Qin Official

"You didn't even know the subordinates under the Shaofu, so you became the Shaofu Cheng in a daze? I'm really worried now, whether we can accomplish this."

The two of them were already sitting in a small courtyard of the Shaofu's official office. Zhang Han listened to Hei Fu asking him about the matters of the Shaofu. He was amused but also a little worried.

Heifu was very helpless: "The Shaofu has the largest number of subordinates among the nine ministers, and there are dozens of offices under its jurisdiction. Its functions are very wide, from salt and iron in the mountains and seas, to oral taxes and city taxes, to examinations for work, food and beverages, there are so many . Now I only know the Shaofu and the Shaofu Superintendent. As for the other people, how can I remember them clearly one by one?"

Zhang Han thought about it carefully, and Heifu was right. Unless he was someone like him who had been working as a minor official in the Shaofu since he entered the officialdom, it would be really difficult to clarify the complicated and huge responsibilities of the Shaofu. An easy thing.

In fact, to put it bluntly, the Shaofu is an institution that is responsible for the emperor's finances.

The fiscal revenue of the Qin Dynasty was basically divided into two parts. The land rent in Datou belongs to Zhi Su Neishi. This part is the national fiscal revenue. Every year, official salaries, road construction, city construction and other public budgets are allocated from here.

The oral tax, that is, the poll tax, together with the taxes on mountains, seas, ponds, and city rents, are collectively referred to as forbidden money, which belongs to the emperor's personal income and is assigned to the inner government. Qin Shihuang spent all the money for casting twelve golden figures and overhauling the palace from here.

"So the emperor feels that he is actually spending his own money to repair the palace in Guanzhong, and no one else can control it..." Heifu understood why Youzhan and Fusu's advice hit the iron plate.

However, the income of the Shaofu is too much, accounting for one-third of the national finance! One-third of the finances are dedicated to one person every year. One can imagine the power of the emperor.

Of course, it is said that during the years of the war to destroy Chu, the government of Su Neishi was unable to make ends meet, and the emperor also asked the young government to allocate funds for emergency relief.

The responsibilities of the Shaofu go beyond the emperor's inner treasury. In addition, the Shaofu is responsible for the emperor's daily necessities, food, clothing, medicine, garden tours, and utensil production. The imperial doctor who had dealt with Heifu ordered Xia Wuqi to be under the control of the Shaofu.

Due to the wide scope of the Shaofu's responsibilities, "Six Prime Ministers" had to be specially set up to take charge of them.

Zhang Han picked up his fingers and gave Heifu some information on what the various ministers in the Shaofu did.

"The Shaofu Tongcheng is in charge of oral gifts and money making."

Heifu silently wrote it down and labeled it in his mind: Bank of China.

"The Nei Cheng of the Shaofu is in charge of the clothes, treasures, goods and food in the palace. Under him are the Taiguan in charge of meals, the Guanguan in charge of rice selection, the Yuefu in charge of music and dance, and the Huangmenling in charge of the eunuchs in the palace."

Is this considered a big internal manager? Heifu secretly thought.

"Shaofu Yuancheng is in charge of the mountains, forests and ponds owned by the royal family. There are Dushui, Junguan, Shanglin and Chijian officials below."

State Forestry Administration, Hei Fu nodded.

"The Shaofu General will be the Prime Minister, in charge of the work of the palace craftsmen. For example, Master Shang Fang is responsible for the palace utensils, the Royal Palace Master is responsible for the emperor's clothes, and the Dongyuan Master Craftsman is responsible for the utensils in the imperial tomb. In addition, there is the Examination Office to manage the workshops inside and outside the palace."

Heifu understood. So, the terracotta warriors and horses were also made by Dongyuan craftsmen?

Later, Zhang Han also mentioned Shaofu Yu Cheng, who was in charge of imperial edicts. It turned out that this Shaofu was also in charge of more than ten imperial prisons including Yongxiang Prison, Zhishi Prison, Sikong Prison, etc., and held tens of thousands of prisoners. At present, these people are the main labor force for the construction of palaces in Guanzhong. The work is endless, and in a few years, Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum in Lishan will still be waiting for them.

"In history, could it be that Zhang Han led these prisoners to fight against Chen Sheng and Wu Guang?" Heifu glanced at Zhang Han. He had already finished talking about the five prime ministers, but only one prime minister was left unsaid.

"The sixth prime minister is not a permanent one and is usually a false prime minister."

Zhang Han told Heifu that the Sixth Prime Minister usually only temporarily appoints someone to take charge of some huge projects, such as Zheng Guoqu, Du Dongling, Zhiyang Tomb, Sixth Palace, and Twelve Golden Man, which must be completed within the scheduled time. , a bit like the project teams of later generations...

The previous project team was responsible for the casting of the Twelve Golden Men. Now, it was Heifu's turn to take charge of papermaking. Who made Qin Shihuang take a keen interest in his idea?

After all, Qin Shihuang had to review one hundred and twenty kilograms of memorials every day, which was really a heavy physical job. If he could really make "paper" as thin as silk and cheaper than simple slips, as Heifu said, not only would the emperor's own The work has become much easier, and it is also of great benefit to the promotion of calligraphy and writing.

But the First Emperor was not a patient person. He asked Heifu to produce results within this year (before October)!

Heifu himself was anxious, and what was even more disturbing was that the emperor appointed him to be a "fake Shaofu Prime Minister" with no one under his command, making him look like a bare commander.

Fortunately, the emperor gave him the power to select people from various government offices, and ordered the ministers of the Shaofu to try their best to assist Heifu.

Heifu was the first to name Zhang Han. With the help of this man who was familiar with the young manor and had presided over many projects, things would be much easier to handle.

While Heifu was chatting with Zhang Han, he found two other men and they finally arrived.

Those who came in one after another were a thin man wearing black clothes with a sad face, and a fat man wearing silk clothes and almost soaked with sweat.

It was Qin Mo Cheng Shang and Zhu Xia Shi Zhang Cang...

…

As the twelve golden men were cast, palaces were built in Guanzhong, and the area around Xianyang was filled with immigrants and prisoners who were forced to serve in corvee, Qin Mo and Cheng Shang became more and more worried.

In the eyes of Mohists who advocated frugality, the prevalence of rituals and music, the construction of palaces, and the construction of mountains and mausoleums were all behaviors that wasted people's farming and wasted money. They were all undesirable and useless tasks that should be eliminated.

But even if the young master helps Su and advises him, it will not help, let alone the Mohist who is increasingly neglected.

The birds are gone and the bows are hidden. Now the status of Mohists in the court is not even as good as those of Confucian scholars and doctors. At least they have many people and they still have the soil to continue in Shandong, but what about Qin Mo? It is almost like a tree without roots and water without a source. Chu Mo has died out, Qi Mo has declined, and Qin Mo suddenly feels the sadness of a rabbit dying and a fox dead.

The worse is yet to come. With the end of the war and the unification of the world, Qin Mo was originally looking forward to a new beginning. However, the First Emperor's desire was too strong and he had no intention of resting with the people. Although he accepted the soldiers of the world, the labor of the world was still there. , not half lighter than during the Warring States Period.

Qin Mo was a little disappointed. The only thing they could do was refuse to contribute to the construction of the palace, and instead devoted their energy to the construction of the water-operated water-operated wind turbines and water mills. Coinciding with Neishiteng's promotion of pasta among immigrants, Mohists frequently visited many Shandong immigrant settlements such as Dudong and Shanglin to build mills and help them build cities and repair their houses.

Of course, the Mohists had nothing in common with the wealthy people, but they had a lot of fun chatting with the craftsmen from Guandong. By walking in the immigrant cities, Qin Mo, who was once confused, seemed to have found a little more necessity for his existence...

Cheng Shang was very grateful to Heifu. If it weren't for Heifu's words of advice, he might still be immersed in the tragic war and disappointment in the empire's governance.

So when Heifu invited him, Cheng Shang came over without hesitation.

"The reason why a benevolent person does something is to bring benefit to the world."

He bowed to Mr. Hei and said: "Since it is a good thing that will help people in the world to read, become literate, and develop their minds, Mohists should try their best to help!"

Heifu was very happy. He had only seen the papermaking process in a documentary and remembered the general principles. If you want to make paper come out, you will probably encounter many difficulties. At this time, you have to turn to the ink artist for help.

He laughed and said: "With the cooperation of the Mohist and the craftsmen under the Shaofu General Zuocheng, I have nothing to worry about in terms of skills."

Seeing that Hei Fu was so happy, the panting fat man on the other side fanned himself with a cattail leaf fan and said, "I wouldn't have come if it wasn't for Hei Fu's abacus to lure me."

Heifu visually estimated that this guy weighed more than two hundred kilograms. What fat people hate most is midsummer. In previous years, during this season, he would hide in the cool storage room and read a book. No matter what anyone said, he would not take a step out. He became completely obese. House……

It wasn't until Heifu came up with the "abacus" he mentioned to Zhang Cang that he reluctantly agreed to go out. Heifu asked Cheng Shang to help make this. There is a smooth thin rod embedded in the apricot wood frame, and oblate wooden beads are strung on the rod, which can be moved up and down along the thin rod...

Zhang Cang was obsessed with arithmetic and was compiling "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic". When he got this thing and Heifu taught him the most basic abacus addition formula, he couldn't put it down immediately.

Of course, I don’t forget to ask, how did Heifu make this thing?

Fortunately, as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, there was the prototype of the abacus "Tao Wan", and Heifu made it up:

"My brother was a disciple in the school, and he not only had to learn rules and regulations, but also arithmetic. One day I saw him stringing pottery balls on wooden sticks instead of counters to count, and I had an idea. Why not put the wooden sticks and pottery balls together? Then I came up with the idea of ​​​​making an abacus..."

As for the inspiration for papermaking, Heifu cited the "Dongmen Retting" scene he saw while inspecting the weaving room in Nan County.

Zhang Cang didn't delve into it, because in just one day, he was already better at abacus than Hei Fu, and he was constantly developing the multiplication and division abacus formulas that Hei Fu had already given back to the math teacher.

This made Heifu sigh, genius is genius, and he really found the right person to hand this thing over to Zhang Cang.

At this moment, after Zhang Cang calmed down, he took out the abacus from his arms and started playing with it. He said casually: "How can I be useful?"

"This matter really cannot be done without Zihu. Papermaking cannot be achieved overnight. From site selection to logging to production, it takes a lot of manpower and material resources. Therefore, we need to ask Brother Zihu to live within his means and calculate the business merit, time and cost. Spend money and silk."

Heifu wanted to prove to the emperor that the things he made were not only lighter and easier to use than bamboo slips, but also much cheaper than silk, so he needed to have a detailed bill. It was only appropriate to ask Zhang Cang to do this.

In their project team, Zhang Cang is the planner and accountant. He stays at home and processes various data sent by the planners.

Zhang Han is the specific implementer, leading the prisoners and ministers to work, and communicating with other departments of the Shaofu.

Cheng Shang is the technical staff responsible for turning Heifu's ideas into reality and solving the problems encountered.

With sufficient manpower, a sufficient budget, and the help of three people, Heifu was a little more confident that he would be able to test writing paper within three months.

"This way, I don't have to travel all the way to summon my sister-in-law to Xianyang."

Hei Fu does not intend to let his family get promoted again. Nan County is the safest place in the next ten years. If he has to force his eldest brother and sister-in-law to follow his footsteps, it will actually harm them.

Anyway, matters such as military games and public toilets have left the impression on Qin Shihuang that he often comes up with surprising strategies, and he is not afraid of being surprised again and again.

"We are in charge of everything, so what do you do?" At this time, Zhang Cang stopped fiddling with the abacus and looked at Hei Fu.

"I?"

Heifu nodded his head with his index finger and said with a smile: "Of course I am a hard worker!"