The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

Amid the music of the celebration banquet, Zhang Han picked up the rhino horn cup in front of him, his face flushed, and toasted Hei Fu beside him with a cup of wine.

"How much property did Hei Fu get when he entered the Chu Palace the day before yesterday?"

In this celebration banquet, the generals and captains were sitting in the front row. People like Zhang Han and Hei Fu were able to sit in the back row because of their merits. The two of them were enjoying themselves, talking about what they had done in the huge Chu Palace in the past two days.

The wine was a fine wine brought out from the Chu Palace. It was already rich and fragrant. When paired with the precious rhino horn cup, after drinking it, I felt that the wine I drank in Nanjun was really like horse urine.

After Hei Fu drank his fill, he whispered truthfully: "I only got ten taels of gold, and I also asked my soldiers to share some of the scattered ant nose coins in the Chu King's treasury, that's all..."

The day before yesterday, Hei Fu and others were ordered to enter the palace to take over the defense. They saw that the Chu Palace was full of treasures, far beyond the imagination of the Anlu country bumpkins. But most of the things had to be counted and sealed by the military judge and were not allowed to move. Everyone could only pick up some leftovers. But this was enough for more than a thousand people to gain a lot, making up for the money they had spent on the expedition in the past six months. This was also a special treatment for several meritorious troops.

Hei Fu himself got ten taels of gold, equivalent to two hundred taels, one hundred and a half taels of money. The gold was not heavy, so they stuffed the two copies of Ying Yuan into their armor and brought them out. The military judge outside the palace gate also turned a blind eye. The soldiers had worked hard for months, and the Qin army had never had the bad habit of massacring cities, so destroying a country and seizing its palaces and property became one of the few carnivals for the Qin soldiers.

Of course, robbery also has a bottom line, and if it goes too far, it will still be punished.

"Heifu is not greedy."

Zhang Han nodded and said, "General Wang, considering that everyone has been away from home for half a year and has suffered hardships in the war, did not stop the officers and soldiers from taking some money and silk on their bodies. But if they are too greedy and move the boxes of gold cakes from the Chu treasury Yingyuan out, it will also cause trouble. I heard that the Sanchuan and Hedong armies punished a captain. He was too greedy. After several people broke into the Chu treasury, they asked everyone to take off their armor and clothes to put the gold cakes. When they came out, except for the bags on their bodies, everyone was almost naked, and they took hundreds of taels of gold!"

This was a bit too much, so the military judge ordered them to put some back. The captain was also a rough man, and he argued with the military judge and was punished.

Zhang Han had participated in the wars to destroy Han and Zhao, so he knew some inside information. He whispered, "Generally speaking, after destroying a country, the officers and soldiers take one-third of the treasury property, and the remaining two-thirds belong to the public. The military officers who have made outstanding contributions will receive additional rewards from the king."

In addition to money, the soldiers also looted silk clothes, most of which were worn inside the inner clothes and carried out, so almost everyone looked fatter.

In addition, the Chu State has been passed down for 800 years and has many national treasures. Its style is quite different from that of the Central Plains. There is a huge tripod weighing a thousand pounds, so big that several people can only hug it. In order to load it, the ox cart must be reinforced. There is also a tiger-seated phoenix-bird lacquered wooden drum, which is also beautiful.

These things must not be touched. Among Hei Fu's men, there are also a few greedy people who tried to knock down the gold platinum of a gold-inlaid bell, but were severely stopped by Hei Fu.

When Heifu and his men came out with their full load, they also saw Wang Jian sent some grammar clerks into the Chu Palace to guard the storage room and count the bamboo slips of Chu's history books. There were many important documents such as "Ji Ci Zhi Dian" and "Yao Wu" in Chu history. It would take nearly a hundred ox carts to take them all away. It seems that the collection of Qin's Imperial Censorate will increase again.

"There are so many books again, Zhang Cang must be very happy." Zhang Han said jokingly.

The Qin army's posture is to move away everything that can be moved in the Chu Palace, and those that cannot be moved will also be painted away...

Zhang Han said that they, the military Sikong, have another job, which is to take the craftsmen to the highest point of the Chu Palace and write and paint the palaces and pavilions of Chu.

"This is a custom."

Zhang Han said: "Every time the king conquers a vassal state, he must have craftsmen copy its palace and build it on the north bank of Xianyang..."

Nowadays, under the labor of the Shaofu who Zhang Han served, the captives and prisoners from Guandong, the four palaces of Han, Zhao, Yan and Wei are already under construction on the north bank of Xianyang, and the Chu Palace is also coming soon. It is said that after the construction, these six palaces will face Wei in the south, from Yongmen to Jingwei in the east, with halls and houses with corridors and pavilions connected.

"The conqueror's collection habit..."

Hei Fu secretly complained that every time a country was conquered, a palace would be added. It was not only a reward from the King of Qin to himself, but also a way to show off the conqueror's power.

Of course, the newly built palace could not be empty. The King of Qin also planned to put all the heavy objects and treasures captured from various countries in it, and the beauties and palace maids would also be filled in it.

Talking about this, Hei Fu couldn't help but look at the women dancing between the two rows of tables filled with Qin officials.

It was midsummer, and these women were all wearing short and thin clothes, colorful embroidered silk clothes, revealing their slender waists, singing Chu songs and dancing Chu dances. The music of "Yangchun" and "Baixue" was beautiful, the singing was gentle, and the dancing was gorgeous.

The drunk Qin army officials were drunk and couldn't help but touch them. The women didn't dare to refuse, but the smiles they showed reluctantly contained fear and confusion, and some even had tears on their faces that were difficult to wipe away.

The women in the palace were all the King of Qin's, and of course no one dared to touch them. They were all specially set up in a camp and locked up. The women in front of them were the women taken from the homes of the Chu ministers who died in the resistance after the city was broken, so the dance looked a little messy. The music officer behind them was the music officer of the King of Chu.

"Has Heifu heard about the story of the Chu princess in the Chu Palace?"

Amid the sound of dance and music, Zhang Han whispered to Heifu.

More than just hearing about it, Hei Fu saw the scene from afar, and couldn't help but sigh and said, "I heard that it was the Chu princess Ji Mi. When a team of soldiers went to ask her to leave the palace, she refused to obey, so she climbed up a high platform and jumped down..."

At that time, even though Hei Fu and his men were more than a hundred steps away, they also heard the little princess shouting to the Qin army who came to take her: "Ji Mi would rather be a ghost of Chu than go to Xianyang and be a plaything of the King of Qin!"

Then, this strong-willed princess jumped straight down from the high platform and died. It is said that when she committed suicide, she was holding a fat civet cat in her hand...

"What a pity."

Zhang Han smiled sarcastically: "I heard that the King of Chu Fu Chu wanted to learn from King Zhou of Shang and set himself on fire, but at the last moment he was afraid and opened the palace to surrender. This Chu princess is a bit strong like the royal family of the surname Mi..."

As he was talking, the sound of stringed instruments at the banquet suddenly became chaotic.

The two looked up and saw that a musician who was playing the harp suddenly stopped playing and fell on the instrument and started crying.

His action caused the musicians to stop playing collectively. Those who played the sheng, the qin, and the bell all began to cry, and even the women sitting in the arms of the military officers sobbed.

The military officers, who were enjoying the honor of the victors, were very unhappy. The Qin soldiers came over immediately and wanted to drag down these disappointed musicians and kill them!

"Wait a minute!"

At the other end of the banquet, Wang Jian's heavy voice sounded.

"Where is Anlu's leader Heifu?"

Heifu was startled and immediately stepped out and said, "The subordinate official is here!"

"Ask for me in Chu language, why are these people crying?"

This is treating me as a translator, Heifu can only ask truthfully.

However, the Chu musician who played the zither did not kneel. He looked up and said in a thick Chu dialect: "I am a descendant of the Chu official Zhong, and my family has been musicians for generations. I just saw that I still wear the Chu crown on my head and the instruments in my hands are also Chu music. When I think about the fact that the King of Chu has been captured by the general and the Chu State has been destroyed, I cannot die for my country like Shangzhuguo and Princess Ji Mi. Instead, I play the zither here to entertain the Qin people. I can't help but feel ashamed. Now I only want to die. I hope the general will fulfill my wish..." After Hei Fu relayed the story, the military officers present were furious and stood up with swords to kill the musician who did not forget Jingchu. Wang Jian waved his hand, "It is normal for the people of Chu to miss their homeland when Chu was just destroyed. If they want to kill people, who among the 100,000 people in Shouchun City cannot be killed? Who among the millions of people in Chu cannot be killed?"

He waved his hand and asked people to disperse the musicians and women. Then he stood up and toasted everyone, saying, "You have worked hard in the war. There is nothing to entertain the army. We can only reward you with a little wine."

After drinking, Wang Jian sighed, "Many years ago, my uncle Wang He met Xunzi who visited Qin at a banquet hosted by Marquis Rang. At that time, Xunzi was discussing annexation and consolidation with Marquis Rang."

"Xunzi said that annexation is easy, but solidification is difficult. Qi was able to annex Song, but could not solidify, so Wei took it away; Yan was able to annex Qi, but could not solidify, so Tian Dan took it away; Han's upper land, hundreds of miles in area, was completely rich and tended to Zhao, but Zhao could not solidify, so Qin took it away. Therefore, if you can annex but cannot solidify, you will lose!"

"Now that Qin has annexed Han, Wei, Zhao, Yan, and Chu, the next thing is to solidify, so that the world is united, the princes are Qin's ministers, and the people are Qin's people. That's why I ordered after Xiang Yan's death to strictly prohibit killing prisoners and not to arbitrarily plunder and bully the Chu people. This is to solidify the scholars with etiquette and the people with politics. When etiquette is improved, the scholars are obedient, and when politics is fair, the people are at peace. Scholars are obedient and the people are at peace. This is called great solidification..."

"Although the King of Chu has been captured and Shouchun has been conquered, there are still Huainan and Jiangdong that have not been annexed by Chu. You two can't take it lightly. However, you don't have to treat the Chu people in the cities as people from the enemy country. You must make them surrender. Only then can the Qin army gain a foothold in Huaibei and Huainan and completely wipe out the remnant of Chu!"

After the speech, all the military officers responded one after another. At this time, a crisp clapping sound was heard outside.

"General Wang, this is very good! Not only will you annex Chu for the king, but you will also solidify it for the king. You are not only a good general in battle, but also a good general in defense!"

A middle-aged man with a burly body and a long beard, wearing the uniform of an imperial censor, came out from outside.

"Who is this?" Hei Fu looked at Zhang Han.

"It's the Imperial Censor, Feng Quji! He is a high-ranking official and the most trusted minister of the king. Shouldn't he be in Xianyang? Why is he in Shouchun?"

Zhang Han's face changed slightly: "Could it be..."

After Feng Quji greeted Wang Jian, he also explained his purpose and pulled out a piece of silk book with a bright red seal from his sleeve.

"General Wang and all the soldiers, please listen to the order!"

Hei Fu hurriedly followed Zhang Han's movements. Seeing that from Wang Jian to Li You and Zhang Han, they all stood up and bowed, he couldn't help but secretly breathe a sigh of relief. It seems that in this day and age, you don't have to kneel down to obey the king's orders in the military camp.

Feng Quji then heard a loud voice: "It is the twenty-fourth year, it is midsummer, the sun is rising. The king traveled eastward from Xianyang, toured Sanchuan and Yingchuan, and arrived at Chenying, looking at the new land. Hearing that the Grand Chancellor had defeated Xiang Yan's army, killed his pillars, and captured his capital, the king was very happy. Now I order the Grand Chancellor Wang Jian and the meritorious soldiers to escort Fu Chu and the ministers of Jing to Chen to meet the king at Shunxu, to publicize the power of Yu to conquer Sanmiao, and to enjoy the glory of the triumphant return in June!"