The leisurely life of the Qin people

Chapter 230 The Peaceful Eight Hundred Li of Qin Chuan
The following day, after the court meeting concluded, Fusu arrived at a residence in Xianyang City, which was the residence of King Fuchu of Chu.

Accompanied by Tian An, Wang Ben, and Cheng Miao, Fusu pushed open the door.

It was noon, and King Fuchu of Chu was having lunch. When he saw the Qin army behind Prince Fusu, he was so frightened that he dropped his bowl and chopsticks and tried to crawl under the table, but the table was too low and he couldn't crawl down.

Fu Chu still lives in Xianyang, though he is still somewhat eccentric, at least he is alive.

Two Qin soldiers lifted him up, noodles still hanging from his mouth.

Fusu produced a document and said, "There are people in Chu who are rebelling and want to overthrow Qin and restore Chu."

Upon hearing this, a strange light flashed in Fu Chu's eyes.

Fusu then said, "The leader is Xiang Ji, a descendant of Xiang Yan."

Upon hearing the name Xiang Yan, Fu Chu suddenly began to fidget and angrily cursed Xiang Yan in the Chu language.

Cheng Miao vaguely understood some of it; it was indeed very unpleasant to hear.

Fu Chu's capture by Wang Jian was more or less related to Xiang Yan, who even established a separate King of Chu at the time.

How could he not hate this?

But Fu Chu himself was no better; he killed his own brother and seized the throne of Chu.

At that time, the state of Chu was in complete chaos. It was truly unjust to be defeated by Qin, and it was even a case of reaping what it sowed.

Fusu said, “There are many names of prisoners here. Considering that the King of Chu is still alive, I will hand them over to you for disposal. As long as you sign the document, I will arrest them all and bring them to Xianyang. Among them are Song Yi, the former ceremonial official of Chu; Xiang Liang, Xiang Bo, Xiang Zhuang, Xiang Yu, and Xiang Ta, descendants of Xiang Yan, the great general of Chu; Qu Su, Qu Jun, Zheng Chang, and Zhao Sui, descendants of the former Grand Marshal of Chu…”

As Prince Fusu read out each name, Qin soldiers began to slash open Fuchu's palms.

After reading it aloud, Fusu said, "As long as you press your fingerprint, I will issue this arrest warrant to the whole world and arrest these people."

Fu Chu didn't seem to think much of it, and tremblingly pressed his handprint onto the indictment.

Seeing this scene, Cheng Miao was suddenly filled with emotion. These former nobles of the Chu Kingdom had been uprooted by a single handprint from the King of Chu.

Having done all this, Fusu no longer disturbed Fuchu's life, as the King of Chu still needed to live.

The Qin court could have legitimately taken charge of these former nobles of Chu, but with the Chu king's seal, it became even more convenient.

Fusu was very fortunate that General Wang Jian had captured the King of Chu and brought him to Xianyang, as he had proven to be of great use.

Issuing arrest warrants is much simpler.

The First Emperor was still living in the detached palace in the northern suburbs of Xianyang. After the prince went to report, he returned to the Prime Minister's residence.

Moreover, the prince had the First Emperor's permission to oversee the arrest.

Instead of going to Chu in person, Fusu dispatched several Qin armies to capture people in various places. For the first time, Fusu wrote a letter to Zhao Tuo, instructing him to keep a close watch on the Lingnan passes and not to let the rebellious Chu faction get away with it.

Assuming Yin Tong truly made contributions, his posthumous contributions were immense.

Yin Tong was an extremely meticulous person. He kept a record of everyone he met, and he knew exactly who gave how much and where they lived.

Inside the Prime Minister's residence, Zhang Cang met with Li Si once again.

The emperor has been neglecting state affairs most of the time lately, and when he does inquire about matters of state, he asks his son rather than the prime minister.

Even if the ministers sometimes don't see the emperor for a whole month, the prime minister will still visit the emperor every three to five days, sometimes to relax, sometimes to go hunting, or sometimes to herd horses.

For Li Si, these two years were the most relaxed two years he had ever experienced.

Upon seeing Zhang Cang arrive, Li Si, with a date in his mouth, placed a bowl of dates in front of him, gesturing for him to take a few.

Zhang Cangji took three and stood aside chewing them.

Li Si said, "These dates were brought from Pinyang by you, young master. Hmm... do you still remember Wang Li?"

"remember."

"He's leaving Guanzhong."

"Where to go?"

Li Si thought for a moment and said, "I heard that we are going to the Northwest. I have also heard the emperor mention it. I wonder how you, young master, will arrange it."

Zhang Cang then said, "The document has been issued."

Upon hearing this, Li Si remained silent for a moment, then spat out the date pit from his mouth and tossed it into the mud beside him.

Zhang Cang continued, "Is the Prime Minister worried?"

Li Si said, "Many years ago, I often discussed the governance of the country with the young prince. The prince often said that once the six kingdoms were unified, they should be thoroughly cleaned up."

The Prime Minister walked towards the fishpond to the side.

Zhang Cang didn't remember the Prime Minister having this fishpond before, but he thought to himself that the young master probably liked raising fish, and the Prime Minister had also recently taken to raising fish.
I wonder where the Prime Minister caught so many beautiful carp.

Li Si continued recounting the events of that year, saying, "Back then, when I heard what you said, I thought you, Fusu, were just young. I even corrected you several times and confidently invited the scholars from Qi and Lu to Qin. Later, Chunyu Yue died, Han Zhong died, and most people scattered and died... Only Xu Fu stayed behind and became the county magistrate. He even made contributions during the rebellion of the three Hirata brothers."

"Ten years ago, I would have told you that we needed to win over the hearts of the former nobles of the six states. But now I'm old. Even though the Qi-Lu scholars were former nobles of the six states, they never thanked Qin. Those prejudices, as you said, can never be erased."

“Now it is your turn, my lord, to govern the world.” Li Si paused, then slowly said, “Many people will die.”

Zhang Cang shared this view, believing that many people would indeed die. The young master was always ruthless; this time… many people in Chu would be arrested, and the entire region would likely be ravaged.

Xiao He visited Sima Xin again. He saw large groups of Qin soldiers leaving Guanzhong and heard that Prince Fusu had issued a document.

Dozens of former nobles from Chu who colluded with Yin Tong were apprehended. These dozens of people were from the most prestigious faction among the former nobles of Chu.

Cao Shen followed Xiao He out of Tongguan. He said, "I'm afraid Liu Ji will be implicated?"

Xiao He said, "Liu Ji."

For some reason, thinking of Liu Ji at this moment, he actually laughed in anger. He had just seen the letter sent from Zhongyangli, in which Liu Ji said that he would send Liu Ying to Guanzhong after he turned ten.

Liu Ji is more shrewd than anyone else. If he knew about this, he probably wouldn't even have time to rush into Zhongyangli to meet the Qin army.

Xiao He weighed the pottery flask he was carrying. Liu Ji was not only shrewd, but this time he also sent Fengyi wine.

Even after being away from his hometown for so many years, Xiao He still remembers that every year from late autumn to early winter, Liu Ji's favorite thing was this drink.

Xiao He also liked this kind of wine; he hadn't drunk his hometown's wine for a long time since he came to Guanzhong.

After returning to Jingyang County, Xiao He inquired about the construction of the academy from several township heads.

Back at the county government building, Cao Can was in a particularly good mood. Jingyang County was getting better and better. Once the academy was completed, even more children would be able to study there.

Cao Shen has been feeling quite pleased with himself lately. Jingyang County now has 1,300 households, more than Gaoling County and Sanyuan County combined.

The three counties were developed together back then, and Jingyang County is much better now than before.

Uber was cooking, and he said, "We can eat later."

Cao Can asked, "Is there mutton?"

Uber grinned and said, "Yes."

After chatting with Wu Bo for a long time, Cao Shen brought a bowl of radishes and a bowl of noodles to Xiao He's room. He put down the two dishes but did not see Xiao He.

The pot of Fengyi wine was still on the table, but Xiao He was nowhere to be seen.

Not knowing where the person had gone, Cao Can frowned, sat down, and began to eat by himself.

It was a winter night when Xiao He was walking through the county. He said that Jingyang County was getting better and better. In fact, this was all thanks to the policy of relocating people. More and more people moved into Jingyang County, which is why Jingyang County is what it is today.

But the people in this county remained poor; some of them didn't even have clothes to wear.

Since General Meng Tian was stationed at Helan Mountain, more and more flocks of sheep have been sent to Guanzhong. Wool is the best fur for getting through the winter, and it is the best material to make clothes to keep warm.

Although the county government didn't have much money left, Xiao He exchanged grain for ten cartloads of sheepskins.

Upon hearing that Xiao He had gone out to buy sheepskins, Cao Shen was shocked. He hurried to the outskirts of the county and saw Xiao He draping a sheepskin over a child.

The child, who had been shivering in the cold wind, smiled after putting on a thick wool cloak.

He smiled, and the child's mother smiled too.

Xiao He said, "The amount of wool we can get in exchange is not much, only ten cartloads, and each family will not get much."

Upon hearing this, everyone present, including Cao Shen, wore worried expressions.

Xiao He said to the villagers before him, "We will make cloaks out of wool and sell them to Xianyang, then exchange them for more hemp clothing and coarse cloth, and we will be able to get through this winter."

Winters in Guanzhong are long and extremely cold.

It's no wonder that people in Guanzhong have the custom of staying indoors during the winter. This winter is bitterly cold, and most of the newly relocated households have nothing but their own hands and the grain stored in their homes.

A wool cloak of good quality can be exchanged for dozens of coarse cloth garments, and linen garments even more.

The looms sent from Weinan and the furs in front of them were their hope for getting through the winter.

Xiao He had heard about the events in Weinan, and he knew that it was even more difficult when people first moved there.

Some stories always inspire hope, showing that with perseverance, one can overcome difficulties.

Long, long ago, during the reign of Duke Xiao of Qin, the people of Qin still ate grass.

When Xiao He saw the loom start moving, he felt relieved.

As the county magistrate, Xiao He personally sat in front of the loom and led a group of women to make woolen cloaks.

Meanwhile, Cao Shen and the children were selecting wool, separating the good quality wool from the bad quality wool.

Inside the county government building, the lights were still on in Magistrate Xiao's room. Wu Bo entered the room but didn't see anyone. Instead, he saw two plates of food that had cooled down and a pot of wine that had been sitting unopened on the side.

Wu Bo wondered to himself whether Magistrate Xiao would return at dawn.

As a native of Qin in Guanzhong, Wu Bo was always able to find out a lot of information. He knew that many Qin soldiers left Guanzhong to capture people in Chu.

The Chu region will likely be in chaos, but at least the eight hundred li of Qin Chuan in Guanzhong will remain peaceful.

What does the chaos in Chu have to do with this place?

(End of this chapter)