Yan Wen was a loyal and brave man in history. It could be said that he was loyal to the heavens. Originally, his uncle would have felt his loyalty and killed him to help his reputation. Now, because of my arrival, history has changed. Yanwen has surrendered and become one of my generals. Since he had sworn to be loyal to me, combined with the evaluation of him in history, I automatically ignored the option of whether he would betray me in the future. I immediately sent him to arrange for someone to find a place near the roadside that was easy to defend and buy it first. After tidying up the land for use, I let him do it himself.
When I returned to the prefect's manor, Yang Fu was sorting out the situation of the captives and reporting to uncle,"
"Great General, in this siege, more than 100 people from each tribe died, more than 300 were injured, more than 1000 Cao soldiers were killed, more than 10,000 Cao soldiers were captured, and property was seized….”
During the war of the Han Dynasty, many people did not want captives. During the Battle of Changping, the Qin State could kill 400,000 captives of the Zhao State at once. During the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Huangfu Song and the others could kill hundreds of thousands of captives in one battle. The Yellow Turban soldiers captured by Cao Cao were also selected to be strong and the rest were killed. Their meat was even taken as military rations. Killing captives could save military rations and reduce unstable factors. This was also the reason why killing captives was very important. Uncle had killed captives before, so there was nothing he could do. His uncle was a little uncertain. After all, the population of Western Liang had been greatly reduced in recent years. If they continued to kill indiscriminately, they would probably lose the hearts of the people. It would take a lot of effort for Western Liang to develop. However, there was not much food left for the army. If they took in so many captives and the refugees in the city, they would have a problem eating after a while. His uncle asked Yang Fu,
"Commandant Yang, what do you think we should do?”
Yang Fu looked at Liang Kuan and Zhao Qu beside her. They didn't have any good ideas, so Yang Fu kicked the ball to her uncle.
"General, you can make the decision."
Uncle sighed.
"Sigh, I can't afford to raise these people either. Then let's kill some?”
When Yang Fu and the others heard this, their expressions changed.
"Kill?"
Uncle looked at them and replied,
"Then what do you have in mind?"
Yang Fu shook her head again. I walked in from outside the door and heard uncle's conversation. I quickly took a step forward.
"Uncle, nephew has an idea. We don't need to kill the prisoners to solve this problem.”
Uncle's eyes lit up when he heard that. Yang Fu and the others also stared at me.
"Tong 'er, let's hear it and see how you resolve it.”
I've been running outside for half a day and haven't even had a sip of water." Uncle, don't be anxious. I'm dying of thirst. Let me drink some water first."”Uncle quickly ordered someone to bring me a glass of water. I gulped down a few mouthfuls and continued,
"Uncle, the Cao army that we captured should be made up of at least three parts. The first part is sent by the Cao bandits, the second part is the private soldiers of the local tyrants, and the last part is the young men that were forcibly recruited by Ji City. The first group consisted of the most powerful Cao Thief. The second part was the fence-sitter. The third portion was used to make up the numbers and had almost no combat strength. We can treat them separately. For the first and second part, we can let the captives write letters to their families and ask their families to pay for the ransom. Of course, the ransom is different for different official positions. If they kill or injure our people, the ransom will also be increased. We want half of the ransom to be converted into food. After these people were released, they would definitely spread the word that we would not easily kill prisoners, and their performance would be directly linked to the ransom. This way, even if they fought with us again, they would think twice about whether they were going to risk their lives. As for the third group of people, as long as there are three families in Ji City who prove that they were captured to join the army, we can let them go home directly and sell the locals a favor.”
When Yang Fu heard this, she thought for a while and asked,"
"Little General, what if no one repays?”
"That's simple. Let him work and earn money to redeem himself. Or find someone to redeem yourself."
Uncle also added,
"That's a good idea, but we still have to feed them for a while.”
"It's okay. I'll pay double for their meals during this period of time. Anyway, I still have to build a few workshops. Let them do more work for me. I'll pay my uncle so that they won't have nothing to do.”
After Yang Fu heard my words, he exchanged glances with Liang Kuan and the others. They had worked together for many years, so they knew what a glance meant. However, they also heaved a sigh of relief. After all, they didn't have to kill their original subordinates. He turned to me and said teasingly,
"Little General, you're ruthless enough to have such an idea.”
I cupped my hands and replied shamelessly,"You flatter me."
Then we threw our heads back and laughed.
However, it was also very troublesome to arrange this work. How to screen so many people was really a big problem. Yang Fu said faintly,
"Sigh, it's a pity that Yan Bie Jia is nowhere to be found. Otherwise, with his familiarity with the guards of Ji City, he would have finished them off very quickly.”
Hearing this, uncle smiled. The officers standing beside uncle also smiled. I kept a straight face and didn't smile. These people made Yang Fu laugh until she was stunned.
"General, why are you laughing?"
Uncle pointed at me and said to Yang Fu,
"Ask him!"
Yang Fu was very curious and said to me,
"Little General, do you know where Yan Biejia is?”
My expression was normal as I said seriously,
"I don't know where Yan Biejia is?”
"Then why did the general ask us to ask you?”
"I don't know where Yan Bie Jia is, but I know where Yan Wen is.”
"Hmm? They are the same person!"
"Is that so? I have a guard called Yan Wen who just left me to handle some matters.”I said on purpose.
"Yan Wen, a guard?" Yang Fu was confused.
Uncle and the people around him who knew about my bet burst into laughter again. Uncle held back his laughter and told Yang Fu and the others intermittently about how Yan Wen became my servant. When Yang Fu heard this, he was also happy. However, he told me very seriously,
"Little General, Yan Biejia was my superior and a talent of Western Liang. It is too much of a grievance to be a family general.”
I was also amused and said half-jokingly,
"It's okay. I can lend him to Uncle.”
"If that's the case, then the matter of the captives will be easy to handle.”
Uncle ordered me to be fully responsible for the handling of the captives. Of course, Yan Wen was the one who did the actual work. After all, Yan Wen was familiar with all the situations in Ji City. I took my uncle's command arrow and went straight to the place where the captives were kept. Yan Wen was easy to deal with, he just had to inform someone to meet me directly. The captives had all been escorted out of the city. They were surrounded by a large circle of soldiers who were watching over them. Their weapons were bright and cold. Tens of thousands of captives were gathered in a black mass, some standing and some squatting. Most of them had panic on their faces, worried about their own fate. After all, killing captives was too common back then. Now that these people had lost their weapons, they could only be eaten by others.
Yan Wen also arrived. I stood with him on the reviewing platform. After we stood properly, the high-pitched officer of the Central Army shouted,
"Everyone, stand up and be quiet, the general has an order to announce.”
After the guards heard the order, they urged the captives to stand up and forced them to be quiet. A few of the captives were slow and were even whipped by the bad-tempered soldier. Soon, all the captives stood quietly under the reviewing platform, whether they were willing or not. After all, there were weapons pointed at them. If they didn't behave, it wouldn't be fun if they were stabbed.
I was already prepared to use Yan Wen freely, so I might as well let him represent me to announce the next step of our policy to these captives. Just now, I had taken some time to tell Yan Wen how I was going to deal with the captives. Yan Wen was very happy to hear that. After all, those people were his comrades. They had been through life and death for many years. He couldn't bear to let them lose their lives. Now, they were finally alive. Moreover, many of them had the hope of returning home. It was a good thing to save their lives.
"Brothers, I'm sure many of you know me. Oh right, I'm Yan Wen, the former governor of Liangzhou. However, I've now sought refuge with this little general, my current master, General Zhao Tong. He was General Ma's nephew. It was him who had caused three large holes in the city wall of Ji City to collapse with a wave of his hand. He was also the one who had prevented the people of Ji City from being harassed by the soldiers. Now, General Ma had given him full authority to deal with the issue of prisoners.”
Buzzing sounds came from below. After all, those three loud bangs were too shocking. Ji City had been besieged for six months without any problems, but with just a wave of my hand, the wall collapsed and the city fell. His battle achievements were too shocking. I just didn't know how he would deal with everyone.
"Please be quiet. Young Master has already told me his thoughts just now. Everyone had hope of going home.”
The captives widened their eyes in disbelief. After all, it was everyone's wish to return home alive.
"I know that some people might not believe it, but as everyone's old acquaintance and old boss, I still have to emphasize that everyone has hope of going home. But…"
When the people below heard the first half of his words, they were overjoyed and almost jumped up and shouted wildly. However, when they heard Yan Wen say the word "but", their hearts fell from three thousand feet high to three thousand feet underground. If their blood pressure was unstable, they were afraid that some of their blood vessels would collapse on the spot.
Yan Wen was indeed an expert in handling government affairs. As he spoke, he detailed my policy on dealing with captives, forming a measurable rule and frame, and announced it. Using his familiarity with his subordinates, a team of literate people was selected to register everyone's name, military unit, position, home address, and so on. In order to avoid suspicion, they also set up supervisors to monitor and prevent anyone from cheating. The locals were singled out and escorted to the side, waiting for the people in the city to claim them. According to their performance, those who had killed our soldiers had to pay a fine, while those who had not killed our soldiers did not have to pay a fine. As long as their home was here, they could go home with their family and two neighbors as bail. If they had no family, they had to have three neighbors as bail before they could be released. As for the others, we will let those who can read write letters to their families and attach tokens. We will let our families send people to redeem them according to our conditions. Originally, some of the scions of the powerful families wanted to get away with it, but Yan Wen's eyes swept over them and they immediately reported their true situation and obediently wrote letters to their families to redeem them.
I also kept an eye out for the craftsmen among the captives. The last time I made gunpowder, I knew that there were too few craftsmen in uncle's camp. If I set up a workshop again, there would be no one to use. I might as well take advantage of this time to quickly dig out the craftsmen from the captives. After combing through the information, I also found a name that surprised me, Ma Jun. His name was clearly written on the information sheet. He was also a member of the Windraiser, the deputy commander of the Craftsmen Camp. He led a team of people to repair the damaged weapons of the army. I know that Ma Jun was the best craftsman during the Three Kingdoms period. It is recorded in history that "Jun argued with Gao Tanglong, the constant attendant, and Qin Lang, the general of the cavalry, in the court. He talked about the south-pointing chariot. The two of them said that there was no south-pointing chariot in ancient times. This is a false record." So the two sons told Emperor Ming about this matter, and Emperor Ming ordered Jun to make it, and the south-pointing chariot was completed. Furthermore, Ma Jun had invented the Dragon Bone Water Wheel and improved the stone cart used to attack cities. The " Water Transformations " he created was powered by water and driven by mechanical wooden wheels, allowing the puppets to perform automatically. The idea was very ingenious. Due to his deep attainments in mechanical manufacturing, he was known as the "world's famous craftsman" at that time. After he saw Master Zhuge's crossbow, he said,"It's clever, but it's not perfect." He claimed that he could increase its power by five times. Ma Jun's life, from youth to old age, had never been successful. At that time, the literary scholar Fu Xuan once said," Even the ancient Gongshu Ban, Mo Di, and the modern Zhang Heng couldn't compare to Mr. Ma's skill. How could he let such a future genius go? No, absolutely not. Yan Wen saw that I was interested in this person and told me that Ma Jun was alone now. No one would come to redeem him. I asked Yan Wen to bring Ma Jun over. At first glance, Ma Jun was relatively thin, with slender fingers and was very calm. He was definitely a person who devoted himself to studying technology. It was only when she spoke that she realized that he was still stuttering. However, through our conversation, I knew that Ma Jun had nowhere to go and no one came to redeem him. Ma Jun saw that I was sincere in recruiting him, and with Yan Wen's persuasion, Ma Jun also surrendered to me.
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