Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 253

In front of the desk in the study, Zheng Shuqing rubbed his sore temples. He read the letter under the candlelight, but seemed not to understand it. It wasn't that he didn't know how to implement the measures explained in the letter, but that Zheng Shuqing didn't understand the significance of doing so.

If you rely on these routines to extract oil, you won't be able to extract much oil and water!
You may be able to make a lot of money in a short period of time, but in the long run, this method of "fishing from the lake" cannot cover the gap in Longyou's military expenditure.

"we can only do this."

Zheng Shuqing sighed and put the letter away, planning to talk to Yan Zhenqing, the imperial censor, tomorrow. Although Lao Zheng wants to be the dean of this hospital, in fact he also knows that he has high ambitions and low abilities, and has no actual ability to implement it. He cannot do it without relying on other help.

If you bite the bullet, you'll only mess things up.

But Yan Zhenqing was different. He was serving as a censor in the palace, and he was very good at such detailed work as picketing. The biggest problem with the other party is probably that he has a somewhat unpleasant personality and is not very good at dealing with saints.

Although Zheng Shuqing and Yan Zhenqing are not familiar with each other, they don't need to be familiar with each other to handle these official matters! If this inspection institute fails to run well and ends up slapping the saint in the face, wouldn’t Yan Zhenqing be in the same bad luck?

Zheng Shuqing was very confident. If it was just to deal with the "trivial" matters mentioned in Fang Chongyong's letter, Yan Zhenqing would definitely not refuse.

The next day, Zheng Shuqing came to Yan Zhenqing in person to discuss matters related to the inspection institute. He originally thought that Yan Zhenqing would hesitate, but he did not expect that the other party readily agreed and even eagerly planned the details of the implementation with him. He was very interested in participating.

Yan Zhenqing always wanted to persuade the emperor to do business. Now these fines must be used to pay for Longyou's military expenses. Of course, he would not refuse such a thing.

Three days later, the imperial court formally decreed the establishment of an inspection bureau to specifically investigate the misconduct of officials and the style of the descendants of the emperor's powerful family. And allocating all the imperial censors in the Censorship Station to the Inspection and Examination Institute, which can be regarded as stripping away part of the functions of the Censorship Station.

According to the imperial court, the Inspection and Examination Yuan is not a judicial institution and does not need to follow the criminal laws of the Tang Dynasty. It is just a "disciplinary department" that targets specific groups of people.

In other words, if the officials picked up by the Inspection and Inspection Yuan really broke the law, then the Ministry of Punishment or Dali Temple will still have to impose the sentence. The punishment of the Inspection and Inspection Yuan will not affect their sentences.

The Inspection and Inspection Commission can only deprive officials of their official status and cannot do anything to the offending officials.

To put it simply: the emperor thinks you are no longer suitable to be an official, and asking you to go home and farm has nothing to do with the laws of the country.

In the same way, if a child of a powerful person is found to have improper behavior, behave unscrupulously, and disgrace the family, the Inspection and Examination Institute will report it to the emperor and ask the emperor to issue an order to strip him of his title.

They also have no right to judge these people according to the law, let alone use punishment.

The yamen of Dali Temple and Zongzheng Temple are still responsible for how to punish these powerful children who have committed crimes. They can decide how to punish them and it will not affect the operation of power of these yamen.

So, what should we do if those officials and the children of powerful people who have been found out suddenly have a conscience and "repent and turn a new leaf"?

It is said that God has the virtue of good life, and even God will not force people to death, so how can the emperor force people to death? Of course, you won’t be stripped of your official position directly if you find out the problem!

For those officials and powerful children who "return from their lost ways", the solution to this matter is only three words:

Gotta pay more!
To be more specific, silk is used to atone sins, and there is a set of clear and detailed rules for the amount of punishment.

In principle, the bigger the official, the bigger the title, the more direct descendants of a powerful family, and the bigger the crimes committed, the more money needs to be paid for atonement.

After the edict was promulgated, it caused a great uproar. There was excitement and undercurrent among the people in the government and the public, but no one dared to take the lead in making trouble.

As for the reason, of course it is because the Inspection and Inspection Institute has been established! The imperial court has issued an order, and this institution has begun to operate!

Whoever makes trouble at this time will be killed first! Who would be so stupid as to hit the muzzle of a gun!
Another reason why no one comes out to make trouble is that the laws of the Tang Dynasty are now very complete. Many officials in the Chang'an officialdom think that it is impossible for a mere inspection agency to cause trouble!
On weekdays, they just pick up a prostitute in Pingkangfang, catch a fish in their own Yamen, and have a drink. They can't even care about these things, right?

If the control is really so lenient, it is estimated that most of the tens of thousands of officials in Chang'an will be dismissed from office before long.

Such an outrageous thing is impossible even if you think about it!
However, these people soon discovered that they were too young and too naive.

……

On the second day after the establishment of the Inspection and Inspection Institute, an "unremarkable" event happened!

When the central officials entered the various government offices in the imperial city for work, all the gates of the imperial city were locked and no one was allowed to enter or exit! The Inspection and Inspection Institute began to inspect the conduct of all central officials!
In the political meeting hall next to the provincial government office, Li Shizhi, the left prime minister, and Li Linfu, the right prime minister, are working, with their desks facing each other.

Although the two were both members of the Li Tang clan, their relationship was very ordinary. To be precise, Li Linfu had never spoken to Li Shizhi before he became prime minister! Naturally, there is no personal relationship.

Of course, Li Shizhi had no extraordinary talents, and Li Longji did not regard him as a confidant, so Li Linfu did not take him seriously. As long as it does not hinder his work, Li Linfu will pretend that this person does not exist.

Today, Li Linfu is thinking about the issue of land tax reform in the south in the council hall. Simply put, it is to make money from wealthy areas far away from Chang'an better and faster! Then send it to Chang'an through the canal!

Many political novices in Fang Chongyong's previous life thought that imposing excessive taxes and extortion was a very easy thing, and any tyrant would be able to do it.

In fact, this is not the case, this is a very technical thing, and there are not many kings who play it well in history.

In ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad, whether in the feudal era or not, there were many rulers who did not understand this advanced technology. While often making the people's livelihood miserable, they themselves failed to make much money. At least the personal income is completely out of proportion to the noise produced.

The recent problem of arrears of pay for the Longyou Army has involved a lot of Li Linfu's energy, making it difficult for him to introduce a new tax collection policy in Jiangnan.

The Right Chancellor of the Tang Dynasty believed that it was not impossible to supplement Longyou's military pay, but that it was impossible to solve the fundamental problems in Longyou. Policies often addressed the symptoms rather than the root causes, and the results were not good.

On the surface, it seems that the frontier troops on the Longyou side are occasionally in arrears with their pay, but in fact it is because Longyou has been in confrontation with Tubo for decades, and the people's livelihood has declined and is no longer sustainable. This is the real reason why the people in Hexi are not called poor even after decades of fighting, and the real reason why Longyou is called poor even if they have not fought in the past few years.

Hexi can make its own blood, but Longyou cannot. Even if military pay is increased, it cannot solve the fundamental problem of lack of local resources in Longyou.

Take Shanzhou, where Longyou Jiedushi is located, as an example. In the early Tang Dynasty, there were more than 5000 registered residents here. In the middle of the Kaiyuan period, there were less than [-], and now it has almost dropped to less than [-]!

Longyou household registration has actually been experiencing negative growth for many years! This was not to say commonplace in the Tang Dynasty, but it could at least be said to be unique.

After the salaries of the border troops are distributed, the families of these people need to use the silk they receive to exchange for other daily necessities. However, local commerce has been cut off, the roads are rugged, the population is shrinking due to war, and the output is getting less and less. Even if they receive military pay, how can the lives of these military families get better?

The prices of local daily necessities are at least twice as high as those in high-consumption areas like Chang'an!
As long as it is not produced locally, everything is expensive; locally produced things (such as animal husbandry products) cannot be trafficked out on a large scale to exchange for daily necessities, so living standards have been unable to improve, which has accelerated population outflow.

This is also an important reason why the emperor of Chang'an did not open his own internal treasury to issue military pay.

High-priced items and luxury goods can't be exchanged for anything in Longyou.

Brother Ji can't hand a luminous cup from the Western Regions to Qiu Ba, a soldier on the right side of Long, and then say to him: This treasure is worth a thousand guan, which is enough to pay you for a lifetime. Take it and go slowly, and give it to me in Long. Right as a dog guarding the door.

This Longyoujun Junqiuba has taken the expensive luminous cup, what can he do?
Due to the transportation conditions in Longyou, the logistics cost of transporting basic daily necessities is very high, and the annual transportation capacity is very limited. Lack of logistics greatly limited the combat effectiveness of the Longyou Army.

On the one hand, there are fewer and fewer local residents in Longyou, and their hematopoietic ability is getting worse and worse; on the other hand, there are more and more troops stationed in Longyou, and the costs are huge, and they all rely on transportation from Guanzhong.

The transportation conditions have not fundamentally improved. In the end, the poverty of the Longyou Army is needless to say. This is not a problem that can be solved by supplementing military pay.

So why didn't this problem happen before?

Because I used to be a soldier in the government!

Even if there is any discount, it will not be given to Qiu Ba himself, but to the family where they are registered! This virtually saves a fortune on shipping costs.

But now we are recruiting soldiers, and military salary is the only income for Qiu Ba. If the military pay is not delivered to them personally, they will rebel, and there is nothing to say.

So what Li Linfu was thinking about was how to traffic cloth from Jiangnan and Shu on a larger scale to make up for the gap in Chang'an. Then increase the scale of Guanzhong transportation to Longyou.

It is foreseeable that it is a foregone conclusion that Guanzhong silks will be exported to Longyou on a larger scale. Even if it is not available now, it is inevitable to increase supply year by year in the future, and it is no time to delay.

Thinking about these troublesome things, he suddenly raised his head and found a person standing in front of him, who seemed to have been standing for a while. I just thought about it and didn’t realize it!

"Yan Yushi...well, what business does Dean Yan have to come to the Prime Minister?"

Li Linfu asked with a smile on his face, feeling very unhappy but not having an attack.

"I am here to enforce the law for the Right Prime Minister."

Yan Zhenqing also smiled and saluted Li Linfu with his hands crossed.

"What did I commit? Can Dean Yan explain it clearly?"

Li Linfu asked with a confused look on his face.

Li Linfu often brags to his sons and sons-in-law, claiming that his skills as an official are first-rate, that he can make money without corruption, and that he will not violate any laws.

If Yan Zhenqing could find trouble with him, someone else would have done it long ago, why wait until today. "Right Prime Minister, there are several typos in your three memorials, which is disrespectful to the saint."

Yan Zhenqing took out three memorials from his sleeves and placed them on Li Linfu's desk.

puff!
Li Shizhi, who was sitting opposite, didn't hold back and burst out laughing.

Li Linfu opened one of the memorials with an embarrassed look on his face, only to see a few words circled in red pen. Well, there were indeed typos, and there were more than one.

But there was nothing we could do about it. Li Linfu was very busy at work and had to write several memorials a day, sometimes more than a dozen a day!
Where does he have the spare time to check for typos? Besides, this kind of nonsense wasn’t a big deal before!

However, someone on the line said that there were typos in the memorial for the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty! This seems to be a bit "disrespectful".

To put it mildly, this is lax censorship and a perfunctory attitude.

To put it more seriously, this is teasing the emperor, and his heart is to be punished.

It depends on how this is interpreted!
"Then what does Dean Yan want to do?"

Li Linfu asked angrily. He never expected that the first blow from the Inspection and Examination Institute would actually be fired on him, the right minister of the Tang Dynasty.

But is it possible that this was ordered by a saint?
A terrible thought suddenly flashed through Li Linfu's mind. The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became. He suppressed his anger and stopped defending Yan Zhenqing.

"Well, according to the rank of right minister, the fine is five thousand silk."

Yan Zhenqing took out the pamphlet from his arms, flipped through it, and said to Li Linfu seriously.

"Okay, I'll send someone to Taifu Temple after I'm on duty."

Li Linfu said helplessly, just five thousand, he is not short of this little silk.

Just treat it as filial piety to the saint.

"Back to the right minister, the fine is not sent to the inner treasury of the saint, but to the treasury dedicated to losing Longyou Army. When the treasury is full, it will be sent to Jincheng, Lanzhou."

Yan Zhenqing saluted and said.

This treasury was not newly built, but occupied a small warehouse in Chang'an Imperial City.

"Transport the Longyou army."

Li Linfu was thoughtful, and he probably understood what Brother Ji wanted to do.

"I understand the truth. Dean Yan, please excuse me. I still have to go to work."

"Farewell."

Yan Zhenqing Shi Shiran walked out of the political hall. Before he had gone very far, he suddenly remembered something. He returned to the political hall as if he had a sudden realization. He walked up to Li Shizhi, the left prime minister, crossed his hands and saluted respectfully, and said: "Zuo Prime Minister, you drink while on duty. This is typical. What a dereliction of duty! This is disrespectful to the saint."

Li Shizhi, the left prime minister, quickly hid the wine bottle on his left hand behind his back and looked at Yan Zhenqing with a puzzled face, trying to pretend to be innocent and get through.

"Prime Minister Zuo, you'd better take it out. You can smell the aroma of this fine wine."

Li Linfu on the opposite side smiled heartily.

"The penalty is five thousand silk, the same as the right prime minister."

……

If the prime minister has a rich family and cares about his face, and the atmosphere when he was punished was friendly and peaceful, then the picketing against the powerful children of Chang'an was full of violence and agitation!
On the outskirts of Chang'an, more than 100 young men from powerful families, galloping on horseback, were uniformly "invited" by the elite Shence Army to gather on a grassy field.

As for their female relatives and domestic slaves, they had already been dispersed and went back to their respective homes to report the news.

Zheng Shuqing, the newly appointed director of the Inspection and Inspection Institute, personally led [-] elite Shence troops to "capture" the powerful children on an outing in the suburbs of Chang'an. Of course, this also includes the unlucky guy who doesn't have anyone in his family who is a high-ranking official, nor is he a nobleman or a relative of the emperor, but he wears very good clothes.

In order to frighten these ignorant and unskilled young people, Zheng Shuqing specially wore a sword today to show his dignity.

It's just that he doesn't look like a prince when he wears a dragon robe, and the sword on his body makes him look like a civil servant, and a military attache doesn't look like a military attache. To outsiders, he looks a little strange and funny.

"I suspect that some of you are wearing clothes that exceed the regulations and are arrogant.

Do you take it off yourself, or do I order someone to take it off for you?

Haha, some of you must want to ask your elders who are officials in your family to sue me afterwards.

Please feel free to do so, but that will have to wait until you return.

Now, do you want to take it off or not? "

Zheng Shuqing looked around at the many wealthy and powerful children of Chang'an and scolded.

Hearing this, many powerful disciples and young people from Wuling behaved in different ways.

A few people disagreed and sneered at Zheng Shuqing, but the vast majority of people's expressions changed drastically!
Some people were even trembling with fear! The reason lies in the clothes they wear!
In fact, a certain rule that was issued during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty and was strengthened after the Kaiyuan Dynasty stipulates how the nobles and common people should wear their clothes in daily life, and they should not wear clothes indiscriminately.

Depending on the class a person belongs to, he or she must wear certain types and styles of clothing. Among them, the most stringent rule is that the common people are not allowed to wear red and yellow clothes!

To put it clearly: if you are not a royal family, then don’t wear red and yellow clothes, not at all, whether it is the main color or the matching color.

However, even so, the sales of red-yellow cloth in Chang'an City are still in short supply and often out of stock.

I would like to ask, how is it possible that there are so many clan members and so many royal clan members buying red and yellow cloth? How much red-yellow cloth can these people consume?
So the answer is: Many people, including many court officials, just like to wear ordinary clothes outside and look ordinary. But the inner jacket and half-arm (a kind of clothing worn underneath) are all red-yellow as the base color or decoration.

This is a typical violation of regulations!
Forbidden clothes are worn inside and ordinary clothes are worn outside. It not only satisfies the illusory sense of superiority in one's heart, but also avoids causing trouble.

This habit has become "a secret that is not a secret" among the powerful circles in Chang'an. Everyone is playing, but no one says anything.

Now we have to "prove our true identity". Who among the Wuling young people present here is not afraid!

Zheng Shuqing waited for a long time and found that no one was willing to take off the brocade robe they were wearing. Many of the powerful disciples looked at each other in disbelief. No one was willing to take the lead, so they gritted their teeth and held on.

"Come here, take off their outer clothes for me!"

Zheng Shuqing pointed at the more than 100 Wuling young men and shouted.

Today, he is blessed by the power of the saint and is in an invincible state. It's just a search for wearing clothes that exceed the rules, but it won't change the world!
After a burst of wailing and scolding, bright red and yellow clothes appeared one after another, and the scene suddenly fell into extreme silence and embarrassment.

Among the more than 100 people, nine out of ten were wearing jackets and half-armored clothes with red-yellow cloth. If you are more cautious, add some red and yellow patterns as embellishments; if you are bolder, just make the entire jacket out of red and yellow fabric!

All the soldiers of the Shence Army brought by Zheng Shuqing were dumbfounded, and the accompanying eunuch Yu Chaoen was even more moved to tears. He didn't know whether to report this matter to the Emperor of Chang'an.

This horse riding incident has become a big deal!
"Dean Zheng, if you look at this matter, do you want to slow down and report it to the saint first?"

Yu Chaoen leaned into Zheng Shuqing's ear and asked quietly.

A thief was discovered, someone was breaking into the house.

A hundred thieves were discovered, which meant that a gang of thieves had appeared, trying to take over the mountain and become king. Quantitative change produces qualitative change, and the nature is completely different!
Zheng Shuqing was also a little dumbfounded. If a few powerful people wearing red and yellow robes were found, they would be fined as much as they should be, and they would be shocked as much as they should be, and the matter would not be difficult to handle.

But now nine out of ten of these people are actually overstepping the rules. What would Brother Ji think?

He probably wouldn't be in a good mood.

Zheng Shuqing immediately understood what the problem was.

"Come here, take these people to Dali Temple and imprison them! I will go to see the saint now!"

Zheng Shuqing shouted to the Shence sergeants on duty.

(End of this chapter)