Qin Official

In the thirty-fourth year of the First Emperor of Qin, in the middle of the twelfth lunar month, a Qin army of tens of thousands had arrived in Nanye County, Yuzhang County (Nankang County, Jiangxi Province).

There are about 40,000 of them, including 10,000 Guanzhong soldiers, 10,000 Jiujiang and Donghai soldiers, and 20,000 civilians recruited from Jiujiang and other counties. Because the roads were narrow, it was difficult for carriages and horses to run parallel to each other, so most of the baggage was carried by civilians on their shoulders, making the small area of ​​Nanye extremely crowded.

This large army walked for two full months before arriving here from Jiujiang County.

As Yuzhang, it was also the county in the extreme south of the Qin Dynasty. Nanye County was the only way to attack South Vietnam, and Wei Xiaotao of Nanye County also respectfully met with "General Jia" who led the army.

"Your Majesty and General Tu have entrusted Jia with an important task. I heard that Tao Xianwei has been stationed here for nine years and is familiar with the situation within the Five Ridges. I hope you can give me some advice."

General Jia was originally a captain stationed in Jiujiang County. He rose to the rank of right concubine and now commanded an army of tens of thousands. Although he spoke politely, he didn't care in his heart. When talking to Xiao Tao, he found that he stuttered, which made him even more contemptuous!

"Xia Li Tao... Tao..."

Xiao Tao was still the same as before. Because he had a lot to say in his heart, he was stuck for a long time and couldn't explain it clearly. He could only ask someone to find a pile of paper. These were the key points of the Southern Expedition written by Xiao Tao in advance and presented to General Jia. Take a look.

The fake general took a few glances and realized that this was a map of the Wuling Traffic Route. All the hills that the garrison had explored were marked one by one, even a stream and a path that was about to be annihilated.

But this is only limited to the area a hundred miles south of Limen. Further south, there is nothing.

General Jia took a quick look and put it aside: "Although the map is good, it is not much different from the maps presented by those merchants..."

County Lieutenant Xiao Tao became even more anxious and handed over another piece of paper. General Jia patiently looked at it and found that the above mentioned information was from the Mei family of the Yangyue tribe.

Xiao Tao wrote everything he knew on paper: There are many tribes in South Vietnam, and the northernmost one is called "Mei". It is said that this tribe slowly migrated from Yuzhang to Lingnan after King Goujian of Yue. Now it occupies the narrow mountain platform south of Limensai, named Meiling Road. Although the Mei tribe was not big, with only 6,000 disciples, it occupied a major transportation road. If the Qin army wanted to attack South Vietnam, it had to pass through their territory.

Qin Shang also found out that because they were foreigners, the Mei family was very unpopular with the South Vietnamese natives. They often came for headhunting and chopped off many of their heads. This has caused a blood feud between the Mei family and various tribes in South Vietnam for generations. With a little work, they may be able to win over...

Xiao Tao said that in the past few years, he had been in contact with the Mei family's clan leader, Mei Yi, and exchanged information. If the Qin army could guarantee not to invade the Mei family or plunder its tribesmen, Mei Yi would be willing to make way for Qin. The army passed!

He hoped that this idea would be adopted by General Jia. In the past few years, Nanye and the Mei family had been on good terms, until General Jia's forwards arrived. Those arrogant northerners did not listen to Xiao Tao's orders and broke into the Mei family's sacred place to worship their ancestors. , causing the relationship between Nanye and the Mei family to break down.

General Jia frowned: "How did I hear that the forwards who went to explore the road were attacked by the Yue people, took away their weapons, stripped off their clothes and armor, and let them return naked?"

It was the twelfth lunar month now, and although the south was not as frozen and snowy as the north, it was still a bit chilly like late autumn. The unlucky soldiers could only cover their bodies with leaves and return shivering. This made General Jia feel insulted.

Xiao Tao could only explain helplessly: For the Yue people, it was extremely lenient not to chop off the heads of outsiders who broke into their land without permission, but to let them live as a sacrifice to their ancestors.

At present, as long as General Jia agrees, Xiao Tao can send a translator to negotiate, explain the misunderstanding, and reconcile the two parties...

General Jia sneered: "It's ridiculous. A mere tribe of troops, overestimating their own capabilities, dared to offend a powerful army. They should have been wiped out, so why talk nonsense! What's more, once the army moves south, if those untrustworthy barbarians suddenly regret it. , If you attack my baggage, won’t I be attacked from both sides?”

He believed that this kind of transportation artery must be controlled by the Qin army to be reliable, so he stood up and said: "There is no need to talk. Tao County Lieutenant only needs to send a few guides who are familiar with the roads to lead my tens of thousands of troops. Go get rid of these mosquitoes and flies!”

Xiao Tao was shocked and quickly tried to dissuade him, saying that the Mei family was familiar with the mountains and valleys and could gather and disperse at any time, so it would be difficult to annihilate them all. Moreover, they had six thousand disciples, all of whom could hunt with spears and had certain fighting strength...

"Six thousand?"

General Jia smiled. The Qin army's invincibility in the past countless years made him confident.

"Tao County Lieutenant should know that this southern expedition is different from the past. The purpose is to capture people. If you capture prisoners alive, you can also get military honors. If you don't commit any crimes, it will be useless to this group of barbarians. There are many people in that generation. I Just in time to capture more people! We can also reach the South Vietnam coast as soon as possible and join General Tu’s partial division!”

Xiao Tao wanted to reply, but General Jia waved his hand and said:

"Captain Tao Xian doesn't need to say anything else. All you need to do is keep an eye on the food supply and wait for the good news from me!"

…

"I knew it would be like this..."

Ten days later, as spring approached, Magistrate Li Xian of Nanchang County, Yuzhang County, looked helpless when facing Ji Ying, who had come all the way to deliver Xiaotao's letter.

There was a lot of noise in this southern expedition. Qin Shihuang sent a total of 200,000 people, which was similar to the first time he destroyed Chu. This has given Baiyue great respect.

However, the south is sparsely populated and the roads are difficult to travel. Two hundred thousand people are crowded together without fighting. After eating the bark of the local grass roots and trees, they themselves starved to death. In addition, the tribes of Baiyue are scattered and there is no use in joining forces. .

Therefore, the general Tu Sui divided the 200,000 men into five groups: one army fortified the ridge of Tancheng, one army defended the fortress of Jiuyi, one army attacked the coast of the South China Sea, one army left the boundary of Nanye, and the other army formed the remaining cadres. water...

Among them, Changsha County was the main direction of attack. Tancheng and Jiuyi's army attacked Xiou, which was disobedient to the Qin Dynasty, which was later Guangxi. This was the West Road.

There is also an army that leaves Yangshanguan and goes straight into the South China Sea, trying to split South Vietnam into two! The army going south from Nanye County in Yuzhang will join the Yangshan army and together they will sweep away the South Vietnamese tribes with the largest population in Baiyueli. These two armies are counted as the middle route.

The last route is to gather in Yugan County, go east around Wuyi Mountain, and advance towards Dongou. I want to meet the boatmen who set off from Kuaiji on the coast of Minhai, and then attack Minyue together. This is the east route...

The southern expedition front was thousands of miles long. The east, west, and middle routes were nominally owned by Tu Sui, but in reality, they were brothers who went up to the mountain and worked their own way.

The west route was led by Tu Sui himself. The only person on the other side who was related to the Nanjun Xiang Party was Zhao Tuo. He was an old member of Tu Sui, but later he became very close to Heifu. Perhaps this was disliked by Tu Sui. This guy has been tepid in recent years.

The East Route Army, commanded by Yuzhang County Lieutenant Yin Tong, directly mobilized many soldiers and civilians of Yuzhang and stationed them in Yugan, which was the territory of the Ganyue people. Unlike other Yue people, they had a higher level of civilization and had defected to the Qin Dynasty early. .

The county magistrate Wu Rui was still the trusted brother of Heifu and Zhao Tuo. At that time, Heifu's position was not high, so Wu Rui didn't feel much about it. But now, whenever he mentions Hei Fu's name, those officials who originally looked down on "Man Yue" with their nostrils turned upward will immediately become solemn.

Wu Rui benefited a lot from this relationship. Although he was the chief of Ganyue, he was not ambiguous at all when he helped Qin officials capture Yue slaves from other tribes.

In addition, Yin Tong relied heavily on Heifu's old troops, so as far as Li Xian knew, Wu Rui was doing well under Yin Tong. Qian Yue had close contacts with Dong Ou, and with him as his guide, the East Route Army made progress. It went relatively smoothly.

But the Central Route Army passing through Nanye County was different. General Jia had a lot of trusted generals under his command. Dongmenbao, the lieutenant of Luling County, and Xiaotao, the lieutenant of Nanye County, who were ordered to follow his orders, are now unable to speak at all. Dongmen Bao wanted to fight for the position of vanguard, but was arranged to escort the rear army, and Xiao Tao could only be responsible for logistics.

Factional disputes exist in every dynasty and every generation, and it is understandable. Who would leave their own direct lineage alone and trust outsiders...

But seeing that General Najia insisted on going his own way, and after the army penetrated deep into Lingnan, he rashly made enemies and started a war against the Mei tribe that he could have won. Xiao Tao wrote anxiously to Li Xian. Said that this is completely different from the combat strategy of "break up and defeat each other" in Heifu's secret letter...

After understanding Xiao Tao's situation, Li Xian shook his head and said to Ji Ying: "Last year, we discussed that the most suitable candidate for the southern expedition was the pavilion chief, but what about Xiao Tao? We always thought that Baiyue was not worthy of the victory. It is easy to fight, but in fact, this is not a question of whether it is good or not. The emperor's decision will not change. If the commander of the pavilion is not the commander, he will have to be replaced by someone else."

He spread his hands and said: "Now, Tu Sui is the commander-in-chief. Except for Yin Junwei of the Eastern Route Army, who is one of our own, the rest of the deputy generals of the partial division are also outsiders. In the past, the Anlu disciples who were under the command of the pavilion chief and were powerful in southern Xinjiang, Now I can only look at the baggage, eat dust, and watch others make meritorious deeds."

Ji Ying was a little anxious. After so many years, the group of them had already become a group with shared interests. It was their private agreement to make meritorious deeds together, make money together, and eat sweets together.

Now that the war is on, Dongmen Bao, Xiao Tao and other brothers are being marginalized and will not benefit at all!

"Now we are like the little servant's adopted sons, unwelcome."

He cursed and said tentatively:

"Look, do you want to ask the director of the pavilion..."

"Don't bother the pavilion chief with everything!"

Li Xian said with a straight face: "The pavilion chief is now not only the governor of Jiaodong County, but also the supervisor of the Northern Expedition. I recently heard that Young Master Fusu failed to wipe out the bandits. The army has been stationed in Haidong for a long time. There is also a lot of mess there. The pavilion chief takes care of it. Even if he has the energy to solve our problems, how can he come to the south due to the limitations of his authority?"

"so what should I do now."

Ji Ying rolled his eyes. In this situation, they, a group of local snakes in Yuzhang, were being controlled by others, which made him feel unhappy.

"No hurries!"

Li Xian sneered: "Since the generals despise Baiyue, thinking they can destroy the dead, and treat the old troops of Nanjun indifferently, and do not use Xiao Tao's strategy, then we have no choice but to remain silent! Without our help, this battle will really be difficult. Is it going well? It's good in the middle of winter right now, but when spring turns to summer, these northerners will know the horrors of the south!"