The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

The winter sun rose again from the surface, shining on a small forest forty miles south of Xiangcheng. The air was full of chill, more than a dozen horses were tied to the trees around, and hundreds of soldiers were leaning against each other crookedly, lying, leaning, or sitting. From their tired faces and the scars on their bodies, it can be seen that this is a remnant of soldiers who have suffered a lot.

In the center of the crowd, Li You, lying flat on the carriage, was awakened by the pain of his wound. He opened his eyes and saw that it was Hei Fu who was changing the bloody cloth for his wound.

"Heifu."

Li You looked at the subordinate who was bandaging the wound with skillful techniques, and felt a little complicated. After a long time, he said weakly: "Who lent you the courage to let me escape?"

As soon as these words came out, everyone around opened their eyes, especially the military judge, who stood behind Heifu and clenched his sword, as if he could kill Heifu as long as Li You gave an order!

But Heifu remained calm. He continued his work, using silk to re-treat the wound that he had bandaged hastily last night. After carefully tying the last knot, he took a step back and said solemnly:

"According to the general's order, we are the rear guard of the army. We cannot retreat even a step. This is the duty of the captain."

"Once the military order is given, we must strive forward and kill the enemy. This is the duty of ordinary soldiers."

"Protect the left and right, protect the captain, and put the captain's safety first. This is the duty of the short-armed soldiers."

"Last night, the Chu army attacked fiercely. Our army has resisted for more than two quarters, but we are outnumbered and the army has collapsed. The general intends to die for his country and does not want to retreat. But if the general dies, even if we escape successfully, we short-armed soldiers will still be held accountable and executed. So in my opinion, I am just doing my job. If the captain thinks I am guilty, please kill me according to military law!"

After saying that, Heifu knelt down on one knee, and those short soldiers who survived thanks to him also gathered around him. Dongmen Bao, Ji Ying, Gong Ao and others knelt down together: "If the generals are guilty of rescuing the captain, we should die together!"

"Well, well, you are just doing your job, what's the crime? If you are guilty, I lost this battle, and I can't escape the crime of destroying the army."

Li You closed his eyes weakly. He felt that his whole body was about to fall apart, especially his chest that was hit by an arrow, which was even more painful. The soft sunlight in the early morning seemed to touch the sadness in his heart, making him grief-stricken.

Looking back, yesterday's battle was simply a disaster. When the Nanjun soldiers who were ordered to guard the rear gradually lost their strength and collapsed under the attack of the Chu people, Li You just wanted to curse.

Curse the arrogant and reckless Li Xin, and curse Meng Tian who arranged for him to guard the rear.

Li You had two choices. One was to die in battle. But he had just married the eldest princess of the King of Qin. He was enjoying a new life of wine and sex and a promising career. How could he be willing to die here for no reason?

The second choice was to abandon the army and run away. But that would violate military law.

The military law of Qin said: In all battles, if the generals and officials abandoned their soldiers and went north alone, they would be killed.

Before Li You could make a decision, he was attacked by a rain of arrows shot by the archers of the Chu army. Although Hei Fu and other short soldiers immediately got on the chariot and raised their shields to block many arrows for Li You, the unlucky Li You was still shot in the chest by stray arrows. The horses of the chariot also ran away in panic, throwing him off the chariot...

At this time, Hei Fu led people to help Li You up, shouting "Protect the captain", and left the battlefield with hundreds of short soldiers before the Chu army rushed over.

Li You once wanted to vent his anger on Duan Bing for not fighting to the death and leaving the battlefield, but when he opened his eyes and saw Hei Fu carefully bandaging his wounds, he still couldn't bear it. He was right, everyone was just loyal to their duties.

"I was ordered to guard the rear, and I fought against the Chu army several times more than me. I held on to the end, so it was not considered abandoning the army and fleeing."

There is a big difference between abandoning the army and fighting hard and losing. The former will be considered a "traitor to the country" and unforgivable, while the latter is a helpless act.

Although the generals who fought hard with the enemy but unfortunately lost should be executed according to reason, they can still use their titles to atone for their crimes. This system has a long history in the Qin State. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, Qin Mu Gong forgave the three generals Meng Mingshi, Xiqishu, and Baiqibing who were defeated by the Jin army in the Battle of Yao and became prisoners, and restored their official positions. A few years later, the three generals avenged their shame in one fell swoop, led their troops to attack Jin, crossed the river and burned the ships, and defeated the Jin people in retaliation for the Battle of Chao.

Therefore, the Qin State has continued this tradition and will not be too harsh on defeated generals. After all, except for Bai Qi, the Marquis of Wu'an, no one dares to say that he can win every battle.

In the past, generals such as Wang He and Meng Ao also suffered several defeats, even major defeats, and lost their armies and territory. In the end, they relied on using their titles to atone for their crimes and were not executed. After a few years of silence, they were reappointed. These generals will learn lessons afterwards and be more interested in making meritorious deeds to avenge their shame.

"The main guilt of this battle lies with Li Xin and Meng Tian. If I use my title to atone for my crime, I will at most be exempted from being a commoner."

It's useless to think about things that are too far away. Let's get out of danger first, Li You raised his head and asked.

"Where is the leader of the five hundred short soldiers?"

No one responded, Hei Fu lowered his head: "The leader of the five hundred was the rear guard of the captain, and died in the chaos."

"What a pity."

Li You sighed. He was seriously injured last night and fell off the carriage. He was unconscious for a while. During this period, he was placed in the carriage by the short soldiers. He was also half-conscious and lost the ability to command, so he didn't know what happened later.

"How many people did you gather in total?"

Hei Fu reported: "A total of more than 600 people were gathered, of which 400 were short soldiers. There were only three short-soldier hundred generals and another ordinary hundred generals left among the military officers."

"So few!?"

Li You was shocked. The Nanjun soldiers he commanded were not fully staffed. Unlike other captains, they had 10,000 people under their command, but at least 5,000. How come only so few people escaped?

Hei Fu and Zhai Chong and other generals beside him looked at each other and apologized: "We haven't informed the commander yet. The situation was critical at that time. The soldiers were scattered and most of them ran west along the Ying River. But when we saw that the Chu army also sent chariots and cavalry to chase us, we did not choose to go west, but went south... This matter was discussed by us together, I hope the commander will not blame us."

"Go south?"

Li You was startled again, and his chest hurt again. After he took a break, he looked at the unfamiliar forest around him: "Where is this place?"

"Forty miles south of Xiangcheng."

The haggard Qin Mohist Cheng Shang also came over. He was also caught in the chaos and lost contact with Master Tang and Tang Duo. In the end, he could only follow this team to the south. Along the way, he was secretly calculating the itinerary.

"Map."

Li You wanted someone to bring a map, but Hei Fu and the others just looked at each other and said awkwardly: "Captain, we retreated too hastily and didn't bring a map."

Li You had no choice, but fortunately he was from Shangcai and had an impression of the surrounding cities, so he pointed out a few soldiers and drew a rough direction on the ground.

First, the Yingshui and Rushui rivers flowed in the southeast, followed by the cities scattered all over the place...

"General Meng Tian's retreat direction should be the line of Dun and Yangcheng."

Hei Fu was describing the scene they saw when they evacuated last night. Meng Tian probably gathered 20,000 remnants. Now they already know that it was not Li Xin but Meng Tian who led everyone to besiege Xiangcheng.

"The pursuit route of the Chu army should also be this road, or they want to take back the cities along the way."

Although Meng Tian gathered a small part of the Qin army and did not completely collapse, the Chu army chased the enemy and chased them north, and it must have killed and injured many people along the way. So last night, Heifu and his men took Li You to avoid the enemy's attack and head south instead. It was undoubtedly a correct choice. The Chu people came from the east and north, but there was no soldier in the south where Li Xin had just swept through.

"We can go to Pingyu."

Li You recalled the military situation reported to them by Meng Tian, and pondered: "Half a month ago, General Li Xin sent troops from Shangcai, conquered Pingyu and Qinqiu, defeated the Chu army, and left some soldiers there. Pingyu had 3,000 soldiers..."

As long as they arrived in Pingyu, they would be safe, and Li You would be able to get better treatment. Heifu had already said that he could only wrap the wound to stop the bleeding, and he could not do more complicated wound treatments, and the doctors in the camp had long disappeared.

Li You now hoped very much that he could leave the battlefield that brought him painful memories as soon as possible, return to Xianyang alive, and return to his newly married wife.

Thinking of this, he cheered up again and said to the several generals who gathered around to listen to his orders: "It will take about a day and a night from here to Pingyu. We..."

Before he could finish, he felt a sharp pain in his chest again. Li You spit out a mouthful of blood, which sprayed on the simple map he had just drawn, staining the area between Ying and Ru red!

"Captain!"

Hei Fu and others hurriedly helped Li You and let him lie down again.

"That arrow may have injured his lungs. Captain needs to rest and not talk any more."

"It seems that I can't even take you out of Chu in person."

Li You smiled weakly. He had lost a lot of blood and might faint again at any time. At most, he could formulate a general evacuation direction, but this was Chu's territory, and there were enemies everywhere. Who knew what they would encounter along the way?

So, they needed a commander who could replace Li You and respond to emergencies.

In the Qin army, five people form a squad, ten people form a ten, a hundred people form a soldier, a thousand people form a leader, and ten thousand people form a general. If the commander dies in the morning, someone will take over in the morning, and if he dies in the evening, someone will take over in the evening. The order of command succession is similar to that of later generations. First look at the level, and then look at the military rank (title) if the levels are the same.

In theory, when the captain Li You cannot command, the command should be handed over to the leader and the five hundred masters temporarily. But now that the five hundred masters of the short-armed army are dead, the important task of leading everyone out of Chu can only be handed over to the four young generals in front of them.

Li You has no impression of the Nanjun soldier general named "Man", probably because he ran along in the chaos, so he is naturally not considered.

Among the three short-armed generals, Zhai Chong's title is just not changed, which is not as good as the other two, and he has also lost the qualification.

Li You looked at the remaining two people. One of them was a general who had followed him since Xianyang. His name was Xu Yang. His family was a small noble family with military merits and had been officials for generations. He was a good candidate. Xu Yang was also looking at Li You eagerly at this moment.

But in the end, Li You set his sights on Heifu.

This little general from Anlu County, Nanjun, who did not even have a surname, attracted Li You's attention by simply folding quilts. After becoming his short soldier, he offered advice and suggestions, further showing his resourcefulness that could not be seen from his appearance.

What's more rare is that Heifu is also very enterprising. During the army's stay, he borrowed Li You's "Wu Sunzi" to observe and copied two volumes by hand. The hundred men under his command are also the most morale-boosting and orderly soldiers in Nanjun, and the organization is still intact now.

"Heifu, come forward." Li You said.

Heifu immediately came to the lying Li You and knelt on one knee.

Li You took out the tiger talisman he carried with him and handed it to Hei Fu: "Who else but you can take my command and lead everyone out of danger?"