Diqin Designer

Chapter 237 Han Xin on the Rebels

Han Xin continued, "The second reason is that they hate the Qin Dynasty to the core. At this point in their life, they have an idea: how much harm can they cause to the Qin Dynasty? That's what they will do, even if the means they use will also hurt them."

"Now the rebels have this idea. Although this place used to be theirs and the people here were their subjects, it is no longer the case and will never be the case again. Therefore, they think, 'I cannot have what I want, even if I have to destroy it, so that others cannot have it.'"

"Even if they are eventually destroyed by the Qin Dynasty, it will take years or even decades for this place to recover."

"Third, they did not regard the people of this place as their own people. They might even regard them as traitors! This place originally belonged to the Kingdom of Yue. Later, Yue was destroyed by Chu and its land was annexed by Chu. This place became Chu territory and the people of this place naturally became Chu people."

"But do the rebels regard the people here as Chu people? I'm afraid that's not necessarily the case. People may be close to each other depending on their distance. The rebels may regard the people here as Yue people, not Chu people!"

"Now, the policies of our Great Qin are well-known and benefit the whole world. No matter Yan, Qi, Chu, Han, Wei or Zhao, they are all equally respected. The people of Yue here also feel the kindness of the Great Qin. However, in the eyes of the rebels, this is a betrayal. Qin and Chu have a hatred of imprisoning the king and destroying the country. How dare you trust Qin and forget Chu?"

Han Xin recalled Li Nian's words and said, "Li Shi once said, 'heretics are more hateful than pagans.' 'heretics' are 'people with different ideas among our own people, who are often regarded as traitors.' 'Pagans' are 'enemies.'"

"Although the Yue people here once belonged to Chu, they are not Chu. Now they do not obey their orders and instead lean towards Qin. They are regarded as heretics by the rebels and are hated even more!"

Indeed, one may be more tolerant of the enemy to show one’s magnanimity, but if there are traitors among one’s own people, they will often be brutally purged and suppressed.

"Fourthly, they are not stupid. I believe they dare to do this because they think that even if they are criticized by the world in the future, they can still argue that they harmed the Yue people who had disloyal intentions, not the Chu people."

"The above is what I think!"

After Han Xin finished speaking, Wang Ben nodded and said, "You are right, but you have overlooked two points."

Although he felt that he would not be inferior to this senior brother in the future, he was definitely inferior to him now. Han Xin was very respectful to Wang Ben and asked, "Please give me some advice, General!"

Wang Ben said calmly: "First, they are thinking from the perspective of a prince. Not to mention that the people here are Yue people, even if they are the purest Chu people, they will not have much scruples. They are just some commoners, so they will die if they die!"

"Secondly, they are not really stupid. The reason why they chose Qiantang as the place to start the rebellion is because Qiantang has access to the sea, which is their retreat route."

After hearing this, a general asked in confusion: "But the young general just said that the rebels are at the end of their rope, so they are using this strategy. If they have a way out, why don't they leave room for themselves?"

Wang Ben explained: "Everyone's thoughts are different. For example, do I and you have the same thoughts at this moment? Of course, we are not thinking the same thing. The same is true for the rebels!"

"Some of the rebels no longer care about life or death, but some still want to live. However, they all have a common goal: to hate the Qin Dynasty!"

"Those who don't care about life and death don't even care about their own life and death, so why would they care about other things? Naturally, as Han Xin said, they will do whatever can harm the Qin Dynasty." "And those who still want to live hate the Qin Dynasty, but they don't want to die, so when they start the rebellion, they have already thought about where to retreat if the rebellion fails."

"Is there any place for them to stay in the Qin Dynasty? Unless they keep their identities secret for the rest of their lives and never mention the glory of their ancestors, it will be very difficult. Therefore, they will not stay in the Qin Dynasty any longer, but will flee overseas or to places that have not been returned to the Qin Dynasty. They also know that once they flee, it will be difficult for them to return!"

"Since it's difficult to return, and everything on this land has nothing to do with them anymore, why should we be so cautious? Why not wreak havoc before escaping?"

After listening to what Wang Ben said, all the generals nodded and understood. They should not act like a villain before escaping. Anyway, the people and things here will have nothing to do with them. They will not feel sorry if they cause trouble, and they will not feel sorry if their father's land is sold by his son, let alone it is not their land.

Wang Ben then asked Han Xin: "Now that we know why the rebels are doing what they are doing, is there any solution?"

Han Xin said, "They are using this method to take the people of this place as hostages to make us feel jealous. Their intentions are extremely sinister. I believe that we must not fall into their trap, otherwise it will only encourage their arrogance and make them think that we can be bullied. Not only will we be unable to suppress the rebellion and save the people of this place, but we will also harm the people of this place."

Many generals in the camp nodded and agreed to the unreasonable demands of the rebels. Not only would the rebels not surrender and treat the local people under their control well, but they would think that their strategy of "using the people as shields" was very good, and then they would intensify their demands on the Qin Dynasty for more and control the local people even more tightly.

"I believe that this matter should be dealt with quickly and should not be delayed for too long. I have two plans: one is to attack directly with a large army, relying on the difference in strength between us and them, to crush them; the other is to attack their hearts. How many soldiers and generals does the rebel army have? I have heard a lot, but how many of them are really willing to join them in the rebellion?"

"There must not be many. They were forced to rebel because their relatives were controlled by the rebels. The only ones who are really willing to rebel are their followers and old subordinates. But how many of them can there be?"

Han Xin carefully analyzed the strength of the rebels. "Compared to the soldiers who were coerced by them, they are only one tenth as strong as them. Moreover, the soldiers were coerced by them to rebel, and they must have resentment in their hearts. However, since their relatives are still in their hands, they dare not act rashly."

"If we tell these soldiers that the rebels will not release their relatives even if they win, but will only control them more deeply, it is better to 'suffer a short pain rather than a long pain' and chop them with swords, or there may be a better chance of survival. Once the soldiers rebel, we will surely win with our numerical advantage!"

It is indeed feasible to incite those who are coerced and coerced by the rebels to rise up in resistance. The reason why those people dare not resist is mainly because their relatives are under control, and when they see that the real rebels have better weapons and equipment, they feel they cannot defeat them.

In fact, with their numerical advantage, they can defeat the real rebels even if they cut wood into weapons, but people will die in the process, both themselves and their loved ones.

But if we don’t resist, how can we rescue our loved ones?

Little Han Xin continued, "The two strategies can be used in parallel, there is no need to choose one. If I were to make the decision, I would rather use a strategy that attacks the heart rather than a direct attack."

Wang Ben was very pleased with his junior fellow apprentice's speech and said, "If Han Xin's plan works, there is no need to fight the rebels. The rebels will perish on their own!"

(End of this chapter)