Chapter 258 Does the emperor know about witchcraft?
The old man named Tsunari-kun hurriedly put the venison on the chopsticks into the intricately decorated pottery dish in front of him, hastily proving his innocence.
"Zewan has no such idea! Ze and this guy are inseparable!"
The old man had a correct attitude and a firm tone. He just raised three fingers and swore to the ancestors of the heaven and earth, ghosts, gods and ancestors.
But the middle-aged man sitting in the first place did not let the old man off because of this. He chuckled, picked up the wine bottle, and gave the old man a toast from afar.
Without waiting for the old man to react, he drank the wine in one gulp and said, "Tsangcheng-kun is much more resourceful than me. This time we are against that insidious and treacherous Shuzi, and we should take Gangcheng-jun as our leader."
As soon as he finished speaking, a wry smile appeared on the old man's face. He raised his wine bottle and was about to give it back before saying something.
At the right time, the two people sitting in the first seats on the left and right sides moved quickly. Before the old man could raise the wine bottle to his chest, the wine bottles they held in both hands were already aimed at the old man.
"We will be led by Tsunade-kun!"
"We will be led by Tsunade-kun!"
The two have different timbres and uneven voices. The only thing they have in common is that they speak very fast, as if their mouths are borrowed.
It is easy for ordinary people to speak quickly and have difficulty articulating, but the two of them not only spoke clearly, but also spoke loudly enough for the entire hall to hear clearly.
After finishing speaking, the two of them held up their wine bottles and drank the wine in one gulp, just like the person in charge.
The old man's face suddenly became unsightly, his wry smile turned gloomy, and his unkind eyes turned around the person in charge, the first person on the left, and the first person on the right.
Just after turning his eyes, all the guests on the left and right sides were seen holding wine bottles with both hands.
Among them were some who were tall and thin and had not used chopsticks and spoons today, and some who were fat and had their waists wrapped around their waists three times and changed their food twice on the table.
There are those who are young and cautious and taciturn, and there are also those who talk loudly and are filled with indignation and wish they could take the whole palace to Xianyang Prison and kill Ying Chengyu in order to take revenge.
Everyone present raised the wine bottle, which was level with either the pork belly or the muscular chest, and pointed it at the old man.
"We will be led by Tsunade-kun!"
"We will be led by Tsunade-kun!"
"We will be led by Tsunade-kun!"
"..."
Their voices seemed to shatter the doors and windows.
After that, he held up the wine with both hands and brought it to the entrance. The strong wind caused by the fanning of the sleeves of the robe made the thirty-six high-quality candles mixed with ambergris in the hall tremble.
As a result, the main hall flickered in and out of light, and the figures of the people present were also vaguely visible, making it impossible to tell whether they were humans or ghosts.
When the candle burns steadily and the hall becomes bright again, the Chu king's wine hanging on the wall in the wine bottle is crystal clear, and the texture of the slaughtered beef and mutton is clearly visible on the table.
Everyone's faces were filled with eagerness and expectation, and their eyes looking at the old man were full of trust.
The old man had a look of reluctance, and with an old hand that looked like withered tree bark, he placed the wine bottle filled with fine wine on the table with a loud "Duang" sound.
"Tsunari-kun, what do you mean?"
The upper middle-aged man looked puzzled, and there was a hint of evil in his brows.
All those present were silent, still looking at the old man with eager, expectant and trusting expressions.
It's just that his brows moved closer inward, gathering unformed dark clouds.
"Let's wait until we are done before drinking."
The old man explained.
"Hahahahaha, Tsunade-kun is getting stronger and stronger, but your ambitions are far behind those of ours!"
The upper middle-aged man laughed loudly, slapped his thighs, and praised the old man repeatedly.
His name is Meng Jiakun, and he is the head of the Meng family.
The Meng family is deeply rooted in the Qin State and has a longer history than the Gan family, the chief family that can be traced back to the time of Qin Xiangong.
The Meng family, the Xi family, and the Bai family are the three oldest aristocratic families in Qin today.
The three families have a very high status in the Qin family, which can be seen just by looking at their seats.
In addition to Meng Jiakun sitting in the first chair, Bai Fei, the head of the Bai family, sat first on the right seat, and Xi Shu, the head of the Xi family, sat first on the left seat.
This has something to do with Yu Yin, the ancestor of the three families, but not much.
The real reason is that the main source of income for other aristocratic families is from following the Gan family and selling scrap iron.
But the three families were not. The money earned from selling scrapped ironware was a small part of the three families' economic sources. The majority was due to the three families' monopoly on the supply of prostitutes and actors in the Qin State.
Just by selling well-trained concubines, the three families can enjoy the banquet. This is also the reason why the three families can dominate the banquet in Gan Luo's absence.
Bai Fei praised the old man loudly for being a man who could enlighten the marquis, while Xi Shu said that if Lord Gangcheng was not in charge today, we would really not dare to go to war with that Shuzi.
After the heads of the three great Meng Xibai families praised him endlessly, no one in attendance did not praise the old man.
The old man responded to everyone who praised him one by one, supported and complimented him, and his words could scratch the itch in the heart of every head of the aristocratic family.
To describe a person who is considerate in all aspects of his dealings with others, the four words "excellent in all aspects" are often used.
All the old man could say, the smile on the face of the head of the aristocratic family is getting bigger and bigger, the joy is getting stronger and stronger, and he truly understands what each head of the aristocratic family likes to hear and what he has done, it should be said that he has eighty faces.
While the old man was talking, the venison on the decorated dishes had already become cold.
Seeing that the place was getting heated, Meng Jiakun sat at the top and observed the situation below, eating meat and drinking wine calmly.
From time to time, Bai Fei and Xi Shu, who are closest to him, look at each other and smile at each other, the smile is mocking.
The banquet was full of joy.
…
Two masked men in black clothes came to Xianyang Prison with the imperial edict of the First Emperor.
After verifying the authenticity, the jailer of Xianyang Prison removed the intertwined bronze swords and let the two men in.
After the two entered, they were inspected three more times along the way. After three rounds of jailers confirmed that the four words "Ordered by Heaven, Live Long and Prosperous" stamped on the imperial edict were genuine.
The last wave of jailers sent one person and led two people outside a cell.
He opened the cell door, let the two of them in, and left the key in the hand of the masked man who was standing tall and tall behind him.
The tall and tall masked man took the key and stood in front of the cell door, seemingly guarding it.
"You're such a jerk, you don't come to see me, but you want me to come to see you?!"
Walking towards Ying Chengyu, who was lying on the bed, the masked man took off his veil, revealing a calm and calm face. He was none other than the founder of the Qin Empire, the First Emperor Ying Zheng.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! His face is full of unfriendliness towards Ying Chengyu.
"Brother, I've never dressed up like this before. How do you feel about it? Tell me how you feel?"
The First Emperor was always open-minded and open-minded in his actions, and he never bothered to play any dirty tricks. Even if he visited privately incognito, his face was still exposed - except for important officials in the court, limited by the times, not many people in the world knew the true face of the First Emperor.
"There won't be a next time." The First Emperor sat on the half of the bed that Ying Chengyu had vacated when he got up, and said with a sinister look on his face: "I'm very busy, you'd better have something important to do."
One year after the establishment of the Great Qin Empire, many of the hero families went to fiefdoms to take charge. Some of the riots were slightly better than in the first year, but not much, and it takes time to digest.
For the First Emperor, the biggest advantage of these heroic families going to the fiefdom was that he had to deal with fewer memorials than last year.
The First Emperor, who really felt the changes, when criticizing the memorial to Chou Shi, sometimes thought that if this land was sealed off at that time, the memorial would be the turn of the emperor to review, and he could go to sleep.
The enfeoffment system is actually not bad.
Although the princes from various places shared some of the memorials, the First Emperor still had a huge amount of memorials to deal with, and the First Emperor still did not have much free time.
As a monarch who created an unprecedented unified empire, almost everything the First Emperor had to do was to create new things, and he did not have much experience from previous dynasties to learn from.
So the First Emperor was really busy.
In other words, no matter who reaches this position, as long as he has a little bit of ambition and wants to do something, he will be very busy.
"Brother Huang, does he know about witchcraft?" Ying Chengyu said thoughtfully.
"That's why you asked me to come here?" The First Emperor's face became even more ugly, and he suppressed his anger and said, "The Queen Mother Huayang treats you very well. You should know this matter better than me."
"Is there really witchcraft? If I had known that what Huayang Mother said was true, I would have learned it." Ying Chengyu said regretfully: "At that time, I thought Huayang Mother was just teasing me, and so was Huayang Mother.
I remember you asked me once. Why don't you ask me a few more times and show it in front of me and I will learn."
"Why are you studying witchcraft?" Seeing his brother's interest, the First Emperor frowned and said, "If you are interested in witchcraft, you can ask Concubine Chu. There should be no one in Guanzhong who knows better than Concubine Chu."
"This damn girl knows witchcraft?" Ying Chengyu widened his eyes and said, "She never told me."
The First Emperor was about to make a move and said, "Go and ask her yourself."
The First Emperor was very busy and had no time to talk here with his brother about witchcraft or not. The First Emperor was not curious about witchcraft at all.
What is the use of witchcraft? If witchcraft is prevalent in the Chu State, won't it be crushed by my warriors from the Qin Dynasty?
"Something comes up." Ying Chengyu hurriedly grabbed the First Emperor and said with a smile: "Brother Emperor will announce a decree tomorrow. Is it okay if the Qin State does not have any concubines?"
"No." The First Emperor flatly refused without thinking.
A concubine is a slave.
Although feudalism gradually replaced slavery during the Warring States Period, slaves still existed widely until the Qin Dynasty, and even continued into the Qing Dynasty.
The concubines had two important meanings in the Qin Dynasty, which were also part of the Qin farming and warfare system.
The first is plowing.
The Qin Dynasty carried out great construction projects. Although there were many prisoners of war in the Qin Dynasty, there were also many prisoners who were imprisoned.
However, with the Great Wall, Chidao, imperial mausoleums, palaces, ditches, etc., a large number of projects requiring manual labor, the Qin Dynasty was in a state of shortage of manpower all year round.
If too many civilians were forcibly recruited to work on the project, the reduction in the number of people working on the land would lead to a food harvest failure, which at worst would make it impossible for the Qin Dynasty to fight foreign wars, or at worst would lead to famine.
Moreover, civilians were forcibly recruited to build the Great Wall, roads, ditches, etc., which required labor costs, food, food, and housing. Civilians were protected by Qin laws, which cost a lot of money.
Qin had too many civil engineering projects and could not afford to hire so many people, so Qin needed concubines.
If you don't pay wages, you can beat and scold them at will to hurry up the work. You can't cultivate the land. They are not protected by Qin's laws and have no one to care about them. They are very useful.