In the winter of the 23rd year of King Zheng of Qin, late December.

It had just snowed in Anlu County and the weather was very cold, but in the Anlu County school room, three new disciples were still crowded by the fire pit, starting their first class with anticipation.

Their Master "dare" surprised the help from the side, slowly melted the frozen ink in the inkstone with hot water, and then moistened the brush, and wrote a large seal script on the rough wooden board.

“Fight!”

After helping to melt the ink, he sat down by the fire pit to bake. As an old disciple who had been enrolled last year, the Master would teach everyone what he would almost close his eyes and recite it. Because whenever a new disciple entered school, the Master would give them a special lesson. The student's learning career starts with understanding this word...

After asking everyone to write this word on the wooden tablet, the Master continued:

"The savage is punishment. It is as flat as water. It follows the water. It is an ancient beast called Xie Zhu (xièzhi). It understands people's words and understands human nature, can distinguish right from wrong, can recognize good and evil, loyalty and treacherous. When you find evil, you will touch it with your horns. Therefore, you use this as a magic beast. When the prison examines the case, you wear a Xie Zhu crown. There are also stone carvings of Xie Zhu outside the lobby of the county prison."

"Come on, write it three times and feel this word well."

I was surprised to see the three new disciples copying this word seriously and stroke by stroke. It was funny that they would have to copy it hundreds of times in the next year...

The school is a cadre training school for cultivating legal officials of Qin who are competent for various grassroots work. Therefore, the first class must make everyone understand what law is and what official is.

"The law is the procedure of the world and the appearance of everything; the officials are the lives of the people!"

The Master was excited again, and he knocked on the case: "My Qin State is different from other countries. If the people are punished according to law, they will have no complaints when they die. If they measure their merits according to law, they will not have to be grateful for the people's rewards. These are the effects of handling matters according to law. Therefore, the Ming Law says: If you govern the country by law, you will just make mistakes!"

So, where does the law come from? Does it come from the God of Haotian? Does it come from the will of the people?

No, none of them.

"The one who has the Dharma is the king!"

"Those who abide by the law are ministers; those who are lawful in the law are the people."

Legislation is the exclusive right of the monarch, ministers are the defenders of the law, and the people must obey the law and take the law as the charter for life.

The master of the school should deeply instill this concept into the minds of all disciples, so that they can strictly follow this principle in their future careers. Whether they are grassroots assistants or become county officials, they must be loyal to the king and the law.

The new disciples nodded frequently, but were frightened and burned on the side, wandering around. When he first entered school more than a year ago, he was like this, curious about everything around him and hungrily pursued all knowledge he didn't know. But now, he has long adapted to the life of his disciples in the school room. After the novelty disappeared, the rest were more boring and fatigue.

I still remember that last fall, my brother had just sent him to school. After the first legal class, the disciples were asked to conduct a "baseline test" and wrote a 300-word judicial document in small seal script.

Those officials who have been officials for generations have been dealing with these things since childhood. They wrote like flying, and they were completed quickly. A country boy like Jing, who had a poor foundation, had to bite his pen and think about it for a long time before he could write more than a hundred words...

According to the disciples' foundation, the master of the school divided them into different levels. Those with excellent performance can directly familiarize themselves with the legal provisions. Those with poor foundation must also know at least five thousand seal characters...

Don't be surprised, this is just a method of being a wise man, the most basic skill.

Jing studied again for half a year before his literacy was considered to be a test of passing. In the next few months, they were dealing with boring laws and regulations, such as "The Law of the Stealing", "The Law of the Thieves", "The Law of the Military Title", "The Law of the Effect", etc., which basically learned it one by one a month. Not only should they understand the principle of punishment for each law, but they should also read and recite it carefully.

Because the Master said that if they become law officials in the future and remember the law and orders incorrectly when the matter is at the beginning, then they will use the law and orders you remember incorrectly to deal with you, and use this as a punishment for serious consequences of dereliction of duty...

"If you remember the death penalty wrongly, it would be miserable." He stuck out his tongue at that time.

In addition to law classes, they also have to learn to drive a carriage, because after their disciples graduate from the school, they will not be exempted from service preferential treatment, and everyone may be recruited to the battlefield to act as a guard. In addition, they also have to practice swordsmanship, bowing techniques, and strengthen their bodies. It does not require you to be very powerful, but at least you must be able to lift a sword and shoot the target.

Qin officials are not just civil officials. They must carry swords to fight and kill enemies, and write official documents with pens. They are all versatile, so that they can adapt to the needs of Qin.

If you have to learn so many things, you will be ruthlessly beaten by the Master if you don’t learn well, so the life of the disciples in the school is much harder than that of the college students in later generations. Jing only has a day of rest every ten days. At this time, he would go to Guan Temple to find his former colleague, Wei Shi Anpu, to inquire about the news about the war...

Inquire about the life and death of his brother Heifu!

...

At first, what was sent back was sporadic news about the battle against Wei. Most of the news was optimistic. The Qin army was unstoppable and eventually broke through Daliang and destroyed the Wei Kingdom. The government sent people to publicize this matter in various counties and counties, so that everyone could know the brilliant victory of the Qin army and the king.

At the same time, Heifu's title was constantly being implemented in Anlu County by Xianyang.

First, from hairpin to non-refund, and then from non-refund to doctor, Brother Zhong's title soared like a flying one, which surprised and delighted.

Wei Shi Anpu quietly told him: "You don't know that every time Heifu's title is promoted, Zuo Wei's face will be a bit ugly!"

My brother Zhong and Zuo Wei's family had old grudges, so I knew it. This was one of the reasons why he was repeatedly excluded in the school room. After a few months when Heifu was sent north to serve, everyone was far away from Jing, and the officials didn't like to play with him. That was the most difficult period.

But as the title of Heifu was promoted to two levels, some people began to smile at Jing. In the small Anlu county, there were not many people with Dafu. They could be the chief clerk of the three hundred stones of each county, or become a village man. Seeing that their family is well developed, how could they not please him quickly?

But he had seen the warmth and warmth of human nature, and his heart was much more mature. He only maintained a faint friendship with those classmates who were pleased with. He only hoped that Brother Zhong would return as soon as possible after the war ended.

But the first one was not the soldiers returning home, but the news that Qin and Chu went to war!

The incident started with a small conflict in Nanjun. During those days, all Anlu staff were on the police, and it became very difficult for them to go out of the city and return to their hometowns. Nanjun seemed to become a battlefield at any time. Fortunately, Qin and Chu chose the game location in Huaibei, and Anlu was spared.

Seeing that it was October, Heifu had left for a whole year. It was logical that his service period had passed and it was time to come back, but there were no people around. In his hometown in Yunmeng Township, he asked someone to urge him to urge him, saying that his mother was so anxious that she was sick, so he asked him to find a way to inquire.

"Maybe it was released only after the October period expired..." Wei Shi Anpu was so relieved and shocked, but he knew in his heart that Heifu and the others were probably involved in the battle to attack Chu again.

Finally, in early November, I was shocked to receive the letter from Heifu from Yangcheng...

"In September, Dingsi, Heifu dares to ask Zhong again, is his mother okay? Zhong, is he afraid? Heifu is not bad. Now he is in Yangcheng, he is the commander of the commander, and the commander treats me well..."

"It's Brother Zhong's letter, Brother Zhong is safe and sound!"

After scanning the letter in a hurry, he was overjoyed and thanked An Pu. After thanking An Pu, he immediately claimed three days off, took a ox cart back to his home in Yunmeng Township, ran home, and read the letter to their mother himself, pointing to the words on it, teaching them one by one to their nieces...

"Will Uncle Zhong come back?" Yang Heyue asked with his head raised.

"Yes, sure!"

He said to the family in surprise: "Mother, brother, brother Zhong said that he had become the short-soldier of the Duwei, and he was highly valued by the Duwei. I believe he would not have to charge like before. When the war was over, he would definitely be able to go home safely! Maybe it was on the Winter Solstice, maybe it was on the La Festival, and when Brother Zhong came back, we would reunite our family and continue to pound rice cakes!"

After comforting my mother like this, I was so shocked that I hurriedly carried my luggage and returned to the school room with my heart full of expectations.

But when time entered December, through the sporadic news, he could no longer be optimistic.

At first, some people in the city said that the Qin army was defeated on the Huaibei front line, and then they were taken down by the municipal officials and sent to the official temple, shaved their hair for rumors.

It is better to guard against the people than to guard against the river. Rumors are still flying around in Anlu. At first, Shouting sneered at this, but the more he said it, the more he looked like the truth, and the more he said it, the more he became alarmist.

Some people say that the Qin army was wiped out and more than a dozen commanders died.

Some people say that the Qin army was defeated and Chen and Cai had been taken back by the Chu people.

The government did not come forward to refute the rumors or inform everyone of the truth, but only strengthened the control of speech.

Because in terms of war, like historical records, Qin State always reported good news but not bad news. He won a battle happily and recorded it happily on the book, beheading a few, and then broke a certain city and promoted it to the people.

But if there is a defeat, the historian will regard it as nothing. It will neither be seen in the "Qin Record" nor will the people know it.

This is why Li Xin's defeat in attacking Chu disappeared from "The Original Annals of Qin Shihuang", because Qin's own historical book "Qin Records" also skipped this matter directly.

But there is no airtight wall in the world. Nanjun is not far from Huaibei. As the news that is unknown to the truth continues to be transmitted, everyone is panicked. When they are in the school room, many disciples point fingers and whisper.

Everyone knows that his brother Zhong is on the front line, and now he may have a big defeat in the front. I am afraid that the Black Man will be in trouble...

Those sympathetic eyes and words made them angry surprisingly.

"My brother Zhong will definitely have nothing to do!"

He was so confident, but he was worried. He didn't even dare to tell his family about these things so that his mother could know...

At this moment, someone hurriedly entered, disturbing the lessons taught by the Master to the new disciples, and also bringing Shenyouwai's worry-filled shock back to reality.

The disciple who came in outside saluted to the master of the school. After saying a few words in his ear, the master looked at him and was shocked.

"shock."

"Disciple is here!"

The Master said, "Go out, someone is looking for you outside the door."

After amazement, he walked out in confusion, but then he thought of a possibility. He couldn't help but open his eyes wide, regardless of his decency, and then pulled up his clothes and ran in the snow!

At the entrance of the school room, one year and three months ago, Brother Zhong asked him to stay where he was holding a pile of citrus stuffed to him, and three men wearing warm fur stood.

Two faces in and one face out, were talking warmly, laughing while talking.

Isn’t that young man wearing black goat fur the little Tao whom brother Zhong once brought home to visit? He remembered that Xiao Tao was an ordinary young man in the lilu at that time, no matter how old he was, he was extremely dull, wearing short clothes and short brown, revealing his poverty. Why are he wearing good clothes and covered with fur?

And the other man was not Ji Ying who had seen before? He used to be thin and pointed-mouthed monkey cheeks, but now he is full of red face and is wearing a white lamb fur. His clothes are fresh and beautiful inside, and his eyes are confident, and he looks like he is returning home in a rich dress.

He rubbed his eyes in surprise and looked at the tall man with his back incredible way. The man's clothes were even more amazing. He wore a thick bear fur coat. This kind of fur is worth at least 20,000 yuan, or even 40,000 to 50,000 yuan. The entire Anlu County is the county magistrate, county magistrate and the wealthy Zuo Wei. Looking at the double-board long crown above his head, it can be seen that this person has a great title, and he is really rich and noble...

But why is this person so familiar?

"Brother Zhong?"

He shouted in surprise and hesitation.

The man turned around and was shocked to see it. He immediately grinned, revealing his white teeth, which set off his still dark face.

"My brother."
Chapter completed!