The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

The twenty-fifth year of the King of Qin, the first month (October in winter).

At this time, it was already midwinter in the north, and the weather was cold, but by the river, only the forests on the shore were a little yellow, and the climate was still suitable.

Zhucheng (now Huangzhou) was the easternmost county in Nanjun, and it was also the last Chu city captured by the Qin army. In 255 BC, King Kaolie of Chu ordered Chunshen Jun Huang Xie to lead his troops to the north to destroy Lu and Zou, and move the people of Zou to this place to build a city and houses. Because Zou was also called Zhu, it was named Zhucheng.

However, the remnants of Zou did not become Chu people for a few years. When Chu moved south to Shouchun again, Zhucheng was captured by the Qin army and used as a military town to defend against Chu.

At present, on the riverside south of Zhucheng, the flag of Li You, the commander, was erected on the shore, and Hei Fu and 10,000 Nanjun Qin soldiers were also lined up behind him waiting.

At this time, four months had passed since Heifu and his men saw off the King of Qin in Chen County. According to the plan of the King of Qin and Wang Jian, the soldiers of Nanjun did not have to participate in the attack on Xiong Qi and Xiang Rong in Huainan, but returned to Nanjun with an army. After the autumn harvest, they crossed the river and went south to attack the "Jiangnan area" of Chu, which was the area of Wuhan, Hunan, and Jiangxi in the future.

On his way back, Heifu bought 300 coffins prepared by the doctor of Lingyi in Yingyangyi, and added 200 coffins purchased from Chenxian, which were loaded with the Nanjun comrades and subordinates who died in the two wars.

Li You also ordered hundreds of chariots to take off, and the charioteers walked, loaded with the dark coffins of everyone, and returned to Nanjun along the same route.

In mid-July, they finally stepped into the territory of Nanjun. In this way, Heifu also fulfilled his promise of "taking you home", and a big stone in his heart finally fell.

But a new problem soon emerged: except for a few people like Huaimu, most of the soldiers' bodies could not be identified, and it was impossible to return them to their families.

While Li You was still in a dilemma, Hei Fu gave him a suggestion.

"Cemetery?" It was the first time Li You heard this word.

Hei Fu said: "Yes, they have turned into piles of bones, and there is no way to identify their identities. It is better to set aside a piece of land in Nanjun as a public cemetery for them, and then make a large stele for them, with their names engraved on it. This way, they can be properly buried, and their relatives and friends can also come to worship and offer blood in the future."

Li You sighed after hearing this: "It has no choice but to do so."

Hei Fu said again: "I have heard a saying, called 'Ten steps of marsh, there must be fragrant grass; ten houses of the town, there must be loyal people'. Although they are common people, they died for the king and the Qin State, and they can also be called loyal people! Therefore, this cemetery is also called the Cemetery of Loyal People. The government can hire people to guard and clean it, and regularly order local officials to bring the people to pay respects and mourn every year to show that they have not forgotten their contributions, and it can also inspire the living to fight more bravely and not fear death..."

He originally wanted to call it the "Martyrs Cemetery", but unfortunately, the "martyr" these days refers to those who are good at fame but do not pursue official careers, which is not what Heifu wants.

Qin treated the dead soldiers well, and the titles they deserved for their meritorious service on the battlefield could be passed on to future generations, but that was it. After a group of soldiers died in the battle, the king had the next group of gray animals to use. Generations of soldiers used their bones to pile up the Qin State, which became increasingly powerful and eventually unified the world, but their names had long been gone with the wind and no one knew them anymore.

Huaimu and others did not know what kind of great era they were in, but they sacrificed their lives and made contributions to the unification of the world, so Heifu felt that from the perspective of the Qin people, they were heroes! They deserved this treatment!

In this huge war of unification, there were more than a thousand and ten thousand Huaimu in the Qin army.

Hei Fu's idea turned those who died on the battlefield, who could not be identified and only had a collective list, into loyal warriors praised by the country. Although he could not bring the dead back to life, he made their names immortal. This was also the last thing Hei Fu did for the dead.

Li You's eyes lit up immediately after hearing this, and he praised Hei Fu for coming up with another good idea.

"Not only can we collect the bodies of the soldiers, so that they will die in the end, but we can also spread their names after death and make them famous in the world. Not bad!"

Li You believed that this move could make him a "loving soldier" and would be good for his future career, so he immediately wrote a letter to his father Li Si, asking him to join him in advising the King of Qin and promoting this policy. I think the King of Qin will agree and even promote this method in future wars.

At the same time, after obtaining the consent of Nanjun County Magistrate Teng, a piece of land was demarcated in Yan County, and the living and civilians were ordered to dig pits and build tombs. The coffins of hundreds of soldiers were neatly arranged in groups of ten and five, and the soldiers were stationed in an orderly manner, like a military formation. From a distance, it looked solemn and orderly.

And five large stone tablets, carefully carved by skilled stonemasons and engraved with the names and hometowns of more than 500 people, also appeared in the center of the cemetery, like five military flags commanding them...

"You two are really alive even after death..."

Looking at this shocking scene in front of them, the people of Yan County were amazed, and the soldiers of Nanjun couldn't help but burst into tears. While praising Li You, they also admired Hei Fu who made this suggestion even more.

After finishing this matter, it was already late July. Li You issued an order to let the leaders return to the counties with their troops, and let everyone return home with the spoils to participate in the autumn harvest. At the same time, the wounded and sick were discharged and new soldiers were selected to fill in...

Therefore, Heifu and his men stayed at home for only a month before they pounded the grain and stored it in the warehouse. In early October, Li You personally led an army of more than 10,000 people to Anlu to meet Heifu first, and then they moved east to Zhucheng, preparing to cross the river to attack Echeng, which still flew the flag of the Chu State...

...

Echeng, which is the area of Ezhou in Hubei in later generations, is the largest and oldest city in the Jiangnan region of the Chu State. The Sanmiao of Yuxia established a tribe here. During the Yin Dynasty, an E State was established here, which developed the rich copper mines in Tonglu Mountain and became extremely rich.

Later, the Chu State conquered this place and established a larger city. Over the past hundreds of years, many "E Lords" were successively appointed to rule here. Although the Chu State was destroyed, the E Lord still held on to his fortress and refused to surrender.

"Edi is the strategic point of the Yangtze River, with Pengli on the left and Dongting on the right. It strangles the Yangtze River and the Han River, and borders Wu and Chu. It is protected by Jiujiang and Jiangdong in the southeast. It is the strongest. If Edi is not seized, the grain ships and fleets of Nanjun, Bashu, will not be able to smoothly go east to Jiangdong to support General Wang."

Li You was ordered to attack Edi, not only to take over the south of the Yangtze River, but also to echo Wang Jian's military operations in the east. When Heifu and his men returned to Nanjun, Wang Jian and Mengwu also launched a general attack on Ying, Liu, Huaiyin, Juchao and other places in Huainan again, killing Xiang Rong. King Xiong Qi of Chu fled to Jiangdong with only 3,000 people.

However, the strength of the Chu fleet was not damaged, and it was still gathered on the surface of Jiangdong, trying to prevent the Qin army from crossing the river, so the Qin navy of Nanjun, Bashu, was needed to take action...

And the warships of the King of E became an appetizer before the navy went east.

At this moment, the Qin army waiting on the shore all looked towards the center of the river, where a naval battle was coming to an end...

Although the E army still maintained the "fifty ships", that is, the water force of 150 warships, it was still slightly weaker than the "ship division" that Qin State spent ten years to build in the southern county of Bashu. At this moment, the E army's warships have gradually been defeated.

"The Chu people are defeated."

Reaching out and feeling that there was wind blowing from the northwest to the southeast, Hei Fu smiled even more.

As far as the eye can see, the Qin army has several huge ships, up to three stories high, with a wide and solid hull, floating on the river like a huge water fortress, majestic. Each floor of the ship tower has its own use, whether it is a place to hide soldiers, a storehouse of arrows, or a place to row, and the division is very detailed. The battle method of this huge ship is the arrow tower, which is full of soldiers holding bows and crossbows. The strong bows and crossbows combined with the tall body of the ship tower allow the Qin ship soldiers to shoot arrows at the small warships of the E Lord from a high position, killing them without any chance of fighting back.

In addition to the towering walls, oars, sails and curtains, the Qin navy also has a variety of warships, including large wings, small wings, warships, etc., which were built by the Qin King and the county governor Teng in Jiangling for several years. The Qin army relied on them to quickly cross the river and reach Chanling during the Yidao Incident the year before last.

The power of a king cannot compare with that of a country. Seeing that the remaining dozens of defeated soldiers of the King of E had left the chaotic battlefield and fled downstream with the wind and the current, the Qin army did not pursue them. The fleet began to clean up the battlefield, and the tallest flagship slowly approached the port of Zhucheng...

Li You, along with Hei Fu and other military officers, came forward to congratulate the bearded middle-aged fleet commander who came down from the ship.

Li You praised: "In this battle, Tu Duwei was like the autumn wind sweeping away the fallen leaves. With your help, this great river is like a flat land!"

Heifu also bowed and said: "Tu Jun's tower ship calmed the whole river and the villains fled. Heifu really opened his eyes!"

The bearded general did not dare to neglect him. He smiled at Heifu and said respectfully to Li You: "It's just a small battle, not worth mentioning. Although the tower ship is big, it can only show its power on the water. To capture E and Jiangnan, we still need the general and the soldiers. Tu Sui is just an assistant to the general!"

The man who led tens of thousands of tower ships in Nanjun, Bashu, was Tu Sui. During the year when Li You was not in Nanjun, he trained troops in Jiangling and was appointed as the Nanjun lieutenant by the King of Qin, so he was called "Wei Tu Sui"...