In the room where the Privy Council commanded the war on Hebei Road, Du Zhongxiao handed the official document in his hand to Tian Guo on the side, and said: "During the first battle of Quyang, I was a Khitan who fled from the Lu River, and I was transferred by the forbidden army in Shenzhou the day before yesterday, and I was completely annihilated in the first battle. ”

"That's a good thing." Tian Guo took the official document and read it in a hurry. "This Shi Daqing, who took more than 2,000 people to suppress thieves, was able to seize the opportunity at night, and was a talent. By the way, those forbidden armies were supposed to be eliminated, but Shi Daqing was available. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "That's nature." This kind of general is rare. However, among the generals who are going to be eliminated, there must be a reason. It's better to wait for Hebei Road to report carefully, and then make a decision. ”

Fu Bi read the official document, shook his head and said: "Such a talent, looking at his own appearance, he is not resisting being a soldier, how can he be eliminated?" Isn't it, this person is illiterate? Many generals in the army are extremely brave, but they don't know how to write and ink. ”

Tian said: "When a military general goes into battle to kill the enemy, the most important thing is bravery, and there is nothing if he is illiterate." Mao awl can't kill people, and the generals in the army don't have to be so strict. is really a talent, even if he doesn't know how to write and ink, he should be used. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Now in the army, everything has a charter. If you can't read big characters, you can't read official documents and military orders, how can you lead troops? Generals must be literate, and that cannot be changed. Like Shi Daqing, if he is really illiterate, send someone to teach him. If you really can't learn, then there's nothing you can do. This battle exploit is rewarded with many rewards. ”

Tian Guo shook his head and said nothing. He did not very much agree with the current training of the Song army, especially the introduction of the official bureaucratic system into the army, which in his opinion was redundant. The military generals lead the troops, relying on the courage to kill the enemy, what is the use of literacy? If you want to read official documents, you can have literate cronies under your subordinates, just let them read and listen. This has been a common practice in the military since the fifth generation. There is even a tendency to be ashamed of literacy, never to read, and to use staff in military Chinese affairs. The same was true in the Song Dynasty, where it was a common thing that the previous military generals were illiterate.

Mixed opinions were very common in the Song Dynasty. This was the art of the emperor, and the emperors of the Song Dynasty were convinced of it. It was precisely because of his disagreement with Du Zhongxiao that Tian Guo became a privy envoy together. Fortunately, although there was a disagreement, he did not fight with Du Zhongxiao very much, and he did not miss a major national event.

Everyone spread the official document all over, and Du Zhongxiao said: "In the first battle of Quyang, more than 1,000 Khitan soldiers escaped and went south to several states. These days, I have done the math, and they have broken through more than 60 villages and towns, killing more than 8,000 people. How many people died after a war? But these more than 1,000 cavalrymen, because they went deep into the rear, killed so many people! This matter should not be underestimated, and it is necessary to tell the generals on the front line that once they let the Khitans cross the military territory, they must know what the consequences will be! If this happens again in the future, the generals will be punished! ”

Several envoys were stunned, looked at Du Zhongxiao together, and felt that this was incredible. What does it matter if some people die? Not to mention the people, when there was a war in the past, the court looked at victory or defeat, and did not take the death of soldiers seriously. Just like these Khitans, after going south, the court thought that he was not enough to threaten Kaifeng Mansion, so they regarded him as a thief and let Liu Jianji send cavalry to follow and pursue.

Du Zhongxiao shook his head slightly, feeling a little tired. Human life is not a number, each one represents a living person, represents a family. No matter how humble they are, they are also other people's parents and other people's children, pinning infinite hopes. But in this era, human life is far from being taken seriously. For officials, population deaths are not an uncommon occurrence. The most important thing is not these lives, but numbers.

In the assessment of the imperial court, one of them is the increase in households. It is precisely because of this that the magistrate pays special attention to the number of households under his rule, and pays special attention to this number. And they don't really care about the fresh life that these numbers represent.

Many times, the difficulty of Du Zhongxiao is not that things are difficult to do, but that they have different views on things. Just like this time, Xiao Hu saw the scourge of the state and county, and the official documents from the local government initially had no number of casualties, nor did they lose much of the people's property. Later, Du Zhongxiao specially ordered that after each place was attacked by the enemy, these must be written in the official document, and these numbers were only included in the official document.

These subtle concepts are different, and it is very difficult for Du Zhongxiao to gather them. Many times, he couldn't talk to anyone. The things you think are important, the things that bother you, are not worth mentioning in the eyes of others. The longer the official does it, the more tired he feels.

Seeing that the time was about the same, after receiving the official documents, Du Zhongxiao and his colleagues in the Privy Council went to the capital hall together.

Today, Wen Yanbo, Han Qi and other officials from the political hall arrived early and hurriedly got up to salute.

They all sat down, Du Zhongxiao handed over the official document and said: "The day before yesterday, Shi Daqing, a general from Jizhou, brought more than 2,000 soldiers and horses to surround the Khitans who fled south in the big willow tree. Properly commanded, a night of fierce fighting, and the thief was completely annihilated. ”

Wen Yanbo took a cursory look at the official document, nodded and said: "This Shi Daqing is very strategic, and he should be of great use!" ”

And when they saw it, they discussed how they should be rewarded.

Du Zhongxiao said: "In this battle, in addition to the more than 800 Khitans killed, there are also more than 700 prisoners. The Deep State came to ask what to do. ”

Wen Yanbo thought for a while and said: "There are more than 1,500 people, who can fight in several states, and it is difficult for the chasing soldiers behind them to catch their figures, these soldiers and horses are not simple. The main general, Xiao Hujian, was also wounded and captured, but was not killed. It is better to recruit them and use them for the court. ”

Du Zhongxiao shook his head: "These are Khitans, how can they surrender?" Not to mention, they broke through more than 60 villages and towns and killed more than 8,000 people. On the battle array, the two armies clashed, each for its own master, and it was inevitable that there would be casualties. But it is completely different to attack the unarmed people, burn, kill and loot! ”

Wen Yanbo was stunned: "So, what does the captain think should be?" ”

"Kill!" Du Zhongxiao said it categorically. "They crossed the border, there were no supplies, and they just grabbed food and grass. But every time he went to the villages and towns, he robbed the property and didn't count, but also burned and killed on a large scale, and there was almost no life left in the places he passed. What do you do with this kind of thief recruitment? recruited into the army, I am afraid that I will bring the army badly. You can order Shenzhou to be beheaded outside the city to comfort the dead and wounded Bai [village] surnames. ”

Wen Yanbo pondered for a while and said, "Taiwei, if you do this, you are afraid that it will hurt Tianhe." ”

Du Zhongxiao shook his head: "Does it hurt Tianhe?" When they burn, kill, and loot in villages and towns, why don't they want to hurt Tianhe? If it were only according to the law of death for murderers, none of these people would live! Kill them and give them a precept for posterity! ”

Seeing that Wen Yanbo was displeased, Han Qi said: "These are Khitans after all, how can they be used by me?" According to what the captain said, he was killed. ”

Du Zhongxiao looked at everyone and said in a deep voice: "To fight against the Khitan, you must understand that they are enemies, and the people are the foundation of the imperial court. It's not strange that anything happens on the battlefield, no matter how hard the fight is, don't kill the prisoners. But if the Khitans use knives against the people, it will be different, just behead. This battle of Khitan is not only to prevent autumn, but also to recover the land of Yanyun if there is an opportunity. The recovery of Yanyun is not for the land, but for the Han land, and the people are Han people. These Han people have abandoned the Khitan for more than 100 years, and the court was originally sorry for them. The imperial army marched north and fought to the death against the Khitans, but they must love the people. ”

As soon as these words came out, the hall was silent for a while.