Judge of the Song Dynasty

Sima Guang clutched several scrolls of documents and ran all the way to the Court of Penal Review. Upon entering the hall, he slammed the documents down on the table and said breathlessly, “Oh my! I just barely made it on time.”

“Why is Academician Sima so out of breath?”

Qi Hui, who had just entered the hall, couldn’t help but be curious seeing Sima Guang with one hand propped on the table, gasping for air.

Sima Guang waved his hand and sat down. “Don’t even ask. Today has been truly unlucky. The moment I stepped out, I stepped in excrement and had to go back to change my shoes, which delayed me quite a bit. I almost arrived late.”

He had a very strict and disciplined character – being late or leaving early was unacceptable to him.

Qi Hui was slightly stunned and laughed. “To be honest with you, I also nearly stepped in excrement today.”

Sima Guang was taken aback. “Really?”

Qi Hui nodded and sighed. “I don’t know what the Street Office is doing. There’s excrement everywhere – how is one supposed to walk?”

But soon they realized this was no coincidence, but rather that there was so much excrement that many officials had stepped in it, or nearly stepped in it.

When something affected the officials, no matter how small, it was no small matter! “Excrement” quickly became the capital’s top topic of the day.

It truly was “stinking to high heaven.”

The officials frantically complained to the Infantry Command and Cavalry Command, since the military patrol posts within the capital fell under these two commands.

This was the imperial capital – how could the streets be in such a state? What kind of decorum was this?

“Outrageous! These scholars really talk without feeling any pain. If they didn’t usually travel by carriage, there wouldn’t be so much excrement. Now they’re blaming us military officers.”

Cao Ping cursed and swore as he returned home.

At today’s meeting, he had received quite a scolding, especially the tone of those civil officials, which made him very angry.

They spoke as if these military officers should be the ones dealing with the excrement.

It had even turned into looking down on military officials.

The key issue was that Emperor Zhao Xu had assigned this task to him.

This had made Cao Ping furious.

The household steward suddenly reminded him, “Master, didn’t the young master recently go to the Patrol Inspection Office?”

Cao Ping was stunned. “Are you saying this matter is related to Dong’er?”

The steward continued, “From what I know, the young master has been with Zhang San these past few days.”

Cao Ping pondered briefly. “Go fetch Dong’er.”

After Cao Dongdong returned, Cao Ping immediately asked, “Dong’er, how are you doing at the Patrol Inspection Office?”

Cao Dongdong grinned. “Quite well. I really like this position.”

“Is that so?”

Cao Ping asked again, “Then do you know why there has been so much more excrement on the streets recently?”

Cao Dongdong nodded. “I do know what this is about.”

Cao Ping hurriedly asked, “What is it about?”

Cao Dongdong immediately replied, “Someone is trying to mess with Zhang San.”

“Mess with Zhang San?”

Cao Ping frowned. “What do you mean by that?”

Cao Dongdong said, “On my first day in office, that Gu Shaoqing came to make trouble for Zhang San, deliberately throwing excrement nearby and making Zhang San clean it up.”

Cao Ping made a sound of understanding. “Such a thing happened?”

Cao Dongdong immediately said, “Absolutely true. If Father doesn’t believe it, you can send someone to investigate.”

Cao Ping frowned and pondered for a long while, then said, “Such a trivial matter doesn’t require my intervention. I will entrust this matter to you. Do you have confidence you can resolve it?”

A gleam of joy flashed in Cao Dongdong’s eyes. “Since Father trusts me so much, I will absolutely not disappoint you.”

Cao Ping said, “Good! I’ll leave this matter to you. Don’t bring shame to our Cao family.”

“Yes!”

Cao Dongdong said, “I will handle it immediately.”

After Cao Dongdong left, the steward beside Cao Ping said, “Master, this matter…”

Before he could finish, Cao Ping said, “It’s definitely that brat and Zhang San causing trouble.”

The steward asked curiously, “Since Master knows, why still…”

Cao Ping said, “They caused this trouble, so naturally they should solve it.”

At this point, he paused slightly and continued, “It’ll also help me vent some anger. Damn it, they really think us military officers are easy to bully.”

He was beginning to vaguely realize why the emperor had assigned this matter to him.

After leaving home, Cao Dongdong immediately rushed to the Left District Patrol Office.

“It’s settled! It’s settled!”

Cao Dongdong rushed excitedly into the room and said to Zhang Fei, Ma Xiaoyi, and Fu Shichun, “My father has given me full authority over this matter. Now we can really show what we’re capable of.”

Zhang Fei laughed, “Then let’s make this a big one and add some profit for our Three Military Divisions.”

Ma Xiaoyi rubbed his hands together eagerly and said to Fu Shichun, “Brother Chun, hurry up and finish writing those traffic regulations so we can post them.”

Fu Shichun said gloomily, “So this is what you brought me here to do.”

Ma Xiaoyi chuckled, “Writing isn’t exactly our strong suit.”

Cao Dongdong said, “We agreed beforehand that our carriages get the number with four eights.”

Zhang Fei laughed, “Of course.”

Two days later.

“Huh? Why are there so many people over there?”

“Come on, let’s go see what’s happening.”

“Hey! What are you all looking at?”

“Traffic regulations.”

“What traffic regulations?”

“The Military Patrol Office just posted these. It seems to be for cleaning up the streets. From now on, all carriages, donkey carts, and ox carts have to get license plates.”

“What are license plates?”

“See for yourself.”

“Huh? What are those characters?”

“Look more carefully. Those symbols correspond to one, two, three, four, five.”

At the Fan Inn.

A group of young nobles gathered at the entrance, their mouths full of complaints.

“This is outrageous! Which bastard came up with this idea? Carriages and horses need license plates, and we have to pay two strings of coins every year. Why don’t they just go rob people!”

“Having to pay cleaning fees for horse and ox manure is one thing, but the most hateful part is that even sedan chairs need license plates and have to pay some ‘dignity fee.’ This is completely lawless!”

“The court told them to clean the streets, and instead they’re finding ways to make money. We absolutely won’t get these license plates.”

Within a single day, streets large and small were covered with notices from the Military Patrol Office.

The core content was vehicle registration.

Whether horses, carriages, or even sedan chairs, everything had to be registered. Otherwise, they would be banned from the streets, and anyone caught would face heavy fines.

However, once registered, an annual street cleaning fee had to be paid.

Public carriages and ox carts only needed to pay five hundred coins per year.

Freight vehicles also only needed to pay five hundred coins annually.

The key issue was private carriages, which had to pay two strings per year. But if a household had two carriages, congratulations—they had to pay ten strings annually. Three carriages meant twenty strings, with the amount doubling indefinitely.

Even sedan chairs had to be registered and pay fees—four strings of coins per year.

This made it obvious even to fools that this was targeting high officials, wealthy merchants, and local gentry.

Commoners had no right to ride in carriages anyway.

The ministers immediately became furious.

Good heavens!

Making us pay money?

Who the hell gave you the courage?

We who don’t even pay taxes are being asked to pay cleaning fees?

Has the Three Military Divisions gone mad?

Of course, some ministers applauded this move.

Wang Anshi, for example.

“Brilliant! Brilliant!”

Wang Anshi held the notice and praised it repeatedly, “That boy Zhang San is truly talented, actually thinking of registering cattle and horses to increase the Patrol Inspection Office’s revenue.”

This move was exactly to his taste.

It perfectly matched his reform philosophy—collect money from the rich to strengthen the state.

What talent!

True talent!

Lu Huiqing said quietly, “I believe this is good for us. Let’s see how those high officials and nobles respond. When we implement our new laws, we’ll have a better idea of what to expect.”

Wang Anshi nodded with a smile, “Exactly what I was thinking. Now we’ll have quite a show to watch.”

Just then, a clerk came to the door, “Report to Academician Wang, His Majesty has sent someone to summon Academician Wang immediately to the Hall of Delegated Rule for deliberation.”

Wang Anshi chuckled, “So quickly it’s reached His Majesty’s attention.”

When Wang Anshi arrived at the Hall of Delegated Rule, it was already in complete uproar.

Quietly entering through the door, he saw Gu Ji angrily ranting.

“Your Majesty, setting aside how these license plates disrupt people’s lives, the key question is where the Patrol Inspection Office gets the authority to make laws. This is a crime of exceeding their authority.”

Emperor Zhao Xu couldn’t help but look toward Cao Ping standing to the side.

Cao Ping immediately said, “The carriages in the city are increasing day by day, not only frequently causing traffic congestion, but also constantly increasing manure. However, the funds allocated by the court to the Patrol Inspection Office have not changed. Since you all complain about the increase in manure, why not reduce carriage travel, or pay cleaning fees?”

Censor Li Zhan immediately said, “Are you doing this to clean the streets? You are clearly using this as an opportunity to collect money. Since you think there are too many carriages causing increased manure, then why do sedan chairs also have to pay?”

Before Cao Ping could speak, Wang Anshi, who had just entered, immediately stepped forward to assert his presence. “Since ancient times, even when kings and nobles were not virtuous, they never dared to use humans as beasts. These sedan chairs carried by men are fundamentally inhumane. Collecting a dignity fee is more than reasonable – I actually think the fee is too low.”

Sima Guang nodded, “Academician Wang speaks reasonably. These sedan chairs treat humans like livestock, which harms natural order and makes it difficult to reflect our dynasty’s benevolent governance philosophy. Unless someone has difficulty walking, they should not casually ride in sedan chairs.”

Lu Gongzhu, Wen Yanbo, Xu Zhongtu and others also stepped forward to support collecting this dignity fee.

Originally during the Tang dynasty, sedan chairs were generally only used by royalty and nobility for travel. Officials could not easily ride in sedan chairs, as they represented hierarchy and status. But now sedan chairs were beginning to become popular.

However, since they were just starting to become popular, there was a large group of scholar-officials who greatly despised these things.

Sima Guang, Wang Anshi and others often rode in carriages, but never in sedan chairs, because they all felt it was too humiliating. Carrying people was work for beasts – how could humans be made to do it?

Of course, they had not considered the feelings of oxen and horses.

Seeing so many people in opposition, Li Zhan immediately said, “That is not my point. What I mean is that the Patrol Inspection Office does not have this authority.”

Cao Ping immediately said, “His Majesty entrusted this matter to me. Why do I not have this authority?”

Strictly speaking on the matter, he indeed did not have this authority, as it involved regulations. Therefore, he directly shifted responsibility to Emperor Zhao Xu.

Emperor Zhao Xu was quite slippery. He feigned uncertainty, saying, “But We…”

Cao Ping immediately said, “Your Majesty, actually this strategy was conceived by my son. The reason I agreed is because he was also thinking of city defense – this is my duty.”

“Thinking of city defense?” Emperor Zhao Xu quickly asked, “How so?”

Cao Ping said, “Putting license plates on carriages and horses makes them easier to manage during normal times, and if war occurs, the horses can be immediately requisitioned for military use to protect the capital.”

Upon hearing this, the ministers nearly spat blood. So paying money wasn’t enough – we also had to raise horses for the state?

Why don’t you just go rob people!

Emperor Zhao Xu immediately said, “This strategy is excellent. The capital is a place of national importance and cannot afford any mistakes.”

Weren’t they talking about money?

How did this turn into defending the capital?

This was too far-fetched.

Wang Anshi immediately stepped forward, “Your Majesty, I also believe this policy achieves multiple goals at once.”

Sima Guang, Wen Yanbo and others showed doubtful expressions, but said nothing.