Chapter 51 Peace of mind outside

Unconsciously, since Heifu returned from serving in the county, he first received a title and reward money to subsidize the family expenses; then he was appointed as a pavilion chief, which would greatly improve the status of the whole family, and he could also send Jing to school, and also find a better future for him.

Heifu was not idle on weekdays, doing treading and pounding rice cakes. If he didn't really care about his family, he wouldn't do these things...

Now, Heifu has become the backbone of the family. Even Zhong, who is the eldest brother, feels that it is right to listen to him.

That night, Zhong said a lot of things, but in the end they all merged into one heartfelt word.

"Zhongdi, you can rest assured to be busy outside in the future. I will take good care of my mother and Jing at home!"

With the words of the eldest brother, Heifu felt relieved.

After the winter solstice, the days became shorter and shorter. Fortunately, the climate was warm during this era. There were thousands of acres of bamboo forests on both sides of the Yellow River. Rhinoceroses could even be seen in Shanglinyuan south of the Wei River. Elephants appeared after crossing the Yangtze River... Nanjun could also be considered a subtropical climate. Generally speaking, it would not snow, but there was still some frost and dew in the morning and evening.

But no matter what the weather was like, Heifu would get up early in the morning, kick Jing across the street to wake him up, and teach him some commonly used characters for Jing to remember.

He himself was pounding food for his family for the day while stepping on the pestle. At the same time, he was reading and reciting the bamboo slips he had copied in the dim morning light...

While reading and pounding, Heifu suddenly laughed out loud.

"If I become rich in the future, I wonder if this story will be spread out, and it will be on par with Su Qin's story of hanging his head on the beam and piercing his thigh with a needle, becoming a typical inspirational story, and being used by many middle school students in their essays... How about calling it 'Stepping on the pestle and reciting the law'?"

Thinking of this, Heifu couldn't help laughing and read more vigorously, but the sound of his reading was drowned out by the sound of pounding rice, and even his neighbors didn't know that he was preparing for the assessment of the pavilion chief.

...

In this way, by the end of November, Heifu had memorized the eight laws and regulations by heart, and even asked his eldest brother Zhong to help him look at the original text. He could recite the rest of the text quickly by picking any paragraph.

The next day, Heifu went to Yan's house in Bianli again, and recited the entire "Law of Theft" in front of Yan Zheng, who was stunned...

"Young man, you only took ten days to memorize all eight articles of law!?"

Yan Zheng felt a little incredible. He had taught in the school in the past, and had seen similar smart students who could recite fluently after reading for a few days. But those students were generations of clerks, and they had been exposed to laws and regulations since childhood. Heifu was different. His ancestors were farmers, and when he first came to Yan's house to seek advice, he knew nothing about laws and regulations.

Heifu wanted to tell Yan Zheng that if he had also experienced the outrageous recitation of the entire text in high school Chinese class, this simple law would actually be nothing. Besides, the police academy also has judicial courses. Compared with the various complex and lengthy clauses of later laws, the Qin law is already very concise. After all, this is the early days of law...

In the end, Yan Zheng could only attribute this to Heifu's intelligence, and felt that he was a promising talent.

These days, Yan Zheng also asked his disciples who were officials in the county to inquire about it. It was true that Heifu was recruited as a pavilion chief. It is said that in addition to the county right lieutenant, even the prison official Xi also admired this person. Yan Zheng immediately felt that it was right to accept Heifu's salary, accept him as a disciple, and teach him the law.

So in the next few days, Yan Zheng asked Heifu to run to the plaque every day, and the old man took out half a day to instruct Heifu on how to deal with the assessment of the chief official.

"The chief official will not let you recite the law on the spot."

Yan Zheng said while chewing the rice cake that Heifu presented as a gift. This food is dried and fried with oil, and it is very crispy, not as sticky as when it is freshly made. And although Yan Zheng is sixty years old, he is in good health. It is said that he just married a concubine the year before last, who is only a little older than his granddaughter. It is really amazing...

"How will it be tested?" Hei Fu asked humbly.

"When the time comes, he will ask you questions and you will answer them. Most of the questions will be about the clauses in these eight laws and decrees, but it will be specific to the actual case, so you can make decisions and judgements."

Yan Zheng asked his concubine to hand over a cloth towel, wiped his mouth and said: "For example, the chief clerk will ask you, 'A falsely accuses B of stealing a cow, but B did not steal it. What should A be punished for?'"

"A should be charged with false accusation and counter-accusation, and be punished for stealing a cow!"

Hei Fu subconsciously gave the answer. False accusation and counter-accusation is not only the content of "Theft Law", but also a case he has personally experienced.

"Let me ask you again, if someone steals someone else's mulberry leaves, and the stolen goods are worth less than one penny, how should they be punished?"

Heifu thought for a while and said, "Mulberry is the foundation of agriculture. Those who steal mulberry should be severely punished and sentenced to thirty days of corvée!"

"That's right."

Yan Zheng praised, "Not only have you memorized the laws and regulations, but you have also mastered them well. I will find out the places where mistakes are easy to make and let you familiarize yourself with them. On the first day of the twelfth lunar month, the questions of the chief clerk should not be difficult for you."

...

From that day on, Heifu began to visit Yan Zhang in the plaque every day. When he met people from the same village on the way, he just smiled and said that he was visiting a friend, and did not tell anyone. His family also listened to him and kept silent about the matter, so no one in the village knew about it.

When Heifu first came back, the people in the village were still a little afraid of him, after all, he had a reputation for catching three thieves. But gradually, they found that Heifu greeted everyone politely, and the strangeness of the people gradually dissipated, and they regarded him as a boy next door who had grown up under their care.

On the contrary, the women in the village began to spread rumors that Heifu probably had a crush on a girl in the plaque, so he went there every day...

But the Lijianmen who guarded the gate seemed to have noticed something. Whenever Heifu came back, the old man named "Pu" would smile at Heifu meaningfully and often chat with him.

As they talked, they talked about the past when Heifu's cheap father was still alive and he and Lijianmen served on the battlefield together.

"Your father and I were brothers in arms. We held spears and bled together. My leg was pierced by an enemy soldier's sword in front of him. Fortunately, your father killed the enemy soldier at that time, otherwise I would have died in Wei..."

After sighing, the old man Li Jianmen limped to serve Heifu hot soup, and said that he watched Heifu and his three brothers grow up.

"If you don't mind, you can call me Zhongfu, hahaha..."

Heifu smiled but said nothing. Although what Li Jianmen said was true, why didn't this Li Jianmen, who was "closer than Zhongfu", help their family in those years of poverty after their father died?

It is difficult to help in times of trouble, but it is easy to add icing on the cake. Heifu knew it in his heart.

The reason why Li Jianmen suddenly became close to him was nothing more than seeing that their family had two officials and Heifu had also gained a reputation in the county. Maybe Li Jianmen would be able to use him in the future.

Heifu knew that although there were only a few dozen families in Xiyangli, the "political struggle" inside was quite complicated. As early as the Chu State period, there were only three families of minor scholars in this area, and the rest were common people. After Anlu was ruled by Qin, the three families of scholars suddenly became the village supervisor, village chief, and Tiandian. These three positions have been passed down from father to son for two or three generations.

Among the three families, the village chief is closer to the Tiandian family and has greater authority, while the village supervisor family is slightly excluded. However, the village supervisor had made meritorious deeds on the battlefield, and his title was the third-level "Zan Niao", which was the top of the village. This made the lame old man feel unwilling to be inferior to others, and he felt that he might be able to replace him and strive for the position of village chief...

The appointment and removal of the three minor officials here depends on two things, one is whether they have connections in the village, and the other is whether they have enough financial resources and reputation in the village. If all the nobles in the village go to the village to recommend one person as the village chief, then it is not impossible to replace him. Therefore, the village chief certainly had to do his best to win over Heifu's family, which had two public officials and had a grudge against the village head.

"How can such a small place sing the Romance of the Three Kingdoms?"

After seeing through the thoughts of the village chief, Heifu felt a little funny, but when he thought of the several village committee elections he had witnessed in his previous life, he could no longer laugh.

In the new century, many rural areas are also small places with more than a hundred households. A small village committee election can make a scene like the US presidential election. Each family competes with each other, which is very exciting. The real person has broadened his horizons...

In this regard, Heifu can only complain...

"The temple is small, the demons are strong, and the pond is shallow, the turtles are many!"

But Heifu doesn't want to care about these trivial things now. He has his own serious things to worry about.

...

Day after day, November is about to pass, and the first day of the twelfth lunar month is getting closer and closer. Heifu's legal question-and-answer training at Yan Zheng's house is getting more and more in-depth.

At this time, he also began to feel fortunate for his respectful attitude towards Yan Zheng, because there are indeed many small traps in these laws and regulations. If you just recite the original text without any guidance, you may really fall into it.

For example, the theft law only simply wrote a sentence "jue yuè (yuè), should be redeemed by tattooing" for the crime of sneaking into the house and picking the lock, but in actual practice, there are many ways to judge:

If the purpose of picking the lock is to steal, if you leave without picking it, or if you are caught without picking it, it is also considered a crime and should be redeemed by tattooing.

If the purpose of picking the door key is not to steal, it is considered to be prying only if it has been opened, and if it has not been opened, it should be punished with a second grade of armor...

There is nothing to say about the completed crime. If it is an attempted crime, then whether the criminal has subjective intention "desire" will become the standard for sentencing.

Although Hei Fu has never figured it out, if the purpose of picking someone else's lock is not to steal, what exactly is he trying to do? Could it be that he came in to help you check the water meter?

In short, as the question-and-answer exercises progressed, Hei Fu gradually became familiar with these laws, not just memorizing the original text. His understanding of Qin's laws was no longer limited to the word "strict".

As an old official, Yan Zheng also had his own understanding of this.

He said that the king's policy should not be anxious about thieves. What is a thief? Stealing goods is called a thief, and harming good people is called a thief.

Qin law treats thieves and robbers with great importance and extremely cruel punishments. Although it is true that heavy punishments should be used in troubled times, there are also effects.

In the inland counties, murders and robberies have gradually decreased or even disappeared. Every night in the ten miles and eight villages is as quiet as a familiar sleep, and even the barking of dogs sounds so natural and lazy. If such a life can be spread throughout the nine states of the world, this is the greatest kingly policy.

Hei Fu nodded in agreement. In this day and age, the world of peace that ordinary people understand is so simple, without so much splendor and luxury.

Of course, it would be better if Qin's taxes were lighter and corvée labor was less.

But Heifu knew that this was impossible. Their king was a man with strong desires. Even if the world was unified, there would still be many major projects and expeditions. Taxes and taxes could not be light, and corvée labor would become heavier and heavier, until the roar of Daze Township broke the world into pieces...

But those were still far away from Heifu. If he was rich, he would help the world, and if he was poor, he would take care of himself. He was currently only at the stage of taking care of his family.

Finally, at the end of the month, Heifu also met the standards for leaving the army. Yan Zheng said that with his current proficiency in laws and regulations, it would be enough for him to be a clerk in the county.

"Master, Heifu will never forget your kindness."

In the study of Yan's house, Heifu bowed his head again, showing his gratitude to Yan Zheng.

Although Yan Zheng was a little powerful, he was actually a good person. He had taught him carefully these days. Heifu treated the incident of being rude on the first day and respectful later as if it had never happened.

At the same time, he also asked about something that he had kept in his mind for a long time but had never asked.

"Master, if someone can present a certain tool to the government that can make pounding rice twice as effective, will it be considered a merit and can there be a reward?"

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