Qin Official

While Chen Ping lamented that the Xiongnu custom valued the strong and looked down upon the old and the weak, Heifu, who was far away in Beidi County, was doing the opposite: building the first "retirement home" in the Qin Dynasty. .

This was the result of the cooperation between Heifu and the county governor Zhao Hai. Zhao Hai regarded this as a political achievement, while Heifu regarded it as a way to boost morale and encourage the soldiers to fight bravely.

In the middle of the lunar month of the 28th year of the First Emperor of Qin (the fourth lunar month), summer had already begun in the north and the sun was warming up. The "Retirement Home" was officially opened in the west of Yiqu County. This place is not big, and it will accommodate the orphans and elderly soldiers from Beidi County who have been disabled due to military service, border guarding, etc. in the past few decades and have no one to support them.

In fact, the population of Beidi County is sparse, with less than 30,000 households and less than 200,000 inhabitants, of which only half are Qin people, so there are only about 20 people who meet this condition...

Even if we build a yard specifically for them and hire cooks and servants to take care of it, it won't cost much a year.

But Heifu still attached great importance to this matter. On the day of the opening of the nursing home, he personally brought three hundred selected children of good families to ask them to help these disabled elderly people who were found from various counties and did not believe that such a good thing could exist in the world. The soldier was fetching water and chopping firewood, showing his full posture.

The veterans finally believed it and were moved to tears, because they were indeed a group struggling on the verge of death. Although he was injured, he was not knighted. Thinking about it afterwards, he might as well have died in battle. After returning to his hometown, he also lost his power. Because of his disability, no one was willing to marry his daughter.

"It's like a tree. Suddenly all its branches and leaves are cut down in one day. Even if it doesn't die, it can only survive."

An old soldier excitedly slapped his bare left foot and said that twenty years ago, when the Six Kingdoms attacked Hangu Pass, he was injured while serving in defense against the enemy. One of his legs was broken by the long hub of a rapidly rolling chariot. But miraculously survived.

But after he came back, he was often regarded as a slave who was executed for escaping, and he suffered a lot of injustice...

Until today, he felt that the injuries and disabilities he suffered back then seemed to have some value.

Heifu listened carefully to each old man's story, patted their withered hands and said, "Don't worry, I'll provide you with food, clothing, medical care, shelter, and burial in the nursing home until your death!"

He has always felt that for soldiers, they should not be treated as bones and bones that serve as stepping stones for meritorious service, nor as mules and horses that can be dispatched and do not matter if they die, but as a group of living people. Since they want to encourage them to fight, they must Do a good job in the aftermath.

Heifu also gave three hundred good family sons, and even the county soldiers who were ordered to build walls and build houses publicized Qin's policies: ""The Way of Being an Official" says that as a Qin official, you should eliminate harm and promote benefits, and be merciful to all. The surname is innocent and not guilty. The orphans, widows and poor people, the old and the weak, the disabled and the sick will have their corvee service reduced or reduced, and the violent villains are strictly prohibited from bullying them. The government will take care of their food, clothing, hunger and cold. This is the case for ordinary Guizhou heads, not to mention these people who were once the country's leaders. Have you ever served a soldier who was physically disabled due to your efforts? "

Although Qin's laws are sometimes cruel, sometimes they are also very gentle. These things that seem very "Confucian" are actually advocated by the Legalists. We don't have to wait until the Han Dynasty. The Legalists have already learned to wrap a layer around their cold hearts. The skin of human nature, Shang Yang's truth that "rituals and music, poetry and calligraphy, cultivation of virtue, filial piety and brotherhood, honesty and integrity, benevolence and righteousness, and shamelessness in fighting" are all six lice, Li Si and others would not say.

Contrary to the nomads, in the farming civilization, every elder in the family is like a treasure. Young people are far inferior to them in mastering the seasons, climate, seasons, seeds, soil, farm tools and even farming methods. In addition, there is no need to move frequently, and the harvest is relatively stable. , it is not difficult to support your parents and live frugally.

As a result, respect for the elderly and filial piety have become universal values ​​recognized by Legalism, Confucianism, Huang Laoism and other schools. Even the Mohists, who like to go eccentric, only hope that people in the world "love other people's parents as their own." Parents, love other people’s brothers as your own brothers.”

It is not difficult to understand why many dynasties in later generations like to "rule the world with filial piety", because this is the universal value of Chinese farming culture and is absolutely unmistakable.

By the way, Heifu also announced that in the future, if there is a melee death on the battlefield, the corpses that are difficult to identify and cannot be transported back to their hometown will be buried in the "Loyal Cemetery". This was what he suggested to Li You to implement in Nanjun in the year when Chu was destroyed.

After a two-pronged attack, three hundred good family sons, a thousand county soldiers and garrison soldiers followed Hei Fu, facing the direction of Xianyang, and said loudly:

"Thanks to your majesty's blessing and the appearance of laws and orders, the beheaded soldiers of Qin are given titles, the wounded and disabled are raised, and the dead in battle are buried. How dare we not kill the enemy bravely and be happy when we hear the battle?"

After finishing his official duties, Hei Fu hurried back home. The county captain used to be a very diligent person, but today he missed the time to get off work. The officials in the county captain's mansion suddenly thought it was strange.

Because just yesterday, Ye Zijin told Hei Fu a piece of good news: her menstrual period will not come this month, and it is very likely that she will be pregnant due to Hei Fu's hard work in the past two months...

This is a great joy! Heifu has been a man for two generations, but he has the opportunity to be a father for the first time. Although the final result has not yet been determined, it already makes him inexplicably excited.

Hei Fu's behavior as a young man was noticed by his wife, and when she teased him about it, Hei Fu said seriously: "How can any father not look forward to his eldest son or daughter as much as he looks forward to the rain?"

Coincidentally, when Heifu said this, hundreds of miles to the north, Prince Moton, the eldest son of the Xiongnu Great Chanyu, was not loved by his father. However, he made people on the grassland upset by giving him a wedding gift. Everyone knows...

…

Chen Ping has been in Helan Mountain for several days, and finally waited for Maodun's happy event. On the day of the wedding banquet, Prince Moton rode back on his eight-foot-high red horse, carrying the "Lan clan" in feathered clothes.

Yanshi is the transliteration of Xiongnu. Because there were cheers all around, the translator could only tell Chen Ping loudly that this word can also be understood as "major wife". "The Chanyu can have many Yan clans, and the largest one is called Zhuanqu Yan clan. But the rest, including princes, can only have one Yan clan. Before the Yan family dies, they are not allowed to marry another wife, but can only take concubines. ."

Chen Ping nodded, the Central Plains is about the same.

While observing the differences between the Xiongnu and the Central Plains, Chen Ping also discovered many similarities. For example, the Huns worshiped heaven. The full name of the Xiongnu Great Chanyu is "Plough Gu Tu Chanyu".

"Plough" means "Heaven" in the Xiongnu language, "Gutu" means "child", and "Chanyu" means "vast".

Therefore, "supporting the plow and tuting Shanyu", translated into Xia Yan, means "the great emperor"...

Prince Modun was born to Touman Shanyu's "Zhuan Qulan" family, but she had died several years ago. I heard that Touman Chanyu recently got a beautiful woman from the far-off Western Regions and named her the Yan family. He loved her very much. A few years ago, he even gave Mao Dun a younger brother...

But no matter what, as Touman's eldest son, Mao Dun attracted much attention and was regarded as his future successor. He was also sent to the best pasture in Henan, Helan Mountain, to live as a herder.

When the eldest son gets married, people from the Xiongnu tribes thousands of miles away are sent to attend. All the tribes gather together. There are only four to five thousand horsemen who are fully armed, and there are also countless women, children and slaves. They took a large number of livestock and camped on the vast grassland of Helan Mountain, quickly setting up tents with wicker felt roofs.

The wedding was held under the sky and was a feast attended by all. Both men and women wore Hu clothes with pleated tops and trousers, painted leather vests, and horsehair leggings. The nobles decorated their heads with gold and tied their waists with bronze. Belt, use animal fat to make the braid black and shiny.

Then, hundreds of cattle and sheep began to be slaughtered. The smell of barbecue filled the grassland. Everyone ate the roasted meat with green salt, drank fermented kumiss, and sat around the campfire laughing and laughing with each other. The sound was so loud that the people underground were noisy. The yellow rat also fled in a hurry.

Unfortunately, Chen Ping's current identity is a government "planner" who follows the caravan. He is not qualified to approach Mao Dun's tent. He can only watch from afar, watching Wu Shiyan and other valuable guests pay homage to the tall Mao Dun one by one. Prince Don, present their gifts...

First of all, the eight-foot-high horse that Prince Modu sat on was a gift from a Western merchant named "Kang Guo", which gave Modu a lot of face. It is said that this country is far to the west of Yuezhi, with the desert mountains further to the west. Its people have tall noses and deep eyes. This is the first time Wushiyan has encountered him, but he can only communicate with him through the Xiongnu language.

Lord Baiyang of Henan presented a lamb made of pure gold; Lord Loufan presented a long whip with a silver handle and a vulture shooter; Lord Yan presented a horse carved from green salt and a A gold-plated scimitar; Lin Hu sent a hundred large furs woven from mink fur.

A Marquis She (xi) from Yuezhi presented ten camels; an adult from Donghu presented five leopard skins.

Among them, Wu Shiyan's gifts are particularly valuable: three hundred catties of brown sugar, ten pieces of embroidered silk, thirty pieces of brocade, forty pieces each of red silk and green silk...

In addition to the guests who came from afar, the Xiongnu tribes had their own households, thousands of horses, and thousands of people, and they also had gifts to offer.

But looking at these gifts, Prince Moton's expression became increasingly gloomy.

Because the most important gift he was waiting for had not yet arrived.

It wasn't until long after nightfall that several horses came belatedly, and all the Huns began to cheer. What they brought was the wedding gift given to his son by the great Chan Yutouman!

Mao Dun smiled and stepped forward to greet several envoys in person. They walked forward quickly carrying a pine box decorated with gold. After paying homage to Mao Dun, they opened the box in public...

Modun's smile disappeared and his face became extremely ugly!

In the box, there was nothing he expected, just an ordinary leopard skin hat...

The Hun nobles stopped making noise and looked at each other, and the surroundings became surprisingly quiet.

Chen Ping noticed this strangeness, and the translator told him in a low voice: "According to the custom of the Xiongnu, when the eldest son gets married, the Chanyu will give him a silver-topped eagle crown to represent the 'eldest son', that is, the successor, second only to the Xiongnu Chanyu's golden eagle crown... ""There is a gap between father and son, and they want to abolish the elder and establish the younger!?"

Chen Ping couldn't help but his eyes lit up, and he immediately turned to look at Mo Dun, wondering how he would react.

Furious? Or fall out in public? At this juncture when Qin wants to use troops against the Xiongnu, if the Xiongnu Chan Yu and his son are at odds, it will be a great joy for Heifu!

However, Modun just remained silent for a long time, then put the leopard skin hat on his head, knelt down towards his head, put his hands on his chest, nodded three times, and thanked his father loudly! Then he shouted a few words and went straight into the felt tent to fulfill the groom's obligations. Soon, Yan's unabashed shouts came from inside. In the Huns, on the wedding day, if the bride did not scream loudly, it meant that The groom is trash.

The awkward atmosphere stopped, and the Huns became noisy again and resumed their laughter and laughter, as if what happened just now didn't happen..." What did Prince Moton say just now? "Chen Ping is most concerned about this.

The translator said: "The prince said that what he loves most is the leather hunted by his father. It is better than the crown of gold and silver, and better than all the gifts today!"

This was a decent response, but Chen Ping nodded slightly at first, then shook his head slightly, and said secretly: "The incident between Duke Xiang of Jin and Li Ji may happen to the Xiongnu!"

He looked at the figures in the felt tent, illuminated by the candlelight, and cast an incomparably huge figure on the tent.

"I just don't know, is this Prince Moton a Shen Sheng or a Chong'er?"