Chapter 238: The Enemy Is Shy, I Shall Go Strip His Clothes

Before the desk in his study, Zheng Shuqing rubbed his own aching temples. He had read the letter resting under the candlelight, yet seemed not to have understood it. It was not that he did not know how to carry out the measures laid out in the letter, but rather that Zheng Shuqing could not fathom what the point of doing so was.

Squeezing oil with these tactics wouldn't squeeze out much oil!

In the short term it might rake in a large sum of money, but in the long run, this method of "draining the pond to catch the fish" could not cover the shortfall in Longyou's military funds either.

"It can only be done this way."

Zheng Shuqing let out a long sigh and put the letter away, planning to go tomorrow and have a talk with Yan Zhenqing, the Palace Attending Censor. Though Old Zheng was to be the director of this whatever institute, he actually knew full well that his ambitions exceeded his abilities and that he had no capacity for actual execution—it would not do without relying on others for support.

Forcing himself to do it would only botch things.

Yan Zhenqing was different. He was already serving as a Palace Attending Censor and was very adept at the fine work of investigation and correction. His biggest problem was, I fear, that his personality was somewhat disagreeable and he was not very good at dealing with the Sage.

Though Zheng Shuqing was not well acquainted with Yan Zhenqing, handling this kind of public business did not require close familiarity! If this Inspection Institute failed in its duties and ultimately slapped the Sage's face, would Yan Zhenqing not be in deep trouble just the same?

Zheng Shuqing was quite confident that if it was only a matter of handling the "trivial" small affairs described in Fang Chongyong's letter, then Yan Zhenqing would certainly not refuse.

The next day, Zheng Shuqing personally went to Yan Zhenqing's door to discuss matters related to the Inspection Institute. He had originally expected Yan Zhenqing to hesitate, but to his surprise the other party readily agreed and even began planning the detailed rules of implementation with him with great enthusiasm, showing considerable interest in participating.

Yan Zhenqing had always wanted to persuade the Son of Heaven to do proper business. Now that these fines were to be allocated to Longyou's military funds—such a matter, he would of course not refuse.

Three days later, the court officially issued an edict establishing the Inspection Institute, dedicated to investigating officials' illegal conduct as well as the behavioral problems of imperial relatives and noble scions. The Palace Attending Censors of the Censorate were all reassigned to the Inspection Institute, effectively stripping away part of the Censorate's functions.

According to the court's explanation, the Inspection Institute was not a judicial organ and need not follow the penal code of the Great Tang—it was merely a "disciplinary department" targeting specific groups.

In other words, if an official found to have committed violations by the Inspection Institute had truly broken the law, then the Ministry of Justice or the Court of Judicature and Revision would still sentence them as they saw fit, and the Inspection Institute's punishment would not affect their sentencing.

The Inspection Institute would only strip officials of their official status; it could not actually do much to offending officials.

Put simply: the Son of Heaven deems you unfit to be an official and sends you home to farm—this has nothing to do with national law.

By the same logic, if it was found that noble scions had improper conduct, ran amok without restraint, and brought disgrace to their house, the Inspection Institute would report them to the Son of Heaven and request that he issue an edict stripping them of their titles.

It likewise had no authority to try these people according to law, much less apply criminal punishment.

As for how these offending noble scions were to be punished, that remained the responsibility of offices such as the Court of Judicature and Revision and the Court of the Imperial Clan—they would sentence as they saw fit, without affecting the exercise of these offices' authority.

So then, what if those officials and noble scions who were found out suddenly experienced a crisis of conscience and "repented and turned over a new leaf"?

As the saying goes, Heaven values the preservation of life—even the Lord of Heaven does not drive people to their deaths, so how could the Son of Heaven drive people to the brink! Of course he would not strip them of their official posts the moment a problem was found!

For those officials and noble scions who "realized their errors and returned to the right path," the solution to the matter came down to just three words:

Pay up!

To be specific, they would atone for their crimes with silk, and there was a clear and detailed set of rules for how much they would be fined.

In principle, the higher the office, the higher the title, the closer one was to the direct lineage of a powerful family, and the greater the offense, the more money would be required to atone.

After the edict was promulgated, it caused an uproar; the court and the public alike were stirred to indignation while undercurrents surged, yet no one dared to take the lead in making trouble.

As for the reason, that was of course because the Inspection Institute had already been established! The court had already issued its edict and this organ had already begun operating!

Whoever made trouble at this point would be the first wave to be taken out! Who would be foolish enough to throw themselves in front of the muzzle!

There was another reason no one came forward to cause a scene, which was that the Great Tang's laws were already quite comprehensive, and many officials in the Chang'an bureaucracy believed that a mere Inspection Institute could not possibly stir up any real trouble!

On ordinary days they merely visited brothels in Pingkang Ward, slacked off at their own offices, and had a little drink—surely it could not be that even these things would be managed?

If they really managed that broadly, then of the tens of thousands of officials in Chang'an, large and small, probably more than half would be dismissed before long.

Such an absurd thing—surely it was impossible even to think about!

Yet very soon, these people discovered that they were far too young and had thought far too naively.

……

On the very second day after the Inspection Institute was established, a "seemingly insignificant" major event occurred!

After the central government officials entered the various ministry offices within the Imperial City to work, all the gates of the Imperial City were locked, permitting no one to enter or leave! The Inspection Institute had begun investigating the conduct of all central officials!

Inside the Policy Discussion Hall, located beside the Chancellery offices, Left Chancellor Li Shizhi and Right Chancellor Li Linfu were working at desks positioned face to face.

Though both men were of the Li-Tang imperial clan, their relationship was quite ordinary. To be precise, before Li Linfu became chancellor, he had never even spoken to Li Shizhi! Naturally, there was no personal friendship to speak of.

Of course, Li Shizhi had no outstanding talent and was not regarded by Li Longji as a trusted confidant, so Li Linfu did not take him very seriously. As long as he did not interfere with his own work, Li Linfu simply acted as though this person did not exist.

Today, Li Linfu was pondering the issue of land tax reform in the south within the Policy Discussion Hall. Simply put, it was about extracting money from wealthy regions far from Chang'an more efficiently and more quickly! And then transporting it to Chang'an via the canal!

Many political novices in Fang Chongyong's previous life believed that exacting harsh taxes and ruthless levies was a very easy thing to do, something any incompetent or tyrannical ruler could pull off.

In fact, this was not so. It was a highly technical undertaking, and throughout history, rulers who did it well were quite rare.

Throughout history, both in China and abroad, whether or not it was the feudal era, there were many rulers who did not understand this sophisticated technique. They often made the people destitute while failing to extract much money for themselves. At the very least, their personal gains were completely disproportionate to the commotion they caused.

The recent problem of unpaid wages for the Longyou border army had consumed a considerable amount of Li Linfu's energy, preventing him from promptly introducing his new tax policy for Jiangnan.

This Right Chancellor of the Great Tang believed that making up the shortfall in Longyou's military pay was not impossible, but rather that it could not resolve the fundamental problem on the Longyou side. Governance often treated the symptoms rather than the root cause, and the results were not good.

On the surface, the issue in Longyou was the occasional delay in border army pay, but in reality, after decades of confrontation with Tibet, Longyou's livelihood was devastated and could no longer sustain itself. This was the real reason why the Hexi side could fight wars for decades without crying poverty, while Longyou cried poverty in recent years despite not having fought any battles.

The Hexi side could generate its own resources; Longyou could not. Even if military pay were over-issued, it still could not solve the fundamental problem of resource scarcity in the Longyou region.

Taking Shanzhou, where the Longyou Military Commissioner was stationed, as an example: in the early Tang this area still had over five thousand households, by the Kaiyuan era it had dropped to fewer than four thousand, and now it was about to fall below three thousand!

Longyou's registered population had in fact been experiencing negative growth for many years! In the Great Tang, if not exactly commonplace, it could at least be said to be virtually unprecedented.

After the border army pay was distributed, these soldiers' families needed to exchange the silk they received for other daily necessities. But local commerce had dried up, roads were rugged, the population was continually shrinking due to war, and output was declining. Even if they received their military pay, how could the lives of these military households possibly improve?

The price of daily necessities locally was at least double that of a high-consumption area like Chang'an!

Anything not produced locally, no matter what, was expensive; and goods produced locally (such as livestock products) could not be transported out in large quantities to exchange for essential daily goods, so living standards never rose, which in turn accelerated population outflow.

This was also an important reason why the Son of Heaven in Chang'an had not opened his own inner treasury to issue military pay.

High-value goods and luxury items in Longyou could not be exchanged for anything at all.

Brother Ji could hardly hand a luminous cup from the Western Regions to some Longyou border army grunt and then say to him: This treasure is worth one thousand strings of cash, enough for a lifetime of your military pay, take it and take your time, and serve the Emperor well as a watchdog guarding the gate in Longyou.

What could this Longyou border army grunt do with a luminous cup worth a hefty sum?

And given Longyou's transportation conditions, the logistics cost of shipping basic daily supplies was very high, and annual transport capacity was extremely limited. The deficiency in logistics severely limited the combat effectiveness of the Longyou border army.

On the one hand, Longyou's local population was shrinking and its capacity to generate resources was worsening; on the other hand, Longyou's garrison was growing ever larger, requiring enormous expenditures, all sustained by shipments from Guanzhong.

And the transportation conditions had seen no fundamental improvement, so in the end the destitution of the Longyou border army needs no further elaboration—this was not a problem that could be solved simply by making up the pay shortfall.

So why had this problem not existed before?

Because they used to be the militia!

Even if there were any perks, they weren't given to the soldiers themselves, but to their households' registered domicile! Invisibly, that saved a shipping cost.

Now it's conscripted troops, and military pay is the soldiers' sole income. If the pay isn't personally delivered to their hands, they'll rebel—nothing more to say.

So what Li Linfu is thinking about is how to transport larger quantities of cloth from Jiangnan and Shu to make up for Chang'an's shortfall, and then increase the scale of transporting goods from Guanzhong to Longyou.

It's foreseeable that greatly expanding the export of Guanzhong silk to Longyou is already a settled matter. Even if it isn't happening now, steadily increasing supply year after year is inevitable—we've reached the point where it cannot be delayed.

While thinking about these headache‑inducing matters, he suddenly lifted his head and noticed a person standing before him, as if they'd been there a while. He hadn't even realized he'd been thinking about those things!

"Yan the Censor… uh, Yan the Director, what official business brings you to my office, Chancellor?"

Li Linfu asked with a smile, feeling extremely displeased inside, but he held back his anger.

"I'm here to enforce the law upon the Right Chancellor."

Yan Zhenqing also wore a smile, and performed a clasped‑hand salute toward Li Linfu.

"What offense have I, the Chancellor, committed? Director Yan, could you clarify?"

Li Linfu looked stunned and retorted.

Li Linfu often boasted to his sons and sons‑in‑law that his skill as an official was top‑notch, that he could make money without corruption, and that he would never openly violate any law.

If Yan Zhenqing could find fault with him, someone else would have done so long ago—why wait until today?

"Right Chancellor, these three memorials contain several typos each—that is disrespect toward the sage emperor."

Yan Zhenqing pulled three memorials from his sleeve and placed them on Li Linfu's desk.

*Pffft! *

Li Shizhi, sitting opposite, couldn't keep a straight face and burst out laughing.

Li Linfu's face flushed with embarrassment as he opened one of the memorials; he saw that several characters had been circled in red ink. Indeed, there were typos, and more than one.

But there's nothing to be done—Li Linfu is swamped with work, having to draft many memorials a day, sometimes over a dozen!

He doesn't have the leisure to check for typos! Besides, such trivialities used to be no big deal.

But to put it bluntly, having typos in memorials meant for the Tang Emperor! That really smacks of "grave disrespect."

Putting it lightly, it's lax review and a perfunctory attitude.

Putting it heavily, it's mocking the emperor—a heart deserving punishment.

It all depends on how one interprets this!

"So, Director Yan, how do you intend to handle this?"

Li Linfu snapped, never imagining that the Inspection Bureau's first strike would fall on him, the Tang Right Chancellor.

But could it be that the emperor himself ordered this?

A horrible thought suddenly flashed through Li Linfu's mind; the more he dwelled on it, the more fearful he became, suppressing his anger and ceasing to argue with Yan Zhenqing.

"Um, for someone of the Right Chancellor's rank, the fine is five thousand bolts of silk."

Yan Zhenqing pulled a small booklet from his bosom, flipped through it, and then spoke to Li Linfu in all seriousness.

"Fine, I'll have someone send it to the Imperial Treasury after my shift ends."

Li Linfu replied helplessly, "Five thousand it is; I'm not short on silk."

Just consider it an offering to the emperor.

"Right Chancellor, the fine isn't for the emperor's inner storehouse; it goes to the depot that supplies the Longyou frontier army, and when the warehouse is full it will be forwarded to Lanzhou Jincheng."

Yan Zhenqing said this while performing a salute.

This depot isn't newly built; it occupies a modest storeroom within Chang'an's Imperial City.

"Transporting supplies to the Longyou frontier army."

Li Linfu fell into thought, gradually grasping what Elder Brother Ji actually intended to do.

"I understand, Director Yan; please take your leave—I still have work to do."

"Farewell."

Yan Zhenqing strode out of the Hall of Government, hadn't gone far when something struck him; he suddenly realized, turned back, and approached Left Chancellor Li Shizhi, performing a clasped‑hand salute and saying respectfully: "Left Chancellor, drinking while on duty is a classic case of dereliction of duty! That's disrespect toward the emperor."

Left Chancellor Li Shizhi hastily hid the wine pot on his left behind his back, gave Yan Zhenqing a puzzled look, trying to feign innocence and slip through.

"Left Chancellor, you might as well bring it out—I, the Chancellor, can already smell that fine wine."

Li Linfu opposite laughed heartily.

"A fine of five thousand bolts of silk, the same as for the Right Chancellor."

…

If one says that chancellors are wealthy and image‑conscious, so their fines are levied in a friendly, harmonious atmosphere, then the inspection of Chang'an's noble‑born youths is filled with violence and turmoil!

Outside Chang'an, over a hundred horsemen from noble families were uniformly "invited" by the elite of the Divine Strategy Army to gather on a patch of grass.

Their ladies and servants, meanwhile, had already been dispersed, each returning home to spread the news.

The newly appointed Director of the Inspection Bureau, Zheng Shuqing, personally led three hundred elite troops of the Divine Strategy Army in the outskirts of Chang'an to "apprehend" the noble youths out on a spring outing. Of course, this also included those whose families had no high officials, nor were they aristocratic or imperial relatives, but who were dressed finely—unlucky fellows.

To intimidate these good‑for‑nothing ruffians, Director Zheng today wore a sword expressly to show authority.

Although he wore a dragon robe, he didn't look like a crown prince; carrying a sword made him appear neither a civil nor a military official—to outsiders he seemed somewhat oddly comical.

"I suspect that among you, someone is wearing attire that exceeds regulations and oversteps rank."

"Are you going to take it off yourselves, or shall I order someone to do it for you?"

"Heh, I'm sure some of you plan to have your elder relatives who serve in office sue me afterward."

"Feel free, but that can only be discussed after you return."

"Now, will you take it off or not!"

Zheng Shuqing glanced over the many Chang'an noble youths and rebuked them.

Upon hearing this, the various noble youths present, including the young men of the Five Mausoleums, reacted in different ways.

A few people disagreed, sneering at Zheng Shuqing, but the vast majority actually turned pale!

Some were so scared they trembled! The reason lay in the clothes they wore!

In fact, an order had already been issued during Emperor Gaozong of Tang's reign, and after the Kaiyuan era a certain rule was further strengthened: it stipulated how nobles and commoners should dress daily, forbidding haphazard attire.

What one wore depended on one's social class; the strictest provision was that commoners and scholars could not use crimson-yellow as a color in their clothing!

Put simply: if you are not of the imperial clan, your clothing must not contain any crimson-yellow, neither as main color nor as trim.

Nevertheless, even so, the sale of crimson-yellow fabric in Chang'an remained in short supply, often selling out.

How could there be so many clansmen and imperial relatives buying crimson-yellow cloth? How much could such a few people consume?

So the answer is: including many court officials, many people simply liked to wear ordinary outer robes that looked plain, but underneath their jackets and half-sleeves (an inner garment) were either crimson-yellow as base color or as trim.

This is a typical case of exceeding one's station and usurping privileges!

Wearing the forbidden garments inside and ordinary clothes outside satisfied their illusory sense of being superior, without inviting trouble.

This practice had become an 'open secret' among Chang'an's elite circles—everyone did it, but no one exposed it.

Now we must 'verify their true identities'—who among these youngsters of the Five Mausoleums present isn't afraid?

Zheng Shuqing waited a long time, only to find that not a single person was willing to remove the outer brocade robe. The many noble youths stared at each other, none willing to be the first to speak up, stubbornly holding their ground.

"Come here, strip off their outer robes for this official!"

Zheng Shuqing pointed at the over a hundred youths of the Five Mausoleums and shouted.

Today he had the sage's power backing him, putting him in an invincible state. He was merely checking for dress-code violations—nothing that could overturn heaven!

After a chorus of wailing curses, one bright crimson-yellow garment after another appeared before their eyes, and the scene instantly fell into extreme silence and embarrassment.

Out of those over a hundred people, as many as eight or nine out of ten wore jackets and half-sleeves with crimson-yellow fabric. The cautious added a bit of crimson-yellow pattern as trim; the bold simply made the entire jacket from crimson-yellow cloth!

The soldiers of the Shence Army that Zheng Shuqing brought were dumbfounded, and the accompanying eunuch Yu Zhaochen was so moved he wanted to cry but had no tears, not knowing whether to report this to the Son of Heaven of Chang'an.

This damn matter has blown up!

"Director Zheng, what do you think—should we first stall and report to the sage before speaking further?"

Yu Zhaochen leaned close to Zheng Shuqing's ear and whispered his question.

They discovered a thief—someone had broken into a residence to steal.

They discovered a hundred thieves—this was the emergence of a bandit gang aiming to seize the mountain and proclaim themselves kings. Quantitative change produced qualitative change; the nature was completely different!

Zheng Shuqing was also a bit dumbfounded; if they found a few noble youths wearing crimson-yellow robes, they would just fine those who should be fined and deter those who should be deterred—the matter wouldn't be hard to handle.

But now it turns out that eight or nine out of ten of these people have exceeded their station—what will Brother Ji think?

He probably won't be in a good mood.

Zheng Shuqing instantly understood where the problem lay.

"Come, take these people to the Dali Temple for imprisonment! I will now go to see the sage!"

Zheng Shuqing shouted at his subordinates, the Shence Army soldiers on duty.

(End of chapter)