After having enough wine and food.
Boom!
The bucket fell to the ground, splashing countless water splashes.
Wang Jian's face turned green as he looked at Qin Shihuang who was laughing heartily.
"Hey, why is Xiao Wang here?"
"Ahem, cough, cough, I forgot to ask you to come for dinner."
Qin Shihuang looked embarrassed.
Wang Jian's heart is filled with relief. He has been working hard in the backyard and is suffering from back pain. The result was good, Qin Shihuang was so popular here and drank spicy food, and he was even forgotten!
It's all Cao Xiu's fault, it's all his fault.
"Don't be anxious, there should be some leftovers in the kitchen."
"Even if I starve to death and die outside, even if I jump from here, I won't even eat a bite of your leftovers!"
Just then Cao'er came over with rice.
It was said to be leftovers, but in fact no one had touched it at all. It's just placed in the kitchen for slaves like them to eat. Although it was a bit worse than what Cao Xiu and others ate, it was actually pretty good. There are two slices of fat and lean bacon inside, which smells fragrant.
"Gudu..."
Wang Jian swallowed and said he was lying if he said he wasn't hungry. He did farm work for a whole morning, first watering and fertilizing, and then he had to chop firewood. I thought he was the top dignitary in the Qin State, but he was reduced to doing odd jobs in Cao Xiu's house.
As a result... As a result, he was completely forgotten!
"Take a bite, it's so delicious!"
Qin Shi Huang personally held the pottery bowl.
Although Cao Xiu is not a thing, this rice is really good. It's all right, so there's no need to struggle with your stomach.
"Thank you, Master!"
Wang Jian didn't dare to refuse and quickly took the pottery bowl.
"Does it smell good?"
"fragrant!"
"Depend on……"
Cao Xiu was too lazy to look any further and asked the others to leave.
Even Ah Zheng was turned away.
After all, what comes next is important.
The Qin Jia mentioned by Cao Shen was the one who rose up after the chaos. It's just that he disobeyed Chen Sheng's order, so he made Jingju the king of Chu, but he was later defeated by Xiang Liang and died.
The ancestor of Qin Jia was Qin Kai, a famous general of Yan State, but he later moved to Donghai County. They were doing some shady business. Because they were close to the East China Sea, they cut firewood, boiled the sea, and smuggled sea salt.
The salt and iron industry in Qin State were all government-run, and they had to do this just to make a living. As the jailor of Peixian County, Cao Shen could not engage in business, but his younger brother got a license to sell salt in Peixian County.
This kind of thing is actually not surprising, and normal people know it. The Cao family is a big family. With so many people opening their mouths to eat, they may not be able to fill their stomachs just by relying on Cao Shen's meager salary and his own people farming. It is natural to make reasonable use of the rules to gain some benefits.
Even in future generations, it cannot be prevented. For example, relatives of a certain leader often have their names in some companies. No one can say for sure whose money it belongs to.
Xiao He also had a hand in this matter. After all, Xiao He had a wide network of contacts and knew many people. Cao Zhen was responsible for selling salt, Xiao He was responsible for selling salt, and Cao Xiu was responsible for making salt. The three people finally got the money equally.
The sea salt that Qin Jia secretly brewed was of very poor quality, not even coarse salt. Each salt block was like a stone, and it was also dark yellow, making it impossible to eat. But after Cao Xiu's skillful improvement, it is comparable to the fine salt of the pond salt eaten in Guanzhong!
As the saying goes, you can rely on mountains to eat mountains, and you can rely on water to eat water. Sea salt like this is basically eaten by neighboring counties, otherwise transportation will be a big problem. For example, in the Guanzhong area of Xianyang, a lot of people eat pond salt from Wuxian Mountain in Hedong. The salt produced is fine, white in color and tastes good with few impurities.
"This is the first time in so many years that Qin Jia wants to come." Cao Shen picked up the pottery bowl and said calmly: "In addition to transporting salt to meet Xiu'er, I'm afraid he has ulterior motives. I heard that he is quite restless in Ling County. With these The money and food saved from selling salt every year has attracted many customers."
"This person is not simple."
Xiao He spoke calmly from the side.
Although Lingxian County belongs to Donghai County, it is not far from Peixian County.
If there is any news, it will naturally not escape their eyes.
"Qin Jia has always been ambitious. He told me something before. He said that the Qin was unjust and made the six kings become common people. Since the destruction of Qi, there has been a large-scale construction project. Every year, countless civilians are recruited as corvees, abusing the people's power!"
"What do you think, step brother?"
Cao Xiu seized the opportunity and asked quickly.
Historically, both Xiao He and Cao Shen participated in the uprising. But that was more than ten years later, and God knows what Xiao He and the others are thinking now. Therefore, Cao Xiu never mentioned the secret preparations to them. He just silently stored food and trained troops to prepare for emergencies.
Xiao He did not answer.
He just picked up the pottery bowl and looked at Cao Shen.
"What do you think, Mr. Cao?"
"What he said makes sense." Cao Shen looked coldly and whispered: "In the past, you only had to serve in counties and counties. In the past two years, the corvee has become more and more heavy. Two or three months.”
Qin's service does not start from departure. For example, if you want to serve at the Imperial Tomb in Lishan Mountain for a month, the time will start when you arrive at the Imperial Tomb. As for the time spent on the journey, Qin will not care.
Therefore, service is done as close as possible.
But in the past two years, things have changed...
After Cao Xiu became the pavilion chief of Sishui, his superiors arranged for him to send corvées to Xianyang. Of course, most of these are Chengdan ghost ministers who have been punished. But later, Cao Xiu spent some money, and Zhou Bo took over the job. After half a year passed, Zhou Bo came back from Xianyang. He had lost a lot of weight!
This job is simply not done by humans!
"What Mr. Cao said is absolutely true." Xiao He smiled faintly, "Although we are officials of Qin, we speak lightly. The First Emperor indeed created a prosperous age, and there is no problem with his civil and military skills. But he was too impatient. Since two years We started drastic changes in the system from the beginning, and even carried out extensive construction projects.”
"It seems that you and I have the same idea."
Xiao He and Cao Shen looked at each other and smiled.
"Xiao Jun ranked first in Jipei County last year. The county governor personally promoted you to the county chief, but you rejected it. I think you have considered it?"
Xiao He's ability was so outstanding that even the governor of Sishui County knew about it and wanted to promote him to an official. However, Xiao He refused directly on the grounds that he had to take care of his relatives.
"Each other."
Xiao He didn't care at all.
He ranked first, and Cao Shen ranked second.
Moreover, he also rejected the county governor's kindness.
"It seems that from now on, it will all depend on Xiu'er."
The two of them turned to look at Cao Xiu next to them.
"Ahem, cough, cough, I'm a good citizen!"
Then, he got two contemptuous looks.
They are all thousand-year-old foxes, what kind of fairy tales are they playing?
"Then what do you mean by secretly hoarding food and saving money?"
"I'm afraid of being poor, so I don't dare to spend a penny!"
"You are secretly raising the dead soldiers and letting Zhou Bo train his troops?"
"I have been insecure since I was a child..."
"Pooh!"
Cao Shen spat fiercely.
It's so shameless, how can you say it out loud?
"Hahaha!" Xiao He couldn't help laughing and said with emotion: "I think Xiu'er thinks more than us."
"Oh? What do you mean, Mr. Xiao?"
