Qin Official

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 entered the inner room, he saw his wife Cao Shi 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.

On weekdays, this child would only be so happy if he had to eat honey juice and sweetmeats.

Sima Xin smiled, and went over to hug his son into his arms. He first raised him high, and then kissed his tender face involuntarily 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. After sniffing it, he frowned and said, "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 novel 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: "Brown sugar is not the same. It only costs four hundred yuan per pound, and we sell more."

Four hundred yuan, this 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 sweets.

"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 listening quietly, Sima Xin 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 Nanshi 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 is far better than that of glutinous rice flour, 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 flour. Weird, it’s not food..."

After hearing this, Mrs. 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 store."

"Last month, those Nanjun merchants suddenly came in and squeezed into the market with brown sugar, making it difficult to sell honey and sweetmeats. How could the Shi family and the Mai family 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 national law and human feelings.

Sima Xin said: "Let's put it aside and take a look. Although the children of the Shi family and the Mai 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 is that the businessmen from Anlu in Nanjun are confused. 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 being ignorant of their own interests. Probably because they have been used to bullying small traders for more than ten years, and ended up throwing all the problems on them. I really thought that they would You secretly give sugar and honey to officials, so you can protect them in everything?

Sima Xin didn't want to spoil them anymore, so he decided to postpone the case until he could find out the forces behind the Nanjun merchants. The safest thing 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 and said, "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 Xiu Mu's turn, and I invite you to have a drink again."

"That's right. After Zhang Shaorong left, he and I didn't get together for a long time."

Sima Xin, Zhang Han, and Dong Yi were both from Xiayang in the Neishi Dynasty. They were similar in age, and the three of them almost joined the army. Because Zhang Han and Dong Yi had better family backgrounds, they were selected to serve as princes in the palace a few years after joining the army. Only Sima Xin took the promotion path of a minor 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 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 again, and saw a line at the beginning of the slip:

"Zhong Lang Hu ordered Hei Fu to pay his 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. 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 rambled on about his "long-admired reputation" for Sima Xin, saying that he often heard his friend Zhang Han and his subordinate Dong Yi mention Sima Xin's proficiency in laws and regulations and his strict handling of cases, and he yearned for him. After he came to Xianyang, he was promoted by the emperor and had to live in the Wei Palace, and was unable to make friends with Sima Xin.

"Strict handling of cases? Fair enforcement of laws?" Sima Xin felt something was wrong and asked himself, he was indeed like this when he just graduated from school and put on the Xiechi crown.

But slowly, he discovered that even Xianyang under the emperor's feet had 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, minor 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 looking 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 party 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 mentioned someone by name who wanted to make friends with him. Sima Xin was flattered and quickly asked his servant to pass the small box that he had brought along with him.

He waved the servant down and carefully opened the lacquer box, but he almost bit his tongue!

What is placed here is none other than a piece of reddish-brown brown sugar! It was exactly the same as the candy bar his wife bought to feed his son!

"That's right!"

Looking at the letter and 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 thinking about his life for half the night while enjoying the cool breeze in the yard, 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!"