The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

(Shouting loudly: Please collect it! Ah! Ah!)

Fu Bi rode his horse very well, and quickly caught up with Su Jin. He leaned forward and grabbed Su Jin's rein, panting: "You are too impatient, you are too impatient before I finish talking." It's gone."

Su Jin said anxiously: "It's too nonsense. The road is obviously not peaceful, but she is still allowed to go first. What should I do if something happens?"

Fu Bi laughed and said, "What's the matter? There are seven or eighty people guarding her, and the top ones are experts. Can no two hundred bandits touch her? As an adult, you don't care about your niece and daughter, but you care about it most? Look, if we run like this, adults will come in without knowing it."

Just as he was talking, a personal guard came up to him on horseback and said, "My lord, the third envoy sent me to ask why you suddenly rode your horse and galloped?"

Fu Bi laughed and said, "You go back to your lord, Mr. Su is a little depressed and wants to run around with his whip, it's nothing serious."

The soldier went to answer the question, came back after a while, clasped his fists and said: "Your Excellency would like to invite Mr. Su to talk, please, Mr. Su."

Su Jin originally wanted to rush to the front to meet Yan Biyun, but Yan Shu naturally dared not refuse to obey, so he turned his horse's head, went back to the middle of the team, and came to Yan Shu's cart, and said loudly to the purple curtain: " Now Su Jin is ordered to come here."

Yan Shu poked his head out and ordered, "Get in the car and tell me."

Su Jin got off the horse and got into the car. The big car was very spacious. There were several boxes on both sides, which were full of books and papers. Yan Shu pointed to the soft seat opposite with a booklet in his hand and said, "Sit, old man. Let me ask you."

Su Jin sat down according to his words, and Yan Shu smiled and said, "Do you feel a little bored? The little calf is full of strength, isn't it uncomfortable not to have fun?"

Su Jin thought: What kind of talk is this? With such a way of traveling, I don't know how long it takes to reach the capital in the Year of the Monkey.

"Look, the old man is studying the rice grain and tax revenue of the imperial court in the past few years. I can tell you some figures so that you can understand it in your heart."

Su Jin said: "The emperor will not ask me these things, it has nothing to do with me."

Yan Shu suddenly said: "If you are on a business, you need to know the truth and falsehood. For example, the number of fields I cultivated in the Great Song Dynasty, the yield per mu? The annual income? The population? The consumption? With these figures, we can get How much grain is still not in circulation, and then [based on these, we can roughly deduce the amount of grain stored by merchants; since we want to do this errand, we naturally need to know how far we can solve the current crisis. Are you walking blind at night?"

Su Jin smiled and said: "My lord, don't be upset, just give these numbers to me privately, what I said is that the emperor will not ask about these, and I will not take the initiative to say; according to my guess, what the emperor wants to know most is that we will What kind of means are used to collect these grain reserves."

Yan Shu said, "In your opinion, how should we proceed?"

Su Jin said: "Su Jin just listens to your lord's arrangement. The specific strategy to adopt is for the emperor and your lord to make up his mind."

Yan Shu said with a sullen face: "When did you become so tactful? I'm afraid you don't know the importance of this mission. If you can't make a contribution this time, let's say the people are displaced and turbulent, even the army will run out of food." , do you know what kind of serious consequences this will cause?"

Su Jin thought, no matter how serious the consequences are, I can't control them. Why did you go long ago? There is a severe drought in the south. Even us merchants know that there will be famine. We have to plan ahead as early as May and June. Now come to stop Loopholes, of course, in a hurry.

"What do you think, my lord? Can you tell me?"

"Of course I want to tell you that this time the old man can only be behind the scenes. As soon as the old man moves, the news will leak out, and nothing can be done at that time; I think so. The imperial court has a clear document on the crime of hoarding. Taizong Duangong two years ago The imperial edict about allowing merchants to supply grain to official warehouses once said: "All food and salary families and people in the situation are not allowed to enter the central hudou fight or ask for discounts from others. Violators will be reported to the official, and the chief official will be executed." , The official was removed from the name and demoted. The censor platform is still appointed for scientific investigation. The dendrobium fights in the house are not counted, and they will be rewarded by the informant. The chief official can report himself and be exonerated, and it will also be implemented in accordance with the informant's regulations. .It supervises courtiers and envoys, and is not allowed to be entrusted with Zhonghudou, and those who violate it will be dismissed and demoted.'; This article was later incorporated into the Song Dynasty as a law, and it has been more than forty years."

Su Jin asked: "I understand Shilu's family, what is a situational person?"

Yan Shu glanced at him strangely, as if he blamed him for not even understanding this, and said, "The so-called family of food and salary and people of situation refer to the family of officials and gentry, who may have power or land. In the process of entering the middle office, there were fraudulent behaviors that harmed the public and private interests."

Su Jin thought for a while, shook his head lightly, and said, "I'm afraid this article will have to be revised. The clauses in Taizong's reign have been chronically ill. I think it's because the clauses are too strict, and the officials and gentry hoard a large amount of food and don't put it in the official warehouse. , today's situation may not have been caused by this article."

Yan Shu smiled and said: "Your consideration is reasonable, but it's not all. When Emperor Taizong issued this strict edict, it was because these powerful people with a lot of land and property took advantage of the opportunity to enrich themselves. Simply put, these people With huge financial resources, they formed forces in the local prefectures and counties to control the price of grain and rice. The imperial government’s official warehouses had a price for each year’s grain. When the common people sell grain, these people control the market, lower the price to [-] shi or lower to collect grain in the name of the court; take advantage of the people's eagerness to sell grain, earn low-priced income, and enter the official warehouse at high price, Earn the difference."

Su Jin smacked his tongue and said: "It turns out that there are all these tricks in it. No wonder Taizong Lord issued an edict to prevent these officials and powerful people from interfering in this matter. The word "powerful people" is really brilliant. These people are not just powerful people. People."

Yan Shu sighed and said, "Isn't that so? The Emperor Taizong delegated this power to the merchants. At that time, it might have played a role. In addition, the punishment was severe. According to records, many people who died for money were punished, but the good times were not good." Long, there are other tricks coming out."

Su Jin said: "That's natural. There are policies at the top and countermeasures at the bottom. No matter how perfect the policy is, it will always be taken advantage of by people with a heart."

Yan Shu said: "This sentence sums it up well. It's just like that. The power to enter the middle class is delegated to merchants. On the surface, officials can't interfere. In fact, officials and businessmen colluded secretly and played many tricks; local officials used the power of supervision to not only Still able to control the price and later shoddy, withheld and hoarded, mixed with sand, and used the time of contracting to accept bribes, in short, there are so many things that make people hard to guard against.”

Su Jin's heart is cold, these guys have reached the point of lawlessness, no wonder he, a powerless small businessman, is safe and sound after hoarding food. It seems that everyone has the mentality of not blaming the law. Even if this kind of case is reported, it will probably be backlogged down layer by layer, and every layer of joints will benefit.

Yan Shu continued: "In recent years, officials from various places have also been dismissed because of this incident, but in recent years, the grain harvest has been bumper, and gradually even the emperor doesn't care much about such things. I know that once the famine comes, such a thing will become a cancer that shakes the foundation of the country. It's a pity that people only regret not having made plans in time of crisis. In the current situation, it is probably one-sided to say that it is the disaster of the gangsters colluding with the government. Ci, fundamentally speaking, should be the responsibility of the imperial court."

Su Jin admired Yan Shu for daring to tell the truth. He blamed him for not making preparations earlier during the severe drought. It seemed that he was wrong. Yan Shu must have reported the matter, but Renzong didn't pay attention to it.

"Anything that involves interests, there are always people who want to take risks." Su Jin sighed.

Yan Shu remained silent, deeply worried.

"My lord, I don't know if I should say something or not."

Yan Shu waved his hand and said, "That's right, this is a private discussion, not above the official court, it's just to talk endlessly."

Su Jin coughed, rubbed his brows and said, "I would like to ask, what is the emperor's wish at this moment?"

Yan Shu said, "What do you mean?"

Su Jinsuo let go and said: "I mean, according to your opinion, whether the emperor has made the determination to rectify it. After all, this matter may involve a large number of people. If it is only for the current situation If it hurts, you need to leave room for future actions, otherwise you will never turn back, and take this opportunity to eliminate this stubborn disease."

Yan Shu looked at Su Jin in a daze, and said after a while, "Of course the old man meant the latter. As for the emperor's wishes, it's not clear yet, but this is exactly the direction you and I want to promote. You might as well talk about it."

Su Jin's heart turned cold. At this moment, Renzong's attitude is not clear. What should I do with this errand?The emperor didn't know what was going on in his mind?

Su Jin is not a politician, how could he know that there are some things that he can't do anything about, things in the world are often inextricably linked, if because of this time when the food is being rectified, the radish is pulled out and the mud from the whole vegetable bed is brought. The turmoil in the city is definitely not less than that of famine refugees; if it involves key personnel in the central government, you need to be more careful, otherwise it may be a catastrophe in government and politics.

This is the time to test political wisdom and courage, and it is really not easy to make a decision on how to choose.

The carriages and horses were sparkling, and the team moved forward silently. An old man and a young man sat in the carriage with their own thoughts, looking at each other silently.