長平

Just a little bit of history.

I suppose you've heard of the Battle of Changping (長平之戰) ? With the horrible leadership by Zhao Kuo (趙括), who was famous for discussing military strategy on paper (紙上談兵), as many as 400,000 Zhao (趙) soldiers were executed after they surrendered.

One small point that may skip your eyes: Bai Qi (白起), the general of Qin (秦), actually released 240 surrendered young Zhao soldiers back to their home country - not for any goodwill, but as a tactic to terrify Zhao and other countries.

What's not well mentioned in most history books is that the King of Zhao (趙孝成王) was actually advised by a courtier to put up a tortuous procedure to treat the returning soldiers:

• They would be welcome in the most fabulous way, preferably in gigantic carts, so that the actual number of coming back would seem much more than 240.
• After a ceremony, they would be sent immediately to a long term project (or so would their family be told); in reality they would be immediately killed - so that they would not spread around the news of the recent battle.

I must say that's a wicked but pragmatic advise, although the King didn't follow.

Alas, maybe he does many many years later.