January passes, and at the beginning of February, the coldest time of the year quietly passes.

In the county guard's mansion, Bai Yan and Yang Duanhe knelt in the study, looking at the bamboo slips presented by the various cities under Yanmen County, which not only recorded the situation of the cities in detail, but also the number of people who froze to death during the winter.

It is not uncommon for people to freeze to death, every year after winter, there will be people freezing to death in many places, and these are presented to Xianyang, which can make Xianyang have a general understanding of the situation in the local counties.

This is not the second time that Bai Yan has counted this kind of thing, and compared with the situation after the cold winter last year, the situation in Yanmen this year is many times better.

When Bai Yan took over Yanmen, the people of Yanmen had no food at all, and they all relied on relief to survive.

At this time, looking at the bamboo slips, in terms of the number of people, it has been better I don't know how many times.

But

There are still quite a few people who have froze to death.

"General!"

A close soldier held a bamboo slip and then came to Bai Yan's side.

Bai Yan took the bamboo slip, opened it and looked at it, and handed the bamboo slip to Yang Lao after reading it.

"In the past, although there was a great drought in Zhao Land for many years, the Yan Kingdom was also affected, and now the Yan Kingdom has been besieged for several months, and the food in the city must have been exhausted!"

Bai Yan said to Yang Lao.

Although the Qin State attacked the Yan State, the Qin army stationed in the Gaotang Dynasty needed the most attention, but Wang Jian also sent a letter to Bai Yan in private, worried that if something happened to the Yan State once it was attacked, here in Yanmen, Bai Yan would be able to lead the border cavalry to aid the Qin army.

Bai Yan naturally understood what Wang Jian meant, Donghu in the north!

"I heard that some time ago, I heard that there were Confucian scholars of Yan Kingdom, in front of the palace of Linzi Wang, and scolded the king of Qi for not saving him when he saw death, speaking of which, the king of Qi was also wronged."

Bai Yan said.

For other things, Bai Yan didn't know the specific situation, but now here in Yan Kingdom, he really can't blame King Qi.

Although the State of Qi was restored, the State of Qi after the restoration of the State of Qi, but after the restoration of the State of Qi, the State of Qi was already in the heart, and the State of Zhao was lost to Qin, and made up for the Qi, directly sent troops to the east to capture the Gaotang of the State of Qi, and the dozens of cities with the most fertile land were all included in the territory of the State of Zhao, which also completely cut off the border areas between the State of Qi and the State of Yan.

Now don't talk about the King of Qi, even those scholars in the Qi State who have the intention to rebel against the Qin State, there is no way to stop the Gao Tang who has the Qin army stationed.

And those Confucian scholars in Qi eat people and have short mouths, so naturally they will not scold those scholars in Qi State, so they can only look at the King of Qi with complaining eyes, resenting Qi State and resenting Qi State for being willing to send troops to attack Qin State.

"If there is no accident, it won't be long before the Yan Kingdom will be broken."

After Yang Duanhe finished reading the bamboo slips, he also nodded in agreement with Bai Yan's words.

After finishing speaking, Yang Duanhe and Bai Yan discussed the situation in Donghu, and the most important thing to watch out for at the moment was Donghu, after all, no one knew what happened to Yan Guoguo in the battle of trapped beasts.

After a while, seeing another soldier come to Bai Yan's ear and say something, Yang Lao saw this, so he asked Bai Yanyou to go back in advance to deal with important matters.

Bai Yan nodded.

After saying goodbye and leaving the county guard's mansion, Bai Yan took a carriage and came to Lu's restaurant.

"County Captain!"

A servant had been waiting outside the door of the restaurant for a long time, and when he saw Bai Yan, he hurriedly saluted.

After entering the restaurant, because Bai Yan came relatively early, there were not many guests in the restaurant, and several Xiao Er were wiping the wooden table and the delicate wall panels in the corridor.

"Pity!"

Bai Yan walked and stopped, seeing Cen Qing protecting a stumbling child.

Cen Qing also saw Bai Yan at this time, and hurriedly got up and stood in place, clasping his hands together, and the child, who was obviously not very skilled in walking, also slowly came to Bai Yan's feet.

Looking at Cen Qing, who bowed his head and was speechless, Bai Yan squatted down and looked at the particularly cute child in front of him.

Seriously, Bai Yan is still her uncle.

Seeing that the child seemed to like him very much, Bai Yan squatted down and teased the child for a while before getting up and following the servant towards the private room.

In the private room, a man of about twenty and two men of about thirty had already admired the wonderful dance of the women of Zhao Guo in the private room, listened to the tune of Zhao Guo, and saw that the door of the private room was pushed open, and the three of them turned their heads to look.

When they saw five or six Qin soldiers following Bai Yan who was wearing Qin official uniforms, the three of them were immediately stunned, and then quickly got up and raised their hands to salute Bai Yan.

"Zhuo Zicheng meets Captain Baijun!"

"Fu Zhi meets Captain Baijun!"

"Tai Gao, meet Captain Baijun!"

When the three of them saw Bai Yan, their expressions were full of nervousness, and they didn't dare to be disrespectful in the slightest whether it was words or behaviors.

"Bai Yan has seen three!"

Bai Yan raised his hand to return the salute, and then stretched out his hand to signal to continue to sit down: "Please!" ”

Seeing this, the three of them bowed their hands to Bai Yan again, but they didn't really sit down, but waited for Bai Yan to sit down.

Inside the private room.

The woman who had just danced had already given way, and Bai Yan walked through it, came to the wooden table that had been left at the top of the private room, and slowly knelt down and sat down, and several cronies stood in various corners of the private room.

Looking at the table of good wine and good food in front of him, there were no less than six or seven kinds of meat alone, Bai Yan was rarely so extravagant in the restaurant, thinking back to seeing people who had frozen to death and starved to death in other parts of the county not long ago, the huge contrast made Bai Yan sigh a little in his heart.

"Go down first!"

Bai Yan looked up at the dancing restaurant women and whispered.

Soon, all the women in the private room, including the pianist, left the private room one after another, and Cen Qing happened to come to the private room at this time, and after seeing those women leave, she slowly came to Bai Yan's side and poured wine for Bai Yan.

Seeing that Bai Yan didn't let her out, Cen Qing breathed a sigh of relief.

"The three of them have worked tirelessly and come all the way to Yanmen, Bai Yan respects you with a glass to apologize!"

Bai Yan picked up the wooden table with both hands, and toasted the three of them.

Zhuo Zicheng, Fu Zhi, and Tai Gao naturally did not dare to slack off in the face of Bai Yan's toast, and raised their wines one after another to return the salute.

"There is no such thing as hard work!"

With politeness, a glass of wine was put down, and after putting down the wine, the three of them all sat down and looked at Bai Yan.

Among the three, Fu Zhi is the son of the Fu family of Zhongren City, Tai Gao is the Tai family of Shudi, Tai Jing's clan, and the youngest Zhuo Zicheng is the son of the rich Jia Zhuo family of Zhao Guo.

In Zhao Guo's discussion of rich businessmen, no one can compare with Guo Zong, and after Guo Zong, it is Zhuo's, Zhuo's is also the same as Guo Zong, it is an iron ore start, but Zhuo's is different from Guo Zong, Zhuo's has far surpassed Guo Zong's iron casting technology after several generations of continuous exploration, which Guo Zong is difficult to match.

Previously, the Zhuo clan besieged Handan in Zhao State in the Qin State, and in the 'Handan War' that lasted for three years, they scattered all their family wealth to help Zhao defend Handan.

Then, for decades, he continued to help Zhao resist Qin, which also led to Zhuo's complete descent into sinners after Handan was broken by Qin, and according to Qin law, he was sent to the remote Shu land.

Zhuo Zicheng is the heir of the couple.

"I don't know if Captain Bai summoned Zicheng this time, but he has something to ask?"

Zhuo Zicheng looked at Bai Yan with a somewhat uneasy expression, before the Qin State broke through Handan, Zhuo Zicheng was a famous disciple in Handan City, not to mention eating and drinking, just going to the restaurant, that time was not all beauties, dancing girls were entertaining, and they spared no money when feasting friends.

is also like this, Zhuo Zicheng, who has never been to the battlefield and has never killed anyone, did not dare to meet Bai Yan's eyes when he saw Bai Yan, who was also young.

Zhuo Zicheng always felt that Bai Yan's eyes were terrifying.

"Yes! If Bai Junwei is in need, just open his mouth, and the three of us will definitely die! ”

Tai Gao glanced at Zhuo Zicheng, then echoed with a smile, and raised his hand to salute Bai Yan.

Speaking of which, Tai Gao couldn't help but rejoice, if it weren't for Bai Yan's secret letter, their Tai family would not have noticed the Zhuo family and his wife at all, and thanks to Bai Yan's secret letter, now as the Zhuo family found the iron mine again, their Tai family also made a fortune.

Who would have thought that Zhuo's family, who seems to be kind-hearted, is a person who does not show his eyes, although Zhuo does not say it, but according to the current situation, I am afraid that in fact, a long time ago, the Qin State had not yet perished, and the Zhuo family had a premonition of his fate, so he noticed the place of exile of the Qin State very early, and finally learned that there were many mines in a remote and reckless place in Shu, even the King of Qin could not reach it.

It was rumored that the Zhuo couple knew their fate early in the morning, so they dispersed the clansmen and all the slaves and maidservants, leaving only the two of them in the mansion.

In fact, this matter is an illusion, the people of the Zhuo clan have already arranged a place to go, as for the time when they went to Shu, the Zhuo family and his wife bribed officials, and dreamed of immortals, they were all deceptive, you must know that all the money and property were confiscated by the Qin State, and after arriving in Shu, they can still take out two or three hundred gold.

Inside the private room.

Bai Yan glanced at Tai Gao, then looked at Fu Zhi and Zhuo Zicheng, and pondered.

"Don't hide it from the three of you, Bai Yan wants to buy iron ore from the three of them, rich in iron armor!"

When Bai Yan said this, his eyes looked at the three people in front of him quietly.

Heavy cavalry, iron pawn, these big killers Bai Yan had a plan very early, and Bai Yan not only wrote to inform Ying Zheng of this matter, but also talked to Ying Zheng in person during his stay in Xianyang, telling Ying Zheng that his purpose was to fight against Chu State.

Looking at the world, iron ore smelting, only strong Zhao. With Zhao Zhiqiang, attacking the shield of Chu, the momentum is also ~!

Later, with the consent of Ying Zheng, Bai Yan secretly ordered people to speed up the creation of iron armor and iron cavalry, while hiding this matter, even when he received the order to send Bai's iron cavalry to Yishui, Bai Yan did not let the iron cavalry go, and when the Xiongnu army went south, while riding in the clouds, Bai Yan did not use iron armor.

Bai Yan didn't know much about the State of Chu, but the only thing he was certain of was that the State of Chu could pull out at least 600,000 troops of the State of Chu, and the State of Chu, which had a vast territory, would never be short of troops as long as it had a little time to live.

Qin and Chu fought like this, so it was when Chu was destroyed, and it was also the same for later generations.

Therefore, if it is really at war with the Chu State, in addition to the national strength of the Chu State, the most important thing to pay attention to is the continuous military superiority of the Chu State.

Bai Yan is not Wang Qian, Bai Yan is not sure that there is no accident, not to mention that even if it is just in case, Bai Yan needs to be re-ridden and ironarmed.

Unfortunately, the speed of forging iron armor has been very slow, and more than a year has passed, and the number of iron armor still cannot meet Bai Yan's requirements.

"Iron Armor !!"

Not to mention Zhuo Zicheng and Fu Zhi, even Tai Gao heard Bai Yan's words, their eyes widened, and they looked at Bai Yan in disbelief.

You must know that not to mention the iron armor, it is the private iron sword, it is a violation of Qin law.

"Captain Baijun, iron armor is strictly forbidden"

Tai Wei swallowed his saliva and looked at Bai Yan and laughed, but in a panic, the smile was only two breaths, and he returned to a panicked appearance again.

"Don't mention you, it's the clansmen behind you, have you offended the Qin officials in the past, are there still few?"

When Bai Yan heard Tai Gao's words, he inadvertently glanced at the three of them.

Bai Yan didn't say what Ying Zheng agreed, Bai Yan would hide this matter from everyone, if someone betrayed him on the way, Bai Yan could also know who it was, and compared to telling Ying Zheng and him, so that these three scholars would have nothing to fear from now on, Bai Yan would prefer to cooperate with interests, so that these three scholars were full of fear, and thought that if they grabbed his Bai Yan's handle, everyone would be in the same boat in the future.

Tai Jing had already sent a letter to the scale of Zhuo's smelting, and Bai Yan knew that the Zhuo clan could produce a few pieces of iron armor every month, not to mention the Fu clan in Zhongren City.

As long as these three people agree, Bai Yan will give benefits to these three scholars.

But if you don't agree, then it will be these three warriors who regret it, Bai Yan has enough ability and certainty to make these three warriors lose everything in front of them in an instant and become nothing.

"This!"

Tai Gao, Zhuo Zicheng, and Fu Zhi glanced at each other, where could they not hear what Bai Yan meant, looking at Bai Yan's calm appearance, the three of them were so nervous that they couldn't breathe, and their eyes were full of worry.

This is no small feat!

The most important thing is that they don't know why Bai Yan wants to cast iron armor in private, what does Bai Yan want to do?

Thinking of this, the three of them looked at the sword-wielding soldiers standing in the corner of the private room with some fear.

Even Zhuo Zicheng couldn't help but secretly look at Bai Yan, who was pouring wine from Cen Qing, who seemed to be thinking about something, and his eyes were full of doubts.

Xianyang, Qin State.

In the palace, with the end of the next dynasty, Ying Zheng returned to the study day after day, dealing with the bamboo slips weighing two stones.

Meng Yi was still on the side, handing over the bamboo slips to Ying Zheng, and after Ying Zheng dealt with it, he took them to the wooden frame for placement.

"Your Majesty, Shangqing Yao Jia has returned to Xianyang and is waiting outside the palace gate."

A eunuch hurriedly came to Ying Zheng to report.

Hearing this, Ying Zheng hurriedly asked the eunuch to bring Yao Jia in, thinking of something, Ying Zheng turned his head and glanced at Meng Yi, this time Ying Zheng did not let Meng Yi leave, but asked Meng Yi to go to the wooden frame and take a roll of bamboo slips sent by Qi during this time.

"Your Majesty!"

After a while, Yao Jia came to the study in a hurry and saluted Ying Zheng.

"Yao Shangqing is finally back, the widow is looking forward to it day and night!"

When Ying Zheng saw Yao Jia, he sighed with emotion, he waited for so long, but he could be regarded as looking forward to Yao Jia's return.

When Yao Jia heard Ying Zheng's words, a smile appeared on his slightly blessed cheeks and he saluted Ying Zheng.

"It's a blessing to make the king so concerned!"

Yao Jia said gratefully, as a courtier, it is a happy thing to be able to serve the king and be recognized by the king.

"Can Yao Shangqing know why the widow hurriedly let Shangqing return to Qin?"

Ying Zheng had already put down the bamboo slips at this time, asked the maid to come over with the seat, and then looked at Yao Jia.

Seeing this, Yao Jia bowed to Ying Zheng gratefully, then came to Ying Zheng's wooden table, slowly knelt down and sat down, looked at Ying Zheng, and then glanced at Meng Yi who was standing behind Ying Zheng.

"But the king wants to find the old man who rides the bull?"

Yao Jia turned his gaze back, looked at Ying Zheng and asked.

When he was in the State of Chu, Yao Jia heard about the news from the State of Qi, and even because it happened in Tianfu, there happened to be many scholars present, and Yao Jia even knew earlier than Yingzheng.

Yao Jia is not easy to assert about that rumor, after all, Yao Jia has not seen the rumored bamboo slip with his own eyes, and secondly, he doesn't know if there is really the old man riding the bull.

"Yes!"

Ying Zheng thought of Qi Guo's rumors, his eyes were full of fire, and his longing gaze was not hidden at all.

However, just as Ying Zheng was speaking, the Han scholar outside the study suddenly held a roll of bamboo slips and hurriedly walked over.

"Your Majesty, the bamboo slips sent by the Qi Kingdom!"

Under Yao Jia's gaze, Han Yu held the bamboo slips in both hands, came to the wooden table, and handed the bamboo slips to Ying Zheng.

Ying Zheng heard that it was a bamboo slip sent by Qi Guo again, so he hurriedly picked it up seriously, opened it and looked at the contents, even Yao Jia was not as important as the bamboo slips, which showed how important Ying Zheng's position was in the old man riding the bull.

"Your Majesty, as far as Weichen is concerned, rumors are rumors after all, and the king must not have high hopes!"

When Yao Jia didn't come to the palace, he passed Ying Zheng's edict and had a premonition that Ying Zheng was very eager to see the rumored old man, but when he saw Ying Zheng's appearance in front of him, Yao Jia knew that Ying Zheng's expectations might exceed his expectations.

Because of this, Yao Jia frowned slightly, and reminded Yingzheng with some concern, in case this was a false rumor

"Wonderful~! Lottery, big lottery!! Color!!!! ”

Suddenly, under Yao Jia's gaze, Ying Zheng looked at the bamboo slips, suddenly drank again and again, and even stood up excitedly.

This kind of behavior surprised Yao Jia very much, even Meng Yi was a little caught off guard, looking at Ying Zheng with a confused expression, he didn't know what was in the bamboo slip, and he could make Ying Zheng so excited.

"Color! Mr. Talent!! The widow must meet this old gentleman! ”

Ying Zheng walked back and forth, holding the bamboo slip and watching it lovingly, his hands trembled slightly under the excitement.

"Yao Jia! The widow must see the old man riding the bull! ”

After Ying Zheng finished reading it, he stopped and stared at Yao Jia with his eyes, and his tone was unprecedentedly dignified.

"No! Wechen will do his best to find this person for the king! ”

Although Yao Jia didn't know why, he still bowed to Yingzheng.

"Your Majesty! Weichen was in Chu State, and he heard that the world praised the story of the old gentleman, saying that the old gentleman was a master in the world, and now he finally saw the old gentleman's bamboo silk on the king. ”

Yao Jia thought about it, looked at Ying Zheng with some doubts, and reached out to the bamboo slip in Ying Zheng's hand after arching his hand.

"Wechen is presumptuous, can the king let Wechen see the old gentleman's bamboo silk?"

Yao Jia pleaded.

Yao Jia really doesn't understand why in the rumors, they praise which old gentleman is so much, why the world says that the old gentleman has the ability to govern the world, even Yingzheng is so obsessed, even to the point of being a little crazy.

"Yes!"

Ying Zheng saw Yao Jia's curiosity, and smiled on his cheeks full of excitement and excitement, and then handed the bamboo slip to Yao Jia.

This move undoubtedly reveals Yingzheng's trust in Yao Jia.

In front of the wooden table.

Yao Jia took the bamboo slip handed by Ying Zheng with both hands, slowly opened it, and looked at it slowly, at first with anticipation and curiosity, but as he looked at it, Yao Jia's eyes gradually became serious and dignified, and when he stayed behind, he became panicked.

"Your Majesty!"

After Yao Jia finished reading the bamboo slips, his face turned pale, and he looked at Ying Zheng at a loss, his eyes full of shock.

He finally understood why the people of the world were so flattering to the old gentleman, and Fang Cai Ying was so excited.

Although there is a story in this bamboo slip, many places reveal a system that has never existed today.

Filial piety and honesty inspection system!!

Every year, a number of scholars are elected by the county and county to the palace and court of the center of power, and after verification, they are called Lang, and then they are left in the palace to be taught by the learned people of the palace, and after the king's examination, these scholars are transferred to various places.

In a county, the county guard, the county and other officials are all appointed by the court, and those officials who are appointed cannot be from the local county, and the rest of the officials under the county and county officials must all be appointed by the locals, and those who hold the office.

Such a selection and recommendation should be made once a year.

Inside the study.

Yao Jia held the bamboo slip and looked at it in a daze, looking sluggish.

From the subdivision of the princes of the Zhou royal family, there are then kings and husbands after the princes, so far, in addition to the king, the son of Shangqing inherits the throne, and the son of the doctor inherits the husband's throne, this system of blood inheritance has continued until now, this system is an extremely serious threat to the king, and the powerful Jin State in the past is therefore destroyed.

Then it was not until the Qin State completely derived another system, the military merit title system, that the Qin State was completely strong, and the military merit title system also broke and replaced the original blood inheritance.

After all, in the Qin State, in addition to the only marquis title of this king, the rest of the titles are even if they are generals and secretaries, and their sons will only be the princesses of the husband in the future, and the words of the second son can only be not, and the rest of the heirs are hairpins and the titles are the sons of the husband, and they are ranked lower by layer.

This kind of system is far better for the king than the blood inheritance of the scholars, and the Shang Ying, who formulated the military merit title system, offended countless old scholars because of this, and was finally torn apart.

However, this kind of military merit title system is not without harm, that is, it led to the Qin State court becoming an extension of the military merit title system, and the ministers in the court are all military meritorious families who hold military power, such as the Wang family, the Li family, the Yang family, the Mengshi and many other military meritorious families.

In the Qin State, except for the King of Qin, the military meritorious clan firmly held all the rights of the Qin State, whether in the court or outside the court.

The vast majority of people also have only the military merit title system to go.

However, for now.

The bamboo slips in Yao Jia's hand vaguely revealed another system, a system that once again broke the monopoly of the military meritorious clan.

Just as Shang Ying broke the monopoly of the bloodline inheritance of the old scholar clan in the past, it will definitely completely break the interests of the military meritorious clan, and the most direct thing is that the Lang officials in the court in the past are no longer all the children of the military meritorious clan.

"Your Majesty, this matter must not be implemented in the Qin State!"

Yao Jia thought of something, his face was pale, and his eyes were still in shock, and he suddenly looked at Ying Zheng with worry.

Now that the Qin State is attacking the Six Kingdoms, Yao Jia knows that he must not rashly implement this brand-new system, otherwise the entire Qin State will shake its foundation.

Although Yao Jia knew that as soon as Qin Guo implemented this system, whether it was for the king or the society, it was a kind of transformation, a new transformation.

"Yao Shangqing, the widow naturally knows the pros and cons, Shangqing can rest assured!"

Ying Zheng looked at Yao Jia's appearance and said with a smile, his eyes were full of fire.

Ying Zheng is not stupid, Ying Zheng at this time is naturally impossible to make Qin Guoshe unstable, but this does not hinder Ying Zheng's desire for the old man, the more he understands the old man who rides the bull, the more frightened Ying Zheng is, the more eager he is to see the old man.

"Mao Jiao has gone to Qi State, Yao Shangqing, this time you will definitely find that old gentleman for the widow! No matter what, the widow must see the old gentleman with his own eyes! ”

Ying Zheng looked at Yao Jia directly, and there was unprecedented expectation in his words, and he did not hide the desire in his heart.

At the beginning, he said that in the future, the Qin State would definitely have that old gentleman.

Now that I have finished reading this bamboo slip, although it is not suitable for the current Qin State, it makes Yingzheng more certain, he Yingzheng must get that old gentleman, must!

Even if he searches the ends of the earth and all the places in the world, he will find out.

This is the most important and most important change in history of a political system, which is of great significance.

This is also the beginning and starting point of the transformation of the Qin State in the future.

The system is not written in too much detail, and it is nothing more than breaking the monopoly of the military merit group and weakening the rights of the military merit group.

This system must not be proposed by Bai Yan, at least until it is changed, the world must not know that it was made by Bai Yan.

(End of chapter)