The leisurely life of the Qin people

Chapter 328 Jujubes and Books

Tian An returned to the main hall of Zhangtai Palace and saw the little princess running around inside. A group of palace maids and eunuchs followed behind her with frightened expressions.

Tian An approached the emperor and recounted the story of the ministers in the prime minister's residence scrambling for spinach.

The little princess's playfulness had no effect on the emperor's handling of state affairs. Back when the emperor was presiding over state affairs in the prime minister's residence, he would read documents in the noisy prime minister's residence. The little princess's noise was nothing.

Fusu looked at the contents of the document and said, "There are signs of population recovery in the northern desert."

Upon hearing this, Tian An's expression became more solemn. In his view, the Xiongnu people were like weeds that had sprouted up again.

Now he hopes this winter will be even colder, so that all the Huns will freeze to death.

The next day, before the court meeting even began, people started talking about the spinach that the emperor had bestowed upon them. The spinach did not taste very good, and everyone was discussing it, some saying that it was cooked in the wrong way, and others saying that it should be eaten with mutton.

The discussion among the courtiers shifted from whether spinach was delicious to a culinary exchange.

Once the emperor arrived, the officials resumed their serious demeanor and continued with the day's affairs of state.

But life went on as usual, and while everyone was busy, the emperor once again rewarded his officials with tea eggs.

It is said that last year, many places presented a lot of tea as tribute, so much so that it could not be consumed and had become stale tea. Coincidentally, Luoyang has recently raised a lot of chickens and ducks and sent a lot of chicken and duck eggs.

In the past two years, the Prime Minister's office has seen many new faces, all of whom are newly promoted officials.

The Qin dynasty abandoned the old system of governing based on nobles, and instead used a large number of commoners. The new faces in the Qin court who are now over twenty or around thirty years old are all officials who have been influenced by the rural education system.

These officials are the most supportive of the new emperor. They have benefited from the rural education program and are therefore the most supportive of it.

This year, the emperor finally issued a new decree, changing the previous system of selecting officials to the imperial examination system, and ordering the Imperial Academy to improve the types of examinations and the examination process.

Inside the Imperial Academy, after receiving the emperor's decree, the teachers began their discussions, with etiquette being a central theme, listening to everyone's debates on the imperial examinations.

This time, the person in charge of the reform of the imperial examination system was still Master Wang, the prefect of the Imperial Academy.

Some say that Master Wang will soon become the prefect of the Imperial Academy. Since it is an Imperial Academy, there must be a prefect and a vice prefect. The position of prefect has been vacant since the establishment of the Imperial Academy.

Some people say that Master Wang will be like Gongzi Gao, Master Shusun Tong, and Du Shuichang, and will become a scholar in the Imperial Academy, revered by scholars all over the world.

Li listened to everyone arguing, but remained silent throughout.

The debate ended at dusk, and Li walked out of the Imperial Academy looking exhausted. Some people said that the departments should be divided according to the order of poetry, books, and etiquette.

Some people say it should be divided according to books, numbers, laws, and principles.

Some people refuted both of these arguments, believing that the division of labor should be based on the Nine Ministers of the Qin court, and that the division should be based on which prefecture one was to serve as an official in.

These are the three most debated methods today.

Tomorrow is another ten-day break, and Li plans to go back to Lishan to visit his grandfather.

Students from many academies were on their way home. This was also the busiest time in Tongguan City, with vendors selling pancakes and meat on the streets, and others selling newly printed books from Jingye County.

"Son."

As Li was walking, he saw someone bowing to him, so he stopped and asked, "Liu Ying?"

Liu Ying bowed again and said, "Young Master."

Li continued walking forward, because one of their elder brothers had gone to inspect the east and the other to guard the northwest border, and the two of them had met through their respective elder brothers.

Liu Ying bought two pancakes and said, "I helped the teacher organize the library today, and the teacher gave me money."

Li accepted the cake from Liu Ying and said, "Thank you, I was just hungry."

Liu Ying nodded and said, "When my brother was still alive, we would be starving every day when we left Tongguan City. The first thing we did when we got back to the county government was to find something to eat. Uncle Xiao always said that he thought Tongguan was not giving us food and almost went to find Sima Xin with the county soldiers."

Liu Ying said while eating a pancake, "I ate a lot at noon, but I'm very hungry at this time of day."

Li swallowed the bread in his mouth and said, "Humans are not cows; they can't go hungry. Our stomachs can't hold all the food."

Upon hearing this, Liu Ying scratched the back of his head and said, "When I was little, my aunt often said to my uncle, 'Eating so much every day is not as good as raising a cow at home.'"

At this point, Li and Liu Ying laughed together.

Before long, Chao Cuo arrived in a hurry and asked, "Young Master, is there any progress on the imperial examination?"

Li said, "There's no clue."

Chao Cuo lowered his head and said, "That's right, even if there's a result, they won't tell me in advance."

Li said, "I think with your knowledge, becoming an official in the future will not be a problem."

Chao Cuo rested his chin on his hand, sat on a rock, watched the passersby, sighed, and wondered what the future held.

As the sun set, the three sat on a rock, contemplating the future.

"What has Gongsun Hong been doing lately?"

Chao Cuo snorted coldly, "This fat man is always looking for beauties."

Liu Ying always listened to his teacher and was well-mannered, unlike Gongsun Hong who was self-righteous, or Chao Cuo who spent his days scheming to make connections in the Qin court.

Only Liu Ying was truly studying hard.

Li asked, "Has your brother written to you?"

Liu Ying nodded and said, "A letter has arrived. It's been a year since I left, and this is the first letter I've received. It says I'm very busy guarding the border."

Li said, "I'm going to guard the border this summer too." "What!"

Chao Cuo immediately jumped up and said, "You're going to guard the border already?"

Li said, "Although I am only sixteen years old, my father has allowed me to go ahead of time."

Chao Cuo lowered his head, his expression filled with envy, and said, "At fifteen, he was already a teacher at the Imperial Academy; at sixteen, he went to guard the border; and even after achieving some military merits, he was only eighteen..."

Chao Cuo muttered to himself, thinking that when the young master enters the Prime Minister's residence in the future, he might only be twenty years old.

The future is truly unimaginable. The emperor's son is actually very hardworking in his studies and does exceptionally well, which is evident to everyone at the Imperial Academy.

Being friends with the emperor's son is a huge blow to one's character, and it's not just about the difference in status.

Rather, the other party was not only the emperor's son, but also exceptionally talented, so much so that he was the best among his peers in everything he did. The previous one, namely Prince Heng, was the same.

They were all raised on grain, so why is there such a big difference?

In June, Guanzhong is in the height of summer.

Normally, the lady would find her two sons quite annoying, but this time, as her son Li was about to go to the border, she was still giving him instructions, expressing her deepest hopes for his safe journey.

Even after the young master went to the border army with a group of teenagers, the lady was still watching the young master's back from afar.

Only when the little princess ran over did the lady pick her up, and she seemed to no longer worry about the little prince.

Fusu stood on Xianyang Bridge, looking at Li Zuoche beside him.

Li Zuoche responded respectfully, not daring to utter a word.

Fusu asked, "Li Du has already spoken to me. Are you truly willing to follow him?"

"This humble general is willing."

"You should go with him."

"The last general takes orders."

Fusu ordered the escort to change course, and the family went to the summer palace in the northern suburbs to escape the heat.

Li Zuoche mounted his horse and followed Gongzi Li, who was not far away.

Upon seeing the person who had arrived, Li, who was walking along, said, "I knew Father would agree to let you come along."

Li Zuoche said, "Thank you for your help, young master."

Li then said, "Guarding the border doesn't necessarily mean you'll fight a war, and even if you do fight, you might not have the chance to earn merit."

"You will finally understand."

"If you stay in Tongguan, you can continue to serve as the garrison general, but you may never have the chance to fight in your life. At least by sending you to the northwest to guard the border, your chances will be much better."

Noticing Li Zuoche's expression, Li added, "You don't need to worry that the current Qin army will have any prejudice against you. The old Qin soldiers who fought against the six states back then have all been dismissed by the Emperor and sent back to their hometowns. The current Qin army is newly formed. They don't care about you or the former Zhao state at all."

This was because they were worried that Li Zuoche would feel targeted by the Qin people because of his background.

However, the Qin people did not target Li Zuoche back at Tongguan.

Now that he's gone to the border, the Qin army won't really make things difficult for him.

Li Zuoche was dressed in Qin army armor and was riding a horse in the ranks. Even the Qin soldiers escorting him thought he was there to escort them.

In June, the wheat in Guanzhong has begun to ripen, and you can smell its fragrance just by sitting by the fields.

June in Longxi is extremely hot. Li sat under the shade of a tree, looking north.

Li Zuoche's gaze was also fixed on the north, and he said in a low voice, "Back then, Gongzi Heng walked the entire Great Wall."

Li leaned lazily against the big tree behind him, "I also want to walk the Great Wall."

Li Zuoche lowered his head and said, "If you wish to walk this path, young master, I will accompany you."

Li opened the bundle, took out the dry rations inside, which contained mostly dates and a scroll of books.

He picked up a date, put it in his mouth, and chewed it with a smile on his face. His parents still loved him very much, and the dates and books in the bundle represented their love.

Li always remembered what Grandpa Tian said: his mother loved to eat dates when she was pregnant with him.

Therefore, the two brothers also loved to eat dates.

Li opened a scroll inside the bundle. The scroll contained records about the Western Regions, many of which were not found in the Prime Minister's Office or the Imperial Academy.

My father wrote a very detailed account of the geography, weather, and climate of the Western Regions, and even described the population and royal system structure of the Western Regions.

Li recalled something: many years ago, Chen Ping had said that he wanted the people of the Western Regions to read the classics of the Central Plains.

Let the people of the Western Regions also use the same written language and the same gauge for their carts.

This is another grand ideal, one that I dare not even dream of. If the people of the Western Regions could truly unify their writing system and their cart tracks, how wonderful the world would become.

The hottest part of the day had passed, and seeing that the people in front of him had all stood up, Li also packed his bags and stood up, holding some dates in his hand, eating them as he walked.

There was also a letter in the bundle, which Liu Ying wanted to give to Liu Fei.

Liu Ying said that his elder brother Liu Fei lived in Zhangye County.

(End of this chapter)