The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

In late April of the 26th year of the reign of Qin Shihuang, Zhuo Tie stood by the muddy Wei River with a hoe, looking at his new home.

Their new home is located in the "Between Feng and Hao" area east of Duting and west of Zhiyang. It was the old capital of the Zhou Dynasty, but it was abandoned after the Lishan disaster. There are no more palaces and prosperous cities. There is only a lush millet seedling growing freely, foxes living there, jackals howling there, and occasionally one or two long calls of wild pheasants.

This land is the northern edge of "Shanglin Garden", one of the five gardens, and it has not been developed until more than ten years ago, when Queen Mother Xia, the grandmother of Qin Shihuang, chose it as her mausoleum.

Queen Mother Xia was not the principal wife, so she could not be buried with King Xiaowen of Qin in Shouling, west of Duting. She chose a piece of wasteland between Shouling and the tomb of her son, King Zhuangxiang, Zhiyang, and left a will saying, "Look east to my son, west to my husband. A hundred years later, there will be a town of 10,000 families nearby."

Qin Shihuang obviously took the queen mother's will to heart. There was no need to wait for a hundred years. With the arrival of immigrants, a simple living quarters had been built here for the immigrants to live in. The village was strictly divided into ten and five, and the village chief, five elders, and three elders of the village were selected. A village official was sent to manage the village, and everyone was required to register their household registration, names, and age.

Outside the settlement, fences and walls were slowly being rammed to prevent wild beasts in the garden from attacking people and livestock. The woods and grasslands were burned to white ground by a fire, probably waiting for them to settle down completely before opening up fields.

Although the long journey was over, Zhuo Tie and other Yanzhao immigrants were still worried, because the spring plowing season had passed and it was too late to plant millet. They were not allowed to buy grain from other places. Would the Qin officials support them for nothing until the next autumn?

There were more than a thousand families settled in Dudong alone. There were at least ten such immigrant settlements in the entire area around Shanglinyuan in Weinan. Tens of thousands of people had to eat more than one million shi of grain, which was not a small number, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of immigrants scattered in 40 counties in Neishi. At least five million shi of grain was needed in a year.

That day, the Tianzuo Li and Cangzuo Li in black clothes and black hats gathered people from each household and dispelled their anxiety.

"According to Qin law, men are given one and a half shi of grain per month, young men and women who are less than six feet five inches tall are given one shi of grain per month, and children are given half a shi of grain."

According to the household registration book registered before, each family went to collect the monthly rations on the first day of May. Zhuo Tie's family had a total of three shi of grain, which was enough to eat.

But when the immigrants received the food, they were dumbfounded when they opened the sacks.

It turned out that what was distributed was not millet, but wheat!

"Sir, only wheat?"

Zhuo Tie himself was fine, but his wife was in poor health and his son was young. If he ate wheat rice every day, he would definitely get sick. He didn't know that this was because the human body lacked wheat starch digestive enzymes, and eating wheat rice would cause indigestion and other discomfort symptoms.

"From now on, until April next year, your rations will only be wheat!"

Qin Li glanced at these Shandong immigrants who dared to be angry but not speak, and smiled: "If you don't want to eat wheat rice, you can go to the water mill by the Wei River. At the price of thirty coins per stone, you can grind wheat into wheat flour. The internal historian will also send chefs to each county to teach how to make wheat cakes!"

Wheat is slightly cheaper than millet, and one stone is less than thirty coins, but it costs the same price to grind flour. Anyone with a discerning eye will know that it is a rip-off.

Ordinary farmers would definitely be reluctant to part with it, and would rather chew the hard-to-swallow wheat rice than pay this unjust money.

But the Shandong immigrants were originally wealthy locals. Before being relocated, all their belongings were exchanged for gold, silver, and silk. They had no shortage of money, but they lacked the life of luxury.

From Baqiao to Du County, they were lucky enough to eat a few meals of food called "naan", which was said to be made of wheat flour. Although everyone was not used to it, it was still delicious, and the rich man Wang, who clamored to never eat wheat, had become addicted to it, saying that the taste of wheat cakes was better than corn and millet.

Now Qin Li only gave them two choices, so most people, after a little hesitation, gritted their teeth and carried the sacks to the water mill.

A folk song also spread among Shandong immigrants:

"I'd rather eat a bite of naan than a basket of wheat rice!"

...

At Heifu's house in Zhangtai Street, Qin Mo Chengshang smelled the aroma of the wheat-yellow, steaming naan with some meat stuffing on the plate in front of him, swallowed his saliva, but hesitated to eat it.

He looked at Heifu who was eating the cake slowly on the table opposite, and sighed: "In the past, Mozi had to wear short brown clothes and eat quinoa soup. Although Qin Mo is not only that, he also pays attention to simplicity. If Xiang Lige saw me being so extravagant, I'm afraid he would say that Qin Mo has forgotten his ancestors?"

Heifu was slightly stunned when he heard the name "Xiang Lige", and then he remembered that it was the Chu Mo who ran to the Qin camp alone to persuade Li You to withdraw his troops during the war to destroy Chu.

Later, when Ruyin City was broken, his three division commanders were all killed in the battle. Xiang Lige used a hemp rope to pull the chariot and transported their bodies away...

Since that day, Qin Mo and Cheng Shang's ideas have been greatly impacted. They always doubt whether what Qin Mo did was right, and they were almost depressed.

When Hei Fu came to Xianyang to see him again, Cheng Shang had lost a lot of weight and his face became more and more miserable...

So Hei Fu put down the food in his hand, wiped his hands and said:

"Now that Chu has been destroyed, the world is unified under Qin, and the strong take everything. Chu Mo, who specializes in helping weak countries resist invasion, has completely lost his place."

"But Qin Mo is in great use, but Brother Cheng is worried all day long. Why is that?"

Cheng Shang was silent. Qin Mo mainly inherited Mozi's idea of "Shang Tong". They believed that as long as there are multiple countries in the world, war will not disappear. To achieve the great unity of the world, we must first achieve political unity and let all voices come from one voice to eliminate war.

Qin Mo chose to assist Qin in unifying the world. After a hundred years of fighting and suffering many doubts from both inside and outside the faction, he finally realized his original intention.

Qin Mo also actively participated in the construction of the empire. In the feudal and county disputes, Mohists firmly stood on the side of the counties. Qin Shihuang said: "Today, the world is suffering from endless fighting because of the princes and kings. Thanks to the ancestral temple, the world was initially settled, and the country was re-established. It is to build up troops, and it is difficult to ask for peace!" Qin Mo agreed with this statement.

But the new dynasty at present is still far from Qin Mo's ideal country, especially the emperor's recent series of policies, which made Cheng Shang worried, and he couldn't help but think of the prophecy of Chu Mo Xiang Li Ge a few years ago.

"The King of Qin annexed the six kingdoms and ruled the world. People in the world will not love each other. The strong will oppress the weak, the majority will rob the minority, the rich will bully the poor, the noble will treat the humble, and the cunning will deceive the foolish!"

Although the world was unified, the hatred of the survivors of the six kingdoms towards Qin did not disappear. In order to stabilize the rule, Qin Shihuang ordered 120,000 households to migrate to Guanzhong. This move was a bit rough in the eyes of Mohists.

"If the food and clothing of more than 600,000 people are not handled properly, the consequences will be disastrous. Your Majesty is too anxious."

Hei Fu didn't think so. Qin could even supply rations for 600,000 expeditionary forces, let alone eating in the rich Guanzhong? The only problem is how to save costs, so he smiled and said:

"Mr. Cheng, are you worrying too much? Now Shandong immigrants have all moved into their new homes, with the protection of the city and food provided by the government. Although there is only wheat, I heard that the people of Shandong have already liked noodles. Men are scrambling to go to the water mill to grind noodles, and women are following the government's kitchen to learn how to knead, ferment and bake cakes. There is also a folk song saying, 'I would rather eat a bite of naan than a basket of wheat rice'..."

The water mill is also a new thing. It was Hei Fu's idea to Nei Shi Teng. The Mai family in Guanzhong already has a stone mill powered by animals, and the continuous water mill in Nanjun is also a very mature technology. Combining the two, replacing the rice pounding mill with a stone mill for grinding noodles, you can make a water mill.

So since last month, the craftsmen invited by Nei Shi from Nanjun have cooperated with Qin Mo to build dozens of water mills at various immigration points in Weishui, Fengshui and Bashui.

The people of Guanzhong were amazed when they first saw this kind of machine that could operate by itself without human or animal power. But after watching the excitement, no local Qin people went into the water mill to grind flour.

Food habits are extremely stubborn. Take Hefu himself as an example. He can eat wheat cakes occasionally, but he can't stand eating them every day. He still prefers rice that has accompanied him for decades in his past and present lives. Southerners even say "eat steamed buns instead of rice".

Therefore, the local people of Guanzhong would rather eat millet produced by their own families than touch the wheat cakes that smell delicious. Only the Shandong immigrants have no choice but to be forced to eat cakes...

"The promotion of wheat and pasta in the north should start with hundreds of thousands of Shandong immigrants. Let them get used to eating wheat cakes first. In July and August, let everyone plant wheat in the fields. In this way, a virtuous circle can be formed, and the planting area of ​​Su wheat in Guanzhong can be gradually expanded."

Wheat is more productive than millet, and it is only a matter of time before it replaces millet. But in history, this process started from the Han Dynasty and was not initially completed until the Tang and Song Dynasties. For a thousand years, wheat was a coarse grain in the north.

Heifu also comforted Cheng Shang: "Using Fengshui and Weishui as mills and grinding mills, and turning five wheels, each mill can grind 300 hu of wheat a day. To achieve this, Cheng Jun and Qin Mo have made great contributions!"

But the Mohist saint disease came back again. Cheng Shang hesitated and said that he thought the grinding fee collected by the water mill was too expensive, which was a violent deprivation of people's food and clothing, and depriving people of their use...

"Since it doesn't require human and animal labor, why not let the people use it for free?"

The Mohists were too idealistic. Heifu didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "It takes a lot of money and labor to build a mill. The officials who guard the mill also need salaries. If the mill cannot make a profit, the government will have no motivation to build it. I am afraid it will be abandoned soon."

Cheng Shang didn't know that this idea was given by Heifu to the internal historian.

He charged thirty coins per stone of flour, which was equivalent to selling millions of wheat to the rich families in Shandong. When the next year came, Nei Shi Teng not only stabilized the millet price in Guanzhong, but also earned back the wheat money through the mill. Such a striking political achievement would surely be praised by the emperor...

It was also a bonus that Hei Fu gave Nei Shi Teng.

"This is called wool coming from sheep. Anyway, the rich families in Shandong are not short of money." He thought to himself.

But then again, the Qin Dynasty government even calculated the rations of small officials on business trips very carefully. If you don't eat one more meal, how could you support hundreds of thousands of people for a year in vain? As far as Hei Fu knew, these hundreds of thousands of immigrants had a big project waiting for them before planting wheat in autumn.

This was also the purpose of Cheng Shang's visit to Heifu. He said with a bitter face: "Qin Mo once advised Your Majesty that after King Wu of Zhou defeated King Zhou, he stopped fighting and cultivated culture, and returned the horses to Huashan. Although the world is settled today, there are countless weapons in the world. We should collect the soldiers of the world and bring them to Guanzhong to cast swords into plows..."

This was Qin Mo's original intention, but Qin Shihuang was a person who liked to make his own decisions. When he announced the edict the day before yesterday, the Mohists found that their advice was off track.

The emperor collected the soldiers of the world and gathered them in Xianyang, but he was not willing to cast them into farm tools. Instead, he ordered that the piles of weapons of the six countries be used to do something as big as Yu's casting of the nine tripods...

"Melt the arrows and cast them into twelve golden men!"