The leisurely life of the Qin people

Chapter 57 Two Years of Southern Expedition
Fusu talked with Qingbi for a long time, and they talked about the various tools that the craftsmen had brought.

This time, the craftsmen returned, bringing not only their wives and children, but also their skills and various tools.

In this way, these craftsmen can stay in Tongguan with peace of mind.

Fusu observed the measuring ruler that Qingbi handed over. The ruler was made of wood and had markings on it. The wood was of good quality, but it had turned black after being used for a long time.

Qingbi also has all sorts of tools, and even some stones of varying weights, all of which are very regular in shape and have been carefully polished.

Qingbi then talked about what had happened in recent years. He said that a few years ago, many craftsmen came from the former lands of the six kingdoms. They all came to Xianyang. After those craftsmen arrived, Qingbi also learned their craftsmanship skills. However, he learned from their strengths and made up for his own weaknesses, and he still gained a lot.

Fusu offered some suggestions on his various measuring tools and on various construction matters.

To build a fortified town, a comprehensive plan is naturally required.

As evening approached, Qingbi returned home with his son and grandson, seemingly intending to lead his son and grandson, three generations, in building Tongguan together, thus ensuring a greater supply of craftsmen.

Furthermore, Qingbi also intends to pass on his skills to his son, and then to his grandson.

In this era where job distinctions are simple and a job determines the upper limit of a person's life, anyone with some skills can live a good life.

Just like the Qingbi family, they own land and he is a craftsman. Craftsmen are indispensable in both military and palace construction.

Therefore, craftsmen like him still have a promising future, at least they live much better than ordinary farmers.

While craftsmen were skilled artisans, the construction of the fortress still required a large number of laborers, which in turn necessitated a significant amount of food and supplies.

Fusu stood by the Yellow River, gazing at the rushing waters, his brow furrowed in thought.

After thinking for a long time, Fusu stopped worrying about the supplies, figuring that the Prime Minister and Zhang Cang could handle the problem.

Fusu returned to the small courtyard built with a fence and saw Tian An sorting through tea leaves. "Where did these tea leaves come from?"

Tian An said, "They were all brought from Nanshan."

As he spoke, Tian An used his rough hands to pick out the bad leaves.

The Nanshan that Tian An mentioned is Zhongnan Mountain, which is south of Guanzhong. Tea trees are not hard to find; there are tea trees near Zhongnan Mountain, but they are not planted on a large scale.

Tian An glanced at the sky and said, "Young Master, it's time for your meal."

After saying that, Tian An hurriedly went to prepare the meal for today.

Seeing that the tea leaves had not yet been sorted, he picked up a stool and sat down to continue sorting.

The next morning, Tian An sat by the stove and began to process the tea leaves according to the method the young master had instructed.

Fusu had been practicing archery with General Xin Sheng by the river for a long time.

In fact, Fusu didn't know much about tea frying. After lunch, Tian An looked at the freshly fried tea leaves as if facing a formidable enemy.

Just as Fusu was about to get some tea leaves, Tian An quickly took away the tray containing the tea leaves and explained, "Young master, this old servant doesn't know if what I've cooked can be brewed into tea."

Fusu said, "It's just frying some tea leaves."

Seeing that Tian An was still stubborn, Fu Su stopped arguing with him.

Coincidentally, documents were sent from several counties in the Weinan region, including Huayin, Dali, Liyi, and Xiagui.

These counties were all accustomed to entrusting many matters in Weinan to Prince Fusu.

No matter how busy he was, he couldn't ignore the affairs of the various counties. Fusu sat in the courtyard and began to deal with the day's official business, while General Xin sat at the door reading a book as usual.

Tian An was tasting the tea he brewed, taking sip after sip.

Tian An probably didn't know if the tea he was frying was poisonous, and he was afraid that someone might die from drinking it.

The first batch of tea leaves produced was all used by Tian An to brew tea, and he drank it all.

Tian An usually takes a nap at noon.

When General Xin was snoring loudly, Tian An should have been taking a nap, but he couldn't fall asleep today, tossing and turning.

Fusu's gaze was still fixed on the documents. Some fields in Huayin County were still affected because the excavation of the Jingye Canal lowered the water level of the Luo River.

The Luoshui River used to have a high enough water level to irrigate the fields west of Huayin County, but now the upstream water flow has decreased and the downstream water flow has also decreased.

Fusu also saw Sima Xin's way of handling things. He changed the fields of the troublemakers to the west side of the Wei River, and only then did the matter end.

Previously, in Xianyang Palace, Fusu saw documents sent from various places, and those matters were usually major events, major events from certain perspectives, such as the repair of prefectures in various places, or the mobilization of troops.

During this time, Fusu also saw some oddities in various counties.

Fusu felt that in Daqin, the county was the place closest to the grassroots level.

Putting aside other places for the time being, Fusu felt that since he was going to develop Weinan, the counties in Weinan should be developed well.

Compared to reading the documents in the Censorate, Fusu could see from the documents in front of him that each village and township below the county level had its own troubles, and each family in each village and township had its own difficulties.

Compared to Jingye County, which was established less than three years ago, the situation in Huayin, Dali, and Liyi counties is much more complicated.

The construction of a canal in Dali County will affect the surrounding villages and towns, and these villages and towns will then protest in the county, leading to further unrest in the county.

People from various counties in Dali even fought several times because of this.

The reason these matters haven't reached them yet is because the person in charge is Prince Fusu, and they dare not act on it.

But the problem cannot be left unresolved. Take Tingxiang in Huayin County, for example, which is affected by the drop in river level. Can we just ignore their farmland?

Fusu held a pen in one hand, glanced at the map, and wrote down his ideas for handling the situation, suggesting that some of the pavilions and townships could be relocated.

From the county level down to the pavilion, and then to the township and finally to the village, these are the basic organizational structures of the Qin Dynasty.

The fact that Dali County is currently free of trouble and that the 200,000 relocated residents can live peacefully is because the people in charge of Dali County are Zhang Cang, Cheng Miao, and the 30,000 troops led by General Zhang Han and General Xin.

If county and township officials could all have Zhang Cang's level of governance, the counties would likely be more stable.

Fusu put down his pen, looked at the moon outside the window, and pondered what he lacked.

As night deepened, Fusu saw an old, frail figure lingering outside the door. Suddenly, he noticed something strangely unsettling.

Fusu, holding an oil lamp in one hand, looked out the window and asked, "What's going on?"

Tian An paced back and forth with a troubled expression, muttering to himself, "I can't sleep, how can I not sleep?"

"You drank so much tea during the day, you definitely won't be able to sleep."

Tian An patted her chest and said, "My heart is pounding."

“At my age, drinking too much tea will cause this,” Fusu said, putting down the oil lamp in his hand and walking out of the house.

Under the moonlight, Fusu had Tian An sit on the steps, then took the old man's pulse and said, "Take a deep breath, will that make you feel better?"

Tian An took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled, and nodded.

Fusu stood up again and said, "It's alright. Drink more water and try to fall asleep again in the morning."

Tian An said in a low voice, "I will definitely heed your advice from now on and will not drink tea like this again."

Fusu nodded and went back inside.

Young Master's medical skills are actually very good. Even the Imperial Physician of that time often praised him. Tian An stood up, picked up the water jug ​​next to him, and poured cold water into his mouth.

"Walk around a bit more, and if you can't drink anymore, don't drink anymore." The young master's words came from inside the house. Tian An put down the kettle and walked around the fence again.

Tonight, the guards protecting Prince Fusu and the soldiers patrolling the area saw a figure moving around in the dead of night. When they got closer, they found it was the old eunuch by the prince's side and dared not ask any questions.

Just as dawn was breaking, Tian An finally fell asleep, and slept very soundly.

Fusu got up early to prepare pulled noodles.

Xin Sheng, who got up early and saw this, asked, "Where is he?"

Fusu said, "He's asleep. He didn't sleep a wink last night; he drank too much tea."

Xin Sheng nodded.

Fusu asked, "Would the old general like some noodles?"

Normally, Tian An would cook the food, so he would just eat it without a second thought. But now that he saw it was the young master making the noodles, Xin Sheng smiled awkwardly and hesitated.

"It's alright. Many people have eaten my noodles and they all say they're delicious. Don't worry, General."

"Thank you, sir."

The noodles that Fusu pulled out were wide and thick, enough to fill you up and keep you full.

While eating noodles at the doorway, Fusu saw Qingbi leading a group of craftsmen, pulling ropes and rulers as they got busy, first taking measurements.

Tongguan was built along the Yellow River, and it had to maintain a distance from the river embankment while ensuring that the city gate was high enough.

"These people are all good craftsmen, and they are very meticulous in their work."

General Xin's eyes were deep-set, but his eyes were bright like two copper bells. Just by glaring at them, he exuded a powerful aura.

Fusu said, "They were just as meticulous in the palace before."

Xin Sheng shook his head and said, "I have often seen the craftsmen in those palaces, but none of them are as thorough and meticulous in their work."

Then a minor official hurried over, bowed, and said, "Young master."

Seeing that the other party had come to collect the documents that had been reviewed, Fusu said, "The documents have all been approved. Go and get them from inside the room."

The clerk strode into the house. In fact, the young master's room was very simple, even unusually so, simpler than the official residence of his own county magistrate, Sima Xin.

A box of documents was carried out of the house and moved to the courtyard. The clerk looked at the labels on each scroll and said, "Five scrolls from Liyi."

At his command, an official stepped forward and took the five scrolls of documents.

The documents were then distributed to the officials of each county in turn.

These people had to wake up early and rush to Tongguan County just before dawn, and return to their respective counties before noon so that the county magistrates could carry out their tasks.

After everyone had left with their documents, Fusu finished his meal with General Xin.

Old man Tian An was still asleep and would most likely not wake up anytime soon. Fusu said, "General, come with me to Huayin County."

Xin Sheng waved to the distance, and soldiers immediately came leading horses.

Huayin County is closest to Tongguan County, so Xin Sheng temporarily gathered a team of 300 people, while the remaining 3,000 people stayed in Tongguan.

Fusu felt that three hundred men would be enough to escort them. If there were only three or five men, the old general would most likely be unwilling, after all, it had only been a few years since Jing Ke's assassination attempt on the King of Qin, and he still had a lot of psychological trauma.

Fusu rode his horse in the middle of the procession, neither at the very back nor at the very front in a grand manner.

In Xin Sheng's eyes, the young master was very obediently under the protection of the group.

"Several years ago, I had Zhang Han invite the county officials from the surrounding areas of Jingye County to a meal."

Fusu recounted an old story from the early stages of Jingye County's development, or rather, the period before Jingye County even began.

However, the county officials invited back then were all from the southern part of the northern foothills of Shangyan Mountain, while those from the southern part were not. The area now being developed is mainly the former Weinan region.

When the villagers of Huayin County saw this procession, one villager who was working looked up and stared blankly for a moment. Terrified, he dropped his wooden hoe and ran frantically towards the county seat, shouting all the way, "County Magistrate! County Magistrate..."

Fusu was still holding the reins of his warhorse, feeling somewhat hesitant. He had originally come to check on the situation in each county, and Huayin County was the closest to Tongguan County, so naturally he would come here first.

Then I thought of what was written in the document last night about the drop in the water level of the Luo River. The Jingye Canal was built by Prince Fusu. These villagers may have provoked Prince Fusu to come in person because they were concerned about this matter.

In fact, Fusu didn't think that way at all; he was just there to come and see.

Sima Xin arrived hurriedly with a group of people from the county. He bowed and said, "Young Master."

Sima Xin looks thinner than the last time I saw him.

Fusu asked, "Has the magistrate been eating well lately?"

"Your Majesty..." Sima Xin was stunned by the question and didn't know how to answer for a long time.

Fusu said, "For the sake of the county and its people, you must also take care of your health and remember to eat well on a regular basis."

Xin Sheng also felt that what the young master said made sense, and echoed, "Sima Xin, did you hear what the young master said?"

Sima Xin lowered his head, bowed, and said loudly, "Your subject obeys."

Xin Sheng continued, “A person must first respect himself before he can take care of the people of a county. If you are unwell, how can you govern the people? You are the magistrate of a county. If you do not love yourself, how can you love the people of a county?”

The old general's words were a bit harsh, but the reasoning behind them was indeed sound.

Fusu said, "I just came here to take a look. You should take your men and go back."

Sima Xin bowed once more and was about to leave with his men.

"correct."

Upon hearing the young master speak again, Sima Xin stopped and stepped forward to bow once more, saying, "Your subject is here."

"I'm going to visit various counties soon. How about you come with me to Liyi at this time tomorrow?"

"I accept your order."

Fusu nodded.

Sima Xin stood there for a long time, making sure the young master really had nothing else to say, before leaving.

Huayin County has a large area and a population that ranks among the top counties in Guanzhong, making it a medium-sized county.

As they were walking, a rider came up and reported, "General, good news!"

Xin Sheng, who was already on horseback accompanying the young master on his inspection of Huayin County, was dozing off. Upon hearing the words, the old man immediately perked up and asked, "What good news?"

"The general leading the southward army was Tu Ju, who beheaded the leader of the Xi'ou tribe, acquired the lands of Jiuyi and Nanye, and relocated 50,000 people from Xi'ou to Shu."

General Xin chuckled and said, "Excellent! The court and the people should celebrate!"

The army had been marching south for two years, and after two years, they finally had a respectable victory. Fusu thought that after this victory, Tuju would still be alive, which was certainly a good thing.

After traveling around Huayin County, Fusu returned to Tongguan.

Tian An had already woken up, and he was still frying tea leaves.

(End of this chapter)