The leisurely life of the Qin people

Chapter 309 Arrival in Guanzhong

"The disciples you, Li Si, have trained are adept at winning people's hearts."

Li Si disagreed, replying, "I believe that the new emperor and Meng Tian were childhood friends. Although Meng Tian has been guarding the border for several years, even if he returns now, given the long-standing friendship between the new emperor and Meng Tian, ​​the new emperor would still provide Meng Tian with provisions and correspondence while he was on the border."

Ying Zheng said, "Am I mistaken?"

Li Si hurriedly bowed and said, "The new emperor allowed Wang Ben to retire and appointed Meng Tian as Grand Commandant. It seems that he is trying to win over Meng Tian, ​​but that's just how it appears."

Ying Zheng frowned slightly.

Li Si continued, "What the new emperor values ​​is the hundreds of thousands of border troops behind Meng Tian. These border troops all obey Meng Tian's orders. If the new emperor wants to reduce the border troops, the only way is to put Meng Tian in the position of Grand Commandant. If the emperor issues an edict to send Meng Tian, ​​the Grand Commandant, out, then the reduction of the border troops will proceed smoothly this time."

"The new emperor only dismissed the old Qin soldiers stationed on the border, but the annual military service continued."

After watching the hot spring pool before them being wiped clean, Ying Zheng led Li Si out of the hot spring palace, the monarch and his minister still speaking in hushed tones.

Summer has officially arrived in Guanzhong, but the pond in front of the Hot Spring Palace is still a bit greenish, and palace eunuchs are already rowing small boats to clean the algae from the water.

The hot springs and ponds must be thoroughly cleaned and dewormed to prevent mosquitoes and other insects from bothering people in the mountains.

Li Si said, "The new emperor has issued an edict that the Lishan Palace should be thoroughly cleaned by the beginning of summer, especially in areas with water. Two more palaces should be built, one for dining and the other for reading."

Ying Zheng said, "I am enjoying my old age here. Does he have the leisure to consider these things for me when he is governing the country?"

Li Si smiled awkwardly, unsure how to say a few good words for the emperor.

Ying Zheng walked along the pond, saying, "What, does Fusu want me to eat well here, read more books, and go on fewer inspection tours and hunts?"

Li Si bowed and said, "The new emperor has never said any of these things."

Indeed, a number of historical books were sent from Xianyang, including the complete volume of "History of the States".

Ying Zheng picked up one of the scrolls and said, "They have all been written into the book. Hopefully, no one will rebel against Qin and restore the country in the future."

Li Si had read one of the articles about Han Fei, but Prince Gao did not specify the cause of Han Fei's death, nor did the new emperor mention it.

It seems that Prince Gao and the new emperor did this on purpose. This is quite good. For some reason, Li Si even felt much more relaxed.

After thinking for a moment, Li Si replied, "It will not happen again. In a dozen years, people will only know the deeds of the states of that time, and no one will ever restore Qi and Chu again."

Ying Zheng placed a scroll in his hand on the bookshelf, looked around, and gazed at the bookshelf, which was almost full of books, remaining silent for a long time.

The world will truly change; it will not remain the same.

Fusu did not restore the enfeoffment system, but continued to fill the gaps in the prefecture-county system and constantly added to it.

Until nightfall, Ying Zheng stood on the beacon tower built by King You of Zhou, gazing at the distant lights of the Qin people.

Seeing that Li Si had also followed, Ying Zheng raised his head and said, "This beacon tower has been repaired and maintained several times. Successive Qin kings have left this place behind."

The wind was rather strong tonight, and his robes were fluttering in the wind. Li Si said, "I am getting old and I am becoming more and more afraid of the cold."

Ying Zheng said, "Me too. Xia Wuqie always says that I can't stand the cold wind."

The next day, just as dawn broke, Li Si sat at the foot of Mount Li, intently reading the "History of the States".

The old prime minister must have really liked the history of the various states written by the prince, because the old prime minister always had a volume in his hand and read it over and over again, and would occasionally smile.

The news was also relayed to Xianyang Palace by the guards stationed at the foot of Mount Li.

Fusu, who was in Xianyang, was able to know his father and teacher's every move through these guards, because those guards were all armored soldiers selected by Meng Tian from the border army.

The main hall of Zhangtai Palace was quite empty after the court meeting ended. Occasionally, a summer breeze would blow into the hall, and warm sunlight would stream in through the windows, making the hall much warmer.

After reading the letter delivered by the guard, Fusu said, "It seems that the teacher is very satisfied with this volume of history."

Zhang Cang explained, "I've heard that many students in Tongguan these days are begging to even glance at this book."

When Qin unified the world, the teacher's greatest ideal in life was to unify the writing system of the six states and implement the prefecture-county system, thereby fundamentally dismantling the enfeoffment foundation left by the Zhou Dynasty.

Now that the six kingdoms are truly gone, how could the teacher not be happy? The teacher should be holding these books, waking up smiling even in his dreams.

"I heard that a soy sauce workshop was built in Jingye County."

"Your Majesty, it has just been completed. I heard that we have recently reached an agreement with all the counties to sell the beans to Jingye County after autumn."

Fusu put down the paper in his hand, sat on the throne, looked at Zhang Cang who was bowing respectfully, and said, "How come you've gotten fatter and fatter over the years?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Cang was speechless for a moment.

Fusu said, "You should lose weight too."

Seeing that Zhang Cang remained silent, Fusu continued, "That's right, you and I are both usually busy with state affairs."

Zhang Cang handed over another scroll, bowed, and said, "This year, all the counties have measured the fields again, and the population for this year has also been determined."

Fusu opened the document in his hand. This year, the total population of Guanzhong was 970,000, an increase of nearly 200,000 in the past year.

But Fusu knew in his heart where these 200,000 people came from; a large part of them were people who had been laid off from the border army.

Last summer, an imperial edict was issued to reduce the number of troops in various regions and border areas, and they gradually returned last autumn.

This year, Zhang Cang had each county report their population figures again, which is why the number is so high.

At this moment, Zhang Cang was still standing in the main hall, remaining somewhat silent.

Fusu looked at the contents recorded on the back of the document. Last year, fifteen people drowned, five went missing in the mountains, eleven died of illness, and forty-seven died of old age.

Upon seeing this, Fusu slowly raised his head to look at Zhang Cang and asked, "Is there a reason for these drownings?"

Zhang Cang hurriedly took out another scroll from his sleeve and handed it to him with both hands.

Tian An took the document and handed it to the emperor.

Zhang Cang seemed to have known all along that the emperor would ask, and had prepared in advance, but if the emperor didn't ask, Zhang Cang wouldn't need to bring it out.

The emperor was very concerned about the population of Guanzhong. He had repeatedly ordered all counties to be on guard, but this kind of thing happened again. It seems that several more county officials will be arrested.

Zhang Cang said: "I have recently discovered that some county officials have said that it is okay to go into the water, but if you want to drown, you should go somewhere else. You cannot die in their territory. The number of people patrolling the river has been increased in various counties, and even steles have been erected on the riverbanks to prohibit people from going into the water alone. However, some people still go into the river at night. Some people say that it is impossible to prevent them."

After reading the document, Fusu, knowing the difficulties of implementing the decree, said in a deep voice: "If there is any negligence, the county officials will all be stripped of their official positions and will never be employed again. But if there is any serious prevention and control, and people still go into the water on their own, your Prime Minister's Office can handle it as appropriate. This summer, you must be even more vigilant in preventing people from playing in the water alone."

"Yes." Zhang Cang bowed once more.

Just then, someone brought in food. Fusu said, "Teacher, please stay and have a meal with us."

When the state affairs were settled, Fusu still addressed Zhang Cang as "teacher" with great respect.

Zhang Cang remained reserved as he bowed.

With the dishes placed in front of him, Zhang Cang took a bite of a meatball and found it delicious. He then drank a mouthful of the savory soup, along with some vegetable leaves, and put it in his mouth.

With a smile, Tian An added another bowl of meatball soup to Zhang Cang's plate, saying, "Prefect, is it to your liking?"

Zhang Cang was still chewing, nodding repeatedly.

Tian An said, "These meatballs are made with pork and the bitter greens unique to Guanzhong. They are delicious and not greasy."

Zhang Cang bowed to the emperor and said, "Your Majesty, I thank you for bestowing this delicious dish upon me."

Fusu continued, "This year, the Western Regions sent a lot of raisins. The two children have been away from the palace for a long time and haven't been able to eat them. When they go back to eat them, take some with you and distribute them to the ministers of the Prime Minister's office."

"I accept your order."

Although the emperor was strict in political affairs, he was particularly generous in rewarding this emperor.

After Zhang Cang finished eating, he watched as the sack full of raisins was carried away. Tian An was a little worried. This year, there were just too many raisins sent from the Western Regions. There were so many that the palace could almost eat them as food. They could only be distributed to Jingye County and Tongguan.

"I don't know what's wrong with the Western Regions this year, why are they sending so many raisins and jade?"

Just as Tian An was about to return to the palace after seeing Zhang Cang off, he heard the words of the eunuchs in front of the palace.

As for the reason, Tian An knew a little about it. It was related to the fact that the Hexi Corridor sent books of various philosophers to the Western Regions. The countries of the Western Regions thought that the books the emperor gave them were such precious treasures, so they returned the emperor with even more rare treasures.

Tian An entered the main hall, but did not see the emperor. There were only two or three palace servants clearing away the dishes.

Entering the hall, Tian An walked past the eunuchs who were arranging bowls and chopsticks, heading towards the rear hall.

The rear hall also houses many treasures, including Kucha brocade made of kemo (silk tapestry), Shule velvet used for carpets, storax, which is said to be worth an ounce of gold for an ounce of incense, and glass-like crystal cups. Of course, the most precious of all is a large piece of green jade that is half a person tall.

This jade comes from Kunlun Mountain and is the best jade for making ritual objects. There are countless jade discs in Xianyang Palace, all of which were brought from the royal palaces of various states.

The entire rear hall was filled with treasures, so much so that there was hardly any room to step inside.

This time, Qin's foreign exchanges, under Chen Ping's leadership and Lou Jing's implementation, went very smoothly.

With just a few boxes of books, they acquired so many treasures. Isn't this a very successful diplomatic effort?
Fusu didn't know what the people from the Western Regions were doing with those papers covered in writing. They probably would stick them on the wall for viewing or use them to mend clothes.

The treasures before us might be unique in the world. Fusu said, “Send all of these to Father Emperor.”

Tian An asked, "Aren't you going to keep some?"

"Leave nothing, not a single piece. They will be sent to the imperial mausoleum along with Father Emperor in the future."

Tian An nodded.

Xianyang Palace was very wealthy, possessing 500,000 catties of gold and countless pearls and jade discs.

If Fusu wished, he could use all that gold to build a palace, the entire palace made of gold.

Then use those pearls and jade discs to build an artificial mountain.

So, when General Wang Jian gifted me two golden carriages before my marriage, my father didn't even mention it.

For the wealth of Xianyang Palace, two golden carriages were nothing at all.

For Fusu, true wealth lies in possessing the entire world; given his current spending habits, he could probably spend it all in several lifetimes.

But even the most abundant gold needs soldiers to protect it, food to feed the soldiers, and more land tax to pay.

This world was still a very primitive agricultural civilization. Gold was good... but in an era when there wasn't enough food to eat.

Fusu was more concerned about food and population.

Half a month later, news came that all the counties and prefectures in the Central Plains had finally submitted their population figures.

Following this troop reduction and encouragement of childbirth, the known population of the entire Qin Dynasty is now over 20 million.

This is a very encouraging number.

This only includes the registered residents known in each county. If the population in the Central Plains could be calculated in more detail, the number would be much larger.

So far, Qin can only calculate a rough estimate of the population. After all, a country's execution capacity is limited, and there is a shortage of execution capacity and officials in various parts of the Central Plains.

Localities are not yet able to complete such a large-scale population survey.

As the wheat in the fields began to ripen and show signs of turning yellow, Lang sat in Tongguan City, eating a flatbread and drinking a bowl of mutton soup.

As they were eating, a horse-drawn carriage approached.

The coachman who drove the horse was someone Xu Fu had worked as a county official for.

The person who stepped down from the carriage was none other than Fan Zeng from Langya County.

Fan Zeng was helped off his horse. He walked up to Fan Zeng, stroked his beard, and said, "This journey has nearly killed me. I've traveled from the easternmost part of the Central Plains to the westernmost part."

Lang finished the mutton soup in the bowl in one gulp, then put the remaining half of the flatbread into his pocket and said with a smile, "The westernmost point is not in Guanzhong, but in Mazong Mountain in the Hexi Corridor."

Fan Zeng stroked his gray beard and said, "Hmm, the Qin army has entered the Western Regions?"

Lang explained, "This all started with the war between Qin and Touman Chanyu before Qin's northern expedition."

Fan Zeng said knowingly, "Yes, you were one of the generals in the Northern Expedition back then."

"I'm not a general, I'm just a lowly soldier in the army." Lang scratched his head and laughed, "I'll take the old gentleman to eat the most delicious food in our Guanzhong region."

At this point, Fan Zeng turned back to look at the road he had come from.

Seeing this, Lang also looked toward the official road in the direction of Hangu Pass.

Fan Zeng stood still and said in a low voice, "After Huan Chu was sent to hard labor, you and Xu Fu came to Guanzhong. I met a young man who said he came to apologize to me on behalf of Huan Chu, saying that he had not taken good care of Huan Chu, because I am Huan Chu's most respected teacher and the most important person in Huan Chu's heart."

“He felt guilty towards Huan Chu and came to apologize. That young man…” Fan Zeng thought for a moment and said, “His name is Xiang Yu, and he is Xiang Liang’s nephew.”

Lang helped Fan Zeng walk into Tongguan City. Fan Zeng continued, "When I came here, Xiang Yu followed far behind. He did not travel with me, but followed behind my carriage. He was protecting my carriage. Whenever I looked back along the way, I could see him escorting me from afar."

(End of this chapter)