Daqin: My weak and virtuous minister

"My Lord, wait for me."

Zhang Yuanqing walked carefully on the snow toward the outside of the palace, with Li Si jogging behind him.

"Ahem, you come to tease me too."

Seeing Li Si reaching out to support him, Zhang Yuanqing didn't hesitate and smiled, breathing in the cool air outside, feeling a slight pain in his chest.

"cough cough cough"

Hearing this, Li Si knew that Zhang Yuanqing was still the same Zhang Yuanqing, and he felt less restrained.

Seeing Zhang Yuanqing coughing violently, he said worriedly: "Brother Zhang, are you okay? Do you want to see a doctor?"

Zhang Yuanqing leaned on Li Si's arm and put half of his body weight on Li Si.

"Cough, cough, cough, nothing serious, just a little discomfort in my chest from inhaling some cold air."

There is still some distance from Zhangtai Palace to outside the palace. It was fine on weekdays, but I was injured during the previous kidnapping. I originally needed three or four months of recuperation, and I haven’t fully recovered yet. That’s why I couldn’t bear it when I came out today.

Seeing Zhang Yuanqing like this, others took the initiative to make way for him and let him go first. Li Si thanked him on behalf of Zhang Yuanqing.

"Master Hou, Master Hou."

Shi Yi's somewhat hurried voice was heard, and Zhang Yuanqing and Li Si stopped.

Along with Shi Yi came the carriage frame behind him, "Meet the Marquis, Lord Li."

"The king is worried about the Marquis's health, so he specially gave his carriage to the Marquis. The servants have already lit the stove inside the carriage. Marquis, please get in quickly."

Zhang Yuanqing did not refuse, as the conditions simply did not allow it.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Supported by Shi Yi, Zhang Yuanqing boarded the king's carriage.

This made the ministers behind him very envious.

The king has a carriage. How many times has Zhang Yuanqing ridden in it since he came to Qin?

As for them, they are afraid that they will never be so favored by the king in their entire lives.

It's really irritating to see people compare to each other.

The wheels rolled and drove carefully on the snow, and soon they arrived outside the palace gate.

Ah Da and Ah Er were waiting at the palace gate. When they saw their master getting off the king's carriage, they ran over quickly.

"My Lord, the King has said that from now on your carriage can enter the Xianyang Palace directly without having to stop at the palace gate."

"Ahem, ahem, please trouble Eunuch Shi Yi to thank the king for his kindness on my behalf. Ahem, ahem, ahem."

Seeing Zhang Yuanqing like this, Shi Yi hurriedly urged Zhang Yuanqing to get in the car. He didn't dare let the Marquis stand in the snow anymore.

It was not until Zhang Yuanqing left in a car that Shi Yi took his men back to report.

"From now on, there is no need to stop the Marquis's carriage. This is the king's order."

"promise."

Nanyang

Xitou Village is a small village in Nanyang. Because there is a river in the village and they live upstream, it is called Xitou Village. There are more than 40 households and more than 300 people in the village.

"Village chief, what did the officer come for just now?"

The village chief, a man in his thirties, was hunched over, his face filled with helplessness. He glanced at the half-dressed villagers around him and opened his mouth several times, but could not utter a word.

"Oh, you're talking about the village, but what's going on up there?"

The man who was speaking was in his early twenties, with gray hair on his temples and a weathered look on his face.

Others couldn't help but urge him on.

"Tell me quickly, village chief."

"Isn't it that they are going to collect grain again?"

"Village chief, please tell me whether this is a grain collection or not."

Knowing that the villagers were anxious, he looked around and said with tears in his eyes, "Yes, tomorrow the adults will send people to each village to collect grain."

"Ten out of five."

These words seemed to drain the energy out of the village chief. After he finished speaking, tears rolled down his eyes and fell onto his clothes along the wrinkles on his face.

This thin piece of clothing was the warmest piece of clothing in the family, and he wore it because he was going out. Although it was thin and had holes in it, it was still better than the clothes worn by the villagers.

"This"

"This is not going to let us live."

"We just collected a batch of grain ten days ago. Now they want to take away half of it. They are going to let us all starve to death."

Forty or fifty people were either standing or sitting on the ground, their weathered faces and dull eyes, with no sign of hope.

The entire yard of the village chief's house was dead silent, as if the sky had fallen and the earth had collapsed.

The village chief didn't know what to say.

Now that the two countries are at war, the imperial court has imposed two additional grain levies, in addition to the normal taxes. With most of the already insufficient food now taken away, I'm afraid most people in their village won't survive until next year. A few days ago, I heard that elderly people in other villages had starved to death, simply because there wasn't enough food. They starved themselves to death just to save a bite for their children.

Alas, the world is difficult, where is their way out?

"Father, let's run away."

The man, about eighteen or nineteen years old, was wearing only a single layer of clothing, with obvious frostbite on his feet and hands. He carefully closed the door after coming out. Inside were his mother, wife, children, and younger brother. To survive, they all huddled together on a bed to keep warm in the winter.

When the village chief heard the voice of his third son, he raised his head and his cloudy eyes seemed to have a little hope.

The eldest and second sons were drafted into the army a few years ago and there has been no news of them since then. I'm afraid they will never come back. Now the whole family depends on him and his third son.

The winter was biting, but the man didn't care. He walked a few steps to his father and said, "Father, let's run away."

In one word, everyone in the yard looked over.

"Father, if we don't run away, we'll all starve to death or freeze to death. Running away might offer us a chance to survive."

It is said that fallen leaves return to their roots and it is hard to leave one's hometown. Unless forced to do so, who would be willing to leave the place where they depend on for survival?

After looking at his son for a long time, the village chief said in confusion: "Escape? Where can we escape to?"

Yes, where could they escape to? The villagers lowered their heads again, their last bit of hope shattered.

"Father, I heard a piece of news a few days ago when I was out. The King of Qin issued a notice saying that if Qin is willing to accept people from all over the world, as long as people go to Qin, they will be given land and treated the same as the people of Qin."

"Father, we are not far from Qin. It only takes ten days to get there. Let's go to Qin."

"Qin!"

The village chief looked at his sons in shock. They were Koreans, how could they go to Qin?

"Son, I've heard that Qin has harsh policies and its people are suffering. How can we go there?"

As the village chief, he knew a little more than the villagers. He often heard the adults talk about Qin being a country of tigers and wolves, which was not a good thing.

"Father, those nobles said that the people of Qin are now living a good life. Their marquis has increased grain production fourfold. The King of Qin has even sent officials to teach the people this method from village to village. Now we are just looking forward to the harvest after next spring plowing."

"I also heard that Qin has a stone mill that can produce more grain and make it taste better. It was also the idea of ​​that marquis. Now every village in Qin has one of these stone mills. Also, Qin has kangs. I heard that in winter, as long as you put some firewood in the kang, the whole house will be warm. The King of Qin even made the people learn how to make these kangs. Now many villages have built them, and everyone stays in the kang rooms in winter, and no one in the village will freeze to death."

The more the man spoke, the brighter his eyes became. When he heard about it, he envied the people of Qin State very much. They didn't have to suffer from the cold in winter and they had food to eat. What a good life that was.

"Father, even if Qin's policies are harsh, so what? Can they be worse than what we have now?"

The village chief hesitated after hearing this. Grain production had increased fourfold. If they could produce that much more grain, they would be willing to pay more in taxes. At least they would still have enough left over for food.

I suddenly realized that there are so many more children reading books these past two days. It's so motivating. I saw the messages from the children. Hahaha, you are so cute. Thank you for the gifts. I will go to write now. I am full of motivation.