A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 553 Crow’s Last Feast

The heads cut off from the battlefield are not perishable when soaked in salt.

But if you want to preserve it for a longer period of time, it is better to use lime. Of course, if you don’t consider the preservation, you don’t need to keep the face clear. In fact, soaking it in tar is also good.

The heads that were cut off on the battlefield were actually given hierarchical treatment. After the heads of ordinary soldiers were cut off, most of them would be hung on the waist of the winner, and they would be thrown into the designated pit after the meritorious service was counted. Or it is possible to directly seal the soil and build a Beijing temple to show off martial arts.

The heads of generals must be preserved for a longer period of time, and may even be sent to the capital, which requires dehydration and embalming. As for the heads of chiefs, they may even have to be preserved for a long time.

For example, Xiong Tingbi, a general of the Ming Dynasty who managed Liaodong, was involved in party disputes and was sentenced to death. After his death, he was handed down to the nine sides. After the head was treated specially, he patrolled various places for four years, and was finally buried with the body with the permission of Chongzhen.

Of course, the most miserable one should be Wang Mang, the time traveler. After his death, his head was cut off, and he was kicked around like a ball by the people. Even his tongue was cut off to share the food. In the end, the broken head was in the arsenal with Snake Sword and Confucius. Once the clogs were released, it lasted nearly 300 years, and finally did not die in the fire.

In the battle of Yehuling, more than [-] people were captured in the end, and [-] heads were captured.

The guards of the Youzhou Army, the guards, the townsmen, the children, and the regiments went into battle together, beheading the heads of every enemy corpse. They held the braids on the heads of the Turks and lined up to record their merits.

Too many heads were cut off, which exhausted the clerks in the army. Not only must they be recorded, but they must also be checked to prevent the killing of good people.

The basic appearance of the leader should be recorded in the notebook, such as approximate age, gender, main characteristics, etc., as well as the name of the soldier who brought the leader and the military town he belongs to.

Although Tang Jun paid attention to collective military merit, he also attached great importance to personal first-level merit.

Fortunately, the weather is cold, otherwise it would be a terrible thing for so many heads to rot. In the ice and snow, there are piles of heads everywhere, and each registered head has to be marked with a knife to avoid being caught again. People take credit for it.

These clearly marked heads became useless trash, piled there, waiting for the auxiliary soldiers to take them away.

The final solution is very simple. Throw it into a ditch. The weather is cold and the ground is frozen hard. It is very difficult to dig a hole and bury it. There is not so much firewood to burn. You can only find a remote ravine and throw it in as far as possible. point.

The decapitated corpses will be stripped naked, and finally hauled to the nearby barren ditch for disposal.

In the cold wind, there were crows circling everywhere on the battlefield. It was like a feast for them. It covered the sky and covered the sun for many days, and the crows made people's hair stand on end.

In the ice and snow, the logistics auxiliary soldiers kept collecting corpses, transporting them and discarding them.
Someone once suggested to Wu Huaiyu that in front of Huan'erzui Mountain in Yehuling, a few large Beijing temples should be built. There are about [-] corpses, which is enough to build five large Beijing temples with [-] people.

Wu Huaiyu refused, thinking it was a bit boring.

Not only is it labor-intensive, but it is also not easy to seal the earth and build it in the ice and snow. When the flowers bloom in spring and decay, no one can approach the mountain pass, which is easy to spread the plague.

In fact, among the [-] heads, many were subordinates of Tuli, and there were also quite a few from the Xi, Khitan, Miao, and Sogdian Hu tribes, but no matter whether they were Tuli, Keduzhe, or Dahemohui, they In the end, he just looked at the battlefield, let the shaman dance the big god, then slashed his face with a knife, and cried a lot.

Those heads are the proof of Tang Jun's military exploits and must be cut off.

As for the abandoned corpses, it is no longer easy to identify their identities, and there is no better way to deal with them. They can only be eaten by crows, and dust returns to ashes.

Ten thousand surviving captives,

Most of them came from the Yin Mountains. These young fighters are now suffering from cold and starvation in the cold wind, and they have to queue up to be auctioned.

The auction is very simple and efficient, and groups of ten people are sold in groups.

The higher bidder gets it.

With the previous experience of auctioning [-] Sogdian slaves, Fatty Wu was very efficient this time, and immediately attracted all the rich families in Youzhou, as well as Youzhou officials, including the generals of the Youzhou Army who had just made meritorious service on the battlefield.

These Turkic warrior captives are very strong, and it is good to buy them back. They can be used for themselves or resold.

It took only one day,
More than [-] Turkic warriors were captured, and they were sold out at the auction. The prices were not bad. There were many buyers, and the competition was fierce.
Even asking for ready-made money and silk transactions did not affect the enthusiasm of the auction.

In this auction, there were even many Sogdian Hu merchants and Turkic people from Youzhou. For example, Yang Muyun, the princess of Huainan, is now a rich woman with a lot of money. She even robbed ten orders and bought a hundred Turkic captives. , and He Luoful raised his cards one after another,

This Turkic special Qin, who has just officially worshiped Wu Huaiyu as his adoptive father under the request and witness of his father Tuli Khan, is also a rich man who does not show himself. He is now living in Youzhou. He said he came to Youzhou to study. It is Wu Huaiyu's hostage.

Now his father Tuli Khan also went to Chang'an to show his loyalty,
He also bought a hundred Turkic prisoners in one go.

If it is not limited by status, it is inconvenient to buy more, Yang Muyun and He Luohu can buy more.

Of course, Wu Huaiyu wasn't too polite, he bought a hundred of them himself, and some of the Wu family's children, such as Fatty Wu and Wu Junbo, also bought a lot with great pride.

The Kunlun slaves Tang Fengxiao, Peng Laizi, Mr. Duan, and Mrs. Kang of the Shuofang Guild also bought a lot.

Of course, the local aristocrats in Youzhou bought the most.

[-] captives were auctioned off in half a day,
Although these slaves belonged to Fan slaves, Turkic slaves among Fan slaves were more valuable than southern slaves such as Qiang slaves, Liao slaves, and Li slaves.

Moreover, slaves were not only divided into domestic and barbarian barbarians, but also divided into men and women, as well as young and old.

Fan male Ding slaves are second only to Han male Ding slaves, and the slaves who used to be Turkic warriors are more valuable. Each slave can basically be sold for the price of several horses.
If it is the bodyguards of Khan, Qilifa, Jielifa, Teqin, etc., especially those of Khan's concubine Lilangqi, the price will be higher. Of course, the noble chiefs are not included in the auction this time.

All the captives with status were sent to Chang'an by Wu Huaiyu along with Tuli.

When these people go to Chang'an, as long as they are obedient, they won't end up too badly. They can either be a royal bodyguard to put on a show for the emperor, or even some high-ranking nobles can confer an official, give a noble and reward a house, and act as auspicious in Chang'an It can be used as a decoration at court banquets, or for dancing and toasting.

Of course, if the level is not high, it is also possible to put it back, or their family members on the grassland pay to redeem it.

Kang Po made a suggestion to Huaiyu, send some high-ranking nobles to Chang'an, the rest don't need to be auctioned, and they will be locked up first, and let them write letters to their family members of the grassland tribe, asking them to redeem them with a lot of money.

This proposal is quite reasonable and common, but Wu Huaiyu feels that this is a bit like a king of the mountain. Isn't this kidnapping and blackmailing?
But it’s actually quite common, especially in the Western Regions, the hometown of Kang Po’s ancestors, and even more common in places such as Persian Rome, Frank Gothic, etc. in the west. Let alone captured nobles, even captured knights, they would never be cut off. If it is a waste, it will not be said that it is simply sold as a slave, it must be redeemed by their family.

For example, the British King Richard the Lionheart who once led the Crusades. After he led the army to leave the Holy Land, the fleet encountered a storm and was forced to stop at the Byzantine Empire. In case of a storm, we had to abandon the water route and take the land route instead.
As a result, when he was in Vienna, he was arrested by the Grand Duke of Vienna. The Grand Duke of Vienna once conquered Jerusalem with Richard, but he had a grudge because of Richard's slowness. Although the Pope asked the Grand Duke of Vienna to release Richard, the Grand Duke did not buy it. Richard passed on to the Holy Roman Emperor,

Emperor Shinra has been unhappy with Richard for a long time, so even if the Pope expelled Emperor Shinra, he still did not release Richard, but offered a ransom of 15 marks.

This is equivalent to several times the annual financial income of the United Kingdom. It is said that in order to raise this ransom, Richard’s younger brother rebelled. It is said that the subjects were forced to pay a quarter of their property to redeem the king.

Of course, Richard himself also likes to extort ransom. For example, when Richard passed by Sicily, he extorted [-] ounces of gold from the local monarch, and even sent troops to rob in Messina. , After a lot of robbery, he walked away, and also laid the groundwork for his final arrest.

After conquering the Arab city of Acre, he had conflicts with King Philip II of France because he took too much stolen goods and refused to share them equally.

Richard later negotiated with Saladin with the captured three thousand captives, and extorted Saladin's [-] ransom and the holy cross.
Later, because Saladin did not pay the ransom on time, Richard directly slaughtered all the captives.

For Kang Po, whose hometown is in the river in the Western Region, asking for ransom is normal and very cost-effective. You can ask for ransom when you attack a city, you can ask for tribute if you win, and you can even ask for ransom if you capture someone.
Anything can be exchanged for ransom, cities, kings, nobles, captives, etc.

But how can this be the case in the Central Plains state of etiquette.

The emperor of the Central Plains captured the khans and chiefs of the grassland, not only did not kill them, but also raised them well in Chang'an, and gave them to the servants of the Gaojuehoulu mansion.

Luo Khan of the Western Turkic Department was forced to enter the court when he was in Yang Guang, and he was named the county king and general. He stayed in the Central Plains for many years, and later became the courtier of Tang Emperor Li Yuan, until Shibi Khan sent people to Chang'an to force him to kill.

The prince of Tuyuhun also entered the Central Plains during the Sui Dynasty and stayed there for many years.

For example, Kang Guogong Shi Danai of this dynasty, formerly known as Ashina Danai, was a special agent of the Western Turks. He followed Chuluo Khan and belonged to the Sui Dynasty. Guan, following Li Shimin's expedition to the west, paid homage to Shangzhu Kingdom, named Kang Guogong, and gave him the surname Shi. Now he worships General Youwei.

Shi Danai's son, Shi Renbiao, was even married to the eighth daughter, Princess Pu'an, by the emperor Li Shimin, and became the emperor's in-laws.

Hundreds of Turkic noble generals were all sent to Chang'an, and a Turkic guard could be assembled directly for Emperor Zhenguan.

Auctioning more than [-] prisoners of war brought hundreds of thousands of coins at once. This income is not small, and Wu Huaiyu is quite satisfied, so there is no need to use these Turkic nobles to squeeze ransom money.

(End of this chapter)