The Shandong Noodle House in the north of the capital has become a must-go place for military generals to eat out. When military generals from other places come to Beijing, the first thing the local military generals treat them to is a meal of Shandong noodles.
From noon every day until just before the curfew in the evening, the noodle shop is bustling with people and there is no leisure time, especially the private room that Yun Xi used back then. If you want to eat in it, you have to book it three days in advance.
It was late in the morning, and there were only a few people eating noodles in the noodle shop. Tang Bohe was sitting in the front hall, making calculations.
A diner who had just ordered a bowl of Shandong Braised Noodles seemed to be an old acquaintance. He smiled at Tang Bohe and said, "Old Tang, how much did you earn yesterday?"
Tang Bohe also smiled and said: "How much can I earn? It's just to make a living."
"You still make a living? When your noodle shop is not free from morning to night, if you hadn't been unwilling to expand the noodle shop and just guarded such a small shop, you would have become one of the richest men in the capital." The diner. road.
Tang Bohe smiled and said nothing. The diner continued: "Besides, I don't think it is necessary for you to continue to run such a noodle restaurant. Your eldest son is already a hereditary Qianhu, and now he is serving in the army. Why do you continue to run such a noodle shop?" What’s a noodle shop for!”
Tang Bohe pointed to the upper right corner this time and said with a smile: "It's not because of the late emperor's order."
Diners don't have to look up to know what's on the upper right: a plaque with the four characters "Shandong Noodle House" signed by Zhu Hongwu. This is one of the reasons why his small noodle shop is so popular.
While they were chatting, a middle-aged man accompanied two people wearing dark blue police uniforms to the door of the noodle shop. Then the middle-aged man said something and walked in with the two policemen.
Tang Bohe looked up and saw these people. He immediately stood up and ran to the door. He smiled at the middle-aged man and said, "Chang Zhang, why do you have the time to come to my place today?"
Zhang Lichang also smiled and said: "Today I am accompanying the police to check the household registration. These two are the police from Jiangning County."
Tang Bohe immediately made a bow and said, "I have met these two bad men."
The two of them seemed to have heard of Shandong Noodle House. One of them said: "We can't be called lords. Just call us the police."
After some further concessions, the policeman asked: "How many people in the family do they do for a living?"
Tang Bohe said honestly: "There are eight people in total, we are two husband and wife, three sons, two daughters and the eldest daughter-in-law. But now the eldest son is working as a right guard in the government army and has already passed on."
As expected, these two policemen had heard of Shandong Noodle House, and they did not ask any more questions after hearing such an unreasonable thing.
Then he asked him to take out the house deed and land deed, look at it, and measure the dimensions.
The young policeman, who probably knew how to read with both hands, wrote something on a form, and then said: "Okay, there's nothing else to do. You're busy, we'll go to the next house."
Tang Bohe immediately took out a bunch of money and said with a smile: "You two have worked hard, this little money is not a sign of respect."
In fact, given the current situation of their family, the subordinates would not dare to take the initiative to ask for money; but Tang Bohe had been doing business all his life and felt that he would not feel at ease without giving some money, so he took the initiative to give some every time. Of course, the subordinates would not refuse. They all nodded and accepted.
But today is different. The two policemen said: "Dong Tang's family, our police officers are different from the subordinate officials in the past. We are all from good families and are not lowly servants. We don't like this."
If it were an ordinary family, they would have to give in a few times before they would anxiously keep the money. However, Tang Bohe knew his identity, so he only gave in once and then took the money. However, he was still curious and asked Zhang Li Zhang:
"Chang Zhang, are they not going to accept my money, or what?"
Zhang Lichang said: "Brother Tang, this is the sixth household here. The previous households didn't get any money."
Tang Bohe was a little confused: "Is there any unpaid servant in this world?"
Just as I was thinking about it, I suddenly heard a "bang bang bang bang" sound outside my door. I hurriedly went out to take a look and saw a policeman nailing a wooden sign to my door and using a fire to write the words on it.
It's Xiangfu Street, and below it is the Chinese character for eleven.
He looked in the direction they came from, and saw that every household had subscribed to this brand, and the numbers for each household were different. He thought to himself that this was good, since each household was numbered, and it would be easy to find them.
too much.
When he came back to pack his things, his wife Mo came out and asked, "Did anyone come just now?"
"Yes, the head of the store accompanied two police officers who came to inquire about the population. They also measured the dimensions of the store and checked the house deeds and land deeds." Tang Bohe replied.
"How much did you pay? Most people give you five hundred yuan, so we have to pay three hundred yuan anyway."
"The strange thing is that they didn't ask for a penny. And it wasn't our family that didn't ask for it, it was a row of businesses that didn't ask for it."
"Hey," Mrs. Mo was also surprised: "I heard that they are all military households. Because the emperor thought that the former subordinate officials were too corrupt, he transferred retired soldiers to serve as policemen and canceled their lowly status."
"It is certain that they are a little more restrained than the subordinate officials before. After all, they are military households, and if they are found out, their children's future will be affected. But they don't want any money? There are still such errands?"
"Perhaps it's because I have just started working as an errand, and Yingtian Mansion has just checked, so I don't dare to ask for it. Let's see if they will ask for money in another year and a half!"
…
…
In the evening, the three general judges in charge of the patrol police and Shangyuan, the county lieutenant of Jiangning County said to Huang Huai: "Master Fu Yin, the patrol police have completed the inspection of the whole city, the population has been censused again, and the house deeds have been re-measured.
Pass through to prevent unauthorized encroachment on the road."
"All private households, merchants, craftsmen's houses and brothels have been numbered, and all the streets and alleys that had no names before have been renamed."
"We have re-examined the refugees who slipped through the city's net. A total of more than 100 refugees have been caught. They have been sent to a place where beggars and refugees are temporarily housed, and are waiting to be sent to the northwest together."
…
Huang Huai listened to their reports one by one and finally said: "Okay, you have done a good job. In just these few days, you have re-examined the whole city. I will definitely mention this in the report to Your Majesty."
.”
Several people showed joy. Officials like them had very few opportunities to show their faces in front of His Majesty, and they could not perform alone. It was already very difficult for them that Huang Huai was willing to make a fortune.
After saying a few more words, Huang Huai said: "It's getting late today, so let's stop here. Come over at 9 o'clock tomorrow. I have a new mission from His Majesty."
Several people agreed and then left.
After they retreated, a man in police uniform walked up to him and said, "Master Fu Yin, the Jin Yiwei monitored the patrol officers today and found no money being accepted."
Huang Huai breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Fortunately, the atmosphere has finally been corrected. But it's hard to say what will happen in the future."
