Qin Official

"The county captain, Dou Ran, couldn't bear the torture, so he confessed that his ancestor Ruo Ao had ruled Anlu for four hundred years and lived for twenty generations. After the Dou family moved eastward with the King of Chu, the old ministers Yun family and Li who stayed there The Dou family secretly exchanged letters with the Dou family..."

In the evening of that day, Heifu and Tang Qian returned to the mansion of the county magistrate in Ying County and reported the progress of the case to Li You.

Tang Qian reported proudly. Although he had made little progress in tracing the "internal affairs" of Jiangling City, at least he was able to use the Anlu Li family and the Yun family to communicate with Li You. The two families were placed in the entire From the perspective of Nan County, the impact is not big, but he is also a powerful leader of the county!

"For example, Zuo Bing Cao Shi was the pavilion chief in Anlu and solved the case of thieves robbing Ruo Ao's tomb. It was Li Ping, the leader of the Li clan, who informed Dou Ran."

Li You was immediately frightened. This incident almost made Heifu's plan to fake surrender fail, and even made him a prisoner. This Li Ping is really hateful!

Hei Fu didn't want to steal Tang Qian's limelight, so he kept listening silently, but the image of a person emerged in his mind, that is, in the twelfth lunar month of last year, he invited him to his home as a guest, and also asked officials to act as matchmakers, hoping to marry his daughter to Hei Fu. My husband's Li clan leader, after his retirement, became a highly respected village elder in Jinshui Township, Li Ping!

Although the marriage did not come to fruition, Lee was still generally close to Hei Fu because of his confidant Lee Hsien.

"This is an accidental injury to a friendly force."

He regretted a little. He should have thought of it a long time ago. How could Yunman tell Dou Ran about Heifu's heroic deeds? Furthermore, he also heard Li Xian mention that the old people of the Li family are still telling some stories about the Ruo Ao family. This is because they do not forget their old master.

However, this emotion quickly disappeared, and Dou Ran also revealed some dirty information about Yun Man. This is what Heifu wanted...

Tang Qian said: "As for Yun Man, he had some trade relations with the Dou family. According to Dou Ran, in the years before Qin and Chu went to war, there were some merchant ships communicating with each other. The Yun family secretly traded with the Dou family by virtue of his status as a county lieutenant. I bought some gold and tin from here and there to make a profit, and at the same time sold the famous rhinoceros wood in Yunmengze to Dou."

"However, Dou Ran categorically denied whether the two families were internecine and revealed Nanjun's truth..."

After hearing this, Li You looked at Feng Jing aside: "Zi Shi, what crime should these two families deserve?"

Feng Jing responded: "As the ancients said, if a minister has no diplomacy, he will not dare to challenge the emperor! If a minister does not have the order of the emperor, he is not allowed to receive and interact with foreigners. This is a rule. Dou Ran is the county magistrate of Chu State. , the title of king of a place is also within this prohibition."

Hei Fu secretly cursed in his heart. In this case, Governor Ye of this county had connections with foreign countries when he was an official in South Korea. It can be regarded as "forgetting the master's diplomacy in order to advance with others" that Han Fei scolded. I surrender...

However, judging from the international environment of the Warring States Period, letters and trade exchanges between countries were very frequent. If the princes were so strict with their own ministers, people like Su Qin, Zhang Yi, Gongsun Yan, etc. would have no use.

Therefore, all the princes only verbally prohibited it, but Qin State specifically made laws for this, and severely punished anyone who was caught...

Feng Jing said: "During the reign of the late King Zhao, the 'crime of interoperating with princes' was added. If these two families are found guilty of this crime, they should be punished according to law!"

"The crime of communicating with the princes..."

Li You nodded and then remembered: "If I remember correctly, Wang Ji, the governor of Hedong County during the Zhao Dynasty, was executed in this way and abandoned the market in Xianyang!"

Heifu also heard about this. Wang Ji was originally a visitor to the Qin State, that is, a diplomat. He helped Fan Ju, a Wei man who was as down-and-out as a lost dog, to enter the Qin Dynasty. He hid him in his carriage and transported him to Xianyang, and then sent him to Xianyang. King Zhao of Qin recommended Fan Ju.

Fan Ju's strategy of making distant friends and attacking closely won him the favor of King Zhao of Qin. After becoming the Prime Minister of Qin, he did not treat Wang Ji badly as his savior. With his strong recommendation, both Wang Ji and another benefactor Zheng Anping were promoted. Wang Ji even became the governor of Hedong County and enjoyed the privilege of not reporting to the court on the political and economic conditions in the county for three years.

After the Battle of Changping, the Qin army attacked Handan. Fan Ju thought that Zhao Guogang had just killed 400,000 young men and that Handan had no ability to resist, so he urged Zheng Anping to be his general.

Unexpectedly, the sequelae of Wu Anjun's massacre began to appear. The Zhao people shared the same hatred and were united. Wei Gongzi Wuji also sent troops to help. Not only did Zheng Anping fail to win, but he and his more than 20,000 men were surrounded by the Zhao and Wei coalition forces in Handan. This greedy and fearful man Guy led his troops to surrender to Zhao and was named Lord Wuyang.

At this time, Fan Ju was embarrassed, because according to Qin law, if the person being recommended breaks the law and commits treason, the person who recommended him will also be guilty of the same crime!

King Zhao of Qin and Fan Ju were in harmony with each other and could not bear to kill him. He used the excuse that Zheng Anping had changed his position after he was recommended, so Fan Ju did not need to be punished. He also ordered the people in the country: "Anyone who dares to speak out about Zheng Anping's actions will be punished." Sin!" At least he used the privilege of the king to suppress this matter.

Unexpectedly, two years after this incident, Wang Ji was the governor of Hedong County. His subordinates reported that he had an affair with the princes. After verification, he was sentenced to death.

Wang Ji was actually recommended by Fan Ju to be the governor of Hedong County, but he was not promoted during this period. This time, in the face of such a mountain of laws and orders, King Qin Zhao could not protect Fan Ju, so Fan Ju died because of this incident...

It can be seen that the Qin State punished its ministers for having affairs with foreign countries more severely. However, Nanjun was located on the border, and the officials in the territory had historical connections with the Chu State, so the ties were severed.

If Qin and Chu were at peace, no one would have enough food to support the strict investigation. But now that Qin and Chu have become an enemy country, and the governor was assassinated, it is easy for foreigners to receive and interact with each other and put on the "inner room" " hat.

As an Anlu native, Heifu also reported in detail: "Yun Man is the Zuowei of Anlu County, in charge of the military. His family is an Anlu County tycoon, with nearly a thousand clansmen and hundreds of children and guests. Liping is a tycoon from Chunshui Township. , the former three elders also have hundreds of clansmen. If these two people are really the inner circle of the Chu State, it is not a trivial matter. If they cause chaos and surrender to the enemy in Anlu, the whole county will be destroyed and will threaten Yunmeng. The safety of several counties around Ze! We must quickly arrest Yun Man and Liping, bring them to the county to confront Dou Ran, and investigate the matter thoroughly!"

"This is reasonable, and the important border areas cannot be lost."

The pressure of a county's defense was on his shoulders, and Li You didn't dare to be careless. A room a hundred feet in size would be burned with a burst of fire. Therefore, in Li You's heart, he would rather kill these people by mistake than let them go! It must not affect the preparations for war.

With this in mind, he issued the order.

"The history of Zuo Bing Cao."

"Wei!" Hei Fu came out again.

"I will give you the tiger talisman, and take three hundred county soldiers with you. In the name of inspecting the recruitment situation in the eastern counties, go to Anlu to arrest these two people!"

Li You personally gave the tiger talisman to Hei Fu and held his hand. Chief Zuo's eyes were full of murderous intent: "If the Yun family and the Li family dare to jump off the beam to resist... it will be regarded as a crime of treason and they will be executed with troops." Of!"

…

After returning to his residence, Heifu called over Sang Mu, the coachman who was squatting outside chatting with the clerk.

Sang Mu was the younger brother of Sophora Mu who died in the Chu Kingdom. Seeing that Hei Fu was honest, he took him out of Jingling County, but he did not treat him as a servant. Hei Fu would let him enjoy the same food as he ate. Like a brother. So a few months passed, and Sang Mu also became his close confidant.

"Feed the horses and put the spare wheels on the carriage. I have official business tomorrow and have to go to another county."

Sang Mu responded and immediately went to the stable to prepare.

Heifu went into the house and found a few slips in the secret compartment behind the bed that his sister-in-law made for him, which were letters sent from Anlu.

It is not a letter home from the elder brother or younger brother, but a report that Heifu's subordinates make every half month. They are all written by Li Xian and entrusted by Ji Ying, who is the "director of the post office" in the township. Sent to...

Li Xian is currently serving as the official history officer in the county and is always monitoring Yun Man. At the same time, Ji Ying, Xiao Tao and others who worked as minor officials in the township and pavilion also secretly investigated the Yun family under Li Xian's command.

Although Yun Man was cautious, the forest was big and there were all kinds of birds. There were dozens of Yun family members, and there were quite a few officials working in various places. Although he was frightened by Qin's laws and did not dare to do anything too extreme, he made numerous small mistakes. Little things add up, and a lot of black material has been collected at the moment.

Normally, these things would not be fatal. At most, Yun Man would be blamed and a few of his subordinates would lose their official positions, that's all. But throwing it out when the Yun family was suspected of "corrupting the princes" was enough to add fuel to the fire and completely collapse the family.

"How can we allow others to snore on the side of the bed?"

Anlu is Heifu's hometown, and his family and close friends are all there. He can't feel at ease outside unless the Yun family is moved. What's more, Yun Man once had murderous intentions towards him. This was his late counterattack.

Heifu silently put these slips away again, then found a piece of fine silk, lit a lamp made of animal anointing oil, and under the flickering candlelight, he picked up his pen and began to think.

He was thinking about Li Xian.

Heifu recalled that cloudy day with the first heavy snowfall, and the scene when he first met Li Xian. At first glance, this literate pavilion soldier was someone who was unwilling to accept the status quo. Then he thought of how fiercely Li Xian encouraged Hei Fu to kill the old Wei man in order to win the title during the Battle of Waihuang.

As for when Heifu pretended to surrender, Li Xian, Gong Ao, Xiao Tao and others quelled Xu Yang's rebellion in Linyang City in one fell swoop, which Heifu will never forget. Without these powerful subordinates, Hei Fu might have become a prisoner of the Chu Kingdom, and maybe he would be the Dou Ran retainer who was tortured to death by water torture today...

The strong wind knows the strong grass. From then on, Heifu regarded Li Xian as the most capable and worthy of entrusting him with important tasks. By the way, he also has a son named Li Cang. Twenty or thirty years later, he may be as talented as his father.

Finally, Heifu thought of Li Xian's attitude towards the clan and the patriarch when he went to Li's family for a banquet.

"He quoted what I said, saying that the clan is just the icing on the cake, and I am the benefactor who provides help in times of need..."

Thinking like this, Heifu made up his mind and wrote quickly. He filled the silk with seal characters. After it dried, he stuffed it into a bamboo tube and sealed it.

At this time, Sang Mu also came in and said that the carriage and horses were ready and they could set off early tomorrow morning.

"There is no need to hitch the best red horse, it is left for you." The red horse "Red Dan" bought in Anlu is already in its prime. It is not only durable, but also fast. It is Heifu's old comrade-in-arms.

Sang Mu was a little surprised: "Lord, you don't want me to drive this time?"

This honest kid thought he was being disliked by the black man because of his poor driving skills, so he immediately bowed down to apologize.

Heifu pulled him up: "I have something else for you to do..."

He handed the letter to the illiterate Sang Mu and told him: "Tomorrow morning, when the city gate opens at sunrise, you can leave on horseback. If anyone you know sees it, tell them that you have something to do back in Jingling County..."

Sang Mu was very surprised: "Why should I go to Jingling?"

Heifu smiled and said: "It's a lie to go to Jingling. You have to go to Anlu for me!" During Heifu's visit to the county, Sangmu once went to Anlu County for him and got to know his subordinates. Good choice for messenger.

"You must travel day and night to arrive at Anlu County and give this letter to Lieutenant Shi Lixian of the County Lieutenant's Office! And tell him something for me..."

Heifu said: "The survival of the clan and the future of the official career are all in one thought! I hope to see the decisive Li Jun in Linyang City!"