Qin Official

The one sent by the Mei family was indeed a woman.

According to Wu Rui, this old Yue girl is the mother of Mei Rui and the sister of Wu Rui. However, she has been married for more than 20 years and has long abandoned her family name and calls herself "Mei Wu".

This is the mother. For the sake of her son, she still went to the meeting resolutely even though she knew it might be a trap.

The negotiation was taking place on the red danxia stone. Although he knew it was not polite, sitting five steps away, Hei Fu couldn't help but look at Mei Wu's face.

It's not that she's beautiful, but the tattoos on her face are so dense that it's shocking: at first glance, it looks like a fishing net, but when you take a closer look, you find that the embroidery actually looks like a big butterfly, with the nose as the center line, forever. The indelible ink lines extend towards the cheeks...

"This is the custom of the Yangyue people. When my sister gets married, she will naturally follow the local customs."

Wu Rui told Hei Fu that Yue people cut their hair and tattooed their hair to look like dragons and snakes. They believed that facial tattoos were instructions from their ancestors, which could avoid disasters and prolong life. In Yangyue, men in the tribe must learn to hunt and hunt heads before they can get tattoos, while girls must get tattoos before they can learn to weave, which means they are adults and can get married.

"First dip a bamboo stick into the black ash at the bottom of the cauldron, and trace the patterns around the center of the eyebrows, the bridge of the nose, the cheeks and the mouth. Then ask someone to hold a bamboo hairpin in one hand and a needle in the other to prick along the lines. Each time a needle is inserted, Wipe off the blood and immediately apply black ash. After three to five days, the scab will fall off the wound, and there will be blue-blue marks on the skin. This kind of facial pattern can never be scrubbed away."

It hurts just listening to it, and many people have died from the infection, but the Yue people still adhere to this custom diligently. The more tattoos, the darker the color, and the denser the pattern, the more distinguished the person is.

Heifu felt that he would suffer from trypophobia if he looked at it again, so he moved his eyes away.

Dongmen Leopard stood next to Heihu. This guy had given birth to five daughters in a row. He was a patriarchal man. He sneered at the Yue girl and said: "You, a married woman, can take the place of the Mei clan's elders." Make a decision?"

He had just shouted that "their generation is insulting the king by sending a girl here" and wanted to drive them away.

"The prince of the Mei family was born to me, and I am still the shaman of the tribe."

Mei Wu was neither humble nor arrogant. She nodded: "I can, but where is my son?"

Heifu signaled Dongmen Bao to retreat first and responded: "He is fine now, but if the Mei family refuses to surrender..."

Mei Wu looked very much like a tigress that had lost its cubs. She glanced left and right, looking for Mei Hao: "I can't talk to you until I know he's still alive."

Heifu clapped his hands, and Li Cang immediately pushed Mei Yan up with his hands tied behind his back. Mei Wu immediately stood up, walked over to check, held his face, and felt heartbroken. Seeing that his son was not injured, he breathed a sigh of relief. But he punched him hard!

"You are a ruler, not a warrior. If you are in danger, you should immediately abandon the old, weak, women and children, and leave with the young and the strong, instead of leaving behind a broken queen!"

Mei Ruo lowered his head in shame, completely losing the fearlessness he had when he was captured that day. Under his mother's scolding, he became as obedient as a deer.

Heifu watched this scene and glanced at Wu Rui: "I heard from Li Cang that the elders of the Mei family originally wanted to kill the first batch of deserters who came to defect, but Mei Wu tried to accept them to make up for the loss of personnel. . In my opinion, you, my sister, are the real leader of the Mei clan, right?"

"I only know that she is Wu Zhu."

Wu Rui was sweating a little and said that he had not had any contact with the Mei family in the past few years. That was a lie.

At this moment, Hei Fu only needs to move his fingers, and his men can capture the Mei family's mother and son together. The entire Mei family's remaining thousands of people have lost their leader.

But Heifu did not. He smiled and said: "Lu Jia told me that the army cannot stand without trust. I also hope that the strategy of attacking the hearts and minds of the Lingnan Zhuyue can be a good start for keeping faith."

At this time, after Mei Wu taught his son a lesson, he also returned to Hei Fu and bowed to him, probably to thank him for not killing Mei Yi.

"You have won, what else do you want?"

"What I want is simple."

Heifu stood up, spread his hands, and looked at this strange and wild land, with the face of a movie villain:

"Offer the land and water! Surrender to Qin from generation to generation!"

…

"Ting director, just let her go like this?"

In the evening, the figures of the Yue people disappeared into the forest, but Dongmen Leopard was a little unhappy. He thought there would be a big battle. He had been preparing for a long time, but it ended in negotiations, which was really boring.

Just now, Heifu used Wu Rui as a guarantee, and the two sides swore an oath of alliance. According to the agreement, Heifu let Mei Wu leave. After she returned, she had to restrain the tribe, surrender to Qin, and hand over the accepted deserters to be executed by Heifu. She could no longer harass people and vehicles along the way, and even had to use human resources. Cut down trees to ensure the safety of the Qin Army's Beijiang Road.

Mei Rong, who still shouted "unaccepted", will be temporarily held as a hostage in Heifu's army.

Heifu also promised that he would ask Emperor Qin Shihuang of Xianyang to appoint Mei Yuan as the official "jun chief". His treatment would be the same as that of Rong Di Jun Zhang of Bajun and Beidi. His rank would be similar to that of a county magistrate. He could inherit it from generation to generation. The court would not do too much. Interference, let alone killing Mei at every turn like Jia He did.

Dongmen Bao couldn't understand. In his opinion, the reason why the west and middle routes were defeated in the last expedition to Vietnam was because of the incompetence of the commander. Now that Hei Fu is here, as long as the commander's flag points, he will lead the soldiers to charge all the way. It can sweep across Lingnan.

But now, they have clearly defeated the Mei family, but instead of pursuing them fiercely, they let them go.

But Heifu stood on the Danxia Giant Rock, shook his head and said: "Ah Bao, this war cannot be solved by force alone."

"From the beginning, the Southern Expedition was not only about the military, but also politics."

The essence of politics is two words.

"compromise!"

Politics means compromise. In politics, we need to choose the least bad option because it is a feasible option and we cannot get a better result.

Historically, the restraint system that has lasted for two thousand years in the south is no accident. Why did every dynasty in the Qin, Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties choose similar methods in areas where ethnic minorities gathered? Are they so big-hearted that they can tolerate this kind of state within a state?

Without him, it’s not that I don’t want to, but that I really can’t. Even in the heyday of the unified dynasty, its power was limited. Complete conquest of border areas would cost too much in terms of human and financial resources. Subject to transportation and population, until there are enough immigrants from the Central Plains to fill these corner areas, restraint is the best way, at least a less bad way, to maintain the chieftain's obedience to the court. As long as you do not openly rebel, together Oh, easy to say.

This is the choice of history, and it is also the choice of Heifu. Only as time goes by, immigrants move southward, the regional population ratio changes, and the balance is finally broken, is it possible to change the country and return to the country.

"Compared with this wilderness that cannot be defended after being captured, let the three armies retake Panyu first, establish a foothold in the city, let the roads be unmolested, and travel between the south and the north without hindrance, so that the garrison can farm with peace of mind and have no worries about food and clothing. , that’s the business!”

Heifu knew very well that what he could do was definitely not to immediately control every inch of land and every drop of water in Lingnan.

All he can do is to stamp four big characters on this vast land, just like the tattoos on the Yue girl's face, which are made of blood and ink and will never fade away.

"Since ancient times!"

…

After solving the Mei family's problem, Heifu built a small town there and named it "Shaoguan", leaving Wu Chen and a thousand people to garrison it.

Then, he commanded the army, took Mei Yi as a hostage, and marched towards Hengpuguan along the newly opened Beijiang Road.

In mid-June of the thirty-fifth year of Qin Shihuang's reign, standing on the steep and rugged trail of Tailing (Dayuling), Heifu saw Hengpu Pass and couldn't help but sigh:

"When I came here ten years ago, it was still called Limensai, with only one door closed."

Now, the expanded and reinforced Hengpu Pass has become the most important hub for entry and exit from Lingnan.

"Looking at this pass from the north and south of the mountain, the scenery is really different."

From north to south, what you see is daunting wilderness.

Looking from the south to the north, what I see is civilization, my hometown, and the hope of escaping from this green hell.

This is the true feeling of every Qin soldier.

When we arrived at Hengpu Gate along the winding mountain road, Li Xian was already waiting here.

The first thing Heifu did was to walk to the south-facing wall and touch the bricks on it.

"Did the wall be demolished and put up a new one?"

"Exactly, it was demolished five years ago." Li Xian responded.

Heifu nodded and did not ask any more questions, but he clearly remembered what was written on the wall when he first arrived here ten years ago!

It is an inscription written in dark red blood and has eight characters in total.

"Although Chu has three households, if Qin is destroyed, Chu will definitely die!"

It's like an unwilling curse.

It's like a mysterious prophecy.

At that time, everyone in the Southern Expedition was worried about the fleeing Chu people and the Lord Shanggan who had gone to Chu Court in South Vietnam, thinking that they would come back.

But now, who still remembers them?

"I'm afraid that Ji Sun's worries are not in Zhuan Yu, but within Xiao Qiang."

Heifu sighed. The real threat is never outside the wall, but inside the wall. I heard that in recent years, with the beginning of the Southern Expedition and the intensification of conflicts, in the land of Sanchu, people who secretly muttered this sentence , there are more and more.

However, after careful calculation, Heifu discovered that most of his subordinates were "Chu people" in the broad sense.

Needless to say, the old Nanjun tribe, as a direct lineage, belongs to Western Chu. Although generations of people have been controlled by laws and regulations, they all regard themselves as Qin people, but they can't change their Chu tone even if they want to.

His staff, Xiao He, Cao Shen and others from Peixian County, were also from the Western Chu. This is also the reason why Xiang Yu called himself the "Overlord of the Western Chu" after establishing the country in Pengcheng and Surabaya in history.

Yuzhang, who was regarded as his "backyard" by Heifu, and the Changsha soldiers who were convinced by him after curing illnesses and eradicating epidemics, belonged to Southern Chu.

The 30,000 people in Chen (hēn) County who were recovered with one head and a bunch of buns, as well as the newly attached Lu Jia, were mostly from Shouchun, Huainan and belonged to Eastern Chu.

The majestic Qin Changnan Marquis directly controlled the 100,000 soldiers and civilians, mainly from the Three Chus.

"A group of people from the Three Chus were sacrificing their lives and blood for the Qin Dynasty, opening up new territories. No one would have dared to think about it more than ten or twenty years ago, right? And their commander, by coincidence, was being destroyed again. During the time of Chu State, I contributed a lot."

He once captured Xiang Yan's handsome flag, and also led people to Shouchun, the capital of Chu, to plunder the wealth of the king of Chu. He watched the princess of Chu fall to her death from a building, with her head broken and bleeding.

No one knows better than him how much blood was shed and how many people died before the world was unified.

History really likes to joke, and is most interested in reenacting what just happened over and over again, never getting tired of it.

When riding into Hengpu Pass, his ears were filled with cheers in Sanchu accents, and Heifu couldn't help but laugh at himself:

"If I say, I still want to use this group of people from the Three Chus as my wings to protect this precarious world, reunite the broken rivers and mountains, and let the people of the seven countries who are separated from each other eliminate their hatred. I dare not say that they love each other, at least. I can hold my nose and get by..."

"Will anyone believe this!?"

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