The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

At this moment, Heifu was not in Huyang Pavilion, but took advantage of the rare day off and came to the county town with his younger brother Jing.

It was not easy for a countryman to go to the city. The last time Jing came to the county town was many years ago. At that time, he was still young and his family was poor. He just walked around with his mother and went back without buying anything. Jing only remembered that he wanted to eat the tangerines sold in the market, but his mother did not buy them because she was short of money, which made him cry loudly and howl all the way...

So this time Heifu took Jing into the city and let Jing follow him. They walked around carefully. The two brothers stood at the dock and pointed at the ships coming and going, guessing where they would go next; in the official temple area, they looked at the auspicious beasts on the eaves, called out their names one by one, and pointed out the names of the government offices under different eaves.

"That's the county prison. Doesn't it look a bit solemn and gloomy? The first time I came to the county, I confronted someone in court there and finally proved my innocence."

"That's the courtyard of the chief clerk, who is in charge of the officials' advancement and retreat. On the first day of December last year, it was there that I answered twenty legal questions in one breath and was appointed as the head of the pavilion and awarded the red cap."

"That's the county lieutenant's office, which is heavily guarded. I, the head of the pavilion, am under the jurisdiction of that office. If the county lieutenant has any instructions, I have to follow them..."

I was very satisfied to hear it. Watching my second brother confidently pointing out these high-ranking offices and greeting the clerks he knew, I admired him very much, but I also envied my brother's rich and colorful experience.

Any one of them is enough to brag to the servants in the village for a long time.

Finally, Heifu bought Jing a new set of clothes in the market. After putting them on and wearing a dagger, Jing was transformed into a well-dressed young man, no longer looking like a country hooligan.

After walking around Anlu County, Jing couldn't help but be envious: "Brother Zhong, this county is really nice, the market is lively, the clothes are beautiful, and even the young ladies are well-maintained."

"You have no experience."

Hei Fu laughed and scolded: "No matter how lively it is, it's just a small county. When you go to the county town in the future, you will see more things! If you can go to Xianyang, you can see things you have never seen in your life! Palaces, towers, and traffic, there is everything there."

"The county town is possible, but Xianyang..."

Jing said with some doubt: "Xianyang is the capital, how can you go there whenever you want? Didn't Brother Zhong go there?"

"I will go there one day, and not as a garrison soldier, but in a four-horse carriage!"

"Four-horse carriage..." Jing bit his tongue and dared not think about it.

Heifu patted his brother: "You too, as long as you work hard in the school and graduate successfully, you will have a smooth career in the future."

Heifu brought Jing to the county town this time, not for anything else, but to send him to the county town school and enroll him as a disciple.

Last month, the news of Qin's attack on Chu made Heifu break out in a cold sweat, so he moved Jing's enrollment time forward from the beginning of spring to October.

This advance made Jing very unconfident. He rubbed his hands and muttered: "Brother Zhong, although I have tried hard to recognize words in the past six months, I can only read and write. I heard that if you want to graduate from the school, you must be proficient in writing official documents with 5,000 characters! In addition, you must be proficient in laws and regulations, mathematics, driving, and fencing... These are things that officials learn since childhood, but I don't understand them at all."

Jing's worries are not redundant. His foundation is too poor, and he really can't compare with the children of officials. Officials and clerks passed down from generation to generation all had very good family education. For example, a few decades later, Zhang Tang, who was only seven or eight years old, learned to handle cases and interrogate rats like his father...

Heifu knew it, of course, but he did not ask Jing to stand out in the school. He just hoped that he could be a disciple for three years and avoid military service in the war of unification. Of course, it would be best if he could graduate smoothly. In that case, the future of his family would be settled.

He himself took the route of a military official, catching thieves on the edge of a knife, fighting on the battlefield, and getting a chance to rise step by step in the great era.

His sister Zhang Yuan took the route of a worker. Although he is only a small craftsman now, his superb skills have been appreciated by the county engineer.

As for his uncle Zhong, if the effect of the composting method is confirmed by Tianbu Zuo of Yunmeng Township, Zhong can also smoothly enter the Tianli system and become a Tiandian in the sunset. Tian Dian is the safest local official. If there is a theft or murder of a serious nature, the local village head and the gatekeeper will be punished for dereliction of duty, but Tian Dian does not have to be held responsible. As Tian Dian, he only needs to urge the people to be diligent in farming, complete the rent and taxes, and improve farming techniques.

All the family needs is a clerk who is mixed in the system. Jing is the youngest and most malleable, so he is naturally the first choice.

But Jing looks unconfident. Hei Fu thinks that in addition to words like "future", he has to give Jing some stimulation.

So he coughed and said, "I forgot to tell you one thing. When I was recovering at home some time ago, I visited Yan Zhang in the plaque..."

Jing's eyes lit up immediately: "Brother Zhong, you visited Yan Zhang, did you see the lady of the Yan family?"

Ever since the first glimpse of her last year, Jing has been obsessed with that little girl.

Heifu smiled and said, "I haven't seen her, but I heard that she is getting married soon. Yan Zhang is arrogant and said that he will not marry his granddaughter unless he gets a betrothal gift of 10,000 yuan and does not want to marry anyone other than an official..."

Jing was stunned: "How can this be!"

Heifu said, "Ji brother, I know what you mean. Brother Zhong has said that if you can successfully complete your apprenticeship in three years, I will take 10,000 yuan to Yan Zhang's house and ask for marriage for you!"

"Are you serious?"

Sure enough, Jing immediately became motivated and said hastily, "Three years is not enough. Yan Yushu is already fourteen years old and will get married in two years. Brother Zhong, two years! I must graduate from the school and become an official within two years!"

"Two years?"

Heifu calculated that in two years, Qin had not completely destroyed Chu, right? He immediately frowned: "Catch up with your studies first, then you can brag!"

After that, Heifu took Jing to the school located in the north of the county town. There was no official school style here. There was no pond or apricot altar. According to the tradition of the Legalists "following the king after him", there was no worship of a certain sage. There were only a few simple houses.

The teachers here were dressed like ordinary officials. The sound of reading aloud in the school was not "Book of Songs" or "Book of Documents", but boring laws and regulations.

Using the law as a teaching and the officials as teachers, this is the characteristic of Qin education.

Heifu and Jing met the teacher of the school, who was the younger brother of Doctor Xi, named Gan, and his title remained unchanged. Gan met Heifu once, and Heifu entrusted his younger brother to him and offered him a tuition fee...

Gan took Jing to complete the student enrollment procedures first, and Heifu was relieved when he stamped the new "ID card" Jing got.

This means that as a student in the school, Jing can be exempted from all military service and military service before completing his studies, and he will definitely be able to avoid the war against Chu.

In this way, Heifu arranged for all the males in the family, but for Jing, Heifu could not use the knowledge of later generations to help him, and how to go in the future depends on himself.

When Jing sent Heifu out of the school, Heifu seemed to remember something and said to him, "You stay here, don't move, I'll be back soon."

Jing was a little puzzled. He watched his brother's tall back walk to the other side of the road, asked a few farmers who were squatting on the ground selling things, and came back soon. What else was in his bag in his arms...

When Heifu came closer, he could see clearly that it was a full bag of tangerines!

Heifu grinned and said, "Mother often said that when she brought you to the county for the first time, you wanted to eat tangerines. At that time, our family was poor, and she couldn't bear to buy them for you, so you cried all the way..."

Jing was a little embarrassed: "Brother Zhong, this little thing has been talked about by mother for more than ten years. Every winter, she has to bring it up and tell it again at the dinner table. It really annoys me."

"That's why I can remember it." As he said that, Heifu stuffed all the tangerines with yellow and green skin into Jing's arms.

"The most delicious fruit in Jianghan is the tangerine. The tangerine in late autumn is so sweet!"

Heifu peeled a tangerine and put it in his mouth. Jing also tasted the sweet and sour tangerine flesh. When he was a child, he thought it was the most beautiful food in the world. When he grew up, he found that it was just a sour fruit that tasted better.

"Jidi, do you remember the story of "Yanzi's Mission to Chu" that I told you? What did Yan Ying say about tangerines in it?"

"I remember."

Jing nodded. In the past year or so, every time Zhongxiong came home, he always liked to tell him about people and things outside, such as Yan Ying and Su Qin, which gave Jing a lot of knowledge.

"Yanzi said that oranges grown in the north of the Huai River are tangerines, while oranges grown in the south of the Huai River are oranges..."

"That's right." Heifu said, "The leaves are similar, but the taste is different. Why is that? The water and soil are different."

"Brother Ji, if you had always lived in a remote village in the sunset, playing with those country boys, I'm afraid your future would be no different from theirs. But now, you have come to the county, lived with the clerks, and learned from the law clerks. You have more experience, just like the orange trees transplanted from the north of the Huai River to the south of the Huai River. Your future should be different. So, don't underestimate yourself."

Heifu pointed to his head and laughed, "Besides, we are all born of the same parents. Your second brother is so smart and answered all 20 legal questions correctly, let alone you?"

"Brother Zhong is bragging in different ways." He laughed in surprise, but for some reason, his worries about the future were relieved a lot.

"You can do whatever you want." Although his younger brother was young, he was a smart man. Heifu said nothing more, waved to him, and left.

Seeing Heifu walking away, Jing put away his smile and bowed deeply to his back.

Although he didn't say it, Jing was always grateful for Heifu's guidance along the way.

"I should be diligent and never let you down!"

...

On Heifu's side, he just left the school and turned a corner, and met a man riding a horse hurriedly passing by. When the man saw him, he immediately stopped his horse and shouted: "Heifu, I finally found you!"

Heifu looked and saw that it was Wei Shi Anpu. After the cooperation in the last case, the two became friends and had a very good relationship.

"So it's the lieutenant." Hei Fu smiled and said, "What do you want to see me for? Are you going to invite me to your house for a feast again?"

This An Pu family is also in the right of Anlu County. The family's cooking skills are good. Hei Fu has been thinking about it since he went there once.

"It's time now, and you still want to have a feast!"

An Pu got off the horse, pulled Hei Fu over, and warned in a low voice: "Hei Fu, I heard that the left lieutenant has appointed you to escort the prisoners and soldiers to the north to serve labor. This is a hard job, and you may even be worried about your life!"

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