5: Chapter 5 No More Repairing the Great Wall? Meng Tian's Astonishment

"Young Master Fusu, we are stopping the construction of the Great Wall? This doesn't seem right!"

Inside the main tent of Shangjun, Meng Tian looked at Zhao Fusu with a face full of shock.

"What is not right about it?"

Zhao Fusu asked Meng Tian in return.

Upon learning of the First Emperor's death, Zhao Fusu did not immediately head to Xianyang to offer his condolences.

The period for the First Emperor's body to lie in state would be very long, which was related to the Qin Dynasty being deeply influenced by the rites of zhou.

The Zhou people had a relatively complete set of ritual procedures for funerals. From death to burial, there were many stages such as the minor enshrouding and the major enshrouding, making the entire process last quite a while.

According to records like the 'Book of Rites,' the lying-in-state period for the scholar class was about two decades (20 days). The higher the status, the longer the preparation time. As the First Emperor in history, the First Emperor's specifications were even higher, and the lying-in-state period might last for several decades of days.

With such a long lying-in-state period, Zhao Fusu was in no hurry to go to Xianyang.

He wanted to clearly delegate the work in Shangjun before heading to Xianyang.

This was the Qin Dynasty, not modern times where one could take a high-speed train and reach Xianyang in two or three hours.

Even with the construction of the so-called high-speed road of the Qin Dynasty—the Qin Straight Road—the journey of over six hundred kilometers from Shangjun to Xianyang would still take days to complete.

Generally speaking, if a horse of medium physical strength pulled an ordinary passenger carriage with a normal load on a flat official road, it could travel about 10 to 15 kilometers per hour.

Calculating based on 8 to 10 hours of travel a day, a day's journey would be about 80 to 150 kilometers.

However, long-distance travel would tire the horses, and the horses' rest must be considered in the actual itinerary, so the average speed for long-distance travel would be even lower.

For a journey of over six hundred kilometers, it would take him at least four days by carriage.

A round trip would be eight days.

In ancient times where information was restricted, if he was going on a long journey, he naturally had to make arrangements for Shangjun first.

The first thing he needed to do was call a halt to the construction of the Great Wall.

In this ancient era without large-scale mechanical equipment, relying purely on manual labor to build the Great Wall, one truly wondered how many people would be worked to death.

Among the stories of building the Great Wall, the most famous is that of Lady Meng Jiang, whose weeping brought down the Great Wall of Qi.

Zhao Fusu did not want to build the Great Wall, not only because it was too labor-intensive and a waste of resources, but also because he wanted to annex the Xiongnu.

As for these million laborers, it was impossible to simply release them.

These million laborers who came to Shangjun to build the Great Wall did not all come willingly. With their anger toward the Qin state, they were the best source of soldiers for the Remnants of the Six States to revolt.

Once incited by the Remnants of the Six States, they would be incredibly fierce in their fight against his Great Qin.

"Young Master Fusu."

Meng Tian said, "The Great Wall was personally ordered to be built by His Majesty the First Emperor during his lifetime to prevent the Xiongnu from moving south!"

After the Meng Family Army he led defeated the Xiongnu, the Xiongnu retreated over seven hundred li. The entire Hetao region was occupied by Great Qin, making the Xiongnu afraid to move south.

But the prerequisite was that the three hundred thousand soldiers of the Meng Family Army had to be stationed in Shangjun indefinitely, which was not what the First Emperor, Ying Zheng, wanted to see.

With a large army constantly stationed in the desolate Shangjun, Guanzhong had to continuously send grain to the front lines.

The units and personnel delivering the grain also needed to eat; between the coming and going, a vast amount of grain would be consumed.

Ying Zheng's idea was to build a defensive Great Wall and then establish the Qin Straight Road leading directly to the border.

By then, the troops deployed at the border would not need to be so many. Only some defensive units would be required. Once war broke out and the wolf smoke from the beacon towers was lit, passing back the news of a border invasion, the troops stationed in the capital region could head to the border for support via the Qin Straight Road at the fastest speed.

"I know."

Zhao Fusu said, "But the Imperial Father is dead, and the one in charge of Great Qin must be me!"

He spoke these words with absolute certainty.

He had already used the Thought Steel Seal to brand the million soldiers of Great Qin with the requirement of absolute loyalty to him.

Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.

With a million-strong Qin Army loyally devoted to him, even if the First Emperor came back to life, Zhao Fusu would not flinch; he would even make the First Emperor kneel and sing 'Conquest'.

Looking at Zhao Fusu's high-spirited appearance, Meng Tian sighed inwardly: Young Master Fusu is truly a peerless powerhouse!

Clearly, the current situation was that Hu Hai was the Crown Prince, backed by the faction in power led by Li Si and Zhao Gao.

Fusu had no backing from the ruling faction in court. His teacher, Doctor Chunyu Yue, was still hoping that after Fusu took the throne, the status of Confucianism would be elevated.

It was evident that in the imperial court, Fusu's teacher, Doctor Chunyu Yue, did not possess much political power.

Meng Tian did not know where Zhao Fusu's confidence came from.

That was not even what he was most worried about.

"Young Master Fusu..."

Meng Tian said, "Although the Xiongnu have retreated, they have lost their southern grazing lands. They will not let this matter rest."

"Rest assured, the Xiongnu people are nothing to fear."

Zhao Fusu said dismissively.

Once he vigorously promoted the industrial revolution, developed railways, and created heavy machine guns, the Xiongnu people would eventually become good at singing and dancing.

While the Xiongnu were still cowed, he should be vigorously pursuing food production.

No matter what one did, one had to be full first, right?

The reason the death rate of the laborers building the Great Wall was so high was inseparable from the fact that they only ate two meals a day.

The morning meal was at ten o'clock.

The evening meal was at three in the afternoon.

They were eating millet porridge.

That is what the ancients called 'Su'.

The main crops grown in Guanzhong were millet and soybeans.

After boiling the millet in a ceramic pot, they would add 'Huocai'—the tender leaves of soybeans—and a tiny bit of coarse salt.

This was how the laborers' staple food was made.

The staple food of Qin commoners was only slightly better than that of the laborers.

When boiling millet porridge, they would add soybeans in addition to the tender soybean leaves.

Meat was out of the question.

This was also why the Qin rulers called the commoners who could not afford meat 'bean-leaf eaters'.

Eating this stuff, only twice a day, never full yet having to do heavy physical labor all day while being whipped by the Qin Army—even a capitalist would shed tears seeing this.

Zhao Fusu said, "Change the meals for the laborers building the Great Wall to three times a day. We must let the laborers eat their fill."

"Not only must they be full, they must also drink well."

"Have the cooks brew Huocai Geda soup."

This Huocai Geda soup was made by mixing a small amount of flour with an appropriate amount of water, stirring the flour into tiny lumps, and boiling them in a ceramic cauldron. Finally, the Huocai was added.

To give the soup flavor, vinegar, cornelian cherry, and ginger would be added to give it a sour and spicy taste.

Some people thought there was no flour in the Qin Dynasty, but that's incorrect; it should be said there was no refined flour. By putting wheat in a mortar and pounding it a few times with a pestle, the husks could be removed; a few more pounds, and it became coarse flour.

This Huocai Geda soup was a delicacy Shang Yang ate after entering Qin; he devoured three large basins in one go, which was enough to show how delicious it was.

"Ah!"

Hearing these words from Zhao Fusu, Meng Tian's mouth hung wide open.

His heart was complaining wildly.

No, Young Master Fusu, have you been possessed?

Listen to what you are saying.

Isn't eating two meals a day the natural order of things? Why change it to three?

Most of these laborers performing corvée duty are criminals; giving them a spoonful of millet porridge is already considered an act of charity.

Now Young Master Fusu actually wants them to eat their fill and even make Huocai Geda soup for them.

"Young Master Fusu..."

Meng Tian wanted to say more.

"Execute the order!"

Zhao Fusu's eyes widened.

Meng Tian had also been branded with the Thought Steel Seal by Zhao Fusu. Under the influence of the Thought Steel Seal, Meng Tian began to obey Zhao Fusu's orders unconditionally.

"Yes, Young Master Fusu!"

Meng Tian strode out of the main tent to relay Zhao Fusu's orders.

The entire Meng Family Army had been branded with Zhao Fusu's Thought Steel Seal; they were absolutely obedient to Zhao Fusu's orders.

They quickly moved to execute the orders according to Zhao Fusu's command.

Zhao Fusu sighed; this Thought Steel Seal was truly a good thing.

His gaze turned to the check-in interface of the Great Qin Heavy Industry System.

It was time for another day's check-in.

Zhao Fusu clicked check-in.

"Congratulations to the host for obtaining a metal globe."

Zhao Fusu was stunned.

A globe?

A world map?

If the First Emperor saw this, wouldn't he crawl out of his gold-decorated coffin to demand why the world doesn't have uniform carriage tracks, a uniform script, and standardized chargers?

In the Shangjun Great Wall construction camp, when the fierce Qin soldiers told the laborers not to build the Great Wall, they were all stunned for a moment.

They weren't happy, but rather confused.

Then more Qin soldiers came to have them go to an open space, forming long lines, and told them to line up for lunch.

"Lunch?"

The laborers looked at each other in bewilderment.