At the end of September, the weather gradually became colder. On the newly opened fields at the eastern foot of Helan Mountain, the buds of the wheat sprouts emerged. The local garrison still had to rely on military rations sent from the mainland. Once winter comes, the food roads will be cut off, so
Only one-third of the people could be left to guard, while the rest were withdrawn to the interior for the winter.
The soldiers in Longxi and the civilian husbands have been led by Li Xin and Meng Yi and will withdraw to Longxi County at the beginning of the month. The soldiers in the north will also leave in early October. Heifu is discussing the withdrawal of troops with the supervisors and generals.
At this time, Wu Shiyan came to report with the news he learned from the Yuezhi envoy, saying that Maodun had beheaded Man and established himself as a chanyu in Juyanze.
Heifu didn't find it strange, but he was curious whether the process was the same as in history. Young Master Fusu looked particularly surprised:
"Patricide!?"
Young Master Fusu was a little unbelievable that someone in this world could actually do such a beastly thing, and he mentally labeled Mao Dun, who was about the same age as him, as a "very evil person".
"If in Qin, if Mao Dun did this, he would be the target of public criticism. Everyone could kill him. How could he be embraced as the new chanyu?"
Although it was not uncommon to kill one's father to seize the throne in the Spring and Autumn Period, for example, King Mu of Chu killed King Cheng of Chu because he could not stand. But as time went by, filial piety became more and more important. Although various schools of thought had many differences in many aspects
, but are surprisingly consistent in their treatment of filial piety.
Needless to say, Confucianism, no matter which school, places filial piety in a very high position.
Even the Mohists believe that "subjects' unfilial piety to their ruler and father" is the cause of the chaos in the world. They only advocate that when you love your own parents, you must also love the parents of others, so that others will love your parents. Only by loving each other can you have friendship.
Beneficial.
The young master, Fusu, was deeply influenced by Confucianism and Mohism, so he naturally abided by filial piety. Even though he was somewhat estranged from the emperor due to the death of his mother and uncle, he often spoke out to give advice and contradicted Qin Shihuang. But he was usually very filial to his father.
There was no delay in saying hello in the morning or evening. Even Qin Shihuang could not find fault with this aspect. He did not like Fusu's compassion, but he admired his filial piety very much.
Even in Qin, which was ruled by Legalists, filial piety was very important. At that time, Shang Yang listed filial piety as one of the "six lice" that poisoned the country. However, after Shang Yang's death, Qin began to encourage his descendants to practice filial piety.
In "Qin Code", the punishment for unfilial people is very severe. If a sixty-year-old man accuses his son of being unfilial and asks for the death penalty, the government does not need to forgive him. He should arrest the unfilial son quickly and don't let him escape!
When Heifu first arrived in Xianyang, he saw a case in which Wu Bing, a scholar from a certain area in Dongmen, was unfilial to his parents and even kicked his own father. His father requested that Bing's feet be cut off and he be exiled to a remote county in Shu County.
, so that he would not be able to return home for the rest of his life. The government accepted the case and exiled Bing according to his father's advice and sent him to Chengdu...
Therefore, in the Qin Dynasty, being unfilial was a serious crime and required legal responsibility. Qin Shihuang did not want to be charged with "unfilial piety", so he finally welcomed his mother Zhao Ji back to Xianyang from the palace.
He was discussing filial piety with Fusu about Maodun's father-killing. Heifu listened to Fusu's talk, but then he remembered that Fusu in history was sentenced to death because of a crime of "unfilial piety"...
"The father told the son to perish, so the son had to perish?"
This is probably Fusu's values. If the historical story is true, Fusu committed suicide without saying a word after receiving the order, without even suspecting that it was false.
Should he be said to be sincere or stupid? Or maybe the promotion of filial piety by Confucianism, France and Mohism has penetrated into his bones?
Fusu and Maodun were of the same age, and both were eldest sons, but they were two completely different types of people.
Cruel and ruthless, black and white lotus...
When they encountered that their position as heirs was not guaranteed, they made completely opposite choices.
Seeing that Fusu was still filled with righteous indignation at Maodun's actions, Heifu laughed and said: "The Huns are disdainful of the old and the weak. Touman was defeated and lost their hearts. Maodun took the opportunity to kill. This is quite in line with the character of the Huns."
"
"A son who kills his father and then marries his stepmother is like an animal."
Fusu shook his head: "It's really hateful and pathetic."
But then he said helplessly: "Although Qin has criminalized unfilial piety, the folk customs are also not good. Qin people have rich families, and when their sons grow up, they separate and live alone; families are poor, and when their sons grow up, they marry into other families.
Lending a farm tool to the father will show an expression of favor; the mother will take the dustpan and broom and stand there scolding her. She will breastfeed the child without avoiding her father-in-law; the daughter-in-law will retort when she is not on good terms with her mother-in-law."
"If you ignore and treat your parents lightly, if this kind of behavior is allowed to continue, it will no longer be much different from the Huns."
In the Qin State, if there were two men and they did not separate their families, the land tax was doubled, which led to the demise of the extended family and the emergence of a large number of small peasant families. After the family was separated, they naturally became estranged, and the taxes were heavy and the families were poor, and each family could only feed themselves and support their children.
We often shirk each other when it comes to caring for the elderly. There are not many people in Heifu's family who love each other as much as they do.
Writing filial piety into Qin law was also a means to force these poor and weak families to assume the responsibility of providing for the elderly again.
What else can you do? Can you still expect the state to help you provide for you in old age? This is something that future generations will not be able to do. From "it is better to have only one child, the state will help provide for you in old age" to "you cannot rely entirely on the government for old age care". In the end, you still have to rely on yourself.
Don't count on others.
After saying this, Fu Su and Chao Heifu handed over their hands: "Qin has committed the crime of unfilial piety and has no sense of caring for the elderly. This is really a big shortcoming. On the contrary, General Wei opened a military academy in Beidi County to allow orphaned veterans to live in and care for themselves. This is really a great achievement.
Good governance should be promoted in inland counties and counties!"
"Something is wrong."
Hei Fu secretly thought that this young master seemed to have strong opinions on the Qin Dynasty's "rule of law and filial piety". However, such social problems cannot be blamed on the laws of Qin. It is the same in every dynasty and every generation. Human nature is evil.
It was related to national laws and regulations, and Heifu could not discuss it in depth with Fusu, so he coughed, skipped the topic, and talked about things that were more closely related to them.
"General Li and I were just partial divisions of the army. We defeated the Xiongnu and fled. King Yuezhi saw this and was frightened. He really wanted to make peace with the envoy Qin Tong. Even though he was a vassal state of Qin, he was willing to surrender to his majesty.
, previously promised to kill Maodun and offer his head, but now that Maodun has established himself as a chanyu, King Yuezhi sent an envoy to explain the whole story to Wu Shiyan, and also promised to send a son to Helan to accompany us to Xianyang to see His Majesty...
…”
Fu Su nodded: "Huang Fu came to court, this is a big event."
Qin Shihuang never liked to accept tributary states. At most, he would annex them first and then set up "vassal states" under the counties. In fact, they were only equivalent to small chieftains.
But Yuezhi is different. This is a big Western country. Since the Zhou Dynasty, it has never entered the Central Plains again. The emperor should be happy.
Heifu said: "King Yuezhi also promised one thing. Starting from next spring, Hexi will be opened to allow Qin merchants to have direct access to the Western Regions without any obstruction. He will also send back all the Qin merchants who were previously detained..."
A year and a half ago, Heifu persuaded Wu Shiluo to try to open up the "Jade Road" and explore the Western Regions in the name of looking for the Queen Mother State of the West. Wu Shiluo then sent a caravan to detour through Longxi and the Qiang region.
Huangzhong, heading northwest along the Qaidam Basin.
The merchants bribed the Qiang chiefs and recruited guides all the way, but they were not in trouble. In the end, they walked for several months before arriving at the country named "Wusun" from the Qilian Pass. The location was probably in the Dunhuang area in later generations. Wusun's population
One Hundred Thousand, like the Xiongnu, was a nomadic nation.
They spent the winter in Wusun. In the spring of this year, they originally wanted to continue westward and visit "Loulan", which Wusun people call "Loulan". However, it happened that the Yuezhi attacked and plundered Wusun. This group of Qin merchants were captured and brought back to Zhaowu.
He was detained in the city for more than half a year.
It just so happened that Qin had launched a war against the Xiongnu. The Yueshi watched from the sidelines. Seeing that Qin was so powerful and could attack the Xiongnu like nothing, they did not dare to kill the merchant envoys. This time they also sent them back with a lot of cattle.
Sheep gift…
The Yueshi population is only over 200,000, with tens of thousands of string control people. Moreover, they are a semi-settled nation. They do not have the depth of the Xiongnu. They do not want to invite the Qin Dynasty’s army to conquer. No matter how nice Maodun’s words are, the Yueshi king will not
He was willing to go to war with Qin, so he sold Mao Dun in an attempt to please the Qin Dynasty.
"It would be a good thing if the Western Regions could be connected without a fight." Fusu was somewhat critical of Qin Shihuang's quest for immortality. In his opinion, there was no need to resort to force if things could be resolved peacefully.
"False teachings to people are not reliable after all."
But Heifu shook his head and said: "Those merchants brought back not only the situation in Wusun, Loulan and other states, but also inquired about something. It turns out that there is a road directly from Wusun to Juyanze, and from Juyanze it crosses the quicksand desert, and then
There is a road to Helan and Hetao!”
"I have a plan for this."
Fusu nodded: "General, please speak."
Heifu said: "Modun is a man who can sacrifice his wife and horses for shelter. He is extremely tolerant and kills his own father. He is really a wolf's ambition. His behavior is very similar to Gou Jian. If he is not removed and allowed to rule the Huns, I am afraid that
become a hidden danger.”
"It is better to send troops to attack Juyanze again, firstly to eliminate the remnants of the Xiongnu and avoid future troubles; secondly, we can also set up outposts and trading stations in Juyanze, so that the Central Plains will have an extra road to the Western Regions without taking the false route to the west of Hexi.
"
Two reasons, the first one is more important.
Out of disgust for Mao Dun's act of patricide, Fusu didn't have much objection, but he said:
"Modun still has troops with tens of thousands of horses, and Yanze is thousands of miles away, separated by the quicksand desert. Many horses died in the previous battles. Now that winter is coming, it is difficult for soldiers to move and transport. I am afraid that the losses will be too great.
…”
In this attack on the Xiongnu, the Qin army suffered the greatest loss not its soldiers, but its horses. They were much more delicate than humans, and most of the horses they had accumulated in border counties over the past few years were consumed. Fortunately, many Xiongnu horses were robbed, otherwise the Qin army's cavalry would have lost again.
It takes several years to get one person and two horses together.
Heifu said: "What the young master said is true. The army is withdrawing one after another. It is cold and freezing in winter, so it is really inappropriate to use troops."
"But the envoy of King Yuezhi said that Maodun will spend the winter in Juyanze and wait until the snow melts next year before leading his troops to move north. Our army can join forces in the north, Longxi, Shangjun, Shuofang, and Yunzhong.
At the beginning of January, when it is warm and cold, we rush to Juyanze! We will annihilate Maodun and the remaining Xiongnu troops!"
Of course, Heifu, who is always cowardly in everything, would not personally go to such a dangerous matter. When he arrives in Xianyang and reports the matter to Qin Shihuang, he will strongly recommend Li Xin as the commander...
After hearing this, Fusu said nothing for a long time, but looked at Heifu strangely and said:
"The general is really obsessed with killing Mao Dun..."
Have you been seen? Heifu also knows that he has been chasing Maodun time and time again, and he will kill him quickly. It is indeed a bit obvious, but he no longer cares about it, and said with a smile:
"I just feel that cultivating virtues will bring prosperity and eliminating evils, that's all!"