Pawn Crossing the River

Early the next morning, everyone from the Taoist sect took a boat to the Jade Palace in Xuan Shang Beifang.

The Jade Emperor said it was not big, but compared with the Wanshou Chongyang Palace, the Wanxiang Taoist Palace, the Taiping Palace, and the Daxueshan Palace, it was indeed small. It can be said that it is small, but it is definitely not small. Placed in the imperial capital where every inch of land is precious, it is a well-deserved first palace. Many palaces are far inferior.

Such a huge Taoist temple will naturally not lack a place for each person to live. As a Taoist priest of the fourth grade offering wine, Qi Xuansu also has the position of director, so he was assigned to a separate courtyard, and there was also an exclusive Taoist priest who was responsible for taking care of his daily life. daily life.

Of course, if you are willing to buy a private house outside, the Imperial Capital Taoist Office will never stop you, let alone take back the allocated residence. However, the housing prices in Imperial Capital are astonishing. If you want to buy a house outside, I am afraid that not ordinary Taoist priests can do it.

Qi Xuansu has no idea of ​​going out to live for the time being, just because he is short of money. If he lives in the Jade Palace, he will not only save on rent, but also on daily expenses.

Then there is the job arrangement. In the past, although Qi Xuansu was the Taoist priest in charge, it was a false position. Because he had no specific subordinates and no specific responsibilities, he just had an empty name. But this time when he came to the Imperial Palace, his empty post became a real one, just like the Hanlin in the Hanlin Academy released local officials. Although the grades were equal, the actual power was not equal at all.

A poor Hanlin scholar, even a fourth-grade lecturer, relies on his salary to survive. If his family is not in a good situation, he may have to borrow money to survive. But the prefect of a place is also of the fourth grade, but he is known as "the prefect of Qing Dynasty in three years and one hundred thousand snowflakes of silver". The difference is huge, not even a little bit.

The same is true for today's Qi Xuansu. He used to be a bare-bones chief, but now he has become a real power chief, and he still prefers military positions.

The Taoist priests and spiritual officers of the Taoist sect are very similar to the officials and military generals of the previous dynasties. In the previous dynasty, the officials controlled the generals, while in the Taoist sect, the Taoist priests controlled the spiritual officers. In many cases, the spiritual officers charged into battle, but the Taoist priests were responsible for the command.

However, Taoist priests cannot be completely regarded as officials, because the Taoist priests themselves are even more powerful than spiritual officials. They are somewhat similar to the governors and admirals of the Daxuan court. The governors do not mean they are pure officials. Most governors are He is a man of both military and military skills who has become a general and a prime minister. It is undeniable that Taoist sects have had more and more flower garden Taoist priests in recent years, but the real people at the top level have still maintained considerable quality. They can sit down and talk about Taoism, write books and make expositions, and they can wield swords to kill enemies and strategize.

In addition to Shangsantang, local Taoist houses also have a certain number of spiritual officials, such as Kunlun Taoist House and Xiyu Taoist House. These two Taoist houses have more spiritual officials than other Taoist houses. In the local Taoist government, Taoist priests who can directly command the spiritual officials can belong to the "important positions". If a young man is placed in such a position, it means that he will be reused.

Qi Xuansu was assigned such duties at this time. He had two deacon Taoist priests and four fourth-grade spiritual officers under his command. Each fourth-grade spiritual officer had ninety-nine spiritual officers under his command, plus four fourth-grade spiritual officers. Four hundred people in total.

There are only so many people in some small gangs in the world, but these small gangs are just a ragtag group of people, and they cannot be compared with the elite spiritual officers of the Taoist sect.

After Qi Xuansu learned about the official appointment from Shi Bingyun, he was silent for a while, and then asked: "What are my specific responsibilities? The imperial capital has its own heavy soldiers to guard it, as well as major government offices, hidden dragons and crouching tigers. It seems that it is not our turn to guard it." Imperial Capital."

Shi Bingyun said: "The current situation in the Imperial Capital is that there are almost no major cases related to secret associations, and various small cases are almost constant every day. Major cases related to temples and court affairs are decided by His Majesty the Emperor, and it is not our turn. Even if the Taoist sect really needs to intervene, the Dazhen people will personally intervene. Other cases are handled by the Criminal Department, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the Dali Temple. There is no need for us to get involved, so we only have two responsibilities. The first is to arrest various evil cults hiding in the Imperial City, and the second is to correct some issues related to moral ethics. "

Qi Xuansu was not surprised or unfamiliar with the first one, but the second one made him confused: "Moral atmosphere?"

Shi Bingyun smiled when he heard this and said: "It seems that you have never stayed in a local Taoist government. Except for a few special Taoist houses such as Kunlun Taoist House and Xiyu Taoist House, this is the responsibility of almost all Taoist houses, similar to the Confucian sect back then. Maintain ethics."

Qi Xuansu immediately understood: "Although our Taoist sect criticizes the Confucian etiquette, saying that the etiquette imprisons thoughts and restrains people's hearts, we have to admit that there is no circle without rules. There must be a clear moral standard and law that cooperate with each other to restrain the world. , and carry it out with forceful means.”

Shi Bingyun nodded: "That's what I mean, so the local government has the responsibility to correct the moral atmosphere. I just handled a case not long ago, and it was called cultivating outstanding women. From appearance, posture, speech, dress to playing music and chess Calligraphy and painting are taught by dedicated people, and there are various strategies to attack men, how to judge the size of a man's property, etc. In fact, they are just like raising thin horses. This is a corrupt moral atmosphere, so I call this group of people They were all stripped of their clothes, put on coarse linen and linen clothes, and sent to work on the farms outside the city. This was to combat unhealthy tendencies and promote the thrifty virtues of Taishang Taozu."

Qi Xuansu asked a fatal question: "Raising thin horses is a bad moral custom, but what about prostitutes in the brothel? Is it a bad moral custom?"

Shi Bingyun was silent for a moment and said slowly: "This is our difficulty. In principle, this is true, but in reality, as long as it is approved by the court, we cannot force it. In the final analysis, the two This standard is inevitable and inevitable.”

Qi Xuansu sighed with emotion: "No wonder in the past, Confucianism was criticized. It was full of benevolence, righteousness and morality, but full of men stealing and women prostitutes."

Shi Bingyun sighed: "Whoever holds the position of co-owner of the world will be scolded."

Qi Xuansu asked again: "Where is the so-called limit of the court's permission?"

Shi Bingyun had a headache. This kid didn't seem to understand anything, and the questions he asked were more difficult than the last. It was not like someone who didn't understand could ask them. However, she still patiently explained: "The so-called Dinggu innovation, to put it bluntly, It is a profound qualitative change in the development process of economic material and world mentality. After Daxuan replaced Dawei, Dinggu reform was of course required. However, Dinggu reform was an extremely complicated process, filled with a lot of contradictions and struggles. There are ideological conflicts between the old and the old, conflicts of interests, etc. Many people who advocate innovation change their faces when it comes to their own interests. It can be said that you have me in you, and you have me in you, which makes innovative measures sometimes unsustainable. Don’t follow the authority, lest you cause irreparable mistakes by being too radical.”

"At this point, there are two extremely significant examples. One is to rectify eunuchs, and the other is to rectify prostitutes. The former is a torture of men, and the latter is a torture of women. Both of them should be completely abolished. Today we will not When talking about the former, I will only talk about the latter. In fact, before Emperor Gaozu entered the customs, he had already started trial implementation in the prefectures and counties of Liaodong. The reasons are very complicated. The main reason is of course not because of morality, but because of the situation in Liaodong at that time. Due to the lack of population, the shackles of ethics on women had to be lifted, allowing women to go out of the house and participate in various labors to make up for the lack of population. However, this reason cannot be put into words, so it is still nominally from a moral level. Promote and publicize.”

"After entering the customs and seizing the world, the banner of morality must continue to promote women's independence and autonomy. Then brothels must be banned. But the problem is that in reality, such places have a certain meaning of existence. , there are needs from both sides. It is not surprising that men have needs. However, some shameless women are used to living a wealthy life similar to that of rich girls. They think that they are born with capital, are indolent, and are unwilling to support themselves. They were willing to work but only wanted to sell their bodies. There were also many powerful figures who were secretly adding fuel to the flames and preaching that blocking was better than sparing. The key was that the main focus of the court at that time was on recovering the Western Regions, reforming the tax system, inventorying and measuring the world's land, and attacking the gentry. , rectifying the administration of officials, while the Taoist sect's main focus was on integrating the three internal Taoist sects, de-Confucianizing, suppressing the ancient immortals, developing creations, and responding to the challenges of Buddhism. It did not pay too much attention to this matter, so the brothel still remained. "

"If you failed to reform when you reestablished the new order, it will be difficult to reform in the future. However, the court did not do nothing. It regulated and rectified the remaining brothels. The reason why brothels are said to be places where women are tortured , because it is filled with a large number of illegal acts such as forcing girls into prostitution, human trafficking, lynching, and even killing people. Engaging in this kind of special business for many years will also greatly damage the body and mind of prostitutes, so the court targeted these few In this regard, special rectification has been carried out. All women engaged in such industries must have a license issued by the court, and brothels must also have a company licensed to operate them. The Jiaofang Department will come down every month to conduct inspections. If any of the above illegal activities are found, If found guilty, their relevant qualifications will be revoked immediately and the parties involved will be severely punished.”

"You just asked where the limit of the court's permission is, it lies in this book."

"In addition, since our Taoist sect established the Wanxiang Taoist Palace and started to adopt orphans, the good days of brothels spending a small amount of money to randomly adopt orphans from poor families are gone forever. In addition, people are not allowed to be bought and sold at will, and girls must be forced into prostitution. Due to the principle of women's consent and the naturally immoral status of brothels, which are considered low-class, the life of brothels is not very easy. Many small brothels have been closed. In other words, except for those unlicensed black shops. , The brothels that are still open for business all have big backgrounds and strong backers, and the forces behind them are intertwined, as can be seen from the fact that Zixian Mountain was involved in the second major Jiangnan case. "

Qi Xuansu said thoughtfully: "For example, let's take the Li family."

"You mean Li Qingnu." Shi Bingyun smiled, "In my opinion, she is not a prostitute. She is famous in Beijing for her singing and dancing music, but she still retains her virginity. If you were from the Li family, Are you willing to let her flatter you and make fun of her? And she still bears the surname of the Li family. This is the surname of Taishang Daozu and Xuansheng. Without such abuse, the Li family would not make such bad money. In fact, the Li family wants to create. It is possible to make a name for yourself and maintain a high position, and then donate to the emperor in the future. However, considering that the emperor is old and may not be interested in women, the Li family may also take her. Staying in the Li family and being treated as a foster daughter is something no one can predict. "

Qi Xuansu couldn't help but sigh, it turned out that the water inside was so deep, Shi Bingyun didn't look very reliable, but after all, it was the junior sister who once competed with Master Cihang. Her words came into the room, and he suddenly understood.

After Shi Bingyun finished explaining, he assigned specific tasks to Qi Xuansu: "In addition to familiarizing yourself with the situation in the Imperial Capital, your task in the past month is to conduct special investigations and rectifications on the moral atmosphere, and to be a moral defender."

Qi Xuansu suddenly asked: "By the way, Master Shi, does the old Qin you mentioned have such an industry?"

Shi Bingyun laughed dumbly: "With me watching from the side, I'm sorry he doesn't have the guts yet."