Qin Official

At the end of March, Humou Township was peaceful. There was no water flooding the walls of Daliang, and there was no continuous war in Taoqiu. Instead, there was a sense of tranquility like a paradise in troubled times.

Spring plowing has ended, and the people who were lucky enough to escape the catastrophe of the war were squatting in the fields, looking at the green wild rice with a satisfied smile. The floods under Daliang City, the fierce battle between Wei soldiers and Qin Ruizi, and the survival of the Wei state have little to do with the common people at the bottom. If it weren't for the Qin people outside the city who dressed up and had such special accents, they wouldn't even know that their hometown had changed its banner.

The day after Zhang hosted a banquet for Hei Fu, several bullock carts set off from Zhang's house in Humo Township and drove slowly towards the Qin army's garrison camp. The person escorting these cars was Zhang Zhong, the 40-year-old son of Zhang Fu.

After shouting to the door to explain his purpose, the camp gate slowly opened, and a group of soldiers lined up. Seeing their steps, armor, and swords, Zhang Zhong remembered the fierce and domineering sword dance yesterday, and couldn't help but feel a little numb.

Fortunately, Hei Fu didn't keep him waiting for long, and he and Zhong Ming soon walked out. He cupped his hands at Zhang Zhong and said with a smile, "I don't know why I bothered Zhang Zhong to come here."

He glanced at the bullock carts behind Zhang Zhong and asked: "This is..."

Although Zhang Zhong was twice as old as Hei Fu, he had to bow to the Qin official:

"Youyou was ordered to settle in my hometown to maintain the stability of the place and prevent rebels and thieves from entering. However, I heard that there were only more than ten kilograms of rice and grain left in the camp. The stingy husband and the three elders were afraid that there would not be enough food for the soldiers, so they ordered me to take a hundred and fifty kilograms from my home. Ten stones of corn and thirty stones of cud are here to be given to the tourists for use during the garrison..."

"If you have enough food, you will have enough soldiers. In this way, I can solve my urgent need. I will thank the stingy husband and the three elders in person another day."

Now that Zhang Bo finally learned to be arrogant and respectful after Zhang Fu's persuasion, Hei Fu also reached out his hand to avoid hitting the smiling man, helped Zhang Zhong up and treated him politely.

Hei Fu did not lie, Zhang did solve a big problem for him. Food, clothing and chewing for these fifty people cost at least seventy or eighty dan a month, and the food in the camp was about to run out.

Because of the war, the price of grain in Wei has soared. In the war zone, it has reached a thousand yuan per meter. Even in Yangwu County, where there is no war, because the summer harvest has not yet arrived, even old rice has reached a high price of several hundred yuan per meter. . Moreover, the currency of Wei and Qin was different. It was impossible for the officers to buy it themselves to fill this big hole. They could only rely on the funds from local wealthy people.

So Heifu is sincerely grateful.

But after he asked Li Xian to lead the soldiers to move down the grain and fodder given by Zhang and transport it to the warehouse, Li Xian came over and quietly told Heifu: "Youyou, I did a rough calculation and found that these grain and fodder are not Zhang at all." The quantity Zhong said!”

Hei Fu frowned at first, but then he thought that Zhang Zhong was too big-headed to play tricks in this regard. Seeing that Zhang Zhong was well-spoken and had an honest face, he was not the kind of person who plucked his own wool.

He understood the reason after thinking about it for a moment.

"I almost forgot, the stones from Wei State are different from the stones from Qin State!"

Today's world is still not unified, and everyone still has his own use of weights and measures. In terms of volume units alone, the units of Qin were Shi, Dou, and Sheng, while those of Wei were Dendrobium, Dou, and Sheng. Dendrobium and stone can be used in common, but the specific sizes are different, causing deviations is normal.

In terms of weight units, Qin and Wei Dynasties all used liang, yi, and yi, and the specific weights were also different.

This is still a small gap. After all, Shang Yang's implementation of the new weights and measures system in Qin was based on the more advanced Wei at that time. But Qi State, located in the East China Sea, has its own system of weights and measures, which is very different from other countries. It uses beans, districts, cauldrons, and bells, and it is a mix of quaternary and decimal systems. I really don’t know those merchants who trade across countries. , how to complete such a complicated conversion.

In short, one stone of rice in Wei is slightly less than one stone of rice in Qin.

Hei Fu didn't care about it and had to let Zhang make up the rice according to Qin's weights and measures. Anyway, looking at the quantity, it was enough for them to eat and drink for at least two months.

What's more, because of the Zhang brother mentioned at yesterday's banquet, Hei Fu suddenly felt much more pleasing to his eyes when he looked at the Zhang brothers.

…

"Zhang Cang..."

Sitting in the camp, muttering this name, Heifu still couldn't believe that Zhang Cang, a great mathematician who lived for more than a hundred years in history and spanned the Warring States, Qin and Han Dynasties, could have someone as unreliable as Zhang Bo. uncle.

However, according to the description of the Zhang brothers, whether they were apprenticed to Xunzi or worked as an official in Xianyang Yushifu of Qin State, they are completely consistent with Zhang Cang's resume, and it should be undoubtedly him.

As a disciple of the great Confucian Xunzi, Zhang Cang's reputation may not be as great as that of his two senior brothers, Li Si and Han Fei. But from the perspective of Heifu, a modern person, Zhang Cang's contribution to Chinese history and culture exceeded that of the two!

As the Zhang brothers said, Zhang Cang loves books as much as his life. He sees everything and understands everything. He is a genius who knows everything about the past and the present. Otherwise, he would not have been recruited by the Yushifu as soon as he entered the Qin Dynasty and became the librarian of the Qin Dynasty...

Of course, he might have followed Li Si's path. Although Tingwei Li Si tricked Han Fei to death out of jealousy, he did not show too much hostility towards Zhang Cang, his younger junior brother whose attributes did not overlap with his.

With people above him and talents in his belly, Zhang Cang could read books at ease in the Yushi Mansion and continue to enrich his knowledge.

Heifu knew that according to the original history, the Hundred Schools of Warring States theory would experience a catastrophe in more than ten years. The Qin Dynasty burned poetry and books, which brought disaster to the history books of the Six Kingdoms, and burned them together with hundreds of folk sayings, leaving only an isolated copy stored in the library of the Yushi Mansion. And Zhang Cang may be the only remaining manager among these...

A few years later, the Qin Dynasty also fell. Seeing that the books were about to be destroyed, Zhang Cang, who had already taken refuge with Liu Bang, and Xiao He, hurriedly saved some of the legal code chapters, but not too many.

Later, Xiang Yu's retaliatory fire in Xianyang destroyed all the remaining isolated historical classics and academic books hidden in the Qin Palace, leaving not a single word.

There was a big break in Chinese culture.

By this time, Zhang Cang's years of accumulation in the Yushi Mansion had shown great value.

The so-called Han Dynasty inherited the Qin system. Some of those regulations and systems were passed down by rote memory by this bookworm, especially the hundreds of schools of thought. Chinese culture, the fruits of a hundred schools of thought, can be preserved to some extent after experiencing the catastrophe of the late Qin Dynasty. Zhang Cang deserves great credit.

Moreover, Zhang Cang not only read a lot, but was also a generalist. Not only did he learn Confucianism from Xunzi, the world's greatest academic leader and the culmination of hundreds of schools of thought, and understood the nine schools of thought in Jixia, he was also very good at law, music, calendars, astronomy, and geography.

But among Zhang Cang's many specialties, the most famous is mathematics.

The famous "Nine Chapters on Arithmetic" was revised by Zhang Cang!

Heifu knew this person because the mathematical problems recorded in this ancient mathematical treatise reached a high level, but were not divorced from reality. They were all used by Zhang Cang to improve the national economy and people's livelihood of the Han family...

It can be said that judging Zhang Cang's achievements from Heifu's modern perspective, he can be called a mathematician or even a scientist.

Craftsmen like Hei Fu's sister-in-law, Hei Fu, can make instruments according to Hei Fu's description and master the techniques, but they cannot summarize the principles and turn them into scientific knowledge.

In this world, Heifu can find countless craftsmen to make utensils on his behalf.

But in this era, there is only one Zhang Cang.

So in Heifu's imagination, if he wanted to choose an ancient person, he could slowly teach him the modern subjects at the junior high and high school level in his mind, so that they could be spread and benefit the world. Zhang Cang is the perfect choice!

So, when the Zhang brothers moved out of Zhang Cang at the banquet that day, trying to scare him, Hei Fu was not worried but happy instead!

Not only did he appear very excited, he also turned his back on the guest and taught Zhang Bo a lesson with sincerity.

Hei Fu said that Zhang Cang has a bright future. As his uncle, Zhang Bo should allow him to work as an official in Xianyang with peace of mind. Therefore, the Zhang family should also keep to themselves, obey the laws and orders, cooperate well with Qin officials, and not cause trouble for Zhang Cang...

Hei Fu cannot yet have direct contact with Zhang Cang, but at least he has touched his hometown and knows where he is an official. In this way, if you have the opportunity to go to Xianyang in the future, it will be easy to find him, and you can also lie about having some friendship with Mr. Zhang without appearing out of the blue...

Now it was Zhang Bo and Zhang Fu's turn to be stunned. Although Zhang Cang had no real power, he was an official in Xianyang after all. However, this black man was not afraid at all. Instead, he looked at Zhang Cang and taught him a lesson. Come on, this is really unreasonable!

As a result, the Zhang brothers' trump card was gone, and they felt that Heifu, a small official, was a bit unfathomable.

Afterwards, Zhang Fu said to Zhang Bo with great confusion: "That black man is obviously a Qin man with no surname. Why is he so bold? Moreover, his words and deeds, and the various methods he used today, it is said that he is a commander of thousands of people. Commander, I believe it! This person will be an extraordinary person from now on."

Zhang Fu knew the art of fortune-telling and was always good at recognizing people, so Zhang Bo also believed in him. In short, after that banquet game and test, Zhang no longer dared to underestimate Hei Fu or the Qin people.

Hei Fu made it clear to them that Wei must be destroyed, and also showed the force of his men. Although there were only fifty people, they could defeat several times the number of young servants and light knights. He seems to regard himself as the local spokesperson of the Qin army. Any arrogant attitude towards him can be regarded as disobedience to the rule. Any murderous rebellion against him will lead to brutal suppression by the Qin army.

Therefore, even if Mrs. Zhang didn't like Hei Fu's presence, she could only accept it with her nose pinched.

For Heifu, although he returned with a great victory in this game, Zhang invited all the virtuous elders in the township to show him his connections and status as a leader in the township. At least before the end of the war, if the Qin army wanted Yangwu and Humou Township to be stable, they could not do without the Zhang family.

Therefore, Heifu could not do anything to the Zhang family. Without the cooperation of the Zhang family, Qin's rule in this village would probably collapse immediately. These more than fifty Qin soldiers could not leave the camp even for half a month.

Besides, for Zhang Cang's sake, as long as Zhang is honest, he won't embarrass them.

We are all mature people and will not compete for a moment, so we ended the game and returned to the table, put away our clenched fists, and smiled at each other.

The best way for Mr. Zhang to show his kindness to Mr. Hei was to provide him with food for emergencies.

From that day on, Heifu had more contacts with Zhang.

According to the system of the Qin State, stingy husbands were responsible for hearing lawsuits and collecting taxes; they were allowed to roam around and forbid thieves; and the three elders were in charge of education. Everyone performs their duties. Heifu will not interfere with local customs and customs, nor will he exceed his authority to manage household registration and taxation. He only needs Zhang Bo and Zhang Fu to send him food and help him maintain local order. With limited cooperation, everyone has reached an agreement. tacit agreement.

To describe the relationship between the two parties in one sentence, it is: the local tyrants and evil gentry began to collude with the foreign imperialist invaders to jointly exploit the common people and suppress the passionate patriots.

Time passed slowly like this, and in April, everything was calm and peaceful, but Heifu never expected that he would be involved in a famous case in history because of a gossip in the market...