The two-foot-four-inch bamboo slips are neatly placed on the desk, the early morning sunlight shines in through the window, and the smooth bamboo pieces reflect the glimmer after baking.

Zhao Gao knelt in front of the desk, took a light breath, dipped the pen in his hand into ink, stabilized his mind, and began to write small seals on the bamboo slips one by one......

The three calligraphers of the Qin State, their handwriting is different, Li Sinai is a Chu person, and a long-term study of the princes, his calligraphy is eclectic, and blends the characteristics of Chu characters, calligraphy vigorous, strange and bold.

Hu Wujing is a typical disciple of the Qin State Academy, and his calligraphy is peaceful and natural, extremely steady.

Zhao Gao is different, he was illiterate when he was young, and he studied hard at the age of more than ten years, so some swords go to the edge, the calligraphy is delicate but powerful, and the style is thin and beautiful, which is the characteristic of Zhao Gao's calligraphy.

Soon, as his wrist moved, there were three more beautiful seal characters on the first bamboo slip.

"The Calendar!"

This is Zhao Gao's literacy textbook written by the emperor's order, he wrote very slowly, one is because the stakes are high, each word strives to be perfect, and the other is the bamboo slip and brush, it is difficult to do sketching: the left hand presses Jane, the right hand writes, a Jane line of words, after writing, and then one by one to the right to push to the row.

If you want to write shorthand, you don't use bamboo books, but wooden scrolls.

The Qin State has always had regulations on the carrier of official writing: the county and capital officials use willow wood or other soft wood that can be written as a simple script, and the official document is cut into two feet and four inches, and the folk letters are one foot long, so it is also called a ruler. These wooden slabs are all sealed with sage, cattail, bluegrass and hemp.

The bamboo book is a grade higher than the ruler, because the production is more complicated, through cutting, cutting, finishing can be simplified, written on it, after writing a chapter, arrange the drilling, with "Wei", that is, cut into strips of cooked cowhide to decorate, correspondingly, the price is also several times more expensive than the wooden sheet!

Therefore, reading is really an expensive thing, and a rich official who is not a wealthy official with a wealth of 100,000 yuan cannot prepare a pen and ink book. In the schoolroom, it is also common for everyone to pass a book through until the handwriting is blurred and the strong kraft belt is broken.

In these years, being able to have his own collection of several volumes is the mark of a "scribe", and he is easily reluctant to borrow someone to look at it, so he has to bow to his subordinates first and call himself a disciple. If you can pull a few carts of books when you move, you will be praised as "the five carts of learning", and you will be compared to the erudite Wei Xianghuishi.

The bamboo book is not easy to obtain, but the consumption is very fast, Zhao Gao only wrote five or six hundred words, the first chapter was finished, he asked the servants to come and gently dry the words on the bamboo slips, and then take it down and compile it into a book, which could not be completed in a quarter of an hour.

He also happened to take the soup handed by his younger brother Zhao Cheng and drank it to rest.

Zhao Cheng was dressed in military uniform, he was a five-hundred-hundred-hundred-hundred-

"Brother, did you hear about the advice that Zhonglang Hu ordered Heifu to give to His Majesty yesterday?"

Zhao Gao naturally knew that Heifu offered a letter of appointment for Cheng Miao, thinking that he could pass through the emperor of the world with Xiao Seal.

He also said that the silk was cumbersome and the silk was expensive, and he volunteered to make a writing material for the emperor that combined the advantages of the two......

Zhao Cheng knew his brother very well, although Zhao Gao usually had a good deal with Heifu, but secretly regarded him as a competitor, so he approached and said:

"My brother once warned me that Qin Law has a saying, and the ministers of the Ming Lord are not allowed to transgress their officials and have merit, and they must not speak out and be inappropriate. If you exceed the official, you will die, and if you are not right, you will be guilty! ”

"Now that Heifu is a Zhonglang household commander, his duty is to guard the forbidden middle, but he said that the craftsman is doing the work test, this is considered a transgression, do you want me to instruct the familiar imperial historians to refute him?"

"My brother, you have really been in the officialdom for so many years in vain."

Zhao Gao put down the cup, glanced at his younger brother with slender eyes, and sneered: "According to you, as the commander of the CRRC government, I am in charge of the public opinion, but I often write edicts and compile texts, am I also overstepping the official?" ”

"This ......" Zhao Cheng raised his head: "This is different, my brother has the permission of His Majesty......"

"I'm finally right."

Zhao Gao got up, took his hand and said: "Like Han Zhaohou's hat officer, he didn't inform the monarch and did it himself, that is called overstepping his authority." ”

"But if you report to Your Majesty before doing it, or if you are appointed by Your Majesty, then it is not overstepping your authority, but only obeying your orders."

Zhao Gao was not only proficient in writing, but also proficient in the law, and the more he pondered it thoroughly, the more he found that at the grassroots level of the empire, the law was harsh and impersonal.

In the county, if a person is not good at farming and wants to be a merchant and craftsman, then he is not doing his job properly and will be reprimanded by the Qin officials.

In the county, a small official does not do his official duties well, but does something irrelevant all day long, which is also a violation of the law by the official, and he will be blamed by the prison history.

However, when a person's official position is above the court, on the side of the king, the authority will become blurred, the lieutenant has been vacant for a long time, the right prime minister is an ornament, the court lieutenant Li Si is often doing the work of the prime minister, and the CRRC government orders Zhao Gao to do the work of the confessor.

Strictly speaking, these things are not in accordance with the law, and the reason why they are grandiose is only because of the emperor's words.

Zhao Gao asked: "Do you know who Cheng Miao lived in before in the cell where he lived in Yunyang Prison?" ”

Zhao Cheng shook his head and didn't know.

"Han Fei, Han Fei was also imprisoned in Yunyang back then, but his fate was not as good as Cheng Miao."

Zhao Gao said lightly: "Han Fei's crime will not lead to death, but His Majesty found that this person was bent on Han and could not be used for himself, so he still decided to give him death." Cheng Miao's crime should be punished according to the law, but His Majesty saved his life when he revised the text or one day it came in handy. ”

There is also his own example, Zhao Gao committed a crime and deserved death, but it was still the emperor who rejected Meng Yi's verdict with a word, and Zhao Gaoguan was reinstated.

Is it legal? It is obviously not legal, but it is a manifestation of the power of the monarch, and no one dares to say that it is not.

In Daqin, the emperor can kill whoever he wants!

In Daqin, the emperor can use whoever he wants!

Emperor in law! Therefore, whether the officials exceed their authority or not, His Majesty has the final say, and the law and order have to stand aside.

"You don't understand Your Majesty's intentions, you want to blame Heifu for the crime of overstepping the official, what is the use of scaring the snake? Moreover, such a trivial matter, as long as His Majesty transfers Heifu to at least the government or the office, it will not be solved. ”

After Zhao Gao taught his younger brother who couldn't finish the lesson, he asked him to lay out the new bamboo slips on the desk and continue to write the next chapter.

Before putting down the pen, he pointed to Zhao Chengdao:

"You have remembered, so that those who obey the law and obey the law will not be rewarded, and those who violate the law will not escape punishment, and it is called the law. Discerning loyalty and treachery, and the unpredictable rewards and punishments, is called magic. The weight of the position, holding the handle of killing, the capital of victory, this is called potential! ”

"Your Majesty is based on the law of Shang Ying, and also uses the technique of Shen Han, and holds the power of the master! What the Lord decides, you must not question it, just watch carefully. ”

He was secretly happy in his heart: "That black man is eager to make meritorious contributions, but he doesn't know that if he loses his position as a Zhonglang household order, he will stay away from His Majesty." Even if you succeed by luck and get promoted, what can you do? It's really more than worth the loss. ”

Han Fei said it well, the flying dragon rides the clouds, the snake swims in the fog, the clouds stop the fog, and the dragon snake and the insects and ants are on the same page, so they lose their ride. If a virtuous person is inferior to the unscrupulous, he will be inferior in power; If you are not worthy and can obey the sage, you will be respected in a powerful position.

And where did the power of the courtiers come from?

It's just the remnants of the monarchy's power, and the emperor is so high that he doesn't have to shout "Eat!" And the people of the world prostrated themselves under their feet with hunger and thirst.

Zhao Gao has already seen through the structure of Great Qin's power, no matter how meticulous his laws are, no matter how strict his title is, no matter what prime minister he is, he must start from the state department, and the fierce generals must be sent to the army.

In the end, the only thing that determines the level of a person's power is the emperor's trust, which is the cloud and mist potential that these flying dragons and snakes rely on!

Bai Qi and Wang Qian, who seem to be obvious people who slaughtered the country's merits, are actually pavilions in the air, like floating shadows swimming in the wall, once the birds are exhausted and the cunning rabbits die, they will lose everything.

And once the imperial power is attached, even if it is as short as Youhan and has power in his hands, it can project a huge shadow like the twelve golden men!

"Let's go, let's go, Li Xin, Meng Tian, Li You, Heifu, these Lang officials who are keen on fame and fame, all flow away like flowing water, only I Zhao Gao, firmly occupy the position of close ministers."

As a close minister, he has no great merit, occasionally makes small contributions, shoulders hard work, has no promotion for ten or twenty years, and follows His Majesty closely, which is the most stable!

He smiled, continued the previous chapter, and wrote on the bamboo slip with a pen, "Push the position to let the country, there is Yu Tao Tang".

But what Zhao Gao thought in his heart was:

"Yao Wei can not govern three people, Ji is the Son of Heaven can mess with the world, I know the strength of the position, and the lack of wisdom and meritorious deeds!"

……

At the end of June of the 26th year of Qin Shi Huang, when Zhao Gao was writing calligraphy in the Lin Guang Palace and pondering the source of the power of his courtiers, Heifu returned to Xianyang by car.

As soon as he got out of the car, he went to the Internal History Office and found Zhang Han, who was transferred back to Xianyang last month and served as the left secretary of the Inner History.

After the failure of Fusu's persuasion, Guanzhong has begun to build a large number of buildings, Zhang Han, as the chief of the internal history, is responsible for supervising the construction of the palace, just returned from the construction site to the official office, tired enough on a hot day, is resting indoors.

Heifu was in a hurry, and when he pushed the door in, he saw Zhang Han being served by two concubines to soak his feet, and his hand had already reached into the placket of one of them......

Heifu coughed lightly, said a word of interruption, and then asked the concubine to leave, and told Zhang Han the reason for coming here.

After listening, Zhang Shaorong almost didn't jump up, he scolded while wiping his feet: "What? Trimester! Three months to make what you say you are! Or else will you be held responsible? And pulled me? ...... Heff Zhonglang Hu Ling, I am so easy to return to Xianyang as an official, just supervising the construction of the palace is very busy, why do you want to harm me? ”

Heifu shook his head: "Good Zhang Shaorong, I gave you credit, but you blame me for hurting you?" ”

After speaking, he became serious, and said: "I have been transferred by His Majesty to Shaofu Cheng, the rank is higher than a thousand stones, in the next three months, you will be Ben Cheng's deputy, leading the subordinate craftsmen, and helping me complete the papermaking!" This is His Majesty's edict, and it cannot be shirked! ”

After putting on a black face, Heifu smiled and flickered Zhang Han again: "Shaorong, what you and I are going to do is no less than Cangjie's thousand-year-old work!" ”