The leisurely life of the Qin people

Chapter 294 The one who is least afraid of hardship

Gongzi Li said a lot of nice things, but Li Si was already tired of hearing them. After all, he had been prime minister for twenty years and had heard such words all the time.

But Li Si was quite pleased to hear it from the young master.

An old man and a young man walked along a path on Mount Li. The young master asked to become Li Si's apprentice, and Li Si readily agreed.

The following day, Ying Zheng could no longer drink alcohol every morning and could only drink porridge, which was so bland that he kept smacking his lips.

Upon seeing that it was Li Si, Ying Zheng said, "Xia Wuqie has brought Fusu's decree, which forbids me from drinking wine in the morning."

Li Si sighed, "I have already given up alcohol."

Ying Zheng took another sip of porridge, wanting to add more salt. He looked around at the eunuchs; they all listened to Xia Wuqie now, and Xia Wuqie only listened to Fusu.

Seeing the emperor reach for the salt jar, Xia Wuqie said, "The emperor decrees that we should eat less salt."

Ying Zheng sighed, "Never mind, I won't eat it."

Xia Wuqie nodded.

As for why Xia Wuqie listened to Fusu, it was because he saw the medicine book written by Fusu. He didn't know how amazing that medicine book was, but he heard that Xia Wuqie would always hold it and read it.

Ying Zheng also knew that the scroll of medicine was given to him by Li.

It was said that he would teach medicine to Li, but Xia Wuqie never actually taught the child.

Li Si said, "Young Master has returned to Tongguan to study. Today is the Qingming Festival in Tongguan."

Zhuangzi once called on people to observe the Cold Food Festival and abstain from fire during the Qingming Festival. In the past, the Zhou emperor would also hold a jade tablet to offer sacrifices during the Qingming Festival to inform people that the spring plowing season had arrived. In the past, the Duke of Qin would also lead the people of Qin to offer sacrifices for spring plowing.

In the past, people in the Chu region would hold spring festivals, people in the Qi region would play Cuju (an ancient Chinese football game), and people in the north also had Hu (non-Han) customs. People would pray for the removal of diseases and disasters during this season, which was also a good time for travel.

Li Si said, "The young master said last night that he wanted to become my student."

Ying Zheng asked, "You agreed?"

"Your subject agrees."

"Your teachers of etiquette include Shusun Tong, Xia Wuqie, and Feng Quji, and now you are one of them. How many skills will this child learn..." Ying Zheng sighed.

Inside Tongguan City, Liu Fei was walking towards the Imperial Academy. He saw that many of his teachers from the Imperial Academy had left today, heading to Xianyang.

Liu Fei asked Fu Ziqi, "Where are these people going?"

Zhui replied, "They went to take up their posts at the Prime Minister's residence."

After the major examination, some of those who passed the exam stayed on to work at the Imperial Academy.

Seeing these people heading to the Prime Minister's residence, Liu Fei felt extremely envious.

Among the many students in Tongguan, entering the Prime Minister's mansion was the lifelong pursuit of many, and being ranked among the Nine Ministers was enough for them in this lifetime.

Most scholars today come from humble backgrounds, and therefore they take pride in their commoner identity.

Back when the Warring States still existed, only nobles were qualified to participate in national development within the Prime Minister's office.

Things are different now; ordinary people like them can also participate.

Zhui said, "Most of the students in this Imperial Academy are also people-loving. They often say, 'I was raised by my parents using grains grown in the fields.' These young people, once they enter the Prime Minister's office, will think about how to make the lives of the farmers better."

Liu Fei could indeed see such words everywhere in the Imperial Academy. When he was young, Liu Fei had not read many books. All his knowledge came from the teachings of Master Jing and what he saw now.

For some reason, Liu Fei suddenly missed Liu Ying. He had just received a letter from his mother and Liu Ying a few days ago.

Everything was fine with his mother in Pei County, but Liu Ying's arrival in Guanzhong was postponed again, seemingly because Liu Ying's mother did not want her child to come to Guanzhong too early.

Liu Fei knew that Liu Ying's mother was very formidable. Sometimes, if he were in Liu Ying's shoes, he would feel suffocated by such a mother.

In his reply, Liu Fei advised Liu Ying to listen to her mother.

Liu Fei then thought that perhaps his father had become the magistrate of Pei County, and with his father's prestige, Liu Ying might not necessarily have to come to Guanzhong.

The reason Liu Fei thought of Liu Ying was because he remembered the family tradition of the Lü family that Liu Fei had mentioned before.

When Liu Ying was young, in addition to reading the books of Master Zijing like himself, he also learned the family learning of the Lü family, which was a kind of learning that only nobles had.

At that time, Liu Fei greatly envied Liu Ying.

But now, after studying in Guanzhong, Liu Fei feels that Liu Ying is having a hard time.

Composing himself, Liu Fei looked at the departing students with lingering envy.

Fu Ziji advised, "The emperor has raised the age for military service to twenty. You can wait until you are twenty and then go to the border to guard the frontier for two years. Your talent will also be enough to get a position in the Prime Minister's office."

Liu Fei was eager to grow up. He wished he were already twenty years old and had gone to the border to guard the frontier for two years.

When Liu Fei learned that Heng had gone to the border, he was actually only sixteen years old. Later, Liu Fei found out that Heng was actually the emperor's son.

Once Liu Fei learned Heng's true identity, he knew that he and Heng were no longer friends.

It is very likely that they will never see each other again in the future, because their statuses are too different.

Zhui said, "This year during Qingming Festival, let's go and pay our respects to Xunzi." The students of the Imperial Academy were not forced to pay respects to Xunzi, but since they all studied the works of the Hundred Schools of Thought, they could pay respects to any of them, whether it was Mozi or Laozi, and no one would stop them.

Confucius admired Xunzi's scholarship, so he would pay homage to Xunzi, after all, he was a patriarch-like figure.

It's still the busy farming season, and Tongguan City isn't as bustling as it used to be.

Young Master Li saw Liu Fei and Master Zizhui in front of the Imperial Academy, and then quickly walked towards the Prefect's Mansion.

Liu Fei also knew Li. Almost all the students in the Imperial Academy knew that this humble and studious Li was Heng's younger brother and also the emperor's son.

It was because when the Imperial Academy was first built, Li called Heng "elder brother" in front of many people. The two brothers looked almost identical, except that Li looked thinner.

Gongzi Heng and Zhang Jing were the most outstanding students in Tongguan City. All the students in the city knew about them, and they were also the young men admired by almost all the women in Tongguan City.

But now, these two are guarding the northern border. Liu Fei also knows that under the fair system of the Imperial Academy, even the emperor's son, Gongzi Heng, has to go to the northern border to guard the border, let alone others.

Therefore, when it comes to guarding the border, people have no complaints. Even the emperor's children have to go to the army. People all admire such an emperor.

The boys would also form cliques, and Heng and Zhang Jing were undoubtedly the two most prominent among the boys in Tongguan, almost able to command a large following.

Therefore, Prince Heng had already established a very high reputation in Tongguan City.

Liu Fei withdrew his gaze and followed the Master into the Imperial Academy.

Li arrived at the prefectural governor's residence and met Li Zuoche there. He then asked, "Where is the prefectural governor?"

Li Zuoche replied, "The prefect has gone to Huayin County."

After greeting Li Li and walking into the prefectural governor's residence as if no one else was there, Li Zuoche said again, "He'll be back soon."

Li sat in Sima Xin's usual seat and asked, "How will Tongguan City celebrate Qingming Festival this year?"

Li Zuoche replied, "Every student can have a tea egg."

"Where did all these eggs come from at Tongguan?"

“Sanchuan County raised a lot of poultry, intending to present them to the new emperor, but the new emperor refused. Prefect Wu of Sanchuan County had a good relationship with our prefect, so he sent all the eggs over.”

Li said in a low voice, "Sanchuan County raises so many poultry that they can't even finish eating all the chicken and duck eggs. How wealthy Sanchuan County must be."

Li Zuoche nodded and added, "They also have a paper mill."

Although Sanchuan County had paper workshops, it did not have the right to print books. The books that Qin sent to various parts of the Central Plains were printed by workshops in Jingyang County. The power to print books still remained in the hands of the emperor.

The emperor would not easily relinquish this power, as it is too important for rural education. Even the number of books that can be printed each year is limited, and the emperor has never given up on it.

People generally believed that if the emperor wanted more books, he would surely delegate the power to print them.

Apart from the printing technology in Jingye County, most books today are handwritten. Handwriting is inherently slow, and it's not as fast as the hundreds of people in Jingye County who can print thousands of books a day.

Sima Xin returned with some tea eggs. He placed them in front of the young master and said, "They're still warm."

"Thank you, Prefect Xie."

Sima Xin was very fond of the young master Li; who in this world doesn't like a sensible and well-mannered child?

Li peeled the eggshell and asked, "Has my brother written to me recently?"

Besides sending letters to Xianyang Palace, Gongzi Heng also sent letters to Tongguan. Li Jin was often away from Tongguan, which Gongzi Heng was unaware of, but the letters were always sent directly to Tongguan and delivered to the prefect Sima Xin.

Gongzi Heng knew that Gongzi Li would come to Tongguan to see Sima Xin no matter where he went.

Since Sima Xin took office as the prefect of Weinan, he has always stayed at his post and has never left his post without permission.

Li Zuoche believed that Gongzi Heng valued this aspect of Sima Xin, which was why he always entrusted the letters to Sima Xin.

Both young masters were extremely astute; they both knew how to take advantage of Sima Xin.

Sima Xin took out a leather bag from his sleeve, untied the rope binding the bag, took out a wooden tube from it, and handed it to the young master with both hands.

Li took the blackened wooden tube and said, "Thank you, Prefect."

Sima Xin said, "It was just a favor, young master, there's no need for thanks."

Then, Sima Xin sat down on the side and dealt with his official business.

Li lifted the wax seal from the gap in the wooden tube lid, poured out a piece of paper, and began to read the contents of the letter.

Li Zuoche stood guard nearby. Although he couldn't see the contents of the young master's letter, he could see the young master's expression.

After reading it, the young master wrote a reply on the back of the paper, put it back into the wooden tube, resealed it with wax, and then had it sent to the north again.

Sima Xin asked, "What did the eldest young master say?"

“My elder brother said he wanted to travel along the Great Wall to the Yan region, and then from the Yan region to the Hexi Corridor in the northwest, to walk the entire Great Wall from beginning to end, so as to inspect the northern border on behalf of our father.”

Sima Xin said, "The Great Wall was built with the blood and sweat of hundreds of thousands of people. Even climbing the Great Wall is very tiring."

Li said, "My elder brother is the one who is least afraid of hardship."

(End of this chapter)