The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

"Captain, put on your crown quickly and let us see it!"

In early March, in Waihuang City, the Qin army camp, and the camp where Xin Tun was stationed, there was a burst of laughter. It was Ji Ying and others who surrounded Hei Fu and asked him to put on the newly issued crown quickly.

Hei Fu did not refuse, and quickly put the trapezoidal plate crown symbolizing the title of "Bu Geng" firmly on the bun in the center of his head, and tied the tassel under his chin...

"What a Bu Geng!"

Everyone cheered for him. After all, Hei Fu was the first person in this village to reach the title of Bu Geng.

Bu Geng, of course, does not mean not to renew. As the name suggests, after reaching this title, you can be exempted from being a night soldier. Although the war and garrison service are still inevitable, it is naturally enviable to save one month of corvee labor every year.

Although Heifu's title was issued in a few days, the corresponding benefits still need to be implemented by the county. It took almost a month for the heir to send the letter to Nanjun. In this way, Heifu's family can increase the land by another hundred acres. I wonder if my eldest brother Zhong will worry about this.

After this news was passed back, it was equivalent to telling the family: I'm fine, and rest assured.

But what Heifu wanted to see more was that after learning this "good news", the expression of the county left lieutenant Yunman must be very exciting! Heifu, whom he wanted to harm, was not only not punished for escaping as a prisoner, but also promoted step by step!

At this time, all the people in the village gathered around. Everyone was envious and happy about Heifu's dress. At the same time, they touched their buns and sighed: "I don't know when we can wear a crown."

The crown is a headdress. Ancient people had long hair and tied a bun. The crown is a decoration used to fix the bun.

In the Spring and Autumn Period, only scholars, officials, and nobles were qualified to wear it after the coming of age ceremony. In the Warring States Period, the rituals and music were broken, and many old-fashioned rituals were no longer followed, but the crown as a symbol of status was still used, and the Qin State even used the style of the crown as an identification object to distinguish the title and show the status.

For example, in this army, if you encounter those who have their hair shaved and stand in the front row to fill the gully, they are prisoners, and they are the lowest status in the army.

If those round conical buns are backward, it means that these people are recruited sons-in-law, merchants, and hired farmers. Their status is higher than that of slaves and prisoners, but lower than that of ordinary people.

If they are ordinary soldiers, they all wear a bun on the left side in the army. After all, the Qin State still respects the right and despises the left. In addition to the black scarf, there are no other decorations on the bun.

Low-level titles such as Gongshi can wear a bun on the right side in the army.

Shangzao and Zanniao were allowed to wear a hat on the right bun, Shangzao had a red hat, and Zanniao had a dark hat.

The differences in these hairstyles all reflected the military discipline and military appearance of the Qin State, and they could not be mixed.

Even if the titles were Shangzao and Zanniao, they could only be regarded as "lowly officials". It was not until they were promoted to no more that there was a typical difference: no more could wear a hat.

"It's just the shortest hat." Heifu said so. Among those who wore hats, the height and style of the hats were also the symbols of their status. Although Heifu was promoted to no more, he was still the lowest among the hat-wearers.

Only doctors and official doctors could wear a seven-inch long single-board long hat.

He was also a bit greedy, and just after getting Bu Geng, he began to look at the higher-ranking officials and official officials, and thought maliciously: "Yun Man's title is an official official. If I return home and he finds that my title is equal to his, or even higher than his, what will his expression be?"

However, Bu Geng, as the fourth-class title, is equivalent to the "senior officer" in the Spring and Autumn Period. If it goes up, it will enter the realm of "official" in the Spring and Autumn Period. There is a deep ditch between the two that is difficult to cross. It is conceivable that the next titles will become more and more difficult to be promoted. Shang Jun, who formulated the military merit title system, was very smart and would not let people get high positions easily.

In addition to Hei Fu, after the Battle of Waihuang, everyone in Xintun also had their own merits and titles.

Among them, except Gong Ao and Xiao Tao who were beheaded one level and promoted from Gongshi to Zao, Li Xian and Ji Ying both became Gongshi by beheading one level.

Bu Cheng did not get the chance to make meritorious service and was still a soldier, but Hei Fu decided to teach him the skills of bandaging wounds and let Bu Cheng serve as a medical soldier in his village to rescue the wounded.

Compared with everyone else, Dongmen Bao, who was still lying on the sickbed, was the biggest winner of this battle. Because of his meritorious service of fighting to the death and being the first to climb the mountain, Hei Fu gave him three heads, so he was promoted from a public soldier to a hairpin in one breath!

Hei Fu and others visited Dongmen Bao again and told him the good news...

...

"Your injury was not in vain. In this way, even if I die, my son will be a little hairpin!"

Dongmen Bao's fever subsided and he had woken up, but he kept saying that the wound was a little itchy and he wanted to scratch it.

Hei Fu thought this was a good thing. The itching of the wound indicated that the granulation tissue had begun to grow. It seemed that Chen Wujiu's golden wound medicine was still useful. However, Dongmen Bao was still not out of danger and had to stay in bed for at least half a month until the wound was completely scabbed.

When Heifu and others visited him, Dongmen Bao seemed to have been holding back for a long time and said a lot. He also took out a piece of the flag of the State of Wei that Heifu had torn off when bandaging him, and said emotionally:

"I didn't know how to name the newborn child in my family before, but now I have chosen one."

"What do you plan to name him?" Ji Ying and others asked curiously. According to their understanding of Dongmen Bao, it would not be wolf, tiger, leopard, etc....

Dongmen Bao said: "When he was born, I followed the army to attack the State of Wei. I was injured and almost died in the State of Wei, and the captain of the garrison saved him by wrapping his wound with the flag of the State of Wei..."

After knowing that he was rescued from the Yellow Springs Crossroad by Heifu, and that he exchanged the bandaging technique with Doctor Chen, so that he could save his life with the golden wound medicine, Dongmen Bao no longer called Heifu by name, but respectfully called him the captain of the garrison.

Dongmen Bao couldn't get off the couch, so he stood up and bowed to Heifu: "So, I will call him 'Wei'! And give him this corner of the flag, so that he will not forget the kindness of the garrison commander!"

"A Bao, you and I have been friends for two years, there is no need to be so polite."

Heifu comforted him and said: "You can rest assured to recuperate in the camp. When you recover, come and join us to return to the team."

"Where are you going, garrison commander?"

Dongmen Bao saw that everyone was already wearing armor and new shoes, and they were ready to travel far away, so he asked: "Which city are you going to attack this time?"

"It was General Wang of Daliang City who issued an order to let Yang lead the garrison to occupy Waihuang, and then divide half of the troops to garrison in Yangwu County a hundred miles north. Xintun will also be transferred with Wubaizhang, and will set off today!"

Heifu said with some regret: "Yangwu County has just surrendered. This time we are transferred to garrison. I'm afraid there will be no battle to fight in the short term..."

…

Just as Hei Fu was promoted and was about to follow his superior to Yangwu County, Zhang Er, the prefect of Waihuang County, who had fled in a hurry from Shanfu County, Wei State, 200 miles east of Waihuang County, was saying goodbye to Liu Ji, a young knight who had "escorted" him all the way, at a fork in the road…

"Where will Mr. Zhang go?"

Liu Ji asked with a bow. Although he had been on the run for many days, his striking beard was covered with dust, but it still showed Liu Ji's chivalrous demeanor. Although he was tired, he did not look depressed at all, and his eyes were still bright.

On the other hand, Zhang Er, the county knight who had lost his territory, was a little depressed.

Although Zhang Er had planned to resist for a while and then withdraw, he did not expect that the Qin army was so powerful that the group of Qin soldiers rushed up the city wall fearlessly. Zhang Er hadn't figured out how the west of the city was breached, and the south of the city was soon lost. He could only be dragged by the fleeing knights to the north of the city...

The originally carefully planned evacuation turned into a rout of chasing and chasing north.

Fortunately, although Zhang Er was a little panicked, he did not lose his mind. He did not choose to go to Yangwu County where his wife and children were, because Zhang Er knew that he must be a big target wanted by the Qin people. Going to Yangwu would bring trouble to his wife and children.

He had to flee far away and wait until the situation calmed down so that the family could have a chance to reunite.

So Zhang Er asked his driver to keep driving east! He didn't bother to care about those retainers. Anyway, everyone was scared. If they acted collectively at this time, it would be easy to attract the pursuit of the Qin army.

At this time, Liu Ji appeared out of nowhere, shouting "Protect Zhang Jun" while getting on Zhang Er's carriage, and kicked away several young knights who were about to climb on the carriage...

At this time, the Wei State was already in tatters. In addition to Daliang being besieged by river backflow, several Qin troops of more than 10,000 people were attacking key points from Jiyang and Taoqiu in the north to Suiyang in Dasong County in the southeast. In the meantime, there were counties and towns that surrendered to the Qin army everywhere, and the Qin army's cavalry was like entering a no-man's land.

The only road that was still smooth was the road to the east.

When they ran to Zhai County, Zhang Er's car broke down, and he could only walk with more than ten young knights.

When they arrived in Chuqiu, when they woke up, there were only three or four people left by Zhang Er's side, and the rest had dispersed in the night.

Only Liu Ji and two servants from Zhang Er's wife's family followed him all the time.

Now, when he came to the east-north forked Wu Road in Shanfu County, Liu Ji looked eastward, as if he had finally made up his mind, and began to say goodbye to Zhang Er, and asked where he would go?

Hearing Liu Ji's question, Zhang Er looked at Shanfu County not far away. It had not been occupied by the Qin army yet, and it still looked like a peaceful town.

In Shanfu County, there was a rich man, known as Lu Gong, who was quite famous in several counties on the border between Chu and Wei. As a great hero of Weidong, Zhang Er naturally had a friendship with him. Last year, when Lu Gong's little daughter was born, Zhang Er also gave him some gifts...

But although he had contacts with Lu Gong, the friendship was not deep. Zhang Er was not worried that Lu Gong would not take him in, but was afraid that he would cause trouble for the Lu family if he went there. He knew very well that the fall of Wei would only take a few months, and Shanfu would not be spared.

So he turned his head and looked to the north, which was the direction of Daye Lake.

"I will go to Juye, Shanyang, Changyi and other places, and then look for an opportunity to go to Qi."

Zhang Er has already thought about it. He will take refuge in Qi, which seems to be the safest place, for a while, and wait for his good friend Chen Yu to bring his wife and children to Qi to join him.

"Where will Liu Ji go?"

Zhang Er looked at the bearded knight. Liu Ji had only been his retainer for a few months, but after following him all the way, Zhang Er was deeply impressed by his heroism and courage. He immediately felt that this person would definitely be an ordinary person in the future. Those of them who are mixed in the underworld must have good vision.

Although those retainers and knights said they were very righteous, only Liu Ji followed him all the way here...

So Zhang Er invited him, "Why don't you go to Qi with me? I'm not bragging. Although I lost Waihuang, as long as I arrive in Qi, within three years, I will regroup and become a famous hero in the local area!"

Zhang Er hoped that Liu Ji could continue to follow him and be his retainer, thug, and lackey.

"This..."

Liu Ji held the sword without the sheath, looked at the road from Shanfu to the east, leading to his hometown Pei County, and then looked at Zhang Er with an eager face.

Standing at this crossroads in life, Liu Ji fell into hesitation...