Dong Si’s heart thrilled, but he furrowed his brow as if confused and said, “What do you mean?”
Finally getting down to business. This Song Gui really was a piece of dung, not clever at all.
In negotiations, you couldn’t show all your cards, or they’d easily seize your weak points.
Just like with Qu Zhao now—since they had people they wanted to protect, that weak point was in his grasp.
Song Gui lifted his head. “You probably don’t know yet—the Northeast Army wasn’t completely wiped out back then. There are still over two hundred Northeast Army soldiers in Donghu County now.”
“They’re all tough bones. After all, they didn’t get wiped out for nothing. You can’t suspect they’re spies, can you?”
Dong Si’s face turned cold. “You said they were wiped out, and now you’re saying there are over two hundred left? Who’s to say these two hundred aren’t your people planted there?”
Song Gui felt slightly smug. “They really were wiped out. These men were captured after being wounded. Now they’re Qu Zhao’s Han slaves.”
Truth be told, it was thanks to his suggestion that these Northeast soldiers had survived. Back then, everyone looked down on him, saying he betrayed his country by becoming Qu Zhao’s servant, that he was hardly human.
But wasn’t he just trying to live? What was wrong with that?
Later, when the Qu Zhao people wanted to kill all those wounded Northeast Army captives, he had persuaded them, saying, “If you can win over these iron-boned Northeast soldiers, it will boost our Han status among the Qu Zhao.”
“Let the other Yan State troops see—see that their Northeast Army has surrendered. It will shake their morale.”
That was how those wounded soldiers survived.
Unfortunately, those soldiers were stubborn as rocks in a latrine—not one was willing to surrender.
Since they refused to become his ‘kind,’ he kept them around for humiliation. That batch of Northeast soldiers became the lowest grade of Han slaves, wearing leg irons while they worked.
Oh, and some who had already lost hands or feet had chains around their necks forced to work too. If they didn’t die, they worked.
Whenever he was in a bad mood, he’d take it out on those lowly Han slaves.
Those men were tough. Despite all this abuse for so long, from a few hundred wounded soldiers, over two hundred were still alive.
Dong Si’s eyes flashed cold. “How do I know you’re telling the truth? Besides, since they were wounded, who knows what state they’re in now? Taking them back, they wouldn’t even be able to work.”
Song Gui snapped back to reality. Hearing Dong Si’s words, his heart sank. The Jinyang Army really wasn’t good—they didn’t care about Han civilians nor Han soldiers of the past.
Now he felt stuck. His superiors’ orders were clear: Qu Wenzhou had to be exchanged back. If he failed, life would be rough from now on.
He lowered his stance. “The other Qu Zhao prisoners are yours to handle. The two hundred plus Northeast soldiers—just in exchange for the people on the list. How about that?”
Dong Si looked at him like he was an idiot. “Are you stupid, or do you think I am? I trade Qu Zhao nobles for a bunch of useless men? Besides, I only sell in bulk.”
Song Gui gritted his teeth. “Then what do you want? Over a million bushels of grain is impossible. There isn’t even that much grain in all of Qu Zhao.”
Dong Si frowned deeply, head bowed in thought. After a moment, he gritted his teeth. “We’ll take the loss. The Northeast Army plus fifty thousand Han civilians. We get to pick the people ourselves.”
Song Gui gasped. “Impossible! How many Han civilians are even in this entire Donghu County? Don’t be too extreme.”
He suppressed his irritation, trying to stay calm. “You should know perfectly well that what we really want is just Qu Wenzhou and a few others. We can’t pay that steep a price.”
Nowadays, Han civilians couldn’t just be grabbed either. Most had fled south; not many remained in the northern lands.
To the Qu Zhao, Han civilians were not just labor—they were emergency food supplies.
Dong Si stared at him, as if judging whether he was telling the truth.
After a long pause, he asked, “Then what’s your number? I told you—I only sell in bulk.”
Song Gui quickly gave a number. “At most five thousand Han civilians.”
Dong Si shook his head. “I won’t haggle with you. The Northeast Army remnants plus ten thousand civilians. You bring thirty thousand civilians over, and I’ll do the picking myself. They must have complete families—elderly, children, strong adults all included.”
By “complete families,” he meant families couldn’t be torn apart, like giving him only half of a household, which would make them easy to control.
Song Gui hesitated before saying, “I’ll have to ask my general first.”
Watching Song Gui leave with his men, Dong Si snorted coldly and returned to the county office.
“How did it go?” Jiang Jin looked up at him.
Dong Si recounted the events, looking somewhat bitter. “My lord, among these Qu Zhao prisoners, over three hundred are soldiers. It feels wrong letting them go.”
Jiang Jin lowered her head to continue her work. “Simple—just don’t let them go back.”
Dong Si was stunned, then quickly caught her meaning. He pressed, “Does my lord have a plan?”
Jiang Jin smiled and shook her head. “You’ll see when the time comes.”
Seeing Jiang Jin’s confidence, Dong Si relaxed and began to look forward to whatever method she had in mind.
Qu Zhao replied quickly. Tang Tishou agreed to exchange all the Northeast Army remnants, plus six thousand Han civilians, for all Qu Zhao prisoners. They would send fifteen thousand Han civilians for him to choose from.
Jiang Jin didn’t dwell on it and agreed.
Her real target had always been just the two hundred plus Northeast soldiers. If she pushed too hard, she feared the Qu Zhao might massacre them.
The time and place for the exchange were quickly settled—on a flat stretch of wasteland at the base of a slope between Shan County and Dancheng County.
Considering the Jinyang Army’s powerful crossbows, Song Gui specifically proposed that no crossbows be brought during the exchange.
Jiang Jin didn’t know what to say. He really was thinking of her interests. She agreed without a second thought, while also insisting that their Qu Zhao side couldn’t bring bows either.
The Qu Zhao, thinking they had scored a big win, eagerly agreed.
Dong Si led the mission again, with Yao Ji commanding a regiment of soldiers for protection.
Song Gui’s group was quite a sight. Besides over a thousand Qu Zhao soldiers, there were also fifteen thousand Han civilians.
He looked at Dong Si and saw that the Jinyang Army behind him indeed carried no crossbows, and he breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
Dong Si and Yao Ji first looked at the Northeast Army soldiers standing at the front. They were all tied together in a line by ropes.
The exact number was two hundred thirty-two men, all skin and bones, their clothes ragged—some barely dressed. Their bodies were covered in filth.
Most striking of all—nearly half of these two hundred men were missing limbs. Some had no arms, some had legs bent at unnatural angles, and a few had lost an eye.
Their eyes were dazed, unsure why they had been dragged out here.
When they saw Dong Si and the others on the opposite side, a flicker of light appeared in their numb eyes. But when they saw the black-red “Jinyang” banner, the light dimmed once again.
