Qin Official

Although Heifu claimed to have "captured all of Jingzhou", in fact, the Northern Expeditionary Army still did not fully control Dongting County (Qianzhong County) in the Jiangnan region until the end of June.

Dongting County was probably located in western Hunan and western Hubei in later generations. It got its name from the fact that it borders Dongting Lake. To put it bluntly, the entire county is just a long and narrow dam area sandwiched between Wuling Mountain and Xuefeng Mountain. It is nearly a thousand miles from north to south and is crisscrossed by mountains. The main artery that runs through the county is Yuanshui.

The Yuanshui River has five main tributaries, which are called Xiongxi (Wushui), Manxi (Quishui), Youxi (Youshui), Luoxi (敕水), and Chenxi (Chenshui) by the local indigenous Bapu barbarians. Therefore, this place is also called the "Land of Five Streams".

Marquis Wu Zhong sent two armies to attack Dongting County. One was Sima Man, who went south from Yidao (Yidu, Hubei), and the other was Zhao Tuo, who went north from Guilin via Tancheng (Tongdao County, Hunan). It stands to reason that a pincer attack from the north and south can take place in ten months. The reason why the progress is so slow is not only the resistance policy adopted by the Dongting County Governor and Lieutenant, but also because of the rudimentary roads and crisscrossing mountains in the county...

Qianling County is the most remote county in Dongting County. 90% of the local population are Puyue barbarians, and only 11% of the residents are all residents. It is built next to the river, close to the You River, and uses it as a moat, which is more than ten feet high. The rammed earth city wall is two hundred paces from east to west and more than a hundred paces from north to south. It is more like a military camp than a county town.

But although the sparrow is small, it has all the internal organs. Qianling County has a complete set of rules and regulations, which is no worse than that of the large counties in the Central Plains. The officials are also serious and responsible. Although the only way to communicate with the outside world is to ask the postman to run errands and come in and out once a month. .

Therefore, the news here often lags behind the outside world by one to two months.

The postman dutifully rushed on the road day after day, taking away the documents for moving the mausoleum and bringing back news from various places. I don’t know from which day he found that whenever he brought back letters, the faces of the county leaders would become more solemn. The atmosphere became increasingly tense.

It is no wonder that the officials are not worried. In the past three months, there has been no good news: first in May, there were police in Lingyang (Cili, Hunan) and Linyuan (Changde, Hunan), and the Nanjun rebels were attacking there. . Then in June, Chenyang (Chenxi, Hunan) and Xinwuling (Xupu, Hunan) in the south were in crisis. It seemed that Tan City Fortress was also captured by the Lingnan rebels.

Until a few days ago, even greater bad news came. Linyuan, the county seat, had fallen, and Yuanling, the gateway to Qianling, had also surrendered. The rebels were still marching westward along the You River to capture Qianling County - a city that was still loyal to the Qianling County in the end. The small town of Qin Ting.

People in the county were in panic. All the local barbarian princes had fled, leaving only three chief officials from Guanzhong who stayed at their posts with more than a hundred county soldiers.

The county captain's name is "Jing". He just came back from outside the city:

"County Lord, the three townships of Duxiang, Qiling and Erchun have also been completely cut off. They may have been captured by the rebels. County Lord, we only have this small town left."

"How many rebels are there?"

The county magistrate's name is "Ba". He has served in the county for ten years and has always done his best. Unexpectedly, he encountered something like this.

"At least two thousand..." The county captain was a little desperate. This number was twice the population of the county.

"It seems that the Qianling Tomb can no longer be defended."

The county magistrate whispered from the side: "I heard that the rebellion was caused by Marquis Wu Zhong claiming that the First Emperor was killed by his treacherous minister and rebellious son. He was using the banner of Jingnan, not rebellion..."

The implication is that they followed the general trend and surrendered to Kaicheng. Anyway, all Jingzhou has fallen, and only the small county of Qianling is left in Dongting County. How can they act like a chariot with a mantis' arm?

"The laws and orders are in order. I only recognize the documents from the county government and Xianyang. No matter what Wu Zhonghou's reasons are, he is just the commander-in-chief of the southern expedition. He does not respect the orders of Xianyang. He privately raises troops, seizes counties and towns, and establishes his own family. Isn’t this rebellion?”

But the county magistrate Ba was a man who accepted death. Although he had no confidence in resisting the rebels, he still had to fulfill his final duty. He gritted his teeth and said: "Take out all the documents and burn them all before the rebels enter the city!"

…

Because of its remote location, Qianling County has not caught up with the trend of Xianyang and Jiangling, and still uses the old bamboo slips. Most people in the county do not know what paper is.

Large bundles of bamboo slips were moved out of the official office. They were all precious archives preserved in Qianling County for many years. There were hundreds of thousands of bamboo slips, filling several rooms. They dated from the 25th year of the Qin Dynasty to the third year of the First Emperor. For seventeen years, the records were recorded in detail down to the month and day, continuously.

And its content is all-encompassing, involving household registration, land reclamation, land rent and taxes, labor and corvee, warehousing money and grain, military supplies, roads and ferries, post management, slave trading, judicial documents, prison management, and sacrifices to ancestors. Agriculture and related government decrees.

Everyone gathered behind the county temple, and the light from the firewood pile reflected their uneasy expressions. Seeing each scroll of slips being thrown into the fire and burned, the county magistrate's face would twitch.

Every word, every brief, is a bit of the past ten years, and is the diligent work of Qin officials.

But there is no way, destroying documents, this is the last duty of a Qin official, which originated before unification.

At that time, officials in border counties would be repeatedly warned by the Yushifu. If the city they were guarding was forced by the enemy, the simple documents must not fall into the hands of the enemy!

They are like the big data of a region. Every detail is recorded. They are the basis of government administration. Destroying them is equivalent to destroying the cornerstone of governance. Unless it takes several years or even ten years to re-survey the fields, Statistics on household registration, otherwise, we can only maintain extensive rule.

These bamboo slips and documents are the secret of Qin’s ability to dominate the world...

But there are too many slips and slips, and the archives have been accumulated for more than ten years. Even when the rebels came to the city, many of them were still unburned.

The county magistrate looked at the dry well behind him and said, "Throw down all the unburned wells."

Everyone had no choice but to throw the unburned slips into the deep well outside the official office. No one said a word during the whole process. Only the loud shouts of the rebels outside the city and the low whimpering of Youshui not far away, for the imminent arrival of the mausoleum. Sighing at the fate.

Calm returned to the wellhead, and the county magistrate gave an order, and earth and rocks were thrown in, finally filling the wellhead tightly...

After doing this, the county magistrate breathed a sigh of relief and glanced around. There were fewer people left. The county magistrate who wanted to surrender to the enemy had long since disappeared. The county magistrate Jing was also gone. He said he was going to organize everyone to fight against the enemy, but who knew? Maybe he ran to open the city gate and surrendered?

In fact, even if it cannot be opened and the wall is no more than ten feet high, the enemy can easily break through the city.

"Let's break up."

The county magistrate said helplessly.

"County Lord!" The postman, the stingy man, and the servants all fell to their knees, confused and at a loss.

He ordered: "After a while, you go out and join the rebels, and say that I did everything."

"Officials, the superiors must be worthy of the imperial court, and the subordinates must be worthy of the people in the jurisdiction. I have fulfilled my final duty and destroyed the documents to live up to the imperial court. However, I will not insist on going my own way and tie up the entire city's soldiers and civilians to die together. Let's go quickly, go quickly..."

He waved everyone away, and finally looked back at the filled well.

There are still more than 30,000 slips thrown in that were too late to be burned. I wonder if it is possible for it to be opened again and see the light of day again?

"No more, just like me."

Ba sighed and walked into the deserted county temple alone.

A moment later, when the Guilin soldiers entered the Qianling County Temple, they only saw Ba wearing official uniform and committing suicide in the hall. The blood flowing all over the ground stained his black official uniform...

As an intellectual, the military judge was knowledgeable. He was busy looking for the slips and documents, but found nothing and was so anxious that he jumped up and down.

The leader only focused on fighting and didn't have to worry about it. He sat directly on the couch and pointed at Ba's body arrogantly: "That's him!"

"General Zhao Bi said that according to the order of Marquis Wu Zhong, every county will kill a cruel official. Since the county captain and the prime minister surrendered, and the county magistrate committed suicide in fear of crime, let him be chosen! The head of this person will be hanged on the city wall. !”

…

In the great era of great changes, what the world cares about is the hegemony of princes, warriors competing on the battlefield, and think tanks wrestling for power. In a small place like Qianling County, the story of a "cruel official" and tens of thousands of Qin bamboo slips is not worth mentioning. Mention it.

Just like a small village at the foot of Wuling Mountain on the bank of Yuanshui River a hundred miles away from Qianling County, the villagers saw the army passing by frequently, and looked at their families, wives and daughters with eyes like wolves, and they couldn't help but feel frightened.

Although they came and went in a hurry, the soldiers who were restrained by the military judge and had malicious intentions were punished on the spot.

But two of the female family members had already been insulted, and no one dared to put their whole family's lives on the line of military discipline.

So, in order to avoid the war and possible plunder, dozens of Guizhou leaders gathered in a small village supported the old and the young, walked along the stream, and came to a peach blossom forest. When the forest was exhausted, there was a mountain. There is a small mouth, as if there is light. Then leave the boat and enter through the mouth...

Dozens of people just disappeared into the cave of Peach Blossom Spring, and no one saw them come out again...

In troubled times, human life is as cheap as grass, and the disappearance of a small gathering is not worth mentioning.

The only thing worth mentioning is that on the first day of July, Zhao Tuo, the former South Expeditionary Army general, slowly entered Linyuan (Changde, Hunan) with thousands of Guilin soldiers.

In the past two months from May to now, I don’t know how many things have happened outside, but Zhao Tuo has just captured Dongting County. The speed is as fast as a turtle crawling. Even though the mountains and rivers in Dongting County are dangerous and the roads are difficult to travel, the more important reason is that Yes, Zhao Tuo still had some thoughts in his mind, so he did not rush the soldiers and deliberately slowed down...

It can be said that Zhao Tuo was tied to Heifu's chariot. On the one hand, he was worried about whether his clan in the north would be implicated. On the other hand, he still had doubts about whether the "Northern Expedition Army" could achieve the final victory. .

No, as soon as he arrived in Linyuan, he asked his cronies to inquire about something from the people from the north.

"Wang Ben and Marquis Wu Zhong faced off in Nanyang. What was the outcome?"

Not long after, the confidant came back, but he was escorted...

Zhao Tuo couldn't help being shocked, but the person who came was on the orders of Hei Fu, and Linyuan's army was marching south to Quji. A long way away, Quji laughed and said:

"General Zhao Bi, it took you two months to capture Dongting County with 10,000 troops. Hundreds of thousands of troops faced off in a decisive battle. Famous generals competed on the battlefield. It took a long time for armies to confront each other and to show off their tactics. How can the winner be determined so quickly?”

…

PS: Chapter 2 is at night