The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

"County lieutenant, Dou Ran couldn't stand the torture, so he confessed that his ancestor Ruo'ao had ruled Anlu for 400 years, for 20 generations. After the Dou family moved east with the King of Chu, the old officials Yun and Li who stayed in the area secretly had correspondence with the Dou family..."

That evening, Hei Fu and Tang Qian returned to the residence of the county lieutenant of Ying County and reported the progress of the case to Li You.

Tang Qian reported complacently. Although he didn't make much progress in tracking down the "internal agents" in Jiangling City, he could at least report to Li You with the two small fish of Anlu Li and Yun. The two families didn't have much influence on the entire Nanjun, but they were also county lords!

"For example, Zuo Bingcao Shi was the head of the pavilion in Anlu. He solved the case of thieves robbing the tomb of Ruo'ao. It was Li Ping, the head of the Li family, who told Dou Ran."

Li You was immediately afraid. This incident almost made Hei Fu's plan of false surrender fail, and he was also implicated as a prisoner. This Li Ping was really hateful!

Hei Fu didn't want to steal Tang Qian's limelight. He had been listening quietly beside him. However, the image of a person emerged in his mind. That was the head of the Li family who invited him to his home last December and asked officials to act as matchmakers to marry his daughter to Hei Fu. After retirement, he was a respected village elder in Yushui Township, Li Ping!

Although the marriage did not take place, because of Hei Fu's confidant Li Xian, the Li family was generally close to him.

"Now we accidentally injured friendly forces."

He regretted it a little. He should have thought of it earlier. Why would Yun Man tell Dou Ran about Hei Fu's heroic deeds? Furthermore, he had heard Li Xian mention that the elders of the Li family were still telling stories about the Ruo'ao family, which showed that they had not forgotten their old master.

However, this emotion soon disappeared, and Dou Ran also confessed some of Yun Man's dirty tricks, which was what Hei Fu wanted...

Tang Qian said: "As for Yun Man, he had some trade with Dou's family. According to Dou Ran, in the years before the Qin-Chu war, there were some merchant ships between the two sides. Yun's family, relying on its position as a county lieutenant, secretly bought some gold and tin from Dou's family to make a profit, and at the same time sold rhinoceros helmets and famous wood in Yunmeng Lake to Dou's family."

"However, as to whether these two families were spies and revealed the true and false information of Nanjun, Dou Ran flatly denied it..."

After listening, Li You looked at Feng Jing on the side: "Zu Shi, what crime should these two families be punished for?"

Feng Jing replied: "The ancients said that ministers have no diplomacy and dare not be loyal to the monarch! If a minister does not have the order of the monarch, he cannot receive and interact with foreigners. This is a precedent. Dou Ran is a county lord of Chu State, a feudal lord of a place, and is also within this restriction."

Heifu secretly complained in his heart. If so, didn't Ye, the governor of this county, collude with foreign countries when he was an official of Han? He could be regarded as a minister who "forgot his master and engaged in diplomacy to promote his friends" as criticized by Han Fei...

However, judging from the international environment of the Warring States Period, the correspondence and trade exchanges between countries were very frequent. If the princes were so strict with their own ministers, people like Su Qin, Zhang Yi and Gongsun Yan would have no place to use their talents.

Therefore, the princes only verbally prohibited it, but Qin State made a law specifically for this purpose, and severely punished anyone caught...

Feng Jing said: "During the reign of our ancestor King Zhao, the crime of 'collaborating with the princes' was added. If these two families are convicted of this crime, they should be executed according to the law!"

"Crime of collaborating with the princes..."

Li You nodded, and then remembered: "If I remember correctly, Wang Ji, the governor of Hedong County during the reign of King Zhao, was executed for this law and thrown into the market in Xianyang!"

Hei Fu also heard about this matter. Wang Ji was originally a Qin messenger, that is, a diplomat. He assisted the Wei people Fan Ju, who was as poor as a stray dog, to enter Qin, hid him in his carriage and transported him to Xianyang, and recommended Fan Ju to King Zhao of Qin.

Fan Ju proposed the strategy of making friends with distant countries and attacking nearby countries, and was highly valued by King Zhao of Qin. After becoming the prime minister of Qin, he did not treat Wang Ji, his lifesaver, badly. With his strong recommendation, Wang Ji and another benefactor Zheng Anping were promoted. Wang Ji even became the governor of Hedong County, enjoying the privilege of not reporting the political and economic situation of the county to the court for three years.

After the Battle of Changping, the Qin army attacked Handan. Fan Ju thought that Zhao had just lost 400,000 young and strong men, and Handan had no ability to resist, so he strongly advocated Zheng Anping as a general.

Unexpectedly, the sequelae of the Wu'an Jun massacre began to appear. The people of Zhao shared the same hatred and united as one. Prince Wu Ji of Wei also sent troops to help. Zheng Anping not only did not win, but was surrounded by the Zhao-Wei coalition forces in Handan with more than 20,000 subordinates. This cowardly guy led his people to surrender to Zhao and was named Wuyang Jun.

Now, Fan Ju was embarrassed, because according to Qin law, if the recommended person committed treason, his recommender would also be guilty!

King Zhao of Qin and Fan Ju were considered to be a good match between the monarch and his subjects. He could not bear to kill him, and used the excuse that Zheng Anping had changed his position after being recommended, so Fan Ju did not need to be punished. He also ordered the country: "If anyone dares to speak about Zheng Anping, he will be punished according to his crime!" At least he used the king's privilege to suppress this matter.

Unexpectedly, two years after this incident, Wang Ji was the governor of Hedong County. His subordinates reported that he had an affair with the princes. After verification, he was executed according to the law.

Wang Ji was actually recommended by Fan Ju to be the governor of Hedong County, and he was not promoted during this period. This time, in the face of the mountain of laws and orders, King Zhao of Qin could not save Fan Ju, so Fan Ju was implicated and died for this matter...

It can be seen from this that the punishment for the affair between officials and foreigners in Qin was relatively severe, but Nanjun was located on the border, and the officials in the territory had historical origins with Chu State, so they had a lingering relationship.

If Qin and Chu were at peace, no one would bother to conduct a strict investigation. But now that Qin and Chu have become enemies and the county governor was assassinated, it is easy for foreigners to be accused of being "inside agents" when they receive and interact with each other.

As a native of Anlu, Heifu also reported in detail: "Yun Man is the left lieutenant of Anlu County, holding military power. His family is a noble family in Anlu County, with nearly a thousand clansmen and hundreds of servants and guests. Li Ping is a noble family in Yushui Township. The former three elders also have hundreds of clansmen. If these two are really spies of the State of Chu, they are very serious. If they cause chaos and surrender to the enemy in Anlu, the land of the whole county will be eroded, and it will threaten the safety of several counties beside Yunmeng Lake! Be sure to arrest Yun Man and Li Ping as soon as possible, bring them to the county to confront Dou Ran, and investigate the matter thoroughly!"

"This makes sense. The important border areas cannot be lost."

With the pressure of the defense of a county on his shoulders, Li You dare not be careless. A room of a hundred feet can be burned by a sudden gap, so in Li You's mind, it is better to kill these people by mistake than to let them go! It must not affect the war preparation plan.

Thinking of this, he issued an order.

"Left Military Officer."

"Yes!" Heifu stepped out again.

"I'll give you the tiger talisman, take 300 county soldiers, and go to Anlu to arrest the two men in the name of inspecting the recruitment situation in the eastern counties!"

Li You personally handed the tiger talisman to Heifu and held his hand. The left minister had murderous intent in his eyes: "If the Yun family and the Li family dare to rebel...it will be regarded as treason and they will be killed by the army!"

...

After returning to his residence, Heifu called the coachman Sangmu who was squatting outside and chatting with the clerk.

Sangmu was the younger brother of Huaimu who died in the battle of Chu. Heifu saw that he was honest, so he brought him out from Jingling County, but did not treat him as a servant. Heifu let him enjoy the same food as what he ate, and treated him like a brother. So a few months later, Sangmu became his confidant.

"Feed the horses and put the spare wheels on the carriage. I have official business tomorrow and will go to another county."

Sang Mu responded and immediately went to the stable to prepare.

Hei Fu went into the house and found a few bamboo slips in the secret compartment behind the bed that his sister Zhang Yu had made for him. They were letters from Anlu.

They were not family letters from his elder brother or younger brother, but reports that Hei Fu's subordinates made every two weeks. They were all written by Li Xian and sent by Ji Ying, who was the "director of the post office" in a township...

Li Xian was currently working as a county official, always monitoring Yun Man. At the same time, Ji Ying, Xiao Tao and others who worked as minor officials in the township and pavilion were also secretly investigating Yun's family under the command of Li Xian.

Although Yun Man was cautious, there were all kinds of birds in the forest. There were dozens of Yun's children, and many of them were officials in various places. Although he was terrified by the Qin law and did not dare to do anything too extreme, he made countless small mistakes. A little bit adds up to a lot, and now he has collected a lot of black material.

These things are not fatal in normal times. At most, Yun Man will be blamed and several of his children will lose their jobs. That's all. But when the Yun family is suspected of "collaborating with the princes", it is enough to add fuel to the fire and bring down the family completely.

"How can I allow others to snore beside my bed?"

Anlu is Heifu's hometown, and his relatives and confidants are all there. He can't feel at ease outside unless he overthrows the Yun family. What's more, Yun Man once wanted to kill him, and this is his belated counterattack.

Heifu silently put away the bamboo slips again, and then found a piece of fine silk, lit the lamp made of animal fat, and picked up the pen to think under the flickering candlelight.

He was thinking about Li Xian.

Heifu recalled the cloudy day after the heavy snow, when he first met Li Xian. This literate guard was a man who was unwilling to accept the status quo. Then he thought of the cruelty of Li Xian instigating Heifu to kill the old man from Wei in order to get the title in the Battle of Waihuang.

As for the time when Heifu pretended to surrender, Li Xian, together with Gong Ao, Xiao Tao and others in Yingyang City, quelled Xu Yang's rebellion in one fell swoop, which Heifu would never forget. If it weren't for these powerful subordinates, Heifu would probably have become a prisoner of the Chu State, and maybe he would be the Dou Ran family servant who was tortured to death by him with water torture today...

The strong wind knows the strong grass. Since then, Heifu has regarded Li Xian as the most capable and trustworthy subordinate. By the way, he also has a son named Li Cang, who may be as talented as his father in twenty or thirty years.

Finally, Heifu thought of Li Xian's attitude towards the clan and the clan leader when he went to the Li family for a banquet.

"He quoted what I said, saying that the clan was just a person who was arrogant at first and respectful later, and that I was the benefactor who came to help in times of need..."

Thinking of this, Heifu made up his mind and wrote quickly, writing seal characters all over the silk. After it dried, he stuffed it into a bamboo tube and sealed it.

At this time, Sangmu also came in and said that the carriage and horses were ready and they could set off early tomorrow morning.

"The best red horse does not need to be harnessed, it is for you." The red horse "Chidan" bought in Anlu is already in its prime. It is not only durable but also fast. It is Heifu's old comrade-in-arms.

Sangmu was a little surprised: "Master, you don't want me to drive this time?"

This honest child thought that he was disliked by Heifu because of his poor driving skills, so he immediately knelt down and apologized.

Hei Fu pulled him up: "I have something else for you to do..."

He handed the letter to the illiterate Sang Mu and told him: "Early tomorrow morning, when the city gate opens at sunrise, you will leave on horseback. If someone you know sees you, just say you are going back to Jingling County for something..."

Sang Mu was very surprised: "Why am I going to Jingling?"

Hei Fu smiled and said: "Going to Jingling is fake, you have to go to Anlu for me!" During Hei Fu's trip to the county, Sang Mu had been to Anlu County for him and knew his subordinates. He was a good candidate for a messenger.

"You must travel day and night to Anlu County and hand this letter to Wei Shilixian of the county lieutenant's office! And tell him a word for me..."

Hei Fu said: "The survival of the clan and the future of the official career are all in a thought! I hope to see the decisive Li Jun in Yingyang City!"