Qin Official

"I look forward to your return every day."

On the first day of March, in the west city of Xianyang, Heifu was waiting for Xiao Tao, whom he had not seen for several months. Behind him was a long team, some of the lieutenants who had gone south when they settled in Bashu. They were escorting the goods from Bashu. The carts and carts of Sichuan brocade are rich in color, the patterns have strong Bashu characteristics, and there are also heavy copper coins strung into strings and packed in boxes...

Bowing in front of Hei Fu, Xiao Tao also stumbled and reported the current situation of Shu County: "Regent... Regent, Jinguan City has resumed production, and there is even night work."

Shu brocade is the flagship product of Shu County. Although there is a lot of silk circulating in the world, after two years of war, brocade production in the Central Plains was interrupted, and the peaceful Shu region took the opportunity to occupy the market.

As the saying goes, "embroidered ducks and brocades, lotus algae and inscriptions" are very popular among the upper class. At present, not only the inventory during the war has been shipped out, but the weaver girls in Shu County are still producing continuously. In order to meet the demand, they continue to be gathered together to weave even at night.

As a luxury product, Shu brocade can be spent as currency and exchanged for food. After the promulgation of Heifu's new business policy, and more than 20 years after Qin Shi Huang took office, the wealthy businessmen in Luoyang and Hedong were forced to show off for a long time... no, consumption prices expanded sharply.

They are happy to exchange grain for the world-famous Sichuan brocade - the wealthy businessmen must think clearly. If they must hold on to the grain without exchanging it, unwarranted charges and Heifu's big scissors may follow.

In addition to Shu brocade, what the court urgently needed was copper coins.

"I didn't expect Yan Dao Tongshan to be produced so soon."

Heifu was very satisfied with the speed of Xiao Tao and Li Ling. Yan Dao was in Yingjing County, Sichuan in later generations. There was a large copper mountain, and no one knew how much mineral deposits it contained. I only know that starting from the Silkworm Cong and Yufu in the ancient Shu Kingdom, the Shu people have fought countless wars with surrounding tribes for it, and for thousands of years, the slag left over from mining and smelting has been scattered all over the mountains and plains. Most of the brilliant copper materials of cultural relics in Sanxingdui and Jinsha still lying quietly underground came from here...

This was also the main source of raw materials for the entire Qin State to cast weapons and half-liang coins before Qin destroyed Chu. Historically, during the Han Dynasty, Deng Tong, a favorite of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, cast coins in Yandao. There is still a proverb: "Deng's money" , all over the world."

But now, it is cheaper for Heifu.

The sealed wooden box was pried open. In addition to the shock-absorbing straw, it was filled with strings of heavy "five baht coins." Because half a tael of coins was still a little too big to use and inconvenient to exchange, Hei Fu asked the young man to send someone. He went to Shu County and used the local Tongshan to mint a new kind of money, which weighed five baht and was called "new money". It circulated at the same time as the old money, and it was stipulated that two new coins should be exchanged for one old coin.

It seems that Heifu was too poor at mathematics and made a miscalculation, but that's how coinage works. It has no value in itself. Its value is stipulated in the government contract, and it is whatever Heifu prices it.

What's more, the five-baht coin was quite beautifully minted, and the proportion of copper coins was reasonable. It was not shoddily made to reduce costs. It had four seal characters written on it, "The First Year of the Regency." Although there was a small difference in value, Heifu did not look like it. Zhao and Wei were generally good at minting large coins, one coin worth a thousand, and amassing money like crazy.

These new money will be used to purchase excess grain from the people of Guanzhong. With the efforts of the Shaofu and Zhi Su Neishi, the price of grain is reduced to one hundred yuan per stone. Each family retains enough rations, and the government forcibly purchases it at a fair price, and then the government will Zhisu internal history is stored in warehouses in various places and transported to Kanto via relay to support Han Xin and Dongmen Bao, as well as Heifu’s 100,000-strong army that is about to be recruited...

In fact, Shu County also produces a large amount of grain, but as a bulk cargo, it is not suitable for walking on the plank road. It is more convenient to transport it to Jiangling, and then deliver it to Hengshan, which is undergoing restoration of construction. It provides relief to refugees who were harassed by Xiang Yu and who were far away from home, as well as those stationed in Nanyang. The army helps Guanzhong share part of the military rations.

There is enough money and food, and the conditions for launching a unification war are being met one by one, but what Heifu looks forward to most is actually Xiao Tao himself.

"In Shu County, there is Li Ling, whose ancestors and grandchildren have been officials of Shu for three generations. In Ba County, there is Zhou Chang with a strong character. In Hanzhong, there is a good position. Liangzhou has no worries."

"On the Xianyang side, Xiao He is steady, Zhang Cang is knowledgeable, and Lu Jia is resourceful, but they are all civil servants. I need a trustworthy military official to guard Guanzhong when I go east."

Xiao Tao was undoubtedly the best candidate. Heifu had appointed him as a "lieutenant" earlier. He was in charge of Xunjingshi and was the garrison commander of the capital, equivalent to Jinwu and the nine admirals.

Extraordinary measures are used in extraordinary times, and Heifu gave Xiao Tao even greater power.

"Han Xin is Lang Zhongling, Dongmen Bao is a guard, and Zhao Tuo is the internal historian, but they are all generals outside. Their responsibilities, the entire internal history, the defense of Xianyang, and the safety of my family members are all left to you, the lieutenant. I can bear it!"

Xiao Tao uttered the word "nuo" heavily. After so many years, he still stuttered when speaking, but this word was spoken extremely clearly and succinctly!

Hei Fu understood that Xiao Tao looked much more reliable than he himself. In the early years when Hei Fu was still the pavilion chief, Xiao Tao would pretend to be a group of people in the blind mountain and frighten the mob.

During the period of the destruction of Chu, as Heifu's right-hand man, Xiaotao did not have the courage of the East Gate or the wisdom of Lixian, but he was always the one holding a bow and arrow and silently guarding Heifu. He was not good at attacking, but whenever someone wanted to harm his companions, He would stop him without hesitation.

After that, he guarded Changsha, settled Bashu, and supported the military operations in Xiangyang and Wuguan. Xiao Tao always worked hard and never let Heifu down.

For such a person, Heifu felt comfortable leaving his back to him.

What's more, in addition to Xiao Tao guarding the public as a lieutenant, Ji Ying and Hei Bingtai, as shadows, are assisting Xiao Tao in the dark. They will sniff out all traitors and eliminate them together!

One light and one dark are enough to control the situation in Xianyang.

And those who stayed were about to leave. Ji Ying soon came to report that Ziying had left Xianyang...

Ziying has become a lot more honest since being given the meaningful title of "Chang'an Jun" by Hei Fu.

As Zongzheng, he carried out the orders issued by Heifu meticulously, including moving the young master to be a general and the third young master to go to Lingnan to become the lord of a small town, as well as expelling the Yan family from the clan who had "conspired to rebel". Yes, it seems that he is afraid that he will end up in the same fate.

But Heifu has never been at ease with the person who killed Hu Hai. He must eliminate all hidden dangers, but he doesn't want to face a sudden change inside when the outcome is difficult to determine.

So Heifu announced that Zongzheng Ziying should go to Xichui Palace in Longxi County to worship the ancestors of Ying Qin. Although Xicui was the place where the Qin people flourished, it was very remote. It was located in the mountains and was blocked by Longguan, making it difficult to return. Xianyang, this is actually exile.

"What did Ziying say?" Heifu asked Ji Ying. He did not go to send Ziying off in a pretense, but he only knew whether the grandson would frequently look back at the city he would never come back to.

"Zi Ying asked me to give him a message, and he said, thank you to the regent." Ji Ying recounted.

"Thank me?"

"Of course, thanks to the regent for letting him leave Xianyang, this city of intrigues and intrigues, Ziying said, he should have left long ago since he was born, but he was always pulled back. Now he is clean. Now that he has gone , like a fish escaping from the abyss..."

This statement seems to come from the bottom of my heart. I don’t know if it is true or if it is a lie.

"Do you want to..." Ji Ying moved his hands coldly. Although Ziying stayed at home in Xianyang and eliminated all royalist activities before and after the change of Yuan Dynasty last year, the civil and military officials of the Heifu family were not interested in anyone. Everyone with the surname Ying is wary, let alone him, the only remaining Gongsun in Xianyang.

But Hei Fu shook his head: "Just send someone to keep an eye on it. There are worms in Ziying's belly. He went to Xidian. He lacks medical treatment and medicine, so he won't live long..."

"This is a person who made me worried. He has passed away."

"But there is still one person left who is difficult for me to deal with. It is neither killing nor keeping..."

Li Si! The only person who still has the ability to make Heifu worry about his future is Li Si, who was respected as Taifu by Heifu after he resigned as Prime Minister You. In theory, his status is second only to Heifu's "grandmaster".

Li Si was completely defeated by the Ying family. His existence represented a large number of subordinates and generals. The best way to deal with it was to banish them like Ziying and Jianglu. But what excuse should be used?

What Heifu didn't expect was that as soon as Ziying stepped forward, he received Li Si's note on his back...

The entire text is written in crooked official script, no longer the style of a great calligrapher in the past. I don’t know if his hands are really shaking because of old age, or if it is intentional?

After reading it, Heifu was pleased with Li Si's knowledge and sighed at his keenness.

Heifu raised his head and looked at Li Yu, the Tingwei who wrote on behalf of his father:

"I want to lead the yellow dog with my eldest son and go out to Cai Dongmen to chase the cunning rabbit. Is this really what the old master wants?"

…

ps: There is only one chapter today.