Qin Official

At this moment, Hei Fu was not in Huyang Pavilion, but took advantage of the rare opportunity to take his brother Jing to the county town.

It is not easy for country people to enter the city. The last time Jing came to the county town was many years ago. At that time, he was still young and his family was poor. He just walked casually with his mother and went back without buying anything. He only remembered that he wanted to eat tangerines sold at the market, but his mother refused to buy them because she was short of money, which made him cry and howl all the way...

So this time Hei Fu brought Jing Jing into the city, so he let Jing follow him and took a good look around. The two brothers stood at the pier and pointed out the ships going south and north, guessing where they would go next; in the Guansi District Looking at the auspicious animals on the eaves, he called out their names one by one and pointed out the names of the official offices under different eaves.

"That's the county jail. It looks a bit chilly and gloomy, right? It was there that I confronted people in court for the first time when I came to the county, and finally proved my innocence."

"That's the courtyard of the chief official, in charge of the advancement and retreat of officials. It was there on the first day of December last year that I answered twenty legal questions correctly in one breath, and was appointed as the chief of the pavilion and awarded a red robe."

"That is the county lieutenant's office. It is heavily guarded. As the chief of the pavilion, I am in charge of that. If the county lieutenant gives orders, I have to obey..."

It was very enjoyable to hear it. Watching Brother Zhong confidently pointing out these high-ranking government offices and greeting the officials he knew, I not only admired him, but also envied my brother's rich and colorful experience.

Any one of them is enough to brag to your companions for a long time.

Finally, Heifu bought a new set of clothes for Jing in the market. After putting them on and wearing a dagger, Jing transformed into a well-dressed young man with a weak headband, and no longer looked like a country gangster.

After walking around in Anlu County, I couldn't help but be filled with envy: "Brother Zhong, this county is really nice. The market is lively, the clothes are nice, and even the little girls are well-kept."

"I don't know."

Heifu smiled and scolded: "No matter how lively it is, it is just a small county town. When you go to the county town in the future, you will see more things! If you can go to Xianyang, you will see things you have never seen before in your life! Palaces, towers, and bustling traffic, there is everything you need. .”

"The county town is still possible, but Xianyang..."

Jing said with some suspicion: "Xianyang is the capital of the country. How can I just go there if I want to? Brother Zhong hasn't been there either?"

"I will go there one day, and not as a garrison soldier, but in a chariot!"

"Four horses and carts..." He bit his tongue in surprise, not daring to think about it.

Heifu patted his younger brother and said, "The same goes for you. As long as you work diligently in the school and graduate successfully, you will have a smooth career in the future."

Heifu brought him to the county town this time, not for anything else, but to send him to the county school and become a disciple.

Last month, the news of Qin's attack on Chu came, which made Heifu break out in a cold sweat, so he moved the time for Jing to enter school from the beginning of spring to October.

This advance made the eldest brother Jingke lose confidence. He rubbed his hands and muttered: "Brother Zhong, although I have tried hard to read in the past six months, I can only barely read and write. I heard that if you want to graduate from the school, you must be proficient in using Five thousand words to write official documents! In addition, you must be proficient in laws and mathematics, be able to drive, and be able to fence... These are all things that officials have learned since elementary school, but I don't understand them at all."

His worries are not unnecessary. His foundation is too poor and he cannot compare with the officials' children. For example, in a few decades, at the age of seven or eight, Zhang Tang will learn from his father's generation to handle cases and interrogate mice...

Of course Heifu knew it, but he didn't seek to excel in the school. He only hoped that he could be a disciple for three years and avoid military service in the Unification War. Of course, it is best to graduate successfully. In that case, the future of the family will be secure.

He himself followed the route of a military officer and a pavilion commander, licking the blood of his sword to catch thieves, and went to fight on the battlefield to gain a chance to rise step by step in the great era.

My sister-in-law took the route of a craftsman. Although he is only a small craftsman now, his superb skills have been appreciated by the county engineer.

As for brother Zhong, if the effectiveness of the composting method is confirmed by Tian Bezuo of Yunmeng Township, Zhong can also successfully enter the field official system and become a field official in the sunset. Tian Dian is the safest local official. If there is a heinous theft or murder incident, all the local prison guards will be punished for dereliction of duty, but Tian Dian is not responsible. As a Tiandian, you only need to urge the people to work diligently in farming, pay taxes, and improve farming techniques.

After all, there was only one civil servant left in the family who was working within the system. Jing was the youngest and most malleable, so he was naturally the first choice.

Ke Jing looked unconfident, and Heifu felt that in addition to words like "prospect", he needed to give Jing a little stimulation.

So he coughed and said, "I forgot to tell you something. When I was recuperating at home some time ago, I went to visit Zhang Yan in Banli..."

Suddenly his eyes lit up: "Brother Zhong, when you visited Zhang Yan, did you see Lady Yan?"

Ever since the first glimpse last year, I have been obsessed with that little girl.

Hei Fu smiled and said, "I haven't seen her, but I heard that she is about to reach the age of marriage. The father-in-law is very ambitious and threatens that his granddaughter will not marry unless she has a betrothal gift of ten thousand yuan, and she will not marry unless she is an official..."

He was stunned for a moment: "How could this be so!"

Hei Fu said: "Brother Ji, I know what you are thinking. Brother Zhong has said it first. If you can successfully leave the army in three years, I will take ten thousand yuan to Yan Zhang's house to propose marriage for you!"

"Is this true?"

Sure enough, Jing immediately gained fighting spirit and said hurriedly: "Three years is not enough. Yan's Yushu is already fourteen and will get married in two years. Brother Zhong, give it two years! I must get married within two years." A teacher from the school becomes an official!"

"Two years?"

Hei Fu calculated that in two years, Qin had not completely destroyed Chu, right? He immediately put on a serious face: "You should keep up with your studies first, and then you can boast!"

After saying that, Hei Fu took his surprise to the school in the north of the county. There was nothing like a government-run school here. There was neither a pan pond nor an apricot altar. According to the tradition of the Legalist "Queen of the Queen", there was no worship. A certain sage had only a few simple houses.

The teachers here dress no differently than ordinary officials. The sound of reading aloud in the school is not "Poetry" or "Book", but boring regulations and rules.

Taking the law as teaching and officials as teachers are the characteristics of Qin education.

Heifu and Jing met the master of the school, who was the younger brother of Doctor Xi. His name was Gan and his title had not changed. He dared to have a chance encounter with Hei Fu, so Hei Fu entrusted his younger brother to him and gave him a gift...

Dare to be surprised, he first went through the procedures to become a disciple, and stamped his seal on the new "ID card" that Jing received, and then Hei Fu breathed a sigh of relief.

This means that as a disciple of the school, Jing can be exempted from all regular service and military service before finishing his studies. He will definitely be able to avoid the battle against Chu.

In this way, Heifu has made arrangements for all the men in the family, but for Jing, Heifu can't use the knowledge of future generations to help him. It depends on him how to go in the future.

When Hei Fu was sent out of the school in shock, Hei Fu seemed to have remembered something and said to him: "You stay here, don't move around, I'll be back as soon as I go."

Shocked and a little confused, I watched my brother's tall figure walk to the other side of the road, and asked a few farmers squatting on the ground to sell things. He came back soon. There was something else in the sack in his arms... …

When Heifu got closer, he saw clearly that it was an armful full of tangerines!

Heifu grinned and said, "My mother often said that when she first brought you to the county town, you wanted to eat tangerines. The family was poor at the time, and she was reluctant to buy them for you, so you cried all the way..."

Shocked and a little embarrassed: "Brother Zhong, my mother has been talking about this little thing for more than ten years. Every winter, she has to bring it up and talk about it at the dinner table. It really annoys me."

"That's why I can remember." As he said that, Heifu stuffed all the oranges with yellow and green skin into Jing's arms.

"The most delicious fruit in Jianghan is the tangerine. The tangerine in late autumn is so sweet!"

Heifu peeled an orange and put it into his mouth. He was surprised to taste the sweet and sour orange flesh. When he was a child, he thought it was the most beautiful food in the world. When he grew up, he realized that it was actually just a more delicious sour fruit.

"Brother Ji, do you still remember the story I told you about "Yan Zi Envoys to Chu"? How did Yan Ying talk about oranges in it?"

"Remember."

Jing nodded. For more than a year, every time Brother Zhong came home, he always liked to tell him about people and things outside, such as Yan Ying and Su Qin, which gave Jing a lot of knowledge.

"Yanzi said that when oranges grow in the north of the Huaihe River, they become oranges; when oranges grow in the south of the Huaihe River, they become oranges..."

"That's right." Hei Fu said: "The leaves are similar, but their taste is different. So why? The water and soil are different."

"Brother Ji, if you have been living in a remote place in the sunset, playing around with those country boys, I'm afraid your future prospects will be the same as them. But now, you have arrived in the county, getting along with the officials, and taking the legal officials as your teachers. With more knowledge, it's like transplanting orange trees from Huaibei to Huainan, your future will be different. So, don't belittle yourself."

Hei Fu pointed at his head and said with a smile: "Besides, they are both born to the same parents. Your brother Zhong is so smart. He answers twenty legal questions correctly, let alone you?"

"Brother Zhong is bragging in a different way." He laughed in surprise, but for some reason, his worries about the future were alleviated a lot.

"Just take care of yourself." Although his brother was young, he was a smart man. Hei Fu didn't say much, waved to him and left.

Seeing Hei Fu walking away, she was shocked and stopped smiling, and bowed deeply to his back.

Although he didn't say it, Jing was always grateful to Heifu for guiding him along the way.

"Brother, you should be diligent and never let down Brother Zhong's high expectations!"

…

On Heifu's side, as soon as he left the school room and turned a corner, he met a man on horseback passing by in a hurry. As soon as the man saw him, he quickly stopped his horse and shouted: "Hei Fu, I finally found you!"

Heifu saw that it was Wei Shi Anpu. After the cooperation in handling the last case, the two became friends and had a very good relationship.

"So it's Wei Shi." Hei Fu smiled and said, "What do you want from me? Are you planning to invite me to your house again?"

This Anpu family was also from Anlu County, and their cooking skills were very good. After Hei Fu visited once, he never forgot about it.

"How long has it been and you still want to have a meal and drink!"

An Pu dismounted, pulled Hei Fu over, and lowered his voice to warn: "Hei Fu, I heard the news. Zuo Lieutenant appointed you to escort the prisoners and garrison soldiers north to serve as corvees. This is a hard job, and there may be more. Worry for your life!"