Chapter 155: Mowed Down Almost Completely

"Is this man Zhou Fu?"

After questioning the captured Wei people and learning the name of that brave warrior who killed several Qin soldiers in succession before dying on his feet, Heifu was slightly surprised.

"No wonder there were so many. I originally only planned to lure out Chen Yu and the gallant youths of Waihuang, but I never expected to draw Zhou Fu here as well!"

Several days ago, upon learning that Zhang Er's sworn friend, the renowned scholar Chen Yu—also on the Qin army's wanted list—had brought men to the vicinity of Huyou Village, a plan formed in Heifu's mind. He immediately summoned Chen Ping to meet and discuss countermeasures with him.

"According to Zhang Fu, Chen Yu and Zhang Er are friends who would die for each other, as close as father and son. Now that I have captured Zhang Er's son, he will not be content until he has taken the boy back..."

The Qin officials and the gallant youths were natural enemies. These armed vigilantes roamed in groups of three to five, scattered across the surrounding counties and villages, causing considerable trouble for the Qin army, which was garrisoned along the main roads and in the cities and could not penetrate deep into the countryside to sweep them out.

Heifu had now made an enemy of the Zhang County gallants. Rather than leave Zhang Er's remaining followers to strike at him unexpectedly, it was better to devise a plan to wipe them all out in one fell swoop.

And Zhang Er's son, Zhang Ao, became the most perfect bait.

Thus, Heifu made a great show of taking Zhang Ao with him, setting out from Huyou Village. Instead of taking the shorter route, he deliberately detoured through Waihuang, swaggering through the county market, purposely insulting Zhang Er and the gallant youths, ensuring these words spread throughout Waihuang.

In secret, Heifu paid a visit to his old superior, Yang Xiong. Yang Xiong was stationed in Waihuang with five hundred men and had suffered no small number of raids from the gallants, but the group was extremely scattered and knew the terrain well, making them impossible to eradicate in a short time.

Upon hearing Heifu's plan to "wipe them all out," Yang Xiong slammed the table in admiration and immediately plotted with Heifu. They had the grain carts from Huyou Village driven into the Qin army camp. When they emerged the next day, the one hundred Huyou Village laborers had been detained inside the camp, and one hundred Qin soldiers, led by two platoon leaders, had changed into civilian clothes, with their weapons loaded onto the ox and horse carts.

Furthermore, Yang Xiong had committed serious resources, handing over an entire platoon of elite crossbowmen to Heifu, having them hide in the various carts and covering them with straw. Unless one approached closely, the ruse was impossible to detect...

The stretch from Waihuang to Daliang was the last chance for Chen Yu and the gallant youths to rescue Zhang Ao, but the plan was not guaranteed to succeed one hundred percent.

Yang Xiong, for his part, was quite broad-minded. As he saw Heifu out of the city, he said to him:

"If the gallants come to seize the hostage, we will wipe them out in one stroke. If they do not, then consider it my helping you deliver grain to the walls of Daliang." Because of his merit in attacking cities and his effective governance during his garrison at Huyou, where no unrest had arisen, Heifu had become one of the platoon leaders most valued by Yang Xiong.

Fortunately, as soon as they entered the woods twenty li west of the city, they came under attack. But Heifu immediately realized that the attackers numbered not just a few dozen, but over a hundred!

However, Heifu and his men had no time to think it through. They could only launch a counterattack according to the original plan and pursue the enemy relentlessly. Only now did they understand that Chen Yu had not only rallied the Waihuang gallants, but Zhou Fu, who had recently been raiding Qin grain convoys in Yangwu, Huangchi, and other counties, had also joined this ambush...

Heifu could not help breaking out in a cold sweat. He had originally planned to ask Yang Xiong for just two platoons. Now it was clear that with fewer men, even if they ultimately repelled the attackers, they would have suffered heavy losses.

Although Zhou Fu's men were Wei people gathered from various counties—disorganized, undisciplined, a motley mob unable to match their own Qin army irregulars—when pushed to a desperate end, their ferocity still inflicted considerable casualties on the Qin men.

"This is an unexpected delight!" The three platoon leaders who had come with Heifu did not overthink it; they were all overjoyed. Zhou Fu was a name on the wanted list. Because he had repeatedly raided Qin grain convoys over the past two months, the bounty on him had risen steadily, now reaching one hundred taels of gold...

Even split evenly among four platoons, that would be over ten thousand coins each. How could they not be delighted?

At that moment, another Qin soldier came over and asked naively, "Platoon Leader, do these bandits count as decapitated heads?"

"Of course they do!" the platoon leaders said in unison.

Bandits who launched organized attacks on the Qin army in numbers exceeding a hundred were no longer mere "gang robbers" but "enemy troops." Every single one of them counted as a severed head!

The Qin soldier who had asked immediately went red-eyed, turned around at once, and called everyone to quickly take the heads, because Heifu and the leaders of the other three platoons had already agreed: in this operation, they would not fight over the spoils but would tally the heads together and then divide them evenly...

Before long, the Qin soldiers who had scattered in pursuit of the attackers returned, each carrying severed heads. Naturally, many of the wounded who were not yet dead were finished off with a final blade. The unwritten rule of the Qin army was: take no prisoners.

Thus, half a shichen later, when Chen Ping arrived at the ambush site with Yang Xiong's carriage, he witnessed a scene that Heifu and the others had long grown accustomed to...

Dozens of human heads were piled neatly by the roadside, all eyes wide open, dead but unseeing. Flies and gnats buzzed around them in circles—an unspeakably horrifying sight.

Chen Ping took only one glance before crouching in the grass and vomiting up his breakfast completely!

In Huyou Village, he had seen a Qin army with strict discipline, one that committed virtually no offense against the local commoners.

Yesterday, arriving in Waihuang County, he had seen a Qin army of ferocious, evil aspect, one that had regulated the once-bustling Waihuang into a desolate city of death.

Today, he witnessed yet another face of the Qin army—precisely what the one-armed old soldier from their own Kushang Hamlet had spoken of in his childhood: "They cast aside their armor and rush bare-chested at the foe, carrying heads in their left hands and live captives under their right arms, like ravenous tigers and vicious wolves..."

Turning back to look at the decapitated corpses of the Wei men, Chen Ping, whose conscience was not yet extinguished, felt a moment of regret. He had advised the Qin official and devised a scheme to trick these men into gathering here to die. Was it right or wrong?

While Chen Ping stood to the side, his conscience stinging, Heifu and the platoon leaders were reporting the results to their company commander, Yang Xiong.

"The enemy bandits numbered over a hundred: Wei outlaws led by Zhou Fu of Huangchi, as well as Chen Yu and the Waihuang gallants. Half fled into the woods and their whereabouts are unknown; the other half were slain by us."

"A total of sixty-eight heads were taken, among them the head of Zhou Fu. Chen Yu was not captured... Two prisoners taken..."

The head count had, of course, been meticulously calculated. Split among the four platoons, each would reach the standard for a "full promotion." Those two lucky ones had thus survived the butcher's blade.

"Of our own men, twelve died in battle, and eight were wounded."

Half of these had been killed by Zhou Fu, a testament to his ferocity. Recalling it, the platoon leaders still felt lingering fear, and their respect for that veteran soldier grew even deeper.

Though they belonged to opposing states and were sworn enemies, this did not prevent them from feeling admiration for a brave foe. Such was the spirit of the Warring States. But the elegance of the Spring and Autumn period—when nobles, caught up in the heat of battle, would halt their chariots to offer each other wine, or release an enemy commander at a critical moment—was something these low-ranking officers could not emulate. That was destined to be a fine tale of a bygone era. Now, anyone who dared do such a thing would certainly be treated as a "military criminal" and dealt with by martial law.

Yang Xiong had originally only intended to wipe out the Waihuang gallants in one pot; he had not expected Zhou Fu as a bonus. He too was overjoyed and praised Heifu, who had proposed the plan, profusely.

Heifu had originally wanted to bring Chen Ping forward and share some of the credit with him, earning him the rank of "Gongshi." But Chen Ping, standing behind him, bowed with clasped hands and shook his head repeatedly, so Heifu had to swallow the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

When Yang Xiong went ahead to inspect the wounded, Heifu asked Chen Ping in puzzlement.

"This plan owes part of its credit to you. In Qin, merit is always rewarded. Why won't you let me request a reward on your behalf?"

Chen Ping humbly cupped his hands and said that the plan was Heifu's initiative, and he had merely filled in gaps—hardly a merit. These severed heads, he said, should be left to the Qin soldiers who had fought in blood and so on...

But Heifu observed Chen Ping's somewhat bitter expression, then glanced at the pile of heads, and began to understand.

This Chen Ping was cunning as a thief. He must have realized that if he earned a Qin rank for this deed, his reputation in the area would be utterly ruined. In the eyes of his local community, he would be the "Wei traitor" who had set a trap for the Qin and caused the deaths of many Wei men. Chen Ping would no longer be able to survive there.

If he did not receive a rank, he could still claim he had been forced to work for the Qin and had little to do with the matter...

Although Heifu saw through Chen Ping's little scheme, he could understand it.

Chen Ping was, after all, a native Wei man. The Wei lands, Yangwu County, Huyou Village—these were his roots.

Heifu was different. No matter what he did here, once he had his rank and merit in hand and the Wei state was destroyed, his task would be complete, and he could simply brush off his backside and leave.

So he did not press further, merely cupping his hands in thanks to Chen Ping. Though he had given Chen Ping a leg up and the two had cooperated for a time, the paths they would walk from now on were ultimately different.

Heifu turned back and glanced at the seven-year-old child Zhang Ao, who had fainted from fright during the battle, lying on the cart. Then he looked at the headless bodies of the Waihuang gallants on the ground. Those with the courage to resist the Qin army were almost all here now.

"A hunter goes up the mountain, kills a she-wolf, and takes a cub. But with the pack of wolves circling all around, killing the cub at this moment is not called 'eliminating the roots.' It is merely one's deep-hidden fear erupting, urgently needing an act of 'decisive slaughter' to mask one's own unease..."

"Using the cub as bait to lure the pack and slaughter them all—that is called 'eliminating the roots'! It's just a pity we still didn't clean them all out. The alpha wolves, Zhang Er and Chen Yu, are still on the run outside."

Heifu had originally thought this way, but today, after seeing the Wei man Zhou Fu, who shouted "Wei Wu soldier" and faced life and death with a smile, Heifu felt admiration, but also an added layer of worry.

The Wei lands, seemingly mowed down almost completely by the Qin army—who knows if it won't be a case of "Wildfire cannot burn it all; when spring winds blow, it grows again"?

(End of chapter)