Qin Official

"In the military system, if there are five people in a group, the five will protect each other; if there are ten people in the group, they will protect each other; in fifty people, they will protect each other; in a hundred people, they will protect each other!"

"If there is a person who violates the prohibition of the Qian Order, he will be exempted from the crime; if he knows it but fails to expose it, the whole army will be punished. If there is a person who violates the prohibition of the Qian Order, he will be exempted from the crime; if he knows it but fails to expose it, the whole army will be punished... If there is a person in the Lu who violates the prohibition of the Qian's order, he will be exposed, and he will be exempted from the crime; if he knows it but fails to expose it, the whole Lu will be punished!"

"Now there are thousands of garrison soldiers and corvees at Yangshan Pass. They have killed their superiors and rebelled. According to military law, they should all be punished!"

Although it was midsummer and the weather was hot, the thousand rebel soldiers who were pushed to the ground and had their hands tied behind their backs felt cold all over after listening to the words shouted by the ordering soldiers.

Looking at the posture and hearing these words, even though they surrendered, are they still going to be killed?

Among the thousand people, there were all different age groups, ranging from a skinny and gaunt old man in his fifties to a shaggy-haired young man in his eighteen or nineteen years old. They were either wearing the thin armor of the captain or very long, or they were wearing the brown clothes of the corvee. He had been digging mountains in Lingnan for many years, and he was either injured or sick. Because the granary was burned, he was hungry for many days, and he was weak.

But even so, they still had a strong desire to survive in their eyes, so they took chances and surrendered, but they were severely slapped in the face by reality.

Hope turned to despair, and many people yelled angrily.

"Young man, Lu Jia, you are deceiving us!"

Lu Jia heard this. He gritted his teeth and walked forward, knelt down in front of Hei Fu with a plop, and said sincerely:

"Junhou, you made an agreement with Lu Jia that within ten days, if you can get the Yangshan Pass rebels to surrender, you will spare their lives. Now that Lu Jia has fulfilled his mission, please keep your promise!"

But Hei Fu was unmoved: "You also know that they are traitors, how can you pardon them?"

Lu Jia was unwilling to give up: "The prince himself told me that there was a similar incident more than 20 years ago. During the Lao Ai Rebellion, more than 4,000 of his disciples and guests rebelled. However, after His Majesty the Emperor put down the rebellion, But he just exiled them to Shu, without killing them..."

Heifu smiled and said, "In this vast world, the only person who can override laws and orders is His Majesty. The rest of the tens of millions of people, even if they are princes, princes and grandsons, will still not be able to escape punishment if they violate the laws of the country, let alone the garrison soldiers in the head of Guizhou. ?Unless His Majesty makes an exception."

"Your Majesty has the power to grant a pardon, but as a general, I can only abide by the rules! If he is pardoned, I will be the one who broke the law!"

However, Lu Jia thought this was an excuse. The army was far away, and even the supervisor Ziying did not follow him to Lingnan due to heat stroke. Wasn't Heifu the one who had the final say whether this group of people lived or died?

He begged again: "Even so, the Lord has clearly promised that he will plead with His Majesty and let them live!"

Heifu seemed to have just remembered, and scratched his hair: "After half a year, how can rewards and punishments be overdue? If there is no punishment today, I am afraid that the entire Confederate army will be in chaos. Soldiers who complain about their generals can be killed. , anyway, as long as you surrender afterwards, you can escape punishment. The mausoleum was broken without restraint, the water was broken by lightning, and the three armies were in chaos. I can't mess with the order of hundreds of thousands of people just because of these few thousand people!"

The more Lu Jia listened, the more chilled he became, and he bowed again:

"The king keeps talking about military law. Ten days ago, when he asked me to use sweet words to deceive people, why didn't he mention a word? Confucius said, if a person has no faith, he doesn't know what he is doing. A big cart has no hook (ni), and a small cart has no tail (yuè) , how can you do it? The five virtues of a general are wisdom, faith, benevolence, courage, and strictness. If the king breaks his promise today, I am afraid that no soldier will dare to believe you in the future. Everyone promised that they would send people to rotate and let them return. Nanjun and Hengshan are resting, is this also a lie?"

"It's useless to talk!"

Heifu became extremely stubborn and said with a serious face: "If you advance, you will be generously rewarded, if you retreat, you will be severely punished, and if you rebel, you will be killed. This is called a trustworthy general. Compared with the small trust of a personal agreement, following military laws, this is great trust!" I have made up my mind, stand down!"

Although Lu Jia was a Confucian scholar, he still had some ambition. In anger, he jumped up, raised his neck, and walked forward a few steps:

"I am also a husband, and I don't want to break my promise with a villain. Since the general wants to kill him, let's kill Lu Jia too!"

"OK."

He took himself too seriously. Instead of Lu Jia's expected sudden awakening, Hei Fu simply agreed. After gesturing with his hands, the guards actually pulled Lu Jia down!

Lu Jia was completely stunned. After being stunned for a while, he turned around and cursed:

"Hei Fu, you...you broke your promise and got fat, and you are not a king in vain! If you act like a villain, you may die in the future and be destroyed by the army!"

…

Lu Jia's curses continued until Li Cang, who had been calling "Mr. Lu" just now, stuffed a piece of cloth into his head and blocked him up. He was dragged to the Huangxi River and knelt side by side with the thousand rebel soldiers.

Heifu's emotionless voice sounded:

"Officials are the representative of the soldiers. From the commander above to the generals on the left and right, they protect each other. Now that thousands of people are plotting a rebellion, the military officials cannot escape the blame. First, kill the hundred commanders, the commanders of the villages, and the commanders of the commanders!"

These small characters do not need the ax and ax given by Qin Shihuang. The people from Anpu sent Huangxi Pass who were loyal to Heifu cooperated with Heifu to bring soldiers from the Changsha camp. They formed a group of three, holding machetes made by Etieyue Mountain, starting with ten hundred soldiers, and then twenty Named village chief, and finally one hundred chiefs...

Accompanied by screams and begging for mercy, more than a hundred human heads rolled down and fell on the beach by the river. The blood gathered into a stream and merged into the Huangshui River. For a moment, the water flow was all red!

The blades also turned over and had to be replaced.

The five thousand soldiers of the Chen County Battalion stood in the distance, looking at this scene with complicated expressions. There were many whispers, but no one dared to stop them.

Lu Jia also knelt by the stream, staring blankly at the scene in front of him, horrified.

Yes, he actually forgot that four years ago, the various fields in Qi rebelled, and there was great chaos in Linzi and Jibei. As a general, Heifu led the Jiaodong troops to quell the rebellion.

I heard that he first went on a killing spree in Linzi City and executed 2,000 rebel family members. After the First World War in Gaotang, he slaughtered 10,000 more rebel soldiers. He also nailed them to wooden frames and inserted them beside the road pavilion and post station. Ten miles away, facing each other.

Those terrifying wooden corpses were scattered all over the Central Plains to deter those who were dissatisfied with Qin, and there were many in Shouchun.

"This black man is a cruel official and butcher who doesn't keep his word and kills people without blinking an eye. How could I believe his lies at that time?"

Lu Jia regretted it too late.

At this time, the military officials had been killed, and it was the turn of the ordinary garrison soldiers and corvees.

The Huainan soldier next to Lu Jia was also frightened and cried: "I didn't want to rebel. I was coerced by people from other villages and I didn't kill anyone. I just want to rest and go home..."

Yes, they just want to go home, they just don’t want to be treated harshly, they just want to leave this green hell, what’s wrong?

But it was too late. Changsha soldiers armed with machetes came forward, grabbed everyone's hair, and slowly raised their weapons, just as their bodies and heads were about to be separated.

Only no one touched Lu Jia.

But he was heartbroken.

I originally wanted to revitalize Confucianism and promote the governance philosophy of our ancestor Confucius, so that this world would no longer need to kill to kill, but could use both civil and military forces, and combine virtue and punishment...

But I never thought that it would end here and this way.

"Even if I read a lot of poems and books and have a sharp tongue and a sharp mouth, I will still be no match for a sharp sword."

The sunlight reflected on the blade hit him, and he closed his eyes, not wanting to see the traces of blood. The world turned into darkness, just waiting for the end of everything.

But this time, there was no noise of the machete chopping into the bones, no plop of heads falling into the water, but only a few howls from the side, followed by surprised exclamations!

"Not... not dead!"

Lu Jia opened his eyes and saw that the young corvee beside him had not been beheaded. The Changsha soldiers only cut off his bun! The young man's face was full of surprise, and he didn't even realize that he was losing control of himself.

Not only him, but looking up, hundreds of people had their hair cut into buns, as if it was a large-scale shaving scene.

"stand up!"

The soldiers roughly lifted up the rebels. Everyone was surprised and happy. They thought they were dead. Some of them even accidentally vomited and had to cross their legs and return to the pass in embarrassment.

Hei Fu had already moved to the pass, looking down at everything with his sword.

He sent someone to send a message: "According to military law, you and other rebels who kill officials should be punished. However, I have promised in advance that those who surrender will be spared death. I don't want to break my promise now, so I will only punish the officials for a long time or more, and the rest of the people will not be punished for the time being." If he is to be put to death, he will be punished with a convict first, and he will be punished as a prisoner and serve in the army."

This reversal happened suddenly. When they heard that they would not be executed, the seven or eight hundred rebel soldiers were relieved and felt sad, but they also had a lingering sense of humiliation.

At that moment, Heifu said loudly:

"Where is Jun Zhengcheng?"

…

"promise!"

Following Heifu's summons, someone from the city came out and bowed to him: "Your Majesty, the military commander is here!"

Heifu asked: "You are in charge of military rewards and punishments. Let me ask you, is it against the law for the general to free the rebel soldiers instead of killing them?"

Jun Zhengcheng hesitated, but still responded: "It is indeed against the law..."

Heifu asked again: "If the soldiers violate the law, the army can be punished. If the general violates the law, who can be punished?"

Jun Zhengcheng knelt down and said: "The general is out on an expedition. He can be controlled by anyone from heaven to the abyss. If a general violates the law, only the supervisors can remonstrate, and only your majesty can punish him!"

"So, no one is here to punish me right now?"

Heifu shook his head with a smile, stretched his hands to his head, took off the prince's crown, and handed it to Li Cang.

"As a general, you take the lead in breaking the law without asking for it. How dare you not ask for it?"

Then, he suddenly pulled out his sword. Amidst the exclamations of thousands of people, he raised his sword to the top of his head, passed the hair knot with the sharp blade, and cut off the entire round bun!

The cloth in Lu Jia's mouth had already been taken away and his ties were loosened. Like everyone else, he stared at this scene in stunned silence.

Everyone never expected that the Marquis of Changnan would inflict the punishment on himself!

"Junhou!"

Li Cang and An Pu couldn't stop him, so they threw themselves at Heifu's feet, hugged his legs and cried.

"General!"

The personal guards selected by Sang Mu and Hei Fu in Anlu all knelt on the ground, their eyes red. They are short-term soldiers, and their duty is to protect the general. They do not allow the general to suffer any damage and checkmate the soldiers to death. On a normal day, even if the battlefield was raining arrows and there were many people holding shields in front, Heifu would not be able to injure even a single hair on his head.

But today, he cut himself with a knife, cutting his hair, but what stung him was the dignity of his personal guards!

But Hei Fu didn't care. He let his hair down and held a thick bun in his hand. This was the result of decades of cultivation, but it was destroyed in one day...

At present, although there is no saying that "the hair and skin of the body are inherited from the parents and cannot be damaged", thick hair is also a sign of a strong human being.

In the Central Plains, both men and women advocate growing their hair. After the coming-of-age ceremony, men will tie their hair into a bun on the top of their head.

It can be said that the tall bun is the exposed nakedness of men from the Central Plains.

Whether this thing is small or big, flat or vertebrae, leaning to the left or right, what kind of crown is added to it, whether the crown is high or not, whether it is inlaid with pearls or gold, are closely related to each person's class status. If it is pierced randomly, it will be responsible. criminal liability.

Therefore, it is understandable that hair cutting is a very humiliating punishment. So in the Qin Dynasty, what kind of people would be punished?

Because this punishment is too humiliating, it will not be imposed on ordinary Gui Xin, Bai Can, and Lichen concubines. At most, they can enjoy the "resistant" punishment of having their eyebrows and beards shaved off. Only Chengdan Chunhe was sentenced to death. The prisoners will be attached with forceps...

For the seven or eight hundred rebels, seeing this scene, the sense of humiliation that had just been imposed on them was gone, replaced by emotion.

For the thousands of other soldiers, the whispers about "the king's untrustworthiness" were no longer heard. In their eyes, there was only deep shock.

An extremely noble Marquis of Guannei, a powerful commander-in-chief of the armed forces, is actually willing to do this for a group of death row prisoners? Willing to suffer humiliation with them!

When Heifu's voice sounded again, everyone stood up straight, not daring to miss anyone.

"Now, I am just like you, we are all prisoners after breaking the law."

Heifu let go of his hand. For many mornings, his wife Ye Shi carefully combed and tied his hair into a bun. Now that he had lost his dependence, it was blown by the wind and turned into thousands of tiny strands, floating everywhere.

"Breaking the law is breaking the law. I will report my life, as well as your life and death, to Xianyang, and ask Your Majesty to decide!"

"But before that, the second and third sons, please turn this humiliation and shame into bravery, and let's live together in the wilderness of Lingnan!"

"promise!"

From the inside out, inside and outside Yangshan Pass, nearly ten thousand people knelt on one knee, and the sound of the mountain roaring and the tsunami sounded.

"The king is righteous, trustworthy and benevolent!"

Lu Jia was also among the army of mountain callers. After the call was over, he found that he could not help but cry.

The man never shed tears easily. The Lu family admired Hei Fu for his determination to commit suicide, and they were also happy that they did not trust the wrong person!

When Lu Jia wiped his tears and raised his head again, the sunset, as red as blood, was slowly setting in the Yanggu Valley. Hei Fu stood at the top of the city, and his figure seemed to be integrated with the red sun.

Although he has no bun, he still looks good in Lu Jia's eyes.

This general is countless times taller than when he was wearing a bun and a crown!

"Gao Ruo, the clouds hanging from the sky!"

…

ps: Chapter 2 is at night