The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

In a pavilion outside the city of Yan County, when all the prisoners were tied together and resting in a depressed mood, they began to discuss quietly again when the pavilion guards and garrison soldiers were not paying attention.

"I don't know when the opportunity to escape will be..."

"The pavilion chief is arrogant and the pavilion guards are vicious. I am afraid they will be caught and killed..."

"The weather is getting colder. We are only wearing brown clothes. If we go north, we will probably freeze to death. How does the viciousness of the pavilion chief and pavilion guards compare with the cold winter?"

"I heard that there is Sanxian River, also known as Canglang River, north of Yan County. We will take a boat to cross the water. Why not jump into the water and hide?"

"If we jump into the water in winter with our hands tied, we will probably die faster!"

Just as the prisoners were discussing secretly, a man suddenly walked out from behind the tree, which scared them! If their words were reported, they would be whipped.

The person who came was Bu Cheng with his hair loose. Bu Cheng waved his hand to reassure the prisoners.

"Don't worry, I will never tell anyone what I just heard."

As he spoke, Bu Cheng walked into the crowd and chatted with them for a while. After letting everyone put down their guard, he smiled and said, "I know you want to die, but all things are accomplished by people and heaven. You have already discussed everything about human affairs, but are you asking ghosts for divination?"

"Ghosts for divination?" Everyone looked at each other. Indeed, they had not asked ghosts for divination. Could this be the reason why the two failed to escape?

So some smart people bowed to Bu Cheng and said, "I have heard that Bu Cheng is a fortune teller from Yushui Township. He has been a fortune teller for generations. Can you tell fortunes for us?"

"Yes."

Bu Cheng stroked his sparse beard and said, "One penny per person, and I will tell fortunes for you."

Although they were prisoners, they had some private property, so they could afford one penny per person. After Bu Cheng collected the money, he took out the yarrow in his arms and laid out twelve stalks on the ground...

"I will use the "Daily Book" to establish twelve gods and ask ghosts for you two or three."

The so-called "Daily Book" is, to put it bluntly, the imperial calendar of this era, which is full of feudal superstitions such as fortune telling, feng shui, yin and yang, and face reading, but it is believed by most people.

Many years later, the Qin State began to control speech and burned all poetry and books and folk collections, but the "Daily Book" was spared because the people of Qin had reached the point where they could not live without the Daily Book.

The "Daily Book" divides the days of the year into twelve categories, namely "Jian, Chu, Man, Ping, Ding, Zhi, Po, Wei, Cheng, Shou, Kai, Bi", which are called "Jianchu Twelve Gods". These twelve gods are associated with the twelve months, and combined with the twelve earthly branches used to record the days at that time, you can accurately tell you what you can and cannot do on a certain day of a certain month in the year, so as to seek benefits and avoid harm.

For example, if you are an officer, you open the "Daily Book" and find that the corresponding place of today's day says "Li Field Battle, Must Get Hou Wang", then you must quickly cheer up and prepare for battle, looking forward to capturing the leader of the enemy country in today's field battle, and then be awarded an official title and return home in glory.

If you are a farmer, and you see in the Daily Book that "He Ji Day, Ji Long Yin. Shu Chou, Dao Hai, Mai Zi...", this means that it is taboo to plant millet on the "Yin" day, sorghum on the "Chou" day, rice on the "Hai" day, and wheat on the "Zi" day... So you count on your fingers and find that today is the "Zi" day, so don't plant wheat, plant millet instead!

If you are a minor official, you have to choose the right day, because it is closely related to your official career. Because the Daily Book says that if you go to see the leader to report on your work on the "Zi" day, if you go in the morning, he will listen to you carefully, if you go in the evening, he will not listen, and if you go at dusk, the leader will definitely ask you to go again. If you go to see the leader in the morning of the day of Chou, he will be furious, but if you go in the evening, you will be praised by him...

There are many taboos in traveling. For example, if you go east in the first month, fifth month, and ninth month, you will die, and if you go southeast, you will be separated from your family. Going south is also unlucky. As for what kind of unlucky it is, the "Daily Book" does not specify, so you can only leave it to fate.

In short, the "Daily Book" guides and predicts the lives of the people in almost every detail, including marriage, childbirth, funerals, farming, and travel. For the Qin people who believed in divination and ghosts, it was really difficult and helpless to open their eyes every morning without looking at the "Daily Book"...

However, except for a small number of wealthy families with titles, not everyone in Qin could read, so a special industry of fortune-telling by reading the "Daily Book" was created. They can be called fortune-tellers or "diviners". The "Biography of Diviners" was specially written for this group of people in the Records of the Grand Historian.

And Bu Cheng was a folk fortune-teller in Anlu County.

For officials, he might not be worth mentioning. But for superstitious prisoners and soldiers, this fortune-teller who could recite most of the "Daily Book" was a great figure who could help them communicate with mysterious ghosts and gods and see the good and bad luck in the future...

So when Bu Cheng was fortune-telling according to the twelve Jianchu in the "Daily Book", the prisoners kept silent, as if they were facing a serious matter.

After calculating for a while, Bu Cheng's originally relaxed face became extremely solemn, and he kept shaking his head and said, "Not good, not good..."

The prisoners suddenly became nervous and asked, "Fortune teller, what's wrong?"

Bu Cheng stood up with sweat all over his head, and pointed at the order of yarrow that the prisoners could not understand at all, and said in horror, "According to the numerology in the daily book, escaping will encounter bad luck throughout October, November, and December! I also asked the ghosts in detail for Ersanzi, and the ghosts said..."

"What did the ghost say?" The prisoners were nervous.

"The ghost said, don't try to escape, otherwise you will die, your head and body will be separated, and your family will be punished!"

"Ah!" The prisoners were scared and pale. It was strange that they were used to being threatened with laws and decrees, but when the same words were said to be the words of ghosts and gods, this group of people believed it without a doubt.

Even if there were a few who had doubts, they did not dare to openly question the fortune teller's divination results.

What they didn't know was that at this moment, Heifu had deliberately sent away the other guards and watched the scene from a distance behind the house.

From a modern perspective, the prisoners' belief in the "Daily Book" seems a bit absurd. But when you think about the fact that more than two thousand years later, many people still rely on the imperial calendar passed down by their ancestors to choose houses and Feng Shui, and choose auspicious days for marriage, Heifu is not surprised.

When they arrived in Yan County the next day, Heifu Pavilion Chief suddenly announced that everyone was about to leave the territory of Nanjun, and he would take out some money to buy fish to reward everyone.

"The guards eat meat, the prisoners drink soup, and everyone has a share."

Hearing this, everyone was naturally delighted, so they took Heifu's money and bought dozens of kilograms of fish at the Yan County market, and everyone started to clean up together.

When a guard held a knife and cut open the belly of the largest grass carp, he suddenly exclaimed!

"What is this?"

Upon hearing the news, the soldiers and prisoners gathered around, only to see that the soldier had actually taken out a small piece of wood from the fish's belly. After cleaning off the fish blood, they saw that there were words carved on it with a knife!

Most of the soldiers and prisoners were illiterate. When they looked at each other, Bu Cheng squeezed in and took the wood in his hand and read: "Don't run away, serve the head of the pavilion, you will make merit, and atone for your sins..."

He quickly raised the wood and said: "This is the book hidden in the fish's belly by the ghosts and gods, and sent a message to us. Don't run away, serve the head of the pavilion, you will make merit, and atone for your sins. This is the will of the ghosts and gods! You should remember it!"

"The will of the ghosts and gods!"

The prisoners thought of Bu Cheng's divination in Yu County, and the book hidden in the fish's belly in front of them, as if they were fulfilling each other. For a while, they were panicked. Except for a few who did not believe in evil, most of the prisoners believed it without a doubt.

After drinking the fish soup, the prisoners stopped whispering about how to escape during their rest, and instead eagerly discussed the second half of the sentence in the book hidden in the fish's belly.

"Follow the head of the pavilion, you will be rewarded with merit and atone for your sins..."

They looked at Hei Fu, who pretended to be indifferent. At this time, the prisoners began to remember Hei Fu's experience of being rewarded with merit after taking office. Perhaps if they followed the orders of the head of the pavilion, they could really survive, or even make merit and atone for their sins?

...

"Thanks to Bu Cheng's help, the prisoners really became obedient. He is really an amazing fortune teller."

According to the agreement, after the matter was completed, Hei Fu handed the remaining 150 coins to Bu Cheng in secret. Bu Cheng was naturally grateful. With so much money, he could buy a set of thick clothes to survive this difficult winter.

At the same time, Bu Cheng said flatteringly: "Pavilion Master, I can not only recite the daily book and tell fortunes, but also read faces. Would you like to try it, too?"

Hei Fu smiled: "How much does it cost?"

"No money this time, no money."

"Okay." Hei Fu nodded and turned to Bu Cheng: "Just take a look for me."

Although, he didn't believe in the art of reading faces at all.

Bu Cheng looked at Hei Fu's face carefully for a while, and was amazed.

"Pavilion Master has a wide forehead, which means he is a smart person. He has big and thick ears, which means he is a blessed person. He has a pair of tiger eyes, which is majestic and heroic, and he is a talent for an official. Pavilion Master will definitely have a smooth career in the future. Ten years later, he may be..."

"Oh, what official will I be in ten years?"

Bu Cheng wanted to say county magistrate or county lieutenant, but when the words came to his lips, he looked at Hei Fu's expression and shrank back, and simply exaggerated!

"Ten years later, I will be a county governor!"

"County governor?"

Upon hearing this, Hei Fu laughed out loud: "Well, Bu Cheng, you said what I was thinking. I really want to be a county governor, to govern and educate, to establish a reputation, and let the world know it... To be a county governor under the king? Yes, that's my ambition!"

However, there was a hint of disapproval in Hei Fu's eyes. He did not believe the compliment of the fortune teller.

Bu Cheng was secretly shocked. After Hei Fu left, he complained in his heart: "I just said it casually to this Hei Fu Pavilion Chief, but he actually accepted it. A mere Pavilion Chief expects to be a county governor? Too arrogant!"

...

Hei Fu didn't know that when he was in the mountain village for more than ten years, in Yangcheng County, Shangcai County, Chu State, which was occupied by the Qin army hundreds of miles northeast of Yancheng, a bastard of the Chen family who was about the same age as Hei Fu, who left his hometown with his clansmen to migrate to Huaibei to avoid the war, suddenly sneezed several times without warning...

Looking back at his hometown that was getting farther and farther away, the young man tightened his brown clothes, his eyes full of worry.

He was just a bastard of the Chen family, no different from a servant. After arriving in Huaibei, he didn't even know how to make a living.

"The swan flies south and will eventually return home. I just don't know if Chen Sheng will be able to return to Yangcheng in his lifetime?"

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