Chapter 318: Han and Yue coexist, the name of the butcher Dongzhi County was the seat of Nanping County, which was newly divided by Liu Bei, and it was also where Zhuge Jin was located. Strictly speaking, this place is not a Han city, but a place where Han and Yue people live together. As far back as the Qin Dynasty, this place was still the territory of the Minyue Kingdom. It was not until Qin Shihuang ordered an expedition to the south and destroyed Minyue that it became part of the Han territory. However, due to Fujian's special terrain of eight mountains, one river, and one piece of farmland, it has been difficult for this place to develop and grow. The reason why Qin Zhen specially separated Nanping County was because the land was too barren. Except for cities such as Shanyin in the north, there are almost no large cities within a thousand miles south of Kuaiji. After the government decree reaches the northern part of Kuaiji, it can at most reach Zhang'an and Yongning, and it is difficult to reach Dongzhi. This is obviously extremely disadvantageous for them who want to vigorously develop shipping! Therefore, Qin Zhen intended to establish a special county here for special purposes.

With Dongzhi as the county seat, it continuously radiates to the surrounding coasts and develops coastal cities. Zhuge Jin was sent to Dongzhi for this purpose. Originally, Qin Zhen was planning to go here after inspecting Yizhou, but he did not expect that an illness would cause him to arrive here early. As the boat docked, we could see a group of people waiting in the distance. Qin Zhen looked from a distance, saw one of the dark and thin young men, and laughed loudly: "It's been a while since we last met. How come Tzuyu looks like this?" This person was Zhuge Jin. As soon as he spoke, Zhuge Jin excitedly stepped forward to greet him. After the greeting, he raised his head, looked at Qin Zhen's friendly face and smiled: "Jin has become a lot darker, but the military advisor is still as charming as ever!" Seeing him so excited, Qin Zhen's smile immediately disappeared. Looking at his charcoal-black face, I couldn't help feeling guilty. It should be noted that Zhuge Jin used to be like Zhuge Liang, with delicate features, and was considered a handsome young man. But now the young man is gone and turned into a black uncle. He looks like a college graduate who has been working on a construction site for a year. Although this can help you gain experience, it is a bit tiring. So after carefully examining Zhuge Jin, he sighed: "I recommended Ziyu to this desolate place in the past. I wonder if Ziyu can blame me?" Zhuge Jin didn't know Qin Zhen's mental journey, and when he saw him change from joy to sigh, he couldn't help but wonder: "What do you mean by that? Sir, you have only given me the favor of recommending me." "I haven't even had time to thank you, how can I blame you?" Qin Zhen saw that he looked happy and at ease, so he smiled: "Because I see the weather here is hot and dry, unlike the Central Plains." "Besides, this place is so remote, I am afraid that Ziyu will resent me for sending you here!" When he said this, Zhuge Jin smiled awkwardly and said:

"To be honest, sir, when I first arrived here, I felt quite uncomfortable." "But once you get used to it, you'll realize there are many benefits to this place." "First, the produce is abundant, with fish and shrimp available all year round." “Second, the four seasons are like spring. Except for the unbearable summer, there is no ice or snow in the other three seasons.” "It seems like some time ago, I was joking with Brother Wei." "If we had lived here since childhood, we would probably not know what ice and snow are!" The Wei brother he mentioned was Wei Yue who went south with him. At this time, I was standing far away, wanting to go up and say hello, but I was a little nervous. When Qin Zhen saw him, he waved to him and said with a smile: "General, why don't you come forward when you see me coming? Are you still blaming me?" As soon as he waved his hand, Wei Yue hurried forward, touched his head and laughed dryly: "How dare I? It's just that the Lord and you are old friends, and I don't want to disturb your greetings, so I don't dare to step forward!" Seeing him like this, Qin Zhen laughed and said: "A real man, why are you so shy?" "In the past, we were enemies and fought to the death. Now that we are comrades, we should be as close as brothers." "Now that my brother is here, how can I not welcome him?" Seeing that he had no grudges at all, Wei Yue felt warm in his heart and nodded quickly. After a while of greeting, a gust of warm wind blew by, and Qin Zhen sneezed again. Seeing this, Zhuge Jin hurriedly said: "I know you've caught a cold, so I've prepared the carriage for you!" "I'll wait for the pioneer car to return home and take the gentleman to see the doctor before we talk about it!" After saying this, he invited Qin Zhen and Xiaoqiao to get on the carriage and drove all the way to the county government. Dongzhi is actually the later Fuzhou City, and ships can dock at the mouth of Minjiang River. However, Dongzhi at that time was far from being as developed as it is in later generations. Before entering the city, one could see low houses everywhere. In this place, both men and women dress quite coolly, unlike in the Central Plains. This really broadened my horizons, and I could see bridges of all sizes, and I could look east and west along the way. Especially Qiao Ke, who lifted the curtain all the way and chattered: "Master, sister, look at that girl who is not wearing any clothes, she is not ashamed at all!" "My dear, why are all the people here so short? That one looks middle-aged, but he's less than five feet tall!" "Hey, my husband, look, that person has spots of ink all over his body, it's really creepy." Seeing this, Qin Zhen explained to him along the way:

"This place is not the Central Plains, so the customs and habits are different." "Because the weather is hot and there is no severe cold, the clothes here are all like this." "Because they don't need to keep warm, they are short and strong." "If you go north of Liaodong, the people are generally tall." "As for what is on someone's body, it is not ink, it is called a tattoo." "There are many snakes and rats in Yue, so Yue people often tattoo themselves with dragons and snakes to ward off evil." "Facial tattoos are the teachings of our ancestors and can help us avoid disasters." "Tattoos like this also resemble the Central Plains land and the crown worn by the rising emperor, which means that one has reached adulthood and can get married!" When Qiao Ke heard this, her beautiful eyes sparkled with surprise, while Zhuge Jin outside the car smiled and said: "Have you been here before, sir? Why do you seem quite familiar with this place?" "To be honest, sir, the customs and habits here are just as you said." "When I first arrived here, it took me a long time to understand." Seeing him like this, Qin Zhen leaned out and asked carefully: "I see that there are more Yue people here than Han people." "I wonder how many Yue people and Han people there are in the city?" As soon as he asked this question, Zhuge Jin smiled and said: "As for Dongzhi County, Han and Yue people have been living together for a long time, and it is difficult to distinguish their ethnic groups." "If we break it down, there are about 40,000 to 50,000 Han people, and 50,000 to 60,000 Yue people!" "I see. It seems that Dongzhi is not a small city after all!" When Qin Zhen heard that there were nearly 100,000 people in Dongzhi, he couldn't help but nodded. With a population of 100,000, there are 20,000 households, which is not much different from some medium-sized counties in the Central Plains. But when Qiao Ke saw him nod, she immediately asked curiously: "My husband, logically speaking, the Yue people and the Yi people are all foreign races." "Why is it that the Han and Yue people can live together here, but the barbarians in Wu County can only be slaves and maids?" After Qiao Ke said this, Zhuge Jin was silent for a while, while Qiao Ying glared at her and said: "My husband is still ill, why are you talking about such troublesome things?" When Qiao Ke saw this, she immediately realized that she had said something wrong and quickly covered her mouth. Qin Zhen saw this, but smiled indifferently and said: "Speaking of such troublesome things, I don't take them to heart!"

In fact, the thing that Qiao Ying was worried about was the condemnation of him by some Confucian scholars. This matter was naturally related to his attack on Yizhou and enslaving the Yi people. Although his attack on Yizhou brought huge benefits to Jiangdong, it also brought him a lot of negative comments. After all, in traditional Confucian concepts, barbarians are representatives of backwardness and uncivilized people. Therefore, in the Analects of Confucius, there is the words "Zi Yu wants to live among the Nine Barbarians", advocating the use of etiquette to educate the barbarians. Qin Zhen's direct military action against the Yi people and enslaving them was clearly inconsistent with Confucian teachings. Therefore, a group of "great Confucian scholars" headed by Tao Qiuhong accused Qin Zhen of not being in line with Confucian spirit and declaring him unworthy of being a great Confucian scholar. When encountering a place like Yizhou, one should promote education, subdue the barbarians, and let them know the etiquette of the Central Plains. Instead of raising troops to attack them when they were backward, they openly sold them as slaves. You have to know that the people under Liu Bei's command now are no longer just two or three small cats like before. There are now quite a few Confucian scholars. As soon as Tao Qiuhong expressed his position, people like Xu Ci, Hua Xin and others came forward to persuade Liu Bei to order a halt to this action. Although Lao Liu was kind to the Han people, he never liked Confucian classics. So when faced with these impeachment accusations, Liu Bei simply gave it the cold shoulder. He even sent a letter to Qin Zhen saying that although the scholars in Huainan had some complaints, he didn't need to care. But it was precisely because of this way of dealing with the situation that things became more and more serious. After all, in addition to these Confucian scholars, Qin Zhen also has a large number of "enemies"! For example, the gentry who were forced to surrender under Qin Zhen's policies, and the powerful families in Kuaiji. When these people saw Qin Zhen being attacked, they began to fan the flames. Even Qin Zhen was given a nickname - Qin the Butcher! It was not until this nickname spread back to Huainan that Liu Bei realized that the matter had become a big deal, and he hurriedly ordered that no one should talk about it anymore! He also sent another letter to calm Qin Zhen's emotions and told him not to worry about it. In addition, Xu Shu, Chen Deng, Yuan Huan, Liu Fu, Lu Su and many others sent letters to express their greetings. As his wife, Cai Yan also sent several letters home to express her support for him. Even when Ohashi Ke was at home, she tried not to mention this matter, for fear of affecting Qin Zhen's mood. Only Qin Zhen acted as if nothing had happened. He ate and drank as usual and didn't take it to heart. Why? Actually, the reason is very simple, because he had anticipated this situation. In his opinion, there have been many people who have been scolded by Confucian scholars since ancient times. It’s just a few scoldings, so what? The reason why he is being scolded now is because he is too famous and a tall tree attracts the wind. Everyone expected that he, the son-in-law of a great scholar, could emulate Cai Yong and be a model of literati. In this way, once you do something that goes against Confucian ethics, you will naturally be criticized.

But being scolded is not a bad thing for him, because it means he has a stain! When the time is right, he can use this as an excuse to retreat if he wants. On the contrary, if a group of literati were to sing his praises now, he would have to worry about who was trying to flatter him. So Qin Zhen now has only one idea: you can scold me and I will do my own thing! Not only will I attack Izu, I will also massacre Japan and Goryeo. This just happened to earn the name of butcher that these people gave him. Of course, these were just his inner thoughts. Seeing Qiao Ke's doubts, he smiled and said: "Madam, you must know that although the Yue people and the Yi people are both foreign races, their essences are different." "Because the Yue people live here together, they know Chinese characters and speak Chinese, just like us." "Although they originated from the ancient Yue, they are also members of the Han family and should be treated equally." "But those barbarians do not know etiquette, eat raw meat and drink blood, and it is difficult for them to coexist with us." "So they can be made slaves and maids. After a hundred years, their descendants will be born in Han territory. Although they are barbarians, they are also members of the Han people!" "Madam, you only know that we are all Han people now, but you don't know that thousands of years ago, we were probably also barbarians!" Seeing that Qin Zhen was not angry but was joking, Qiao Ke chuckled and said: "My husband is so tall, he must be a northern barbarian. My sister and I were born in Lujiang, so we must be southern barbarians!" "Yes, yes, now the people of the north and south are all one family, and it will be the same in the future!" Qin Zhen and others chatted and laughed, and soon they arrived at the county government. Qin Zhen got off the car first, and then took Xiaoqiao and Daqiao into the mansion and asked Doctor Zhuge Jin to come and see the patient. As a result, the doctor took Qin Zhen's pulse for a long time and concluded that he was almost recovered and just needed to rest. When everyone heard this, they were delighted and put their minds at ease. After all, Jiangdong can do without anyone now, except Qin Zhen. All of them follow Qin Zhen for a living. If Qin Zhen were not around, who would lead them to achieve success? But before they could rejoice, they saw Wei Yue suddenly walk into the mansion with a serious face and said: "My Lord, this is bad. The Yue people are plundering outside our city again!" As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's smiles froze, and Qin Zhen also frowned. It seems that this Dongzhi city is not as peaceful as it seems! (End of this chapter)