Qin Official

Li Ling and Hei Fu met for the first time at the edge of the vast millet fields in Fuping County. He was surprised to find that this young official, who was worth two thousand dan, was dressed in extremely simple clothes, wearing only the most ordinary linen. He was wearing a robe, wearing straw sandals on his feet, and his body was stained with loess. If he hadn't forgotten to take off the crown on his head, he would have looked no different from an ordinary Guizhou head.

What surprised Li Ling the most was that he did not just touch the plow and show off like the Shu County governor and lieutenant did when they persuaded farmers in the spring. Instead, he actually worked with the soldiers and civilians: standing firmly in the field with his legs. , the sickle in his hand cut the millet very quickly, his movements were professional, and he was very dedicated. If the leader of the guards had not shouted Gong Ao several times, he would not have raised his head at all.

"It turns out to be the newly arrived Captain Shanghe Nong. I'm disrespectful."

Heifu handed the sickle to the people aside, went up to the field ridge, said rude to Li Ling, washed his feet in the water in the ditch, washed his hands, and asked Gong Ao for a linen towel to wipe the sweat on his face. Then he gestured to Li Ling and asked him to sit in the pavilion by the field...

A small hut made of thatched grass, a simple wooden table, a straw mat to sit on, and a drink of cold water. This is the standard configuration for a small landowner to rest after work. However, Li Ling not only did not feel that the black man was rude, but actually admired him very much.

He, the "Shanghe Nongduwei", was a newly appointed farming official by the imperial court, specifically responsible for canal excavation and farming matters, with a rank of 600 stones. Because Helan was a border military camp, it was under the jurisdiction of the county captain.

After Hei Fu finished three bowls of cold water in one go and exhaled happily, Li Ling considered his words and began to communicate with his boss.

"Although I live in a secluded area in Shu, I have heard the name of a county lieutenant for a long time. Especially before I came here, I heard Cheng Jun, a scholar from Xianyang, tell me about the county lieutenant's deeds in detail. He said that the county lieutenant lived in the border area and wore sheep brown as his clothes. , wearing straw sandals as clothes, working day and night, working hard with the soldiers and the people, and when I saw them today, it turned out to be so."

"oh?"

Heifu asked curiously: "Nongdu Lieutenant still has contact with Mo Zhe?"

Li Ling took the opportunity to introduce himself to his family: "The eldest father of this subordinate is Shu Shou Bing during the reign of King Zhao..."

Heifu immediately raised his head: "Could it be the treacherous Commander Li who built Jiangyan... um?"

"It's the eldest father!"

Heifu had been to Dujiangyan in his previous life and watched the Dragon Boat Festival. Li Bing was one of the Qin people he didn't know much about. And Dujiangyan is a miracle that has benefited future generations for two thousand years. Its vitality has been compared with that of Xianyang Palace, even the Great Wall and Chidao. I heard that the new subordinate was Li Bing's grandson, which made me sigh.

Li Lingdao: "Everyone in the world knows that my eldest father built the canal weir, but they don't know that my eldest father was a Qin Mohist in his early years! Even in my generation, although I have not entered the Mohism sect, I still have contacts with Mohists."

This is the first time Heifu has heard about this. Li Ling looks like he has sparse hair, is not young, and has a dull manner. He is quite talkative. By introducing his family background, Heifu can let Heifu know that he has a family to build the canal. The relationship between the two people was brought closer by the connection with the Mohist.

He even flattered Hei Fu without saying a word.

"When the eldest father was building the canal weir, he often went into the water himself to measure the height. When the people were working, he also worked with them and had the same food and clothing. Others advised him that it was inappropriate for the magistrate to have two thousand stones. But the eldest father said that in the past, Dayu controlled the floods. , He also did it himself, soaking in the water for many years, with no skin on his feet (bá), no hair on his shins, bathing in heavy rain, and strong winds. If Yu the Great is like this, let alone a mere county guard?"

"Seeing the county captain personally harvesting millet in the fields, the subordinates couldn't help but be filled with emotion. After serving as an official for twenty years, I finally saw a Qin official like my father who could work hard with the soldiers and the people!"

These words sounded pleasant to the ears, and Gong Ao, who was pouring water for Heifu, smiled and said: "The captain of the farmers on the Shanghe River didn't see it. When harvesting wheat a few months ago, the captain worked more energetically. One day, he suddenly arrived at the harvesting station. He picked up two hundred kilograms of wheat and left. When he arrived at the threshing workshop, he put it down, and everyone realized it was him. They were so frightened that they bowed their heads..."

Heifu coughed, stopped the compliments of the two people, and said with a smile: "I am also from a farmer's family, and I know the hard work of the people. And there is a saying in "The Way of an Official", to know the people's ability, to use the people's strength well, and to work hard. Take the lead. I just did what the Qin officials were supposed to do!"

Li Ling sighed: "If every official can be like a county captain, why worry about the world not being governed?"

Hei Fu was silent, and Li Ling finally got to the point. Although Hei Fu had been at the frontier in recent years, he had also heard that domineering and arrogant were the characteristics of the Qin officials sent to Guandong. In order to fulfill the imperial court's goals, he captured them. People have complained in many places.

These people have a bad attitude towards the head of Guizhou, but they are very tolerant towards the powerful powerful families of the six countries because they need to rely on them to govern the place. Over the past few years, the germs of corruption have sprouted in the ranks of Qin officials. It is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but it is difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. The officials of Qin are no longer the same Qin officials who were disciplined and law-abiding before the unification of the six kingdoms.

Although Heifu often frowns on these things, he is beyond his reach. He can only manage the three-thirds of an acre of Beidi County. What's more, his main task this year is not to govern, but to farm...

So he said: "Nongdu Lieutenant is here just in time. These days are the harvest time in various counties. Today and tomorrow, we will first visit Fuping County, and tomorrow we will go down the river with me to see the troops in Helan County." Tun, you know the number of acres of land, the household registrations of the military and civilians, the fertility of the land, and the directions of mountains and rivers. You may have a clear idea of ​​how to organize the military and civilians to open canals to irrigate more land during the off-season after autumn!"

…

Heifu worked vigorously and resolutely, so Li Ling took a breather in Xiaoyi on the first day. Early the next morning, a Tuntian Marquis of Fuping County named Gan Chong came to call him and wanted to take Li Ling to visit the land of Fuping Yuanhe.

Li Ling knew that although a county was set up at the eastern foot of Helan Mountain, except for 10,000 garrison troops and 5,000 left-behind civilians, there was no other population and it was still under military management. In the entire Helan Mountain area, a "Helan Captain" was set up, who was appointed by Gongsun Bailu recommended by Hei Fu. Under him were three field officers from Fuping, Lingwu and Lianxian counties, plus two barriers, namely Hunhuai and Shenquan. Marquis.

Now the imperial court has appointed Li Ling as the "Captain of Shanghe Farmers" because it wants to separate border defense and farming. Next year, immigrants will come in and slowly transform into a normal county system.

Gan Chong introduced to Li Ling: "All the Huns in Helan have fled. There is not a tent, not a single cattle or sheep left. This is to strengthen the wall and clear the country, so that even if our army wins, they will not be able to stay."

"Sure enough, when our army first settled in Helan, food and clothing became a big problem. Although the county lieutenant proposed to His Majesty that Longxi and Bei should be transported through canals and salt trucks to transport food to Helan, the distance to the water was far away. Unquenchable thirst."

"Last winter, only a few thousand people could be left on guard, and the rest were all withdrawn to the north for the winter. When we came back after the snow melted, we found that hundreds of the 7,000 people left behind in Helan Mountain had died of cold and starvation within three months. . Helan is far away from the inner county, making it inconvenient to travel. At the beginning of spring, the food was enough to satisfy the hunger, but everything else was lacking. There was no clothing, no food, no shoes and socks for the soldiers and the people..."

Gan Chong counted the difficulties they encountered one by one.

"At that time, the county lieutenant asked the school captain, marquis, and other leaders to come to Fuping to discuss matters. The county lieutenant said that the conditions for Helan's farmland were difficult, and he could not always rely on the inland to transport food. Since he did not want to starve to death, he did not want to Abandon Helan and evacuate, there is only one option left.”

Gan Chong pointed to the sign standing beside the millet field and said proudly: "Regardless of soldiers and civilians, except for the waiting soldiers who are on patrol, everyone else will take action together and take care of food, clothing and housing by themselves!"

"The officer in charge of this matter is called 'big production'!"

"Big production?" Li Ling nodded: "The commander-in-chief wants the soldiers to make a living on the spot."

These days, production no longer means just "giving birth to children", but also coincides with livelihood. Bai Gui, the prime minister of Wei at that time, said: "My management of production is just like Yi Yin and Lu Shang's plans, Sun Wu's military use, and Shang Yang's law..."

Gan Chong said: "Otherwise, the name given to this land reclamation by the county lieutenant means more than just livelihood."

Gan Chong recalled the situation at that time and became happy.

"The county lieutenant said that women have given birth to babies since ancient times, but this time it is different. It is the turn of men and the turn of the fifteen thousand soldiers and civilians stationed in Helan Mountain!"

"What we want to produce is not only corn, wheat and vegetables, but also the efforts of everyone to produce a strong baby whose cry will shake the heaven and the earth and make the Hulu thousands of miles away change their expressions!"

"He must learn to be self-sufficient, and eventually he will grow taller than the sky, with his feet across the river, and take root deeply in the eastern foothills of the snow-capped mountains!"

"The county lieutenant said that this will be the first child born in Qin's wilderness outside the Great Wall! His name is He Lan. Downstream of the river, there is a brother named Shuo Fang who stands side by side with him and supports each other!"

"The commander-in-chief said that since the beginning of the Qin Dynasty, we have been in more distant places, wading through the quicksand in the west, ending in Beihu in the south, reaching the East China Sea in the east, and crossing Daxia in the north. As long as wherever human beings go, there will be countless new places in Da Qin. Children are born one by one!"

It was not soft hands that delivered their babies, but swords and plows made of fire!

What nurtured his growth was not his mother's passion, but the colonial spirit of generations.

Li Ling was so shocked by these bold words from Hei Fu that he opened his mouth wide. He couldn't help but think of what Qin Shihuang said when he was in Shu County, when Shu County Lieutenant and Bazhong begged to open a five-foot road to the southwestern Yi.

"Wherever the sun and moon shine, wherever the wind and rain come, do not fail to obey!"

"No wonder His Majesty has so much faith in General Zhongwei, a monarch and a minister. What he thinks is so similar!"