Sima Guang carried several volumes of copywriting and trotted all the way to the trial court. Entering the hall, he put the copywriting on the table and gasped: "Oh! You're not late."
"Why is Bachelor Sima panting?"
Qi Hui, who had just entered the hall, couldn't help but be curious when he saw Sima Guang, who was leaning on the table with one hand and panting.
Sima Guang waved his hand and sat down, "Forget it, I was really unlucky today. I stepped on feces when I went out. I had to go back and change my shoes. It took a lot of time and I was almost late."
He has a very strict self-discipline. Being late and leaving early is unacceptable to him.
Qi Hui was stunned for a moment and said with a smile: "To be honest, Bachelor Sima, I almost stepped on feces today."
Sima Guang was startled, "Really?"
Qi Hui nodded and said with emotion: "I don't know what the street department is doing. There is excrement everywhere, so how can people walk around."
But soon, they knew that this was not a coincidence, but that there was too much feces, and many ministers had stepped on it, or almost stepped on it.
This affects officials, no matter how small it is, it is not a trivial matter!
"Feces" soon became the number one hot spot in the Imperial City today.
It really "stinks to heaven".
The ministers frantically complained to the Infantry and Horse Army Divisions because the military patrol shop in the capital was under the control of these two militaries.
This is the capital city, the streets are like this, how unbecoming it is!
"That's unreasonable! They literati can really stand and talk without pain in their backs. If they didn't usually travel by carriage, how could they have so much excrement? Now they are blaming us generals."
Cao Ping returned home cursing.
In today's meeting, he was not criticized well, especially the tone of those civil servants, which made him very angry.
It sounds like they, as generals, should deal with the feces.
Later, it became discrimination.
The key is that Zhao Xu also handed over this task to him.
But it didn't make Cao Ping angry enough.
The old man suddenly reminded: "Sir, the young master just went to the inspection department not long ago."
Cao Ping was startled, "You mean this matter has something to do with Dong'er?"
The old man added: "As far as I know, the young master has been with Zhang San these days."
Cao Ping pondered for a moment, "Go and find Dong'er."
After Cao Dongdong came back, Cao Ping immediately asked: "Dong'er, how are you doing in the inspection department?"
Cao Dongdong chuckled and said, "It's pretty good. I like this position very much."
"Yeah?"
Cao Ping asked again: "Then do you know that there has been a lot of feces on the streets recently."
Cao Dongdong nodded and said, "If you tell me back to dad, I know what's going on."
Cao Ping quickly asked: "What's going on?"
Cao Dongdong immediately said: "Someone wants to destroy Zhang San."
"The whole three?"
Cao Ping frowned, "How do you say this?"
Cao Dongdong said: "On the first day when I took office, Gu Shaoqing came to make things difficult for Zhang San. He deliberately threw some feces nearby and asked Zhang San to clean it up."
Cao commented: "Is this happening?"
Cao Dongdong immediately said: "It's absolutely true. If dad doesn't believe it, he can send someone to investigate."
Cao Ping frowned and thought for a while, then said: "How can you allow dad to take action on such a trivial matter? Daddy will leave this matter to you, are you sure you can solve it?"
A flash of joy flashed in Cao Dongdong's eyes, "Dad truly believes in the child. The child will never let his father down."
Cao commented: "That's good! I'll leave this matter to you. Don't embarrass our Cao family."
"yes!"
Cao Dongdong said: "My child, let's do it now."
After Cao Dongdong left, the housekeeper beside Cao Ping said: "Master, this matter..."
Before he could finish speaking, Cao commented: "It must be the fault of that brat and Zhang San."
The old man asked curiously: "Since the master knows, why do you still do it?"
Cao commented: "They caused this disaster, so of course they have to solve it."
Having said this, he paused for a moment and then said: "By the way, help me vent my anger. You are a straight bitch. You really think our general is easy to bully."
He now vaguely realized why the emperor would entrust this matter to him.
After leaving home, Cao Dongdong immediately rushed to the inspection department in the left compartment.
"It's done! It's done!"
Cao Dongdong ran into the house excitedly and said to Zhang Fei and Ma Xiaoyi, Fu Shichun: "My father has given me full authority over this matter. This time we can show off our talents."
Zhang Fei smiled and said: "Then let's make a big deal and add some oil and water to our third government office."
Ma Xiaoyi eagerly said to Fu Shichun: "Brother Xiaochun, hurry up and finish writing the traffic regulations so that we can send them out."
Fu Shichun said depressedly: "So you came to me to do this job."
Ma Xiaoyi chuckled and said, "Writing is not our strong point."
Cao Dongdong said: "We have agreed in advance that our carriage will be four to eight."
Zhang Fei smiled and said: "This is not the final decision of the Yanei."
Two days later.
"Huh? Why are there so many people there?"
"Let's go over and take a look."
"Hey! What are you looking at?"
"Traffic regulations."
"What traffic laws?"
"This was just posted by the military patrol shop. It seems to be to improve the cleanliness of this street. From now on, all carriages, donkey carts, and ox carts must have license plates."
"What is this license plate?"
"See for yourself."
"Huh? What's that word?"
"Look carefully, those symbols correspond to one, two, three, four and five."
Fan Lou.
I saw a group of dandies gathered in front of the door, mouths full of greetings.
"That's unreasonable! What kind of bird guy came up with this idea? These carriages and horses still need to be licensed, and they have to pay twice a year. Why don't they rob them?"
"It's fair to ask for a cleaning fee for this cow-horse horse's dung. The most hateful thing is that this sedan also needs a license plate and a dignity fee. It's simply lawless!"
"The imperial court asked them to clean up the streets, but they actually found ways to make money. I can't get this license even if it kills me."
During this day, streets of all sizes were covered with notices for military patrols.
The core content is the car and horse license plates.
Horses, cars, even sedans must be registered. Otherwise, they will not be allowed to go on the streets. If caught, they will be fined heavily.
However, once licensed, you must pay an annual street cleaning fee.
But for public carriages and ox-carts, you only need to pay 500 cash per year.
And those trucks that pull goods only need to pay 500 cash per year.
The key is that for these private carriages, you have to pay two guan every year. But if your family has two, then congratulations, you have to pay 10 guan every year. If you have three cars, you have to pay 20 guan, and the amount can go up indefinitely.
Even the sedan has to be registered and paid for, four times a year.
In this way, all fools know that this is aimed at those dignitaries, wealthy businessmen and gentry.
How can ordinary people be qualified to go out in carriages?
The ministers immediately quit.
Good guy!
Let us pay?
Who gave you the courage?
We don’t even have to pay taxes, but they ask us to pay cleaning fees?
Are these three Yamen crazy?
Of course, some ministers applauded it.
For example, Wang Anshi.
"Wonderful! Wonderful!"
Wang Anshi took the notice and praised it repeatedly, "This guy Zhang San is really a talent. He actually wants to give cattle and horses a household in order to increase the financial resources of the inspection department."
This move is really to his liking.
The idea of reforming is exactly the same as his, which is to collect money from the rich and enrich the country.
Talent!
What a talent!
Lu Huiqing whispered: "Students think this is a good thing for us. Let's see how those dignitaries will respond. When the new law is promulgated, we will have a good idea."
Wang Anshi smiled and nodded: "As I thought, there is something good to watch now."
At this moment, a civil servant came to the door and said, "Let me tell you, Academician Wang. The officials have sent someone to ask Academician Wang to go to Chui Gong Hall immediately to discuss matters."
Wang Anshi laughed and said: "It's so quick to make trouble with the officials."
By the time Wang Anshi arrived at Chui Gong Hall, there was already a lot of noise inside.
He quietly entered the door and saw Gu Ji yelling angrily.
"Your Majesty, let alone those license plates that disrupt people's livelihood, where does the key inspection department have the power to legislate? They are committing the crime of exceeding the regulations."
Zhao Xu couldn't help but look at Cao Ping who was standing aside.
Cao Ping immediately said: "The number of carriages in this city is increasing day by day, which not only often causes traffic jams, but also increases in feces. However, the funds allocated by the imperial court for military patrols have not changed. Since you are concerned about the increase in feces, why not reduce the number of carriage trips? Or pay a cleanup fee.”
Censor Li Zhan immediately said: "Are you here to clean up the streets? You are obviously taking this opportunity to make money. Since you think that too many carriages lead to an increase in feces, why do you have to pay for sedans as well?"
Before Cao Ping could speak, Wang Anshi, who had just come in, immediately came out to make his presence felt, "Since ancient times, although princes are immoral, they have never dared to replace animals with humans. This sedan is inherently inhumane. It is perfectly reasonable to charge a dignity fee. I I feel like I received too little."
Sima Guang nodded and said: "Scholar Wang's words are reasonable. The use of humans and animals in this sedan chair is against the laws of nature and cannot reflect the benevolent politics of our dynasty. People who are not disabled should not ride in the sedan chair easily."
Lu Gongzhu, Wen Yanbo, Xu Zhongtu and others also came forward to support the collection of dignity fees.
It turns out that in the Tang Dynasty, this sedan was generally only used by princes and nobles for traveling, and officials could not easily ride in it. The sedan represented one's superiority and inferiority, but now this sedan has become popular.
But because it was just beginning to become popular, a large number of scholar-officials despised it.
Sima Guang and Wang Anshi also often rode in carriages, but never in sedan chairs, because they all thought it was too humiliating. Pulling people around was a job for animals, so how could they let people do it?
Of course, they didn't consider the feelings of the cows and horses.
When Li Zhan saw so many people objecting, he immediately said: "That's not what I meant. What I mean is that the inspection department does not have this power."
Cao Ping immediately said: "Your Majesty entrusted this matter to me, why don't I have this power?"
If he really wanted to discuss the matter, he really did not have the power. This involved laws and regulations, so he threw the blame directly to Zhao Xu.
Zhao Xu was very slippery, he pretended to be doubtful and said: "But me."
Cao Ping immediately said: "Your Majesty, this is actually my son's idea, and the reason why I agree is because he also thinks about the city's defense. This is my duty."
"For the sake of city defense?" Zhao Xu quickly asked, "How do you say this?"
Cao commented: "Giving license plates to chariots and horses can facilitate management in peacetime, and in the event of war, horses can be immediately recruited for military use and to protect the capital."
When the ministers heard this, they almost vomited blood. If we don't pay enough for love, we still have to raise horses for the country?
Why don't you go and grab it!
Zhao Xu immediately said: "This is a wonderful strategy. The capital is an important place and cannot be missed."
Isn't this talking about money?
Why are you talking about defending the capital?
This is too unreasonable.
Wang Anshi immediately stood up and said: "Your Majesty, I also believe that this strategy is successful."
Sima Guang, Wen Yanbo and others looked suspicious, but they didn't say anything.