Qin Official

"Hei Fu, are you still a Qin official?"

On the way away from Du Ting, Xi kept thinking about Heifu's answer to his question.

Xi takes these two words very seriously. This can be said to be the belief that he has been able to persist to this day in the turbulent officialdom and turbulent current situation.

Xi was in the first year of the Qin Dynasty. When he was seventeen years old, he served in Fu Ji. Three years later, he was accused of being a food official by Anlu County. From then on, he began his career as a Qin official.

He worked at the grassroots level for many years: in November of the fourth year, he became a jailer, in April of the sixth year, he was appointed as the magistrate of Anlu, and in the first month of the seventh year, he was transferred to the magistrate of Yan County. In April of the twelfth year, Guichou was promoted to the jailer of Yan County and became the chief judicial officer of the county.

In the thirteenth year of the Qin Dynasty, Xi began to join the army and continued to fight abroad for several years. In the fourteenth year, he joined the Qin general Huan Jue's team and served as a hundred generals to attack the Zhao army in Pingyang. In the fifteenth year, he joined Wang Jian and Yang Duan's army. One army went to Ye and the other to Taiyuan, and captured Langmeng. After the victory in the war, he returned home and began to serve as a jailer in Anlu County.

He experienced the Nan County police incident for 19 years and tried many cases. In the 20th year, because his mother died of illness, he returned home to prepare for the funeral. On his way to the county town after the funeral, he met a man named "Black" who blocked the road and complained about injustice. "Husband's fellow countrymen"...

More than ten years later, Xi was also moved by the waves of the times. He served as a jailer in Nanjun and as a magistrate in Dongting County. Fortunately, he survived a serious illness and was transferred to the imperial court as a censor. He also set foot on the imperial court because of a memorial that criticized Qin Shihuang himself. On the way to the West...

Now in a blink of an eye, 40 years have passed. From the beginning to the end, Xi has always believed in the creed taught to him by the law: abide by the law, be loyal to the emperor, do good and keep faith, be fair and love the people.

Loyalty to the Qin Dynasty and belief in the way of being an official have been engraved in his bones.

He also used this to teach Heifu, hoping that this young descendant could become a loyal Qin official like himself...

So he was vaguely looking forward to hearing "yes".

But Heifu's answer was beyond Xi's expectation.

"It does not matter……"

Heifu said to Xi Ru at that time: "Xi Jun, you taught me a long time ago that when deciding a case, it is never based on what a person says."

"It depends on what he has done, so it is useless to just rely on my mouth to defend myself."

"On the way Xijun came east, you may have seen the current scene of people's livelihood, but the changes around Xianyang have also been great. You might as well walk around more and see for yourself."

I remember Heifu’s answer.

But he refused the people sent by Heifu to accompany him. He only wore regular clothes and his second son Hui, who was already an official in Tingwei and took leave to pick up his father. The father and son, together with the old servant who drove the cart, wandered on both sides of the Weishui River. .

But just after they crossed the Bianmen Bridge, they were stopped by Abei Pavilion Chief for verification.

The chief of the pavilion wore a red turban, a rope around his waist, and a wooden slip in his hand. He was dressed like a standard low-level official. He also had a cane stuck in his back, which was used to whip those evil young men who did nothing to harm the village.

Thanks to the talisman signed by Hei Fu and his wife, the joy can flow smoothly and not be as difficult as Shang Jun did back then.

Faced with the detailed inspection and interrogation, he was happy but not angry, because this meant that the old Qin Dynasty's rule at the grassroots level, at least around Xianyang, had been completely restored, and the pavilion chief would no longer sit back and watch the thieves as they did in troubled times. Bandits are rampant, and with tighter control, thieves and fugitives will have nowhere to hide. After the great chaos, Guanzhong can soon return to a situation where dogs never bark at night and Taoists never pick up lost things.

Also undergoing inspection at this pavilion were two officials. They were said to have gone from Beidi County to Zhangtai Palace for intensive training...

Hui told Xi that unlike before, the imperial court now has a systematic selection of officials. Each county first passes the county examination, which examines the law, numeracy, and clerical skills of county school disciples and local young officials. Only those who pass the exam can become chiefs. Official.

If the disciples of the school have no previous official experience, they will first be sent to the countryside for internship. They must stay at the grassroots level for at least three years before they can continue to be promoted. This is true even for the descendants of Chehou's heroes.

Hui also told Xi that now every official must take an oath when taking office:

"The law is the formula of the world."

"Officials, the people are at risk of death!"

These are exactly two of Xi’s favorite sentences from back then…

As an official, you must promise to be loyal to the country, the law, and the people. This is just a concise version of "The Way of an Official"...

Although it seems formalistic, if this can be used as a starting point, it is better than feudal officials who are not even aware of this.

In addition, at the local level, especially in the Guandong region, officials with outstanding performance are selected every year to visit Guanzhong. They study the arduous process of Xia Gong's reunification in Zhangtai Palace and understand the political program of the imperial court...

Although the Qin officials in the new era are of the same origin as those in the old era, their composition and the situations they face have gradually changed.

After checking the pavilion, the master and servant could continue on their way. Their first stop was the Afang Palace in Weinan...

…

Xianyang has no outer city wall, because in the imagination of Emperor Qin Shihuang, Hangu, Wuguan, Xiaoguan, and Longguan were the four gates of the capital of Qin! Within these four passes, it will be built into a heavenly palace on earth, with buildings everywhere and pavilions at every step.

So in addition to the expansion of Zhangtai Palace, there was also a large-scale construction project to build Afang Palace, which involved hundreds of thousands of civilians and consumed an incredible amount of money and food.

At that time, Xi was particularly critical of this matter in his letter, which also caused trouble for the First Emperor.

When he returned to Guanzhong this time, he had also heard that there was a novel fu circulating among the people. It was called "Afang Palace Fu". The fu said: "After the six kings have finished, the four seas are one; the Shu Mountain is Wu, and Afang comes out. It covers more than three hundred miles. , Isolation days..."

The poem describes the magnificence of Afang, but it does not envy its luxury, but laments the arrogance and resentment of the people, which reflects the thoughts of scholars all over the world. Therefore, although the style is slightly different from the worldly articles, But it was well received, and with the government's intentional or unintentional promotion, it was passed on and copied one after another, making Xianyang paper expensive for a while.

Xi Ze just listened silently and commented that the author's intention was good.

"But many of them are too exaggerated, and people in the world easily believe them without discerning them."

He also asked, who wrote this poem? His literary talent is similar to that of Song Dynasty Yu.

Hui said with emotion: "I don't know, the author is anonymous, or it may be written by Sihao of Shangshan. They lived in seclusion in Shangshan when Hu Hai usurped the throne. Later, they saw that Xia Gong was frivolous in corvee and paid little tax, and rested with the people. They were persuaded by Mr. Huang Shi and now they are here. I am Dr. Huang Lao."

However, Shangshan Sihao denied this, so this poem, which has been widely circulated among literate people recently, can only be attributed to "Anonymous". It became a war song criticizing the old dynasty's governance, and also set off a period of reflection in Guanzhong. The First Emperor had bad governance and promoted a frugal movement...

Of course, these lines, "The heart of a single man is becoming increasingly arrogant. The soldiers of the garrison screamed, and the letter was lifted; the people of Chu burned the torch, pitifully scorching the earth." These lines must have been deleted by someone.

In fact, the "author" of this poem originally wanted to add a description of Afang's current situation, but he actually didn't have much literary talent. He cut his hair short, and the words and sentences he added always seemed to be like a dog's tail. The imperial literati were also unsatisfactory...

Unless Li Si is still alive, it will be difficult for anyone to write a sequel that is in line with the "author's" intention and has such a superficial appearance.

Therefore, only half of the article was counted. However, Shangshan Sihao, who was suspected to be the author of this poem, is now working with Gaigong of Jiaoxi to re-establish the Huang-Lao School in Afang.

Arriving in front of Afang Palace, surrounded by Shanglin Yechi, the palace is still as magnificent as the last time I looked at it from a distance, but what comes out of it is no longer the sound of orchestral music, but the sound of reading...

After the women of the Wei and Qin palaces and the soldiers of the Northern Expedition held a collective wedding, the Epang Palace was not idle either. Under the leadership of Zhang Cang and Lu Jia, the Yushi Mansion collected poems and books collected by Li Si from the Six Kingdoms under the orders of Qin Shihuang. The knowledge of various schools of thought was successively copied from bamboo slips to paper by swordsmen and pen-writers, and then sent to the stone room of Epang Palace for storage, which was built into a large library.

Hui said: "Xia Gong said that those who are qualified to live in this gorgeous palace built at the expense of the people of the world are not emperors or officials, there is only one thing."

"That is knowledge, the secret knowledge that has been handed down from China for three generations to this day!"

"Confucianism, Mohism, Huang Lao, Taoism, Dharma, Ming, Za, Nong, Yin and Yang, and even the books of political strategists who once brought disaster to the world, except for the science of military strategists, are taught in military schools that specialize in training military officials. Hidden here.”

Xi frowned and said, "Does the regent want Afang Palace to turn into Jixia Academy and recreate the contention of a hundred schools of thought?"

As a supporter of Shang Jun and Han Zi, Xi actually doesn't like people who speak words very much. After all, this group of public intellectuals are not very good, but they like to use literature to violate prohibitions. Moreover, they have a lot of theories, but they can really be used in practice. But there are very few people. Don't end up like Qi who raised thousands of people but made no achievements in enriching the country and strengthening the army.

Hui smiled and said: "Father is too worried. The regent has said that in Afang, there will no longer be divided into hundreds of families."

“Only by subject!”

"Subject?"

Hui said: "Yes, there is the study of law, which studies the law; there is the study of etiquette, which studies the etiquette of the past and present; there is the study of name and reality, which studies the debate between name and reality; there is the study of astronomy and geography, which explores the mysteries of heaven and earth; there is the study of philology, which studies ancient books. In addition, there are also subjects such as music studies, academic studies, and even engineering, agriculture, commodity production, dialects, translation, and various operas. There are so many different subjects, a total of nineteen subjects!"

Therefore, the doctors recruited by the imperial court were not only Confucian scholars, but also included hundreds of schools of thought that survived among the people and survived in the dust of troubled times under Qin Shi Huang's policy of tightening public opinion.

"Xia Gong said that for hundreds of schools of thought, we should get rid of the dross and pick out the essence. The law of workers and peasants is an important subject. Xia Gong calls it a key subject. Each has a separate palace and recruits disciples from all over the world. After completing the studies, most of them are Low-level officials may go to the county to teach disciples.”

"As for other subjects, today there are only dozens of Ph.D. elders who organize various scientific disciplines, and more than a hundred smart scholars are admitted to the school every year. One person can study many subjects according to his ability, and does not have to be limited to the ruts of one school. In this way, a hundred flowers can bloom. , and it won’t lead to sectarian disputes and mutual criticism.”

Heifu’s goal is not only to integrate various schools of thought, but also...

“Build Afang into the world’s first comprehensive university!”

And it’s double first-class…

It is just that we do not plan to accept foreign students from foreign countries for the time being.

In this way, whether it is metaphysical classical philosophy, simple natural science that pays attention to reality, or even social science that studies human beings' own systems, they will all be developed and integrated in this palace of knowledge.

If the state power and the legal system are the superstructure, then these dazzling knowledge are based on it, the more dangerous castles in the air. They are difficult to build and even more difficult to pass on. They are also the things that are most easily burned by war and troubled times.

Xi may not understand all of this, but he can also feel Heifu's overwhelming ambition.

The ambition to build a civilized future!

Compared with slapping inventions and inventions with hammers and hammers, building a scientific foundation is actually more difficult and time-consuming, but it is the right way to teach people to fish rather than to teach them how to fish.

After seeing these civilized "castles in the air" in Afang, I was delighted to see the basic necessities of a country in the Shanglin area of ​​Weinan, where ordinary people use food, clothing, housing and transportation...

…

I remember fondly that when I came to Xianyang to serve as an official, Weinan was still a vast parkland with herds of elk. The vast and fertile land was used as a royal garden, only for the First Emperor and the sons of the nobles to hunt, gallop and have fun. Common people dared to do it. If those who enter the area for logging, fishing or hunting have their feet cut off, they will not be open to the public even in disaster years.

But now, the fence of the garden has been torn down, and a large number of Lishan officials and heroes of the Northern Expedition have lived in it. They have built villas inside, and most of the upper forest garden has been reclaimed into fertile farmland.

In the past, "The Way of Being an Official" taught Qin officials: they need to know the people's abilities and use the people's strength well. But the fact is that during the time of Emperor Qin Shihuang, he never paid attention to people's livelihood. One-tenth of the world's labor force was always traveling on the roads and frontiers.

The imperial court required officials and Guizhou leaders to abide by the laws, but the imperial court itself often took the lead in breaking the laws: the one-year service period was extended to three years, and the annual oral tribute was added more than ten times at most.

What particularly impressed Xi was that when he entered Xianyang as an official, it was the busy season for spring plowing and farming, but the people working in the fields were all old, weak, women and children. After asking, they said that all the children in the family had gone to serve in the army. I went to all kinds of places, including the Great Wall in the north of the Great Wall, the western regions of Zhangye, the land east of the sea, and the south of the Yangtze River and Lingnan, but most of them were in Lishan and Afang.

But now, the civil war has stopped, the Xiongnu has fled north, and the Qin Dynasty no longer has a strong enemy, so military expenditures have been cut wildly in the past few months. The number of border guards is less than one-fifth of what it was under Qin Shihuang, and the population is huge. Returned to his own land.

It is now the summer of July of the second year of the regency. The millet is about to be harvested and the wheat has just been planted. Most of the farmers in the fields are Qin farmers, working with white sweat towels on their heads. Their arms are particularly dark under the scorching sun.

However, everyone worked very energetically and had high enthusiasm for their work. When cars and horses passed by, they did not panic. They even brought bowls of water to the field ridge to wait and see, asking Xi where they came back from. Their faces were calm and unafraid of this situation in troubled times. It is impossible, which means that order in Guanzhong has been restored.

The people were happy to stop their carriage and ask for a bowl of water. The farmer from Shanglin came to know him and started bragging about how he had joined the army to participate in the battle to conquer Wei and destroy Chu, and how he had earned more acres for his family.

"Furthermore, Mr. Xia is true to his word, and he will be rewarded as much as he wants. Even if the existing fields are not enough, he can open new fields in the Guanzhong Garden. He will not be like the late emperor, who eventually deceived us and sent his children to the frontier."

He nodded happily and asked about their rent.

The farmer raised a finger: "May Day! I heard it will drop again next year, as low as eleven."

"Ten-ten rent?"

Xi was a little surprised. He had heard before that Heifu had set the rent in Guanzhong for May Day. Compared with the half rent during the time of Emperor Qin Shihuang, it was already extremely low. He did not expect that after reunifying the world, it would really become eleven. Already...

What is this concept? When a Confucian scholar praised the rule of the Three Dynasties, he said: "The king pays taxes on the eleventh day and sings praises!"

Is Heifu trying to emulate the three generations? He is really determined to be a saint.

Xi asked again how to collect the money, and heard that the money for children was reduced by half compared to before, and the government encouraged childbirth. With such a low rent and the officials teaching farmers the best techniques, this is probably why the farmers are so active in farming and most of their words support the new government.

Xi nodded: "It's light corvee and poor fortune, but the head of Guizhou is full of joy."

This was a dream that talented people had longed for, but Qin Shi Huang failed to fulfill.

But Hei Fu did it.

When they passed through Chang'an Township and arrived at Baqiao, they found that a mile away from the wooden bridge where merchants were constantly coming and going, a large number of craftsmen and officials gathered here, holding rulers and newly made surveying and mapping tools, standing on the water. What are we arguing about while measuring...

He solved the mystery and said, "This is to build a stone bridge on the Ba River."

Ba Bridge has always been a wooden bridge, which is easily washed away in summer and autumn. Therefore, at the suggestion of the Shaofu, it was decided to build an unprecedented stone bridge across the Ba River, so that it could be fixed for a long time and ensure unimpeded traffic on both sides.

What the craftsmen have to use is naturally the latest achievements of the "engineering" doctors from the Afang Palace, who are mainly composed of Mohist disciples, about Mozi's three laws of mechanics, and about the secrets of maintaining balance and stability in buildings...

It's just that whether to build a flat bridge or a more bold arch bridge is still controversial.

As for the materials and money needed to build the stone bridge?

The craftsmen said naturally: "Use the leftover materials from the construction of Lishan Mausoleum. There are piles of materials there, enough to build a stone bridge across all the rivers in Guanzhong!"

"It would be great if all the skilled craftsmen from the time of Qin Shi Huang could be used in this aspect."

I couldn't help but regret this. A large number of craftsmen with outstanding skills have been slaughtered by Hu Hai and died in the tunnels of the underground palace of Qin Shihuang's mausoleum built by them. Many of them were passed down from generation to generation, and their craftsmanship is likely to be annihilated...

"It would be great if they could survive until the time when the black husband was in power."

As for what Hei Fu did, long before asking that question, through listening and seeing with his own ears, Xi had already understood it.

But now, it is becoming clearer and clearer.

But there is still an untied knot in his heart...

After passing the Wei Bridge, we could already vaguely see the tall figure of Lishan Mountain in the East. Then we walked around Lishan Mountain surrounded by pines and cypresses, and arrived at the most important stop of our trip, the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin.

"His Majesty."

Looking from afar, the mound of the First Emperor's mausoleum looked like an overturned bucket lying upside down on the ground, as tall as a golden pagoda. I bowed down to it, kowtowed to its head three times, cupped my hands and said in a hoarse voice:

"Chen, I'm back to see you..."

…

Xi's life and destiny are consistent with this era and the reign of the First Emperor.

Although he was relegated, he cried bitterly when the news of the death of the First Emperor was confirmed by visitors from the east in the city of Kucha in the Western Regions.

He cried heartbrokenly, crying until he couldn't breathe, and then he started to vomit, first this meal, then the last meal, and finally yellow bile water. The soldiers were all stunned.

It's a bit ironic to say that the First Emperor trusted Hu Hai and Li Si and left the country to them. As a result, one acted recklessly and the other turned around and sold the country. The people who felt sad for his death in the world, except Fusu and Fuwai Hei turned out to be Xi who had scolded him and was driven away by him.

Even when my parents passed away before, I have never cried so sadly.

Not only did the ministers express their condolences to the monarch, but they also felt sorry for the First Emperor.

"Your Majesty, he will never have a chance to undo the mistakes he made in his later years..."

And Xi also had a premonition that with the death of the First Emperor, the world would be like a boiling cauldron without a lid, and it would be in turmoil.

Fortunately, another strongman emerged and reunited the country that had been torn apart.

To this day, when the joy is placed at the foot of the Mausoleum of the First Emperor, I can deeply feel that the First Emperor has indeed gone to hell. The emperor who has never been peaceful is lying quietly in the underground palace at this moment, not caring about what happened on the ground. Things fell on deaf ears.

After all, he failed to wait for the Queen Mother of the West and became immortal.

No matter how great their achievements or power, emperors, generals and ministers will eventually become corrupt.

Whose land is there in Artemisia? There is no wise or foolish person who gathers souls. Why does Gui Boyi urge me? Human life must be hesitant.

He was so happy that he couldn't help but feel a little sad: "There are not even a hundred people in life, even if you are as great as the First Emperor, you can't escape this number."

Even Qin Shi Huang fell, so what in this world can survive forever?

Happy at the feet of Qin Ling, I remembered the second half of the conversation with Hei Fu in Duting.

"system!"

Heifu said so at that time.

"Monarchs will grow old and die from generation to generation, and empires will decline, decay, and change dynasties."

"But if a perfect system can innovate and innovate, it can transcend the limitations of one surname and one clan and will not easily decay!"

In that pavilion, the most basic unit of the empire, they were discussing extremely grand propositions.

"The political and cultural changes in the Central Plains cannot be traced back to the Yin and Zhou Dynasties. The Zhou Dynasty changed the system of Xia and Shang Dynasty, from brother to brother after father died, to brother to brother after father died, from worshiping ghosts and worshiping witches, to people being the gods. . All this originated from the Duke of Zhou performing rituals and using patriarchal laws to maintain the world. Later, although the Zhou Dynasty declined, the system of the Zhou Dynasty continued among the twelve princes and was passed on to the seven war kingdoms. "

"Although everyone in the world says that etiquette is ruined and music is ruined, the influence of Zhou Zhi is still engraved in the bones. To this day, there are still people who can't forget it..."

"And now, there is another big change! The change of Zhou and Qin!"

"The Qin system was started by Lord Shang, and later generations spent hundreds of years exploring it, and was finally completed by the First Emperor. Although there are problems of this kind and that, it is the best system in ancient and modern times!"

"The key to this system is that there is an emperor who can carry on the inheritance stably, and the central government is a centralized court. Its cornerstone is a perfect law, and there are thousands of people, like you and me, working at the grassroots level. Little official."

"So, Mr. Xi asked me if I am still a Qin official?"

"To be honest, if I were not in this world, how many people would be called emperors and kings. I am the one who saved the Qin Dynasty. The heroes kept praising me and described me as a saint who only appears every five hundred years. I hope I can replace Qin."

Heifu looked at Dongfang: "But I will not take that step. I have sworn to others that I will start well and end well as a Qin official in this life."

"But I can't guarantee what will happen after my death. The new building has been built and the pillars have been replaced. If future generations of successors want to replace this Guangsha with a memorial arch, it is beyond my control. If I force it, it will cause trouble again. Come."

China is very special. The emperor and his family can change their surnames.

But as long as three things remain unchanged, this civilization will not be dead.

Infrastructure and people's livelihood cannot be cut off.

The transmission of the superstructure and political system cannot have major turmoil.

Castles in the air, the essence of civilization and the lingering charm of various schools of thought can be preserved from generation to generation!

If this can be done, this civilization will never die!

This is the treasure that Heifu has worked hard all his life to protect...

"So, even though I call myself an official of Qin, people today and people in future generations may still say that Hei Fu is named Qin Prime Minister, but he is actually a Qin thief! Everyone on the road knows Hei Fu's heart!"

He spread his hands and said: "I don't want to argue, but I have to build a memorial for myself. Anyway, in the past twenty years, I have violated laws and disciplines, abused power for personal gain, and rebelled against ministers and traitors. I have done a lot of things, including murdering ministers, shamelessly seizing power, and subjugating superiors. It's the same." Quite a few.”

"I failed to die a obedient 'Wu Zhonghou' as Emperor Qin Shi Huang hoped."

"I have not been able to become a paper framer who will eventually return the great power, as many die-hard loyalists and nobles with the surname Ying hope."

"I just feel that although it will be difficult for me to keep the word 'Qin' in my life, I can at least keep the word 'official'."

"Officials, the people's lives are at stake. This sentence was told to me by Mr. Xi."

"From the moment I met Mr. Xi to now, Heifu dares to say that all his actions are worthy of the people!"

"So, it really doesn't matter whether I am still a Qin official or not."

"The important thing is that this person may be said to be a Qin thief, someone who will be secretly reviled and verbally criticized by the 'loyal ministers'."

"But he will improve the Qin system and establish a system that can bring an endless supply of 'Qin officials', no, strictly speaking, legal officials!"

"There is no shortage of officials in this world, but there is still a shortage of laws for Xijun."

"The Dharma is the order of the world!"

It represents an ideal, an ideal that has been inherited from the Shang Yang era.

It can make those who have swords in their hands dare not make mistakes.

It can prevent the powerful from bullying the common people wantonly.

It allows humble taxis, as well as military dukes, to have channels for advancement without consolidating their class.

It makes it difficult for thugs who want to split the motherland to succeed.

"But it's been destroyed."

Heifu admits this without hesitation.

"The First Emperor set an example, and I, as well as those so-called 'heroes,' gave it the heaviest blow."

"Rebuilding is easier said than done. I have to start from scratch, from the moment I established my trust."

"So I need Mr. Xi! I need someone who can bring justice to the world like Mr. Shang!"

"Xi Jun, you and I are mortal, and the bamboo slips and paper books with the laws and regulations will eventually decay. But I hope that in the improved Qin system, the spirit behind the laws and regulations can be passed down! It will last for thousands of years to come!"

"How long can it last?" Xi asked rhetorically.

At that time, Hei Fu pointed at the pines and cypresses outside the pavilion and laughed at himself: "At least I can live, the life span of a pine tree?"

Thinking of those conversations, the old Qin official stood in front of the Mausoleum of the First Emperor, the wind blowing the scarf on his head.

Even when he was dejected and banished to the West, Xi persisted and said to those who laughed at him: "In the forty and hundreds of counties of the Qin Dynasty, there must still be people who adhere to the way of being an official, are respectful and frugal, and are all respectful. The way of the world. Even if it becomes turbid temporarily, as long as these real Qin officials are still there, it will eventually turn into bright white!"

Now, after years of waiting, that day may actually have come.

Although this so-called New Qin still has many shortcomings: there is a big gap in the official team, especially in Guandong, and local forces are eager to usurp the fruits of victory. The law is also not perfect; it is too light in some places and too heavy in other places. The seeds of corruption have sprouted among the heroes of reunification. The local judges are both good and bad. The murderers with background should have been punished but are still at large...

"But aren't laws and regulations used to prevent evil and avoid trouble?"

They are swift civet cats, catching those scurrying rats.

It is also a guard dog, barking loudly at the groping thieves.

It is the rag that rulers use to wipe away evil and make the sky white again.

Yes, it's a tool.

But you can never miss it!

Regarding this interrogation, I am happy that the outcome of the trial has been reached.

The judge of a case never depends on what a person says, but on what he does!

"Go and report to the regent. I would like to be appointed as the imperial censor."

"Before I go to Huangquan to see the First Emperor and many of my colleagues, I, an old man like me, can still do one last thing for the world and the continuation of the Qin system!"

…

Xi's journey was not over yet. He bypassed the towering Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shihuang and came to the east side of the mausoleum. Underground here were the Terracotta Warriors and Horses, which were still hailed as a wonder even two thousand years later.

Most of the terracotta warriors and horses had been filled with earth and sealed as early as when Hu Hai came to power. Xi can only imagine that the terracotta warriors and horses underground are rows and rows, very neat, arranged in a huge rectangular military formation, really like the time of Qin Shihuang. He commanded an invincible army that fought in both the south and the north.

However, there are two places that can still be overlooked. It turns out that recently, Duke Xia had people bury the palace maids and craftsmen who were killed by Hu Hai separately. In the empty burial pits, two more pits with figurines were opened as replacements. It should also be a celebration of the anniversary of the reunification of the world, the last gift to the First Emperor...

With the talisman given by Heifu, Xi was able to take a closer look.

The first pit was relatively small, and the figurines were very exquisitely made, but there were only a dozen or so figurines, all holding weapons that they had never heard of or seen after traveling around for so many years.

But I saw a Qin Terracotta Warrior in exquisite clothes lying on the ground, with a crown of vegetation wrapped around his forehead, and a camouflage skin covering his body. He was holding a long stick with two brackets fixed to the ground, and his fingers were clasped on something similar to a crossbow. On the hanging knife of the machine, his eyes were in front of a cylinder on the stick, staring into the distance...

Another Qin warrior with a short beard carried a sharp weapon on his shoulder, knelt on one knee, and seemed to be aiming at the enemy's position in the distance.

There is also a thick-bearded Qin figurine. He looks like an eight-foot tall man. He is carrying a huge multi-barreled weapon. He looks like the "fireworks" that are commonly used in the army to send messages at night. They are tied together. His posture is very powerful. .

The Qin warriors at the back hold a trumpet and hold their chests high, as if they are taking a deep breath and blowing a horn of charge.

The leader of the camp at the front holds a weapon shaped like a crossbow with one hand, but without arrows. Instead, it is a thick-barreled weapon. With the other hand, he calls on the soldiers to attack forward. His expression is lifelike...

I was so happy to see it that I couldn't explain it. When I asked the official in charge of the place, I found out that these Qin warriors were drawn by the regent Xia Gong himself and had others follow them.

"Xia Gong said that this is what the army will look like in the next thousand years, so he made it and buried it in the ground."

Not only big snipers, RPGs, Gatlings, and AKs, Heifu also plans to wait for the tenth anniversary to build a "terracotta warriors and horses" square array composed of tanks, motorcycles, and bicycles, and send it to Emperor Qin Shi Huang to open his eyes...

If it can't be made in reality, isn't it easy to make figurines? If future generations dig it out and see it, they will definitely be shocked.

Of course, some statues of various goddesses from the West should also be buried, such as Hera, Athena, Artemis, and even the strange-looking gods, and some of them must be burned for the First Emperor.

After all, the old man is good at this.

Anyway, Xi couldn't understand it even though he looked left and right, so he came to another pit of figurines in a daze.

There are not so many tricks here, just rows of figurines standing in rows. Officials of the Shaofu said that most of these were before the fall of Hu Hai's regime and there was no time to seal the land. The regent had hundreds more statues added.

But I saw that the general statue was tall and tall, wearing a crown and armor, with a sword in his hand and his head held high. The calm look on his face showed that he had been on the battlefield for a long time and had a heavy responsibility on his shoulders.

The average warrior figurines are eight feet tall, strong and well-proportioned. They were wearing battle robes, leather armor, boots with upturned front ends, and holding gleaming spears, ready to go.

The cavalry figurines are wearing short armor, tight pants, and long boots. They hold reins in their right hands and crossbows in their left hands, as if they are ready to mount their horses and charge at any time.

The horse figurines are about the same size as real horses, and each one is strong and muscular. He looked eager to try, as if given an order, he would spread his hooves, soar into the air, and embark on the journey.

They are the embodiment of the pinnacle of craftsmanship in this era, with bright colors and different expressions:

Some nodded and lowered their eyebrows thoughtfully, as if they were considering how to cooperate with each other to defeat the enemy; some had bright eyes and solemn expressions, as if they were secretly making up their minds and vowed to fight to the death for Qin to unify the world; some clenched their fists. , as if they were waiting for the trumpet, ready to go out for battle; some stared into the distance, as if missing their relatives in their hometown...

Walking on the pit of figurines, Xi's eyes felt a little moist for some reason.

He seemed to be able to feel the slight breathing, and heard the mighty killing cry of the Qin army in the great era...

"How can you say that you have no clothes, but you share the same robe with me!"

At the very back of the pit, there are civil servant figurines, some old and some young. Under their right armpits are hanging simulated pottery chips and rectangular bags, which are used to place whetstones. There is a round hole between the left elbow and waist of the figurine, with bamboo slips inside. They all put their hands in their sleeves and stood in a standing posture, looking respectful and ready for action at any time.

It seems that when any order arrives, they will immediately take out the bamboo slips and write it down. If there is a mistake, they will immediately use "pee" to scratch it out and rewrite it.

When I saw them, I felt like I was seeing myself.

The Shaofu official knew that the visitor was a "big man" who was famous all over the world, and whispered: "To be honest with Mr. Xi, Duke Xia himself also had a life-size figurine of his body made, and he is among them!"

"where?"

Xi looked among the group of figurines, among the generals standing at the front, among the civil servants wearing high crowns and robes, and even among the warriors fighting with spears, Hei Fu was nowhere to be found.

"At this."

The Shaofu officials led Xi to the edge of the pit and pointed to the path of the figurines standing on the corner.

"Look at that, that's Duke Xia's figurine!"

Xi took a closer look and couldn't help but smile. The figurine's face was painted with brown paint to show that it was dark...

So among the hundreds of figurines, he was the darkest, and he really looked like Heifu when he was young.

Taking a closer look, I saw that this "black husband figurine" wears a crotch neck, a short robe with a cross-collar collar and right hem, linen shoes on his feet, his bun is tilted to the right, and he wears a red turban. Wearing a rope around his waist and holding a wooden tablet, he is dressed in standard low-level official attire.

Xi recognized that this was Heifu's attire when he first became a Qin official, became a public servant, and served as the director of Huyang Pavilion...

He stood among the hundreds of Qin officials, as if he was the most inconspicuous one among them.

But apart from the dark face, the biggest difference from other figurines is that while all the figurines are solemn, the face of this "black husband figurine" has a hearty smile.

Perhaps, his days as a film police officer in Huyang Pavilion were his most carefree days?

Perhaps, they are happy for the bright future of this country.

Or maybe he was feeling smug about the little joke he made in another figurine pit.

Xi looked at the figurine in silence for a long time, then finally raised his head and said with emotion:

"I know that Heifu has the real answer to that question..."

Is that question really meaningless?

Is that answer really "not important"?

I am happy to be able to predict the day when this pit of figurines will be completely sealed in more than a month.

As the peasants shoveled one shovel after another, mud and sand fell.

It also covers up this "black husband figurine".

The sand will cover the hemp shoes under his feet.

Then I passed the thick Ge Xia Shang.

The rope of his belt and the wooden tablet in his hand also entered the soil one after another.

Then there is the cross collar on the chest and the right fold on the neck.

The chin is still as smooth as when it was young.

There is also an upturned mouth, a flat nose, and those bright eyes.

In the end, it did not go past the forehead, the scarf, and the right bun. After the filling was completed, sand and gravel were spread and a few feet were stepped on...

He was dusted.

Together with that once arrogant legion, together with thousands of Qin officials.

A turbulent era has also come to an end. Just like our lives when we were young and frivolous, after the intense excitement, it returned to dullness.

But he didn't disappear.

He just waited quietly underground.

Waiting for thousands of years later, the soil above the head will be dug up by some reckless farmer, or the excited archaeologist will gently push away the sand and reveal the face...

The day we see the light of day again!

…

2019.7.22, at Pit 1 of Qin Shihuang Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum.