Qin Official

In Dou Ran's view, "Zhong", the small village chief who was sent to discuss the surrender, looked timid. He stood stiffly in the center of the camp, looking back from time to time at the Chu soldiers behind him who were staring at him with blades, and smiled dryly. , and then kept licking his lips, not knowing where to put his trembling hands.

Like a thorn in the back, Dou Ran wanted this effect. How could he force the Qin people to surrender without showing force?

"Let me ask you, how many Qin people are there in the city?" His first concern was the strength of the troops in the city.

The chief of the small village was stunned and quickly replied: "I dare to tell the general, there are 600 people in the city..."

"you are lying!"

Sun Feng slapped the table on the side and shouted angrily: "Every move you make is in the eyes of our army's scouts. How dare you falsely report the number of people?"

This sentence frightened the small village commander to tremble, and he quickly bowed and said: "General, you are wronged! I don't dare to lie. We are Nanjun soldiers, under the command of Captain Li. When Xiangcheng was defeated, we were separated from Captain Li. I had no choice but to be led south by the Lord of Five Hundred, gathering some miscellaneous people along the way. Five hundred people entered the city, plus the one hundred people in the city, it was six hundred. Yes, the scout must have made a mistake... "

Sun Feng was blackmailing him, and Liao Ping, the surrendered general on the side, also actively assisted the two Chu princes to ask: "What do you call your five hundred masters?"

Heifu looked at Liao Ping. His accent sounded very similar to Li You's. He should be from around Shangcai. He probably just came to Qin last year. Now he doesn't have any psychological barriers no matter how many times he repeats it. Heifu knew that although Li Xin led mostly Guanzhong soldiers, there were also many people recruited locally from Shangcai as guides.

"The owner of the five hundred is called Cheng Wuyou, and he is also from Nanjun."

Heifu reported the name of his old boss. Anyway, he didn't know whether he was alive or dead now.

"I've never heard of this guy."

Liao Ping frowned, but he had no doubts. After all, the Qin army had a total of more than 100,000 or 200,000 people, and there were two to three hundred of the five hundred soldiers. If they were not under the same captain, it would be impossible for them to know each other.

None of the three people asked what was wrong, so the conversation turned to the matter of surrender.

Heifu asked cautiously: "Master Cheng Wubai asked me to ask clearly, if he surrenders to Chu, can he be given the land and house according to the original treatment?"

"Do you still want a farm and a house?"

Dou Ran and Sun Feng looked at each other. This Qin general was very good at making demands. Sun Feng said, "How many fields and houses does he want?"

"The title of Lord Five Hundred is that of an official, so he wants 700 acres of land and a homestead of two hundred square feet. Lord Five Hundred has said that if the generals of the Chu State feel that there is too much land, they should follow the Chu State's acre system. You can give it, so that he can become a rich man collecting land rent in Chu State..."

Dou Ran just wanted to laugh. The Qin general inside was indeed a greedy and fearful man. How long had it been? His mind was filled with thoughts of the benefits he would receive after surrendering. He nodded happily and said, "Okay, I agree to this." .”

"The Lord of Five Hundred also said so."

Heifu smiled pretending to be embarrassed: "A verbal promise is not enough. He hopes that the general can make a contract so that he can prove it in the future..."

"Hey, he's thoughtful."

In this way, Dou Ran and Sun Feng had no doubts about their sincerity in surrendering to the non-existent "Five Hundred Lords" in the city, so they simply asked someone to bring bamboo slips, wrote a slip and gave it to the small village chief, so that he could Take it back and revive it.

At this time, it was the Chu people's turn to make demands.

Dou Ran said: "Zhong, you go back and tell Lord Cheng Wubai that he will lead everyone to throw down the weapons from the top of the city before three o'clock in the morning, take off their armor, line up one by one, and leave the city to surrender, otherwise... "

"I will lead the army to attack the city, and you will all be reduced to powder!"

Dou Ran made a serious face and slapped the table. The row of Chu soldiers behind Hei Fu immediately raised their weapons and shouted in unison!

Hei Fu's legs softened in cooperation, and he hurriedly responded, but he secretly thought something was wrong. It seemed that General Chu was still very vigilant. This made their false surrender and sneak attack a little more difficult.

The matter of surrender was almost discussed, but just when Hei Fu was about to turn around and leave, he hesitated, turned around and bowed again: "I have already relayed the words of Lord Five Hundred, but I still want to ask you guys General, if our ordinary officers and soldiers surrender, how should we deal with them?"

This question made the three of them stunned. Dou Ran sneered in his heart and said: "What else can you do? Send it to the land of Wuyue to boil salt, or take it to Huainan and distribute it to various feudal lords as spoils of war to serve as field slaves and mine slaves." , tired to death, that’s all.”

Of course, these words could not be uttered. The kind-faced Sun Feng said with a smile: "Sincerely, go back and tell the soldiers of the Qin Army that the Chu State is no better than the Qin Army and has no bad habit of killing prisoners. You will all be properly placed. There are few people in Guangzhou, and there is plenty of land to support you. As long as you are devoted to Chu, you can become a citizen of Chu."

Anyway, the Chu State was no longer in danger of being destroyed, and the feudal lords did not want to lose any more of their own troops, so they thought of tricking the Qin people into surrendering and then disarming them. If they could, they would not fight. The Chu State was no better than the Qin State, and there was no actual reward for them beheading the Qin army.

"That way, I feel relieved."

Mr. Hei breathed a sigh of relief and said happily: "To be honest, general, we are actually from Nanjun. We were also Chu people three generations ago. Later we had to obey the Qin State and serve in the war. But in fact, Nanjun is still under the rule of the Qin State. It’s called Western Chu! We also consider ourselves Chu people.”

Although Nanjun, Huaibei, Pei, Pengcheng, Chen, Cai and other places belong to two countries, they are still classified as "Western Chu" in terms of culture and customs. The customs are similar and the language is similar. There are indeed many similarities. sex. The difference is even greater with the Dongchu of Donghai and Wuyue and the Nanchu of Yuzhang and Changsha.

Hei Fu took the opportunity to curse the Qin State again: "Qin officials collected more than half of the tax in Nanjun. The men farmed for less than food and the women for spinning did not have enough for clothes. Forget it, the most unbearable thing is that there are too many corvees and the criminal law It’s so harsh. Anyone who takes a piece of mulberry leaf or picks up a penny on the road will be sentenced to severe punishment! There are countless people who are often tattooed and chopped off, and become prisoners and concubines!"

After complaining for a long time, he said indignantly: "We, the soldiers of Nanjun, have all suffered from Qin for a long time. Now that we have the opportunity to become Chu people and be treated fairly, I don't know how happy we should be!"

"That makes sense."

These words touched the surrendered general Liao Ping, who also joined in and talked about Qin's brutal rule over Shang Cai in the past year. He had suffered from Qin for a long time before surrendering to Chu and was willing to become a Chu person again.

In short, the two of them sang together and denounced Qin's government as useless, as if they just went to Shangcai and Nanjun to raise their arms and the locals would kill Qin officials and surrender to Chu.

Sun Feng looked at the faces of these two people and knew that they were trying their best to please the Chu people in order to make a good impression on Chu people. They were smiling on their faces but feeling very contemptuous in their hearts.

Dou Ran seemed to have heard the joke. After the two cursed each other hard, he asked Heifu, "Which county in Nanjun are you from?"

"The villain is from Anlu County."

"Anlu County? Couldn't it be called Yunyi before? That's the hometown of my Ruo'ao family!" Dou Ran became even more interested after hearing this.

"General, is he after the Ruo'ao family?"

Heifu pretended to be surprised and bowed to Dou Ran again: "I often hear the old men in my hometown say that the days when Ruo Ao was still there were ten times and a hundred times better than under the rule of Qin! If Qin was not strong, To seize Anlu, I should be the general's subject when I am born. It's not too late now. After we surrender to Chu, I hope the general can take me in! I am willing to be the general's retainer for generations to come."

"Hahaha, that's a very kind thing to say, I just promise you."

His shameless gesture of acknowledging his master made Dou Ran laugh. After agreeing casually, he asked Heifu another question.

"The Ruo Ao family is in Anlu County and has old friends and acquaintances. They told me that the year before last, the Ruo Ao family's tomb was robbed by a group of tomb robbers. Do you know about this?"

That was what happened two years ago, when Hei Fu first became the head of the Huyang Pavilion. Looking back at it now, it seems like it was a lifetime ago, and the news reached Chu Di.

He felt a little complicated for a moment, but he said: "How could you not know? That was a major case that shocked the whole county. When the tomb robber was executed, the villain even went to watch. It was really satisfying."

Dou Ran added: "It is said that the case was solved by a small pavilion chief, but the name of the pavilion chief was not mentioned in the letter. What was his name?"

Heifu's palms were sweaty, and he almost suspected that his secret was exposed. He almost jumped up and took Dou Ran hostage, but there were several fully armed Chu soldiers behind him holding spears and halberds against him. He would definitely die if he was unarmed.

He managed to keep himself from panicking, pretending that it was another person, and said calmly: "His name is Heifu."

"Heifu, what a weird name."

Dou Ran muttered the name and asked again: "Do you know Heifu? Has he been recruited to join the army this time?"

Hei Fu smiled nonchalantly and said: "The villain is from the northern suburbs of Anlu County. He is in a different township from Hei Fu. I only know his name but not his person, let alone whether he is in the army. Anyway, we came to Linyang together. There is no such person among people... Even if he does come to Chu State, he may have died in Xiangcheng."

"what a pity."

Dou Ran felt lost for a moment and sighed: "I hope he is still alive. Although the chief of the small pavilion is a Qin official, he did not let the thieves destroy my ancestor's coffin. Ruo Ao owes him a favor."

"If he comes to Chu State and is willing to join me, I can give him 700 acres of land in return, just like I promised the lord of 500!"