Qin Official

"The cow fell down the valley and died on its own."

Several shepherd boys said in unison. While listening, Ling Shi turned his head and looked at the priest of Beidi County sitting below: Wushi Luo.

Pastoral officer, this is Wushi Luo's position in the government. He is subordinate to the imperial servant and is also in charge of the government's animal husbandry. He is based in his hometown of Wushi County, which is the hometown of Wushi Rong. It has rich water and grass, and many livestock, cattle and sheep. Half of it is Wu Shiluo's private property, and the other half is public property.

On the eve of the cattle and sheep competitions in various counties in the Yin month (the first month of the lunar calendar), a case of a bull falling off a cliff and dying occurred in the animal husbandry in the east of the county. This is a common occurrence, but the local magistrate Shi did not expect that Wu Shiluo would come here and listen to him decide the case.

With Wu Shiluo watching, he had no choice but to show off his abilities, so he made several remarks:

"The Laws of the Stable Garden says that if any of the cattle or horses owned by the public dies, they must immediately report it to the county priest and stable official. After the official inspects it, the dead cow will be handed over immediately. If it is not submitted in time, , and those who cause the dead cattle and horses to become corrupted shall be ordered to pay compensation according to the price of the sinews, hides, horns, and meat when they were not corrupted!”

In the Qin Dynasty, whether in frontier counties or inland, cattle and horses were valuable assets, and their use value was no less than that of cars in later generations. All good cattle and horses were priced in the tens of thousands! Therefore, the government attaches great importance to it. When the oxen and horses are alive, they pull carts and plow the fields. After they die, their whole bodies are treasures. Their sinews can be used to make bow strings, their hides can be used to make armors, their horns can be used to make horns and bow materials, not to mention their meat. In short, we strive not to waste anything.

In addition, every year, the priest will count the number of cows and horses in each stable: "There are ten adult cows, and six of them do not give birth to calves in a year. The miser and the assistant will each be punished by one armor, so that they do not devote themselves to breeding the cows!" "

If there are more than ten cows and one-third of them die in a year, regardless of the cause, disease or accident, the officials in charge of the cows and the people who feed the cows are guilty!

After being enumerated one by one by Ling Shi, the shepherd boys knew that they might be in big trouble.

"I have asked people to go to the valley you mentioned to check. On the cliff, there are not many traces of the cow slipping and falling. I also searched under the cliff, but no cow carcass was found."

"Maybe he was eaten by a tiger or a leopard!"

The older shepherd boy shouted, and the others looked at each other.

"The tiger and the leopard wouldn't have swallowed the bones and horns as well? How could they not have shed a drop of blood?"

Ling Shi saw that these shepherd boys were beginning to feel guilty, so he separated them one by one and continued to question them. How had the shepherd boys seen this scene before? They were so panicked that they quickly confessed the facts one by one.

It turned out that they were encouraged by the adults in the family to secretly take their cattle away, but falsely claimed that the cow fell off a cliff and died. I thought that the cliff was bottomless and no one would go down to check. Unexpectedly, the government actually invited honey collectors to hang hemp ropes to find out...

The truth has been revealed. The next thing to do is to send someone to arrest the person who encouraged the shepherd boys to steal the cattle. It would be best if both the man and the man get the stolen goods. Then, what awaits him will be punished for both "stealing cattle" and "instigating". , a "chengdan" serving a life sentence cannot escape.

As for this group of shepherd boys, Ling Shi also planned to give him a harsh sentence, demoting him to a minor official position and doing a harder job than herding cattle. The oldest boy would even get a tattoo!

After drafting the wording of the verdict, Shi Chaowu Shiluo handed over his hand and asked for his opinion. At this time, Wu Shiluo, who had been watching silently for a long time, finally spoke.

"The people in the frontier fortress are not good people. They were all relegated to this county for their sins. Although they have passed three or four generations, they are still poor. How can their descendants be filial and obedient?"

"And we are barbarians."

Wu Shiluo pointed at himself and said with a smile: "I always have the heart of a bird or beast, which is difficult to raise and easy to lose. Now the king is very strict in his administration, but he doesn't know that if the water is clear, there will be no big fish. The shepherd boy has never been registered in the family, and he has been accepted by others. If you are trying to deceive and incite, it is better to open up the net and avoid the punishment of tattooing, and just go to the hidden official position to do some heavy work."

After Ling Shi thought about it, he adopted Wu Shiluo's opinion and let a few young shepherd boys go. They were only punished with hard work and no words were carved on their faces that were darkened by the sun.

"Why did my eldest brother suddenly become kind-hearted?"

After leaving the hall where the case was being heard, U Thi Luo's younger brother, U Thi Yan, was waiting for him at the door.

"Not out of kindness."

The Wushi Luo brothers were dressed like Qin scholar-bureaucrats, but they spoke in Rong dialect when talking to each other.

He stroked his beard and said, "I just thought of what happened when we were young..."

Although they are now rich and powerful, the two brothers are not of high origin at all. They are just poor children from the Wuzhi tribe outside the country. Their parents died when they were young and they make a living by herding cattle.

That year, due to drought, the grass on the mountain withered, and the cattle and sheep were not fed enough and were getting thinner. The tribal leader vented his anger on the two brothers. They were whipped every few days and were not given food.

Seeing his emaciated brother who had not eaten for two days, Wu Shiluo became cruel and drove the cattle and sheep into a deserted mountain col. He raised his knife and slaughtered a sheep directly. The two brothers had a hearty meal.

He was not like those shepherd boys who were stupid enough to use the lame excuse of "falling to death", which would inevitably lead to punishment or even death. So he took his younger brother and ran away with the cattle and sheep!

At that time, the Wushi tribe had been divided into two parts by the Great Wall, and they could be found both inside and outside the country, and there were no major restrictions on their exchanges. They fled to the Qin Pass, and Wu Shiluo still managed to sell the cattle and sheep, relying on his old appearance and speech difficulties.

Of course, Wu Shiluo was severely blackmailed. Three cows and ten sheep were sold for only more than 20,000 yuan, but that was the first pot of gold he got.

If the guards at Xiaoguan had blocked them out of the pass, the two brothers would have been beaten to death by the emperor long ago. How could there be such a wealthy businessman as the emperor today?

After tasting the sweetness of doing business, Wu Shiluo began his journey to make a fortune. He first obtained a temporary residence permit and obtained a legal status. He also used the first pot of gold to buy young cattle and sheep, raise them for two years and then sell them. Then he used the money from the sale to buy silk and silk from the Central Plains, and took it outside the Great Wall to the Rong kings and elders in exchange for more livestock.

The cycle goes on like this, and the profit from the silk horse exchange is very huge. His business grows bigger and bigger, and he owns cattle, sheep and horses all over the mountains and fields, so many that it takes grains to count them...

Relying on a huge amount of money as a stepping stone, Wu Shiluo was able to get the attention of Qin Shihuang, enter the palace, let him have an official status, and do business for the government.

“The most important thing for businessmen is to be kind to others.”

Reflecting on his half-life business experience, he looked back at those shepherd boys. After they learned that they did not need to have tattoos, they cast grateful glances at Wu Shiluo.

"In a few years, my family may gain a few loyal disciples." Wu Shiluo showed a smile.

These evil young men with poor backgrounds and few prospects are an important part of the Wushiluo caravan. How could a good man condescend to be driven by him, a military merchant, to transport goods thousands of miles away?

The so-called "Liangjiazi" is a special group in the Kansai counties, and their number is not large.

First of all, except for doctors, witches, merchants, workers, and sons-in-law, in the Qin Dynasty, which focused on agriculture, they were regarded as the last ones, especially merchants and sons-in-law, who were the first choice for relegation to the border.

Secondly, Liangjiazi not only abides by the law himself, but also has no family criminal history for three generations.

Finally, the son of a good family must have a certain amount of property, including slaves, horses, cattle and other movable properties, as well as real estate such as fields and houses, etc., which must be more than 100,000 yuan...

There is only one kind of family that can do this: the military aristocracy.

They are martial and proud, and they pay attention to "tiě, Kong Fu, six bridles in hand, the father's charming son, and the father's hunting."

Wushi Luo likes and dislikes young men and hates good sons, but Hei Fu is just the opposite.

"I heard that when a new officer arrives in a county, he must first recruit good family members to meet him?" Wu Shiluo asked his brother.

"exactly."

Wushi Yandao said: "Not only were they summoned, but the county captain also wore armor, personally controlled pommel horses, selected men of good family and ability, rode to Jingyang, and learned about battles." He talked in public about his experience from the beginning of Guizhou to the middle watch, He greatly encouraged the sons of good families, and finally recruited all the sons of good families to join the army as county soldiers..."

Heifu was also regarded as a fighting hero in the war between Qin and the Six Kingdoms. His story of rising from the head of Guizhou to a county lieutenant was also an extremely inspirational "legend". Inspired by this, good families in various counties actively applied for the army.

"Although this county captain has just arrived, he first cared for the troops of Ohara, then won the hearts of the county soldiers. Finally, he recruited all the good family members into the army. This is because he wants to do great things..."

Wu Shiruo was thoughtful. He certainly knew what Heifu wanted to do, but his stance was a bit subtle.

"Once the administration in the Northland is tightened, the water will be clear. If the water is clear, there will be no big fish."

At that time, as the biggest fish in their family, it will be difficult to mess around.

Furthermore, Heifu’s war target must be one of the Yuezhi and the Xiongnu. The Wushiluo trades with the two countries every year, collects bribes, and earns a lot of money. Once the war breaks out and the border becomes unrest, the Wushiluo will The business will plummet.

That's why he was worried.

But no matter how worried he was, Hei Fu had already arrived in Wushi County, and Wushi Luo Shao had no choice but to put on a smile and come to the border to greet him. Let's see what methods he would use to persuade him to support this war.

It was not Wushi Luochui. Without his active cooperation and provision of financial resources, cattle and horses, Heifu's war plan would have encountered many difficulties.

At the end, Wu Shiluo suddenly asked his brother.

"What kind of person is Heifu?"

When Wu Shiluo recalled all the things that had happened in the past two years, he always felt that this person seemed to appear out of nowhere, suddenly rose to prominence, suddenly became favored, and suddenly proposed all kinds of new ideas and strategies, but he always seemed to satisfy Qin Shihuang's appetite.

It would be fine if it was a coincidence, but if he had carefully calculated it in his mind, it would be scary.

"I dare not say anything else."

Wu Thiyan recalled the few meetings he had with Heifu when he was in Xianyang. Through brown sugar, Heifu also had an interest in his own business.

He said firmly: "Heifu, if he were a merchant, his wealth and success would probably be no less than that of his elder brother!"

…

"Wujun!"

The next day, as soon as the county captain's carriage stopped, the black man, wearing a crimson official uniform and a silver seal and green ribbon, came down. Under the introduction of Wu Shiyan, he got to know each other and Wu Shiluo kindly helped him up. Wu Shiluo, who was showing off to worship...

"Wujun is in a higher position than a feudal lord. If you don't bow to the officials of the county and county magistrates, but salute me, you are really killing the next generation!"

Wu Shiluo didn't dare to neglect him, but looking at this dark young man with a simple face, he still couldn't imagine why his brother said that for such a person, he had a "business vision" comparable to his own?

The two observed each other and exchanged pleasantries. Wu Shiluo mentioned the cattle and horse competition in Wushi County that would start tomorrow, but Heifu was not very interested in it. After a few polite words, he simply made it clear that he was here. the goal of.

"Wu Jun, what I want to discuss with you in detail is not about the fatness of cows and horses, but a big deal involving tens of millions of dollars!"