The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

In the 26th year of Emperor Qin Shihuang, the beginning of summer had passed, and the weather in Guanzhong was getting hotter day by day. Thousands of new immigrants also traveled thousands of miles from Yanzhao to what they saw as a "foreign land".

"Finally, we are almost there!"

When the Qin official shouted to stop, Zhuo Tie wiped his sweat, knelt down by the Ba River, and drank the water without caring whether it was clean or not.

It seemed thicker than the water in Handan, and had an indescribable taste.

The taste of the enemy country? The taste of a foreign land?

He swallowed them into his stomach, turned around, and his five-year-old son stood beside him, slightly opened his mouth, and looked at Xianyang City on the other side of the Wei River curiously. His wife sat on the sedan chair, tears in her eyes. She was a home-loving person, but after entering Hangu Pass and coming here, she probably realized that they would never be able to return to Zhao State!

Zhuo Tie was a native of Zhao State. He lived in Handan and his family had been smelting iron for generations. By the time of his father's generation, he finally got rid of his status as a slave of the iron official and began to run a small iron shop independently in the city. Every day, he kept the fire burning very vigorously, forging swords and halberds for the wanderers, repairing farm tools for the farmers, and occasionally making iron molds for the merchants and nobles who came to the door to help them secretly mint coins. He was well-known in the city.

These good days came to an abrupt end seven years ago. General Li Mu, the pillar of Zhao State, was killed by the foolish King Zhao Qian. This self-destructive behavior soon led to bad consequences. Without Li Mu's obstruction, the Qin army was unstoppable and quickly broke through Handan and captured the King of Zhao.

The Zhao State was destroyed, and the sky above the Zhao people's heads suddenly changed color.

The Qin army took over the four gates of Handan and began to restrict entry and exit. Qin officials moved into the government office and issued new laws. The King of Qin even went to Handan in person and personally ordered the killing of hundreds of people and their families who had treated him harshly when he was a child.

Zhuo Tie was also watching the King of Qin's majestic carriage on the roadside at that time, and the thought that flashed through his mind was: How much gold and iron would be needed to make such a large carriage solid?

Although every Zhao person secretly hated the Qin people, life had to go on. Although he heard things like "Prince Jia rebuilt the State of Zhao" or "Famous scholar Chen Yu called on anti-Qin heroes to join Hengshan", Zhuo Tie had been doing his ironmaking business honestly.

Although it was not as easy as before, he at least collected enough betrothal gifts, married his wife, and soon gave birth to a son. After a few years, the family wealth was not much, but it was more than 100,000, which was considered a middle-class family, and he could still eat meat every few days.

But at the beginning of this spring, the nightmare came. First, there was an order to "collect soldiers from all over the world". All the gold and iron shops in Handan City were searched, and most of them were closed on the spot. The government wanted to take away the weapons circulating in the market, and announced that all iron and steel shops would be owned by the state from now on, and no more private weapons would be cast...

Zhuo Tie's shop's craftsmanship became state-owned, and his status was like that of an iron official's slave. He could only eat a limited ration every month, which was fine, but it was better than becoming a prisoner.

But in March, something even more terrible came!

The emperor threw another edict to Handan, requiring most of the craftsmen and merchants in Handan to move to Guanzhong!

Some people were strong-willed and refused to obey, holding the trees at home like holding the hands of their loved ones, and refused to let go. Those Qin officials and soldiers were ferocious, and they couldn't drive them away with whips and sticks, so they drew their spears and swords, cut off the branches that people were holding, and drove them away.

The ruthless swords separated the rich families, craftsmen, merchants and the trees in the yard. Gradually, the big trees in the hometown gradually disappeared, and the walls of Handan gradually blurred. They wiped their tears and began to leave their hometowns and became real "migrants".

"The sky is fierce and the sky is sad. We are starving, and the people are exiled. I live in a barren land!"

A doctor from the Zhao family sang a ballad in grief and indignation, but before he could arouse the response of the Zhao people, his voice suddenly stopped, and the doctor's body fell forever outside the city of Handan.

"At least he can die in his hometown." The rich families and businessmen of Zhao State quietly looked at the doctor's body and passed by him one after another.

For businessmen, their lives are unstable and migratory, so the resistance is not as great as that of farmers.

It takes more than a month to travel from Handan to Guanzhong. Rich families can drive ox-horse carts, while middle-class families push human-powered sedan chairs. The slaves and servants belonging to them were retained, gathered together, and walked with their hands tied behind their backs.

This was to prevent them from escaping. There were also people who tried to escape on the way, but they were caught and killed on the spot, or directly sentenced to be slaves and put on heavy wooden clamps.

"What difference does it make whether it is sentenced or not? Anyway, we are all slaves of the King of Qin with our hands tied behind our backs!"

Another young blacksmith, Cheng Zheng, who was also from the State of Zhao, was indignant and kept complaining along the way.

Zhuo Tie just whispered to Cheng Zheng to be careful with his words, and he ate dry food silently. He was not without dissatisfaction, but now he had a wife and children, and everything had to be based on their safety.

"As long as my family can be together, it doesn't matter where we move to."

They crossed the mountains and rivers, passed the densely populated Sanchuan area, passed the Hangu Pass that the six countries had tried their best to capture, and came all the way to the hinterland of Guanzhong, Baqiao Pavilion, and crossed the bridge to Xianyang Weinan.

Qin Li said that this was the last stop before reaching the destination "Shanglin Garden". They could rest here for a night and the local government would send them food.

Although the people who were relocated were from good families and had made sufficient preparations for the long journey, the food was quickly exhausted after entering the pass. Since the day before yesterday, these thousands of people had to accept the assistance of the Qin government, and the food was poor, sometimes only millet porridge, as plain as water.

But the word of mouth among the exiled captives said that the food delivered today was even worse, and it was wheat that even the wild farmers didn't like to eat...

"The Qin people really treat us as prisoners!"

Cheng Zheng exploded again, and he punched the ground hard. At the same time, a wealthy man from Handan, Wang, stood up from the carriage and asked the Qin official loudly: "Sir, can I buy rice and grain by myself?"

Wang was rich and had no shortage of money. He could always get better food by giving a little benefit to the pavilion. Today he wanted to do the same thing.

There were many people who thought the same as him. They had no shortage of money, and gold would not depreciate. Rich families would be rich families wherever they moved to.

"No."

But today, Qin Li seemed to have a special mission, and he must let the exiled captives eat the distributed food. He rejected this request with a stern face.

At the same time, he waved his hand and asked the guards to carry a basket of food to distribute. The immigrants were even more desperate. It looked like it was not wheat porridge that could be barely swallowed, but wheat rice that took a long time to chew?

Cheng Zheng's face was already red, and his patience had reached the limit. If Zhuo Tie hadn't held him tightly, he might have done something impulsive.

On the other hand, the rich man Wang was also indignant that he had to eat the same food as the prisoners and dogs. He felt that he had been greatly insulted, so he pointed to Baqiao and said:

"Even if I die, starve to death, or jump off from here, I would rather not eat wheat rice!"

As he spoke, the rich man Wang's belly was already rumbling. Although the pavilion can charge money to open a small kitchen, it only cooks one person's portion of food each time. If it cooks more, it is against the law.

At this time, the food was also distributed to everyone. Zhuo Tie pulled Cheng Zheng forward with a wooden bowl, only to find that it was not wheat rice, but pieces of wheat-yellow cakes, like golden cakes! Some of them had traces of being burnt, and they were hard to the touch. When they were gently pinched, the outer skin cracked, revealing the slightly soft flesh inside...

"Can this be eaten?"

After returning to her chariot with three pieces of sesame cakes, Zhuo Tie's wife looked at them with some suspicion. The Zhao people and the Qin people had a deep hatred, and they were always willing to use the greatest malice to speculate on the Qin people's plans.

In the Battle of Changping, more than 400,000 Zhao people were deceived and killed.

"Maybe it's the food in Qin. We've certainly never seen it."

Zhuo Tie was open-minded and said with a wry smile: "We've come this far. Can the Qin people still poison us?"

His wife still shook her head: "The Qin people are crude. What good food can they have?"

"In order to survive, we have to eat it even if it tastes bad."

Zhuo Tie smiled at his wife and son and took a big bite as a demonstration!

He was prepared for it to taste bad, but it turned out to be unexpectedly crispy and fragrant!

He was stunned for a moment, but he didn't stop chewing the wheat cake. He swallowed it and felt a strong sense of satisfaction - compared to the porridge and broth he had eaten these days, this was the most filling thing he had eaten in half a month!

Like many people around him, Zhuo Tie was also shocked. He was about to tell his wife and son with surprise that this was a good thing, but he heard that not far away, Wang, who was still proud of his nobility and unwilling to eat wheat food, couldn't help but take a bite of the wheat cake after being persuaded by others, and couldn't help shouting:

"It smells so good!"