Yangling is the tomb of Emperor Jing.
As the father of the new emperor, this kind of large tomb undoubtedly needs to be tightly defended.
"How can we, novice officials, be used to make up the numbers? His Majesty misappoints people in such a way. Is this because he is stupid or because he really has no one under his command?"
Zhang Xuezhou had difficulty understanding the imperial court's employment mechanism.
If tomb robberies occur frequently in Yangling, a place like this would have to send capable personnel and strengthen the guards to a certain extent, instead of having a few disabled people to defend it.
Zhang Xuezhou had mixed emotions on his first day in office.
He had already thought of various plans to deal with the fight in the nest, but he did not expect that guarding the tomb in Yangling would not be easy to do.
"I don't know how to learn from King Liang. The tombs they built are so professional that not only do they not need guards, but ordinary people can't find them!"
In the end, Zhang Xuezhou had to criticize the imperial court for its unreliability. If the tomb of Emperor Jing was built so secretly that no one could find it, there was no need for him to be the gatekeeper.
In the past, he criticized the King of Liang for being ruthless in building tombs and sacrificing the deaths of tomb builders and soldiers in exchange for keeping secrets. However, as Emperor Jing's construction of tombs attracted tomb robbers, resulting in the death and injury of the guardians, Zhang Xuezhou felt that it was even more unreliable.
Of course, if he had not been the gatekeeper of the East Sima Gate, Zhang Xuezhou would still feel that the tomb of Prince Liang was not good enough.
"Xu Wuduo, how can we guard this city gate with just a few of us here?"
The tombs of ordinary people are only a few square meters of small earth slopes, while the tombs of King Liang were built by digging into the mountains. The interior is a palace layout, but the size of this layout is also limited.
Emperor Jing's Yangling area was huge. It was twelve miles from East Sima Gate to West Sima Gate. If you walked along the outside road, it wouldn't be surprising to find a detour of twenty or thirty miles.
South Simamen and North Simamen only need to walk five or six miles.
The entire cemetery is a rectangular area, but this area is so huge that Zhang Xuezhou cannot complain.
With their numbers of three melons and two dates, they simply cannot protect such a huge area.
Zhang Xuezhou asked Xu Wuduo, who had worked here the longest, the plump soldier who took the lead in responding to Zhang Xuezhou's words.
Xu Wuduo retired from the Northern Army and was assigned a job where he received imperial rations, but the imperial rations were difficult to obtain.
Emperor Jing has only been dead for a year, and his bosses have already died twice. Now it is the turn of the third official, Sima Ling.
While the bosses were living in such misery, Xu Wuduo's life was not that good. He had not even received his salary for two months.
Now he just hopes that this new boss can live longer, at least until he can collect and distribute their salary.
He responded to Zhang Xuezhou's questions honestly and took Zhang Xuezhou to patrol the city wall.
Standing on the city wall, the two of them could still see the imperial mausoleum in the distance, as well as the Hou Tomb, the burial pits in the south and north areas, the prisoner's cemetery, the mausoleum temple and other ritual buildings.
The imperial mausoleum is located in the west and west of the central part of the cemetery. This is the burial place of Emperor Jing.
The Hou Tomb, South Area Cong Burial Pit, and North Area Cong Burial Pit are equidistantly distributed in the four corners of the imperial mausoleum. The concubine burial tomb area and the sacrificial platform are located on the north and south sides of the imperial mausoleum.
The prison cemetery, where tens of thousands of people are buried, is located on the west side of the imperial mausoleum, arranged in a line from north to south. The entire cemetery is centered on the imperial mausoleum and guarded by the four corners. It is symmetrical from north to south and connected from east to west.
Zhang Xuezhou watched carefully and felt that this was a good Feng Shui place, and there was a hidden murderous intention.
It should be easy to break into the Simamen with their crooked melons and cracked dates, but whether the tomb robbers can get anything after entering the cemetery requires real skills.
Zhang Xuezhou felt a little relieved after some investigation.
They are just gatekeepers, not patrol members of the mausoleum. Someone else is obviously responsible for the safety inside. For Zhang Xuezhou and others, guarding the gate tightly is the kingly rule.
"The door is closed!"
Zhang Xuezhou thought clearly and closed the gate of Dongsima Gate tightly according to the previous pattern of the soldiers.
As for the other three Sima Gates, Zhang Xuezhou has no control over them.
If he manages well, he will overstep his authority. If there is a problem with his management, he will take the blame.
He doesn't do anything thankless at this time either.
But this Dongsimamen official car Sima Ling is obviously not good at being a driver.
"What other rules do we have here?" Zhang Xuezhou asked.
"Sir, there are no rules anymore," Xu Wuduo said, "We just guard the door here to prevent thieves from entering."
"There are no rules!"
There are a lot of messy things in the official position of Sima Ling. The only good thing is that Zhang Xuezhou has the final say here, and no one calls Zhang Xuezhou around to do various things.
It is inevitable that inspection documents need to be submitted to Jingzhaoyi Mansion every day for processing, but this is not a troublesome matter. Anyone can just drop by and send a copy after get off work.
Compared with the gates of Chang'an City, or the daily comings and goings of people at the Sima Gate of the Imperial Palace, the number of people going in and out of the four main gates of Yangling is very small, and only some craftsmen and civilians who are repairing the cemetery are coming in and out every day. need.
After letting Xu Wuduo lead him to inspect the scope of Dongsima Gate, Zhang Xuezhou found Ma Yuan, who was as thin as a tuberculosis.
This Ma Yuan was not in good health and could not do heavy work, but Ma Yuan had learned calligraphy and could do some simple paperwork. In the end, his family paid to send him to this kind of carrot pit to eat the royal food.
While Ma Yuan was coughing, Zhang Xuezhou also checked the Dongsimamen records written by Ma Yuan.
The record only contains daily entry and exit records, how many people actually entered and how many people actually came out.
Zhang Xuezhou looked at the daily number of people entering and exiting between 22 and 25 people, and felt that the daily flow of people entering and exiting the East Sima Gate was low to a certain extent. In this case, he did not guard the city gate well and was beheaded. Not unfair either.
"Song Dongjia, Zhu Yuncheng!"
"only!"
"You two will keep the morning shift first!"
"only!"
"Xu Wuduo, Zhou Botong, you two will guard the middle shift!"
"only!"
After making simple arrangements, Zhang Xuezhou decided to work the night shift by himself.
In addition, he only had six people, so he could only improvise and wait until other personnel arranged by the court arrived.
"Sir, I will stay with you on night duty, this...cough...cough cough cough!"
"Just keep a record, there's no need for night watch!"
When Ma Yuan came over to ask for instructions, Zhang Xuezhou stretched out his hand and told the other party to do some record-keeping, and then went to Jingzhaoyi Mansion to submit duty documents every day.
There are only five subordinates in total, and Zhang Xuezhou cannot make any special and appropriate targeted arrangements.
In short, he should deal with it when it comes. If he gets into trouble that requires beheading, he will run away. At worst, he will change his name and appearance and continue to seek office.
Zhang Xuezhou thought about the worst outcome and had no choice but to find a chair and sit on the tower to pass the time.
"There is a man named Zheng Wukong who lives at the sixteenth stone lion in Laoshu Alley. He claims to have great medical skills. You have this cough problem..."
When Zhang Xuezhou suggested that Ma Yuan go see a doctor, he saw a group of people standing on a carriage pulling goods in the distance, carrying baskets, poles, sawtooths and other items.
"Master Dongfang, the craftsmen sent by the Shaofu and Zongzheng have arrived!"
Song Dongjia, who was on the morning shift, shouted.
"Enter the door if there are rules, and no one will be allowed to pass if there are no rules!"
Zhang Xuezhou replied, and his eyes began to scan the craftsmen who were transported by government carriages, and he began to guard the gates for the first time in his life.
(End of chapter)
