Qin Official

In the north in August, the autumn wind is already bleak, but the area just named "Nanning" by Heifu is already south of the Tropic of Cancer. The scorching heat does not seem to have subsided. The cicadas and frogs can still be heard in the forest. In the afternoon, All kinds of insects in the grass also joined the chorus, disturbing people.

Fortunately, this valley is very wide and has been burned by fire. The forest has turned into white ground. With a little hoeing, you can set up camp.

It was also here that Han Xin came to report to Heifu, saying that they had found some old ravine camps and many headless bones abandoned randomly. These were probably the old camps of the Qin army...

Yes, two years ago, during the first war, Tu Sui led his army to arrive here, with flags fluttering and great ambitions, and he made the bold statement of "attacking Bei Xianghu to celebrate the New Year".

Unfortunately, because he was not familiar with the terrain, he strayed into the forest and was quickly attacked by the Ou people. Tu Sui was hit by a poisonous arrow. Disease also broke out in the army. Coupled with the harassment by the Ou people, the losses were heavy. Zhao Tuo, who took charge of the army on his behalf, had no choice but to order retreat……

Everyone knew that this was the beginning of the Qin army's defeat. Gong Ao and others suggested that Heifu change his camp. This time, in addition to the 30,000 recruits trained by the Wuchang camp, there were more than a thousand veterans from Cangwu and Guilin. Well, if they get emotional and think of that tragic defeat, it may have a negative impact on their morale.

"If they weren't stationed here, wouldn't they think of that nightmare retreat?"

However, Heifu chose to set up a new camp near the old fortress, and asked Li Cang to take people to collect all the headless bones that could be found, and also had people dig graves and bury them properly.

Memorial ceremonies in the Qin Dynasty were very particular, and different grades had different specifications. Generally speaking, the Wu Qian head of a scholar was "a county seal for a commoner. If the burial is not stopped by rain, there will be no trees if there is no seal, and there will be no funeral.", which means When civilians are buried, they can only use ropes to sew the coffin into the hole. Even if it rains, they will still be buried. They will not gather soil into a grave or plant trees...

But what surprised Lu Jia, a Confucian scholar who was skilled in various funeral rituals, was that the Marquis of Changnan insisted on waiting until the light rain stopped before burying him. Although he could not get coffins for a while, each coffin must be properly packed. , placed them neatly, and after gathering them into a grave, he personally planted trees on it and presented flowers tied in a circle.

Not only that, the next day, the soldiers of the three armies were also summoned to hold a memorial ceremony in front of the cemetery, asking everyone to observe silence and bow down to the deceased. This was considered a "mourning ceremony"...

Lu Jia said nothing. To the north of the Five Ridges, the Emperor was the biggest, but to the south of the Five Ridges, the Marquis of Changnan was the biggest. Disobeying etiquette was nothing at all. He just wanted to be happy.

Heifu stood in front of the tomb and asked the messenger to tell everyone what he said.

"This is the dead soldier of the last expedition, and it is also yours. Although the bones collected in Nanning are only a few hundred, I plan to regard this as the tomb where the 20,000 dead of General Tu's command were buried two years ago. From now on Once the bones are found, they will be gathered here and buried properly."

Heifu took another bibliography from Li Cang's hand and said: "I have asked people to find the list of sergeants and soldiers in the army at that time. Those who were present when attacking Luo Yue but not when they returned will be regarded as dead in battle. I have requested the imperial court. Reduce or reduce taxes and corvee for his family."

Directly in front of Heifu were more than a thousand people from the Guilin and Cangwu battalions who had participated in the last war and had stayed in the south. This was a good thing, but the veterans were silent and no one spoke.

There is no way, the credibility of the imperial court has plummeted in the hearts of these soldiers whose service period has been extended four times. No one believes that the harsh emperor will agree to Heifu's proposal...

Chen Ying, who staggered back to Cangwu two years ago with Pao Ze's hand on his back in the basket, was also among them, but his temples were gray and his expression was gloomy. He had not yet come out of the shadow of the tragic defeat. Because he was an old acquaintance of Heifu. , was pushed out by his boss to respond, he bowed and said:

"Chen Ying thanked the prince on behalf of the dead party members and soldiers in the hometown, but with all due respect, what they hoped for most was to be buried in their hometown instead of being buried in this wild place. However, the bones were scattered and could not be identified, and the fox's head was still alive after death. Qiu, no matter how hard you try to summon the souls, it will be difficult for them to return home..."

There are many people who hold the same idea as Chen Ying. Most of them were recruited from the Chu region and had little recognition of the Qin Dynasty. They were thrown to Lingnan. Seeing the death of many township party members, they were afraid and resentful. Some even dare not to do so until now. Go into the woods again.

This time, Hei Fu was transferred to his side, and he returned to his old place. He was afraid that he would be sent upriver to fight the Yue people again. His fear and dissatisfaction were beyond words.

But instead of being angry, Heifu sighed:

"You're right, I can't let the soldiers go home..."

"I can only give them another thing as compensation."

He didn't give Chen Ying any trouble, he clapped his hands, and more than a hundred craftsmen accompanying the army came over carrying the wooden boards that had just been carved and the ink was only dry. They inserted them into the soil piece by piece and erected them in front of the big tomb!

On the wooden sign, there are dense official scripts!

Seeing this thing, the veteran soldiers who were originally demoralized, like a pool of stagnant water, felt a little commotion.

"This is……"

Those who were illiterate could not understand it and had worked as minor officials. Chen Ying, who was literate, rubbed his eyes and couldn't believe it.

"It is the name list of all fallen soldiers."

Heifu explained: "More than ten years ago, I initiated this rule and the Nanjun soldiers began to implement this rule. Soldiers who died of illness during the battle or were killed in battle were buried in the loyal soldier cemetery. Because the bones were difficult to identify, they could only be buried together. Then, his name, official title, title, etc. are engraved and placed in front of the tomb so that his relatives can pay their respects."

"Today, I want to give the same treatment to these soldiers who died in the Southern Expedition!"

Someone murmured: "Isn't it true that in the Loyal Soldiers Cemetery, only Qin people who died in the war against the Six Kingdoms are buried?"

Some of them live in the county and have seen the loyal soldiers' cemetery, but the Chu people usually walk around it. It's better if they don't spit on this group of tiger and wolf soldiers who have beheaded the leaders of the township party!

Dongmen Bao, who had a loud voice, followed Hei Fu's instructions and roared: "In Lingnan, there is no distinction between people from Guanzhong, people from Chu, or people from Zhao, Wei, Han, and Qi. Junhou said it , whether we are generals, captains, or soldiers, we all have only one identity, and that is the soldiers of the Southern Expedition Army, we are all brothers!"

Chen Ying and the others were a little stunned after hearing this, Pao Ze? brother? This is the first time in my life that a "Qin person" calls a Chu person that way.

However, Nanjun is originally the land of Western Chu, and its accent is somewhat similar to that of the Jianghuai Chu people. Compared with Guanzhong dialect, Changnanhou's full accent is quite familiar.

"Of course."

Heifu said: "The ancients said, 'Immortality after death'. A noble man once asked a wise man, how to achieve it?"

"The wise man told the noble man that even if you have a great reputation and have been an official for several generations, you still cannot achieve immortality after death. If you want to be immortal, you must have the following points: establish virtues, meritorious services, and establish good words. Even if it lasts for a long time, This is called immortality.”

"So, in this world, there are not many people who are wealthy, and there are very few who are immortal."

"But I want the soldiers who died in Lingnan to be immortal!"

After saying this, under the surprised eyes of everyone, he pointed to the neatly arranged wooden signs behind him and said:

"The wooden plaques here and the names on them are less than one-tenth of the number of fallen soldiers. The craftsmen will stay here and carve them slowly. In the future, I will replace all the wooden plaques with stone tablets! All the people will be His name is engraved on it again and again! It will last forever!"

"Thousands of years from now, immigrants from the Central Plains will come here to colonize this wild and wild land, building real ravines and borrowing real acres."

"They will come to this cemetery to worship. If anyone asks, who went deep into the cemetery, fought through thorns and thorns, and died here, they can know it from the name above!"

"If anyone asks, who took this vast land for Zhu Xia, and who opened a new home for us, they can know it from the names above!"

The veterans were a little moved, but some still raised questions: "Junhou, even so, but there are so many names, neither relatives nor friends, who would look at them one by one and remember them?"

"you're right."

Heifu pointed at the veteran who was missing an ear. He was probably a soldier: "Future generations may not be able to remember everyone's name, but they can remember that they and we are all soldiers of the Southern Expedition." '!"

"Generals of the Southern Expedition Army..."

Both veterans and recruits seem to have a sense of belonging to this title.

At this time, the last big wooden sign was brought over, covered with black cloth.

Heifu walked over and tore off the cloth, revealing four handsome seal characters that he had practiced for a long time and written in his own hand:

"Immortal!"

"These hundreds of people who have been buried here, and the more than ten thousand people who are still scattered in the forests, swamps, and rivers, they have made great contributions because of Zhu Xia's expedition here and the expansion of the territory. They will be remembered and immortalized by generations to come! "

"Second and third sons, loyal souls, this is the compensation Hei Fu will give you on behalf of the imperial court!"

…

It's raining again, light rain.

After the memorial ceremony, with permission, Chen Ying and other literate military officials came forward to check. He found his village. Those familiar names were all followed by the same place of origin: Donghai County and Dongyang County.

Chen Ying wiped his tears, touched it with his hands, and called out these names one by one.

"Zhao, Long, Xing, Chi crack, Chen Lai, Chen Liu..."

He seemed to see those familiar faces again, but in the blink of an eye, they turned into a hand carried in a bamboo basket on his back...

Chen Ying hated this war, he blamed the court and the emperor, but today, Changnan Hou finally gave him some comfort.

This is a memorial ceremony that is two years late.

The only pity is that dozens of people in the team led by Chen Ying died. Half of them died on the way back to Cangwu, and the other half died a hundred miles to the west, on the upper reaches of Jinnan River.

If Nanning was the beginning of the Qin army's retreat, then Luo Yue's Linchen was the place that dealt them a fatal blow. The Guilin army withdrew due to the death of General Tu, but the Cangwu army went deep alone. As a result...

Not only Chen Ying, but other veterans who had experienced the defeat in the last war were also looking for their names in the Paoze Township Party, crying and howling, and huddled together in the light rain.

Lu Jia looked at the scene in front of him with a lot of emotion. He was also from Shouchun in Chu region, and everything hurt his own kind. He walked to Changnan Hou and said softly:

"The same words are carved on stones. I believe that the names of these soldiers will last longer than the stone carvings left by His Majesty the Emperor in Langya and Mount Tai!"

"maybe."

Heifu was noncommittal: "But the premise is that we can really conquer this territory, build earthen buildings, and defend this place. Otherwise, as soon as the army retreats, whether it is a wooden sign or a stone tablet, they will be knocked down by the Yue people, and the soldiers, Will be thrown into the wilderness again!"

After everyone had cried enough and regrouped, Heifu began his own war mobilization.

"In the great defeat two years ago, the Guilin Army retreated here, but the Cangwu Army penetrated deep into the Yushui tributary, two hundred miles upstream of the Jinnan River..."

The so-called Jinnan Water is the Zuojiang River in Guangxi in later generations, and Linchen, also known as the Land of All Things, located on the bank of the water, was Luo Yue's headquarters and the place where Cangwu's army was destroyed.

Heifu's eyes scanned the veterans.

"Today, we are back here again. I want to send troops to attack Luo Yue to end the southern expedition. However, there are many new soldiers in the army and they don't know the water and soil paths. Among you old soldiers, who is willing to lead the way for me? Come by the way Bring the bones of Brother Paoze back to the place where they died?"

"Who wants to go?"

I shouted twice, but no one spoke for the time being. The old soldiers all looked at each other with fear in their eyes...

That horrific death march, that tragedy in which 70 or 80 people died, the roaring elephants, the snake and insect diseases in the forest, no one wanted to experience it a second time!

No one came out for a while, until someone stood up.

"Marquis Changnan, I'll go."

It is Chen Ying from Dongyang County. Although he is only forty years old, his temples are gray. This is the mark left on him by the war. It is said that he looked like this after he was defeated in the rain forest. It has been two years and he still casts a shadow on the forest. Hiding in the fortress, refusing to go out on patrol even if beaten to death...

From Cangwu to here, he has been hiding in the boat, looking at the green hell outside with fear...

But now, although he was still a little wary, he raised his hand, smiled and said to Heifu:

"When I came out, I promised my elders in my hometown that I would take my children to Dongyang, but I broke my promise."

"Since they can't return to their hometown, at least they can't abandon their bodies in the wilderness and let the weeds grow wildly on it. I want to go back to that place, pick up the bones of the villagers, bury them here, and let them carve their names on their names. After the tombstone, rest in peace!"