Early Tang Dynasty: forge ahead

Chapter 493 Weird? On duty!
When Chen Qingsi heard Lai Junchen, he couldn't help but ask, "Is there any way to find his whereabouts?"

Among the four cruel officials, Lai Junchen was the most notorious.

When he was in charge of the Imperial Censorate, he exterminated more than a thousand clans. Anyone who committed the slightest fault in life would be imprisoned or sentenced to death.

This person had experience in framing others and made up a terrifying book called "The Art of Fabricating Evidence". Even the cruel and merciless Wu Zetian felt a chill down her spine after reading it.

After Di Renjie was framed and imprisoned, he simply admitted his guilt when facing Lai Junchen and did not dare to challenge Lai Junchen's methods.

Chen Qingsi would like to meet this historical villain.

Zhou Kui said: "It will take some effort. This man comes from a gambler family, and his father is the one who manipulates..."

"Cough..." Chen Qingsi, who was drinking water, was suddenly choked when he heard the name. He coughed several times and then signaled Zhou Kui to continue.

Even though he had great self-control, he couldn't help but be shocked when he heard the name Lai Cao.

Zhou Kui felt a little strange, but continued, "In fact, Lai Cao is not Lai Junchen's biological father. His biological father is Cai Ben, who is a good friend of Lai Cao. The two of them gambled, and Cai Ben lost hundreds of thousands of dollars, so he used his wife to pay off the debt. When Cai Ben's wife entered Lai Cao's house, she was already pregnant with Lai Junchen..."

Chen Qingsi really didn't know that Lai Junchen had such history, and listened with great interest.

"Lai Junchen had such an adoptive father and biological father. He never learned well since he was young. He roamed the streets, cheated and deceived people. He was a habitual criminal in Chang'an Prison. He was in his twenties, and had spent more than half of his life in prison. His notoriety was well-known in the streets. The bad commander had heard of him in Chang'an County. But Lai Junchen mostly hung out in Wannian County, which was not under his jurisdiction, so he had never met him."

"Until one day, he learned a thousand tricks from nowhere, and came to Chang'an County to gamble, winning a lot of money. Later, it was found that he was cheating, breaking the rules of the underworld, and was taught a lesson by the Bad Leader. This cheating person's hand should be cut off, but he was not caught in the act. Lai Junchen has a special relationship with the Bad Leader of Wannian County. Cross-border law enforcement can only be a minor punishment and a major warning."

"The Bad Leader has the support of the Lord and has suppressed the Bad Leader of Wannian County. Lai Junchen, that bastard, smelled something and ran away... We need to investigate where he ran to."

Chen Qingsi thought for a moment and said, "No need, just let it be."

After hearing about Lai Junchen's situation, Chen Qingsi knew that although Lai Junchen had a bad reputation in history, it had nothing to do with him now.

Lai Junchen is now a stinking thug, and only Wu Zetian, who holds great power, would promote such a person in order to maintain her power. No matter how bad the rat hiding behind Empress Wu is, he will not go along with a thug, unless the other party has opened his eyes.

After thinking carefully for a moment, Chen Qingsi said, "So, among the four people, only Wan Guojun has the most accurate information! People from the Ministry of Justice are the best at forcing confessions, so why did he go to the Ministry of Works? What is his background?"

Chen Qingsi sensed a little bit of suspicion. Generally speaking, the court did not promote officials randomly. Wan Guojun was not an official who was just trying to gain experience. He was a grassroots clerk with a special skill. Clerks like him were rarely transferred to areas they were not good at. There were generally two routines for their promotions: either they were promoted directly to the Ministry of Justice, or they were transferred to the Dali Temple or the Censorate to do the same type of work. Otherwise, they were transferred to be county lieutenants or local law enforcement officers. This allowed him to use his expertise instead of letting a person who was good at torture to do river repair and water control work.

Unless you get help from a noble person or special support from someone.

Wan Guojun is good at interrogation, and this is right.

Zhou Kui said in surprise: "Speaking of which, this is also a strange thing. The person who promoted Wan Guojun is called Li Chongde, who was born in the Zhaojun Li family and has a very high status. Wan Guojun is just an ordinary clerk, and the two have never had any dealings. Li Chongde also behaved very unusually in the matter of flood control. He trusted Wan Guojun unusually."

"Li Chongde?"

Chen Qingsi asked, "Is that Li Chongde, who brought Li Yifu into the Zhaojun Li family?"

Zhou Kui said: "That's him!"

Chen Qingsi pondered for a moment and said, "Could it be that Wan Guojun has something on Li Chongde?"

Zhou Kui was a little confused.

Chen Qingsi always felt that Li Chongde's behavior of bringing Li Yifu into the Zhaojun Li family was outrageous and strange.

Most people in later generations have some misunderstanding about the Five Surnames and Seven Aristocrats, thinking that they are very strong. But in fact, their strength is only in cultural prestige, and they have no real hard power at all.

Some people say that women from the five surnames are difficult to marry, and use this to show the nobility of the five surnames and seven families, but in fact it is just a marketing method of the five surnames and seven families to bully honest people.

I think I am noble and I won't marry, so it's hard for someone to marry me. This is hunger marketing.

But Lai Junchen married a woman from the Five Surnames, and she was the daughter of Wang from Taiyuan. Moreover, he forced her to marry him, so the Five Surnames and Seven Families dared not say a word.

An honest man of high status values ​​his reputation, and there is nothing he can do if he doesn't marry into a noble family.

Lai Junchen wants to marry you, why don’t you try and see if you refuse?
Just because of an injustice, hundreds or even thousands of people from the Wang family in Taiyuan would lose their heads.

But the Five Surnames and Seven Families also have a bottom line, and family inheritance is of utmost importance to them.

This is not the first, second or third time that they have compromised with the powerful, and it was just a sacrifice of a family woman.

But Li Chongde made a big fuss and invited Li Yifu to be included in the family tree in the ancestral temple. This was a magical thing.

No matter how cowardly Li Chongde was, he would not have included Li Yifu in the family tree of the Zhaojun Li family. This behavior was tantamount to rubbing the face of the ancestors of the Zhao family on the ground. The degree of badness was no less than the 75th generation descendant of Confucius who invited the photo of German Emperor Wilhelm II into the Confucius Temple for worship, and it was even worse.

If Li Chongde was just being coerced, he shouldn't have backed down to this extent.

There must be some unknown trick in it...

When Chen Qingsi first heard the news, he had this suspicion.

Now it’s Li Chongde again, and strange things have happened again.

Did the evidence that Li Yifu had caught fall into Wan Guojun's hands?

“That’s not right!”

Chen Qingsi overturned his own idea, which didn't make sense logically.

The evidence that allowed Li Chongde to include a treacherous person like Li Yifu in the genealogy of the Zhaojun Li family must be huge and extremely secretive.

How could Wan Guojun know this news?

If a secret is known to even a “little guy” like Wan Guojun, is it still a secret?

"Go check what the relationship is between Wan Guojun and Li Yifu? Then check his achievements in the Ministry of Justice to see if any of the people he interrogated were related to Li Chongde."

Chen Qingsi realized that there was something unusual going on. Perhaps this was the key to unraveling the mystery.

"Yes!" Zhou Kui took the order and left.
-
After leaving Chen's house, Di Renjie still went to the home of his good friend Fan Lubing.

Fan Lubing was on duty at Prince Zhou's mansion and was not at home.

However, the two were old friends, and Fan Lubing had already prepared a guest room for Di Renjie and made the bed ready for him.

The servant of the Fan family invited Di Renjie into the mansion, still in the same room.

Looking at the place where he lived when he went to Beijing to take the exam, Di Renjie felt quite emotional.

He reminisced for a while, then began to pack his bag. A corner of the letter appeared from the gap between two pieces of clothes.

Di Renjie took the letter in his hand, which was the letter of introduction from Zhang Wencong, the governor of Taozhou. He pondered for a moment and put it in a wooden box beside him.

He did not intend to take the letter to see Zhang Wenguan. In recent years, he has been an official in Huangzhong County, which is located in the key area of ​​Hehuang and very close to Shicheng Mountain. In the early years, it was often invaded by Tuyuhun, and many bloody scenes were recorded in the county annals.

All of this changed completely after the rise of Li Tang...

Huangzhong County had not been affected by war for decades. Due to the east-west trade routes, the people in the county lived a prosperous life. Moreover, whenever the imperial court dispatched troops to assist Tuyuhun in fighting against Tubo, the people in the county cooperated very well.

Those who build roads build roads, and those who serve in the military serve in the military, and there is no major conflict.

Di Renjie once asked the reason.

The elders in the county said: "It is better to fight this battle in Qinghai, so that we can have a stable life."

Di Renjie understood clearly that many young people in the county had never experienced war and did not understand the suffering of the nomadic peoples around them.

The elders are experienced people and know what it feels like to be robbed.

If Tubo really obtained Qinghai Lake, its territory would be expanded beyond Guzhou.

It is difficult to live in peace in Guzhou.

People in border areas are well aware of the principle that if one's lips are gone, the other's teeth will be in danger.

Anyway, the capital is peaceful and one cannot imagine the feeling of having a hungry wolf coveting and spying on one's bed.

Chen Qingsi and Zhang Wenguan had different political views, and Di Renjie stood on Chen Qingsi's side.

Di Renjie packed his bags and saw that it was still early, so he set out to report to the Ministry of Personnel.

The efficiency of the Ministry of Personnel was faster than Di Renjie had imagined.

This is also the result of Zhang Wenguan's administration...

After a machine has been running for a long time, it is inevitable that it will become slack, and the same is true for the Tang Dynasty's temple.

Various networks of relationships are intertwined, and it has long become a tacit understanding for people to take their time off.

A simple matter often requires the hands of several people before it can be handled properly.

It's fine if everything goes well, but once something goes wrong, you blame me and I blame you, and we can argue for a long time.

Zhang Wenguan ruled the officials with a strong force. He removed redundant officials and demoted or punished those who were lazy and negligent in their work. His methods were fierce and efficiency improved rapidly.

With the help of the transfer document, Di Renjie received his official uniform and seal after just going through a few procedures.

The official of the Ministry of Personnel said dutifully: "Imperial Censor Di can go to the Censorate tomorrow to take up his post, and the report will be sent to the Censorate today."

Di Renjie thanked him politely and developed a favorable impression of Zhang Wenguan. He thought, "No wonder Mr. Chen has such high praise for Mr. Zhang. He is truly extraordinary."

Di Renjie first returned the official uniform to Fan's house, and then strolled around the surrounding neighborhoods, trying to find a suitable place to buy a house so that he would not have to stay at his friend's house all the time.

Di Renjie was born into a family of officials with a wealthy background. He could not afford to live by relying on the neighborhood near the imperial city, but he had more than enough money to buy a house in the areas around the East and West Markets.

After walking around and not finding a suitable place, Di Renjie returned to Fan's house.

Good friend Fan Lubing had already finished his shift, and the two close friends met again after a long separation. Naturally, they exchanged pleasantries, slept side by side, and talked all night long.

The next morning, Di Renjie put on his official uniform and went to report to the Censorate.

In his early years, Di Renjie actually gained a little fame by following Chen Qingsi, but as he was sent to serve as an official in a remote area, that fame disappeared after a few years.

His achievements in Huangzhong County were not inferior to those of Chen Qingsi in Qingxi County. It was just that he did not have the blessing of poetry and environment, so his achievements were not enough to be recognized in Beijing.

Most of Di Renjie's colleagues in the Censorate reacted indifferently to his arrival, and some were even a little hostile.

After all, no one would be happy to have an unfamiliar "competitor" appear out of nowhere.

Di Renjie didn't care. With the introduction of the chief clerk of the Censorate, he roughly understood the job tasks of the Assistant Censor.

In fact, the work of the Imperial Censor is very simple. To put it simply, it is a supervisory agency for temple officials, responsible for investigating, impeaching officials, and enforcing discipline.

There is no fixed assignment and no scope of work. The only thing is to find the officials’ mistakes and then impeach them.

The tasks are random, who knows which official will make a mistake and when?
The chief clerk's surname was Zhang. Zhang said, "The work of the Censorate is the easiest. You will know it after serving as a Censor for a long time."

Di Renjie frowned slightly. He was not here to lie down.

Zhang Wenguan’s governance of officials also had certain limitations, among which the Censorate was not convenient for re-arresting officials.

If a group of imperial censors were tasked with finding trouble with officials and catching them for being lazy in their work, wouldn't that cause chaos in the government?
Di Renjie asked, "Is there nothing we can do?"

Zhang Zhubu said, "It's not impossible. The Censorate can report on things based on hearsay, and some of them come from anonymous reports. It's hard to tell whether such reports are true or false, so there will be experienced censors responsible for investigating. Censor Di is new here, so it shouldn't be your turn."

Di Renjie thought for a moment and asked again, "Does the Censorate have any old cases piled up?"

Zhang Zhubu looked at Di Renjie in astonishment and said, "It's not that there aren't any. There are quite a few old cases in the archives office that have been left unsolved."

Di Renjie immediately perked up and asked, "Where is the Archives Office? Can you lead the way?"

Zhang Zhubu subconsciously took a small step back, away from Di Renjie, and said, "It's just to the east of the government office. Does Di Shiyushi want to check the old case?"

Di Renjie did not hide anything and nodded, saying, "I am new here and I don't know where to start. So I thought of looking through some files and checking some old cases to learn some experience from them."

Zhang Zhubu said, "Then Di Shi Yushi, please go by yourself. I have some trivial matters to attend to, so I will not disturb you. Go east and you will find a large courtyard painted red."

He trotted away, saying it was bad luck. He wanted to build a good relationship with the new Imperial Censor, but he didn't expect a fool to come.

Di Renjie did not get what he wanted. Without the approval of the Grand Censor or the Chief Censor, Di Renjie, as a Censor-in-Chief, was not qualified to read the archives of the Censorate.

Di Renjie sought out the Grand Censor and the Deputy Censor-in-Chief, but was turned away by both.

What does a new censor want to do?
Di Renjie was not discouraged. He thought of Zhang Wencong's letter of introduction. After finishing his shift, he immediately took the letter of introduction to Zhang Wenguan's prime minister's residence.

Compared with Chen Qingsi, Zhang Wenguan, as the prime minister, is obviously more suitable to arrange this matter.

Di Renjie was not pedantic, but as he was in the position of Imperial Censor, he had to do his job well.

On Di Renjie's first day on duty, many officials in Chang'an were inexplicably nervous...

(End of this chapter)