"Sanlang, what do you plan to do with these prisoners?" Cui Hongdu asked in a deep voice.
"How else can we deal with it?" Master Shen's right arm was hit by an arrow. It had already been dealt with by the doctor. It was wrapped in white cloth and stood out among the crowd. He snorted coldly: "Resist Master Wang, again. After encircling and then surrendering, naturally those who raised their troops and resisted the order will be killed, and the rest will be rewarded among the soldiers!"
Wang Wenzuo frowned slightly and glanced at the people around the fire. He saw that everyone looked normal, eating, talking and laughing, and showed no disgust or opposition to Master Shen's proposal. He knew that what Master Shen said was in front of everyone's eyes. Coming is a matter of course. (When Taizong of the Tang Dynasty led his army to conquer Goguryeo, he besieged Baiyan City. The defenders were exhausted and asked to surrender, and Taizong agreed. After General Li Ji learned about it, he led dozens of soldiers to the Emperor Taizong and remonstrated: "The reason why the soldiers risked their lives is He attacked the city with arrows and stones regardless of life and death, and was greedy for his capture. The city is so steep now, how can you accept its surrender, how lonely are the soldiers?" Emperor Taizong humbly thanked Li Ji for dismounting, and used his own property to reward the soldiers to compensate them. We have just surrendered after suffering losses. It can be seen that the property and population in the besieged enemy city belong to the trophies of the siege soldiers. It was an unwritten rule in the army at that time. Even the emperor like Li Shimin could only follow it.) I am just a schoolmaster. Lieutenant, how can you offend the public? You can only persuade with twisted words.
"Yuan Fei! What do you think?"
"Ah, me?" Yuan Fei, who was at the edge of the fire, thought he heard wrongly. It was his first time to participate in such an occasion, and he did not expect that Wang Wenzuo would ask him the question.
"Yes, as the saying goes, you will understand if you listen. We are all from the Tang Dynasty. Only you and Sancho are from Baekje, so I want to hear what you mean!"
"What Mr. Shen Jialang said is certainly right!" Yuan Fei carefully looked at Wang Wenzuo's face. He had been a slave since he was born, and he must have the ability to observe people's words. Naturally, he understood that Wang Wenzuo skipped so many people asking questions and had the lowest status in the room. Wei Wei must have had a different opinion than Master Shen, so he used his own words to speak: "It's just that I think it's quite pitiful for the people in this village to end up like this!"
"Pity?" Shen Faseng said angrily: "Yuan Fei, have you forgotten how many arrow stones and javelins they shot at you and me just now? Did you think they were pitiful at that time?"
"Of course I didn't feel it at that time, but now I feel it!"
"Hahaha!"
Everyone laughed, and the atmosphere around the fire became more relaxed. Wang Wenzuo waved his hand, motioned Yuan Fei to sit down, and said with a smile: "Everyone, Yuan Fei's words may sound ridiculous, but they are not unreasonable. The Baekje people resisted the king's order, and our conquest was a matter of great justice, but now they have abandoned their armor. Surrender, it won’t be good if we continue to kill you indiscriminately!”
"What the captain said is wrong!" It was Gu Cihang who spoke. He glanced at Yuan Fei hatefully: "These thieves are just surrendering because they are out of strength. They deserve to die for resisting the king's expedition. How can they be said to be indiscriminate killing?" ?”
Since someone was the first to stand up, the others also expressed their attitude. They basically stood with Shen Faseng and advocated killing all the adult men who had resisted and dividing the remaining wealth, women and children among the soldiers. There were basically two reasons. 1. Punish the enemy and deter potential resisters; 2. Reward those who have made meritorious deeds.
"Everyone!" Wang Wenzuo took a sip of water and said calmly: "If what the monk said is that all the people who have resisted in this village will be executed, then I am afraid that no one will survive except women and children, and even among women There were quite a few who were going to die, after all, there were women who shot arrows and stoned us at that time, weren’t they?”
"This is better!" Gu Cihang replied: "The next Baekje village will understand the consequences of fighting against the King!"
"If we have an army of 100,000, that would be great!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "But now we have less than 1,000 people, there are tens of thousands of people in Sixian City, and there are more than 700,000 households in Baekje. If you do this It will only cause the next village to hit the last person!"
There was silence around the fire, with only the crackling sound of oil dripping on the fire while roasting meat. Wang Wenzuo did not rush and waited patiently. After a few minutes, Cui Hongdu spoke: "Sanlang, I admit that what you said makes sense, but the soldiers People died and blood was shed during the siege. They are eager for revenge and want to be rewarded. If we don't meet their demands, no one will work hard next time. What do you think we should do?"
"Just kill the culprit. Revenge does not necessarily require death. The living are more valuable than the dead!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "As for the reward, if all the adult men are killed, what use will the remaining women and children have? ? Don’t forget, we are now alone overseas, and we cannot sell him or take him back to the Tang Dynasty as a domestic slave!"
"Then what should we do?" Shen Faseng complained: "Just forget it? The soldiers won't agree!"
"Of course not. The leaders must be executed. Their families will be turned into official slaves, and their family properties will be confiscated and redeemed by their relatives. The village handed over twenty children to us as hostages, handed over all weapons, and demolished all Fortifications, thirty strong men, one hundred pack horses, five hundred bolts of cloth, and all our military supplies for twenty days. What do you think?"
The people around the fire exchanged glances and nodded. Finally, Cui Hongdu said: "One hundred pack horses, five hundred pieces of cloth, can they bring out so many things? Collect all the weapons and tear down the walls. Why do I think you are more ruthless than killing them all?"
"I've done the math. It's very difficult, but you can do it! This is also a kind of punishment. It's better than killing everyone. At least the next Baekje village won't kill the last person!" At this point, Wang Wenzuo took a photo. He touched his knees: "Okay, let's not talk about this anymore! Sancho, the meat is roasted, let's divide the meat quickly!"
Silla Mountain Fortress.
"Liu Shijun, look over there!" The captain pointed to a shadow in the northeast: "That's Sanseong County of Silla! If the wind direction remains unchanged, we can arrive before noon!"
Liu Rengui turned around from the side of the ship with a smile on his face: "You did a good job. If you pass on the order, every sailor on the ship will be rewarded with a hundred coins!"
"Thank you so much for the reward, envoy!" The captain quickly took his hands and bowed down. Liu Rengui nodded and turned around. This captain has been living on this sea for thirty years, from a rower to an old seal who owns four ships today. He knew in his heart that Liu Rengui no longer needed him, so he carefully stepped back, leaving only Liu Rengui. one person.
