Qin Official

As soon as the order for seeking talents came out, a lot of people crowded outside the county ceremony wine hall, some watching the fun and some eager to try. Those Jiangling commoner scholars who had never held office in the past, were not from a good background, and had no one to recommend them were humble to each other. They seemed very accommodating, but in fact they were still hesitant.

Standing at the door of the hall, raising the sleeves of his wide official robe, Lu Jia began to speak out.

"I am a commoner in Shouchun, a Confucian scholar in Huainan. I was moved to the south for violating the law of carrying books. I filled ravines in the dense forests of Lingnan and was almost reduced to a subordinate. It was not until the princes marched south that they put me under the ox's mouth... "

In the past few years, he has been beside Wu Zhonghou, and has gone from being a scribe who fights for food, to being a master of hundreds of stones, to being a long history of four hundred stones, and finally became the second only to Xiao He among the civil servants of the monarch and shogunate today. Nanjun offers wine as a sacrifice, and the official residence is six hundred stones.

It can be said that Lu Jia is the best example of being reused because of his "ability to come up with long-term strategies" even though he was born in a commoner family. It was perfect that Marquis Wu Zhong asked him to choose the sacrificial wine for civilians.

Several guests were a little surprised: "The official is really a Confucian scholar, how can he be appointed as an official?"

Lu Jia showed off the ribbon that had been rubbed by him all night, only to find that it was a black ribbon, three colors, green and red cyanosis, pure and green, tied with a bright copper seal. It was indeed an official with six hundred stones!

"As long as you have talent and learning, you can help the emperor succeed. No matter your status, school of thought, or place of origin, only those who have the talent will succeed!"

This sentence of meritocracy made many people give up their doubts and began to come forward one after another and "recommend themselves."

But more people, pacing back and forth a few times, still shrank their heads.

After all, there is still a question as to how long Wu Zhonghou's red flag can be flown. If he is eliminated by the court instead of being peaceful, then when the liquidation comes, won't everyone who has been an official of Wu Zhonghou be unlucky?

Whether these Jiangling commoners advance or retreat, Lu Jia sees them, and he also understands who Heifu wants to recruit.

Confucian scholars, Huang Lao, Zongheng, Mingbian, military strategists, all the people of various schools of thought who were excluded from the Qin Dynasty system!

During the Warring States Period, these scholars from hundreds of schools could sit and talk about Taoism. Those with poor families could also serve as diners of the emperor. If they were really talented and learned, they could become famous like Feng Chen, Hou Ying, Mao Sui, and Cai Ze.

However, under the Qin Dynasty system, even the prime ministers and Chehou were not allowed to raise scholars on a large scale. Hundreds of families were suppressed, and the government only respected judges and jailers. These common people suddenly lost their livelihood.

But they have to live, or they can be like the "old Huang" Chen Ping, put down their old profession, study the law honestly, and try to be an official. Or he would be like Lu Jia, surviving in the cracks and making a living by copying books and writing letters for others. He would also accidentally be arrested and charged for hiding poems and books.

The worst case was Han Xin, who was trained as a military strategist, but because he was poor and incompetent, he could not be promoted to an official and could only work around.

When the world was in chaos, these people were the most active participants in overthrowing the imperial court. They rolled up their sleeves and worked hard to join the rebellion. The reason was for no other reason than that the Qin Dynasty's officialdom did not provide them with a suitable promotion channel.

Heifu decided to learn a lesson and leave a back door for such people.

"The troubled times are coming. The Qin officials and Legalists who rule the place are important, but the rest of the talents are also indispensable."

I don’t expect to catch big fish like Han Xin and Chen Ping again, but ordinary lobbyists, counselors, and Heifu are also in urgent need.

They have many uses for persuading travelers to surrender to prefectures and counties, and for staff to make suggestions.

Even if Jiangling cannot recruit people, interested people from other places will come to help after hearing about it. I only hope that those who are curious about Chu and Han can also join in as much as possible.

Lu Jia also believes that there is basically no such person in Jiangling. After all, it has been in Qin for decades and hundreds of schools have withered.

"There may be more in Hengshan County."

But there are quite a lot of people who responded to the call. Unfortunately, they are all talkative. They think they are extremely talented after just learning a little bit. There are almost no real talents.

"It's so difficult to find a pearl among a bunch of fish eyes..."

After arranging for a dozen mediocre Jiangling civilians to go to various departments in the army to start working as scribes, Lu Jia planned to end the "recruitment" today.

Unexpectedly, there was another man wearing a tall Confucian crown outside the door, peeking inside, attracting Lu Jia's attention.

Lu Jia had been in Jiangling for so many days, but he had never seen a Confucian crown on the street. This was just because the place had been ruled by the Qin Dynasty for decades. Confucianism had corrupted the law with culture, and had long been suppressed and expelled by the government.

When the man came to the court, Lu Jia saw that he was about forty, with a dark and thin face, slightly older than himself. He had a long beard, but it was uncombed and a little messy.

"What's your name?"

The man showed his yellow teeth and bowed his head, saying, "I'll do whatever you want, little man."

"Suihe?"

Lu Jia had never heard of it, so he asked again: "I didn't know that there are also Confucian scholars in Jiangling?"

Sui He said: "The villain is not from Jiangling, but a humble man from Sui County (Suizhou City, Hubei Province)."

"He's from Nanyang County."

Lu Jia nodded, without looking into why people from other counties came to Jiangling, and then asked:

"Which of the eight Confucian scholars do you study from?"

Sui He said: "What I have learned is very complicated, and not everyone knows it. I'm afraid the officials don't know about it, so it's not worth mentioning."

Now Lu Jia was a little wary and thought: "Could this person know that I study Confucianism, and many scholars have been deposed in the past, so he deliberately wore a Confucian crown in order to get close to me?"

So he deliberately took the exam and started talking about poetry and books.

What I didn't expect was that Sui He spoke modestly and said that he had little knowledge, but no matter what Lu Jia said, he could still pick up on it. He even quoted many stories from Confucian classics and was able to quote from other sources. He was obviously a knowledgeable man. scholar!

Lu Jia had not talked with people who had similar interests for a long time, and now he got out of hand. The two of them actually talked about it until nightfall, and He's stomach growled with hunger before Lu Jia realized what they were talking about.

"What's wrong, I was only busy talking about poetry and books, but I forgot about the real thing!"

Although Suihe was very fond of him, if he could only talk about poetry and books without making any special plans, he would still be a scribe.

So Lu Jiujiu sat upright and asked: "What? Now that the prince has just settled in Jingzhou, do you have a plan that can help the prince manage the place and achieve peace? You might as well talk to me about it. If you are right, I will definitely make it happen." Recommend it to the king!"

Sui He bowed again: "The villain does have a plan. If Wu Zhonghou accepts it, he can make the king and prince gain all the three Chu lands!"

…

On the seventh day of April, exactly two months after Qin Shihuang passed away, the weather in Jiangling was fine.

The four partial divisions sent out by Heifu had only been gone for three days, and they were already receiving frequent good news.

First, Li Cang had made an emergency landing in Jingling, led his troops across the Han River, and made contact with Ji Ying, who was fighting guerrillas in the east of Han Dynasty.

Then, Wu Chen reported back that he had captured Zhijiang and was leading people to Yiling.

Man also took control of Xiaoling and was convening a meeting with the chiefs of the Ba people of Yidao to convey to them the greetings of Marquis Wu Zhong...

Only the captain of Dangyang County refused to surrender, and the captain of the Communist Party was attacking, saying that the city could be conquered at any time!

Just after Heifu finished his military affairs, Lu Jia came to see him and said that he was the only talent he had found after two days of seeking talents.

The short soldiers searched behind them, and then they asked Suihe to approach the outer wall of the small courtyard where Heifu's office was ten steps away. Suihe looked up and down at the narrow and old courtyard, and couldn't help but nod.

"come on in."

Lu Jia appeared at the door, waved to Sui He, and walked through the dense guards to lead him to the backyard, where Hei Fu was sitting, closing his eyes and concentrating after a busy morning.

Sui He bowed three times and said: "Little man Sui He, I would like to pay my respects to Marquis Wu Zhong!"

Heifu opened his eyes: "You really have a Suixian accent."

Suixian is the ancient Suiguo. It is adjacent to Anlu. It is only two days away and over the Hengwei Mountain. The accents are similar. However, because Suixian County was not captured by Qin until thirty years ago, in terms of administrative division, it did not belong to Nanjun, but belonged to Nanyang County.

"Why do you do this great ceremony?"

Sui He said: "The king is in a high position and has won great victories, but he is neither arrogant nor impetuous. He lives in a humble room and enjoys it as if it is sweet rice. He has the demeanor of a benevolent king like Yao, Shun and Yu. This little man pays tribute to the king's benevolence and frugality."

"You are smooth-tongued and very similar to Lu Jia. No wonder he picked you."

Heifu frowned and asked, "You are from Sui County, and you are supposed to be subject to household registration restrictions. Why did you come to Jiangling to vote?"

Sui He said: "The villain is originally a poor scholar from Sui County. He is currently serving as a garrison soldier. He accompanied a group of Nanyang people to escort grain and fodder to Nanjun and stationed in Jiangling."

In the Qin Dynasty, Confucian scholars, like sons-in-law and merchants, were also prioritized for military service.

He paused for a while and then said: "Last month, I heard that the prince had taken Anlu and brought the people across the river. I was sure at that time that the prince would come to take Jiangling later..."

Heifu asked: "How can you see it?"

Sui He said with a smile: "Because Jiangling is the capital of Western Chu, if you get Jiangling, you can take all of Western Chu!"

But Hei Fu shook his head: "It's not surprising what I said afterwards, but Lu Jia said, do you have a plan that can make me get all the three benefits?"

The so-called Three Chu is the name for the hometown of Chu State. According to different directions, Pei, Chen, Runan, Nanjun, Pengcheng and other places in Huaibei are called Western Chu; Donghai, Wu and Kuaiji east of Pengcheng are called East Chu; Jiujiang, Hengshan, Jiangnan Yuzhang, and Changsha are Southern Chu.

In short, the two states of Yu, Gong, Jing and Yang combined accounted for one-third of the world.

Even with Han Xin's talent, he only believed that he should "take Jingzhou as his home first" and had not yet proposed a follow-up strategy. How could he be so brazen and arrogant when he opened his mouth? I don't know whether he was just lying or not.

Hei Fu glanced at Lu Jia, who nodded slightly, but also a little nervous. It seemed that he recognized Sui He's plan, but he didn't know if Hei Fu recognized it.

So Heifu smiled and said, "Then let me hear what you have to say."

Suihe received permission and said:

"It is difficult to seize the Three Chus. The monarchs and princes are strong and sharp, and they have personally risked arrows and stones. They have crossed Yunmeng four times and fought fiercely for two months. At present, they have only captured half of the Southern Chu and a small half of the Western Chu. If you want to rely on It will probably take a year and a half to capture all three Chu states..."

"But it is easy to say, but it is also easy. With my strategy, the color of the land of Chu will change suddenly in more than a month, and everyone will gather to respond. With poor food and scenery, you can get one of the three points in the world!"

Heifu became interested: "Go on."

Sui He said: "The villain secretly thinks that the monarch has raised the wrong banner. Jingnan is not enough to appeal to the people of Chu. If he wants people from all over the country to respond, he should establish a King of Chu and restore the state of Chu!"

…

"Establish a King of Chu?"

After hearing this, Heifu sneered and looked at Lu Jia: "Is this the 'great talent' you recruited for me?"

Lu Jia was a little panicked and quickly bowed his head, breaking out in a cold sweat.

He had known for a long time that the prince might not like whatever strategy he followed, but now, he could only bite the bullet and fight to the end.

After all, Suihe's ideas also won the heart of Lu Jia, a native of Huainan Chu.

Lu Jia begged Sui He for his life and said, "Please, Lord Yun Sui He, please finish what you have said!"

"No need to listen."

But Hei Fu pointed at Sui He and said: "You know, last month, a defector from Wuchang camp named Ge Ying, the commander of the camp, used exactly the same trick as you. After capturing E County, he found E Jun there. His descendants, named Xiang Qiang, were established as kings of Chu and restored the state of Chu."

"But instead of waiting for the response from the Three Chu Lands, they waited for my army to attack. Xiang Qiang had only been the puppet king of Chu for three days, and was killed by my captain Dongmen Leopard. His head was mutilated. Place, hang it on the tower!"

"If I listen to your rotten Confucianism and heart-wrenching remarks, I'm afraid I will end up with the same fate. Yuan Yong, tie this man up and put him in jail!"

Yuan Yong led two short soldiers to drag Sui He, but Sui He hugged the pillar tightly and said the next words in one breath:

"When I say make a king, I don't mean to make someone else a king."

"It's the prince himself who established himself as the King of Chu!"