Chapter 13: New Year's in the Tenth Month?

(*cough* Was so busy typing I forgot to update, ⊙﹏⊙b sweatdrop)

Qin is a rank-based state. So that status can be seen at a glance, every noble rank has its own distinctive marker.

The common soldier is also called 'black-headed folk' — true to the name, it means coarse black cloth wrapped around the hair bun.

Gongshi is the lowest noble rank, marked by a brown headscarf on the hair bun.

Of course, a mere gongshi actually has no investiture ceremony — it's just swapping the cloth on one's head, and it won't make others look at you differently, because the streets are full of men with brown cloth on their heads. At most it earns envious glances from common soldiers like Ji Ying.

Heifu had originally wanted to go thank Xi again; without Xi's guidance, he, a legal illiterate in Qin, might have blithely walked off with the reward money.

But Xi had long since gone home. His subordinate clerk, Yue, however, cheerfully congratulated Heifu and exchanged a few words with them.

Yue told Heifu that the county would immediately issue a document ordering his home village and hamlet to update his status record. The county had also replaced his inspection tally and official registry; on the newly issued identity token, he was now 'Gongshi Heifu'.

At the same time, the authorities would grant him the gongshi benefits of one qing of farmland and one residence plot — that is, one hundred mu of land and a thirty-pace-square building plot. Heifu could build a house on it himself, but these things involved more troublesome procedures and wouldn't be settled for ten days to half a month.

"When you finish your rotational soldier service and return to your village, you'll be able to see your land and house. Perhaps the authorities will even assign a servant to help you farm."

After explaining these matters, Yue smiled wryly and said: "Only Lord Xi would insist on hearing cases on New Year's Day and deny us our leave. Enough said — I must hurry home, or my old father will give me a thorough scolding."

With that, he left hastily. But before going, after hesitating repeatedly, he patted Heifu on the shoulder, his smile fading, and said: "When you get to the rotational soldiers, be careful…"

Heifu did not immediately grasp what he meant by that.

After leaving the county jail, Heifu stood at the main gate, closed his eyes, and felt the warm sunlight. This was the taste of freedom.

Looking back at the grim order inside the county jail, then at the bustling crowds coming and going on the street, it felt like a world apart.

When he had stepped inside, he was a lowly common soldier with an uncertain future. Now, he had taken his first step in this era and obtained the rank he had dreamed of.

But he was not satisfied with this. A mere gongshi was still not enough!

The reason Heifu thought this way was that during today's court hearing, the Huyang precinct chief, simply because he held a rank of shangzao or higher, had been exempted from border garrison duty and his sentence commuted to 'firewood gatherer'. This had enlightened him.

Through this lawsuit, Heifu realized just how harsh Qin law was. Living in Qin, one never knew when a careless misstep might cross a red line and make one a criminal.

If you were an ordinary commoner or a gongshi, you would be punished exactly as prescribed. But if you held a rank of shangzao or higher, you could use your rank to offset crimes and reduce your punishment.

"For the sake of my own neck, I need to at least rise to shangzao first for a bit more insurance."

Thinking this, Heifu called out to Ji Ying, wanting to go with him to report at the county seat's south gate training ground — today was the day their rotational service began.

"Go right now?"

Ji Ying, however, looked thoroughly unwilling and said: "Brother Heifu, though the service period cannot be delayed, didn't the jail clerk just say we are permitted to postpone our service by one day? You and I have just received so much reward money — how can we not first go eat a good meal and celebrate? Besides…"

He pointed at the bustling, extraordinarily lively crowds on the street and said: "Today is New Year's!"

"New Year's?"

Heifu looked utterly bewildered and muttered: "Today is the first day of the tenth month. Winter has just begun — what New Year's are you celebrating?"

…

"Brother Heifu, in the county jail you were eloquent and extremely shrewd, but how is it that once you're out, you seem possessed by a beguiling ghost and don't even know what day New Year's falls on?"

A moment later, Ji Ying looked Heifu up and down as if staring at someone returned from a distant barbarian land. Living seventeen or eighteen years and not even knowing when New Year's was — wasn't that living life far too muddled? Or perhaps he had been hexed, his soul lured away by a ghost that specialized in bewitching people?

"Staying inside too long, a slip of the tongue, just a slip of the tongue…"

Heifu knew he had made a fool of himself and could only gloss it over, while grumbling inwardly: "I'm no researcher of ancient calendars. At most I know a few major historical events — how could I have known that in Qin, today is New Year's Day!"

As it turned out, the Qin calendar not only differed greatly from the later Gregorian calendar, but also diverged from the Xia calendar (the lunar calendar). It was the unique 'Zhuanxu Calendar'. This calendar's greatest feature was that it took the month of the Establishment of Hai, the first month of winter — that is, the first day of the tenth lunar month — as the start of the year. So this day was indeed New Year's Day…

Looking again, the various officials and rank-holders going in and out of the county jail and county temple, upon meeting each other, would all smile and bow with clasped hands, saying: "Good tidings on Zhengdan," which served as their New Year's greeting.

When leaving the county jail, the jail clerk Yue had told them that, considering the two had been delayed at the jail for so long to cooperate with the trial, they were permitted to report to their rotational service one day late — meaning they only had to go tomorrow. He had also given each of them a bamboo slip inscribed with the circumstances, which served as proof…

So Heifu set his mind at ease and, with a trace of curiosity, began to stroll through Anlu County town on this 'New Year's Day'.

Anlu County was an ancient city. It was said to have been built three hundred years ago during the Spring and Autumn period, when the Wu army entered Ying and King Zhao of Chu took refuge here. Whether true or false, during the several centuries of Chu rule, this place had been a vital transportation hub in the Jianghan region. After being occupied by Qin, it continued to develop. Now the city wall measured five or six li in circumference, with three thousand households and a population of nearly twenty thousand — a major county by any measure.

The county seat could be roughly divided into eastern and western districts. The western district bordered the Zha River and had a small ferry crossing; it was the location of the hamlets (residential areas) and the market. The eastern district bordered Quyang Lake and was said to have formerly been the King of Chu's traveling palace; now it had been converted into the official temple complex, and the county jail where Heifu and the others had been detained for many days was located here.

This afternoon, officials high and low could all take leave, so the official temple district was rather quiet. Only after leaving the eastern city and entering the hamlet district did the New Year atmosphere grow much stronger.

Rank-holders living in the city could be seen walking along the roads, some wearing newly sewn winter clothes, some carrying chickens and ducks in hand, or toting dog legs and fresh fish — this was their equivalent of shopping for New Year's goods.

In the distance, among those scattered, interlaced hamlets, one could see people replacing the peach-wood charms on the hamlet gates — rectangular peach-wood boards inscribed with the two gods 'Shentu' and 'Yulei' for warding off ghosts. The Qin people were devout believers in this practice.

"In China, no matter the dynasty or era, New Year's is still New Year's…"

Watching these scenes of the New Year festival, Heifu felt, he didn't know why, a trace of desolation.

Yes, at New Year's, one ought to be at home, reunited with family. But whether it was his home in his past life or his home in Qin, he could return to neither right now.

Beside him, Ji Ying was also stomping his foot in anger: "What rotten luck, to be drawn for rotational duty right at the New Year festival! How did I offend the hamlet chief?"

Then he asked Heifu: "Brother Heifu, does your family also have a grudge against the local hamlet chief? Is that why you were assigned to this service?"

As it turned out, in Qin, all adult men who met the height and age requirements had to register their names and serve one month of rotational duty in the commandery or county each year. As for who served in which month, that was decided by the hamlet chief. The hamlet chief would arrange all eligible men in the hamlet into a sequence, and everyone took turns performing corvée labor in order — this was called 'service order'. As for the sequence order, it generally followed the organization of each household into squads and tithings, but the possibility of manipulation and queue-jumping could not be ruled out.

At Ji Ying's question, Heifu suddenly remembered this matter: "My eldest brother and the local hamlet chief, it seems they really do have some past friction. When I left home, Mother also grumbled a few words about it…"

…

PS: Please answer: In the seventh month of the second year of the Second Emperor of Qin, Chen Sheng led nine hundred garrison conscripts in revolt at Daze Village. In the twelfth month of the second year of the Second Emperor, Chen Sheng was defeated at Xiachengfu and killed by a traitor, ending the uprising. From this, it can be seen that the time Chen Sheng's uprising lasted was ().

(Answer: A, half a year; B, one year; C, one and a half years; D, two years.)

(End of chapter)