The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

(Dazhang, face all kinds of requests!)

The morning mist has not dissipated, and the dew on the branches has not been evaporated by the rising autumn sun. The students in Yingtian Academy have just woken up, washed and combed, and tidied up the book boxes. They are very busy.

Fang Zimo came early to the Xiude Hall where the chairs rested with his books in his arms. This was his old habit. I am afraid that he is the first one to get up. He likes to come to Xiudetang's study room early in the morning, make a cup of green tea, and while drinking the tea, he will read the lesson that will be taught today, Prepare a few questions for questions and for students to leave questions for composition.

Before Fang Zimo entered his study, he heard the sound of 'scrubbing' and turning clothes inside. Fang Zimo pretended to be a thief and shouted loudly: "A gentleman on the beam? It's not enough to steal money and silver." Come to the wrong place."

The room fell silent, the door opened, but Professor Cao with a sullen face, Cao Min held a stack of papers in his hand, and said expressionlessly: "Mr. Fang dares to regard me as a thief. What thief would be stupid?" Where is the gentleman who came to steal the poor school? He is cursing people around the corner."

Fang Zimo snorted and said: "Taking without telling is stealing. Since Professor Cao came to pick up things, you should inform the old man first. If you didn't open the door in time, the iron ruler in the old man's hand is not a vegetarian. It hurts you so much." Noble body, but can not afford."

Cao Min cursed secretly: Old stuff, smelly and hard.

A smile changed on his face and he said: "Mr. Fang doesn't know something, I'm an official, otherwise I wouldn't be so rude, just because the Ministry of Rites wrote that the day of the emperor's dragon birthday is approaching, and the number of colleges in various states will be selected. A student with excellent literary talent and good moral character writes a birthday article for the sage, and it must be completed within three days; I received the article yesterday, knowing that this is a major event for the country, so I can’t sleep at night, so I came to you early in the morning to read the students’ articles The article, I want to find a few talented people to write a birthday article on behalf of the academy, I don't intend to offend, I will offend you."

Fang Zimo put the things in his hands on the table, and said with a straight face: "This is a misunderstanding of Professor Cao. Professor Cao is diligent and official, and he should be admired and praised. It's just that there are more than tens of thousands of articles and books here. Read it and judge whether it is good or bad, let alone three days, I'm afraid you won't be able to find it in thirty days."

Cao Min said: "It doesn't matter, I have my own sense of propriety, and I am also a scholar. When I get an article, I can see ten lines at a glance, and I can quickly distinguish between high and low."

Fang Zimo said: "Nevertheless, it took a lot of effort. The old man Mo Ruo will recommend a few for you. You can trust the old man's vision."

"Of course you can trust me, but Mr. Zimo cherishes time like gold. How dare I interrupt you? You should come by yourself. Mr. Zimo, don't blame me for messing up your things. I'm afraid I'll be here every day. , Mr. can do it himself."

Fang Zimo felt a little strange, he wanted to recommend, but he refused, so he came by himself, logically speaking, he is the most clear about who among the students has written a good article, and he doesn't come to ask for his opinion.

But Fang Zimo didn't bother to talk to him, Cao Min had a bad reputation in the lecture halls of the academy, and no one wanted to make friends with him, Fang Zimo was no exception, if he refused to accept a few polite words, he would give up. Originally, he also had the right to review the manuscripts of these students' articles, so he stopped talking and went out with a book ruler and a teacup in hand.

Before leaving, Fang Zimo took a sneak peek at Cao Min’s pile of selected articles, and looked at the signatures. Su Jin, Wang Anshi and others were included. Fang Zimo thought to himself: This person has some vision. No wonder I didn't need to give my own advice, but the person I chose was someone who wrote decent and refined articles.

Cao Min spent the whole morning in Fang Zimo's study, looking through the circles and circles. When Fang Zimo came back from school, he saw him looking left and right while muttering words, and immediately ignored him and went back Rest in the house.

For two days in a row, Cao Min searched almost all the study rooms of the lecture halls, picked dozens of articles and left, and those who cared about him glanced at them, but they were all articles written by a few students with excellent literary talents, including The lecturers don't know why Cao Min is so personally involved in discussing the various colors of poems and essays. The Ministry of Rites has issued similar essays before, and Cao Min asked each lecturer to submit a list and choose from them. See the article I don't even look at it, let alone come to search for it in person; this person's style has changed a lot, which makes people unable to adapt for a while.

On the evening of the second day, after the academy finished school, Cao Min left the academy with a big cloth bag and entered Yingtian City. He first went to the yamen of Yingtian Mansion and stayed there for half an hour. After coming out together, the two got into the car separately and went straight to the Tengwang Mansion in Dongcheng.

The disciples did not dare to be negligent, Mr. Fu Yin was a frequent visitor and knew everyone, so he was put into the mansion without waiting for an announcement, and he sent someone to inform Director Qin first, Qin Fei came after hearing the news, and the three of them went straight to the inner house to ask to see King Teng.

Teng Wang Zhao Zongdan was eating dinner and walking in the corridor of the garden to digest his food. Several maidservants followed behind him with lanterns. A maidservant hurriedly came to report: "My lord, Mr. Fuyin, please see me."

Zhao Zongdan was thinking about it, when he heard the words he hurriedly said: "Take them to the study and wait while I change clothes."

The maid left in a hurry, King Teng stood for a while, and said to himself: "It seems that there is a clue, not bad."

In the study room, after everyone had seen the ceremony, King Teng couldn't wait to ask: "Your Majesty's visit at night, but is there any clue about that?"

Tang Jie spat the tea back into the cup, and said with a smile, "Your Majesty, it's true. Professor Cao, take it out and show it to your Majesty, and ask your Majesty to sort it out to see if it's suitable for you."

Cao Min agreed, bowed forward, spread out the wrapping in his hands on the large case table, revealing a stack of manuscripts inside, and said with a smile: "My lord, it took two days for the officials to send Su Jin, The works of Wang Anshi, Wei Songhe, Lu Dakui, Cheng Liangmu and others have all been picked up, and there are many rebellious words, slandering court policies, and disrespectful words to the emperor, and they are dead."

Zhao Zongdan laughed and said, "Thank you for your hard work. If this is accomplished, the king will reward you a lot."

Cao Min hurriedly bowed and said: "How dare you accept the reward from the prince, as long as the prince can stretch out his little thumb to lift his family to be an official, it will be more valuable than any other reward."

Zhao Zongdan smiled and said: "You have a good idea, and you can talk about it easily. This time, you will get rid of these people with ulterior motives. The imperial court will definitely reward you. Your contribution is indispensable."

Cao Min thanked him repeatedly, stretched out his hand and spread out the manuscripts one by one, pointing out to King Teng one by one the rebellious words in it, this Cao Min is also careful in his work, and all the paradoxes he thinks are circled with a red pen, it is not difficult to find .

"No, my lord, please read this sentence, 'If Shangguo can practice the words of benevolent governance today, why would the people suffer from cold and starvation, how would there be smoke and dust and thieves, and why would they suffer from behaviors that are not in line with the way and return to transformation? !' This is a bold and reckless slander, a naked and undisguised attack on the current emperor who is not min zhu."

"My lord, look at this sentence again. There are three disadvantages of redundancy. The first is redundant personnel, the third is redundant soldiers, and the third is redundant expenses. The disadvantages of redundant personnel must be cleared up, the disadvantages of redundant soldiers must be eliminated, and the disadvantages of redundant expenses must be eliminated. Three redundant And the wealth is abundant. Why is it that the sages make salaries to support the officials and soldiers of the world? Officials have the wisdom to govern people, so they can eat them. However, the policy of three redundancy in the Song Dynasty has been mentioned for a long time, up to The sage went down to hundreds of officials, civil and military, and no one came up with a good plan to solve it. Let the money and food rot, and the government gradually decays. How sinister is his heart, if the wind blows, will our Great Song Dynasty be peaceful in the future? These unscrupulous people, who have no merit, dare to speak nonsense, they are hateful and can be killed."

"My lord, look at this sentence again. There are two diseases of laziness among the people today. One is vagabond, and the other is heresy. The vagabonds are less capable, and the heretics are more prosperous, and the farmers are rare. Why are the people happy to be idle? It starts from the horizontal sign of inequity and is sick from the annexation of the powerful. The small people have nothing to do with agriculture, and they think that eating for the sake of art is still a way of survival. And the husbands share the land of the world, and then they can be responsible for the farming of the world. If this is not the case, if the fertile fields and good mothers of the world are occupied by a few people, the country's financial resources will not be sustainable, and how can the people's ills be eradicated? How dangerous is it to advocate the law of land equalization? According to what they say, the prince’s food and land must be distributed to those mud legs? But where is the majesty of the royal family? Where is the dignity of heroes? Prince, these people have reached the point of lawlessness It's the end, but be careful..."

Cao Min rambled on and pointed out more than a dozen paradoxical words he circled, and Zhao Zongdan listened to them, his face was ashen, and finally couldn't bear it and shouted: "These unscrupulous people have reached the point of despising the court. Arrogant to the point of attacking today, the royal family and all the civil and military officials, take them, take them, how can you let them slander with such nonsense, Master Tang, brought the head arrester to the academy to arrest overnight."

Tang Jie hurriedly got up and cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty obeys the order, and please mark the paradoxical words one by one, so that they can be used as evidence."

Cao Min hurriedly sorted the manuscripts approved by King Teng one by one, and suddenly found that Su Jin’s name was not there. Looking again, Su Jin accounted for more than half of the remaining manuscripts that the prince did not approve, so he said suspiciously: " Your lord, all Su Jin's manuscripts have been filtered out, how can you get him?"

When Zhao Zongdan heard that there was no Su Jin's, how could it be done, he looked through the filtered manuscripts carefully, but none of them could be used as evidence, he couldn't help frowning and said: "Professor Cao, why did you bring some useless manuscripts? There are no disobedient words on it, are you a child and protect him?"

Cao Min was more wronged than Dou E, and thought: I cover him?I can't wait to kill him; I hurriedly said: "My lord, how dare you cover up, all his manuscripts, poems and essays are here, and I specially brought them here without missing a single one. I remember that there are paradoxical words in his manuscripts. , why didn't the prince see it?"

"Come and point it out to me."

Cao Min hurriedly went up to rummage through it carefully: "My lord sees this sentence 'the people are the most important, the country is the second, and the king is the least.' Isn't this belittle the words of the Holy Majesty? Isn't it enough to convict?"

Zhao Zongdan squinted at Cao Min and said, "Professor Cao donated this official, or he got this official by going through the door."

Cao Min didn't know why, and murmured: "Your Majesty, you know, the next official is the authentic imperial examination."

"Taking your chief examiner must have obtained your property, you idiot, this sentence is from Mencius, so how can you convict Su Jin for quoting Mencius' words? Are you going to punish that Sage Meng?"

Cao Min kept silent, the lord guessed right, he did bribe the chief examiner to get the grade, but he really didn't have many poems and books in his belly.

"There is also the phrase 'everyone can be Yao and Shun', you also circled it, don't you know that this is also what Mencius said? Do you think this means that everyone wants to be Emperor Yao and Shun and rise up to rebel? "

Cao Min was noncommittal and hung his head in silence.

Tang Jie hurriedly smoothed things over and said, "Don't worry, my lord. Professor Cao has worked so hard, time is tight and omissions are inevitable, but Su Jin's evidence has not yet been obtained, so I still need to ask the lord to show me how to do it."

Zhao Zongdan breathed a sigh of relief, stood up, took two steps, and said, "If you keep waiting for him to make a mistake, wouldn't he be led away by the nose? If the news leaks out, it would be bad; take these people first and report to the imperial court. Shi Tai punishes the crime, and at least kills the chicken to make an example to the monkey, let this Su Jin scare the dog out of his courage, and then slowly find his evidence and bring someone to get it!"

Tang Jie hurriedly said: "Respect the order of the lord, the officials will go to arrest people and interrogate them overnight. Maybe they can catch Su Jin's tail from their mouths."

Zhao Zongdan looked at Tang Jie, the two looked at each other and laughed, the candlelight seemed to be shaking uncontrollably, flickering left and right.