South bank of Huai River.
Streams of black smoke rose, and there was a burnt smell in the air, which was also mixed with some rancid smell.
The Qi Allied Forces have vanished into thin air.
This time the war was won, and Zijue received a large amount of loot, as well as a reward of 5,000 luck points.
[Battle of Huainan: In the fourth year of King Cheng of Zhou Dynasty, Qi State allied to attack Huaihe. You resisted with an army of 1,000 and 5,000 people. More than 20,000 Qi troops marched across the river in three directions, and Huaiguo could not stop it. That night, fire from the sky fell on the camp, bright as day, and the entire army collapsed. You took advantage of the chaos to attack, and the entire army was wiped out. Only the prisoner Qiu Mu and the young master Bo Qin were spared. You win the war and you get 5,000 luck points. You defeated the coalition of Qi princes and relieved the crisis of annihilation. The status of Huai State is stable. Your reputation is +100, and more Yin and Shang remnants come to seek refuge. 】
The results of the Battle of Huainan soon spread throughout the eastern countries, and Huaiguo became famous. The states of Bangzhou and Zhou who originally wanted to destroy the Huai Kingdom suddenly became silent.
Even now, none of the eastern states can resist the 20,000-strong army, and the 20,000-strong army was actually wiped out by the Huaiguo in one battle. These countries are already worried that the Huaiguo will not counterattack.
Of course, they didn't know that this worry was unnecessary. Of course, it might be decades or hundreds of years before Huai State had enough strength to counterattack. At present, Huai Kingdom needs more time to grow and expand.
This time the allied forces of the princes were defeated. Although Qi and other princes still had troops, they could only barely defend and were unable to attack again. They also have to guard against the Dongyi around them.
Zijue returned to Huai State with a large number of supplies and prisoners, and the originally proud Xu State also sent envoys to congratulate him. What is even more surprising is that some surrounding Dongyi tribes surrendered to the Huai Kingdom.
Of course, these Dongyi tribes are not big. The small ones only have a few hundred people, and the large ones only have a thousand people. Zijue still welcomes these surrendered tribes. In addition to these Dongyi tribes, there were also a large number of Yin Shang survivors.
When the Yan State was destroyed, a large number of Yin Shang survivors fled. These people were scattered everywhere. Now that they learned that the Huai State had defeated the Qi Allied Forces, they came one after another. In less than a month, the population of Huai State exceeded 20,000.
The Battle of Huainan and the victory of Huaiguo had a great impact. The most intuitive thing is that some surrounding Huaiyi tribes began to surrender to the Huai Kingdom.
There are many Huaiyi tribes spread throughout the Huaisi land. During the Eastern Expedition of Zhou Dynasty, Dazaidan led the army to defeat a large number of Huaiyi tribes and cut off the wings of the Yan Kingdom, and then started the final battle against the Yan Kingdom.
Originally, most of these Huaiyi were vassal states and tribes of the Yan State. After the last Eastern Expedition, they suffered heavy losses and surrendered to Bangzhou. This time in the Battle of Huai River, Bangzhou was defeated, and these Huaiyi His mind became active.
What's more important is that the Huai State has risen. If we don't move closer to the Huai State as soon as possible, what if we are attacked by the Huai State? Although these Huaiyi tribes behave like grass on the wall, it is undeniable that this is their way of survival.
Just when Zijue led his army back to Huai'an, the surrounding Huaiyi tribes began to pay tribute to him, and some small tribes were even willing to join in. Zijue welcomed the inclusion of these tribes. After all, the population of Huai State was too small.
Two consecutive wars against Bang Zhou were won with great success, which allowed Huai State to completely gain a foothold. Qi State and other vassal states returned from defeat this time, and were temporarily unable to start another war.
After two battles, Zijue captured nearly 5,000 Bangzhou soldiers. If the Huai Kingdom had a large population, Zijue would not be worried, but now there are less than 20,000 people and so many prisoners. If a riot breaks out, the consequences will be serious.
As for killing them all, this is the most undesirable method, and the sequelae will be serious. If he really kills them, it is estimated that no one will surrender to him in future wars. However, there are so many captives, all of whom are adults, and there are great hidden dangers. After all, they are already close to the adult men of the Huai Kingdom. Once they cause rebellion, even if they are finally pacified, the Huai Kingdom will suffer heavy losses.
Zijue finally decided to exchange these young men with vassal states such as Qi for the survivors of the Yin Shang.
After Huai's great victory, Zijue sent more troops to visit Qi after returning to Huai'an. In the past year, he has been in contact with Xu State and several surrounding Fang States, and has won a lot of benefits for Huai State. This time Zijue asked him to go to Qi State because he wanted to exchange prisoners of war with Qi State.
More than 5,000 adult males are also an extremely important population for Qi State. After all, Qi State has lost half of its army after experiencing this great defeat, and it is already exhausted.
After sending more envoys to Qi, Zijue also became busy. Some small Huaiyi tribes around want to join in. Most of these small tribes have hundreds of people, and the most are only a thousand people. These small tribes had a hard time in the wilderness.
Not only must we guard against all kinds of wild beasts, we must also guard against being attacked by other tribes, or being captured and used as slaves by other countries. When they heard that Zijue had come to heaven to help him again, and that heavenly fire had descended on the world and defeated the coalition forces of the Zhou lords, they wanted to move in for protection.
Zijue welcomed the inclusion of these tribes. Huai State's current population ratio is very problematic. There are almost no elderly people. The vast majority of the population of more than 10,000 are men. The number of women is only 30% of men, and the rest are children.
This population ratio is very unhealthy. Previously, because of the danger of national subjugation, the Huai State worked together to develop. Now that the Battle of Huai River was victorious and there was no longer a life-and-death crisis, many people began to think about starting families and starting businesses. This is human nature, and Zijue cannot blame him harshly. This is the reason why he accepted the Huaiyi tribe this time.
This is also the reason why Zijue is willing to exchange these prisoners this time.
...
After experiencing a great defeat, the newly founded Qi State was shocked. After all, Qi's army accounted for half of the army that went out this time. The death of so many soldiers has made other surrounding countries ready to take action.
Especially Lai State, which was beaten hard when Qi State was founded and became more honest. Now that they have received the news of Qi State's defeat, they must be ready to take action. However, they dare not take action directly because of the lesson learned last time. Make some small moves.
The other surrounding Fang countries that had good relations with Qi also felt uncomfortable. Although they did not suffer heavy losses like Qi, their defeat this time also made them feel heartache. At the same time, it also gave these princes and states some small thoughts.
Originally, the Qi State was the boss of the Eastern countries. It had the authority of the emperor to conquer Dongyi, ally with the princes, and could even conquer other princes and Fang countries on behalf of the king. It is precisely because of this that the surrounding vassal states are somewhat afraid of Qi.
Now that Qi has been defeated, its soldiers have suffered serious losses and its strength has declined. This is also a good thing for other vassal states. After all, no one wants to have a powerful leader of the princes and allies around him who has the power of the emperor to conquer. If this really happens, these princes will have to be careful when sleeping.
Qi State, Yingqiu.
Qiu Mu, the supervisor of the country, had just appeased some nobles in the country, recruited a large number of soldiers again, and worked hard to stabilize the domestic situation. At the same time, he also wrote a letter to his father Taigong Wang to inform him in detail. A major defeat almost shook the foundation of Qi State, but he spent a lot of effort to barely stabilize the country.
After all, the coming of Heavenly Fire resulted in the defeat of the army, which frightened many people. It is easy for people to think that this is God punishing Qi.
Fortunately, Taigong Wang was in charge of Wang Ji, so Qi could not be in chaos.
The supervisor looked at the bamboo slips in his hands, and then asked: "Gentlemen, our army was defeated and suffered heavy losses during this expedition. Now that the Huai State has sent an envoy to visit, what etiquette should be used to welcome it?"
A doctor next to him stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, the attitude of the envoys from Huai State is not arrogant and domineering, which is not a bad thing. As for etiquette, the emperor of Huai State is not conferring princes, so it is better to use the etiquette of a doctor..."
"No!" Before the doctor had finished speaking, another man next to him started to dissuade him: "Your Majesty, the Dazai has formulated the Zhou rites. The Huai Kingdom is a barbarian, so you cannot use the rites of a doctor."
"The Huai State is a remnant of the Yin Shang Dynasty, not a barbarian. Although there is hatred, it should not be underestimated. Moreover, the Song State is also a remnant of the Yin Shang Dynasty. If they are regarded as barbarians, what will the Song State say?"
The two sides argued for a while, and the supervisor Qiu Mu thought about it and decided to receive him as a doctor.
When Zigen finally entered Yingqiu, Qi State received him with the courtesy of a great official. However, although Qi State received Zigeng with the courtesy of a doctor, the surrounding atmosphere was still tense. After all, too many people died in Qi this time.
Zi Geng also thought that Qi State was neglecting him. He represented Huai State and was a duke. Just thinking about this mission, I can only endure it for the time being.
Zigen entered the palace of the King of Qi, met Qiu Mu, the supervisor of the State of Qi, and handed over his credentials.
After Qiu Mu learned that Huai State was willing to exchange prisoners, he was happy, but his face remained calm and he said: "This matter still needs to be discussed. The envoy can go and rest first."
After saying that, he sent someone to take Zi Geng down.
After Zi Geng left, Qiu Mu discussed with the ministers. Soon the ministers made a decision and agreed to exchange prisoners. However, there are still some doubts about the proportion of captives exchanged.
"Your Majesty, we belong to the Fang Kingdom of Zhou Dynasty, and we have a hatred of the Huai Kingdom for the destruction of the country. If we exchange the young men of the Yin merchants, the strength of the Huai Kingdom will be greatly increased. This is like holding firewood to put out a fire. The firewood has not been burned out, and the fire has spread. On the contrary, it will be even bigger. How will we deal with it then?" One of the ministers asked.
"This..." Supervisor Qiu Mu also hesitated.
"Your Majesty, the Huai Kingdom is exchanging prisoners, and we can exchange them for women or barbarians." Another minister said.
"But the Huai Kingdom designated the survivors of the Yin Shang Dynasty."
"Then tell them that after the Battle of Poyan, all the adult men of its citizens have been killed, except for the women."
"It's inappropriate, it's inappropriate. If this is the case, what if the Huai Kingdom gets angry and kills the captives?"
"Then why not give some men less and give the rest to women? If Huai Guo doesn't agree, you can give in."
"Then let's discuss it tomorrow. The number of adults should not exceed a thousand. The number of women can be compromised by one or two." Qiu Mu, the supervisor, thought for a moment and then said.
"No!" Everyone bowed and saluted.
