Chapter 261: Does my brother know witchcraft?
The old man named Gang Chengjun quickly put the venison on his chopsticks into the ceramic plate with intricate patterns in front of him, and hurriedly proved his innocence.
"Ze Wan doesn't think so! Ze and this guy are sworn enemies!"
The old man had a serious attitude and a firm tone, and he was just short of raising three fingers and swearing to the heaven, earth, ghosts, gods, and ancestors.
But the middle-aged man sitting at the first table did not let the old man go. He smiled, raised the wine bottle and toasted the old man with a bottle of wine from a distance.
Without waiting for the old man to react, he drank the whole bottle and said, "Gang Chengjun is much smarter than us. This time we are fighting against that sinister and treacherous boy, so we should follow Gang Chengjun as our leader."
As soon as he finished speaking, a wry smile appeared on the old man's face. He raised the wine bottle and was about to return the toast with a glass and say something else.
At that moment, the two people sitting in the first seats on the left and right sides respectively moved quickly. Before the old man raised the wine bottle to his chest, they had already aimed the wine bottles in their hands at the old man.
"We should be led by Tsunagi-kun!"
"We should be led by Tsunagi-kun!"
The two have different timbre and voices, but the only thing they have in common is that they speak very fast, as if their mouths are borrowed.
Ordinary people tend to slur their words when they speak too fast, but the two of them not only spoke clearly, but their voices were also loud and clear, enough for everyone in the hall to hear clearly.
After saying this, the two of them, like the leader, raised the wine bottle and drank it all.
The old man's expression suddenly turned ugly, and the bitter smile turned into a gloomy one. His unfriendly eyes moved around to the upper person, the first person on the left, and the first person on the right.
As soon as this look came to an end, all the people at the table on both sides raised their wine bottles with both hands.
Among them were some who were tall and thin and had not picked up their chopsticks or spoons that day, and some who had fat wrapped around their waists three times and had changed food on the table twice.
There were young people who looked cautious and taciturn, and there were also people who talked loudly and were filled with righteous indignation and wished they could take everyone in the hall to rush into the Xianyang prison and execute Ying Chengjiao in order to seek revenge.
Everyone present raised their wine bottles, which were level with their pork belly or their muscular chest, and pointed them at the old man.
"We should be led by Tsunagi-kun!"
"We should be led by Tsunagi-kun!"
"We should be led by Tsunagi-kun!"
“…”
Their voices seemed to shatter the doors and windows.
Then he held the wine in his hands and served it to his mouth. The strong wind caused by the waving of his robe sleeves made the flames of the thirty-six fine candles mixed with ambergris in the hall tremble.
As a result, the hall was dim and bright, and the figures of the people present were looming, making it impossible to tell whether they were human or ghost.
When the candle flame burned steadily and the hall was bright again, the Chu King's wine hanging on the wall in the wine jar was crystal clear, and the texture of the slaughtered beef and mutton on the table was clearly visible.
Everyone's face was filled with eagerness and anticipation, and they looked at the old man with eyes full of trust.
The old man had an unwilling look on his face, and his hands, which looked as withered as tree bark, slammed the wine jar full of wine on the table with a "Duang" sound.
"What do you mean, Tsunayoshi?"
The middle-aged man in the upper position had a puzzled look on his face, and there was a hint of murderous intent between his brows.
All the people present were silent, still looking at the old man eagerly, expectantly, and trustingly.
But his eyebrows moved closer together, forming an unformed dark cloud.
"Let's wait until the mission is accomplished before drinking again."
The old man explained.
"Hahahaha, Gang Chengjun is old but still strong. His ambitions are far beyond our reach!"
The middle-aged man in the upper position laughed loudly, slapped his thighs loudly, and praised the old man repeatedly.
His name is Meng Jiakun, and he is the head of the Meng family.
The Meng family has deep roots in the Qin State, and its history is even longer than that of the Gan family, the chief family that can be traced back to the time of Duke Xian of Qin.
The Meng family, the Xi family, and the Bai family are the three oldest families in the Qin State today.
The three families have a very high status among the Qin families, which can be seen just by looking at their seats.
In addition to Meng Jiakun sitting in the main seat at the top, Bai Fei, the head of the Bai family, sat in the first seat on the right, and Xi Shu, the head of the Xi family, sat in the first seat on the left.
This has something to do with the influence of the three families' ancestors, but not much.
The real reason is that the other families' income mainly comes from following the Gan family and selling scrap ironware.
But the three families were not like that. The money earned from selling scrap ironware was only a small part of the three families' economic sources. The bulk of the income came from the three families' monopoly on the supply of prostitutes and actors within the Qin State.
Just by selling trained slave concubines, the three families could live a life of luxury. This was also the reason why the three families could dominate the banquet when Gan Luo was not around.
Bai Fei loudly praised the old man for being worthy of being the one who could enlighten Yinghou. Xishu said that if Gang Chengjun had not led us today, we would not dare to go to war with that guy.
After the heads of the three great families of Meng Xibai praised him endlessly, there was not a single person present who failed to praise the old man highly.
The old man responded to everyone who praised him one by one, praising and flattering them, and his words could tickle the hearts of every head of aristocratic family.
The four words "eight-sided and fluent" are often used to describe a person who is considerate in dealing with people.
The old man could tell that the smiles on the faces of all the family heads were getting bigger and bigger and his joy was getting stronger and stronger. He really understood what each family head liked to hear and what each family head had done. It could be said that he was very versatile.
As the old man was talking, the venison in the decorated bowls and plates had already gone cold.
Seeing that the atmosphere was getting lively, Meng Jiakun sat quietly in the upper seat, observing the situation below, and calmly ate meat and drank wine.
From time to time, he would look at Bai Fei and Xi Shu, who were closest to him, and they would smile at each other, and the smile was a mockery.
The banquet was full of joy.
…
Two masked men in black came to Xianyang Prison with the imperial edict of the First Emperor.
After verifying the authenticity of the items, the jailer at Xianyang Prison moved the crossed bronze spears aside and let the two men in.
After the two entered, they were subjected to three waves of inspections along the way. The three waves of jailers confirmed that the four words "Received the Mandate from Heaven, May You Live Long and Prosper" stamped on the imperial edict were authentic.
The last wave of jailers sent out one man, who brought the two men to the outside of a cell.
He opened the cell door and let the two men in, leaving the key in the hand of the masked man who was walking behind with his body straight.
The masked man took the key and stood in front of the cell door, as if guarding it.
"You bastard, why don't you come to see me, but you want me to come to see you?!"
Walking towards Ying Chengjiao who was lying on the bed, the masked man took off his veil, revealing a face that was awe-inspiring without even being angry. It was none other than the founder of the Qin Empire, the First Emperor Ying Zheng.
His face was full of unfriendly attitude towards Ying Chengjiao.
"Brother, you have never dressed like this before, how about it? Tell me how it feels?"
The First Emperor always acted in a bold and open manner, never bothering to play any cunning tricks. Even when he went on a secret visit, he always showed his face. Except for important officials in the court, due to the limitations of the times, not many people in the world knew the First Emperor's true appearance.
"There won't be a next time." The First Emperor sat on the half of the bed that was vacated when Ying Chengjiao stood up, and said unkindly, "I'm very busy, you'd better have something important to do."
One year after the establishment of the Qin Empire, after many meritorious officials and their families had gone to their fiefdoms to rule, some unrest had improved slightly compared to the first year, but not much, and it would take time to digest.
For the First Emperor, the biggest benefit of these meritorious families going to their fiefdoms was that he had to deal with fewer memorials than last year.
The First Emperor, who truly felt the changes, would sometimes think, when he was reviewing memorials until the hour of Chou, that if he had granted the land at that time, the memorial would have been reviewed by the feudal lord and he could go to sleep.
The feudal system is actually not bad.
Although the feudal lords in various places shared some of the memorials, the First Emperor still had to deal with a huge amount of memorials, and he still did not have much free time.
As a monarch who founded an unprecedented unified empire, almost everything the First Emperor had to do was original, and he did not have much experience from previous dynasties to learn from.
So the First Emperor was really busy.
In other words, no matter who reaches this position, as long as they have a little ambition to do something, they will be very busy.
"Brother, do you know witchcraft?" Ying Chengjiao asked thoughtfully.
"Is this what you asked me to do?" The Emperor's expression became even more unpleasant. He suppressed his anger and said, "The Queen Mother Huayang treats you very well. You should know this better than I do."
"Is there really witchcraft? If I had known that what Grandmother Huayang said was true, I would have learned it." Ying Chengjiao said with regret, "At that time, I thought Grandmother Huayang was teasing me, and so was Grandmother Huayang. I remember she only asked me once. Why didn't you ask me a few more times and show me something, I would have learned it."
"Why do you want to learn witchcraft?" Seeing his brother's interest, the First Emperor frowned and said, "If you are interested in witchcraft, you can ask Concubine Chu. There should be no one in Guanzhong who knows more about it than Concubine Chu."
"This damn girl knows witchcraft?" Ying Chengjiao's eyes widened and he said, "She never told me."
The First Emperor made a move to stand up and said, "Go and ask her yourself."
The First Emperor was very busy and had no time to chat with his brother about witchcraft. The First Emperor was not curious about witchcraft at all.
What is the use of witchcraft? Witchcraft was prevalent in Chu, but wasn't it still crushed by my great Qin warriors?
"I have something to say." Ying Chengjiao hurriedly pulled the First Emperor and said with a smile, "My Royal Brother, I will announce a decree tomorrow. Is it okay for Qin to not have any vassalage for me?"
"Not good." The First Emperor refused without even thinking.
A slave is a concubine.
Although feudalism had gradually replaced slavery in the Warring States Period, slavery still existed widely until the Qin Dynasty and even continued into the Qing Dynasty.
There were two important meanings of slaves and concubines in the Qin Dynasty, and this was also part of the Qin State's farming and warfare system.
The first one is farming.
The Qin Dynasty engaged in large-scale construction projects. Although there were many prisoners of war and many prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment, there were also many prisoners of war.
However, due to the Great Wall, the Imperial Road, the imperial tombs, palaces, ditches and other projects that required a lot of manpower, the Qin Dynasty was always short of manpower.
If too many civilians were forcibly conscripted to work on the project, the decrease in the number of farmers would lead to poor harvests. At the very least, it would make the Qin Dynasty unable to fight foreign wars, and at worst, it would lead to famine.
Moreover, the forced conscription of civilians to build the Great Wall, highways, ditches, etc. required wages, food and accommodation, and the civilians were protected by Qin law, so it cost a lot.
Qin had too many civil engineering projects and could not afford to hire so many people, so Qin needed slaves and concubines.
They are slaves and concubines who are not paid, can be beaten and scolded at will, and are forced to work faster. They cannot farm, and are not protected by Qin law. No one will care even if they die. They are very useful.
The second is war.
