Qin Official

"Last month, your Majesty sent an edict to Yangcheng, saying that King Jing had made an appointment west of Qingyang to attack our Nanjun, so he sent troops to kill him..."

After talking about what happened last month, Heifu said to Li You: "This matter does not matter to the garrison soldiers in other counties, but it is different for our Nanjun garrison soldiers. When I first heard about the enemy in my hometown, I couldn't help but be horrified." Yue Since the rest of the time, there have been constant speculations in the army, and the soldiers have continued to ask the hundred generals and the commander of the camp, but the commander of the hundred generals and the camp did not know the details. They also asked the commander and the commander of the five hundred, but they did not get a formal answer."

It's not that the leaders and the five hundred masters didn't tell the soldiers the truth, these middle-level officers also didn't know much about what happened at home and didn't dare to talk nonsense.

What happened to Nanjun? Which counties did the war affect? How are you at home? Except for officers like Heifu who could inquire layer by layer and get ambiguous information, most of the soldiers were still at a loss.

These days, when you are away on a military expedition, you can't expect to keep in touch with your family. There is no newspaper news or anything like that to keep you informed of what is happening thousands of miles away. Some officers even thought it was a secret and kept silent, which caused suspicion among the soldiers.

Did Hei Fu know that Ji Ying often chatted with people when he took people out to cut firewood? When he came back, he told Hei Fu that the rumors in the army could not stop and they said anything.

Some people said that several counties in Nanjun were destroyed by the Chu army, and their hometown was burned to ashes. Some people even added that even Jiangling had fallen...

This made the soldiers of Nanjun even more eager to return home. Something happened at home, who still wanted to fight outside?

"Therefore, if you want to stop rumors, you must first tell the soldiers the truth. Only the captain can do this."

As a captain sent by Xianyang, Li You is a senior officer. His understanding of the overall situation of this war is of course much better than that of the commander and the Five Hundred Lords. If he personally refuted the rumors and told everyone that nothing happened in Nan County, the rumors would be self-defeating.

"Shan, I will immediately send the messenger to each camp to deliver the order to let everyone know that nothing is wrong in Nanjun."

Li You wrote a document on the spot, and after finishing it, he asked Hei Fu to read it over.

"The Kingdom of Jing is like a close friend to Nanjun, and it is like a courtyard and a wolf's den living side by side. Therefore, if the Kingdom of Jing is not destroyed for one day, Nanjun will have to be on guard every year, and the parents of the two or three sons will not be at peace..."

After reading it, Heifu immediately praised it: "The captain's article is really wonderful. It not only calms the hearts of the soldiers, but also encourages everyone to fight to defend their hometown."

He is not just flattering, because Li You's writing is indeed good.

Heifu knew that Li Si was not only a trusted minister of the King of Qin, but also a famous calligrapher in the world, and had written famous works such as "The Order of Remonstrance and Expulsion of Guests".

This Li You deserves to be Li Si's son. Not only does he write well, but the language of his articles is not obscure and is easy to understand. And it seems that every sentence is considered from the perspective of a soldier. There is no empty talk about "fighting for the king, fighting for Qin", but a reasonable reason for everyone to fight: to defend the homeland, to defend the country. Fight for Nanjun!

Li Yourang ordered the soldiers to take this document to each camp, and summoned the soldiers to read it out in turn. Anyone who dares to spread rumors in the future will be severely punished!

"This is a good strategy." Li You praised Hei Fu and said, "This captain has just come to the army. I really don't know what the soldiers are thinking, and I can't patrol the camp all the time. If there are similar things in the future, you can report it to me face to face."

Heifulian said he did not dare, but at the same time he said with some hesitation: "However, this strategy can only make the soldiers no longer suspicious and calm the rumors in the camp. The subordinates have another idea, which may completely calm everyone's hearts. Boost your morale and fight with all your strength."

"Say it." Li You sat back on the desk. Although this black man was young and of low background, he looked like a rough man, but he had a lot of ideas. It seemed that promoting him to be a short-term soldier was a wise choice. .

Heifu said: "The captain needs strong men."

"Lishi?"

Li You was thoughtful.

He remembered that "Wu Zi" once recorded a conversation between Wu Qi and Wei Wuhou.

Marquis Wu of Wei asked Wu Qi, "Is severe punishment and reward enough to win?"

Wu Qi replied that this was not enough to win. Only by achieving these three points: "Issuing orders and people are happy to hear them, raising troops to mobilize the masses and people are happy to fight, and engaging in battles and fighting, and people are happy to die" can we be sure of victory.

To achieve these three points, the method provided by Wu Qi is to inspire people.

Let people with different meritorious deeds be rewarded with different titles of land and house, so that the families of the dead soldiers do not have to get nothing because of the death of their younger brothers. These things that other countries only occasionally implement are already guaranteed by Qin's laws in Qin. Therefore, when there is a war, Qin people will be happy to hear about the war. When their parents and wives say goodbye, they will also encourage them: "If you don't get the title, don't come back!"

This is a good recipe for the Qin army to win every battle, so as the commander-in-chief of the army, all Li You can do personally is to imitate Wu Qi and Sima Ranju, personally inspect the camp, and reward the soldiers with meat and wine before the battle, which reflects He loves his soldiers as his sons, nothing more.

I feed my husband vertebrae and oxen with wine, and give him a good reward to recuperate. He does not want to be drunk and full as a virtue, so he can increase his morale...

However, when Li You was thinking about ordering extra meals for the soldiers, Heifu shook his head and said, "I think that what the Nanjun garrison soldiers need most now is not the gift of cattle and wine..."

Food encouragement is definitely effective, but Heifu feels that what the Nanjun soldiers need most now is spiritual comfort, something that can calm their uneasy hearts due to homesickness. .

After hearing Heifu's advice, even Li You, who was willing to accept words, frowned.

"Let the soldiers write letters home?"

…

Li You did not immediately agree to Heifu's suggestion. Instead, he asked the messengers to go to each camp to read out the rumor refuting documents, and then summoned the leaders and the five hundred masters.

Just when Heifu wisely wanted to leave, Li You asked him to stay.

"Now that the person who gave you the advice is gone, what kind of military discussion is this Captain going to do?"

Heifu said quickly: "It's time for the officials to take turns today."

"Let other short-sighted soldiers take over for you." Li You had no doubts, and immediately summoned the five hundred masters who managed the short-soldiers, and asked him to adjust the defense and ask Heifu to be replaced.

The Lord of Five Hundred took the order and left. When he announced the news, the four hundred generals who had nicknamed Heifu "The Hundred Generals in Quilts" were all shocked by this order, and they were jealous and envious. .

They have been with Li You for half a year and for one or two years, but they have never received such treatment. You must know that being valued by the captain is an important way to get promoted as a personal guard.

Even Zhai Chong opened his mouth slightly. He didn't expect that just when the hundreds of short-handed generals isolated Heifu and stopped playing with him, Heifu had already made suggestions and openly joined the leader and the five hundred. Only the Lord can participate in the military discussion.

Who looks down on whom? Who is being left far behind?

I have only been here a few days and I have already received such high regard from the captain. How can I pay him back in the future?

After a while, the leader and the five hundred masters came to the big tent. When they opened the tent door and saw a young general standing at the end of the tent, smiling and waiting, they were slightly startled. Heifu's former boss Cheng Wuyou was even more surprised.

"Heifu, aren't you supposed to be guarding outside the tent?"

Heifu showed an awkward smile: "The captain asked me to stay and participate in the military discussion..."

Cheng Wuyou immediately looked Heifu up and down, as if he was meeting him for the first time. Although he had a good impression of Heifu and knew that he was a capable subordinate, he did not expect that Heifu would get the title of Captain so quickly. Li You's attention.

They were surprised, but this did not prevent the military officials from immediately taking action after hearing Li You's advice from Hei Fu.

"Let the soldiers write letters home? Not to mention that the war is imminent, how difficult it is to make each of the five thousand people in the whole song write a letter. The captain and the subordinates think that this strategy is ridiculous and will never be feasible."

A leader was the first to attack and criticized the suggestion as useless. Others nodded in agreement, feeling that the idea was purely superfluous.

After everyone finished criticizing, Li Youcai nodded to indicate that Heifu could speak.

Hei Fu then stood up from the end of the camp, bowed to everyone, and said softly: "I am a humble and vulgar official. I just want to ask you, have you ever written a letter home in the past three months to tell your family that you cannot return home on time? "

All the military officials looked at each other. As officers, they had many personal connections. It was not difficult to ask an acquaintance or put a personal letter into the carriage that was used to deliver official documents and send it back. The letters to my family range from one letter to one, and most of them have already been sent back and forth, and I have received winter clothes from home.

After getting everyone's affirmation, Hei Fu asked again: "I dare to ask you, if there is no correspondence, you don't know what's going on at home, and the family doesn't know your life and death, will you feel at ease?"

The leader and the five hundred masters were all a little embarrassed. In that case, the family would be anxious to death, and they would not be able to feel at ease here.

Heifu then smiled and said: "Most of our Nanjun garrison soldiers were recruited from the first month (October). After fighting the battle to destroy Wei, it was already May. Logically speaking, we would return home in June and return home in July or August." We were able to return to Nanjun to help with the autumn harvest at home. But we were stopped by a new military order on the way, telling everyone to stay where they were, and then we were told that there was a big battle to be fought."

"The soldiers are not without complaints, but they also know that military law is as good as a mountain, and escaping hastily will harm their families, so He Cai stayed in the camp honestly."

"But when we are in Yangcheng, the hearts of the soldiers have already flown back to Nanjun. Nanjun was attacked by the Jing Kingdom. Are your families okay? The garrison period was originally only one year, but now I am afraid it will be extended for several months or even half a year. My family has no news. I am afraid that I am very anxious. I wonder if the titles, fields and houses that the soldiers obtained in the battle to destroy Wei are obtained at home? Thousands of words can be said, but they can only be separated by mountains and rivers and are not allowed to go back and forth. This is why the soldiers want to return home. …”

"In the past three months, many of the 100 people under my charge have come to ask me if they can send letters home? I don't ask for a reply from home, but I want to write down what they want to ask. I sent the letter to let my family know that I am okay, so that I can feel at ease for a while."

His voice slowly grew louder.

"Compare your hearts to your own. The kings are like this, a hundred soldiers are like this, and the five thousand soldiers are like this!"

After saying this, Hei Fu bowed to everyone in the tent: "Therefore, this is not what Hei Fu said on a whim, but the wish of the entire army!"

There was silence in the tent. After all the words were said, the leader and the five hundred masters had no reason to object. They just had some objections on how to implement it.

"Each person writes a letter. I don't know how much writing and ink it will cost. There are few literate people in the army. How can we get everyone to write letters?"

Others were worried: "The soldiers may reveal military secrets if they speak without restraint."

Heifu replied: "It will be a month or two before the letter is delivered home. I'm afraid we will no longer be in Yangcheng by then. In addition, the soldiers who want to write home can prepare wooden slips by themselves. In addition, every hundred , the literate generals and the commander of each camp should write family letters for their colleagues, the soldiers will dictate it, and the military officials will write it for them. In this way, it takes only three days and less than five carts of letters, and it can calm the hearts of five thousand soldiers. , why not?"

After saying that, he urged Li Youdao: "At that time, the captain can also personally inspect the camp and write family letters for several soldiers. There is a saying in Anlu County, the war lasts for three months, and the family letters are worth ten thousand gold! This move by the captain , in the hearts of soldiers, it is worth more than ten thousand gold gifts! The soldiers must be grateful and die for the captain!"

After hearing what Heifu said, Li Youyi was moved.

"The war rages on for three months, and a letter from home is worth ten thousand gold? It seems to make some sense."

"In the past, Sima Ranju and Wu Qi both personally promoted soldiers. When they rose as generals, they would not lay down on seats or travel without riding. They would personally pack the grain and share the labor with the soldiers. If a soldier had gangrene, he would suck it up when he rose, so the soldiers fought. Don’t turn your heels…”

"If I can personally write a few letters home for the soldiers today, it may have a similar effect and let everyone know that I love soldiers. In this way, the morale of the soldiers will be gained and the soldiers can be used by me!"

The Art of War says: Treat a soldier like a baby, so you can go to a deep stream with him; treat a soldier like a beloved son, so you can die with him. It's easy to say, but difficult to do. The soldiers are not stupid, they can see the truth and lies. Therefore, even if many generals intend to imitate them, they cannot achieve the results of Wu Qi and Sima Rangju.

But now, there is an opportunity in front of Li You, and he agrees to let the soldiers write letters, which can also prove that Nanjun is indeed fine, so that they can finish the battle with peace of mind.

So Li Duwei applauded the case and said: "I have made up my mind, this strategy is feasible!"

When the commander and the five hundred leaders saw that the captain had made his decision, they could only agree.

Seeing that his goal was achieved, Heifu couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, but he laughed at himself: "From now on, my nickname may become 'Hundred Generals'."