"The boat that goes with the flow, and the tough and heavy stone, this is Xunzi's evaluation of Li Si and Han Fei?"

In mid-March, the news of Li Si's death came, Heifu was happy and sighed, and listened to Li Si's little brother Zhang Cang talk about this period of Li and Han's grievances, Heifu couldn't help but feel a lot, as a teacher, Xun Qing is indeed unique, but unfortunately he died more than 20 years ago, Heifu failed for a while.

"If only I could worship him as a teacher." For some reason, this thought suddenly came to Heifu, and it lingered in his mind for a long time, as if it was an unfulfilled long-cherished wish from his previous life......

In short, Li Si has become another apprentice who went to see the teacher, and the victory or defeat between him and Han Fei cannot be simply evaluated, but at least so far, Xun Xue has achieved a comprehensive victory in terms of ideology.

It is difficult to classify Xunxue into Confucianism and law, because Xunzi is the integration of the learning of the hundred schools of thought, although Confucius advocates etiquette, but it is often said that the law is used, and it is hoped that the etiquette and law can be used at the same time.

Therefore, the disciples he taught are also diverse, including Li Si and Han Fei's typical legalists, one focuses on practice and the other focuses on theory. There are also Confucian Fuchubo, Mao Heng, and Gongsun Nizi, who specialize in "poems", "books", "rites" and "music".

Well, there's Zhang Cang...... Mathematician? Natural scientists? In addition to mathematics, astronomical calendars, and wind music, regardless of etiquette or even Greek, everything can be a little bit of a "master".

And Heifu heard Lu Jia say that he had listened to Fuqiubo's lectures in the Chu State, and Daqin Fengchang was also regarded as Xunxue's second disciple.

In this way, in the two dynasties of Qin Shi Huang and Heifu, there were Xunxue disciples who held real power or deeply influenced ideology, which is very terrifying.

Confucianism has a kind of sage's "Taoism" saying: "From Yao Shun to Tang, from Tang to King Wen, from King Wen to Confucius, each more than 500 years old, from Confucius to the present, more than 100 years old, go to the world of the sage, if it is not far away, close to the residence of the sage, if it is even worse." ”

It was Mencius who said this, and he implicitly inherited Confucius, but Mencius's learning was limited to Qilu, and his influence on the world was far less than that of his descendant Xunzi.

The battle for Taoism is not mentioned for the time being, Li Si, the old hamster who chose to go out to protect the wealth of the family, died, and it had no impact on the regime, and now the entire Xianyang is running at a high speed, spring ploughing has ended, and large-scale conscription is begining, Heifu wants to recruit 100,000 veterans who have the experience of destroying the Six Kingdoms or the civil war, and lead them eastward!

In the middle of the court, Wu has Xiao Tao and Ji Ying to guard, and Wen has Xiao He and Zhang Cang, which is enough to stabilize the rear, and the so-called "right prime minister" Chang Qian has no foundation in Guanzhong, far away from Shu County, he can only choose to cooperate and can't afford to make big waves.

But Zhang Cang also expressed a worry, because there is still the last cornerstone in Heifu's system of hundred officials.

"Now that all the officials are ready, only the Imperial Doctor is vacant, who should be in charge?"

In addition to supervising hundreds of officials, managing important national atlases and classics, and drafting edicts, the Imperial Historian also has one of the most important functions, that is, legislative power.

Since it is so important, Zhang Cang thinks that it is better to decide early.

Heifu said: "There is no suitable candidate in the court, this position can only be temporarily vacant, and Le will be appointed as the middle of the imperial history." ”

"Doctor Goshi, I'm going to leave this position to one person, at least, I hope to leave it to him."

"Same as Han Fei, no ......"

Heifu smiled:

"A stone that is harder than Han Fei!"

"A real 'Qin official'!"

……

More than 3,000 miles west of Xianyang, it is the gate of the Qin Dynasty to the Western Regions, the Yumen Pass.

Although the conditions are not as bad as those of later generations, some wild antelopes are migrating on the grassland, but the spring breeze of the Central Plains has not yet blown here, the air is dry and slightly cold, the Guancheng that strangles the Silk Road is not big, and the surrounding obstacles can only settle five hundred people, and they have to rely on hunting to supplement food, and they cannot provide food for tens of thousands of people at all.

Only Dunhuang, more than 100 miles east of Yumen, as the westernmost small town of the Qin Dynasty, has a lot of military rations, which can barely feed the army.

The dense footprints left the Yumen, passed through the grassland and the Gobi, and arrived at the open Dunhuang in all directions, they were the western expeditionary army of the former expedition to Daxia, and the ragged tents have been set up around Dunhuang City at this moment.

More than a year ago, at the mouth of the Green Ridge Valley leading to Great Xia, Li Xin made a decision that he would follow those who would cross the valley and step into the unknown world, while those who wanted to go home would be brought back by a few lieutenants, Sima and Junzheng.

The 15,000 men embarked on a difficult journey home, and along the way, their greatest test was not the visible enemy, but thirst, hunger, and declining morale.

The crowd returned from the valley in the far west of the Western Regions, and then passed through a series of small states such as Shule, Qiuzi, and Cheshi, and moved back little by little.

That's right, you can only use it, 5,000 miles, a year and five months!

Along the way, in addition to the brutal battles against the city-states of the Northern Province, which were triggered by the looting of grain by the Qin soldiers, the Western Expeditionary Army was constantly attacked by severe cold and plague, and due to battle casualties, disease, and starvation, the army was greatly reduced, and some people lost confidence in whether they could return to the Central Plains.

When they entered Dunhuang, compared to the time, it was already a third less, and some losses were lost along the way, because of illness and fear of the long distance, they regretted it, and stayed in Qiuci and Cheshi, and those thousands of people became the first batch of colonists in the Central Plains in the Western Regions.

For those who returned to Dunhuang, the future was not so optimistic, because they had only just arrived and heard the news from the Central Plains: about the civil war, about Heifu......

"Marquis Wu Zhong led the Southern Expeditionary Army into Xianyang."

"The Second Emperor is dead!"

"Heifu is now the regent, and he has the power to ......"

This caused extreme instability in the morale of the army, and the Western Expeditionary Army was mainly evil teenagers, but most of the officers were from good families in Guanzhong, and they were worried that their families would be affected and liquidated in the civil war, and even the legitimacy of Heifu's usurpation of power and self-reliance was disputed.

For a time, the Western Expeditionary Army fell into a huge division, and some people wanted to go home no matter who was in power, and no one could stop them! Some people feel that the situation in the Central Plains is unstable, so they simply stay in Zhangye County first.

More worrying news continued to come: many years ago, Li Xin was defeated, the prince of the Yue clan who took refuge in the Xiongnu made the "Right Xian King" of Mao Dun Shan Yu, led thousands of horsemen, colluded with the Qiang people, and stormed Zhangye County.

As a result, the discourse advocating staying in Dunhuang and other places became even stronger, and they even formed gangs and blocked the camp gate to advocate loudly, seeing that division and bloodshed were about to occur, but all this was interrupted by a resolute voice.

"What's going on with such a noise?"

No matter how arrogant the old soldiers were, how much they shouted, they all stopped their voices, and their bodies couldn't help but take a step back.

As if separated by some force, the crowd gave way to both sides, revealing a thin military judge dressed in soap, wearing a crown of deer, and a gray beard, who was short in stature, apparently from the south, and walked slowly from the city of Dunhuang, with an expressionless face, like a stone statue.

Everyone bowed their heads:

"Xijun."

"It's Xijun!"

As the military leader of the Western Expeditionary Army, he looked at everyone and asked slowly:

"What's wrong?"

"Xijun, we got the news from the defenders of Dunhuang that the second emperor is no longer there, and he was killed by Heifu!"

"I know."

Xi behaved calmly: "We are in a foreign land, the news is blocked, it is difficult to know the truth or falsehood, and we don't know which is right or wrong what happened in the Central Plains. ”

Calm is an illusion, when Xi first heard the news, he was even more shocked than the soldiers, he even stood at the head of Dunhuang Yi and shook it, looking at the eyes of the far east, many emotions appeared:

Disbelief in the upheaval, suspicion of the news, regret about the current situation, confusion about the future, and attitude towards the old man Heifu oscillated between disappointment and trust......

But in the end, they all disappeared, and only one remained: perseverance!

What else can he do but persevere?

"I only know that Great Qin is still there, Qin Law is still there!"

Xi pointed out several officials who took the lead in making trouble one by one, pronounced sentences in accordance with military law, and asked them to be beaten with more than ten or twenty sticks as punishment, and asked them again.

"Wait, are you still a Qin official? Do you want to go home? ”

"Yes......" The soldiers choked up, coming and going 20,000 miles, and they had been too far away from home all these years.

Xi's face was slightly gentle: "Then, each of them will return to their places and perform their duties!" ”

There is something in this world that is more important than who is in power.

That's order.

In this huge world, when the upper class is chaotic, the people at the lower level will not live? Days are out? Worried about the situation all day long, not eating or sleeping or sleeping?

No matter how the central power changes, there must always be someone at the grassroots level who continues to do things, just like Xi Xi has been silently copying the slips for decades, and doing a good job as a prison officer and judge, and it has not been affected by the affairs of Lu Buwei and Chang Yu.

These hard-working, obscure Qin officials are the cornerstone of the empire.

The same is true today, even if his back is banished and left behind, he still remembers his duty. And no matter how Xianyang is, how the Central Plains is, they are far away in the northwest, they are beyond their reach, and they have more urgent things to do:

Re-establish order in the northwestern frontier.

"Zhang Ye, Zhang Guo's arm is also tucked."

After Li Xin's expedition to the west, Xi also gradually understood the great desire of Qin Shi Huangdi: he wanted to let a great empire out of its nascent place and break out of its shell.

This newly-born empire stretched out its arms to the east, crossed the sea and held the narrow Haidong with one hand, stretched out its arms to the west, opened up the vast and barren Western Regions, and learned that a larger world existed. Tread your feet further to the south, and know that the sea is warm and hot there, and the north is the land.

It's a pity that the feet that stepped on Lingnan fell into a big quagmire, and in the struggle, exhausted the last strength of the empire.

Although the great ambition of the First Emperor was not achieved, it also opened a new era and some new possibilities.

"In order to fulfill my duties, in order to open up the way home in the future."

Xi returned to the city and expressed his attitude to several lieutenants and Sima:

"We, we must do our best to guard this newborn arm and protect the country!"

"But Xijun, if Heifu usurps the throne and Daqin is gone, even if we hold Zhangye, what's the use?" A Sima said pessimistically that he was a distant relative of the Pinyang Wang clan and was full of despair about what happened in the Central Plains.

"Of course it works." Xi firmly said:

"It is useful to more than 10,000 soldiers of the Western Expeditionary Army, and we at least have a place to stand."

"It is also useful for the 100,000 Central Plains immigrants in Zhangye County, they don't have to die in Hu Chen, as for the survival of Daqin......

The voice of joy, resolute and tenacious, like a rock, never shakes:

"Dressed in a gloomy pattern."

"It's mid-summer."

"The law is in place."

"It's Daqin!"