Chronicles of the Qin Dynasty

Chapter 194, Section 193: Chief Secretary and Junior Secretary
After the Mid-Autumn Festival, Qin Shi finally regained his energy.

Xin, who had been recuperating from his injuries, finally became a "Zhongshuzi" (a mid-level official) by the side of the Queen of Qin after settling Mo's work arrangements.

Unlike other junior officials, he was not responsible for the Queen's daily life; he only needed to travel on her behalf.

From convict to official, though a lowly rank, for Xin, this was the path to his ultimate goal. He was filled with trepidation and worked diligently for it…

Thus, after only one day at the Ironworks, he quickly rode back to Xianyang and presented the plowshare of the curved plow to Qin Shi.

"Your Majesty, the curved plow has been used for a day, plowing with the strength of oxen, and the plowshare is intact. This is what it looks like after it has been cleaned."

Qin Shi was greatly encouraged. At this moment, he took out the heavy, unassuming plowshare from the box, his heart filled with joy:
"With the promotion of this product, we can catch up with the winter wheat and millet cultivation in the Central Plains."

Currently, the most popular staple food is millet, while rice is more suitable for cultivation in the southern regions. However, the Xianyang Palace is now keen on noodles and rice, so next year the people's farming will be more intensive, and adjustments will be necessary.

To be precise, because rice cultivation requires a large amount of water, before waterwheels became widespread in hilly areas, planting this crop was quite laborious and costly.

Even if Qin Shi were a simpleton, he wouldn't be able to come up with any ideas for promotion now.

Therefore, her previous statement to Yan Ying and Ji Heng that she wanted to conquer Baiyue as soon as possible was truly sincere.

"Well done." She praised him generously, and seeing that Xin was now neatly dressed and looked respectful, she was quite satisfied with his abilities.
"You know the most about the Ironworks. Therefore, there is another matter I need to secretly tell you—"

"As the Queen commands."

Xin bowed again.

What Qin Shi needs to explain is the stirrup and horseshoe.

On a simple piece of parchment, the drawings and details were all secretly traced by Qin Shi while looking at the reader at night, and the information was already exceptionally clear.

Xin glanced at it briefly, and his hair stood on end, and his heart pounded wildly.

He was also from a noble family, so he was naturally skilled in riding and archery.

Anyone who has ever ridden a horse knows that once the stirrups are installed, the cavalry will be more stable when charging, which will greatly improve the combat efficiency!
And then there's this horseshoe.

Cavalrymen's long journeys or fast gallops take a heavy toll on the horses' legs. Many horses are scrapped after being used to deliver urgent military dispatches, resulting in considerable annual costs.

However, if such an iron shoe is nailed on, it cannot be said that the horse will be completely unharmed, but it will certainly greatly extend the lifespan of each horse!
Then consider the divine weapons produced by the Ironworks previously...

Since the first batch of weapons has only been forged and tested so far, they cannot yet be made to cut through iron like mud.

However, its toughness, strength, and sharpness are still enough to easily cut deep nicks into bronze swords.

In this way, in this way!
Xin bowed deeply and said, "This humble servant will certainly not fail the Queen's trust!"

Qin Shi nodded, and then took a piece of silk from the maid: "The experiment of matching horses must be carried out in secrecy. This New Year, I wish to present this to Your Majesty to celebrate the eternal foundation of my Qin Kingdom."

"Take the Queen's decree and go to the Imperial Stud to find someone to handle all matters."

This is one of the benefits of her becoming queen.

Such important matters only require a written document, stamped with the Queen's seal, and servants will readily attend to them.

The Imperial Stud was an important horse-breeding department in the Qin state. Unless one held the power of the Queen, an ordinary noblewoman would not easily obtain cooperation unless she had a letter from the King of Qin.

Now, Xin bowed and accepted the letter: "Here."

After arranging Xin's work, Qin Shi asked Mo and Hei Mu about their new jobs one by one. At this moment, he looked at the historian who was skillfully recording his life, and then at Chi Nu who was organizing documents.

Qin Shi suddenly asked, "Chi Nu, how about I promote you to Chief Secretary?" Chi Nu was immediately startled: "Queen!"

Her face was pale, and her eyes were red with anxiety. She was clearly very unwilling: "This servant...this servant is unworthy and cannot receive the King's favor..."

Although she saw the Queen every day and seemed to easily gain the King's favor, the reality was that she had served Ji Hengxiao for 10 years and clearly knew how cold-hearted he was once he abandoned his favoritism towards the Queen.

There must be at least a hundred, if not a thousand, servants like her in the vast Xianyang Palace.

Having lost the Queen's trust and affection, where could she find such a kind and benevolent ruler?
Of all the palace officials, only the King's chief and junior secretaries had remained in obscurity for many years. In terms of daily life, if it weren't for the Queen's magnanimity in restoring their treatment and personally overseeing their affairs, their lives would likely be far worse than their own!

She...she didn't want to!

Qin Shi paused for a moment, then chuckled: "I was referring to my Chief Secretary."

This was one of the drawbacks of Ji Heng not yet promulgating the "Qin Code" after the Qin Dynasty unified the six kingdoms; various reforms within the palace were somewhat chaotic.

For example, the title of Chief Secretary originally referred to a female official in the palace, equivalent to an assistant to the emperor or an important minister, which was a higher rank than Xin's title of "Zhongshuzi".

However, the Qin king's harem also included positions for chief and junior officials.

Qin Shi originally intended to promote Chi Nu to be his first secretary, but he didn't expect to scare her half to death.

The woman in red suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, her eyes now filled with joy: "To be the Queen's chief secretary? This servant is willing!"

Qin Shi nodded: "The letter between you and Wu Zi is on the table, and it has already been stamped. I will have the Shao Fu make your personal seals later, and then I will send a eunuch to your residence to issue the order."

"From now on, you must work even harder for me."

The Red Maiden was overjoyed. At the Queen's instruction, she took out the letter and saw that it contained promotion orders for Yiming and Fucai.

However, those two individuals did not excel in this area, and therefore their paths to promotion were quite different.

For example, Yiming's promotion letter would be sent to the Imperial Hospital by the eunuchs, making her a formal "Attendant Physician".

Above that is the Imperial Physician, also known as the Medical Director. This is the highest-ranking official, the Imperial Physician Director.

Fu Cai was fond of dressing up and grooming, and thus was promoted to [Junior Historian], in charge of the Queen's clothing, silk, pearls and other items.

Qin Shi hesitated for a moment, then said, "If you go out like this, people might mistake you for someone from the King's harem—bring me some silk."

She slowly wrote down another decree for promotion:
[Promote Chief Shi Dan and Junior Shi Fei Qing to the rank of Seventh Rank.]

These two men had served Ji Heng since he was young. Now, they had been wasting their lives in the palace, and had not seen the king for seven or eight years. They were now thirty-three years old.

The Red Maiden hesitated slightly: "The Queen's sudden promotion of these two will likely cause concern among the other women in the harem..."

Qin Shi, however, did not care: "There's no need to consider what they're thinking."

If she could please everyone in everything, what would be the point of her being a queen?

Apart from Ji Heng, he had no one to rely on in the palace.

If you want people to do things wholeheartedly, you must make sure they can see the financial rewards and future prospects.

As for Ji Heng...

If he cared about such trivial matters, why would he be so estranged from the harem now?
　The term "仲秋" here does not refer to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but simply to a period of time in autumn.

　　(End of this chapter)