Since they happened to meet, Heifu and Lu Dang led Ba Zhong to the temple in Yiling County to meet the county guard.

The prefectural temple is located at the highest point of the county, and from the pier, there are stone steps uphill all the way, and it only rained yesterday, and the steps covered with moss are a little slippery.

Heifu was careful not to let himself fall, and while listening to the obscure language of Ba Zhong and the Ba people in the rear, he thought about the deeds of "Ba Widow Qing" that he had heard after coming to this era.

He heard that although the Qin State was at the end of the peasant and the status of merchants was very low, there were two big merchants who were exceptions.

One of them is Wu Shilu of Beidi County, who is said to have more than 100,000 cattle, sheep and horses! The second is the widow Qing of Bajun Tong County, who made a fortune by relying on the Dansha cave passed down from generation to generation by her husband's family, in addition to mining Bashu gold, silver, copper and iron, as well as well salt, a proper mine boss.

The world places these two together with Fan Li, Zigong, Bai Gui, Yidun, and Guo Zong since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and the seven giants are tied for the Forbes wealth list of the Warring States Period.

In addition to their amazing wealth, they also have a distinguished status.

The king of Qin made the status of Wu Shilu comparable to that of the feudal monarch and was able to enter the court to discuss matters. Ba widow Qing received a slightly inferior courtesy to Wu Shilu, her son was named a doctor, but the king of Qin personally issued an edict to commend her chastity festival, and named her a virgin, and the local officials of Ba County can be exempted from worship.

The reason why the widow Qing is so courteous is that in addition to the widow Qing's family monopolizing the Dan sand mine and exclusively supplying it to the Qin State government, it is also because the widow Qingfu's family is strong in Bazhong, and it is said that the bloodline can be traced back to the ancestor of the Ba people.

After that, the emperor was divided into five clans, namely the Ba clan, the Fan clan, the Yu clan, the Xiang clan, and the Zheng clan, which constituted the ruling class of the Ba country, called the "inner five clans", located in the core area, among which the Ba clan was the most expensive, second only to the royal family surnamed Ji. In addition, 賨 (cóng), Pu, Tho, Gong, Lu, 獽 (ráng), 夷, 蜑 (dàn) are the "Outer Eight Divisions", which are located in the surrounding areas of the country of Pakistan.

Although the country of Pakistan has now perished, the five clans and the eight tribes have continued. Therefore, the widow Qing's husband's family can be described as rich and expensive among the Ba people, and she is good at management, and her mineral estates are everywhere, and the family wealth is innumerable, with thousands of servants and tens of thousands of mine slaves! Its influence even extends beyond Ba County, and the footprints of the fleet and horse gang cover the territory of the original Ba country, and have close contacts with the Ba tribes in Yiling, Yidao, Zigui and Wu counties of Nanjun.

Unlike the Shu people, who rebelled repeatedly, the five Ba clans were powerful and obedient to the rule of the Qin state, and the Qin also reciprocated, allowing them to retain their estates, tribes, and private armies, and rely on them to rule the Ba people, whose language and customs were very different from those of the Central Xia.

Without the help of these Ba people, Ba Di would be chaotic, and Sima Cuo Fa Chu would not be able to raise so many Ba warriors to fight for Qin.

Heifu thought secretly: "The people of Nanjun Gongcao mentioned to me that the copper mines in the Jiangbei area of Nanjun have been excavated by the Chu people for hundreds of years, and there is not much left, and there is also a shortage of salt. Therefore, every year, it is necessary to rely on the widow Qing family to transport copper, tin and well salt from Badi to Jiangling through waterways. ”

Because of this, when the son of the widow Qing came to visit Jun Shouteng, Ye Teng couldn't slack off, and even let his long history greet him.

Not long after, the county temple has arrived, the county Shou Teng is discussing the Yiling County Order, seeing that Ba Zhong brought it, Ye Teng asked the Yiling County Order to take the officials down, Heifu was about to leave, but was stopped by Ye Teng.

"Zuo Bing Cao Shi, you also stay."

Ye Teng's face was serious, and Heifu thought that something must be wrong, so he agreed to sit aside.

"Bajun Bazhong, I've seen Ye Junshou."

Ba Zhong bowed down, and the widow Qing could see the county guard and not worship, but he did not have this preferential treatment, although he had a strong accent, he was also fluent.

"No courtesy." Ye Teng didn't talk nonsense, and asked straightforwardly: "You sent a small boat messenger to tell me, saying that there is something important to report to me, what is the matter?" Worth the adventure? ”

Ba Zhong said goodbye: "It's a big deal, my family recently learned that the head of the Yibu of Nanjun Yidao intends to rebel against Qin and attach to Chu!" ”

……

"Yi Dao Jun wants to rebel against Qin and attach Chu!?"

Hearing this, Chang Shi Ludang first lost his voice, and then realized that he was out of shape.

Ye Teng glared at him and continued: "It's a common thing for the Yibu to rebel, but in what year hasn't there been one or two rebellions from the tribes?" In the end, they were all pacified by the local officials, and besides, the magistrate of Yidao County did not inform me of the matter, why did Ba County, which is hundreds of miles away, know about it first? ”

Ba Zhong said with a smile: "The county guard, although Qin is very strict in the inland counties, but in the way of barbarians, its tribes live in the streams and forests, there are no officials to manage, what happened, often more than a month later. It just so happened that my family's salt horse team was active in that area, and as far as they could see, last month, the governor of Yibu received the envoy of the Chu State, entertained him with good wine and meat, and finally swore an oath to drink chicken blood with him......"

"This matter is true, my mother thinks it is extraordinary, and I don't even have time to go to Ba County City to report, so I directly let me go east by boat, I wanted to go to Jiangling to meet, but I happened to hear that the county shou line county has arrived in Yiling, my mother and Ba Zhong are loyal, and I hope that the county guard will not be suspicious!"

Qin's rule over the barbarian rulers was relatively loose, requiring no household to be compiled and the people to be paid, nor did they pay ordinary taxes, but only delivered local specialties and sent people to serve in conscription. But after receiving the envoy of Chu and swearing with him, this is strictly forbidden, Ye Teng's brows furrowed, and he looked at Heifu.

"Zuo Bing Cao Shi, in charge of the soldiers, it is your duty to know the passes, terrain, and conditions in the county, what do you think?"

In the middle of their conversation, Heifu's brain spun rapidly, as the left soldier Cao Shi, he was in charge of military affairs, and the mountains and rivers of Nanjun, roads and pavilions must be familiar with it, and he was certainly no stranger to the situation in Yidao.

Yidao (now Changyang, Yidu, Hubei) is not far from Yiling, just seventy or eighty miles downstream, but it is in the south of the river, at the junction of Yishui, where the indigenous people are called "Yibu", in fact, it is also one of the "Outer Eight Divisions" of the Ba people.

So he pondered the words and said, "The subordinates think that this matter is very important and must be verified immediately. ”

"Oh, go on."

Heifu said: "Last year, Qin was defeated by Chu, and there were many soldiers, and even the captain killed seven people, and this matter cannot be hidden." Yidao is located in the south of the Yangtze River, close to Chu and far away from Qin, and it is inevitable that there will be a desire for renunciation. Last year, there was an incident in which a certain ruler of Yidao was arrested and beheaded for evading military service. The local barbarians will have resentment in their hearts, if the Chu people lobbied for this matter, and then lured them with interests......"

The implication is that what Ba Zhong reported is still very likely to happen. While the Qin State was preparing for war, the Chu State was not idle, trying to harass from the corners, so that the Qin State could not concentrate its forces.

Changshi Lu Dang also said: "Junjun, the land of Xiangyuan of Chu is the territory of the Qu family, and the Qu family lived in Zigui and Yiling before the Chu State moved eastward, and also had contacts with the Ba people. After Qu Yuan's death, Qu's generation was enmity with Qin, and when he was old, Qin Chu had already made peace, but Qu's reluctance to hand over Qingyang, and even counterattacked Nanjun Xiaoling, Yidao and other places, which caused the war. ”

Heifu also said: "If the road is lost, then the Ba people in the upper reaches of the Yishui are not owned by Qin, this tunnel is dangerous, the barbarians are complicated, and there is no great benefit, but if the local Ba people are encouraged by the Chu people to help them attack Qin, then Xiaoling County is lonely in the south of the Yangtze River, and it will be difficult to keep, and when the counties in the south of the Yangtze River are lost, the Ba people will go out of the water with wooden boats, go down the river, and help the Chu army cross the river to invade Jiangling, then its trouble ......is immeasurable."

The two of them analyzed it and believed that this matter must be verified immediately, and if it is true, it must be nip in the bud, otherwise Yidao will rebel against Qin, and the Qu clan of Chu will have the ability to directly threaten Jiangling, and the troops of Nanjun will be dragged locally, and not a single soldier will be able to send out.

"If I lose two counties in a row, then I am afraid that the achievements I have made in Nanjun this year will be greatly reduced......

Thinking like this, Ye Teng made up his mind.

But before appointing personnel, he first looked at Ba Zhong and asked with a smile: "Ba Zhong, your mother named you Zhong, it's really right, I came thousands of miles to tell you, which shows my loyalty to the Qin State, if every Ba person can be like you." ”

Ba Zhong said modestly: "Ba Shi has received the grace of the Qin State and has been able to preserve the property, how dare he be disloyal to the king and the Qin State?" Moreover, Yishui is the place of origin of the Ba people, thousands of years ago, the Emperor of Yi was from Yishui to the west, so that the Ba people strengthened, Yidao's Wuluo Zhongli Mountain is still the place where the soul of the Ba people return. How could it be because of the confusion of the Yibu monarch for a while, and let Wuluo Zhongli Mountain suffer from the disaster of the army? This is also very detrimental to my family's salt and cloth sellers. ”

For these scenes, Ye Teng just smiled and said nothing, Ba Zhong was young after all, and he was stared at by the old slippery head, so he suddenly felt a little weak, and simply said another purpose of this trip.

"In addition, my mother has one more thing to ask for! I heard that Nanjun has recently made a device that can pound ore day and night without manpower...... I wonder if the county guard can send a skilled craftsman into Badi to teach this technique to my family? ”

Hearing him say this, Heifu also said secretly: "Sure enough." ”

For a mine boss like the Ba widow Qingjia, the water mill is also an artifact to save manpower and costs, and this time I came to report this matter, presumably in exchange.

Ye Teng saw that he had guessed what Ba Zhong was planning, and couldn't help laughing: "Ba Zhong, your family is known for its prestige among the Ba people. And the salt horse team is familiar with the terrain of Yidao and knows the strongholds of each department, if I can act as a messenger to assist the government to settle this matter, I will definitely repay the king for the Ru family! The technique of Nanjun Water Cake can also be delivered to you! ”

This old slippery head is really a good deal!

Ba Zhong hesitated slightly, but still agreed.

Ye Teng ordered again: "Left soldier Cao Shi!" ”

Heifu promised: "Yui! ”

"This matter is related to the safety of the two counties, and may even endanger Jiangling and the whole county, and the stakes are very important. You first hold my tiger talisman, take a boat with Ba Zhong, rush to Yidao in the starry night, inform the county magistrate and county lieutenant of the situation, and immediately start a thorough investigation, and at the same time find a way to stabilize the local Ba people. ”

Heifu took the gilded tiger talisman and asked, "Dare to ask the county guard, if it is true, and the situation is critical, and you can't wait for reinforcements to arrive?" ”

Ye Teng did not hesitate at all, and said murderously: "You can act cheaply!" ”