The carriage of Chen Lifu and his entourage swayed in the cold wind. After walking for more than an hour, they arrived outside Jinling City. When they arrived outside Jinling City, Chen Lifu looked out of the window of the carriage and saw
A group of young men were building a road in the cold wind. Looking into the distance, there were probably no less than a thousand young men building the road. They extended from here to near the city wall, and there were also a large number of young men in the ditch in the distance.
Ditches are being dug.
Beside these young men, there were puppet Tang thieves holding swords and spears to supervise and guard them.
Seeing this scene, Chen Lifu immediately frowned, and then murmured: "The harsh government, just after seizing Jiangnan, they are going to build a lot of construction projects!"
After sighing, he simply asked the groom to pull up the curtains in front of the carriage, and then continued to look forward.
This place is not far from the city gate. Looking from a distance, there is a large group of people at the city gate waiting to enter the city. On top of the city, many pseudo-Tang soldiers can be vaguely seen patrolling the city.
Many heavy cannons were placed.
The carriage continued to move forward. The closer it got to the city gate, the more people and carriages were on the official road. By the time it was tens of meters away from the city gate, it had become overcrowded. A large group of people in front were queuing slowly.
Entering the city, there were many patrol policemen in black uniforms on both sides to maintain order.
In addition, you can also hear someone at the city gate occasionally saying loudly: "After entering the city, you must observe order. You are not allowed to litter, urinate or urinate anywhere, and you are not allowed to cross the road arbitrarily. Violators will be severely punished!"
However, the convoy of Chen Lifu and his entourage also stopped in the crowd. At this time, without Chen Lifu's instructions, the housekeeper had already come forward with a boy, preparing to speak to the patrolman guarding the city gate and let them enter the city first.
Their master is a Jinshi, how can he wait in line with those mud-legged people? This is disgraceful!
After the butler came forward and explained his purpose, the patrol police on the side did not stop him or ask for a bribe. Instead, he pointed to the small door next to him and said: "That's the express lane over there. If you don't want to queue, just go in there."
!”
Upon hearing this, the housekeeper turned his head and looked around. Sure enough, the outside of the city gate was separated by several wooden fences. The other two were ordinary passages. People had to go through a search and queue up to enter the city. There was another passage.
There is no one.
But when he walked in and took a look, there was a sign with a line of big words on it: "Express lane, skip the line, one or two per person!"
Seeing this, the housekeeper had a strange expression on his face, but naturally he did not dare to say anything in front of the patrol officer. He immediately walked back quickly and reported it to Chen Lifu.
When Chen Lifu heard this, he thought that entering the city cost one tael of silver per person, and for their group of fifteen people, wouldn't it cost fifteen taels of silver?
Although the Chen family is a gentry family, they couldn't help but be stunned when they heard this figure. This fake Tang thief is crazy about money.
But it was absolutely impossible for him, a dignified scholar, to line up with those mud-legged people to enter the city, not to mention that he also had his wife and little sister with him.
He immediately said: “Let’s take the express lane into the city!”
After hearing this, the housekeeper nodded, and was about to pay the fee to enter the city. At this time, a carriage next to him was also heading towards the express lane, but when he got there, he was stopped. A tall follower appeared outside the carriage.
People muttered: "Why can't we, the Wang family and even the famous Liyang family, take this fast road?"
Unexpectedly, the patrolman sneered: "You can't even get out a few taels of silver, but you're from a distinguished family. If you don't want to pay, just go aside and line up!"
Not long after, the carriage obediently walked to the side and queued up. It cost one tael of silver per person to enter the city, which was really not cheap. Besides, queuing only meant waiting an extra quarter of an hour.
It’s not worth spending several extra taels of silver just to wait for a mere quarter of an hour!
Chen Lifu shook his head slightly. Although he felt obedient, he felt that what the patrolman said was quite reasonable, and it was just a few taels of silver.
After the housekeeper came forward and handed over a full fifteen taels of silver, the Chen family and his entourage entered the city directly through the expressway amidst the envy and admiration of many people. Some others exclaimed: "This is that big family, darling."
, that’s fifteen taels of silver, and it was given out in the blink of an eye!”
"I just heard the housekeeper say that this is the Chen family in Jinling East. Otherwise, how could an ordinary family have such style!"
"The Dongchen family is the Chen family that has three Jinshi in one discipline?" Someone else exclaimed: "No wonder, no wonder..."
After hearing these words, Chen Lifu's little depression caused by giving him fifteen taels of silver disappeared without a trace in an instant. It seemed that the money was not spent in vain!
After entering the city, Chen Lifu simply sat on the front side of the carriage and looked at the streets and shops of Jinling City, because as soon as he entered the city, he discovered that Jinling City seemed different from before.
The street is still the same as before, and the shops on both sides of the street have not changed much, but it is very strange and gives him a feeling of great change.
This is because the street is extremely clean, with no littering garbage or debris. The shops on both sides of the street and the streets that were illegally occupied have also disappeared.
The whole street looks like it gives people a refreshing feeling!
What's also quite strange is that he didn't see any beggars or homeless people on the streets.
You know, even though Jinling City is one of the most prosperous cities in the south of the Yangtze River, beggars are still indispensable. Especially in winter, homeless beggars with no food or clothing can be seen everywhere on the streets and corners. In late winter, beggars and homeless people are often found.
Freeze to death.
But now, he didn't see any of them!
With doubts, Chen Lifu continued to look at the scene of Jinling City.
When the convoy passed an intersection with a lot of people and horse-drawn carriages, they found a patrolman in the middle of the intersection maintaining order. When pedestrians and horse-drawn carriages moved forward at one intersection, people at the other three intersections were stopped.
After passing through this one after another, the Chen family's motorcade only spent a short time waiting to pass, which was unimaginable in the past.
Well, in the past, the Chen family's team could rush through without waiting, because they were the Chen family's team. But if it were an ordinary carriage, it would probably have to wait for a long time, and there were also many carriages and horses.
, accidents between pedestrians.
Jinling City is a bit big, and his old friend's house is a little far away from the city gate where he enters the city, so he first sent his wife and little sister to his wife's natal home, and then continued to his old friend's house with a few entourages.
.
After walking for a long time, we finally arrived at my old friend's house.
This old friend of his, named Zhong Cai, was his classmate and friend, and he was also his senior in the examination room. He was a sergeant one level ahead of him, but like him, he was also dismissed from office because of the impeachment of an important minister, but Chen
Lifu impeached Yan Song, while Zhong Cai impeached Wang Yiqi.
As a result, these two men were dismissed from office within a month of each other!
Speaking of which, they are all unlucky children. They tried to impeach an important minister to make a name for themselves but failed, but they ended up being dismissed from office. It makes me sad to talk about it.
Soon, all the fellow sufferers were seated together. At this time, Chen Lifu couldn't help but ask about the situation in the city.
Although Chen Lifu also subscribed to the Tang Dynasty Newspaper and was a loyal reader of the Datang Dynasty Newspaper, the things mentioned in the Datang Dynasty Newspaper were generally major events and he would not talk about ordinary small details.
Therefore, he could only hear about many things about the Tang Dynasty. What's more, he was also very confused about whether he would encounter many things when entering the city.
"Although this fast track is convenient for the gentry like us, it is indeed unfair. I have never heard that Li Tang has such a thing!" After the two talked, Chen Lifu asked.
road.
After hearing this, Zhong Cai chuckled: "As far as Brother Wei knows, this city entry fee did not exist before. It was only implemented in our Jinling City in the past few days. Ordinary people can enter the city without paying through ordinary city gates.
, and if you don’t want to queue, you can spend a small amount of money and take the express lane into the city.
As for why this fast track is set up, it is naturally to make money!"
"Making money?" Chen Lifu suddenly looked puzzled: "The taxes in Li and Tang Dynasties were unprecedented in all dynasties. It is said that the taxes in Li and Tang Dynasties can reach more than 10,000 taels a year. The taxes are so heavy that
People's livelihood is difficult, why do they still have no money after such heavy taxes, and why do they do such small things to make money?"
After hearing this, Zhong Cai smiled slightly: "Li Tang charges a lot of money, but they also spend a lot of money. It is said that the army's military expenditure alone is more than ten million taels a year, and the navy's several hundred more."
Wan, and they also have a Guards. After this year, how can the more than 10 million taels of silver collected be enough? I don’t know about the others, but I have a classmate from the past who works in Li Tang’s Ministry of Rites. He said that they
My yamen often owed salary. In order to raise office funds, they set up a royal publishing house to compile and print books for sale. They also said that without this royal publishing house, most of the officials in their etiquette department would have to drink northwest wind!"
"So serious?" Chen Lifu said: "It doesn't look like it. Not long ago, I heard that Li Tang established the Capital Patrol Bureau to recruit 500 patrol officers at one time, and these were all paid!
"
Zhong Cai said: "It's true at this time. I have a son who also applied for the exam and passed the exam. Although this patrolman is suspected of being a former government official, the official system of Li and Tang Dynasty is a bit special. This patrolman also has an official status, the lowest level.
The patrol policemen are from the ninth grade. As for why the Jingshi Patrol Bureau recruits so many patrolmen, it is naturally because there are not so many people. In such a big Jinling City, the few hundred patrolmen in this area are probably not enough. As for how much money is used to support them?
They, I think, Brother Chen should be able to guess it too!"