my grandfather was qin shi huang

Chapter 350 A good strategy?

"Don't worry, old man, go down and rest. Guzi will give you an explanation for this matter."

Zhao Ying saw that it was already mid-October and the old man was still wearing only a shabby jacket. He casually took off his cloak and wrapped it around the old man.Before the old man came here, he had already prepared for the worst. Who would have thought that the aloof emperor's eldest grandson would be so approachable?Tears burst down his face instantly, and he was about to kneel down and kowtow tremblingly.

Zhao Ying stretched out his hand to support him and looked around.

"Come here, help the old man go in and rest..."

After finishing speaking, I added a sentence.

"Let the old man eat something first and drink a bowl of hot soup..."

As soon as the old man left, Zhao Ying's face instantly turned gloomy.

"Prefect Qu, what is going on..."

Feeling the anger in the heart of the emperor's eldest grandson, Qu Fu felt pain in his heart and bowed deeply.

"Your Highness, I made an oversight. But before and after this incident, I did not receive any official documents from the Yamen below, and no one in the mansion reported it to the officials. I really did not know about this incident..."

Having said this, he straightened up.

"Your Highness, please rest assured that I will definitely get to the bottom of this matter and give you an explanation!"

Zhao Ying nodded.

After something like this happened, Qu Fu couldn't stay here any longer, so he immediately returned to the city with his accompanying officials.

Qufu has just left here.

Zhang Liang couldn't help frowning.

"Your Highness, he may not know about the old man's affairs, but as a county guard, how could he not know about forcing the people to dig out the crops they have already planted and plant rice in the city instead? There must be something fishy about this matter..."

Zhao Ying nodded.

"You immediately take people with you to investigate personally. You must find the key to this case before they do..."

"promise!"

After Zhang Liang asked about the village where the old man was, he immediately ordered a team of people and ran away.

……

"My lord, the magistrate, I have heard from my subordinates that the emperor, Sun Ren, loves people and cares for the lower class people. He has a reputation as a virtuous person in Xianyang. Once this matter falls into his eyes, I am afraid he will not let it go easily..."

Not far from the temporary camp where Zhao Ying and others had just walked out, a thin, middle-aged official could not help but speak anxiously.

"In the opinion of my subordinates, the county governor must make a decision as soon as possible!"

Qu Fu's face turned gloomy.

"It's easy to dodge open guns and hard to defend against hidden arrows. It doesn't matter to the emperor's grandson. I can deal with it myself. But how did the old man sneak in? This matter is probably not simple. Take someone to investigate quickly and see if it's true. Who brought the suitcase in..."

He didn't believe it, so he asked a few helpers to find him by chance?Moreover, this basket appeared in front of the emperor's eldest grandson by chance.If there is no one behind this, that would be really weird!

When the official heard this, his expression suddenly changed.

"I'm going to go right away—"

After speaking, he turned and left immediately.

This matter is great for investigation.

Soon, the steward in charge of this matter was brought to Qu Fu.The steward was originally a domestic slave in Qu Fu's house. When he knew that the matter was serious, he was already frightened to the point of loss, his body was paralyzed, and he did not dare to hide it.

Soon, things became clear.

He didn't hire anyone himself at all, but instead handed the matter over to Lai San, a gang leader who hung out in the city all day long.Qufu knew that this guy must have received a lot of filial piety from Lai San.But this was not the time to pursue this matter, so he immediately sent people to arrest Laizo.

But soon, the people sent out came back.

Raizan is missing!
At this time, how could Qu Fu not understand that this time, he had been tricked.

Someone took advantage of this opportunity and delivered the basket to the emperor's grandson!
"Drag it!"

Qu Fu's face was as gloomy as water, and he gestured impatiently to drag away the steward who had collapsed on the ground in fear.When only a few of his personal officials were left, he turned his attention to the county magistrate standing aside.

"Jiang Juncheng, I'm afraid I have to give an explanation for this matter..."

Jiang Juncheng was a middle-aged man with a fair complexion and a slightly bulging belly. When he heard Qu Fu's words, his expression suddenly changed.

"I am just a low-ranking official..."

When the words came to his lips, he swallowed them back.

Qu Fu looked at him straightly.

"If I am guilty, all of you are among them. You are responsible for the promotion of Champa Rice. No matter what, you can't escape the blame, so why bother your colleagues? You go away, your wife, I will take care of you. Yes! I will protect your family’s property! When your heirs come of age, I will personally recommend them to become officials and work for the county governor’s office.”

Jiang Juncheng looked miserable, hesitated for a while, and then slowly bowed down.

"Thank you so much, Lord Sheriff!"

After saying that, he staggered away.

Looking at Jiang Juncheng's retreating figure, Qu looked around again.

"Come on, bring the Zhang brothers to me!"

……

Nanyang County was originally Wanyi of the Chu State. During the period of King Qin Zhao, it was captured by the Qin State and renamed Nanyang. The administrative seat was in the original Wan County, which later became Nanyang in Henan Province.

There are three major families in Nanyang, the Yu family, the Du family, and the Zhang family. They were already well-established families in Nanyang when they were in the Chu State. When King Qin Zhao captured Wanyi and established Nanyang County, they immediately turned to join the Qin Dynasty without hesitation.

At that time, Great Qin needed to pacify this frontier position on the battlefield as soon as possible. It was the time when it needed to win over the local powerful, so it spent a lot of money to buy horse bones and give them great rewards. Not only did their original land remain untouched, but they were treated quite favorably, and even They also transferred part of the cleared lands to them.

The three of them were able to survive and continue to this day. Their influence in Nanyang has become intertwined. They are considered to be prominent families in Nanyang County. On weekdays, even the county guards pay three respects to them.

These three families have vast hectares of fertile land connected by roads. Almost all of the good paddy fields near the county town are the private property of the three families.In order to make ends meet, many farmers have to rent their farmland.

He can be regarded as the local emperor of Nanyang County.

But on weekdays, he can be considered safe and sound.Although the people of Nanyang are a little poorer, now that the war has subsided, they can barely live a life.But this year there is something new.

That is, under the advice of the emperor's grandson, the imperial court promoted Champa rice in various places. Nanyang is located in Henan and has many paddy fields, so it is naturally an area that the imperial court focuses on promoting.

But the problem is, no one has ever seen this so-called Champa rice. Who is willing to give up their best paddy fields to plant these unknown new rice seeds, which are said to come from the barbarian land in the south?
But when the First Emperor asked for promotion, the officials below naturally responded.

No one is willing to plant new rice seeds, so give it a mission!

The first to bear the brunt are, of course, the three major families that occupy the most paddy fields.The three major families also have their own methods.Aren’t they allowed to plant new rice seeds?We must not grow this kind of rice in our most fertile paddy field. If the harvest is not good, or if the soil and water are not suitable for it, and there is no harvest, the loss will be too serious.

What should I do?
Of course, the task is passed on to the people who lease their land.

What should we do if the people don’t want to plant?
Of course it’s forced!
I will forcefully sell you new rice seeds!
No money to buy?
Then I'll lend it to you!
Don’t want to plant?
Then force it to be planted on you?

Already planted something else?Then dig it!

If you dare to resist, you'll be beaten once. If you don't do well, you'll be beaten twice.

How can a mere farmer compete with these powerful local emperors?

Many people had to swallow their anger and accept this reality.The officials in the counties are naturally aware of this, but for the sake of political performance, no one is too lazy to offend the three major families for the sake of ordinary people.

What's more, if someone is willing to help him complete the task of promoting Champa Rice, why not?
It was under this background that Sui's son, Guanglan, was beaten to death by the Zhang family.

The Great Qin Dynasty respected Legalism, and its decrees were strict and thorough, but they were only decrees and laws.This kind of thing, not to mention in Da Qin, even in later generations, is nothing new.

In Guanzhong, the territory of the Lao Qin people was relatively good, but beyond Guanzhong, it was really hard to say.

The matter is actually very simple. The Sui family is extremely poor. The grain that has been planted in the fields has been saved through the teeth of the family through starvation.Now, if we ask them to plow and then spend money to buy new rice seeds, how can they be willing?
Especially Sui's son Kanggang, who was young and energetic. When he saw people from the Zhang family trying to dig up his crops, he immediately became red-eyed and carried Lei to stop him. As a result, he was beaten up by the Zhang family and dragged away.

Originally, he probably wanted to kill the chicken and scare the monkey, beat him up, and scare some other people, but he probably ended up being a little cruel and beat the person to death directly.

The man dragged him back, dropped two coins and left.

The only son was beaten to death. Sui's wife could not bear the blow and died in depression.Sui wants to file a complaint, but where is it so easy to file a complaint?
As long as Mrs. Zhang is willing, they can't get out!
Even if you go out, they will block you back. Even if you are lucky enough to arrive at the county government office, it will be useless. You will not be able to pass the hurdles of those government servants and subordinates. They will beat you and scold you when they come back, and they will be thrown back to you again.

This is nothing new.

That's how it went.

At least, in Zhang's view, it was just a trivial matter, and that was really a thing of the past.

until today.

The steward who went to the county town to buy goods hurried back from outside.

"Patriarch, Patriarch, something is wrong!"

The current head of the Zhang family is Zhang Huan, a direct descendant of the Zhang family.At this time, when he heard the housekeeper coming in in a panic, he couldn't help but frown slightly and threw down the book in his hand with an unhappy expression.

"How rude is it to be in a panic! Didn't I ask you to go shopping in the city? Have you ever done anything well -"

The steward didn't care about the owner's anger, and said with a panicked expression while breathing heavily.

"Master, something has happened! That person from Baihe Village went to the city for some unknown reason and went to the emperor's grandson to complain!"

Zhang Huan looked shocked when he heard this.

"Why did he run into the city and even run in front of the emperor's eldest grandson?"

At this time, he no longer cared about playing the trick of being calm and calm. He pushed away a few cases, stood up, and quickly changed a few sentences in the room before suddenly stopping.

"Go and inform Manager Zhang to leave the county immediately and hide in the countryside for a few days..."

The steward turned around and left immediately after hearing this. Who knows, before he could leave the courtyard, the courtyard door was blocked by someone.

Someone is coming from the Sheriff’s Mansion!

Zhang Huan slowly stood up and looked at the county officials who were filing in.

"My lords, you came uninvited and broke into my Zhang family's residence. May I ask what you are doing..."

Hearing this, the official opposite glanced at him with a straight face, as if he didn't recognize him, and waved his hand coldly.

"On the order of the county governor, I have come to invite the head of the Zhang family to come to the mansion to have a talk!"

Zhang Huan:......

Seeing the other party's unpretentious expression, Zhang Huan couldn't help but frown, but after thinking for a moment, he nodded slowly.Although there is a little trouble on the other side, people do not die in his hands.

"In that case, let's lead the way!"

……

Zhang Liang and others acted quickly.

The group of people rode war horses and soon arrived at Baihe Village and found Sui's yard.

Revealing his identity, he was summoned by the corps commander and the area commander where Sui was.

Knowing that Zhang Liang and others were nobles from Xianyang and officials accompanying His Royal Highness the Emperor Changsun, how could these people dare to hide it?You know, in Da Qin, it is also a serious crime to conceal one's sins.

Soon, the facts were found out.

The Zhang family forcibly plowed the crops in the fields rented by the Zhang family and forced them to plant new rice. The son of the Zhang family was beaten on the spot by the bamboo basket. Later, Lei was forcibly taken away by the Zhang family. When he came back, he had become A corpse.

Zhang Liang looked at the corps commander and li commander who were cowering in front of him and slowed down his tone.

"Have your fields been planted with new rice seeds from the imperial court..."

Seeing the newly arrived nobleman asking about this, the two old men looked at each other subconsciously, thinking that the nobleman was also trying to find out which family had not planted new rice seeds, so they lowered their heads and said nonchalantly.

"If you have the seed, if you have the seed, I don't dare to disobey the government orders of the yamen. It has already been planted. It has been planted..."

Zhang Liang knew that the two old men had misunderstood his words, but he did not explain. Instead, he followed their words and spoke calmly.

"Where was it planted?"

"Planted, planted in the ground at the end of the village..."

Seeing the two people hesitating and looking a little flustered, Zhang Liang couldn't help but feel moved in his heart and said calmly.

"Take me to see..."

As a result, before he finished speaking, he saw the two old men kneeling on the ground with a thud.

"My lord, please forgive me. My lord, please forgive me..."

Zhang Liang: ...

Looking at the dry land on the slope, Zhang Liang was silent for a long time before he turned his head and looked at the flustered corps commander and li commander.

“This is where you plant new rice?”

The two old men nodded resignedly.

Seeing the lifeless look on Zhang Liang's face, he took the courage to say.

"The paddy field at home and the fertile land with water supply were not willing to be plowed - the old man was familiar with the old men in the yamen, so he planted them here instead..."

Having said this, he glanced at Zhang Liang and others again with some guilt.

"Thinking about it, even if there is really no harvest, there are still a few acres of land left to sustain it. Even if it is a little bit bitter and mixed with some weeds from the mountains, I can barely make it half full, and I won't be unable to survive..."

Zhang Liang was silent for a long time. The policy of promoting new rice was originally promoted by him, but he did not expect that when it was implemented in the local area, it would turn out like this.

"How many people like you can plow up crops and plant them again..."

(End of this chapter)