Qin Official

When the shuofeng came, Meng Dong saw the scenery depressing and everything was empty. In the eastern suburb of Shangcai in early October, there were a few more carriages on this day. Zhang Han and Qin Mo Chengshang rode in carriages, while Heifu rode on horseback. Under the protection of hundreds of soldiers, they left After arriving at the camp, head east.

The charioteer drove the car very slowly, allowing Army Commander Zhang Han to carefully observe the surrounding terrain. When he reached a certain area, Zhang Han shouted: "Stop!"

Camping is about choosing a place, and the same goes for building forts. Heifu saw that there was a marsh on the left, a spring on the right, and a dangerous hill on the back. However, the view to the east was very flat, with roads passing by, and trees a few miles away. The grassland can be used for woodcutting and grazing, which can be said to be a prepared land.

Heifu took a look and said, "Isn't this the eastern suburbs that Captain Li mentioned? I heard that in those days several people, including Ting Wei and his son, often led yellow dogs to chase cunning rabbits here. It is indeed suitable for setting up camp and building forts."

The work of building barriers that needs to be done now is also Zhang Han's "department of military editors".

The "Ji" in "Chun Jun Ji" means An Ji, which means that after the fortress is built, there is no fear of sneak attack or force attack by the enemy, and the army can be stationed with peace of mind; if the construction tasks are distributed fairly and reasonably, chaos and conflicts will not occur. .

While talking, Zhang Han also got out of the car with everyone, and began to carry out construction measurements on the endless Shangcai Plain with tools such as accuracy, rules, rules, and ropes.

Zhang Han raised the "quasi" with a heavy object hanging down, got out of the car and tried to level it, comparing the height difference between the terrain. Cheng Shang, on the other hand, pulled the walking rope and carefully measured step by step on the ground, and there was a secretary beside him who was recording the distance.

As for the "rule", it is a tool for correcting circles, and the "rectangle" is a tool for drawing squares, which is a curved ruler. Zhang Han and Qin Mo have made many tricks with this simple tool. It can determine the level, height, depth and distance. It can also draw circles and squares. It can be placed in different positions when used, and it can also measure the properties of objects. The height, distance and size, as for the error, all depends on the operator's experience.

Seeing the curiosity on Hei Fu's face, Zhang Han also explained: "It is said that when Dayu controlled the floods, he traveled by car on land, by boat on water, and by sled on mud. When traveling in the mountains, he rode on a horse, with a standard rope on the left and a rule on the right. To open the nine states and connect the nine roads."

Although this is a legend, most people in the world attribute the tools invented by skilled craftsmen to the Holy King. In this way, it took them half a day to measure the length of the fortification, and every hundred steps, the blackened wooden poles were deepened. Insert deep into the ground as a marker.

After returning to the camp in the evening, Zhang Han asked several planners who were proficient in arithmetic to calculate the project quantities with the data measured today so that they could be assigned to the civilian team for construction.

Heifu was fortunate enough to see the dazzling engineering quantity calculations of this era.

I saw a large number of calculation chips placed on the ground in the open space of the camp. This thing was no stranger to Hei Fu, because the Qin State stipulated that local officials must prepare calculation chips to deal with unexpected needs. Mathematics is one of the six arts of a gentleman in the Spring and Autumn Period. It is a necessary skill for Qin officials. When serving as a local official, a large number of numerical calculations must be performed on farmland, corn, sharing of crops, and taxation. If a person does not know how to count, he will not be able to work as a food official. Not even qualified!

In Xianyang and county towns, there are also special "calculators" who calculate the annual household registration, taxes, land reclamation, money, thieves, prison lawsuits, etc. in each county, and use funds to evaluate performance, which is called Shangji. These people are equivalent to the accountants of later generations. Their daily work is to deal with numbers. Accountants will also be recruited during wartime as specialized talents and as assistants to the military Sikong or Junyu (logistics officers). Help measure the height of the hillside, measure the depth of the river, coordinate the baggage and corn, and regulate the number of divisions and brigade.

At the moment, the planners were sitting in the tent, sweating profusely, fiddling with their calculations. Hei Fu went over to take a look, and found that what they were calculating was "Today there is a chasm, one foot, six feet and three inches wide at the top, one foot, six feet and three inches wide at the bottom." Zhang, six feet and three inches deep, thirteen feet, two feet and one inch wide. How much does it accumulate? Seven hundred and sixty-six feet, and one-fifth of the unearthed work, and four-fifths of a five-quarter of a fixed work, six hundred and twelve feet. What is the geometry of the users?" question.

Although the planners quickly fiddled with their calculations, in Heifu's view, it was still very complicated and troublesome.

Zhang Han did not feel this way, but said with a smile: "In the past, it was more complicated to calculate the earthwork and the number of people. Fortunately, there was an official in charge of books in the Yushi Mansion, who built city walls, dug ditches, and built warehouses based on the past. While waiting for the actual project, he wrote an article "Shang Gong" and handed it to the Shaofu. From then on, when it comes to calculating the number of disciples needed to build the earthwork for the fortress, he only needs to put the numbers into the algorithm he set... "

The so-called Shang Gong is a method of measuring volume and calculating engineering labor. Zhang Han also showed Heifu the volume of "Shang Gong" that he carried with him. Each part is divided into problems, solutions, and formulas.

Heifu took a look and thought it looked familiar. Isn't this the Nine Chapters of Arithmetic?

"Shaorong, is the official you are talking about named Zhang Cang?"

"Oh?" Zhang Han was a little surprised: "The commander also knows Zhang Cang?"

"Xunzi, a distinguished disciple of Lanling, has heard about it for a long time."

Heifu smiled and said: "Moreover, I went on a tour of Huhu in Yangwu County, Dang County two years ago, and got acquainted with Zhang Cang's two uncles, Zhang Fu and Zhang Bo. I also heard about Zihu's deeds from their mouths. , I never thought he was so talented!"

"This is natural. Zhang Zihu has learned everything and knows everything."

Zhang Cang is Li Si's younger brother and can be considered a member of the "Li Si Party". As a young official, many things involve precise calculations. Zhang Han often dealt with Zhang Cang and told an interesting thing about Zhang Cang:

"When Zhang Cang first came to work in the Yushi Mansion, the Yushi doctor was not happy to see that he was fat and white, and it was inconvenient to even move around. He pointed at his round belly and asked, what is in it? Zhang Zihu didn't think so. Sorry, I just patted my belly and laughed and said, what’s inside is full of knowledge and knowledge!”

"The imperial censor is also a talented person with a wealth of knowledge. He immediately asked Zhang Cang some questions and he answered them all. There were even some unsophisticated classics that even the censor had never read, so he asked him to take charge of the storage room. Pictures and books. Zhang Cang loves books as much as his life. He often brings some dry food and sits among the piles of slips for several days. Now I am afraid that he has to read all the books collected by Han, Zhao, Wei, and Yan collected by the Yushi Mansion. Everyone said that his belly is getting fatter and fatter, maybe he wants to put all the knowledge in the world into it?"

Thinking of that extremely smart but increasingly fat guy, Zhang Han couldn't help laughing: "When I go to Xianyang, I will know what kind of person he is!"

"must!"

Hei Fu was amazed in his heart. Most people just study hard, but Zhang Cang not only has a wide range of knowledge, but can also turn what he has learned into practical applications. This is amazing.

He took another look at the planners who were quickly playing with their calculations, and said to himself: "If there were vertical arithmetic of Arabic numerals and an abacus, the calculation of these engineering quantities should be much faster."

However, Heifu did not offer the treasure rashly. In fact, he only had the mathematics level of a junior high school student with that knowledge, and it would be of little use to teach it to ordinary people. He thought that when he arrived in Xianyang in the future, he would find an opportunity to reveal it to Zhang Cang. I wonder if he could give it to this era. Bring about a mathematical revolution?

…

After calculating the amount of work, Zhang Han assigned work to the 10,000 Nanjun civilians assigned to him. They were responsible for the construction of the three-mile barrier. Therefore, throughout early October, the outer suburbs of Shangcai became a large construction site, with loess filling the sky. , thousands of people walked with their backs on their hands...

The wall was built using the same block-building method that Heifu had participated in in Anlu County. Thousands of other people skillfully used tools to cut down the forest trees near Shangcai, and sawed them into pieces after the branches were removed. , and finally nailed into pieces of wood. When the plate was filled with soil, the peasants would pick up the heavy ramming pestle and smash it against the loose ripe soil! The sound of enthusiastic chants shook the surrounding areas, and basically every day a layer of version was built up.

Leaders such as Heifu and others were also waiting outside the construction site with their soldiers, fully armed, to deal with the Chu army's attack that might come at any time.

"Isn't this a way to lure enemies?"

On the border between Qin and Chu, tens of thousands of Qin troops protected tens of thousands of civilians in construction. They were ready for battle at all times, just because they were afraid that the Chu army would not come.

Chu's cavalry sentries were also watching this scene from a distance, but the main army never dared to attack rashly, because Xiang Yan knew that this might be a trap set by Wang Jian for him.

A few days later, a thick earth wall with a height of more than ten feet appeared out of thin air in the eastern suburb of Shangcai. Where he had previously inserted poles every hundred steps, Zhang Han also urged the people to build taller and stronger turrets. .

It was at this moment that an accident happened...

Zhang Han led people to test the strength of a newly rammed turret, but after more than ten people hit it hard with wooden piles, signs of cracking appeared! And a lot of clods of soil fell off!

"If the Chu army comes to attack, how can this turret be used to defend against the enemy? It will definitely become a gap for the enemy to break through, and the embankment of a thousand miles will be destroyed in an ant nest!"

"Everyone who builds this turret will be whipped ten times before it is torn down and rebuilt!"

Zhang Han gave the Sikong official in charge of this section a hard look and said that if he did it a second time, the person responsible would be beheaded and the rest would also die!

The Sikong clerk was obedient, and Zhang Han said to Heifu with some distress: "The censor requested that the turrets must be as hard as the walls of Guanzhong and be indestructible, but it took a long time to build them. The current construction period is only more than ten days. In a hurry, it may be difficult to ram it. Furthermore, the quality of the soil is directly related to the strength of the fortress turret. It is better if the soil is fine but not loose, oily but not dry, and bright but not dark. But the soil of Shang Cai It’s just average, far less useful than Guanzhong loess…”

These days, Cai's forest coverage rate is relatively high, and there is a lot of humus in the soil. It is indeed difficult to guarantee the quality of using such soil to ram the turrets nearby.

Zhang Han decided to ask people to dig out dry and loose loess from a distance to build the turret, so as to ensure the quality. Hei Fu rolled his eyes and gave Zhang Han an idea.

"Shaorong, in Anlu Village in Nanjun, there is a local method used to repair houses. After drying, it is extremely hard. Not only does it remain unchanged by water, even iron nails are difficult to drive in! It has survived hundreds of years of wind and rain and is still intact!"

After saying this, he was afraid that Zhang Han wouldn't believe it, so he took out his sister-in-law to take the blame: "My sister-in-law, Citron, is not only proficient in carpentry, but has also repaired houses using this method."

"Is there such a way?" Zhang Han was immediately interested and asked Heifu to explain in detail.

Hei Fu smiled. This was a common method for building houses in rural areas in his previous life. It was not popular in this era. He pointed to the tributary of Ru River flowing not far away and said: "It's very simple, and the materials are not hard to find. With common loess, In addition, the fired mirage ash and river sand are mixed and rammed to make it called Sanhe soil!"