The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

"Greetings to the garrison commander... No, it should be called patrol guards now. I am Zhong Ming. I heard that patrol guards will lead their troops to garrison today, so I am waiting here."

After separating from the five hundred masters, the one waiting for Hei Fu and his men at the intersection was a Qin army sergeant named Zhong Ming, who was from Hanoi.

Zhong Ming was very eager. After the two sides exchanged wooden tablets to prove their identities, he took the initiative to help Heifu lead the horse, and said with a smile in Guanzhong dialect with a Henei accent:

"I followed the Henei army to besiege Jiyang. After Jiyang was captured, Yangwu also surrendered. The general was busy leading the army to Taoqiu to participate in the siege, so he only sent a few troops to take over. This Huyou Township is a large township in Yangwu County, with a population of over 10,000, but we only have ten people to guard it, which makes me very worried. Fortunately, the patrol arrived in time..."

Heifu already understood the situation of this appointment. The Qin army's strategy for attacking Wei was mainly concentrated in several large cities. The main force of Guanzhong led by Wang Ben had to watch the tens of thousands of Wei troops and more than 100,000 Wei people in the city who were resisting stubbornly under the city of Daliang, and even the 100,000 Qin garrison soldiers and prisoners who dug ditches and broke canals outside the city to ensure the smooth implementation of the water attack strategy.

The three main field armies to destroy Wei: Nanyang troops, Dongjun troops, and Henei troops, each with more than 10,000 people, attacked Wei's second, third, and fourth largest cities, Suiyang, Taoqiu, and Jiyang, respectively.

Now that Jiyang has been captured, but Taoqiu has not been captured yet, the Dongjun troops went to assist, so that by April, the three county troops would encircle Suiyang and completely occupy Wei's strategy.

As for other small counties, such as Waihuang and Yangwu, let the miscellaneous troops take over and garrison.

In the eyes of the commander, the thousand people led by Yang Xiong were just miscellaneous troops with weak combat effectiveness, so they did not need to participate in the battle, and could just garrison nearby...

Yang Xiong himself stayed in Waihuang with hundreds of people, and asked Zhang Yi (yǐ) to take 500 people to guard Yangwu. Perhaps it was Hei Fu's performance in the battle of Waihuang that left a deep impression on the two officers, and this time he was entrusted with an important task and served as an acting patrol in the largest Huyu Township.

This is not an easy job. Heifu didn't know whether he should be grateful or complain.

It is now mid-March. There are fields with green millet and wheat seedlings on both sides of the road. It seems that because Yangwu County surrendered without a fight, spring plowing has not been affected. This is good news.

Heifu simply got off the horse, led the horse himself, and talked with Zhongming in a slightly unfamiliar Guanzhong dialect. Since he was assigned such a position, he must know more about local information.

The different regions of the counties and prefectures of Qin State have very different accents. It is easy to cause a chicken talking to a duck. The Henei dialect and the Nanjun dialect are even more different. Therefore, Heifu and Zhongming have to rely on the "Mandarin" Guanzhong dialect in the army to communicate. In the past few months, he has learned a little bit, although he is not very proficient in using it.

He guessed that the reason why the Qin army that passed here before left the Henei native sergeant to the follow-up troops was also to consider the communication problem.

Henei County was established by Qin State in Henei area of Wei State several decades ago. The accent belongs to Liang Wei dialect. It seems that before Heifu gets used to the local dialect, he may have to rely on Zhongming as an interpreter to communicate with the locals of Huyou Township.

Not long after, a town with a wall about ten feet high appeared in front of him. Zhongming pointed at it and said, "That's the town of Huyou Township."

Heifu looked at the terrain nearby. It was all endless plains with few hills. The town was located at the intersection of a highway, so he asked, "This place is flat, why is it called Huyou?"

The so-called Huyou is a door and a window. It is usually used to describe dangerous passes such as Fangcheng and Xingyang. This place is called Huyou, but there is no natural danger, so Heifu is a little surprised.

"I have also asked the local elders about this matter."

Zhong Ming said: "This place has been around for some time. Hundreds of years ago, this was a small town in Song State, adjacent to Zheng State. When the Zheng army advanced eastward and broke through the town, it entered Song State, which was also equivalent to the gateway of Song State, so it was named Huyou..."

"I see." Hei Fu nodded. After hundreds of years of annexation, the territories of Zheng and Song in the Spring and Autumn Period have now become Wei State. Soon, Wei State will also disappear, and all counties and towns in the world will become the property of the Qin Dynasty...

Although Huyou Town is right in front of us, the camp where Hei Fu and his men are stationed is located outside the small town. In fact, it is a small settlement surrounded by wooden stakes, with a gate in the north and south. A two-meter-high sentry tower has been erected, and Qin soldiers wearing armor and holding crossbows are standing on it to guard.

Zhong Ming shouted loudly and asked people to open the camp gate. He smiled at Hei Fu and said, "It's a bit crude, but there's nothing we can do. The town is a bit crowded and there's no place for dozens of people to stay. If something happens, we can't get out. It's safer outside."

Hei Fu nodded. During the days in Wai Huang, he felt the resentment and hostility of the local Wei people towards the "invaders". Huoyou had just surrendered. Who knew how many dissatisfied people were in the town? It would be safer to set up a separate sentry post outside the town.

He was not vague. After everyone entered the camp, he immediately asked his subordinates to gather in the open space in the camp.

Except for the ten Henei soldiers led by Zhong Ming, the rest were Hei Fu's old subordinates, so there was no need to shout slogans, but to give orders in an orderly manner.

"Except for the few who died in Waihuang and were injured, there are still 45 people left in this garrison, plus the ten soldiers from Henei including Zhongming, a total of 55 people, the organization of the ten and five teams remains the same. From now on, for twelve hours a day, each of the north and south gates of the camp needs a team of people to take turns guarding. Zhongming, is there anyone stationed at the south gate of Huoyu Township?"

Zhongming replied: "No..."

"Xiao Tao." Heifu immediately ordered: "You take ten people who are good at shooting and take over the defense of the township gate."

Although he dared not stay in the town, Heifu had to keep the control of the town gate firmly in his hands, otherwise if something happened in the town and the entrance was blocked, he would be at a loss.

"Ji Ying, you were originally a postman, so the communication with the outside world is now handed over to you. Five horses have been assigned to this village. You take four people who can ride horses to practice diligently and find time to go to Yangwu, Jiyang, Waihuang, Huangchi, and Daliang to familiarize yourself with the roads."

Hei Fu was thoughtful. Once Huyou Township had a big turmoil that they could not control, they would have to immediately seek help from several nearby places. Although Huyou belonged to Yangwu County, it was the easternmost township of Yangwu, and it was nearly a hundred miles away from the westernmost Yangwu County. Distant water could not save nearby fires. On the contrary, Jiyang and Waihuang were only dozens of miles away, half a day's journey, if the horses galloped fast.

Then Hei Fu announced some more prohibitions.

"During the period of garrisoning at Huyou, except for the squads ordered to patrol the villages and towns and guard the gates of the towns, the rest of the people are not allowed to leave the camp without permission, let alone wandering around!"

"Yes!"

Hei Fu looked at everyone and said sternly: "You are not allowed to bully men and women or do whatever you want! If there are any of the above situations, the lighter ones will be flogged, and the heavier ones can be executed according to the law of war and punishment!"

As soon as these words came out, everyone was in awe. Now it is still a wartime state, and the Qin army's law of war and punishment gives the superior the power to kill the subordinate: the squad leader can kill ten people, the garrison leader can kill the squad leader, the general of a thousand people can kill the leader of a hundred people, the general of ten thousand people can kill the general of a thousand people, the left and right generals can kill the general of ten thousand people, and the generals can all be killed!

Amidst all the nods, Zhong Ming showed a surprised expression. Hei Fu not only had a high prestige among the soldiers, but also acted vigorously and decisively. Perhaps this task that had troubled him for many days could be successfully completed under Hei Fu's command?

Hei Fu had no choice, because this patrol was different from the patrol in Anlu County, which was only responsible for patrolling the countryside, stopping illegal activities, arresting thieves, and maintaining public order.

He was an officer in the occupied area appointed by the front line, stationed in the enemy town that had just surrendered and the local clans and people had unpredictable attitudes. Not only did he have to exercise military control over the local area and guard against possible rebellions at any time, but he also had to search for food in the local area and send it to Daliang in the future to achieve General Wang Ben's goal of "relying on the enemy for food" and "fighting to support the war"...

At this time, the world did not have the concept of great unification. In the eyes of the Wei people, they were invaders, foreign occupation forces, and tyrannical Qin officials who imposed heavy taxes and levied heavy taxes, so this was not an easy job. While Heifu was fulfilling his duties, he also had to be careful about the conflict between the soldiers and the people in the town, which would trigger a mass incident and then evolve into a rebellion...

Heifu was very sure that if the fifty or so of them were trapped in the vast ocean of more than ten thousand people in the whole town, there would be no chance of survival.

They couldn't run away, as the Qin army regulations stated: If a military officer guarding a certain place abandons the city and the soldiers and flees, it is a serious dereliction of duty and will be considered a "military thief". After the war, he will be executed and his whole family will be punished and sent to work for the government...

So Heifu had to be cautious everywhere.

Just when he had arranged everything and asked everyone to go down to their respective duties, Li Xian, the captain in charge of guarding the camp gate, came to report that someone in Huoyu Township came to visit Heifu...

"It was a black-robed man holding an invitation, saying that the newly appointed township headman Zhang Jun had set up a banquet at home and invited the patrol officers to attend!"

"Town headman?" Heifu heard from Zhongming that in addition to him, the patrol officer, there were two local village tycoons in Huoyu Township, who were appointed as the local township headman and the three elders of the township, respectively, to commend them for their merits in surrendering to the Qin army first...

While Heifu was thinking and pondering, Gong Ao, who had become Heifu's diehard because he owed him two lives, was furious.

"What is the village magistrate, what is Mr. Zhang, he is just a local Wei nobleman. He did not bring people to kneel outside the city to greet him, which is extremely rude. Now he invites Youjiao to the banquet, but he dares not come in person, but sends a servant to deal with him? Who does he think he is?"

Gong Aoyi bowed: "Youjiao, why don't you let me lead the troops to capture the magistrate and teach him a lesson! Let him know that the world has changed!"

As soon as these words came out, Zhong Ming changed color and quickly stood up to stop him, saying: "Youjiao, you must not do that. The Zhang family of Huyou Township, Yangwu County is different from the ordinary Wei nobles!"

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