Qin Official

As the saying goes, food is the first priority for the people, and grain is the foundation of the country. In the Qin State, Xianyang in Guanzhong specially set up a "Government of Grain" to manage the grain supply in the country's warehouses. It is said that the Xianyang warehouse has a hundred thousand stones of grain, and the Yueyang warehouse has 100,000 stones of grain. He accumulated 20,000 shi of food.

The local counties also set up granaries, which were managed by "Cang Shifu". Like the engineers, the Cang Shifu had a rank of two hundred stones and was equivalent to the director of the county grain bureau in later generations.

The Anlu County Warehouse is located in the Guansi District. These circular grain storage warehouses are tightly protected by walls, and county soldiers are patrolled inside and outside. Without the approval of the county magistrate and the county prime minister's black-lettered formalities, no one can even think of entering the warehouse. Steal half a grain of food here!

This place is roughly divided into three areas, the chu warehouse for storing husks, the barn for storing millet, and the rice warehouse for storing shelled rice and millet.

Between the barn and the rice barn is a long room with no walls but a tile shed on the top. There are rows of stone mortars under the shed and wooden pestles next to it.

Every day, Cang Chefu would send Cang Zuo officials to take out hundreds of stones of newly harvested millet after autumn from the barn, transport it into the longhouse, and let the concubines serving their sentences inside pound it into brown rice and polished rice, and then transport it to Rice warehouse storage.

In spring, summer, autumn and winter, regardless of the cold or heat, these poor female prisoners had to constantly lift heavy pestles to pound grains. They pounded out the salary of the county officials and the rations of the soldiers on the front line day after day.

If the work cannot be completed, there is no rest. Many people have worked for several years and their arms are almost useless. It’s no wonder that “chun” can be the most scandalous prison sentence, just like the “chengdan” served by men.

On the first day of the twelfth lunar month, all the concubines started pounding rice early in the morning under the scolding of Cang Zuo. As prisoners, their clothes are thin and they cannot eat the good rice they pound. Naturally, they have no enthusiasm for work. They just numbly lift and put down the wooden pestle, lift it up, and put it down again. The efficiency is very low. Fortunately, it is winter now, and the laws are particularly generous. They only need to do two-thirds of the work in summer every day.

But even so, it still took three or four hours to grind two stones of millet every day. The worst thing was that the concubine who was assigned to grind the polished rice had to work from morning to night before she could finish the work.

Just as hundreds of concubines were silent and working like zombies, a Kurasa official suddenly arrived and ordered two adult concubines of similar stature to come out.

The two disheveled concubines came out uneasily and followed Kurasa out of the hut and to the open space outside. What they saw was incredible. Kurasafu and the county engineer were two high-ranking officials in the county. It's all here!

The concubines hurriedly bowed their heads. One was guessing whether she had committed another crime, with a worried look on her face, while the other was guessing whether a family member had come to redeem her, and was beaming with joy...

As a result, they were just assigned a new job, which was to pound the valley.

But the difference is that Kurasa and the county engineer and others asked two concubines, one to use an ordinary pestle and mortar, and the other to use an instrument placed on the ground to "step on the pestle."

The two girls had no choice but to be ordered to work. One held the wooden pestle high, and the other kept using the weight of his body to trample the wooden pole up and down...

Half an hour later, the engineer called to stop, and then he couldn't wait to walk to the wooden bucket containing rice to see for himself how much grain the two women had pounded.

"The pestle and mortar pounded 3 buckets, and the treadmill pounded... 5 buckets!"

He raised his head in surprise and questioned the two concubines again. Sure enough, the one using the pestle and mortar was as tired as usual. The one using the treadmill also wanted to say he was tired. He took many breaks and was frightened by the officials, so he told the truth. , In fact, it is not tiring, and you can pound it again.

Hei Fu's sister-in-law, Tian, ​​finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the scene before him. He was an honest and honest craftsman. In the past, the biggest official he had seen in the village was the rural food official who came to inspect. Now he had to stand in front of two hundred-stone officials. Without Hei Fu by his side, he couldn't even talk, and didn't even dare to take a breath...

However, the engineer was cautious. After discussing with Cang Shifu, the two decided to choose another pair of concubines to try.

Then Qun's heart started to rise again, and he stared at the person who was pounding the rice, for fear that the concubine who was using the treadmill would be lazy and the amount of rice pounded would be less.

Another half an hour has passed, and new results have come out. This time, the person who used the pestle and mortar still only pounded 3 and a half buckets, while the person who used the pestle and hammer pounded 5 buckets and 5 liters!

The county engineer no longer had any doubts in his mind and was immediately overjoyed.

"You've already pounded so much even though you're unfamiliar with it. If you can master it, just like what the black man recorded, it won't be a problem to pound 6 or 7 buckets in half an hour!"

The more the county engineer looked at this treadmill, the more he liked it. The structure of this thing is simple, the materials are available everywhere, and the cost must be cheap. As for using it, it is even more convenient. You can learn it once you learn it, and even a half-year-old child can sit on it and pound rice.

"This thing is very consistent with the meaning of 'merit is supreme' in our country's "Gong Law". I should tell the county magistrate immediately!"

If this thing is presented, it will definitely be praised. The county engineer feels that the punishment he suffered last year for making the utensils that did not meet the specifications can be erased, and he can even accumulate some achievements!

The county engineer was thinking about it, and Cang Shifu beside him was also smiling.

As an official in charge of grain management, who else knows the magical uses of this thing better than Cang Shifu? The land in Anlu is abundant and there is no shortage of millet. However, the trouble is that the number of concubines available is limited and the work efficiency is low. A lot of millet cannot be pounded into white rice in time and can only be backlogged in the warehouse. If these grains become moldy accidentally, the storekeeper will be held accountable...

joke! Qin's laws were so strict, and they were even more strict when it came to food. He, a stingy man, not only had to take care of food and people, but also rats. Just because if three mouse holes appear in a granary, the clerk in charge of this granary will be punished! He's a coward and has nothing to do with it!

Besides, when paying salaries, you can’t just give grain to officials directly, right? Then my colleagues must not be ashamed. When sending food to the front line, we can't just transport millet directly. Do we have to make the soldiers pound rice for half an hour before starting the meal?

Now, this problem has been solved by Tadi. If it can be promoted in the county, not only will the rice pounding efficiency of ordinary farmers be greatly improved, but the public will benefit the most. If the hundreds of female prisoners in Anlu County who were sentenced to "pounding" all used treadmills, how much more grain would they be able to pound every day? At least one stone!

The storekeeper calculated that twenty bushels of grain could be pounded into ten bushels of corn. Ten bushels of rice can be pounded into six and two-thirds bushels of rice... In this way, on the original basis, the county warehouse can produce at least more than 10,000 kilos of rice every year!

"There are tens of thousands more kilograms of rice in the warehouse. This is a great contribution. It will be enough for me to rank first in the county in next year's performance appraisal!"

Cang Chefu thought this way, but his eyes met those of the county engineer.

The county engineer smiled brightly: "Thank you very much for your help, Master Cang, for proving the wonderful use of this thing. I will report it to the county magistrate immediately and ask the craftsmen in the wood workshop to rush to make a batch..."

Cang Shifu was not to be outdone: "I should have thanked the county engineer. This thing is related to Cang's property. It is within my authority and is obviously under my control. It is up to me to inform the county magistrate!"

The county engineer's face suddenly stiffened, and he pointed to the citron beside him and said, "This is wrong, Master Cang. This thing was sent by a hundred workers. It is under my control. If you want to rob it, you have exceeded your authority."

"The county engineer misunderstood."

Cang Shifu chuckled and put his hand on the county engineer's shoulder: "How about this, since this matter has something to do with you and me, how about reporting it together?"

The two were talking in a low voice, but Citron was extremely embarrassed. He kept looking back, hoping that Heifu would come back soon. Otherwise, what would he do if two superiors asked him later?

Sure enough, when the county engineer and Cang Shifu finished dividing the spoils, they started to turn around and ask him questions, but this boring gourd was dumbfounded and could not utter a word.

"You bastard... I can't tell you whether you made this thing or not." The county engineer had a headache. How could they ask for credit for Citron without asking for details? By the way, I can also count myself as a contributor.

At this moment, in the yard of a government office not far from the county warehouse, there was a burst of exclamation, followed by continuous applause and admiration...

The clerks who were waiting on the side all turned their heads to look in that direction, and the county engineer and Cang Chefu, who were sharing the credit, also raised their heads and were very surprised.

That courtyard is where the chief officials work. It is unusually quiet on weekdays. What happened today?

Not long after, an excited Kurasa official came over and told them what was going on.

"According to tradition, on the first day of the twelfth lunar month, the chief official held a meeting to examine the officials. Just now there was a public servant who was recruited by the county to be the chief of the pavilion. The chief official asked him to answer questions on twenty laws and orders, and this man actually answered them all correctly!"

…

"All twenty questions are correct? So awesome!"

The county engineer and the storekeeper looked at each other in disbelief. The Qin State regards laws as its guideline and discipline, and anyone who is an official must know the laws. When they work as officials, they all have to go through the level of chief official first and examine the "Law of Gong", "Law of Equal Work", "Law of Cang", "Law of Food Transfer", etc. that are related to their work.

Generally speaking, if you answer twenty or fourteen or five questions, you are qualified. Sixteen or seventeen questions are good, and eighteen or nineteen questions are excellent.

As for whether all twenty questions are correct? Probably one will appear in a year or two.

"Could that person be a disciple of the school?" Cang Shifu asked. If he is a disciple of the school who has studied law for three years, it is still possible.

"He's just a village official who didn't know the laws a month ago. By the way, he is the man who captured three thieves not long ago and became a official, and is well-known throughout the county!"

"It's him?"

Upon hearing this, the county engineer immediately understood who it was, and Tong, who had been embarrassed for more than an hour without saying a word, also shouted in surprise.

"Is it Heifu?"

"Yes, let's call him Heifu." Kurasa said, pointing towards the gate of the county warehouse: "Look! He's here!"

Everyone looked around and saw a burly young man striding towards this side. The soap cloth clothes before had been replaced by crimson clothes, and he was wearing a pair of silk ribbons on his feet. His bun was still wrapped in a brown cloth, but on his forehead, there was a red scarf as bright as blood!

As Hei Fu walked along, the fighting assistants on both sides bowed their hands to him, and Hei Fu only responded with a courtesy.

When he came to the county engineer and Cang Shifu, he no longer bowed down and saluted like before, but put his hands together and bowed slightly towards them.

"I'm late, I hope you two superiors won't be surprised."

The county engineer did not dare to be as indifferent as when they first met in the morning. Together with Cang Shifu, he slightly bowed his hands to Heifu as a courtesy...

The chief of the pavilion of the Qin State was a food official and did not have a special official uniform. The red and crimson clothes were his symbol.

At this moment, Hei Fu is no longer an ordinary citizen. After passing the official examination, he is the chief of Huyang Pavilion and a "Qin official"!