Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 219

In the Tang Dynasty, if a horse was lost, was it difficult or easy to find it?
It depends on where the horse was lost, who lost it, and who owned the horse.

If it is a private horse, if it is lost, it is lost. The government adheres to the principle of "one more thing is worse than one less thing" and it is considered as fulfilling its duty to leave a stall for you.

If the government's horse is lost within the state, it can usually be found, even quickly.Because the horses are branded with the unique horse mark of the state capital.

Moreover, horses are not inconspicuous little animals like mice. They are also a kind of "arms" and are particularly sensitive.

In the local area, if someone has an extra horse, it is obvious to the locals.

Even if you want to sell the stolen goods, you must find a horse dealer, and no matter where the horse dealer is, he is registered with the local government. It is not difficult to find the horse according to the map.

In fact, the seriousness of this matter far exceeded Fang Chongyong's imagination.

When Gao Shang came to the Sanshui County government office to report the case, the matter instantly rose to the political level of "a gangster was trying to assassinate an important member of the central government", making Sanshui County Magistrate Yang Yiming so nervous that he almost exploded!

The supervisory censor from the central government came to Pizhou on official business. The horses he used, belonging to the state capital, were actually stolen within the jurisdiction of Sanshui County!

To put it mildly, this is due to the poor governance of Sanshui County, bad folk customs, and hordes of bandits.

To put it more seriously, this is a prelude to assassinating the emperor's favorite minister, but the subsequent conspiracy has not yet been exposed!

In view of this, we must investigate, and investigate ruthlessly!

Yang Yiming is not an ordinary county magistrate. Although his official position is very small, it is because he was demoted along the way that he can hold such a small official position!

In fact, even the official position he held in his debut was greater than that of Sanshui County Magistrate, the magistrate of Zhongzhou.

From county magistrate to county magistrate, he has been circulating for many years, and has not been promoted for many years. Only Yang Yiming knows the bitterness during this period.

Yang Yiming was born in the Yang family of Hongnong. In the fifth year of Kaiyuan Dynasty, he relied on his family influence to become a student of Chongwen Hall.Chongwen Hall, that is not something ordinary people can go in to attend classes. The Imperial College and others are just younger brothers than the Chongwen Hall.

He had a high threshold for starting a career. He served as the Right Prison Gate and led the Prefecture Cao, specifically responsible for protecting the former crown prince... Li Ying.

So it is obvious that when Brother Ji killed three sons in one day, Yang Yiming was also in bad luck. From a rising star in the political arena, he became a street rat.

First, he was demoted to Youxiaowei Prefecture Cao, and worked in Youxiaowei, the "unestablished" department of the Nanya Forbidden Army. Yang Yiming's task was to look after the treasury, and he had no authority even for an ordinary petty official in charge of tax collection in Chang'an. Not as good as.

Soon he was released as the magistrate of Yusi County, and he was beaten to the end.Then he was moved to Xinping County magistrate, and then to Sanshui County magistrate. Until now, it can be said that the official road has been bumpy.

If nothing unexpected happens, his next stop should be to serve as the county magistrate of a certain county, then change to another place to become the county magistrate, and finally die in office.

Yang Yiming was also very rich at that time. If Li Ying had not been deposed and killed, he would have most likely held the post of six ministers after the other party succeeded to the throne. This is the rule of "one emperor, one courtier".

Yang Yiming was well aware of the cruelty of political struggle. After learning that Fang Chongyong's horse had been stolen, he immediately dispatched all the people in the county government who could move and posted notices in every village. Two county lieutenants knocked on the door door by door. During the investigation, the chiefs of various districts were summoned to issue a search warrant. They must catch the thief and restore Magistrate Yang's innocence.

That's right, if the thief can't be found, Yang Yiming will be in big trouble!Well, it would be more appropriate to describe it as a big deal.Because he was originally a close confidant of the former crown prince Li Ying, and it was because of this that he was never promoted.

The ability of an out-of-power official to resist risks is even lower than that of an official with no background!
One day later, three middle-aged men in ragged clothes were kneeling in the lobby of the county government office in Sanshui County. They were beaten until their noses were bruised and their faces were swollen.It was they who took the sheep and "smooched" Fang Chongyong and Gao Shang's horses by the Jing River.

When the entire Sanshui County government mobilized to "find horses", the "horse thief" was quickly found, and the horses belonging to the government were also found...but they had been turned into cooked horse meat in the pot. Got it!
The facts of this case couldn't be simpler.

In a village in Sanshui County, to be specific, the village where Fang Chongyong was exploring the coal mines, there were three idle retired Qiu Ba, who were called "Rangers" at best, or ruffians at worst. They went to Jing When I was preparing to cut through the ice for fishing at the water's edge, I saw two "ownerless" horses.

Since it is ownerless, it is understandable to take it back and sell it to a horse dealer, right?
So the three of them took the horse and left without looking to see whose horse it belonged to and whether they could steal it.Anyway, this is not the first time they have done such a thing.

As a result, before the three of them got home, one of them noticed that there seemed to be a vague official seal near the horse's butt!
After looking carefully, I found that both horses belonged to the Pingzhou government office!This time the three of them were frightened!

The three gangsters originally wanted to sell their horses in exchange for some wine money and go to a liquor store in the county to have a good time, but they didn't expect that this horse turned out to be the horse of the Pingzhou government office.There was no choice but to kill the horse without stopping and eat some horse meat to repay the money.

Otherwise, wouldn’t all your hard work be in vain?Even if they send the horses back now, they are still committing a crime. They will not get any meat and will be in trouble.It would be better to eat the horse meat and bury the bones in an inconspicuous place.As time goes by, who will investigate these nonsense?

As a result, when the county lieutenant found the three of them, the horse meat was cooking in a large pot at home.The three of them are all retired veterans, and none of them can find a wife. One person has enough to eat and the whole family is not hungry. Apart from not killing people easily, there is nothing they dare not do and they have no scruples.

These three people themselves are registered figures in the Sanshui County Yamen, and this is not the first time they have been sneaking around.

This incident put Fang Chongyong in a bit of a pickle. He originally came to Pizhou to do business in a low-key manner, but he didn't expect that he would be ridiculed by three gangsters with no power or identity!

The official system of the Tang Dynasty was very magical. The same official position, used on different people, would change according to the combination of other official positions on that person, and even the effects would be very different.

For example, take the position of "Censorship Officer". Originally, the boss of the Censorship Office at the center of the imperial court was the Censorship Officer, but many Jiedushi also carried the official title of "Censorship Officer".

This does not mean that they can exercise the powers of the Yushi doctor, but that the status and weight of the non-grade Jiedushi is equal to that of the central "Yushi doctor".

The same official position, but different powers, very typical.

The same is true for the supervisory censor.

Therefore, Fang Chongyong has the position of supervisory censor, but whether he can actually use it depends on who his "mission" is to "supervise". There is a question of whether he has the "artifact" in his hand.

Specific to this matter, it means that Fang Chongyong went to Pizhou for "business". Why did he come?At the same time, local officials need to make a basic judgment on this.

The unspoken rule of this officialdom is to see if Fang Chongyong has any "staff officials" assigned by the imperial court to supervise the censor.

A supervisory censor has at least more than 20 subordinate officials!When you really start moving, you are not just one person but a group of people!

If Fang Chongyong brought a large group of people to the Pizhou government office to find the governor on official business, then his position would be to detect lawlessness in the Pizhou officialdom.

To put it bluntly, we are here to cause trouble!Impeachment of officials!

As a result, not only would the Pingzhou government office not cooperate with his work, but would instead "do official business" and give him little shoes to wear at every turn.

At that time, Fang Chongyong had to worry about the safety of his neck even when he went out, let alone prospecting for coal mines.

But if Fang Chongyong came alone, it was obvious that he was not trying to detect lawlessness by local officials.

Therefore, when Li Qiwu, the governor of Pizhou, met Fang Chongyong, he warmly received him as if he were an old friend, and gave him the greatest cooperation. He also recommended his close confidant Gao Shang to help Fang Chongyong, because: the other party came here with no ill intentions, but to communicate with the central government. A good opportunity to communicate and build backers.

This is a win-win situation that benefits both parties and is mutually beneficial.Unexpectedly, a few horse thieves broke the tranquility of Pizhou officialdom.

"Fang Yushi, the man has been arrested. The horses are from the Pingzhou government office. What do you think is the best way to handle this matter?"

In the county government hall, Yang Yiming, the magistrate of Sanshui County who was in his 40s, carefully crossed his hands and saluted, and asked Fang Chongyong who was too young for his son.In the officialdom, the older you are, the less value and potential you have.Yang Yiming, who is almost 50 years old, is humble to Fang Chongyong, who is in his teens. This is just the norm in official circles.

Don't bully a young man into being poor. If the young man is no longer poor, you have to be more polite, because he will not only continue to be rich in the future, he may even be powerful!
"Then what is the crime of stealing horses?" Fang Chongyong asked in confusion, pretending not to know.

Yang Yiming laughed dryly and said: "Those who steal horses will die. It is clearly written in the law of Tang Dynasty."

In fact, this sentence is not completely correct, because the criminal law of the Tang Dynasty actually determined the punishment according to the circumstances.For example, why did the prisoner steal the horse? Is it because of official business or because he wanted to make money?

After a horse was stolen, was it eventually returned, or was it sold or killed for meat?

Different situations here have different penalties.The "subjectivity" of criminals accounts for a large proportion.

The lightest one is just fifty floggings, and then the more serious ones include punishment packages such as being exiled for three thousand miles, chopping off both hands, etc. The most serious one is beheading.

The reason why Yang Yiming said that horse thieves should die is because these people deserve to die!According to normal Tang law, these people would be sentenced to death!What's more, they are still rangers who don't do production!

"Soldiers who have been recruited or retired from the army cannot work in the countryside after arriving in the countryside. They can only become rangers and sneak around all day long. Is this kind of thing common in Sanshui County?"

Fang Chongyong asked with a smile, but the smile on his face looked a little meaningful.

Yang Yiming was a dazed young man who first entered the officialdom, but he didn't know that Fang Yamen had something to do, so he studied the explicit and implicit rules of the Tang Dynasty officialdom. Now he is a very skilled "old bureaucrat".

Yang Yiming was shocked, but looking at these words, he knew that Fang Chongyong was by no means a wasted person. He had a lot of experience in dealing with Qiu Ba and others!
In fact, in the past, the return of soldiers from the army would cause huge social problems in the local area. This is no longer a legend, but something that actually happened back then.This is part of the reason why Brother Ji ordered the abolition of the military system.

Not only because the service time is often limited to five or six years, and they have been separated from farming and production for a long time, they have lost their farming skills; it is also because these people are used to the life of licking blood in the military and are no longer willing to return to ordinary life. People control their destiny.

Therefore, it is not news that these retired government soldiers or even military recruits are gathering people to cause trouble in the countryside, let alone just stealing!
"To be fair to Censor Fang, this kind of thing... actually happens quite a lot."

Yang Yiming said sarcastically. Being suppressed by Fang Chongyong and unable to raise his head, he could only say this.

"So if we kill the three of them now for horse theft, will it deter those people who take risks and commit crimes because they are hungry?"

Fang Chongyong sighed helplessly and asked.

Yang Yiming thought for a while, then lowered his voice and said:
"The saint ordered Guanzhong to be peaceful, and all the grain of the people in the prefectures and counties in Guanzhong was sent to Chang'an, and every family had no food left. These knights are considered to be law-abiding if they don't steal official warehouses. On weekdays, it is really forbidden to steal chickens and dogs. The county government doesn’t have many people to hunt down bandits.”

Upon hearing this, Fang Chongyong immediately understood that Chang'an's "inflation export" had indeed affected the surrounding areas of Guanzhong.

The Hebian method is to "take grain from the local area". In the final analysis, it is still "exchanging light goods for heavy goods", exchanging Jiangnan cloth for grain.As food in Chang'an becomes cheaper, food prices around Chang'an will rise, and the homeless rangers will have a harder time.

Along the way, Fang Chongyong discovered that the people of Pizhou, from the post soldiers to the three horse thieves, were all obviously malnourished.Compared with the people of Chang'an, the difference is not 01:30!
These people did not have travel documents and could not go to Chang'an at will. How they lived a hard life there could only rely on personal imagination.

Fullness and warmth lead to lustful thoughts, while hunger and cold lead to the desire to steal. People who steal horses are not born to steal horses. The reason why this is so is because reality has "educated" them.

It is not surprising that Pizhou is short of food, because there is no shortage of food in Chang'an, which does not mean that there is no shortage of food in Guanzhong.

Fang Chongyong had a profound understanding of the method of Hebian, and even used it as "financial credit" in Shazhou. The word "籴" means the folk grain that goes into the official warehouse. The attributive in front of this word is the key to the policy.

How did the government obtain food from the private sector, and for what purpose? This is a key question that must be answered.

Whether it is to stabilize prices, prepare for war, or support the capital, there is a lot of knowledge involved, and the slightest difference can make a huge difference.For now, Chang'an's "He Bian Envoy" should forcefully buy grain from the private sector and distribute the share to each county.

As for whether the apportioned shares are fair or not, and what methods the county government uses to collect grain, in fact, by referring to the quality and institutional configuration of the central and local bureaucrats in the feudal era, we know that there must be many unfair things happening.

Don't have too high expectations for these people.

The bandits who stole horses certainly deserved death, but the bigger "bandits" were in Chang'an, in the court, and in the palace!

Horse thieves should be killed, but should these bigger "bandits" be killed?

Fang Chongyong sighed silently in his heart and decided to let the three horse thieves go.

"Since they stole and ate horses, then it should be in line with Tang law to be exiled to Hexi to raise horses, right?
This officer believes that it is better to let the horse eaters raise horses to atone for their crimes and serve their sentences than to simply and brutally kill them.

What does Magistrate Yang think? "

Fang Chongyong asked calmly.

Yang Yiming thought for a moment and said, "That's true."

Fang Chongyong mastered the flexibility of the Tang Dynasty's criminal law very skillfully. He had two typical official characters, and life or death depended on this mouth.Yang Yiming was really speechless to see that the other official had more power and weight but could use it so skillfully.

"Hahahaha, let's do it like this. I came to Sanshui County to explore the coal pits. In the future, there will be many places that require the cooperation of Magistrate Yang."

Fang Chongyong patted Yang Yiming's shoulder and laughed, obviously no longer caring about the stolen horses.

"Fang Yushi is really magnanimous and has the magnanimity of a prime minister."

Yang Yiming couldn't help but cross his hands and salute and compliment, feeling relieved.

When Gao Shang came to the county government before, he used the tiger skin to pull the banner, which made the county go crazy, as if he, the county magistrate, would be dismissed if he couldn't handle things well.

Unexpectedly, Fang Chongyong raised the board high and put it down so gently. Even the horse thief was punished lightly.Sure enough, there is something extraordinary about being able to become a celebrity around the emperor at such a young age.

"Okay, I will return to Chang'an now. Regarding the horse compensation, you can explain it to Governor Li.

The prisoner's sentence has been sentenced. How to compensate for the loss must be formulated. After these people have to serve in corvee to pay off their debts, they can then go to the frontier to raise horses to serve their sentence. "

Fang Chongyong waved his hand and said.

Small cases should be dealt with as small as possible, and no extraneous matters should be dealt with. This is the experience Fang Chongyong honed when he was the governor of Shazhou, and it is just in use now.

"Hey, okay, I'm going to send Yushi Fang off."

Yang Yiming said enthusiastically.

"No need, I'll just go on my own."

After Fang Chongyong said that, he turned around and left, not wanting to stay for a moment.During this trip to Pizhou, he was disappointed by all the chaos he saw.

This is true for all prefectures and counties in Guanzhong, and it is even more unthinkable outside Guanzhong.

(End of this chapter)