Princess Consort of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 45 Human Nature

Generals of the East Gate, under the jurisdiction of 500 people, every 150 people in three shifts, are responsible for maintaining the order and safety of the city gate. Most of them are on guard, and the small commander is responsible for checking the crowds.

This is a rare fat difference.

The imperial court has stipulated that all luggage coming and going needs to be carefully inspected to prevent bad people from sneaking into the capital and plotting wrongdoing.

However, there are many dignitaries in the capital, and this policy has not been implemented very well.

It is lenient for the rich and powerful, but not for ordinary people.

In particular, merchants.

As the most prosperous imperial capital in the Tang Dynasty, the capital had an astonishing spending power. Merchants from all over the country sent an endless stream of rare treasures. Although the emperor advocated frugality, it did not prevent courtiers with rich families from spending money.

There are still many aristocratic families in the capital, and many dudes.

As a result, the merchants who came and went became the biggest source of income for the gatekeepers.

The former garrison general of the East Gate was a veteran of hundreds of battles with illustrious military exploits. Now that he is old and has earned a lot of money, it is time to retire. When he left office, it is said that he cried. This small official is still comfortable, but he still feels sorry for the loss of a lot of money.

Shen Sanwen rested for a few days. When he came here for the first time, he was very shocked!

Under the feet of the Son of Heaven, it was actually so rampant.

In the first convoy, the businessman gave a small piece of gold, and the car was full of jade, so he had to be generous, so the general guarding the city ordered to check carefully, and the movement should be gentle, so as not to damage it.

For the second convoy, the businessman gave a penny of silver, which should be the income of an ordinary seventh-rank official for two months, but the city guard was very disdainful and ordered to check it carefully. If there are knives, guns, bows and crossbows, you can't bear it.Fortunately, the second businessman brought some light and soft things, and the soldiers didn't intentionally damage them. Although their hands were a little heavier, they didn't lose much.

Come to think of it, these businessmen also know how much entry fee they pay.

Then, a third convoy came, first a luxurious carriage, a young man in white handed out a letter, the city guards read it, and suddenly changed from a tiger to a cat
Cautiously speaking, the son is honorable, the minister is offended, check the carriage once, the carriage can pass, but the goods behind must be inspected, please son Haihan.

The young master is also a reasonable person, and he is not embarrassed.

The gatekeeper carefully opened the carriage and took a look. There was no one else on the carriage, and the goods behind him were also inspected by himself, lest his subordinates didn't know what was important.

Most of the goods were calligraphy, paintings, and brocade silk, which were clear at a glance, but the city guards still inspected each cart by cart, box by box.

In the early years when His Majesty first came to the throne, when Princess Gaoyang rebelled against him, he did not dare to buy military equipment directly in Chang'an City, so that he could build and purchase a batch of weapons from other places. It is said that they were transported in from the west gate. Go to prison for a thorough investigation.

After this incident, the guards of Chang'an City did not dare to slack off on this matter. Except for the carriages of senior officials who did not dare to collide with them, everyone else had to thoroughly investigate.

The rebels were not ordinary officials, but they suffered because of this.

No one has ever dared to check the frame of Princess Taiping.

That's why Shen Sanwen found out about this today.

Got it, even more incredible.

Since it is wrong, it must be changed.

Shen Sanwen revealed his identity and asked what happened to these businessmen.

The city guard explained with a smile, this is the businessman's tribute to the hard work of the brothers, and we will also prepare a copy for the son-in-law.

The goalkeeper was ferocious, he looked a bit like a butcher, but his grinning face was rather grim.

Thinking of what he did, Shen Sanwen was very disgusted.

"So, will it be regarded as corruption and bribery?"

The city guard was also a little surprised, "Why is the son-in-law so timid? He just took money from some merchants. We dare not take a single penny from those dignitaries. We have lived in peace for many years."

Shen Sanwen felt that this move was particularly inappropriate. This kind of behavior of obtaining ill-gotten wealth was contrary to his own values, and if he accepted the money, or allowed his subordinates to accept the money, he would be accused of corruption. Hidden danger.

Immediately ordered, "It must not be like this in the future, if you let me know, you will definitely be punished heavily."

The city guard's face darkened instantly.

The very angry response was yes.

And really didn't charge a penny.

However, when these people inspected, they didn't act lightly anymore. Most of the merchants' porcelain, pottery, jade, calligraphy and paintings were damaged.

Someone cried on the spot.

The hard work of thousands of miles of land transportation was directly destroyed, and a lot of harvest was lost all at once, and it may even be a loss.

Looking at these people who were crying and entering the city, Shen San smiled angrily.

These people didn't take him seriously.

If he is not here, I am afraid that the situation here will have to go back to the past.

These generals also know that this noble son-in-law will not stay here for a long time to manage affairs, it is just a name, if he really wants to manage affairs, he has to give face to us people, and cancel everyone's benefits when he first arrives?Let's save it.

Everyone is more serious.

Shen Sanwen waved his sleeves and left without taking a single cloud.

It's really deceiving.

Not to mention the identity of the son-in-law, he is also the head of the guard.

I'd better go back and discuss it with my wife.

The princess just came back from the palace and saw that the son-in-law was already at home, "how about the son-in-law going to the east gate today?"

"In general, the order of the inspection is acceptable. There are also some troubles. The gatekeeper accepts bribes. If things go on like this, it will definitely damage my reputation. I ordered that no money be collected. During their inspection, many precious artifacts were destroyed. Those merchants Panicked, everyone frowns, and many servants cry directly. Isn’t the court law very heavy, how dare they know the law and break the law.”

The princess said lightly, "The son-in-law has no experience in being an official. If you want them to do things for you sincerely, they must give you benefits. This is always the case in officialdom."

"But this interest may be a sharp knife around the neck in the future. It will inevitably be controlled by others." Shen Sanwen did not relax.

"It's inevitable, and everyone knows it well. It's just for peace of mind and convenience, and they won't touch this interest."

"Could it be that His Majesty doesn't know?"

"Father must know. Those who can serve as a guard at the city gate are either loyal and have made great military achievements, or they have made meritorious service to the country and have been valued by the father. Even the inspection generals under you are also people with military exploits. After accumulating military exploits, they can stay in the capital. They have been on the battlefield and shed blood for the Tang Dynasty. Father, son and brother may be buried in the loess. The whole Tang Dynasty owes them. As long as they can be meticulous and ensure the safety of the imperial city , father will also stay on the line, turn a blind eye."

"They actually came back from the battlefield. No wonder they are vicious. But credit can't be used in this way. You can embezzle and accept bribes if you have meritorious service? Can the laws of the Tang Dynasty still be respected and enforced?" Shen San asked a little speechless.

"This is a special case. Father is never soft on corrupt officials. Even Father's two uncles were severely punished. If they follow the son-in-law, their lives will not be as good as before. How can they be willing to work for you. "

"According to this, the whole city is like this now. I restrain them, and they will lose their interests after following me, so they are even more unwilling to do things for me."

"I don't know the situation of the other gates. It's just that the east gate and west gate are the distribution centers of wealth, so they must be the most attention-grabbing. The son-in-law knows how to win over his subordinates, and he has to avoid some open and secret arrows."

"I actually want to protect their interests. In this case, let me think of a perfect plan for them."

"What trick did the son-in-law think of?" the princess asked with a smile.

"I want to set up a martyr point at the entrance to the city. If these merchants are willing to fill in the martyr subsidy, they will issue a patriotic sign. With this sign, the defenders of the city will naturally be cautious and polite.

If not, you don't have to be polite to turn a deaf ear to this martyr.Although there are suspicions of coercion, doing so can not only accept these funds and distribute them to these soldiers, but also avoid the suspicion of bribery. "

"This plan is very clever. The son-in-law is getting more and more powerful."

"Is there any reward?"

"I will reward you with a delicious meal."

"I don't want to eat delicious food, I just want to eat you."

"It's noon now, son-in-law."

Three days later, a martyr's pavilion was built at the east gate to provide tea for those who entered the city, and to rank veterans. They counted the history of Tang's wars in recent years, commended these martyrs, and established a similar donation office for incense money. , If you want to do your part for the martyrs and their families, you can put down the donation, and then write your name and amount in the merit book.

However, the amount is fixed in the third gear, which can be regarded as a standard.

Write it in the merit book, and you can get a brand.

Pay tribute to these veterans by passing through the gates with a sign in hand.

Go through the city gate and take the sign back.

In fact, it is for the convenience of counting the amount, as well as the number of people entering the city and the type of luggage.

Then, according to the size of the credit, the number of supporters in the family, and the monthly pension of the war dead, the amount is determined and distributed.

Donors and recipients are counted every month and published in the merit book.

In the beginning, these generals and soldiers defending the city were unwilling to do this. These people would not take the initiative to donate. Things became more complicated, and the finances in it went through the donation office, so naturally it would be much less.

Shen Sanwen directly led the people from the Princess Mansion to the gate of the city, and drove the group of people to the side to stand guard, contacting and inspecting the goods on their behalf.

Sitting on the sidelines by myself, supervising and guiding every process.

In terms of scheming, I am not the opponent of these people. In terms of tactics, after 5000 years of history, I can kill you all in seconds.

Soon you will know how much profit this can bring.

On the first day, these people would deliberately lead others to go to the martyrs. Smart businessmen naturally knew what to do. For those with rigid thinking, Shen San asked the original soldiers to check him directly.

By the third day, everyone knew what the brand was for.

Big businessmen are very conscious.

Some literati, especially sons of aristocratic families, will donate a little when they see this place.

The Tang Dynasty was a martial artist, and it is an honorable thing to serve as a soldier to defend the country. Many poets have described that they hope to join the army with a sword and kill the enemy to make meritorious deeds.

Therefore, there are a lot of literati coming to such a place of martyrs. There is a patriotic and angry youth in a group of traveling people, and a group of people will be mobilized to donate as much as possible to express their respect for these people and their loyalty to the country.

Among these people, many young masters are extremely generous.

After three days, the income obtained from the statistics is much more than the benefits of accepting these merchants.

Merchants pay tolls normally, so they only make money when they become martyrs.

Moreover, the distribution of income is transparent.

How much the generals get, how much the sergeants get, as long as the gatekeepers have military merits, they can get a share of the money, and if they don’t have military merits, they can also get a full attendance fee.

Before, it was the generals who took the big heads and divided the residues out, and everyone could only do tooth-beating sacrifices occasionally, but the distribution method came out, and it is foreseeable that life will be much better.

As for the city guards, who had been officers for a long time, the most important financial power was taken away all of a sudden, and they were very uncomfortable, but when the money was distributed, the dissatisfaction became less.After all, once the emperor and the courtiers, the old general left, and there were new policies.I thought that after the old general left, the new son-in-law would look down on this money, and I could make a lot of money, but I didn't expect that it was only twice as high as before.

Unfortunately, although it is unavoidable, no one has trouble with money, at least it is much better than before, and it is more than enough than before.

This policy was implemented smoothly, and this group of soldiers took advantage of the benefits given by the son-in-law, and they were much more respectful than before. Shen Sanwen was able to gain a firm foothold in this position.

When Empress Wu received this news, she was also very pleased. When Shen Sanwen first issued a mandatory order to his subordinates, he didn't think he could do it well, but he came up with an excellent solution.

This ingenuity and strategy really cannot be underestimated.

At this time, the court situation also began to slowly fluctuate, and the pattern became more complicated.

The emperor really worked hard for his son.

On the one hand, Webster and others were squeezed out of the power center.

On the other hand, the power of the prime minister was further weakened and the restrictions imposed on the emperor were reduced.

In the past, if the heads of the three provinces under Shang Shu's sect agreed on matters, it would greatly affect the emperor's decision. If Gao Zong continued to be the emperor, he could naturally ignore these suppressions. The treacherous officials are in control. After all, most of the prime ministers are full of party members, and there is no shortage of money to repay the power, which is a great political hidden danger.

In this year, Gaozong added new seats to the fourth-rank and fifth-rank officials at the original meeting of the three provinces, and weakened the power of the three senior officials to discuss politics.If you want to really influence the decision-making process, you can only serve as a fourth-rank or fifth-rank official. Although this right to discuss matters is important, it is far less noble than the former prime minister who commanded hundreds of officials.

As a result, the children of poor families have a new opportunity to make their debut.The promotion of common people's children was greatly hindered, and the fourth grade had basically reached the top. Gaozong's move paved the way for the appearance of officials from imperial examinations and poor family prime ministers in later generations.

　Thank you Lao Zhang, Xiao Hei, Lan Yi Sheng Er, and Twilight after a thousand years for your recommendation tickets.The signing contract has been sent, and the next step is to be more serious.

　　This chapter, there are so many feelings that I haven’t finished writing
　　


(End of this chapter)