The leisurely life of the Qin people

Chapter 33: Bridge Completed

Zhang Han stood there for a while, the children's laughter brought his thoughts back, and then he continued to prepare for his wedding.

When Zhang Han saw the woman he was going to marry coming in a carriage, he greeted his wife with a smile.

The marriage was simple, and Zhang Han, who was alone, married his beloved woman.

Dong Yi and the Dong family only sent two maids to take care of him. The Dong family was a wealthy family in Xianyang City. They said they were marrying their daughter to Zhang Han, but this kind of marriage was probably to prevent Shusun Tong from talking about it.

They could deal with Zhang Han perfunctorily, but they could not underestimate Shusun Tong's influence.

But since the girl from the Dong family also has feelings for Zhang Han, I am happy to see it happen.

"General Zhang Han, these are all sent from Xianyang." Several officers and soldiers put down the boxes one by one.

Zhang Han felt that he had few friends and didn't know where to find his relatives and friends, so he asked again, "Who sent it?"

The soldier replied, "I am a subordinate of General Wang. This box was sent by General Wang. General Wang is still in the palace discussing military matters with other generals and has no time to attend the banquet."

Zhang Han looked at another box.

The visitor explained, "This box contains some fine silk fabrics. Prince Fusu asked us to send it. The Prime Minister asked us to send a box of money. Censor Zhang Cang sent a box of books..."

Zhang Han looked at the boxes of gifts and bowed towards the direction of Xianyang City.

The long summer ended. Li You traveled on the official road for three days, all the way south to a village at the foot of Nanshan Mountain.

Some villagers saw a man wearing armor riding a warhorse. The man looked to be about sixteen or seventeen years old, so someone hurried to report to the local headman.

This is also the area of ​​Mount Zhongnan south of Guanzhong in later generations.

Because this village is located on the main road of Nanshan, all soldiers and officials heading south will pass by here.

Recently, soldiers and horses have been passing through here almost every day.

The chief of the pavilion here was also an old Qin soldier. Seeing the armor the visitor was wearing, he saluted and said, "General."

Li You handed over the token and document and asked, "Is there anything to eat?"

The pavilion chief said, "Yes."

"Feed the horses, rest for a night and then continue on our journey."

The captain led the young general into the inn, where there were three or two other officials who were also resting.

The officials of the Qin Dynasty were very busy, and Li You was not the only one who was running around everywhere.

The cook brought a bowl of batter and a bowl of ginger soup.

Li You finished a bowl of porridge, then drank a bowl of ginger soup, and fell asleep comfortably.

When he was about to fall asleep, Li You vaguely heard the rustling sound of rain outside the window.

Fatigue from days of running around came over him, and Li You soon fell into a deep sleep.

When he woke up again, Li You stretched comfortably, sat up with the help of the table, and said, "Chef!"

The inn was empty. After a while, the cook came hurriedly with a bundle. He handed the bundle to the general and said, "General, this is all dry food. You can eat it on the road."

Li You took the bundle and checked it, then asked, "It rained last night, what's it like outside?"

The cook said, "The road is easy to travel on. The horses have been fed and rested."

Li You wrote a document and instructed, "Send it to Xianyang."

The cook took the document with both hands.

Li You packed his bag and took his sword, walked out the door, got on his horse again and continued heading south.

The cook stood at the entrance of the inn, watching the young general leave, and whispered, "To become a general at such a young age, his family must have made great contributions."

Not long after, the stingy servant of the inn came out lazily and whispered, "This young general has an extraordinary background. I heard he's the son of a prominent family in Xianyang."

The cook asked doubtfully, "Really?"

The stingy man said, "The head of the pavilion said so."

"The general said to send this document to Xianyang."

The miser and the cook stood in front of the inn door, looking at the young general who had rushed into the thick fog, and sighed together.

This sigh is full of envy.

Yes, the Qin people all want to gallop on the battlefield and fight for merit.

The miser was usually depressed because his son had no chance to go out to fight. Now that Qin has unified the six kingdoms, where can he find military merit in the future?

"Send the documents." The cook poked the miser's arm while holding a roll of documents.

Looking in the direction where the young general left, the stingy man said, "If my son could be so arrogant..."

After saying this, he sighed again, took the document, led a horse out of the stable, jumped on the horse and headed towards Xianyang.

The thick fog only dissipated when it was completely bright.

Only then did Li You see his surroundings clearly and asked the horse to go faster on the official road.

On both sides of the official road, people were busy working in the fields.

Just after walking for a while, the autumn rain fell on the land again. On Li You's side was the still lush Nanshan Mountain, and in front of him was a winding road.

I have dug soil in Shangyan Mountain for a whole year and survived it. I have carried countless dead bodies. What other difficulties can defeat me?
Li You mustered up his courage, and with a determined look in his eyes, he rode his horse towards the distance.

The autumn rains in western China come intermittently, and Guanzhong is wet at this time of year until winter comes.

The rain lasted for three days, and the water level of the Xiwei River rose a lot. The river returned to its heyday, with its waters turbulent and powerful.

When the rain stopped, it was dusk.

By the Xianyang Bridge, Fusu sat alone in the sunset.

Not far away, Tian An was busy organizing files in the house.

Zhang Cang stayed in Xianyang for several days in a row. He helped Prime Minister Li Si deal with the issues of standardizing the writing system, the wheel gauge, and weights and measures.

Jianlu was taken away by the Right Prime Minister, probably for a more important appointment.
When the people in Xianyang City are busy, few people will come to disturb them.

Just like when they are done with their work, they will remember to check the progress of the canal digging in Shangyan Mountain.

And when they are busy, they will forget about Shang Yanshan.

The Xianyang Bridge was basically completed, and the government and the public no longer paid attention to it.

Fusu returned to his idle state. This was people's life. Many old things would be settled in the autumn, and people were busy having fun in the autumn.

The construction of Xianyang Bridge has reached the final stage. Once the minor details are dealt with, Tian An will organize the files and submit them to the Shaofu, and everything will be completed.

The Xianyang Bridge was finally repaired after seven months.

Under the setting sun, a large area of ​​the sky is also illuminated red
Only two craftsmen remained on the Xianyang Bridge, still patching up some corners. On the table in front of Fusu lay a scroll of documents, a farewell letter from Li You, in which he explained that he had received military orders and was now heading to Shu to mobilize troops.

Fusu still remembered that Li You didn't want to serve in the army at first.

"Brother!"

Hearing the shouts behind him, Fusu sat on the chair and looked back.

Gongzi Gao came running over, breathing heavily when he got close, "Gao picked a lot of persimmons."

He placed the persimmons on the table with a smile, then moved a stool and sat on the side, looking at the Xianyang Bridge with his brother.

Fusu ate a persimmon and asked, "How is your study going lately?"

Gao shook his head and said, "I can't understand it. Master Shusun Tong has explained it many times, but I still don't understand it."

His voice gradually lowered, and he added, "But if Gao keeps saying he doesn't understand, the Master will be very disappointed."

Fusu said, "Then ask until you understand. It's not your fault if you don't understand, and don't think that asking too many questions will make Shusun Tong unhappy."

"Yeah!" Gao nodded vigorously, his voice tinged with childishness as he continued, "Gao will study hard."

After saying this, he stood up, saluted and said, "Gao has returned to the palace."

Fusu nodded, still looking at the scenery in front of him.

Tian An watched Master Gao get into the carriage and leave, and thought to himself how nice it would be if someone could spend more time with the Master.

Looking at the young man sitting alone by the Xianyang Bridge from afar, there is always no one around him. What kind of child is he who always likes to be alone?

The prince is the child of the First Emperor, and only the child of the First Emperor can endure such loneliness.

Tian An, who watched the young master grow up, knew that no matter when Queen Dowager Huayang was alive or now... Prince Fusu was alone like this most of the time.

For the remaining days, after all the craftsmen had left, Fusu still lived in the small house by the Xianyang Bridge.

Sometimes I look at the Xianyang Bridge in the autumn rain, and sometimes I look at the Xianyang Bridge in the sunshine on sunny days.

This is the first bridge built under the young master's supervision. Of course, I like it no matter how I look at it. I think this bridge is beautiful no matter how I look at it.

Tian An felt the same sense of accomplishment as the young master, because he was standing next to the young master and watching a bridge built from nothing.

As long as the young master is happy, Tian An will also be happy for Queen Dowager Huayang.

Tian An noticed the young master's smile while he was cooking. The young master liked to cook for himself. Most of the time, the meals he ate were made by him.

Tian An was holding a bowl. The young master said that the food in the bowl was called mutton noodles. A few slices of mutton were covered on the noodles. The soup was clear and oily, with some chopped green onions floating in it.

As Tian An picked up his chopsticks, he saw the young man digging something out of the field, and then sitting there peeling something.

After taking another look, Tian An confirmed that this was something he bought from people in the Western Regions. No wonder the young master didn't eat it at the beginning, but he actually grew it.

Seeing this, Fusu said: "This is garlic, it is very easy to grow, and it will survive in one go."

The young man ate the roasted lamb and put a mouthful of garlic into his mouth.

Tian An took the garlic handed to him by the young master, ate one, and it felt a little spicy in his mouth. He took a big mouthful of noodles and suddenly felt that it tasted pretty good.

So he ate it with a mouthful of garlic and a mouthful of noodles.

From a distance, an old man and a young boy were sitting by the Xianyang Bridge, eating.

There were soldiers surrounding both sides of the Xianyang Bridge and its surroundings, and ordinary people could not get close.

Day after day, Prince Fusu was either sitting on the bridge writing documents, cooking, or running back and forth on the bridge, not stopping until he was sweating profusely.

After October, the weather becomes colder and colder.

Tian An sat beside him, boiling water for the young master, and whispered, "I heard that it's still very hot in Chu, and you can still harvest a season of crops. It would be great if Guanzhong could be like Chu all year round."

Fusu continued writing the document. Although writing in small seal script was tiring, it would become easier once he got used to it. He replied, "If Guanzhong had spring all year round, insect pests would be everywhere."

Tian An nodded, as if thinking about something.

As an official, Fusu had to write documents. He needed to make up for what his teacher Zhang Cang had not finished and complete the documents for supervision. Originally, the teacher was the prime minister's right-hand man.

Whenever there is an important matter in the court, the teacher's assistance is indispensable.

As a disciple, I need to become independent as soon as possible. Fortunately, I read a lot of documents in the Censorate last year, and the writing format of Daqin's documents is not complicated.

Xunzi once said: Learning should never stop.

If people stop learning, it is like wood being shaped by external forces and losing its natural toughness.

I benefited a lot from his piece of advice on learning.

It was not until late October that Fusu left Xianyang Bridge, but he did not go far.

Instead, he stayed upstream of Xianyang Bridge with these guards.

Fusu watched the people passing by trying to walk to the Xianyang Bridge. Some people boldly ran directly across the bridge to the other side, while others walked cautiously.

This bridge was originally meant for people, and its purpose is to benefit the people on both sides of the river.

If there is a war in the future, the army can advance westward from the Xianyang Bridge. If the Huns attack, people can also use the Xianyang Bridge to escape to Xianyang and be protected by the army.

The significance of Xianyang Bridge goes far beyond this. This bridge is very important both for the development and construction of Guanzhong and for the prosperity of both sides of the Wei River.

In the next few days, Fusu lived in the upper reaches of the West Wei River, from where he could see the Xianyang Bridge from afar and watch people coming and going on the Xianyang Bridge, including old people, women, or merchants pulling carts.

These days, people traveling back and forth across Xianyang Bridge have become accustomed to the troops upstream.

Today, a woman came to the bridge with her child. The child pointed upstream and said in a puzzled tone, "Mom, they are gone."

After hearing the child's words, people looked upstream and saw that the troops left upstream had indeed left.

People were just curious for a moment and then continued walking on the bridge.

The construction of Xianyang Bridge was finally completed. As one of the main persons responsible for the bridge construction, Fusu needed to report to the First Emperor and obtain permission before he could store the files in the database.

Fusu returned to the Xianyang Palace. There were two boxes of files on the bridge construction, which included accounts and records of construction matters, as well as the names of each laborer and the corresponding wages. Later, he could look through the files to find out the relevant personnel in the construction of the Xianyang Bridge, which laborer from which county participated in the construction of the Xianyang Bridge, how much money they received, and how many days of hard labor they did.

The Xianyang Palace was very busy at this time of year. Fusu walked in front, followed by two rows of eunuchs. The eunuchs were carrying two boxes of files and following with difficulty.

Seeing Prince Fusu coming, the armored guard at the steps of Zhangtai Palace stepped forward and said, "Sir, the court is still in the hall."

Fusu waved his sleeves, motioning them to move the box aside, and then he stood aside as well.

The guard understood and said nothing more, standing back in his seat.

The court meeting is still going on. I am late. If there is anything I need to report to the emperor, then I will stand here and wait until the court meeting is over.

This is what Fusu learned from his teacher Zhang Cang.

(End of this chapter)