Among the counties in Zhao, Handan is the richest and Hengshan is the poorest.
But even in Hengshan County, there is a large county like Quni with a population of 30,000 households. It has a north-south thoroughfare and boasts rich wealth from Yan and Zhao. Thanks to Kuai Che's operation, dozens of cities from Yan and Zhao were surrendered to Zhao in one fell swoop. This city did not suffer from the war.
It has too big an impact.
Of course, there is poverty among the rich. The poorest Fanwu County (Pingshan County, Hebei Province) only has 5,000 households. Its land is mostly hills, and there are many cypress trees on the mountains. Therefore, a place name called "Xibaipo" will appear in later generations. Taihang
The remaining veins stretch their bones here. Even on the flat land on both sides of the Hutuo River, there are some strange hills...
All in all, it was a poor county. There were several small feudal lords in the State of Zhao who did not want to live here at all. They only sent people to collect rent every year. Later, General Li Mu fought a battle with the Qin army here, which delayed the demise of the State of Zhao.
For several years, no other history books have written about it. Even the wealthy local scholar-bureaucrats in Hengshan County rarely come to this remote and remote place.
But recently, Panwu, which has returned to Zhao Kuai for more than half a year, has been very lively. In the cool autumn wind, there is a group of people waving hoes under a mountain in Fanwu County, sweating profusely.
The leader was a military official with a crown on his head. He was working here, but there were two personal guards holding the fine armor and silk crown that he had taken off. He was a little at a loss. Several scribes from the county were even more confused.
They were whispering in the shade in the distance, feeling a little amused by this scene.
"How can you, as the captain of a county, go to the fields and work with the common people yourself?"
"I heard that he was originally from Yangcheng in Chendi, the son of Shengshu, a gangster, and a migrating member..."
The scribes looked down on him, but the local knights and commoners in Hengshan County had a good impression of the captain who shared the joys and sorrows with the soldiers. They praised him while drinking water:
"Jun Lieutenant Chen is a good digger!"
"Chen Junwei" naturally would not let go of this opportunity to win people's hearts and win the favor of the lower-class soldiers. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and said with a smile in the Hengshan dialect with a Chu sound:
"I'm the same as you. My family is not rich, so when I was young, I worked as a servant in the fields."
He started telling the story again.
"After working, just like now, when I am on the ridges where I am not plowing, I often touch the calluses on my hands. I feel regretful for a long time in my empty belly, so I say a word to my fellow villagers who are still farming."
"What did you say?" The soldiers came over curiously.
"I say, 'As long as you are rich and noble, you will never forget each other'!"
Chen Sheng's words were loudly shouted, as if he were also saying them to the hundreds of soldiers beside him.
He stood up, pointed to the land under his feet and said: "Wealth and honor are at your feet. The first one to dig up the land will be rewarded twice as much, plus meat and wine!"
The soldiers seemed to have been given a shot of blood, and they stood up again, working hard at the foot of the mountain, and the excavated soil was transported away again. The whole process was extremely skillful.
Chen Sheng watched this scene with satisfaction and called an alchemist from afar to come over.
"Is there really a big tomb down here?"
Life was not easy, so he changed his profession and became an alchemist who felt the Jinding acupuncture point and insisted: "Don't worry, Commander, this must be the great tomb of Zhongshan Kingdom!"
It turned out that Chen Sheng brought this group of people to this poor county not to open up wasteland for farming, but to "steal graves".
In the Qin Dynasty, tomb robbing was a serious crime. The law stipulated that crimes equivalent to wounding, maiming, blackmail, murder, and human trafficking would all be punished with punishment. When a black pavilion chief in Anlu County, Nan County took office, he was arrested for capturing a group of tomb robbers.
And become famous and prosperous.
But now that Fan Wu has returned to the State of Zhao, out of resentment towards Qin, King Zhao Xie abandoned all the laws of Qin and reused the laws of the State of Zhao. It seemed that the law was legal, but in fact the whole country had become a land outside the law and a paradise for thieves and thieves.
, the society was in chaos, and the captains and commanders sent to various places even pretended to be bandits, hijacked passers-by, killed people, and set fires.
No one cares about this. Chen Sheng is just robbing a tomb, and no one cares about him.
As for moral condemnation...it doesn't even exist.
“When in town, do as the Romans do.”
Chen Sheng couldn't help but sigh: "If I were to do this in Yangcheng or Chu, I would be stabbed in the spine and cursed to annihilate my descendants. But in Hengshan County, stealing tombs is just a common thing and is just a matter of conversation after dinner."
The land in Hengshan County is small and the population is small. It is impossible to support hundreds of thousands of people on that little land alone, so the folk custom of being anxious and relying on opportunities to feed is formed.
Men don't like to work on weekdays. They gather together to play games and sing generous songs. When they have no money to spend, they meet to plunder and rob. At night, they dig graves and rob graves and mint coins privately. Women's interest is no longer in weaving to live a good life. They often play the harp and harp. Standing on tiptoe, he wandered around, courting the rich and powerful, entering the harem, and traveling among the princes. No matter how bad he was, he could still do well.
Previously, Chen Sheng volunteered and followed Chen Yu to leave Chu and go north to Zhao. They also surrendered to the King of Zhao and were ordered to take over Hengshan County. Because Chen Yu was the son-in-law of the Kuxing clan, he got the response of the nobles in the county and succeeded easily. , Chen Yu served as Lord Kuxing and Guard of Hengshan, while Chen Sheng served as his deputy, Lieutenant of Hengshan.
Theoretically, when Chen Yu went south to attack Qin with Xiang Yuxi, Chen Sheng should have the final say in Hengshan County, but Chen Sheng soon discovered that the local nobles deceived him that he was an outsider, and actually openly ignored him, and established an alliance in the east of the county. Yuan issued orders, and they also bribed King Zhao's ministers and sent Chen Sheng to the west to attack Jingxing Pass.
Chen Sheng felt aggrieved, but since he had just arrived and had a shallow foundation, he could only accept the order.
Just over a month ago, Jingxing Pass, which Chen Sheng had been unable to conquer for a long time, surrendered without a fight. It turned out that Zhao Cheng, the defender of Qin Hedong, defected to the Six Kingdoms. Zhao Jun Li Zuoche's troops successfully entered Taiyuan from Hedong and captured this county. Jingxing Pass Down.
Chen Sheng speculated that the coalition's attack on Qin from the west would be a tough battle, and Xiang Yu was stingy and would not reward meritorious deeds, so he was unwilling to participate and stayed in Lingshou County, Hengshan County.
After autumn, the evil consequences of the Zhao people's revengeful killing of Qin officials and the burning of county temples began to appear.
Zhao Xie was named King of Zhao, but in fact he lost control of the grassroots. The wealthy and noble village elders from various places who had been suppressed by the Qin people began to rise up and take over the local areas. In fact, the Zhao State restored its feudal system.
As a result, whether it was land rent or oral tax, it had to go through the hands of the squire first, and very little was finally given to Chen Sheng, the county lieutenant.
"I'm like a duckweed, unable to take root in Mount Heng. I can't go on like this."
After Chen Sheng realized that no matter what he did, he could not integrate into the local elites of Hengshan, Chen Sheng began to change his thinking and start from the bottom...
"I am the son of Qian Shou!"
Chen Sheng began to imitate what he heard about the military management methods of Marquis Wu Zhong in the South. He no longer concealed his humble identity and wanted to mingle with the people at the bottom and gain a foothold.
In addition, since he was asking for money to raise soldiers at King Zhao's resting place, Chen Sheng began to find another way and made up his mind about the long-rumored "Tomb of King Fanwu Zhongshan" in the local area.
The Zhongshan State was established by the ancient Xianyu people. It was destroyed once by the Wei State, and then recovered and gradually became stronger. It united Wei, Han, Zhao, and Yan to become the "Five Kingdoms". Among these five countries, only The Kingdom of Zhongshan is known as the "Land of Thousands of Chariots", and Fanwu is the tomb of all the kings of Zhongshan.
Chen Sheng is not interested in the history of Zhongshan Kingdom. What he cares about is whether there is a large tomb underground, whether the treasures inside are intact, and how much he can expand his army...
"Princes, generals and prime ministers, would you rather have the seed?"
Chen Sheng's ambition is definitely more than just a county captain without real power!
His nature is to be ambitious, but these days, he endures the desire to be domineering and behaves like a polite and virtuous corporal, even getting along with the "Sparrow".
It’s not that he really feels that he is from the same class as them and should share the wealth and honor, and win over more people in a strange foreign land to gain real power, but it is more so that he, the swan, can stand on everyone’s shoulders and fly higher!
But to do big things, you need manpower, and to expand the army, you need gold and silk, and the only way Chen Sheng can think of is to rob tombs.
It's a pity that the alchemist made a mistake this time.
After digging for three days, nothing was found under the mound. The angry soldiers clamored to cook the alchemist, but Chen Sheng just had two of his teeth knocked out.
"Give you another chance, even if you travel hundreds of miles of mountains and rivers, you will definitely find the Zhongshan King Otsuka for me!"
After threatening the alchemists in this way, Chen Sheng returned to Lingshou angrily. It was now the end of August, and the news of Fusu's defeat of the Yan people in Jieshi had not yet come. The first thing that came was the news of the defeat of the six-nation coalition in the west's evacuation from Xihe.
There are also a few uninvited guests.
"Chen She, Chen She!"
Before returning to the mansion, the familiar sound of Chen Dichu sounded. Chen Sheng stopped the carriage, and when he looked around, he saw several people tied to the ground by the doorkeepers...
"Are you... from Chen?"
He was a little surprised when he saw the friendly faces of several people. Chen Di was far away from here. Except for the thousands of people who went north with him, there were few people from Chu. This was one of the reasons why Chen Sheng had no one to use in Hengshan.
The doorman came to report that these people had followed Chen Yu's men back to Zhao from the Xihe battlefield. They claimed to be Chen Sheng's friends, knocked on the door and shouted "I want to see She" with an arrogant attitude. When the doorman saw that they were rude, he
Tied up...
Seeing Chen She, those people were even more happy. They clamored for the doorman to loosen their bonds, and even shouted:
"Back on the field ridge, you said we should never forget each other even if we are rich and noble. Have you forgotten it now?"
Chen Sheng asked people to relax, and at first glance, they were really the same fellow villagers who worked together in the past...
These people complained that they had been recruited by General Xiang in the Chu region, and they marched westward with the army pushing chariots and carriages, and fought all the way to the Xihe River. However, because they were baggage troops, they did not get any benefits, so they received the order again and hurriedly crossed the river.
leave.
A few people were afraid of being left behind, so they took advantage of the chaos during the withdrawal and went to find Chen Yu who was discussing matters in the Chu camp. They knelt in front of his carriage and cried bitterly, saying that they hoped to take them back to the country and surrender to Chen Sheng.
Yu Huan really thought that he was Chen Sheng's old friend, and he needed Chen Sheng's cooperation in Hengshan County, so he agreed.
Several people followed Chen Sheng into his newly built mansion. Although Chen Sheng advertised himself as the son of the head of Guizhou outside, he still enjoyed the same. The mansion was the former palace of the State of Zhao, with palace curtains and curtains, and he had several beauties from Zhongshan.
, so beautiful that Chen Sheng clapped his hands and came up to dance the famous local tiptoe dance.
This made several fellow villagers smack their lips and stare straight at them, saying:
"Hey, hey!"
Huoyi means big in the Chen dialect. I don’t know if it’s to praise the size of the house or something big...
Chen Sheng looked proud and said to himself: "Little sparrow, you have no experience, now you believe that I am a swan?"
But unexpectedly, after three rounds of drinking, several fellow villagers with low emotional intelligence began to talk about some embarrassing things that happened when Chen Sheng was in his late teens, which made the guests drinking together laugh.
If we let go of Chen Sheng, who was already the King of Chen in history, he would definitely look ugly, but now that he is flaunting himself as the "son of the head of Guizhou", he talks about "never forgetting each other even if he is rich and noble" as a declaration, and wants to win over the lower class.
The common people gathered together and gathered more than a thousand people from Chu who came to Hengshan.
Now that an old friend comes to visit him, he wants to entertain him well to show that he has not forgotten his old friendship, so he can only endure his dissatisfaction.
In addition, Chen Sheng is also very interested in the Battle of Xihe and Heifu's entry into the customs. This group of fellow villagers can provide him with a lot of information.
Under Chen Sheng's questioning, several fellow villagers began to talk about what they had seen in Xihe, from the massacre they saw, to the ferocious counterattack of the Qin people, to General Xiang Ji cutting off the rear, to the six-nation allied forces dispersing in the east of Hedong, each going back to his own country.
"Home" made Chen Sheng frown.
The world situation was changing faster than he imagined.
"The Yangxia man who raised the flag with you in Chen County, we heard his name when we were in Xihe, and heard that he also made meritorious service and became an official!"
One of the most promising fellow villagers had served as the camp commander of the Chu army and had better information. He talked about Wu Guang.
"oh?"
Chen Sheng was immediately interested. He still remembered the agreement they made when they separated from Wu Guang.
"Do you know what official position Wu Guang held in the Northern Expeditionary Army?"
"I don't know, but it is said that he has tens of thousands of prisoners under his command, and even went to Xihe to station himself. Across the water, the Wu Ziqi can be clearly seen!"
The Chenjun fellow said it extremely exaggeratedly, and after taking another sip of wine, he started to make fun of Chen Sheng without any restraint.
"Anyway, I'm better than you!"
…
ps: I recommend a friend’s book "Twenty Years of Rebirth"
Well, the books that have not been blocked should all be serious books.
It was posted at 23:30. How long will this review take?