The general of the east gate, in charge of 500 people, one shift for each hundred and fifty people, three shifts in rotation, is responsible for maintaining the order and safety of the city gate, most of them are standing guard, and the small commander is responsible for checking the entry and exit of the crowd.

It's a rare fat gap.

The imperial court stipulated that all luggage coming and going should be carefully inspected, so as to prevent gangsters from mixing into the capital and plotting against them.

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

For the powerful to open the net, but not for ordinary people.

In particular, businessmen.

As the most prosperous imperial capital of the Tang Dynasty, the capital consumption capacity is very amazing, and merchants from all over the country send a steady stream of rare treasures, although the emperor advocates frugality, but does not prevent the courtiers with a very thick family background from squandering.

There are still many families in the capital, and there are many gentlemen.

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

The former defender of the East Gate is a veteran of a hundred battles with great achievements, and now he is old, and he has made a lot of money, and it is time to retire, and when he leaves office, it is said that he cried, and he doesn't know whether he feels sorry for this petty official who is still comfortable, or he is distressed that a lot of money is gone.

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

At the feet of the Son of Heaven, it is so rampant.

In the first convoy, the merchant gave a small piece of gold, and the car was full of jade, so he had to be generous, so the general who defended the city ordered to check it carefully, and the action should be light, and it should not be damaged.

In the second convoy, the merchant gave a piece of silver, which should be two months' income for an ordinary seven-grade official, but the defender of the city was very disdainful, and ordered to check carefully and carefully, if there are swords, guns, bows and crossbows, you can't afford to wait. Fortunately, the second merchant brought some light and soft things, and the soldiers did not deliberately destroy them, although their hands were heavier, and the losses were not much.

Come to think of it, these businessmen also have some idea of how much entry fee to give.

Then, a third convoy came, first a magnificent carriage, a young man in white, handed out a letter, which the defender of the city had read, and suddenly changed from a tiger to a cat...

Cautiously said, Gongzi is noble, the minister is offended, check the carriage at a glance, and the carriage can pass, but the goods behind must be inspected and inspected, please Gongzi Haihan.

Which son is also a reasonable person, and he is not embarrassed.

The goalkeeper carefully lifted the carriage and took a look, there was no one else in the carriage, and the goods behind it were also inspected personally, lest his subordinates not be serious.

Most of the goods are calligraphy and paintings, brocade silk, which is clear at a glance, but the defenders of the city will still check one car after another, box by box.

In the early years, when His Majesty first ascended the throne, when Princess Gaoyang rebelled, she did not dare to buy ordnance directly in Chang'an City, so it was convenient to build and purchase a batch of weapons in other places, which are said to have been transported from the West Gate.

Since this incident, the guards of Chang'an City have not dared to relax in this matter, except for the carriage of high-ranking officials, these people dare not collide, and everyone else must be thoroughly investigated.

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

Princess Taiping's frame has never been checked.

That's why Shen San asked today to know about it.

Got it, it's even more incredible.

Since it is wrong, it must be changed.

Shen San asked about his identity and asked what was going on with these businessmen.

The defender of the city explained with a smile that this is the hard work of the merchants to honor their brothers in the sun and rain, and we will also prepare a copy for the horses.

The goalkeeper is vicious, quite a bit of a butcher's feeling, and his smile is a little hideous.

Thinking of what he had done, Shen Sanwen was very disgusted.

"In this case, will it be regarded as corruption and bribery?"

The defender of the city was also a little surprised, "Why are the horses so cowardly, they are just collecting the wealth of some merchants, and we dare not accept a penny from those powerful people, and for many years, there has been nothing to do." ”

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 he accepted these wealth, or connived at his subordinates to accept these wealth, would be saddled with the name of corruption, and it would be a hidden danger in the future.

At that moment, he ordered, "This must not be done in the future, and if I let me know, I will be punished severely." ”

The defender's face turned black at once.

The very angry response was.

And then there really wasn't a penny charged.

However, when these people inspected, there was no longer any lightness of hands and feet, and the merchants' porcelain, pottery, jade, calligraphy and paintings were mostly damaged.

Someone cried on the spot.

The hard work of thousands of miles of land transportation was directly destroyed, and many harvests were lost all of a sudden, and maybe there was a loss.

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

The group didn't take him very seriously.

If he wasn't here, I'm afraid the situation here would have to go back to before.

These generals also know that this noble colt will not stay here for a long time to take care of things, but it is just a name, if you really want to take care of things, you have to give us people face, just when you first arrived, you canceled everyone's welfare? It's better to save it.

Everyone is more serious.

Shen Sanwen waved his sleeves directly and left, without taking a single cloud with him.

It's so deceitful.

Don't talk about the identity of the horse, no matter how you say it, you are also the head of the guard.

Let's go back and discuss it with my wife.

The princess had just returned from the palace and saw that the colt was already at home, "How about the pony go to the east gate to inspect today?" “

"Overall, the order of the inspection is acceptable. There is also some trouble, the gatekeeper will accept bribes, and in the long run, it will inevitably ruin my reputation. I ordered that no money be collected, and when they inspected it, they destroyed many precious objects, and the merchants were panicked, and one by one they were worried, and many of the little ones cried directly. Isn't the law of the court very heavy, how dare they know the law and break the law. ”

The princess said lightly, "The colt has no experience as an official. If they want to do things for you sincerely, they must benefit them, and officialdom has always been like this. ”

"But this interest may be a sharp blade around the neck in the future, giving truth to the mouth, and it is inevitable that it will be controlled by others." Shen Sanwen did not relax.

"These are inevitable, everyone knows it, just for peace of mind, for the convenience of doing things, will not touch this interest."

"Isn't Your Majesty aware?"

"Father must know. Those who can serve as a guard at the city gate are either loyal and have great military achievements, or they have meritorious service to the country and have been valued by their father. Even the inspection generals under your command are also people with military merits, and after accumulating military merits, they can stay in the Beijing Division to serve. They have been on the battlefield and shed blood for the Tang Dynasty, and the father, son and brother may be buried in the loess for a long time, and the entire Datang is indebted to them. As long as they can be meticulous and ensure the safety of the imperial city, their father will also leave a line and turn a blind eye. ”

"They actually came back from the battlefield, no wonder the fierce gods are evil. But merit can't be used like this, merit can be corrupt and bribe-taking? Can the laws of the Tang Dynasty still be respected and enforced? Shen San was a little speechless.

"This is a special case, my father has never been soft on corrupt officials. Even his father's two uncles, his father punished them severely. If they follow the colt and don't do as well as they used to, how can they be willing to die for you? ”

"In this way, it is the same in the whole city now, and if I restrain them, they will be even more reluctant to do things for me if their interests are harmed by me."

"I don't know the situation of the other gates, but the east gate and the west gate are the distribution centers of wealth and goods, and they must be the most eye-catching. The colt knows how to entrap his subordinates, and has to dodge some open guns and arrows. ”

"I actually want to defend their interests. In that case, I'll think of a perfect solution for them. ”

"What did the colt come up with?" The princess asked with a smile.

"I want to set up a martyr point at the entrance to the city, and if these businessmen have the heart to fill in the martyr's grant, then issue a patriotic sign. With this brand, the people who defend the city will naturally be light and cautious.

If not, turn a deaf ear to this martyr's point, then you don't have to be polite. Although there is a suspicion of coercion, by doing so, you can not only accept these finances and then distribute them to these soldiers, but also avoid the suspicion of accepting bribes. ”

"It's a brilliant plan. The colt is getting better and better. ”

"Is there any reward?"

"I'll reward you with a delicious meal."

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

"It's noon, but..."

...

Three days later, a martyr's pavilion was built at the east gate, providing tea for the people entering the city, supplying the veterans to rank, counting the war course of the Tang Dynasty in recent years, commending these martyrs, and establishing a donation office similar to collecting incense money.

However, the amount is a fixed three-gear, which can be regarded as a standard.

Write it in the merit book and you will get a sign.

Hold a sign and cross the city gate to pay tribute to these veterans.

Go through the city gate and take the sign back again.

In fact, it is to facilitate the calculation of the amount, and it can also be accompanied by the number of people entering the city and the type of luggage.

Then, according to the size of the merit, the number of family supporters, 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.

At first, these generals and soldiers who defended the city were not willing to do this, these people would not take the initiative to donate, things became complicated, and the finances of them went through the first floor of the donation office, so naturally there would be much less.

Shen Sanwen directly led the people from the princess's mansion to the city gate, and drove the group of people to stand guard next to them, contacting and inspecting the goods on their behalf.

Sit on your side, supervising and guiding every process.

In terms of scheming, he is not the opponent of these people, and in terms of scheming, after learning 5,000 years of history, he will kill all of you in seconds.

Soon you will know how profitable this can be.

On the first day, these people would deliberately guide others to the martyrs' place, and the smart businessmen naturally knew what to do, and those who were rigid in thinking, Shen Sanwen directly asked the original soldiers to check him.

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

Big businessmen are very self-conscious.

Some literati, especially the sons of the family, will also donate a little when they see this place.

The Tang Dynasty is still martial, and it is a glorious thing to be a soldier to protect the family and defend the country, and many poets have described the hope that they will join the army with a sword and kill the enemy for meritorious service.

Therefore, in such a martyr's place, there are a lot of literati who come, and there is a patriotic and indignant young man among the people who travel, and a group of people will also be driven to donate some to express their respect for these people and their loyalty to the country.

Among these people, many sons are particularly generous.

After three days, the income obtained by statistics was much more than the benefits of receiving these merchants.

Merchants pay tolls normally, so they only make money and don't lose when they become martyrs.

Moreover, the distribution of income is transparent.

As much as the generals take, how much the sergeants get, as long as the guards have military merits, they can share 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 lion's head and divided the residues out, and everyone could only occasionally fight tooth sacrifices, but the distribution method came out, and it was foreseeable that life would be much better.

As for those city guards, who have been officers for a long time, the most important financial power was suddenly hollowed out, and they were very uncomfortable, but when they got the money, this dissatisfaction was less. After all, once a son of heaven and a courtier, the veteran is gone, and there is a new policy. I thought that the veteran was gone, and the new horse master couldn't look down on this money, and he could make a lot of money, but he didn't expect it to be twice as high as before.

Although regrets are inevitable, no one has trouble with money, at least it is much stronger than before, and it is more than enough to be less than the bottom.

This policy was successfully implemented, and this group of soldiers took the benefits of the horses, which was much more respectful than before, and Shen Sanwen had a firm foothold in this position.

When Empress Wu received this news, she was also very pleased, the first time Shen Sanwen gave a strong order to his subordinates, he didn't think he could do a good job, but he came up with an excellent solution.

This ingenuity and strategy is really not to be underestimated.

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

The emperor really worked hard for his son.

On the one hand, the Webster people were pushed out of the center of power.

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

In the past, if the heads of the three provinces under Shangshu reached a consensus, it would greatly affect the emperor's decision, if Gaozong continued to be the emperor, he could naturally ignore these suppressions, but if he replaced his own son, Gaozong was really worried that the government would be controlled by traitorous ministers, after all, most of the prime ministers were all over the party, and there was no shortage of power and money, which was a great political hidden danger.

In this year, Gaozong added new seats to the original three-province council, gave the fourth-rank and fifth-rank petty officials, and weakened the power of the three high-ranking officials to discuss politics. If you want to really influence the decision, you can only serve as a fourth-rank or fifth-rank official, and although this power of deliberation is important, it is far less noble than the previous prime minister commanding hundreds of officials.

As a result, the children of the poor family have a new chance to stand out. The promotion of the children of the common people has been greatly hindered, and the four products have basically reached the top, and Gaozong's move has paved the way for the emergence of the imperial examination and the prime minister of the poor family in later generations.