The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

The envoy sent by Qin Wang Zheng was named Yang Qiu (liáo), a descendant of the Yang family of Shan County, Sanchuan County, and a cousin of Yang Xiong, who had been Hei Fu's boss.

Now Yang Qiu was a palace guard in Xianyang. Although he was nominally a personal guard of Qin Wang, in reality, a palace guard could serve the king, participate in planning, and guard the army. He could also be ordered to go on missions, and his powers were very great. It was also a common job for a palace guard to go to all directions to convey the king's edict.

Yang Qiu came to Nanchang City to reward the soldiers who went south on behalf of Qin Wang.

"Sima Heifu of the other army went south for ten months, destroyed the remnants of Jingchu, subdued the Ganyue and Yangyue tribes, and made them offer local products. The tribute of the giant fur of Gan, the crocodile drum, the Ganyue sword and other items at the beginning of summer have been sent to Xianyang and entered the royal treasury."

"The king said that although there are few households in Yuzhang, if the people are relocated and the people multiply in the future, it can also be a county, and Nanchang can be the county seat. This contribution of expanding the territory by thousands of miles must be rewarded. According to the law, Heifu, a fifth-rank official, should be granted the title of Zuo Shuchang..."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

After hearing this, Heifu immediately faced northwest, bowed his head from a distance and thanked him, with a very happy and fearful attitude.

Yang Qiu saw it and nodded secretly, but said: "Don't worry, Zuo Shuzhang, the king has asked the officials to give you the power to hold the jade tablet."

After that, Yang Qiu smiled and handed the silk book and the three-finger-wide and one-foot-long black jade tablet to Heifu. Heifu took it and felt cold to the touch. On the tablet were the three characters "Zuo Shuzhang" in Qin seal script.

When Yang Qiu read the Qin King's order, everyone bowed their heads and bowed. Heifu, as the local commander, stood in the front, and Zhang Han, as the Sikong of Jiujiang County, stood behind him. He saw all this and felt a little envious.

"Heifu, Heifu, you started as a commoner, and it has only been five years since then. It is very rare to break through the limit of civilian nobility and be listed as a five-rank official. Now you have even broken away from the official and entered the position of a noble. Such a person is really unheard of since Shang Yang's reform..."

From the official to the five-rank official, they are all considered to be middle-level nobility that match the "official" in the Spring and Autumn Period, but Zuo Shuchang is different.

As the 10th-level nobility, Zuo Shuchang was the official name of one of the four ruling ministers of Qin during the Spring and Autumn Period. He could rule the army when on horseback and the people when off horseback. After Shang Yang entered Qin, he served as Zuo Shuchang and presided over the reform. After his reform, Zuo Shuchang became a military merit nobility and no longer had real power.

However, Zuo Shuchang is still the lowest nobility of the "noble", and it is difficult to be promoted without great merit. At the beginning, Li You relied on the seven colleagues who died in the battle as a foil, and relied on a counterattack to break through, fought for 300 miles, and greatly enhanced the prestige of Qin. That's why the King of Qin took him as a model and promoted him to the position of Zuo Shuzhang.

And Heifu's ten-month expedition and his contribution to expanding the territory for thousands of miles are indeed significant enough. If the King of Qin gave him ten Zuo Shuzhang titles, he could expand the territory for thousands of miles. Wouldn't that be a big profit?

Heifu chose Jiangxi to lead the army alone because of this. If he continued to follow Li You to fight Changsha and Cangwu, he might not get so many benefits.

The huge gap between Zuo Shuzhang and Wu Dafu can be seen from the number of famous fields and houses they enjoy. Wu Dafu has 25 hectares of fields, 25 houses, and 25 followers.

When it comes to Zuo Shuzhang, the fields have risen to 74 hectares, houses have 74 houses, and 74 followers!

This means that Heifu's real estate tripled instantly!

Not only that, Zuo Shuchang also got the power to hold the jade tablet to attend court! Although this is just a thin little jade tablet, holding the jade tablet has been the privilege of the nobles since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

Zuo Shuchang's title and jade tablet are already considered "name and instrument". The fact that the King of Qin sent Yang Qi to bestow the title and jade tablet on Heifu shows how much he values this young man who is less than 23 years old.

"This level of trust is almost catching up with the favor he showed to Li Xin ten years ago, and to Meng Tian and Meng Yi five years ago."

Zhang Han thought to himself that the current king is indeed a heroic ruler who likes to use young people, because he likes their courage to explore and fight, but it's a pity that Li Xin and Meng Tian failed once in the State of Chu, and now the king's heart is not as big as before.

He was a smart man, so he secretly guessed that the King of Qin probably wanted to use Heifu, who rose from a commoner to the position of Zuo Shuzhang, as a model to promote him, so that the talents from the military would be more enthusiastic about fighting and making meritorious deeds.

Not to mention others, even Zhang Han felt jealous.

However, the five countries had been destroyed, and the wars that should be fought had been fought, so where else could he attack and make meritorious deeds?

He thought so in his heart, but he couldn't stop congratulating Heifu: "In the thirteenth year of King Zhao of our ancestor, Bai Qi was the Zuo Shuzhang and attacked Han's Xincheng. Heifu's current position was once occupied by Wu'an Jun. You have taken the first step in your ambition to be a general and be granted a title!"

Yes, Heifu also felt a little sad. After a year of hard work and thousands of miles of running, the title he got was indeed not light, but it was still only the last seat of "Xiaqing". He still had a long way to go.

Yang Qi's conferring of titles was not over yet. Almost all the officers in Heifu's army, including Zhang Han, were rewarded.

Zhang Han served as the military commander in the war against Chu, built barriers, paved roads and bridges for Li You's army, and built Nanchang City after the war. He was finally promoted from the original Gong Dafu to Wu Dafu.

Zhao Tuo, the master of the 500 ships, was also promoted from Dafu to Guan Dafu for his merits in lifting the siege of Pengze and killing Fanyang Jun.

Li Xian, the current Fanyang fake commander, was promoted to Guan Dafu for his merits in making suggestions and making contributions as a counselor several times.

After entering Jiangxi, Dongmen Bao did not have many achievements because there were few battles. His title was still Guan Dafu. He was now arranged by Heifu to guard Luling.

Among the rest, Xiao Tao, who was stationed in Shanggan and Limensai, was promoted to Guan Dafu, Gong Ao was promoted to Dafu, Ji Ying was promoted to Dafu, and Man and Anpu were both promoted to Dafu.

Interestingly, Yugan Wu Shen was granted the title of a doctor because he was aware of the current situation, took the initiative to surrender, offered tribute to Ganyue Sword, and sent people to help Heifu build Nanchang City.

In addition to the officers, it was surprising that almost all the soldiers below were rewarded and generally increased their titles by one level. This was something they had never thought of before, because since entering Jiangxi, there have been few major battles and not many beheadings. They never thought that the King of Qin was so generous. Maybe he wanted them to feel the feeling of "the world's great feast"?

Everyone was celebrating happily, only Heifu felt that things might not be that simple. This time, the King of Qin was a little too generous. He had 3,000 men under him. If the average person increased the land by 100 mu, he would need 300,000 mu of land, and one-third of the public land in Nanjun would be gone.

Sure enough, after the officers and soldiers were happy, Yang Qiu threw them another piece of news.

"The titles of the three thousand officers and soldiers who went south should be increased by land, all of which should be taken from the nearby land of Jiangnan. Now those stationed in Nanchang will be given land in Nanchang, those stationed in Fanyang will be given land in Fanyang, and those stationed in Shanggan will be given land in Shanggan..."

...

As soon as he finished speaking, Heifu and Zhang Han looked at each other immediately. Zhang Han said exactly what the King of Qin wanted the soldiers to do, which was to build real walls and valleys, and to borrow real acres.

For a moment, the two thousand soldiers below were silent. They looked at each other, not understanding what this meant.

Or Gong Ao woke up and shouted: "Does this mean that we can't go home and have to stay here to farm?"

Everyone was stunned and reacted one after another. In this way, wouldn't they be forced to move to Nanchang like those sons-in-law, prisoners, and slaves who had just arrived here a few days ago!

They worked hard for ten months and looked forward to returning to their hometown. When they heard this inquiry, they were shocked!

"We have gone through so much hardship to get this swampy wasteland?"

"It is easy to get sick in Jiangnan, and men die young!"

"The king will never treat us like this."

"There must be treacherous ministers who are spreading rumors!"

They even cast angry eyes on Yang Qiu, this pale-faced young official. Could it be that he was falsely conveying the king's instructions?

A sense of grievance and dissatisfaction was brewing among the soldiers. The soldiers could not remain calm. When Gong Ao was so angry that he threw away his helmet and shouted that he would rather not have land, throw away his title and official uniform, and return to his hometown naked, it reached its peak...

Yang Qiu's face became even paler. He was only in his early twenties. Although he came from a prominent family, he had never seen such a scene. Although he was prepared for some complaints from the soldiers, things happened so quickly that he didn't know what to do for a while. His steps were weak and he was about to be forced back by the angry eyes of the soldiers.

Fortunately, at this moment, a strong hand patted his back, and a loud shout rang out beside him.

"How dare you!"

The other army commander spoke, and thousands of soldiers who were surging like boiling pots suddenly became silent!

Hei Fu looked annoyed, and his eyes swept over everyone, including the unruly Gong Ao, who lowered their heads in awe, not daring to look him in the eye.

"Military law says that those who ask for no punishment will be put to death! Those who ask for no reward will be put to death!"

"My dear brothers, please stop making noises and be careful with your words! If you are dissatisfied, I, Sima..."

Heifu's voice became louder: "I, Shuchang, have the power to write directly to the king and Xianyang to ask for clarification on your behalf! But for now, I hope you can thank the king for the reward first, and obey the king's order to open up the land and divide the fields! Real wall, real gully, real acreage, real borrowing!"

Everyone looked at each other, and finally it was Gong Ao who had just shouted dissatisfaction, nodded to Heifu's old subordinates, gritted his teeth and bowed, and said loudly: "Your humble servant Gong Ao, thank the king for the reward!"

"Your subjects thank the king for the reward!" Although this thank you was sparse, it at least covered the almost boiling pot.

Zhang Han glanced at Heifu and was surprised. If it were him, he would have been unable to handle the situation. It seemed that Heifu had a very high prestige among the soldiers from his hometown.

After everyone calmed down again, Heifu bowed to Yang Qiu, who was sweating profusely, and said seriously:

"The general is the leader of the army. The king's instructions should start from Heifu. Heifu was promoted from the fifth rank to the left minister. Forty-nine hectares of land were allocated in Nanchang. All the land opened up will be selected by the soldiers first. Please leave the remaining forty-nine hectares of the worst to me!"