The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

"I haven't seen you for a year. Heifu has opened up a thousand miles of territory and has been promoted to the position of a noble. It's amazing, amazing."

Li You, who had returned to Jiangling a few months earlier than Heifu, had gained a lot of weight. In addition, the thick fox fur he wore in November made his face look even more rosy.

But his tone was a little wrong.

Although Heifu had worked alone for a year and was used to being the boss and was promoted to the left minister, he also knew that compared with Li Si and his son, he was still just a small fish.

So after returning to Jiangling from Nanchang, the first thing he did was to visit Li You, who was about to be promoted. Hearing Li You teasing him like this, he felt that the tone was not right, so he hurriedly bowed and said:

"When I was in Shanggan, I passed by a small mountain called Jinggang Mountain. I heard the local Yue people say a proverb, which is to drink water and remember the well digger. Even the Yue people are like this, and the lower officials should also remember the source of water and will not forget Zuo Geng's support for me!"

Li You did not answer, but glanced at the old fur coat worn by Hei Fu and smiled: "Hei Fu received dozens of gold in rewards from the king, why are his fur coats so old? Too simple."

Hei Fu usually wears new clothes, but today he wears old clothes just for this moment. He immediately said: "General, have you forgotten? This bear fur coat was given to me by the general after the first attack on Chu more than three years ago. Although the fur has fallen off due to the east and south expeditions, it is Hei Fu's favorite to wear."

He said meaningfully: "Old clothes are warm enough..."

Li You was very satisfied and glanced at the staff who had advised him before. The staff told him that Heifu was arbitrary in Nanchang. After being appointed as Zuo Shuzhang, he no longer wrote to the King of Qin through Li You. He was proud and proud and no longer regarded Li You as the master.

Although he immediately reprimanded the staff, saying that everyone was the king's minister, how could there be a distinction between master and servant? But in his heart, it was inevitable that there was a little knot.

Li You's current title is Zuo Geng. Although he is two levels lower than Heifu, they are both "lower ministers" and hold black jade gui, so he deliberately teased and tested Heifu just now.

Seeing that Heifu had not forgotten his old favor and even wore the clothes he had given him, Li You's fear disappeared. He stood up and helped Heifu up and said, "As the saying goes, clothes are never better than new, and people are never better than old. You are no longer my subordinate, but we are still old friends..."

Then, Li You asked Heifu to sit below him, ranking above all officials and staff! And he started chatting with him enthusiastically.

Heifu was best at flattering. He quietly belittled himself and flattered Li You, saying, "Heifu is incompetent. He spent a year just to conquer a few small counties, but you, the general, conquered two counties in a row!"

It turned out that at this time last year, after Li You and Heifu parted ways in Echeng, they led their troops to the southwest and arrived at Miluo River, where they joined forces with the soldiers of Ba County and confronted the Qu family of Chu across the river.

Finally, Li You used a tactic similar to the Battle of Chuisha, not choosing a shallow place, but forcing a crossing from a deep place, catching the Chu people off guard. Thousands of corpses of Chu people floated on the Miluo River. Wujiaguan won another great victory, so he marched forward triumphantly and captured Changsha City. It took several more months to take over the entire Dongting County of Chu State, and the Qu family fled south to Cangwu.

Almost at the same time when Heifu went up the Gan River to attack Shanggan, Li You also sent troops from Changsha and fought upstream along the Xiang River. The southern part of Hunan and part of Guangxi were the "Cangwu County" established during the time of Wu Qi. Li You entered Cangwu, killed the head of the Qu family in Chendi, and sent a detachment to conquer Jiuyi Pass.

Jiuyi Pass, like Limen Pass in Jiangxi, is the southernmost place known to the people of the Central Plains. The difference is that the south of Limen Pass is Nanyue, which is Guangdong in later generations, and the south of Jiuyi Pass is Xiou, also known as Xiyue, which is the area of Guilin in Guangxi in later generations...

After that, the King of Qin ordered Li You to merge the two counties of Dongting and Cangwu of Chu into Changsha County.

Li You said with a sympathetic heart: "In the summer of last year (the 25th year), the army had returned to Changsha, but encountered the water poisoning disease. When I didn't know what to do, fortunately Hei Fu wrote to explain the cause of the disease. I promoted the prevention method you mentioned in the army and restricted the soldiers to go into the water. The spread of this disease was slightly restrained..."

Nowadays, schistosomiasis has become a major problem for the Qin army stationed in Changsha, Nanchang, and Kuaiji in the south of the Yangtze River. It's a pity that doctors such as Chen Wujiu have just arrived in the south, and I don't know if they can develop a treatment method.

The King of Qin also carried out military immigration in Changsha County like Nanchang, and asked Li You to leave thousands of people to guard the cultivated land. At the same time, he asked Li You to return to Xianyang to report the situation in the south, and officially appointed him as the governor of Changsha County.

Changsha was hot and Li You didn't want to go, but he had no choice. His title was just enough to be the governor of a border county. The King of Qin had no intention of taking care of his own son-in-law, and even asked his eldest daughter, Li You's wife, to go south with him. Li You only hoped to have a few years of experience in peace and be transferred back to Xianyang or the inner county.

Li You was about to take up his post, but he fell ill when he arrived in Jiangling. He caught a cold and had a fever, so he could only stay in his original mansion for a few days...

After Li You left Hei Fu to have a meal, he pulled him aside and whispered, "When I returned to Xianyang, the king praised you again, saying that you were very good at everything in Nanchang. In time, you can also be a chief official of the border county and open up new territory for Qin."

"But according to the king's intention, you still have to be summoned to Xianyang to be a Langguan for a period of time, and bring you with him to give you some experience..."

Hei Fu knew that Langguan was a necessary step for senior officials of the Qin State. Langguan is known as "serving as a guard in the palace and herding a hundred miles away". They are not only the guards and close ministers of the King of Qin, but also the main source of officials at all levels of the central and local governments. Wang Ben, Li Xin, Meng Tian, Li You, these people all entered the officialdom as Langguan, so they are trusted by the King of Qin.

There are also people like Heifu who became Langguan halfway through their careers, such as Li Si.

Li You said to Heifu like a treasure: "There are more than 700 Langguan in Xianyang, which is not a small number. Among them, there are Zhonglang, Langzhong, and Wailang, which are called three Lang. Zhonglang waits for orders in the palace and lives with the king day and night; Langzhong guards the palace and can often see the king; Wailang is on guard outside the palace and has the least relationship with the king."

These three types of Langguan are respectively subordinate to Zhonglangjiang, Langzhongjiang, and Wailangjiang, and the superior of the three generals is Langzhongling.

Heifu's title is very high in the county, but when he went to Xianyang, compared with those nobles who had been passed down for generations, it was instantly worthless. The Langzhongling is one of the Nine Ministers. If Li You can't get it, he can forget about it. Zhonglangjiang is a position with a rank of two thousand stones, which is a prominent position. It is currently held by Meng Tian's brother Meng Yi, so there is no chance. Langzhongjiang is a position of one thousand stones, and Wailangjiang is a position of one thousand stones. He may have a chance...

At this point, Li You has told Heifu everything he knows. At this time, he is slightly drunk and complains that the Qin King's princess is not easy to serve. It seems that there is some marital discord. Then he realized that he had said something wrong. After a moment of silence, he waved his hand and asked Heifu to leave.

Heifu took the opportunity to say, "I wonder if I will have the honor to meet the court judge after I go to Xianyang?"

He was promoted by Li You, and the mark of Li Si's party was stamped on him, so Zhang Han, who also belongs to Li Si's faction, was so close to Heifu. When he arrived in Xianyang, how could he not pay homage to the mountain?

Li You seemed to sober up all of a sudden, pulled Hei Fu over, and warned him in a low voice: "When you arrive in Xianyang, you will meet my father in the court, but you must not be too enthusiastic, just do everything as usual, and as for visiting and offering gifts... you must not do that!"

Li You's mouth was full of alcohol, but his words were colder than the deep winter of December.

"Remember! Qin officials do not form cliques or factions, and it doesn't matter if they are a little lax in the local areas, but in Xianyang, under the king's nose, no ministers who form cliques for personal gain or plot against the lord will be allowed!"

Just one sentence made Hei Fu feel that the water in Xianyang was really deep!