Qin Official

"There is a saying among the Rong people that if you cover your eyes with a leaf, you will not be able to see Jitou Mountain. That's me."

The next day, after sending Beidi County Lieutenant Heifu away from Wushi County, Wushiruo expressed such emotion to his younger brother.

Yesterday's conversation with Heifu and Chen Ping had a great impact on Wu Shiluo.

He had always regarded the trade with the Xiongnu and Yueshi as his own source of wealth. He only felt that if the two tribes were wiped out by Qin, the transit trade business would not be able to continue, so he had a negative attitude towards the westward expansion plan.

But Heifu provided him with a new idea: not only could trade continue, but Wuzhi's caravan could also go further and make greater profits!

Wu Shiluo has decided that in March, he will send a caravan to take a detour from Huangzhong to take a look at what Heifu calls the "Western Region".

This was a distant business. Before leaving, Heifu pointed out to Wu Shiluo a nearby business: wool.

When Heifu and Li Xin went to Jishi Mountain to worship the source of the river, the local Qiang people with experience in shepherding told him: Qiang sheep are domesticated from wild sheep. There are two types of hair on wild sheep, one is rough hair, and the other is human hair. The thickness of the hair is about the same. The other type is villi, which grow close to the skin. Down is specially used to keep warm in winter, so every year after spring, the down on sheep will fall off, and new down will grow back in autumn.

For thousands of years, the Qiang people have selectively bred wild sheep and formed the Qiang sheep. The hair it produces no longer distinguishes between coarse hair and fine hair, and its thickness is between the two. Moreover, it does not fall off in spring, but keeps growing like human hair. In this way, not only the uniformity of the wool is very good, but the output is also greatly improved.

Only this kind of wool can be twisted into wool and knitted into sweaters.

After arriving in Beidi County, Heifu discovered that there were also sheep in the area, but they were slightly different from the sheep in Longxi and Huangzhong, and they might be two subspecies. This kind of sheep is also called Tan sheep. Its meat is delicious and it will be a delicacy until later generations. But its wool is as rough as wild sheep, so instead of shearing it and spinning it, the local military directly skins it to make fur, or uses it to weave some rough felt, forget about making clothes.

This is why the wool textile industry in the North and the Xiongnu is not as good as that of Longxi and Qiangzhong.

Introducing this new industry to the Northland is also a way to revitalize the local livestock industry.

"Yidun made his fortune from the salt pond because the salt pond is inexhaustible and everyone must eat it. The same is true for wool. Even if it is only used by the border army, it will require hundreds of thousands of pieces! One day, if you can roam the world , so that everyone in the north relies on it to survive the cold winter, tens of millions of pieces are needed! But now, Longxi County can only weave two thousand pieces in half a year..."

Although the sweaters of this era were heavy in grease, had a strong smell, were hand-woven, and were bulky and vulgar in style, which did not conform to the aesthetic sense of the Central Plains people, they were much warmer than silk and linen. I dare not say anything else, except for Kansai, it will definitely be very popular in the bitter cold Daibei, Yandi, and Liaodong.

Heifu hoped that Wu Shiluo could purchase more Qiang sheep, raise them in the north, and develop the local wool spinning industry, which might be a new source of income.

The skin and meat of livestock are a one-time transaction, but wool can be sheared continuously for ten years.

Of course, Hei Junwei was not selflessly thinking about Wushi. Last year, Longxi County kept 1,000 sweaters of the 2,000 sweaters weaved by Longxi County, and gave 500 sweaters to Beidi and Shangjun respectively. The supply was really in short supply. If Beidi County could raise thousands of Qiang sheep and open a few textile workshops, the clothing problem of the county soldiers would be solved.

Any policy requires economics as a premise. This is true for unification and expansion. Human beings will not do unprofitable things. Without economic connections, pure conquest cannot last. If the wool textile industry can further expand and gain huge profits, the Central Plains dynasty may no longer regard the grassland as a "useless land", but will diligently control it in its hands! Perhaps thousands of years later, the nomads who were forced to retreat step by step and ran to the desert with almost no place to survive will complain bitterly about this behavior of "sheep eating people"...

With two strategies, far and near, in front of him, Wu Shiluo had to admit: "The county lieutenant did not lie. He did give my family a big deal worth tens of millions of dollars!"

As a businessman, it is important to give peaches and plums in return. Wu Shiluo asked his younger brother to immediately prepare to send a caravan to the Xiongnu in February and March. From now on, they, Wu Shi, must do their best to assist Qin Shihuang's expedition. It’s a national policy to expand westward!

"The county lieutenant will arrange for some officials to infiltrate the caravan and follow the merchants deep into the hinterland of the Xiongnu to inspect their weapons and equipment and draw maps."

And the leader of these Qin officials is the county captain Shi Chenping!

…

"Chen Ping, do you really want to serve as a spy and go out with merchants to investigate the Xiongnu's reality?"

After leaving Wushi County, Heifu called Chen Ping to ride with him in the car and asked him one last time.

Heifu is not willing to let Chen Ping get involved in danger. Firstly, the two have known each other for several years. They are both superiors and subordinates, and they are also friends. Secondly, he knows that Chen Ping will be the prime minister and assistant in the future. If he loses it in the Xiongnu , or had an accident, wouldn't it be a pity to be detained for many years like Zhang Qian and Su Wu?

Chen Ping, however, was very determined: "A wise king and a wise general can conquer others through action, and those who succeed from the crowd are also prophets. Prophets cannot be obtained from ghosts and gods, cannot be compared to things, and cannot be verified by measurement. They must be obtained from people and know them." Those who have feelings for the enemy."

"Since the county captain intends to use troops against the Xiongnu next year to seize Helan and other places, in addition to training the county soldiers and good family members, the most important thing is to find out the reality of the Xiongnu. It is far from enough to rely on the knowledge of ordinary merchants. Professionals are needed. People have to go to observe in secret, and their population and road traffic need to be confirmed one by one."

Heifu shook his head: "Even so, you don't have to go in person."

He patted Chen Ping and said, "You are the commander of the county, and I am my right-hand man. How can you fail?"

Chen Ping was a little moved, but he still said: "The Art of War says that in the affairs of the three armies, no one should be close to each other, no rewards should be generous to others, and no affairs should be kept secret. You can't use it without sage wisdom, you can't use it without benevolence and righteousness, and you can't do it without subtlety. It’s true!”

"With all due respect, the ministers and retainers around the county captain must be both trusted and wise, able to observe words and emotions, and able to explore subtleties. Who else can such a person be besides Chen Ping?"

Heifu pondered. If his old subordinate Li Xian was here, he would be a good candidate. But now, only Chen Ping can be used. The rest of his subordinates, such as Gong Ao and others, wield swords and swords, and personally take risks. Okay, but being a spy? But absolutely not.

So after much deliberation, Chen Ping is the most suitable.

Heifu didn't know that historically, after Chen Ping belonged to Liu Bang, he first served as the governor of the guard army and then as the lieutenant of the guard army. This position of Lieutenant of the Guards also existed in the Qin Dynasty. It was a military intelligence agency directly under the emperor. His internal duties were to supervise his subordinates and generals on behalf of the emperor, and his external duties were to carry out espionage activities. Because he possesses internal and external intelligence, he naturally participates in major decisions at the highest level and becomes the king's adviser. In the words of later generations, the guard lieutenant was the intelligence chief and spy leader, a bit like the ancient KGB.

Understanding this, it is not difficult to understand why Chen Ping, who was obviously a student of Huang Lao, became famous for his "conspiracy" in later generations, because this was his job.

But now, the young Chen Ping is so eager to seize this rare opportunity that he has to embark on this conspiracy-filled road of no return many years in advance...

…

Heifu finally agreed to Chen Ping's request and asked him to go out with Wushi's caravan in February and March to explore the enemy's situation with the Huns. He could not wait any longer.

When he was in Wushi County, Heifu heard that Li Xin, the captain of Longxi County, had built a small town on the other side of Gaolan Mountain, later known as Lanzhou, as a border post for the Qin army. Because some gold was dug out during the construction of the city, it was named "Golden City".

Now that Jincheng is established, garrison and garrison work can also be carried out locally. There were no powerful tribes in the area, and it was not far from Li Xin's control of hundreds of miles of territory on the east bank of the Yellow River.

While Heifu was happy for Li Xin, he couldn't be at a disadvantage either. Qin Shihuang is a king who likes to be aggressive in his policies. Heifu must achieve results as soon as possible to let the emperor see that the policy of westward expansion is being steadily implemented in the counties.

Heifu and Chen Ping discussed espionage activities against the Huns on the carriage. Their convoy went north from Wushi County, bypassed Jitou Mountain, and walked northeast along the Great Wall built by King Qin Zhao to inspect border defenses.

Most of the Great Wall in Beidi County was built by ramming loess on site. Outside the Great Wall are the deep ravines dug when the soil was taken. Coupled with the natural mountain trend, it is equivalent to three lines of defense. However, it More often than not, it is not continuous, but intermittent, and it is not difficult to sneak over.

In this way, after walking more than three hundred miles along the Great Wall, the group arrived at the northernmost fortress in Beidi County: Beixiao Pass!