The leisurely life of the Qin people

Chapter 88 The Xiongnu and Shangjun

In the early morning, Fusu, accompanied by Tian An, waited in front of the Prime Minister's residence.

As dawn broke, officials arrived one after another at the Prime Minister's residence. The country still had to function, and they were just as busy as ever in the sweltering heat.

Fusu waited for Wang Ben outside the Prime Minister's residence.

Standing at the back, Tian An suddenly said, "Young Master, recently some members of the imperial clan have been saying that it may be inappropriate for Young Master Gao and the others to be raised outside."

Fusu asked, "Is this what the imperial family is saying?"

The royal family of Qin is almost all dead, so who has time to talk about it?

Upon further thought, Fusu roughly understood and whispered, "I will write to my great-grandfather."

Tian An nodded and said nothing more.

Finally, the Prime Minister and Wang Ben arrived together.

Fusu bowed to the Prime Minister and Wang Ben who were walking towards him.

Li Si looked around and said, "The warhorses have been sent to the northern suburbs. I would like to ask you to come with me, my lord."

Wang Ben said, "Once the horses are counted in the northern suburbs, they will be sent to Shangjun."

The three of them rode out of Xianyang City in a carriage. Fusu frowned and said, "Does Shangjun still lack warhorses?"

Li Si said, "Meng Tian is determined to train cavalry. Previously, Shangjun sent a letter saying that the First Emperor hoped that Meng Tian could train a cavalry force of 50,000 men to sweep away the north."

Wang Ben said, "These are all warhorses obtained from the Western Rong. The Western Rong people need rhinoceros hides and iron tools, and they also need to fight against the Xiongnu."

At present, Fusu was not clear about the situation in the north, and Meng Tian had not written to him for a long time. He still had not found the Xiongnu man named Maodun, and the Xiongnu seemed to be quite restless in the north.

Moreover, Fusu had heard about the war between the Western Rong and the Xiongnu more than once from Wang Ben.

While they were pondering, the carriage had already left Xianyang City. The carriage that Fusu, the Prime Minister, and Wang Ben were riding in could be considered a "convertible" by today's standards, with only an umbrella over their heads.

Even while the car is moving, you can still see the surrounding scenery.

Although there was bound to be some bumps along the way, it was still much more comfortable than being cooped up in a carriage.

"I heard that Weinan has had another bumper harvest this year."

Fusu said, "Yes."

Li Si added, “When the Right Chancellor was allocating grain supplies, he once said that it would be very difficult for Guanzhong to continuously supply grain supplies to Shangjun. Only Weinan has truly given Shangjun a sigh of relief. This year, most of the grain supplies in the land taxes of various counties were sent to Shangjun from Weinan.”

Listen patiently to Li Si's words. In fact, what he said was correct. When Meng Tian was stationed in Shangjun, there wasn't so much farmland in Weinan back then.

At that time, the grain sent from Guanzhong was enough to support Meng Tian.

But things are different now. The First Emperor ordered Meng Tian to train a cavalry force of 50,000.

Therefore, if Meng Tian were to train the cavalry again, the amount of grain needed would be several times greater than before.

After the carriage arrived at the northern suburbs, there was a group of horses on the plain. These warhorses seemed to be very unaccustomed to being from the Western Rong to Guanzhong. Most of them did not eat the grass on the ground, but snorted, looked around, and occasionally took a few steps.

Fusu did not see his father here, but several guards were stationed here.

After getting off the carriage, Wang Ben went to a warhorse, patted its neck, and said, "Haha, this warhorse is really strong."

When a person stands in front of a warhorse, a strong warhorse can give people a sense of power.

Wang Ben could determine the age of warhorses by examining their teeth.

After asking around, Tian An came back to report.

It turns out that the Emperor had already seen these warhorses.

The Prime Minister was discussing the arrangements for transporting horses with several generals. Wang Ben was also inspecting the warhorses sent from the Western Rong, checking their health and age.

Then, Fusu found himself once again becoming that idle person.

Fusu's gaze swept across the area, and he could still spot the differences among a few warhorses.

Several of the warhorses had very distinctive features. More than a hundred of them were black and chestnut, with excellent coat color and high shoulder height.

They are easy to identify because they are not warhorses native to the Western Rong, but rather from the Western Regions further west, specifically the Tianshan horses from the foot of the Tianshan Mountains.

These warhorses are mostly found in the Ili River Valley at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains.

Fusu had limited knowledge of horses, most of which came from books preserved in Xianyang.

It's not that they were completely ignorant about horses, but they could still learn a thing or two from the Qin people's records of their horse-raising experience.

If we're talking about real-world experience, I should consult Wang Ben more often.

Before long, another troop of soldiers arrived; it was the First Emperor inviting the three to dine at the Lin Guang Palace.

Inside the main hall of Linguang Palace, a cool breeze occasionally blows in.

Ying Zheng was looking at the accounts sent by the Prime Minister's office, which were written by Prince Fusu a few days ago.

Regarding compensation and land distribution based on war merits.

The hall was very quiet, except for the sound of the First Emperor picking up and putting down the bamboo slips.

Several eunuchs stood motionless to the side, heads bowed, awaiting the First Emperor's instructions.

Although the First Emperor was staying at the Lingguang Palace to escape the summer heat, he was actually very aware of everything happening in Xianyang.

When Prince Fusu, along with Chancellor Li Si and Minister of the Imperial Household Wang Ben, entered the main hall, the First Emperor also put down the bamboo slips in his hand.

Afterwards, bowls of wine, meat, and dishes were served, and Li Si was discussing recent state affairs with the First Emperor.

While listening to his father and Li Si's conversation, Fusu heard about a person named Teng, who was the Inner Minister in charge of guarding Xianyang back then.

However, this person passed away several years ago.

While listening to his father and Li Si's story, Fusu heard about something that happened when his father was still the King of Qin and was looking for a national strategy to govern the Qin state.

Listening to their words, Fusu realized that some people had thought that after unifying the six kingdoms, officials would be needed to go east.

But in Fusu's view, those who went east should not only be officials.

Fusu ate his flatbread quietly, occasionally taking a bite of mutton, while grapes, a tribute from the Western Regions, were also available to eat.

Inside the main hall, the voices of the Emperor and the Prime Minister could still be heard.

Then the Prime Minister spoke of the situation in the north. In just a few words, Fusu heard his father say that the scourge of the Xiongnu in the north was getting worse and worse, and that the Xiongnu cavalry had even crossed the Yinshan Mountains several times.

The Prime Minister said that to solve the problem of the Xiongnu, we only need to wait for General Meng Tian's cavalry to be trained, and then we can attack the Xiongnu in the north.

The Emperor, however, had a different view. He believed that the relationship between the monarch and his ministers was not always so harmonious, and that there were also disagreements.

This time, the disagreement between the First Emperor and his prime minister was about how to deal with the Xiongnu.

In the eyes of the First Emperor, defeating the Xiongnu once or twice could not solve the fundamental problem. Even if Meng Tian drove back the Xiongnu, they would still make a comeback after more than ten years.

Therefore, the First Emperor brought up the matter of building the Great Wall again.

As Fusu held his bowl and chopsticks and chewed the noodles in his mouth, he suddenly felt that the First Emperor's ambition was extremely lofty, and that the First Emperor's spirit was unmatched by any other monarch in the entire Warring States period.

What he wanted to do was something that no monarch since the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods had ever accomplished.

(End of this chapter)