Qin Official

After drinking and eating, Heifu lay in the room with a heated kang and continued to read the documents and classics he asked Zhang Cang to select and copy. The howling north wind outside made him uneasy, so he simply put the book down and recalled his conversation with Wang Ben.

"Forty Qin officials, chief officials, and hundreds of stone officials govern 400,000 Linzi people... If they can manage this, then there is something wrong!"

The Qin Dynasty had nothing to do with the "feudal empire" mentioned in textbooks. Feudalism had been overthrown and deposed by the Legalists, and was thrown into the garbage heap of history by the First Emperor.

It was a new bureaucratic empire with two sets of bureaucracies, central and local, to replace feudal states. There are no longer the nobles and nobles guarding the four sides, but thousands of "Qin officials" who support the operation of this empire!

The local officials of the Qin Dynasty were divided into senior officials, long officials, hundred official officials, and young official officials, which were roughly divided into department-level, division-level, section-level and junior section-level officials.

The big officials are four to five people including the county governor, the left and right county lieutenants, the county prime minister, the censor, and the magistrate of the county. This group of department-level and deputy-department-level cadres have titles ranging from junior to senior officials.

Under the senior officials, those with a rank of 400 to 200 shi are called chief officials. This group of division-level cadres includes county captains and county magistrates at the division level, as well as deputy division-level officials such as Cao Yu, Shifu, and Chang Shi in the county, with titles ranging from public officials to officials.

There are even more officials with hundreds of stones, including the county's official history, military history, death history, chief records, pastoral orders, various Cao Cao in the county, as well as rural misfits, Youyou, and nobility officials who arrive, which is equivalent to the department. level cadres, such as Xiao County Party Committee Organization Director and Dean Cao in Peixian County.

Those below Baishi had the rank of Dou Shi and Zuo Shi, and they were young officials, such as Chief Liu Ting of Peixian County. These people were the real grassroots civil servants of the Qin Dynasty, and they were generally below the rank of nobility.

In the past ten years, Heifu has been promoted from a civil servant to a provincial-level cadre, and he is very familiar with this administrative pyramid.

He had chatted with Zhang Cang of the Yushi Mansion and knew that not counting the minor officials, the Qin Dynasty's senior officials, chief officials, and Baishi officials totaled about 8,000 people.

Based on the current forty counties, there are an average of two hundred officials per county.

If divided according to population, the country has a population of nearly 30 million. On average, 8 officials govern 10,000 people, and are assisted by dozens of local young officials. Coupled with the Shiwu Company system and the extremely detailed Qin laws, the local government can completely control the situation. Governance must be obedient, which is why in later generations, "imperial power did not extend to counties" did not exist in Qin.

"But this is only limited to places such as Guanzhong and Nanjun that have been ruled for many years and have adapted to Qin's laws. Linzi is different..."

The Qin Dynasty emphasized the importance of serving as officials in different places. Most of the senior officials and senior officials in charge of justice and garrison were transferred from other counties. In Linzi City, their total number was only forty.

However, when governing a place, outsiders who are not familiar with the local customs are like deaf or blind people, and they must be assisted by indigenous people. Therefore, other chief officials and hundred-stone officials are mostly recruited from local scholars.

This is equivalent to an airborne Qin official taking charge of seven local officials in Linzi. Through their words, hands and feet, they can restrain dozens of young officials below, and then tens of thousands of Guizhou officials.

It's not that Qin didn't want to send more officials here, but that one country merged with six countries, and all the available officials were sent abroad. You need officials in Linzi, don't Yan, Zhao, Chu, and Wei use them?

Furthermore, the distance from Linzi to Xianyang is more than 2,000 miles. With the traffic conditions of this era, it can take more than a month or two months as quickly as possible. The communication means limits the ruling radius, and Linzi is obviously outside this radius.

In addition to the ratio and distance of officials, there is another big problem in governing Qi, and that is language...

While he was thinking about it, there was a sound of pushing the door outside, followed by Gong Ao's voice asking, it was Chen Ping who was back...

…

Chen Ping is still the same as before. Everywhere he goes, he walks around the shops first. He is worthy of being a counselor who once went out to the fortress to work as a spy and almost killed Maodun Shanyu. The mountains and rivers are dangerous, the roads and cities are all in Chen Ping. recorded in the book. The reason why Heifu was able to respond fluently when Wang Ben asked him, "What do you see when you join Qi?" was thanks to Chen Ping's journey along the way. Chen Ping recorded what he saw and heard on paper and presented it to Heifu one by one for review.

When he arrived in Linzi today, Chen Ping got off the car at Jimen and went to visit Jixia Academy, which he had longed for, and then walked through half of the city.

Chen Ping changed out of his snow-covered fur clothes and went into the house to see Mr. Hei: "Sheriff, the official is back."

Heifu personally warmed the wine for him and asked with a smile: "Chen Sheng, what did you gain from going to Jixia today?"

Chen Ping rubbed his frozen hands, put them on the stove, and sighed: "Not much has been gained. Mr. Jixia, who was the most prosperous academy a hundred years ago, has long since disappeared, and all the collected books have been moved back to Xianyang."

"General Wang Ben's subordinates used the academy as a military camp. The peach grove where Zou Yan, Tian Pian, Shen Dao and Xun Qing used to give lectures has now been cut down by the garrison and used as firewood. The Panchi in front of Hengmen, A group of military men were washing and swimming there. Once upon a time, the sound of debates and readings resounded in Linzi, but now only the shouts of soldiers training are left..."

Although Chen Ping came from a poor family, he was good at studying and was considered a student. When he was young and studying abroad, his dream was to go to Jixia to study under the famous teacher Huang. But now that he finally came here, he has become like this.

Heifu was silent. The decline of this ancient university had something to do with Qin's policies. However, despite the decline of Jixia, most of the gentlemen of Jixia went to Xianyang to become doctors, hoping to have a place in the new regime and continue to enter politics through academics. Although they are still qualified to read and copy the books Qin plundered from the Six Kingdoms, they are only decorations and cannot be reused.

Of course it is impossible to restore Jixia. Heifu can't reach here even if he is guarding Jiaodong. Moreover, this approach is undoubtedly a declaration of war against the emperor's policy of unified public opinion. He can only start from the dark and try to avoid "burning" "Book" incident occurred.

He is more vocal about defending the people than he is about defending Sichuan. Shandong is in chaos before the ashes are cold. Liu Xiang, it turns out, does not study...

"Paper has been in common use for several years. Officials have become accustomed to using this paper to copy laws, write memorials, and love letters. However, it is not widely used among the people. Do I want to add fuel to the fire and make the world full of Jixia?"

At this time, Chen Ping realized that he had made a mistake, so he quickly stopped the topic and talked about what he saw and heard in Linzi City.

"I have seen the prosperity of Linzi, but it is a pity that when I want to ask about something, no matter I use Guanzhong Yayan, Luoyang Yayan, or Liang local dialect, I talk to the people in Linzi in the same way, and I can't understand each other at all. What are you talking about!"

Over the years, Hei Fu has made many expeditions here and there, and has met many people and heard a variety of dialects. Taken together, there are about fourteen dialects in the world, namely: Qin, Western Qin, Jin,

Liang, Zhao and Wei from the north of the river, Zheng, Han, Zhou, Song and Wei and the eastern part of Wei, Qilu, Yan Dynasty, the Yan Dynasty in the north, the Han River in the north, the Huaisi (Qingxu) between Qi and Haidai in the east, the Western Chu, the Southern Chu, the Eastern Chu (Wuyue) ).

This is a large classification, and each dialect can be subdivided into as many as thirty-four types. The difference between Qin dialect and Qilu dialect is much greater than the difference between Shaanxi dialect and Shandong dialect in later generations.

So Heifu told Chen Ping that he heard a story told by Xiaobaidu Zhang Cang in Linzi: "A senior official from the state of Chu wanted his son to learn the Qi language, so he invited a master from the state of Qi to teach his son. But. The son of Chu people was surrounded by many Chu people who bothered him all day long and talked with him in Chu language. He forgot the Qi language he had just learned in a few days. A year passed like this, even though the Chu country doctor whipped him with a whip. Son, he still couldn't learn Qi language. Finally, the doctor took his son to the state of Qi and let him live among Zhuangyue. In order to talk to others, the son of Chu people had to learn Qi language. In less than a month , and learned.”

This story is called "One Fu Zhong Xi", which also shows that the Xichu dialect of Heifu's family is incomprehensible with the Qilu dialect.

Chen Ping said: "Not to mention Linzi, Xianyang, Daliang, and Anlu. I heard that although Linzi and Jiaodong belong to the same area, they are not connected to each other."

Because the dialect of Jiaodong County is mixed with a large number of ancient Dongyi and Huaiyi words, the Qingxu dialect, which belongs to the "East Qi Haidai area", is not the same as the Qilu dialect.

This is also the reason why it is impossible for Qin officials from outside to govern Qi. The two sides do not understand each other's language, and they still rule like a ghost.

This kind of rule is obviously unreliable. Later generations have said that orders come from the top and are implemented at the bottom. A government order in Xianyang may be strictly enforced at the county level in Linzi, but when it comes to townships and Lu, it will be greatly compromised. , spread to individuals, it’s as if it doesn’t exist.

Looking from the bottom up, the people of Qi have their own culture, history, dialect, universities with academic freedom, and trade that is only available in the market. Two generations of mediocre rulers have ruled Qi for fifty years with the ideas of Huang and Lao, making the people of Qi prosperous without the disturbance of war. Everyone eats sea fish, plays the harp and sheng, plays cuju and bask in the sun every day.

Suddenly one day, their country perished, and the king was taken to a foreign land to starve to death while he was managed by a group of airborne officials from Kansai Qin who spoke an unfamiliar language.

Qin's laws are strict, and they can't do this or that. The knights can't even quarrel or fight. Merchants who had a high status in the past were once reduced to the bottom of society. Their two major industries, salt and iron, were also confiscated by the government. They could not wear silk and satin, and had to pay heavy taxes on every business they did. Ordinary people in Guizhou had a hard time, having to deal with corvées that were several times heavier than those in Qi, so it would be strange not to feel resentful.

If Heifu was born as a Qi people, he would have gone to sea to become a pirate, occupy the islands, and be ready to counterattack the mainland at any time, defeat Qin imperialism, and fight to restore the freedom of the Qi people...

It's a pity that Director Wei's butt is now sitting on Qin's side.

Thinking of this, Hei Fu couldn't help being horrified: "Qin's rule in Qi is really like a tree without roots and water without a source, floating on the surface. There are three hundred villages in Qi near Zi, but the officials don't know their people, and the people don't trust their officials." It’s no wonder that in history, once something happened and a powerful and right-wing force came to the city, tens of millions of people responded, killing dozens of Qin officials as easily as slaughtering pigs and dogs. Overnight, the whole city rebelled. Qin’s rule in Guandong also Like falling apart..."

"When I was a county lieutenant in Anlu, I was surrounded by fellow villagers who spoke the same language, so whether it was training soldiers or administering policies, it was very easy. When I became a county lieutenant in Beidi, it was Guanxi and close to Xianyang. Although there were Rong People, but there are also a large number of military meritorious landowners who are loyal to Qin. All the good families in the north have been accepted as knights by me, so there is no obstacle to doing things. "

But this time when he went to Jiaodong to take up his post, Heifu had just arrived in Linzi, and he had already realized that what awaited him would be a completely different situation from the past!

Just as Ye Teng warned him.

"Be careful! Back then I became a big fish out of familiar waters and trapped in the shoals!"

…

That night, Heifu and Chen Ping discussed for a long time how to govern Jiaodong County.

The next day, when he was going to say goodbye to Wang Ben, he entered his mansion and found that something was wrong in the atmosphere. The officials and maidservants lowered their heads and did not dare to speak. The Wang family's retainers had red eyes and had obviously just cried.

Hei Fu's heart skipped a beat and he knew something was wrong. He entered the reception hall and saw Wang Ben, who was dressed meticulously yesterday, with his hair disheveled and his eyes sad. He was sitting on the table with his hands tightly packed. A letter.

"General Wang..."

Heifu called Wang Ben, and Wang Ben raised his head. Knowing that he was here to say goodbye, he sighed, cupped his hands and said: "Guardian Wei, go slow, Wang Ben won't see you off... I just received the gift from Xianyang." News, my father has passed away!"