The leisurely life of the Qin people

Chapter 232 Counties and States

After confirming that there were no other matters to arrange in the county, Xiao He went to Liyang.

Most counties in Guanzhong have volunteer teachers, but only a few dozen come from Tongguan each year. It's considered very good if each county in Guanzhong gets two.

Previously, Jingyang County had only a hundred or so households, but now it has three hundred households and more than five hundred children. One volunteer teacher simply cannot teach them all.

Xiao He wanted to secure another teacher for Jingyang County.

Liyang is an ancient county in Guanzhong. When Xiao He first arrived there, he saw a lot of people and horses coming and going.

Upon arriving at the city gate, Xiao He handed over his documents.

After the guards at the city gate confirmed the situation, they immediately allowed them to pass.

Xiao He, dressed in a black official robe, with one hand on the hilt of his sword at his waist and the other holding the reins, walked to the main road in the city.

Xiao He had been listening to the Guanzhong dialect for many years, but the old Qin people of Liyang would still occasionally speak in the even older Guanzhong dialect.

Xiao He arrived at the county government office in Liyang, where another county magistrate was already present.

Today, Heng is also in Liyang.

Brother Zhang Jing was going to take charge of the allocation of teachers for the rural teaching program on behalf of the old master, so he came to help.

Sima Xin was also there, and Heng Duoduo simply stood aside and watched.

I saw Heng sitting down, eating dates.

The man standing behind said, "Brother, it's not proper to eat dates at this time."

Heng was still chewing when he heard his younger brother speak again. He was about to say something when he heard his brother speak again.

Li handed over a ceramic plate and said, "This is the county government; we should pay attention to etiquette here."

Upon hearing this, Heng spat the date pit from his mouth into the plate and nodded, saying, "You're right."

Li then saw the pile of documents at the door, with many documents already fallen to the ground. He got up and went forward to pick up the documents from the ground.

As soon as Xiao He entered the county government building, he spotted the child picking up documents.

He looked to be about six or seven years old, with his small hands holding a pile of documents. He was wearing very expensive robes, but he didn't seem to care that the dust on the documents would dirty his clothes.

Xiao He stood there for a while and thought the boy's face looked like someone else's.

After a moment's thought, Xiao He realized that the child looked very much like the distinguished guest who had come to buy the sheepskin cloak that day.

"Whose child are you?"

Upon hearing this, Li also looked up at the person in front of him.

Xiao He bowed and said, "I am Xiao He, the magistrate of Jingyang County."

"This humble servant greets Magistrate Xiao."

He still had some difficulty pronouncing his words, but his bowing was very proper.

Xiao He said, "I'll pick them up."

As they spoke, Xiao He helped the child pick up the documents scattered on the ground, while inside the county government, a group of county magistrates were still arguing and making a ruckus.

Li looked back again and said, "I'm here to help my brother today, so of course I'll help."

Xiao He followed the child's gaze and saw another child, who had an almost identical face to the one in front of him, and also to the distinguished guest.

Xiao He was now certain that not just anyone could come to the county government of Liyang.

How could children be allowed to roam freely in a county government? These two children are no ordinary people; their father, the distinguished guest, works in the Prime Minister's residence.

Xiao He became even more certain of the distinguished guest's identity.

"Magistrate Xiao, leave it to me."

Seeing the child extend his small hand, Xiao He handed him the document in his hand.

Then Li hung labels on all the documents and stacked them neatly.

Xiao He was invited into the main hall of the county government by a clerk standing nearby.

Li looked up at the short-bearded magistrate again, and then quickly returned to his brother's side.

After confirming the list, Zhang Jing said, "The teacher said that all the teachers who went to teach in rural areas should be arranged to go out this year, and more should be added in each county."

Heng asked, "Are there enough for all the counties and prefectures in the country?"

Zhang Jing said, "Everything that could be divided has been divided."

Heng said, "The country is governed by the prefecture and county system. My father said that the country is made up of counties. Only when all the counties in the country are governed well will the country be governed well."

Although Zhang Jing had been studying with the old master, many of the books in Jingye County came from Xianyang, and most of them were written by Prince Fusu.

Now, Prince Fusu will no longer send books to Xianyang.

Zhang Jing was able to understand Prince Fusu's philosophy on governing the country from the few words spoken by the two young masters.

Prince Fusu taught these two young masters without reservation.

And the two young masters would tell him everything without reservation.

In other words, Prince Fusu was completely open and honest with the world.

“Scholar Zhang, this is from Jingyang County.”

Sima Xin handed over a scroll of documents.

Zhang Jing was not a scholar in the Imperial Academy, but people believed that he was a disciple of Shusun Tong and would become a scholar when he reached the appropriate age.

Zhang Jing took the document, wrote down a name from the list, and said, "We can add one, but we'll probably have to wait until next year."

Xiao He respectfully accepted the document and then left.

The three stayed in the county government of Liyang for three days. After finishing their teaching assignments, Sima Xin took them to meet the villagers of Liyang.

"These are Prince Fusu's children." An old man with white hair and beard looked at the two teenagers while leaning on his cane.

Sima Xin explained, "The young master has arranged for the two young masters to study in Jingye County."

Seeing his elder brother bow, he followed suit.

Most of the old Qin people in Liyang still remember the Qin Dynasty. They even only remember that the Qin Dynasty still governs Guanzhong today.

These elderly people are still living in the past.

On the way back to Weinan, Sima Xin explained to the two young masters.

“Those two elderly people have explained it many times, but they just won’t believe it, so we just let them be,” Sima Xin said with a smile. “They’re becoming more and more like children as they get older.”

Heng said, "So you want to coax them?"

Sima Xin smiled but did not reply.

Li said, "No need to coax him, the old man is doing very well."

Hearing this, Heng put his hand on his younger brother's shoulder and said, "Yes, you're right. There's no need to coax them. Whether Qin unifies the world or not has nothing to do with the lives of the old men. As long as they are doing well, that's enough."

Li nodded and said, "That's what my brother thinks."

Sima Xin led a troop of soldiers to escort the two young masters to Jingye County. Only after watching the two young masters enter the county safely did he return to Tongguan.

Taking care of the two young masters is absolutely crucial; even if they stumble or fall, Sima Xin will have no choice but to die.

By the time Sima Xin returned to Tongguan, it was already night.

Upon arriving at the prefectural governor's residence in Tongguan City, Sima Xin placed the oil lamp on the table and began his official business for the day.

He was writing with pen and paper when Li Zuoche came to report, "General Xin has arrived."

Sima Xin said, "Please come in."

General Xin Sheng had been living in Tongguan City recently. When Sima Xin saw the old man, he smiled and said, "What brings you here tonight?" Xin Sheng stroked his white beard and said, "I'm too old to do anything."

Li Zuo was standing outside the prefectural governor's mansion, wearing armor and on duty. He heard the voices inside the mansion from outside the gate.

"Did you accompany the two young masters to Liyang today?"

"The two young masters are exceptionally well-behaved; I wonder how you raised them."

“What a remarkable person Prince Fusu was in his childhood! His children are not ordinary children.”

"General Xin is right, but in my opinion, no matter how talented one is, one needs to be taught to be polite and courteous."

……

Listening to the still somewhat muffled words of the two people inside the mansion, Li Zuo stood outside the mansion, pacing back and forth, occasionally glancing at the patrolling soldiers.

He was once the grandson of the famous general Li Mu, but now he serves as a guard for the governor of Qin.

Li Zuoche also wanted to go to war and restore his grandfather Li Mu's reputation.

The following day, around noon, people were looking forward to the winter solstice, but the weather was still cold.

After concluding the court meeting that day, Prince Fusu went to the temporary palace in the northern suburbs with Prime Minister Li Si.

Today, all matters concerning the Prime Minister's residence can only be entrusted to Zhang Cang and Cheng Miao.

Zhang Cang said, "It seems there are still many state affairs to deal with today."

"There's never a day when state affairs are completely resolved." Cheng Miao stood on the steps of Zhangtai Palace, watching the young master and Prime Minister Li Si walk away into the distance.

Zhang Cang noticed a few strands of white hair among Cheng Miao's hair and said, "Look at you, you're so busy your hair is turning white."

Cheng Miao sighed, "That's how people are; they start to get old before they even turn fifty."

Cheng Miao is only in his forties now. Zhang Cang sighed and said, "Let's go and deal with today's state affairs first."

Before the winter solstice every year, the Prime Minister's office would be piled high with documents from all over the country, and all the accumulated documents from various places had to be approved and replied to before the end of the year.

Inside the Lin Guang Palace, a temporary palace in the northern suburbs, several warhorses strolled leisurely around the palace grounds.

It seems that these warhorses from the Tianshan Mountains have adapted to the environment and climate of Guanzhong.

Fusu and Prime Minister Li Si walked up the steps to the main hall of Linguang Palace.

At this moment, the Imperial Physician Xia Wuqie was inside the palace.

After being announced by the eunuch, the two entered the hall.

Ying Zheng's beard and hair had turned mostly white, and now one could only find black hairs among the white hairs. His beard and hair looked gray, with a few strands of black hair occasionally visible among the white hairs.

After the emperor had taken the medicine, Xia Wuqie bowed and took his leave.

Ying Zheng let out a long sigh, his gaze falling on his son, and then slowly shifting to Li Si.

Li Si bowed and said, "Recently, everything in the affairs of the state has been going well."

There was still a faint smell of medicine in the hall. The eunuch had just opened the window to let fresh air into the hall.

Feeling the cold wind and the movement of air, Ying Zheng slowly said, "It was good that Yin Tong was killed. People like him deserve to die."

Fusu said, "This man left a confession, which the King of Chu has signed. He has already sent people to arrest him in various prefectures."

Ying Zheng looked at Li Si and said in a deep voice, "What are outsiders saying about this matter?"

Li Si said, "They all say that Prince Fusu is wise and virtuous."

Ying Zheng suddenly smiled, seeing through Li Si's lie at a glance, but he didn't expose him, nor was there any need to... In the past, no matter how he and Li Si treated the former people of the six states with courtesy and treated the former nobles of the six states with kindness, all they received in return was their sarcasm and rebellion.

To this day, Ying Zheng can still recall the faces of those scholars from Qi and Lu.

Upon hearing Li Si's lie, Ying Zheng was not angry at all; both the emperor and his ministers understood the truth.

If the world turns against Prince Fusu, the first one to die will definitely be Li Si.

"very good."

Ying Zheng simply replied calmly.

Then, Fusu began to recount the many national affairs of the day, as well as the arrangements made by various prefectures and counties in recent years.

Most surprisingly, the bumper harvests in Longxi over the past two years have resulted in so much grain that it cannot be stored in the granaries, and it has begun to feed back into Guanzhong.

The relocation policy implemented in previous years was a great success.

Before the emperor, Prince Fusu accomplished another project that benefited the country and its people.

Li Si stood aside, listening to Prince Fusu's words, his face full of pride, proving that Prince Fusu was capable of governing the country well.

Even if only Guanzhong, Longxi, and Shu have been improved now.

Many areas in the former territories of the six kingdoms remain desolate, but they will gradually recover as the population grows.

Some say that Prince Fusu's long-term policy of relocating people led to the desolation of various places in the former lands of the six states. They blame Prince Fusu for letting many fields in the former lands of the six states lie fallow, which is why Guanzhong is now prosperous.

But those who say these things don't know that today's migration is all voluntary.

More and more people are even scrambling to settle down in Guanzhong.

As for the short-term desolation, so what?

This is the outcome that the emperor, his prime minister, and his son Fusu all wanted to see.

The ignorant people are still criticizing Prince Fusu, but those who have moved to Guanzhong have all been allocated land. Although their lives are not prosperous, they were originally poor people who had nothing.

The Prime Minister and Prince Fusu stayed at Zhangtai Palace for lunch.

A whole roasted lamb was carried into the main hall of the Lin Guang Palace, where the First Emperor personally served it to his sons, Fusu and Li Si.

As Fusu ate his roasted mutton, he looked at the prime minister beside him.

The prime minister liked to chew a piece of flatbread while eating mutton, seemingly to cut through the richness.

Tian An appropriately served three bowls of spinach soup, one for the emperor, one for the prime minister, and one for Prince Fusu.

Fusu said, "Spinach is the best ingredient for cutting through greasiness."

Li Si took a bite of spinach and nodded with satisfaction.

Ying Zheng had almost forgotten when spinach had appeared in Guanzhong. He didn't like spinach when he first ate it, but there were very few vegetables available in winter, and this kind of spinach was the only one.

Tian An didn't grow much spinach, only some in Shanglin Garden. He built a wooden shed, which was like a large warehouse where he could grow a lot of vegetables in the winter.

But it's only useful in winter; after winter, it can only be left there.

Moreover, even if spinach can be grown in winter, the harvest is very small.

After finishing his mutton, Fusu bowed and left.

Ying Zheng nodded, signaling his son to attend to state affairs first, and then looked at Li Si.

Li Si was chewing on a flatbread, and he hadn't eaten much of the large bowl of meat in front of him, nor had the emperor.

The sheep was so big that the two of them couldn't possibly finish it. Fusu, on the other hand, put the mutton into a small bowl and cut off only what he wanted to eat.

Li Si said, "When I was young, I could eat half a sheep by myself, but now I can't eat that much."

As they were speaking, they heard the emperor chuckle softly.

That soft chuckle seemed to be the emperor saying that you weren't particularly big of an eater when you were young.

Li Si looked somewhat embarrassed and said, "The troops I sent out should have arrived in Chu by now."

Ying Zheng asked, "This time, how many people will Fusu arrest in Chu?"

"There are dozens of people to be dealt with, more than a hundred to be sent to hard labor, and the rest will be recorded. However, it may take some effort to catch them."

(End of this chapter)