Autumn is approaching, and there are obviously more Confucian scholars in Bianliang. Scholars wearing long gowns can be seen everywhere on the streets.
Various restaurants, goulan, tile houses, and teahouses are also very lively. Small groups of scholars gather together, either reciting poems or giving advice, making Bianliang full of literati atmosphere.
Since the Song Dynasty had examination centers in various states, the scholars who came were basically people from Bianliang and the surrounding Gyeonggi Road. They came to Bianliang a lot in the past, and everyone was familiar with the roads. They went wherever they needed to go. Go, you can see them everywhere in the streets and alleys.
At this moment, Zhao Jun was walking outside the East Temple on Cross Street. He had already visited the inner city of Bianliang.
He once went to the Daliao Embassy on Chongmingmen Nei Street and saw the arrogance and domineering Daliao people. I once went outside East Street and saw the bustling scene at the entrance of Xiangguo Temple.
There are many beautiful girls in the night market, and the food outside the Fan Tower smells delicious. Standing on the Tianhan Bridge, you can see the Xuande Tower at the entrance of the Imperial Palace, the yamen mansions in the streets and alleys, and the green and white jade hands stretched out from the Goulan brothel in the spring breeze by the Bian River. Swing gently.
The smell in the air here is full of sweetness and intoxicating.
Only Zhao Jun would occasionally look at the huge drainage hole on the bank when he passed the Bianhe River bridge, and he would be slightly lost in thought.
Bianliang waterways extend in all directions, connecting six or seven large rivers such as the Yellow River, Bianhe River, and Caihe River. During the rainy season, floods can easily break out and submerge the entire city. Therefore, an extremely developed underground drainage system is needed.
Since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, sewers have been built here. By now, the Song Dynasty has set its capital behind Bianliang. Based on the original thousand-year history and hundreds of years of repairs, the waterway system below has become crisscrossed and as dense as a network. .
It is said that about five or six feet below Bianliang City, it has evolved into an underground city, where the ghost market, ghost fan tower and worry-free cave are all hidden.
It rained a few days ago, and many bodies washed out from underground drainage pipes, and they were all taken away by people from Kaifeng Mansion. Zhao Jun also happened to be in the outer city at that time and saw with his own eyes the mutilated bodies of several children lined up on the shore.
Parents who had lost their children came to hear the news. Some of them recognized their children and burst into tears. Some saw that there was no child of their own, with mixed expressions on their faces. There were more bodies that were not claimed, and the onlookers were all confused. Look at them with sympathetic eyes.
Bianliang is so big, with tens of millions of people living in the outer city, so losing dozens or hundreds of children is never a big deal.
Not just children, but adults too, especially young women.
According to statistics from Kaifeng Prefecture, more than 100 families have reported crimes in recent years, and only a handful of them have been recovered. More of them disappeared without a trace like stones thrown into the sea.
This made Zhao Jun sigh.
The above-ground city in Bianliang is prosperous, and the underground city is also prosperous. They all have a bright future.
Zhao Jun found a teahouse opposite the East Temple where there was a lot of people. Apart from himself, he was protected by Di Qing's five-person team. Not long after he entered, some more people came in one after another, and soon The tea house that was originally empty was about to be full.
The window seat on the second floor is a popular spot and has been occupied for a long time. There are still five days until spring, and the teahouse is mostly filled with candidates taking the exam, chatting together, talking about poems and songs, and criticizing the current ills.
From time to time, people coming and going from the public gate downstairs, and soldiers patrolling the streets, making the already bustling flow of people even more crowded.
"What's going on in the past two days? In the past, during the imperial examinations, the Kaifeng Prefecture Yamen would indeed send additional personnel to patrol the streets to maintain order. But basically they would not send troops. Why are there so many soldiers wandering around the streets now?"
"Don't you know, these are soldiers from the Imperial City Division."
"Don't all the soldiers from the Imperial City Division only stand guard outside the palace? Why are they all running out onto the street?"
"Now the soldiers standing guard outside the palace have been replaced by people from the Palace Front Division. All soldiers from the Imperial City Division are patrolling the streets. Anyone who dares to cause trouble has been arrested at the Imperial City Division Office."
"What's going on? The Imperial City Division has turned upside down? When did they have the power to arrest people? Aren't they afraid of impeachment by the Censor and Jantai?"
Some of the scholars sitting next to me saw the soldiers coming and going outside the window, and some people who didn't understand the situation asked.
The Imperial City Division has more than 5,000 people in Bianliang, at least 3,000 of whom are soldiers on the surface, and about 2,000 undercover spies, who are distributed in the streets and alleys to investigate all communications.
Because the Imperial City Division essentially belongs to the army, and according to the order of Bianliang City in the Song Dynasty, it belongs to the Kaifeng Prefecture. The soldiers of the Imperial City Division only have the power to protect the palace, and have no other powers to search, collect evidence, arrest, or judge. It can be said that they have almost no power.
Even if the spies offend the Kaifeng Mansion when collecting intelligence, they may be arrested by the Kaifeng Mansion. The police officers are like street rats and have always been invisible, so it is puzzling to see this blatant?
"You don't know yet, the official decreed that from the day before yesterday, the Imperial City Division has the right to arrest people directly without going through Dali Temple and Kaifeng Mansion, and arresting people does not need to go through Dali Temple and Kaifeng Mansion for trial. Therefore, the Imperial City Division All soldiers and horses are now arranged to patrol various cities."
"Is the Imperial City Secretary actually possessing such great power?"
"It is said that the Imperial City Department has a new magistrate named Zhao. There are rumors that he is a descendant of the clan."
"Can the descendants of the clan be in charge of the Imperial City Division? It doesn't mean that they are not allowed to serve as officials or join the army as generals. How can they have the power of the Imperial City Division to have an army like that?"
"Who knows? Maybe this person is not from the clan, but just happens to have the surname Zhao."
"But it sounds like a good thing. When I was in Bianliang, a large number of scholars poured into the city every autumn and spring. Kaifeng Mansion was short of manpower, and cases happened everywhere. Now that we have the Imperial City Secretary to maintain order, it seems good .”
"The scholars from Gyeonggi Road came to Bianliang for reference. It's amazing that there were only a few thousand people. It wouldn't have caused much trouble. How can these people maintain order? They are afraid of arresting people at will and causing unjust cases."
While everyone was talking about it, a scholar suddenly caught a glimpse of a young man sitting on the chair next to him, surrounded by servants. He looked like he was also a scholar coming to take an exam.
Because the guards around Zhao Jun were all equipped with swords, it was easy to think of someone in a certain yamen. With the intention of making friends with powerful people, a man stood up and walked over, held his hand to Zhao Jun and said: "This brother is also here. Are you rushing for the exam?"
"So be it."
Zhao Jun smiled and said nothing.
He came here today to see the actions of the Imperial City Division. It would definitely not work if he just took office and did nothing, so he planned to take the initiative, firstly to find out the insider, and secondly, to challenge the authority of Kaifeng Mansion.
When Fan Zhongyan was in Kaifeng Mansion, the people below him were quite restrained. He even drove away many evil people like Han Yuan and replaced them with a few upright people.
As a result, just a few months later, the Kaifeng government office became dark and corrupt again. The newly appointed Kaifeng governor Zhang Yi was transferred after only one month in office. The successor Ding Du was an exegesis expert. Although he was an honest and upright official. , but it is difficult to say that he is a rigid old Confucian and can easily be deceived by the people below.
Therefore, under his confused governance, the officials under Kaifeng Mansion continued to interfere, especially the government's card bureau system. At that time, if you wanted to go to Kaifeng Mansion to file a complaint, you had to register and queue up at the gate of the government office, and even after registration, you could not The court will begin immediately, but we will have to wait for notification.
Basically, if you don't send money to the official in charge of the licensing department, you will have to wait until the court hearing, in the Year of the Monkey and the Horse. And once it involves the Kaifeng Prefecture's bending the law for personal gain, or involving people related to them, it is impossible to see the Prefecture Yin holding a court in this life.
Therefore, under such circumstances, when ordinary people encountered unjust cases, they were still queuing up outside to register, but the Kaifeng governor inside the government office thought that the world was peaceful, reading, drinking, and having fun every day, and he was very comfortable.
"Brother, why don't you come and sit with us."
Na Shizi invited.
Zhao Jun shook his head: "You guys sit down, I have something to do later."
"Then don't bother me."
The scholar left wisely, but before leaving, he still said: "Imperial City Division has been patrolling around recently, brother, you should be more careful with them."
"Um."
Zhao Jun didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so he nodded in agreement.
After a while, a man quickly went upstairs and whispered a few words into Zhao Jun's ear. Zhao Jun nodded and left.
Watching his leaving figure, the scholar over there couldn't help but said with envy: "I don't know which yamen it is."
"We can't make friends with these yamen. You are really brave. Fortunately, that person seems to have a good temper. If you encounter some yamen with a bad temper and go there rashly, you will probably get beaten."
"So that's it. Thank you Brother Li for clarifying the confusion. It seems that we should stay away from these yamen in the future."
The person behind whispered.
Zhao Jun couldn't hear what they were saying at this time, so he went downstairs and went directly to Nantang Street.
Nantang Street was in some chaos at this time. The soldiers of the Imperial City Division encountered something on the street. An old woman was sewing for people on the street for a living. Suddenly she saw a woman on the street and she screamed. That was her daughter-in-law, who went up to pull her.
As a result, two strong men followed the woman and beat the old woman, which alerted the soldiers of the Imperial City Division and went up to arrest them. Unexpectedly, the Kaifeng government officials also came over, and the two sides were in a stalemate.
When Zhao Jun came over, he saw that two teams of soldiers from the Imperial City Division had arrived. The government officials from Kaifeng Mansion also called their friends and blew their whistles, and twenty or thirty people came.
The middle of the street has become empty, with countless heads poking out from the upper floors on both sides. There are a huge crowd of people watching the excitement, and most of the people setting up stalls have left.
The soldiers took control of the old woman, the girl and two strong men, and the Kaifeng government officials were ordering them to surrender.
"what happened?"
At this moment, several bearers carried a sedan to the scene, and a middle-aged man in green official uniform came down and looked at everything majestically.
Seeing officials arriving, the soldiers of the Imperial City Division looked at each other with some fear.
After all, they had a low status in the past. Unlike Kaifeng Prefecture inspectors, Kong Mu, line leaders, government officials, etc., they had the support of civilian officials, so they did not dare to act rashly.
Soon a yamen official told the man about the matter, and the official shouted: "Since there is a case, it should be under the control of Kaifeng government. Who do you think the Imperial City Department is? Get out of here."
"Who are you telling to get out?"
Zhao Jun stepped out from the crowd and looked at this man coldly.
He knows.
The information shows that this person's name is Liao Yu. He is a member of the judicial army of Kaifeng Prefecture. He is a seventh-rank official and has done a lot of corruption and perversion of the law.
Liao Yu narrowed his eyes and looked at Zhao Jun. After looking up and down, he scolded: "Who are you? The government is handling the case, and everyone else will leave."
"My name is Zhao Jun. Now I know the Imperial City Division. From today on, we will handle the cases that Kaifeng Prefecture cannot handle, and we will arrest those who Kaifeng Prefecture cannot arrest. Do you have any questions?"
Zhao Jun glanced at the opposite side and suddenly noticed a familiar face in the crowd. He was furious at that time. That person was the government official with a Chinese character who let the traffickers go.
Liao Yu frowned.
Unlike ordinary people, they have many channels to become officials and naturally have many sources of information.
They naturally know a lot about what happened in the Imperial City Division in the past few days.
Nowadays, the officials have greatly increased the authority of the Imperial City Department. There are rumors that the officials can't stand the chaos everywhere in Bianliang City, so they decided to take action.
Therefore, in the past few days, the superiors had also sent greetings, telling them to keep a low profile so as not to be caught by the Imperial City Division.
However, the Imperial City Secretary stretched his hand too far and actually sent soldiers to patrol the streets and snatched away the cases that belonged to them. It was clear that they wanted to seize the power of Kaifeng Mansion to handle cases.
Originally, this was nothing. Anyway, there were so many cases in Kaifeng Prefecture every day. It was a good thing to have someone to help them share the burden. The problem was that many of the cases in Kaifeng Prefecture were committed by their own people. If they were found out by people from the Imperial City Division, wouldn't they? Also going to suffer?
Thinking of this, Liao Yu asked in a low voice: "Do you know these people?"
Shaking his head left and right: "I don't know."
It seemed that it had nothing to do with him, so Liao Yu looked at the old woman and said, "Where are you from?"
The old woman said: "I am from Zhongmou."
"Since you said this person is your daughter-in-law, are you willing to go to Kaifeng Mansion to file a case?"
Liao Yu asked.
Zhao Jun said: "If you don't want to go to Kaifeng Mansion, our Imperial City Division will make the decision for you. From today on, the people in Kaifeng Mansion will also be under the control of the Imperial City Division. Anyone who blocks it will be killed without mercy!"
The old woman quickly complained: "After my son died, this woman took away all the family's money. When I reported it to the official in Zhongmou, no one paid attention. When I came to Kaifeng to report to the official because I had no money, no one accepted it. Anyway, I only have one life, so I am willing to go to the Imperial City Division."
Unexpectedly, before the old woman finished speaking, the woman shouted loudly: "I have nothing to do with her, I don't know her."
"Since it doesn't matter, I will naturally find out. What are you afraid of?"
Zhao Jun drank and said: "Seal her mouth, gag the mouths of those two people, and take them back to the Imperial City Government Office."
"yes."
When the soldiers around heard Chisi's words, they became emboldened, arrested the person, and left.
Liao Yu didn't stop him either.
This matter has nothing to do with him. As for protecting the face of Kaifeng Mansion, that is Ding Du's business. As long as it does not involve his corruption and bending the law, he really doesn't want to have a direct conflict with the Imperial City Division.
After all, Zhao Zhen had issued a death order a few days ago. Even if Kaifeng Mansion met with the Imperial City Division, he would automatically be lowered to a lower level. The Imperial City Division had a higher level of power.
Soon Liao Yu led the people away, and others booed when they saw the anticlimactic scene.
When Liao Yu's sedan left the scene and returned to Kaifeng Mansion Office, a confidant came up to him and said to him: "Joining the army, if we just leave like this, will we lose the reputation of Kaifeng Mansion?"
"hehe."
Liao Yu smiled and said: "Now the Imperial City Division has the support of officials. Once it gets the power, it will inspect the whole city immediately. It is very powerful and should not confront them head-on."
"That's true. I just saw them bringing out the crossbows of the Forbidden Army. They don't want to kill people in the street."
The confidants thought of the cold light flashing at the end of the opponent's bow and crossbow, and couldn't help but feel frightened.
Liao Yu shook his head and said: "Zhao Jun's arrogance is just because he has an official behind him. Let him be arrogant for a while, and tell the people below not to argue with people from the Imperial City Division when they see them, unless they are Involve one of our own people, otherwise the case will be handed over to them."
"ah?"
A confidant asked in surprise: "Will this make the people of Kaifeng Mansion only know about the Imperial City Division and forget about the government office?"
"You."
Liao Yu glanced at his confidant. If the confidant hadn't been his brother-in-law, he would have wanted to slap him hard and ask him why he was so stupid.
At the same time, Nantang Street has returned to its former bustle.
Zhao Jun watched the backs of them leaving, his eyes fixed on the government official with the Chinese character in the crowd.
The other party didn't seem to recognize him, and there was nothing strange on his face. Maybe it was too dark that day, and the other party didn't take a few out-of-town thieves and troops to heart.
"Zhi Si is really a powerful man, he can even scare away the Kaifeng government office."
On the way back, Shi Yu was in high spirits and said to Zhao Jun: "In the future, won't the Imperial City Secretary be able to walk sideways in Tokyo?"
"hehe."
Zhao Jun smiled and said nothing.
The other party's retreat was indeed not what he expected.
Because now that the Imperial City Division has the power of arrest and trial, it conflicts with the power of the Kaifeng government.
Zhao Jun deliberately sent people out just to cause a conflict with Kaifeng Mansion.
Only by taking the initiative can you take advantage of the opponent.
Unexpectedly, the other party didn't seem to accept the move at all, and just let him take the person away, which was unexpected.
But if you think about it carefully, there are only two reasons.
First, Zhao Jun and Lu Yijian had a big quarrel, which made Lu Yijian and others afraid, so he told the people below that Kaifeng Mansion and the Imperial City Department should try not to conflict, lest Zhao Jun actually kill people.
The second is that the other party may be brewing some conspiracy, such as deliberately conniving with the Imperial City Division and letting the Imperial City Division run rampant in Bianliang. Once the Imperial City Division gets into trouble and arrests the wrong person and tries the wrong case, I'm afraid they will incite public resentment. Immediately, countless impeachment memorials flew to Zhao Zhen's desk.
That's why Kaifeng Mansion temporarily avoided the Imperial City Division, and Liao Yu left with his people.
Although Zhao Jun has never been in the officialdom, has he never eaten pork and seen a pig run away? Having seen so many ancient conspiracies, I can naturally guess a few things.
Therefore, he was not happy about this victory. Instead, he had a high opinion of Kaifeng Mansion. The other party seemed to have other plans.
(End of chapter)
