The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

"I have to rely on myself from now on."

The next morning, standing on the top of Pengze City, watching Tu Sui's fleet sail eastward, Hei Fu heaved a sigh of relief.

Last night, Pengze's surrender was real. At this time when the Chu State had been destroyed and the Qin army was approaching, even if the local feudal lords tried to resist to the end out of the dignity of the nobility or knew that they would lose everything once the Qin people entered the city, the local clan leaders did not want to be buried with Pengze Jun for the Chu State, so they decisively killed the king and surrendered.

In this way, Hei Fu captured this small town without a single soldier, which was an unexpected surprise.

Standing on the wall of the town at this moment, Hei Fu looked at the first trophy of his expedition.

Pengze City is located on a low hill two miles away from Pengli Lake. Its northwest gate faces the lake, and the south is an open plain with paddy fields adjacent to each other. There is a stream flowing through the east, and the stream is densely packed with bamboo forests.

The city is rectangular. Heifu walked around it himself and asked Jing to record it for him. He found that the east and west walls were 150 steps long, and the north and south walls were 200 steps long. It took a quarter of an hour to go around it.

The city was originally small, and half of the land in the city was occupied by Pengze Jun's mansion. The remaining half was divided by streets, workshops, and markets, which seemed very narrow and quite dirty. At this moment, every household had its doors closed, and the Qin army had a guard every five steps and a sentry every five steps on the street.

The people living in the city were mainly nobles and followers who did not engage in production, as well as a few businessmen. Most of the agricultural population lived in the villages outside the city. These settlements were scattered in the south of the city, covering an area no less than that of the city.

The Xu family, who surrendered yesterday, lived there with their entire family. They had no city to protect them, and they did not want to be affected by the war and damage their own interests, so they had no choice but to surrender.

"My brother, do you know where the army should control first after conquering a place?" Hei Fu walked on the wall of the city and taught his younger brother Jing.

"My brother once told me that only with enough food can we have enough soldiers, and the first places to control should be the granaries and arsenals." Jing thought about it and answered Hei Fu's question correctly.

The granaries and arsenals of Pengze City are all located in the mansion of Pengze Jun, so the first thing Hei Fu did after entering the city was to let Dongmen Bao lead people to guard the four walls and gates, prohibiting anyone from entering and leaving, and then ordered the five hundred masters to lead people to raid the mansion.

Seeing that the time was almost up, Hei Fu led his guards into Peng Zejun's mansion. Li Xianguo had already finished searching the place and came to report to Hei Fu:

"The armory and granary in the mansion have been controlled, and the armory is empty. I heard that Peng Zejun distributed weapons in the armory yesterday and called on everyone to resist. As a result, he was assassinated by Xu during the chaos, and all his privates died. The weapons distributed to the people were also taken away by everyone, and I'm afraid they will not be returned."

"How many weapons did Peng Zejun distribute?" Hei Fu asked.

Li Xian said, "There are no less than 200 swords, halberds, and spears!"

The total population of people inside and outside the city is about 4,000, which is a hidden danger. However, the people's hearts are not settled at this time, so it is not appropriate to force them to hand over their weapons suddenly. Hei Fu asked again, "What about the food in the warehouse? How much?"

"Five thousand stones of millet and rice."

"Only enough for 3,000 people to eat for one month."

Hei Fu pondered. According to the agreement, Tu Sui left Zhao Tuo to Hei Fu. He commanded several ships, and there were millet from Nanjun on the ships, about 10,000 stones, enough for Hei Fu and his men to eat for two months. Hei Fu has asked Man Dai to help Zhao Tuo repair the dock. When the dock is repaired, the grain can be transported into the city. Together with the grain in the warehouse, they can only last for three months. These are all un-pounded millets, and the amount will be even less after pounding.

"That is to say, if the war is not over in three months, I will have to find a way myself."

In addition to the granary and arsenal, Ji Ying was ordered to count the property of Peng Zejun, and came out to shake his head and say that this feudal lord was really poor.

He carried a small tripod and said with disdain: "Sima, look, the ritual vessels are small, gold and silver objects are scarce, and there are not many lacquerwares, and there are even some pottery mixed in! Not to mention compared with the wealthy Ejun, even some county doctors in Huainan can't compare..."

Indeed, Peng Zejun's mansion, from inside to outside, revealed a breath of poverty. These nobles who came to Jiangxi to be feudal lords were not favored by the King of Chu, and there were few registered people under their command. Except for the convenience of hunting and hunting game, they were tantamount to exile.

At this time, Xiao Tao also brought more than a hundred ragged people over, and under the coercion of the Qin soldiers, they all knelt in front of Heifu.

"Si... Sima, these people are... slaves and concubines."

"Are they all slaves and concubines belonging to Peng Zejun?"

Hei Fu took a quick look and found that there were not only men and women with empty eyes, but also a dozen children who looked skinny.

Slaves existed in Qin and Chu. Hei Fu had seen them a lot in Nanjun. His family even bought a few to cook, so he would not have any extra sympathy at this moment.

But they went deep into Jiangxi alone, and these slaves and concubines who had lost their masters might become the first group of people to be won over and used by the Qin army...

So Heifu put his hands behind his back and said to the slaves with a stern face: "Are you all subordinate to Pengze Jun for life?"

This area belongs to Southern Chu, and the Anlu accent should be understandable, but the slaves and concubines looked at each other, and no one answered. After a while, a emaciated one-armed slave raised his only remaining right hand and said:

"General, we are from Yangyue and Ganyue. Most of us don't know Xia language and can't understand it!"

"So that's it."

Heifu suddenly realized that it was no wonder that this group of people were short in stature, and many of them had short hair and wrinkles on their faces. I thought they were punished, but they were actually Yue people with cut hair and tattoos...

The Yue people are the most widely distributed ethnic group in the south. In addition to the Yu Yue who were assimilated into the Central Plains in Kuaiji, that is, the descendants of King Goujian of Yue, there are many branches, which the Central Plains people call Baiyue.

In Jiangxi, the Yue people mainly consist of two branches, Gan Yue and Yang Yue, neither of which can speak Xia dialect. Their language is not even in the same language family as ancient Chinese, but has the same origin as the Thai language of later generations.

"What's your name?" Hei Fu pointed out the one-armed young Yue man.

"My name is Jiu Jue." The young man had dark skin, with dragon and snake tattoos all over his body, and a wooden clamp on his neck. His arms were missing from the elbows down, leaving only a hideous scar.

"Why do you speak Xia dialect?" Hei Fu asked him.

"My mother is a Chu woman who married here."

Jiu Jue replied, "I used to be a free man and lived in Fanshui, so I can speak."

"You were a free man, why did you become a slave of Pengze Jun later?"

Jiu Jue spat on the ground, "Last autumn, I went fishing with my clansmen in Pengli Lake, but was captured by Pengze Jun's followers. I was brought back and put on wooden tongs and became a slave."

Hunting slaves was also a great pleasure for the feudal lords in the south of the Chu State.

Hei Fu asked, "Do you have to be a slave of Pengze Jun until you are the youngest?"

"Until you die of old age or exhaustion, so I escaped several times."

Jiu Jue showed his back, but it was covered with dried blood scabs and scars, like cowpeas.

"I was unwilling to accept this, so I tried to escape while working. Peng Zejun sent hunting dogs to chase me, bit off my arm, and then caught me and beat me up..."

As he spoke, he shed tears. He was so seriously injured that time that he was thrown into a straw pile to die, but he survived by chance. Jiu Jue gritted his teeth and said, "The general defeated Peng Zejun, and I laughed out loud with joy!"

"Good."

Hei Fu nodded: "From today on, you will have a chance to regain your freedom. Be my translator and have enough food every month. After half a year, I will give you freedom. If you perform well, I will give you money and silk and let you go home!"

Jiu Jue was overjoyed. After the wooden clamp on his neck was removed, he saluted Hei Fu. Although he lost one hand, he still fell to the ground and kissed the tip of Hei Fu's shoe. Maybe this is the habit of the Yue people?

Hei Fu asked him to stand up and said, "Tell these 100 Yue slaves in Yue language for me that as long as they work for me, I will not abuse them. After half a year, everyone will be free again!"

Jiu Jue repeated Hei Fu's words. The Yue people were stunned at first, and then they danced and cheered. They were supposed to be slaves for life, but they would be released after half a year. How could they not be happy? Their originally gray eyes also became more lively.

Instead of them constantly thinking about escaping, it is better to give them hope and let them be his cattle and horses for half a year. By then, he will complete his mission and leave Jiangxi, and the Yue people will return home and everyone will be happy.

Heifu asked Jiujue to be the translator and a sergeant to be the supervisor, responsible for supervising this group of Yue people. He also ordered Lixian to say: "Let the craftsmen make a few treading pestles and ask these servants to pound rice for five hours every day. In this way, there will be no worries about rice!"

Just after Heifu took over Pengze Jun's mansion, property, food, and servants, Dongmen Bao, who was guarding the city outside, came to report to Heifu that several people from the Xu clan who surrendered to the Qin army last night came to ask for an audience...

"They are probably here to ask for credit and bargain."

Pengze is Heifu's foothold. In the next few months, his food transportation will depend on this place. If he fails to advance, this place will become his retreat. Therefore, he must have a good relationship with the local clan leaders, otherwise even if he controls the city, he will not be able to control the vast neighborhoods.

Heifu smiled and said: "Let them come in. Although I am only a Sima of a certain department, I still have the power to temporarily appoint a few fake treasurers and fake elders!"