Qin Official

The Xu family of Pengze claimed to be the queen of Xu State. .

The patriarch of the Xu family was a seventy-year-old man with almost all his teeth. His speech was very verbose and he had a strong local accent. Most of the words had to be repeated by Xu Shu, the scholar who personally surrendered with Peng Zejun's head that day.

It turns out that the Xu State was a big country in Huaisi hundreds of years ago. At its peak, King Xu Yan fought against the Zhou Dynasty. Later, the Xu State was conquered and excluded by the Xia Dynasty. It declined day by day and continued to move south. Finally, it reached the lower reaches of the Huaihe River and absorbed the Xu State. The city-state of Qunshu, a member of the same clan, finally gained a firm foothold.

But the good days did not last long. As Wu and Chu fought fiercely in Huainan, Xu State also became a battlefield between the two countries. In the end, Xu State chose to join the seemingly more powerful Chu State, but was defeated by Wu State. In retaliation, Wu Zixu and Sun Wu led their troops to attack Xu, flooding the city of Xu and destroying it. After Xu Jun and his wife surrendered, they moved to Chu State. Since then, there is no news about Xu people in the history books...

But the history of the Xu people did not end here. The Chu State allowed the surrendered Xu people to cross the Yangtze River and move south to enrich the land south of the Yangtze River, and also allowed the Xu people who hated the Wu State to develop the land for themselves.

After the Xu people crossed the river, they landed in Pengze. Some people took a fancy to the nearby lush forests and bamboos, where there were fish and shrimps in the rivers and lakes, and chose to stay here and rebuild their homes. Most of them bypassed Penglize and went up the Xiushui River, and finally came to Aiyi in northwest Jiangxi, which was later known as Jing'an, Gao'an and other places.

Three hundred years have passed. The language and customs of the Xu people have long been transformed into Chu. However, they have always remembered their origins. Not only did they take "Xu" as their surname, they also stubbornly destroyed the Xu country. The story of the Xu people moving south to Chu has been Passed down from generation to generation.

Heifu was not interested in the family's ancient history. What he wanted was their obedience.

After the patriarch of the Xu family finally finished talking about the family history and showed that the Xu family was willing to submit to the rule of the Qin State, Heifu immediately stood up and asked Li Xian to take out a fate and a slip signed by Nanjun Shou Teng.

"Xu's contribution to helping our army capture Pengzeyi is indispensable. Chief Xu can be regarded as the third elder of this township."

The three officials in Qin's countryside were stingy in their duties, hearing lawsuits and collecting taxes; they traveled around and banned thieves; the three elders were in charge of education. For temporary appointments, the word "fake" must be added.

The third elder is in charge of education, but he does not have much real power, so it is just a false title to make Xu happy. On the pretense of traveling, Heifu asked the five hundred masters to stay in the army. He expected that after he captured Fanyang, he would move there with a large army, leaving Peng Ze with only a few hundred people.

As for the post of fake stingy husband, Heifu plans to keep it vacant for now. Anyway, in the short term, their rule will not be able to penetrate deep into the villages of Lilu, and it is even more foolish to implement Qin law quickly.

Hei Fu thought to himself: "When the war is over and new counties are established, Qin officials will be appointed from above to bring immigrants here to be misfits. If I give too many positions to the locals first, I will cut them off later." It will cause dissatisfaction and feel that the Qin State has crossed the river and demolished the bridge. If left unchecked, the local power will not be able to lose its power and will be difficult to govern. Although I will only conquer, I cannot leave too many problems for the successors."

Unexpectedly, some people in the Xu family guessed his plan. At night, the scholar Xu Shu, who had helped the Xu clan leader leave, came back and said that he had something important to see Mr. Hei...

…

"Why did you come back, sir?"

Sitting in Peng Zejun's hall, Hei Fu asked the scholars in front of him.

Xu Shu had a mustache on his lips, a wide robe and long sleeves, and was dressed like an ordinary Chu scholar. He politely bowed to Hei Fu and said with a smile: "The patriarch asked me to come back to express my thanks to the general."

"That's it?"

Heifu didn't believe it, because he could see a burning look in the scholar's eyes that loved fame.

Xu Shu paid his respects again: "Shu has been fortunate enough to have been to Nanjun Prefecture and County, and seen the customs of the Qin State. He has also traveled along the coast of Penglize. He is quite familiar with Yuzhang's rivers, geography, cities, and Yue tribes. Therefore, I am thinking, General If you want to take all the land in Yuzhang, you may be able to get some of my places!"

Qin wants to pacify Jing and turn it into a county, and the Qin army's conquests will not stop at Pengze. This is not a secret. Hei Fu then smiled and said: "You should try to talk about it and see if there is anything I don't know."

Heifu asked someone to give Xu Shu a mat, and he said: "Yuzhang is a barbarian land that has always been desolate, so the Chu State has only four monarchs, namely Xunjun, Pengzejun, Fanyangjun, and Shangganjun. "

As he spoke, he picked up the Liubo chess pieces placed next to him and placed them on the table between the two of them. The copper plate was Peng Li Ze and the chess pieces were cities. They were placed in a stylish manner.

Xu Shu pointed to the chess pieces on the table and said: "Xunjun and Pengzejun lived in the west and east of Penglize. Now that they have surrendered and died, all their cities and towns have returned to Qin, but the general only controls the rivers and lakes, but the inland of Yuzhang A land thousands of miles away is still untouched.”

"Fanyang Lord is located in the upper reaches of Fanshui. His city is bigger and higher than Pengze City. It has many people and soldiers. It is said that there are two thousand people..."

Hei Fu didn't take the two thousand feudal troops seriously, but Xu Shu's next words made him wary.

"Before the general came, Lord E of Chu had led his remnant troops to Pengze. Seeing that Pengze was a small city, he knew that he could not resist the heavenly soldiers of Qin, so he took thousands of his followers and fled to Fanyang. If he joined forces with Fanyang, he would The number is probably comparable to that of the generals."

This was a bit troublesome, and Fan Yang suddenly became a hard nut to crack.

Hei Fu stopped laughing at this time, stretched out his hand and said, "Sir, please move over to the table!"

After moving to the table, the two of them were already very close, just one step away.

Xu Shu also said in more detail: "In addition to Fanyang, there is also Shangganjun, whose territory is far to the south, from Tailing to Pengze, and stretches more than 1,300 meters from north to south. Even if the general can capture Fanyang, he will take it with him. The soldiers headed to Shanggan. It was a long distance, densely forested, and the road was difficult to travel. It would take a month and a half at the fastest. When the troops came to the city, the enemy had the southern city and the dangerous fortress of Limen, which made it difficult to capture at once..."

"In addition to the feudal lords of Chu, there are countless Yue tribes in Yuzhang, such as the Ganyue of Yuganshui, and the Yangyue of Ganshui and Penglize. Although many have gradually become naturalized and have small gatherings in the city walls, they are still There are many Yue people gathered in the forests of Xiaoshan Mountain, migrating to attack Wu Chang. If the general attacks Fanyang and Shanggan in the south, and is decisively victorious with the feudal lord of Chu, and these Yue people intercept the grain road leading to the general's rear, the general will be in danger!"

The narration made Hei Fu look at this person with admiration. Not only was his words very logical, but he also knew all the forces in Jiangxi very well. It seems that he was not lying when he said that he had "swimmed in Pengli and Ganshui to observe the tribal customs in various cities and towns." .

"This is a talent. There are many talented people out there."

Hei Fu secretly praised, cupped his hands and said, "As the teacher said, the Qin army has never set foot in Yuzhang before, so it has always been unclear about the local situation. After listening to the teacher's words, my eyes suddenly became clear!"

Heifu's men are not short of military officials who can attack cities and seize the ground, nor are they short of assistants like Li Xian who can adapt to changing circumstances, but they lack a think tank who can understand the local geography and Sichuan defense and help him formulate a strategy plan!

So he smiled and said: "Our army still lacks a staff member. Sir, are you willing to do it?"

Heifu threw out his own bait: "With this qualification, after the war, Pengzeyi still lacks this stingy man, Sir, you can get it..."

Although Xu Shu was somewhat talented, he was not a member of the Xu family and was destined to be unable to inherit the family business. His pursuit may be somewhat similar to Li Xian's, so Hei Fu lured him with an official position.

But Xu Shu didn't show much enthusiasm. He just smiled and said: "The place in Pengze is too small. Xu Shu has long wanted to go out for a walk."

This was a double entendre. Hei Fu heard this and knew that his ambition was probably more than just a small countryman, so he increased his bet: "Qin Ping Jing Land, there are many counties and counties, and there is an urgent shortage of officials. , if you, sir, can help me conquer Fanyang and Shanggan, and capture the Yue people, I will definitely repay you!"

This is what Xu Shu urged the patriarch to kill Peng Zejun and surrender to the Qin Dynasty, and came to see Hei Fu in the middle of the night. He immediately bowed his head and said: "Shu dares not to serve the general?"

Heifu helped Xu Shu up, and then left the table to ask for advice on how to capture Fanyang.

"Sir, you said before that Yuganshui also has a Qianyue tribe that lives in the city. Is it quite powerful?"

Xu Shu nodded: "Of course, there is a Yugan City more than a hundred miles south of Fanyang. It was built by Qianyue. It is about the same size as Pengze. Thousands of Qianyue people live there, and there is already a king."

Heifu understood clearly that the northern part of Yuzhang was roughly dominated by the three pillars of Qin, Lord Fanyang, and the Yue people. If Lord Fanyang and Qianyue jointly fight against Qin, the Qin army will not be familiar with the geography, so it will not be easy to capture this place. But if the Yue people can join the Xu family and join Qin, then the situation will be very different!

He suddenly wanted to contact Yu Qianyue, and this task would probably have to fall on Xu Shu.

At this time Xu Shu said again: "But the emperor is not from Yue, but from Chu who came to Yuganshui twenty years ago."

"oh?"

Heifu was surprised and asked about the matter.

"Twenty years ago, Wu Shen, a Chu official, was demoted to Yugan. He taught the Yue people to plow their fields and fertilize their fields so that they did not have to work with slashes and fires. He moved frequently, married the daughter of a local chief, and built a settlement on the Yugan River. , was regarded as the king..."

"Now that Wu Shen is old, the Yugan Yue people are mostly commanded by his son Wu Rui. I traveled south to Yuganshui a few years ago and met him..."

Xu Shu was worthy of being the one who dared to carry Peng Zejun's head into the Qin camp and surrender. He immediately raised his hand and said: "I am willing to contact Wu Rui on Sima's behalf!"