The leisurely life of the Qin people

Chapter 12 Dr. Qilu
Recently, a new kind of food has appeared at the foot of Shangyan Mountain. It is a very large cake. One cake is as big as a wooden basin for washing clothes. A person with a normal appetite can eat it for four or five days.

For a family of four, one pancake can be enough for two meals.

Fusu found that since he made this kind of cake, it became the most popular food among his servants.

If they can have enough to eat, it means that their property is safe.

Everyone is valuable productivity.

These days, Fusu would occasionally ask some old Qin people about their farming techniques.

The autumn rain has passed, and the summer and autumn harvests are over, and idle people with nothing to do have appeared in Guanzhong again.

Especially around Shangyan Mountain, there are more idle people than anywhere else. These idle people all want to find some work here, help transport some soil, and dig a canal.

Winter is approaching, and every household is worried that they don't have enough food. They want to find some work to earn more food, but not everyone has enough food.

Zhang Han didn't want many people. He only wanted those who were strong and had enough food. He also wanted them to be identified by the county magistrate. Only after their identities were verified would he give them food after they had worked.

Zhang Han personally selected the personnel. He even wanted to see whether the person was strong or not, and also check his teeth. Looking at him for too long would make people feel uncomfortable.

Zhang Han picked people as if they were livestock.

Fusu turned his head away from him and took notes on the bamboo slips with a pen. The notes were all about farming, diet, climate, soil and water.

Fusu felt that he could also write books like Jia Sixie, whose "Qimin Yaoshu" was extremely rare.

So if it were today, could I also write a book?

It's useful after all, and it's good that people's meals should be more substantial.

Fusu did not stop writing.

Tian An is an elderly man with strong hands-on skills. He is not only good at making furniture and daily necessities, but also good at cooking.

The old man mastered the technique of kneading dough very quickly, probably because Tian An was from Qi when he was a child, and he was very familiar with eating rice and flour since he was a child. Therefore, with a slight change in the kneading technique, he quickly mastered it.

At this moment, Tian An was teaching several old women how to knead dough. If anyone made a mistake, he would scold them.

Although Tian An was an old eunuch, he was tall and looked quite majestic just by standing there.

In the palace, Tian An arranged the palace servants of Gaoquan Palace to do things, so when facing these people, he would have a kind of awe-inspiring aura, making these servants do what he wanted.

On the third day after Li You returned home, this man came back again. This time, it was not just him who came to Shangyan Mountain.

Following Li You here were two middle-aged men, one fat and one thin.

Li You introduced them, "Sir, these two are Confucian scholars who have been summoned by the Emperor."

"Your servant, Shusun Tong, has long heard of your virtuous reputation, and has come to pay his respects to you."

Fusu bowed in return.

Another man also bowed and said, "I was ordered by the First Emperor to come to Qin. I have heard of your deeds and have come to pay my respects to you."

Because there was no mansion here, Fusu could only hold a banquet beside the newly dug canal.

It’s just that the servants here don’t look happy when they see guests. If they were just hard laborers, it would be fine, because those people would not eat food for free.

But it’s different with the guests. They eat and leave, and then come back again.

Among the servants there was a little girl named Li Nuer, a name given to her by Tian An. The girl was probably only nine years old.

Tian An liked her very much and adopted her as his granddaughter.

Li Nu is the name for a kitten, and this girl is as clever and smart as a kitten.

On weekdays, Tian An called her slave.

Even in the palace, there are not many people who can be appreciated by Tian An.

Now, Nuer brought a bowl of noodles and a bowl of pickled radish to the guest's table, and then she stood not far away holding a small wooden basin with a very unhappy look on her face.

Whenever the three guests ate one more mouthful of food, the slave would purse his lips, looking more uncomfortable.

Li You ate heartily, still chewing on the pickled radish, and said, "I don't know why, but ever since I came back, I've been thinking about your food all the time."

After that, all the bread and dishes on the table were eaten up, even the big bowl of noodles was gone.

Of the two doctors, one of them looked much older, with white hair on his temples and a lot of white hair in his beard.

"At my age, I can't eat much anymore." He bowed and said, "I am Fusheng. Chunyu Yue persuaded me to come and pay a visit to you, young master. I was introduced by the Prime Minister's son, so I come to bother you."

Shusun Tong looked fatter and slightly shorter.

Fusheng looked taller and thinner.

Both of them are quite famous people in the Confucian academic circle, otherwise Li You would not attach so much importance to them.

Since Li You values ​​them, then the teacher also values ​​them, especially the influence of these two people.

Behind these two people are a large number of famous officials and students in Qi and Lu.

Fu Sheng stroked his beard and asked, "I've heard for a long time that you are studious and enjoy reading."

Now the Qin State has unified the six states, and the whole world belongs to the Qin State. The First Emperor has accomplished an extraordinary thing.

From the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period, what no one had accomplished in the past five hundred years was accomplished by the Qin State.

Therefore, the current Qin Dynasty has the greatest influence on the world, and the eldest son of the First Emperor, that is, Prince Fusu himself, has the identity of a prince of Qin, so he will naturally receive a lot of attention.

And what kind of books do you like to read?

Moreover, discussing the Prince of Qin has probably become a topic of conversation among the old nobles of the six kingdoms.

This is a topic that only those of them who were once the highest class would pay attention to.

From his love for reading Han Fei's books, to his worship of Prime Minister Li Si as his teacher, and all the things that happened in the past six months, Fusu's reputation may have spread for a long time.

Wang Wan, who left Xianyang, traveled around everywhere, either crying or celebrating his survival.

What kind of people Li Si and Prince Fusu were had already been heard by many people through Wang Wan.

Fusu regained his composure, poured a bowl of hot tea, and continued, "I usually read some books, and I've read a lot of books by various philosophers."

There is no way around it. In the monotonous and boring life of the Qin people, reading is a very rare pastime. Anyway, there are endless books to read in the Xianyang Palace.

Fu Sheng looked towards the side of the table, where there was a scroll of bamboo slips. The young master had bowed and saluted with this scroll in his hand when he came to see him.

Facing the prince of Qin, Fusheng, as a famous Confucian scholar in Qi and Lu, was still wary in his eyes and would not say too much to the prince. He was also reserved when he came to Xianyang to face the First Emperor. Not many of the various schools of thought survived the war.

There are only a few descendants of the various philosophers still active throughout the country, and we are afraid that the First Emperor will kill a few more.

Fu Sheng asked, "Would you mind letting me take a look at this scroll of yours?"

Fusu handed over the bamboo slips and said, "These are the notes I wrote every day."

Tian An looked at the two Confucian scholars with a smile on their faces and said, "Young Master, you always have the habit of taking notes when you read."

Fu Sheng looked at the contents of the notes, his expression sometimes confused, sometimes relieved. Shusun Tong also wanted to see what the notes written by the Qin prince looked like, but the three of them sat side by side with Li You in the middle, so he couldn't see anything.

Fusheng read very carefully and slowly, and could even hear the sound of the bamboo slips slowly unfolding in his hands.

Then, the old man put the scroll away and bowed, saying, "Sir, could I take this book back to my residence in Xianyang and return it to you tomorrow?"

Fusu stood up and said, "It's okay."

Fusheng bowed and then turned and left.

After taking a few bites of food and speaking a few words, Fu Sheng was about to leave. Shusun Tong said, "Oh, I just remembered that I have relatives in Xianyang who need to be visited."

Fusu understood what he meant and said, "Old sir, you can come back anytime."

Shusun Tong looked up and down at the prince of Qin, then nodded slowly, turned around and followed Fusheng's footsteps.

After the two men walked away, Li You said, "Sir, why don't you take these two as your guests?"

Fusu said: "It is obvious at first glance that these two elders are very remarkable people."

Li You lowered his voice and leaned closer, saying, "Sir, Fu Sheng is a descendant of a disciple of Confucius. He is quite famous in Qi and Lu. And Shusun Tong is a disciple of Kong Yu."

Fusu had heard of Kong Yu, who was the eighth-generation grandson of Confucius and a living descendant of Confucius.

The Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period have only been over for more than 500 years, but the descendants of Confucius are still alive today.

Li You sighed, "So my father wanted to invite Kong Yu to Qin, but Kong Yu refused and instead sent his disciple Shusun Tong to Qin."

Fusu heard that among the six doctors who had come to Qin, there were already four: Chunyu Yue, Zhou Qingchen, Fusheng, and Shusun Tong.

Fusu asked, "Aren't you going to send these two doctors back to Xianyang?"

Li You grinned and said, "There is another person coming today."

"who?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the sound of horse hooves coming from afar. The man was wearing Qin army armor and stopped his horse when he got close.

Perhaps because the horse ran too fast, Fusu saw that there was still a lot of solidified mud on the horse's belly. Looking at the person in front of him, it was none other than Wang Ben, the Minister of the Imperial Household, who had left Xianyang with Li You and had just returned.

After getting off the horse, Wang Ben reached out and patted Li You hard on the back.

This made Li You scream.

Li You was very thin now. He screamed on the spot after being hit like that, and then he started coughing while holding onto a tree beside him.

Wang Ben was displeased and asked, "Why did you become like this?"

Li You took two steps back and said, "You smell of blood."

Wang Ben raised his arm and sniffed carefully, then said, "I have brought some wine from Nanjun to offer to you, sir."

Alcohol is very valuable nowadays. People's economic behavior in this era was very simple. A jar of alcohol could be exchanged for a lot of grain.

Fusu was very happy to let Tian An take people to move the wine jars off the carriage and store them in the warehouse.

Wealth is accumulated little by little, and food and population are also part of wealth.

The wine was poured into the bowl. Wang Ben took a big gulp and said, "The situation in Nanjun has finally been settled."

Li You drank three bowls and was a little drunk. He whispered, "Sir, I didn't save anyone in Shangjun. I don't know how to save people, and I don't know how to treat illnesses. In fact, I am the same as Wang Ben, neither of us is better than the other."

Li You, under the influence of alcohol, looked miserable, probably recalling the events of his time in Shangjun. He whispered, "You, Wang Ben, kill people, and I, Li You, bury them. Both are dirty and tiring jobs."

Not long after, Wang Ben returned to Xianyang City drunk.

Fusu looked at the drunk Li You. It was already night and the cold wind was still howling outside, so he had no choice but to stay and look after him.

"Sir, this is what Grandpa Tian cooked."

A bowl of cooked mutton soup was placed in front of me, steaming.

Fusu said: "Slave, do you have a dream?"

Nuer frowned and asked, "What is the dream?"

"Just what you wanted."

She smiled, squinting her eyes, and said, "Father and mother always say that it would be great if we had endless food and a big house. When the young master comes, we will have enough to eat. I think..."

She paused for a moment, then added, "I hope the young master will never die."

Fusu smiled and said, "Go home and rest early."

The girl hummed a tune as she left.

This hut is not a mansion. It can only accommodate a bookshelf, a desk, and a stove. It is good enough to shelter from wind and rain.

Li You's snoring came one after another.

Fusu remembered Nu'er's words. Perhaps she had seen many deaths at her age, and she felt that people would never come back after they died.

Taking a scroll of bamboo slips from the bookshelf, Fusu sat by the oil lamp and began to write his notes. These displayed notes were equivalent to a report on the investigation of the people's livelihood in Guanzhong.

The vast majority of farmers in Guanzhong have farmland, and basically every household has one or two able-bodied men serving in the army.

The family structure of farmers in Guanzhong is not complicated. Each household has at least one or two people and at most more than ten people. These family conditions were observed starting from the spring plowing season.

Most of them work in groups of families, with each family cultivating five or more than ten acres of land.

For example, if a family has three brothers, each of them has a wife and children, then it is common for the family to have more than ten people.

Fusu was accustomed to this kind of observation, which required meticulousness and patience.

Let’s see whether the Qin people today live according to the rule of harvesting in autumn and storing in winter, or what their work and rest habits are.

Even if the results are minimal, Fusu feels that this kind of down-to-earth work will yield the most valuable rewards.

Since the opening of the Zhengguo Canal, hundreds of miles of farmland along the northwest line have become fertile land. The population in Guanzhong is actually not depressed, but the reclaimed land is still not enough.

It was not until dawn that Fusu realized that a whole night had passed without him noticing.

Tian An is old and always stands in the house. Most likely he is used to falling asleep while standing, and he can fall asleep by just leaning his back against the wall.

Fusu stood up and took two steps when Tian An woke up. He looked around and said, "It's dawn, my lord, you should wash up."

Fusu said, "Pack up and go back to the palace."

Half an hour later, Tian An had prepared the carriage to return to the palace, and Fusu saw that Li You was no longer in the room.

The notes that Fusheng had brought with him earlier were part of a survey on people's livelihood. Fusu waited here for most of the day but no one returned the notes.

Even famous scholars and great intellectuals will go back on their word and not want to lend money out again.

(End of this chapter)