The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

When Xiang Zhuang heard the name "Heifu", he stopped eating candy and pricked up his ears.

In the battle of Qinan two years ago, the Chu people said that Xiang Yan died in the battle, or that he fled in hiding, but the Xiang family knew very well: Xiang Yan committed suicide after the defeat, and asked his clan member Xiang Sheng to escape from the battlefield with his head and bring it back to Xiaxiang...

Although Xiang Yan's head was secretly buried by the Xiang family, his body was left on the battlefield, humiliated by the Qin people, and cut into countless pieces. The merit of seizing the flag, which was comparable to beheading a general, was obtained by an unknown person named Heifu.

I never thought that he would become famous by this, and now he has reached the high position of You Shuzhang!

Strictly speaking, this person is also one of the enemies of the Xiang family. When Xiang Zhuang learned that the candy was made by that thief, he suddenly felt it was smelly, as if he had eaten something dirty, and secretly spit it out with his head tilted.

However, Xiang Liang's face only changed slightly, and he immediately returned to normal, chatting and laughing with Madam Wei as usual.

After the battle of Qinan, after burying his father's head, he said to the family members who were clamoring to fight to the death with the Qin people: "When Gou Jian was trapped in Kuaiji, if he had fought for a moment of courage and raised 5,000 people to fight Wu, I am afraid that Yue would have perished at that time. Now Qin is strong and Chu is about to perish. The general trend is gone. We cannot force it. We should follow the strategy of Fan Li and Wen Zhong, gather people for ten years and learn lessons for ten years, and wait for revenge in the future!"

When the whole family was forced to move to Guanzhong, he also comforted his brothers like this: "Tang was imprisoned in Xiatai, King Wen was imprisoned in Youli, Chong'er of Jin fled to Di, Xiaobai of Qi fled to Ju, Gou Jian entered Gusu, and he finally became a king. From this point of view, why is it not a blessing?"

They, the Xiang family, are not King Huai of Chu!

Xiang Liang, who had decided to endure hardships, could pretend to be a submissive citizen even if his real enemies, Qin Shihuang and Wang Jian, stood in front of him. How could he be angry because of Heifu?

Madam Wei also wanted to test whether Xiang had any ulterior motives, so she deliberately mentioned Heifu, who had seized Xiang Yan's flag. Seeing Xiang Liang's face, she was relieved to see that he was normal.

Since she had accepted Xiang Liang's gold, she also talked about what Xiang was most concerned about.

"I have asked someone to inquire clearly. The order of the Imperial Censorate has come out. Cao Ju, the prison official of Yunyang County, will be transferred to Xiaxiang County, Sishui County, to be a prison official."

The prison official is in charge of litigation and prisons. He is the chief official of the county Cao, whose power is second only to the chief official. If he is a ruthless person, the life of the clan members who stay in Xiaxiang will not be easy.

Madam Wei said: "Cao Ju is an easy-going person. He also has a background in the court. The newly promoted censor Cheng Miao received his favor when he was in Yunyang Prison. It is good to make friends with him. Maybe he will be useful in the future."

Xiang Liang breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "There are really many officials who went to Shandong to take up their posts this year."

Madam Wei drank a sip of hot soup: "The court frequently sent new officials to various counties in Shandong, but it is still to implement your majesty's national policy."

This is another big move by the court after collecting soldiers from all over the world and defending the pass by crossing the river last year.

When the Qin officials dressed in black left Hangu Pass, they all pulled standard measuring instruments on their cars. Once they took office, they immediately began to promote the work of standardizing the tracks of vehicles, the writing of books, the currency of money, the shape of coins, the measurement of measures, the weights and measures, the ethics of behavior, and the law, abolishing the old system of the six countries and aligning everything with Xianyang.

These measures dealt a heavy blow to local nobles such as the Xiang family. Unlike the loose laws of the six kingdoms, the Qin laws were strict, and the Xiang family had to be more restrained. Private soldiers could not be raised, and the number of land, slaves, and prisoners would also be restricted.

Coinage was an important source of income for the Xiang family. Once the coins were the same and the coins were the same in shape, private casting was not allowed, and a large amount of income was lost every year. The same scale and weight also meant that they could no longer use private instruments to play the "big cauldron loan, small cauldron back" favor trick.

They were proud nobles, each with hundreds of years of history, and there were classics in their collections. Once the books were the same as the Qin seal script, the six kingdoms could only be taught to their children secretly.

These systems would bring many inconveniences to the Xiang family and Shandong nobles, and Xiang Liang could only sigh that it would be better if Qin established states in Yan, Qi, and Chu.

He heard that all the sons of Qin Shihuang were young, and the young princes would definitely rely on local forces and rule according to their customs. Unlike the Qin officials appointed by Xianyang, who were only responsible to the emperor, they shouted at the local tyrants to kill them, oppressed them, and regarded Qin law as an iron law, forcibly correcting the customs and habits of the people of the six countries...

But these were things that they dared not speak out, and they could only accept it. In the past two years, Xiang Liang had learned to read Qin seal characters. He knew that under absolute power, if the nobles did not make changes, they would only perish!

Madam Wei comforted him, saying, "These national policies are jointly supervised by the Prime Minister's Office, the Censorate, and the Ministry of Finance, but the implementation periods are different. The laws and regulations have been implemented in the counties, and the weights and measures and track gauges must be replaced within this year (the 27th year of Emperor Qin Shihuang), but the unified writing system can be delayed."

She talked about this interesting story: "Last month, after Heifu made bark paper, His Majesty was very happy. He built paper workshops in Guanzhong and sent paper to Shandong. He asked all counties to use hemp paper and parchment paper in parallel with the unified writing system. However, silk books are not allowed to be used anymore. Violators will be fined a piece of silk!"

Xiang Liang could imagine that the people of Chu would complain endlessly, because the Chu nobles loved to use silk to write and paint, or as decoration, or to bring it into the tomb. It has become a tradition. His family has many silk books written on "Zongheng Jiashu", "Laozi", and "Tang Yu Zhidao". If they are suddenly abolished, I am afraid the people of Chu will not be happy.

Fortunately, in this matter, considering that the scholars of the six countries could not learn Qin characters overnight, Heifu made a suggestion to the emperor.

"The characters of the six countries have been different for a long time. It may be inconvenient to abolish them suddenly. It is better to use five years to gradually eliminate the characters and silk books of the six countries! Replace them with Qin seal script and paper!"

He also said: "Qin has its own system. The counties compile accounts and send officials to report them step by step. They are presented to the court and used as funds for performance evaluation. It is called Shangji. Your Majesty has a far-sighted vision and promotes hemp paper and unified writing, which will benefit the world for a long time. This five-year policy of elimination can be called a five-year plan!"

Unfortunately, Qin Shihuang was in a hurry to govern and thought that five years was too long, so he changed it to three years, and then issued a "three-year plan" to produce three million sheets of paper within three years to completely replace silk books and gradually eliminate bamboo slips!

Being able to persuade the emperor to slightly change the national policy was a great achievement. The Right Minister Heifu had become a new nobleman that the emperor trusted recently. People who cared about the court affairs compared him with Li Xin, who was the most favored at that time...

At this point, Mrs. Wei had told Xiang Liang all the news that a pound of gold could buy.

Before Xiang Liang took Xiang Zhuang to say goodbye, Mrs. Wei seemed to remember something again and said to Xiang Liang in a boastful manner:

"But I forgot one thing. The Right Minister Heifu will get married in December. These invitations have been made to invite guests. My uncle (Wei Zhuang) is also invited, but he is old, so I, my uncle and his wife will go..."

She was happy to flatter this new nobleman, but she was reluctant to spend more money. Her phoenix eyes kept hinting at Xiang Liang.

Xiang Liang understood and bowed his hands tactfully, saying, "People often think that the Right Minister had seized the flag of my deceased father, and Xiang hated him. But in fact, we are just ordinary people in Jingchu. How dare we complain after our country was destroyed? Now the Right Minister is getting married. Liang is of humble status and dare not attend the banquet. I hope that Madam can congratulate him on behalf of Xiang to show my respect. The gifts will be prepared and sent to Madam's residence tomorrow!"

…

On the first day of the first month (the first day of the tenth month) in the twenty-seventh year of the Qin Shihuang Emperor, Chen Ping, who was a temporary worker in the village temple and a minor official in Huyou Township, Yangwu County, Dang County, also received a red paper invitation from Xianyang from the postman amid the envious eyes of his colleagues…