Qin Official

The news of Yang Xi's return alarmed all of them. The fathers and sons of the village, led by Li Zheng and the field officials, greeted them outside the inner gate.

Several old Qin soldiers who came back first saluted Yang Xi: "If Uncle Yang hadn't led us to surrender, we would probably never be able to return to this day."

Not all the surrendered soldiers were repatriated. The group of lieutenants who resisted the Northern Expedition in Du County to the end were regarded as negative examples and had to work in Xianyang until the autumn before being released.

However, the Ningqin soldiers who were the first to lay down their weapons were treated almost the same as the Northern Expeditionary Army.

And in the Battle of Xihe, they faced the scouts of the bandits from the Six Kingdoms and pointed their swords at each other, proving that their courage was not surrendering out of cowardice, but surrendering for the sake of righteousness!

The elders in the village also praised it endlessly. A few dozen miles to the north of Ningqin is Xihe, and fifty miles to the northeast is Fenglingdu. In July, Xihe was brutally invaded by a group of soldiers from the Six Kingdoms. They killed and looted wantonly, and many Xihe people fled across the water. Enter Ningqin.

And a group of bandits from the Six Nations are also roaming at Fengling Ferry. Ningqin Police, most of their children are serving abroad, leaving only the old, weak, women and children who may not be able to resist. Fortunately, the Dongmen Leopard Division of the Northern Expeditionary Army arrived in time and drove away the bandits. There are still two thousand soldiers stationed at Fenglingdu to prevent the Six Kingdoms from disturbing Qinzhong.

The world is changing so fast. The former "rebels" in the south have now transformed into "righteous soldiers". They are also helping the people of Ningqin to protect their homeland and fighting side by side with the local children. The people of Ningqin scratched their heads in disbelief. , but quickly accepted this fact.

At the inner gate, Yang Xi inevitably promoted Wu Zhonghou's policies and agreed to Li Zheng's invitation to a banquet tomorrow. Then, surrounded by his two younger brothers, he drove home.

After the compliments faded away, his second brother Yang Le took the time to tell Yang Xi:

"My mother's foot hurts and she can't come to pick up my uncle."

"Are you sick again?"

Yang Xi felt sad for a while. It was not easy for his mother to raise the three brothers after their father died. The family had a noble family, and it was considered a middle-class family. It was neither poor nor rich, but it gave birth to three boys in succession and had a large appetite. It’s also a bit difficult.

In order to feed the three brothers, in addition to tending the fields and spinning clothes, my mother also had to go to the river to collect shrimps and crabs. As she grew older, she developed leg and foot pain, especially in rainy days and cold winters. The ground felt as if it had been pricked with needles.

It's only the Mid-Autumn Festival now, so she can't stay and move around. It seems that her illness is worse than in previous years.

"It's all my fault for not being able to be by my mother's side."

Yang Xi's eyes were filled with heat, but he immediately felt confident:

"My house is humid and humid. Now that I am a public servant, I can build a big house again. It's time to move. When I build a new house, I must build a big room for my mother in a high place, with a fire pit."

Yang Le muttered: "But there is no money at home..."

Yang Xi threw a heavy bag into his arms and said with a smile: "I have received a huge reward, so don't worry. I will immediately invite a doctor tomorrow to diagnose and treat my mother!"

The three brothers walked along a bumpy road and arrived in front of a house that had not been repaired for a long time. The five-acre house was covered with mulberry trees, and their mother, who had gray hair and looked thin, was standing under the mulberry tree fence.

Although the mother's legs and feet were swollen and painful and she could not go to the inner gate, she still wanted to see her eldest son as soon as possible. She waited for a long time leaning on a wooden stick. When she saw that Yang Xi had returned safely and was dressed in official clothes, she couldn't help but burst into tears with joy, saying that it was her late husband's blessing.

Yang Xi asked his two younger brothers and the servant who drove him to unload the two carts, only to see that there was a cart of grain, corn, wheat flour, and more than ten pieces of silk...

He said: "The reward money was too much, so I exchanged it for carriages, horses, grain, and cloth at the Xianyang market. The cloth spun at home was only enough for my three brothers to wear. My mother has not made new clothes for herself for many years."

After saying that, he walked to Anche, where the curtain was still closed, and whispered in a low voice: "My home is here, please come down quickly!"

The curtain moved slightly, but a young woman slowly got out of the car.

She is in her twenties, has a slim figure and a beautiful appearance. She is wearing a bright silk dress. She has piercings in her earlobes, but the gold and jade jewelry she once had is gone. A pair of embroidered shoes are stepping on the dirty dirt road.

Yang Xi's two younger brothers stared at this heavenly woman with wide eyes, feeling ashamed and restricted in their coarse linen clothes.

Looking at the rickety old woman and the dilapidated mansion in front of her, the woman's big eyes were a little uneasy and disappointed, but she still bowed to Mother Yang and called her "mother".

Mother Yang quickly stepped aside: "This is..."

Yang Xi was quite proud: "She is your bride."

Although at first, he just glanced at her while escorting the group of women, unexpectedly, he was discovered by the guard captain Ji Ying.

"As soon as Hu Hai died, he would be left alone and helpless. He would be sent to a distant palace to be resettled. He would be worshiped like a commoner. With this appearance and figure, he will grow old from now on. I feel pity for him when I see him..."

After some encouragement from Ji Ying, Yang Xi vaguely proposed to the young master that he wanted to take her as his bride, and was approved surprisingly smoothly.

Yang's mother was a little surprised. There were rumors recently that all the children from other families had returned, but Yang Xi had not returned for a long time. She was afraid that if he was promoted to a high official in Xianyang, he would have to marry a palace wife. She only believed the former but not the latter. Unexpectedly, this is the case.

This woman was too beautiful to live a good life. Mother Yang was a little uneasy. She pulled Yang Xi and whispered: "My son, is this really a maid in the emperor's palace? You brought her back like this, do you really think everything is fine?"

"Mother."

But what Yang Xi said next completely frightened the honest mother Yang.

"She is no ordinary palace lady."

"But the concubine of the false emperor Hu Hai!"

…

"We claim to the outside world that there are as many as two thousand beauties in the Qin Palace, but in fact, the number under the jurisdiction of the Ye Ting Order is only over a thousand."

At this moment, sitting in front of Hei Fu, the young master Zhang Cang was reporting on the achievements of the young master's reforms in these days.

"Half of those beauties were the daughters of nobles in Guanzhong. Those who could be sent home went home. The other half, about four to five hundred people, came from various counties in Guandong. Since there was no way to send them back due to the chaos in the east, they were acquired by meritorious generals. From the general to the five hundred masters, everyone will be divided..."

Even the surrendered generals such as Luo Jia, Li Bi, and Yang Xi were each assigned a woman, either as a wife or as a concubine. It was like receiving a surrender certificate. If you want to avoid being counterattacked, you will have no choice but to fall to the ground. Support Heifu's regime.

It is surprising that Heihu himself did not take a daughter.

For Zhang Cang, the biggest benefit of doing this is to save the Shaofu's expenses.

He stroked his beard and said: "Xianyang people often say that there are so many beauties in the palace. Opening the mirror is like stars twinkling, combing the bun is like green clouds. The discarded rouge water can make the Wei River become greasy. It costs a lot.”

"But after all the married people were repatriated, more than a thousand beauties and ten thousand palace people were scattered, and those who remained had to be engaged in weaving, starching, and washing, just like the servants of the eunuchs of Huangmen, Taiguan Ling, and Tang Guanling, supporting themselves. The Shaofu can at least save tens of millions of dollars every year..."

"And from now on, if we no longer have to repair the palaces, we can save tens of millions of money and eliminate the labor of tens of thousands of people!"

After Zhang Cang finished speaking happily, he saw Hei Fu sitting there casually in a daze, as if his mind was wandering. He was suddenly dissatisfied, sat up straight, and said loudly:

"May I ask the regent, how do you feel about this?"

"I'm thinking."

Only then did Hei Fu come back to his senses and said with a smile: "A year ago, Hu Hai issued an order that if the late emperor had no children in his harem, it would be inappropriate to do so. All of them would be ordered to die. Many people died."

"Could it be that there is also an intention to save the young master's expenses?"

When the prisoners in Lishan rioted, some of them were greedy and dug some burial pits for the imperial mausoleums. Most of them were small tombs buried relatively shallowly. After Heifu took control of Lishan, those who found the pits were all executed for the crime of tomb robbing. But when his men went to refill the burial pit, the rewards were shocking.

"There are more than a hundred tombs containing young women. Their clothes, silk and jewelry have not yet completely decayed. It can be seen that their skulls were severely injured or stabbed to death with sharp weapons. Most of them were concubines of the First Emperor in the palace, who were lured to the mausoleum and killed. Some were simply buried directly in the tomb fill instead of in the tomb..."

Hundreds of innocent women died in this way. I wonder, is this what Qin Shihuang wanted to see?

Compared with the first emperor's concubines, Hu Hai's concubines and palace concubines are not perfect, but they are lucky to have a destination.

And Hei Fu also revealed the reason why his wife was unlucky, had nothing to gain, and did not have a daughter.

"Of course it's not because of henpecking!" After being teased by Zhang Cang, Heifu defended himself:

"When I act in government, I have to be the opposite of Hu Hai in every aspect."

"Hu Hai was anxious, but I was slow; Hu Hai was violent, and I was benevolent; Hu Hai repeatedly added gifts, but I reduced them; in the palace, Hu Hai died without leaving, but I went out and married them off."

"Hu Hai doesn't keep his word, but I keep my word. Hu Hai is selfish and keeps more women in the palace, but I am selfless and don't take any of them."

"Let the world see: I will have no self, and I will live up to the expectations of the common people..."

Zhang Cang was still snickering at first, but later he became serious: "In this way, how can Fan Chang show the difference of the New Deal and make people in the world feel refreshed and trust the government again? Hei Fu has really good intentions!"

But he immediately asked a new problem facing the young man:

"Since all the people in the Beauty Palace have left, many palaces in Guanzhong are empty. Except for Epang, which will be used as a collection of books and studies in the future, and Xianyang Palace, which will be used by the ministers to handle government affairs, should the other palaces be left idle and abandoned, or should they be used for other purposes?"

…

ps: Chapter 2 is at night. 【 .】