The Great Wei Empire in the Warring States Period

In the Guanzhong County Mansion, Gongsun Fa was reviewing documents. Gongsun Fa started writing, walked to the map hanging on the wall, looked at it carefully, and pointed to a city. He murmured to himself:"It seems that a canal must be built. As long as this canal is built, Guanzhong County will become a fertile land!"

At this time, the county lieutenant Meng Wu came in and saw what Gongsun Fa was thinking. This Meng Wu He was originally just a small centurion, but because of his great contribution in the war against Zhao, he was appreciated by Prince Ang. Finally, when Prince Ang returned to the capital, he recommended Meng Wu to be the governor of Guanzhong County. The county lieutenant.

Meng Wu also admired Gongsunfa very much, because after his arrival, the entire Guanzhong County gradually developed under his leadership. He is deeply loved by the people of Guanzhong County.

Meng Wu stepped forward and said:"Master Sheriff, according to your wishes, we have repaired the water conservancy project. Next spring, we can reclaim the wasteland, and we have decided to build three small irrigation stations. We have a total of It has been decided to reclaim 300,000 acres, and the county soldiers will be responsible for cultivating these lands!"

After hearing this, Gongsun Fa nodded and asked,"Did anything happen on the border?"

Meng Wu replied,"Nothing happened on the border. However, many people from the Qin State have come to do business with us recently. Do you want the governor to drive them all away?"

"Without these, Qin merchants can also drive our economy here when they come to us. Now our most important thing is to develop agriculture and build fortifications on the border! But I always feel that Qin may attack us soon!"Gongsun Fa said.

Meng Wu said:"Master Sheriff, please rest assured, Qin people, if he dares to attack here, I will definitely fight him back! Let him know that my country, Wei, is not something to be trifled with!

Gongsunfa smiled happily and said:"Very good, how are the people doing recently?" Meng Wu replied:"The people have fully recognized our Wei government, and all the people are working hard now!" And no disasters have been detected. Gongsun

Fa pointed at Yueyang and said:"Brother Meng Wu, I want you to send someone to monitor Wei Yang, because not long ago, I went to him and found that I secretly read the"Book of Wei Yang" written by him. After a while, I found that his ideas were completely different from ours, and his theories of governing the country were very suitable for the Qin State. Moreover, I also read his notes and often wrote about his admiration for the Qin State, so this person must be closely monitored. If found If he thinks of defecting, kill him immediately! After hearing this, Meng

Wu said:"But didn't General Gongzi Ang say that he is a person who values ​​love and justice?" Gongsun

Fa shook his head and said:"That's because General Gongzi Ang didn't see his true face at all. After I read his book, I knew that this person was a ruthless person. We see him on the surface." He is a person who attaches great importance to love and justice, but he is actually not. Moreover, the theories of governance he wrote are very suitable for the Qin State, so you send people to monitor him, and if you find that he wants to defect, kill him immediately!

After hearing this, Meng Wu said:"Yes!""

In a village in Guanzhong County, a group of men in black were eyeing the village. The leader said:"Let's do it tonight!"One of the men in black said:"But centurions, these people are also our former Lao Qin people!"

"Okay, we are not killing them, we are just burning their crops and their houses. Everyone listen clearly, we must burn this village to nothing, but don't kill anyone!"The leader said——yes. And the people in the village don't know yet that they are about to experience the disaster tonight!

At night, the evening breeze blew, and since it was summer, the weather was relatively dry. When all the villagers had fallen asleep, the group of men in black sneaked into the village. One of them said,"You guys go and burn all their crops!" - Yes.

While the villagers were sleeping, the fire was raging, and the entire farmland was covered by the fire. Suddenly, they felt a burst of heat. A villager woke up in a daze and found that the farmland outside was on fire. He was immediately awakened.

The villagers ran out in a hurry, saw the raging fire outside, and shouted:"It's on fire, it's on fire!" When the villagers woke up and saw that the crops they had worked so hard to grow had been burned, they went to the wells to fetch water to put out the fire. , when all the villagers were holding buckets to put out the fire, suddenly, a villager found hundreds of rockets fired at their house.

Immediately, the house was wrapped in fire, and the villagers were now running in two directions, trying to put out the fire on their crops and putting out the fire on their own houses! Some villagers feel desperate that their efforts over the past few years have been in vain!

The villagers were already in chaos, and the village chief shouted:"Don't panic, don't panic!" The night wind blew the fire bigger and bigger, and the water poured out by the villagers became bigger and bigger! Some villagers are already feeling desperate. The crops they have worked so hard to grow and the houses they have lived in for more than a hundred years have been mercilessly burned down by fire!

In the forest not far away, a group of men in black looked at this scene, one of them said:"The mission has been completed, brothers, let's retreat quickly!"——yes!

Early the next morning, Gongsunfa was still reviewing documents in the study. Suddenly, a messenger rushed in. Gongsunfa saw that the soldier was so panicked that he quickly asked:"What happened?" The soldier was panting. He said:"My lord, the governor is sorry. Thirty-two villages in the villages near Qin State have been on fire for no reason. The villagers have suffered heavy losses. Their crops and houses have been burned down by the fire!" The county magistrate has sent county soldiers to check, but there are no clues!"

After hearing this, Gongsun Fa asked again:"Are there any casualties?"

"Report to the Sheriff, no one was injured, but the crops that the people have worked so hard to grow may be ruined this year, and their houses have also been burned down. County magistrates from various places ask you if you want to help the people build their houses. ?"said the soldier.

Gongsunfa thought for a while and said:"Call the officials in the county to come to discuss the matter!"——Yes!

After a while, all the officials arrived in the study. Gongsun Fa saw that everyone had arrived and said:"Everyone, most of the villages near Qin State have suffered from unknown fires recently. Now many people's crops and houses have been burned down. Is there anything you can do?"

An official stood up and said,"Your Excellency, I think we should immediately help the people build houses and open warehouses to store grain!"

Gongsunfa nodded and said,"Well, that's right. The county magistrate sent people to help the people rebuild their houses and open warehouses to store grain!"

Meng Wu said:"Master County Sheriff, I think these fires should be man-made, and the villages where the fires occurred are close to the Qin area. Therefore, I think it might be the people of the Qin State who did it!"

After hearing Meng Wu's words, Gongsun Fa agreed very much and said:"I also think it was the people of the Qin State who did it, but we have no evidence, but the most important thing now is to set these on fire. Arrest them all, what do you think?"

Everyone was silent. It is easy to set a fire, but it is difficult to arrest people. What's more, the person who set the fire ran away as soon as he set the fire. Guanzhong County is so big, how can we catch it! Gongsun said:"Let's do this, tell the county magistrates everywhere, they will send soldiers to patrol, and mobilize county soldiers to conduct investigations on these roads, especially the Qin people, they must investigate carefully!"——yes.

Meng Wu said again:"Your Majesty, do you want to tell the capital about this matter?" Gongsun could not reach it:"This matter must be told to the capital. In order to reduce losses, we must strictly patrol in the past few dozen days, including inside the city. Be prepared for fire prevention too!"——yes.

In the past few days, villages in many places were set on fire mercilessly. The officials in various counties were already very busy. When a fire broke out in a village, the officers and soldiers went to arrest people. When the officers and soldiers arrived, no one was arrested. , the village has long been burned to the ground!

Gongsunfa looked at the bamboo slips in his hands. The bamboo slips wrote about the losses of each county and their requests for help. He hoped that the county governor would send county soldiers to support him as soon as possible. But Gongsun Fa had no choice. He only had a few soldiers in his hand. How could he defend the villages one by one?

He was also a little bored in his heart. Suddenly, he thought of an idea and immediately called Meng Wu.

After Meng Wu arrived, he asked,"Master Sheriff, what do you want from me?"

Gongsunfa pointed at the map and said,"Brother Meng Wu, you see there are regular patterns in these places where fires occur. The villages near the border are The first to suffer, but these arsonists did not burn down all the villages, but burned a few in each county. I guess the arsonists wanted to cause chaos in each county, causing some villagers to have no villagers.So, eventually some crime will happen. The document just sent said that many theft crimes have occurred in some counties! Those caught said they had no homes, which led them to steal. And the villages they burned were all relatively poor villages, so I think you can just send some soldiers to guard these poor villages at this location. Of course, they must guard them secretly, and then catch them all when they come out! Meng

Wu thought it was a good plan when he heard it, and said:"But this can only cure the symptoms, not the root cause!" Gongsun

Fa said:"Reduce the losses as much as you can. As for other matters, let the officials in the capital handle it!""——yes!

One night, a group of men in black came to a village. The leader said:"Everyone, we have burned so many villages now and have made great contributions to our country of Qin. Now we must continue to burn these villages." The poor villages were burned down, which made the Wei people miserable and made their management even more troublesome!"——yes.

When these men in black walked out and just lit a torch, hundreds of arrows shot at them. In an instant, these men in black were shot down by arrows.

When the leader saw it, he turned out to be officers and soldiers of the Wei State, and quickly shouted:"No, it's the Wei State army, retreat quickly!" Because these men in black did not bring any weapons, they were easily attacked by the Wei State's troops. The officers and soldiers killed them, and the soldiers rushed forward and prepared to arrest these men in black, but these men in black could only fight with the Wei army with their bare hands! One of the leading generals said:"Soldiers, kill these thieves! Those who resist will be killed, but those who surrender will not be killed!"——yes! Some men in black surrendered in order to survive! The soldiers of the Wei army arrested more than a dozen people that night. Seeing that the matter had been exposed, the man in black could only commit suicide by hitting his head on the ground!

In the governor's house, Gongsun Fa was reading a book. Meng Wu came in happily and said,"Master Sheriff, Master Sheriff, we have caught some people who set fires!"

Gongsun Fa was delighted when he heard this and said:"How many have been caught? How many villages have not been burned down?"

Meng Wu said:"Master County Sheriff, according to your wishes this time, we squatted in those poor villages and indeed caught some very arsonists. A total of more than 70 people were caught, but we still More than twenty villages were burned down, but more than a dozen villages were saved!"

Gongsunfa frowned:"It seems that we have to find some way to catch all those who set fire! Otherwise, the losses will be greater. The bigger one is coming!"

Meng Wu said:"Master Sheriff, do you want us to send some people to set fire to Qin's territory?"

"No, without the order of the court, we cannot send out troops at will. If we are discovered, then there may be a war! Gongsunfa replied.

Gongsunfa asked again:"Have they confessed to those who set the fire that you caught?""

Meng Wu said:"Master County Guard, they have all been recruited, and they also said that they were ordered to do it by the King of Qin! Gongsunfa thought for a while and said,"It seems I have to write a letter to tell the court!""