The rank of the official who handled the documents was not high. He was only a seventh-level official. He did not have much power, and he did not dare to cover the sky with one hand. Therefore, in the face of such a big business, he really did not dare to accept it casually.
Generally speaking, when a clean person came to apply for a document, as long as the procedures were complete and there were relevant personnel to testify, the official could only charge a small fee according to the regulations. Such a small amount of money was not even enough to fill the gap between one's teeth. However, it was very different to apply for a legal document for someone with a dirty background. The official could charge a hundred or even a thousand times the labor fee as soon as he opened his mouth, and he often succeeded.
Obviously, this kind of behavior was knowingly breaking the law. According to the regulations of the Tang dynasty, it was not allowed to casually apply for a document for a person with an unknown background. To apply for a document for anyone, someone must be the guarantor, and the person's real identity must be found out.
However, the rules were dead, but the officials were flexible. In practice, many officials in charge of this matter turned a blind eye and did not really check seriously. Moreover, for some people with an unknown background, as long as they were willing to pay, they could apply for a document for them.
After all, the information system in ancient times was very underdeveloped. In order to pursue a better life, many people chose to escape from their poor hometown and come to a more prosperous place. According to the ancient laws, this kind of behavior was not allowed. When they arrived at a new place, they would not be able to move an inch. They might even be caught by the government and sent back to their hometown.
If they wanted to live a good life in a new place, they had to get a legal identity as soon as possible. In this way, they did not have to hide like a mouse. If such people wanted to get a legal identity, they had to bribe the relevant local officials and use money to establish relationships. This also became a way for the relevant officials to get rich.
These ordinary people who escaped from their hometown and some rich and powerful people who bought some slaves also needed to give the slaves a legal identity. Even bandits who had washed their hands of the business needed a legal identity so that they could start a new life.
In short, there were many people who needed to apply for a legal identity. This market was very big, and it could generate a lot of wealth for the relevant officials.
However, this kind of behavior was against the rules after all. Therefore, in addition to being ruthless in collecting money, it was necessary to do it slowly. Otherwise, after the documents were reported, the imperial court would be suspicious. If they sent people to investigate, it would be troublesome.
The official in charge of this matter immediately went to the Provincial Governor's Mansion. He wanted to tell this big deal to Wang Provincial Governor and let him decide how to deal with this matter.
"Governor …"
The seventh-grade officer leaned against Wang: Provincial Governor's ear and reported the situation in a low voice.
"More than a hundred in one go. Looks like this old fellow isn't simple! This official had always thought that he was just an ordinary rice shop merchant. But now, it seems that he should be a mountain bandit. Otherwise, who would handle so many documents at once at this juncture? What is he doing? "
Wang: Through this small matter, the Provincial Governor immediately determined that the rice shop owner was not an ordinary person. He was a horse gang spy, a high-level spy that the horse gang had placed in Xia Zhou City.
"Provincial Governor, this old fellow suddenly sent people to sell off all the properties under his name and even hired many carriages at a high price. Is he trying to slip away?"
The seventh-grade official said.
"What? They hired a large number of carriages and sold all their properties? They're moving!"
Wang: Provincial Governor asked in confusion.
"Provincial Governor, according to him, he wants to change his profession to that of a merchant. Selling his properties and hiring carriages seems to make sense. Also, he recruited more than a hundred new workers. That doesn't sound like there's anything wrong with it."
The seventh-grade official said.
"The more it sounds like there's nothing wrong, the bigger the problem is. This old fellow is most likely a member of the horse gang. His actions seem to indicate that the horse gang in the mountain is going to escape and leave Mount Qiwu."
Wang: Provincial Governor guessed.
"Provincial Governor, what should we do? What do we need to do? "
The seventh-grade official asked.
Wang: Provincial Governor smiled faintly and said, "What we need to do is to extort as much as we can from them. It's best if we can extort all their money."
"Provincial Governor, I'm worried that something will happen! There are so many people. If we report all of them at once, the imperial court will find loopholes. Once they send people to investigate, we won't be able to hide it anymore. "
The seventh-grade official said worriedly.
"You're really stupid. Who told you to report it? This time, we'll give them all fake certificates. In this way, we don't need to report it to the imperial court. Even if these certificates are found, we can deny it. We can just say that these were not done by us, but by the horse gang elsewhere. We're officials of the imperial court. Who would believe that the horse gang dares to slander us?"
Wang: Provincial Governor said.
"Provincial Governor, you're wise. Shall I do it now?"
The seventh-grade official said.
"No hurry, no hurry. Let's find out how much of this old fellow's properties have been sold first. Only then can we collect the money!"
Wang: Provincial Governor said with a smile.
"Provincial Governor, don't worry. I understand."
In the bustling area of Summer State City, the owner of the rice shop personally advertised. He made it clear to all the merchants that he was going to be a traveling merchant soon. All the properties under his name were sold. Moreover, he offered a 20% discount. Anyone who could snatch it would make a profit.
This extraordinary advertisement naturally attracted many merchants to come and pick up the scraps. The local merchants didn't quite understand why the owner of the rice shop wanted to be a traveling merchant. His business was doing well, so why did he suddenly want to be a traveling merchant? It wasn't easy to change one's profession. Once he made the wrong choice, it would cause a great loss to himself. It was even possible that he wouldn't be able to make a comeback.
However, none of the merchants were kind enough to remind the shopkeeper. They wouldn't do such a good thing, especially the merchants who were also shopkeepers. In their hearts, they couldn't wait for their peers to change professions. How could they kindly remind him?
What they really cared about were the shops under the owner's name. They were very clear about the locations of these shops. Some of the shops had better locations and were worth investing in. However, they couldn't figure out what the owner of the rice shop was thinking, let alone what the other merchants were thinking.
If the owner of the rice shop was in a hurry to sell his properties, they could lower the price as much as they wanted. However, if the other merchants were in a hurry to buy these shops, if the price was too low, the shops might be snatched away by other merchants. As a result, they would lose a great opportunity.
In short, every merchant wanted to buy these shops at the lowest price. Because of this, when the owner of the rice shop offered a 20% discount, none of the merchants explicitly offered to buy. They all said that they would consider it and would consider it carefully.
Regarding this situation, the owner of the rice shop was naturally well aware. Although he was in a hurry to sell his properties, if he really showed that he was in a hurry to sell his properties, then he would be led by the nose by the buyers. Therefore, he had to show that he wasn't in a hurry. Otherwise, it wouldn't be as simple as a 20% discount. It was very likely that he would only be able to get a 20% discount.
"20% is the lowest price. Don't miss this opportunity. If you miss this village, there won't be another shop like this."
The owner of the rice shop was very confident as he promoted his shops.
"Don't miss this opportunity. After selling his shops, the shopkeeper will become a traveling merchant."
The worker of the rice shop also shouted loudly.
Selling his properties with such great fanfare naturally attracted the attention of everyone in the city. This way, he could sell his properties faster and at the same time, he would become a celebrity. This would increase the chances of him being exposed.
Although changing from a merchant to a traveling merchant was his own matter and was the personal action of a merchant, this kind of sudden action still attracted the attention of some people.
Ang Lee had left some of his men behind to search for clues of the horse bandit spies in the city. The unusual action of the owner of the rice shop naturally attracted their attention. They immediately reported the situation to Ang Lee in the mountains.
"What's wrong? A rice merchant is selling his properties and is also wantonly renting carriages. He's preparing to become a traveling merchant. There seems to be a problem! There must be a problem. There must be a big problem! "
Hearing that, Ang Lee opened his mouth and said.
Lao Guo also nodded and said, "That's right. There must be a big problem. If it were any other time, it wouldn't be strange. But at this critical moment, why would a rice merchant suddenly change his business to become a traveling merchant? This is very unreasonable! Could it be that the horse bandits are preparing to escape? "
"Just arrest him and interrogate him."
Lao Chen said firmly.
"Lao Chen, don't say such words out of anger. How can you arrest him without any evidence? Let's make a guess. Is this rice merchant a member of the horse bandits? If he is, why did he rent so many carriages? "
Ang Lee opened his mouth and said.
"That's right! Why did he rent so many carriages? What else can he do besides transporting goods? "
Lao Chen said.
Ang Lee opened his mouth and said, "Can we make a bold conjecture? These horse bandits are going to leave here. And before they leave, they are going to transport all their accumulated wealth away at once. And the transportation must require many carriages, a lot of carriages."
"That's right! It seems that the horse bandits are going to move! That's good! When the time comes, we'll catch all of them in one fell swoop and seize all of their accumulated wealth. Hahaha! "
Lao Chen laughed happily.
"Why are you so happy? It's just a conjecture. What if he's just an ordinary merchant?"
Lao Guo said calmly.
"At this critical moment, Lao Guo should be very clear about the probability of him being an ordinary merchant."
Ang Lee opened his mouth and said.
"Assistant Minister Li, there's the latest news in the city."
A guard handed the news to Ang Lee.
"That's great. There's no need to argue anymore. This rice shopkeeper is an informer of the horse bandits."
Ang Lee said.
"How can you prove it?"
Lao Guo asked hurriedly.
Li An opened his mouth and said, "After my men discovered the merchant's abnormal behavior, they began to keep an eye on the people in this rice shop. In the end, they found out that the shopkeeper of this rice shop had actually gone to the Civil Affairs Bureau. My men spent some money and finally found out about this matter. It turned out that the shopkeeper of this rice shop was actually acting as a guarantor for more than a hundred people and wanted to get legal documents for these people. Isn't this very suspicious? What's more, these people are still nowhere to be seen. "
Hearing that, Lao Guo and Lao Chen both had a premonition and no longer doubted Ang Lee's conjecture.
"From the looks of it, this rice shop owner is most likely a member of the horse gang. He did this to get legal documents for the horse gang so that they can come and go freely like normal people. Even if they walk on the official road, they won't be stopped!"
Lao Guo said.
"If the Civil Affairs Bureau of the Summer Province really dares to do this, they'll be guilty of colluding with the enemy. Even if they have ten heads, it won't be enough for them to be beheaded."
Lao Chen said firmly.
"Haha! Let's make a guess. Do you think the Civil Affairs Bureau of the Summer Province has the guts to apply for all kinds of legal documents for over a hundred horse bandits without distinguishing between right and wrong? "
Ang Lee said.
"The Physician of the Civil Affairs Bureau of the Summer Province is just a seventh-level official. He wouldn't dare to do this unless he wants to die. However, the Provincial Governor of the Summer Province is an upper fifth-level official. What's more, the Summer Province is far away from the capital city. Maybe he really dares to do this."
Lao Guo said.
Whether an official was honest or not depended on whether the supervision organization was effective enough. If there was someone supervising all the time, then all the officials would not dare to act recklessly. If there was no supervision, then even a minor official could make a big fuss.
In the Summer Province, the Physician of the Civil Affairs Bureau was always under the supervision of the Provincial Governor of the Summer Province. Nothing he did could escape the eyes of the Provincial Governor of the Summer Province. After all, they all lived in the same city. It was simply too difficult to hide anything from the Provincial Governor of the Summer Province.
But if the imperial court wanted to supervise the Provincial Governor of the Summer Province, it would not be so easy. After all, the relevant institutions of the imperial court were in Chang 'an, which was far away from the Summer Province. It was not easy to send someone here. But once a person went there, the Summer Province would be fully prepared. Therefore, the imperial court's supervision of the Provincial Governor of the Summer Province was far less than the Provincial Governor of the Summer Province's supervision of his subordinates.
In this way, the imperial court would not have much control over the provincial governors of these remote provinces, while the provincial governors would have a lot of control over their subordinates. In this way, it would be easy to form a small group that was separated from the central government.
A small group like the Provincial Governor of a province was relatively weak and would not do much harm to the imperial court. But the numerous Provincial Governors of the Tang dynasty seemed to have too much power in their hands. Once these people were disloyal to the imperial court, they would do great harm. The An Lushan Rebellion was a very obvious example.
That was to say, the imperial court must be very vigilant against officials who had too much power, especially foreign officials. Otherwise, it was likely to lead to the destruction of a dynasty.
Of course, the An Lushan Rebellion and other rebellions also taught people a good lesson. It told people that they should not take in refugees casually, because these refugees were very unstable factors. Once the country concerned did not deal with them properly, they might cause great harm to the country concerned and even lead to the destruction of the country concerned.
Especially when a large number of refugees entered an empire, the harm they could cause was immeasurable and the consequences were often very terrible.
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