Qin Official

"The Book of Songs says: 'Under the whole world, there is nothing but the king's land; on the shore of the land, there is nothing but the king's ministers.' Therefore, within Liuhe and outside the eight directions, if all the things that are pregnant with life cannot be infiltrated with grace, it will be a shame for the virtuous king. Of……"

"What a shame for such a virtuous king."

Heifu was very happy. A few days ago, he asked Lu Jia to imitate the Mohist's so-called "Great Yu loves everyone and cuts down three seedlings without killing them" and write an article to find reasons for the southern expedition. Military affairs are busy, and Heifu is very happy. I forgot about this matter and never thought that the beginning of Lu Jia's essay was pretty good.

Lu Jia smiled at the side, not proud.

When Heifu looked down, he found that it was even more wonderful. It was indeed the pen of a Confucian scholar. The pen was sharpened and sharpened, and black and white were completely reversed.

But I saw his article, translated into vernacular, saying this:

"Now within the borders of the country, it is the time of governance. All the people in the crown and belt have achieved happiness. There is no corvee in the common people. The men are enjoying their duties and the women are cultivating their careers. No one is dissatisfied."

"But those barbarian and Di countries are desolate places where good education has not yet been implemented and beautiful customs are very scarce. They may not understand etiquette and justice, and live in the grass like animals. They have the bad habit of cannibalism; or they may not understand dignity and inferiority. , vendetta against each other, ministers regicide, and order was chaotic. Fathers and brothers were innocently killed, children became orphans, and they cried endlessly."

"So the people from the Southern Barbarians, the Northern Di, the Eastern Yi and the Western Rong complained to the Central Plains: 'I heard that China has a benevolent government with many virtues and benefits, and everyone can bathe in it. Why are we the only ones abandoned?' They stood on tiptoe and looked forward to it. The arrival of Master Wang is like dry grass and trees longing for rain. Even a hard-hearted person will shed tears for it..."

"So he sent troops to the north to defeat the powerful Xiongnu; to the east, he crossed the sea to annihilate the unruly Lord Canghai; and to the south, he sent his subordinates to conquer the barbaric Baiyue. The chief culprit was killed, and all the people rejoiced. For a time, all barbarians Naturalization is like a school of fish raising its head to face the flowing water. Those who hope to be captured by the Central Plains need hundreds of millions of people."

"That's why we set up three passes in Lingnan, established education in Qi Min, built dikes in Panyu, built earthen buildings in Yushui, and drew boundaries in Zanggao. This made remote places no longer blocked, and the sun shined on the confused and ignorant places, creating a far-reaching morality. The passage allows the benevolent and righteous troops to live in harmony with the four barbarians. As a result, the barbarian attacks and attacks subsided, the Central Plains surrendered, and the Xia and barbarians became as close as one family. What's the matter?"

"I don't know if there's anything greater than this."

After Heifu read the entire article, he smiled and said: "But among the more than 300,000 soldiers and civilians in the Southern Expedition, I'm afraid I won't be able to find a better pen than you."

"Your Majesty has given you too much praise." Lu Jia said humbly.

"But there are some minor issues with your article, which need to be corrected."

Teacher Heifu drew a few circles on the composition and showed it to Lu Jia.

"This article, I want to publicize to the soldiers in the army, but there is no corvee in Li, men enjoy their jobs, and women cultivate their careers? You dare to say this nonsense, what is the situation in the Jianghuai River in the Central Plains, where did the soldiers come from? Can you not be clear?"

When Heifu first arrived at the Three Passes of Lingnan, he heard a song sung by the soldiers: "Be careful not to raise a boy when you give birth to a boy, and use your breasts to feed a girl. If you don't see Wulingnan, the corpses are leaning on each other?"

Although Heifu used various means to revive the team that had been severely hit by the epidemic and had low morale, due to various large-scale projects and conquests in the southeast and northwest, the people of the Central Plains were already in dire straits, and this could not be changed.

The soldiers are not stupid. The court's words may be false, but they are forced to come here and Paoze must have suffered heavy casualties!

Therefore, Lu Jia’s article is obviously not qualified for use as propaganda.

Heifu scolded Lu Jia and asked him to change it.

But Lu Jia didn't move. After reading it himself, he looked puzzled: "Junhou, this article is written correctly..."

Heifu frowned: "Are you pretending to be confused, or are you being sarcastic on purpose?"

"I dare not. The description in the article is completely opposite to the current situation in the Central Plains. This is because this article was not written for Qin Shi Huangdi!"

Lu Jia smiled and bowed to Mr. Hei:

"It is written for the future wise king!"

…

"The future wise king?"

After being silent for a moment, Hei Fu burst into laughter: "Yes, your Majesty is a talented and splendid man, but you cherish your kindness. I also hope that the second emperor who succeeds him will be a benevolent and virtuous king..."

"No matter, no matter what, you don't need to change this article. Although you won't need it now, you should keep it for now. Maybe it can come in handy in the future?"

After saying this, Heifu asked Lu Jia to step back, but immediately stopped him and asked him a question.

"Lu Jia, what exactly is the destiny mentioned by Confucianism?"

Lu Jia, who was originally a little worried about his boldness, but was unwilling to finish his words, his eyes lit up and he immediately said:

"Dare to say to the princes, destiny is what people are born with, just like whether they are high or low, and they live young. For people, destiny means their life and death, wealth, poverty, and lowness. All of these are related to the destiny hanging high in the sky! My dear son, Xia Yan, life and death are determined by destiny, wealth and honor are in heaven!"

"Death and life are destiny, wealth is in heaven?"

Heifu chewed on this sentence: "In this way, I still appreciate Mo Zhe's "Fei Ming" more. You should have heard of my sentence, right? Princes, generals, and prime ministers, would you rather have your own kind? Everything depends on man-made things, not names. A soldier with a penny can become a general!"

However, Lu Jia insisted on his opinion: "It is also the king's order that Qian Shoujian be appointed Marquis of Changnan."

He raised his head and said tentatively: "Maybe it's more than that, isn't it as good as Che Hou?"

What Lu Jia said was too obvious. Hei Fu responded: "You are a Confucian scholar. You open your mouth and shut up about destiny. Do you know your own destiny?"

Lu Jia said: "I know, Confucius said, if you don't know destiny, you can't be a gentleman!"

"Do you know when you will die?"

This Confucian scholar was bold, neither humble nor arrogant, and bowed to the black husband: "Lu Jia only knows that he will not die today. Otherwise, before the subordinates could finish what they said, the prince's face changed drastically, and he pushed me out and beheaded me." !”

"Ha, you are such a clever little kid."

Hei Fu didn't scare him anymore and continued to ask: "You said that human destiny is determined by destiny, but did all dynasties have destiny?"

"Of course!"

Lu Jia was waiting for this question. He stood up and made an impassioned speech:

"Xia Jie was immoral and Shang Tang replaced him. This is destiny. Shang Zhou was immoral and Zhou Wu replaced him. This is destiny!"

"In the Spring and Autumn Period, although Zhou's virtue declined, the destiny of heaven remained unchanged, so the importance of the tripod cannot be questioned."

"However, in the late modern times, the Qin Dynasty took control of Weihan and held the land of Yongzhou. It held it for six generations to see Shandong, took Hanzhong in the south, lifted Ba and Shu in the west, captured key counties in the north, defeated Han and Wei in the east, and captured Chu, Jianghan and Han Dynasty. , Changping pitted more than 400,000 Zhao soldiers. At this point, Zhou has lost his destiny, and his destiny is with Qin..."

"But now we have abolished the ways of the previous kings, banned the opinions of hundreds of families, and fought in the south and north. There is no peace for a day. So there is turmoil outside and inside, and the people are in dire straits. Those who travel will not return, and those who go will not turn back. No one has a chance to live, and they run away. Follow each other, and the group becomes thieves... From the perspective of the kings and subordinates, Qin's destiny is on the verge of falling!"

Confucian people pay attention to moderation and will not talk too much. Lu Jia's advice ends here.

He just wanted to tell the Marquis of Changnan that Qin's destiny was declining and the world was at odds. At this time, a new person who was responsible for the destiny was needed to step forward!

Lu Jia believes that finding that person and helping him achieve great things is his "destiny"!

But Heifu thought for a long time, but without comment, he waved his hand:

"You go down."

Lu Jia accepted the promise and retreated. He understood very well that as a superior, of course, one's inner plans could not be fully revealed.

But he believed that the Marquis of Changnan could understand, perhaps he had already figured it out, that all the arrangements and plans at the beginning of the Southern Expedition were to prepare for that day!

Lu Jia looked back at the shogunate's commander's tent, his eyes full of expectation:

"I saved the people from addiction, worshiped the supreme virtue, and reversed the decline of the world. Following the Zhou family's unparalleled career, the king and nobles are here!"

…

"People are excited. Earlier, it was only conspirators like Chen Ping who encouraged me. Now, even the thick-browed Confucian scholar Lu Jia has such a bold idea."

Looking at Lu Jia's article again, it turned out that what he boasted about in it were all things Heifu had done.

But Heifu didn't lie. He was indeed more inclined to Mohism's "Fei Ming" and did not believe that people's fate was predetermined.

Because, since Heifu came to this era, he has changed the fate of many people, like Han Xin, like Xiao He, like Lu Jia, like Tian Heng, like Chen Ping, like Liu Bang, like who should have A "black husband" who died in the war against Chu and left only a letter to his family.

Their destiny has been greatly changed, such as Tian Hengzhe, who even reached the end early, and the princes' hegemony has long since turned into dew in the grass.

If, as Lu Jia said, fate cannot be changed and everything is determined by fate, who do these people matter?

For many years, Heifu has been carefully observing while moving forward. If all efforts fail to change the trajectory of fate, it will always return to the starting point. That is the most terrifying world!

Fortunately, at least there is no "conclusion of the world line" to sanction what he did.

Therefore, Heifu does not believe in destiny, but believes in the law of cause and effect.

"So, even for a dynasty, there is actually no so-called destiny. The ups and downs are just the people's hearts, the policies, the situation, and perhaps the climate."

"Even the time traveler's thoughts..."

People have no destiny, and dynasties have no destiny, but Heifu firmly believes that the flower-growing nation does.

Zhuxia, Huaxia, China, Zhonghua... Well, no matter what she is called, it is still this land and this group of people. Together, they have a destiny!

Even if I missed it once, now, it will be given by Hei Fu himself!

What kind of destiny?

Heifu took out his pen, dipped it in ink, and added a sentence at the end of Lu Jia's article.

A colorful sentence, a sentence that he hoped would one day be recorded in history books, included in textbooks, and become the consensus of everyone!

"We will seize this God-given continent to support the people who are doubling every year and to achieve our manifest destiny of free development!"

…

Since Oujun Jie Jun died in battle, Xiou no longer resisted step by step, but moved his entire family westward to join King Luo.

This also made the Qin army advance rapidly. Just over a month after the Battle of Yulin, Heifu had led the army to the upper reaches of Yushui...

In later generations, this was the provincial capital of Guangxi, although now there is no city and it is a vast wilderness. Only the lush water flows quietly through the mountains, nourishing the valleys and dams, and creating a green scene.

Heifu was not polite and named this place:

"Green City!"

This is another name for the capital of Guangxi Province. Hei Fu was deeply impressed, but after thinking about it, he felt it was inappropriate. Wasn't this a curse on himself? It would be better to change it to "Nanning".

A group of subordinates raised their thumbs and praised: "Peace in southern Xinjiang, what a metaphor!"

Looking to the west, this place is only more than two hundred miles away from the center of Luoyue tribes and the land of all things, Linchen! I heard that King Luo has taken in the remnants of Xiou and Nanyue, and has gathered tens of thousands of people to wait for work there...

Heifu sniffed and asked his subordinates.

"Did you smell it?"

Gong Ao, Dongmen Bao, Han Xin and others were sniffing here and there. Gong Ao smelled the smoke from the soldiers cooking. A Bao looked at the fresh excrement that Heifu had just pulled out after sitting down. Han Xin had just come to report the situation of the camp. , got closer, smelled the smell of Heifu's sweat, and took a step back quietly, not knowing whether to say...

"None of it is right."

Heifu pointed to the west and showed his big white teeth:

"It's the breath of a decisive battle!"