The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

That afternoon, Chao Bo and his friends were talking about the competition in the morning in the thatched cottage, but they were obviously absent-minded. Xiao Tao was absent-minded from time to time, and the brothers Ke and Bu Ke stood up frequently and looked out the window. Ping Ze paced restlessly in the room, and Zhui sat cross-legged on the straw mat, seemingly weaving straw sandals calmly. Ke Ke's hands were so dexterous, but today, for some reason, he made mistakes frequently.

"The money is coming!"

At this time, a loud shout was heard from outside, and everyone immediately stopped what they were doing and stood up together.

Then, the door was kicked open, and the skinny Ji Ying walked in with a big pottery basin in his hand, smiling, followed by Mu, who held a small earthen bowl with his big hands, and his face was also filled with joy.

After that, Hei Fu and Dongmen Bao also walked in, closed the door again, and blocked all the envious and jealous eyes outside.

Ji Ying and Mu put the utensils in their hands on the ground, and everyone immediately gathered around. They saw that there were four straw dustpans in the basins and bowls, and the dustpans were full of golden copper coins!

In this era, bronze was not called bronze, but "gold" because the copper-tin alloy was actually bright yellow before being oxidized in the soil. But it is different from gold as a high-quality currency. It must be analyzed according to the specific situation. People in later generations who do not distinguish and understand all gold as copper, or understand all gold as gold, are all hooligans...

So these copper coins piled together are really shining, making everyone's eyes flash with a strange light, especially the few people who have been waiting in the house for a long time, and they can't stop laughing.

They all came from poor backgrounds, and they have never seen so much money in their lives!

The most exaggerated one was Ping. He knelt on the ground, as if he wanted to hug these copper coins, and said happily: "I can die on them."

Chao Bo was calmer and said tremblingly: "Are there really four thousand coins in these?"

"Yes." Hei Fu smiled and said: "One thousand coins per basket, Yuan Bai gave us four baskets in total. Ji Ying was worried, but he counted them one by one! It is indeed four thousand coins, not a penny more or less!"

Yuan Bai was straightforward. He collected the money and sent it in one afternoon. He was worthy of being a famous wealthy family in the county. Of course, this was because they had asked officials to testify and signed a contract before, and they could not default on the debt.

With this, everyone was relieved, but the next question came, how should the money be divided?

For a moment, everyone's eyes turned to Hei Fu. After so many days, the prestige of the head of the platoon was at its peak, and everyone listened to him.

"That's what I think."

Heifu squatted down, picked up a dustpan, picked up the half-liang coins in each string of 100 coins, divided them into five portions, 200 coins each, and put them aside.

"Mu, Zhu, Ping, Ke, Bu, the five of you, 200 coins each."

He reached out to another dustpan and divided the 1,000 coins in it into three portions.

"Ji Ying, Xiao Tao, 300 coins each. Chao Bo 400 coins."

Finally, Heifu picked out another 500 coins and put them in front of Dongmen Bao.

"Dongmen Bao, 500 coins."

Then he smiled: "The remaining 1,500 coins belong to me. Do you think this is a good way to divide it?"

When Heifu divided the money, everyone held their breath and didn't say a word. At the end, they looked at each other. Some people were satisfied, but some people had some opinions.

"I thought it was divided equally among the ten people..."

Ping, who only took 200 coins, said sourly, and muttered: "The chief took so much for himself..."

"You bastard!"

Before Heifu expressed his opinion, Ji Ying and Dongmen Bao, two of Heifu's diehards, were furious, but the first one to rebuke Ping was Chao Bo, the oldest among the crowd.

"Ping, stop talking nonsense!"

Chao Bo pointed at Ping angrily and said, "You really have no memory. When we said we didn't want to compete for the first place in the competition, it was the chief who made the decision and asked us to do our best. Without the chief's initiative, there would be no money."

"Besides, the chief has been training us day and night these days, and he has used all the training methods passed down in his family. Otherwise, you are as stupid as cows, how could you make such rapid progress?"

"Finally, it was the chief who signed the contract with Yuan Bai. For the four thousand coins, he put himself in. If he lost, he would be responsible for his own work and would have to serve Yuan Bai as a servant for two years! He would never implicate us. Now that he has won, he is willing to share the money with us... I have lived for more than 30 years, and I have never seen anyone who acts so fairly."

With every word he said, Ping's face turned paler, and his head lowered lower and lower, until it was completely drooped.

Chao Bo said all the things that he had been holding back for the past few days: "In my opinion, it's okay for the squad leader to take half of the money!"

"Chao Bo said something fair!" Dongmen Bao and Ji Ying applauded, and Xiao Tao, Zhu, Mu and others also nodded in agreement.

Throughout the whole process, Hei Fu kept smiling and said nothing, and only raised his hand to let them quiet down after everyone stopped making noise.

"Actually, there is a reason why I divide it this way."

"Each of the five people will get 200 coins, which is the reward you deserve for your hard work in training."

"Ji Ying has advised and comforted everyone for me these days, and he has made some small contributions, so he deserves 300."

Ji Ying heard this and nodded to everyone proudly. Money is a small matter. What's important is that his contribution was not missed by his good brothers.

Heifu looked at Xiaotao and patted his shoulder, saying, "Xiaotao was threatened and bribed, but he refused without fear of violence. Moreover, he was the fastest learner and the most standard among all the people. The people behind him basically followed him. Am I right? So he deserves 300 coins."

Xiaotao scratched his head embarrassedly and blushed again.

"As for Chaobo." Heifu bowed to him and said, "Chaobo is an old soldier. He has been helping me improve my training methods these days. He has made great contributions. He is also an elder, so he deserves 400 coins."

"It should be done, it should be done." Chaobo's goat beard trembled slightly.

"Dongmenbao is the squad leader. He has been assisting me with all his strength these days. Needless to say, he deserves 500 coins." Dongmenbao nodded to Heifu. Heifu had discussed the matter of dividing the money with him in advance. Dongmenbao valued righteousness over money and had no opinion at all. It was all up to Heifu.

Heifu paused for a moment, then pointed at himself and said, "As for me, Chaobo has just said that I will not brag about myself. If anyone thinks that I am not fair in distributing the money, you can bring it up. If everyone thinks it is reasonable, I, Heifu, will not take a penny and will give you all the money!"

After he finished speaking, he looked at everyone, and everyone was silent, including Ping, who had the most objections. No one dared to say a word.

"200 coins are enough." Zhui picked up his share of money and smiled contentedly: "It can let me buy a thick winter coat and two pairs of coarse cloth shoes. What else can I be dissatisfied with?"

"Yes, the division of the sergeant is fair, and we have nothing to say!" His younger brother Mu said something.

"In addition to the money, the sergeant also distributed wine and meat to us, and helped us reduce the next year's labor service. With such a generous favor, if you still dare to complain, your conscience will be eaten by pigs and dogs!" Ji Ying cursed.

Others followed suit and pocketed their own money, and the room was filled with laughter again...

...

Although the distribution of money was done behind closed doors, it was soon spread out by Ji Ying's big mouth, and the night watchmen talked about it and were envious.

In this way, by the evening, the matter of "Hei Fu's distribution of money" had been heard by Du Xian, the county's right lieutenant, through Chen Baijiang's mouth.

"Good, it seems that this public official Hei Fu not only has martial arts, can do his job well, and train the mob in order, but also distributes rewards equally and reasonably, he is a talent."

He looked at Chen Baijiang: "If such a person is not an official, it would be our dereliction of duty..."

"What does the official mean?"

Chen Baijiang was stunned. Although he saw that the right lieutenant admired Hei Fu, he never expected that Du Xian actually planned to let Hei Fu be an official!

In theory, Heifu has a title and is an adult, so the rigid conditions for being an official have been met. But after this incident, this man has completely become enemies with Zuo Wei and Bin Baijiang. At this time, You Wei wants to make him an official. What does this mean? Is he going to completely turn against Zuo Wei? Or does he just want to make Zuo Wei feel uncomfortable before he is transferred?

Moreover, there are many ways for Qin to appoint officials. Does You Wei recommend them personally? Or let the local government choose them? Or ask the county magistrate to recruit them? The first one is too risky, and the latter two are not easy.

"This matter is not urgent."

Du Xian waved his hand and said, "Let me see this person's character again. It's not too late to talk about it after the guards finish their service!"

...

On the other hand, Heifu didn't know what You Wei and Chen Baijiang had discussed. After the ten-day competition, all the guards began to gather together, holding bamboo and wooden sticks, and began to practice "divide and combine, tie and untie".

After learning these, they are qualified reserve forces, and may be called up to the army at any time, issued weapons, and undergo more professional training, and then step onto the real battlefield.

Guishi had the previous foundation, and he was also the fastest to complete the movements during the joint training. However, Heifu always felt that Chen Baijiang, who trained them, always looked at him meaningfully these days. His attitude was no longer the arrogance of showing favor to the subordinates, but became enthusiastic to win over...

As for Bin Baijiang, he has never appeared since he was severely punished by the right lieutenant that day and squatted and frog-jumped ten times in front of the night watchmen and county soldiers on the parade ground. It is said that he was recuperating. After all, it was ten rounds of frog-jumping, and his legs were almost broken. Moreover, Bin Baijiang may not be able to gain a foothold in the parade ground in the future. It is said that he may be transferred to several townships under Anlu County.

On the morning of October 15th, after completing the last joint training, the night watchmen were allowed to rest for half a day, but they were not allowed to go out. Starting tomorrow, they will start more arduous corvée labor, and the good days are over.

Heifu returned to the hut and discussed with everyone whether to cut more dried meat that was awarded during the competition today to improve the food?

He originally said that he would share all the meat, but everyone was embarrassed, so they only let Heifu share five pieces, leaving five pieces to dry in the sun, and take them home after serving. Anyway, the dried meat has been salted, so it will not rot in the winter.

As for being stolen? Sorry, Qin law stipulates that even if you cut a small piece of meat the size of a thumb, even if it is not worth a penny, you will be charged with theft, shave your black hair, and you will be ashamed to see people from now on.

With Heifu taking the lead, Dongmen Bao also took out two of the five dried meats he got and shared them with everyone. In this way, everyone can eat some meat every day, and life is so happy.

At this time, Jiying, who went to borrow a pot to cook, came back, and he shouted outside the house: "Heifu, someone is looking for you outside the training ground, saying it is your brother!"

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