Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Yinzhou, Hongzhou, and Longzhou in Xixia, also known as the dangerous Hengshan area, have all been divided and assigned to Shaanxi.

Fu Yuanheng inspected all the way from there and left the military supervisors he brought there.

Further west is Yanzhou (Dingbian).

The mountainous area in southern Yanzhou was also assigned to Shaanxi, and one of the important dividing points was at Lutuokou.

Luotuokou is also called Luotuokou and Luotuhui.

If the green and white salt produced in Yanzhou of Western Xia was smuggled to the Northern Song Dynasty or the Ming Dynasty, at least 70% of it would have been transported to Xiabaozhai via the Camel Pass and the mountain road.

Now, Lutuokou belongs to Ningxia and Xiabaozhai belongs to Shaanxi, each blocking the trafficking route of green and white salt.

It’s easy to collect taxes and combat smuggling!

There was no trouble in Yanzhou this time. The place was originally extremely barren and did not rely on agriculture and animal husbandry to survive.

Moreover, in order to stabilize the salt industry, the imperial court did not allow unrest here. After the fall of Xixia, they directly killed the powerful people in Yanzhou without even bothering to find a basic excuse, let alone luring the snake out of its hole and waiting for them to rebel.

The main salt ponds were all confiscated and converted into official camps.

The remaining scattered small salt ponds were auctioned to Shaanxi merchants who heard about it. Each salt pool operating license has a time limit, and priority is given to renewal when the time is up.

Merchants, their clerks, and their families quickly moved here to settle down.

As for the Xixia survivors in Yanzhou, all those who knew how to make salt were left behind. Those who did not know how to make salt moved elsewhere to make room for Han soldiers and civilians.

The imperial court has issued a death order that the proportion of Han people in Yanzhou must reach 70%!

"Greetings to the army!"

Officials went out of the city to meet Fu Yuanheng.

Zou Qing, the censor of Ningxia, was also here. He believed that Zhao Ding was in charge of Yinchuan Prefecture, so he did not need to focus on investigating there, and he was too lazy to conflict with the civil and military officials there.

And Yanzhou was a top priority, so Zou Qing simply moved to Yanzhou permanently and focused on supervising the civil and military officials here.

After greeting local officials, Fu Yuanheng followed everyone into the city.

That night, he called Zou Qing and asked, "Are there serious inspections in all parts of Ningxia?"

Zou Qing replied: "This year we will focus on inspecting Yanzhou and surrounding counties, and next year we will focus on inspecting the Hexi Corridor."

"Have you inspected Xuanzhou?" Fu Yuanheng asked.

Zou Qing answered bravely: "There are only a limited number of censors to patrol Ningxia, so it is difficult to take care of everything at once. The Xuanzhou side only went to investigate after the rebellion was quelled."

Fu Yuanheng asked: "What was the result of the inspection?"

Zou Qing said: "Only the fertile land on both sides of the Yellow River has been seriously dredged. The tribes who rebelled this time have not repaired the water conservancy at all. Officials in Xuanzhou and Mingsha County both said that they lacked manpower and time, and they had not had time to repair the water conservancy there. Irrigation canal."

"What do you think?" Fu Yuanheng asked.

Zou Qing said: "It seems to be a shirk, but it is also a reasonable excuse. It is impossible for the censor to punish the crime with this. But..."

Fu Yuanheng asked: "But what?"

Zou Qing whispered:

"There were some remnants of the rebels who fled to Ling County (Lingzhou), were caught, and were taken to the Governor's Mansion for trial and conviction. Those rebels all claimed that they were forced to rebel. They said that they did not receive enough relief food. When the tribesmen built water conservancy projects on both sides of the Yellow River, they did not receive enough food rations."

"Moreover, some of the livestock seized in Lingzhou last year must be returned to various ministries for interest. Only less than half of the livestock that should have been returned to them was distributed, and the rest was intercepted by Xuanzhou Civil and Military Affairs. There are also seeds. and farm tools, it seems, were not given to them either.”

Fu Yuanheng muttered: "If this is true, those tribes were really forced to rebel."

The armies of all directions in Xixia fortified the walls and cleared the fields. Naturally, they took their livestock and food with them. Most of these supplies were captured by the Ming army.

Some must be returned to the people, otherwise they will be forced to die!

However, Xuanzhou officials deliberately acted indiscriminately and honestly followed the court's policies in the wealthy areas on both sides of the Yellow River. The remaining remote areas receive half of the income and half of the income, regardless of the life and death of farmers and herdsmen.

Fu Yuanheng asked again: "After such a big incident, why do you still stay in Yanzhou?"

Zou Qing said: "Governor Zhao (Zhao Ding) is very powerful, and the Ningxia Inspectorate is also fighting for power with the Yushi. They take the case and investigate it themselves, which is also in line with the rules of the court. I went to Yinchuan Mansion last month. I came to Yanzhou after I had enough of it, and left two censors to accompany the trial. It won't be too late for me to check the files again. "

Fu Yuanheng scolded: "You're confused. If we don't fight at this time, when will we wait to fight?"

The power of the Inspectorate is getting stronger and stronger, and the censor is very disliked.

Especially in local areas, if you can prevent the censor from interfering, you must exclude the censor!

Moreover, local officials also have territorial ideas: This is my territory, why are you, a censor, so stupid?

The number of censors is limited, and it is impossible to personally investigate cases everywhere in the country.

Therefore, the main bodies handling cases at the local level are still the state-level prosecutors and the provincial-level prosecutors. The censor can only ask for supervision when handling the case, or raise questions after handling the case.

It is possible to force joint handling of cases, but it will inevitably lead to unpleasant troubles with the local officials.

Zou Qing sighed and said: "Zhao Ding is the governor appointed by His Majesty, and his power is much greater than that of an ordinary chief envoy. He insists on taking over the case, and it is really difficult for us to fight. Anyway, the case is there, if he If you dare to show favoritism, you will get burned."

Fu Yuanheng curled his lips and stopped saying anything.

Although all the censors in the Inspectorate have different grades, they have no subordinate relationship with each other.

Even Zuodu Yushi, the top leader of the Supervisory Council, has the same powers as ordinary Yushi in principle.

Although Fu Yuanheng is senior and high-ranking, if Zou Qing is willing to risk everything, he can still ignore what he is saying.

Only when a specific case is handled, an investigation team is temporarily established, and there is a strict division of duties among the team members. Subordinates must be honest and obedient to the tasks assigned by their superiors.

What's more, Fu Yuanheng is now the boss of the Military Supervision Bureau of the Inspectorate, and he is no longer in the same subdivision system as Zou Qing.

The next day, Fu Yuanheng changed his itinerary and went straight to Yinchuan Prefecture.

A few miles away from Yanzhou City, Zou Qing caught up with him on horseback: "Fu Junzheng, I decided to go and have a look."

…

Yinchuan Prefecture, Ningxia Jingchasi Yamen.

Yang Yuan, the magistrate of Xuanzhou, was very frightened, but he still refused to let go: "Those are rebels, they are just grabbing and biting randomly. Could it be that Yin Cha Si did not believe the court officials, but believed the false accusations of the rebels? Livestock, grain, seeds, farm tools , all were distributed according to official documents, and the officials of Xuanzhou were extremely benevolent and righteous."

"But what about these rebels? Not thinking about the mighty favor of the emperor, they conspired to rebel against Fuxia. When we learned the news, we immediately sent troops to suppress it. The rebels were naturally resentful when their plot was thwarted, so they falsely accused Xuanzhou civil and military officials. Please investigate carefully. ah!"

Ningxia Inspector Zhai Dingfang asked expressionlessly: "We captured more than twenty bandits who escaped from Xuanzhou, and their confessions are all the same. Do you still dare to quibble?"

Yang Yuan cried out: "It's unfair. Those rebels must have made confessions long ago."

"Nonsense," Zhai Dingfang roared, "They were caught at different times and in different places. How can they collude in confessing?"

Yang Yuan said: "They made an appointment before they rebelled."

A few rooms next door, the state magistrates of Xuanzhou, various Cao officials, magistrates of two counties, and state and county officials were also being interrogated separately.

Everyone agrees that they are the ones who colluded to confess in advance!

As for the soldiers, they were interrogated personally by Governor Zhao Ding. He has extremely powerful powers and can directly interrogate military generals, but he can only review cases but not make judgments. The results need to be reported to the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of War.

The commander made Pu Quan look like a victim:

"I joined the army in Bazhou and have been fighting with Privy Li. How can I not know the power of military law? I would never dare to do such things as corruption and embezzlement. I was stationed in Shaanxi before and had never committed corruption. How could I suddenly come to Ningxia? Just corruption?”

"Those remnants of Xixia, I and my soldiers are indeed not good to them. Why should we treat foreign barbarians well? Maybe they are angry with me, or maybe they have their fields and pastures confiscated by the prefecture and county magistrates. Those bastards are Inciting the tribe to rebel."

"When I got the news, I rushed for dozens of miles that day and attacked the camp all night to defeat the rebels. I then went after the remnants, which took half a month. I not only sweated but also shed blood. This didn't happen It’s hard work, right? Why did the governor bring me in for questioning just after the victory documents were sent out? Just because those rebels made random accusations?”

Zhao Ding listened silently, but was thinking about other issues.

Yang Yuan claimed that he was Qin Hui's student, and Pu Quan claimed that he was Li Bao's personal soldier. Should these two guys get to the bottom of it?

If something really happened, Qin Hui and Li Bao would definitely separate their relationship immediately, but they would probably remember Zhao Ding afterwards.

The chaos in Xuanzhou was not big and could be covered up completely.

But it involves large-scale corruption, and the inspection censor also knows it. Anyone who dares to cover up is likely to be burned.

A thorough investigation must be carried out, the difficulty lies in how to grasp the degree!

Just as Zhao Ding was weighing the pros and cons, there was a sudden knock on the door outside.

"Come in."

An official quickly walked up to Zhao Ding and whispered into his ear: "The chief secretary of Mingsha County couldn't stand it anymore. He confessed everything, insisting that he was dragged into the trap and that he didn't receive much money in food. The magistrate of Mingsha County is greedy. , and kept half of the stolen money promised to the chief bookkeeper."

Zhao Ding sneered: "You dare to seize the stolen money of your accomplices, they are so greedy that they have no brains!"

The official said: "The materials in the warehouse in Mingsha County were all fake. They burned them all and gave them to the rebels."

The crime of burning a warehouse!

Zhao Ding immediately stopped thinking about the pros and cons. Those guys dared to burn down the official warehouse, and there was no room for turning around in the entire case.

Even if they burn short positions, the principal offenders are still punishable by death.

Zhao Ding said loudly: "Commander Pu, Chief Mingsha has already confessed, and he wants to be punished and confess truthfully. After embezzling money and food, you burned down the fake warehouse and pushed it to the rebels. Is there anything else you have to argue with?"

Pu Quan was stunned when he heard this.

He really couldn't understand, how could Chief Mingsha dare to confess? For such a serious crime, you can still get through it even if you refuse to tell anyone. But once you confess, it will be over for everyone.

Zhao Ding asked: "You won't burn down the military warehouse, right?"

The geographical location of Xuanzhou is very important, as it can connect Yinchuan Prefecture and the Hexi Corridor. Therefore, the imperial court set up military warehouses there so that supplies could be quickly dispatched in the event of chaos.

If it were just local supplies in Xuanzhou and there were so many civil and military officials sharing them, Pu Quan really wouldn't risk his head.

"It's unjust. It's really the rebels' fault!" Pu Quan still said adamantly.

Zhao Ding sneered: "You have embezzled and deducted so many supplies, so you have to find merchants to sell the stolen goods, right? Do you think the court can't find out? The governor has already sent people to check the currency customs along the way, and all the tax declarations of the caravans when they pass the customs are kept on file. There are so many supplies and you don’t leave any traces, you idiot!”

As soon as these words came out, Pu Quan's face turned pale.

It is really possible to follow the banknotes and find out the whereabouts of the supplies.

Shaanxi merchants are probably going to be killed as well.

Zhao Ding scolded: "Hurry up and confess. You will definitely die. If you can perform meritorious service, I can make your death look more beautiful!"

Pu Quan's mouth was dry and his tongue was dry. After sitting for a long time, he found that his throat was full of phlegm.

He cleared his throat and said: "I originally didn't want to do this beheading business. It was the Xuanzhou Military Warehouse Ambassador who said that the goods in the warehouse were piled up like mountains, so it was better to find a way to make some profit. He couldn't do it alone. , I can’t do it alone, we can do it together.”

"I didn't think about burning down the warehouse at first. I haven't lived enough yet, so I just got a few out. When we were transporting military supplies, the news accidentally leaked, and more and more officers knew about it. Later, the military judge also heard about it. , he gave me a chance to surrender. I begged him to spare me for the sake of his years of service."

"I gave him a lot of goods, and also gave him the Xixia noblewoman given to me by the imperial court. He... agreed without holding on."

"But there were too many officers who knew about it, so we had to seal it with property. Originally I just wanted to get some out of the military warehouse, but later I had to share the profits with many people. When I came to my senses, nearly half of the military warehouse had been emptied. We were all frightened, and later we sat down together to discuss, and we could only force the remnants of Xixia to rebel, burn the military warehouses, and push them to the rebels. "

"Only the army can't do this. We must win over the civilian officials of Xuanzhou. Those civilian officials are also embezzling and embezzling. I took advantage of it and threatened them, and they agreed to cooperate..."

After Zhao Ding heard this, he was angry but also found it funny.

Because he thought of a joke about a child who stole the candy at home. At first, he just wanted to take a sip, and then he took another sip. When the child realized that he was in trouble, he had eaten most of the candy in the jar, so he threw the jar into the cesspit to eliminate the evidence of the crime. Still feeling unable to hide it, he finally burned the house down.

The next day.

Zhao Ding, together with the inspector and the censor, interrogated Yang Yuan.

"Yang Zhizhou, Pu Quan has confessed that he conspired with the military warehouse ambassador to embezzle materials from the military warehouse, and also conspired with civilian officials to embezzle other money and food." Zhao Ding banged the table with a piece of wood, "You can close the case without confessing. But here you go This is an opportunity to make a meritorious deed. What else do you have to confess? Show him Pu Quan’s confession.”

The official of the Ministry of Justice handed over the confession, which had Pu Quan's fingerprints and signatures, as well as the seals and signatures of the Governor and the Inspector.

After Yang Yuan read it carefully, his whole body was as limp as boiled noodles.

This guy has a history of being scared to death, and he is still suspicious of others and scares himself. His brain shut down instantly and he completely lost his ability to think.

who I am?

Where am I?

What am I going to do?

"Poof!"

Zhao Ding slapped the gavel hard: "Don't delay, confess quickly!"

Yang Yuan was so frightened that he woke up, trembling all over, and said, "I...if I plead guilty and have meritorious service, can I avoid the death penalty?"

Zhao Ding narrowed his eyes and suddenly smiled: "It depends on whether your contribution is great or not."

"Qin Hui, I want to report Qin Hui, the Minister of Household Affairs!"

Yang Yuan shouted like crazy: "Qin Hui is a corrupt official. In the past ten years, I have given him tens of thousands of dollars! Also, I, Ding You, was an official in Jinan Prefecture before, and the Jinan Prefect and Tongpan were also corrupt officials. Also... Also, when I was an official in Wanzhou, the Hu Caobu there was also a corrupt official. There was also Chaozhou..."

This guy is pouring beans out of a bamboo tube, and he really says whatever he wants.

He directly reported a lot of officials, and all the ministers in charge of the interrogation were stunned.

Are you trying to drag down all the officials you have worked with?

Yang Yuan was afraid that his report of meritorious service was not enough to avoid death, so he thought for a while and said: "I have an old friend from the same class, and his family is not very wealthy. But when I, Ding You, came home, I found that his family had built a mansion and built a grand ancestral grave. . He must be a corrupt official too!"

Zhao Ding was immediately speechless. You have no problem reporting on your colleagues, but why the hell are you reporting on your classmates and old friends? Just because his family's house and ancestral tomb are luxurious?