In the winter of the twenty-third year of the reign of King Qin, in late December.

Anlu County had just had a snowfall, and the weather was very cold, but in the Anlu County school, the three new disciples were still crowded on the edge of the fire, and with expectant eyes, they started their first class.

And their master "dared", so that the help on the side was shocked, and slowly melted the ink frozen in the inkstone with hot water, and then moistened the pen, and wrote a large seal character on the rough wooden board.

"Ran!"

After helping to dissolve the ink, he also sat on the edge of the fire and baked his hands, as an old disciple who entered school last year, what the master was going to teach everyone next, he could almost recite it with his eyes closed. Because every time a new disciple enters the school, the Master has to give them a special lesson, and the study career of the disciples in the school begins with understanding this word......

After asking the people to write this word on the wooden tablet as it was, the Master continued:

"The deaf one, the punishment is also. Flat like water, from the water, 廌 (zhì) is the ancient beast 獬豸 (xiè zhì), understand human nature, can distinguish between right and wrong, can know good and evil, loyal and treacherous, and find treachery, then touch it with horns, so this is the law beast, the prison Peng tried the case, then wore a badge crown, outside the county prison hall, there are also stone carvings. ”

"Here, write it three more times and feel it."

Shocked to see the three new disciples seriously copying this word stroke by stroke, they couldn't help but laugh, in the next year, they will have to copy it hundreds of times......

The school is a cadre training school for cultivating civil servants and legal officials of the Qin State who are competent for various grassroots work, so in the first class, everyone must understand what the law is and what officials are.

"The Dharma is the program of the world and the instrument of all things; Officials, the people's lives are also hanging! ”

The master was excited again, and he knocked on the case a few times: "My Qin country is different from other countries, it is punished according to law, and the people have no complaints when they die; Measure merit according to law, and the people do not need to be grateful for their rewards. These are the effects of dealing with things according to the testimonies. Therefore, the "Ming Law" says: to rule the country by law, it is just a mistake! ”

So, where does the law come from? Is it from Haotian God? Does it come from the will of the people?

No, it's neither.

"The husband gives birth to the law, Jun also!"

"Law-abiding, ministers; Those who are in law are also the people. ”

Legislation is the exclusive right of the monarch, ministers are the defenders of the law, and the people must obey the law and take the law as the charter of their life.

The master of the school should deeply instill this concept in the minds of all his disciples, so that they can strictly follow this principle in their future careers. Whether it is as a grassroots official, or as a county official, you must be loyal to the king and the law.

When he first entered the school more than a year ago, he was like this, full of curiosity about everything around him, full of hunger and thirst for all the knowledge he did not know. But now, he has long since adapted to the life of a disciple in the academy, and after the novelty disappears, what remains is more boring and exhausting.

I still remember that last fall, when my brother had just sent him to school, and after taking his first legal class, his disciples were asked to conduct a "thorough examination" and write a 300-word judicial document in small seals.

Those officials who have been officials for generations have been dealing with these things since they were children, and they are like flying, and they are completed quickly, and a country boy with a poor foundation like Surprise has to bite the pen and think for a long time before he can hold back more than 100 words......

According to the different foundations of the disciples, the master of the school divided them into different levels, those who performed well can directly familiarize themselves with the provisions of the law, and those who have a poor foundation must know at least 5,000 seal characters......

Don't be surprised, this is just a practitioner, the most basic basic skill.

In the next few months, they were dealing with boring legal provisions, such as "Thief's Law", "Thief's Law", "Military Lord's Law", "Imitation Law", etc., basically learning one by one month one by one, not only to understand the principle of punishment of each law, but also to read and memorize it by heart.

Because the Master said that in the future, if they become Dharma officials and they misremember the letter of the law at the end of the day, then they will deal with you with the law that you have remembered wrongly, and this will be the punishment for dereliction of duty and serious consequences......

"If you misremember the death penalty, it will be miserable." At that time, he stuck out his tongue in shock.

In addition to the law lessons, they also had to learn how to ride a carriage, because after the disciples graduated from the school, there was no privilege of exemption from military service, and they could be drafted into the battlefield to serve as royal guards. In addition, you have to practice swordsmanship and archery to strengthen your body, and you are not required to be very powerful, but at least you must be able to lift a sword and shoot at the target.

Qin officials are not simple civil officials, they must carry a sword to kill the enemy, hold a pen and write official documents, all of them are all-rounders, so as to meet the needs of the Qin State.

There are so many things to learn, and once you don't learn well, you will be ruthlessly whipped by the master, so the life of the disciples in the school is much harder than that of college students in later generations. Every ten days, he only had one day off, and every time at this time, he would go to the official temple to find Brother Zhong's former colleague, Wei Shi Anpu, to inquire about the news about the war......

Inquire about the life and death of his middle brother Heifu!

……

At first, there was sporadic news about the battle of Wei, and most of the news was optimistic, the Qin army was like a bamboo, and finally broke through the Great Liang and destroyed the Wei state. The government sent people to publicize this matter in various counties and counties, so that everyone knew about the glorious victory of the Qin army and the king.

At the same time, Heifu's title is also constantly being implemented by Xianyang to Anlu County.

First from the hairpin to the non-change, and then from the non-change to the doctor, the title of the middle brother soared like a fly, which surprised and delighted.

Wei Shi Anpu whispered to him: "You don't know, every time Heifu's title is promoted by one level, Captain Zuo's face will be ugly!" ”

His middle brother has an old grudge against Zuowei's family, and he is shocked to know it, which is one of the reasons why he has been repeatedly excluded in the school. In the first few months when Heifu had been sent north to serve, everyone was far away, and the officials did not like to play with him, which was the most difficult time.

But with the promotion of the title of Heifu by two levels, some people began to smile at the surprise, in the small county town of Anlu, there are not many people who are the eldest doctor, and they can be the chief officials of the three hundred stones of Cao rank in each county, or be a township husband. Seeing that their family is so prosperous, how can they not hurry up and curry favor?

But he has seen the warmth and coldness of people, and his heart has matured a lot, and he only maintains a faint friendship with those classmates who are favored by him, and he only hopes that after the end of the war, Brother Zhong can return as soon as possible.

But the first to come was not the soldiers who returned to their hometowns, but the news of the war between the Qin State and the Chu State!

Things started with a skirmish in Nanjun, during that time, Anlu was fully guarded, and it became very difficult to even go out of the city and return to the countryside, and Nanjun seemed to become a battlefield at any time. Fortunately, Qin and Chu chose the location of the game in Huaibei, and An Lu was spared.

Seeing that the time was in October, Hefu had been gone for a whole year, and it was supposed that his term of service was over, and it was time to return, but there was no one to be seen. The heartfelt trustee in Yunmengxiang's hometown came to urge him to be surprised, saying that his mother was already sick in a hurry, and asked him to find a way to inquire.

"Maybe it will be released at the end of October......" Wei Shi Anpu was so comforted, but he knew in his heart that most of them were involved in the battle of Huachu again.

Finally, at the beginning of November, I was shocked to receive the letter that Heifu had written from Yangcheng......

"September Ding Si, Heifu dares to ask again, is his mother harmless? Heartfelt and surprised? Heifu is also unharmed, now in Yangcheng, he is a short soldier for the captain, and the captain treats me very kindly......"

"It's Brother Zhong's letter, Brother Zhong is safe!"

After hurriedly scanning the book, overjoyed, and thanking Anpu, he immediately took a three-day vacation, took an ox cart back to his home in Yunmengxiang, rushed home, read the letter to their mothers in person, and pointed to the words on it, teaching them to his nephews and nieces one by one......

"Will Uncle Zhong come back?" Yang and Yue asked, tilting their heads.

"Yes, definitely!"

Surprised and joyful, he said to his family: "Mother, uncle, middle brother said that he has become a short soldier of the captain, and he is still very important, so he must not have to charge into battle like before, and when the battle is over, he will definitely be able to go home safely!" Maybe it's on the winter solstice, maybe it's at the wax festival, when Brother Zhong comes back, our family will reunite, and then continue to eat rice cakes! ”

After comforting his mother like this, he was so shocked that he hurriedly carried his bags and returned to the school, full of anticipation.

But when the time entered December, through the sporadic news, he could no longer be optimistic.

Initially, some people in the market said that the Qin army was defeated on the Huaibei front, and then it was taken by the city officials, sent to the official temple, and shaved his hair for the crime of rumors.

But the mouth of the people is worse than the defense of Sichuan, and the gossip is still flying around in Anlu, and he scoffed at it at first, but the more he said it, the more it seemed to be true, and the more he said it, the more alarmist it became.

It is said that the Qin army was completely wiped out, and more than a dozen captains died.

It is said that the Qin army was defeated, and Chen Cai had been recaptured by the Chu people.

And the government did not come forward to refute the rumors and inform everyone of the truth, but only strengthened the control of speech.

Because in terms of war, the Qin State, like the historical records, has always reported good news and not bad news, won battles, and happily recorded them in the book, beheading as many as they wanted, breaking a certain city, and then selling their lives to the people.

But if the battle is lost, the historian will not have such a thing, and it will not be seen in the "Qin Ji", nor will it be known to the people.

This is the reason why Li Xin's defeat of Chu disappeared out of thin air from the "Qin Shi Huang Benji", because Qin's own history book "Qin Ji" also directly skipped this matter.

But there is no impermeable wall in the world, Nanjun is not far from Huaibei, as the news that does not know the truth and falsehood continues to come back, everyone is panicked, and when he is shocked in the school, there are also many disciples pointing at him and whispering.

Everyone knows that his middle brother is on the front line, and now the front is likely to be a big defeat, I am afraid that the black man will be more than lucky......

Those sympathetic glances and words made him surprisingly angry.

"My middle brother will be fine!"

He believed it so firmly in his mouth, but he was uneasy in his heart, and he didn't even dare to tell his family about these things, so that his mother would know......

At this moment, someone hurriedly entered, disturbing the master's lesson to the new disciples, and bringing the frightened surprise of the fugue to reality.

The disciple who came in from outside saluted the master in the school, and after saying a few words in his ear, the master looked surprised.

"Surprised."

"The disciple is here!"

The master said, "Go out, someone is looking for you outside the door." ”

After the surprise promise, he walked out in a bit of confusion, but then he thought of a possibility, couldn't help but open his eyes wide, and regardless of decency, he picked up his shirt and ran in the snow!

At the door of the school, a year and three months ago, Brother Zhong told him to stay where he was, holding a pile of citrus and stuffing it for him, and three men in warm fur stood there.

The two were facing inwards and one outward, talking enthusiastically, laughing as they spoke.

Isn't that young man in a black goatskin fur the pavilion pawn Xiao Tao that Brother Zhong once brought home as a guest? He remembered that Xiao Tao was an ordinary Lilu boy at that time, not a few years older than himself, extremely wooden, wearing short clothes and short brown, revealing poverty, how could he wear a good clothes now, and he was covered with fur?

And the other man, who else is Ji Ying who has never seen him? In the past, the skinny sharp-beaked monkey gills of the infant were now full of red, and he was also wearing a white lamb fur, with fresh clothes inside, and confidence in his eyes, which was quite like a brocade homecoming.

Rubbing his eyes in astonishment, he looked incredulously at the tall man with his back to him, and this man's clothes were even more remarkable, wearing a thick bearskin coat, which was worth at least twenty thousand, or even forty or fifty thousand dollars. The entire Anlu County, as well as the county order, the county Cheng and the wealthy Zuo Wei, and then look at the double board long crown on his head, it can be seen that this person's title is not low, he is really rich and expensive......

But why is this person's body so familiar?

"Brother Zhong?"

He shouted hesitantly.

The man turned around, and saw the shock, and immediately grinned, revealing white teeth against his still swarthy face.

"My brother."

Heifu strode over, slapped his hands on the shoulders of the frightened skinny, and laughed: "I haven't seen you for a year, and you are almost as tall as me!" ”