Qin Official

"From now on, you have to rely on yourself."

The next morning, standing at the top of Pengzeyi City, watching Tu Sui's fleet sail eastward, Heifu let out a long breath.

Last night, Peng Ze's surrender was true. When the Chu State had been destroyed and the Qin army was pressing on the border, even though the local prince tried to resist out of noble dignity or because he knew that once the Qin people entered the city, he would lose everything. In the end, the local clan leader did not want to die for the Chu State with Peng Zejun, so he decisively killed the king and surrendered.

In this way, Heifu captured this small town without spending a single soldier, which was an unexpected surprise.

Standing on the wall of the city, Heifu looked at the first prize of his expedition.

Pengze City is located on a low hill two miles away from Penglize. Its northwest gate faces the lake, and to the south is an open plain with adjacent paddy fields. A small stream flows through it to the east, and the stream is densely covered with bamboo forests.

The city was rectangular in shape. Heifu walked around in person, and Jingwei recorded it for himself. He found that the east and west walls were one hundred and fifty steps long, and the north and south walls were two hundred steps long. They could be turned up in a quarter of an hour. One lap.

The city was small to begin with, and half of the city's territory was occupied by Peng Zejun's mansion. The remaining half was divided among streets, workshops, and markets, making it appear cramped and quite dirty. At this moment, the doors of every house are closed tightly, and the Qin army on the streets has one post and one sentry every five steps.

The people living in the city are mainly nobles who are not engaged in production, apprentices, and a few businessmen. Most of the agricultural population lived in villages outside the city. These settlements were scattered in the south of the city and occupied an area no less than that of the city.

The Xu family who surrendered yesterday lives there with their whole family. They have no city protection and do not want to be affected by the war and harm their own interests, so the only option left is surrender.

"My brother, do you know that after the army captures a place, what is the first place it needs to control?" Hei Fu was walking on the wall of the town while surprising his younger brother.

"Brother once told me that only by having enough food can we have enough soldiers. The first place to control should be the warehouses and arsenals." After thinking about it in surprise, he answered Heifu's question correctly.

Pengzeyi's warehouses and arsenals are all located in Pengzejun's mansion, so the first thing Heifu did after entering the city was to ask Dongmen Leopard to lead people to guard the four walls and gates, prohibiting anyone from entering or exiting, and then ordered the five hundred Lords to They took people to raid the mansion.

Seeing that the time was almost up, Heifu walked into Peng Zejun's mansion with surprise and short soldiers. Li Xianguo had already inspected the place and came over to report to Heifu:

"The arsenal and granary in the mansion have been controlled, and the arsenal is empty. I heard that Peng Zejun scattered weapons from the arsenal yesterday and called on everyone to resist. As a result, he was assassinated by the Xu family in the chaos, and all his personal members were killed. The weapons distributed to the people were also If they are taken away by each other, I’m afraid they won’t come back.”

"Approximately how many weapons did Peng Zejun distribute?" Heifu asked.

Li Xian said: "There are no less than two hundred swords, halberds, spears!"

The total population of people inside and outside the city is about four thousand, which is a hidden danger. However, the people's sentiments are still unsettled at this time, and it is not suitable to suddenly force them to hand over their weapons. Heifu asked again: "Where is the food in the warehouse? How much is it?"

"Five thousand stones of millet and rice."

"It's only enough to feed three thousand people for a month."

Hei Fu pondered, and as agreed, Tu Sui left Zhao Tuo with Hei Fu. He commanded several ships, and there were millet from Nanjun on board, about ten thousand shi, enough for Hei Fu and his companions to eat for two months. Heifu has asked many people to help Zhao Tuo repair the dock. Once the dock is repaired, food can be transported into the city. Coupled with the talents of the city's warehouse, it can only last three months. These are unbeaten grains, and the quantity after pounding is even smaller.

"That is to say, after three months, if the war is not over, I will have to find a way on my own."

In addition to the granary and arsenal, Ji Ying was also ordered to count Peng Zejun's property. He came out and shook his head and said that Feng Jun was really poor.

He was carrying a small tripod and said with disdain: "Sima, look, the ritual utensils are small, gold and silver utensils are scarce, there are not many lacquerwares, and there are even some pottery mixed in! Not to mention the extremely rich E Jun. In comparison, I can’t even compare with some officials in Huainan..."

Indeed, Peng Zejun's mansion exudes an aura of poverty from the inside out. These nobles who came to Jiangxi to become kings were not welcomed by the King of Chu, and there were few households under them. In addition to hunting, Except for the convenience of hunting game, it is the same as a game.

At this time, Xiao Tao also led over a hundred people in ragged clothes. Under the intimidation of Qin soldiers, they all knelt down in front of Hei Fu.

"S... Sima, these people are... subordinates and concubines."

"Are they all Peng Zejun's concubines?"

Heifu glanced around and found that there were not only empty-eyed men and women inside, but also about a dozen children, who looked skinny.

There were slaves from both Qin and Chu, and Heifu was not uncommon in Nanjun. He even bought a few for his family to use for cooking, so there would be no unnecessary mercy at this moment.

But as they go deep into Jiangxi alone, these concubines who have lost their masters may become the first group of people to be won over and used by the Qin army...

So Hei Fu put his hands behind his back and said to the ministers with a straight face: "Are you subordinate to Lord Peng Ze for life?"

This area belongs to Southern Chu, and the Anlu accent should be understandable, but the ministers and concubines looked at each other in confusion. No one answered. After a while, a haggard one-armed minister raised his remaining right hand and said :

"General, we are from Yangyue and Qianyue. Most of us don't know Xia Yan and can't understand it!"

"I see."

Hei Fu suddenly realized that it was no wonder that these people were short in stature, with many of them having their hair shaved short and having tattoos on their faces. He thought they were being punished, but in fact they were Yue people with broken hair and tattoos...

The Yue people are the most widely distributed ethnic group in the south. In addition to the Yu Yue who have become Central Plains people in Kuaiji, that is, the descendants of Yue King Gou Jian, there are many branches. The Central Plains people call them Baiyue.

In Jiangxi, there are mainly two branches of Yue people, Qian Yue and Yang Yue, neither of whom understand Xia dialect. Their language is not even in the same language family as ancient Chinese. Instead, it has the same origin as the later Thai language.

"What's your name?" Heifu asked the one-armed young man to come out.

"My name is Jiu Jue." The young man had dark skin, his body was covered with dragon and snake tattoos, and there was a wooden clamp around his neck. His arms were missing from the elbow down, leaving only a hideous scar.

"Why do you speak Xia Yan?" Heifu asked him.

"The villain's mother is a local Chu native."

Jiu Jue replied: "I used to be a free man and lived in Fanshui, so I can speak."

"Why did you become a subordinate of Lord Peng Ze after you were a free man?"

Jiu Jue spat on the ground: "Last autumn, I came to Penglize with my tribe to fish, but I was captured by Peng Zejun's followers. I was captured, put on wooden tongs, and made a slave."

Hunting slaves was also a great pleasure for the feudal lords in the south of the Yangtze River of Chu State.

Heifu asked: "Are you going to be the youngest of Peng Zejun's subordinates?"

"I will die of old age or exhaustion, so I escaped several times."

Jiu Jue showed his back, but saw that it was covered with dried blood scabs, like cowpeas.

"I was not willing to do this, so I tried to escape while I was working. Mr. Peng Zejun set his hounds to chase me and bit off my arm. Then he caught me back and beat me severely..."

As he spoke, he shed tears. He was so seriously injured that time that he was thrown into a pile of straw to wait for death. In the end, he survived by luck. Jiu Jue gritted his teeth and said, "General, I defeated Peng Zejun. I am so happy haha." laughing out loud!"

"good."

Heifu nodded: "From today on, you will have a chance to regain your freedom. Be my translator. You will have enough food to eat every month. After half a year, I will give you freedom. If you behave well, I will also give you money and silk to let you go home!"

Jiu Jue was overjoyed. After the wooden clamps around his neck were removed, he saluted Hei Fu. Although he was missing one hand, he still fell to the ground and kissed the toes of Hei Fu's shoes. Perhaps this was a sign of transcendence. Habit?

Heifu asked him to get up and said, "Tell these hundred Yue ministers in Vietnamese for me that as long as they work for me, I will not abuse anyone. In half a year, everyone will be free again!"

Jiu Jue repeated Hei Fu's words. The Yue people were stunned for a moment, and then they danced and cheered. They were supposed to be slaves and concubines for the rest of their lives, but they were released after half a year. How could they not be happy? His originally gray eyes became a little brighter.

Instead of them constantly having the intention of escaping, it is better to give him hope and work for him for half a year. When the time comes, he will also complete the task and leave Jiangxi, and the Yue people will return to their homes, and everyone will be happy.

Heifu asked Jiu Jue to be the translator, and a chief supervisor was responsible for supervising this group of Yue people. He also ordered Li Xian to say: "Let the craftsmen make a few treadmills and ask these concubines to pound them for five hours a day." Rice, this way, you won’t have to worry about running out of rice to cook!”

Just after Hei Fu collected all Peng Zejun's residence, property, food, ministers and concubines, Dongmen Bao, who was guarding the city outside, came over to report to Hei Fu that several people from the Xu tribe who were the first to surrender to the Qin army last night came to see him...

"Probably here to ask for credit and bargain."

Pengzeyi is Heifu's foothold. In the next few months, his food supply will depend on it. If his progress is unfavorable, this place will become his retreat. Therefore, he must have a good relationship with the local clan leaders, otherwise even if he controls A city cannot control its vast territory.

Heifu smiled and said: "Let them come in. Although I am only an individual department commander, I still have the power to temporarily appoint a fake mistress and a fake third elder!"