The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

Although the Zhang family claimed to be a family of etiquette, music, poetry and books, they were only village nobles after all and did not have special dancers. After serving the wine and food, the green-clad maids had to come up to dance for entertainment.

It was the end of spring, the weather was getting hotter, and people's hearts were also hot. But they were seen wearing short and thin clothes, colorful embroidered silk clothes, kneeling and bowing to the people on the east and west sides, and then began to dance in circles under the response of two musicians playing the piano and harp.

The gentlemen of the Wei country in the east seat were all cultured people, and they were also polite when watching the dance, although no one knew what they were thinking in their eyes and hearts, and they could only nod slightly on the surface. The Qin soldiers in the west seat were much more straightforward, and their eyes were straight, and they pointed at the beautiful girls inside, and even habitually uttered dirty words.

After three years of military service, the sows are as beautiful as Xi Shi. If Hei Fu hadn't stopped them, they would have gone up and hugged one each to dance together...

The people of the Warring States Period were not far from ancient times. No matter which country they were from, whether they were barbarians or the Central Plains, regardless of gender, they were all good at singing and dancing. Especially after a banquet and drinking, they could dance all night long.

When the maids finished dancing and left, Zhang Bo saw those ignorant Qin soldiers staring at him in a daze, drooling, and swelling up again.

He asked Zhongming to ask Heifu: "This is the dance and music of the Central Plains. I believe you warriors have never seen it before?"

This time, Heifu stopped bragging and shook his head and said: "Life in the army is boring. There are no women, singing and dancing."

Seeing that Zhang Bo was about to be proud again, Heifu smiled and said: "However, I have prepared some dances for you to enjoy today."

After saying that, regardless of whether the host agreed or not, he nodded to Gong Ao.

"Two or three, get up!"

With Gong Ao's order, ten Qin soldiers immediately threw away the wine, food and women just now, stood up with swords, and picked up the heavy shields they brought in.

For a moment, the Dongxi villagers, including the host, all looked strange.

Although they despised the Qin people's rudeness in their hearts, they did not dare to laugh loudly, because the Qin soldiers on the opposite side all came to the banquet with weapons...

Stop? I dare not stop them, so I can only let them go and be careful.

Just now, perhaps because I felt that the sword and armor were really eye-catching and affected the atmosphere of the banquet, Zhang Fu laughed dryly and said to Hei Fu and others that the armor was a burden, so why not take off the armor and sword and drink to your heart's content?

But Hei Fu refused, saying, "I am under the order of the general. Before destroying Wei, I will stay prepared and dare not take off my armor!" This made Zhang Fu feel bored.

At this moment, his purpose of asking everyone to wear armor, hold shields and swords was revealed.

"You will dance with swords to cheer the host and the gentlemen of the East Seat!"

"Yes!"

After the vigorous promise, the ten Qin soldiers, led by Gong Ao, strode to the center of the hall, holding swords in one hand and shields in the other, standing in line, and everyone stood straight!

The atmosphere became solemn, and for a moment, no one in the hall dared to speak again.

Hei Fu also picked up a chopstick and began to knock on the copper pot, making a tinkling sound that was particularly harsh in the silent hall...

To the people in the East Seat, this was the rhythm of music and dance, but in fact, it was just the drum beats of the Qin people's march. Every time Hei Fu marched, he would stand on the side and knock with tiles and bamboo boards. This skill had long been perfected.

As Hei Fu's knocking became more and more rapid, the dance went from static to dynamic, and turned into a hot fighting atmosphere. The soldiers ran on the spot, divided into two lines, and marched while dancing!

Suddenly, they faced the West Seat and saluted Hei Fu with swords and shields, with admiration in their eyes.

They suddenly rushed towards the East Seat, making fierce stabbing movements. The sharp swords almost stabbed the faces of the guests at the East Seat, frightening several guests and no longer caring about observing the etiquette of eating. They retreated in panic, even knocking over the precious lacquerware...

These soldiers were all public officers and senior officials who were beheaded in the Battle of Waihuang. After experiencing bloody battles and cutting off heads, they were infected with fierce murderous aura. For a time, the hall was full of swords and shadows, and the cheerful atmosphere of the banquet had long been destroyed.

Seeing this, Hei Fu smiled.

In fact, this was the trick that Qin soldiers had trained in the past, but military life was boring. Their superior Yang Xiong was not only deep-minded, but also a person who could entertain himself. He would let the soldiers dance with swords to cheer him up whenever he had something to do, so Hei Fu also learned this trick.

I never thought that it would be used today...

He had no choice. Since he couldn't make people respect and recognize him through etiquette, music and accomplishment, he could only show them force.

You have etiquette, we have swords.

Etiquette and music must always bow down to the blade until the day when it subtly softens the iron.

In the hall, the Qin soldiers and armored soldiers changed various complicated formations in an orderly manner as usual, sometimes sitting down, sometimes standing up, and under the rhythm of Hei Fu, there was a hint of dancing...

After dancing for a while, the armored soldiers had already sweated a little, and Hei Fu knocked hard! After hearing the sound, the armored soldiers immediately regrouped, and the ten people lined up in a neat and solemn manner!

They whistled loudly, raised their swords high, and hit the leather-covered wooden shields heavily with the swords! Making a huge sound!

"Bang!"

It was as if a thousand cavalrymen were charging! It was as if a river burst its banks! It was as if Daliang City was broken! It was as if the country collapsed!

This sound shook the hearts of the Wei people present.

This sound reminded them of the memories of being slaughtered by the Qin army on the battlefield in the past hundred years.

The Battle of Anmen, the Battle of Hexi, the Battle of Anyi, the Battle of Yique, the Battle of Huayang...

Hundreds of thousands of Wei people died tragically under the swords of the Qin people.

Hexi, Shangjun, Hewai, Hedong, Henei, Dongjun, one by one, the land of Wei was ceded to the Qin State, but it could not feed the tigers and wolves. I barely got a good night's sleep, got up and looked around, and the Qin soldiers were at the city again.

And today, a bunch of Qin swords are jumping in my own hall!

How can I not be terrified when I think about it?

The sword dance was over. Everyone at the table, including the Zhang brothers, looked pale. The maids who had just finished dancing were also pale and their legs were shaking.

In the huge Dong Zhang mansion, no one dared to look down on the Qin soldiers!

Zhang Bo was dazzled by the shining swords and round shields, and his scalp was numb by the last whistling sound.

He looked at his brother Zhang Fu in panic, and Zhang Fu also gave him a scared look.

Just from the sword dance, it can be seen that he is disciplined and seems to be able to fight ten people alone. Although Dong Zhang and Xi Zhang have two hundred armed servants, how can they compare with these Qin soldiers who have been trained every year after being enrolled and have been tempered on the battlefield? If there is a conflict, the heads of the people at the table may not be enough for the Qin soldiers to cut off.

Both of them were thankful in their hearts: "Fortunately, we were not too rude to the Qin people today!"

Hei Fu also smiled and asked: "I wonder what you think of this dance in the army?"

So Zhang Bo smiled reluctantly for the first time, and praised insincerely: "Good... good sword dance, extraordinary momentum!"

The people in the East Seat quickly echoed, and the flattery and fear in their words were already revealed. Didn't they surrender willingly because they were afraid of the Qin army?

Hei Fu laughed loudly, asked the Qin soldiers to come back and sit down, stood up and toasted them: "We are here, just like the Qin army of 200,000!"

The Wei people in the hall were now only submissive.

Only Zhang Fu lowered his head and pondered.

"After this sword dance, this banquet hosted by the family, the Qin official turned the tables. If this round of game fails, the Zhang family will have to rely on him for the next few months, and it will be difficult to turn things around..."

Their nephew predicted that Qin would destroy Wei a few years ago, and it was impossible to rebel, so they could only cooperate with it.

Zhang Fu was much smarter than Zhang Bo. Although he acted as a peacemaker, he still had to step forward for the sake of the family's interests.

At least, this embarrassing situation should be moved back a little, so that the Zhang family would not lose too badly.

So Zhang Fu suddenly asked: "Youjiao, the soldiers just danced, is it the music of "Dawu"? "

...

"The music of Dawu?"

Hei Fu was confused at this time and shook his head. He was uneducated and didn't know what "Dawu" was.

Zhang Fu took the opportunity to say to Zhang Bo, who was also confused, "My brother, do you remember? Zihu once told us that this Dawu is a song praising the great military exploits of King Wu in defeating King Zhou. It has six sections, and is also performed with swords, shields, and armor. This is the music of the Zhou Dynasty, used to worship ancestors in the ancestral temple, or to boost morale before going to war."

As he spoke, he also blinked at Zhang Bo.

Although Zhang Bo is the uncle of "Zihu", when his nephew came back from studying and talked to them about his newly learned Confucianism with great interest, Zhang Bo would fall asleep while listening.

Although Dong Zhang is known as the home of rituals and music, he himself is not very proficient in Confucianism, and only regards it as something to cover the facade.

On the contrary, Zhang Fu of Xi Zhang is not only more discerning about people, but also has a bit more cultural background.

At this time, Zhang Bo finally understood Zhang Fu's hint and nodded quickly, saying, "Yes, Zihu did say that."

He smacked his lips and said insincerely, "I never thought that the sword dance of the Qin army actually implied the rituals and music of King Wu's destruction of King Zhou. No wonder they were so powerful...hahaha."

Zhongming translated this passage to Heifu as usual, and said that the "Zihu" was the son of Zhang who was an official in Xianyang.

Heifu was curious for a while and asked Zhongming, "I wonder what official position the gentleman Zhang holds in Xianyang?"

The Zhang brothers were waiting for this sentence.

Zhang Fu immediately stroked his beard and said with a smile: "Speaking of my nephew, he is really an extraordinary person. He loves books like his life, reads everything, and knows everything. He is a genius who is knowledgeable about ancient and modern times!"

Zhang Bo continued: "I watched him grow up. He could read and write at the age of three, knew poetry and books at the age of five, read all the books in the family at the age of ten, and went to study with Confucian scholars in the county at the age of twelve... When he was fifteen, he thought he had learned all the books in Wei State, so he carried a bag and took only a servant to travel to Chu State..."

Hei Fu listened to the two old brothers singing a duet, and his expression gradually became surprised.

"He went to Lanling, Chu State, to visit the great Confucian scholar Xunzi, and became Xunzi's last disciple!"

"After Xunzi's death, he mourned for three years. After returning, he stayed at home for another three years, never leaving his room, and integrated what he had learned before..."

"Three years later, he suddenly went out, left home, went to the river to bathe and wash his hair, stood in the water and thought for a long time, and then said that he had read all the books of the six countries, but Han had been destroyed, and it was believed that in the near future, the books and regulations of the six countries would all belong to Qin. So he wanted to follow the footsteps of his predecessor and go west to Qin to observe Qin politics."

"After he entered Qin, he made a sensation in Xianyang with his knowledge, and was summoned to the Imperial Censorate as a historian, in charge of books and classics. It is said that he was quite trusted by the Imperial Censor and the Court Judge..."

At this point, the Zhang brothers thought that knowing that their family had a deep foundation and that someone was an official in Xianyang, the petty official Heifu, who should have been more and more terrified, became more and more excited.

Finally, he couldn't help but slam the table and stand up. He regretted that the dialects of the two sides were too different. He couldn't ask directly, so he could only let Zhong Ming relay: "That gentleman of the Zhang family, that Zihu, what is his name!?"

Zhang Bo and Zhang Nei looked at each other, it seemed that they didn't achieve the effect they expected, but at this point, the two could only bite the bullet and say it to the end.

"His name is Zhang Cang!"