In the north of August, it is already a bleak autumn wind, but the area that has just been named "Nanning" by Heifu is already in the south of the Tropic of Cancer, the heat does not seem to have subsided, the cicadas and frogs can still be heard in the forest, and in the afternoon, all kinds of insects in the grass also join the chorus, disturbing people's hearts.

Fortunately, the valley is very wide, and has been burned by fires, and the forest has been turned into white ground, and with a little hoeing, you can set up camp.

It was also here that Han Xinlai reported to Heifu that they had found some old ravine camps, as well as many headless bones that had been abandoned at will, which were probably the old camps of the Qin army......

That's right, two years ago, during the first war, Tu Sui led a large army to arrive here, waving his flag, full of ambition, and released the bold words of "fighting to the north for the New Year".

It's a pity that because he was not familiar with the terrain and strayed into the forest, he was soon attacked by the Ou people, Tu Sui was hit by a poisoned arrow, and there was an outbreak of epidemic in the army......

Everyone knows that here, is the beginning of the rout of the Qin army, Gong Ao and others have suggested that Heifu change places to set up a village, this time in addition to the 30,000 recruits trained by the Wuchang battalion, there are more than 1,000 veterans of Cangwu and Guilin.

"Wouldn't they be reminded of that nightmarish retreat if they weren't stationed here?"

However, Heifu set up a new camp near the old base, and asked Licang to bring people to clean up all the headless bones that could be found, and let people dig up the grave and bury it properly.

The memorial of the Qin Dynasty is very particular, different grades have different specifications, the general Shiwu Qianshou is "the county seal, the burial is not for the rain, not the seal is not the tree, the funeral is not a second thing", which means that the commoners are buried, they can only use the rope to sew the coffin into the hole, even if it rains, they are still buried, do not gather soil into the grave, and do not plant trees......

But to the surprise of Lu Jia, a Confucian scholar who is proficient in various funeral etiquette, Changnanhou insisted that he wait until the light rain in the sky stopped before being buried.

Not only that, but the next day, the soldiers of the three armies were also summoned to hold a memorial ceremony in front of this cemetery, asking everyone to mourn in silence and bow down to the deceased, which is considered a "funeral event......

Lu Jia didn't say anything, north of Wuling, the emperor is the largest, and south of Wuling, but Changnan Hou is the largest, violating etiquette is nothing at all, he is happy.

Heifu stood in front of the grave and asked the herald to tell everyone what he had said.

"This is the martyrdom of the last expedition, and it is also your robe, although the bones collected in Nanning are only a few hundred, but I plan to take this as the tomb of the 20,000 dead under General Tu two years ago, and the bones will be found here in the future, and they will be gathered here for proper burial."

Heifu took another bibliography from Li Cang's hand: "I have people find the list of sergeants and soldiers in the army at that time, and those who were there when they attacked Luo Yue and were not there when they returned are regarded as dead in battle." I have asked the imperial court to reduce his family's taxes and forced labor. ”

Directly in front of Heifu were more than 1,000 people from the two battalions of Guilin and Cangwu who had participated in the last war and had stayed in the south, which was a good thing, but the veterans were silent and no one spoke.

There is no way, the credibility of the imperial court has plummeted in the hearts of this group of soldiers whose service period has been extended by four times, and no one believes that the harsh emperor will agree to Heifu's proposal......

Two years ago, Chen Ying, who was carrying the hand of the robe in the basket and staggered all the way back to the cangwu, was also among them, but his sideburns were white, his expression was gloomy, and he had not yet come out of the shadow of the fiasco.

"Chen Ying thanked the prince for the martyred township party and soldiers, but with all due respect, compared to being buried in this wild place, what they expect most is to be able to return to their hometown, but the bones have been scattered, and there is no way to identify, the fox is still dead, but no matter how to summon the soul, it will be difficult for them to return to their hometown......"

There are not a few people who hold the same idea as Chen Ying, most of them were recruited from Chu, and they did not have much sense of identity with the Qin Dynasty, and they were thrown to Lingnan, seeing that the township party was dying many times, they were afraid and resentful, and some people even did not dare to enter the forest again.

This time, he was transferred to Heifu's side, and he revisited the old place, for fear of being sent upstream to fight the Yue people again, and his fear of dissatisfaction was overflowing.

But instead of being angry, Hefu sighed:

"You're right, I can't get the soldiers home......"

"I can only give them something else as compensation."

He didn't have a hard time for Chen Ying, clapping his hands, and there were more than 100 craftsmen who accompanied the army, carrying the wooden planks that had just been carved and had ink talents, one by one, inserting them into the soil and erecting them in front of the mound!

On the wooden card, there is a dense official book!

Seeing this thing, the veteran who was originally demoralized and like a pool of stagnant water had a trace of commotion.

"It's ......"

Those who are illiterate can't understand, and they have been a small official, but Chen Ying, who is literate, rubbed his eyes, a little incredulous.

"It is the name of all the fallen soldiers."

Heifu explained: "More than ten years ago, I initiated the implementation of this rule in the Nanjun soldiers, burying the soldiers who died of illness in the battle or died in the cemetery of the loyal soldiers. ”

"Today, I want to give the same treatment to these soldiers who died in the Southern Expedition!"

Someone muttered: "Isn't the Loyal Soldier Cemetery only burying the Qin people who died in battle during the conquest of the Six Kingdoms?" ”

Some of them live in the county town and have also seen the cemetery of loyal soldiers, but the people of Chu nationality walk around on weekdays, and it is okay if they don't spit on this group of tiger and wolf soldiers who have beheaded the head of the township party!

The loud-voiced Dongmen Leopard roared according to Heifu's instructions: "In Lingnan, there is no distinction between Guanzhong people, Chu people, or Zhao people, Wei people, Han people, and Qi people. The prince said, whether it is a general, a captain, or a soldier, there is only one identity, that is, the soldiers of the Southern Expeditionary Army, and we are all robes and brothers! ”

Chen Ying and they were a little stunned when they heard it, robe? Brothers? This is the first time in his life that there are "Qin people" who call Chu people like this.

However, Nanjun is the land of Western Chu, and the accent is somewhat similar to that of the Jianghuai Chu people.

"Yes, yes."

Heifu said: "The ancients said that 'death is immortal', and a noble man once asked the wise, how to achieve it? ”

"The wise man told the nobles, even if you have Shilu Shiqing and have been an official for several generations, you can't be immortal in death, and if you want to be immortal, you must have the following points, virtue, meritorious service, and speech, although it has not been abandoned for a long time, this is called immortal."

"Therefore, in this world, there are not many people who have a world, but there are very few people who can be immortal."

"But I want the soldiers who died in Lingnan to be immortal!"

After that, in the surprised eyes of everyone, he pointed to the neatly arranged wooden signs behind him and said:

"The wooden plaque here, the name on it, is less than one-tenth of the fallen soldiers, the craftsman will stay here, slowly carved, and in the future, I will replace all the wooden plaques with stone tablets! Engrave everyone's names on it again and again! Forever! ”

"And thousands of years later, in this reckless land, there will also be immigrants from the Central Plains who will settle here, and they will be able to reclaim the land."

"They will come to this cemetery to worship, and if anyone asks, who has penetrated into it, who has overcome all obstacles, and died here, will know by its name!"

"If anyone asks, who will take this vast land for Zhuxia, and who will open a new home for us, you will know from the name above!"

The veterans were a little moved, but some people still asked: "Junhou, having said that, but there are so many names, who will look at them one by one and remember them?" ”

"You're right."

Heifu pointed to the old soldier who was missing an ear, which was probably a soldier: "Future generations may not be able to remember everyone's name, but they can remember that they, we, are all 'soldiers of the Southern Expeditionary Army'!" ”

"Officers and Soldiers of the Southern Expeditionary Army......"

Both veterans and new recruits seem to have a sense of belonging to this title.

At this time, the last large wooden plaque was transported, covered with a black cloth.

Heifu walked over, tore off the cloth, and revealed the four handsome seal characters that he had practiced for a long, long time, and wrote by himself:

"Immortal!"

"These hundreds of people who have been buried here, and the more than 10,000 people who are still scattered in the forests, swamps, and rivers, because of the Zhuxia expedition here and the expansion of the territory, will be remembered and immortalized by generations of people!"

"Second and third sons, loyal souls, this is Heifu, on behalf of the court, to compensate you and others!"

……

In the sky, it was raining again, light rain.

After the memorial ceremony, with permission, Chen Ying and other literate military officials stepped forward to check, and he found his own tun, those familiar names, followed by the same place of origin: Donghai County, Dongyang County.

Chen Ying wiped her tears, touched her hands on them, and shouted these names one by one.

"Zhao, Long, Xing, Ruler Joint, Chen Lame, Chen Liu......"

He seemed to see those familiar faces again, but in the blink of an eye, they turned into hands that were only carried by him in the bamboo basket......

Chen Ying hated this war, he complained about the court and the emperor, but today, the Marquis of Changnan finally gave him a little comfort.

This is a memorial service that is two years late.

The only pity is that the team led by Chen Ying died dozens of people, half of them were on the way back to Cangwu, and the other half died hundreds of miles to the west, upstream of the Jinnan River.

If Nanning is the beginning of the retreat of the Qin army, then Luo Yue's Linchen is the place where they were given a fatal blow, the Guilin army withdrew due to the death of General Tu, but the Cangwu army went deep alone, and the result was ......

Not only Chen Ying, but also the rest of the veterans who had experienced the defeat in the last war also looked for their own names of the Paize Township Party, crying and howling, and hugging in the light rain.

Lu Jia looked at the scene in front of him and sighed a lot, he was also a native of Shouchun in Chudi, and he walked to Changnanhou's side and said softly:

"The same words are engraved on the stone, I believe that the names of these soldiers will last longer than the stone carvings left by His Majesty the Emperor in Langya and Mount Tai!"

"Perhaps."

Heifu was noncommittal: "But the premise is that we can really conquer this territory, build earthen buildings, and defend this place, otherwise, as long as the army retreats, whether it is a wooden plaque or a stone tablet, it will be pushed down by the Yue people, and the soldiers will be thrown into the wilderness again!" ”

When everyone had had enough of crying and regrouping, Heifu began his own mobilization for war.

"After the defeat two years ago, the Guilin army retreated here, but the Cangwu army went deep into the Yushui tributary, two hundred miles upstream of the Jinnan water......"

The so-called Jin Nanshui is the Zuojiang River of Guangxi in later generations, and Linchen, which is located on the waterside, is also known as the land of Vientiane, which is the base camp of Luo Yue and the place where the Cangwu army was destroyed.

Heifu's gaze scanned the veterans.

"Today, we are back here, Ben Hou wants to send an army to attack Luo Yue, in order to end the southern expedition, but there are many new soldiers in the army, I don't know the path of water and soil, you and other old soldiers, who is willing to lead for my forward, by the way to the place where he died in the past, and bring back the bones of the Pao Ze brothers?"

"Who wants to go?"

shouted twice, but no one spoke for the time being, and the old soldiers all looked at each other with fear in their eyes......

That terrible death march, that tragedy of seven or eight deaths, the roaring giant elephant, the snakes and insects in the forest, no one wants to experience it a second time!

No one came out until one stepped forward.

"Changnanhou, I'll go."

It is Chen Ying, a native of Dongyang County, although he is only forty years old, but his temples are white, this is the mark left on him by the war, it is said that he has been defeated in the rainforest for two years, and he still has a shadow on the forest, hiding in the fortress, and he is reluctant to go out to patrol when he is killed......

From Cangwu to this place, he has been hiding in the boat, looking out in fear at the green hell......

But now, although he was still a little trembling, he raised his hand and said to Hefu with a smile:

"When I came out, I promised my hometown fathers and elders to take my children Dongyang, but I broke my promise."

"Since they can't go back to their hometown, but at least, they can't abandon the corpses in the wilderness and let the weeds grow wildly on them, I want to go back to that place, pick up the bones of the township party, and bury them here, so that they can rest in peace behind the tombstone carved in their own name!"