The leisurely life of the Qin people

Chapter 153 Farewell
Zhang Liang escorted Xiang Bo all the way to the city of Ao Cang before they parted ways.

Aocang is named after Mount Ao. After the Qin army took control of this place, it was used as an important transit point for transporting grain. During the Warring States period, in order to conquer the states of Han and Wei, the Qin state sent a large army to take over this place and control the lifeline of grain transport.

But all of that happened a long time ago, and the First Emperor still maintains a large military presence here.

Sanchuan County was also affected by this migration movement, and after this migration, several surrounding villages were almost emptied out.

Controlling the Han region also meant controlling Aocang City and other cities in Xingyang.

Today, Sanchuan County was hit by a heavy snowfall, and Sanchuan County also welcomed a new prefect, Wu Gong, a student of Prime Minister Li Si.

Zhang Liang stood in the crowd and glanced at the new prefect riding on horseback from afar.

Since Qin took control of Han, the governor of Sanchuan Commandery has changed six times in three to five years. Among the people who came with Governor Wu, there was a familiar face. That person was Mao Heng, a disciple of Xunzi and a fellow student of Han Fei.

Mao Heng was the son and nephew of Mao Sui. After he went to see Prince Fusu, he was not given an important position and was said to have been teaching in Tongguan.

Zhang Liang stood in the crowd with his head down. He suddenly thought of something. At that time, when Confucianism emphasized that "rites do not apply to commoners and punishments do not apply to high officials," Prince Han Fei was firmly opposed to it.

In the view of Prince Han Fei, this idea was wrong. Han Fei advocated using law as the basis of education, which may have been in the style of Shen Buhai or Shang Yang, but it was hostile to the Confucian concept.

Han Fei believed that the principle of "no punishment for high-ranking officials" would harm the country. High-ranking officials should not be exempt from punishment, and they should also teach commoners to know the law and abide by the rules; otherwise, the country would not last long.

There are right and wrong ways to govern a country. The Confucianism that advocates "rites do not extend to commoners and punishments do not apply to high officials" is intended to protect the scholar-official class and thus guarantee their vested interests, that is, the privileged class.

When Zhang Liang met Han Fei's old acquaintances, he felt a pang of regret that the young master Han Fei was born in the wrong era. If he had been born in the same era as Lord Shang, his life would have been much better.

When the new prefect entered the city of Sanchuan County, many guests came to visit him.

Zhang Liang held a jade pendant, intending to join the many guests in congratulating the newly arrived prefect.

When Zhang Liang arrived at the gate of the mansion with a large group of guests, he learned that everyone was allowed to offer their congratulations, but they were not allowed to give gifts to the prefect.

This time, the prefect was very young and a student of Prime Minister Li Si. Many people came to visit him because of his reputation. Even though they knew that he did not accept gifts, they still left many gifts at the entrance of the prefect's mansion.

When people placed gifts in front of the prefectural governor's mansion, the guards of the prefectural governor's mansion would come out, beat those who had placed the gifts, and drive them away.

Zhang Liang was very curious about this scene, but he still put away the jade pendant with a natural expression and pretended to be an ordinary guest from Han who came to offer his congratulations.

If it were any other anti-Qin figure, seeing Zhang Liang visiting the residence of Prime Minister Li Si's student would probably have made them faint on the spot.

But Zhang Liang is Zhang Liang. He changed his name and walked to the new prefect's mansion to offer his congratulations in a very natural and generous manner. No one recognized that this thin and sickly-looking man was Zhang Liang, who was being pursued by Prime Minister Li Si.

Four years have passed since his last escape. In these four years, Zhang Liang has become even thinner, as if only his bones remain beneath his skin.

Standing in the crowd, Zhang Liang did not see Prefect Wu, but he did see a very interesting young man named Zhui.

He came from Guanzhong with this prefect. Zhang Liang found Wang Yu and asked him to introduce him to the prefect.

Inside a side room of the prefectural governor's mansion, Zhui sat dressed in a gray robe.

Wang Yu walked into the house and introduced, "Brother Ji, you really came here?"

Zhui replied, "I came here to bring you some books."

Wang Yu scratched the back of his head and said with a simple smile, "Brother Zhui, we can go get these books ourselves."

Zhui sighed, "I'll go to Luoyang again to see that old prefect there. He took good care of me when I was there."

Wang Yu said, "We are deeply grateful and should all take Brother Jian as our role model."

Zhui patiently continued, "As a teacher, you must understand your responsibilities. Don't stop teaching just because the children are playing. Even if their parents don't want them to study, you must still take them to school. Only by studying and understanding the world can they go out into the world."

"Now that I have become a teacher, I understand my mission and will do my best to do what I can without shame."

She noticed the man behind the other person and asked, "Who is this...?"

Wang Yu introduced, "This is a friend I made here, his name is Ziliang."

Zhang Liang bowed slightly.

Wang Yu said, "Brother Ziliang also wants to become a teacher in a rural area."

"Yes." Zhui nodded happily and said, "Of course, the more people like us, the better."

Next, Wang Yu and Zhui discussed the matter of teaching in rural areas, while Zhang Liang looked at the books that the other party had brought from Guanzhong. These books were all paper books, and the fonts and handwriting were almost identical.

This book contains related classics of Mozi. Just as Zhang Liang knew, Prince Fusu had broken down the doctrines of various schools of thought and written them down in the book.

This way, we can remove the useless and bad parts, leaving only the good ones. When these children grow up, they can then understand the full picture of the classics and make their own judgments. This is what Zhang Liang heard from a teacher who was volunteering in a rural area.

After saying goodbye to Zhui, Zhang Liang borrowed a book from him and took it back to read.

The next day, Zhui returned to Guanzhong and heard from Wang Yu that Guanzhong had now mastered a method called woodblock printing. With this method, Guanzhong could print thousands or tens of thousands of books within half a month with just a few dozen people.

A few dozen people can print thousands or tens of thousands of books...

At first, Zhang Liang didn't believe in these things. He continued to read the books he had borrowed from the volunteer teacher with skepticism in his heart.

Sometimes Zhang Liang would sit with the children, who were around ten years old, and listen to the teachers who were volunteering to teach.

Zhang Liang didn't feel ashamed to sit with the children in class. Some children would laugh at him, but Zhang Liang still insisted on coming to class every day.

After this migration, 900 households, totaling 4,000 people, were relocated from Sanchuan County.

The newly appointed prefect, Lord Wu, reorganized several villages that had suffered from population shortages due to relocation, and abandoned the vacant villages, freeing up the land for other uses.

As a result, several vacant lots were left in Sanchuan County, with no clear purpose for their use.

Qin's policy of relocating people not only concentrated the population, but the prefects also moved the originally scattered villages together for better management.

The two most important things this prefect did in his first month in Sanchuan County were to reorganize the land and population.

Zhang Liang asked Wang Yu how he viewed this migration.

Zhang Liang had initially thought Wang Yu was just a rural teacher; he might be good at teaching, but he might not be able to offer any useful insights into state affairs. However, his words broadened Zhang Liang's horizons.

Wang Yu said, "Ziliang, in your opinion, the policy of relocating people is only about strengthening the trunk and weakening the branches?"

The so-called strategy of strengthening the central region and weakening the local areas means strengthening the Guanzhong Plain and weakening the local areas.

Zhang Liang naturally felt that Prince Fusu and Prime Minister Li Si were right, as this was in line with Qin's concept of implementing the prefecture-county system. When Qin began to implement the prefecture-county system, Zhang Liang understood that the King of Qin wanted to consolidate power in the country for his own use.

Upon hearing the question, Zhang Liang humbly replied, "I humbly request your instruction, Master."

Wang Yu explained, "Rather than saying this is to strengthen the trunk and weaken the branches, it is more accurate to say that this is a process of redistribution after Qin unified the world."

Zhang Liang pondered these words, still processing their meaning.

“Guanzhong used to be able to support 500,000 people, but after land redistribution, it can support a million.” Wang Yu said to him, “Don’t look at the current desolation of Sanchuan County. It will get better in the future.”

Seeing that he remained silent, Wang Yu looked towards Hangu Pass with a smile on his face, as if Guanzhong behind Hangu Pass was a very important spiritual sustenance for him. He said, "I think you should go and take a good look at Guanzhong, and see what Xianyang looks like now, no!"

He then disagreed, saying, "I think everyone in the world should go to Guanzhong to see for themselves. Even if you only stay there for half a year or three to five months, you will definitely gain something and you will definitely change."

When Wang Yu said these words, Zhang Liang noticed a light in the eyes of the young volunteer teacher.

Hearing this, Zhang Liang really wanted to go to Guanzhong, but he could only disappoint Wang Yu's good intentions.

Go to Guanzhong?
He would probably be captured by the Qin army as soon as he arrived at Hangu Pass, because he didn't even have an identity that would allow him to enter Guanzhong, and even his current identity in Sanchuan County was fake.

If the Qin army discovers something amiss, Zhang Liang won't even be able to stay here for long.

He didn't know when he would have to leave Wang Yu without saying goodbye.

The volunteer teachers all come with a mission. For them, teaching is a selfless thing. They even compare with each other to see whose children are more outstanding.

Today, Zhang Liang sat under a tree at the entrance of the village with a group of children, while Wang Yu stood under the tree giving a lesson to the children.

When the volunteer teacher was giving a lecture, the villagers around would speak softly, and even the noisy dogs would be temporarily kept in their homes so as not to disturb the teacher's lecture.

This is almost a silent understanding among the elders in the village.

This winter, Wang Yu got used to going to teach in rural areas with this friend every day.

But when Wang Yu went to the mountains to find Zi Liang today, he discovered that Zi Liang had left without saying goodbye, but there was a piece of paper on the table.

Looking at the contents of the paper, Wang Yu understood why the other party had left without saying goodbye, especially since the letter stated that his real name was Zhang Liang and that he was someone the Qin army was searching for.

Wang Yu took the letter to Wu Gong, the prefect of the area.

After Wu Gonggang had dealt with many matters within the prefecture, a new rule was introduced for the prefecture-county system: three prefectural assistants would be appointed to jointly manage the affairs within the prefecture.

"Prefect Wu, Master Wang has arrived."

(End of this chapter)