In the second half of the 28th year of the reign of Qin Shi Huang (the first month of the lunar calendar), although spring had already begun in the south, in Beidi County, the last frost and snow had not long fallen, and agricultural work had not yet been fully carried out in February.

The weather was warm and cold, and a team of more than 100 people was walking on the bank of Jingshui where the ice and snow were gradually melting......

This team had a cart and a horse, and the first two chariots opened the way, and the left and right sides of the chariot were fully armed, or armed with halberds, or carrying bows and arrows, and even the chariot was also carrying a long sword and a crossbow in his hand.

This was followed by a tall cart pulled by a horse, with a black hood and red barriers on both sides. Heifu, the lieutenant of the northern county, sat in it, but saw that he was dignified, wearing a silk robe, a crown, a long sword, and a silver seal and blue ribbon, and he was guarded by the officials holding the halberd.

After the car, there are dozens of riders, hundreds of soldiers accompanied, it can be said that the sun is covered, and the car is full of roads! There are also drum carts beating drums and playing shengxiao.

A samurai with a black scarf on his head and a beard on his lips rode a horse, stepping on the sound of sheng drums, cruising in front of and behind the procession, his face quite colorful.

In the end, he ran to the side of Heifu's car and said excitedly: "In the past, I only saw the honor guard of the county guard Xingchun in Yan County, and I didn't think there was anything at that time, but today I really feel very majestic when I open the way for the county captain and the county!" ”

This samurai resigned from the post of "Nanchang Fake Lieutenant" the year before last and was idle at home. When he learned that Heifu had been promoted to the lieutenant of the Northlands, he tried to get a messenger and came to the Northland, saying that even if he didn't get paid for a grain of grain, he would be his staff doorman!

Regarding the uninvited Gongao, Chen Ping, the chief of Heifu's subordinates, had doubts: "Jun Hao has been a county lieutenant, but he resigned to be a guest of the county lieutenant, and it has reached the ears of those who have a heart, what is this?" ”

Gong Ao kept looking at Chen Ping's little white face not very pleasantly, and said: "I'm only white now, and I don't have to serve this year, which law has I violated?" ”

In the end, after thinking about it, Heifu still let Gongao be his "doorman", which is actually the captain of the bodyguard. This son is a southerner, and it is not very useful to fight in the north, but his loyalty to Heifu is unmatched by the generals of the north.

What's more, although Heifu is in the Northland, he has not forgotten that his foundation is still the 3,000 children of Nanjun. And Gongao is the medium of close contact with them, so thinking about it, Gongao's resignation is really a great thing.

A few days after Gongao came to Beidi County, Heifu took him, as well as Changshi Chen Ping, Qinwei Wang Wei, and the cavalry general Yiqu White Wolf, etc., to go out to the county......

When he was in Nanjun, Heifu was involved in the rebellion of the Yidaoba people with his father-in-law, Ye Tengxing County. In fact, not only the county guard, but also the county lieutenant also has the right and obligation to patrol the territory under his jurisdiction from time to time, especially when a new official takes office, he must carry out the inspection as soon as possible.

The Art of War: Those who know each other and know themselves will not be defeated in a hundred battles. Knowing oneself without knowing the other, one wins and one loses; I don't know who I am, I don't know myself, I will die in every battle.

Heifu has the ambition of Beitu, but he also clearly understands that his enemy this time is not a small tribe of Rong people who fight petty, but the Xiongnu.

Even at this time, the Xiongnu were still standing with the Yueshi and Donghu tripartite, and they were not complete, but the nomadic people were all soldiers, and the Xiongnu also had 100,000 people who led the bow, and the territory was vast for thousands of miles, which should not be underestimated.

Therefore, before he can do it, he must first "confidant".

Last fall, when Heifu came to take office in the Northland, he passed through several counties near the muddy water, but he only looked at the flowers and did not investigate in depth, so this time, he decided to spend a month and take a good turn.

The Qin Dynasty did not allow officials to pay private visits – except for the emperor himself, so Heifu had to go on the road with great fanfare. Although the number of people was large, Heifu reduced the entertainment of the counties along the way, set out from Yiqu City in mid-January, and in late January, he had turned back to the middle road, followed the smooth road, and entered the territory of Jingyang County......

Hearing the sound of the sheng flute from afar, seeing the guard of honor coming, the pedestrians, cars and horses on the road have to avoid, but occasionally people run into the road and bow down to complain.

Heifu asked the complainant to stop and asked, and it turned out to be a resident of the nearby Lilu.

The wizened old peasant held the withered wheat in his hand and cried: "The field officials have clearly said that if there are droughts, storms, floods, locusts and other insect pests that damage the crops, they must report the number of damages, and the government can reduce or reduce the rent of the fields." A few days ago, the hailstorm, the size of a baby's fist, broke a lot of tasseled wheat, we went to the countryside to ask for a rent reduction, but were driven out, the field officials said that they only care about the corn disaster, regardless of the wheat harvest, we still have to collect rent as usual......"

After Heifu listened quietly, he asked Wei Shi to come over and asked him to take the old farmer directly to Jingyang County Prison and hand it over to the county Cheng and Prison Peng who were in charge of adjudicating the case, and let Jingyang County try it on its own in accordance with the law.

The black county lieutenant also explained to the old peasant: "This county guard and county magistrate, I shouldn't ask, old man, you still appeal according to the procedure of the law!" ”

After the old peasant was taken away, Gong Ao was a little disappointed: "I thought that the county lieutenant would try the case directly in the field, and then send us to bring the corrupt officials to justice." ”

Chen Ping was speechless, this Gong Ao is a person who has been a county lieutenant, why is he so "blind".

He said, "Cutting chickens with a knife? The county lieutenant is much more clever than personally interfering, and the experienced county captain Shi personally went to report himself from this old peasant, how dare he not enforce the law impartially? ”

Chen Ping's opinion is the same as that of Heifu, these are not matters within his own responsibility, and he should not care about them. The county guard Zhao Hai is not a strong county guard like Ye Teng, who is both civil and military. The two carefully maintained the demarcation of authority, Heifu didn't want to make Zhao Hai unhappy, and Zhao Hai didn't want to retire, and offended Heifu, an upstart who shouldered the mission of the emperor......

The two sides worked together cautiously and forbearably for the sake of the country, how could they be destroyed by a few acres of wheat smashed by hail?

The Tao is different, Chen Ping and Gongao look down on each other a little, and in the next trip, the two of them are also concerned about different things.

Chen Ping observed the number of fields on the roadside, secretly calculated, and found that this was the flattest land, the best water conservancy, and the most diligent farmers in the counties along the way.

"I heard that the west of Longkou in Jingyang is all pastureland, with beautiful grass and fertile water, but Jingyang is in the east, cultivating a county alone, which can give food to the Wushi, Chaona, and Xiaoguan armies. The stability of the Northland is also tied to this......"

In turn, the large number of livestock in Wushi and Chaona also provided assistance for cattle farming in Jingyang, and every household in Jingyang either had cattle or horses, saving a lot of manpower during spring ploughing.

"The county lieutenant will use troops in the north in the future, Jingyang and Qi County will be granaries, and the matter of tuntian grain will be started immediately this year!"

Chen Ping's inner calculations crackled, although he is still early from slaughtering the world, he is also very accomplished to help Heifu slaughter the military grain of a county.

And Gong Ao Haowu saw a different scene.

He found that most of the passers-by, whether they were passers-by or local farmers, were traveling on horseback! The young men on the side of the road, dressed in the hakama and pleats of Rongdi, made a standard midsummer salute to Heifu, with short knives and long swords hanging from their waists, and even bows on their backs, all with round arms and waists, a head taller than him, a southerner......

"The people here are still martial."

Gong Ao sighed to Heifu: "Even farmers who plough the fields wear weapons and can shoot bows and arrows at any time!" Better than Nanjun! ”

"Otherwise, how can the Qin soldiers of Kansai sweep through the six countries of Kanto?"

Heifu smiled: "Beidi, Shangjun, and Longxi are all approaching Rongdi. Although separated by the Great Wall, the locals also had to practice war preparedness to withstand the occasional attacks of the Rongdi. Coupled with the Xia Rong miscellaneous, contaminated with the Rong people's habit of being brave in battle and being ashamed of dying of illness, the local men are all high-spirited, able to ride horses, like swords, and good at shooting and hunting. ”

Chen Ping also bowed his head and said: "Yes, so the ancient "Qin Feng", "Che Gong", "Four Years", and "Xiao Rong" all talk about the chariot and horse field hunting. It is said that the customs of Longxi, the same is true of the north, its customs have been since ancient times, and today's songs are generous, and the romance still exists. ”

Although the people of Yan Zhao are also generous and sad, they prefer private fighting, and the Qin people in Guanxi are different, they are domesticated by the law of Shang Yang to only enjoy public battles and dare not fight privately!

This special geographical environment and the quality of the people naturally became an important source of soldiers for the Qin State.

As a county with the largest number of immigrants in the Central Plains and the largest number of households, Jingyang is the first choice for Heifu to choose soldiers!

He said to Chen Ping and Gongao's two cronies: "I want to use the naturalized Rong people as hunting dogs, and take the cunning rabbit for me, but no matter how loyal the dog is, it is also a beast, and when it is wild, it will bite people." I also need some good bows, which I can hold in my hand, not only to shoot down the birds in the air, but also to aim at the backs of the hounds at all times, so that they do not dare to rebel......"

In the afternoon, when they arrived at Jingyang County, the county lieutenant and others had already greeted them at the door, and after a few polite words with them, Heifu ordered:

"Immediately go to the county seat and the townships, and recruit local people who are good at riding and archery, and who are still martial arts, to come and see!"

The "good bow" that Heifu wants to get is a special group among the Qin people in Kansai: good families!