Qin Official

In a pavilion outside Fuxian City, when all the prisoners were tied together and resting gloomily, the pavilion soldiers and garrison soldiers were not paying attention, and they began to talk softly again.

"I don't know when is the opportunity to escape..."

"The chief of the pavilion is arrogant, and the soldiers of the pavilion are vicious. They will kill them for fear of capture..."

"The weather is getting colder. We only wear brown clothes. If we go further north, we are afraid that we will freeze to death. How does the evil of the pavilions and soldiers compare with the cold winter?"

"I heard that north of Yan County, there is the Sanxi River, also known as the Canglang River. When the time comes, we will cross the water by boat. Why don't we throw ourselves into the water and hide?"

"If you enter the water in winter and your hands are tied, I'm afraid you will die faster!"

While the prisoners were discussing secretly, a man suddenly walked out from behind the tree, shocking them! If their words were found out, they would be whipped.

The person who came was Bu Cheng with his hair disheveled. Bu Cheng waved his hand to reassure the prisoners.

"Don't worry, second or third son, I will never tell anyone what I just heard."

While talking, Bu Cheng walked into the middle of the crowd and chatted with them for almost a while. After letting everyone put down their guard, he smiled and said: "I know the intention of the second and third sons to die. However, as long as things are accomplished, one is in humans and the other is in heaven. Regarding human affairs, the second and third sons have already discussed everything, but what about the ghost of divination at the first step?"

"The ghost of divination?" Everyone looked at each other in confusion. Indeed, they had not asked the ghosts and gods about the matter. Is this the reason why the two people failed to escape before?

Then the wise man bowed to Bu Cheng and said, "I have heard for a long time that Bu Cheng is from the village of Jiushui. I have been doing divination for generations. Can you tell us divination for us?"

"Can."

Bu Cheng stroked his sparse beard and said, "For one person and one coin, I will divine for you."

Although everyone was a prisoner, they still had some private property, and each person could get it with a penny. After Bu Cheng collected the money, he took out the yarrow in his arms and placed twelve yarrows on the ground...

"I will use the Book of the Sun to destroy the twelve gods, and I will ask the ghosts for the two and three sons."

The so-called "Rishu", to put it bluntly, is the imperial calendar of this era. It is full of feudal superstitions such as fortune telling, feng shui, yin and yang, and physiognomy, but it is believed by most people.

Many years later, the Qin State began to control speech and burned poetry and books in private collections. However, the "Rishu" survived, because the people of Qin had reached the point where they could not live without the "Rishu".

"Rishu" divides the days of the year into twelve categories, namely "building, removing, full, flat, fixed, holding, breaking, dangerous, successful, closing, opening and closing", which is called "the twelve gods of building and removing". . These twelve gods are associated with the month of December, and combined with the twelve earthly branches used to mark dates at that time, they can accurately tell you what you can and cannot do on a certain day in a certain month of the year. So as to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages.

For example, if you are an officer and you open the "Daishu" and find that the place corresponding to today's day says "If you are successful in field battles, you will win the title of prince", then you should quickly cheer up and prepare for the battle, looking forward to it. In today's field battle, he captured the leader of the enemy country in one fell swoop, and then returned home with a title and honor.

If you are a farmer and see the "Rishu" saying, "On the day of "Yin", it is forbidden to plant millet, "Chou" will be the day of "Yin". It is taboo to plant sorghum on the "Hai" day, rice on the "Hai" day, and wheat on the "Zi" day... So you calculate with your fingers, today is the "Zi" day, so instead of planting wheat, go ahead and plant millet!

If you are a petty official, you should be more optimistic about your life, as this is closely related to your official fortune. Because the "Book of the Day" says that if you go to the leader to report on your work on "Zi" day, if you go in the morning, he will listen carefully to what you have to say. If you go in the evening, he will not listen. If you go in the evening, the leader will definitely let you know. You go again. If you go to see your leader in the morning on an "ugly" day, he will be furious, but if you go in the evening, you will be praised by him...

There are also many taboos about traveling. For example, if you go eastward in the first month, May, and September, you will be in danger of death. If you go southeast, you will be separated from your family. Going south is also unlucky. As for what kind of unlucky it is, "Rishu" If there is no explicit statement, then we can only leave it to fate.

In short, "Rishu" guides and predicts people's lives in almost every detail, including marriage, childbirth, funerals, farming, and traveling. For the people of Qin who believe in divination, ghosts and gods, it is really difficult and at a loss to open their eyes every morning without taking a look at the "Rishu"...

However, except for a small number of nobles with wealthy families, not everyone in the Qin Dynasty was literate, so a special industry was created for people to read the "Rishu" and tell fortunes. It can be called a fortune teller or a "divorian". "Japanese people". In the Historical Records, a "Biography of Japanese People" was specially written for this group of people.

Bu Cheng is a Japanese folk from Anlu County.

To officials, he may not be worth mentioning. But for the superstitious prisoners and guards, this soothsayer who could recite most of the "Rishu" was an extraordinary figure. He could help them communicate with the mysterious ghosts and gods, so as to see the good or bad future...

Therefore, when the divination was performed according to the twelve chapters of the "Rishu", the prisoners remained silent as if they were facing a serious matter.

After calculating for a while, Bu Cheng's originally relaxed face became extremely solemn. He kept shaking his head and said: "It's not good, it's not good..."

The prisoners suddenly became nervous and asked, "Divinator, what's wrong?"

Bu Cheng stood up sweating profusely, pointed in horror at the yarrow that the prisoners could not understand, and said: "According to the numbers in the daily book, throughout October, November, and December, people will be able to escape." I encountered an unknown situation! I asked the ghost in detail for my second and third sons, and the ghost said..."

"What did the devil say?" the prisoners were nervous.

"The ghost said, don't try to escape, otherwise you will die unexpectedly, your body will be dismembered, and your family will be punished!"

"Ah!" The prisoners were so frightened that their faces turned pale. Strangely enough, it was common for them to threaten them with laws and orders, but when the same words were said to be the words of ghosts and gods, these people believed them without any doubt.

Even if there were a few people who had doubts, they would not dare to openly question the Japanese's prediction results.

What they didn't know was that at this moment, Hei Fu had already deliberately dismissed the other garrison soldiers, and he was watching this scene from a distance behind the house.

From a modern perspective, these prisoners' belief in the "Rishu" seems a bit absurd. But considering that more than two thousand years later, Hei Fu is not surprised that many people still rely on the imperial calendar passed down from their ancestors to choose a house, check Feng Shui, and choose an auspicious date for marriage.

When they arrived at Yan County the next day, Pavilion Chief Heifu suddenly announced that everyone was about to leave the boundaries of Nan County, and he would use some money to buy fish to reward everyone.

"The garrison soldiers eat meat, and the prisoners drink soup. Everyone has a share."

After hearing this, everyone was naturally overjoyed, so they took Hei Fu's money and bought dozens of kilograms of fish from the Yan County market, and everyone started to pack them up together.

When a guard cut open the belly of the largest grass carp with a knife, he suddenly let out a cry of surprise!

"What's this?"

When the guards and prisoners heard the news, they gathered around one after another. They saw that the guard took out a small piece of wooden tablet from the belly of the fish. After cleaning the fish blood on it, they found that there were words carved with a knife on it!

Most of the garrison prisoners were illiterate. When they were looking at each other, Bu Cheng also squeezed in, held it in his hand and read: "Don't run away, serve as the chief of the pavilion, you can make meritorious service and atone for your sins..."

He quickly raised the wooden tablet and said, "This is the book hidden in the belly of the fish by the ghosts and gods. It is a message to us. Don't run away. Serve as the chief of the pavilion. You can perform meritorious service and atone for your sins. This is the intention of the ghosts and gods! You and your three brothers should remember it!"

"The will of ghosts and gods!"

The prisoners were frightened for a moment when they thought that when they were in Zuxian, the divination by divination and the fish belly book in front of them seemed to confirm each other. Except for a few people who did not believe in evil, most of the prisoners believed in it. .

After drinking the fish soup, the prisoners no longer whispered about how to escape when they rested, but instead eagerly discussed the second half of the sentence in the book in the belly of the fish.

"Serving as the chief of the pavilion can make meritorious service and atone for one's sins..."

They looked at Hei Fu, who was pretending to be nonchalant. At this time, the prisoners began to remember Hei Fu's continuous meritorious service and knighthood after taking office. Maybe they could really survive by following the orders of the pavilion chief. , or even perform meritorious service to atone for one’s sins?

…

"Thanks to the help of Divination, the prisoners really became honest. He is really an amazing Japanese prisoner."

According to the agreement, after the matter was completed, Heifu handed the remaining one hundred and fifty money to Bu Cheng in secret. Bu Cheng was naturally grateful. With so much money, he could buy a pair of thick clothes to survive this difficult winter.

At the same time, Bu Cheng said in a flattering manner: "Ting Pavilion Chief, the villain can not only recite the diary and calculate good and bad luck, but also tell fortune tellers. Do you want to give it a try too, Mr. Pavilion Chief?"

Heifu smiled: "How much does it cost?"

"No money this time, no money."

"Okay." Heifu nodded and turned to Bu Cheng: "Just take a look for me."

Although, he didn't believe in the art of physiognomy at all.

Bu Cheng looked at Heifu's face carefully for a while and was amazed.

"The pavilion chief has a broad forehead. He is an intelligent man with big and thick ears. He is also a blessed man. He has a pair of tiger eyes and is majestic and heroic. He is a talented official. The pavilion chief will definitely have a smooth career in the future. Ten years from now, maybe But..."

"Oh, what kind of official will I be in ten years?"

Bu Cheng originally wanted to say county magistrate or county captain, but when the words came to his lips, looking at Hei Fu's expression, he shrank back and simply blew the whistle!

"In ten years, I will be a county guard!"

"Sheriff?"

Hei Fu heard this and laughed heartily: "Okay, Bu Cheng, you have told me what I am thinking. I really want to be a county governor, good at politics and religion, so as to establish a reputation and make the world know it... To be the governor of a county under the king’s command? Well, that’s my ambition!”

However, there was a hint of disapproval in Heifu's eyes, and he did not believe the soothsayer's compliments.

But Bu Cheng was secretly speechless. After Hei Fu left, he cursed: "Hei Fu, the Pavilion Chief, I just said casually, but he actually agreed. He is just the Pavilion Chief, but he expects to be a county guard? He is too arrogant. That’s it!”

…

Heifu didn't know that just when he was copying the "Fish Belly Alchemy Book" more than ten years later, hundreds of miles northeast of Yancheng, in Yangcheng County, Shangcai County, Chu State, which had been occupied by the Qin army, a man with Hei Fu is similar in age. In order to avoid the spread of the war, the Chen family's concubine children who left their hometown and migrated to Huaibei with their clansmen suddenly sneezed several times without warning...

Looking back at his hometown that was getting farther and farther away, the young man tightened his brown clothes tightly, his eyes full of worry.

He was just a sidekick of the Chen family, no different from a servant. After arriving in Huaibei, he didn't even know what he had to do to make a living.

"The swans flying south will eventually return, but I don't know if Chen Sheng will be able to return to Yangcheng in his lifetime?"