The leisurely life of the Qin people

Chapter 240 Domestic Governance and Border Defense

As spring transitions into summer, it's the perfect time to dry plum vegetables.

Tian An's preserved mustard greens are made with very particular ingredients. They are made from bamboo shoots dried in Sichuan. As for the vegetables, there are many choices. Tian An selects mustard greens, which are the favorites of the young masters.

The best dried plum vegetables are those that are sun-dried to a yellowish-black color. After sending the dried plum vegetables to the young masters, Tian An stored the rest away to eat in the autumn and winter.

After finishing all that, the young master's midday nap was over. Tian An tidied himself up, took off his apron, and cleaned all the bits of dried plum vegetables off his clothes.

When the two young masters are not at home, the young master and his wife eat very simple meals and live a very quiet life.

Before the young master went to the Prime Minister's residence, Tian An served the stewed white fungus soup to the lady and the young master.

Fusu, sipping his white fungus soup, asked, "Has this white fungus been sent to Father Emperor?"

Tian An said, "I've sent it. This is a rare find in Guanzhong. Stewing it with dates and goji berries and adding some honey water makes it very nourishing."

Seeing that the lady had handed over another stack of clothes, Tian An reached out and took them.

"I mentioned earlier this year that the summer clothes wouldn't fit anymore, so these are new ones made this year. Take them to the two children." Tian An nodded and went to give the instructions.

After finishing the soup in his bowl, Fusu said, "It's time to pay our respects to the old general in a few days."

Wang Tang'er said, "Okay, I'll make the arrangements."

Fusu nodded.

Tian An stood aside with a smile on his face. Nowadays, everything in the Wang family is decided by the Madam.

The Wang family wanted to share weal and woe with Prince Fusu, and the entire Wang family had to be loyal to Prince Fusu. Tian An sighed inwardly that this was the greatest support left to his wife after Wang Jian's death.

Fusu took the documents he had brought with him and went to the Prime Minister's residence.

Just past noon, dark clouds gathered on the horizon. As Prince Fusu entered the Prime Minister's residence, thunder rumbled and a heavy rain began to fall.

Cheng Miao was eating the cakes that Tian An had brought. Today, the Prime Minister and the young master were to oversee the deployment of troops.

Zhang Cang asked in a low voice, "Where is Grand Commandant Wang?"

Cheng Miao replied, "It's been a long time."

The rain was at its heaviest outside the Prime Minister's residence, and the two men's conversation was drowned out by the sound of the rain.

Cheng Miao looked at Zhang Cang suspiciously again. Why wasn't Grand Commandant Wang here? Others might not know, but Zhang Cang certainly did. Lately, Zhang Cang had been hanging out with Grand Commandant Wang.

Cheng Miao snapped out of his daze and saw a clerk handing him several scrolls of documents, so he began to review them.

Even with examinations to select officials, the Prime Minister's office was still short-staffed, the Academician's office remained vacant, and the Grand Commandant's office was also unmanned.

So many years have passed, and this place remains unchanged.

Many officials who recently passed the exams have been sent to various counties in Guanzhong.

The young master should indeed do this. In the past, the officials in each county were all old officials who had been in office since Wang Jian returned.

Most of these people were old Qin people, and these officials only obeyed the orders of Prince Fusu.

Nowadays, through examinations, county magistrates in various counties have been added or replaced.

Cheng Miao felt that five years ago, the county officials were already incomplete, and some counties even had only one or two county officials, not to mention the old county magistrates.

If the young master does not place the officials selected in recent years in various counties of Guanzhong, it will be difficult to fill the vacancies in the counties.

After all, to the young master, the counties of Guanzhong were like an old loom.

This is the foundation of Qin, and it is imperative to govern it well.

Therefore, the prince needs to increase the number of officials, which is also to win over the hearts of the common people in the former territories of the six states. He invites people from the six states to come to Guanzhong to serve as officials.

Those who wish to become officials need to pass rigorous examinations.

After last year's examination, Guanzhong added two hundred more officials.

Looking at the documents before him, Cheng Miao felt that the current number of officials was still insufficient, especially in Xianyang and Guanzhong, not to mention Longxi and the Hexi Corridor.

Seeing the Prime Minister stand up, Cheng Miao perked up, it seemed that the troop deployment for today had been arranged.

The rain outside had lessened considerably, and Li Si hurriedly left with two documents, apparently heading to the detached palace in the northern suburbs of Xianyang to report to the emperor.

After the Prime Minister left, the day's political affairs were concluded. After Prince Fusu and most of the others left, Cheng Miao finished organizing the documents and prepared to return home.

It was still damp outside when Cheng Miao came across another scroll of documents. The documents concerned the grain requisitioning in Jingye County, Weinan Prefecture.

Zhang Cang usually handles matters concerning Jingye County.

Cheng Miao glanced at Zhang Cang's location, not knowing when he had left.

In the past few years, Zhang Cang was extremely busy building the three counties of Xianyang Bridge, Weinan Prefecture, and the counties north of Wei River, but he has been able to relax in the last two years.

Cheng Miao had no choice but to pick up the documents and hurriedly leave the Prime Minister's residence, heading towards Jingye County.

A carriage has been prepared outside the city. It is already evening, and it will be night when we arrive in Jingye County. It seems that we will have to get up early tomorrow before dawn to report to Xianyang.

Time was of the essence, and official business could not be delayed. After giving Zhang Cang a stern lecture in his mind, Cheng Miao had someone drive a carriage to Jingye County.

The nights in Jingye County are very quiet, and occasionally you can see Qin soldiers patrolling.

This place is very important, not only because it involves the secret recipe for papermaking, but also because of the two young masters.

When Cheng Miao arrived in the county, he revealed his identity.

Jingye County has no magistrate, but Shusun Tong has been handling many affairs in the county for many years without change.

Originally, Cheng Miao intended to inform Shusun Tong about the grain requisition.

Pushing open Shusun Tong's wooden door, Cheng Miao didn't see the old scholar, but instead met the two young masters and Zhang Jing. Cheng Miao often came here and was naturally familiar with the two young masters and Zhang Jing.

Is the old master here?

Zhang Jing, who was chewing noodles, replied, "I went to Tongguan."

Seeing that Cheng Miao was still holding the document, Zhang Jing said again, "It's about the grain requisition, isn't it? The old master told me about it before he left."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Miao knew that the matter would be easy to handle, so he handed the document to Zhang Jing.

Zhang Jing took the old master's seal and stamped it.

Cheng Miao looked at the seal on the document with satisfaction; the matter was considered settled.

After bowing to the two young masters, Cheng Miao left.

Next to the study was a guesthouse, which was used by traveling officials who would sometimes stay overnight.

Not many people could stay here, so only Grand Commandant Wang, Zhang Cang, or Sima Xin could stay in the guesthouse.

This inn contains many books, all left behind by Prince Fusu.

Just as Cheng Miao lit the oil lamp and was about to sit down, the door was pushed open, and the young master Li walked in.

He held up a steaming bowl of noodles and said, "My brother asked me to bring this."

When a bowl of noodles was placed in front of him, Cheng Miao remembered that he hadn't eaten when he arrived.

He picked up the bowl the young master handed him and ate the noodles.

Li asked, "Imperial Censor Cheng, why does the old master always say that Qin lacks a scholar who is famous throughout the world?"

Cheng Miao said, "There was a rumor back then."

"What rumors?"

"Some say that Qin had brave generals, hardworking farmers, and pragmatic officials, but it lacked only a scholar who would be admired throughout the world."

"Isn't that my father?"

Li Hui said something that left Cheng Miao speechless.

The earliest batch of books used by the volunteer teachers were indeed written by Prince Fusu.

Cheng Miao explained, "The books written by the prince are all the sayings of the various schools of thought. The prince said that he simply compiled the sayings of the various schools of thought and taught them to the people of the world."

The Book of Rites says, "The Hundred Schools of Thought are no more."

Cheng Miao said, "They are indeed gone, but won't many more like them appear in the future?"

Seeing that Cheng Miao had finished eating the noodles in his bowl, Li You very considerately took the empty bowl and chopsticks, bowed to Cheng Miao, walked outside, and then turned around and closed the door.

He was rather short, so when closing the door, he first put down the bowl, which was as big as his face, and then the chopsticks, before standing on tiptoe to close the door of the guesthouse.

Cheng Miao sat inside, still thinking about what he had said to the young master.

It started raining again outside, and the sound of raindrops hitting the roof was particularly clear from outside.

The era of the Hundred Schools of Thought is long gone. After Xunzi passed away, the Hundred Schools of Thought had essentially ceased to exist.

If we were to truly name the disciples of the philosophers of that era who have survived to this day, it would probably be only Li Si and Mao Heng.

Li Si is probably the last Legalist to survive to this day.

Although the young master is Li Si's disciple, he has never said that he is a Legalist.

The ideas implemented by the prince, on the contrary, bear many traces of the Mohist school.

After eating the noodles, Cheng Miao was feeling very sleepy, so he went to rest.

It rained last night, and just as dawn was breaking, Cheng Miao stepped out of the inn, took a deep breath of fresh air, mounted his horse, and hurried off to Xianyang.

The carriage was moving very fast along the way.

It was noon when the carriage arrived at the gate of Xianyang City. Cheng Miao got off the carriage and hurried to the palace gate.

The court meeting had just ended when Cheng Miao arrived at the Prime Minister's residence. Prince Fusu was not there, nor was the Prime Minister.

Cheng Miao went to his seat, handed his documents to Zhang Cang, and asked, "Where are the Prime Minister and the young master?"

Zhang Cang looked at the document and said, "They went to the northern suburbs."

However, looking at the document, Zhang Cang breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I should have gone there myself. Thank you."

Cheng Miao said, "It's alright."

Cheng Miao was usually like this; he would always finish all the matters at the Prime Minister's residence and make sure there were no oversights before leaving.

If it weren't for Cheng Miao, many people would likely have been sent to the north to build the Great Wall by a single order from Prime Minister Li Si.

Yesterday, the document regarding the troop deployment was delivered to the northern suburbs by the Prime Minister and his son. After meeting with the Emperor, the document was sent to the north with the Emperor's permission.

Fusu walked with his teacher through the Linguang Palace, watching the warhorses walking on the grass and chewing on it.

Li Si said, "Modu has been advancing westward frequently lately, which Meng Tian thinks is not a good thing. Modu may have ulterior motives."

Fusu nodded and said, "Modu's tribes are mostly large tribes that were defeated by Touman Chanyu back then. The Baiyang tribe has been destroyed, and the remaining tribes are all under Modu's command. Only six years have passed since the Northern Expedition. The hatred between the Xiongnu and the Qin army will not disappear in just a few years."

Another great battle is about to begin, this is Li Si's thought.

Meng Tian and Zhang Han had been stationing their troops for a long time, and the battle to destroy Modu was imminent.

(End of this chapter)