Li You can also get better treatment. Heifu has already said that he can only wrap the wound to stop the bleeding, and there is nothing he can do about the more complicated treatment of golden sores, and the doctors in the camp Has long been missing.

Li You now has great hope that he can leave the battlefield that brought him painful memories as soon as possible, return to Xianyang alive, and return to his newlywed wife.

Thinking of this, he cheered up again and said to the few generals who gathered around to listen to the order: "It will take about a day and a night from here to Pingyu. We..."

Before he could finish speaking, severe pain hit his chest again. Li You vomited out a mouthful of blood and sprayed it on the simple map he had just drawn, dyeing the whole place red!

"Captain!"

Heifu and others quickly supported Li You and asked him to lie down again.

"That arrow may have damaged his lungs. The Captain needs to rest and not talk any more."

"It seems that I can't even take you and others out of Chu in person."

Li You smiled weakly. He had lost a lot of blood and might pass out again at any time. At most, he could plan a large evacuation direction, but this is the territory of Chu State and there are enemies everywhere. Who knows what he will encounter along the way?

Therefore, they need a commander who can replace Li You and adapt to the situation.

In the Qin army, there are five people in the army, ten people in the army, hundreds of people in the army, thousands of people in the army, and ten thousand people in the army. During the battle, if the commander dies in the morning, someone will replace him in the morning; if he dies in the evening, someone will replace him in the evening. The order of command and succession is similar to that of later generations. First, look at the level. If the level is the same, then look at the military rank (title).

It stands to reason that when Captain Li You is unable to command, the command should be given to the commander and the five hundred masters temporarily. But now that the leader of the five hundred soldiers was dead, the important task of leading everyone out of the Chu Kingdom could only be left to the four small hundred generals in front of them.

Li You, a general named "Man" from Nanjun, had no memory. He probably ran along with him in the chaos, so he was naturally not considered.

Among the three short-term generals, Zhai Chong's title was not changed, and he was not as good as the other two, and he also lost his qualifications.

Li You looked at the remaining two people. One was a hundred generals who had followed him from Xianyang, named Xu Yang. Their family was a small noble with military merit and had been officials for generations. He was a good candidate. Xu Yang was also at the moment. Look at Li You eagerly.

But in the end, Li You set his sights on Heifu.

This little general from Anlu County, Nan County, who didn't even have a family name, started by simply folding a quilt and caught Li You's attention. After being his enemy, he also offered advice and suggestions, further showing his scheming that was not visible on the outside.

What's even more rare is that Heifu is also very enterprising. When the army was stationed, he borrowed Li You's "Wu Sun Tzu" to study and read, and he also copied two volumes by himself. The hundred men under his command also have the highest morale and the strictest order among the Nanjun soldiers, and the organization is still intact today.

"Hei Fu, come closer." Li Youdao.

Heifu immediately came to Li You who was lying down and knelt on one knee.

Li You took out the tiger talisman he carried with him and handed it to Hei Fu: "Who else can take command on my behalf and lead everyone out of danger?"