Sima Xin, the prison officer of Xianyang Nan City, returned to his home near the north bank of Weiqiao after a tiring day. He stretched out his hands, closed his eyes slightly, and allowed his maid to take off his Xie Zhi crown and black official uniform.
When he put on his regular clothes and walked into the inner room, he saw his wife, Mrs. Cao, coaxing her son.
"Don't cry, don't cry, try what is this?"
The child, who was crying and fussing at first, was handed the small lacquer bowl to his mouth by Mrs. Cao. After taking a sip, his eyes widened, and then his tears turned into laughter, babbling, waving his hands, and still drinking.
Normally, this child would only be so happy if he had to eat honey juice and sweetmeats.
Sima Xin smiled, went over and took his son into his arms, first he raised him high, and then he couldn't help but kiss his tender face with his prickly beard, making his son cry again.
After Mr. Cao took his son over, he looked at the reddish-brown soup in the lacquer bowl, sniffed it, and frowned: "What is this?"
"It's something fresh that my concubine went out to buy this morning. It's called brown sugar."
Mrs. Cao handed the child to her maid and began to talk about the new things that were popular in Nanshi these days.
"Honey is expensive. Good Zhongnanshan honey costs seven to eight hundred yuan per pound! Although the sweetmeat is cheaper, it's not sweet enough..."
The reason why these desserts are so expensive is because Qin Dynasty announced after Shang Yang's reform: "The price of wine and meat is high, the rent is high, and the simplicity is ten times the price." Raising the price of luxury goods can not only inhibit merchants, but also save money.
food.
Honey and glutinous rice are also considered luxuries, especially glutinous rice made from malt and glutinous rice, which is considered a waste of food like wine.
But thinking about it conversely, if you can get permission to sell it, molasses can also become a huge profit!
Rich households in Xianyang have been complaining about the price of molasses for more than a day or two. Now there is suddenly a cheap substitute. How can we not like it?
Mrs. Cao seemed to have taken advantage of it, and said to her husband: "But brown sugar is not the same. It only costs four hundred yuan per pound, and we sell more."
Four hundred yuan is already one and a half months' salary for a small official who fights for food. Ordinary families can only stay away from brown sugar.
But for the Sima Xin family, a "rich family" with generations of military aristocrats and a net worth of millions, brown sugar is a good thing with high quality and low price.
In the past ten days, thousands of kilograms of brown sugar have been sold to many similar wealthy households, which has led to the recent lack of interest in the candy.
"I really don't know how this brown sugar is made. I've never seen it before." Ms. Cao finally finished her chatter, but she still had more to say.
After Sima Xin listened quietly, he asked his wife to put his son to sleep, and then said to her: "Today, someone reported to the city clerk that the price of brown sugar is different, the production method is questionable, and eating it may be harmful."
"scare!"
Mrs. Cao was shocked, and hurriedly ran to shake her son awake. She also wanted to squeeze his throat and spit out the sugar water he drank. While struggling, she cried and cursed: "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
Sima Xin stopped her and said with a smile: "This case is under the jurisdiction of the Nan City prison officer. I have asked my subordinates to order Shi to conduct a thorough investigation. It was found that the people who reported the report were all honey and candy vendors, or they were jealous and reported too much."
This is untrue. Some historians have also eaten brown sugar, and there is no difference. As for why the sweetness far exceeds that of glutinous rice and can be compared with honey, the city man Yan from Nanjun explained that it is because the production method is different from that of glutinous rice.
Weird, it’s not food..."
After hearing this, Ms. Cao felt relieved and said curiously: "So, wouldn't those who raised the issue be falsely accused and turned away?"
"It's not that simple."
Sima Xin asked his wife to close the door and whispered to her: "Nanshi honey is mostly produced from Zhongnan Mountain, and is secretly managed by the fifth doctor Shi. As for the glutinous rice cake, it is also made from the wheat grown by Zuo Shu Changmai.
, these two companies have been doing this for more than ten years, and it has become the default practice of the stores."
"Last month, those Nanjun merchants suddenly came in and squeezed into the shops with brown sugar, making it difficult to sell honey and sweetmeats. How could Shi and Mai not be annoyed? Those city people were just instigated by two families!
"
"I see."
Mrs. Cao was a little surprised. She never thought that there was such a deep entanglement behind the simple molasses.
"Then what do you plan to do?"
Ms. Cao has been married to Sima Xin for many years, and she knows that he has always walked carefully between the laws of the country and human relationships.
Sima Xin said: "Let's put it aside for a moment, Mr. Shi, although the descendants of Mr. Mai's family do not have high-ranking officials with real power, their titles are not low. They are not something that a small official like me can afford to offend."
Cao said worriedly: "Are you going to bend the law for personal gain? Don't be caught by the censor..."
"That's what I'm worried about."
Sima Xin showed hesitation: "If they are ordinary businessmen, they will be wronged if they are wronged. Even if they beg Xianyang Cheng, I can suppress them. If they fail, I can also refer them to the Lingshi who will review the case."
"But the strange thing about this matter is that the businessmen from Anlu in Nan County have a mysterious background. They must have the confidence to dare to do business in Xianyang, but no matter how Ling Shi asked, they refused to tell the people behind it. Yue
This is the case, the more I am afraid, what if I offend someone important, it will be terrible..."
Therefore, Sima Xin often scolded Shi, Mai and their merchants for forgetting their wisdom. Perhaps they were used to bullying small traders for more than ten years, and ended up throwing all the problems on their heads. I really thought that they usually
How can you secretly give sugar and honey to officials so that you can protect them in everything?
Sima Xin didn't want to coddle them anymore, so he decided to postpone the case until he could find out the forces behind those Nanjun merchants. The safest way would be to write a love letter and send it to Nanjun for questioning.
However, when he and his wife were about to fall asleep, a servant knocked on the door and said that Dong Jun had sent his brother to deliver a letter to Sima Xin.
Sima Xin got up and got dressed angrily: "This Dong Yi, what kind of letter are you sending in the middle of the night?"
Mrs. Cao was sleeping drowsily on the side, and muttered: "Perhaps after finishing the stay, it's finally my turn to take a rest, and I invite you to have a drink again."
"That's right. After Zhang Shaorong left, I didn't get together with him for a long time."
Sima Xin, Zhang Han, and Dong Yi were both from Xiayang in the internal history, and were of similar age. The three of them almost joined the army. Zhang Han and Dong Yi had better family backgrounds, so after a few years of enlisting in the army, they were selected as palace ministers. Only Sima Xin
He followed the promotion path of a junior official and managed to get into the position of official official and prison officer of Xianyang Nan City.
The three of them have always had a very good relationship, more like brothers than brothers. Unfortunately, after Zhang Han was released, they got together less often.
However, when Sima Xin opened the letter with a curse, his eyes widened!
This is not a letter from Dong Yi, but a letter delivered on behalf of someone else!
Sima Xin calmed herself down, walked to the candle and looked at it carefully, but saw a line of words written at the beginning of the slip:
"Zhong Lang Hu ordered Hei Fu to pay my respects again!"
…
Sima Xin was stunned for a while when he saw this name.
No matter how ignorant he is, it is impossible for him not to know that the emperor ordered his ministers to "discuss titles" a few days ago, so he naturally knows who the two people who have attracted the limelight are.
"This black husband has gained the emperor's trust and love recently..."
Looking further down, I found that it was full of unimportant content.
The lieutenant-in-law Hu Ling talked at length about his "long admired reputation" for Sima Xin. He said that he often heard his friend Zhang Han and his subordinate Dong Yi mention Sima Xin's proficiency in laws and regulations, his strict handling of cases, and his admiration for him. He came to
After Xianyang, he was promoted by the emperor and had to live in the palace of Wei. He was unable to make friends with Sima Xin.
"Strict handling of cases? Fair enforcement of law?" Sima Xin felt something was wrong and asked himself. He had just graduated from school and put on the Xiechi crown, and this was indeed the case.
But slowly, he discovered that even in Xianyang under the emperor's feet, there were many shadows that could not be illuminated by laws and regulations.
There are too many powerful people here, and the social relations are complicated. Although even the princes and grandsons do not dare to openly bully men and dominate women, small violations of the rules and laws do happen from time to time...
The fairness of Qin's laws is relative. When the status of the two parties is very different, the laws and regulations often fail to work.
After being soaked in the big dye vat of Xianyang for a long time, Sima Xin also became sophisticated and tactful, and began to turn a blind eye to some cases.
He shook his head and continued to look down.
Heifu finally came to the topic, saying that he finally got some rest now, and hoped that after Sima Xin finished his official duties, the two of them could have a gathering and get to know each other under the introduction of Dong Yi.
The letter ended with: "A few gifts from my hometown are not respectful..."
The letter was written in a humble manner, and it stated that he wanted to make friends with him by name. Sima Xin was flattered and quickly asked his servant to pass the small box that was brought along to him.
He waved the servant down and carefully opened the lacquer box, but he almost bit his tongue!
What was placed inside was nothing else but a piece of reddish-brown brown sugar! It was exactly the same as the candy his wife bought to feed his son!
"That's right!"
Looking at the letter and then at the piece of brown sugar, Sima Xin suddenly realized.
"Zhonglang Hu Lingheifu is from Anlu, Nanjun!"
"Those merchants selling brown sugar are also from Anlu County!"
…
Half an hour later, Sima Xin, who was enjoying the cool breeze in the yard and thinking about his life for half the night, finally got back into the warm bed.
After a long silence, he hugged his wife Cao, who was sleeping in a daze, and whispered something in his ear that completely woke her up.
"Tomorrow, I will handle the case impartially! Clear the grievances of Anlu merchant Jiayan!"