The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

For the tenth time, Li Xian read the silk book sent by the county city ten times. After he was sure that he had memorized almost every word on it, he threw it into the brazier and burned it. He watched the silk slowly twist and deform in the flames and turned into charcoal. After he was sure that there was no residue left, he pushed the door open and walked out.

He now lives in the small courtyard of the other clerks in the official temple of Anlu County, and has a separate room of his own. After going out, Li Xian greeted his colleagues in the same courtyard as usual, and after a late breakfast, he went to the county lieutenant's office.

These few days are the critical moment of conscription, so the county lieutenant's office is very busy. Many pavilion chiefs and township officials are waiting outside, holding bamboo slips in their hands, ready to submit the conscription situation of their townships and pavilions. The county lieutenant requires that the conscription task must be completed in May, and the formation must be completed in the townships and pavilions according to their native places. After the summer harvest in June, they must gather in the county for training.

Li Xian walked around these local officials and entered the office. He first went to a room at the door. In front of a gatekeeper, he picked up a pen and circled the column corresponding to today on a large wooden slip with the names of 28 officials and dates in the county lieutenant's office...

In the Qin State, every official in the county had his own file. The number of days of attendance had to be recorded every day, and business trips and leave had to be noted. If there were too many absences, the chief clerk would blame him at the end of the year, which was equivalent to punching in at work in later generations.

"Is the left lieutenant still not here today?"

After punching in, Li Xian asked the clerk as if nothing had happened.

"That's right."

Li Xian is now the most respected lieutenant of the right lieutenant, so the clerk smiled flatteringly and said, "He has been missing seven or eight days this month. It is said that he is ill at home."

Li Xian nodded and looked at the office of the two county lieutenants. The main hall is the right lieutenant Zheng Shou, and the side hall is the left lieutenant Yun Man. Originally, Zheng Shou was an outsider official. Although he was a regular official, he had to discuss everything with the local snake Yun Man. Until half a year ago, Hei Fu returned with many local children who had made meritorious deeds. Most of these people were recruited into the lieutenant system. Now, the situation has changed. The Yun family can no longer cover the sky with one hand. Zheng Shou began to take back a lot of power. Yun Man may have noticed something. He has been sick at home in recent days and has not come to manage the affairs.

"The left lieutenant will not have many days left." Li Xian thought of what was said in the silk book.

But Zuo Wei's house was a tall mansion, like a fortress, with nearly a hundred servants and guests. It would be difficult to attack by force, not to mention that nearly half of the county soldiers were descendants of the Yun family and clansmen.

"The head of the pavilion said he would arrive in Anlu tomorrow, and I only have one day to prepare in advance..."

Thinking of this, Li Xian went to the parade ground near the south gate under the pretext of inspecting the training of the county soldiers when he was in Mo Shi.

There was a wooden fence outside the parade ground, and a sentry. Li Xian was a familiar face here. He asked a few questions and let him in. As soon as he arrived at the edge of the parade ground, he heard a cheer...

But he saw that the target of the parade ground was crowded with spectators, and the county soldiers were clapping and cheering while watching.

When he got closer, he saw a not-so-tall garrison chief standing sixty steps away. Unlike ordinary people who aim for a long time when shooting arrows, he almost didn't aim at all, and the arrow had already been shot. One arrow followed another, and the arrowhead of the latter arrow followed the tail of the previous arrow. The onlookers only heard the sound of "pa pa pa", three bowstring sounds, followed by people in the distance reporting that all three arrows hit the bull's eye!

This hand of continuous arrows is really amazing, and what is even more rare is that it hits the target at a distance of 60 steps. The new soldiers among the archers were very surprised. Seeing that Captain Xiao Tao usually kept a low voice, stuttered when speaking, and even needed help to relay his words, who would have thought that he really had some skills.

The old soldiers on the side began to brag to the newcomers about Captain Xiao Tao's deeds, from the arrow whistle in the blind mountain to shock hundreds of people, to the arrow shot at Xu Yang to quell the rebellion in Yingyang City, and then to the accurate arrow on the battlefield to prevent the Chu general from committing suicide, which made everyone amazed.

Xiao Tao just smiled and asked everyone not to make a fuss, and stood together to listen to him teach archery skills.

Archery used on the battlefield does not need to be as demanding as the archery learned by the nobles in the Spring and Autumn Period. It also requires a positive mind to hit the target. Xiao Tao directly taught everyone the eye technique, body technique and foot technique...

The so-called eye technique, of course, cannot be like the legend that one can see lice as big as a wheel. The most basic requirement is to keep the eyes "unblinking", that is, to keep the eyes fixed and not blink. As for the foot technique, it is "left foot vertical, right foot horizontal". While speaking, Xiao Tao also slowed down the movements to demonstrate to everyone. The right foot is horizontal and straight, the center of gravity of the body is placed on the back foot, and the left toe is aimed at the target...

It was at this time that he saw Li Xian.

"Left... the left hand is like rejecting a stone, the right hand is like brushing a branch, the right hand is released, and the left hand does not know. This is the way of shooting. You all learn to practice it again..."

After speaking, Xiao Tao let everyone practice on their own and walked over to Li Xian.

Li Xian smiled and said, "The army is really a place where skills speak louder than words. These talented officers and archers are convinced by you."

Xiao Tao said embarrassedly, "I... I just secretly learned some of the methods of leading soldiers from the head of the pavilion."

"Among the old people like us who follow the head of the pavilion, only you have learned some skills of training soldiers." Li Xian knew that he could not treat the soldiers with sincerity, and Dongmen Bao was a reckless man. He could charge and kill the enemy, but it would be a mess if he was asked to lead the troops. It was a pity that Xiao Tao's stuttering limited his career, otherwise he would be more than a head of the garrison and a general in the future.

"Speaking of which, the archery method you taught the county soldiers, Xiao Tao, was not the archery technique you taught the head of the pavilion when you were in Wei."

Speaking of this, the two couldn't help laughing. Hei Fu's martial arts were good, but his archery was very poor. He didn't make much progress after two years of training, and only reached the passing line of ordinary talented officers.

After chatting about their recent situation, Li Xian lowered his voice: "The captain will be here tomorrow..."

Xiao Tao was happy, but then he was shocked: "What...what are you here for?"

Li Xian did not answer, but asked first: "Among the two hundred Anlu county soldiers in the city, how many can follow the county's tiger talisman?"

"Everyone can obey the order..."

"What if the county's order is to surround the Yun family and arrest Yun Man? There are also many Yun family children and old friends among the county soldiers...How many people can obey the order at that time?"

Xiao Tao understood, pointing to the material officers who were practicing archery: "I dare not say about others, but my men...these fifty bows and crossbows, wherever the captain points, they can aim at it!"

...

After leaving the parade ground, Li Xian went back home first, and then went to the door. Ji Ying, who had agreed to meet him at this time, happened to be nearby.

"You guys go and deliver the letter first, I'll go to Li Weishi's house to ask for some water!"

Ji Ying, who was already in charge of the postal service in the village, came over with a smile, and only handed a piece of bamboo slip with a lot of records to Li Xian after he entered his house.

"This is something I just found out."

Li Xian took a look and found that what was written on the bamboo slip was all about the children and old friends of the Yun family. Although they were all accounts, each one had a time, place, and person, and was not just a random story.

Ji Ying said helplessly: "Adultery, private fighting, buying slaves from Chu, killing cattle, drinking together, gambling, these crimes together, although they can make several officials of the Yun family in the county lose their jobs, but for Yun Man, they are not important, at most it is a lesson for his clan members. In the past few months, although I have used my position to open many letters from the Yun family, I have gained nothing. Recently, they seem to be more alert, and even private letters are not included in official documents."

It can be seen that Yun Man seems to have smelled something unusual and began to be cautious.

"Enough." Li Xian put away the bamboo slips and said with a smile: "The head of the pavilion has verified Yun Man's serious crime. If this crime is confirmed, it is enough to kill this official! Add to that the crimes of these clan members' children, and the Yun family will fall!"

"Really!" Ji Ying was overjoyed and said with a smile that the head of the pavilion was still powerful.

Li Xian said: "The captain will arrive in Anlu with the county soldiers tomorrow, passing through Beijiao Township first. You should send a message to Dongmen Bao tonight, asking him to take the soldiers and officials of each township to prepare."

Ji Ying was very excited after hearing this. They had been planning for half a year since they came back, and they also listened to Hei Fu's instructions to be careful not to do anything illegal to be used by the other party. They had worked hard, and now it finally came in handy.

"Are you going to do it?"

Li Xian imitated Xiao Tao's appearance, made a bow-like full moon gesture, and aimed at the direction of Yun's mansion: "The arrow is on the string!"

...

After sending Ji Ying away, Li Xian thought for a moment and found that he had arranged everything. He only needed to wait for Hei Fu to arrive in Anlu, so that he could use the Beijiao Township soldiers and officials and the county soldiers to cooperate with the county soldiers to control the situation and suppress the possible resistance of Yun.

"Then, there is only one thing left..."

When Hei Fu's silk letter arrived last night, Li Xian hesitated for a while. Is there a way to not disappoint Hei Fu and preserve the clan?

Li Xian knows his clan. As a doctor's family who has served the Ao family for 400 years, the elders in the clan have always been obsessed with their old master. Not only do they often tell the young people in the clan about the past, they secretly celebrate the festivals of the Chu State and hold the Si Ming Festival. The clan leaders of all generations have also been closely connected with the Dou clan.

It is a joke to say that the Li clan is inside the Chu State and is somewhat selling out Qin. The whole clan does not have the courage to do so. It is just a nostalgia for the past, so if they are implicated for this, it is really unfair.

So Li Xian also thought: "Maybe I can fly back to my hometown and meet with the clan leader alone, let him quickly destroy the past letters, and then commit suicide in advance..."

In this way, the crime can be pushed to the clan leader, the clues can be cut off, and there is no need to implicate too many people.

But Li Xian immediately gave up the idea.

"If a king does not keep secrets, he will lose his country; if a minister does not keep secrets, he will lose his body; if a few things are not kept secret, they will become harmful."

The clan can be saved later, but what needs to be done now is to protect his career and the things that Heifu asked him to do!

So, he has one last thing to do!

It was already afternoon off-duty time, and the clerks of the government temple finished a busy day and walked out talking and laughing. Li Xian also greeted them as usual.

It was not until he entered the hall of the county right lieutenant's office that Li Xian took a long breath, put on a panicked and horrified look, and deliberately did not even take off his shoes, and hurried in, and knelt in front of the county right lieutenant Zheng Shou who was about to go home, which gave him a big shock!

"Wei Shi, what happened!?" Zheng Shou thought that the Chu army on the other side of Yunmengze had attacked!

Li Xian said with tears in his eyes: "I have something to report to the right lieutenant!"

"What is it?"

"When I returned home on vacation, I accidentally discovered that the head of the Li family in Yushui Township had correspondence with the State of Chu! It might even be within the State of Chu!"

"Ah?"

Zheng Shou was shocked. The Li family was the second most powerful chief in the county. His descendants and clansmen occupied half of the positions in Yushui Township and had always been relied on by him. However, his own Wei Shi was originally a member of the Li family. He would not frame his own clan, right?

"Everything I said was true. I would never lie."

"What should I do?" The right lieutenant was a little panicked. He had always used the children of the Li family to maintain a balance with the Yun family. Now that the Li family was in trouble, half of his men would be useless.

"In order to avoid alerting the enemy, it is better to lure the head of the Li family into the city first, and then arrest him after he enters the county hall."

Li Xian lowered his head to hide his cunning eyes and true purpose.

"This matter is very serious. Can the right lieutenant inform the left lieutenant Yun Jun to come to the county temple tomorrow to interrogate the head of the Li family? I heard that the Yun family and the Li family have always been at odds. I believe that the left lieutenant will be happy to help the right lieutenant arrest the Li family!"