"only."
"only."
"only."
“…”
The confidants who followed Zhang Liang closely responded one after another, and the confidant in charge of managing the caravan hid in the caravan with Zhang Liang's orders.
Not long after, a convoy of dozens of carriages and hundreds of people slowly set off and headed east.
Today is September 30th, and tomorrow is New Year's Day. Zhang Liang will celebrate the New Year while traveling.
Zhao Gao had the same fate as Zhang Liang. He was driving a four-horse chariot towards Xianyang, galloping on the road.
Although both were riding horse-drawn carriages, the ones of Lu Buwei and Lu Goujian were more leisurely.
But judging from the current distance and speed of the carriages, they will still enter Xianyang before Zhao Gao.
The Huns in the northwest came and left in a hurry.
In Jiuyuan, Yanmen was kicked down by Meng Tian before he could even sit down.
These two cities and counties, which changed hands twice in just half a month, will enter the new year with endless blood and energy.
The northwestern fortress of Shangjun was full of joy. Under the leadership of Crown Prince Ying Fusu, everyone celebrated the New Year happily.
Crown Prince Ying Fusu was looking forward to what kind of surprise his uncle would bring him after the New Year.
The stuttering Han Fei was also waiting, waiting for the New Year to pass before fully implementing the reforms in Shangjun.
Drunkard Li Mu hasn't been drunk for a long time.
He would always stand on the top of Shangjun City and look towards the northwest, which was the territory of the Hu people and where he had once fought.
There was still desire and yearning in Li Mu's eyes, which was the instinct of a disciple of a military strategist to lead a famous general to expand the territory.
But he wouldn't look there for too long, because compared to there, Shangjun seemed to be a better place for him to display his talents.
Expanding territory for thousands of miles is not as good as leaving your name in history.
The second most famous military strategist was Wu Qi, for whom what was recorded in history books was not his training of the Wei Wuzu, but his implementation of political reforms.
In the Far East Qi, the Qin military god Wang Jian was teasing his grandson Wang Li. Looking at Wang Li dancing with spear and stick, he felt both relieved and worried.
Wei Liao, the former general of the Qin State, lived a leisurely life, holding a small banquet every three days and a big banquet every five days.
He got along well with both the local powerful people in Kuaiji County and the Qin officials who were sent there, and did not act like a lone minister at all as he did in Xianyang.
Except that he still likes to say the words "mean and ungrateful", he can be said to have become a completely different person.
The current Qin State Commandant Ying Chengjiao had a gloomy face and was "invited" to the Xianyang Palace by Gai Nie and Zhang Han.
Tomorrow there will be a wax festival, and Ying Chengjiao will attend it together with the First Emperor.
The First Emperor was afraid that he would not be able to find Ying Chengjiao when the time came, so he simply placed Ying Chengjiao in the Xianyang Palace one night in advance.
Boom boom boom
The drumbeats drove away the gloominess of Xianyang at night, and the heart-stirring drumbeats brought infinite vitality to Xianyang.
There is no curfew in Xianyang tonight.
The people, if able, beat the drums made of animal skins, again and again, with all their might and power.
According to the Qin Dynasty custom, people would beat drums to drive away the plague ghost on the day before the New Year. This is also the origin of the "New Year's Eve" festival.
If there are no conditions, they will knock on the door a few times, which means they have expelled the person.
Although the dull sound is not as ethereal and grand as the sound of drums, it is more down-to-earth.
In front of the doors of wealthy families, images of Shentu and Yulei would be carved from peach stems and hung in front of the two doors to ward off intrusions from demons and monsters.
Shentu and Yulei are door gods, just like Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong who are hung on the doors of every household in later generations.
According to legend, these two gods were good at catching ghosts, so the Qin people carved statues of them and hung them on the doors.
These two ancestors of the door gods existed a thousand years earlier than the two door gods of later generations.
The statue of Shentu is hung on the left door panel. He is wearing colorful armor, has a dignified face, a heroic posture, and holds a cold halberd in his hand. He looks very ferocious.
The image of Yu Lei is hung on the right door panel. Compared with Shen Tu, he looks much more amiable. He is wearing a black battle robe, with a relaxed look, and no magic weapons or sharp weapons in his hands.
The Qin people believed that Shentu and Yulei would protect their homes and drive away evil spirits.
The essence of this kind of thinking is that the long years of war have caused people to be in a state of panic and not know where tomorrow will come from.
Human power is not independent, so one can only place the good wishes of avoiding disasters and seeking good fortune and avoiding misfortune on the gods - the door gods Shentu and Yulei.
The Qin State, which was happy to hear about war, did not essentially like war, but because war would make their lives better, allowing them to eat enough and live well.
The Qin people like to fight, but they yearn for a peaceful, stable and ordinary life more than people from other countries.
This is contradictory, but it is a fact that there is no family that would not cry bitterly upon hearing that their son or husband has died in the battlefield.
Not everyone can reach the level of Zhuangzi, who was not sad at the death of his beloved wife, but was overjoyed and even beat drums and gongs. In that era, the Taoist Zhuangzi was not popular, and all the other schools of thought regarded him as a madman.
This phenomenon of separation between life and death is particularly prominent among poor families and ordinary people.
Therefore, they value the blessing of the door gods more than those wealthy and powerful families.
But most people didn't have the spare money to carve Shentu and Yulei, so the clever working people came up with a cheap alternative.
Even if you can't get the peach stems, you can always get the peach wood.
They would paint two statues of gods directly on the peach wood - whether they looked like them or not is another matter, but they were painted anyway.
Then mention Shentu's name on the left and Yulei's name on the right - many of them are not drawn, just the names are written directly.
During this period, every household needed to have someone who could read and write, and they would be very busy but also very happy.
Neighbors would bring peach wood and some cheap food - corn, millet, etc., to ask for help in mentioning the names of Shentu and Yulei.
These two pieces of peach wood would be hung on both sides of the door on the afternoon of New Year's Eve to suppress evil spirits and drive away ghosts. This is the original peach charm.
In later generations, peach wood had the properties of warding off evil spirits, driving away ghosts, and breaking up evil, which originated from this.
The origin of using peach wood to ward off evil spirits is very early, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
"Strategies of the Warring States: Qi Strategy III" says that when Mengchangjun was planning to enter Qin, Su Qin told him the fable of the clay figurine and the peach stem to dissuade him. In the fable, the clay figurine said to the peach stem: "You are a peach stem from the East Country. I will carve you into a human."
This proves that the practice of carving peach wood into human figures had already existed in the Warring States Period.
Zhuangzi also recorded: "Plug peach branches into the door and put ashes underneath. Children will not be afraid when they enter, but ghosts will be afraid of them."
If peach branches are inserted outside the door, children can walk around without fear and ghosts will not dare to come over.
The earliest record of peach wood's ability to ward off evil spirits comes from Zuo Zhuan, which records that the ancients used bows made of peach wood to perform disaster-avoiding rituals.
The ethereal and grand drum sounds and the dull and down-to-earth sound of door panels echoed all night long.
Whether it is a portrait, a picture, or the two characters Shentu, Yulei are all equally brave.
With its majestic presence in the dark night, it drove all the evil spirits out of the house, and there was no ghost story in Xianyang that night.
The sky is getting whiter and light is returning to the world.
Shentu, who had been busy all night, and Yulei hurriedly handed over their shifts to the newly arrived Shennong and Houji, and went to rest.
Shennong, needless to say, is the legendary founder of agriculture, one of the ancestors of the Chinese nation, and the sun god.
Hou Ji is the ancestor of the Zhou people. He is another agricultural representative who led the Zhou people in farming and the god of grain.
The arrival of these two gods, who were human beings in their lifetime and were deified after their death, heralds the arrival of the new year.
October 1st, Wax Festival.
The Wax Festival is a very old festival that can be traced back to the Xia Dynasty.
The earliest recorded wax offering was in the Book of Rites, in which there is a conversation between Confucius and his disciple Zigong, which mentions the wax offering:
Zigong watched the wax candle.
Confucius asked, "Are you happy, Ci?"
He replied: "The people of the whole country are all crazy, and I don't know how to enjoy it."
Confucius said: "The wax of a hundred days, the shine of a day, are not known to you. If you stretch without relaxing, you cannot be a civil or military man. If you relax without stretching, you cannot be a civil or military man. Alternating between tension and relaxation is the way of civil and military man."
Zigong accompanied Confucius to watch the annual Wax Festival.
Confucius asked Zigong: "Look at these people. Do you think they are happy?"
Zigong replied: "Everyone in the city is ecstatic, but I don't know why they are so happy?"
Confucius said: "The common people have worked hard for a year, and they can enjoy themselves for a day during the wax festival. Their happiness is definitely not something that a rich kid like you can understand. If you always pull the bowstring very tight and don't relax it, the bowstring will lose its elasticity. Even King Wen and King Wu can't do it."
"If you only relax without being tense, even King Wen and King Wu can't accomplish anything. Only by combining leniency and strictness, and combining relaxation and tension, can you govern the country."
This dialogue is about alternating between relaxation and tension, the origin of the way of civil and military affairs. It is a metaphor that governing a country requires a combination of leniency and strictness, and cannot be too strict or too loose at the same time.
The word "song" represents the wax festival.
Even in the Qin State, which was known for its strictness, wax sacrifices were conducted without any taboos and with great joy.
Xianyang City.
The four doors, east, west, south and north, are wide open.
The sounds of gongs and drums, the cheers and laughter of the crowd, the excited shouting and unbridled chatting.
As the four heavy and old city gates fell, Xianyang, which was supposed to be a conservative and harsh city, emerged.
On this day, pedestrians on the street can chat freely and walk around freely in various places in Xianyang City.
They will no longer be captured by the city defense forces, and will not be sentenced to serve their sentences at the Great Wall or the Imperial Mausoleum.
A total of hundreds of horse-drawn carriages and ox-drawn carts drove out of Xianyang City and, driven by skilled drivers, headed towards Yongcheng, not far away, where the ancestors of the Ying family were enshrined.
The originally spacious road now seemed very crowded, and the rumbling sound of the wooden wheels never stopped since it started.
Among this huge convoy, there were five extremely luxurious carriages that looked much better than the other carriages from the outside.
Be it the tall and miraculous horses pulling the carriages, or the drivers who control the carriages with ease and are obviously much better than other drivers, or the black bird, the totem of the Qin Dynasty, carved on the carriages, all fully demonstrate the dignity of these five carriages.
These five luxurious carriages all belonged to the First Emperor.
There was only one Emperor Qin Shi Huang, so four out of five chariots were empty.
There was only one carriage among them, with Emperor Qin Shi Huang Ying Zheng and Lord Chang'an Ying Chengjiao sitting in it.
"Just tell me how much people hate you!"
Ying Chengjiao was lying in the spacious carriage, with layers of tiger skins piled under him.
This was a special request made by Ying Chengjiao before he set out on his journey. He was extremely fond of tigers and pandas, both of which are nationally protected animals - and he couldn't bear to kill pandas.
Who needs cotton when you can lie on so many tiger skins? Isn’t this much more comfortable than a quilt?
Ying Chengjiao knocked lightly on the carriage, making a "knock knock" sound, and listened to the hustle and bustle outside.
He said disdainfully, "We need to prepare five carriages to go to Yongdi to worship our ancestors. Are you so afraid of death?"
Ying Chengjiao did not mention anyone by name, but besides Ying Chengjiao himself, the only person in the carriage was the First Emperor.
With a look of irritation on his face
Ying Chengjiao, full of resentment, made sarcastic remarks all morning, but the First Emperor did not respond.
Now that he finally got a response from the First Emperor, Ying Chengjiao immediately became excited and sat up suddenly.
"Did I say something wrong?"
Picking up the two volumes of unapproved memorials, the First Emperor threw them hard at Ying Chengjiao. This move was definitely based on personal grudges.
"If you have a lot of energy, then review two volumes for me, and stop talking nonsense here!"
The First Emperor unified the world and created a situation unprecedented in history, but the resentment he aroused was also unprecedented in history. There were countless people in the world who wanted to kill the First Emperor.
What Ying Chengjiao said was correct, but precisely because it was true and could not be refuted, it annoyed the First Emperor.
He slapped the two bamboo scrolls back and smiled coldly: "Why do I love you so much?"
Ying Chengjiao, who failed to resign successfully, guessed that the First Emperor had seen through his thoughts, and he completely let himself go at that moment.
Brothers are friendly and respectful to each other?
Bullshit!
I do whatever I want!
Anyone who dares to force me to go to work is my enemy!
"You want to seize my throne, so I let you join me in the candle ceremony and spread your fame. You should be happy..."
"Keep pretending, I wonder how long you can keep pretending." Ying Chengjiao interrupted and sneered, "We are all thousand-year-old foxes, why are you playing Liao Zhai with me?"
The First Emperor frowned, looked back with cold eyes, and said, "Speaking of Liao Zhai, I remember that you used ghosts to describe people in that book and blamed me for my harsh governance. Do you think I can't see it?"
"Bah, that was written by Pu Songling, what does it have to do with me, Ying Chengjiao?"
"You are not young anymore, can you please stop doing such childish things?"
The two brothers are bickering with each other.
The huge convoy moved gradually away from Xianyang and closer to Yongdi.
From Xianyang to Yongdi, the road has always been a highway without any mountains or winding paths or deep forests.
The only trees on the road are the green pines, which grow denser and thicker year by year. But today the gloom is dispersed by the festive atmosphere, as if welcoming the Emperor's ancestor worship.
In the eyes of students of military strategists, this kind of terrain and conditions that are clearly visible are extremely difficult to set up ambushes or hide troops.
Even if Li Mu, who was famous for his flying troops and good at hiding troops in the most unlikely places, was called in, it would be difficult to ambush 500 .
Each pine tree is ten feet away from each other. No matter how thick and tall the trunks of these pine trees are, they cannot block out too many soldiers or hide too many human figures.
Even on this disadvantageous road, a strong man with his upper body bare-chested, his scars covered by an unknown green liquid.
He was standing on a green pine tree, at the root of a thick branch, his entire body hidden by the dense canopy of pine needles, his eyes fixed fixedly on the distance.
With one hand, hold the tree trunk and hook your five fingers into it to secure it.
In his other hand he held a huge hammer that was almost as tall as him.
He placed the hammer with its head facing downward on another branch.
It looks weird that the man and the hammer are not on the same branch, but there is nothing that can be done about it.
This hammer is too heavy. If it is on the same branch with him, even if this branch is the thickest branch of a century-old pine tree, it will not be able to withstand the weight of the two people.
Just like that, the branch that was stepped on by the strong man with the hammer was also pressed down by one meter, and there was an obvious crack where it was connected to the main trunk of the pine tree.
The strong man's real name is unknown to the world, because his weapon is a huge iron hammer that is difficult for ordinary people to lift, so people in the world call him the Big Iron Hammer.
When Zhang Liang fled from Xinzheng, he did not stay by Zhang Liang's side to protect him, but came here - at the two ends of the highway from Xianyang to Shangjun, next to a green pine tree.
On New Year's Eve, he slept under this green pine tree.
The sky was not clear yet, but he had already climbed up the pine tree.
The terrain here cannot hide 500 people, but it is more than enough to hide one person.
In the eyes of military strategists, the power of one person is insignificant and cannot decide the outcome of a battle.
But in Zhang Liang's eyes, a person may not be able to lead an army to victory by relying on bravery.
But sometimes, one person can decide the direction of the entire world.
"I missed it last time, I'll make it this time." Big Hammer muttered to himself as he stared at the rising dust in the distance.
The last time he mentioned was Jing Ke's assassination of Qin.
Before the grand assassination operation against Qin even began, Tian Guang died for keeping the secret, and the Qin rebel general Fan Yuqi offered his head.
On the banks of the Yishui River, the farewell words "The wind is whistling and the Yishui River is cold, the hero leaves and never returns" have been passed down for thousands of years.
Jing Ke, a heroic man who left without returning, was written by Sima Qian into "Records of the Grand Historian", which was praised by Lu Xun as "the masterpiece of historians, the Li Sao without rhyme" and became the authoritative source for later generations studying Chinese history.
In fact, the big iron hammer should have been present at that grand event, and there should also be a mention of the big iron hammer in "Records of the Grand Historian" - if Prince Ji Dan of Yan had not been so anxious and urged him to do so.
The Warring States Policy states:
Jing Ke was waiting for someone, and wanted to go with him, but the person was far away and did not come, so he was kept waiting.
The prince delayed the march, suspecting that Dan had changed his mind, and asked again, "The day is almost up, do you think Jing is not interested? Please send Dan to Qin Wuyang first!"
Jing Ke was angry.
He scolded the prince, "Anyone who goes there today and does not return is a coward! I am now carrying a dagger into the unpredictable and powerful Qin. The reason I stayed here is to wait for my guests to go with me. Now that the prince is late, I will leave now!"
So it started.
Jing Ke was waiting for another helper, wanting to go with him, but that person lived far away and had not arrived yet, so he stayed behind to wait for him.
After a while, when Jing Ke still hadn't set out, Prince Dan thought Jing Ke was leaving too late, and suspected that he had changed his mind and regretted it, so he asked Jing Ke again, "The time is almost up, don't you want to go? Please allow me to send Qin Wuyang first!"
Jing Ke was angry.
He rebuked the prince and said, "If you go today and cannot come back to report, you are useless. Now I am only holding a dagger and going deep into the unpredictable and violent Qin State. The reason I stayed here is to wait for a helper to go with me. Now that the prince thinks it is too late to leave, I will say goodbye."
So we set off.
The big hammer is the person Jing Ke was waiting for.
"My lord, you said that the King of Qin is arrogant, extravagant, and ambitious. The most luxurious carriage is where the King of Qin is, but..."
In the distance, the convoy was getting closer. One could see spears and swords blocking the sun, armored chariots like clouds, rows of geese flying by, and teams of people moving in a line.
Big Hammer stared with his eyes wide open, staring at the five luxurious carriages in the distance that stood out among all the other carriages.
His mind was a little out of control, and he murmured with a splitting headache: "Sir, what if there are five of them?"
Because of his unstable mind, his hand unconsciously increased its strength, and a clear creaking sound came from the branch where the iron hammer in his hand was resting.
The branches were already bearing a weight that they shouldn't have to bear, and the sledgehammer added unintentionally more weight, making the branches unable to bear the weight.
Big Hammer was startled and quickly raised his weapon.
If such a large branch fell at this time, such an abnormal phenomenon would inevitably arouse the vigilance of the officials who were guarding the First Emperor.
He couldn't say that this time the murder was meticulous, but it was unexpected enough and he failed at the last moment.
Big Hammer hurriedly switched his weapon to another branch, looked at the broken part with fear, and suddenly his eyes lit up.
weight!
A carriage with people in it weighs differently than one without.
There is only one King of Qin, so he must ride in only one carriage, which is lighter than the other four.
I saw which carriage was shaking the least, and it must be the one the King of Qin was riding in, hahahaha!
Big Hammer was extremely excited about his unexpected discovery. This was the first time he solved a problem through intelligence rather than force, and it was such a big problem at that.
If you knew, you would definitely praise me.
As he thought about it, he looked down at the five luxurious carriages in the convoy that were getting closer and closer to him.
"Why is this road so bumpy?" Ying Chengjiao complained, "You knew you had to worship your ancestors, so why didn't you repair this road first? What's the point of giving you cement?"
The current highway is not paved with cement, but is compacted with yellow sand that has been fried with salt.
But no matter how solid it is, after a certain period of time, it will still be bumpy due to the ravages of wind, rain, sun, and stirrups.
Am I a god?
Can a highway be built in a month?
Besides, I don’t even feel any shaking when I’m reviewing memorials, so how can you feel shaking lying on eighteen layers of animal skins?
Damn you!
The First Emperor was filled with indignation, but he ignored his brother and quickened his pace in approving the memorials.
The big iron hammer on the green pine tree stared with its eyes wide open in confusion, as if they were about to explode.
"These five cars... why are they all moving in the same direction..."
He doesn't understand.
"My brother, you are really afraid of death." Ying Chengjiao continued to taunt, "Before setting off, he even weighed four stones of the same weight as the two of us and placed them on the four carriages."
"If you hadn't obstructed me, I would have let the real person go up. Stones are dead objects after all, and are different from living people. If you come up in the future, you must be so careful." The First Emperor lowered his head and gave warnings while reviewing memorials.
"What the hell, stop talking nonsense." Ying Chengjiao said in annoyance, "Aren't you tired of doing this every day? If it doesn't work, step down early and let your nephew take over, so that the younger generation can have a chance to survive. Also, tell me, what is the difference between a stone and a living person when they are pressed in a carriage?"
The First Emperor said softly, "We must do our best in everything we do, and we should do this when we govern the country. We cannot always think of doing it halfway. I cannot tell the difference between the two, but it is better to have a living person.
"Fusu is still too immature. But you. The unrest in Yingdu has decreased a lot. The ballad you asked me to compose is indeed useful..."
You just have to drag me to work!
When Ying Chengjiao heard this, he became even more annoyed.
He turned over and sat up, walked to the front of the carriage, and lifted the curtain to let in some fresh air.
The figure of the First Emperor reviewing memorials, along with the figure of Ying Chengjiao, were exposed to the eyes of Da Tiechui who was looking down from above.
“Found it!”