Qin Official

Although the county magistrate ordered Heifu and the others to "set out overnight," no one dared to sail at night on the Yangtze River waterway these days. If they accidentally hit the rocks or washed up on the sandbar, the boat would be destroyed and everyone would die. Even veteran boatmen who have made a living on this waterway for decades do not dare to take this risk.

So it was not until early in the morning, when the sky finally showed a little light, that Heifu led a few soldiers and boarded Ba Zhong's big ship. He stood at the stern of the ship, listening to the oars paddling and the Ba people's chants. , looking at the lights of Yiling Pier gradually shrinking in the distance.

He finally got rid of Governor Ye's uncomfortable control and began to act alone. Hei Fu didn't like the feeling of being put in a halter.

"With the Tiger Talisman in hand, it's another opportunity."

The gilded silver tiger talisman in Hei Fu's hand was given by the county governor. Although the Qin State used county lieutenants to control the army, in fact, the county guards also had military power. In other words, in the beginning, the county guards were the officers in charge of the troops.

A distant example is Zhang Ruo, the governor of Shu during the reign of King Huiwen and King Zhaoxiang of Qin. He not only governed the people in Shu, but also led troops to conquer the Chu Kingdom eastward under the king's orders and captured Zhidi where Ba Guiqing and Bazhong were located. . The most recent example is Ye Teng, who was the governor of Nanyang County and led troops to destroy Han Dynasty.

Therefore, it is impossible for the Qin State to have a funny situation where the top commander in the county, Xingxian, wants to exterminate bandits, wealthy households, and barbarians somewhere, and has to ask the second-in-command commander for instructions.

Heifu could only mourn for Li You. Meeting such a strong governor as Ye Teng, Li You was not comfortable as a lieutenant. Fortunately, his purpose was to train Nanjun soldiers to attack Chu, so he tried his best to avoid conflicts with the county guards in small daily matters...

This is not bad. In the Han Dynasty, the prefect was often called the commander-in-chief and the commander-in-chief was the deputy general. The county guards have all the military power in their hands, and there is nothing to do without the county captains. That's why you can see that in the Three Kingdoms, most of the princes who attacked Dong were county guards from various places.

In the Qin State, using the army without a tiger talisman was considered a "crime of lack of troops" and was usually punished by death. In serious cases, the wife would be taken into slavery. But Heifu now has the talisman in hand, which is reasonable and legal.

"Ordinary bamboo talismans can only mobilize fifty people. This gilt-bronze tiger talisman is of very high specifications, and coupled with the document transfer order written by the county guard, it can make all Yi Dao soldiers obey my orders!"

From here we go to Yi Dao, which is more than 80 miles of waterway. If we travel at sunrise, we will arrive at about noon!

"The barbarians who govern the county call them Dao." The so-called Dao is actually the "minority autonomous region" of the Qin State. It is at the same level as the county and governs remote areas where tribes live together. The chief official is not called the county magistrate but the county chief.

Not only the Yi Dao, there are also many "Daos" in the Bashu region, where Qin and Rong were mixed. The characteristic of Tao is that it does not organize the barbarian tribes into households, and provides certain exemptions and exemptions on taxes and corvees.

For example, in the Bajun Dao, the Qin State stipulated that the leader of the Ba tribe should pay a rent of 2,160 yen every year and an oral tax of 1,800 yen every three years. Every year, its residents pay eight feet and two feet of rough cloth and thirty baskets of chicken feathers, which are used to make arrows...

Compared with the state of Qin, where all residents had to pay rent for nearly half of the harvest, it was already much easier.

Heifu thought secretly: "In the eyes of the Qin people who settled Qi people's households, it is a bit unfair, but this is a policy of gentleness that Qin had to implement in order to successfully rule these areas. Furthermore, regardless of local conditions, if Collecting the same grain and copper coins as rent as in the mainland, doesn't this force the Palestinians, who are still fishing, hunting and gathering, with most of the population to rebel..."

Etiquette and laws are determined according to the time, and orders are made according to their own convenience. This is the wisdom of Legalism. However, when people in the world look at things, they worry not about scarcity but about inequality.

At this time, Ba Zhong also came to the stern of the swaying ship. He had already put on a bamboo hat to block the splashing waves. He shouted to Heifu in the wind: "Zuo Bing Cao Shi, the wind is not strong at the stern of the ship, so we should go to the cabin." Hit it!"

…

Heifu followed Ba Zhong into the cabin. The space here was small. He found that besides Ba Zhong, there was also a Ba warrior with tiger stripes on his arms and a shaved head, leaving only a tuft of hair following Ba Zhong closely. .

He had a wooden shield on his back, his right hand touching the willow sword at his waist, and he stared at Heifu warily, who was probably the bodyguard arranged by the mine boss Widow Qing for his son.

"This is Danhu."

Ba Zhong introduced: "He is a warrior of the Ban people. This tribe is also called the Banchen Man. It is the most brave and good at fighting among the eight tribes of the Ba people. It is said that eight hundred years ago, the Banchen Man served as the Ba people. The division was elite and participated in King Wu's expedition against Zhou and the Battle of Muye. As a vanguard, the Bashi division was so brave that they sang and danced to conquer the Yin people. They killed the Yin people until they were bleeding and drifting away. In the old world, it was called: King Wu's attack on Zhou. He sang before and danced after... …”

Saying this, Heifu remembered that last year in Hufu Township, Wei, when he was a guest at the Zhang family of the local tycoon for the first time, the "Da Wu" dance of King Wu of Zhou mentioned by Zhang Fu seemed to be based on the dance of Ba Ren. On the battlefield of life and death, charging and singing and dancing at the same time, it is really a unique nation.

Danhu seemed to hear that his master was praising him to Heifu, so he proudly patted his strong arm, pointed at the tiger-shaped tattoo on it and muttered in Ba dialect.

"What did he say?" Heifu was curious.

"Dan Hu said that he is a tiger-shooting warrior among the Ba people."

Hei Fu was surprised: "Isn't the tiger admired by the Ba people? I saw that your ship is also painted with a white tiger pattern."

Ba Zhong smiled and said: "It is true that the Ba people worship tigers, and they are proud of shooting tigers, because tigers can eat people, and people can only kill them. We believe that this is equivalent to gaining the tiger's ferocity and strength. And tiger-shooting warriors will also be respected by the tribe, and they will have tiger tattoos on their bodies as a standard. No matter which tribe they go to, they will be received as honored guests."

"Furthermore, the government also rewards those who can kill tigers. It is said that during the reign of our ancestor King Zhaoxiang, white tigers caused chaos and injured more than a thousand people in the territories of Shu, Ba and Han. King Zhao recruited those who could kill tigers and rewarded them with ten thousand yuan. At that time, Liao Zhong and others from Ba County Langzhong shot a white tiger. King Zhao thought that Liao Zhong was from Ba and did not want to seal him, so he ordered the governor of Ba County to make a stone alliance with him and exempt him from the rent and tax of one hectare of land. Wife, don't lose the money from the oral tax... After this, it became a custom that as long as you can kill a tiger that kills someone, your family's rent tax and oral tax will be reduced."

Heifu praised: "So that's it, what a strong man!"

Ba Zhong translated this sentence to Dan Hu. The Ba warrior had a simple idea. He seemed very happy. His eyes looked much kinder when he saw Hei Fu. He even picked up the small black round-bottomed clay pot on his back and said nothing. He said that and handed it to Heifu...

"This is" Heifu didn't understand what he meant and looked at Ba Zhong doubtfully.

"Dan Hu wants to share the salt in this jar with Zuo Bing Cao Shi."

Ba Zhong explained that the ancestor of the Ba people, Lin Jun, once settled in Yanshui River, and the Xiajiang areas where the Ba people are located are rich in well salt and rock salt, and they have been inseparable from salt for generations. The Ba people were not accustomed to using Qin's half-liang coins, but instead used salt and cloth as currency.

The Ba warriors also believed that it was this salt that gave them enough strength to throw spears and wield their iconic bronze willow-leaf swords, so they carried them with them. Salt is used with fresh fish when eating, and a small piece is also eaten before fighting, hoping to be blessed by the goddess of salt water. It is also a Ba people's etiquette to share salt with someone you can chat with.

"It's like giving out a cigarette when meeting in future generations." Heifu couldn't laugh or cry.

Danhu had already handed the salt shaker to Hei Fu, and it was hard to refuse the kindness, so Hei Fu had no choice but to take the salt shaker, pick out a piece of salt, and put it into his mouth under Dan Hu's eager eyes. A bitter and salty taste suddenly hit him. Filled his mouth...

This taste is truly unforgettable.

Seeing that Heifu had eaten the salt, Danhu seemed even happier, and spoke a lot of Tongba language. Bazhong translated: "Danhu believes that Zuo Bing Cao Shi is also a warrior, and hopes to have the opportunity to compete with him in martial arts."

"I'm afraid I'm no match for him." Heifu shook his head and thought to himself, if Dongmen Bao fights with this person, who will be better?

After finally waiting for Danhu to get out of the hatch of the ship and guarding, Heifu poured some fresh water into his mouth. Seeing that Ba Zhong seemed to be smiling but not smiling, he said: "I see that you are different from the others. Not only can you speak Xia language, wear Xia clothes, I also know the allusions, not like the Ba people, but like the Qin people..."

Ba Zhong said: "My family is the local ruler. My mother has hired a master to teach me language, writing, and etiquette since I was a child. I am also used to wearing Qin people's clothes and combing Qin people's hair. And strictly speaking, I called myself a barbarian yesterday. , which is actually wrong.”

He pointed at himself and said: "In the household registration, I am actually a 'Xia Zi'!"

"Natsuko?"

Heifu had also read in Jiangling about the management of barbarians on the road, and when he saw this word, he immediately understood.

He remembered that there was such a legal answer in the text: "Those who are true ministers and rulers are guilty and should be sentenced to long-term punishment can make atonement for their sins with money."

Then he asked, what does “truth” mean? Answer: When the barbarian parents in the vassal state of Qin have children, they are called Zhen.

What is "Xia Zi"? Answer: His father is from Qin and his mother is a barbarian from the vassal state. His son is called Xia Zi. His father is a barbarian from the vassal state, his mother is from Qin, and his son is also called Xia Zi...

It can be understood that "Zhen" refers to the household registration of ethnic minorities, and "Xiazi" refers to the household registration of Qin people. Interestingly, the State of Qin stipulates that only children born to parents who are both ethnic minorities can have ethnic minority household registration. Regardless of the father or the mother, as long as one of them is from Qin, the child cannot be from an ethnic minority, but can only have a Qin household registration...

This system is very interesting. The King of Qin annexed Bazhong, and made the Ba people the five internal clans and the eight external clans as barbarian princes. They were given unchangeable titles. The Ba clan in Zhixian County was even named a doctor and paid a fee for them. Rent is reduced or reduced.

At the same time, the Qin State immigrated to Badi, encouraging the local Ba people to worship Qin women for a long time, and the Qin garrison exiles were also encouraged to marry Ba women.

This measure, combined with the regulations on how people of different ethnic groups can settle down after getting married and having children, will inevitably produce an inevitable result: fewer and fewer real Ba people, and more and more local people who are mixed Qin and Ba people but are considered Qin people.

The most typical example is: decades have passed, Zhidao, which was originally composed of Ba people and very few Qin people, after several generations of intermarriage, now has more than half of the population composed of Qin people, and has been successfully transformed into a county. Under the influence of Qin's mothers and wives, the Ba people's rulers were gradually assimilated into Qin people...

The Bazhong in front of us is the most typical example. Although he still considers himself a Ba people in his heart, and said "I am a barbarian" when meeting Qin officials, I don't know how many generations of persistence this identity can last. .

"It is said that Zhang Yi came up with this idea after he conquered Bajun with Sima Cuo..."

From these detailed regulations, we can see Zhang Yi's wisdom and vision, which set him apart from some later generations of leaders who formulated ethnic policies. It not only made the tribes of the Ba people surrender to Qin through the policy of gentleness and relief, but also assimilated the upper class of the Ba people, moistening things and silently changing the population ratio of the local Qin people and Ba people.

Compared with the policy that as long as the grandparents have an ethnic minority household registration, the grandchildren can change Han to minority in order to obtain a small profit, which one is better and which is worse?

This may be the reason why the Qin people succeeded in conquering Bashu and permanently incorporating these two places into the Chinese territory.

"And in this case, Ba Widow Qing may also be a Qin woman. She is not a Ba. This is a big discovery."

With this in mind, Heifu also ate the morning meal with Ba Zhong on the rickety boat: fish pickled with Badi well salt.

At this moment, a shout came from outside.

"Yidao is coming soon!"

…

Heifu and Ba Zhong came outside to take a look and saw that the big ship's hemp sail had been unfolded. It was a hard balanced longitudinal sail to allow the east wind to slow down the ship.

The wooden boat floated on the water like a dragonfly, its paddles rising and falling in a neat manner. Heifu held on to the railing and looked toward the land in the distance.

They had reached the south bank of the river and were slowly skirting a wooded headland, carefully avoiding the cliffs covered with pine trees. Not far ahead is Yi Dao's simple dock.

People on the boat were running around pulling on the rope, while Heifu was carefully observing the situation at the dock.

This pier, not to mention compared to Jiangling, even Yiling is far inferior. It is so simple that there are only a few fishing boats moored, fishermen are selling aquatic products, and a few naked children are playing on the shore to cool off. It looks peaceful.

The county town of Yidao, which is also extremely rough, is just two miles south of the dock. Heifu can already see the low earth-yellow walls.

Heifu was very worried because the people of Yi Dao were only concentrated in a few hundred households in counties. Even if each household recruited soldiers, they could only raise five to six hundred people, while the local Ba people had ten to twenty thousand...

Is it okay to fight with a small number against a large number of people?

Ba Zhong was more interested in the river beside the city wall: "That's Yishui. Wuluo Zhongli Mountain, where Lin Jun was born, is just thirty miles upstream..."

When Heifu got off the boat, two clerks guarding the dock happened to come over to check what the big boat was carrying. If it was to be put into the county market, it would have to be taxed according to law.

Then Heifu showed his copper seal and yellow ribbon, as well as the governor's letter and tiger talisman, and the officials immediately bowed down.

"Take me to see the county magistrate and county captain quickly!"

After hearing Heifu's request, the two clerks looked at each other and reported: "Both the county magistrate and the county lieutenant are not in the county seat..."

Heifu was shocked: "Where have they gone?"

The clerk said with a confused look: "The county magistrate received the news yesterday and went to Wuluo Zhongli Mountain this morning to resolve the land dispute between two tribes! The county captain also accompanied the county soldiers! Now the county magistrate is the only one left in the city."

"not good!"

Heifu and Ba Zhong looked at each other and secretly thought something was wrong.

"We are still a step too late!"