A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 1027: Everyone in Kaifeng knows that it is not easy to live in the imperial city
Vermilion walls, green glazed tiles, and pale yellow imperial guards guard the Bian Palace.

This is the first time that the city of Kaifeng has served as the capital of a dynasty since the Qin and Han Dynasties.

Although it lacks some of the historical charm, it has more of the freshness of tomorrow.

Because everything was newly built, Kaifeng was the first capital city to have a planned sewer system compared to Chang'an and Luoyang.

It stipulates that mules, horses and other livestock entering the city are not allowed to urinate or defecate at will, and violators will be punished with ten strokes of the cane in the street.

For the first time, the restrictions on the market since the Tang Dynasty were lifted, and a large number of street vendors hawked their wares on the streets, adding a different atmosphere to Kaifeng.

Traveling along the Bian River, you will see flower boats and food boats with exquisite carvings and graceful decorations floating freely in the middle of the water. The small boats constantly coming and going carry passengers aboard, forming a new business model.

Of course, the most indispensable thing is the Bianshui docks. Mountains of goods shipped from all over the country were moved to the shore by laborers and piled up in the cargo yards designated by the government.

In order to manage this metropolis with a population of hundreds of thousands, Kaifeng Prefecture had to recruit thousands of Tiqi, who would patrol the streets on horseback in groups of two every day to deal with disputes.

This led to the formation of a new government office, the Tiqisi, which was different from the City Defense Office.

Such a bustling and prosperous scene would never make people imagine that in the far northwest, there is a group of people who work in the mountains and forests every day to expand the country's territory.

Xiahou Minghui rode his horse slowly on the street as if he were in another world, looking at the vendors hawking their wares left and right and passers-by who were traveling with their families.

"General Xiahou, you are from Kaifeng. I would like to ask you a question. After the war, based on our military achievements, will we be transferred back to Kaifeng?"

"It would be great if we could bring all the family members to live in Kaifeng."

The rider behind Xiahou Minghui on his left looked at the colorful flowers on the street and asked with a sense of fantasy.

His words also caused the other knights to empathize with him.

Aren't they fighting so hard in the Northwest just to win military merit so that they can be transferred to a better place?

From then on, he was freed from his family's military household status and became a member of the Kaifeng Imperial Guards, eating a share of the emperor's rations.

Xiahou Minghui turned his head slightly to look at them, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

People in Kaifeng want to go out, but people outside want to come in. The imperial city is so big that it is not easy to live in it.

Otherwise, why would he have volunteered to be transferred to the northwest?

The group of knights behind him were mostly hereditary military households of the Xiazhou Military Governor's Office. Although they could serve as garrison soldiers for generations and eat military rations, they had more options than other herdsmen.

But now that they saw Kaifeng’s prosperity for the first time, they still felt a yearning for it.

Xiahou Minghui was originally from Qingzhou. His family had been officials for generations. Later, he passed the palace examination and became a student of the county. Then he passed the provincial examination and became a scholar. Finally, he passed the metropolitan examination and was able to serve as an official in Kaifeng.

He initially worked as a minor official in the capital, and was later transferred to the Governor's Office.

Although officials in Beijing have high salaries and powerful positions, the cost of living in Kaifeng City is getting higher day by day, and there are too few opportunities for low-level officials like him.

In order to support his family, he requested to be transferred to a local position.

In the end, he was selected to join the army of Xiazhou Military Governor's Office despite having no background.

After wasting several years like this, I thought that this was the end of my life, but when a war broke out in the northwest, the imperial court summoned the Xiazhou Governor's Office to join the war.

Xiahou Minghui thus became a member of the Northwest Recruiting Army.

This time I came to Kaifeng on a business trip on the orders of the Marshal. This is also my first time back to Beijing since leaving Kaifeng several years ago.

Xiahou Minghui, who had served in the capital, was different from the group of knights behind him. He did not want to be transferred to the capital.

If he could be transferred back to his hometown and serve as the Sima of Qingzhou, or an official of the Jingdong North Road Bingmasi, it would not be in vain for him to work hard for half a lifetime.

So he did not say anything to dampen his brothers' enthusiasm, but just led the way in silence.

Seeing that Xiahou Minghui didn't say anything, the knights behind him looked at each other, then fell silent and just controlled their horses to keep up.

As it was not an urgent delivery, they did not dare to gallop on the street, otherwise the Tiqi Si Tiqi who had been following them closely would not miss this great opportunity.

Although they were all in casual clothes.

But the swords at their waists and the military spirit that could not be washed off them all showed how dangerous they were.

So as soon as they entered the city, they were followed by more than one person. If they could understand, in addition to the Tiqisi, there were also the Xiuyiwei and the Dudufu Inspection Department following them.

Since the current emperor ascended the throne, he has enforced strict laws and punishments and does not tolerate any sand in his eyes.

In addition to launching two consecutive pioneering wars in the southwest and northwest, he also promoted several ministers who were good at criminal law.

At first, he promoted Liu Zhenyu, his most trusted confidant in the Prince's Mansion and the former Left Scholar of the Prince's Mansion, to the position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice.

Within two years, he was promoted to Minister of Justice.

He even replaced the former Chief Justice of the Dali Temple with Yan Xuan, a doctor of the Law Department of the National Academy.

It seems that there is a trend of deepening the implementation of the "New Laws of Daxia".

Although the previous dynasty's Taizu Emperor Bai Jian launched the "New Laws of Daxia".

However, because the law was new and the war to destroy the Tang Dynasty broke out, he was not serious about enforcing the law.

As a result, the new laws were not fully implemented locally, and many places still followed the Tang Law from the pre-Tang period.

Even because of Emperor Taizu's indulgence, corruption and extravagance began to emerge in the local areas.

Moreover, officials and businessmen in coastal areas colluded with each other and oppressed good and foreign businessmen, resulting in a large loss of state-owned assets.

Many foreign merchants would rather ship goods in Jiangning, Quanzhou and other places in Southern Tang and Wuyue than continue to go north to do business in Daxia.

Bai Xi therefore launched the Beijing inspection and local inspection mechanism.

He also dismissed the then Commissioner of Maritime Customs and handed him over to the Three Courts for trial. Eventually, his property was confiscated and he was exiled to southern Yunnan.

Afterwards, Bai Xi also changed the inspection every five years to every three years.

He also successively appointed a number of censors, officials from the Ministry of Justice, and officials from the Dali Temple as governors, focusing on inspecting judicial and criminal cases along the way.

Even at the beginning of this year, Liu Zhenyu entered the court and became the prime minister of the Political Affairs Hall.

It only took him five or six years to go from a fifth-rank Zuo Shuzi, a leisurely official position in the Prince's Mansion, to a third-rank official in the imperial court. I wonder how many people were envious of him.

Here, Liu Zhenyu, the envied Minister of Justice, Prince's Guardian, and concurrently the Chief Secretary of the Imperial Secretariat and Prime Minister, was reporting to Bai Xi without a word the list of death row prisoners submitted by the Ministry of Justice this year.

"These are the prisoners who will be executed next autumn. Your Majesty, please approve it."

Bai Xi opened the long memorials, and on the snow-white memorials were rows of ink-black names listed. When she counted carefully, there were 123 names.

Bai Xi picked up the red brush and drew red on each name. With every stroke of the pen, he announced the passing of a life.

Liu Zhenyu, who was in his early forties, stood in the hall without a trace of anxiety.

While I was waiting quietly, the emperor in the hall spoke:
"I heard that the Liao king's youngest son Zhu Zhen abused his power to bully people, robbed women in the street, and allowed slaves to hurt people, resulting in one death and three injuries. Everyone in Kaifeng knew about it, so why is his name not listed here?"

Liu Zhenyu did not pause for a moment, and he obviously had something in mind. He replied:
"Your Majesty is very observant. According to the law, Zhu Zhen is indeed guilty of a capital crime. However, the war in the northwest is at a critical moment. After careful consideration, I think it can be postponed temporarily. It will not be too late to make plans after the war in the northwest stops."

Bai Xi heard this, raised his head, looked at the people in the hall, and said calmly: "How come I don't know when you, the Minister of Justice, took on the affairs of the Ministry of War?"

As soon as these words came out, Liu Zhenyu's face changed drastically, and he knelt down and pleaded guilty, saying, "I am terrified. Your Majesty, please punish me."

"My Great Xia is not the Tang Dynasty, nor is it the Later Liang Dynasty. Warriors have no special privileges here."

"Of course, this doesn't mean that scholars can act recklessly."

Liu Zhenyu still knelt on the cold floor without saying a word.

"If I can let the Prince of Liao take on the position of Northwest Commander, I can naturally let the Prince of Xing take it as well. Remember, they were beaten into submission, not voluntarily submitted."

"I admit my guilt and will go down and draft a new one."

"Just go."

When Liu Zhenyu stood up to leave the palace, the eunuch Yan Xu passed by holding a memorial. He smiled at him and hurried into the palace.

Liu Zhenyu only heard a few words vaguely: "Your Majesty, Zhu Lingde, the commander of Qinghai Province, has submitted a letter..."

(End of this chapter)