The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

Li Ping, the patriarch of the Li family, is already over sixty years old and looks frail. Although he still holds the position of the Three Elders, he has long stopped caring about officialdom and is only concerned about how to continue the development of the clan.

Last night, Li Xian, a clan member, came to report that the county magistrate and the county lieutenant had something to do with a local boy who had not graduated from school and wanted to avoid military service, and that Li Ping needed to go to the county to discuss it in person.

"There is such a thing?"

Li Ping is highly respected in his hometown. If the village head has something to ask him, he has to visit him in person. However, if the county magistrate and the county lieutenant invite him, he should at least give them some face. So the old man reluctantly accompanied his son and took the carriage to the county town. Li Xian volunteered to drive for him. Along the way, Li Ping also chatted with the most present son of the clan...

"Li Xian, how old is your son Li Cang?"

"Five years old."

Li Ping nodded: "I think this child is smart, just like you when you were young... You are in the county town and don't go home often, so why not let him come to the main clan often, get along with his brothers, and learn to read by the way."

"Thank you for your trouble, clan leader." Although Li Xian did not look back, his hand tightly grasped the reins of the carriage.

When they left the township and arrived at the familiar Huyang Pavilion, there was already a team of archers waiting there, including the head of the garrison, Xiao Tao, and his men.

Seeing Li's carriage coming, Xiao Tao nodded to these carefully selected subordinates and surrounded them silently, as if to protect them, with wings on both sides of the carriage.

"The county lieutenant is really something. I am not a foreigner, and I have to be treated so politely when I come to the county."

Although Li Ping was a little surprised, he just regarded it as a preferential treatment given to him by the county and did not take it seriously.

He looked at the passing Huyang Pavilion and began to sigh about the past, saying that he really didn't see that Heifu could be so capable, from a small pavilion chief to an official doctor. Although his official rank was only two hundred stones and he was still an assistant official, his status was much higher than that of a chief officer of Cao in the county.

"It's a pity that the marriage was not negotiated after all."

The old man felt a little regretful. After Heifu refused this matter in December last year, he was upset for a month. When he learned that Heifu was recommended by the county lieutenant as a county official, he regretted it a little. When he wanted Li Xian to help his family marry Heifu's brother, he learned that the Yan family of Yunmeng Township had already taken the lead...

"Heifu's family may become the third wealthy family in this county after the Yun family and the Li family! Even if my family cannot be friends with them, at least we are not enemies." The clan leader could only comfort himself in this way.

Just like this, he walked slowly. In the afternoon, the last pavilion before arriving at the county town was already in sight. Li Xian, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke. The terrible words pierced the old man's heart like a sword!

"Clan leader, your correspondence with the Dou family of Chu State has been leaked..."

Li Ping thought that he had heard it wrong because of his old age, and looked at Li Xian in front of him in surprise.

"You...what did you say?"

Li Xian said: "Dou Ran has told everything. The clan leader previously leaked things to Dou Ran in the letter, which almost exposed Hei Fu's identity, caused Ying Yang's false surrender to fail, and put Li You, the county lieutenant, in danger. Now the county governor has been assassinated, and Jiangling is searching for assassins and spies. This matter has been thoroughly investigated by the county, and the county officials will come to arrest them soon. The county magistrate and the county lieutenant asked the clan leader to go today, not for the students who evaded military service, but to inquire about this matter!"

The old clan leader was so shocked that he almost couldn't sit still. It took him a while to come back to his senses. At this time, looking at the soldiers on the left and right wings, how could they be protecting him! They were clearly escorting him with bows and arrows to be tried! And Li Xian was ordered to deceive him!

"Li Xian!"

After coming to his senses, Li Ping pointed at this most promising son and cursed: "Why didn't I see before that you actually have a heart of an animal!"

"Patriarch, please keep your voice down."

Li Xian still drove the car steadily and sighed: "If I really had a heart of an animal, I would not tell you this. The reason I told you is that I want to do my last bit of strength to save your children and grandchildren. Do you know what crime it is to be a spy and collude with the princes?"

Li Ping was at least a village elder and understood Qin law. The "Law of Thieves" stated that for treason and being a spy for the enemy country, in addition to the person being beheaded, his parents, wife, children, brothers and sisters, regardless of age, will all be executed. As for the crime of colluding with the princes, the person will be executed in the market, and his parents, wife, children, brothers and sisters will be tattooed and forced to work in the city!

Judging from the current situation, he may be able to clear the charge of being a spy, but he cannot escape the charge of being a colluder. Li Ping can already see the fate of himself and his family.

Li Ping looked at the county guards escorting him and his eldest son who was kept in the dark. He knew that he would not be able to escape today. He asked in a somewhat dejected tone: "How do you plan to save him?"

"If anyone among parents, wives, children, and brothers and sisters reports the crime to the government in advance, they can be exempted from joint punishment."

"Chief, if you want your children and grandchildren to be exempted from blame, when you get off the car at Shili Pavilion to use the toilet, tell them to report you first after entering the county town!"

Li Xian stopped the carriage, turned his head for the first time, looked directly into Li Ping's desperate eyes, and bowed:

"This is also Li Xian's way of repaying the chief's teachings from childhood to adulthood!"

...

An hour later, a dramatic scene took place in the Anlu County Official Temple.

Just as Liping and his eldest son entered the hall, the county magistrate, the county magistrate, the right lieutenant, and the left lieutenant looked at each other and prepared to attack, Liping's son suddenly knelt down and said on the spot that he would report his father for having correspondence with the Dou family of Chu State!

"I was the first to discover this matter and sue Li Xian..."

Liping's eldest son's eyes were red, and although his heart was bleeding, his father almost knelt down in the toilet before, so he had to recite the lines that Li Xian taught him...

County right lieutenant Zheng Shou looked at Li Xian who was silent meaningfully, "If you report to the officials first, all the crimes will be forgiven." There is something strange here... But since Liping successfully fell into the trap, he didn't say anything.

"Rebellious son!"

Liping seemed to have not expected such a thing to happen. He raised the dove stick in his hand tremblingly and hit his son hard. While hitting, he was also crying.

He recalled that several decades ago, when the Qin State captured Anlu, several Li clan members who were ordered by Ruo'ao clan to resist the Qin people were injured and returned home, but they were tied up by the clan leader at that time, that is, Li Ping's grandfather.

The grandfather personally cut off their heads and sent them to the Qin army to show his loyalty.

Li Ping, who was less than 10 years old at the time, was stunned when he saw those bloody heads.

Later, his grandfather sighed and told him that the survival or destruction of local clans and leaders like them was related to hundreds or thousands of lives, and it was no longer a matter of one person's loyalty or the honor and disgrace of a few people.

"Did you see that gecko?"

He still remembered that his grandfather pointed at the gecko crawling on the dim wall, and suddenly reached out and caught the gecko's tail! The gecko was frightened, and after spilling a pool of sour and smelly dirt, it suddenly broke its tail, crawled forward quickly, and disappeared into the cracks in the wall...

"Those tribesmen who were beheaded are the tail of this gecko."

The grandfather used his dirty hands to pick up the still struggling tail and showed it to Liping: "Only by sacrificing everyone can the clan continue."

In the course of hundreds of years of development, each family has learned the trick of "gecko cutting off the tail". When the clan is threatened, they will sacrifice some of the clan members.

But Li Ping did not expect that one day, it would be his turn to be the tail that was broken off...

After being pulled apart by the clerks, he looked at the four county officials again and bowed angrily, saying: "The law says that sons sue their parents, wives sue Lord Wei, and slaves sue their masters, their masters' parents and wives. This is not a public complaint. Those who do not listen and abandon the complaint will be executed. I hope you will execute my rebellious son! I don't have such a son!"

At this time, the county left lieutenant Yunman, who had been watching for a long time, spoke up: "Li Jun claims to be familiar with the law, but he is so old that he has forgotten the following rules. The law also says that crimes such as rebellion in cities, towns, pavilions, surrender to princes, internal spies, and collusion with princes are not included in this exception!"

...

Looking at the farce in front of him, Anlu County Left Lieutenant Yunman couldn't help but laugh.

There is no room for two tigers in one mountain. Although he and Li had no major conflicts, they had always been at odds. Today, seeing that this old man who had always looked down on him had such an end of being deserted by his friends and relatives, Yun Man felt happy.

"It seems that coming to Guansi today is not a complete loss."

He still remembered that when he received the notice at noon and invited him to Guansi, his suspicious nephew Yun Xiong blocked his way and urged him: "I hope uncle will think about it again. This matter is quite strange. Li Xian is Hei Fu's confidant. What is he trying to do by suddenly suing his own family leader? Why did Li suddenly have the crime of colluding with the princes? Could it be that the dealings with Dou Ran were discovered? In that case, my family might be implicated! Uncle, don't go rashly!"

Yun Xiong knew very well that their family was not clean either. Before the Qin-Chu war, they had a lot of dealings with Chu, exchanging leather and feathers for gold and tin that Nanjun lacked. But in recent years, as the two countries have become enemies, they have restrained themselves a lot. After hearing that Dou Ran of the Ruo'ao clan was captured, they dared not step out of line.

However, because Dou Ran was secretly sent to Nanjun, only a few people knew about it during the trial, so Yun Man thought that Dou Ran was still detained in Nanyang County.

So he said disapprovingly: "Dou Ran has been captured for more than half a year. If the matter was leaked, the supervisory censor would have come to the door with the county soldiers. Now it's just that Li Ping was reported by his family, and it's just dog biting dog. The Li family is a local tycoon after all. This matter has alarmed the county magistrate and the county magistrate. Now the three senior officials want to interrogate Li Ping together and call me to go. How can I be absent?"

With this mentality, Yun Man sat in the official temple. The old rival in the past was now a prisoner, which made him feel very comfortable.

But this feeling was fleeting, and then it was the rabbit's death and the fox's grief.

Although he told his nephew not to worry and that nothing would happen to his family, Yun Man was still very worried about being retaliated by Hei Fu.

He now regretted why he had made such an enemy and had not been able to kill him with one slap. Now this guy's backers were even stronger than his family.

"Fortunately, the Li family got into trouble first, at least it can attract the attention of the county..."

Just when Yun Man thought that today's matter was over with Li Ping being arrested, the county's right lieutenant Zheng Shou whispered a few words to the lieutenant Shi Li Xian, but suddenly stood up, stopped everyone from leaving, and announced something.

"There is still one thing that has not been reported to the county magistrate and the county magistrate. The county has already known about this and has sent a public doctor to investigate the case thoroughly. He is now outside the city."

When these words came out, the county magistrate and the county magistrate were very surprised, and Yun Man's face changed drastically.

Wait a minute, it takes at least ten days to get from the county to Anlu, so how did the official doctor from the county end up outside the city?

So, this case was first investigated in the county?

At this time, he suddenly realized that since when, a team of county soldiers with crossbows had been standing by the door outside the official temple hall, not staring at Li Ping, but at him! Li Xian, the confidant of Hei Fu, also looked at him with a smile.

Yun Man felt that something was wrong, and sweat broke out on his forehead, but before he could leave with the excuse of going to the toilet, footsteps sounded outside.

It was the "official doctor" mentioned by the county right lieutenant!

Seeing that he could not get away, Yun Man could only think hard about who the official doctor who came might be. His family had a wide network of contacts, and he had some connections with those above the official doctor.

At this time, the visitor had arrived at the lintel of the hall, but he saw that there were crowds of people in front and behind, and there were really a lot of people coming! The one walking in the front was a black-faced Qin official wearing a long double-board crown, but the black tassel under his chin had been replaced with a yellow tassel...

Yun Man's eyes were red with anger. Who else could that Qin official be but Hei Fu? ? When did he become a public official!

Hei Fu held his sword in one hand and held high the official documents issued by the county with the other hand. He entered the hall. Everyone in the hall, including the county magistrate, stood up and saluted him, because Hei Fu was entrusted with the county's order!

"By the order of the county governor and the county lieutenant!"

Hei Fu looked at everyone in the hall. They were all familiar old faces. Except for Yun Man, they all bowed to him and obeyed his orders.

"According to the thorough investigation of the Prison Department and the Thief Department, Yun Man and Li Ping are suspected of treason and have a relationship with the Duke of Chu, Hu Dou Ran, who is a usurper. The Left Military Department Shi Heifu has been ordered to arrest the two and bring them to Jiangling for trial!"

After saying this, he looked at Yun Man, who did not bow or kowtow and looked as pale as death, and said with a smile: "Mr. Yun, don't be in a daze. Now hand over your official seal, crown, and official uniform, and come with me!"