The days when I pretended to be a cat in the Forbidden City[Comprehensive]

One big and one small walk hand in hand, ready to line up to go out of the city.Zhao Zheng is a considerate child, seeing his brother's expression of embarrassment to the extreme, he didn't say any more, just giggled.

These tourists are all from the land of Bashu. In fact, most of them are sons of noble families from various places in Bashu.

Since Li Bing entered Shu, due to the need for water conservancy construction, the connections between Qin and Shu have increased.But more and more contacts have also made the two sides discover a problem-they have some misunderstandings about each other.

The people of Shu County found that the people of old Qin were not so unreasonable, and the people of Qin found that the people of Shu County were not so uncivilized.

More than [-] years have passed since the war between Qin and Shu. For people in the pre-Qin period, this is already a story of one generation or even two generations ago.In addition, the highest official sent by Qin State this time was very reliable, and left a good impression on the people of Shu State, and Shu State's hatred for Qin State was naturally gradually wiped out.

Of course, the materials and cultural and scientific knowledge of Qin State brought by Li Bing when he entered Shu also contributed to this change to a certain extent.

But most importantly - salt.

Although Sichuan is located inland, it produces salt due to geological reasons.However, it has been more than a thousand years since the emergence of civilization in Shu, and almost all the salt mines have been discovered and controlled by the local gentry forces, who have monopolized the salt industry and acted accordingly.

As soon as Li Bing arrived in Sichuan, he noticed a strange phenomenon—salt was produced here, but the price of salt was extremely expensive. Therefore, he ran around the local area to investigate water conservancy, and also inquired about various news, and even started to transport salt from Qin Dynasty. The idea of ​​stabilizing prices, but later he dismissed the idea.

The transportation to Shu is too difficult. Even if the salt is transported from the Qin State, it may not be more advantageous than the local salt in terms of price alone.

Most importantly, he found that the mining of "salt" in Shu is different from other places - the salt in Shu is underground, so their mining mode is to excavate the soil layer in the area with brine, and then put the brine Introduced to the ground and boiled to obtain salt.

However, the labor tools in Shu County are backward, and there is too much salt in Shu County. Most of the salt mines were abandoned after trying hard to dig out brine.

When Li Bing saw an "abandoned" salt mine for the first time, he discovered a strange phenomenon.Although this salt field was said to have been abandoned, there were still quite a few people coming and going, and it was after the rain that they arrived.He saw with his own eyes that many Shu people dug the ground into pits and drew water from them.

The guide explained that this is because there is still salt in the soil, so if the situation at home is difficult and cannot afford salt, you can squeeze the juice in the soil to get salt water, and after filtering it, boil it dry to get salt.

Locals think that the salt is hidden in the mud, but Li Bing doesn't think so because the land here is not salinized.

But when he tasted the muddy water, it did taste a little salty, so the answer was obvious.

There is actually bittern in this mine, but the bittern is hidden under the ground that cannot be excavated.When it rains, the wet land will be connected up and down, and the salt will go up and finally reach the surface.

After calmly analyzing, Li Bing turned his head and asked the local guide, "Why didn't you dig a well?"

The local guide returned a blank look.

OK, he got it.

The well, according to legend, was built by the Yellow Emperor out of sympathy for the drought in a certain area, but it is very difficult to dig a deep well, and it is easy to collapse during the construction process, which is extremely dangerous.

Even in the state of Qin, only specialized craftsmen can do it after reporting. The cost is extremely expensive, and usually several villages share the cost.If an ordinary house has a well, the house price can increase by [-]%.If there is a well in the farmland, it is possible to double it.Therefore, in Qin State, there are countless villages waiting in line to dig wells every year.

But it is a pity that even if it is discharged, whether to dig a well depends on the local geological environment. Not every place can successfully dig a well, and even if a well is dug, there may not be water.A skilled well worker can be said to be a hundred families. This skill is still very popular in Qin State, and it is a cooking skill that can be passed down from family to family.

However, Li Bing felt that the main reason why this craft was not spread to Shu County was that there was no shortage of water here.

Shu County generally presents a trend of being higher in the northwest and lower in the southeast. The towering Qinling Mountains in the north block the cold air from the south and block the warm and humid air from the south to the north. This creates a humid and rainy environment here.

So there is no shortage of water here, and of course there is no need to use groundwater if there is no shortage of water, let alone master the technology of digging wells.

In addition, Shu County isolated itself from the outside world due to the mountainous environment, so this skill was naturally not introduced, and even the local people did not know such a thing as "well".

Li Bing felt that this was a perfect opportunity to break into Shu.

He specially wrote to King Yingji of Qin, asking him to send someone who is good at digging wells from the state of Qin, and applied for a complete set of equipment for digging wells. Then he led his people to dig the first salt well during the flood season when it was inconvenient to build water conservancy. .

Then soon the second and third wells... large and small salt wells were settled on the Chengdu Plain.

The local people are naturally more willing to buy cheap salt from the government. Shu County can even send salt from Shu to Chang'an through the plank road, which greatly reduces Qin's dependence on Qi, the largest exporter of salt, in terms of salt administration.

Relying on these salt wells, the local gentry who had turned a blind eye to Li Bing also began to take the initiative to visit Li Bing, and released a friendly attitude.Li Bing showed great tolerance for the other party's stumbling behavior in the past, and even readily agreed to his request to send someone to dig wells in the other party's salt field.

Shu people are simple and honest, and they naturally reciprocate.After the winter dry season came, these gentry families who had a lot of money and local power sent people to help repair the Guanxiankou.As the relationship between the two parties heated up rapidly, the other party even took the initiative to express that he wanted to learn the knowledge of Xianyang.

Li Bing immediately reported the good news to Qin Wangting. Yingji was very happy that Shu County was willing to learn Qin culture, but who to send there became a problem.

The first big problem is geography.

If you say send an unknown person over there, people will say that you don't pay attention to it, and the boat of friendship may capsize before it gets on board.But nowadays, the famous people are also old, and few of them can endure the pain of crossing mountains and mountains. When the old man has an accident, the loss to Qin will be even greater!

In the state of Qin, cultural people are all national treasures.

The king of Qin was very worried about this, and the various factions in the court who thought this was a precious opportunity immediately came up with advice. The most reliable way of saying it was to send students there, and also to give young people a chance to play and exercise.

When King Qin was so worried that his eyebrows and beard were almost knotted, he suddenly thought of Lu Xiaoan who had the most evil ideas, so he ordered his great-grandson to ask Lu Xiaoan for advice.

Lu An didn't know the cause and effect, and Zhao Xiaozheng couldn't explain it clearly at the time, so Lu An, who was busy making mud (——Zhao Zhengyu), said casually: Since it is inconvenient for us to go, why don't we invite the other party to come over.

"I can take good care of you in Xianyang." Lu An, who didn't know what Zhao Zheng's vague words meant, said, "Since the other party doesn't believe that we are doing well, let them see for themselves. Seeing is believing, no matter how much you say, it is useless, maybe people will think you are bragging."

Lu An could swear to God, that's what he suggested, how could he know that King Qin really did it.If you do it, you will do it, but there are no tourist routes in Xianyang.

I don’t know who suggested it, but they actually made windmills and waterwheels a special route, and even made Lu An one of their specialties. It probably means——Look, our little brats in the Qin Kingdom can make such an awesome route. Oh, do you think our Qin State is powerful?

Well, it does have a deterrent effect.But for Lu An himself, it would be a shame to play. If Lu Xiaoan hadn't played around a lot, the protagonist in the story would be Lu An instead of the unclear Lu family boy.

Lu An, who is very low-key, feels that every time he listens to their introduction, he feels like he is being roasted on fire. He just mentioned a concept of windmills and waterwheels, which are mainly made by craftsmen.But in this regard, the craftsmen who received a large salary from Qin State and also received large orders for wind and waterwheel parts were very calm, and in turn persuaded Lu An to become famous as early as possible, and many young and smart people were also famous. OK

When Lu An, who was almost brainwashed in reverse, came out of these great craftsman's houses, his footsteps were weak.

The state of Qin is full of talents. They even cook the sorghum they brought from Shu County into the taste of the state of Qin and then sell it to these people. They keep saying that this is a symbol of our feelings. We, the state of Qin, are willing to get to know you first. and so on.

The simple Shu people actually like it very much!

After that, the three of them had such a good time in Xianyang that they didn't even want to go back.It was because the King of Qin saw the situation as wrong, and felt that if you didn't go back, you would be misunderstood. In the end, he was half-forced and half-persuaded to send him back safely.

For this reason, these three people also used the newly learned Qin Wen to write a book to Yingji, in which they described how they were shocked by the profound culture of Qin State and expressed their desire to stay in Xianyang to continue their studies.

"Finally someone feels that our old Qin people's culture is broad and profound." Qin Wang expressed his emotion, but finally rejected them.

These three young people did not leave their names in history, but the idiom "Le Bu Si Shu" appeared because of them, but it was widely circulated in later generations and became a well-known allusion.

Since then, more and more students have gone to Xianyang from Shu to Xianyang every year under the name of "studying".In fact, far more people come here for sightseeing than for study.

However, as soon as people arrive in Xianyang, they run to lively places, send them to class, and disturb the order of the classroom. The topics they care about are all the fun places in Xianyang, which is not good.

The most important thing is that these Shu people like freedom by nature, and they often do embarrassing things when they don't understand Qin's culture and laws.

In desperation, Qin Guo simply opened another [Travel Line].Every spring, the State of Qin sent people from Qin who could speak the Shu dialect to pick up the people in Mei County at the north end of Baoxie Road, and escorted them all the way to Xianyang, and even accompanied them for sightseeing.

In the process from Mei County to Xianyang, it is even more necessary to explain the laws of Qin State...especially the most critical ones to them.

During activities in Xianyang, it is even more necessary to act in groups and not to leave the group.

After playing around like this, I will send people back to Mei County at the end of autumn.

……What?Is it difficult to walk on the plank road when it snows in winter?Uh, this has nothing to do with us, anyway, you are not allowed to stay in Xianyang.

If you want to stay, you can just pass the basic law exam first.

Almost none of the people who came to Xianyang in the early days were willing to stay in Xianyang. What’s more, there were no exams. These people just came to Xianyang to watch the excitement and buy things back to resell. But gradually, some young people expressed their desire to stay in Xianyang. The willingness to study, so it has only been two years.

These "tourist" people will bring back the news of Xianyang every time they return to Shuzhong.Towering palaces, strong soldiers, beautiful girls, bustling markets, foods with completely different flavors...everything can make them talk about it for a long time.

But the most important impression is the strength of the Qin army.

When the people of Shu Kingdom basically still use cloth armor and wooden armor, and only a few can be equipped with metal armor, all the Qin troops they saw along the way were armored and sharp.Although the grades of armor they wear are different because of their different grades, but their minimum is almost the upper-middle class in Shu, not to mention that the Qin army has undergone combat training, and their actions are very organized. The Shu army is far beyond comparison.

After that rebellion, almost all the people who were good at commanding soldiers in Shu County were beheaded by the Qin State. Now, in Shu County, they basically practiced randomly based on their memory. to the cause of embarrassment.

It was only when I came out that I realized that they were not in the same heavyweight category at all, it was almost as big a difference as bronze vs. king.

But the people of Shu are very open-minded. As a tribe gathered by the "barbarians" who were regarded as barren land by the civilization of the Central Plains, they have long been accustomed to this feeling of chasing head-on.

They are not afraid of the need to catch up, but they are afraid that they will not have the opportunity to catch up.If you can't keep up now, it doesn't mean you won't be able to keep up in the future.

The people raised in the land of Bashu, regardless of gender, have an indomitable spirit in their bones, just like the bamboo that grows widely on their land, they seem to be thin and long and extremely weak, even if there is a strong wind passing through the country, they stand proudly and would not bend.Normally, they are buried deep in the ground, but as long as they are given a chance, they can soar into the sky.

Come learn, then go beyond.

This is the idea of ​​the Shu people who stayed in Xianyang.

Yingji said he didn't care about this, he even sneered and said to the courtier who came to remonstrate: "Do you know how long it took me, a Qin man, to crawl out of the mud?"

He raised a hand and turned it back and forth, "500 years."

"It's not easy for us, Qin, to get to where we are today, and we don't even have the courage to do so." He sneered, "I have the courage to let the Shu people learn today, don't you have the courage? ?”

Majesty, this is not a matter of courage or not, isn't this asking for trouble for yourself?

However, recently, King Qin's power has become more and more powerful. All the courtiers exchanged glances with each other, and finally agreed, and then quickly moved on to the next topic.

Since students from Shu State are allowed to study in Qin State, it is necessary to build a learning institution.

Now all countries have established academies to recruit scholars from all over the world to attract talents for their own countries, but Qin State did not.

This is not only because Qin State has always valued martial arts over culture, but the main reason is that Qin State has not yet had the theory of establishing a country.

Other countries have more or less inclinations. For example, Qi State tends to Confucianism or Taoism, but Qin State is different. They tend to rule the country by law, but if you say it is Legalism...not entirely, They are more inclined to use whichever is useful.

There are two criteria for employing people in the Qin State today: one is that you have talent, whether it is civil or military, and you will naturally be rewarded for your achievements; the other is that you must understand the laws of the Qin State, so that you can become a low-level official in the Qin State , and then you can climb up step by step based on your political achievements.

However, for today's scholars, they are simply not sure about the rhythm of Qin.In addition, Qin's policy of iron and blood is contrary to most of the theories, and Qin's own cultural background is poor. As time goes by, naturally no one enters Qin to conduct academic research.

... no, there is one.

There is a Xunzi in the state of Qin now.

Although Xunzi is a master of the Confucian school, he is not an ordinary Confucian, and many of his views are quite recognized by Ying Ji.

It's just that there are some extremely weak things in Confucianism, which Yingji doesn't like.

Therefore, Yingji summoned Xunzi to the palace one day for a detailed discussion.

The two sides debated for half a day, and Yingji lost.The king of Qin was a bit headstrong when he was old, although he lost, he still refused to admit it, and drove him away angrily.Xun Qing Shi Shiran returned to the residence, her face was as indifferent as before.

Three days later, Ying Jifu invited him into the palace again, this time Ying Ji won.Although he won, Yingji was not happy at all, he always felt that everything was not right.

So after five days, Ying Ji invited Xun Qing again.This time, the two sides talked about the sunset from the court. In the end, Yingji recognized Xunzi and "his" Confucianism, and proposed to hire Xunzi as an official of the Qin State, in charge of education.

However, Yingji still made a key request - Qin State can support Xunzi to open a school in Qin State, and even set Xunzi's school as an official educational institution to provide subsidies, just like Qi State's Jixia School However, the knowledge taught by Xunzi must be screened by Qin officials.

Xun Qing's disciples were quite unhappy about this, but Xun Qing's attitude was very indifferent, even somewhat expected, as if he had expected this result a long time ago.

The State of Qin pays attention to law and tolerance, while Confucianism emphasizes propriety to transport the world, and believes that the rule of law is the lowest-end method of governance. The highest ideal of Confucianism is that everyone knows and obeys rituals, so that no one will commit crimes.

But the highest moral model in a world must be on the same line as the law.Indecent, can not also.So, it's not unavoidable.

And Xunzi is precisely the person who knows how to be flexible.

Xun Qing had argued with various schools countless times in Jixia Academy and during his study career. To argue, one must understand the other party. The strong-talking Wang Wangqing said that there is no difficulty in this matter.

As for the dispute between France and Confucianism... Xunzi smiled slightly, and couldn't instill it explicitly, couldn't it be subtly influenced?

Isn't this the opportunity he wants to use his own theory to change an era?

And the unexpected harvest is that Zhao Zheng, who was listening at the time, was attracted by his appearance of talking about the theory in front of the king of Qin. In addition, Xunzi was his elder brother's husband, so Zhao Zheng had a high degree of affection for Xunzi. I am very interested in Xunzi's theory.

It's just that because of his sensitive identity, it's not easy to ask for a teacher seriously.After all, Xunzi is a Confucian. As a king and grandson, if he blatantly learns from Xunzi, he is releasing a message that will make everyone in Qin State feel uneasy.

Fortunately, Zhao Zheng was young, so he used the excuse of going out with Lu An as an excuse to run over to take lessons, and Ying Ji also had an ambiguous attitude of tacit approval.Lu Buwei also talked about this with others in private, and both of them had a premonition that "the king of Qin wants to carry out reforms".

But they also knew why King Qin hesitated.Yingji is getting old, and Crown Prince An Guojun is obviously not an heir who can inherit his will. Once the reform is started, it will be fatal to the country and the people.Therefore, Ying Ji dared not start.

This is a minefield, Lu Buwei suggested that other people should not go there for the time being, and let King Qin decide for himself.On the other hand, they are also quite concerned about Zhao Zheng's current education and thinking, because they can read a sensitive taste from it.

Zhao Xiaozheng, who was secretly observed, knew nothing. He was standing beside the city gate with his elder brother, waiting for the carriage to pick him up.

The two brothers each took a box of Xianyang specialty baked gluten, eating with gusto.Suddenly, they felt a scorching sight, and looked along the line of sight, and saw a group of horses loading goods waiting in line to enter the city, looking straight at this place.

Before Lu An could react, Zhao Zheng exclaimed, "Brother, it's a pony!"

The child's eyes were already showing a string of caution, but then he frowned, and said with some distress: "How can the pony carry heavy loads? It won't grow taller!"

Zhao Xiaozheng, who is still Xiaodouding, is extremely obsessed with height.

The old winner has been famous for his skills in domesticating animals since the period of the Five Emperors. Since then, he has reached the peak of his life by relying on his unique skills in raising horses. This kind of appreciation and love for horses is integrated into his blood.

The heirs of winners have to learn to ride horses since childhood, and Zhao Zheng is no exception.Although he is still a small bean now, Zhao Zheng already has his own horse.

But horses are just like sports cars, there are never too many of them.

The child glanced around, and his expression suddenly became a little puzzled. He pulled Lu An closer to the horses, looked at them at a close distance, and said to the horse dealer with a serious face: "Dare to ask your Excellency, are these horses really dismounted? "

After getting the other party's confirmation, he immediately showed regret.

Qin State is located in the frontier, and is good at raising and breeding horses.Tall horses can be seen everywhere in the state of Qin, and Zhao Zheng had never seen an inferior horse since he was born. He made a mistake in his judgment and mistook Guo dismounted, who was born with short legs, as a young horse.

In Zhao Zheng's view, the short, short-legged breed of Guoxiama is an inferior horse and has no value in breeding.He immediately lost interest, and his expression showed a bit of distaste, and he even felt ashamed that he made such a fuss just now.

Unexpectedly, just when he was about to pull Lu An away from this sad place, his elder brother couldn't understand the little man's mood at all, instead he approached him with great interest, and said with a bit of excitement on his face: "This is the fruit of the fruit. Get off the horse? I heard that this horse is extremely strong and good at walking on mountain roads, but is that so?"

"My son knows the goods." The merchants who have been despised all the way to the Qin with this group of short legs consciously found a bosom friend, and immediately opened the chatterbox. He said loudly, "Don't look at the high-legged and high-shouldered Qin horses. If they get on our plank road, they won't be able to walk in less than half a day. These horses are good at deeds, and they can endure hardships better than donkeys. Although they are short, they have a good temper and can carry heavy loads." Qiang, eat less, in our Shu land, even if you give me a Qin horse, I won't give it up!"

His proclamation immediately attracted crowds of interested people, and the merchants who entered the city together gathered together, and the place was packed to the brim in a short while, even attracting the attention of the soldiers defending the city.

Seeing that there are too many people here and it is easy to cause accidents, Lu An immediately picked up his younger brother and left in two or three steps.Zhao Zheng was hugged in silence, and his little face was still a little confused until finally he was put down.

"What's the matter?" Lu An straightened his clothes, and asked casually when he saw his appearance.

"Then...then it's really that good to get off the horse?" Zhao Xiaozheng felt that his three views on the way of knowing horses were a little broken!

Hearing this, Lu An chuckled. Seeing his younger brother's protesting eyes, he quickly restrained his expression, and said seriously: "In the plains, Qin horses are superior, while Shu horses are inferior. Among the hills, Shu horses are superior, and Qin horses are inferior."

"This is relatively speaking."

"So isn't there a common saying?" Lu An's eyes were sharp, he saw the carriage coming to pick up people from a distance, got up and waved at it, and ran the train with his mouth full of movements, "There is no real garbage in this world, only misplaced resources .”

Huh?Is there such a saying?Why has Zheng'er never heard of it?

Just as Zhao Zheng was savoring these words, he suddenly heard a commotion, and a horse of various colors got off his horse and suddenly went berserk, and rushed straight towards them.

The incident happened suddenly, and everyone at the scene couldn't react in time.Although a young man stretched out his hand in time, the horse had no place to support its cargo. It was short in stature, dexterous in movement, and low in its center of gravity. The sound of neighing came from afar.

Strange to say, the pony, which had been rampaging and accelerating all the way, hesitated a little after hearing the neighing sound.Taking advantage of the gap in the pony's slow pace, the young man who was still trying to catch up immediately stepped forward and grabbed the horse's mane and slammed it to the ground. Almost at the same time, a light brown horse, The big horse with a lush and flowing mane galloped forward, and then stepped on the fallen horse of color and color without slowing down at all.

This blow was so heavy that people from far away could hear the muffled crashing sound of the flesh, and the pinto horse wailed immediately, but the brown horse was unmoved at all, it opened its mouth and pulled the pinto horse down. He poked a few times in disgust, then turned his head, bit the ear of the pinto horse and tore it back and forth.

All this happened so fast that no one could react in time, they could only stare blankly at Da Ma beating Xiao Ma.

"Okay, Duoduo, don't bite." The young man on the horse stretched out his hand and patted the horse's neck comfortingly, then got off the horse and pulled the horse that was still biting people's ears away. Then he looked at Lu An and the others with a smile. Zhao Zheng, who was protected by him, cupped his hands and said, "It was my late arrival that surprised the two juniors."

"Brother?!" Lu An called out in surprise, his eyes fixed on Wei Liao's face, "Are you back?"

This year is the year of Wei Liao's twentieth and crowning ceremony, at the beginning of the year Wei Liao left Qin State and returned to Wei State to organize the crowning ceremony.Although Wei Liao invited Lu An to go with him, but Lu Xiaoan happened to have something to do at the time and couldn't leave, so the parting lasted for more than half a year, which was strange.

But this place is not a good place to chat, and... He and Wei Liao exchanged a look, the caring little brother smiled slightly, and took a step sideways, letting him do whatever he wanted.

Lu An got into the crowd in two or three steps, and grabbed the young man who was about to sneak into the crowd and leave, "Stay strong, please!"

The young man showed a very kind smile at this plainly dressed, travel-stained and even somewhat embarrassed young man, "I'm in Puyang, Lu An, thank you for your help just now, I don't know the name of the strong man?"

The young man held by him was stunned for a moment when he heard the words, he looked back at the young man, then frowned slightly, with some hesitation on his expression, he asked instead: "Do you know the Lu family in Puyang, Mr. Lang?"

Lu An was surprised: "It's in the lower clan."

The person's eyes lit up when he heard the words: "A certain one is Chaoge Qingke, and he is here to find the favor to repay his kindness!"