Tang Chen: Starting from the Xuanwu Gate Incident

Chapter 16 The Happiness of Shen Liu

Although Cheng Zhijie did not receive the approved memorial, he was relieved to see that Shen Ce had thoughtfully sent a clerk over and even declared that he would not go home if the memorial was not written well. After all, Shen Ce was one of his own, and he could not let his own people suffer. Otherwise, he would have gone to the clerk's house and forced him to sign it.

On the other hand, Zhang, the Assistant Minister of the Imperial Household Department, did not have such a good attitude. Not only was his document requesting money and grain rejected, but he was also asked to send a message to someone saying that he wanted to treat a certain family's illness. Look at what he said.

A few days ago, you were all busy with your plans and battles. The officials from the Right Spring Palace visited your offices countless times, delivering imperial edicts and bestowing rewards. Only the three temples were filled with anxiety all day long, but in the end, they didn't get a single thing.

This newly appointed Registrar Shen was previously just a squad leader, and he was not sure about his background, which is why he submitted a test report this morning.

However, all of this was irrelevant to Shen Ce. Before he even finished his shift, he had already completed all his official duties. The clerks would handle the copying and registration work, so there was no need for him, as the superior, to worry about it.

He also assigned an extra task: to write down how to do eight underhanded methods, such as removing pages, losing pages, and rewriting them, and to hang them in the office of the chief clerk as a warning to future generations.

When Shen Ce mentioned the task, the clerks' expressions were priceless. They all said they couldn't do it, but when he threatened to use force, they reluctantly accepted.

Leaving the Zhuque Gate of the Imperial City leads to Zhuque Avenue. Although it had experienced the chaos of the late Sui Dynasty, Chang'an at this time had already shown the potential of an international metropolis. A city could not be called such a city by some people with different hairs. People from neighboring countries traveled thousands of miles to seek a chance to live and thrive here. Some even offered silver equal to their own weight to obtain a place to study.

The Chang'an of today seems quite different from the Xi'an of our memories. The city wall of Xi'an was built during the Ming and Qing dynasties and was only 27 li in circumference. But the current Chang'an city is 20 li in both length and width, with 11 main streets running east to west and 14 main streets running north to south, neatly dividing Chang'an into 108 wards and markets.

The straight Zhuque Avenue stretched as far as the eye could see, its wide bluestone pavement capable of accommodating any large aircraft from later generations. Shen Ce stood in the middle of the street, surrounded by a cacophony of accents from all over the country—hawkers' cries, the sound of pipa, and the clear voices of students reciting lessons. Chang'an was now his home, and perhaps he had the ability to make it even better.

The Tang Dynasty could have had more than just Chang'an; if the entire world were transformed into Chang'an...

Unfortunately, the gibberish in the foreign language interrupted Shen Ce's closed-eye reverie. Was the red-haired man a Persian or an Arab? He couldn't tell for the moment.

Back home, they were surprised to find that there were only the four of them in the three-courtyard house.

But the sensible Guo Sheren kept his word and delivered the Crown Prince's reward into his home as promised. He watched as the carriages were parked at his doorstep, and the laborers kept going in and out, carrying firewood into the house.

Where's the millet you promised? Shen Ce stepped inside, wondering why he hadn't seen it.

"Brother, come play bamboo horse with me! Second Brother is so busy, he never plays with me. Will you play with me?" Shen Ce had just passed the screen wall when his little sister blocked his way. "Just play with me, please. The children in the market don't know me, and they don't want to play with me."

"Little Man, be good. Big brother will visit Mommy first, then come and play with you. Let's pinky swear." After saying that, Shen Ce affectionately flicked his little sister's bun and extended his little finger.

"Shen! Wang! Come out."

Without servants, Shen Ce had no choice but to use this primitive method to summon people, and the effect was immediate.

When Shen Wang, panting heavily, stood in front of him, he finally believed that Shen Wang hadn't been slacking off. Shen Ce pointed to a row of young men and women standing not far away, the oldest looking no more than twenty and the youngest only a teenager.

"What did we agree on yesterday? I told you I'd go find a broker to buy them in a few days, so why are you bringing maids and servants into the house today? Where did you get the money?"

Fearing a beating, Shen Wang took two steps back and waved his hands repeatedly, saying, "It wasn't me, they came here on their own."

Shen Ce: ? ? ?

A minor official in a short linen shirt hurried over, bowed, and said, "Registrar Shen, I am the steward sent by Minister Guo to handle your reward matters. This is not your fault, Second Master; it was Minister Guo who acted on his own initiative."

Shen Ce frowned: "Tell me in detail, what is Lord Guo's intention?"

"Yesterday, the Crown Prince ordered a reduction in extravagance. These are all women in the palace who have been exiled and forced to return to civilian life. Because of the war, they had long lost contact with their families and now want to rely on their masters."

"Guo Sheren learned that the lord had not yet purchased any maids or servants, so he selected some diligent and clever ones for the lord to choose from."

The Tang Code states in black and yellow ink that slaves and servants are considered private property, the private property of their masters, and can be bought, sold, given away, or mortgaged at will. Transactions only require registration with the government.

Those with live contracts are still in the minority. These people pledge themselves to their masters, agreeing to be redeemed after a certain number of years. But the nobles treat this as nonsense; they will only choose the law that benefits them.

However, those who left the palace were not included in either category; being released meant becoming a good person.

Shen Ce's expression eased upon hearing this. He still couldn't accept the existence of slavery. A person is a person, and their life should be protected by law and not subject to private punishment. Of course, their rebellion a few days ago was not included in this category.

He couldn't tell whether these people were sent by Guo Sheren or by His Highness the Crown Prince, nor could he verify it.

You can't exactly block Li Er at the entrance of the Crown Prince's residence and ask him, "Are the maids in my residence spies you sent?"

Shen Ce bowed to Guo Sheren in thanks for his kindness, then strode towards the backyard. Despite the commotion, Shen Liu Shi hadn't come out. He had to go check on her himself.

Shen Wang, the lackey, followed behind and whispered, "Ever since the reward came into the house today, Mother has been acting like she's possessed. She even sleeps with the money string in her arms during her afternoon nap. Mother is in the side room in the backyard now. Brother, you should go and talk to her."

He could understand that suddenly becoming rich might lead to some crazy actions, but he couldn't accept sleeping on grain.

Before even entering the room, Shen Ce heard a soft snore. The room Shen Wang had mentioned was not on the bed, but on a wooden stack about half a person's height. Three hundred bushels of millet were neatly stacked in the room, and Shen Liu was lying on the wooden plank, sleeping soundly.

As a former captain in the Prince's Palace, Shen Ce naturally had his own assigned land and his own share of land. In the seventh year of the Wude era, the Emperor issued the decree to allocate land to narrow villages and reduce the land allocation to wide villages by half. As a result, his family's land was 50 mu of equal land and 80 mu of assigned land. Since he could not cultivate the land while in the army, he rented out most of his land to tenants and split the rent in half.

A small plot of land yields only seven-tenths of an acre a year. In a good year, his family can get fifty bushels of grain from the land. After the people and livestock have eaten, if they can save more than ten bushels, they are considered very lucky.

When three hundred bushels of grain were piled up at home, Shen Liushi abandoned the money strings and turned to lie down on the grain pile.