While Chen Ping lamented that the Xiongnu custom valued the strong and looked down upon the old and the weak, Heifu, who was far away in Beidi County, was doing the opposite: building the first "retirement home" in the Qin Dynasty.
This was a collaboration between Heifu and the county governor Zhao Hai. Zhao Hai regarded this as a political achievement, while Heifu regarded it as a way to boost morale and encourage the soldiers to fight bravely.
In the middle of the twelfth lunar month of the twenty-eighth year of the First Emperor of Qin (the fourth lunar month), summer had already begun in the North, and the sun was warming up. The "Retirement Home" was officially opened in the west of Yiqu County. This place is not big, and it will accommodate Beidi County in the past few decades.
Old and widowed soldiers who are disabled due to joining the army, serving in the army, or guarding the border, and have no one to support them.
In fact, the population of Beidi County is sparse, with less than 30,000 households and less than 200,000 inhabitants, of which only half are Qin people, so there are only about 20 people who meet this condition...
Even if we build a yard specifically for them and hire cooks and servants to take care of it, it won't cost much a year.
But Heifu still attached great importance to this matter. On the day of the opening of the nursing home, he personally brought three hundred selected children of good families to ask them to help these disabled elderly people who were recruited from various counties and did not believe that such a good thing could exist in the world.
The soldier was fetching water and chopping firewood, showing his full posture.
The veterans finally believed it and were moved to tears, because they were indeed a group struggling on the verge of death. Although they were injured, they did not win the title. Thinking about it afterwards, they might as well die in battle. After returning to their hometown
He also lost the ability to hold power, and because of his disability, no one was willing to marry his daughter.
"It's like a tree. Suddenly all its branches and leaves are cut down in one day. Even if it doesn't die, it can only survive."
An old soldier excitedly slapped his bare left foot and said that twenty years ago, when the Six Kingdoms attacked Hangu Pass, he was injured while serving in defense against the enemy. One of his legs was broken by the long hub of a rapidly rolling chariot.
But miraculously survived.
But after he came back, he was often regarded as a slave who was executed for escaping, and he suffered a lot of injustice...
Only today does he feel that the injuries and disabilities he suffered back then seem to have some value.
Heifu listened carefully to each old man's story, patted their withered hands and said, "Don't worry, I'm sorry. The nursing home will guarantee food, clothing, medical care, safety, and burial. The five guarantees will be complete until you die a happy death!"
He has always felt that for soldiers, they should not be treated as bones and bones that serve as stepping stones for meritorious service, nor as mules and horses that can be dispatched and do not matter if they die, but as a group of living people. Since they want to encourage them to fight, they must
Do a good job in the aftermath.
Heifu also gave three hundred good family sons, and even the county soldiers who were ordered to build walls and build houses promoted Qin's policies: ""The Way of Being an Official" says that as a Qin official, you should eliminate harm and promote benefits, and be merciful to all.
The surname is innocent and not guilty. The orphans, widows and poor people, the old and the weak, the disabled and the sick will have their corvee service reduced or reduced, and the violent and ruthless people will not be bullied by them. The government will take care of their food, clothing, hunger and cold. This is the case for ordinary Guizhou leaders, not to mention those who were once the country's leaders.
Are there any soldiers who have suffered physical injuries due to their efforts?"
Although Qin's laws are sometimes cruel, sometimes they are also very gentle. These things that seem very "Confucian" are actually advocated by the Legalists. We don't have to wait until the Han Dynasty. The Legalists have already learned to wrap a layer around their cold hearts.
The skin of human nature, Shang Yang's big truth that "rituals and music, poetry and calligraphy, cultivation of virtue, filial piety and brotherhood, integrity, honesty, benevolence and righteousness, and shamelessness in fighting" are all six lice, Li Si and others will not say it.
Contrary to the nomads, in the farming civilization, every old person in the family is like a treasure. The young people are far inferior to them in mastering the seasons, climate, seasons, seeds, soil, farm tools and even farming methods. In addition, there is no need to move frequently, and the harvest is relatively stable.
, it is not difficult to support your parents and live frugally.
As a result, respect for the elderly and filial piety have become universal values recognized by Legalism, Confucianism, Huang-Laoism and other schools. Even the Mohists, who like to go eccentric, only hope that people in the world "love other people's parents as their own."
Parents, love other people’s brothers as your own brothers.”
It is not difficult to understand why many dynasties in later generations like to "rule the world with filial piety", because this is the universal value of Chinese farming culture and is absolutely unmistakable.
By the way, Heifu also announced that in the future, if there were deaths in melee on the battlefield, and the bodies were difficult to identify and could not be transported back to their hometown, they would be buried in the "Loyal Soldiers Cemetery". This was what he suggested Li You implement in Nanjun in the year when Chu was destroyed.
After the two-pronged attack, three hundred good family members, one thousand county soldiers, and garrison soldiers followed Heifu, facing the direction of Xianyang, and said loudly:
"Thanks to your majesty's blessing and the appearance of laws and orders, the beheaded soldiers of Qin are given titles, the wounded and disabled are raised, and the dead in battle are buried. How dare we not kill the enemy bravely and be happy when we hear the battle?"
After finishing his official duties, Hei Fu hurried home. The county captain used to be a very diligent person, but today he missed the time to get off work. The officials in the county captain's mansion suddenly thought it was strange.
Because just yesterday, Ye Zijin told Hei Fu a piece of good news: her menstrual period will not come this month, and it is very likely that due to Hei Fu's hard work in the past two months, she will be pregnant...
This is such a happy event! Heifu has had the opportunity to be a father for the first time in two lifetimes. Although the final result has not yet been determined, it already makes him inexplicably excited.
Hei Fu's behavior as a young man was noticed by his wife, and when she teased him about it, Hei Fu said seriously: "How can any father not look forward to his eldest son or daughter as much as he looks forward to the rain?"
Coincidentally, when Heifu said this, hundreds of miles to the north, Prince Moton, the eldest son of the Xiongnu Great Chanyu, was not loved by his father. However, he made people on the grassland upset by giving him a wedding gift.
Everyone knows...
…
Chen Ping had been in Helan Mountain for several days, and finally waited for Mao Dun's happy event. On the day of the wedding banquet, Prince Mao Dun came back riding his eight-foot-high red horse and carrying "Lanshi" in feathered clothes.
"阏" is the transliteration of the Xiongnu language. Because there were cheers all around, the translator could only tell Chen Ping loudly that this word can also be understood as "the wife of the royal family."" Shan Yuke had many "阏" clans, and the largest one was called
Zhuan Qulan. But the rest of the people, including princes, can only have one. Before the death of the Yan family, they are not allowed to marry another wife, but can only take concubines. "
Chen Ping nodded, the Central Plains is about the same.
While observing the differences between the Xiongnu and the Central Plains, Chen Ping also discovered many similarities. For example, the Huns worshiped heaven, and the full name of the Xiongnu Great Chanyu was "Ploughing the Plough Guy Tu Chanyu".
"Plough" means "Heaven" in the Xiongnu language, "Gutu" means "child", and "Chanyu" means "vast".
Therefore, "supporting the plow and tuting Shanyu", translated into Xia Yan, means "the great emperor"...
Prince Modun was born to Touman Chanyu's "Zhuanqulan" family, but she has passed away for many years. I heard that Toumanchanyu recently got a beauty from the far western regions and named her the "Lan" family.
Favor, a few years ago, I gave Modu a younger brother...
But no matter what, as Touman's eldest son, Mao Dun attracted much attention and was regarded as his future successor. He was also sent to live in Helan Mountain, the best pasture in Henan.
When the eldest son gets married, people from the Xiongnu tribes thousands of miles away are sent to attend. All the tribes gather together. There are only four to five thousand horsemen who are fully armed. In addition, there are countless women, children and slaves. They bring with them
With a large number of animals, they camped on the vast grassland of Helan Mountain and quickly set up tents with wicker felt roofs.
The wedding was held under the sky and was a feast attended by all. Both men and women wore Hu clothes with pleated tops and trousers, painted leather vests, and horsehair leggings. The nobles decorated their heads with gold and tied their waists with bronze.
Belt, use animal fat to smear the braid to make it black and shiny.
Then, hundreds of cattle and sheep began to be slaughtered, and the smell of barbecue filled the grassland. Everyone ate the roasted meat with green salt, drank fermented kumiss, and sat around the campfire laughing and laughing with each other. The sound was so loud that the people underground were noisy.
The yellow squirrel also fled in a hurry.
Unfortunately, Chen Ping's current identity is a government "planner" who follows the caravan. He is not qualified to approach Mao Dun's tent. He can only watch from afar, watching U Thiyan and other valuable guests pay homage to the tall Mao Dun one by one.
Prince Don, present their gifts...
The first is the eight-foot-high horse that Prince Modu sat on. This was a gift from a Western merchant named "Kang State", which gave Modu a lot of face. It is said that this country is far to the west of Yueshi.
Further west in the desert mountains, the people have tall noses and deep eyes. This was the first time he encountered Ushiyan, but he could only communicate with them through the Xiongnu language.
Lord Baiyang of Henan presented a lamb made of pure gold; Lord Loufan presented a long whip with a silver handle and a vulture shooter; Lord Yan presented a horse carved from green salt and a sword
A gold-plated scimitar; Lin Hu sent a hundred large furs woven from mink fur.
A Marquis She (xi) from Yuezhi presented ten camels; an adult from Donghu presented five leopard skins.
Among them, Wu Shiyan's gifts are particularly valuable: three hundred catties of brown sugar, ten pieces of embroidered silk, thirty pieces of brocade, forty pieces each of red silk and green silk...
In addition to the guests who came from afar, the Xiongnu tribes had their own households, thousands of horses and thousands of people, and they also had gifts to offer.
But looking at these gifts, Prince Moton's expression became increasingly gloomy.
Because the most important gift he was waiting for has not yet arrived.
It was not until well into the night that several horses came belatedly, and all the Huns began to cheer. What they brought was the wedding gift given to his son by the great Chan Yutouman!
Mao Dun smiled and stepped forward to greet several envoys in person. They walked forward quickly carrying a pine box decorated with gold. After paying homage to Mao Dun, they opened the box in public...
Maodun's smile disappeared and his face became extremely ugly!
In the box, there was nothing he expected, just an ordinary leopard skin hat...
The Hun nobles stopped making noise and looked at each other, and the surroundings became surprisingly quiet.
Chen Ping noticed this strangeness, and the translator told him in a low voice: "According to the custom of the Xiongnu, when the eldest son gets married, the Chanyu will give him a silver-topped eagle crown to represent the 'eldest son', that is, the successor, second only to the Xiongnu
Chanyu's golden eagle crown... ""There is a gap between father and son, and they want to abolish the elder and establish the younger!?"
Chen Ping couldn't help but his eyes lit up, and he immediately turned to look at Mo Dun, wondering how he would react.
Get furious? Or fall out in public? At this juncture when Qin wants to use troops against the Xiongnu, if the Xiongnu Chanyu and his son are at odds, it will be a great joy for Heifu!
However, Modun just remained silent for a long time, put his leopard skin hat on his head, knelt down towards his head, put his hands on his chest, nodded three times, and thanked his father loudly! Then, he shouted a few words
, went straight into the felt tent to fulfill the groom's obligations, and soon, the Yan family's unabashed shouts came from inside. In the Xiongnu, if the bride does not scream loudly on the wedding day, it means that the groom is a waste.
The awkward atmosphere stopped, and the Huns became noisy again, and resumed their laughter and laughter, as if what happened just now had not happened..." What did Prince Moton say just now? "Chen Ping is most concerned about this.
The translator said: "The prince said that what he loves most is the leather that his father hunted with his own hands. It is better than the crown of gold and silver, and better than all the gifts today!"
This response was considered appropriate, but Chen Ping nodded slightly at first, then shook his head slightly, and said secretly: "Dong Xiang of Jin, what happened to Li Ji may happen to the Huns!"
He looked at the figures in the felt tent, illuminated by the candlelight, and cast an incomparably huge figure on the tent.
"I just don't know, is this Prince Moton a Shen Sheng or a Chong'er?"
