The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

Since they happened to meet, Heifu and Lu Dang led Ba Zhong to the Yiling County Temple to meet the county governor.

The county temple is located at the highest point of the county. From the dock, there are stone steps uphill all the way. It rained yesterday, and the mossy steps are a bit slippery.

Heifu was careful not to fall. While listening to the obscure language of Ba Zhong and a group of Ba people behind him, he thought about the deeds of "Ba Guafu Qing" that he heard after coming to this era.

He heard that although Qin State promoted agriculture and suppressed the status of merchants, there were two big merchants who were exceptions.

One was Wu Shiluo from Beidi County. It is said that he owned more than 100,000 cattle, sheep and horses! The second was Guafu Qing from Zhi County, Ba County. She made her fortune by relying on the cinnabar cave passed down from generation to generation in her husband's family. In addition, she also mined gold, silver, copper, iron, and well salt from Bashu. She was a real mine owner.

The world lists these two together with Fan Li, Zigong, Bai Gui, Yidun, and Guo Zong since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, as the seven great merchants on the Forbes Wealth List of the Warring States Period.

In addition to their amazing wealth, they also have outstanding status.

The King of Qin allowed Wu Shiluo to have a status comparable to that of a feudal lord, and was able to attend court meetings. The courtesy received by Ba Guafu Qing was slightly inferior to that of Wu Shiluo. Her son was made a doctor, but the King of Qin personally issued an edict to commend her for her chastity and made her a chaste woman. Local officials in Ba County were exempted from worship.

The reason why Guafu Qing was treated so courteously was that, in addition to the fact that Guafu Qing's family monopolized the cinnabar mine and supplied it exclusively to the Qin government, it was also because Guafu Qing's husband's family was a powerful family in Bazhong, and it was said that their bloodline could be traced back to Linjun, the ancestor of the Ba people.

After Linjun, there were five clans, namely Ba, Fan, Nie, Xiang, and Zheng, which constituted the ruling class of Ba State, known as the "Inner Five Clans" and located in the core area. Among them, Ba was the most noble, second only to the royal family of Ji. In addition, Cong, Pu, Ju, Gong, Lu, Xi, Yi, and Dan were the "Outer Eight Tribes", located in the surrounding areas of Ba State.

Although Ba State has perished, the five clans and eight tribes have survived. Therefore, the husband's family of Widow Qing was rich and noble among the Ba people. She was good at business, and her mineral estates were everywhere, with countless family wealth, thousands of servants, and tens of thousands of mining slaves! Its influence even exceeded Ba County. The footprints of the fleet and horse caravans covered the original territory of Ba State, and had close contacts with the Ba tribes in the four counties of Yiling, Yidao, Zigui, and Wu in Nanjun.

Unlike the Shu people who repeatedly rebelled, the five powerful families of the Ba people obeyed the rule of the Qin State, and the Qin State reciprocated by allowing them to retain their industries, tribes and private armed forces, relying on them to rule the Ba people whose language and customs were very different from those of the Central Plains.

Without the assistance of these powerful Ba people, Ba would have been in chaos, and Sima Cuo would not have been able to raise so many Ba people warriors to fight for Qin when he attacked Chu.

Hei Fu thought to himself: "The people of the Nanjun Gongcao mentioned to me that the copper mines in the Jiangbei area of Nanjun have been mined by the Chu people for hundreds of years, and there is not much left, and salt is also scarce. Therefore, every year, we have to rely on the widow Qing family to transport copper, tin and well salt from Ba to Jiangling via waterways."

Because of this, when the son of the widow Qing came to pay a visit to the county governor Teng, Ye Teng could not neglect it and asked his chief historian to greet him.

Soon, the county temple was reached. County Magistrate Teng was discussing matters with Yiling County Magistrate. When he saw Ba Zhong coming, Ye Teng asked Yiling County Magistrate to take all the officials with him. Hei Fu was about to leave, but was stopped by Ye Teng.

"Left Military Officer, you stay too."

Ye Teng's face was serious. Hei Fu thought that he must have something to do, so he agreed to sit aside.

"Ba County Ba Zhong, meet County Magistrate Ye."

Ba Zhong bowed. Widow Qing could meet the county magistrate without bowing, but he did not have this privilege. Although he spoke Xia Yan with a strong accent, he was fluent.

"No need to be polite." Ye Teng didn't waste any words and asked directly: "You sent a small boat messenger to tell me that there is an important matter to report to me. What is it? Is it worth taking the risk to come here in person?"

Ba Zhong bowed again: "It is a big matter. My family recently learned that the leader of the Yi tribe in Yidao, Nanjun, wants to rebel against Qin and join Chu!"

...

"The leader of Yidao wants to rebel against Qin and join Chu!?"

Hearing this, the chief secretary Lu Dang was speechless at first, and then realized that he had lost his composure.

Ye Teng glared at him and continued, "It is common for the Yi tribe to rebel. There have been one or two cases of people resisting labor service every year. In the end, they were all suppressed by local officials. Moreover, the county chief of Yidao did not inform me of this matter. Why did Zhi County, Ba County, hundreds of miles away, know about it first?"

Ba Zhong smiled and said, "County chief, although Qin has strict governance in the inland counties, it is different for the barbarians. Their tribes live in the streams and forests without officials to manage them. If something happens, it is often known after more than a month. It happened that my family's salt transport cavalry was active in that area. According to what they saw, last month, the chief of the Yi tribe received the envoys of the State of Chu, entertained them with good wine and meat, and finally drank chicken blood to swear an oath with them..."

"This is absolutely true. My mother thinks it is extraordinary. She didn't even have time to report to Bajun City. She directly asked me to take a boat to the east. I wanted to go to Jiangling to pay a visit. I happened to hear that the county governor had already arrived in Yiling. My mother and Ba Zhong are loyal. I hope the county governor will not doubt it!"

Qin's rule over the barbarian rulers was relatively loose. It did not require the people to be registered as households or pay general taxes. It only delivered local specialties and sent people to perform corvée. However, receiving the envoys of Chu and swearing an oath with them was strictly prohibited. Ye Teng frowned and looked at Heifu.

"Left Military History, you are in charge of soldiers. It is your job to know the passes, terrain, and barbarian conditions in the county. What do you think?"

In the gap between their conversations, Heifu's mind turned rapidly. As the left military history, he was in charge of military affairs. He had to be familiar with the mountains, rivers, geography, roads, and pavilions in Nanjun. Of course, he was not unfamiliar with the situation of the Yidao.

Yidao (now Changyang and Yidu in Hubei) is not far from Yiling, just 70 or 80 miles downstream, but it is in the south of the Yangtze River, at the junction of the Yishui River. The natives there are called "Yi tribe", which is actually one of the "outer eight tribes" of the Ba people.

So he carefully considered his words and said, "I think this matter is of great importance and must be verified immediately."

"Oh, go on."

Heifu said, "Last year, Qin was defeated by Chu and suffered heavy casualties. Even the captain died seven people in the battle. This matter cannot be concealed. Yidao is located in the south of the Yangtze River, close to Chu but far from Qin, so it is inevitable that there will be a desire to leave. Last year, a certain leader of Yidao was arrested and beheaded for evading garrison service. The local barbarians must be resentful. If the Chu people lobby with this matter and lure them with benefits and disadvantages..."

The implication is that what Ba Zhong reported is still very likely to happen. While Qin was preparing for war, Chu was not idle either, trying to harass from the corners to prevent Qin from concentrating its forces.

Longshi Lu Dang also said: "My Lord, the land of Xiangyuan in Chu State is the territory of Qu family. Before Chu State moved eastward, Qu family lived in Zigui and Yiling, and had contacts with various tribes of Ba people. After Qu Yuan's death, Qu family and Qin were enemies for generations. Last year, Qin and Chu had already made peace, but Qu family was unwilling to hand over Qingyang, and even counterattacked Nanjun Chanling, Yidao and other places, which triggered the war. Now sending people to lobby the Yidao Ba people is to repeat the old trick!"

Hei Fu also said: "If Yidao is lost, the tribes of Ba people in the upper reaches of Yishui will not belong to Qin. This place is very dangerous and there are mixed barbarians. There is no benefit in getting it. But if the local Ba people are instigated by the Chu people and help them attack Qin, Chanling County will be isolated in the south of the Yangtze River and it will be difficult to keep it. When several counties in the south of the Yangtze River are lost, the Ba people will go out of Yishui with wooden boats and go downstream to help the Chu army cross the river to invade Jiangling. The harm will be immeasurable..."

After analyzing the situation, the two of them both thought that this matter must be verified immediately. If it is true, it must be nipped in the bud. Otherwise, if Yi Dao rebels against Qin, the Qu family of Chu will have the ability to directly threaten Jiangling, and the troops of Nanjun will be tied up locally, and no soldiers can be sent out.

"If we lose two counties in a row, the achievements I have made in Nanjun this year will probably be greatly reduced..."

Thinking of this, Ye Teng made up his mind.

But before appointing the personnel, he looked at Ba Zhong first and asked with a smile: "Ba Zhong, your mother named you Zhong, which is really right. You came from afar to tell me, which shows your loyalty to Qin. It would be great if every Ba people could be like you."

Ba Zhong said modestly: "The Ba family has been blessed by Qin for generations and has been able to preserve its property. How dare we be disloyal to the king and Qin? Moreover, Yishui is the origin of the Ba people. Thousands of years ago, Linjun traveled west from Yishui to make the Ba people strong. Wuluo Zhongli Mountain in Yidao is still the place where the souls of the Ba people return. How can Wuluo Zhongli Mountain suffer from war because of the momentary confusion of the Yi tribe leader? This is also very disadvantageous for my family's salt and cloth sales."

For these polite words, Ye Teng just smiled and said nothing. After all, Ba Zhong was young and was stared at by the old sly man. He felt guilty and simply said another purpose of this trip.

"In addition, my mother has another request! I heard that Nanjun has recently made a machine that does not require manpower and can pound ore day and night... I wonder if the county magistrate can send skilled craftsmen to Ba to teach this technique to my family?"

After hearing what he said, Heifu also thought to himself: "It is true."

For mine owners like the widow Qing family of Ba, the water mill is also a magical tool that saves manpower and costs. This time I came to report this matter, I guess it is for exchange.

Seeing that he guessed what Ba Zhong was up to, Ye Teng couldn't help laughing: "Ba Zhong, your family has always been prestigious among the Ba people. And the salt transport cavalry is familiar with the terrain of Yidao and knows the strongholds of various tribes. If you can serve as an envoy to help the government calm this matter, I will report your family to the king! The art of water mill in Nanjun can also be handed over to you!"

This old sly guy is really good at doing business!

Ba Zhong hesitated for a moment, but still agreed.

Ye Teng gave another order: "Left Military Officer!"

Hei Fu agreed: "Yes!"

"This matter concerns the safety of the two counties, and may even endanger Jiangling and the entire county. It is of great importance. I will first send people to mobilize the troops of Yiling and Zhijiang, and they will cross the river to the south the day after tomorrow. You first take my tiger talisman, take a boat with Ba Zhong, and rush to Yidao overnight, inform the county magistrate and county lieutenant of the situation here, and immediately start a thorough investigation, and at the same time find a way to stabilize the local Ba people's rulers."

Hei Fu took the silver-plated tiger talisman and asked again: "May I ask the county magistrate, if it is true, and the situation is critical, and we can't wait for reinforcements to arrive?"

Ye Teng said murderously without any hesitation: "You can do whatever you want!"