Hunan Xiang-Tan is one of the three largest cities in Hunan today. Based on the transshipment trade from south to north, it is known as "one hundred thousand industry and commerce, and the gathering of merchants". It was known as "Little Jinling" in the Ming Dynasty.

The population inside and outside the city is about 400,000 to 500,000, and the population in a single city has reached 140,000 to 150,000. According to the standards of later generations, it is definitely a top 100 counties.

After the goods transported through Nanyang are landed from Guangdong, they must be concentrated in Xiangtan and then transported to the mainland. Tea and porcelain from various places must be shipped to foreign countries, and then shipped to Guangdong for overseas delivery.

With its unique geographical advantages, Xiangtan was like this in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Yongle Dynasty opened the sea ban and gradually became prosperous since then. Now it can be described as a thousand miles a day.

As we have richer and more population, prosperous commercial activities have driven the expansion of the city. In fact, the scale of the urban area has exceeded that of the capital Changsha, and it has become Hunan's largest commercial and economic center in one fell swoop.

Xia Gui brought his family to Xiangtan to take office. He got off the boat at the dock where the teeth were crowded. He was surrounded by soldiers and others and got into a sedan chair, ringing the gong to open the way, and there was such a mighty look along the way.

First, I went to the county yard to pay my respects to my superiors, and then came to my own yamen. All kinds of minor officials have been waiting for a long time. Because my ex died in office, his family took the coffin back to his hometown before he arrived, so the yamen was empty.

After choosing auspicious times, Xia Gui received the official seal. On that day, his wife and children all moved into the yamen. After a lot of red tape, he went to see the civil and military officials in the same city and issued a notice to inform the people, meaning that he was here.

The name of the yamen is Xiangtan Riverside Inspection Department. Although the official position is small, the yamen is well-built, and he is a clerk and a military officer.

The Inspection Department was officially established in the 26th year of Hongwu, but it actually existed as early as the second year of Hongwu. According to the governing philosophy of Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming Dynasty's Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, the stability of small peasants and people was the core issue of the long-term stability of the Ming Dynasty and was highly valued by the court.

A series of corresponding national policies and systems were established in the early Ming Dynasty. Among them, the Yellow Book system, the Road Initiative system, the Lijia system, the Li Lao system and the corresponding population policies all played a good stabilizing role.

The Inspection Department was an important part of the Ming Dynasty's system of strengthening grassroots society. For example, the early Inspection Department was 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 under the rule of Huangzhou Prefecture. These were the core areas that the Ming Dynasty was first included in the scope of rule.

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

Zhu Yuanzhang was very particular and practical in governing the country, trying not to disturb the people as much as possible. While adding the inspection department, he also laid off unnecessary inspection departments. According to local reports and the collection of the imperial court, and made continuous adjustments based on changes in local society, economy, and public security. Therefore, the increase and decrease of inspection departments throughout the Ming Dynasty were very flexible, and even abolished and reorganized. This was a common situation.

The inspection department is generally located on the main roads of Guanjin, and the imperial court appointed inspection officials to be under the jurisdiction of local prefectures and counties. There are civil servants, knives, and a certain number of archers, who are mainly responsible for inspecting pedestrians, cracking down on smuggling and arresting thieves.

Because the inspection department can easily cause harm to the people, Zhu Yuanzhang decided to be a miscellaneous position in the world. The inspection is just a non-rank official position of the ninth rank, and the deputy inspector is the youngest from the ninth rank.

In general, the Inspection Department is a very special yamen. The assessment is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War, the selection is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, and the leadership is under the jurisdiction of the local farmers. The number of soldiers selected by local farmers is adapted to local conditions. They do not belong to the regular army, but are in military defense. They are quite similar to the party, government and local armed forces in later generations.

In the early Ming Dynasty, all parts of the world were in chaos, with bandits, deserters, fugitives, and sometimes strong people gathered to plunder, so the establishment of the Inspection Department was extremely necessary. However, with the stability of society, it inevitably became one of the disasters in the Yumao Village. In history, after Emperor Hongzhi, inspection departments in various places were demoted and removed in large quantities.

Now the inspection department is also criticized by merchants from all walks of life. The geese plucked their hair and became rich. Therefore, the old monk told Xia Gui that this job was a first-class fat man, and even if he did nothing, his gray income was equivalent to the seventh-rank county magistrate of Fu County.

Xia Gui felt very leisurely and at ease, except for the management of the water and land business roads under his jurisdiction, and the monthly exercises, he had almost nothing to do. The local major yamen would not use the inspection department without any trouble. It was difficult for a miscellaneous official to be promoted, so there was no need to curry favor with him. He could not offend people if he had normal social engagements.

This is the most prosperous place, and the annual filial piety is at least 10,000 taels of silver. Xia Gui really never dreamed of having today, and he was extremely happy after coming.

In order to maintain his official position, he immediately wrote several letters to Jinling, including Xu's mansion, and asked the Xu family to take care of him. But he thought how could the Xu family intervene in a mere inspection department? So he took the initiative to raise a stake and ordered people to escort the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War, thinking that local filial piety is the future. This is a later statement, so I won't mention it for now.

Xia Gui was a master and had never been an official. He hired his ex-reliance friends to help him. He was of the same origin as the guest and host, both of whom were literati and got along well with each other. This man's surname was Jia Shi and his courtesy name was Zicheng. He was a local scholar. He was 34 years old this year. He was handsome and brave and meticulous. He was nicknamed Zhencheng.

It can be seen from the nickname that Jia Shi seemed honest and honest when dealing with things, but in fact he was very mean. He had been monopolizing the cases of the yamen for many years, and he had to take charge of them, bullying good and fearing evil. The local people were all afraid of him, and scholars despised him and almost never interacted with him.

When the Xiangtan magistrate heard about his reputation, he was afraid that he would cause trouble, so he came up with an idea and asked his former inspector to recruit him in the curtain. It just so happened that Jia Shi was worried that the new official would be in office and that the people gradually bypassed him to sue him, and his income was greatly reduced. It was better to join the fat inspection department, which would not need to cheat, but also be able to collect benefits. He happily agreed.

He had some talent, left three room for work, and knew how to be meticulous, so he assisted his ex-commissioned inspectors in a very good way. For example, in view of the frequent abolition of the inspection department around the Gyeonggi, in order to facilitate the circulation of goods, he ran to the inspection department upstream and downstream, and discussed and set rules. Only one sum of silver was required to pay according to the quantity of goods, and this road could be passed without any obstacles.

This greatly reduces investigation and exploitation, saves time. It is very popular among merchants and makes it feel happy to pay the money. There are more merchants, more taxes, more joy in the upper part, and more benefits in the lower part.

Unfortunately, the former inspector was promoted to an extraordinary official position due to his merits and unfortunately died of illness. Fortunately, the new Xia Gui found out that he was very capable and received praise from all parties, so he invited him. Xia Gui hoped that he would be promoted to an extraordinary official position after his term expired. If he was not good, it would be better to do another term.

Jia Shi has gained his personal pockets for several years. Although he is not rich and noble, he has achieved a well-off life. He was punished by the law before the incident happened. He was generous and fat, and he became lucky as soon as he reached middle age.

His reputation among his fellow villagers has also improved, and his classmates have also moved around. He is successful in his career and knows that he has taken the right path. However, he has nothing to do with his life, and only has the word "sex" loves life. In the local romance and moon, everyone knows the name of "faithful sincerity".

He had a friend named Huang Zhen, who was originally from Yangzhou and was recommended by his mentor. He came to Xiangtan to become the master of the Salt Yun Department. He was clever and had many strategies. He was a good friend with Jia Shinai. It happened that Huang Zhen also liked to sleep in flowers and willows in his life. Therefore, the two of them had extraordinary friendship and were inseparable from each other when they had free time.

Xia Gui was confused about anything when he became an official for the first time, and his ex-girlfriend left him a good helper. He naturally wanted to be a good official now. Making money is second to him, so he often asked for advice.

Jia Shi knew him all the time and spoke in a very good manner. Xia Gui was very happy. He thought that no wonder he had been using it for many years. He was really talented and could run a inspection department so well, and all parties were satisfied with it and trusted him so much.

Seeing that the new boss had entered the art and obeyed his own words, Jia Shi was also very proud and his courage naturally became bigger.

On that day, he went to the yamen and had nothing to do. Jia Shi wanted to go out for a walk. The servant came in and said, "Mr. Huang is here."

Jia Shi stood up and asked for a request. When he saw Huang Zhen, who was in his thirties, swaying in, bowing and laughing, "Brother Zicheng, I've been missing for a long time. I've been busy for a few days and I won't even give up?"

Jia Shi asked him to sit down, and Huang Zhen said again: "I have wanted to see you for a long time. Because the inspector first came, he didn't know his personality and dared not come to visit him."

"Sound it, this is the yamen." Jia Shi shook his hand and whispered: "It's my luck to speak of it. You and I can speak frankly. The adult who came here is a first-class person, and he is very proficient in articles and posts, but he doesn't understand any official duties."

As he said that, Jia Shi smiled with a smug look and drew a circle on the table with two fingers, "It's already my best. Haha, I have to work hard in front of you for several days. Now the guest and the host have joined forces. I have nothing to do today, and I intend to go to your house. I don't want you to go to your house in advance, my brother, and you are so wonderful. Have a meal here first, let's go out to relieve your boredom together."

Huang Zhen heard this and smiled and said, "Congratulations. It seems that your fortune will be in a few years. If I say something flattering, just a three-headed and six-armed official, who can't subdue you? You are not afraid that the guest and the host will not be able to be good, let alone a first-time job."

The two of them immediately laughed tacitly. As the highest achievement of their aides, they played the boss in applause, just like the powerful ministers who controlled the government. This is also the most proud thing that the masters talked about.

After talking and having breakfast, Jia Shi explained to the minor official: "If the master asks me, you say that the master and Mr. Huang go out to visit a friend. If there is an urgent matter, you know where to find me."

We left the yamen together, and there were many pedestrians on the street, and various carriages galloped past. People were rushing on the dock in the distance, and hundreds of lieutenants came down from the cargo ship with boxes of things.

The inspection department is located in the outer city. The entire block is narrow and narrow from east to west due to the riverside. It consists of three main streets, namely the Hejie Wharf District, the Main Street and the Back Street, each street is fifteen miles long.

Most of the Hejie Streets are warehouses, workshops and a large number of dental shops, gathering all kinds of things; regular shops are located in the main street, forming a wholesale and commercial market.
Chapter completed!