Chapter 468: Production

Li Ling's first meeting with Heifu took place beside the vast, sprawling millet fields of Fuping County. To his astonishment, he discovered that this Junior Prime Minister, a grand official of the two-thousand-dan rank, was dressed with the utmost simplicity. He wore only the commonest hempen robe, straw sandals on his feet, and his body was smeared everywhere with yellow earth. Had he not forgotten to remove the brown-eagle cap on his head, he would have looked no different from an ordinary commoner.

What surprised Li Ling most was that he was not like the Governor or Commandant of Shu Commandery, who merely touched a plow as a token gesture when urging farming in early spring. He was truly laboring alongside the soldiers and civilians: his legs stood steady in the field, the sickle in his hand flew swiftly as he cut the millet, his movements professional and utterly absorbed. Had the personal guard commander Gong Ao not called out to him several times, he would never have raised his head.

"So it is the newly arrived Shanghe Agriculture Commandant. Forgive my discourtesy."

Heifu handed his sickle to someone nearby, climbed up onto the field ridge, and said a word of apology to Li Ling. He rinsed his feet in the ditch water, washed his hands, took a hempen cloth from Gong Ao to wipe the sweat from his face, and only then gestured to Li Ling, inviting him to sit in the shade-shed by the field...

A small shed of thatched straw, a simple wooden table, a straw mat for a seat, and plain cool boiled water to drink — this was the standard setup for a small landowner resting after labor. Yet Li Ling not only did not feel Heifu had been discourteous, but rather admired him deeply.

His post of "Shanghe Agriculture Commandant" was a newly established military-farming official position by the imperial court, specifically responsible for canal excavation and military-farming affairs, with a rank of six hundred dan. Because Helan was a borderland military colony, it fell under the jurisdiction of the Commandery Commandant.

Only after Heifu had drained three bowls of cool boiled water in one go and exhaled a satisfied "Ah!" did Li Ling carefully choose his words and begin his consultation with his superior.

"Though your subordinate has lived in seclusion in Shu, I have long heard of the Commandery Commandant's renown. Especially before coming, I heard the Mohist Cheng of Xianyang recount the Commandery Commandant's deeds in detail. He said that on the frontier, the Commandery Commandant wears coarse wool for clothes and straw sandals for shoes, toils day and night without rest, and shares the hardships of soldiers and civilians. Seeing you today, it is indeed so."

"Oh?"

Heifu asked curiously, "The Agriculture Commandant still maintains contact with the Mohists?"

Li Ling seized the opportunity to introduce his family background: "My late grandfather was Bing, Governor of Shu under King Zhao..."

Heifu immediately looked up. "Could it be Governor Li, who built the Dujiang Weir... hmm, the Jianpeng?"

"Precisely my late grandfather!"

In his past life, Heifu had been to Dujiang Weir and observed the grand Dragon Boat Festival rites. Li Bing was one of the few Qin people he knew of. And Dujiang Weir was a miracle that could still bless later generations two thousand years on; its vitality surpassed not only the palaces of Xianyang, but even the Great Wall and the imperial highways. Hearing that his new subordinate was Li Bing's grandson, he could not help but sigh with emotion.

Li Ling said, "The world knows that my grandfather built the weir and canals, but they do not know that in his early years, my grandfather was a Qin Mohist! Even in my generation, though I have not entered the Mohist school, I still maintain contact with the Mohists."

This was something Heifu was hearing for the first time. This Li Ling, who looked to be of considerable age with thinning hair and a wooden, halting manner, was actually quite eloquent. By introducing his family background, he let Heifu know that his canal-building was rooted in family learning, and through his connection to the Mohists, he drew the two of them closer.

He had even, imperceptibly, flattered Heifu.

"When my grandfather built the weir and canals back then, he often personally entered the water to measure heights and depths. When the laborers worked, he also labored alongside them, sharing their food and clothing. Others advised him that it was improper for a dignified two-thousand-dan Commandery Governor to do so. But my grandfather said: In ancient times, when Yu the Great tamed the waters, he also personally undertook the task, soaking in the water for months and years on end until the hair on his calves was worn away and his shins were bare, bathed by driving rain and combed by fierce winds. If even Yu the Great was thus, how much more so a mere Commandery Governor?"

"Now, seeing the Commandery Commandant personally harvesting millet in the field, your subordinate cannot help but be filled with a thousand emotions. In twenty years of official service, I have finally once again seen a Qin official who, like my grandfather, can share the toil of soldiers and civilians!"

Heifu coughed once, putting a stop to the flattery from these two, and said with a smile, "I also come from a farming household and know the hardships of the common people. Moreover, 'The Way of Being an Official' states: Carefully understand the people's capabilities, skillfully assess the people's strength, and lead them through labor. I am merely doing what a Qin official ought to do!"

Li Ling sighed, "If every official could be like the Commandery Commandant, why worry that the realm would not be well-governed?"

Heifu fell silent. Li Ling had hit the nail on the head. Though Heifu had been on the frontier these past few years, he had still heard that arrogance and insolence were the defining traits of the Qin officials sent to govern the former eastern states. To meet the imperial court's quotas, they drove the people like beasts, and grievances were already rife in many places.

These men treated the commoners with vile attitudes, yet were exceedingly lenient toward the powerful and wealthy clans of the former Six States, because they needed to rely on them to govern the localities. Over a few years, the seeds of corruption had already begun to sprout within the ranks of Qin officials. It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to return from luxury to frugality. The officials of Qin were no longer the law-abiding, disciplined Qin officials of the era before the unification of the Six States, when "the hundred officials were solemn, none failing to be respectful, frugal, sincere, and trustworthy without negligence"!

Though Heifu often frowned at these matters, his reach was limited. He could only manage his own small domain of Beidi Commandery. Moreover, this year his main task was not bureaucratic discipline, but military farming...

So he said, "The Agriculture Commandant has come at just the right time. These few days are the harvest season for each county. Today and tomorrow, we will first observe in Fuping County. The day after, you will follow me downriver to tour the military farms of the several counties of Helan, to know the number of fields, to know the military and civilian household registers, to know the fertility of the land, and to know the locations of mountains, rivers, and marshes. Then you will have a clear idea of how to organize the soldiers and civilians to dig canals and irrigate more land during the agricultural off-season after autumn!"

Heifu handled matters with vigorous efficiency. Li Ling had barely caught his breath in the small settlement on the first day when, early the next morning, a man named Gan Chong, the Military-Farming Station Officer of Fuping County, came to summon him, wanting to take Li Ling to inspect the lands along the river in Fuping.

Li Ling knew that although counties had been established on the eastern foothills of the Helan Mountains, aside from ten thousand garrison troops and five thousand retained civilian laborers, there was no other population; it was still under military administration. The entire Helan Mountains region had a "Helan Commandant," held by Gongsun Bailu on Heifu's recommendation, under whom were three Military-Farming Station Officers for Fuping, Lingwu, and Lian Counties, plus two Barrier Station Officers for Hunhuai and Shenquan.

Now that the imperial court had assigned Li Ling as "Shanghe Agriculture Commandant," the intention was to separate border defense and military-farming affairs. Next year, immigrants would be moved in, gradually transitioning toward a normal commandery-county system.

Gan Chong explained to Li Ling, "The Xiongnu in Helan all fled, leaving not a single felt tent, not a single cow or sheep behind. This was to create a desolate stronghold, so that even if our army won, we could not stay."

"Indeed, when our main force first garrisoned Helan, food and clothing became a huge problem. Although the Commandery Commandant submitted a memorial to His Majesty, proposing that Longxi and Beidi use water transport and salt carts to send grain to Helan, distant water cannot quench a nearby thirst."

"Last winter, we could only leave a few thousand men to guard the position, while the rest all withdrew to Beidi for the winter. When we returned after the snow melted, we found that of the seven thousand men left behind in the Helan Mountains, several hundred had frozen, starved, or died of illness within three months. Helan is far from the inner commanderies, and travel to and fro is inconvenient. In that early spring, grain was just enough to fill our bellies, but we lacked everything else — no clothes to wear, no vegetables to eat, the soldiers and civilians had no shoes or socks..."

Gan Chong listed the difficulties they had encountered, one by one.

"At that time, the Commandery Commandant had the Colonels, Station Officers, and all the Unit Commanders come to Fuping to discuss matters. The Commandery Commandant said that the Helan military farms were newly established and conditions were harsh. We could not forever rely on grain shipped from the interior. Since we did not want to starve to death, nor did we want to abandon Helan and withdraw, there was only one solution left."

Gan Chong pointed at the signboard standing by the edge of the millet field and declared proudly, "Regardless of whether they were soldiers or civilian laborers, except for the watchmen on patrol duty, everyone else was to set to work together. Food, clothing, and shelter — all were to be provided by ourselves!"

"The Commandery Commandant called this affair the 'Great Production'!"

"Great Production?" Li Ling nodded. "The Commandery Commandant wants the soldiers to solve their own livelihood on the spot."

In this era, "production" no longer meant merely "giving birth to children," but was synonymous with livelihood. The Wei Chancellor Bai Gui had once said: "My management of production is like the stratagems of Yi Yin and Lü Shang, the military tactics of Sun and Wu, and the legal methods of Shang Yang..."

Gan Chong, however, said, "Not so. The name the Commandery Commandant gave this military-farming and land-reclamation endeavor means more than just livelihood."

Recalling the scene from that time, Gan Chong's face broke into a broad grin.

"The Commandery Commandant said: Since ancient times, it has always been women who produce infants. But this time is different — now it is the men's turn, the turn of the fifteen thousand soldiers and civilians permanently stationed in the Helan Mountains!"

"What we are to produce is not just millet, wheat, and vegetables. We must also gather everyone's strength to produce a robust infant, whose cries will shake heaven and earth, making the northern barbarians a thousand li away turn pale!"

"He must learn to be self-sufficient, and finally grow to stand towering between heaven and earth, his feet straddling the great river, putting down deep roots on the eastern foothills of the snow mountains!"

"The Commandery Commandant said: This will be the first child the Great Qin has ever birthed in the wild wastes beyond the frontier! Its name is Helan. And on the lower reaches of the great river, there is another brother standing shoulder to shoulder with him, supporting each other, named Shuofang!"

"The Commandery Commandant said: Beginning from this, in even more distant places — west across the shifting sands, south to the farthest households, east to the Eastern Sea, north beyond Bactria — wherever human footprints reach, the Great Qin will yet give birth to countless new sons, one after another!"

Delivering them would not be soft hands, but swords and plowshares forged in fierce fire!

Nourishing their growth would not be a mother's milk, but the pioneering spirit of generation after generation.

Li Ling's mouth fell open in shock at this bold, heroic speech originating from Heifu. He could not help but recall the words Qin Shi Huang had spoken back in Shu Commandery, when the Shu Commandery Commandant and Ba Zhong had earnestly requested permission to open the Five-Foot Road and connect with the Southwestern Yi.

"Wherever the sun and moon shine, wherever the wind and rain reach, all submit and obey!"

"No wonder His Majesty trusts and values General Commandant Wei so deeply. A lord and his minister — how alike are their thoughts and visions!"

(End of Chapter)