The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

When Heifu and his men arrived at the camp south of Waihuang City, they found that it had become a "melon field" - outside the originally empty gate, there were countless round things densely packed, accompanied by the strong smell of corpses and blood...

Those things were human heads, as if they were scenes from a horror movie. As far as Heifu could see, there were hundreds of human heads!

At present, the Qin army lined them up in a row in order to reward them according to their merits. As early as the Shang Yang era, it was stipulated that "because of the battle, the heads were exposed three times, and then they were checked for three days. The general would reward the scholars and officials for their merits."

This means that after the battle, the enemy's heads should be displayed to the public for three days and verified by the military law officers. After three days, if the general thought it was correct, he would reward everyone with titles according to their merits. This process is called "checking the heads".

It is now March, and the weather is getting hotter. When the sun shines, the smell, tut tut... It can be imagined that this procedure will make people feel very uncomfortable, not to mention modern people, even the people of the six countries.

So after returning, Lu Zhonglian, a Confucian scholar from Qi who had seen similar scenes, said to the people he knew with certainty: "The Qin people are the country that abandoned etiquette and morality and made the first contribution!"

In fact, this is true.

Even Hei Fu and his men had to approach with their noses pinched. However, in such a harsh environment, there is still a group of people who are in it, pointing and arguing in the middle of this "melon field". A military law officer sat on a straw mat, frowning, recording something on the wooden tablet in his hand, and the two parties were tied up by soldiers and pressed aside to be strictly interrogated by several petty officials!

One of them was Hei Fu's subordinate, Gong Ao of Yan County!

"Lawyer!"

Heifu walked over quickly. He didn't rush to ask what Gong Ao had done wrong. Instead, he followed the procedure and bowed to the military judge and said, "Heifu, the head of Xintun, and the people of Xintun have captured four heads in the city. Please examine them!"

The military judge was a middle-aged man with a square face, about 40 years old. Judging from his attire, he should be a "no more". Hearing that Xintun had made another gain, he asked several of his food officials to take the heads that Lixian was holding and inspect them, and also instructed: "Check carefully to see if there are heads of Confucian children and women mixed in."

As he spoke, he sneered: "Just now, a garrison came to offer heads, reporting that 17 bandits were killed, but there were 5 heads of women and children. According to military law, those who kill innocent people for merit will not be rewarded, and will be severely punished! The head of the garrison is at least guilty of an unjust crime! Deprive him of his title and exile him to the border!"

Upon hearing this, Heifu glanced at Lixian next to him, making Lixian stand uneasy, but he was thinking in his heart: "My intention at the time was to kill the gray-haired old man, and no one stipulated that the old man could not be a light knight and resist in the city. When the law officer asked, everyone just had to keep the same caliber. The garrison chief is still too upright..."

The four levels of beheadings by Heifu and his men were all real gains, so there was no problem. They were quickly put together with the 12 levels of beheadings from the previous siege in the west of the city. This "melon field" seemed messy, but in fact, they were all placed in order according to the order of each garrison.

At this time, Heifu pointed to Gong Ao, who was being interrogated by a clerk ten steps away and said, "Law officer, this man is the head of Xin garrison. I don't know what he did to be tied up here?"

"So he is your subordinate." The military law officer shook his head and told Heifu what happened.

It turned out that a moment ago, a garrison escorted Gong Ao and two others to the military law officer, along with a head covered in dust. The head of that garrison said that when his garrison was ordered to search for the remaining enemies in the north of the city, he found two soldiers fighting and competing for heads, so he captured them and brought them back.

"I didn't fight for the head!"

Gong Ao, whose face was pressed to the ground, shouted with difficulty: "I did cut off this head!"

The other person who confronted him on the side, the skinny Qin soldier, also shouted hurriedly: "Lawyer, please be clear! This head was clearly cut off by me. I was about to hang the head on my waist at that time. At this time, this person came over. He didn't get it himself. When he saw the head, he was jealous. Seeing that I was thin, he had evil thoughts and drew his sword to fight for it. I fought with him like this!"

The two people insisted on their own opinions, and the military law officer was a little difficult to judge for a while.

He was accustomed to things like fighting for heads. They happened in every battle. Sometimes there would be more than ten cases, and even the Qin army would kill each other and cut off the heads of the lagging comrades to offer.

Because unlike the armies of other countries, the Qin people were eager to get these bloody, smelly, and ordinary people avoided dead heads, and they even fought. Because in the eyes of the Qin people, a head is no longer a head, but a "hard currency" that can be used to exchange for a title!

At this time, the military judges had to summon witnesses and ask them one by one, just like the prison officials in the counties.

But whether it was Bu Cheng who acted with Gong Ao, or the comrade of the other Qin soldier "Man" who was fighting for the head, when they arrived, they only saw the two people drawing their swords against each other, but did not see the cause of the incident.

The military law was strict, so Bu Cheng certainly did not dare to lie, and the comrade of "Man" was the same. So after asking around, the military judges got nothing and could only continue to make judgments based on the confessions of the two and the characteristics of the head.

At this time, a doctor who was responsible for treating the wounded and helping to examine the head came over with a letter about the controversial head. The military judge took it and saw that it said: "Examining the head, Xiaofa, there is a wound on the left corner of his forehead, five inches long, deep to the bone, similar to a sword wound, and the broken neck is short and uneven..."

Military judge Li Ji asked people to examine the weapons of Gong Ao and Man, and found that they were all swords, all stained with blood. For a while, it was impossible to determine who killed this person and cut off his head.

During the whole process, Hei Fu and others were listening on the side. After Bu Cheng finished testifying, he whispered in his ear: "Captain, when Gong Ao was incorporated into our village under the city of Daliang, he said that he must make more merits so that his title would not be lower than that of the captain. Will he..."

Bu Cheng was suspicious of Gong Ao. He had never had a good impression of this son of a declining clan who always put on a proud face.

Hei Fu shook his head and said softly, "Although I don't like Gong Ao either, given his temperament, he shouldn't do anything to compete for the head."

Yes, Gong Ao has all the bad habits of a fallen nobleman. He is not polite to others and is arrogant, but it is this arrogance that makes him disdain to compete for a head.

In fact, when attacking the city, Gong Ao was the second one to jump onto the city after Dongmen Bao. With the cooperation of Dongmen Bao, he killed a Qingxia with his own hands. But when Hei Fu was going to divide the heads among himself, Gong Ao proudly gave the head to Dongmen Bao who was injured and carried away.

Although he didn't say it, the meaning was very clear. He admired Dongmen Bao's bravery and planned to give up the beheading that should have belonged to him, just to make up three heads for Dongmen Bao, so that he could directly rise from Gongshi to Zan Niao - two heads were needed to rise from Shangzao to Zan Niao.

"I won't compete with a dying man for the top spot." At that time, Gong Ao said this with a proud face.

This reminded Hei Fu of a story.

There was a noble bird in the south, named Yuān Chu. It boasted of its nobility. It would not stop unless it was a phoenix tree, would not eat unless it was bamboo fruit, and would not drink unless it was sweet spring water. At this time, a scavenger bird named Chi (chī) got a rotten mouse. It happened that the Chi passed by, so Chi looked up and shouted, fearing that the Chi would snatch it from it...

Although Gong Ao certainly could not be compared with the real "Yuān Chu", his pride was comparable to that of the Chi.

As Gong Ao said with a red face, "If it wasn't for the head I cut off with my own ability, I wouldn't want to make a contribution with it, and why would I compete with others for it?"

Seeing that Gong Ao's foul mouth was beginning to offend people, and even made the military judge unhappy, Hei Fu quickly stood up and said, "Military judge, these two people have different opinions. It is impossible to tell whose beheading was done by looking at the head and the weapon. I have an idea..."

"You?"

A little Dou Shi official next to the military judge looked at Hei Fu with some suspicion, thinking that he wanted to make his subordinates proud, so he said, "This garrison commander, this matter will be handled by us law officers. Why are you meddling in it? Do you also know how to solve cases?"

"Of course I understand." Dou Shi was rude, but Hei Fu didn't get angry but laughed.

Are you kidding! Unraveling the mystery, finding evidence, and finding the truth, this is Hei Fu's old specialty when he was the Qin Tiangou!

Hei Fu was not angry. He ignored the food-fighting official and bowed to the military law officer directly, saying, "I am a humble official. Before I joined the army, I was a pavilion chief in Anlu County, Nanjun. I have solved three major cases that shocked the whole county. Thanks to the guidance and teaching of the county prison official and the clerk, I know a little about the clerk's skills and the method of solving cases! Why not try my method and we will know who is right and who is wrong, and who is true and who is false!"

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