Hunan Xiang-Tan is one of the three largest cities in Hunan today, based on the transshipment trade from south to north, known as "100,000 industrial and commercial merchants, merchants gathered", in the Ming Dynasty has the name of "Little Jinling".

The population inside and outside the city is about four or five hundred thousand, and the population in the single city has reached 140,000, which must be one of the top 100 counties according to the standards of later generations.

After the goods transported through the Nanyang are landed in Guangdong, they must first be concentrated in Xiangtan and then transported to the mainland. Tea and porcelain from all over the country are shipped to foreign countries, and they must first be packed in Xiangtan, and then transported to Guangdong for foreign release.

Blessed with unique geographical advantages, Xiangtan in history in the Ming and Qing dynasties is so, Yongle Dynasty opened the sea ban, and since then it has gradually become prosperous, and now it can be described as a thousand miles in a day.

Wealth, population, and booming commercial activities have led to the expansion of the city, and in fact, the size of the urban area has surpassed that of the capital Chang-Sha, becoming the largest commercial and economic center in Hunan.

Xia Qi took his family to Xiangtan to take up his post, got off the boat at the wharf where the teeth were gathered, and was hugged by the soldiers and others to sit in a sedan chair, sounding the gong to open the way, and it was very majestic along the way.

I first went to the county office to meet my boss, and then came to my own yamen, and all kinds of small officials have been waiting for a long time. Because his predecessor died in office, and his family members returned to their hometowns before he arrived, the yamen was empty.

When the auspicious time was chosen, Xia Jue received the official seal, and his wife and children lived in the government office that day, and after a red tape, he went to meet the civil and military officials in the same city, and issued a notice to inform the people, which meant that he was coming.

The name of the yamen is the Xiangtan Riverside Inspection Division, although the official position is small, the yamen is well repaired, but it is a clerk and a martial artist.

According to the Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang's concept of governing the country, the stability of the small peasants and the common people is the core issue of the long-term stability of the Ming Dynasty, and is highly valued by the imperial court.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, a series of corresponding national policy systems were established, among which the Yellow Book System, the Road Guidance System, the Lijia System, the Lilao System and the corresponding population policies all played a good role in stabilizing the country.

The inspection department is an important part of the system of strengthening the grassroots society in the Ming Dynasty, like the early inspection department is mostly distributed in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, such as the inspection department of Jinkou Town, Jiangxia County, Wuchang Prefecture, and the inspection department of Qingjiang Town, Huangmei County, Huangzhou Prefecture, which are the core areas of the Ming Dynasty's earliest inclusion in the scope of rule.

After Zhu Yuanzhang defeated Chen Youliang and occupied the Huguang area, he began to set up a large number of inspection divisions in the region, which shows that he attaches great importance to the inspection division, and it also shows that the inspection divisions of the Ming generation are generally set up in all provinces, and its institutionalization is by no means accidental.

Zhu Yuanzhang's administration of the country is very practical and tries not to disturb the people, and while increasing the number of inspection departments, he also abolish a large number of unnecessary inspection departments. According to the collection of local newspapers and the imperial court, and according to the changes in the local social, economic, and public security conditions, adjustments were constantly made. Therefore, throughout the Ming Dynasty, the increase and decrease of the inspection department were very flexible, and even abolished and re-established, and then abolished, such a situation is very common.

The inspection department is generally located in the main road of Guanjin, and the inspection officials appointed by the imperial court are under the jurisdiction of the local state and county. Under the inspection, there are scribes, officials with knives, and a certain number of archers, who are mainly responsible for inspecting passers-by, cracking down on smuggling, and arresting thieves.

Because the inspection department is easy to cause trouble, Zhu Yuanzhang set the world inspection as a miscellaneous job. The inspection is only a non-mainstream official position, and the deputy inspection is the smallest from the ninth grade.

Generally speaking, the inspection department is a very special yamen, the assessment is under the management of the military department, the selection is under the management of the official department, the leadership is under the local management, and it has soldiers selected by local peasants, and the number of soldiers is adapted to local conditions, and it does not belong to the regular army, but it is a military defense, which is quite similar to the local armed forces of the party and government in later generations.

In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the world was very chaotic, bandits, deserters, fugitives, and sometimes strongmen gathered to loot, so the establishment of the inspection department was extremely necessary, but later with the stability of the society, it inevitably became one of the scourges in the fish and meat township. Historically, after Emperor Hongzhi, a large number of inspection departments in various places were laid off.

Nowadays, the inspection department has also been criticized by businessmen from all sides, and the geese have been plucked and rich, so the old monk told Xia Qi that this errand is a first-class fat difference, even if he doesn't do anything, the gray income is equivalent to the Qipin county order of Fu County.

Xia Jue, who took office, felt very leisurely, and had almost nothing to do except for managing the water and land trade routes under his rule, and conducting drills once a month. The major local yamen will not use the inspection department if they have nothing to do, and it is difficult to be promoted to a miscellaneous official, so there is no need to stammer, and the normal entertainment can not offend people.

This is the most prosperous place, and the annual filial piety is 10,000 taels of silver. Xia Jue really never dreamed that she could have today, and she was very happy when she came.

In order to keep his official position, he immediately wrote a few letters and sent them to Jinling, among which there was naturally the Xu Mansion, asking the Xu family to take care of it. But he thought about it, how could the Xu family meddle in a mere inspection department? So he took the initiative to raise a sum of money and ordered people to escort the officials and the military department, thinking that it was a local filial piety. This is a later story, so I won't mention it for the time being.

Xia Qi was born as a master and had never been an official, so he hired his predecessor's most relied on friend to help him, the guest and the host were from the same background, they were both literati, and they got along well with each other. This person's surname is Jia Mingshi, the character Zicheng, is a local Xiucai, Chinese New Year's Eve is thirty-four years old this year, looks talented, bold and careful, and people give false nicknames to sincerity.

Looking at the nickname, it can be seen that Jia Shi seems to be honest and honest when he encounters things, and he is meticulous in handling things, but in fact, he has a bad heart. He has monopolized the Yamen case for many years, and he has taken cards from it, bullying the good and fearing the evil, and the local people are all afraid of him, and the scholars despise him and almost do not associate with him.

When the magistrate of Xiangtan heard about his reputation, he was afraid that he would cause trouble, so he thought of an idea and asked the former inspector to recruit him in the scene. It just so happened that Jia Shi was worried that the new official would take office three times, and with his notoriety, the people would gradually bypass him to fight lawsuits, and his income would be greatly reduced.

He has some talents, and he also has three points of leeway in doing things, and he understands the truth of the long stream, so he assisted his predecessor to do a good job in inspection. For example, in view of the frequent abolition of the inspection department around Gyeonggi, in order to facilitate the circulation of goods, he went to the upstream and downstream inspection divisions, and discussed and worked out a rule, according to the number of goods, only one amount of silver needs to be paid, and this road can be passed without hindrance.

In this way, the inventory and exploitation are greatly reduced, time is saved, and it is very popular with businessmen, and the payment of silver is also happy. There are more merchants, so there are more taxes, the top is happy, and the bottom is more beneficial.

It's a pity that the former inspector has just been promoted to an official due to merit, and unfortunately died of illness, but fortunately, the newcomer Xia Qi heard that he was very capable and was praised by all parties, and he also invited him. Xia Qi expects that he will be promoted after the end of his term of office, and it is better to serve another term if he is not good.

Jia Shi has been enriching his own pockets for several years, although he is not rich and noble, but he has also achieved a well-off, and he is not afraid of being punished by the law, his heart is wide and fat, and he has just reached middle age and made a fortune.

His reputation among his parents and fellow villagers has also improved, and his classmates have also moved, and he knows that he is on the right path after a successful career. But he has nothing else to do in his life, only one color word is like life, and in the local Fengyue field, everyone knows the name of the fake and sincere.

He has a friend named Huang Zhen, originally from Yangzhou, who came to Xiangtan to be the master of the Salt Transportation Division after being recommended by his teacher. This person has a slippery temperament, full of strategies, and Jia Shinai is all the way, and it just so happens that Huang Zhen also likes to sleep in flowers and willows in his life, so the friendship between the two is not ordinary, and they are inseparable whenever they are free.

Xia Qi didn't have a clue about anything when he first became an official, and it was rare that his predecessor left him a good helper. He naturally wants to be a good official now, and making money is secondary, so he often asks for advice.

Jia Shi knew everything about him, and said that Xia Jue was very happy, and said that it was no wonder that the predecessor had used it for many years, he was really talented, and he could run the inspection department so well, all parties were satisfied, and they trusted each other so much.

Seeing that the new boss was in the middle of the operation and obeyed his words, Jia Shi was also very proud, and his courage naturally increased.

On this day, he went to the yamen, there was no official business, Jia Shi wanted to go out for a walk, and the little guy came in and said, "Master Huang is here." ”

Jia Shi stood up and called for invitation, and saw Huang Zhen, who was in his thirties, staggering in, and said with a smile: "Brother Zicheng, it's been a long time." Why are you so busy with things for days that you don't even want me to go? ”

Jia Shi invited him to sit down, and Huang Zhen said again: "I have wanted to come to see you for a long time, but because I first came to the inspection, I didn't know his personality, so I didn't dare to visit him." ”

"Be quiet, this is the yamen." Jia Shi hurriedly shook his hand and said in a low voice: "It's my luck to say it, you and I can say it bluntly." The lord who came here is a leader, and he is very proficient in articles, prayers, etc., but he has no knowledge of official business. ”

As he spoke, Jia Shi smiled smugly, and drew a circle on the table with two fingers, "It's already in mine." Hehe, if I don't go to you for days, I have to be diligent in front of the new owner. Now that the guest and the host have surrendered, I have nothing to do today, I intend to go to your house, and I don't want you to come down in advance, which is wonderful. Let's have a light meal at my place first, and let's go to the street together to relieve boredom. ”

Huang Zhen listened and said with a smile: "Congratulations." In this way, you still have a few years left for your luck. It's not that I say a word of flattery, just come to a three-headed and six-armed official, who can't subdue your brother? I'm not afraid that the guest and host will not be a milk, let alone a first-time appointment. ”

The two of them immediately laughed tacitly, as the highest achievement of the staff, they played with the owner between applause, just like the powerful ministers who controlled the government, which was also the most talked about pride of being a master.

After talking and laughing, after breakfast, Jia Shi explained to the little official: "If the master asks me, you will say that the master and the master Huang went out to visit a friend." If there's something urgent, you know where to look for me. ”

Out of the yamen together, there were many pedestrians on the street, and various horse-drawn carriages carrying goods galloped by. In the distance, the dock was crowded with people, and hundreds of waffles resisted boxes of goods from the cargo ship.

The Inspection Division is located in the outer city, and the whole block is narrow from east to west because of the riverfront, and consists of three main streets, which are the river street dock area, the main street and the back street, each street is 15 miles long.

Most of the river streets are warehouses, workshops and a large number of tooth shops, gathering three religions and nine streams; The regular shop pù is located on the main street, forming a wholesale trade market.

Ordinary people are generally concentrated in the back streets or in the city, and this urban structure has continued in history until the 40s of the twentieth century. R1152