"Let Naigong see, how much money have all the officials given me?"

In the twenty-ninth month of the first year of Qin Shi Huang (the second month of the lunar calendar), on the outskirts of Pei County, Surabaya County, after saying goodbye to the county officials who came to see him off, Liu Ji got into the ox cart driven by Shichang Zhou (xiè), and happily began to open a pile of kudzu cloth bags in his arms, which contained the money given to him by the officials.

Giving money is an unwritten practice in the officialdom of the Qin Dynasty, if someone goes to a foreign place to serve and become an official, colleagues will give money in Ge cloth, which is called Fengqian, which is actually a red envelope to see off.

Liu Ji has been the pavilion chief for more than three years, although he often uses his position to gather people to drink, and he also had an adulterous child with Widow Cao, and his private life is full of bad deeds, but he also has some ability. Using the old relationship, he was able to restrain the local light heroes and make the security of Surabaya Pavilion good.

His boldness and ability also helped him expand his social circle in Pei County, and now it is Liu Ji's turn to take people to Xianyang to serve as a conscript, and there are many small and medium-sized officials in the county who come to see him off. In addition to his boss Cao Shen and his old friend Ren Ao, and the stable priest Yuxia Houying who stopped to talk to him every time he passed by, even the head and face of the county, the main official Peng Xiao He drove there in person!

Liu Ji felt that he had a lot of face, and now he opened everyone's money and counted them one by one, not to mention how comfortable he was, with this money, he could drink and meat along the way without worry.

But after counting Xiao He's gifts, he was stunned.

"Five hundred dollars!"

Liu Ji counted it carefully, and it was indeed true.

The county officials don't have much salary, and at the end of the year, the income is less than 100 stones, which is about 3,000 yuan, even Ren Ao and Xiahou Ying, who are close to him, only give 300 yuan, a month's salary.

"Xiao Yan Peng Yulu is not only fighting for food, at least two hundred stones!"

Faced with Liu Ji's question, Shi Chang Zhou muttered: "Besides, the Xiao family is even more a township tyrant in Pei County, and he will give an extra two hundred yuan, and the pavilion chief is strange." ”

"Having said that, Xiao He and my eldest brother are not familiar with each other, why do you send so much?"

Liu Ji's little brother Lu Juan came over, and he also traveled west to serve this time.

"That's right, it stands to reason that I owe Xiao He a few favors."

Liu Ji recalled his dealings with Xiao He, he and Xiao He had known each other for a long time, Xiao He was also a local, for Chu officials, Liu Ji followed the ranger boss Wang Ling when he was rampant in Pei County, he had committed an accident, and Xiao He let him go.

A few years later, Xiao He became a Qin official again, at first he was a Gong Cao knife and pen official, Liu Ji was a cloth cloth at the time, and he went to the county to take the exam as an official, Xiao He was ordered to test his legal orders, and the questions were all simple questions.

Later, Xiao He's official fortune was prosperous, in the wave of the same text in the imperial court, he was the first to be proficient in Qin Seal, and even could make official letters, and the official documents written on hemp paper were flawless, and he was appreciated by the new county order, and became the chief official Peng, managing the personnel of the entire county.

It just so happened that during that time, Liu Ji helped Cao Shen, the prison of Pei County, solve a cattle theft case, caught the stupid thief who didn't pay him enough protection money, and was promoted to the first level of supremacy, Xiao He asked him to go to the county to get the certificate, and had a conversation with Liu Ji.

As the boss of the Venerable, it is unusual to deign to befriend the subordinates of the lowly.

But Liu Ji's personality made it, put a half-tael coin in his mouth and bit it, and laughed: "Whatever!" The money is real, or Xiao He thinks that it is a public ability and wants to make friends with me! ”

Having said that, Liu Ji secretly remembered Xiao He's feelings in his heart......

"When the public is rich and wealthy in the future, I will definitely repay it twice!"

With a wave of his hand, he threw the bag of copper coins given by Xiao He to Zhou Bo, an official who was walking silently with a bow on his back and a bow on his back.

"Zhou Bo, divide this bag of money with the second and third sons! Let them not run away because of the long journey, follow me Liu Ji, have money to spend together, drink wine together, and eat meat together! ”

This was met with cheers, and behind the wagons loaded with grain were a group of ragged, grizzled farmers. They are a group of more than 50 people, all of whom are requisitioned and issued by the county according to their names, but unlike the usual annual work in the county and county seats, this time they are going to the capital of the empire, Xianyang!

Liu Ji turned his back and cheered up the widowers who were each given ten cents.

"This is called the Imperial Expedition, it is to work for the emperor's palace, you can see the scenery of Xianyang, if you are lucky, you can also see the emperor's car passing by!"

……

Other people's Qin officials escorted the soldiers and widowers, and they were all very stingy, but Liu Tingchang was very generous, anyway, it was not his own money, and he took the widows along the way. No, in mid-March, everyone had just entered Hanguguan, and the two or three thousand Feng money was spent by him.

After drinking the last sip of wine, Liu Ji threw his skin bag behind him and began to regret it: "You shouldn't be greedy for a cup in Luoyang, you are about to enter Xianyang, I heard that the market there is lively, and now that the money bag is empty, what should I do?" ”

But just when everyone reported to Hangu Pass, they received a thunderbolt on a sunny day: the location of their service this time was changed, not Xianyang, but to Zheng County first!

Can't see what the capital looks like, Liu Ji and the widows couldn't help but be disappointed, and they could only gather with people from other counties under the shouting of the Qin officials, speed up their pace, and arrive before the date, otherwise they would be punished. The law stipulates that if there is no levy for delay, the principal shall be punished with the second class. Three to five days for missing the deadline, reprimand; If you miss the deadline for six to ten days, you will be fined one guilder; If it exceeds 10 days, it will be fined one class......

The more Liu Ji walked, the more he realized that something was wrong: there were as many as 1,000 people in their group of Surabaya County widowers, and along the way, there were still more than a dozen teams of the same size. In addition to the people in cloth clothes, there are also soldiers in armor! The number of people who look like soldiers is increasing, and the expression on their faces is both excited and solemn, Liu Ji secretly said that it is not good, this is not like going to work, it is clearly a prelude to going to the battlefield!

But the question arises, who are you going to fight? Is there a rebellion?

The people of Pei County timidly listened to the Qin pawn in Guanzhong talking excitedly in a dialect they didn't understand, and occasionally looked at the people of Kanto during the break, all of them were full of disdain, and someone suddenly said something, which made others laugh, and also replied with a word.

Liu Ji understood, they were saying that they were "Chu people", and that word was "people who died in the country"!

Although the imperial court has repeatedly implemented laws and decrees, Kyushu is throughout, and the six contracts are in style, but in their eyes, the other party is still "not my race".

Ten years ago, Liu Ji, a ranger, would draw his sword and rise, blood splattered three feet. But now, Liu Ji, who is the head of the Qin Pavilion, just yawned, pretended not to understand, and stared at the people in the team who were pale because of worry and fear, and had the desire to escape.

"Don't think about running, if you get caught, it's not as simple as a punishment and whipping!"

Zhou Bo and Lu Juan bowed their heads, and the group obediently arrived in Zheng County, where they found that it had become a large military camp, and the officials who guided them handed them over to a school captain and arranged for them to live in a simple adobe house.

Next to the widow in Surabaya County, there was a group of Suiyang people, Liu Ji was a self-acquaintance, and he began to go over to inquire about the news.

After walking around, he saw a young man in his twenties sitting in the camp, using the needle he carried with him to help his companion mend his clothes.

Liu Ji also mixed in Weidi, and the two of them became enthusiastic in a few words.

"My brother's name is Irrigation, the person who sells silk in Suiyang City, how do you call my brother?"

The young man is a businessman, a businessman, a son-in-law, and is often the first to be requisitioned.

"Pei County Liu Ji."

Guan Ying told Liu Jidao in a low voice: "I heard that the Kwantung widowers are concentrated here, and the grain and grass are to be escorted to other places, and the rumor is to beat the Hu people......"

Liu Ji suddenly realized that Zheng County is not the end of this trip!

Although last year, the imperial court changed the law of service, so that the northerners will fight in the north, the southerners will fight in the south, and the westerners will fight in the west, so there is no need to migrate far. However, the people in the Central Plains, because of their large population, are still the main force going to these three places, and this year they have temporarily arranged for the 100,000 people in each county to be sent to the north to transport grain.

"Sure enough, I'm going to war."

I thought that I would be done after coming to Xianyang to work for a year, but who expected that I would be driven to the distant and unfamiliar northern Xinjiang, everyone was a little worried, for fear that they would die there, especially Lu Xuan, who trembled for no reason.

However, Zhou Bo clenched the bow and arrow in his hand, he is also a native of Pei County, his ancestors moved from the rolling land, and he has made a living by weaving silkworm foil for generations. Zhou Bo is different from his father and ancestors, he is tall and big, can pull a hard bow, and has excellent archery skills......

"Don't think about it."

Liu Ji poured cold water on him, pointed to the group of Qin soldiers in armor and said: "It is their business to fight and make meritorious contributions, we are just transporting food, building roads and bridges, building cities and digging ditches in the wilderness, doing hard work, that's it......"

In the early morning of the next day, the lieutenant in charge of the people gathered everyone and gave them a lecture, the theme of which was nothing more than that the Xiongnu had entered the north and disturbed the border, and His Majesty the Emperor had ordered the generals of the counties to lead the troops out of the fortress and attack the Xiongnu.

"Jingbian Yurong is not a matter of a single land, nor a matter of being alone, but a matter of the people of the world!"

The lieutenant's name is Zhang Qi (yǐ), he was mobilizing before the war, this person spoke in a crepe, and told the soldiers about Guan Zhong, You Yu, Sima Cuo, Li Mu, Qin Kai and others, and his words were impassioned, which made people's blood boil...... It's weird.

The illiterate widows from Surabaya County have never even heard the names of these five people, and they don't understand much, obviously they are fighting with the Hu people on the border, and they have a half-penny relationship with the people of Surabaya County?

No matter how much they said the big truth, it was all about chickens and ducks, but the lieutenant didn't care whether they understood the great significance of Jingbian or not, and after finishing speaking, he announced that everyone would go to serve in the next few months.

"Surabaya County Widower, Shangshang County!"

Then he said: "Dangjun widow, to Northland County!" ”

The wives immediately talked about it, not to mention how the Pei County whirlers were sad, among the Dangjun whirlers next to them, the Suiyang peddlers who had talked to Liu Ji scratched their heads and asked their partners:

"What is Northland?"

……

At the beginning of April, Heifu, the lieutenant of Beidi County, also came to Yiju Township, Niyang County, the southernmost part of Beidi County, where he was to wait for the 15,000 Kwantung people assigned to him by the emperor, as well as the prison guard who was responsible for escorting them, Gongzi Fusu......