Chapter 33: The Bridge is Built

Zhang Han stood in the same spot for a moment longer, the children's boisterous play pulling his thoughts back, and then he continued to busy himself with preparations for his own wedding.

Seeing the woman he was to marry arrive by carriage, Zhang Han welcomed his wife with a smile on his face.

This wedding was conducted very simply; the solitary Zhang Han married the woman he loved.

As for Dong Yi and the Dong family, they merely sent two maidservants to help with the care; the Dong family was a prominent household in Xianyang City, and this so-called marrying of a daughter to Zhang Han was mostly done to prevent Shusun Tong from gossiping everywhere.

They could brush Zhang Han off, but they could not underestimate the influence of Shusun Tong.

However, since the Dong family's daughter also had feelings for Zhang Han, they were happy to see it happen.

"General Zhang Han, these were all sent from Xianyang." Several officials and soldiers set down box after box.

Zhang Han felt that he usually had no friends, and he himself did not know where to find relatives or friends, so he asked, "Who sent these?"

The soldier replied, "I am under General Wang's command. This box was sent by General Wang; General Wang is still in the palace discussing military affairs with the other generals and has no time to attend the banquet."

Zhang Han looked toward another box.

The man explained, "This box is full of fine silk fabrics, which Prince Fusu had us send; the Prime Minister had us send a box of money; and Censor Zhang Cang sent a box of books..."

Looking at the boxes of congratulatory gifts, Zhang Han bowed in the direction of Xianyang City.

The long summer ended, and Li You traveled along the official road for three days, heading south all the way until he arrived at a village beneath Nanshan.

A villager saw a man riding a warhorse and wearing armor, who looked to be about sixteen or seventeen years old, so someone hurried off to report it to the local Shefu.

This place was also in the area of Zhongnanshan, south of Guanzhong in later generations.

Because this village was on a main route of Nanshan, any troops or officials heading south would pass through here.

Recently, troops and horses had passed through this place almost every day.

The local Shefu was also an Old Qin Army veteran; seeing the armor the newcomer wore, he bowed and said, "General."

Li You handed over his tally and official documents, saying, "Is there food?"

The Shefu said, "There is."

"Feed the horse; I must continue my journey after resting for the night."

The Shefu led the young general into the relay station, where there were two or three other officials also resting.

The officials of Great Qin were very busy; Li You was far from the only one rushing about everywhere.

The cook served a bowl of porridge and a bowl of ginger soup.

Li You finished the bowl of porridge, drank the bowl of ginger soup, and fell asleep comfortably.

Just as he was drifting off to sleep, Li You vaguely heard the rustling sound of rain outside the window.

The exhaustion from days of travel washed over him, and Li You quickly fell into a deep sleep.

When he woke up again, Li You stretched comfortably, sat up while leaning on the table, and said, "Cook!"

The relay station was empty, and after a good while, the cook hurried over carrying a bundle; he first handed over the bundle and said, "General, this is all dry rations, you can eat them on the road."

Li You took the bundle, checked it, and asked, "It rained last night, how is it outside?"

The cook said, "The road is easy to travel, and the horse has already been fed fodder and has rested."

Li You wrote a document and instructed, "Have someone send this to Xianyang."

The cook took the document with both hands.

Li You packed his bundle, took his sword, walked outside, and once again mounted his horse to continue south.

The cook stood at the entrance of the relay station, watching the young general leave, and whispered, "To become a general at such a young age, his family must have performed great service."

Before long, the Shefu of the relay station walked out lazily and whispered, "This young general has an extraordinary background; I heard he is a child from a prominent family in Xianyang."

The cook asked skeptically, "Really?"

The Head of the Imperial Household said, "The Village Head said so."

"The General said to send this scroll of documents to Xianyang."

The Shefu and the cook stood in front of the relay station, both looking at the young general who had plunged into the thick fog, and sighed in unison.

This sigh was full of envy.

Yes, the Old Qin People all wanted to gallop across the battlefield and achieve military merit.

The Shefu was usually depressed all day because his own son had no opportunity to go out and fight; now that the Qin capital had unified the Six States, where would one find Military Merit in the future?

"Send the document." The cook held the scroll of documents and poked the Shefu's arm.

Looking in the direction the young general had left, the Shefu said, "If my son had this kind of spirit..."

Having said this, he sighed again, took the document, led a horse out from the stable, mounted it, and headed toward Xianyang.

When the day was completely bright, the thick fog finally dissipated.

Only then did Li You see his surroundings clearly and urge his horse to move faster along the official road.

On both sides of the official road, there were still people busy in the fields.

But just after traveling a short distance, the autumn rain fell once again upon this land; by Li You's side was the still-lush Nanshan, and before his eyes, the winding road.

He had endured a year of digging dirt on Shangyan Mountain and had survived countless dead bodies; what difficulty could possibly stump him?

Li You summoned his courage, a look of determination in his eyes, and galloped off into the distance.

The autumn rain in Huaxi came intermittently; every year during this season, the region within the passes was damp until the start of winter.

A rainstorm lasted for another three days, and the water level of the West Wei River rose quite a bit; this river had returned to its peak, its current rapid and powerful.

When the rain stopped, it was just at dusk.

By the Xianyang Bridge, Fusu sat alone under the setting sun.

Not far away, Tian An was busy inside the house organizing files.

Zhang Cang had been in Xianyang for several consecutive days, helping Prime Minister Li Si handle matters of Standardization of Writing, Carriage Same Track, and Weights and Measures.

Jian Lu had been taken away by the Right Prime Minister, likely for a more important appointment.

When the people of Xianyang City were all busy, there would rarely be anyone else to disturb them.

It was just like how, once they finished their busy work, they would remember to check on the progress of the canal digging at Shangyan Mountain.

And when they were all busy, they would once again cast Shangyan Mountain to the back of their minds.

Xianyang Bridge was largely completed, so the court and the public no longer paid attention to this place.

Fusu returned to the state of an idler; such is the life of people, where many old accounts are settled after autumn, and people are busy to the point of exhaustion after autumn.

The construction of Xianyang Bridge reached its final stage; once the minor details were handled and Tian An finished organizing the files to submit to the Lesser Treasury, everything would be complete.

Xianyang Bridge, which had taken seven months, was thus finished.

Under the reflection of the setting sun, a large expanse of the sky was also illuminated in a deep red.

On the deck of Xianyang Bridge, only two craftsmen remained, still patching up some edges and corners.

Beside the desk in front of Fusu lay a scroll of documents; that was actually Li You's farewell letter, in which he said he had received military orders and had now set off for Shu to mobilize troops.

Fusu still remembered that, at the beginning, Li You had not wanted to serve in the military.

"Brother!"

Hearing the shout from behind, Fusu sat in his chair and turned his head to take a look.

Gongzi Gao ran over quickly, and upon reaching him, he panted heavily, "Gao picked many persimmons."

He giggled as he placed the persimmons one by one on the table, then moved a Hu Stool over, sat down at the side, and watched Xianyang Bridge together with his brother.

Fusu ate a persimmon and asked, "How is your studying lately?"

Gao shook his head and said, "I don't understand it. Master Shusun Tong has explained it many times, but Gao still doesn't understand."

His voice gradually lowered, and he added, "But if Gao keeps saying I don't understand, the Master will be very disappointed."

Fusu said, "Then ask. Ask until you understand. It is not your fault that you don't understand, and don't feel that your asking more will make Shusun Tong unhappy."

"Mm!" Gao nodded vigorously, his voice carrying a hint of childishness, and continued, "Gao will study well."

Having said this, he stood up, bowed, and said, "Gao is returning to the palace."

Fusu nodded, continuing to look at the scenery before him.

Tian An watched as Gongzi Gao boarded his carriage and left, thinking to himself how good it would be if someone could accompany the Prince more.

Looking from afar at the Prince sitting alone by Xianyang Bridge, the Prince's side was always empty; what kind of child was he, to always like being alone?

The Prince was the child of the First Emperor, and only the child of the First Emperor could endure this kind of loneliness.

Tian An, who had watched the Prince grow up, knew that whether it was when Huayang Taihou was alive, or now... Prince Fusu was mostly alone like this.

For the remaining few days, after all the craftsmen had left, Fusu still lived in the small hut by Xianyang Bridge.

Sometimes he watched Xianyang Bridge in the autumn rain, and on sunny days he watched Xianyang Bridge under the sunlight.

This was the first great bridge the Prince had presided over the construction of; naturally, he liked it no matter how he looked at it, and felt this bridge was very beautiful no matter how he looked at it.

Tian An felt the same sense of accomplishment as the Prince, because he had stood by the Prince's side, watching a bridge go from nothing to something.

As long as the Prince was happy, then Tian An would also be happy for Huayang Taihou.

Tian An noticed the smile on the Prince's face when he cooked; the Prince liked cooking for himself very much, and most of the time the meals the Prince ate were made by the Prince's own hands.

Tian An held a bowl; the Prince said the food in the bowl was called Mutton Noodles, with a few slices of mutton covering the noodles, the soup clear and oily, with some chopped green onions floating on top.

Just as Tian An picked up his chopsticks, he saw the Prince dig something out of the field, and then sit there peeling something.

Taking another look, Tian An confirmed that this was something bought from the people of the Western Regions; no wonder the Prince hadn't eaten it before, it had actually been grown by the Prince.

Seeing this, Fusu said, "This is Garlic; it is very easy to grow, it lives as soon as it is planted."

The Prince ate the roasted mutton and then popped a piece of Garlic into his mouth.

Tian An took the Garlic handed to him by the Prince and ate a clove; it was a bit spicy in his mouth, so he took a big bite of noodles and suddenly felt that this sensation was actually quite good.

And so he ate, one bite of Garlic and one bite of noodles.

Looking from afar, an old man and a young man were sitting by Xianyang Bridge, eating their meal.

And both banks of Xianyang Bridge, as well as the surrounding area, were surrounded by troops, so ordinary people could not approach.

Day after day passed like this; Prince Fusu was either sitting on the bridge deck writing files and documents, or cooking food, or running back and forth on the bridge, not stopping until he was drenched in sweat.

After the tenth month, the weather grew colder and colder.

Tian An sat to the side boiling hot water for the Prince and said in a low voice, "This old servant has heard that it is still very hot in the Chu region, and they can still harvest one more season of crops. If only Guanzhong had four seasons like the Chu region, how good that would be."

Fusu continued writing the documents—though writing in Small Seal Script was tiring, one got used to it—and replied, "If Guanzhong had spring all year round, the fields would be full of pests."

Tian An nodded, lost in thought.

As an official, one must write documents; Fusu needed to make up for the work his teacher Zhang Cang had not finished and complete the construction supervision documents, as his teacher was originally a capable assistant to the Prime Minister.

Whenever there was a major matter in the court, the teacher's assistance was indispensable.

As for himself, this disciple, he had to become independent early; fortunately, he had read many documents at the Imperial Censor Office last year, and the document writing format of Great Qin was not complicated.

Xunzi, the old gentleman, once said: Learning must never cease.

If a person stops learning, it is like timber being shaped by external force, losing its natural resilience.

His article, Exhortation to Learning, has been of great benefit.

It was not until the latter part of the tenth month that Fusu left Xianyang Bridge, though he did not go far.

Instead, he took these guards and stayed upstream of Xianyang Bridge.

Fusu watched as people coming and going tried to walk onto Xianyang Bridge; some bold ones ran directly from the bridge to the opposite bank, while others walked cautiously.

This bridge was meant for the people, and its purpose was to benefit the people on both banks.

If there were a war in the future, the great army could advance west from Xianyang Bridge; if the Xiongnu attacked, the people could also use Xianyang Bridge to flee to Xianyang and receive the protection of the great army.

The significance of Xianyang Bridge went far beyond this; whether for the development and construction of Guanzhong or the prosperity of both banks of the Wei River, this bridge was extremely important.

For the next few days, Fusu lived on the upper reaches of the West Wei River, where he could see the situation at Xianyang Bridge from afar, watching people come and go across Xianyang Bridge—old people, women, or merchants pulling carts.

These days, the people coming and going across Xianyang Bridge had grown accustomed to that troop of soldiers upstream.

Today, a woman brought her child to the bridge, and the child pointed toward the upper reaches, saying in a puzzled tone, "Mother, they are gone."

Hearing the child's words, the people looked upstream, and that troop of soldiers left at the upper reaches had indeed departed.

The people were only curious for a moment before continuing to walk on the bridge.

The construction matters for Xianyang Bridge were finally all concluded; as one of the primary persons responsible for the bridge's construction, Fusu needed to report to the First Emperor, and only after receiving permission could he store these files in the archives.

Fusu returned to Xianyang Palace; the files for the bridge construction consisted of two full chests, including accounts and records of construction matters, and they contained the names of every laborer and their corresponding wages, so that in the future, when reviewing the files, one could clearly identify the relevant personnel who built Xianyang Bridge, which laborer from which county had participated in the construction of Xianyang Bridge, how much pay they received, and how many days of hard labor they performed.

Xianyang Palace was very busy at this time of year; Fusu walked in front, followed by two rows of Attendants, who were struggling to carry the two chests of files.

Seeing Prince Fusu arrive, the armored guards at the steps of Zhangtai Palace stepped forward and said, "Prince, the Court Discussion is still ongoing inside the main hall."

Fusu waved his sleeves, signaling them to move the chests to the side, and then he also stood to the side.

The guard understood and said no more, returning to his position.

The Court Discussion was still continuing; he had arrived late, and if there was a matter that needed to be reported to the Emperor, then he would stand here and wait until the Court Discussion ended.

This was something Fusu had learned from his teacher, Zhang Cang.

(End of chapter)