The leisurely life of the Qin people

Chapter 154 Working Hard Without Complaint

Wu Gong was dressed in official robes. After returning from the grasslands, he was appointed by the Prime Minister to serve as the prefect of this place.

In fact, in the Prime Minister's arrangements a few years ago, when Li You was guarding Shu, he stood outside the Prime Minister's study and heard the Prime Minister discussing with Li You's mother. At that time, the Prime Minister wanted to hand over the position of governor of Sanchuan County to Li You.

Xianyang was the center of power, and the Prime Minister hoped that Li You could stay away from Xianyang, because the Prime Minister knew that the Emperor was an extremely ruthless person.

But the prime minister didn't want his son to go too far, because if he went too far, he might never see him again.

Standing outside the Prime Minister's study, Wu Gong overheard his teacher and his wife's conversation. He felt a deep envy for Li You, for having the Prime Minister paving the way for him.

In Wu Gong's understanding, even if the Prime Minister and Li You appeared to be at odds, the Prime Minister actually loved Li You the most and was wholeheartedly trying to cultivate him. If Li You did not have much ability and was not capable enough to deal with the treacherous people in Xianyang, he would send him to a place outside Guanzhong to serve as a prefect.

Not too far, nor too close to Xianyang, Sanchuan County is the best choice.

This was a secret that Lord Wu kept hidden in his heart, and the only thing he kept from the Prime Minister.

Currently, Li You is not serving as the prefect of this region; instead, he is assisting Prince Fusu in developing the Hexi Corridor in the northwest.

With Prince Fusu as his support, Li You was able to ensure that the Prime Minister had no worries about the future.

After composing himself, Wu Gong met with Wang Yu.

Mr. Wu knew all the teachers who were teaching in the rural areas, and he also got to know all the county officials in the several counties of Sanchuan Prefecture.

Wang Yu put down a piece of paper and said, "Prefect, please take a look."

Wu Gong took the paper and carefully examined its contents. The more he read, the more he frowned, and asked, "Where is this person now?"

"He's gone. I don't know when he left. I didn't see him when I was teaching today. When I went to his place to look for him, all I found was this letter."

Wu Gong then said, "The Prime Minister has been searching for Zhang Liang for many years. I never expected that he would actually be in Sanchuan County and come to congratulate me?"

Wang Yu nodded.

Wu Gong looked pained, realizing that Zhang Liang might have been standing right in front of him, but he had overlooked him. He said, "I will send men to search for Zhang Liang right now."

Squads of Qin soldiers marched out of the prefectural governor's residence and began searching for Zhang Liang, centered on the Sanchuan prefecture.

Perhaps having been mentally prepared, the Qin army's failure to capture this person over the years was not surprising, as this time they also failed to find anything.

Zhang Liang left a letter identifying himself before leaving the area, indicating that he had made thorough preparations.

Feeling guilty, Wu Gong wrote a letter and sent it to Guanzhong, asking someone to deliver it to Prime Minister Li Si.

The cavalry carried the scroll all the way into Hangu Pass and into Guanzhong.

Shusun Tong and Sima Xin were sitting by the Jingye Canal when they both saw the Qin army on horseback heading towards Xianyang.

Weinan County is very busy now, with most of the people in Weinan working in the workshops here. With more people, there is more food to eat. In order to maintain this balance, Xianyang has to keep supplying food. Jingye County is already running a deficit, and it is unknown when it will end.

As a result, Sima Xin, who originally had a full head of black hair, has a few more strands of white hair in the past six months.

Shusun Tong felt that if he were to be entrusted with the heavy task of managing the food, drink, and work of tens of thousands of people, his lifespan would be shortened by several years.

The cost of productivity is the endless consumption of food. The people of Weinan County come here to work in the morning and leave in the evening. They are given a meal at noon every day, and after eating, they have to continue working.

Working from sunrise to sunset occupied almost all of their time, which was no different from corvée labor.

After lunch, Shusun Tong went into the workshop.

This workshop used to be a large camp for making armor. Now it is a huge papermaking workshop. Rolls of paper are piled up in the warehouse. Women cut the paper, roll it up and store it. Men walk barefoot in the pulp and use wooden trays to drain the pulp and dry it into paper.

Or it could be dozens of men, using sticks to pound the water paste until it is thoroughly mixed.

The ponds here are very large, even larger than an acre of land. There are more than 30 such ponds in Jingye County.

If there weren't a shortage of land, Zhang Cang would have loved to build hundreds more.

The results of this effort can now be applied elsewhere. Upon hearing that after the relocation of people, many vacant lots remained in Luoyang and Sanchuan County, Shusun Tong set his sights on them.

After lunch, people got busy. A huge wooden plate, only two inches smaller than the pool, was placed in the pool, and then dozens of men standing around it lifted the plate high, repeating this several times. After that, the plate was carried to dry into paper.

This is an extremely strenuous task, and each of them has to do it hundreds of times a day.

If it weren't for the fact that Jingye County provided enough grain, no one would have bothered to do such hard and tiring work.

The grain here was all provided by Prince Fusu, which means that the capital for papermaking also came from Prince Fusu, and this huge workshop also belongs to him.

Shusun Tong left this place and went to another workshop, which was a wood carving workshop.

This is all meticulous work; each woodblock print is incredibly precious.

There is another method of movable type printing, but for printing books in large quantities, woodblock printing is still more convenient.

After passing this workshop, you'll reach the next printing workshop, where a highly skilled old craftsman is in charge of the inkwell.

In other words, this old craftsman was able to formulate enough ink for the use of Weinan.

The amount of water in this inkwell cannot be too much or too little.

After looking around, Shusun Tong returned to the prefectural governor's residence. Sima Xin mainly focused on production efficiency and discipline, while Shusun Tong had to calculate costs and how to reduce them without affecting production.

However, Shusun Tong only knew how to teach; he wouldn't know anything like this...

Zhang Han and Li You were in the northwest, while Zhang Cang was leading people to dig canals north of the Wei River. His uncle, Shusun Tong, was old; he was still capable of teaching, but he couldn't manage a workshop. He wasn't good at these things, so he could only make things difficult for Sima Xin.

Sometimes, Shusun Tong felt that his judgment was particularly good, just as Confucius said: "Among three people walking together, there must be one who can teach me."

But Shusun Tong believed that a group of people must have a hardworking donkey or a capable ox.

Shusun Tong saw this in Sima Xin.

As long as Sima Xin is given food and some trust, this prefectural governor, who is of Qin origin, is willing to risk his life for him.

Sima Xin and Zhang Han were different.

Zhang Han was a person who had high expectations of others, but even higher expectations of himself.

Sima Xin would not ask anything of others; he would simply sit there alone, working silently and diligently for years on end.

Whether it was Zhang Han or Sima Xin, Shusun Tong felt that he was inferior to both of them.

As dusk fell, Li Nu'er and a group of women were tidying up the papers that had been drying, while the people working in the county also finished their work and left one after another.

The setting sun shone on the land of Guanzhong, and the clouds on the horizon were tanned red.

The winter sun hangs in the west, the sun is red and big, and as the children say, at this time the sun looks like a boiled egg yolk.

Shusun Tong sat leisurely on Shangyan Mountain, peeling a tea egg.

No one knows whose child it is, but he ran up and stood on the side, unafraid of Shusun Tong who was being protected by armored soldiers.

Shusun Tong smiled and waved, and the child quickly ran over.

"Master, when will my father return?"

Shusun Tong handed him a peeled tea egg and said, "Your father is building the border in the Northwest."

The child chewed on a tea egg, his eyes fixed on the setting sun in the west. At that very moment, a large group of people walked out of the village; they were people who had finished their day's work and were heading home in droves.

Shusun Tong looked at the child beside him; this was Zhang Han's child.

Zhang Han took his wife and troops to the northwest, but left the children behind for Zhang Han to take care of.

Recently, Shusun Tong has been living with this child. The child looks so much like Zhang Han, even the way he eats noodles is just like Zhang Han, with soup splashing everywhere.

Shusun Tong taught him again and again not to eat noodles in such a hurry, but he just couldn't get it right.

After that, Shusun Tong gave up, as long as the child was fed.

After nightfall, Shusun Tong led the child down the mountain to his dwelling, where he cooked a bowl of noodles and a bowl of tofu with scallions and ginger.

The noodles also had chopped ginger added. Shusun Tong scooped up a bowl of noodles and handed it to him, saying, "It's getting cold. Adding ginger to the noodles can help ward off the cold."

The child was eating noodles while reading a book.

Shusun Tong, meanwhile, was enjoying the tofu while wondering when Zhang Han would return. He thought it was unlikely in the next two years, or perhaps another five or six.

The child is growing bigger and bigger, and also eating more and more.

After the children had rested, Shusun Tong sat by the oil lamp, wrote a letter, then put on his cloak, took the oil lamp, and went outside.

Ever since this large workshop was established in the county, Qin soldiers have been stationed outside the county every day.

Shusun Tong stepped forward and handed over the leather bag, saying, "This is a letter for General Zhang Han."

The armored soldier took the letter and said loudly, "I will send it to the Hexi Corridor right away."

After Meng Tian's great campaign against the Xiongnu in the north, Guanzhong became increasingly busy, Shusun Tong thought to himself as he walked back to his residence.

The next day, Shusun Tong handed over all the matters in the county and prefecture to Sima Xin and planned to go see Zhang Cang.

The village used to have donkeys, but since the workshop was set up, there have been no animals left to grind tofu.

Therefore, Shusun Tong could only think of feeding Zhang Han's son more, and if Zhang Han still didn't return after a few years when the child had grown strong, he would have the boy grind tofu.

Shusun Tong asked the workshop for a donkey and then rode in a donkey cart all the way to the north of the Wei River.

The Weibei region is bustling with activity these days. In the dead of winter, a group of people are digging a canal barefoot in the mud.

Truckloads of silt were hauled out and piled up in distant fields to fertilize them.

Shusun Tong met Zhang Cang, who was also barefoot, walking in the mud, holding a bamboo slip in one hand and making notes.

"Is not It Cold?"

Zhang Cang looked at his muddy feet and said, "I'm used to it, it's not cold."

(End of this chapter)