Chapter 15: The Perfect Prince of Qin

Li You walked along, looking dejected; perhaps after arguing with his own father, he felt very lost, and the feeling of not being understood or taken seriously lingered in his heart, refusing to dissipate for a long time.

"My father simply refused to let me finish a single sentence."

Zhang Han followed at his side with a straight face.

Li You added, "General, I am no longer a Colonel; I have things I want to do."

Zhang Han said, "How can you just say you won't do a military post in the army when you want to?"

Li You stopped in his tracks and looked at Zhang Han with a stunned expression.

Zhang Han said, "Any delay of military intelligence or disobedience of military regulations must be dealt with by military law; if you want to stop being a Colonel, unless..."

Seeing Li You's unpleasant expression, Zhang Han realized it a bit late and changed his words: "With the Prime Minister here, you need not worry about being beheaded; the Prime Minister will not use your head to demonstrate military discipline."

Li You walked back to his living quarters with a numb expression; his own quarters were together with those of the servants, and there was only one oil lamp in the room.

The so-called oil lamp was nothing more than a chipped pottery bowl.

This was considered one of the better rooms among the many servants' quarters, and it was originally a room Zhang Han had built for himself.

Besides managing the army, farming, and whipping prisoners, Zhang Han was actually able to build a decent room that could shield one from wind and rain all by himself; this general's talents were so numerous it was outrageous.

Living in the same room as General Zhang Han was not bad; tomorrow he would go build a room himself.

Although life here was very difficult, at least he liked it here.

As night approached, the western sky turned bright red, and Li You began to teach the servants to read and write; the Prince had three thousand servants, and Li You could only teach twenty at most each time, so he selected twenty from among them, taught these twenty, and then had them teach others.

Li You was very satisfied with his arrangement, but as soon as he started teaching, he encountered difficulties; these people were completely illiterate and could not learn texts at all, and even when he wrote out individual Small Seal Script characters for them to identify, they would even fall asleep, or someone's child would cry, and they would leave halfway through the lesson.

Until nightfall, the first day of Li You's teaching ended, and the people all returned to their own homes.

He did not know why, but recently everything had been going poorly, and there was hardly a single thing that went according to his wishes; Li You dropped the branch in his hand, stepped on it hard, and complained in a low voice, "Why is it so hard, why is everything so hard."

The cold wind of the winter night raged, and under the cover of night, only the sound of the wind howled through the streets and alleys of Xianyang City.

In a residence for the Doctors of the Six States, the First Emperor and the Prime Minister of Qin, Li Si, had invited many Doctors from the Six States and also provided them with mansions, not only allowing them to live in better houses in Xianyang City but also to settle their families.

Although the First Emperor and Prime Minister Li Si had given them enough generous treatment and enough tolerance.

Yet, including Chunyu Yue, no one had brought their family members to Xianyang of Qin, and most had come alone, possessing a spirit of being ready to die for their cause.

In one residence, the light of an oil lamp flickered, and the elderly man from Qi and Lu, Fu Sheng, was still looking at a scroll of books in his hands.

He had already read this book, which he had borrowed from Prince Fusu, many times.

Shusun Tong looked very troubled.

"Where did you go to drink today?"

Hearing Fu Sheng's question, Shusun Tong first picked up a pottery pot to drink a mouthful of cold water, then stroked his beard with his hand and said, "A few old friends from back then."

When Shusun Tong said this, his expression was clearly very dejected.

Fu Sheng continued, "I didn't expect you to still have friends in Xianyang City."

Shusun Tong sat up straighter, stroked his beard and said, "Speaking of which, I feasted with a few friends today and mentioned a man named Zhang Liang."

Fu Sheng asked, "Which Zhang Liang?"

"The child of Zhang Ping."

Fu Sheng had not heard of this person Zhang Liang, but among the old nobles of the Six States back then, there was a branch of nobles from the Han region who had left there when the Qin Army captured the Han region.

It was only later that Fu Sheng heard from some disciples and students that those nobles were of the lineage of Zhang Ping.

But after many years of war, no one knew where they had all gone.

Shusun Tong said, "At the banquet today, they said that someone in the east wants to oppose Qin, and that person sold all of his hundreds of servants and his farmland; later, someone else said that the person who sold his family property was the descendant of Zhang Ping."

Fu Sheng's gaze remained on the book, without any reaction.

"Alas..." Shusun Tong sighed long and said, "A couple of days ago, I heard that the Xiang of the Chu region were also searching for the old nobles of the Six States everywhere, wanting to unite to oppose Qin."

Seeing that Fu Sheng did not respond to him, Shusun Tong muttered to himself, "Now, there are still people privately uniting, planning to seek an opportunity to restore the Six States again."

"There are also some who feel that there is nothing wrong with the present; Qin has given them a stable life for their wives and children, so opposing Qin is easier said than done, even if the Six States were restored... what would be the difference from before? It would still be endless war."

"I have seen many people these days, and heard many words; I shouldn't have gone to see them, seeing these people only disturbs one's own mind." Shusun Tong raised his head slightly and added, "I shouldn't have gone to see them."

"Alas." Shusun Tong slapped his forehead and hurriedly said, "The Prince's book has not been returned yet."

Fu Sheng had already read this Bamboo Slip many times; he placed the Bamboo Slip on the desk and said in a low voice, "What kind of person do you think the Prince is?"

"Hmm, after coming to Xianyang, I have heard a few things."

After speaking, Shusun Tong first cleared his throat and continued, "Prince Fusu of Qin was quite sensible when he was young; during the years when Huayang Taihou was seriously ill, the young Prince Fusu taught himself medicine to nurse the Taihou back to health; at the time, there were physicians who said that Huayang Taihou lived for several more years under the Prince's treatment."

"A few years later, Huayang Taihou passed away, and the First Emperor bestowed Gaoquan Palace upon the Prince; the Prince then took the Commandant of Justice Li Si as his teacher, and now Li Si is the Prime Minister; Prince Fusu is studious, humble, knows etiquette, and is good at learning."

"Many subjects the Prince only needs to read or hear once to master; to this day... at sixteen years of age, he is still studious, still as he was in the beginning, often reading books, learning governance, and treating his servants well; the Prince lives simply, and it is heard that he has no mansions for enjoyment outside, and no playthings for amusement in the palace."

Fu Sheng said, "Qin having such a Prince is enviable."

Shusun Tong added, "It is indeed rare for Qin to have such a Prince."

"He will be the next King of Qin." Fu Sheng changed his words again: "He should be the next Emperor; such a Prince will surely be able to gain much support; I, this old man, observe from what is recorded in this book that the Prince is currently learning agricultural affairs, what kind of crops to plant in what kind of fields, and how much the seasons will affect the harvest."

Shusun Tong lay on his side on the couch, closing his eyes to prepare for sleep; before falling asleep, he added, "Prince Fusu doesn't look like a child."

Fu Sheng picked up the Bamboo Slip again to look at it, and thinking back to Shusun Tong's words, he did not know whether his remark about him not looking like a child was a joy or a worry.

During the cold winter season, Guanzhong had another freezing rain, and everyone in Xianyang City was looking forward to the return of the Grand General Wang Jian.

Fusu divided the men digging the canal into small teams of three; the women had long since started getting busy with food, and the young and old were still working in the Well Canal.

The matter of digging the Well Canal could not be rushed; it could not be finished in ten days or half a month, so it was better to dig it meticulously.

After finishing the matter at hand, Fusu walked outside the study and saw a litter of puppies huddled in the corner of the wall, leaning against each other for warmth.

Fusu picked one up; the puppy was entirely black and gray, and besides whimpering, it did not yet know how to bark.

Seeming to sense something, the group of puppies swarmed up, and the Prince's feet were soon submerged by the group of puppies.

"Prince, General Wang and General Zhang Han have arrived."

Hearing Tian An's words, Fusu then put down the puppy and carried them one by one into the woodshed.

I counted carefully, ten in total, not one missing.

In the warm woodshed there was also a large dog, the one that had given birth to the puppies; it did not seem to like the troublesome puppies, and Fusu noticed its gaze, those dark eyes seeming to say that raising puppies is exhausting enough to kill.

Fusu ignored its gaze and very heartlessly closed the woodshed door, leaving only a small crack.

Turning back, the two generals were already before him.

Fusu explained, "Winter has arrived, and everyone is idle; apart from our Shangshan Township, the other counties have nothing to do, heh... I have nothing to do either."

Zhang Han stood bowing, saying nothing, his expression solemn.

Wang Bi smiled in understanding.

Fusu walked through this village; there were changes in the village, as they had tidied up the houses and the road surface was also smoother.

Nuer was leading a group of small children in writing, and when she saw the Prince passing by, she hurriedly stopped to bow.

Once the Prince had walked far away, she continued teaching the children to write.

There were also three ducks and six egg-laying chickens kept here.

Livestock all need grain to eat, so they dared not keep too many here; with grain currently tight, they dared not expand the breeding.

Fusu walked along and saw several women tidying a row of stoves; the flatbreads taken out from the stoves were those not finished today, and these flatbreads were still warm, but in the cold wind, they would turn cold in no time.

The women took the flatbreads outside to trade for grain; such delicious flatbreads could be traded for a bag of millet or some beans.

Looking at the cost, it was not a loss no matter how they traded.

"General Wang, when will the Grand General return?"

Hearing the Prince's question, Wang Bi replied, "Guanzhong is cold, and my father is spending the winter outside Hangu Pass; he will return to Xianyang after the weather warms up."

Fusu nodded and said, "The Grand General is aged; he should indeed rest well."

Leading the two generals to the fish pond, Fusu took two Bamboo Slips from the bookshelf, handed them to them respectively, and added, "Counting the land reclaimed this year, we have five hundred and ten qing of land in total; it is time to prepare for next year's farming."

Zhang Han bowed and said, "This subordinate is willing to obey the Prince's orders."

One must always plan ahead; in this year's winter, one thinks of next spring's matters, and when next spring arrives, one must consider preparations for next autumn.

Thinking of the next hour's matters at this hour, Fusu had long been accustomed to this way of considering things.

"Starting next year, we will divide the existing fields by household, with each household receiving land according to the number of people; the land not yet reclaimed will still be divided by household—whichever family can reclaim more land, that family will harvest more grain."

Fusu further exhorted, "I do not eat much, so there is no need to consider me."

Zhang Han smiled for once, and having received the instructions, he bowed and went to attend to the matter.

Fusu tidied up the bookshelf, saw that Wang Bi was still standing before him, and asked in confusion, "General Wang, is there anything else?"

Wang Bi said, "Li You, he..."

"What is wrong with him?"

Wang Bi asked in a low voice, "He is digging a well; the Prime Minister asked if this subordinate could bring him back."

"Li You, eh..." Fusu pondered for a moment, then added, "He has fallen ill recently; General Wang need not worry about him."

"What illness?"

"A sickness of the heart."

Wang Bi kept his lips sealed, hesitated again and again, but still asked, "Li You is ill, so he cannot return to Xianyang?"

Fusu said, "Li You is too foolish; why bother arguing with him."

Zhang Han, who had just left the Prince's study, heard the words from inside the study after walking only two steps.

Zhang Han also felt that Li You was a fool; he had become increasingly foolish lately, always doing some very foolish things, often talking to himself, and he was not diligent when teaching the Prince's servants to read and write.

Zhang Han sometimes truly could not bear to watch and would replace Li You to teach them to read and write.

The Prince's servants were naturally different; perhaps the Prince felt that if the servants were literate, literate servants would be more valuable.

The freezing rain fell intermittently, and at night, another heavy snow arrived; Fusu returned to Gaoquan Palace.

Sparse snowflakes drifted into the hall with the wind, and there was some thin accumulated snow inside and outside the hall doors.

Fusu glanced at it, and the drowsy Attendant hurriedly went to sweep it clean.

Tian An brought over a bowl of hot mutton soup and said, "General Meng Tian has arrived in the north; the Xiongnu have presented fifty thousand sheep to General Meng Tian, and the flocks have all been sent to Xianyang City."

"Which Xiongnu tribe sent them?"

"It was a Xiongnu tribe that sent them; this old servant does not know which one, but there should be a record in the military reports."

Fusu drank a mouthful of mutton soup, feeling the hot soup flow through his stomach, and the chill brought from returning in the wind and snow was gone.

Tian An said, "This old servant had people inquire; the magistrates of the counties near Shangshan will not question the reclaimed land."

"I enslave servants to reclaim land and enrich myself." Fusu sighed and said, "I fear someone will say again that I am a Prince of the tyrannical Qin, true to the name."

Tian An said, "Those who discuss the Prince should all be killed."

Fusu smiled and finished the bowl of mutton soup, still chewing some mutton in his mouth.

The sheep were sent by Meng Tian from the bitterly cold north; Fusu wrote a letter, asking Meng Tian to inquire about the current situation on the grasslands and to ask if there was a Xiongnu named Modu.

After finishing the letter and applying the wax seal, Fusu instructed, "Tomorrow, have someone send it to Meng Tian."

Tian An nodded.

Until late at night, Fusu was still reading Legalist classics; a gust of cold wind blew in, causing the candle flame on the candlestick to flicker.

The next morning, it was still snowing heavily in Xianyang, and the old scholar Fu Sheng had not yet returned the scrolls.

After Fusu woke up early, he ate his morning meal while reading a book; this scroll recorded knowledge related to craftsmen, especially regarding bridge construction.

Recently, the Prince had become increasingly fond of reading, sometimes almost never putting the book down all day.

Tian An said, "If the Prince wishes to learn about bridge construction, why not look at this scroll."

Fusu took the Bamboo Slip handed over by Tian An; Qin had once had two experts in water conservancy, one was Zheng Guo who built the Zheng Guo Canal, and the other was the Governor who built the Dujiangyan in Shu.

(End of this chapter)