Chapter 57: The Duke Has No Wife [Jinjiang Authentic Edition Only Released·Something Bad is Going to Happen…
Wang Ling shook his head regretfully and said, "No."
"Ying, if mother remembers correctly, Qing has been dead for almost ten years."
"When Madam Qing passed away in Xianyang, your grandfather sent her coffin back to Ba County, allowing it to rest in peace. Later, to honor Madam Qing's steadfast and unyielding character and to let the world know her deeds, your grandfather personally inscribed the name and built a memorial platform in her mausoleum."
"If you want to see her in the future, you'll have to wait until you grow up and visit her cemetery."
Qin Ying couldn't help but nod regretfully upon hearing this, thinking to herself, "Ba Qing truly deserves to be considered one of the Qin Empire's outstanding entrepreneurs! In the Qin Empire, where agriculture was heavily valued and commerce was suppressed, Ba Qing, a mere merchant, not only shouldered the family's burden after her husband's death but also continuously expanded the family's business, to the point where the First Emperor personally received her at the Zhangtai Palace with the proper etiquette reserved for distinguished guests. What an exceptional woman she must have been! Truly a powerful female eagle, bravely battling the wind and rain in the skies!"
However, Qing was born before Ying was born, and Ying was born before Qing was gone.
Ying·Little Fatty was very interested in this legendary old lady. Unfortunately, the timing was not right and he was unable to meet this wealthy old lady in person, which made him feel very regretful.
Suddenly, he remembered the Mid-Autumn Festival full moon palace banquet last month. He met Lady Ji Qing in the palace. She had a cold expression and was unable to bear children but was able to raise Hu Hai.
The little guy couldn't help but sit on the wooden floor, touching his soft chin with his little hand, and couldn't control his thoughts: Could it be that because his grandfather respected Madam Qing so much during her lifetime, he also had a special care for Hu Hai's adoptive mother, Madam Xiaoqing, who had the same name?
"Qingqing Leiqing"? No way! As soon as these four words popped into his mind, the little fat boy shuddered with a chill. He quickly shook his furry little head and sternly despised himself in his heart. He confessed his guilt! How could he think of his great-grandfather like this?!
Only after he was able to travel through time and actually see his great-grandfather face to face, did he realize that the word "charm" was far less dazzling than his great-grandfather himself!
If it was an ordinary little hostage, with the devastating script that his grandfather had at the beginning in Handan, he would either die early or be ruined early. How could his grandfather be so brave as to kick over the terrible family script of "unloving father, unloved mother, and half-brother who wants to rebel"?
When he returned to Qin at the age of nine, he was looked down upon by the old Qin nobles because of his humble identity as a Zhao woman. However, after he ascended the throne at the age of thirteen, he lay dormant for many years. Even the ceremony of coming of age was delayed for two years. But after his eldest father came to power, he acted swiftly and crushed his political enemies one by one like ants. In just ten years, he accomplished the great feat of sweeping across the world and unifying the country!
It's hard to say if anyone else could have survived the hardships my great father endured in his early years. His great father truly deserves to be called the First Dragon of China! An emperor among emperors! A man among men!
After the brief confession, Ying, the little fat boy, immediately became as happy as a little tiger having fun. He used his hands and feet to crawl and circle around his mother on the smooth wooden floor. Although he didn't know why he was so happy, he was just happy, genuinely happy!
This was an ancient era where although material resources were extremely scarce, ideological civilization was extremely splendid. As long as productivity was continuously improved, the Qin Empire had great potential!
In late autumn, the flowers and trees planted outside the huge carved wooden window were blown by the bleak autumn wind, and many of their green leaves turned yellow and dried up. Then, under the pounding of the drizzle of autumn rain, the leaves fell weakly from the branches one by one.
The sky is gloomy on rainy days in autumn.
The light in the inner hall of Zhangtai Palace was also a little dim.
The candlelight on the Jijin lampstand kept flickering.
Li Si, dressed in black and red official uniform, was kneeling on the seat, quietly watching the First Emperor at the top of the table flipping through a long scroll of bamboo slips with an earnest expression.
It records in detail the names and hometowns of the one hundred Zhidianlang who were selected from the best after going through multiple rounds of assessments.
After the First Emperor carefully read the list of one hundred people on the bamboo slips, he closed the bamboo slips and looked at Li Si who was sitting below him and said:
"Sir Si, I see no problem with this list. It just so happens that the paper in the Ministry of Finance has been produced. Take the list to the Ministry of Finance and find Zhang Han. Have him quickly carve the names and hometown information of these one hundred people into engraved plates and print them in large quantities. Then, distribute the printed list as quickly as possible to all the counties and post it on the propaganda walls in every village."
"The court expended so much effort collecting books in the summer, and now that we've achieved results, we should let the common people see the court's seriousness in addressing the 'Book Control Order'. We should have the county magistrate send someone to find the people on the list, have them arrange their family affairs, and have them all report to Xianyang by the end of January next year at the latest."
Upon hearing this, Li Si hurriedly stood up from his seat, bowed respectfully to the emperor and said "yes", then hurriedly left Zhangtai Palace in the rain with the bamboo slips in his pocket.
After successfully leaving the palace, Li Si went straight to the Shaofu with the bamboo slips.
After Zhang Han read the long list of admissions from beginning to end and heard the emperor's instructions conveyed by Li Si, he immediately led the court judge to find the printers of the Shaofu.
Soon, ten days passed. With the cooperation of the papermaking craftsmen and the printing craftsmen of the Shaofu, the two groups of craftsmen worked overtime and finally printed out more than a thousand eye-catching notices in accordance with the requirements of His Majesty the Emperor before the end of the year.
As the first notice of the Great Qin was distributed from top to bottom, the propaganda walls that had been built in various parts of the world for many days finally came in handy.
Because of their proximity, the common people living in Xianyang City were the first to see the "notice" posted on the propaganda wall by the court.
They were also the first common people to see the novel writing material "paper", and the first to see the list of admitted "Zhi Dian Lang".
It turned out that among the one hundred selected doctors, there was not only a woman, but this only woman actually surpassed the remaining ninety-nine doctors for the first place!
Be good!
For a while, the curiosity about "paper", the surprise about "a woman can be a Zhidianlang? And the first one at that", and the discussion about "the hometown distribution of the one hundred Zhidianlang" all attracted the common people in and outside the city and every village to flock to the propaganda wall. No matter they could read or not, after hearing this exciting news, they had to run to the tall propaganda wall to join in the fun, take a look, and then express their opinions.
It was clearly the end of the year, in late autumn, when flowers and plants were withering, but because of the posting of these notices, the capital of the Qin Dynasty was as lively as a spring day full of vitality and blooming flowers.
The bustling atmosphere of Xianyang City was like a boiling pot, and as notices were sent to the outside of the Great Wall, it was also gradually brought to Han, Wei, Zhao, Yan, and Chu.
In the vigorous book donation activity, the people who donated the largest number and the highest quality books naturally came from the people living in the ancient lands of the six kingdoms outside the Great Wall.
The people of the Six Nations were not the old Qin people. After personally experiencing the tragedy of the demise of their motherland and the decline of their class, families with a little wealth all wanted to prosper again.
This time, the rare minor official position of "Zhi Dian Lang" issued by the court was seen by these people as a key springboard for the revival of their family, which had great hope. Therefore, as soon as the notice was delivered to the former site of the Six Kingdoms, people who had been paying attention to this matter rushed to see it.
Chu territory, Pei County.
This place is about two thousand miles away from the capital of the Qin Empire.
In late autumn and early winter, many plants in Pei County, which has a humid climate, have turned yellow.
The notice sent from Xianyang to Pei County had not yet been distributed to the pavilions and villages below.
When the officials of Pei County heard the news, they all crowded into the county magistrate's office to check it out.
Looking at the thick stack of thin, silk-like papers placed on the table, a middle-aged man with regular features and a very steady temperament couldn't help but twist the papers lightly with his fingers and sighed in surprise:
"I never thought there would be such a useful writing tool in the world. If this thin piece of paper could hold so many words, if it were bamboo slips, wouldn't it take several volumes to write them?"
"And how did they do it? How come the words on every piece of paper look exactly the same? It's like they were stamped one by one. It's amazing!"
Another middle-aged man standing next to the middle-aged man had a slightly messy bun on his head and a sloppy beard on his chin. He didn't know how to stand or sit, and he had a piece of withered foxtail grass in his mouth that he had picked up from somewhere. He looked very unruly.
I saw that everyone else was gathered around the long list, while my fellow countryman and friend next to me was constantly touching the stack of papers with his fingers.
The man couldn't help but shake his head, stretching his shoulders, and holding the dogtail grass in his mouth, he shouted, "Everyone, please make way, let me take away all the notices from Sishui Pavilion!"
After saying this, the man rushed into the crowd and grabbed more than a dozen notices that should have been allocated to his booth. Then, holding a stack of notices, he hooked his friend's calf with his foot. Seeing his friend looking at him sideways in confusion, the man immediately put the dogtail grass in his mouth, shook his messy head and took his friend away from the crowd.
After the two hurriedly left the county magistrate's room and walked into the brightly lit courtyard, the ruffian-looking middle-aged man quickly spread out the notice paper in his hand and looked down. As soon as he saw the name and hometown of the first person in the first column, he was stunned, blinked quickly, and opened his eyes wide again to look carefully.
I saw that at the top, written in large characters, it was clearly written vertically:
[The first place winner is Lü Zhi, styled E'ou, a seventeen-year-old girl from Shanfu County, Dang Commandery, Qi State, Daqin]
"No, is that right?!"
The middle-aged man was immediately stunned when he transformed this string of ink characters into a pretty young figure in his mind. He quickly spat out the withered and yellow foxtail grass in his mouth with a "Pah!", slapped his thigh repeatedly, and howled in agony at his friend beside him like a pig being slaughtered:
"Oh my, Xiao He! This is really bad news! The beautiful bride that Lord Nai chose this spring is about to be snatched away by the First Emperor!"
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