Qin Official

A major case just broke out in Xianyang, but Beidi County remained calm as usual.

Later generations said that the north wind blows the white grass on the ground and breaks it, and the sky is full of snow in August.

Although this statement is an exaggeration, in mid-December of the lunar calendar, almost the entire Beidi County was covered by heavy snow, especially at the foot of Helan Mountain. It was several feet thick and crushed many tents.

At this time, even the fur-covered cattle and sheep can only rely on hay stored in autumn to satisfy their hunger. People are not allowed to go out and can only stay in felt tents.

But in this lonely winter, on the other side of the river in Suanjuan County (Zhongning, Ningxia), a small tribe hiding in a mountain nest heard questions and answers.

The Lord's voice was lazy, and there were long intervals between each sentence: "Ask, your father raised an army in February of the thirty-seventh year of Qin Shihuang."

"If he destroyed Hu Hai in November of the 39th year of Qin Shihuang."

"How long did this civil war last?"

The child's voice was clear and loud, but with a hint of impatience:

"One year and nine months!"

The super fat man, whose body occupied almost half of the felt tent, stroked his beard and said with a smile: "Why?"

Opposite me was a young man with shaved hair and pigtails who looked like a beard. He was about nine years old, but he spoke standard Guanzhong dialect: "In Zhuanxu's calendar, tenth month is the first month. Master, do you really think I am a beard? It's so simple. Do you still need to teach me about the problem?”

As he spoke, the young man stood up angrily, wanting to end today's study.

The big fat man held him down with a smile: "Okay, I'll ask you a difficult question!"

But I saw him shaking his head: "Today, there are people buying things together. Each person contributes eight yuan, and there is a surplus of three yuan; each person contributes seven yuan, and there is less than four yuan. How many people are there, and what are the prices?"

The young man opened his mouth and clapped his fingers again. His mind went blank and he was a little irritated. He said angrily: "Master has never taught me, so I don't know!"

As the best person in mathematics in the world, the fat man Zhang Cang said proudly: "The answer is: seven people, the price is 53 yuan. Do you want to know why? Come on, Polu, and sit down. I haven't taught you before. Today I Let me teach you, this is the surplus algorithm in the Nine Chapters of Arithmetic, there are two solutions..."

"I don't care how many ways it can be solved!"

Wei Polu was anxious, scratched his head and said:

"I don't want to learn mathematics anymore. My head hurts. I'm the son of Marquis Wu Zhong. I'm not in business, nor am I an official specializing in business. I just need to know how to count. Why do I need to learn so complicated things?"

"Do you still know that you are the son of Marquis Wu Zhong?"

Zhang Cang slapped the abacus in his hand, pointed at Feixue outside the door with a straight face and said: "From summer to autumn, you have been riding horses and shooting arrows with those Hu'er Rongzi, but you have not studied and learned mathematics. Could it be that you really want to do something in the future?" Hu Qi, charge into battle? Is this the ambition of the son of Marquis Wu Zhong? Back then, although your father was not from a high family background, he was good at studying. He often asked me for advice. How much of his achievements today were achieved by fighting in battle himself? of?"

"Now that the country is divided into north and south, the Northern Expeditionary Army is blocked outside the pass. I don't know when Xianyang will be captured and Jingnan will be successful. You are hiding in the north of the Great Wall. Since I am your father's friend, I must teach you carefully. You can't wait a few years before you will be defeated. When you returned it to him, everyone in the world said that Zhang Cang was the most knowledgeable person in the world, but he taught a rude and illiterate person!"

This pair of masters and apprentices were Zhang Cang and Wei Polu. When Ye Zijin left for Xianyang last year, he took his youngest son to Hanzhong and went south to avoid being blamed for the whole family. However, he asked Sang Mu to take his eldest son Polu to the north, hoping to rely on He has connections with Heifu's old men and is hiding outside the Great Wall in a sparsely populated area.

Even if one side is unfortunately killed, Hei Fu can still be left behind.

After the two came north, they were first hidden by Zhang Han. Soon after, Zhang Cang also escaped. Following Hu Hai's succession to the throne, Heifu's relatives and friends were vigorously liquidated. As a result, Zhang Han and many military officials in the north had their seals and fled.

Outside the Great Wall in the North was an area where the imperial rule was weak, and the people who fled were sheltered by another "big man" and hid in the counties under the Helan Mountains.

These counties are called counties, but they are actually tribes that dispersed after the Rong of Great Plains in the North moved over. They moved frequently and it was difficult to track their whereabouts. Zhang Cang also carefully shaved Polu into a Rongdi hairstyle and asked him to learn to speak Rong language. If something happened, , he can continue to escape.

As a result, I was able to stay in hiding for more than half a year. During this period, the imperial court also sent people to look for me, but they were notified in advance by some "big shot", so I had to move.

Wei Polu was scolded and he lowered his head and said, "Master, I was wrong."

Zhang Cang's attitude softened slightly: "Polu, you don't like to learn poetry, calligraphy, laws, and regulations, and you don't like math, so what do you want to learn?"

Polu raised his head, his eyes sparkling: "I want to learn the art of war. Even if there are ten thousand enemies, I can become a captain in the future and help my father fight against rebellion!"

Zhang Cang rolled his eyes and patted the belly that he couldn't lose due to eating beef and mutton in the North: "The art of war? Zhang Han knows it, but he is not here, as for me?"

"In the past, Duke Ling of Wei asked Confucius about Chen, and Confucius said to him: 'Things about Zu Dou have only been heard of, but military matters have not yet been learned.' Confucius was like this. After his death, Confucius learned from him, and so am I, so I don't You know the art of war, you’ve got the wrong person.”

Po Lu was begging for nothing and sat down and said, "The master will teach me some other knowledge that I am good at. Didn't Sang Mu and the others say that the master is well-read and can do anything?"

For example, even if you don’t know the art of war, you must have read it or even memorized it?

"What knowledge am I good at?"

Zhang Cang was greatly praised, but he shook his head: "You are only nine years old, I'm afraid it won't be good for you to learn that kind of thing."

But Polu was very motivated: "My father said that if you have ambitions, you will not grow taller, but if you don't have ambitions, you will live a hundred years in vain!"

"Okay, be ambitious!"

Zhang Cang turned to look at the two people sitting at the door of the tent warming themselves by the fire: "Sang Mu, Guan Ying, are there any women in this poor place? Find me one, no, two. I will show off my skills today and teach the young gentleman Polu My best skill in controlling women!"

Sang Mu is Hei Fu's personal charioteer. He talks little but is very loyal. He smiled awkwardly when he heard this.

Guan Ying on the other side was originally a hawker in Suiyang. He had been commended by Hei Fu for his large-scale production in the north, so he became an official. Later, he was appreciated by Zhang Han and promoted to the rank of Master of the Cavalry 500. Zhang Han was implicated by Hei Fu and dismissed from office. Then ran away.

Guan Ying had a more lively personality and had long been used to Zhang Cang's dirty jokes, so he laughed and said, "There are only Hu Nu Rong Nu who smell like old goats and are old and ugly. How about Zhang Jun?"

Zhang Cang was like a frustrated ball, waving his hands and saying: "No, no, once is enough."

Wei Polu knew that Master was talking nonsense again, so he blushed, shrank his head, and muttered after a while: "Master, when will my father be able to break into Guanzhong?"

"Soon."

Zhang Cang sighed: "Even if he doesn't come to pick you up, he still has to come to pick up my good brother?"

Polu rolled his eyes: "Master, I remember that you are not among my father's sworn brothers!"

Zhang Cang sneered and said: "Although we are not sworn brothers, we are better than brothers. When your father married your mother, who drove the car for him? It was me!"

He grabbed Polu's ears and laughed: "You can still have children without a son, especially if you have more concubines, you can have ten or eight children a year, but without a brother, it's like having your limbs cut off and they will never grow back." Oh! Polu, in this case, am I more important to your father than you?"

"If Master is so fat that he can crush three sheep to death, how can he not be too heavy?"

Polu bared his teeth and ran away, made a face at Zhang Cang, and ran out of the tent. He would rather roll in the snow than stay in the same tent with such a greasy fat man again.

Seeing the young gentleman's furious expression, Guan Ying burst out laughing, and Sang Mu grinned. This depressing life in exile was made more interesting by the daily bickering between the master and the disciple.

After Polu left, Zhang Cang suppressed his smile, looked at the tent door blown up by the cold wind and laughed at himself: "Actually, the snowy weather is not bad."

"We can't go out. The court's hawks and dogs... uh, Xianyang's lackeys... Hey, could I be thinking about Hei Fu today? Why do I keep mentioning him?"

Living in the north of the Great Wall, with heavy snow blocking the mountains, and no books to read, Zhang Cang was afraid that he would go crazy if he didn't enjoy himself in hardship!

Picking up a piece of hard cheese, Zhang Cang gnawed on it, but began to miss the delicious food, wine and beauties of Xianyang:

"No matter what, at least in the snow, no one will come to search for Suo Na and us. We will be safe until the snow melts!"

…

As Zhang Cang said, the snow came at the right time. More than a month ago, Zhang Ao, who was ordered by Zhao Gao and Yan Le to rush to the north with hundreds of people to hunt for the son of the black husband, was also trapped by the heavy snow, and went to Heli in embarrassment. At the foot of Lanshan Mountain, we retreated to Yiqucheng (Qingyang, Gansu Province), the county capital of Beidi.

As soon as they arrived at Yiqu City, Zhang Ao became furious and summoned the local people who secretly reported to the court.

"Gongsun Bailu, how dare you lie to me!"

Zhang Ao was furious and relied on himself as the envoy of Xianyang to boss around Gongsun Bailuyi who was twice his age.

"I sent people to search every tribe under Helan Mountain, but Zhang Han, Zhang Cang, and the traitor Tie Zi are not in Fuping or Lingwu!"

Gongsun Bailu was also Heifu's old subordinate when he was in the north. He was dismissed from office because of Heifu's involvement. However, unlike his clan brother Yiqu Bailang who gritted his teeth and followed Zhang Han outside the Great Wall, he stayed and took refuge. Xianyang.

Seeing Zhang Ao's pursuit, he sneered and said: "Not to mention that Helan Mountain is connected to the desert outside and the Xiongnu to the north. If Zhang Han wants to, he can run away at any time. Just say that there are people from his generation in Beidi County to protect him, and Xianyang also sent people in the past Suo has taken it several times, and he often gets the news first and transfers it in advance, so how can he catch it?"

Zhang Ao asked: "Who dares to protect them?"

Gongsun Bailu said: "I know it, but does your envoy dare to arrest him?"

"I have His Majesty issuing an edict. If you dare to speak, I will arrest you!"

Zhang Ao's eyes were red, and the private parts that had been castrated in his early years seemed to be aching again. Being sent to hunt down Heifu's eldest son this time was a rare opportunity for revenge. Although he promised to keep his life, it would not hurt to take something from the boy as a souvenir.

"Then I will tell you. I hope your envoy will not be frightened."

Gongsun Bailu said with a smile: "A few months ago, this man was named Lord Wushi by the second emperor because he spent 20 million yuan to support the young master."

"He was the favorite minister of the First Emperor, the nine ministers who retired from old age, and the richest man in the world after the death of his widow Qing."

Zhang Ao suddenly changed his color and started to fight!

"You mean..."

"Wu Shiluo!?"