The wealth of a courtier depends on the country in which he is located and the king he serves. If the king of Zhao is mediocre and the country of Zhao is turbulent, his wish to be rich and old will not be realized.

Cai Ze taught Zhu Xiang to read new books, copied the new books on paper, and learned more words by the way, while thinking about his future in his heart.

After Zhu Xiang died once, his memory was much better, he almost couldn't forget it, and he learned to write very quickly.

At this time, the number of words in the book was not much. Zhu Xiang quickly copied the new book, put it in his cuffs, and slowly pondered it when he got home.

"Mr. Cai, you seem to be a little absent-minded today?" Zhu Xiang asked, "Duke Lin will soon have the opportunity to nominate you to envoy to other countries, so that King Zhao can see your ability." Are you worried about this? ”

Cai Ze hesitated, not knowing whether to tell Zhu Xiang what he was thinking.

Looking at Zhu Xiang's clear eyes, the hesitation in Cai Ze's heart dissipated.

He thought he could trust his only friend.

"Zhao Guo has worked hard for three generations of Ming Jun, and I thought that coming to Zhao Guo would be able to realize my ambitions." Cai Ze said, "But today's King Zhao is very mediocre. It takes many generations for a wealthy family to accumulate wealth, but it only takes an incompetent person to disperse it. I don't know if I should stay in Zhao or not. ”

After speaking, Cai Ze laughed at himself with a wry smile: "But when I go to other countries, I'm afraid it will be difficult to be reused." ”

Cai Ze is very self-aware of his appearance. It's so hard for others to see his talent through his looks.

Zhu Xiang thought for a while and said, "Actually, Mr. Cai has a final place in his heart that allows you to display your ambitions, right?" ”

Zhu Xiang didn't know that Cai Ze would become the Gangchengjun of the Qin State in the future.

Even a student of history cannot remember the name of every minister in history. What's more, there are too many bright stars in the long history of this period, and Cai Ze really can't be ranked. Zhu Xiang had no impression of Cai Ze's name.

He just speculated through the common sense of this world, the books Cai Ze read, and the news he inquired about that Cai Ze had plans to enter Qin.

Cai Ze sighed: "Do you mean the Qin State?" If it weren't the end of the road, who would want to go west to the barbarian lands? ”

Ying Xiaozheng, who had slept for a while, opened his eyes and happened to hear this sentence.

He lay on his back on the cushioned throne that his uncle had rebuilt for him, and stared at Cai Ze with dark eyes.

Gang Chengjun, I remember your words!

Zhu Xiang knew that the scholars of this era were very prejudiced against the Qin State.

This is not because the Qin State is poor.

Zhu Xiang was recommended by the archaeology professor who traveled with him to the famous Daqin series, and the two praised this TV series for being really wonderful and good-looking, and it was definitely a masterpiece, while complaining about the hard injuries inside, very happy.

When he saw King Qin grabbing a handful of loess, Zhu Xiang laughed out loud with a dog bark.

The Loess Plateau is one of the origins of Chinese civilization. It is precisely because it was once rich and gave birth to a brilliant civilization in the era of backward farming technology that it exhausted its potential in advance and became the barren it is now.

The Qin State originated in the middle and lower reaches of the Wei River and originated in Yongzhou.

During the Warring States period, people had begun to classify the soil and fields, and according to the records of "Yu Gong", the fields in Yongzhou were rated as "superior". Since the middle of the Warring States period, Qin has been one of the strongest vassal states. Taishi Gong also recorded that the Qin State was "a thousand miles of fertile soil".

The reason why the Qin State was able to develop so quickly was because the land was vast and sparsely populated, and the land was still very fertile.

Therefore, the scholars of various countries dislike the Qin State, but they dislike the customs of the Qin State, and they dislike the Qin State as barbarians.

The Qin State hung alone in the Central Plains and lived alone in the northwest. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the Central Plains and the Zhou royal family regarded the Qin State as Xirong and did not regard it as a "fellow clan".

After King Zhou Ping moved eastward, the Qin state gradually expanded eastward, and was made a prince, trying to integrate into the big family of the Central Plains. The social customs of the Qin State and theirs were very different, and the other countries still disliked the Qin State very much.

For example, it was not until the time of Qin Xiangong that the Qin State abolished the living burial system that had lasted for more than 300 years since Qin Wugong.

The sons of the Central Plains are very repulsive to the burial of the living, especially Confucianism. Confucius once said something very extreme, "The one who started the culprit has no aftermath."

In the Western Zhou Dynasty, the order forbade the burial of living people, and the burial was mostly made of grass to tie the villain, chariot and horse, which is similar to the sacrifices made of burning paper now. After the Spring and Autumn Period, the style of comparing the burials of princes of various countries prevailed, and the burial of human figurines appeared.

Confucius angrily criticized the degradation of this funeral system. Now that you've been buried with human-like figurines, are you going to use a living person to bury you in the future?! Cut off your children and grandchildren!!

From the anger of Confucius, we can see how barbaric and disgusting the Qin state, which restored the system of martyrdom for the living, in the eyes of people of insight.

Even now that the Qin State has abolished the burial of the living, the past of the Qin State has also made people with lofty ideals take it as the last choice.

Even if Cai Ze was a person who only wanted to be rich and noble, he was still very hesitant about the reputation of the Qin State.

Choosing Qin Guo to seek office, he basically proved that he had been cornered and abandoned all the courtesy, righteousness and shame. For the scholars of this era, this indicates that they have completely failed in their previous lives, so they will not even have faces.

After Zhu Xiang woke up, he glared at Ying Xiaozheng with his eyes and hugged him into his arms.

Ying Xiaozheng, who is not yet two years old, is unlikely to understand his conversation with Cai Ze, but with the miraculous and cautious eyes of the legendary First Emperor, Zhu Xiang still regards Ying Xiaozheng as an adult with clear thoughts, and tells Ying Xiaozheng why Cai Ze is reluctant to go to Qin.

Ying Xiaozheng pouted: "It's been so many years!" ”

Zhu Xiang said with a smile: "The ancestors dug a pit, and the descendants have to fill in the soil first if they want to build a house, and there is no way." ”

Ying Xiaozheng continued to pout: "Besides, Zhou Bu also started in Haojing!" ”

Zhu Xiang explained: "So Zhou used to be Xibo. The second monarch of Zhou, King Cheng of Zhou, built the new capital of Cheng Zhou in the Central Plains. ”

Chengzhou is Luoyang.

An old professor of archaeology who was on a business trip complained that the archaeological excavations in Hojing had very few results, which once made some scholars "the history of China is a forgery" very loud - this time they said that the Western Zhou Dynasty did not exist either.

Fortunately, the follow-up excavation gags their mouths.

Before Zhou entered the Central Plains, he was also regarded as Rong Di's accomplice like Qin, but after entering the Central Plains, he fell into a dilemma. On the one hand, they very much want to wash away the identity of Rong Di's accomplices, hoping to move the capital to the Central Plains; On the one hand, they thought that if they did this, wouldn't they be guilty of the slander that others had said that they were Rong Di's accomplices?

Under this contradictory mind, although they set the capital of Hojing, Hojing has always been a "transitional national capital", and the construction of towns is far less prosperous than Chengzhou, so the archaeological excavation results of Hojing are so few.

Ying Xiaozheng changed his pouting to pouting this time: "Hmph, where the king is, is the Central Plains!" They can't! ”

If I directly set the capital in Guanzhong, Guanzhong will be the Central Plains in the future! Ying Xiaozheng still remembers that his uncle told him not to reveal his identity, and he only said this sentence in his heart.

But Ying Xiaozheng didn't say it, from Ying Xiaozheng's small mouth that could hang a bottle and the disdainful little eyes, Zhu Xiang also knew what his nephew was thinking.

He couldn't be happier. is worthy of being the first emperor cub, born so domineering!

"Zhu Xiang, your nephew ......" Cai Zepin was a little wrong.

Zhu Xiang held up his little nephew: "Like me, right?" ”

Cai Ze: "......"

Zhu Xiang withdrew the little nephew who kicked his legs and said, "Want to know?" Ask Lin Li to go, I can't say. ”

Cai Ze pondered for a while and asked, "Do you want to go to the Qin Kingdom?" ”

Ying Xiaozheng immediately turned his head to look at his uncle.

Cai Ze once again sensed something wrong from the expression of Ying Xiaozheng, who couldn't hide it.

Is this kid ...... No, he's so young, what can he understand?

"It's not a question of whether I want to or not." Zhu Xiang pressed Ying Xiaozheng's head into his arms, not letting Ying Xiaozheng see his slightly sad expression, "I'm just a civilian, and the future is not up to me." There's no way I'm going to leave the Lin family behind. ”

Cai Ze was silent.

After a while, he said: "If King Zhao still refuses to use me this time, I will go to Qin State to try." I'm afraid this King Zhao won't use the descendants of Duke Lin too much. When the time comes, I will find a way to bring you all to the Qin State. ”

Zhu Xiang stroked the back of his nephew's head: "Okay, a word is a certainty." ”

The two were relatively silent.

After another half of the day, Cai Ze said: "Zhu Xiang, you used to only bury your head in the farmland, but today you talked to me for the first time about the affairs of the countries. ”

Zhu Xiang pinched the folds of flesh at the junction between the little nephew's head and neck who was struggling in his arms, and said in a low voice: "Maybe if you have a child, you have more worries about the future." Don't talk to Lin Li about these words, I can only talk to you. ”

Cai Ze said: "Naturally. It's like you won't tell him that I want to go to Qin. ”

Zhu Xiang hugged Ying Xiaozheng and said gloomily: "It's really sad that they are friends who are neck friends, but they want to deceive each other." ”

Cai Ze was silent.

After he saw Zhu Xiang leave, he sighed heavily.

……

Zhu Xiang was originally looking for Cai Ze to study, and by the way, he showed off his nephew. Unexpectedly, when he suddenly talked about the heavy topic he had been avoiding, Zhu Xiang was in a bad mood.

"Zheng'er, uncle will take you to the fields." Zhu Xiang said, "Uncle can farm, and he farms very well!" ”

Ying Xiaozheng lay in Zhu Xiang's arms and played with his fingers with nothing.

What is there to show off in farming, I don't understand my uncle.

Zhu Xiang put Ying Xiaozheng on his shoulder, let Ying Xiaozheng hold his head, and went to inspect the field with Ying Xiaozheng. When the peasants met along the way saw Zhu Xiang, they all stopped what they were doing and saluted Zhu Xiang in their own way.

Yan Zhao is a ranger who is generous and sad. In other words, Yan Zhao fights and fights street slickers.

Along the way, Zhu Xiang also met many rangers with weapons on their shoulders and shirtless, fighting beside the ridges in the shade of the trees.

These rangers jam traffic, and civilians walk around them as they work.

But when Zhu Xiang walked over with the child, they immediately made a way, and they were also concerned about why Zhu Xiang didn't take the slave out of the house, and whether they needed to protect him.

Even if Zhu Xiang said that he didn't need it, this group of people followed Zhu Xiang to accompany Zhu Xiang, and also picked leaves, grass and stems to weave toys and gave them to Ying Xiaozheng.

Ying Xiaozheng used the top of Zhu Xiang's head as a small table and put a bunch of toys made of leaves and grass stems.

He looked curiously at the strangers around him.

The strangers around him all smiled kindly.

Since he was sensible, Ying Xiaozheng, who has been living in disgust, feels very novel and confused.

"Zhu Xianggong, is this your adopted son? It's smart at first glance! ”

"He's called Politics. Does Zheng'er look very much like me! ”

"Hey, really, very much like that! He will definitely be as powerful as Zhu Xianggong in the future! ”

The praise of the strangers around was endless, and Ying Xiaozheng hugged his uncle's head tightly and buried his face in the top of his uncle's hair.

It's really weird.

Chapter 8: The Golden Thighs of the First Emperor

After Zhu Xiang showed off his nephew, he began his daily routine, inspecting the fields and guiding farming.

The state of Zhao is located in Jizhou in ancient Kyushu. It is recorded in "Yu Gong" that the soil of Jizhou is white soil, and the texture is loose salt soil, which is a medium and medium field.

The level of the fields recorded in the "Yu Gong" is determined by the level of productivity at that time, which is different from modern times, such as the fields in Sichuan, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, which are the major grain-producing regions in later generations.

After Li Bing controlled the flood, the irrigation conditions of the Chengdu Plain improved, and the lower and upper fields became the country of abundance; After the improvement of irrigation and water conservancy and the invention of agricultural tools that can plough clayey wet soil, the plain of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River gradually became a granary in the feudal era. The fertile black permafrost, which is now classified as completely uncultivable, will not be developed until industrialization.