Qin Official

In the thirty-fifth year of the First Emperor of Qin, in the month of Mengchun, in the "Donghai County" located in the east of the empire, the willow trees by the Huaihe River began to pull out young branches, but the weather was still cold. Nanchang Tingting huddled in the house, grilling over the charcoal fire, lazily grilling My wife had just cooked corn rice when she heard a shout from outside.

"Pavilion Chief, an official ship is coming!"

The director of the pavilion in Nanchang hurriedly went out to take a look. Sure enough, a ship with a deep draft of 300 dendrobiums was docking.

This looks like an official ship traveling between Huaisi and Jiangdong. The sail is brand new, the ship is painted, and there are two middle-aged Qin officials in black talking on the deck. A young gentleman was yelling at the side of the boat and asked the pavilion chief to send someone to help tie the boat. His attitude was very rude.

Nanchang Pavilion Chief Marquis was on the shore and saw clearly that one of the officials was wearing a plate crown on his head and a black ribbon with a copper seal on his waist. This was a sign that his rank was more than 600 stones. How dare he neglect it? He immediately called for help.

"Xiao Lu."

Xiao He, the "high official" on the ship, frowned and scolded the young man: "You have no official title. You should be more polite when talking to others when you are away from home."

"promise."

Xiao Lu shrank his head. As the eldest son, Xiao He had always been very strict with him. What's more, his father didn't want to take him with him when he went south this time. He begged and the Xiao family members also urged him, saying that if Xiao He went south, he would be alone. Xiao Hecai reluctantly agreed as he had to take care of his relatives.

The official who was talking to Xiao He laughed and said, "Mr. Xiao, young man, Zhang...it's normal for him to be a little arrogant."

This man's name is Zhou Chang, who was born in Sishui County. He has a small problem and stutters. Historically, it was Zhou Chang and Deng Ai who together created the idiom "Qiqi Ai Ai"...

Zhou Chang had a mission on this trip, to escort Xiao He, who was appointed as the "Captain of Sou Su" by the Marquis of Changnan, southward. As the name suggests, this Senshi official was responsible for collecting military rations and was a very important person in the shogunate.

General Chang Nanhou went south from another road, passing through Nanyang to Nanjun, and asked Xiao He to meet him at Yuzhang County...

Heifu's letter also mentioned something, which was to ask Xiao He to help recruit some talents along the way to make up for the shortcomings of the shogunate.

It's a pity that Xiao He didn't catch the person Hei Fu named.

When he thought that he would arrive in Jiangnan soon, Xiao Lu looked sad again:

"My father didn't recruit the dog to slaughter Fan Kuai, and even asked him to run away. I don't know if the Marquis of Changnan would be angry."

Heifu was also weird. He named the person he wanted, and the first one he wanted was a dog-slaughterer. I don’t know where he heard the name.

Xiao He knew that Fan Kuai was a good friend of Liu Ji. He was heroic and courageous. He was skilled in martial arts and had ten enemies.

But when Fan Kuai heard that Xiao He wanted to conquer him and go south, he hesitated and said he wanted to go home and say goodbye to his mother. As a result, Xiao He sent someone to inquire the next day and found that the house was empty. Fan Kuai and his family ran to the mountains and swamps around Pei County overnight!

The petty official who let Fan Kuai leave the city was named Ren Ao, and he also ran away...

Xiao He did not pursue the fellow villagers, but just sighed.

"A harsh government is as fierce as a tiger, and fleeing from a garrison is like fleeing from death."

When Xiao He inquired about another person ordered by Heifu, Zhou Bo, he learned that he had been away in the north of the Great Wall for several years and had not come back for several years.

The other officials in the county, such as Xia Houying and Zhou Ke, knew that the expedition to Baiyue was an errand. Those who went to the first war died three or four out of ten times, and they were not happy to go south. Not to mention the local nobles Lu Lu, Wang Ling, Yong Chi and others, their attitudes were negative and indifferent.

According to Heifu's proposal to Qin Shihuang in his early years, "Southerners guard the south and northerners guard the north." This war was fought by people from the counties south of Huaihan and had nothing to do with Sishui County. Xiao He did not want to harm these rural parties. Seeing the situation, there was no force, and the conquest failed, so he set out on the road empty-handed.

On the other hand, Zhou Chang, the soldier who was traveling with him, had heard about the name of Changnan Marquis for a long time and was envious of Xiao He and Cao Shen's rapid promotion within four years, so he was quite interested in serving in the Southern Army.

But whether Zhou Chang can satisfy the Marquis of Changnan is something Xiao He and his son are worried about.

Zhou Chang suggested: "Xiao Jun, the Marquis of Changnan didn't say that we will recruit troops again in Nanjun...to recruit troops once, delay for ten days, and meet with Xiao Jun in Yuzhang in March. Since we have plenty of time, it is better to recruit troops in the counties along the way." , see if there are any strong men, and take them with you."

"That's all."

Xiao He nodded, and then called the head of the Nanchang Pavilion. After asking, he learned that this place was called "Nanchang Pavilion". He couldn't help but smile at each other with Zhou Chang and Xiao Lu. It was a coincidence that it had the same name as their destination.

I also learned that Huaiyin County is two miles away by the river, and it only takes two minutes to drive there.

Xiao He did what he said and wanted to catch a few "strong men" along the way to deal with the black husband, so he decided to let Zhou Chang watch the ship and take the people to the city for a walk.

Before setting off, he also asked everyone to take off their official clothes and put on regular clothes, so as not to cause local commotion. People's livelihood was difficult along the way, and Xiao He disliked the extravagant reception given by local officials.

Although he was not very happy to go south, he was still planning his own affairs. Sitting in the car, Xiao He looked like a scribe. He kept looking out over the vast fields, observing the situation here, and said to his son:

"Huaiyin blocks Huai Pinghai, which is an important place for military strategists. In the Spring and Autumn Period, Fu Chai wanted to connect to China and went out of Jianghuai, so he engaged in this."

In order to fight for hegemony in the Central Plains, King Fu Chai of Wu did not hesitate to use the power of the whole country to dig a canal "Hangou" between the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River. Wu ships were able to sail northward, and Huaiyin became a land and water important point, and a plain was formed by the Huaihe River. It is a fertile field with the resources for colonization, a water network extending in all directions, and water transportation.

"The Marquis of Changnan wants to conquer Fujian and Yue first. This place must be the hub for grain from the Central Plains to move south. We can build a large warehouse in Nanchang Pavilion to store 100,000 dan of grain!"

While thinking, the group entered Huaiyin County.

Although they were in civilian clothes, they held the talismans of thousands of stone officials, and the soldiers guarding the gate quickly gave way.

Xiao Lu took the lead. The young man was playful and couldn't help but look around.

At that time, people regarded Sishui, Chen, Runan and Nanjun in the north of Huaibei as Western Chu; Donghai and Jiangdong east of Pengcheng were called Eastern Chu; Hengshan, Jiujiang, Yuzhang and Changsha in the south of the Yangtze River were called Southern Chu. The customs of Sanchu are slightly different. Xiao Lu, who was traveling for the first time, saw the clothes and products that were different from those in Huaibei. He found it quite novel and went wherever the excitement was.

Xiao Heze stopped and asked his servants to inquire about local prices, especially the prices of grains.

After asking around, I found that almost all the food was several times more expensive than in Sishui County, up to 200 yuan per stone! It stands to reason that Huainan is also a granary, and the method of composting and retting has also been introduced here, so it should not be like this.

When I asked again, the locals said that it was because the government had requisitioned grain, and the grain was sent to the south via the canal. There were 100,000 mouths waiting to eat in Jiangdong. There was less local grain, so the price would naturally be higher...

Xiao He couldn't help but sigh secretly:

"The Art of War has it that the reason why a country is impoverished due to war is because the army has to go thousands of miles to haul grain, which is delayed for several months. People eat horses' chews. By the time the grain arrives, there is no one left. There is still a lot of labor to travel back and forth. , this will make the people poor, food prices will skyrocket, and their resources will be exhausted."

When the national finances are exhausted, in order to continue the war, they will be eager to serve in the countryside. Such a vicious circle will reduce the expenses of the people to seven out of ten, and the expenses of the public will be exhausted, and it will even lead to collapse in the end.

Many years ago, the powerful Wu State declined in this way, and Fan Ju Wenzhong made a plan to lend grains to it, which made things worse...

In fact, Sun Wu had already given a solution: use food to the enemy.

But that only applies to the campaign in the Central Plains and the southern campaign against Baiyue. When the Vietnamese burned the rice fields and fled into the forest, the Qin soldiers had no food to rely on and could only look forward to the northern millet.

Just relying on the Jianghuai counties to transport food thousands of miles away can't quench the thirst of the people nearby. If you want to end the war, you must first solve this problem.

When Xiao He was squatting in front of the food stall and meditating, he heard a loud shout from the distance:

"There's a fight!"