Qin Official

"Please let me go, please!"

Hei Fu heard the sound and looked over, only to see that the man was unkempt, still wearing short brown clothes in the winter, and was tied to the stable post with a hemp rope.

He asked the people on the side: "Who is this?"

Dongmen Bao, who asked for a thief, responded: "This is the thief who was just captured."

"I'm not a thief!" The young man yelled again. Although his body was tied tightly, his neck stretched hard and shouted: "Pavilion Chief, this villain is just an ordinary soldier. He was really wronged!"

"Unjustly accused?"

Dongmen Leopard sneered, raised his fist and waved at the man, scaring him and saying: "Mao, it's snowing, why don't you stay at home and wander around in the poplar trees alone, what do you want to do?"

The young man named "Mao" shrunk and muttered: "I...I'm going to visit a friend..."

"Visiting a friend? Who is he visiting? Where is his home? Can I testify for you? You are from Xiaoqingli and have no relatives or friends in Yangshu. You say you are visiting a friend, but you don't go through the main entrance. Instead, you wander outside the inner wall. I’m afraid you don’t want to climb over the wall and sneak in!”

Li Xian also joined in the questioning of the man. Compared to Dongmen Bao, Li Xian's questioning was more detailed. Every sentence hit the point directly, leaving Mao speechless and making Hei Fu look down on him again. one cent.

It turns out that as rural police officers, one of the daily responsibilities of the officers under the pavilion is to patrol the area under their jurisdiction. If you find a strong man wandering around and not giving birth, you should interrogate his identity. If the person being interrogated shows fear and runs away, he can even be arrested immediately!

After the snow stopped this morning, Dongmen Bao, who asked for thieves, discussed with a few people in the pavilion. He felt that the number of thieves would increase every winter, so he went out to patrol with Li Xian and Xiao Tao.

Sure enough, in the "poplar tree" east of Huyang Pavilion, they found Wu Mao, a rat-headed and rat-brained man, wandering near a collapsed inner wall. Dongmen Bao shouted and questioned, but Mao ran away, so they chased him. After running several hundred steps, they captured him and took him back to the pavilion to imprison him.

"This thief, you look ferocious and your voice is loud. I thought you were a thief. How could you not run away? Pavilion Chief, I really didn't do it as a thief. Just let me go." Mao was still arguing and pleading. .

However, everyone has ignored him. This person behaves suspiciously. Even if he is not a thief, he is at least guilty of "Jiangyang Crime", that is, the crime of loitering, and he must not be let go. They began to discuss when to take him to the county seat or the countryside.

You should know that although the Tingbu has the responsibility to arrest thieves, it does not have the power to judge or execute people. At most, they can simply ask a few questions and temporarily hold them for a day or two, then transfer them to the county or township and hand them over to the magistrate or the village husband. Trial.

In the past month or so, similar cases were discussed and decided by Dongmen Bao and three pavilion guards. Now that the pavilion chief has taken office, the matter will naturally be decided by Heifu.

Heifu raised his head and looked at the sun hidden in the clouds. After returning to this era, he gradually gained the ability to see the sky and tell the time that only those old people in the countryside had in his previous life.

"It's past the end of the day (17 o'clock). It's a bit late whether we send him to the county town or to the countryside. It's snowy and slippery, and accidents are easy to happen at night. It's better to escort him out early tomorrow morning."

After saying that, he asked again: "Is there a prison in the pavilion?"

Xiao Tao was about to answer, but Yu Liang rushed to say: "Yes, it's in the front yard!"

Heifu nodded: "You two will take him over and lock him up."

"only!"

The jail was a temporary detention center in the pavilion. Seeing that Mao's arms, legs and feet were red from the cold, Heifu added: "Give him more straw to hold him to sleep, so he doesn't freeze to death at night."

…

After Mao was taken away by Yuliang and Xiaotao, Heifu, accompanied by Pu Zhang, Dongmen Bao and Li Xian, continued to familiarize himself with various areas of the pavilion.

After entering the simple but sturdy courtyard gate, I saw two courtyards, front and back.

Next to the entrance to the front yard, there are two private schools on the left and right, which are two small rooms. The left room is Pu Zhang's residence, with a low couch. As the father of the pavilion, Pu Zhang only cares about catching thieves and ushering them in. He has to stand guard at the door. When he meets people passing by to stay overnight, or when officials come to eat or feed their horses on a business trip, he has to greet them. .

The right room only has a cushion, a small table, and a small gong hanging next to it. There is a window opening to the outside. Sitting here, you can have a clear view of the road conditions.

Pu Zhang introduced: "I only manage the door at night. During the day, there is a pavilion here to watch the road. If there are cars, horses or pedestrians passing by, go over and ask. If you encounter the police, you should ring the gong immediately."

The pavilion is a stop. It is similar to the highway checkpoints of later generations. It maintains road security and checks the pedestrians. This is also the basic function of the pavilion. Heifu has been stopped and questioned by pavilions along the way several times when he went back and forth to the county. This is no stranger to him. . So in Qin, unless you are traveling in the dark at night, your ID card will be checked every time you walk.

Alas, poor Shang Jun must have avoided pavilions and trudged among the wormwood when he fled. I wonder how he felt about the system he established with his own hands. How comforted was he? Too late to regret?

After entering the courtyard, the room on the left is the toilet. Next to the toilet is the prison where prisoners are detained.

Heifu went over and took a look. The prison was a small place, and there was an unpleasant smell of urine when he got closer. Shiwu Mao was lying slumped in the straw, maybe because he was too hungry and had no energy, so he stopped yelling at this time.

This person may be desperate and try to steal, but at least he will be sentenced to death. What awaits him may be one to three years of labor reform, and Anlu's civil engineering team will have another labor force...

After Xiaotao and Yuliang locked the prison door, Heifu sent him to the door to check the way.

Heifu went around to the right side of the courtyard, which is a room where weapons are placed. The chief of the pavilion is a military official who can have weapons. In this room, there are spears, halberds, bows, swords, five swordsmen, and two pieces of armor. If you apply in the county, you can even be assigned a military standard weapon: a crossbow.

Heifu was not in a hurry to check the weapons. His attention was attracted by the small erected pavilion in the middle of the front and back yards.

The pavilion is three feet high, with a sloping top. There is also a ladder for going up and down the pavilion. The steps are three feet. There is a ridge stove on the second floor of the pavilion, which can light a fire and make smoke...

Without any introduction, Hei Fu knew it in his heart: "Although Anlu County has been without war for many years, it is close to the Hubei region of Chu State. Two years ago, there was a county-wide alert. Therefore, the pavilion should have a guard." The function of the enemy's stronghold is no wonder that a circle of trenches has been dug outside the courtyard. If the two countries go to war and Chu soldiers cross the river and cruise here, I will inevitably have to close the door to defend against the enemy, and then light the fireworks in the pavilion to send messages to the county town. warning……"

Bypassing the pavilion is the backyard, which is larger than the front yard. In the middle of the yard is a mulberry tree with all its leaves fallen off. A row of bungalows on the left is the guest house used to entertain officials on business trips in the past. There is also a row of side rooms on the right, where Heifu, Qiu Pi, the pavilion and the postman live. There is also a kitchen next to it.

At this time, Pu Zhang asked to leave, and he was going to prepare food in the kitchen.

Continuing to walk forward, the small hall directly opposite is the office of Heifu, the owner of the pavilion.

This main house has been built for several years. There is a layer of snow on the roof. There are a lot of dead grass sprouting from the snow. The square bricks at the door are uneven and some are broken. The wooden door creaks a bit loudly. After entering, the walls are also a little bit... It was mottled, but the floor and tables were all cleaned and wiped spotlessly clean.

"After receiving news from the county that he would take office after the Hefula Festival, I asked Pu Zhang to clean up early."

Dongmen Leopard said with high spirits: "As soon as Hei Fu comes, we can show off our talents in Huyang Pavilion!"

"I have to rely on you." Heifu smiled and nodded, and then said to Li Xian: "I heard from Zhang Zhang that you have been keeping the documents in the pavilion for more than a month? Let's take them out and check them first."

In this pavilion, Pu Zhang, Yu Liang and Xiao Tao are illiterate. Dongmen Bao and Ji Ying had a rough understanding of writing. Besides Heifu, the only person who could write official documents was Li Xian, who came from a better family. Therefore, although he is a pawn in the pavilion, his importance in the pavilion is higher than that of Xiaotao and Yuliang, and his status is second only to the thieves Dongmen Bao.

Li Xian immediately took out all the two-foot slips, documents, and even wanted orders in the house and showed them to Heifu.

Heifu sat beside the papers, checking the documents and thinking.

Different from the "one pavilion in ten miles and one township in ten miles" in the Han Dynasty, the pavilions in the Qin Dynasty were not subordinate units of the township, but directly subordinate to the county's officer system.

The pavilion chief is not responsible for managing Liju and does not need to get involved in administrative matters, such as registering household registration and collecting taxes. He only needs to take care of the public security in the ten miles around, supervise illegal activities, and train pavilion soldiers. Occasionally greet and send off postmen, garrison soldiers, and businessmen who pass by, that's all.

To put it bluntly, it was the street police station of later generations, which also had the functions of a guest house and a post office. It was neither a subordinate to the township government nor a superior to the village community, but it had to manage the public security in the middle. Therefore, there are not many documents. Most of them are orders from counties and townships to strengthen local order and beware of thieves after winter, as well as a few wanted orders.

The wanted order is made of wooden boards and has simple content. It basically copies the prisoner's "examination", plus his appearance, characteristics, and what crime he committed. He doesn't even have a portrait. It's really difficult to catch the right person based on this information. . Heifu took a look and found that the "Mao" outside was indeed not the murderer and thief on the wanted list, and he would get no credit if he was caught.

Heifu finished flipping through the documents in just a moment, and was about to chat with Li Xian for a few more words. He was very curious about the reason why this man, who was both capable and well-established, was reduced to being a pawn...

Unexpectedly, at this time, there was a burst of noise outside.

"I'm back!"

Before anyone arrived, the sound came first. Hei Fu raised his head and looked at Dongmen Bao who was playing with the hilt of his sword out of boredom.

No need to ask, you will know as soon as you hear that Ji Ying's guy is back...

…

When the three of them walked out of the hall, they saw a skinny boy wrapped in a thick winter coat and his shoes covered with snow and mud walking into the backyard. It was Ji Ying.

Ji Ying didn't even have time to put down the backpack on his back. When he saw Hei Fu, he came over with a big smile and hugged him.

"Brother Heifu, you are finally here!"

He was covered in snow, water, and mud, and Heifu's new clothes were all stained. Heifu raised his hands helplessly and said, "Sit down first."

Ji Ying was not particular about it. He put down the backpack on his back, sat down on the steps, took off his shoes that were covered with snow and mud, and complained: "Hei Fu... Pavilion Chief, I have already done this." It’s been almost a month since I sent the mail, and my legs are almost broken! This is such a hard job!”

"How many miles did you walk today?" Heifu threw him a piece of cloth and asked with a smile.

"Three of them still have no luck. They have to run from east to west, then from west to south, and then circle back to the north..."

Ji Ying complained endlessly and shouted to the kitchen: "Pu Zhang, help me boil some water! My feet are almost frozen!"

After getting Pu Zhang's response, Ji Ying opened his backpack, which was the standard equipment of Daqin postmen. The backpack was also covered with cloth, and the letters inside were all written on wooden slips. A little rainwater would be spent in them.

"Huh!? Didn't I already deliver all the documents sent by the countryside to those three places? Why is there still one letter left?"

Ji Ying said, taking out a "letter" from it.

"I'm afraid you forgot it again." Dongmen Leopard laughed at Ji Ying. Ji Ying had already missed it twice this month. Fortunately, it was delivered on time in the end, otherwise he would have enjoyed his good harvest.

"Absolutely not! I have indeed finished delivering the goods today!" Ji Ying argued hard.

Heifu glanced at the back and was surprised: "Wait a minute, this letter is not sealed, it is not an official document."

Letters in this era were composed of two pieces of wood. The lower slip was used to write text, and the upper slip was blank to cover the content of the lower slip. Then use a string made of Sedge and Cattail called "焳" to tightly tie the upper and lower letters together. When they are put together, it becomes a letter.

If it is an official document, in order to prevent people from stealing it, it will be "sealed", that is, a layer of special red sealing mud will be put on the knotted place of the rope, and then the official seal will be stamped.

Could it be a private message? But it stands to reason that except for letters sent back by frontline soldiers, Qin's postal service does not accept personal letters.

Ji Ying looked at the letter in his hand and saw that it was indeed the case. He was even more surprised: "Not only was it not sealed, but the letter did not even include who wrote it, where it was sent, and who received it?"

The postman in the countryside would not deliver such a thing to the booth. Several people present looked at each other. So it was not a private letter, but an... anonymous letter?

"Who secretly slipped this in? Let Mr. Nai know it, and you must teach him a lesson!"

Ji Ying was so angry that he was about to tear off the straw rope on the letter, open it and see who wrote the letter!

"Wait!"

"stop!"

As soon as they said it, Heifu and Li Xian suddenly changed their colors. At the same time, they stretched out their hands, one on each side, and firmly grabbed Ji Ying's hand that was reaching for the straw rope!

"This letter! I can't open it!"