The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

Late June, Chenliu County.

In the early morning of this day, shortly after sunrise, Li Shiqi, the newly appointed village supervisor of Gaoyangli, Chenliu County, yawned and got up. He came to the door and removed the narrow door panel, welcoming a new day for Gaoyangli.

Li Shiqi found a bamboo mat and knelt by the door, flipping through his old bamboo slips while greeting the villagers who went out to work.

The people in Gaoyangli still maintained their lives before the war, working from sunrise to sunset. If there was any difference, it was that the door had become strictly opened and closed, and the playboys and knights in the village disappeared - the Qin government did not like the light knights, so they could no longer swagger around like before, and could only find a job and pretend to be good citizens.

Li Shiqi's younger brother Li Shang was one of them. He used to be a well-known knight in the county, but now he had to do the lowly job of driving a cart. With more laws and regulations, he suddenly felt uncomfortable.

Seeing his younger brother go out with a gloomy face as if someone owed him money, Li Shiqi shook his head.

Compared with the Qin army just occupied this place four months ago, Chenliu County has been very different. First of all, everyone was told: Daliang has been broken, Wei has been destroyed, and the King of Wei has gone west to Xianyang to be a minister of the King of Qin. The former Wei people are no exception. From now on, no matter men or women, old or young, they are all the people of Qin!

The name "Wei" was no longer allowed to be used. Instead, it was replaced by a new administrative plan. The original territory of Wei was divided into two. Taoqiu was assigned to Dongjun, and Liangdi and Songdi established new counties to govern, called "Dangjun".

When he learned about the name of the county, Li Shang complained to Li Shiqi: "Dangyi is just a poor and remote place, why is it named after it? Besides, Dangyi and Dangshan are far away in Song, what does it have to do with our Wei and Liang? This Qin people really don't know how to name, can't it be called Wei County? Liang County?"

Li Shiqi laughed after hearing this and said to him: "This Qin king has never liked to use old names after destroying other countries. Look, a few years ago, Han was destroyed and changed to Yingchuan County; after Handan was destroyed, the original Zhao land was renamed Handan County and Julu County; after Yan was destroyed, the original Yan land was renamed Yuyang County."

"The Qin people's move is to make the people of the princes forget their homeland and accept the new rule. How could it be named Wei County?"

"As for Liang? It's even more impossible. Haven't you heard that Daliang has long become an empty city? Now many merchants and craftsmen in Daliang have gone to Chenliu to make a living."

Although the county seat of Dang County was set up in Suiyang City in Song, which was well preserved after the peaceful surrender, in Li Shiqi's opinion, Chenliu had already replaced Daliang and became the central city of Wei. He had analyzed before that this place was well connected and had a large granary, which could feed a lot of people. In addition, it was not far from the Honggou. As long as the original dock was expanded, it would be easy to attract merchants and boats.

Let's not talk about other things. The Qin army stationed in various counties and towns in Wei was disbanded and returned to the north and south. They all used Chenliu as a gathering place. Every day, new Qin soldiers came here to report, and left one after another after receiving the dismissal order.

The whole morning was peaceful as usual. When Li Shang came home to eat at noon, he said to Li Shiqi: "Brother, another group of Qin soldiers came to Chenliu from Waihuang this morning. They seemed to be the ones who captured Chenliu. They also asked me to help them carry things. This group of people spoke with a Nanjun accent. I saw a black-faced Qin official who looked familiar, but the right bun on his head had been replaced with a single-board long crown..."

Li Shiqi had now penetrated the Qin system and was familiar with the Qin people's military ranks, treatment, and symbols. After hearing this, he was immediately amazed.

"So, the Qin official was just a hairpin before, but now he has become a fifth-level doctor?"

He remembered the rumors some time ago: Although Ningling Jun, the younger brother of the King of Wei, surrendered without a fight under the siege of the three armies of the Qin army and offered Suiyang, the King of Qin did not give him any reward, but directly moved him to Xianyang and reduced him to a commoner...

The former princes and grandsons of the state have now fallen to the ground, but the former Qin people and scholars have risen to a higher position by relying on this war and chopping off the heads of the Wei people.

In addition to sighing, the old Confucian Li Shiqi, who claimed to be a Gaoyang drunkard, couldn't help but beat the rhythm and sing a poem.

"The lightning is bright and thunderous, and there is no peace or order. The rivers are boiling, and the mountains are collapsing. The high banks become valleys, and the deep valleys become hills..."

...

The Qin officials that Li Shang met in Chenliu County were Heifu and others. At this moment, he had already put on a long single-board crown that matched the title of "doctor". Dongmen Bao, Ji Ying and others followed him and walked in the Chenliu market. Don't mention how majestic it was!

It turned out that after leaving Huoyou Township in mid-June, Heifu and others first went to Waihuang and joined the group of prisoners they escorted when they came. These people ate dust and dirt for four months under the city of Daliang, did a lot of hard labor, and many people died. Fortunately, after the collapse of Liangcheng and the demise of Wei, General Wang Ben sent an edict on behalf of the king, saying that everyone under the city of Daliang had made contributions, and the garrison soldiers were exempted from the next year's service, and the prisoners' sentences were halved...

This made the prisoners feel a little more balanced, although looking around, compared with when they came, their number had decreased by several.

In Waihuang, Heifu failed to find Chen Wujiu, who had joined the army returning to the west a few days earlier. He only asked someone to leave a letter for Heifu, which contained Chen Wujiu's address in Xianyang. If Heifu had anything to say, he could ask someone to send him a letter.

Just the night before leaving Waihuang, Heifu was pleasantly surprised to receive the title of "doctor" issued by Xianyang after verification!

According to the Qin State's "name field and house" system, this not only means that Heifu can own 500 acres of land and a homestead of 150 steps square, but also that with the rise of his title, the positions he can hold after returning to his hometown will also rise...

Although the Qin State did not strictly stipulate what level of official position a title should hold, there have always been unwritten rules. Except for the special newly occupied areas, the counties and prefectures in the Qin mainland generally follow this rule.

The lowest level of Lili, Gongshi and Shangzao can serve.

The pavilion chief who manages the public security of ten miles is generally Shangzao and Zanniao.

The roving guards in the village must be at least a hairpin and a hairpin.

As for Heifu's title of a doctor, if he is in the village, he can be the head of a village.

If he is in the county, he can be the chief clerk of the county, such as the warehouse clerk, the field clerk, and the county engineer of the engineering department. Of course, the two most powerful department heads in the county are the chief clerk of the clerk department and the prison clerk of the prison department. If he reaches this position, Heifu can be on par with Xi.

If he was lucky, he could go to Jiangling City, the county seat, but he couldn't be the chief clerk. After all, the county was not like the county. There were so many doctors and officials everywhere. Heifu could only be a county official, but he would still be ordered around...

His future suddenly became bright again, but Heifu still felt a little regretful: "It's a pity that the county left lieutenant Yunman is a doctor, and I am still one level lower than him."

But no matter what he chooses, at least he doesn't have to worry about the left lieutenant making things difficult for him again.

While thinking, Heifu and his comrades behind him were selecting items at the Chenliu market. After they received the bounty, they had a lot of spare money in their pockets. In addition to buying clothes so that they could return home decently, everyone wanted to bring some special products from the Central Plains back to their families...

Dongmen Bao was looking around, picking toys for children. He was the one who was most looking forward to going home among the crowd.

Ji Ying was bargaining with the vendor at a stall selling bronze mirrors. He was quite talented in this area. Although they could not understand each other's words, they were able to make a deal just by gesturing with their hands. Ji Ying said that the market in Anlu County had clear prices, so his mouth was useless.

"The bronze mirror is for my new wife." Ji Ying touched the finely polished mirror and boasted happily: "I will get married after I go back."

Then he said bitterly: "Her family despised me for not having a title before, but now I have also obtained a Shangzao title. Let's see who is marrying up to whom!"

The rest of Li Xian, Bu Cheng and others also bought some easy-to-carry items. As the squad leaders and platoon leaders under Hei Fu, they would of course be given priority by Hei Fu and given heads. Now, Li Xian, Xiao Tao, and Gong Ao are all Shangzao, and Bu Cheng has also become a public official.

Among the crowd, only Gong Ao and Xiao Tao did not buy anything. Gong Ao raised his head proudly, saying that there was nothing he liked in this small Chenliu market. Xiao Tao stammered that he planned to save money and go back to buy a slave to replace his old father to farm.

Hei Fu had a lot of things to buy. He picked a bag of good needles and threads for his mother. His mother had no other hobbies, just liked to sew and mend for the three brothers, but the needles in her hands were blunt, and it was time to replace them with new ones.

He picked a bamboo flute for his elder brother Zhong. Although the eldest brother was dull and honest, he could sit on the edge of the field and play the flute well after finishing his work. I wonder if the compost field he made with Tian Zuoli is going well?

He picked a pen and ink for his younger brother Jing. This kid has been studying in the county school for more than half a year. How well have he memorized the laws? Has he been bullied or discriminated against by the officials?

He also picked out a copper hairpin inlaid with turquoise for his elder sister, a saw for his brother-in-law, and of course, gifts and toys for his nephews and nieces. They should have grown a lot taller now, right?

In short, everyone was looking forward to returning home...

...

On June 25, after waiting for two days in Chenliu, Heifu and his team finally received an order allowing them to set off on their return journey.

They were not the only ones heading south, there were also hundreds of garrison soldiers from Nanjun and Nanyang counties, and some people were asking about the way back.

"Go southwest from Chenliu to Yangdi in Yingchuan County, and then go south to Nanyang. The rest of the way is the same as when we came here!" Ji Ying, the postman who had become a living map, loudly explained to everyone.

"It may take a month."

Someone calculated and said, "We should be able to catch up with the autumn harvest, right?" They had forgotten about the war and started to worry about the farm work at home...

The gate of Chenliu City opened, and everyone walked forward together. In Heifu's eyes, their faces were no longer solemn, but full of ease. They were escorting prisoners and laughing and joking.

The war seemed to be a thing of the past, and a better life was about to come.

But just as everyone was about to reach the Shili Pavilion in the southwest of Chenliu, a burst of hurried horse hooves came from the front, shattering their dream of returning home!

"Stop!"

Everyone stopped their endless plans to return home. Hei Fu also turned his head and saw a messenger holding a small flag riding a horse at the fork in the road ahead, running quickly from the direction of Chen Ying (Huaiyang). He stopped the returning team of the garrison soldiers and prisoners, raised the flag and shouted loudly: "Stop! Stay where you are, and no one is allowed to leave the team!"

The law-abiding Qin soldiers stood obediently even though they were unwilling, but anxiety and suspicion had spread among them.

"What happened?"

The garrison soldiers were inexplicably stopped and felt unhappy. They all asked around, and some people loudly questioned the messenger.

But the military officer just had a dark face and said nothing. When he was forced to bear it, he only said that he was ordered to pass the order and knew nothing else. His eyes kept looking in the direction of Chen Ying, and he was also anxiously waiting for new orders.

Looking at the anxious messenger and his ambiguous words, Hei Fu's heart tightened.

"It can't be that thing!"