Qin Official

A moment later, several more bright blood flowers bloomed on the crystal white ice of Weishui River, and the two corpses were dragged ashore and placed together.

At the Dukou Pavilion, all the officials of Chunyu County, big and small, were holding their breath and kneeling on the cold and hard ground, feeling uneasy. Only Hei Fu was sitting on the mat, drinking the hot water boiled by his men, as if something was wrong. None of it happened.

He did not get angry and slap the case and curse, but calmly drank a few sips of hot water, gently placed the lacquer cup on the case, beckoned Magistrate Chunyu, whose knees were hurting, to come over and said with a smile:

"This is the first time in my life that I have been assassinated. Magistrate Chunyu, you have really given me a great gift for taking office!"

Although there was no anger on Heifu's dark face and his smile was as gentle as the first time they met, County Magistrate Chunyu was frightened. When he heard that the newly appointed magistrate was "made by the lieutenant", he could I didn't take the time to ask the people who had recently come to Qidi from Guanzhong, who was this general?

People in Guanzhong told him that he was a close minister of the emperor and was highly favored. During the Northern Expedition to the Huns, the eldest son Fusu was the supervisor of the army. In the Battle of Henan, he and Li Xin defeated the Xiongnu Chanyu. After the war, he killed thousands of Xiongnu prisoners. He was a murderous master who did not blink an eye...

It was too late for Magistrate Chunyu to curry favor, but such a bad incident happened. He was so frightened that he didn't know what to do. When he was questioned by the black man, he was at a loss for words except to accuse him.

"I really don't know how this guy became the county magistrate."

Gong Ao shook his head. The retainers who were guarding Hei Fu were all elite warriors. How could three poor fishermen be his opponents? Three strikes, five divisions and two were killed.

He originally wanted to catch him alive, but the man ran desperately towards the thin part of the ice, causing the river ice to crack and he fell into the hole in the ice, never to emerge again. The original plan of the three people was to lure the black husband. When you get to a thin spot and use external force to cause the ice to crack, even if you can't kill Sheriff Dog, you will freeze half of his life...

This was obviously an organized and premeditated assassination operation, but Magistrate Chunyu was kept in the dark from beginning to end. If the assassin hadn't wanted to catch this big fish, Heifu, he would have been dead long ago by letting others carry him across the river. It was really mediocre in the extreme.

Not only the county magistrate, but also the county lieutenant responsible for managing Tingyi Ferry were also responsible.

Hei Fu asked these two incompetent guys to kneel down and wake up, and then said: "Where is Chunyu County Cheng?"

"The official is here."

An official in his forties, who spoke with a Nanyang accent, went out to meet Heifu and called himself Chao Ping. When the county magistrate and the county lieutenant accused him of the crime, Chao Ping said nothing because he did not have to take responsibility for it. But afterward, Heifu did. After noticing, Chao Ping asked his men to surround the pavilion and not allow anyone to leave.

Heifu did not give instructions directly, but asked: "The county magistrate is Zuo Er, who is responsible for justice and prisons. If something like this happens, what should we do next?"

Chao Ping responded fluently: "We should first file a case and convict these three people of treason. Even though they are dead, their bodies should still be killed, and their heads should be abandoned in the market to deter Xiaoxiao. Then, we should punish the three tribes according to the criminal law!"

The so-called three clans are parents, brothers, and wives. The three criminals' family members add up to ten or twenty people.

Chao Ping said calmly: "Tattoo his face with ink, gouge out his nose, cut off his left and right arms, beat him to death with a whip, cut off his head, and dump the mutilated body on the street. During the execution, if anyone If you yell and curse, pluck out his tongue! Only in this way can the people be frightened and they will not dare to follow suit!"

This is a severe punishment for the crime of "rebellion". Heifu has seen Gao Jianli and his friends suffer this punishment.

This is a cruel era. If you don’t want to be a slave to the country’s subjugation, it would be nice to raise your arms in a moment of righteous indignation, right? It would be easy for me to die on the spot, but my surviving relatives would be dealt with even more harshly. Qin Law stipulates that if your family members and wives take the initiative to report you before you commit a crime, you can avoid being implicated. If not, you will not be able to get away with it.

Heifu nodded indifferently: "Of course it is." Then he asked: "Then what?"

Chao Ping said: "The law says that five families work together, and ten families are not allowed to move without permission. They supervise each other and report each other. If they are not exposed, ten families will sit together. The three thieves are Shiwu, Neighbor, Lidian, Lizuo, and Li. All the prison gates must sit together and be detained and interrogated. The guilty ones will be convicted of treason, and the guilty ones will be punished as slaves and concubines."

To engage in anti-Qin activities, there will definitely be personnel exchanges and secret plots, and the behavior will definitely be different from ordinary people. If the neighbors know about it and fail to report it, or they know about it but turn a blind eye, they will not escape the blame.

Chao Ping added: "There is also the Weishui Crossing Pavilion where these three people have been active for many years. The pavilion chief, the thief, the pavilion father, the pavilion soldiers, and the boatman, more than ten people, should all be arrested and interrogated."

What a coincidence that three guys who were dissatisfied with Qin were allowed to lead the way. The pavilion chief and others would definitely be involved.

As a result, the number of arrested victims increased from three to nearly a hundred.

This was not Heifu's intention to expand the scope of his attack, but a normal operation of the Qin Dynasty to catch traitors. Shang Yang thought very clearly back then that as long as he is a human being, he has social relations. Some people may not care about themselves, but they have to worry about their parents, wives, children, neighbors and friends. In this way, according to the context of interpersonal relationships, combing down one by one, and then fishing them up to investigate one by one, sooner or later the accomplices in the assassination case will be found.

For example, the rangers who had close contact with the three of them, the merchants and hawkers who provided them with intelligence, the officials who had the power to arrange for them to lead people across the river here, and even the powerful Jiaodong forces who secretly organized anti-Qin forces...

After listening to the report from the county magistrate, Hei Fu was very satisfied, nodded and said with a smile: "It seems that Chunyu County finally has a senior official who can handle things."

"I'm just following the rules." Chao Ping paused, knowing that he had seized the opportunity.

So Heifu exercised his power as county magistrate and ordered: "Chunyu County Magistrate is old and dim. He has been in office for five years, but he still does not know the local language and does not recognize the traitor. His body is lying on a plain diet. He is removed from the county magistrate's post and is replaced by the county magistrate Chao Chao. Equally!"

"The same is true for the county captain. His negligence in running the county has led to the emergence of traitors, and he has allowed conspirators to sneak into the pavilion, which almost caused catastrophe. He has also been dismissed from his position! The public official Gong Ao replaced him as a fake county captain."

The county magistrate Chunyu and the county captain looked at each other. Unexpectedly, the new magistrate would lose his official seal on the first day he took office. However, they did not dare to have any objections. They bowed their heads and confessed their crimes. They will go to the county government with Hei Fu and hand them over to the prison. History disposal.

The county magistrate Chao Ping had suffered for several years under the incompetent county magistrate. Once he was corrected, he was naturally excited and geared up to investigate the case thoroughly.

But Gong Ao had resigned from Nanchang County as a lieutenant and came to join Heifu. Now he was asked to serve as a fake lieutenant, but he was unwilling to do so. He just wanted to be close to protect Heifu.

But Heifu patted him on the shoulder and whispered: "I have dozens of disciples from Nanjun. You have led them for so long, so it's time to let them take charge of their own affairs. What's more, I can rest assured that you can handle things. When this case is completed and the new county captain takes office, you can come back to me. I will have other important uses..."

Gong Ao had no choice but to nod in agreement.

Heifu always felt that being a mere captain of the bodyguard for Ao Zhongyong was a sign of humiliation. Now is an opportunity for him to practice again and help him firmly control Chunyu County, the west gate of Jiaodong.

"This must be the beginning of my rule in Jiaodong." Heifu thought to himself.

"This case will be handed over to you two. It must be concluded within one month!"

Heifu did not intend to expand the case, and only limited it to Chunyu County. In the county, there was a lot of bloodshed, high-handed rule, and all incompetent officials were removed from their posts, which would help him establish his authority.

But other places cannot be affected for the time being.

Heifu can arrange for his confidants to take charge of the whole county. If it affects the whole county, it will be just when he took office and Wang Ben left Qi to return to Qin. If the situation is not properly controlled, big trouble will occur.

Jiaodong County has a population of 130,000 households and more than 700,000 people. There are probably dozens of chief officials and hundred-stone officials from Qin, and the rest are indigenous officials. Including the retainers and followers brought by Qin officials, the number of Qin people in Jiaodong did not exceed a thousand. There are another 2,000 garrison soldiers in Jimo City, but the garrison soldiers come from various sources, most of them are locals, and they are unreliable.

To put it bluntly, if it were not for the tens of thousands of troops garrisoned in Linzi, the two powerful families in Jiaodong could have overthrown the Jimo County Temple at any time...

Relying on these people to cleanse the whole county and offend everyone indiscriminately, those real enemies who want Hei Fu to die would laugh out loud in their dreams.

"Unite the majority and attack the small group. If I can't do this, I won't be able to gain a foothold in Jiaodong!"

…

After making up his mind, Heifu only stayed in Chunyu County for two days. These were also two days when the whole Chunyu County was full of roosters and dogs.

On the third day, Heifu's motorcade was about to leave Chunyu. When passing by the store, it started to snow again. Heifu looked out of the car window and saw a terrifying scene.

The punishments of the three Yi tribes were carried out here. More than twenty bloody corpses that had been subjected to "five punishments" were hung for public display outside the market. Heifu could smell the stench of intestines and flesh.

The weather was cold, and the hot flesh and blood soon became stiff, the limbs were twisted, and the face was horrified, like a ghost carved in ice.

This horrific scene shocked the locals who were ordered to watch. They were all fighting. Fear was stronger than anger. Resistance would have to pay a heavy price. So when Heifu's carriage passed by, the locals were all afraid, and no one dared to look at it.

If three people rebel, dozens or hundreds of people will be killed, and hundreds or thousands of people will be punished and serve their sentences. In the next month, Chunyu County, covered with frost, snow and white fog, will be shrouded in the black terror of Qin officials!

This is just to let local officials act according to the law, without any anger and revenge. Violence against the Qin Dynasty is not just a casual talk.

The wind and snow outside seemed to be getting stronger, so Heifu closed the car window and closed his eyes.

"Terror can deter people for a while, but if only terror remains, can such a rule be stable in the long term?"

The carriage and horses headed east, leaving Chunyu, leaving only two lines of bloody ruts on the snow...

…

ps: There are many opinions on which three tribes are, and I only take one of them here.