Chapter 520: Preparing for Military Supplies
"Sir, take care."
Zhao Liben lifted the front of his official robe, stepped over the threshold which was more than four inches wide, leaned his shoulders outward, and respectfully stepped down the steps.
As he spoke, his eyes fell on Sun Shaozong's scarlet robe, and envy and jealousy flashed in his eyes - last year, he and Sun Shaozong were still equals, but who would have thought that in just half a year, a huge gap would have separated them?
However, as soon as the feeling of jealousy arose in his heart, Zhao Liben suppressed it.
Things are different now than before. Sun Shaozong and Jia Yucun are in cahoots with each other. If they really want to deal with this powerless judge, it would only take a word!
Thinking of this, Zhao Liben's back softened a little, until he saw Sun Shaozong's back disappear into the alley on the west side of the household registration office, then he let out a long breath, put on his official authority, turned around and scolded: "What mistakes did you make that caused the governor to come and investigate in person?!"
"Your Excellency is wise!"
The two clerks in charge of the household registration hurriedly cried out in grievance: "We have always been loyal to our duties, how could we..."
"snort!"
Zhao Liben was too lazy to listen to this excuse. He threw his sleeves and sneered, "Who in this government doesn't know that the governor is very observant? If there are any mistakes, there is no need for me to get angry - you two should take care of yourselves!"
As he spoke, he threw away his sleeves and walked away with steady steps, leaving only two confused and frightened clerks, who looked at each other in silence in front of the door.
However, Sun Shaozong, who left first, when he reached the end of the alley, looked back at the household registration office hidden among maple leaves, and his originally relaxed brows were now tightly furrowed.
Although he didn't have high expectations in the first place, he was still disappointed after taking a tour of this leaky household registration office.
A remote courtyard; a roof that is less than one meter away from the wall; a vent that allows a person to get in easily; a rusty door lock that can be opened with a poke...
That would be fine, but I happened to meet a clerk with mysophobia!
It is simply a pipe dream to try to find any clues from it.
Sun Shaozong had no choice but to use his last trick - acting cool and mysterious the whole time, trying to reveal some flaws.
However, judging from the reactions of the two clerks at the household registration office, the possibility of embezzlement was low. Now he could only hope that after the news spread, the spy would be frightened by his past glorious military achievements and reveal his true identity in panic.
Thinking of this, he strode into the Criminal Law Department.
Originally, he wanted to instruct Zhao Wuwei to find a few trustworthy people to secretly keep a close eye on any movement in the mansion. Since Zhao Wuwei was a spy from the Northern Pacification Office, he must have been investigated in many ways and should not have any connection with the White Lotus Sect.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he arrived at the door of the main hall, he saw Jia Yucun sitting steadily on the armchair at the top.
As soon as he saw Sun Shaozong come in, he stood up and said with a smile: "Brother, you are finally back."
From the sound of it, I guess I've been waiting for a while.
Most likely, he received the notice as soon as he arrived at the yamen.
Sun Shaozong's heart couldn't help but move. If nothing unexpected happened, this old fox should have guessed what secrets he was secretly investigating, otherwise he wouldn't have come to the Criminal Law Department to wait even though he knew he had gone to Zhao Liben.
However, the way he acted clearly showed that he didn't want to get involved.
Therefore, Sun Shaozong smiled and asked as if nothing had happened, "Brother, you have been waiting here for a long time. Are you going to give me some trouble again? Let me make it clear first. I can go to the prince's place to have some free time anytime."
Jia Yucun's face turned bitter, and he said helplessly: "I didn't mean to put pressure on you, it was just the situation that forced me to do it - here, look for yourself!"
As he said this, he turned around, took out a memorial from the coffee table, and put it in front of Sun Shaozong.
Sun Shaozong was not in a hurry to take a look. He first asked Jia Yucun to sit down again, and then sat down behind the desk that Sun Chengye usually used, and spread out the memorial to take a closer look.
But on the top of the letter, there was a word written clearly: "Rites Department Jieshi Zhong".
Sun Shaozong was stunned. This Jieshi Zhong was an official in charge of supervising the six ministries and hundreds of departments, collectively known as the Six Departments Jieshi Zhong. Together with the Censorate, they were combined into the Kedao Censor. Although he was only of the seventh rank, he was famous for being noble and difficult to deal with.
But how did the memorial submitted by the Censor-in-Chief, who was in charge of supervising the Ministry of Rites, end up in Jia Yucun's hands?
Sun Shaozong continued to look down with suspicion, but he couldn't help but laugh and cry. It turned out that this memorial was impeaching Shuntian Prefecture for its poor education, which led to the flourishing of obscene music and obscene things among the people...
The censor was particularly indignant as he expressed that the clothing worn by women in the capital was becoming increasingly unsightly - in the summer, they even dared to bare their breasts and arms in the streets!
Although the bare chest and arms here are a bit exaggerated, the people of the Great Zhou have been admiring the Tang style in recent years, and their clothing has naturally become more and more open.
But this isn't the point where we need to clean up the atmosphere yet, is it?
Sun Shaozong read the memorial three times, and finally said in bewilderment: "What on earth do the ministers mean by forwarding this memorial to us? It's almost September now, how can there be any women with bare breasts and arms on the street?"
Jia Yucun sighed and answered the question irrelevantly: "Brother, have you read the court bulletin from the past two days?"
The court bulletin from two days ago?
Sun Shaozong became more and more confused. The news in the official newspaper seemed to have nothing to do with the customs in the capital.
Seeing Sun Shaozong's confusion, Jia Yucun sighed and said, "The southwest is going to be in chaos."
The southwest is going to be in chaos, what does that have to do with the situation in the capital?
Could it be that the Wuxi Barbarians and the six kingdoms in southern Xinjiang heard that women in the capital liked to expose their breasts and arms, so they became enemies with the imperial court?
Just kidding, those barbarians seem to wear even less!
"Brother, stop playing dumb."
Sun Shaozong stood up and bowed deeply: "Tell me quickly, what is the trick here?"
"well."
Jia Yucun continued to sigh, shaking his head and saying, "Brother, you come from a military family, and I thought you understood everything. If the southwest really gets into chaos, won't we have to send a large army to quell the rebellion? And if we want to send troops to quell the rebellion, we have to raise military supplies, right?"
What does raising military supplies have to do with the atmosphere in the capital city...
etc!
Could it be...
Sun Shaozong was stunned and said, "Brother, the military supplies you are referring to are probably camp prostitutes?!"
Seeing Jia Yucun nodded silently, Sun Shaozong's face suddenly turned gloomy.
Camp prostitutes refer to prostitutes accompanying officers. In peacetime, since there are brothels in local areas that can basically meet the soldiers' physiological needs, only a very small number of border military towns have them.
During wartime, the imperial court would often temporarily "dispatch" a group of soldiers to serve in the front line. In case of victory, they would be rewarded, and in case of a stalemate, they would be used to boost morale. In case of defeat, it would be considered good if they were not punished. But would there be women for them to sleep with?
Because there were not many official prostitutes in the Jiaofangsi, and the imperial court could not force women of good character into prostitution, every time this happened, private prostitutes, half-closed doors, and even brothels that did not have complete procedures and did not have a strong background would face a wave of crackdowns on pornography and illegal publications.
Obviously, this memorial is a manifesto to crack down on pornography and illegal publications. On the one hand, it makes the court seem to have a legitimate reason to do so; on the other hand, those with connections who hear about it will also report to the government in advance to avoid being "accidentally injured" by the court.
However, even if the other party was originally a fallen woman, Sun Shaozong still found it difficult to accept such a blatant method of recruiting camp prostitutes.
"Brother."
Then Jia Yucun said, "I'm afraid the Five Cities Military Department will have to contribute to this matter, so..."
Sun Shaozong suddenly interrupted him and asked, "Did the chancellor hear that I had a dispute with Prince Zhongshun recently?"
"Is this true?!"
Jia Yucun's eyes widened, and he twisted his beard subconsciously and said in deep thought: "Prince Zhongshun has always loved and respected my brother, how could he suddenly become hostile to me?"
Although he asked this question, he obviously didn't want to know the answer or the details.
Sun Shaozong did not intend to tell him, he just spread his hands and said helplessly: "So I am afraid I will have to rely on His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for the time being. The job in the government office is really..."
This was naturally an excuse. Given the prince's trust in him, he would still come forward to protect him even if he officially withdrew from the task force.
Jia Yucun frowned even more, slowly stood up, and solemnly bowed, saying: "My dear brother, your intelligence is ten times better than mine. I believe you have already made up your mind. I won't bother you any more. Anyway, I will take care of everything in the government office. My dear brother, don't worry too much."
This sounds open and frank, but it does not mean that he is willing to lend a helping hand at all.
However, Sun Shaozong never expected him to share the joys and sorrows with him. As long as he didn't force him to collect "military supplies", it would be enough.
Two flowers bloom, each showing its own beauty.
While Sun Shaozong was shirking his duties, the man of the mansion in the west of the city happily arrived at the backyard. He was still some distance away from the main hall when he could not help but shouted, "My wife, my wife, it's settled! Soon I will..."
As he stepped out of the door, the man's excited voice suddenly stopped, as if someone had grabbed his throat. After a long while, he squeezed out a few dry words: "Mom, why are you here?"
It turned out that in the small hall of the main room, in addition to the young and beautiful hostess, there was also a middle-aged woman with gray hair.
The woman slammed the tea bowl in her hand on the table and asked coldly, "Why, can't you come here for your mother?"
"How could it be, how could it be!"
The host hurriedly smiled and said, "My child means that Xiuyun and I should go to pay our respects to you, so how dare we trouble you..."
“Kneel down!”
Before he could finish, the woman suddenly shouted at him harshly.
The man trembled, then knelt down without hesitation, and crawled a few steps on his knees to his mother.
The woman didn't even look at her son. She softened her voice a little and said, "Xiuyun, go down first. I have something to tell him."
The young woman named Xiuyun glanced at her husband in embarrassment and advised carefully: "It's okay for mother to punish him, but don't let him get angry and hurt himself."
"That's fine."
The woman waved her hand and said, "I just can't bear to see him getting so carried away with his pride. I just need to teach him some family rules."
The young woman then bowed, placed her hands on her belly, bent her body and backed away, then closed the door behind her.
When she heard the footsteps outside gradually fading away, the woman suddenly jumped up from the chair, holding on to the armrests with her skinny arms, the veins below her elbows exposed.
Her originally kind facial features suddenly became twisted and ferocious, and the words that came out of her trembling lips were as cold as an ice knife to the bone: "Do you still remember how your father died?!"
The man blurted out as if by reflex, "On the seventh day of the twelfth month of the thirty-first year of Jianping, he was killed by the traitorous general Wang Ziteng. His body was hung at the south gate of Pingliang City for seventeen days without decaying! Later, the evil thieves burned it with fire, and no bones were left!"
"You still remember, you actually still remember?!"
The woman slapped her son hard in the face. Before the man could do anything, she staggered and almost fell to the ground - it turned out that the woman had a lame leg.
The man hurriedly helped her back to the chair, but the woman pushed him away and yelled, "Don't touch me, you unfilial son!"
"Mom! I..."
"Don't call me mom, I can't stand it!"
The middle-aged woman shouted, and the man knelt on the ground again, banging his head on the ground, and said: "My son is unfilial, please calm down, mother."
"Calm down?"
The middle-aged woman sneered, "Since you still remember how your father died, why are you so happy about the mere benefit given by this pseudo-dynasty?!"
"The child didn't..."
"If you still remember the hatred for your father's murder, why are you making excuses and not willing to work with the people sent by the Ming King to find the reincarnated Saint Girl?!"
"mother!"
"If you..."
"mother!"
The man finally couldn't help it, raised his head angrily, and said: "No matter what that old lady Li said, my son has a clear conscience! I have helped them with all the requests I can, but if they continue to act so recklessly, sooner or later they will be discovered by the dynasty... by the fake dynasty, and the whole family will be exterminated!"
"Are you scared? Do you value your life?!"
The old woman's eyes widened and she said angrily, "When your father sacrificed himself to cover the retreat of the Ming King, did he ever care about life or death? You...you really don't deserve to be a man of my Su family, and a disciple of Maitreya!"
"It's true that I'm a disciple of Maitreya!"
The man also risked his life, looking up and explaining: "But Xiuyun is not, and the child in her belly is even less so! Even if I have to sacrifice myself for Maitreya, I have to wait until she is safely sent away!"
Hearing about the 'baby in the belly', the middle-aged woman couldn't help but show some struggle on her face. After a while, she hesitated and said, "But Captain Li said that the pseudo-dynasty is facing internal and external troubles now. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If we can't find the saint girl as soon as possible, we can think about it later..."
"mother!"
This time, it was the man who planned to save his mother. He said dissatisfiedly, "If we can find the Saint, how can I not help? But they...but they are clearly messing around. They knew that the one who died in the government house arrest was a baby boy, but they still wanted to provoke Rongguo Mansion!"
"Captain Li said that the nun also took away a baby girl..."
"But he was born several months ago!"
The man became more and more annoyed, gritting his teeth and saying, "In my opinion, they haven't even figured out whether the reincarnated saint girl has been born or how old she is now!"
"A few days ago, she was even thinking about the Crown Prince's Mansion, saying that since Li had cut off the 'dragon vein' of the pseudo-dynasty, she might be pregnant with the reincarnated Saint Girl!"
The middle-aged woman finally hesitated and said hesitantly: "Then you..."
"Mom, don't worry about it. I'll find time to have a good talk with Mrs. Li. We have finally established a foothold in the capital, and we can't let those young people from the northwest continue to make trouble !"
