The younger brother of the First Emperor

Chapter 88: What Use Are Ghosts and Gods? The Qin Prodigy and Bai Qi, the Lord of Wu'an
"As the Wu'an Jun of Qin State, I will call you by your grandfather's name, not to mention your great-grandfather's name." The visitor chuckled.

[Wu'an Jun? Didn't Bai Qi die a long time ago?]
Ying Chengjiao's heart shuddered, and any remaining sleepiness disappeared.

Whether it is the history books seen in the previous life or the information obtained in this life, Bai Qi is dead.

He stared at the person's face carefully.

The head is smaller than normal people's, and it is smaller in size due to the skeleton.

The facial features are clear and somewhat like a foreigner.

The facial features are extremely sharp, as if they were carved with a knife.

Her hair was snow-white, hanging down to her chest, the kind of white that looked full of vitality at first glance.

I was immersed in sadness just now and didn't feel anything, but now I have woken up and focused my attention on the person who came.

Ying Chengjiao truly felt the chill, the chill that penetrated deep into his bones.

Cold sweat was oozing out of every pore on his body, and every hair on his body stood up straight.

The person in front of me is clearly an old man who cannot be any older.

No matter how smooth and full of vitality the white hair is, it cannot cover up the wrinkles on the old man's face and his aged accent.

But Ying Chengjiao felt the danger.

It's like a mouse meeting a cat, or a frog meeting a snake.

In the past, he thought that all kingly auras were fake, and he didn't feel anything when he looked at King Zhaoxiang of Qin and his grandfather.

But today, he was sure of one thing.

Whether the king's aura is fake remains to be determined, but the evil aura definitely exists.

He couldn't see or touch it, but he was sure that the old man in front of him had killed many, many, many people...

He was so scared just looking at the old man that he felt that the old man was like the Qin sword whose blade was constantly dripping with blood, but the blood could never stop dripping!

"Why aren't you talking? Weren't you quite talkative just now?" the old man asked with a smile.

Ying Chengjiao was horrified.

The same expression, when made by the grandfather, appears kind, but when made by the old man in front of me, appears cruel.

Ying Chengjiao felt like he was the chicken, duck, fish or meat on the chopping board. The old man in front of him was sizing him up, wondering where to start cutting.

"Wu, Wu, Wu." His teeth were chattering and his words were trembling.

This was not something he did intentionally, but rather an instinct. After talking for a long time, he was still lingering on the word "Wu".

This instantly aroused his rebellious psychology.

[This is so embarrassing! No!]
He pinched the flesh on the inside of his thigh with his nails and slowly increased the force.

Bite the tip of your tongue with your upper and lower teeth and slowly apply force.

He just stared at the old man without blinking.

The cold sweat dripped down his face, making his eyes look sour.

The growing pain took over most of his nerve reactions, fighting off the fear that had arisen from nowhere.

He opened his mouth, and there was already some blood in it.

The tip of his tongue was broken.

As a result, he finally stopped stuttering when speaking.

"Wu'an Jun." His pronunciation was extremely standard.

The old man smiled, looked at Ying Chengjiao with appreciation, and nodded.

“I heard that after my death, you were the only one who spoke up for me and offended Qin Ji but was not executed, so I have always wanted to meet you.

"Today I have fulfilled a small wish in my heart."

Ying Chengjiao touched the bed under him and looked around. It was here that he had just seen his grandfather.

Except that the grandfather was replaced by Wu Anjun, everything else was almost unchanged...

[Is it a dream, or...]
"I was just here." Ying Chengjiao looked at the place where his grandfather had been sitting on the bed. "I saw my grandfather. He talked to me a lot."

The old man stroked his chin, as if he was thinking carefully.

After a long while, he raised his eyes and said:

"Perhaps your grandfather was worried about you and really came here?
"The idea of ​​ghosts and gods is illusory. The people in Chu State believe in them, but it's useless."

He shook his head and pointed at the quilt on Ying Chengjiao.

"You keep yelling and shouting, I came to check on you, if you're fine, go back to sleep.

"Your injury is not serious. You will be fine after a few days of rest."

He stood up and left under the dim candlelight.

Bai Qi's footsteps gradually faded away. After walking for a long time, Ying Chengjiao finally felt the temperature gradually returning to normal.

He still couldn't tell whether it was reality or a dream...

He fell on the bed and closed his eyes.

Clear tears flowed slowly, not many.

Half an hour later, Ying Chengjiao opened his eyes. He couldn't sleep.

During this half hour, he had gone through the initial bombardment of chaotic thoughts and was now very clear-headed.

It doesn’t matter now whether my grandfather really came or he just dreamed about it during the day.

What’s important is how my great-grandfather died and whether my father killed him.

He picked up the copper candlestick on the table, covered his stomach, and moved out little by little.

Pushing open the door, there is a large courtyard.

There were six huge torches placed in the large courtyard, burning brightly, illuminating the surroundings with orange light.

Bai Qi, with his head of white hair hanging down to his chest, leaned against a torch and closed his eyes to rest.

When Bai Qi heard the voice, he opened his eyes and was not surprised at all.

With a smile on his face, he said:

"Can't sleep?"

This smile made Ying Chengjiao almost knock over the candlestick instinctively.

Ying Chengjiao was extremely shocked.

He had already prepared himself mentally, so why was he still so scared?
He felt that even if a tiger in the zoo broke through the cage and pounced on him, he would not be so scared.

This makes absolutely no sense!

He hummed, walked towards Bai Qi, and staggered.

Bai Qi, who had just half stood up and wanted to walk towards Ying Chengjiao, sat down helplessly again and said considerately:
"Just sit there. Your injury hasn't healed yet. There's no need to force your way over here."

Ying Chengjiao walked to Bai Qi's side step by step without saying a word.

His forehead was sweating, and his body, which was covered by his clothes, was sweating just like his forehead. This was like a dragon raising its head in the morning, a physiological reaction.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, placed the candlestick on the yellow ground, and then sat down next to Bai Qi.

As soon as Fang touched Bai Qi's skin, he got goose bumps all over his body, and every cell in his body told him to escape from Bai Qi.

He ignored it.

It's his body, he has the final say.

Bai Qi lowered his head, and his white hair fell on the little kid beside him.

The knowledgeable Wu Anjun was very surprised. He looked Ying Chengjiao up and down and smacked his lips.

"You little kid... are quite stubborn.

"The Qin family is full of cunning people who can adapt to changing circumstances, but how come someone as stubborn as you is born? Whose personality do you take after?
"I have met your father Qin Zichu, he looks exactly like Qin Ji, and he doesn't look like a good person.

"Who is your mother? Forget it. I won't know her even if you tell me. Just tell me what country your mother is from."

Bai Qi was very clear about his problem.

When ordinary people see a butcher slaughtering pigs and dogs, they will feel that he has a fierce aura, and even ferocious dogs will tuck their tails between their legs when they see him.

After the Battle of Changping, he buried alive 450,000 Zhao people. The murderous aura and viciousness in his body were more than a thousand times stronger than that of a butcher.

Before he was sent to Xianyang Prison, he was still outside.

Whenever he saw a crying child, he would just walk within ten steps and the child would stop crying immediately.

The mass grave, which was originally gloomy and made ordinary people feel uncomfortable, became no different from an ordinary field within an hour after he walked in.

When he went into the forest to hunt, the deer, rabbits, sheep and other herbivores would flee in panic when they saw him. Some of the most timid ones would even tremble and fall to the ground.

Carnivores such as tigers and bears would roar to drive him away and make attacking gestures towards him before he got close.

After entering the closed three-story underground Xianyang Prison, his murderous and evil spirit lingered and grew stronger and stronger.

Seven or eight years have passed, and the situation is much more terrifying than when I was outside.

The seven-year-old child thought that he was very brave when he could hold back his tears.

And this little kid in front of him actually dared to get close to him.

[This kid is quite interesting...]
Ying Chengjiao rubbed his hands, blew on them twice, and said truthfully:
“My mother is Korean.”

"Han people?" Bai Qi was even more surprised: "Han people have no skills at all, but they are very good at playing tricks. How did they and Qin Zichu, that cunning guy, give birth to you? This is really..."

Bai Qi thought for a long time before he came up with two words.

"Everything has its limits! Good times will come after bad times!"

Ying Chengjiao did not respond to Bai Qi's words. He first wanted to find out where he was. He wanted to see his father.

"Where is this place?"

"Your great-grandfather Wang and your grandfather both said that you are a child prodigy. So guess what?"

Ying Chengjiao raised his head and looked up with squinted eyes.

It was not the sky, but stacked bricks and tiles, each one almost the same size, in a very Qin style.

"Is this underground? Very deep?"

Bai Qi had no expectations when he asked this question, he just said it casually, but he didn't expect that he actually asked about something.

He opened his mouth, very surprised.

"How did you guess that, little kid?"

"It's very simple."

Ying Chengjiao pointed to the bricks and tiles above his head, then to the torches burning all around him, and said casually:
"The top of the courtyard is not the sky, it must be inside the house, so why build a courtyard inside the house? It is obviously underground.

"Look at the size of this torch. It can burn for a whole day without any problem. It is placed here because there has been no light for a long time, which once again proves that it is underground.

"Look at the distance from the ground to the top. It's at least ten feet underground. I think ten feet underground is very deep."

Bai Qi clapped his hands and exclaimed:
"color.

"When Qin Ji told me that his great-grandson was a child prodigy, I just thought he was talking nonsense. He had lied to me more than once or twice. "When Qin Zhu told me that his grandson was a child prodigy, I just thought he was bragging and short-sighted.

"I thought Qin Ji and Qin Zhu were too boastful, but I didn't expect them to be too modest.

"You are so observant at such a young age, what will it be like when you grow up?
"Once we're on the battlefield, nothing can be hidden from your phoenix eyes! Great, great!"

[You are wrong. My observation ability was like this when I was seven years old, and it was also like this when I was twenty-seven years old.]
Ying Chengjiao complained in his heart and said seriously:
“I guess there are no more than three people in Qin who know that Wu Anjun is alive.

"If I want to see my father, can I only wait for the person who takes care of Wu Anjun's food and daily life to come? Can I ask him to pass the message on my behalf?"

Bai Qi looked strange, squinting his eyes and said:

"How did you guess that only three people in Qin knew that I was still alive?"

In order to prevent Bai Qi from treating him like a child, Ying Chengjiao said seriously:

“I hold a high position in the Qin State, but I have never heard anyone say that Wu’an Jun is still alive, which shows that not many people know that Wu’an Jun is still alive.

"I don't know. The fact that Wu Anjun is still alive is a secret among secrets. The fewer people who know about it, the better."

Ying Chengjiao pressed down his right thumb with his left hand.

"The king must know this. There is no need to explain this. Wu Anjun just said it himself."

Bai Qi said "hmm", he could understand this.

Ying Chengjiao pressed down his right index finger again.

"Then there should be at least one person to take care of Wu Anjun's food and daily life. It's impossible for the king to bring all the food and drink to him, and for the king to take out all the food and drink for Wu Anjun, right?"

[Yes, that's what happened.]
Bai Qi thought about it and nodded again. He understood this too.

Ying Chengjiao finally pressed down the middle finger of his right hand.

"Now I know that I am neither the king nor the one who takes care of Wu Anjun's life. Isn't this three?"

"right……"

After listening to this, Bai Qi tilted his head a few degrees and looked at the copper candlestick that Ying Chengjiao brought. He found that this was indeed not difficult to guess, and it seemed that anyone could guess it.

He turned his head.

Under the dual illumination of the candle on the candlestick and the flame on the torch, Ying Chengjiao's face was clearly visible, and the childishness on his face was extremely obvious.

Wu Anjun sucked his teeth, and the feeling of unreality in his heart became more and more intense.

[It’s not hard to guess! This kid is only seven years old!]
"So." Ying Chengjiao said to himself, "When will the person who takes care of Wu Anjun's food and daily life come down? Is there any emergency mechanism here that can directly call him in?"

"No." Bai Qi, who was amazed by Ying Chengjiao's performance, suddenly restrained his expression: "Qin Ji would rather I die here than let me contact the outside world."

After he finished speaking, there was no expression on his face.

Bai Qi was in a bad mood.

As soon as something was wrong with him, Ying Chengjiao was the first to sense it.

He was even colder.

He swore that this was absolutely not an illusion.

[This is too outrageous! Is Bai Qi still a human being?]
He was horrified.

The history books only say that Bai Qi was good at fighting and killing people, but they don’t say that Bai Qi himself had any superpowers!
King Zhaoxiang of Qin and King Zhu of Qin had never told him that Bai Qi had such unusual behavior, and neither had the veteran generals such as Duke Bei, Meng Ao and Wang He!
"Just wait patiently until she comes down.

"If she doesn't come down, you will die here with me. It won't be a disgrace to you, a child prodigy, if you die with me, Wu Anjun."

Bai Qi's words were very plain.

But Ying Chengjiao's hands, which were exposed and beginning to become numb from the cold, told him that this Wu'an Jun must be in a bad mood.

His thoughts were frozen and all the sadness in his heart was frozen away.

Ying Chengjiao moved his fingers, grasping and grasping again.

[Walking with Bai Qi in the summer, making him angry, isn't this a human-shaped air conditioner?]
He finds joy in adversity and shuts up when he should.

There are only him and Bai Qi in the underground. If Bai Qi gets angry, no one else will suffer except him. It was not him who locked up this fierce man.

He calmed down, but Bai Qi didn't want to let him go.

After seeing Ying Chengjiao's performance just now, Bai Qi subconsciously regarded him as an adult with whom he could communicate.

Sitting down by the torch, his long white hair covered half of Bai Qi's face.

“You may think I talk too much.

“Before I came here, I spoke very little.

“I have been imprisoned in this Xianyang prison for seven years, and I have only been able to see two people in those seven years.

“One cannot stay for too long, he comes every three days, and each time he only has a moment.

"The other is the one who put me in prison in Xianyang. I hate him, but I don't want to talk about it.

"When I suddenly see someone, I want to say a few words.

"Want to know why I'm imprisoned here?"

[In no mood.]
Ying Chengjiao said in his heart.

He found that this humanoid air conditioner seemed to have limited power, and his hands remained stiff and would not get any colder.

Bai Qi did not give Ying Chengjiao a chance to answer and continued:

"Attacking Handan is a war that is bound to be lost.

"If the Battle of Changping failed to completely destroy the State of Zhao, the State of Qin would have lost this opportunity.

"Four hundred and fifty thousand people were buried alive. The people of Zhao carried this hatred for three years. No one was different in age or gender. As long as they were a Zhao person, they would be unstoppable in battle against the Qin people.

"Fan Ju said that the people of Zhao had few males, and Qin Ji actually believed it. Ha.

"I don't understand politics, and they don't understand war.

"Wei, Chu, and Qi knew the tragic events of the Battle of Changping, so how could they not understand the principle of "the lips and the teeth are cold"?

"As long as Zhao can hold out for a while, reinforcements will surely arrive.

"How could the Zhao people, who all over the country regarded the Qin people as their mortal enemy, not be able to hold out for a while?

"Let me go, what should I do?
"To inspire the people of Zhao to fight against Qin? To boost the morale of Zhao? If I lead the army, we will be defeated even faster and more miserably.

"I calmly analyzed the situation for Qin Ji, but he thought I was throwing a tantrum! Damn it! Inhuman! Incomprehensible!
"How could I, Bai Qi, be a jerk who would throw a tantrum at the expense of the future of the Qin State and the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers?"

Bai Qi cursed loudly for a while.

Ying Chengjiao quietly closed his eyes, trying to feel whether the coldness around him would increase.

No.

[As expected, there is a power limit. Without the modifier, there might also be a distance limit...]
[Yes, if there are no restrictions, then what is the point of fighting?]
[If you make him angry, take him to Zhao, Chu, or Qi. The climate will turn cooler, the weather will be freezing, and the grain production will decrease. Then you can win without fighting.]
Bai Qi caught a glimpse of the little kid beside him, standing still and seemingly listening very attentively, and he felt a little relieved.

He had no idea that the kid next to him was thinking of using him as a weapon.

"The battle of Handan lasted for two years.

"In the past two years, Qin Ji has come to see me three or five times a month, giving me gold, silver, jade, and beauties in his mansion.

"When no one was around, he cried bitterly in front of me, pretending to regret that he should not have listened to Fan Ju's slander and asked me to withdraw from Changping.

"In order to let me conquer Zhao, I used all my tricks.

"He was stubborn and thought I was just being angry. He never really thought about it. I was telling the truth. We must not fight the battle of Handan and we will definitely lose.

"Even if Lü Wang, Sun Wu, Wu Qi, and Sun Bo were resurrected, they couldn't defeat him. Unless he could really ask the Queen Mother of the Nine Heavens to come down and let the gods in the sky fight for him.

"Wei Wuji stole the tiger seal and led reinforcements to Handan, where Wang Ling was defeated.

"King Qin Ji made a wrong decision, which caused 400,000 men of Qin to die outside the Great Wall and be buried in a foreign land.

"All nations say that I, Bai Qi, am a massacrer who killed millions of people, but I killed millions of enemy soldiers! What about Qin Ji? He killed 400,000 good men of my Qin State!

"They are all good guys, many of them have followed me for more than ten years.

“Those who survived the Battle of Changping all had high titles, and they had land, houses, and wives at home. They lived a worry-free and peaceful life for the rest of their lives.

"What a pity! A war that shouldn't have been fought cost them everything. They are left with nothing..."

Bai Qi had a dejected look on his face, with his hands hidden in his white hair, as if he was covering his face.

Even though seven or eight years have passed since the incident, he still hasn't gotten over it.

The three-meter-deep Xianyang Prison could bury him but not his heart.

Being so close, Ying Chengjiao could truly feel Bai Qi's heartache and anger, and every muscle in the old man's body was trembling.

He hesitated for a moment, and because he was not tall enough, he stood up and patted Bai Qi's shoulder to express his comfort.

Reborn in this era, he learned from other people's words and records in books that Bai Qi had extremely strong feelings for the Qin army.

Moreover, the Qin army supported Bai Qi the most and was willing to die for him. Bai Qi's prestige in the Qin army was even higher than that of King Zhaoxiang of Qin.

Ying Chengjiao was once very curious why, among so many famous generals in the Qin State, only Bai Qi had such great charm, and even Wang Jian could not compare.

It was not until he conducted an in-depth study of Shang Yang's military merit title and discovered that it was just a pie in the sky for the lower class that he understood the reason.

Shang Yang's military merit titles were given to the lowest-level civilians, opening up space for advancement to the ranks of scholars and officials, with beheading as a condition.

Theoretically, as long as a civilian beheads four people and accumulates experience, he can be directly promoted to the fifth rank of official. It sounds simple.

But in practice, it is extremely difficult.

It is written in "The Book of Lord Shang" that if one can behead a noble, he can become a first-class nobleman, increase his farmland by 100 mu, increase his house land by 9 mu, exempt one of his concubine's sons from labor, and obtain the qualification to serve as a military officer.

It seems simple, but there is actually a reason for it.

The head of the army here refers to the elite armored soldiers of the enemy army, not just any person's head.

In the era of cold weapons, the difference between the combat power of an armored army and an unarmored army was huge. If the former faced off against ten times the latter, it would still be a one-sided massacre.

One head of nobility is a first-class duke, two heads of nobility are second-class upper-rank officials, three heads of nobility are third-class hairpin officials, and four heads of nobility are fourth-class officials.

So far, this is the best that a person can do.

If one is promoted to a higher rank but still wants to move up, he must become a garrison commander or a general. He must behead 33 people in the entire garrison or the entire hundred before he can be promoted to the fifth-rank doctor for his merits.

Among the 10,000 Qin troops, there are 200 garrison commanders and 100 generals, and only these 300 have the possibility of being promoted.

Although the titles are calculated cumulatively, the Qin army has not only merits but also faults. If there are too many casualties, military merits will be deducted.

After fighting a battle with other generals, not only did the number of titles not increase, but it decreased by a few dozen. It was very common, and it was good enough to maintain the fourth rank without any change of title.

It’s different following Bai Qi.

This fierce man Bai Qi was the founder of annihilation warfare. His goal in fighting was not to capture cities and territories, but to attack the enemy's living strength. He never lost.

The military merits of lower-level soldiers are calculated by the number of heads killed.

If you fight a battle with Bai Qi and survive, your rank will rise rapidly like a rocket.

Soldiers can be directly awarded the highest personal rank, and the fourth rank will not be changed. The captain of a garrison or a general can at least become a fifth-rank doctor.

While other generals were promoted individually, Bai Qi was promoted along with his entire army.

If Ying Chengjiao were a soldier, he would also like Bai Qi.

　[Note 1: There are always brothers who doubt that Ying Chengjiao has no child prodigy performance. In fact, he can show adult thinking at the age of seven, which is already amazing. If you don’t believe it, imagine how it would feel if a seven-year-old child you know could talk to you and talk coherently.]
　　A brother said that he cast a vote before the rules were released. Okay... then I’ll increase the number of words to 10,000 today.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)