Qin Official

"When someone asks you your name, you just say you are Xiang Ji. Do you remember that?"

The young man nodded heavily and assured his uncle: "Don't worry, nephew!"

"What's your name?" When the servant was setting up the chariot shaft, Xiang Liang suddenly turned around and asked.

"Xiang Zhuang..." the young man replied subconsciously, then changed his words under his uncle's stern eyes, pursed his lips and announced the name of his cousin who was far away in his hometown.

"My name is Xiang Yu!"

"Remember not to answer wrong, otherwise, the Xiang clan will be ruined!"

Xiang Liang gave the instructions carefully again, then patted Xiang Zhuang and asked him to sit in the chariot.

The chariot was an ordinary chariot with bad horses and poor horses. After Xiang Zhuang was used to riding in high chariots and four-horse horses since he was young, he always felt that it was too cramped to fit in. But there was no way. His uncle told him that Chu had died, and the Chu people had become slaves of the subjugated country. The Xiang family was no longer a prominent family that had held the title of Gui for four generations, but had become "captives from Shandong", and they had to be cautious to survive.

Even so, Qin Shihuang did not forget them, and Xiang Liang's name was included in the migration order.

No matter how strong the local snake is, it is afraid of leaving its nest. If Xiang is uprooted and leaves the familiar Jianghuai, his vitality may be seriously damaged.

Fortunately, Xiang Liang played a trick. He bribed the minister's household official and separated his family from his younger brother Xiang Tang (Xiang Bo). Because the Sishui County document said "Xiang Liang moved to him", so the Xiang family became a family. Divided into two, Xiang Liang took his family into Guanzhong, while Xiang Juan and Xiang Sheng stayed with their disciples to guard the prime minister.

It stands to reason that his brother's son Xiang Ji would also migrate together, but Xiang Liang knew Xiang Ji's temperament. Although he was only thirteen years old, he was born with supernatural powers and had a bad temper. People from Qin who are brought to Guanzhong are prone to trouble. So when the household officials came to collect statistics about his place of origin and write the biography, he asked another nephew Xiang Zhuang to pretend to be Xiang Ji and bring him to Guanzhong.

Xiang Zhuang is slightly younger than Xiang Ji, but taciturn. He hangs an unedited sword on his waist and looks at the street scene of Yueyang on the side of the car in trance.

Some of the 120,000 households that entered the Pass continued to move to Longxi, Shangjun, Beidi, and Bashu Shibian. The remaining half went to Wuyuan south of Xianyang to open up wasteland and farm, and the rest were scattered and resettled in various counties in the inner history. .

The Xiang family and many wealthy people from Chu State settled in Yueyang. They arrived at the end of September and just settled in. Today is the first time that Xiang Liang takes Xiang Zhuang out.

On the carriage, a gust of wind blew. Even though he was wearing a winter coat, the boy still shivered. He didn't complain of being cold. He just frowned, thinking to himself that it was so cold on the first day of October. How could it be done in two months?

He misses the warmth of Dongchu, and misses Xiangxiang by the Surabaya River. In the warm river in summer, the boys of the whole family were laughing and playing in the water, while the girl held up the lotus leaf as an umbrella, sitting on the boat and watching them laugh, the wilderness As far as the eye can see, it is full of flowers. Autumn is also good. The citrus shipped from Huainan is sour, sweet and refreshing. You can eat it until your stomach can’t hold it anymore...

Xiang Zhuang doesn't like the north, he doesn't like Guanzhong, and he doesn't understand why the Qin people on the street are so happy. They catch chickens, ducks, dog legs, and fresh fish in their hands, go in and out of the market, congratulate each other with smiles on their faces, and salute each other. The method is extremely ugly. There are people standing on the wooden pillars in the house, changing the peach charms on the door of the house, just like celebrating the New Year.

"Qin celebrates the New Year on the first day of October."

Xiang Liang, who drove the car himself, explained: "Today is Zhengdan."

Xiang Zhuang opened his eyes wide and felt unreasonable.

How can the New Year pass in October?

This is also the reason why Xiang Liangtiao went out today. Like many places in Qin, the entire Yueyang was immersed in a festive atmosphere. The government officials had a rest, and the petty officials who usually kept an eye on the Shandong immigrants' every move also relaxed and went home. Went to eat rice cakes.

In this atmosphere, Xiang Liang happened to visit his old friend and inquire about some news in the name of New Year greetings...

Although Yueyang is only a county, the city is not small, because it was the old capital of Qin. In order to compete with Wei for supremacy, Qin Xiangong specifically moved the capital from Yongcheng to here. Qin Xiaogong only moved to Xianyang. Yueyang became deserted, but with the start of the Zhengguo Canal more than ten years ago, which passed through the north of Yueyang, more land in Yueyang was irrigated, and it became the granary of Weibei. It has become more prosperous in recent years.

Xiang Liang also made a lot of connections, so that the place where his family moved was neither a remote border county like Bashu nor Xianyang under the nose of Qin Shihuang.

In his own words, he said: "If the world is stable, then you can stay in Yueyang and teach your children and nephews a lesson so that they will not forget the hatred of the country's enemies and family; if the world is changing, you can escape and return eastward..."

Xiang Liang needs a well-informed news channel because he has different ideas.

Walking from the west of the city to the east of the city, the carriage stopped. Xiang Liang got out of the carriage and asked the servant behind him to hand Zhili to him.

Zhili is a gift given by nobles in Shandong when they meet each other. Especially when a person of low status visits someone with high status, Zhili must be given when he comes to see him. What Xiang Liang is holding now is a dried mallard duck. The Chu area is called Qingshou, and the central area is called "Qian".

Before the fall of the Chu Kingdom, Xiang Zhuang often went to banquets with his family. He also remembered some banquet rules, so he whispered: "Uncle, when my family visits others, don't they always hold lambs?"

Xiang Liang smiled bitterly: "I hold the leather and silk, the minister holds the lamb, the doctor holds the goose, the scholar holds the pheasant, the common man holds the goal, and the businessman holds the chicken. My family is no longer the Shangzhu Kingdom, nor is it the Shanggui Gui, it is just an ordinary one. Guizhou head!"

"The head of Guizhou..." Xiang Zhuang lowered his head. When taking pictures, his cousin Xiang Ji would get angry every time he read this word, saying that it meant slave.

At that time, he didn't feel it deeply. Only after entering Guanzhong did he understand the humiliation involved.

Their uncle taught them to memorize "Li Sao". The Xiang family is also a descendant of Mi, a descendant of Emperor Gaoyang, with the blood of Zhu Rong flowing in his body. When he was in Chu State, he was a minister respected by everyone, but after entering Qin, he was only the head of Guizhou... …

Their social status is not even as good as those ordinary Qin farmers who are digging in the fields for food!

Xiang Liang didn't tell Xiang Zhuang that there was a whole pound of gold hidden in the belly of the dried green head!

The house of the visiting venerable was in a lilu. When the lilu gate saw them dressed in traditional Chinese clothes, they immediately became vigilant and shouted at the uncle and nephew to show their biographies, explain the reason for coming here, and register them on the wooden slip before letting them go. They enter.

It is said that in the Qin State, every village is so strict, but Xiang Liang thinks otherwise. The Qin people are intoxicated in the victory of unifying the world and enjoying the wealth plundered from the six countries. They have become increasingly lax. Where there was no gap in the past, Now I can insert a needle...

When he arrived at the back door of a high-rise courtyard, Xiang Liang tidied up his clothes and knocked on the door himself. Soon the door opened, and a servant in soap clothes poked his head out and saw Xiang Liang. He smiled. After the door opened, he Seeing Xiang Zhuang following behind him, he couldn't help but cursed: "You can do it yourself, why are you bringing a little boy with you!"

Xiang Liang was able to bend and stretch, and said with a smile: "Take him to learn a lot." At the same time, he stuffed a small bag of money into the servant's palm.

The servant weighed it and smiled again: "Come in quickly and don't say anything."

Although Xiang Zhuang didn't say a word, he saw it and felt that this family was too rude. In Chu State, the host has to go to the front door to greet guests in person...

He didn't know that when Xiang Liang came to visit for the first time, he was left out for an hour. This time the money was enough, and the servants led them directly to the study.

A woman, in her early forties, with heavy makeup and aristocratic scarlet clothes, was sitting behind the desk, chatting and laughing with the good-looking butler, behaving in an intimate manner...

"Mrs. Wei!" Xiang Liang smiled with a smile on his face and asked the servant to hand over the heavy green-headed wild duck. He pulled Xiang Zhuang and bowed down by the door.

"It's Mr. Xiang here."

The middle-aged woman withdrew her hand from the butler's hand, straightened her clothes, and when she saw it was Xiang Liang, her eyes glanced at the butler again.

The steward briefly weighed the green-headed mallard, knowing that there was enough gold inside, and nodded to the hostess.

The woman then smiled, asked the servant to look at her seat, bowed and saluted, "Mr. Xiang was kind to your deceased husband, why should you be so polite?"

This woman was called "Mrs. Wei" because she was the wife of Wei Jiu, the concubine of Qin's right prime minister, Wei Zhuang.

Wei Zhuang was from Chu. He went to Qin alone in his early years, while his son and daughter-in-law stayed in Chu and lived in misery. Xiang Liang was a man who liked light knights and made many friends. He often helped Kai Jiu and made him his retainer, so that Mrs. Wei could have plenty of food and fish.

A few years ago, when Wei Zhuang became prosperous and replaced Lord Changping as the right prime minister, he brought his wife to the Qin Dynasty to enjoy the wealth and honor. As a result, he fell ill and died in Xianyang. After Wei Zhuang lost his son, he did not treat his widowed daughter-in-law badly and gave her a house in Yueyang. He also built a big house and lived a prosperous life.

Mrs. Wei was a woman who knew how to run a business. She soon became a noble lady in Yueyang that no one dared to mess with. People often came to her to inquire about court news, personnel appointments and dismissals...

The two had not contacted each other for many years, and when they met again, the host and guest situation had been reversed.

Xiang Liang was not unfair. His family was able to settle in Yueyang thanks to Mrs. Wei's help.

Mrs. Wei looked at Xiang Zhuang and said, "Is this you?"

"He's my nephew." Xiang Liang glanced at Xiang Zhuang who was silent: "His name is Xiang Ji. He is my uncle's eldest son. Madam met him back then."

"You've grown so big." Mrs. Wei lamented, but she didn't recognize that this was a fake.

Xiang Liang was convinced that Mrs. Wei was the only person in Guanzhong who had seen Xiang Ji. She didn't see through it, so the matter was safe.

Without reaching out to hit the smiling person, Mrs. Wei was very polite to the person who gave her money. She asked the servant to bring hot soup and a plate of reddish-brown candy.

She introduced with excitement: "This is the last batch of brown sugar on the market this year. It has increased from 500 yuan per jun to 1,000 yuan per jun. Although doctors say it has the effect of replenishing blood, it is too expensive. Why don't you buy it?" Grab it? I heard that the new brown sugar will not be shipped to Guanzhong until spring at the earliest..."

It seemed like a complaint, but it was actually a show off. Showing off that he had special channels to obtain brown sugar that had been out of stock in Xianyang Nan City a few months ago, he also asked Xiang Zhuang to be polite and have a taste.

"I have been coming to Guanzhong for many years. I especially remember that when I was in Huainan with my late husband, I drank the juice sent by Xiang Jun. The taste was really unforgettable... It is said that brown sugar is shipped from Nanjun. Malt is not used to make sugar, but malt is used to make sugar. It is made from the wild zhe that grows on the edge of Yunmeng Ze. Nanjun is also the land of Western Chu. Eating brown sugar really tastes like wild zhe, which can be regarded as the taste of hometown. Come on, little gentleman, try it!"

Xiang Zhuang looked at Xiang Liang and saw his uncle nodding in agreement, so he took a piece and put it in his mouth. It was so sweet that it was far more sweet than tangerine, and it indeed had a familiar tangerine smell...

This is the taste from Jingchu, the taste of the southern sunshine. Before the Chu Kingdom was destroyed, he and Xiang Ji and other brothers drank sips of Zhejiang juice. The memory of laughter and laughter emerged in front of him, making him inexplicably depressed. The honey in his mouth seemed to It also became bitter.

Mrs. Wei was still showing off that she was well-informed. He told Xiang Liang that the Wu clan had taken a fancy to this item and ordered thousands of kilograms of it. In the spring of next year, it would be taken as cargo to the Diqiang Yuezhi land west of Lintao for sale...

Xiang Liang couldn't help but nod, and began to tentatively ask about the origin and market price of brown sugar, and even had an idea in his mind.

"Brown sugar is more expensive than gold and iron in Guanzhong, and it is especially popular among wealthy households. There are also many sugar candies in Huainan and Jiangdong. The ones in the Chu Palace Garden in Shouchun are especially sweet and delicious. If the merchants at home can study the production method, they can be planted in Eastern Chu and Southern Chu. , might as well become a new source of wealth for my family!"

But Mrs. Wei saw Xiang Liang's thoughts and said with a smile: "It's better for Mr. Xiang to give up on this idea. I heard that when brown sugar was first sold to Xianyang half a year ago, Mai Shi, the chief Zuo Shu of Nanshi, and Shi Shi, the fifth doctor Not angry with him for occupying the market, he once ordered his merchants to launch a revolt and sue the brown sugar seller, but they ended up in disgrace!"

"Oh? Is there someone behind the brown sugar vendor?" Xiang Liang has been in the world for many years and is familiar with officialdom. He understands that this means that the real owner of the brown sugar has a lot of background.

"Brown sugar is sold under the name of an old woman whose surname is unknown in Anlu County, Nanjun. Just like Widow Qing is called Cinnabar Widow, merchants secretly call her Sugar Woman."

"But does Mr. Xiang know who this Sugar Woman's son is?"

Xiang Liang made a full gesture, cupped his hands and said, "I hope Mrs. Wei can clear up my doubts."

Mrs. Wei picked up another object on the table, but it was a light yellow sheet, looking like silk but not silk, looking like cloth but not cloth, with words written all over it.

This is a new thing that appeared in Guanzhong last month. Qin Shihuang ordered the counties in Neishi to try it out. Now it has flown out of Xianyang and spread throughout the counties in Jinei. This is a sensational event, and Xiang Liang has naturally heard about it.

His expression changed slightly: "Heifu Zhi, is this the right concubine, Heifu?"