Han official!

Chapter 120 Finishing

"This wall is over five feet high. How dare you climb over it?"

Guo Jie grabbed the sleeves of Chong Huangrou's crimson-edged robe and stopped him from leaping. He didn't dare let him go, lest he jump into the wall in one leap.

Wei Guang was startled and did the same thing, grabbing the sleeves of Chong Huangrou's crimson-edged robe, not daring him to climb over the wall.

"you"

Chong Huangrou was startled when the man grabbed her wide sleeves. Some unpleasant scenes appeared in her mind. She subconsciously shook out the large sleeves of her crimson-edged gown. Thinking of the regulations of the Han law, she immediately blushed and misunderstood Guo Jie.

At the same time, he couldn't help but feel frightened.

According to the Han Dynasty law, no one could arbitrarily climb over the walls of villages, government residences, or markets. Anyone who climbed over the walls would be sentenced to tattooing, unless the height of the walls was less than five feet.

Tattooing is a punishment of tattooing on the face. Redemption of tattooing is a sentence of fine. Money is used to redeem the sin and avoid tattooing. This punishment is very painful for common people. The money used to redeem the sin is not a small amount. It is even more of a humiliation for the descendants of marquises such as Chong Huangrou.

The dukes and nobles valued their reputation very much. If anyone was sentenced to redeem tattooing, he would inevitably be ridiculed when he gathered together for a banquet in the future.

What's more, the person in charge of Chang'an's criminal law now is Zhang Tang. Who knows whether he is willing to let the nobles and powerful people redeem their tattoos? If the sentence of a Sikou is increased to two years in prison, he can only do hard labor.

When the nobles and powerful people in Chang'an met Zhang Tang, they were really troubled. However, they could not do anything about Zhang Tang, so they privately called him a stone from the hut.

"call--"

Chong Huangrou breathed a sigh of relief and said thankfully, "Luckily you stopped me. Otherwise, a dignified descendant of a noble marquis would have been laughed at by everyone in the palace for being sentenced to redemption tattooing."

The way Chong Huangrou exhaled the foul air was like Xijun exhaling orchid-like breath, and she looked quite charming.

Guo Jie didn't like this. Mang Tong had no interest in either women or men. He only liked to eat corn and chew it dryly for the unique grain fragrance. As long as he could taste the grain fragrance, he would feel indescribable satisfaction in his heart, which was more satisfying than any other sexual intercourse.

Wei Guang liked to host grand banquets, and the satisfaction he got from calling over his friends was far greater than that of women. Moreover, he had a Madam Jia at home who had already squeezed him dry.

As for Anguo Shaoji, not to mention that Chonghuangrou is a man, even if she is really Xijun, he can only shake his head secretly.

It is far less flavorful than a mature woman over 40 years old.

Chong Huangrou was dazed when she saw that they had no reaction. She mistakenly thought that she no longer had the beauty that was more beautiful than the morning glow and the beauty that was as beautiful as brocade. Recalling the fiery eyes of the guards at the gate, she thought that it was just Guo Jie and the others who were not interested.

Chong Huangrou was secretly delighted and relaxed his guard a lot. He finally found a friend who was not greedy for his body.

"Whose workshop is this?"

Guo Jie looked at the gate for a few times. There was a small vegetable patch at the entrance, planted with sunflowers, but he could not find any other identifying features. He asked, "Is this a workshop for an official or temple, or a workshop for a noble or powerful official?"

If it was a workshop in an official temple in Chang'an, things would be much easier. We could just ask the engineer about the origin of the hemp paper.

If it were a workshop owned by a noble or powerful person, things would become complicated and difficult.

An Guo Shao Ji thought for a moment and said, "The workshop in this house seems to be the workshop where Ba Ling Du Junao finished his work."

Du Junao!
Du Junao, a powerful man in Ba Ling town.

Wei Guang's face lit up with joy. "At the beginning of March, he was the mastermind behind summoning the three elders of the county and the three elders of the township to the palace gate to protest injustice. Now he dares to spread rumors and cause trouble, and even slanders Princess Pingyang of having an affair with my brother. Let's see how he can avoid Zhang Tang's interrogation!"

Guo Jie sneered. It turned out that he just wanted to investigate the rumor and use it as a betrothal gift to marry Wei Junru.

After all, even Princess Pingyang did not dare to bear the reputation of having an affair.

Who would have thought that Du Junao was involved? No wonder he used cruel means to involve the entire Ba Ling Du family.

"The finishing workshop."

Guo Jie had an idea in mind. He walked over and knocked hard on the door. "Is the workshop's steward here? I'm an official from the Chang'an government office. I've been ordered by the young palace maid to take away a batch of three-foot bamboo slips."

The Shaqing workshop is actually a papermaking workshop. Unlike papermaking, the most common writing medium in the Western Han Dynasty was bamboo slips, that is, bamboo slips and wooden slips, while silk and hemp paper were relatively rare.

The imperial edicts and laws of official temples were recorded on bamboo slips. There were strict regulations on the length of the slips. The slips of imperial edicts and laws were three feet long.

Everyday letter slips are one foot long, so they are called chidu.

Common people broke tree trunks, cut them into wooden tablets, and made them into letters for writing.

A three-foot bamboo slip is not something that ordinary people can make. According to the Han Dynasty foot, a three-foot bamboo slip is nearly 70 centimeters long and requires a complicated process and a workshop to produce it.

Guo Jie lied that he was a minor official who came to take away the three-foot bamboo slips. Well, it wasn't really a lie. Afterwards, he found Zhao Yu and told him about it, and then taking away the three-foot bamboo slips became an official business.

It’s just that the work was done first, and then the approval procedure was added later.

Guo Jie was an official who was highly trusted by the cruel official Zhao Yu, and he would not be held back on the procedure of purchasing office supplies.

It might not be the same if it were someone else.

"Young Master's subordinate?"

A housekeeper wearing a linen jacket and trousers, with a flat scarf on his head, a beard, a dark yellow complexion, and holding a two-foot sword walked to the door and opened the door of the workshop.

The housekeeper looked at Guo Jie for a few times, frowned, and said, "Please ask the clerk to bring out the official documents. The Du family's workshop in Ba Ling does have quite a few three-foot bamboo slips, but I need the official documents before I can let you take them away."

"boom!"

Wei Guang, dressed in the attire of an ordinary military official, looked nothing like a Tiqi. He kicked the door open and cursed, "How dare you! An official from the Chang'an government comes here to take away a three-foot-long bamboo slip, and you, a mere household official, want to read the document? I'll smash your head in with one punch, so get out of here!"

He had a lot of contact with the poor people at the bottom of society.

Know how to deal with common people who don't have official uniforms.

The chief stewards of powerful families are often bullies who only bully the weak and fear the strong.

The housekeeper looked down on the common people and acted like a powerful person in front of them, but he could not afford to offend the officials in black robes.

"Don't blame me, superiors."

The housekeeper was startled, and a grim smile forced itself across his dark, sallow face. "Please come in quickly. The officials can take a seat in the guest room to rest. I will call the servants to serve you millet and wine. The three-foot bamboo slips you took away will also be loaded onto the ox cart."

This is the West Market of Chang'an, not the inner city of the countryside.

Wei Guang just kicked the door open and didn't rush in directly.

Breaking into the house gate without permission is against the law.

When the housekeeper said "please come in", he bowed deeply and saluted.

Guo Jie, Wei Guang and others walked into the Du family's workshop at Ba Ling.

There is a large open courtyard in the workshop. An engineer, together with craftsmen, soldiers and apprentices, is busy making bamboo slips in the open courtyard.

The weather in mid-March was still a little cold. The workers were not wearing undergarments, with their upper bodies exposed, revealing their thin and yellow skin. They wore linen hakama on their lower bodies and were barefoot.

The workers were not cold at all. Their thin and yellow bodies were sweating from time to time because the open yard was filled with fog and white hot air was rising everywhere.

Sheds were built in the open yard, and under each shed was a horseshoe stove with a large cauldron on top. On the cauldron of boiling hot soup was a heng tube, with steam rising from it.

The 楻筒 is a large wooden barrel placed on top of the steaming cauldron, used to hold the bamboo slips for killing green.

The process of making bamboo slips is to cut, cut, dry (kill the green), write, drill, and weave.

The surface of the bamboo slips is oily, making it difficult to engrave words and easily eaten by insects, so they were put on the fire to roast.

The green bamboo strips that are easy to bake and crack are gradually steamed and smoked with a bamboo tube, and then dried, making it easier to produce high-quality bamboo slips.

The shed used to make bamboo slips occupied most of the space in the workshop, leaving only a few houses, a toilet, a chicken coop, and a storage building, and no other buildings.

The housekeeper walked in front with a hunched back, leading the way, and took Guo Jie and others into the guest room. He immediately ordered a servant to bring over millet wine, as well as eggs, breast, bacon, sunflower and other meat and vegetables.

There are many officials in the government offices of Chang'an, and the Shao Nei who is in charge of the warehouse has a high status, so the housekeeper dare not offend him.

If this caused dissatisfaction among the junior eunuchs, he would ask his friend who was a thief catcher to check the scales in the workshop and insist that the three-foot bamboo slips were not long enough.

The housekeeper was also at a loss as to how many three-zhu coins he would need to pay to ward off the disaster.

"I heard that the Du family of Ba Ling can also make paper."

Guo Jie tore off a piece of hemp paper and threw it over. "Is this hemp paper made in the Du family workshop? I'd like to buy some and store it in the government temple's storehouse."

One knife is worth a hundred pieces.

The market price of hemp paper is not low.

In addition, hemp paper is not as durable as bamboo slips and is more likely to breed termites.

The housekeeper was puzzled and said, "The Du family workshop can produce hemp paper, but a few sheets of hemp paper are very expensive. I have never heard of officials in Chang'an using hemp paper to record official documents. However, hemp paper is widely used in border areas."

The market price of hemp paper is higher than that of bamboo slips, but it has the advantage of being very light.

The weight of a roll of bamboo slips is equivalent to that of a hundred sheets of hemp paper.

The text recorded on a piece of hemp paper is the same as that on a scroll of bamboo slips.

If the same weight of hemp paper and bamboo slips are transported to the border post.

The amount of text recorded on hemp paper is a hundred times that of bamboo slips.

The border post was far away from Chang'an, and a lot of food was consumed by people and horses when transporting the baggage.

Taking into account the transportation costs, transporting hemp paper to border posts actually saves more money and food than transporting bamboo slips.

"Snapped!"

Wei Guang slammed his hand on the table again, glaring at him and saying, "Tell me quickly whether this hemp paper is made in the Du family's workshop. As a household steward, are you allowed to ask about the Young Master's purchases?"

The wooden plate on the table shook a few times, and the eggs, breasts, and bacon on it almost fell out.

Jia Cheng's heart trembled, and he cursed inwardly that a villain had succeeded. When his son was recommended by Du Jun'ao, he went to the official temple in Chang'an to serve as the right Cao of the door.

Then we’ll see if you, a mere official, dare to act so arrogantly.

The housekeeper said sarcastically, "My eldest son has been recommended by Lord Du. In a few days, he will be appointed as a recorder in the court. From now on, he will be one of us. The superiors should not be impatient. If you smash the table, you will have to pay three zhu coins as compensation."

Guo Jie glanced at Jia Cheng and knew why Jia Cheng suddenly spoke in a sharp and tough tone.

The county officials in the Western Han Dynasty were divided into different departments, and the status of each department was generally equal.

However, different positions also lead to differences in priority and closeness.

As county bureaus, the Public Security Bureau and the Tourism Bureau have the same status, both at the department level, but the Public Security Bureau has far more power than the Tourism Bureau.

In the Western Han Dynasty, the right was respected, and the county Cao with a relatively high status was called You Cao.

Because he often follows the county magistrate, he is also called Menxia Youcao, and his status is higher than that of ordinary county officials and Si Liecao.

The Right Cao of Menxia is the main one, and the Liecao is the secondary one.

The Right Cao of the Menxia is close, and the Lie Cao are distant.

The Tingyuan was the right official of the Menxia Department, and his duties were the same as those of the Duyou, supervising the minor officials such as the head of the pavilion, patrol officers, and village officials who patrolled the villages.

"Oh!"

Who is Wei Guang? Born as a cavalry slave, he attaches great importance to his reputation. When he heard that the housekeeper brought up his son to pressure him and offended his reputation, he directly picked up the table and smashed it on the housekeeper.

Make a loud sound.

"what!"

Jia Cheng screamed and lay on the floor of the guest room wailing, his face distorted, and he almost fainted from the pain.

The servant boy standing nearby was so frightened that he stood there trembling with fear, not daring to move.

The door of the guest room faced the open courtyard. When the craftsmen heard the noise, they looked up at the guest room of the workshop and saw that the housekeeper was being beaten.

More than a hundred craftsmen immediately picked up various iron tools and walked towards the guest room, driving away the food-fighting clerks who were causing trouble in the workshop.

Wei Guang was not afraid at all. He strode towards the door, pointed at the man behind him, and said with glaring eyes, "This is the eldest son of Marquis Qucheng, who lives in the main room. He came here to buy hemp paper. How dare a mere housekeeper ask so many questions? Picking up the table and hitting him with it would be the least of his punishment. Do you think you and your junior brothers are also trying to offend the marquis?!"

Qu Chenghou's eldest son, Chong Huangrou, was very famous in Chang'an.

People like to hear some dirty jokes.

Chong Huangrou is more famous among the common people than Prime Minister Dou Ying.

"Hey."

Chong Huangrou sighed helplessly and walked to the door of the guest room: "Go call Du Junao over and buy some hemp paper today. Have him personally deliver it to the guest room."

The foxy face of Chong Huangrou is more useful than any seal. As long as you see that charming face, you will know who he is.

The craftsmen were so frightened that they broke out in cold sweats, secretly cursing the housekeeper as a fool for daring to offend Chong Huang Rou. Not only could their eldest son not be sent to Chang'an to serve as a junior official, they could not even keep their position as housekeeper.

The craftsmen hurriedly retreated to the burning horseshoe stove, cowering fearfully, not daring to look at Chong Huangrou in the guest room, yet unable to resist the urge to look.

Chong Huang Rou is truly too beautiful and graceful.

A servant hurried out of the workshop and ran to Qili to look for Du Junao, telling him that a distinguished guest had come to the workshop.

Wei Guang knelt down in the guest room again, gave Guo Jie a look, and took out a piece of linen cloth to wrap his face.

Guo Jie nodded slightly, and also took out a piece of linen and wrapped it around his face to cover his features. Then several people stood behind Chong Huangrou.

Following Sang Hongyang, Zhao Yu and Zhang Tang.

Guo Jie found another vest and put it on.

The eldest son of Qu Chenghou is Chong Huangrou.

Guo Jie, along with Wei Guang, Mang Tong and An Guo Shao Ji, dressed up as guests of Chong Huang Rou and used the beating of the family secretary to lure Du Junao, who was hiding in his family, over.

(End of this chapter)