The Zhao army surrenders. All two hundred thousand of them surrender with no exception, after the death of their general.
Yet it looks like they have lost all their vigor from the look of their expression.
They should have all died on that battlefield…
It makes it hard to believe that this is the army that held of the Qin army with half of its original size for over forty days.
Nearly two hundred thousand captives are chained on ropes with their hands tied together, and like a chain of warms, slowly proceeds.
“Sough, Sough, Sough.”
Hooves sink into snow, making tiny sounds.
In the snow that reaches the horizon, Gu Nan, with spear in her hand, stands in front of Zhao Kuo’s body.
It is hard to identify it as the once handsome and graceful general, as the withered body is completely covered in arrows and blood.
“You know that it will end up like this.”
Guan Nan sticks the spear in the snowfield, and starts digging a hole that can fit both a man and a horse.
Using her own hands, she buries him along with his horse. After that, she pats the dust and snow off her hands.
The dry air is hard to bear, as it blows onto her face like knives carving on the skin.
A small mound is added to the field, too simple and small to draw anyone’s attention.
Gu Nan laughs lightly as she stares at the mound for a while.
“You were right; had we not fought this battle, we could have been friends.”
Saying so, Gu Nan takes the water pack off her waist, and takes a sip of water from it.
The freezing water runs through her throat, pains Gu Nan a little bit. Then she pours the rest in front of the mound, and leaves a dried rice cake there.
“Eat well before you get on the road.”
“I don’t have time left, so I won’t make you a gravestone.”
After that, Gu Nan rises from the snow, gets back to Blackie and pulls herself up.
She never turns her head back again as she steps away from the grave.
“Just rest in peace.”
Piles of armaments are laid on the ground, soldiers of Qin are cleaning up the battlefield.
Bonfire flickers in the camp. After a whole month of back-and-forth battle, the Zhao army has finally surrendered, their general shot dead in front of their formation.
The Qin army won.
The Zhao soldiers are ripped off their armors, and tied together by hemp ropes. Wearing thin clothes that can barely warm themselves in the freezing wind, many of them have their face and lips turn blue.
Bai Qi and Wang He sit in the same tent, bonfire warming them up.
“Wanna take a walk, you old man?” Wang He places the almost complete military briefing by his side, stretching his limbs.
“Nah, I’m too old to just stroll around.”
Wang He raises his eyebrows and says: “How many years have it been since we joined the army? We get old before we even realize it.”
“Old Wang, you have that briefing ready?” Bai Qi asks as if it just suddenly comes into his mind.
“It’s ready.” Wang He raises his chin, pointing it to the bamboo slips, “more than two hundred thousands dead, one hundred and eighty thousands captured, armaments and horses are still being counted. I will let you know when the numbers are available.”
“More than two hundred thousand…” Bai Qi nods, stroking his beard. “That Zhao Kuo is quite so ruthless, and yet, it’s a pity that he’s not ruthless enough.”
Should he be the Zhao army’s general and lead them into this battle, he won’t allow a single one to surrender. “The Qin army has four hundred thousand soldiers remaining, but four hundred thousand is not enough for us to keep heading north.”
Wang He picks up the briefing, and then lowers it. A sense of helplessness could be heard in his voice: “That’s right. With enemies from all directions, if we keep going north, we just might suffer a horrible loss.”
Bai Qi shakes his head, “we will lose.”
Wang He freezes for a moment, and then signs. He knows his old friend too well: if he says they will lose, they will lose.
Yet, it is not likely that the Qin will let this opportunity to conquer the Zhao slip away like that. If they can capture Han Dan, the capital of Zhao, the war against Zhao will be over.
“I hope that the king can understand.”
“That’s not something we should argue about,” Wang He lets out a laugh, in it a sense of reminiscence and bitterness.”
“Old Bai, you remember that when we were still young and vigorous, you told me that you will make peace reign over all lands under heaven. But from the look of the current situation, it is still a long way to go.”
Bai Qi stays silent for a long while, then he answers: “That is my purpose of life. Even if I have to defy the whole world to obtain it, I will still pursue it.”
“You are still your old self. They all say that you are ruthless, but they don’t know that you are also the kindest of them all.” Wang He shakes his head, voicing his opinion.
After a moment of hesitation, Wang He raises his question: “what’s your plan for those one hundred and eighty thousand captives?”
One hundred and eighty thousand…
Bai Qi strokes his beard; his lips open but then close.
“Bury them alive.”
A look of disbelief appears on Wang He’s expression, as his draws drop open.
Then, he turns serious.
“Old Bai. Deceiving them into surrender is already an offense to the morality. If you bury them alive, you will be hated and condemned by all living souls in this world. You have to think this through…”
In ancient China, deceit into surrender is already a condemnable offense to the cause of justice. On top of that, to bury enemies alive will make it an absolute disregard to human ethics that deserves condemnation and punish by all those under heaven.
“I’m doing this exactly to let all of them witness.”
“How many years have passed during this warring states time? How many lives have been lost and who shall condemn those that took their lives?”
“The world needs peace, and the great Qin will bring forth a prosperous world after it unifies the world.” Bai Qi closes his eyes. “For the sake of a peaceful world, those one hundred and eighty thousand souls will have a meaningful death.”
He has been fighting for the Qin his whole life, experiencing over seventy battles with no single loss.
Witnessing the Qin’s quick growth, he realizes that it may soon conquer and unify the other six kingdoms in less than a hundred years.
Yet Bai Qi is getting too old to even head into another battle.
Burying one hundred and eighty thousand Zhao captives will earn him a horrible reputation, but in exchange, the Zhao loses almost all its young men and labor and therefore can no longer bounce back in twenty years.
Even if Zhao survives the following twenty years, it has lost all its strength and fortune. Thus, Zhao is already doomed, despite Qin’s current inability to invade further north into its capital.
Bai Qi may have foreseen his own end should he bury alive all those captives.
However, this is already his final battle, and also his final battle for the wish of a peaceful world.
If he can see the end to all those chaos in this era, what’s the problem for him, Bai Qi, to commit all the killings and shoulder everyone’s condemnation in this world?
The Zhao army surrenders. All two hundred thousand of them surrender with no exception, after the death of their general.
Yet it looks like they have lost all their vigor from the look of their expression.
They should have all died on that battlefield…
It makes it hard to believe that this is the army that held of the Qin army with half of its original size for over forty days.
Nearly two hundred thousand captives are chained on ropes with their hands tied together, and like a chain of warms, slowly proceeds.
“Sough, Sough, Sough.”
Hooves sink into snow, making tiny sounds.
In the snow that reaches the horizon, Gu Nan, with spear in her hand, stands in front of Zhao Kuo’s body.
It is hard to identify it as the once handsome and graceful general, as the withered body is completely covered in arrows and blood.
“You know that it will end up like this.”
Guan Nan sticks the spear in the snowfield, and starts digging a hole that can fit both a man and a horse.
Using her own hands, she buries him along with his horse. After that, she pats the dust and snow off her hands.
The dry air is hard to bear, as it blows onto her face like knives carving on the skin.
A small mound is added to the field, too simple and small to draw anyone’s attention.
Gu Nan laughs lightly as she stares at the mound for a while.
“You were right; had we not fought this battle, we could have been friends.”
Saying so, Gu Nan takes the water pack off her waist, and takes a sip of water from it.
The freezing water runs through her throat, pains Gu Nan a little bit. Then she pours the rest in front of the mound, and leaves a dried rice cake there.
“Eat well before you get on the road.”
“I don’t have time left, so I won’t make you a gravestone.”
After that, Gu Nan rises from the snow, gets back to Blackie and pulls herself up.
She never turns her head back again as she steps away from the grave.
“Just rest in peace.”
Piles of armaments are laid on the ground, soldiers of Qin are cleaning up the battlefield.
Bonfire flickers in the camp. After a whole month of back-and-forth battle, the Zhao army has finally surrendered, their general shot dead in front of their formation.
The Qin army won.
The Zhao soldiers are ripped off their armors, and tied together by hemp ropes. Wearing thin clothes that can barely warm themselves in the freezing wind, many of them have their face and lips turn blue.
Bai Qi and Wang He sit in the same tent, bonfire warming them up.
“Wanna take a walk, you old man?” Wang He places the almost complete military briefing by his side, stretching his limbs.
“Nah, I’m too old to just stroll around.”
Wang He raises his eyebrows and says: “How many years have it been since we joined the army? We get old before we even realize it.”
“Old Wang, you have that briefing ready?” Bai Qi asks as if it just suddenly comes into his mind.
“It’s ready.” Wang He raises his chin, pointing it to the bamboo slips, “more than two hundred thousands dead, one hundred and eighty thousands captured, armaments and horses are still being counted. I will let you know when the numbers are available.”
“More than two hundred thousand…” Bai Qi nods, stroking his beard. “That Zhao Kuo is quite so ruthless, and yet, it’s a pity that he’s not ruthless enough.”
Should he be the Zhao army’s general and lead them into this battle, he won’t allow a single one to surrender. “The Qin army has four hundred thousand soldiers remaining, but four hundred thousand is not enough for us to keep heading north.”
Wang He picks up the briefing, and then lowers it. A sense of helplessness could be heard in his voice: “That’s right. With enemies from all directions, if we keep going north, we just might suffer a horrible loss.”
Bai Qi shakes his head, “we will lose.”
Wang He freezes for a moment, and then signs. He knows his old friend too well: if he says they will lose, they will lose.
Yet, it is not likely that the Qin will let this opportunity to conquer the Zhao slip away like that. If they can capture Han Dan, the capital of Zhao, the war against Zhao will be over.
“I hope that the king can understand.”
“That’s not something we should argue about,” Wang He lets out a laugh, in it a sense of reminiscence and bitterness.”
“Old Bai, you remember that when we were still young and vigorous, you told me that you will make peace reign over all lands under heaven. But from the look of the current situation, it is still a long way to go.”
Bai Qi stays silent for a long while, then he answers: “That is my purpose of life. Even if I have to defy the whole world to obtain it, I will still pursue it.”
“You are still your old self. They all say that you are ruthless, but they don’t know that you are also the kindest of them all.” Wang He shakes his head, voicing his opinion.
After a moment of hesitation, Wang He raises his question: “what’s your plan for those one hundred and eighty thousand captives?”
One hundred and eighty thousand…
Bai Qi strokes his beard; his lips open but then close.
“Bury them alive.”
A look of disbelief appears on Wang He’s expression, as his draws drop open.
Then, he turns serious.
“Old Bai. Deceiving them into surrender is already an offense to the morality. If you bury them alive, you will be hated and condemned by all living souls in this world. You have to think this through…”
In ancient China, deceit into surrender is already a condemnable offense to the cause of justice. On top of that, to bury enemies alive will make it an absolute disregard to human ethics that deserves condemnation and punish by all those under heaven.
“I’m doing this exactly to let all of them witness.”
“How many years have passed during this warring states time? How many lives have been lost and who shall condemn those that took their lives?”
“The world needs peace, and the great Qin will bring forth a prosperous world after it unifies the world.” Bai Qi closes his eyes. “For the sake of a peaceful world, those one hundred and eighty thousand souls will have a meaningful death.”
He has been fighting for the Qin his whole life, experiencing over seventy battles with no single loss.
Witnessing the Qin’s quick growth, he realizes that it may soon conquer and unify the other six kingdoms in less than a hundred years.
Yet Bai Qi is getting too old to even head into another battle.
Burying one hundred and eighty thousand Zhao captives will earn him a horrible reputation, but in exchange, the Zhao loses almost all its young men and labor and therefore can no longer bounce back in twenty years.
Even if Zhao survives the following twenty years, it has lost all its strength and fortune. Thus, Zhao is already doomed, despite Qin’s current inability to invade further north into its capital.
Bai Qi may have foreseen his own end should he bury alive all those captives.
However, this is already his final battle, and also his final battle for the wish of a peaceful world.
If he can see the end to all those chaos in this era, what’s the problem for him, Bai Qi, to commit all the killings and shoulder everyone’s condemnation in this world?
