Chapter 47: The Statutes of Qin

Once he learned Heifu's identity, Yan Zheng no longer treated him as an ordinary Gongshi; he grew noticeably warmer, ordering a servant to usher the two brothers into the study and give them each a rush cushion. Then, supported by his bondservants, he rose and began searching the bookshelves on three walls, squinting as he looked.

Before long, he placed six cloth-wrapped bamboo scrolls onto the low-legged desk and said, stroking his beard:

"Though the Qin statutes are numerous, a Village Chief's duties are chiefly to maintain road safety and arrest bandits and thieves. He must therefore be thoroughly familiar with these six chapters: The Statute on Theft, The Statute on Assault, The Statute on Arrest, The Statute on Imprisonment, The Miscellaneous Statute, and The Statute on General Principles. These six scrolls contain them."

Following his words, Heifu picked them up one by one and looked — indeed, these were the six chapters of statutes.

Yan Zheng's speech slowed: "Among these six chapters, in governing a kingdom, nothing is more urgent than dealing with bandits and thieves; hence the statutes begin with 'Theft' and 'Assault.' Thieves and bandits must be indicted and arrested, hence the two chapters 'Imprisonment' and 'Arrest.' Matters of minor fraud, scaling city walls, gambling, borrowing and lending, corruption, licentiousness and extravagance, and exceeding sumptuary regulations are collected into one chapter, 'The Miscellaneous Statute.' And 'The Statute on General Principles' provides for the aggravation and mitigation of penalties."

After this full explanation, Heifu more or less understood: these six chapters of statutes were the foundation of Qin law, encompassing all common crimes and their punishments, and were exactly what a Village Chief had to memorize by heart.

"Elder Yan truly has the statutes committed to heart..."

Heifu offered Yan Zheng a word of flattery, then asked: "Might I ask, are these six chapters of statutes the most recent version?"

Yan Zheng stroked his beard and smiled: "Naturally. They were all freshly copied in the first month of last year."

As it turned out, in the State of Qin, laws were not immutable for a hundred years. Shang Yang himself had clearly stated: governing a generation does not follow a single way; benefiting the state does not require imitating antiquity! Thus, the Qin statutes were amended and supplemented every few years.

But that raised another problem: the laws changed frequently, yet without modern means of dissemination, they could only rely on manual transcription of the statutes. And the wording of these statutes was extremely terse — sometimes copying a single character wrong would completely alter the meaning. Furthermore, if the statutes had changed but those below did not know and continued to apply the old laws, creating conflicts, would that not be disastrous?

To prevent this, ever since the start of Shang Yang's reforms, officials called "Law Officers" had been specially appointed to keep, verify, and provide consultation on the laws. Three Law Officers were established in Xianyang — one each at the court, the Censor's Office, and the Chancellor's Office. One was also appointed in each commandery and county; Xi had once served for a time as a county Law Officer. Of course, the Yan Zheng before him had even greater seniority.

Every year, the statutes amended in Xianyang had to be deposited in the "Sealed Chamber." Its doors were normally kept tightly locked, strictly forbidding anyone from entering or leaving. All statutes were sealed and stored; if anyone entered without authorization or altered a single character, they would be sentenced to death.

The Sealed Chamber was opened only once a year, in the tenth month. At that time, the Censor's Office would summon the Law Officers from every region, have them verify the legal texts, and then return to their localities with the newly amended statutes, conveying the central government's directives to all levels of administration...

Though Yan Zheng was old and retired, he could still obtain the newest statutes each year because he had once been a teacher at the academy; his former students would inform him of the latest developments.

These Qin officials had devoted their entire lives to law, and in the end, law had become part of their very being. Even after stepping down, people from the village would frequently come to consult him — which was why Yan Zheng enjoyed such high local prestige.

At this point, Yan Zheng seemed to recall something else. Not bothering to stand again, he directed Heifu to go to the bookshelf and take down two bamboo scrolls placed on the highest shelf.

Heifu took them in hand and looked — they were labeled "Provisioning" and "Document Transmission." What did these have to do with a Village Chief?

Yan Zheng explained: "As a Village Chief, you are not merely to arrest bandits and thieves. A village station normally has a guest lodge and a postal relay, so you cannot fail to study the Statute on Provisioning and the Statute on Document Transmission."

The so-called Statute on Provisioning was the legal regulation stipulating that guest lodges must provide meals according to the rank and title of traveling officials. Heifu had once lodged at a guest lodge, so he understood this.

As for the Statute on Document Transmission, it was primarily Qin's regulations on the delivery of documents.

It must be understood that Qin's postal system was already quite formidable. Beyond government documents that had to be delivered on time, ordinary soldiers stationed a thousand li away could trouble a scribe to help write a letter, and it would actually reach their homes with precision! Their families could also hand clothes and money to Qin postal couriers, who would deliver them to the front along the same routes. This was over two hundred years before the Common Era — truly, the more one thought about it, the more terrifyingly impressive it was.

And the Huyang Village that Heifu was to go to happened to be a large station that had both a guest lodge and a postal relay. It was quite possible the Head Clerk would examine him on these as well.

"Elder Yan has thought of everything on my behalf..."

Heifu hurriedly bowed to Yan Zheng with clasped hands. Then, words like "tireless in teaching," "of noble character and high prestige," and "like a spring breeze and nourishing rain" poured from his mouth, delighting Yan Zheng immensely. He suddenly felt that this young man being summoned at eighteen to serve as Village Chief was not without reason — his flattery had hit every sweet spot.

He waved his hand cheerfully and said: "You say you can read and also write — that is excellent. Go ahead and copy these eight scrolls of statutes here at my place, then take them back to recite and master them. If there is anything you do not understand, by all means come to Bian Hamlet and ask me."

"If I can pass the assessment and become Village Chief, I will never forget Elder Yan. I will certainly tell everyone in the county that Lord Yan of Bian Hamlet is my honored teacher..." So saying, Heifu performed a grand salute to Yan Zheng, and Yan Zheng accepted it with a beaming smile.

In Qin, the teacher-student relationship was far less weighty than in later ages, but they were both men of understanding. Since each had something to gain and both could benefit from this matter, why not gladly go along with it?

After Heifu presented the bundle of dried meat as a formal tuition gift and completed the ceremony of acknowledging a teacher, Yan Zheng grew somewhat weary. Yawning, he said he would take a brief rest and ordered the servant to lead Heifu and his brother to a guest room next door.

Having witnessed his master chatting and laughing with Heifu and actually accepting him as a student, the servant's attitude toward them changed completely. Not only did he keep a smile plastered on his face the entire time, but he also took the initiative to fetch brush, ink, and a paring knife for Heifu, and even asked whether Heifu needed bamboo slips.

"How could I impose..." Heifu declined, saying: "I have prepared my own bamboo slips. I would not dare to soil the fine writing tablets of Elder Yan's household."

Only then did the servant withdraw, leaving the door slightly ajar.

At that moment, Jing, who had been silent the whole time, finally clutched his stomach and burst out laughing: "Second Brother, did you see that servant's face? What a petty wretch!"

"Did you take note of it?" Heifu took out from the bamboo basket he carried the wooden tablets his brother-in-law had helped him pare and spread them on the desk.

"Take note of what?" Jing looked utterly baffled.

"Take note of that man's arrogance before and deference after. Take note of how Elder Yan's attitude toward me changed. And then think — why was that?" Heifu tossed this question at Jing, then picked up the writing brush beside him.

Some say the writing brush was invented by Meng Tian, but the facts prove this is merely a false rumor. As early as the Spring and Autumn period, Confucius was already "using the brush when he used the brush, and paring when he pared." By this era, the writing brush was in even more widespread use.

As for ink, in this age there was not yet the kind that dissolves with a dip in water. It consisted of natural minerals of considerable hardness, which had to be ground with an inkstone on an ink-slab made of clamshell, tile, or stone, with a little water added, before one could write.

Heifu had Jing come over to help him grind ink, and then, on the wooden tablets that were pared neither too rough nor perfectly smooth, he began to copy, stroke by stroke, starting with The Statute on Theft... Each scroll actually contained only twenty or thirty bamboo slips, concise and to the point, with not many characters. But the writing speed was truly impossible to quicken; sometimes when he encountered a character he did not know how to write, it went even slower. If he copied something wrong, he had to use the paring knife to scrape it away. At this pace, by the time the sun set today, he would at most finish copying four scrolls.

As his elder brother excerpted the statutes, Jing ground ink while tilting his head, pondering the question his brother had just posed. Before he could think for long, however, the low sound of voices came from outside.

"I just want to see what sort of person Father's new disciple is."

Then, the door that had been left ajar suddenly opened a crack...

A young girl with her hair bound in loops poked her head in and curiously surveyed the two inside. Though her features could not be said to be especially pretty, she had fair skin, clean hair, and even teeth. She wore a two-colored ruqun dress, quite unlike the village girls with thorn-wood hairpins and coarse cloth skirts that Jing usually saw.

Heifu was bent over his work, wholly absorbed in copying the dry bamboo texts, and paid no attention whatsoever.

Jing, however, raised his head, gazed at the young girl, and stared, utterly transfixed...

PS: "Should the officials in charge of the law be transferred or die, they shall promptly have students read and learn the letter of the statutes, setting a schedule for them so that within a set number of days they know the letter of the statutes; those who fail to meet the schedule shall be punished according to the law. Anyone who dares to finalize the statutes or amend them by so much as a single character shall be condemned to death without pardon." — The Book of Lord Shang, "On Fixing Rights"

"Each year, the statutes are checked against those held by the Censor." — Yunmeng Qin Slips, "Miscellaneous Matters of the Commandant"

(End of Chapter)