Xia Hu looked at the passers-by quietly with a soft smile.
Although they are strangers to each other, Xia Hu believes that she and these passers-by are destined to be together.
She adjusted her breath, saw the right moment, and called out affectionately:
"Newly picked oranges are still sweet!"
Pedestrians passing by stopped from time to time and came up to ask the price.
This is a market in Qiancheng Kingdom, but it is not a market that Qiancheng people are familiar with.
This is the so-called civilian city.
After Shenjun issued the edict allowing private sales and purchases, the first civilian market was opened.
In the past, to sell oranges, you had to sell them to the market in Anshi Yamen for two cents per catty. One hundred catties of oranges could be sold for two hundred cents. After deducting the money, there were nearly sixty cents left. This is the income from one hundred catties of oranges.
.
But if you buy oranges from the market in Anshi Yamen, they cost five cents per catty, and one hundred catties of oranges can be sold for five hundred cents. Anshi Yamen earns exactly the price difference.
The citizens sold the oranges directly without going through the Anshi Yamen. A pound of oranges cost three cents, and a hundred pounds of oranges sold for three hundred cents. According to the stipulations in the imperial edict, only 30% of the silver tax was paid. After all, you can earn 210 cents.
Buyers get a good deal, and sellers get a good deal too, and the market becomes hot instantly.
The business in Anshi Yamen was deserted.
The market has been open for three days, but not a single deal has been made.
The government officials were busy in various shops, and the government offices in various departments were jumping with anxiety.
Does this matter have anything to do with them?
Anshi Yamen is subordinate to the Department of Household Affairs and seems to be only related to the Department of Household Affairs.
This is wrong. Only half of the income of Anshi Yamen is put into the treasury, and the remaining half is included in the subsidies of each Yamen.
Anshi Yamen has lost its business, and the subsidies from various ministries and Yamen have also disappeared.
From the first-rank three ministers to the ninth-rank officials, all those with official status are enjoying money from the Anshi Yamen. They can't figure out why the Lord God issued this decree.
This decree is of no benefit to anyone, except those scoundrels.
The Secretary of the Ministry of Hubu bravely submitted a memorial, denounced the disadvantages of private sales, and the memorial totaled more than 20 pages, and more than 600 people from various ministries supported it.
But the memorial that was handed over was like a stone sinking into the sea, and there was no reply.
Hong Zhenji also did not go to court, and the ministers cried and complained. Even Kong Zhongshen, the usually calm Taishi, often lamented: "If things go on like this, the country will be in trouble, and a great disaster will surely happen in a thousand years!"
The Lord of Gods ignored it and simply took action himself!
The Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Punishment took the lead in joining forces to establish the Anshi Prosecution Department to maintain market order.
This is the power given to various ministries by the Qiancheng Law. When encountering special events, various ministries and yamen can jointly set up similar temporary agencies to deal with them accordingly.
The Ministry of Household Affairs has appointed six cadres, who are mainly responsible for supervision, and those who find faults. The Ministry of Punishments has appointed twenty cadres, who are mainly responsible for punishments, and those who are responsible for destroying stalls.
The Anshi Procuratorate entered Minshi and found faults first.
The faults are easy to find. The vegetable sellers are placed in the wrong place, and the cloth sellers don't pay enough.
The rice seller must have mixed it with sand. You said there is no sand? Pour it on the ground and check it out!
The pottery seller must have cracks. You said there are no cracks? If it breaks, let’s take a look!
The originally bustling civilian market was disturbed by this group of people. The buyers ran away and the sellers knelt down and begged for mercy.
A nurse came to Xia Hu's stall and crushed two oranges under his feet. He turned around and said to the Xingbu official: "She sells rotten oranges."
The official of the Ministry of Punishment shouted: "What's going on? You dare to sell rotten oranges in the market? Do you still have the law in your eyes? Come with me to the Yamen, take the money jar and confiscate it!"
Xia Hu stood up and smiled at Teruma: "You are the one who creates trouble."
Teruma said angrily: "What do you mean by this? I have wronged you."
Xia Hu turned around and looked at the official of the Ministry of Punishment again: "You specialize in beating people."
The Yamen shouted: "What's the matter? Don't you accept it? You are talking nonsense, you come to the Yamen."
Xia Hu smiled and said: "It's easy to go to the Yamen, but what to do with the remaining oranges?"
Teruma said angrily: "What you sell are all rotten oranges. Naturally, they will be confiscated and investigated. This is all evidence!"
"But my orange is rich!"
The officer was stunned for a moment and said in astonishment: "What a gangster, do you really know how to live and die?"
Xia Hu rolled up her sleeves and said, "You stepped on these oranges today, so you have to buy them all."
The officer was startled, took a step back and said, "You, what do you want to do?"
boom!
Xia Hu punched the Yamen Chai on the nose, and the nose bone was immediately broken: "Do you want to buy this orange or not?"
"Mom!" The official cried on the spot, sat on the ground, and howled loudly.
Zhao Mo shouted angrily: "Beat the officer in the street, you are rebelling..."
Xia Hu punched back and hit Zhao Mo on the nose, breaking the nose bone.
"Rebellion, there is going to be a rebellion..." Teruma didn't call her mother, but she cried louder than Yachai.
Xia Hu stepped forward and kicked him: "I ask you whether you want to buy the orange or not?"
"Buy, buy, no matter how much you say, I'll buy it." Teruma cried, covering her face.
Xia Hu pointed at the oranges and said, "If you buy them to eat, it costs three cents per catty. If you buy them to step on, they cost three hundred taels each. If you crush two, take six hundred taels of silver first."
Six hundred taels!
The Yamen looked at Xia Hu in shock.
This woman's hands are so ruthless, she's almost as good as the Minister of Punishment.
Teruma cried: "We don't have so much money..."
"How dare you step on my oranges if you don't have money? Are such good oranges just for you to step on?"
Xia Hu raised his foot and stepped on the heads of Zhao Mo and Ya Chai one by one.
Hearing the cries in this room, the remaining Zhaomo and Yamen people gathered around him. Xia Hu rolled up his sleeves and punched each one in turn, beating them hard in turn.
Chen Zhengming looked on with some worry: "Madam, you have a strong hand, don't beat people to death."
Zhang Shifeng handed over an iron rod: "That's right, madam, you'd better use this to hit me."
Xia Hu took the iron rod and pushed it down. One of the officials twitched twice and stopped moving.
Ning Yongwei said from the side: "No, this is not possible, madam, you can't hit the vital points, wouldn't this kill the person?
In this way, I will tie them up and hang them on a tree to keep them from moving around, and then you can beat them after you spot them."
Several judges hung six Zhaomo and twenty Yamen officials on the tree and beat Xia Hu for half an hour.
This incident spread in Shenlin City. The Ministry of Husbandry and the Ministry of Punishment went to Minshi to cause trouble and were hanged from a tree and beaten by a female hero.
The Secretary of the Ministry of Finance sent more than a dozen memorials to this issue, but Shenjun did not respond.
Zhang Jingwen, the Minister of the Ministry of Justice, heard that the woman was selling oranges in the civilian market again, and had gathered more than 100 people from all over the country. He also borrowed more than 100 war horses from the Ministry of War, and was led by Lu Zhongyuan, a doctor in the Ministry of Justice.
Duo Yachai rode a war horse, mounted a long sword, and went to the civilian market with great momentum.
Before leaving, Zhang Jingwen told him: "Don't hold back. If you see someone in the market, beat him to death. If you really beat someone to death, I will take care of it!"
They went there at noon and came back before dusk.
Lu Zhongyuan knelt in front of Zhang Jingwen, the Minister of Punishment, and described what happened.
"This group of gangsters is too insidious. Before we even reached the civilian market, they launched a sneak attack. They all have weapons, they colluded with each other, and they all have serious crimes...
…”
Lu Zhongyuan's teeth were broken several times, and his speech was a bit leaky.
Zhang Jingwen gritted his teeth and said, "Where's the horse?"
Lu Zhongyuan puffed up his chest and said: "It was robbed by a gangster." (It was robbed by a gangster)
"Where's the weapon?"
"It was also rang by the line gangster."
Zhang Jingwen stared and said, "You're back like this?"
Lu Zhongyuan said with an angry look: "At first they refused to let me go, but then we fought hard and fought our way out, and then we came back..."
Zhang Jingwen kicked Lu Zhongyuan down and was so angry that he could not speak for a while.
Where did such a group of thugs come from?
Do you still dare to rebel under the emperor's feet?
Zhang Jingwen was going to the palace to ask for an explanation, but suddenly he saw the housekeeper coming to report in a hurry: "Sir, it's bad, Mr. Junyuan has been arrested."
Zhang Jingwen shouted angrily: "Who caught him?"
Zhang Junyuan, Zhang Jingwen’s sixth son.
In Shenlin City, unless the Lord Shen takes action personally, only the Ministry of Punishment will arrest others, and I have never heard of anyone daring to arrest the son of the Minister of Punishment.
The housekeeper lowered his voice and said, "It was the Shenji Division who caught him."
"Why are they arresting people?"
"They said that the young master was teasing a woman in the street, and he was locked up on the spot."
"Insulting a woman? How can my son do such a thing..." Zhang Junyuan swallowed it up mid-sentence.
This is really something Zhang Junyuan can really do.
But why does Shenjisi care about this matter?
Although the Divine Machinery Division has been rebuilt, and although it has added the responsibility of supervising all officials, in the final analysis, isn't it still doing the dirty work for the Divine Lord?
Is this an order from the Lord God?
Zhang Jingwen did not dare to neglect and quickly sent someone to the Shenji Division to inquire about the situation.
The Shenji Division had just been rebuilt, and Zhang Jingwen didn't know anyone from the chief to the lieutenant below. His men left and found nothing.
In desperation, Zhang Jingwen bit the bullet and went to the Shenji Division in person to ask for a meeting with the new chief Hua Hongxiao.
Hua Hongxiao was recommended by Prince Hong Huaheng and was said to be a capable person with both ability and political integrity.
But even if he is recommended by the prince, this is against the rules. The head of the Shenji Division is a first-rank official. This person named Hua Hongxiao has never been an official before. How can he become a first-rank official as soon as he enters the official career?
The officials were quite critical of this, but Hong Huaheng handed over the memorial recommending him, and he was approved the next day.
Since the Lord Shen agreed, the officials did not dare to say anything, so Hua Hongxiao officially took office. On the same day, he appointed several lieutenants and ministers.
Zhang Jingwen has not seen the chief minister since the Shenji Division was rebuilt. Today, he visited for the first time, but it was for this kind of thing.
Zhang Jingwen waited in the foyer for a long time, and a captain of Shenji took him to the prison.
In the cell, Zhang Junyuan was beaten with bruises all over his body. He lay on the ground and wailed at Zhang Jingwen: "Dad, save me, I don't dare to do it anymore..."
Never again.
He really did something wrong.
But what can I do if I commit a crime?
Zhang Jingwen gritted his teeth and said, "You just arrest people, why do you beat them like this?"
The captain laughed and said, "Master Shangshu, are you here to reason with me at the Shenji Division?"
"Why can't you be reasonable?" Zhang Jingwen said angrily, "This is my son, a tall and fleshy child, why should he be beaten like this by you!"
The school captain frowned and said, "Your son has a long body. Is it possible that this girl was grown from the soil? I was treated lightly by this scoundrel on the street. How should I settle the score?"
"I have nothing to settle with you!" Zhang Jingwen showed the majesty of a second-grade official, "I asked you to come to see me, and I must explain this matter clearly!"
The captain shook his head and said, "My Lord, I don't want to see you now."
"Then when does he want to meet?"
"When I want to see you, I'm afraid you will have to come in to accompany your son."
"You still dare to arrest me?" Zhang Jingwen was very disdainful.
The lieutenant lowered his face and said, "Why should I arrest you? The Lord God ascended the throne and opened a civilian market, but you lead people to cause trouble. Not to mention arresting you, how about even killing you?"
Zhang Jingwen said righteously: "I sent people to Minshi to arrest unscrupulous merchants!"
The captain couldn't help but laugh again: "Master Shangshu, you are really a reasonable person. Please keep this fallacy in your heart. When you get to the prison tomorrow, you will explain it again slowly."
Zhang Jingwen pursed his lips, and layers of cold sweat broke out on his back.