The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

"You don't even know the subordinates under the Shaofu, but you became the Shaofu Cheng in a muddle? I am really worried now, can we accomplish this."

The two were already sitting in a small courtyard in the Shaofu official office. Zhang Han was amused but also a little worried when he heard Heifu asking him about the Shaofu.

Heifu was very helpless: "The Shaofu has the most subordinates among the nine ministers, and there are dozens of subordinate offices. Its functions are also wide, from mountains, seas, salt and iron, to population taxes, market taxes, and then to examinations, food and beverages. I only know the Shaofu and the Shaofu Supervisor now. As for the others, how can I remember them one by one?"

Zhang Han thought carefully, what Heifu said was not wrong. Unless someone like him has been a minor official in the Shaofu since he entered the officialdom, it is really not an easy task to sort out the complicated and huge duties of the Shaofu.

In fact, to put it bluntly, the Shaofu is an institution that specializes in the emperor's finances.

The fiscal revenue of the Qin Dynasty was basically divided into two. The bulk of the land rent went to the Internal Affairs of Grain Administration, which was the national fiscal revenue. Every year, the public budget for official salaries, road construction, and city construction was allocated from here.

The head tax, that is, the head tax, together with the taxes on mountains, seas, and lakes, and the market rent, were collectively called forbidden money, which belonged to the emperor's personal income and were assigned to the Internal Affairs Office. The money used by Qin Shihuang to cast the Twelve Golden Men and renovate the palaces was all spent from here.

"So the emperor felt that he was actually spending his own money when he renovated the palaces in Guanzhong, and no one else could control it..." Hei Fu understood why the advice of Youzhan and Fusu would hit a wall.

However, the income of the Shaofu was too much, accounting for one-third of the national finances! One-third of the finances were used to support one person every year, and the emperor's power was conceivable.

Of course, it is said that in the years of the war to destroy Chu, the Internal Affairs of Grain Administration was unable to make ends meet, and the emperor often asked the Shaofu to allocate funds for emergency.

The powers of the Shaofu were not just as simple as the emperor's inner treasury. In addition, the emperor's food, clothing, medicine, gardening, and the production of utensils were all under the charge of the Shaofu. Xia Wuqie, the imperial physician who had dealt with Heifu, was under the charge of the Shaofu.

Because the scope of the Shaofu's duties was relatively wide, it was necessary to set up "six chancellors" to take charge.

Zhang Han counted on his fingers and explained to Heifu what the chancellors of the Shaofu did specifically.

"The Shaofu Tongcheng is in charge of the mouth tax and the minting of coins."

Heifu silently memorized it and labeled it in his mind: Bank of China.

"The Shaofu Neicheng is in charge of the clothes, treasures, and delicacies in the palace. Under him, there are Taiguan who is in charge of food, Daoguan who is in charge of rice selection, Yuefu who is in charge of music and dance, and Huangmenling who is in charge of the eunuchs in the palace."

Is this considered the general manager of the palace? Heifu thought secretly.

"The Shaofu Yuancheng is in charge of all the mountains, forests and ponds of the imperial family, and under him are the officials of Dushui, Junguan, Shanglin and Chijian."

National Forestry Administration, Heifu nodded.

"The Shaofu Jiangzuocheng is in charge of the palace craftsmen, such as Shangfang is in charge of the palace forbidden objects, Yufu is in charge of the emperor's clothes, Dongyuan craftsmen are in charge of the objects in the imperial mausoleum, and there is also the Kaogongshi who manages the workshops inside and outside the palace."

Heifu understood. So, the Terracotta Warriors were also fired by Dongyuan craftsmen?

Then Zhang Han also mentioned the Shaofu Yucheng, who was in charge of the imperial prison. It turned out that this Shaofu also managed more than a dozen imperial prisons such as Yongxiang Prison, Zhishi Prison, Sikong Prison, etc., and held tens of thousands of prisoners. At present, these people are the main labor force for the construction of palaces in Guanzhong. There is no end to the work. In a few years, the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang in Mount Li will still be waiting for them.

"In history, did Zhang Han lead this group of prisoners to fight against Chen Sheng and Wu Guang?" Hei Fu glanced at Zhang Han. He had already mentioned the five chancellors, but there was only one chancellor left.

"The sixth chancellor is not permanent, usually a fake chancellor."

Zhang Han told Hei Fu that the sixth chancellor was usually only appointed temporarily in some huge breakthrough projects, such as Zhengguo Canal, Du Dongling, Zhiyangling, Six Kings Palace, and Twelve Golden Men, which had to be completed within the scheduled time. It was a bit like the project team in later generations...

The previous project team was the casting of the Twelve Golden Men. Now, it was Hei Fu's turn to manage papermaking. Who let his idea arouse Qin Shi Huang's strong interest?

After all, Qin Shi Huang had to review 120 kilograms of memorials every day, which was really a heavy physical job. If it was really possible to make "paper" as thin as silk and cheaper than bamboo slips as Hei Fu said, not only would the emperor's own work be much easier, but it would also be of great benefit to the promotion of the same writing system.

But the First Emperor was not a patient man. He required Heifu to produce results within this year (before October)!

Heifu himself was anxious, and what was even more frustrating was that the emperor appointed him to be a "fake Shaofu Cheng" with no subordinates, just like a commander without troops.

Fortunately, the emperor gave him the power to select people from various government offices and ordered the Shaofu Chengs to do their best to assist Heifu.

Heifu first named Zhang Han. With the help of this brother who was familiar with the Shaofu and had presided over many projects, things would be much easier.

While Heifu was chatting with Zhang Han, he found two other subordinates, and they finally arrived.

One after the other, a thin man in black clothes with a sad face and a fat man with silk on his body, almost soaked in sweat, came in.

It was Qin Mo Cheng Shang and Zhuxia Shi Zhang Cang...

...

With the casting of the twelve golden men, the construction of palaces in Guanzhong, and the forced labor of immigrants and prisoners near Xianyang, Qin Mo Cheng Shang became more and more worried.

In the eyes of the Mohists who advocated frugality, the prevalence of rituals and music, the construction of palaces, and the construction of mountains and tombs were all behaviors that abandoned the people's farming and wasted money. They were all undesirable and useless things that should be eliminated.

But even Prince Fusu's remonstrances were useless, let alone the increasingly neglected Mohists?

The bow is hidden after the bird is dead. Now the status of the Mohists in the court is not even as good as those Confucian scholars and doctors. At least they have more people and there is soil for continuation in Shandong, but what about Qin Mo? It is almost a tree without roots and water without source. Chu Mo has died out, Qi Mo has declined, and Qin Mo suddenly feels like a rabbit dying and a fox mourning.

Worse things were to come. With the end of the war and the unification of the world, Qin Mo had been looking forward to a brand new beginning, but the First Emperor was too eager and had no intention of resting with the people. Although he collected soldiers from all over the world, the labor of the people was not reduced by half compared to the Warring States Period.

Qin Mo was a little disappointed. The only thing they could do was to refuse to contribute to the construction of the palace and instead put their energy into the construction of the water mill and water mill. It happened that Nei Shiteng promoted pasta among immigrants, and Mohists frequently went in and out of many Shandong immigrant settlements such as Dudong and Shanglin to build mills, help them build cities, and repair houses.

Mohists certainly had nothing in common with the rich, but they had a good chat with the craftsmen from Kanto. By walking in the immigrant cities, Qin Mo, who was once confused, seemed to have found a little necessity for his existence...

Cheng Shang was very grateful to Heifu. If it weren't for Heifu's advice, he might still be immersed in the tragic war and the disappointment with the empire's governance.

So when Heifu invited him, Cheng Shang came without hesitation.

"The reason why a benevolent person does things is to promote the benefit of the world."

He bowed to Heifu and said, "Since it is a good thing that helps people in the world to read, learn to write, and open their minds, Mohists should do their best to help!"

Heifu was very happy. He had only seen the process of papermaking in a documentary and remembered some of the general principles. If he wanted to make paper come out of nowhere, he would probably encounter many difficulties. At this time, he had to ask Mohists for help.

He laughed and said, "With the cooperation of Mohists and the craftsmen under the Shaofu Jiangzuocheng, I have nothing to worry about in terms of skills."

Seeing Heifu so happy, the panting fat man on the other side fanned himself with a cattail leaf fan and said, "If Heifu hadn't tempted me with the abacus, I wouldn't have come."

Heifu estimated that this guy weighed more than 200 kilograms. The fat man hated midsummer the most. In previous years, he would hide in the cool storage room to read books during this season. No matter what anyone said, he would not step out of the room. He became a fat house...

It was not until Heifu took out the "abacus" he had mentioned to Zhang Cang that he reluctantly agreed to go out. This was made by Heifu with Cheng Shang's help. There was a smooth thin rod embedded in the apricot wood frame, and the rod was strung with flat round wooden beads, which could be moved up and down along the thin rod...

Zhang Cang was already fascinated by mathematics and was compiling the "Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art". When he got this thing, Heifu taught him the most basic abacus addition formula, and he immediately loved it.

Of course, I also asked how Heifu made this thing?

Fortunately, as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, there was a prototype of the abacus, "Tao Wan", so Heifu made up:

"My brother was a disciple in the school. He not only had to learn laws and regulations, but also arithmetic. One day I saw him stringing pottery balls with wooden sticks instead of counting rods, and then I had an idea. Why not put the wooden sticks and pottery balls together? Then I had the idea of making an abacus..."

As for the inspiration for papermaking, Heifu attributed it to the "Dongmen Hemp Retting" scene he saw when he inspected the weaving room in Nanjun.

Zhang Cang did not delve into it, because in just one day, he had already played the abacus better than Heifu, and he was constantly developing the multiplication and division abacus formulas that Heifu had returned to the math teacher.

This made Heifu sigh that a genius is a genius, and it was really the right person to give this thing to Zhang Cang.

At this moment, after Zhang Cang recovered his breath, he took out the abacus from his bosom and started playing with it, saying casually: "How can I be of any use?"

"This matter cannot be done without Zihu. Papermaking is not something that can be done overnight. From site selection to logging, and then to production, it takes a lot of manpower and material resources, so I need to ask Brother Zihu to calculate the business, time and money spent according to the income."

Heifu wanted to prove to the emperor that the things he made were not only lighter and more useful than bamboo slips, but also much cheaper than silk, so he needed a detailed bill. It was appropriate to ask Zhang Cang to do this.

In their project team, Zhang Cang was the planner and accountant, who stayed at home and processed all kinds of data sent by the accountants.

Zhang Han was the specific implementer, commanding the prisoners and officials to work, and communicating with other departments of the Shaofu.

Cheng Shang was the technical staff, responsible for turning Heifu's ideas into reality and solving the problems encountered.

With sufficient manpower, a sufficient budget, and three people to help, Heifu has more confidence in testing out paper that can be written within three months.

"In this way, I don't have to summon my brother-in-law to Xianyang from afar."

Heifu does not plan to let his family get promoted again. Nanjun is the safest place in the next ten years. If he insists that his elder brother and brother-in-law follow his footsteps, it will harm them instead.

Anyway, the military ball, public toilets and other things have left Qin Shihuang with the impression of "often coming up with surprising strategies", so he is not afraid of being surprised again and again.

"We are in charge of everything, so what do you do?" At this time, Zhang Cang stopped fiddling with the abacus and looked at Heifu.

"Me?"

Heifu pointed his head with his index finger and smiled, "Of course I am the one who works hard!"