Daily Life In Qin Dynasty

Hanzhong has a special terrain.

This place is sandwiched between Xianyang and Bashu.

Among them, Xianyang was the capital of the Qin State, with prosperous commerce and economy.

Bashu, as the granary of the Qin State, has a vast territory, abundant resources, cheap grain prices and high output.

Regardless of whether Hanzhong is adjacent to either of these two places, there will be opportunities for rapid development.

But now Hanzhong is sandwiched between the two places, and the local development is extremely poor. The reason is that there are huge obstacles between Hanzhong, Xianyang and Bashu.

To the north of Hanzhong is the Qinling Mountains, which cuts off the connection between Xianyang and Hanzhong.

To the south of Hanzhong are the two mountains of Daba and Micang, which cut off the connection between Bashu and Hanzhong.

The three mountains are in a pincer attack, completely cutting off the connection between Hanzhong County and the outside world. Even though Hanzhong's own resources are not bad, without external stimulation, it is difficult to develop rapidly relying solely on the local resources. More difficult.

Although there is now a prototype of the "Shu Road" opened up by the Qin State on the Qinling Mountains.

But that's just a trail.

Based on the prototype of this "Shu Road", if you want to transport large quantities of goods, maybe three to four thousand kilograms of commercial goods, you will have to use more than a dozen horse-drawn carriages, and it will take ten days and a half to get from Xianyang to Hanzhong.

This kind of transportation capacity is not directly proportional to the time and energy consumed.

For most businessmen, it is a complete loss-making business.

This prototype of the 'Shu Road' was only used by the Qin State every year when transporting grain from Bashu. They would use their army to clear the way at all costs, cutting down trees and moving rocks.

But this is obviously not enough for Mr. Mo.

What he needs is not a narrow path, but an avenue to the sky that can allow large-scale caravans to pass quickly and smoothly.

And not just one.

In Mo Jun's plan, the 'Tongtian Avenue' he wants to build should connect the entire Bashu and Xianyang, and use Hanzhong as the transportation center to turn the rich resources of the two places into a boost.

"Gunpowder (fire sulfur stone) and cement are already available. Simply building roads is not difficult, but..."

Mo Jun took out an animal skin scroll and after opening it, it showed a map of the Qinling Mountains.

Now 'cement' has been manufactured by Mo Jun and has begun to be put into large-scale production.

And this world originally had gunpowder.

With these two things, it is not very difficult to build a road from the Qinling Mountains.

The only issue now is mainly time.

no doubt.

The plan of 'cutting mountains and cutting roads' formulated by Mo Jun is an extremely huge amount of work.

If it were based solely on the size of the [Xiong Chumo Chamber of Commerce], it might not be impossible to complete, but the construction period would be a bit too long.

The best way is to find someone to cooperate with.

Speaking of collaboration.

The first person Mo Jun thought of was naturally Ying Zheng.

As the current King of Qin, the help Ying Zheng can provide to Lord Mo on such a large project is really great.

However, Ying Zheng's flaw is also obvious, that is, he is too poor.

As the current ruler of the Qin State, Mo Jun knows better than Ying Zheng what the financial situation of the Qin State is like.

For expenditures other than the normal expenditures of the imperial court, Ying Zheng can provide all kinds of manpower and material resources, but he cannot provide money.

So in order to reduce his own pressure, Mo Jun had to find a way to find a few wealthy 'shareholders'.

"Sir, this is an urgent message from Xianyang."

While Mr. Mo was thinking, Hei Yu suddenly appeared quietly and handed over a roll of bamboo slips.

Mo Jun opened the scroll and took a look.

It was found that there was no substantive content in it, just an edict from Ying Zheng to urgently summon him to the palace.

However, the fact that Lord Mo needs to be specially summoned to the palace already explains a lot of problems.

······

Two days later.

Inside Xianyang Palace.

Ying Zheng on the throne wears a crown and black clothes. His eyes were deep and cold, looking down from high to the ministers below.

a long time.

Just listen to him saying slowly: "The three-day period has arrived, do you have any good ideas?"

Under the throne.

There are only seven or eight ministers, and the leader is none other than "Xiong Dian", Lord Changwen.

Faced with Ying Zheng's inquiry, Chang Wenjun and all the ministers behind him lowered their heads and were speechless.

Chang Wenjun also worshiped as one of the nine ministers in Qin State, and was called "Shaofu".

There are two functions:

1. In charge of the taxes of mountains, seas, ponds and government handicrafts operated by the royal family.

Second, he is responsible for managing the royal family’s private wealth and resolving life affairs.

The position of 'Shaofu' seems to have ordinary power among the nine ministers, but because it is in charge of all royal and official affairs and has direct access to heaven, its real power is extraordinary.

Generally speaking.

This position can only be held by those whom the king has great trust.

Once Chang Wenjun was a "Chu foreign relative" and deeply trusted by Ying Zheng, so he promoted Chang Wenjun to this position.

However, since the last incident of 'Nanjun Rebellion', Ying Zheng has begun to restrict Chang Wenjun's rights intentionally or unintentionally.

Now Chang Wenjun, the 'young man', has basically lost the second right of "managing the royal family's private wealth and solving life affairs", leaving only the first function.

But not long ago.

There were also problems with the first function that Chang Wenjun took charge of.

"Xiong Qing, as the 'Young Mansion', you are in charge of the taxation of the mountains, seas and ponds of Daqin. Now that the salt mines in Qin have dried up and there is a shortage of salt, do you have any countermeasures?"

"My lord, there is nothing I can do."

Faced with Ying Zheng's inquiry, Chang Wenjun remained silent for a long time, and finally said only five words.

This time it was really not Lord Chang Wen who deliberately created obstacles for Ying Zheng. After all, Ying Zheng now holds the power. If anyone still wants to imitate the previous Zhi Su Nei Shi, they are really asking for their own death.

But the matter of salt and grain has been a big unsolvable problem for all dynasties since ancient times.

The number of salt mines in Qin is limited.

Not long ago, two salt mines dried up at the same time. Now, unless a new 'salt mine' can be found, even gods coming down to earth will not be able to solve the dilemma that Qin is facing today.

Ying Zheng also knew this, but Chang Wenjun's answer was obviously not what Ying Zheng wanted.

"Trash, what use do I need from your 'young master'?"

Ying Zheng's eyes were cold, looking at Changwen Jun Xiong Dian below, the dissatisfaction in his eyes getting deeper and deeper.

As the saying goes, when you like someone, his farts smell good. But when you hate someone, he looks like he's eating shit.

Chang Wenjun is probably in such a situation today.

Before the Nanjun incident occurred, Ying Zheng had always been very tolerant of Changping Jun and Chang Wenjun brothers. Even after the Lao Ai incident, he once thought of giving the position of Right Prime Minister of Great Qin to Changping Jun.

But now, no matter what these two brothers did, it would only make him feel irritated in Ying Zheng's eyes.

Chang Wenjun obviously knew this too.

So in the face of Ying Zheng's harsh criticism and reprimand, he decisively chose to remain silent.

Anyway, the drying up of the salt mines is completely unavoidable. Even Ying Zheng can't give up his official position as 'Shaofu' because of this matter, right?

He can't be as unlucky as the previous governor Akinai Shi.

Is it possible that that hateful bastard can also solve the problem of drying up the salt mines?

What a joke.

Moreover.

That guy can't even protect himself now, so how can he still have time to take care of this matter?

Looking at the group of ministers below, who had the attitude of "a dead pig is not afraid of boiling water", Ying Zheng's eyes became colder.

At this time.

Suddenly the voice of a guard came from outside the palace.

"Your Majesty, Lord Shengping wishes to see you."

Hearing the guard's voice, Ying Zheng first glanced at Chang Wenjun below, and saw Chang Wenjun below him suddenly trembled when he heard Lord Mo's arrival, and then his eyes seemed to light up.

Seeing his appearance, Ying Zheng became more and more disgusted, but on the surface he still said calmly: "Xuan!"

"Here!"

The guard responded, then walked out of the palace and brought Mr. Mo in.

When Mr. Mo just walked in, he felt that the atmosphere in the palace seemed a bit depressing. Ying Zheng on the throne had no expression on his face, and several ministers below him lowered their heads and were speechless.

Only Chang Wenjun at the front looked at him a little strangely, with a faint hint of malicious excitement.

"Your Majesty, Mr. Mo, please see your Majesty."

Seeing Mr. Mo arrive, Ying Zheng's cold face softened slightly, and he said gently: "No courtesy, Mr. Mo."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Mr. Mo thanked him, then straightened up and looked at Ying Zheng above with a slightly questioning look.

So far, Mo Jun still doesn't know the real reason why Ying Zheng urgently summoned him to return to Xianyang.

After arriving in Xianyang, Mo Jun naturally learned about the drying up of two salt mines in Qin through his own eyes and ears in the court.

But this has little to do with Mr. Mo.

The main responsibility of Zhi Neishi is to take charge of private finance such as grain tax and commercial tax.

The salt, iron (bronze) of Qin State all belong to the official business, and generally they are managed by the Shaofu who is responsible for the royal family's management.

Therefore, if there is a problem in the salt mine, the first person to look for is not Zhi Su Neishi, but the Shaofu.

Unless the young master cannot come up with a solution, then Ying Zheng will convene the ministers and hold a court meeting to discuss and solve the problem together.

But if it's a big court meeting, there can't be only this few people here today.

I felt Mr. Mo’s eyes.

Ying Zheng did not give in and said directly: "Mo Qing, someone has accused me of you oppressing the people in Hanzhong County, buying and selling people's land, and killing people and massacring the people. Is this possible?"

After listening to Ying Zheng's words, Mo Jun suddenly understood.

It took a long time.

It turns out that the reason why I was called back so urgently was because of this incident!

Mo Jun glanced at Chang Wenjun next to him, and saw that although Chang Wenjun's expression was calm at this moment, if you look closely, you will find that there is obviously a bit more pride in his eyes.

Obviously, this guy has clearly told Mr. Mo that he is the one who made the snitch. What can you do to me?

Mo Jun looked at him deeply.

Then he decisively bowed his arms to Ying Zheng and said with a firm face: "Report to the king that this is absolutely not the case."

······