Daqin: The poorest prime minister, the first emperor begged me to corrupt

Chapter 208 Don't take the people's stitches and thread, don't eat a meter from the people!
South County, Anlu County.

In a cottage in Xiyangli, it was raining lightly outside, while the old witch Zhu inside was beating a tambourine, jumping around the campfire like a mad dog.

click -

A light sound of firewood burning and cracking sounded from the bonfire.

The sweaty old witch Zhu finally took over his magical powers, wiped off the sweat from his face indiscriminately, and made his face more abstract with cinnabar oil paint.

Then, picking up a twig, a bone was pulled from the fire with holes drilled all over it.

The carapace-like bones were burnt pitch black, and it was no longer possible to tell whether they were tortoise shells or ox bone shells.

The old witch Zhu picked up a glass of water, gulped it down, took a sip at the end, spit it out with a puff, and sprayed it on the scalding oracle bone.

call--

While the steam was rising, larger and more cracks suddenly appeared on the cracked oracle bones due to thermal expansion and contraction, and spread along the reserved holes, forming a regular 'Bu' shape.

For those who don't understand the principle, it looks amazing to be true!
The young couple next to them were stupefied for a moment, staring wide-eyed, for fear of missing any miracle.

"Well, the internal and external omens correspond to each other, which is a good omen. Seeking benevolence will result in benevolence."

The old witch Zhu took the cooled oracle bone, looked at the cracks on both sides, and compared it for half a day before giving a conclusion.

The young couple was overjoyed immediately, and the husband poured a sack of white rice he had brought into the pottery urn beside Old Wu Zhu.

The old witch Zhu heard the melodious sound of rice grains crashing into the urn, and his face covered with cinnabar oil paint, couldn't help but smile, and said auspicious words: "The virtuous couple must be adding a man this time."

Swah——

The husband, who was pouring rice into the pottery urn, stopped immediately when he heard this, and there was only half a bag of rice left, so he couldn't pour it out.

There are already three in the family with handles. At a young age, they went to the tree to dig birds and went down to the river to catch turtles.

Now his wife is pregnant again, and she still wants to have a cute and attractive little girl, so Baba came to ask Wu Zhu for divination.

If there is another boy who is so annoying, the young couple will go crazy!
"walk home."

The husband had a dark face, carrying the remaining half bag of white rice in one hand, and leading his wife out with the other.

The old witch Zhu's eyes twitched, and he really wanted to slap him.

I owe you, I have to tell the truth, now the salary has been reduced by half, and I am afraid I will smash the signboard...

"Husband, let's not give up this baby. Another boy will not be able to support him."

Outside Wu Zhu's house, his wife put on a straw hat, looked at her sullen husband, and suggested weakly.

The husband was stunned for a moment, then squeezed out a smile and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? A girl can support a boy, but a boy can't?"

"I can give birth to this baby at ease, the big deal is that I will live with the four boys in the future, and I just don't want to have another baby!"

When it came to the end, the husband had assumed the posture of the head of the family, and his tone was undeniable.

The wife stroked her lower abdomen, nodded slightly and said nothing more.

The husband knows how to love others. Seeing that his wife was not in a good mood, he looked back at Wu Zhu's house, and said in a low voice, "This old witch may have lost his divinity long ago. If the villagers ask him for divination, it will always fail to work." place."

"No way, he made a mistake in divination this time, and there is a sweet-smelling girl in your womb~!"

His wife smiled, looked back at Wu Zhu's house, and said with a guilty conscience, "Stop saying these things, and be careful not to offend ghosts and gods... However, I heard from my second sister-in-law that she came to divination last time, and it didn't work..."

The young couple complained about the old Wu Zhu's business level, and headed home in the rain.

Tread-tap-

At this time, a rush of horseshoes suddenly sounded from a distance.

The husband's expression became tense, and he hurriedly protected his wife behind him, then blocked half a bag of rice in front of him with one hand, and scratched his waist with the other hand.

Looking at this posture, it was like a conditioned reflex. He didn't see the person coming clearly, so he put up his defense first!

The wife didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and patted him on the shoulder from behind, saying, "It's the second brother Hei Fu who's back..."

"Surprise, brother and sister~!"

Before his wife finished speaking, the galloping knight also saw the two and shouted loudly.

Shocked and relieved, his expression was also relieved, and he put down the rice bag in front of him... I'm afraid I can't get rid of the problems of this battlefield, I'm always surprised!

Leaning slightly, the knight came up to him and lifted his hat. He was a dark-faced young man with short beard, who was undoubtedly the second brother Heifu.

"Second brother, why are you back when you are free?"

The young couple saluted and asked curiously.

Heifu got off his horse, looked at the half bag of rice in his hand, and then at Wu Zhu's house not far away. He seemed to have guessed something, so he asked without answering, "Did you go to divination?"

Nodding in shock, he explained: "My sister is pregnant again, I want a girl, but after some divination, the old ghost insisted that it was a boy, and I was so angry that I gave half a bag of offerings..."

Hei Fu couldn't help laughing and said, "That old witch has long since lost her divinity, and it's the most ineffective. My ex-wife's sister-in-law went to divination, it's really useless!"

After laughing, he said again: "Boys are also very good. There are never too many sons. They are born to add to our family. There is nothing to be discouraged about."

"You are still young, if you want a baby girl, you will continue to have children in the future!"

He waved his hands again and again in shock, and said with horror on his face: "Farewell, to support three boys, and to torture us both for more than ten years. After giving birth to this one, there will be no more."

"Besides, I don't have a title and salary like your second brother, and I really can't afford to support me if I have too many children. I can't rely on you and my eldest brother to support me, can I?!"

Hei Fu scolded: "What's wrong with the donation? My eldest brother and I, as well as the eldest sister's family's money, have you spent less? Are you now ashamed?"

She couldn't help but blushed, as the youngest, she was always the most favored, so there was nothing she could do.

Hei Fu stopped teasing him, and said seriously: "You will be born when you are born, don't be afraid that you will not be able to support yourself, because His Majesty the First Emperor issued an edict that from now on there will be no poll tax!"

Shocked a little bit, he and his wife looked at each other, not daring to answer: "Really?"

Heifu nodded, led the horse and walked forward together with the couple, and at the same time explained: "It is absolutely true, the Zuoyunmeng County where I work has received an edict yesterday, and this year's calculation tax has already started not to be collected. .”

"Most of us in Anlu County have already received the edict to exempt from counting Fu, but it hasn't been conveyed to the countryside yet."

"No way, in the afternoon or tomorrow morning, an official will come to convey it."

Jing and his wife looked at each other silently for a while, and then they were overjoyed, almost dancing with joy.

"His Majesty the First Emperor is so virtuous. If we don't collect taxation, we Qianshou people can save a lot of money and food every year. How much better life will be!"

"Haha, no matter how many children we have now, we don't have to worry about not being able to pay the tribute. The money and food we save can be used on our children!"

Seeing Yaodi and younger siblings happy, Heifu couldn't help but smile on Dahei's face.

Now that the gift is exempted, a young noble like him can actually live a lot more comfortably.

Not to mention, I have to work hard with my wife at home to make another doll or two to make the family more prosperous!

The three talked and laughed all the way, thinking about what they could do with the money and food they saved this year.

Is it possible to slaughter a sheep to eat in these two days?

When you are full of meat, you will have the strength to collect and store crops when the weather is fine!
"Second Brother, there's been too much rain this year, and the rice in the fields has already matured. It's still raining. I'm afraid a reduction in production is inevitable..."

When it came to collecting and storing crops, he couldn't help being surprised and made a bitter face, and sighed.

Heifu heard him sigh, and Dahei couldn't help but have a sad look on his face.

However, his sad face was not worried about the decrease in crop production: "Third son, in fact, besides the edict of tax exemption, His Majesty the First Emperor issued two other edicts."

Startled for a moment, he asked curiously, "What edicts are they all?"

Heifu didn't hold back, and explained bluntly: "One of them is the abolition of slavery, and no Qin people are allowed to be lowly."

Nodding in surprise: "That's okay, it doesn't have much to do with our family. Second brother, your former servant immigrated to the outside of the Great Wall a long time ago, and the replacement Wuniaohu was also sold to the county clerk... Another thing What about the edict? What is it?"

Heifu sighed: "Another edict is that His Majesty the First Emperor ordered the soldiers in all counties to participate in the collection and storage of summer grain. They must take advantage of the sunny weather to help the people complete the collection and storage, so as not to reduce the production of summer grain."

I was stunned for a moment, and then my face changed drastically: "Soldiers going to the countryside?"

Hei Fu nodded and said: "Yes, it can be said that the soldiers have gone to the countryside!"

"I made excuses to take a change of clothes and ask for leave to come back. In fact, I wanted to inform Xiyangli that if Lizhong can complete the summer grain collection and storage as soon as possible, it should be done as soon as possible. Even if it is raining to harvest, the production reduction will be accepted."

"Otherwise, when the garrison soldiers go to the countryside and enter our Xiyang, it will not be a matter of reducing summer grain production..."

Jing's face became darker and darker, as if it was darker than Heifu.

His wife's complexion gradually turned pale, and her body under the coir raincoat trembled slightly.

A few years after the chaos of the Warring States Period, many memories of that time are still clear.

Everyone knows what will happen when soldiers from other places are stationed in the village!
"Maybe it's not that scary..."

After a long silence, Jing suddenly looked strange, and said hesitantly: "I heard that the soldiers of our South County used to be under the command of Prime Minister Qin, so it should be much better?"

After Li Xin's defeat of Chu, the two brothers were conscripted as the main soldiers of the Qin army. Under the leadership of Old Wang Jian, they went to support Qin Mo who had successfully stabilized the front line.

At that time, they had seen with their own eyes that the soldiers under Qin Mo's command could be said to be strictly disciplined and did not commit any crime to the common people.

You know, even the army led by Xiang Yan will often plunder the people in the war zone...

Therefore, the soldiers under Qin Mo's command left a very deep impression on Jing!

"So what if they used to be under Prime Minister Qin's command? Now that they have been away from Prime Minister Qin for many years, do you still expect them to abide by the rules as if they were under Prime Minister Qin's command?"

"Haven't you heard about Nanyang County?"

"Those generals who committed crimes used to be under Prime Minister Qin's command, but after leaving Prime Minister Qin, they did things that harmed the people, and they are no worse than others!"

Heifu refuted it faintly, extinguishing the younger brother's fantasy with reality.

Jing was completely speechless, first sent his wife home, and then the two brothers went to find Lizheng together, which was also their elder brother's heart.

……

As Heifu expected, in the afternoon, Yingzheng's edict was conveyed to Xiyangli.

On the one hand, the common people rejoiced at the exemption of the calculation tax, but on the other hand, they felt deeply worried about the soldiers going to the countryside.

"His Majesty the First Emperor had good intentions and did not want to reduce the summer grain production in all the counties in the world. After all, if there is no food, people will starve to death."

"It's only been a few years since we've had enough to eat, it's really unpleasant to be hungry..."

"But... the guards will be exempted from going to the countryside!"

"Heifu is right. In Xiyang, we need to hurry up to complete the collection and storage of summer grain. At that time, the guards came. We have already completed the collection and storage. We don't need them, so we left..."

Zhong babbled a lot, explained the serious relationship, and finally raised his arms and shouted: "Men, women and children in the village, one counts as one, go to the field, do whatever you can, let's start the summer harvest immediately before the rain stops. !"

"Here~!!!"

The people in the village responded in unison, went home and took their agricultural tools, pulled a two-wheeled shelf cart, and pushed a one-wheeled rooster cart, braved the light rain and rushed to the fields to start a vigorous summer grain harvest.

Seeing this scene, Heifu felt relieved, took a few sets of clothes, and rode back to Zuoyunmeng County where he worked.

During the summer harvest season, he, a humble official, wants to lead the people under his rule to grab the summer grain as soon as possible!

……

But there is a saying that when the house leaks, it rains all night. If you don't want to come, it will come.

The people in the Yunmengze area did not want the soldiers to go to the countryside to participate in the harvest of summer grain, so they did not hesitate to brave the rain to harvest it.

But the next day, the sky suddenly cleared up.

Moreover, it was a sunny day with a strong sun, and the crops that had not been harvested in one morning were dried in the sun.

Therefore, the soldiers stationed in Nanjun were divided into hundreds of teams according to the order of the first emperor, and they went out of the camp with chariots, horses and farm tools, and rushed to various villages.

Li Zheng, who led the team of hundreds of generals and the bitter-faced villager, made a quick contact with them, and then let his subordinates quickly invest in the summer grain harvest, regardless of the attitude of the people, whether they welcome them or not.

"Big girl and little daughter-in-law, go home and prepare meals!"

"Shocked, let the siblings go home, don't go out if you have nothing to do..."

Abandoning the busy guards, one by one the young women in the village were driven home from the fields.

After he was sure everything was in place, he returned to the busy soldiers with a large bucket of herbal tea.

He originally wanted to greet the soldiers to drink tea to relieve the heat, but after seeing the situation clearly, his face turned dark again, almost darker than that of his second brother Heifu.

When the soldiers went to the countryside, they brought their own carts, horses and farm tools.

Moreover, their chariots and horses are new-style four-wheeled carriages that pull baggage, and a cart can hold several acres of rice.

At this time, the guards were loading all the harvested rice into the four-wheeled carriages. They were afraid that they would not be enough, and someone would step on them, and they were already taller than a person in the carriage!
[Mother and maidservant, pretending to be so tall, do you want to take away all the food in the bag? People who stand on it and step on it are not afraid of falling to death...]

He cursed secretly, put down the bucket of herbal tea he was carrying, and walked quickly towards the leader of the hundred generals.

The surrounding people in Xiyangli wanted to stop but dared not stop them. They all gritted their teeth in distress. Seeing that Li was about to stand up, they didn't hesitate any longer. They all followed them aggressively with scythes and straw forks.

Sincerely, this Lizheng was elected by all the people in Xiyangli after Yingzheng issued the "Order for the Selection of Township Officials", and the popularity is quite high.

Therefore, as long as he is willing to take the lead, the people in Xiyangli are willing to follow!
Jing even took the lead, holding a sarcium sickle, and followed behind the eldest brother. He is also from the old Qin army, and he is not afraid of fighting!

"Zhong Lizheng, where is your threshing ground? Hurry up and take advantage of the good weather to spread it out to dry!"

The hundred generals saw that Zhong led the people over, and thought they were helping to load the car, so he took the initiative to ask.

As if a basin of cold water had been poured on his head, Zhong's arrogance dissipated in an instant, and he said in a daze, "Uh...you are not...threshing grounds, are you? The threshing floor."

The hundred generals nodded and pointed at the dozens of carriages that were already full: "Then let's store these rice with the straw first, we don't have time to help you thresh, after harvesting your mile, you have to rush to the next one." where."

Zhong nodded in a daze: "Ah, good, good... first pull it back to the storage piles of various houses and cover them, wait for the threshing field in Lizhong to dry, level it again, and then threshing and drying it will not be too late."

"Boys, young and old, hurry up and help, the rice in whoever's field will be pulled to whose house!"

"Shocked, hurry up and bring the cold dishes for the generals to quench their thirst!"

"In addition, inform the women in the house that today we will kill pigs and sheep to entertain the generals..."

The hundred generals heard him shouting more and more exaggerated, and hurriedly interrupted: "Don't be so in the heart, when we leave the camp, we will bring the army rations."

"The captain and the mission officer have also issued an order not to eat the food in the village."

"If there are idlers in the field, hurry up and harvest."

"His Majesty the First Emperor's edict to grab the harvest of summer grain clearly states that during the summer harvest period, everything is focused on the collection and storage of summer grain. If there are idlers who do not work in the fields, if they are caught, they will be punished with hard labor!"

Zhong nodded again and again: "Yes, yes, I know, isn't this labor intensive in the field, and I can't survive without eating three meals a day, so the women and girls have gone home to cook lunch."

"After lunch, that woman can't just stay at home and dodge. If she dares to dodge during the busy farming season, she won't beat them to death!"

Bai Jiang nodded without saying anything, spat in his hands and rubbed them, waved his scythe and continued to work hard.

Zhong Zhong stopped talking nonsense, and also picked up a samarium sickle, and accompanied him to reap the harvest.

He also kept an eye on it, and worked until noon. He saw that a few guards really dug a smoke-free stove, cooked several large pots of dried bacon and stewed pot helmets, and continued to work hard after eating. Really relieved, I called out all the big girls and the little daughter-in-law to join the harvesting army.

The garrison soldiers have practiced all the year round, their physical strength is exaggerated, and they are all from crop handles. Even though there are only a hundred of them, the speed of harvesting is faster than all the men, women and children in Xiyang combined. times.

At sunset, the paddy field rice and dry field wheat in Xiyang were almost finished harvesting.

Tread-tap-

Facing the last slant of the setting sun, several generals wearing Wubian came galloping from a distance.

Knowing from the bottom of their hearts that they are the captains and other generals who were the soldiers of their Southern County garrison, they rushed forward to greet them and said: "Xiyang Lili is sincere, and I pay my respects to all generals."

The leading general bowed his hand in return and asked: "The soldiers who came to Xiyang to harvest summer grain, did they offend the people of Guili today?"

Zhong immediately waved his hands again and again, and shook his head again and again: "The officers and men have done nothing wrong with the people, and they work extremely hard to harvest the crops, which is a great kindness!"

The leading general nodded: "That's very good. After the collection and storage of summer grain in Xiyangli is completed, the people in Lizhong will follow the soldiers to the adjacent village to help with the collection and storage of summer grain."

"Taking advantage of the rare good weather, we all help each other, and we will collect and store all the summer grain first, so as not to miss one!"

"Here."

Sincerely and sincerely, he bowed his hands to accept the order.

……

A situation similar to Yunmengze is happening everywhere in Daqin, and Guanzhong is undoubtedly the hottest place!
On the concrete straight road in Hexi, a huge and strange team is slowly moving forward.

The team is said to be huge because it is not a caravan, but an army. There may be three to four thousand people, and all of them are cavalry.

It is said that this team is strange because there are Hu people with high noses and deep eyes in the team, and there are also Qin people with crooked buns.

The team is not a whole, the Qin people are one, and the Hu people are one.

Moreover, one part of the Qin people is divided into several small groups, and one part of the Hu people is also divided into several small groups.

Whether it is from the Qin people or the Hu people, each of them holds a talisman and a banner.

This... is actually a team from countries outside the Great Wall in the northwest, going to Xianyang to pay homage to Yingzheng!
Among them, the Qin people are the sons who enfeoffed outside the Great Wall and their guards.

Among them, the Hu people were envoys from various countries outside the region, or simply the king or prince came personally.

"It really is the Land of Abundance~!"

"It's a joy to see this bountiful harvest..."

"Rich and powerful, how many troops can this support?"

Missions from various countries outside the region looked at the bustling harvest scene on both sides of the straight road, not without envy and horror.

They had all heard about the prosperity and dense population of Daqin, and their ears were calloused.

However, after seeing it with my own eyes, I realized that it was somewhat beyond imagination!
The appearance of Grandma Liu entering the Grand View Garden made the accompanying sons Gao, Jiang Lu and other sons feel a little ashamed to keep company with the foreign missions.

"It shouldn't be on the same road as that generation, it's really embarrassing." Young Master Gao shook his head and sighed.

Young Master Jianglu also kept shaking his head, and said: "Don't pay attention to them, let's just go our way."

After finishing speaking, he turned to the general of the imperial guards and said: "It's rare to be sunny today, open up the gifts that are going to be presented to the emperor to dry."

"Here."

The General of the Imperial Guard led the way.

The rest of the sons seemed to know what he was up to, so they also issued orders to reveal the gifts they were going to give to Ying Zheng, and the guards all stood up and cheered up.

The effect of doing this is immediate...

The soldiers and civilians harvesting the crops on both sides of the straight road, the merchants and merchants, and the servants of the nobles did not pay much attention to this team at first, but after a few glances, they turned their eyes away.

But when the carloads of dazzling gold, silver and precious stones appeared, everyone couldn't take their eyes off immediately, and even the action of harvesting crops was full.

"Is that the princes who founded the country outside the Great Wall?"

"I heard that they are all very talented, and they have managed the feudal country outside the Great Wall to be very prosperous..."

"Then who's to say it's not the case? The people under the rule of the princes all sell wool to make money!"

The voice of praise gradually sounded, and the faces of the princes could not help but smile.

(End of this chapter)