In front of the desk in the study, Zheng Shuqing rubbed his sorely swollen temples. He read the letter in the candlelight, and it seemed that he didn't understand it. It's not that he doesn't know how to do the measures explained in the letter, but Zheng Shuqing doesn't understand the meaning of doing this.

Relying on these routines to squeeze oil, you can't squeeze 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 with all your might" cannot bear the gap in Longyou's military spending.

"That's all it can be."

Zheng Shuqing put the letter away with a long sigh, and planned to talk to Shi Yan Zhenqing, the palace attendant, tomorrow. Although Lao Zheng wants to be the dean of this academy, in fact, he also knows that he has a low level of vision, and he has no ability to actually execute, so he can't rely on other helpers.

Bite the bullet and you'll just mess things up.

And Yan Zhenqing is different, he himself is serving as the palace servant, and he is very good at picketing this kind of fine work. The biggest problem of the other party is probably that his personality is a little unpleasant, and he is not very good at dealing with saints.

Although Zheng Shuqing is not familiar with Yan Zhenqing, he doesn't need to be very familiar with these official affairs! If this inspection institute is not done well, and finally slaps the saint in the face, won't Yan Zhenqing be unlucky?

Zheng Shuqing is very confident, if he just deals with the "trivial" things mentioned in Fang Chongyong's letter, then Yan Zhenqing will definitely not refuse.

The next day, Zheng Shuqing personally came to Yan Zhenqing to discuss the relevant matters of the inspection institute, he originally thought that Yan Zhenqing would hesitate, but he didn't expect the other party to readily agree, and he also planned the implementation rules with him, and he was very interested in participating.

Yan Zhenqing has always wanted to persuade the Son of Heaven to do the right thing. Now he wants to use these fines for Longyou's military expenses, and of course he will not refuse such a thing.

Three days later, the imperial court officially issued an order to establish an inspection institute to specifically investigate the lawlessness of officials and the style of the children of the imperial family and magnates. And the palace servants in the Imperial History Terrace were allocated to the Inspection Institute to do things, which can be regarded as stripping away part of the functions of the Imperial History Terrace.

According to the imperial court, the inspection yuan is not a judicial body, and it is not required to follow the criminal laws of the Tang Dynasty, it is only a "disciplinary department" specifically for specific groups of people.

In other words, if the officials picketed by the inspection institute really broke the law, then the punishment of the criminal department or Dali Temple should still be judged, and the punishment of the inspection court does not affect their punishment.

However, the inspection institute will only deprive officials of their official status, and cannot treat the offending officials as well.

To put it simply: the Son of Heaven thinks that you are not suitable to be an official, and let you go home to farm, which has nothing to do with the laws of the country.

In the same way, if the children of the powerful are found to be unscrupulous, unscrupulous, and insulting to the lintel, the inspection court will report it to the Son of Heaven and ask the Son of Heaven to issue a decree to revoke the title.

Nor is there any right to judge them according to the law, much less to punish them.

And how to punish the children of these powerful people who have committed crimes is still the responsibility of the yamen of Dali Temple and Zongzheng Temple, and they will be sentenced how they should be sentenced, and it will not affect the power operation of these yamen.

So, what if those officials and the children of the powerful who have been found out suddenly find out in their conscience and "repent and reform"?

The so-called God has the virtue of a good life, even God will not force people to die, how can the Son of Heaven force people to death! Of course, you won't find out the problem and directly deprive yourself of your official position!

For those officials and children of powerful people who have "lost their way and returned home", the solution to this matter is only three words:

Gotta add money!

To be more specific, it is to atone for sins with silk, and there is a set of clear and detailed rules for the amount of punishment.

In principle, the bigger the official, the greater the title, the more descendants of the powerful family, and the greater the crime, the more money is needed to atone for the sin.

After the promulgation of the edict, it caused an uproar, and the government and the opposition were excited and undercurrents were surging, but no one dared to take the lead in making trouble.

As for the reason, of course, it is because the inspection institute has been established! The imperial court has already decreed, and this institution has already begun to function!

At this time, whoever makes trouble will be the first to be killed! Who would be so stupid to bang the muzzle of the gun!

There is another reason why no one came out to make trouble, that is, now that the laws of Datang are very complete, many officials in Chang'an officialdom think that it is only a matter of inspection institutes, how can there be trouble!

On weekdays, they just work as a prostitute in Pingkangfang, fish in their own yamen, and drink a little wine, so it's impossible to even take care of this little thing, right?

If it is really so lenient, it is estimated that it will not be long before tens of thousands of officials in Chang'an will be dismissed.

It's impossible to think about such an outrageous thing!

Soon, however, these people realized that they were too young and naïve.

……

On the second day of the establishment of the Inspection Institute, an "inconspicuous" event occurred!

After the central officials entered the yamen of the various ministries in the imperial city, all the gates of the imperial city were locked, and no one was allowed to enter or leave! The Inspection Institute began to picket the discipline of the central hundred officials!

Located in the council hall next to the yamen of Menxia Province, Li Shizhi on the left and Li Linfu on the right are working, and the table is just facing each other.

Although the two belong to the Li Tang clan, their relationship is very ordinary, to be exact, Li Linfu never spoke to Li Shizhi before he became prime minister! Naturally, there is no personal relationship.

Of course, Li Shizhi didn't have any talents, and he was not regarded by Li Longji as a confidant, so Li Linfu didn't take him too seriously. As long as he doesn't interfere with his work, Li Linfu will not exist as a person.

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

In Fang Chongyong's previous life, many political novices thought that it was very easy to extort tyranny, as long as he was a faint tyrant, he would play.

Actually, no, this is a very technical thing, and there are not many kings in history who have played well.

In ancient and modern times, whether it was feudal or not, there were many rulers who did not understand this advanced technology. often makes the people's livelihood miserable, and at the same time, they have not been able to make much money. At the very least, what you get is not proportional to what you make.

The recent problem of arrears of salaries in the Longyou army has involved a lot of energy from Li Linfu, making him unable to introduce a new policy for collecting taxes in Jiangnan for a long time.

The right minister of the Tang Dynasty believes that it is not impossible to make up for the salary of Longyou, but that it cannot solve the fundamental problems on Longyou's side, and the administration is often a symptom rather than a root cause, and the effect is not good.

On the surface, Longyou is the border army's occasional arrears, but in fact, Longyou has been confronting Tubo for decades, and the people's livelihood is withering, and it is no longer sustainable. This is the real reason why Hexi is not called poor after decades of war, and Longyou has not been poor in recent years.

The Hexi side can make its own blood, but Longyou can't. Even if the military salary is overpaid, it cannot solve the fundamental problem of the lack of local resources in Longyou.

Taking Shanzhou, where the Longyou Jiedu envoy is located, as an example, there were more than 5,000 households here in the early Tang Dynasty, and there were less than 4,000 left in the middle of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, and now it is about to fall below 3,000!

In fact, the Longyou account has been negative for many years! This is not commonplace in Datang, at least it can be said to be unique.

After the border army salaries were paid, the families of these people needed to exchange the silk they got for other necessities. But local commerce is cut off, roads are rough, and the population is dwindling due to the war, and the output is dwindling. Even if they get military salaries, how can the lives of these military families be better?

The price of local necessities is at least twice that of a high-consumption area like Chang'an!

As long as it is not produced locally, it is expensive no matter what; Locally produced goods (such as animal husbandry products) cannot be trafficked on a large scale to exchange essential goods, so the standard of living has not risen, and the exodus of people has accelerated.

This is also an important reason why the Son of Heaven in Chang'an did not open his inner treasury to pay military salaries.

High-priced goods and luxury goods are in Longyou, and nothing can be exchanged at all.

Brother Ji can't give a luminous cup from the Western Regions to a certain Longyou Junqiu Ba, and then say to him: This treasure is worth a thousand yuan, enough for your lifelong military salary, take it and walk slowly, and let me be a dog in Longyou.

This Longyoujun Qiu Ba took a high-priced luminous cup, what can he do?

However, limited to the transportation conditions of Longyou, the logistics cost of transporting basic living materials is very high, and the annual capacity is very limited. The lack of logistics greatly limited the combat effectiveness of the Longyou Army.

On the one hand, there are fewer and fewer local households in Longyou, and the hematopoietic capacity is getting worse and worse; On the other hand, there are more and more garrisons in Longyou, and the cost is huge, all of which are transported by Guanzhong.

However, there was no essential change in the transportation conditions, and in the end, there was no need to say that the poverty of the Longyou Army was no longer a problem, and this was not a problem that could be solved by making up the salaries of the army.

So, why wasn't this problem before?

Because I used to be a government soldier!

Even if there is any discount, it is not for Qiu Ba himself, but for the family where they are registered! It saves a lot of freight.

And now it's recruitment, and military pay is the only income for Qiu Ba. If you don't personally send the military pay to them, they will rebel, there is nothing to say.

Therefore, what Li Linfu thought 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 to transport Longyou.

It is foreseeable that the large-scale export of silk silk from Guanzhong to Longyou is a foregone conclusion. Even if it is not now, it is inevitable to increase the supply year by year in the future, and it is time to wait.

Thinking about these head-wrenching things, he suddenly raised his head and found that there was a person standing in front of him, who seemed to have been standing for a while. I didn't even notice what I was thinking about just now!

"Yan Yushi...... Uh, what is Dean Yan's business to do here? ”

Li Linfu asked with a smile, very unhappy in his heart, but he did not have a seizure.

"This official is here to enforce the law for the right minister."

Yan Zhenqing was also smiling and saluted Li Linfu.

"What did you do? Can Dean Yan explain? ”

Li Linfu asked rhetorically with a stunned expression.

Li Linfu often boasted to his sons and sons-in-law on weekdays, boasting that he had first-class skills as an official, that he could make money without corruption, and that he would not violate any laws and regulations on the surface.

If Yan Zhenqing could find his fault, it is estimated that someone else would have started before, so why wait until today.

"Right Minister, there are several typos in your three folds, which is disrespectful to the saint."

Yan Zhenqing took out three copies of the fold from his cuffs and put them on Li Linfu's table.

Burst!

Li Shizhi, who was sitting opposite, didn't hold back, and laughed directly.

Li Linfu opened one of the notes with an embarrassed face, only to see that a few words on it were circled by the Zhu pen. Well, it's true that there was a typo, and there was more than one.

But this can't be helped, Li Linfu is very busy in office, and he has to write many folds a day, and sometimes he writes more than a dozen a day!

Where does he have that spare time to check for typos! Besides, this little wasn't a thing before!

However, the upper outline said that there was a typo in the piece of music for the Tang Dynasty Emperor! This really seems to mean "big disrespect".

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

To put it mildly, this is teasing the Son of Heaven, and his heart can be punished.

It depends on how this matter is interpreted!

"Then what does Dean Yan want to do?"

Li Linfu asked angrily, he never expected that the first knife of the inspection institute would actually hit him, the right minister of the Tang Dynasty.

But is it possible that this was ordered by the saints?

A terrible thought suddenly flashed in Li Linfu's mind, and then the more he thought about it, the more frightened he became, suppressed his anger, and stopped defending Yan Zhenqing.

"Well, according to the level of the right minister, a fine of 5,000 silk."

Yan Zhenqing took out the booklet from his arms, and after reading it, he said to Li Linfu seriously.

"Okay, after the prime minister is on duty, I will send someone to Taifu Temple."

Li Linfu said helplessly, five thousand is five thousand, and he is not short of this bit of silk.

It is only a matter of honoring the saints.

"Back to the right minister, the fine is not sent to the sage's inner treasury, but to the treasury of the army on the right side of Long, and it will be sent to Lanzhou Jincheng when the warehouse is full."

Yan Zhenqing saluted and said.

This treasury was not newly built, but occupied a small treasury in the imperial city of Chang'an.

"Transporting the army on the right side of Long."

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

"I understand, Dean Yan will ask for it, and I still have to work."

"Farewell."

Yan Zhenqing Shi Shiran walked out of the council hall, and he hadn't gone far, when he suddenly remembered something, he suddenly returned to the council hall, walked to Zuo Xiang Li Shizhi, crossed his hands and saluted respectfully and said: "Zuo Xiang, you drink alcohol when you are on duty, this is a typical dereliction of duty!" This is disrespectful to the saints. ”

Li Shizhi, the left minister, hurriedly hid the wine jug on the left hand behind him, and looked at Yan Zhenqing with a puzzled expression, trying to pretend to be innocent and fool through.

"Zuo Xiang, let's take it out, I can smell the aroma of this wine."

Li Linfu on the other side smiled heartily.

"A fine of five thousand silks, the same as the right side."

……

If the prime minister's family is rich, and he cares about his face, and the atmosphere is friendly and peaceful when he is punished, then the picketing against the children of the powerful in Chang'an is full of violence and agitation!

On the outskirts of Chang'an, more than 100 children of powerful families galloping on horseback were "invited" by the elite of the Shence Army to gather on a meadow.

Their daughters and domestic slaves had long since been dispersed, and they had gone back to their homes to report the news.

Zheng Shuqing, the newly appointed president of the inspection institute, personally led the elite of the 300 Shen Ce Army to "capture" the children of the powerful in the suburbs of Chang'an. Of course, it also includes the unlucky people who are not big officials in the family, and they are not nobles or relatives of the emperor, but they are well dressed.

In order to deter these young people who do not learn and do not know how to do it, Zheng Shuqing also deliberately wore a sword today to demonstrate strictness.

It's just that he doesn't look like a prince when he wears a dragon robe, and he wears a sword on his body, but he doesn't look like a civil official, and a military attache doesn't look like a military attaché, which is a bit alternative and funny in the eyes of outsiders.

"The officer suspects that some of them are overdressing and trespassing.

Do you take it off yourself, or does the official order someone to take it off for you?

Hehe, there must be some of you who want to let the elders of your family who are officials sue the officials afterwards.

Feel free, but that's going to have to wait until you get back.

Now, do you take it off or not! ”

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

Hearing this, many of the powerful children present behave differently from the young people of Wuling.

A few people disagreed and sneered at Zheng Shuqing, but the vast majority of people actually changed their complexions!

Some people even trembled with fear! The reason lies in the clothes they wear!

In fact, a certain rule that has been ordered during the Tang Gaozong period and strengthened after the Kaiyuan Dynasty stipulates how the nobles and ordinary people should wear their clothes on weekdays, and they cannot wear clothes indiscriminately.

What class a person is in, what type and style of clothes must be worn. One of the strictest regulations is that the shishu must not use red and yellow as the color of his clothes!

To put it plainly: if you are not a royal family, then don't wear red yellow clothes on your body, not at all, whether it is the main color or the color matching.

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

Let's ask, how can there be so many clan children and so many royal clan relatives buying red and yellow cloth? How much crimson cloth did they consume?

So the answer is: including many court officials, many people just like to wear ordinary clothes outside, which looks ordinary. But the jacket and the half arm (a kind of clothing worn inside) are all red and yellow as the background color or embellished color.

This is a typical transgression!

Forbidden clothes are worn on the inside, and ordinary clothes are put on the outside. It not only satisfies the illusory sense of superiority of "superiority" in his heart, but also does not cause trouble.

This habit, in the circle of Chang'an's elites, has become "a secret that is not a secret". Everyone is playing, but no one is breaking it.

Now we have to "verify the right body", who is not afraid of these young people in Wuling!

Zheng Shuqing waited for a long time, and found that no one was willing to take off the brocade robe he was wearing outside. Many powerful children looked at each other one by one, and no one refused to be the first bird, and they stubbornly held on.

"Come on, take off their clothes for the officer!"

Zheng Shuqing pointed to the more than 100 Wuling young people and shouted.

Today he is blessed by the power of a saint and is in an invincible state. It's just that the clothes are over-the-top and overstepping, and you can't turn the sky upside down!

After a burst of ghosts crying and wolf howling, one after another bright red yellow clothes appeared in front of him, and the scene suddenly fell into extreme silence and embarrassment.

Among the more than 100 people, there were actually nine out of ten, all wearing jackets with red yellow cloth and half arms. If you are cautious, add some red and yellow patterns as embellishments; If you are bold, you will simply make a jacket out of red yellow fabric!

The soldiers of the Shence Army brought by Zheng Shuqing were dumbfounded, and the accompanying eunuch Yu Chaoen was even more tearless, and he didn't know whether to report this matter to the Son of Heaven.

This horse riding thing is a big problem!

"Dean Zheng, look at this, do you want to slow down first, and report it to the saint first?"

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

A thief was found, and it was someone who had burglarized.

A hundred thieves were discovered, and a gang of thieves had emerged in an attempt to take over the mountain. Quantitative change produces qualitative change, and the nature is completely different!

Zheng Shuqing was also a little dumbfounded, if a few powerful children in red and yellow robes were found, then the fine should be fined, the shock should be deterred, and the matter would not be difficult to do.

But now that there is a chance that nine out of ten of these people are overstepping the rules, what will Brother Ji think?

Probably won't be in a good mood.

Zheng Shuqing instantly understood what the problem was.

"Come on, take these people to Dali Temple and detain them! I'm going to face the saint now! ”

Zheng Shuqing shouted at the Shence soldiers under him who were on errands.

(End of chapter)