Qin Official

After learning Heifu's identity, Yan Zheng no longer treated him as an ordinary civil servant, but became warm and asked Shuren to welcome the brothers into the study and give them each a mat. Then with the help of the slave, he stood up and searched the bookshelves on the three walls with squinted eyes.

After a while, he placed six bamboo scrolls covered with cloth on the short table, stroking his beard and said:

"Although there are many laws in Qin, as the chief of the pavilion, his main responsibility is to maintain road safety and arrest thieves, so he must be familiar with the "Thieves Law", "Thieves Law", "Catching Law", "Prison Law", "Miscellaneous Law" and "Gu Law" Six chapters, these are the six volumes.”

Heifu followed his words and picked them up one by one. He saw that they were indeed these six laws.

Yan Zheng's speaking speed became slower: "In these six chapters, the king's government must not rush thieves, so its laws begin with "Robbers" and "Thieves". Thieves must be impeached, so he wrote "Prisoners", "Prisoners" and "Thieves". "Catching" two chapters. The frivolous, cunning, overreaching, gambling, borrowing, dishonesty, extravagance, and exceeding the regulations are included in one chapter of "Miscellaneous Laws", and the additions and subtractions are added to "Gu Lu"."

After explaining it, Heifu probably understood that these six laws are the basis of Qin's laws, covering all common crimes and their punishment methods, and they are also things that the pavilion chief must memorize.

"Zhang Yan is really familiar with laws and regulations..."

Heifu complimented Yan Zheng and asked, "I wonder if these six laws are the latest ones?"

Yan Zheng stroked his beard and smiled and said: "It's natural. They were all copied in the first month (October) of last year."

It turns out that in the Qin State, laws do not remain unchanged for hundreds of years. Shang Yang made it clear back then: If there is no one way to govern the country, there is no need to follow the ancient rules to facilitate the country! Therefore, Qin Lu will make profit and loss replenishment every few years.

But in this case, the problem arises again. The law is often easier, but there is no modern means of communication, so we can only rely on manual transmission and copying of regulations. Unfortunately, the terms used in these regulations are extremely concise. Sometimes just one wrong word can mean a completely different meaning. Furthermore, wouldn't it be bad if the laws and regulations have changed but the people below don't know it and are still using the old laws, causing conflicts?

In order to avoid this situation, from the beginning of Shang Yang's reform, "judges" were specially set up to keep and check the law, and provide legal advice. There are three judges in Xianyang, one each in the court, the imperial censor's office, and the prime minister's office. Each county also has one judge, and Xi once served as a county judge for a period of time. Of course, the Yan Zheng in front of him is older.

The laws and regulations that are changed in Xianyang every year must be stored in the "forbidden room". The door is usually locked and no one is allowed to enter or exit. All laws and regulations are sealed. If anyone enters without permission or deletes a word, he will be punished with death.

The forbidden room is only opened once every year in October. At that time, the Yushifu will summon judges from all over the country to check the legal provisions and return to the local area with new and changed laws to convey the central spirit to governments at all levels...

Although Yan Zhen is old and retired, he can still get the latest laws and regulations every year because he was also a teacher in the school, and his students will inform him of the latest situation.

These Qin officials have practiced law all their lives, and in the end, law has become a part of their lives. Even after he retired, people from the countryside would often come to him for consultation, which was why Yan Zheng had a high reputation in the local area.

Speaking of this, Yan Zhen seemed to remember something again. He was too lazy to get up. He directed Heifu to the bookshelf and took down the two bamboo slips placed at the top.

Heifu took it in his hand and looked at it. It said "Chuanshi" and "Xingshu" on it. What does this have to do with the pavilion chief?

Yan Zheng explained: "As the head of a pavilion, you not only have to catch thieves, but there are always guest houses and post offices in the pavilion, so you must learn the "Law of Chuanshi" and "Law of Running Script".

The so-called "Law of Food Delivery" refers to the legal stipulation that meals should be provided in guest houses based on the official status and title in the past. Heifu once stayed in a guest house, so he understands.

As for the "Xingshu Code", it is mainly the Qin State's regulations on transmitting documents.

You know, Qin's postal system is already quite powerful. In addition to the fact that government documents must be delivered on time, ordinary soldiers thousands of miles away can actually send them to their homes accurately after taking the trouble of writers and writers to help them write letters! At home, people could also give clothes, money and belongings to Qin’s postmen and send them to the front line along the same route. This was more than 200 BC. It’s really scary to think about it.

And the Huyang Pavilion that Hei Fu was going to happened to be a large pavilion with guest houses and a post office. Maybe the chief official would also take the exam for him.

"It's Zhang Yan who has thought carefully about me..."

Heifu quickly bowed to Yan Zheng, and then said from his mouth something about being tireless in teaching, highly respected, and spring breeze, which made Yan Zheng very happy. He suddenly felt that there was a reason why this young man was recruited to be the director of the pavilion at the age of 18, and the compliments tickled him.

He waved his hands cheerfully and said: "You said you can read and write, so you are very good at it. Please copy these eight volumes of laws and regulations with me, and then take them back and recite them skillfully. If you have any questions, feel free to ask for them." Come and ask me in Banli."

"If I can pass the test and become the chief of the pavilion, I will never forget Zhang Yan. I will definitely tell everyone in the county that Mr. Yan in Banli is my mentor..." After saying that, Hei Fu walked towards Yan Zhengxing. He gave a big gift, and Yan Zheng also responded with a smile.

The teacher-student relationship in Qin is far less important than that of later generations, but they are all understanding people. Since everyone has their own needs and can all benefit from this matter, why not do it?

…

After Heifu presented the bundle to Xiu and paid homage to his master, Yan Zheng became a little tired. He yawned and said he wanted to take a nap, and asked Shuren to take Brother Heifu to a guest room next door.

After seeing the master chatting and laughing with Hei Fu, the man actually recognized the student, and his attitude toward them immediately changed. Not only did he smile all the time, but he also took the initiative to find pens, ink, and sharpeners for Hei Fu, and even asked Hei Fu , do you need bamboo slips?

"How does this make..." Hei Fu declined: "I have prepared the bamboo slips myself, how dare I taint the good bamboo slips of Yan Zhang's family."

The man then stepped back and left the door ajar.

At this time, the whole process was silent and shocked, and then he held his stomach and laughed out loud: "Brother Zhong, look at that arrogant face, he is really a villain!"

"Have you remembered?" Heifu took out the wooden tablets that his sister-in-law helped him cut from the bamboo basket he brought with him, and spread them out on the table.

"Remember what?" Jing looked confused.

"Remember this person's arrogance and respectfulness, remember the change in Yan Zhang's attitude towards me, and then think about it, why is this?" Heifu threw the question out of his mind and picked up the brush beside him.

Some people say that the writing brush was invented by Meng Tian, ​​but it turns out that this is just a rumor. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius had already taught that "the brush is the same as the brush, and the sharpening is the sharpening". In this era, the use of brushes became more common.

As for ink, in this era there was no ink that could be dissolved by dipping it in water, but some natural minerals with considerable hardness, which needed to be crushed with a grinding stone on an inkstone made of clam shells, tiles or stones, and then Add some water before you can write.

Heifu asked Jing Jing to come over and help him grind the ink, and then on the wooden tablet that was neither rough nor completely smooth, he began to copy "The Law of Thieves" one by one... Each volume actually only has two or three. The ten bamboo slips are concise and concise, with not many words, but the writing speed is really not fast. Sometimes it becomes even slower when I encounter words that I cannot write. If I copy the wrong words, I have to use a knife to scrape them off. , at this speed, he could finish copying at most four volumes until the sun sets today.

While his brother was excerpting the laws and regulations, Jing Jing was studying the ink while tilting his head, thinking about his brother's question just now. Before he could think about it for a while, a small voice came from outside.

"I just want to see who Aweng's new disciple is."

Next, the door that was ajar suddenly opened a crack...

A girl with a bun stuck her head in and looked at the two people in the room curiously. She saw that although she could not be said to be very beautiful, she had fair skin, clean hair, and neat teeth. She was wearing a two-color skirt. She is very different from the village girl in Jingchai’s sarong whom she sees in daily life.

Heifu was immersed in copying the boring slips without paying attention, but he raised his head in shock and looked at the girl, dumbfounded...