The leisurely life of the Qin people

Chapter 49 The Future County
Inside the Xianyang Palace, Ying Zheng held an oil lamp in his hand. The light from the lamp was brought close to the map, illuminating every detail on the map.

Li Si stood behind the First Emperor, also looking at the map.

Inside the hall, several eunuchs were arranging bamboo slips, placing them neatly on the bookshelves.

"How is Fusu doing?"

Li Si bowed and said, "Everything is going smoothly. We should be able to dig through in another half month."

Ying Zheng continued to look at the map, which depicted Shangjun, the current state of the Great Wall construction.

Another eunuch arrived with a stack of bamboo slips, placed them on the table, and then stood quietly to the side.

The hall remained quiet for another quarter of an hour. Ying Zheng put down the oil lamp in his hand and said in a deep voice, "I heard that Fusu is very dissatisfied with the officials I sent?"

Li Si replied, "Your Highness is dissatisfied with those officials, and those officials find it difficult to meet your various demands."

Ying Zheng sat down again and said in a low voice, "What's so difficult about it?"

Li Si continued, "The young master requires these people to bring their wives and children and live in the newly established counties, and also to re-establish the counties."

"that's it?"

"Hmm." Li Si responded, then added, "I have already arranged for others to assist you, my lord."

Ying Zheng said, "Keep a close eye on things."

"I accept your order."

On the banks of the Luo River, Fusu looked through the reply sent from Xianyang. The Prime Minister was still a good teacher. The newly established prefectures and counties, especially those in Guanzhong, could not be separated from the Nine Ministers of the court.

Therefore, the nine ministers in the court were all smoothed out by the teacher, who basically paved the way so that there were almost no obstacles to the issuance of government orders.

After reading the document, Fusu walked out of the small house and along the newly dug Jingye Canal. There were not as many people digging the canal as before. Apart from the last section of the Sanli River Canal, the remaining major projects were reinforcement and repair.

Actually, the current reinforcement measures are not very good. The upstream culvert collapsed once and was subsequently reinforced.

After the canal was dug, maintenance was still needed. Fusu stood by the canal, overwhelmed by a multitude of tasks.

However, Fusu quickly sorted out his thoughts and realized that these problems were not difficult and could be solved.

Looking towards the last section of the canal, only two thousand laborers remained digging; the rest had gone to cultivate the fields.

The saying goes, "An army marches on its stomach," and for Fusu, this meant that before the canals were opened, the land reclamation was the priority.

In this world, there will never be a herd of horses for no reason, nor a hundred-mile river opening up.

Life is something that people build bit by bit with their own hands.

As evening approached, the officials who had gone to distribute the land that day returned. They handed over a scroll of bamboo slips one after another and placed it on the table in front of Prince Fusu's hut.

These officials were somewhat disheveled; their shoes were covered in mud, as were their trousers, sleeves, and even their faces.

When the weary officials looked up at Prince Fusu, they found no trace of sympathy in his eyes.

The young master takes his responsibilities very seriously and is extremely strict in his conduct.

But no one dared to voice the slightest dissatisfaction; you could refuse to serve the young master, and someone would immediately take your place.

Don't forget, the Prime Minister is the prince's teacher, and there are many people who want to serve Prince Fusu.

Several officials walked together in twos and threes, talking in hushed tones.

They have been very busy these days, as they have to organize the newly relocated laborers to divide the land, measure the land, and also have the laborers build their own houses.

They are all very simple tasks, but they are very time-consuming and troublesome to do.

You also have to do everything yourself.

A few people were resting by the river, chatting in twos and threes.

As night fell, Fusu was still looking at the reports submitted by the clerks, which were the results of their day's work.

Their work was not done very well, and the progress was slow.

Three thousand more people arrived today, all of whom migrated from the direction of Luoyang to Hangu Pass.

Despite the arduous work and heavy workload, Fusu did not feel discouraged at all.

In this day and age, if you don't have some skills and talent, no one will truly respect you.

Especially those talented and capable people, who yearn for a wise ruler.

It is especially important to consolidate and build your own achievements and cultivate your reputation.

Therefore, Fusu did not feel frustrated.

"Young Master, the Right Chancellor has arrived."

Upon hearing this, Fusu looked up and saw the Right Chancellor being blocked outside by several soldiers.

The moonlight was poor tonight. Fusu saw the Right Chancellor smiling under the torchlight, with another person following behind him. It was Cheng Miao from the Censorate.

Fusu gestured for someone to come in.

Feng Quji carried a basket full of dried persimmons. He said with a smile, "I heard that you have been busy with the canal project recently. I was passing by today on my way to visit relatives, so I came to take a look."

Fusu then looked at Cheng Miao behind him.

Cheng Miao wore an honest smile.

Fusu understood; Prime Minister Feng was well aware of the relationship between Cheng Miao and his son.

It would be abrupt for someone to come here alone. Everyone in the Imperial Censorate knew that Prince Fusu was close to Cheng Miao, so Feng Quji brought him along.

Tian An was already preparing dinner, and Cheng Miao went inside to help tidy up the house, sorting and putting away some bamboo slips, and then arranging a clean table.

Cheng Miao wiped the table, put the oil lamp back in place, and then gestured for the Right Chancellor to sit there.

As soon as Feng Quji sat down, Cheng Miao sat down next to him.

Before Feng Quji could speak, Cheng Miao looked expectant as he smelled the aroma of food wafting from outside.

Feng Quji then asked, "I've heard that the officials who came to assist you, young master, have changed quite a few times?"

Fusu said, "The things I do here are quite tiring and difficult, and I'm sorry to trouble you all in the court."

Feng Quji smiled and said, "Young master, you don't need to worry about it."

Cheng Miao heard this and looked solemn. Of course, the young master didn't need to care, because the officials who had been replaced by the young master had all been sent by the prime minister to Shangjun to repair the Great Wall.

The prime minister will not keep any officials who cannot perform their duties under the young master.

The officials that the young master currently has are probably the most hardworking and resilient people. It seems that the young master also prefers officials who are hardworking and resilient.

Before long, Tian An led three eunuchs into the house. Each eunuch carried a ceramic pot containing steaming noodles.

This was exactly what Cheng Miao was looking forward to, but when the noodles were in front of him, he held back for a moment. He waited until the young master and the Right Prime Minister were eating before he started to pick up his chopsticks.

Tian An then brought in some more tangerines, placing a plate in front of the Right Chancellor and Cheng Miao, and another plate in front of the young master.

Fusu explained, "Li You has an endless supply of fruit in Shu and sent over quite a lot."

Feng Quji nodded and said, "I haven't eaten fruit from Sichuan for a long time."

Cheng Miao finished the noodles in his bowl, then picked up an orange from the plate, peeled it, and put it in his mouth.

The young master liked to have fruit after meals, so Tian An often served fruit after meals, which had become a rule.

Cheng Miao took out a scroll of letters and handed it to Tian An with both hands, asking Tian An to give it to the young master, while he continued eating oranges.

Fusu took the letter and carefully read through it.

The letter was sent by his teacher, Zhang Cang. Cheng Miao and Zhang Cang were good friends, but in fact, neither of them had many friends in the court; they were rather solitary.

The letter refers to a person, Mao Heng, who did not go far after leaving Guanzhong.

Instead, he stayed in Luoyang. When Zhang Cang went to Luoyang to relocate people, he met Mao Heng. Mao Heng was actually doing very well in Luoyang and had even found a wealthy family to rely on, so he had no worries about food and drink.

The rest of the writing consists of inquiries about various matters in the court.

Cheng Miao explained, "Young master, this is a letter from last month."

Fusu remembered that Zhang Han was very worried about Mao Heng, fearing that Mao Heng would starve to death while he was away. Now it seems that he did not starve to death and is doing quite well.

After dinner, Feng Quji stood up and said, "I will return now. Cheng Miao can help you, my lord."

Fusu also bowed and said, "Thank you, Right Chancellor."

Feng Quji returned to Xianyang in his carriage. Fusu said to Tian An, "Arrange accommodation for Cheng Miao, and tomorrow he will go to distribute the land like the others."

Upon hearing this, Tian An said, "Imperial Censor Cheng, this way please."

Cheng Miao followed Tian An to the other side of the river, which was the lower reaches of the Luo River. There was a row of simple houses that looked like a huge wooden shed, which was then divided into individual rooms.

Tian An pushed open one of the rooms and said, "The accommodations are simple. Once the houses in the new county are built, the government office will also be there, and we'll be able to stay in better accommodations."

There's nothing we can do about it. The downstream area of ​​Jingye Canal is currently a barren wasteland. The fields need to be reclaimed, the houses need to be built, and everything is starting from scratch.

Tian An added, "Fortunately, we can rely on Shangyan Mountain here. We don't lack stone materials, and the houses will be built soon."

Cheng Miao nodded and went inside.

Tian An lit the oil lamp in the room and left.

Cheng Miao went outside again, looked around and saw that there were still soldiers patrolling. He then went back inside and closed the door.

The room was simply furnished with a bed and a table.

It was getting late, so Cheng Miao lay down, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.

The next day, Cheng Miao heard a commotion. He opened his eyes, pushed open the door, and saw officials leaving in twos and threes, talking amongst themselves. So Cheng Miao followed them and went to do his work with them.

The oldest way people measured was by using their feet.

This was Cheng Miao's first job here: measuring the land and distributing it to the migrant laborers. Measuring the land was a very tedious and tiring job.

After Shang Yang's reforms, Qin's land was strictly regulated, with strict and clear boundaries for every foot and every zhang (a unit of length), a process known as "opening up the fields."

Not only ordinary people, but even those who had won military merits were not allowed to blur the boundaries of their fields, nor were they allowed to occupy or move fields without permission, even if they were nobles.

After Shang Yang opened up the fields, Qin law strictly followed the rules of the fields, making it clear whose land even half an acre or half an inch belonged to, and no one was allowed to encroach upon it.

This protected both the safety of the people's fields and the safety of the Qin Dynasty's grain production.

The Qin Dynasty, which rose to power through agriculture and warfare, placed great importance on food security.

The Legalist approach to governance—land allocation by household and taxation by acreage—permeated every aspect of the Qin people's lives and work, and these newly arrived laborers were still somewhat unaccustomed to it.

The laborers who came from Qi or Zhao were somewhat puzzled by the meticulousness of the Qin officials.

These officials dared not make mistakes, and every measurement had to be precise. A number of people had already made mistakes, and the young master informed the prime minister, who then sent them to Shangjun.

Cheng Miao was carrying a rope ruler, measuring the fields along the way, and marking the boundaries and setting up stakes after measuring one mu of land.

After doing all this, Cheng Miao even had others measure the land on foot, and only after measuring it repeatedly did he feel comfortable recording it in the land register.

After that, Cheng Miao basically repeated these tasks, measuring more than 30 acres of land every day, leaving him so exhausted that he could barely breathe.

Looking to the side, the other officials were also exhausted. A few of them sat on the ground to catch their breath, wiped their sweat, and then went back to work.

Cheng Miao put away his bamboo slips and left.

An hour later, Cheng Miao brought a very long rope ruler, followed by a foreman who seemed to have come from nowhere, and began measuring the fields.

As dusk fell, after everyone had reported on their work for the day, the officials went to rest early.

As Fusu was reviewing the reports from various households, he suddenly noticed Cheng Miao's document. While others measured about forty mu a day, Cheng Miao measured sixty mu in one day.

Fusu asked, "Are there any cakes left in the oven?"

Tian An said, "Yes."

Fusu then said, "Take three cakes and some dried meat."

After placing everything on the table, Tian An watched as the young master wrapped it all up and hurriedly left the room.

Cheng Miao had few friends in the court, and the same was true here. He sat alone by the river, took off his boots, and kept tapping the toes of his boots to pour out the fine sand inside.

A figure appeared in front of him, and Cheng Miao's nose twitched slightly as he smelled the aroma of the pastry.

Freshly baked cakes are the most fragrant.

Cheng Miao swallowed hard, then slowly raised his head and saw Prince Fusu. He hurriedly bowed and said, "Prince."

Because he wasn't wearing one boot, his bowing looked a little odd.

Fusu handed him the cakes and dried meat, then sat down beside him and looked into the distance.

Not far away, groups of people were clearing land, pouring buckets of water into the fields, where the soil was absorbing the moisture.

Fusu asked, "Can you measure sixty mu of land in a day?"

Cheng Miao nodded repeatedly as he ate the pancake.

"How did you measure it?" Fusu asked first, then explained, "I've seen them measure fields; they can measure up to fifty mu a day."

Cheng Miao put the half-eaten cake and dried meat into his bosom.

He picked up a stone from the side, placed it at the four corners, and then used a thin rope to divide it.

Fusu looked at the pattern on the ground. The intertwined ropes formed various shapes, and then Cheng Miao pulled out two of them, revealing squares of equal size.

Fusu frowned as he looked at it. Assuming his rope was a ruler, wasn't this just a very simple geometry problem?

After Cheng Miao finished doing all this, he explained, "Zhang Cang taught me this before. Zhang Cang is quite skilled in arithmetic, and I admire him very much."

Fusu stood up and said, "Zhang Cang is still in Luoyang. Perhaps he is drinking with Mao Heng in Luoyang right now, looking at beauties, and talking about his time as a student of Xunzi."

Cheng Miao nodded in agreement.

Fusu said, "From now on, you will be in charge of measuring the fields. Thank you for your hard work."

Cheng Miao, still chewing on a biscuit, bowed and said, "Your subject obeys."

Fusu gave General Xin Sheng a few more instructions, asking him to arrange for people to take care of Cheng Miao.

In the remaining days, the number of fields registered increased.

For every additional acre of land registered, the Qin Dynasty can collect the land tax for that acre.

Han Fei once said that a thousand-foot dike can be breached by an ant's hole, and a hundred-foot house can be burned down by a wisp of smoke from a crack.

Therefore, Han Fei advocated very early on that governing a country requires meticulousness, even in matters of land taxation.

Just as Xunzi was adept at using metaphors, Han Fei was also skilled at using metaphors to expound on the philosophy of governing a country, emphasizing that one should not slacken off due to oversights of minor issues.

Fusu packed the organized land registers into a box, had it loaded onto a cart, and instructed, "Send it to Xianyang."

Several soldiers escorted a cartload of documents and drove the carriage toward Xianyang.

Fusu thought that his father and the prime minister would be very happy to see that the amount of farmland in Guanzhong was increasing every day.

By March in Guanzhong, the weather was no longer so cold. Fusu tried on the new clothes that Tian An had sent from the palace, and then went outside, where he met Prince Gao and his sister Yinman.

Fusu said, "You've all grown quite a bit taller."

Gongzi Gao grinned, and then he and his sister looked at their brother with great admiration.

In the warm spring of March, a light rain fell again in Guanzhong, and the gentle rain soaked the land.

Today is a grand occasion, and many people have gathered by the canal.

Because today there is a very important thing to do: we are going to dig a canal.

Fusu led his younger brother, Gongzi Gao, and his younger sister, Yinman, to a high platform.

When Zhang Han saw that Prince Fusu had arrived, he loudly proclaimed, "Open the canal!"

"Dig a canal!"

A soldier shouted an order.

Warhorses galloped along the canal, and more and more warhorses joined them.

Gongzi Gao stood on tiptoe and looked into the distance, where he saw people cheering.

The water flows down the river from Linjin upstream, passing through various branch points before entering the ditches of the fields. The water flows through these ditches, forming a grid pattern.

As the water rushes past, flowing into the confluence of the Wei and Luo rivers, it passes right through the land that has been dry for hundreds of years.

An elderly man burst into tears. For generations, his family had lived here, relying on carrying water to make a living and farm the land. Now, finally, a river was flowing past their doorstep.

For generations to come, they never had to worry about drinking water again.

Then the old man cried again; this day was hundreds of years late.

This canal, which is nearly 40 kilometers long, was initially built by only 1,000 people, then 30,000, and last year 60,000. In total, it took nearly 100,000 people and four years to build.

Fusu stroked his stubble-covered chin and said softly, "Four years have passed without us even realizing it."

Gongzi Gao looked up and saw his elder brother, and he smiled with joy and admiration.

Yin Man gazed into the distance. She didn't know why people were cheering, but she felt that her brother was amazing. Countless people respected and loved her elder brother, and for that... she felt very proud.

Although we haven't seen the Baili River thawed yet, nor have we seen herds of working horses, at least we are making progress step by step, working hard bit by bit.

Soon, the entire Guanzhong region will know what a great thing Prince Fusu has done.

After that, the whole world will know about Prince Fusu's deeds and how much he is loved by the people.

The cheers lasted until dusk, and Fusu ordered everyone to rest for a day.

With the canal completed, all that remained was construction.

People were still celebrating, laughing in the rain, with couples and elderly people embracing each other.

Fusu sat in the study, while his younger brother, Prince Gao, and younger sister, Yinman, each carried a basket of fruit and left. They were going to take the fruit to the palace to distribute to their father and the rest of their siblings.

There was also a lot of fruit in the study.

After March, more and more fruit was sent from Sichuan, especially as Tu Ju's southward expedition brought frequent good news, and fruit was delivered by the cartload.

The mulberry trees on Shangyan Mountain are also growing very well, and Zhang Han's wife, Dong, is teaching the women of Jingye County how to raise silkworms.

This season is truly filled with good news.

In the past two years, Fusu has built bridges, canals, and even a small county.

Now, Fusu wants to build a prefecture, which will have four counties, and then be divided into twenty-one pavilions and townships. He wants to build a prefecture and four counties from the plains to provide a place for the livelihood of 200,000 people.

Fusu took a scroll and went out of the house to look at the scene of people cultivating the fields and planting crops, and pondered how to start construction.

Tian An said, "Young Master, Sima Xin has arrived."

Fusu sat by the edge of the field and asked, "What is he doing here?"

"He said he had persuaded the magistrate of Ningqin County and that he would petition the Prime Minister to merge Ningqin County into the future Weinan Prefecture, as requested by the young master, and from then on, Ningqin County would be renamed Huayin."

(End of this chapter)