The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

"Although the villain doesn't pay much attention to the affairs of the officialdom, the villain still went to investigate because of his curiosity. Although the soldiers were evasive, the villain judged that what Chen Xiaoer said was inseparable. .”

"After dark, the villain ordered the servants to prepare meals. At this time, Pang County Magistrate suddenly came with a few people, and the younger one rushed to meet him. Although our Niutou Station is not under the local jurisdiction, it is in the city after all. Within the territory of Zhe County, there are also exchanges on weekdays, and the relationship is quite harmonious."

Yan Shu frowned and said, "Magistrate Pang? Is it Pang De who came today?"

Liu Youlun nodded and said: "It's the county magistrate Pang Depang. The villain is also puzzled. It's so late. I don't know what the county magistrate is doing at the post station, so he went up to ask; Pang county magistrate said that he received an official document from Yingtianfu, saying that there was something wrong. It is very important for the official to stay in the Niutou post, so he has to come and see; the villain thought that the local county magistrate was really responsible for the important people passing through the border, so he didn't think much about it, so he let him into the post, Pang The county magistrate first went to the small courtyard to talk to the escorting soldiers, and the villain remembered that the leading soldier seemed to be surnamed Meng, and he was a capital."

Fu Bi nodded and said, "The surname is Meng, Meng Fei is the head of Mengdu."

"That's it. County magistrate Pang and that head of Mengdu seemed to get along very well, so when the meal was open, County magistrate Pang brought out three jars of wine from his sedan chair, and wanted to drink with me, saying that it was for Mengdu in the capital. Everyone is the first to catch the wind."

Yan Shu scolded: "How can I drink alcohol while escorting officials? I'm afraid Meng Fei is confused."

Liu Youlun laughed and said: "Yes, the villain also said it at the time, but the county magistrate Pang said that the Niutou Station is only a few miles away from the county seat, and hundreds of soldiers in the county's small military camp are close at hand. It's all right, and he said that the first-class people in the capital are distinguished guests from the capital, and it's rare to see them in a few years, how can we not show the friendship of the landlord this time."

"The villain really can't hold him back, and the wine is good wine, and everyone in the post station often drinks when there is nothing to do. During this time, there are a lot of messengers coming and going from the capital, and it has been almost a month without drinking or eating, so everyone They all want to take two sips to moisten their throats; the villain is confused, so he doesn't give up without thinking about it."

"The Mr. Tang who was being escorted seemed unwilling to come out to drink with everyone, so Magistrate Pang ordered another jar of wine and a table of food to be sent to the small courtyard. Meng Du was really careful, and brought five out by himself. Drinking, the remaining nine stayed in the courtyard to guard; after drinking for three rounds, everyone couldn't care about anything else, so they closed the gate of the post station, and called the brothers who were on patrol and onlookers to come down to have a drink together. During the third jar, I felt that the smell of wine was a bit strange, it seemed to be different from the wine I drank before, when I was about to talk, suddenly the smell of wine rose, and the villain fell drunk on the ground.

Su Jin nodded with a smile, "But when you wake up the next day, there is a bloody case in sight, right?"

Liu Youlun said: "The lord is right. The next morning, after I woke up, I searched around, but there was nothing unusual. Both the magistrate and the first-class man from Mengdu had disappeared. I think we must go back separately. Yes, everyone drank secretly, and they were worried because they hadn't been on patrol all night; so they asked the handyman to deliver morning tea and water to the small courtyard. Unexpectedly... Unexpectedly, there were more than a dozen people, including the prisoner. But they all died."

"You said the third jar of wine tasted a bit strange, what's the strange way?" Su Jin asked.

Liu Youlun said: "I can't tell. It seems that there is some sour taste in the wine. Anyway, the taste is not right."

"Your tongue is so good? After drinking two jars before, can you still distinguish the peculiar smell in the wine?"

"This...to tell you the truth, the small drinker is very good. To be honest, these dozens of people drank three jars. Even if I drank a large jar by myself, I would definitely not get drunk. This wine is really strange. The strength of the wine is so strong. Great." Liu Youlun clicked his tongue.

Yan Shu scolded: "Fool, the sourness in the wine is caused by Mongolian medicine. You drink so well, but you were knocked down by a few bowls of wine. Did you get anesthesia or something?"

"Ah? Anesthetic? The wine was brought by the county magistrate, and it was sealed with mud in front of me. How could it be anesthetic?"

Yan Shu scolded angrily: "Idiot, of course you have to slap the mud seal in front of you. Would you still drink the powdered medicine in front of you?"

Liu Youlun was startled and said, "My lord is saying...there is something wrong with the wine brought by the magistrate?"

Yan Shu was noncommittal, twirling his beard and thinking for a while, "Then why did you hide this matter and not report it?"

Liu Youlun kowtowed and said: "I waited for drinking and made a mistake, which resulted in more than a dozen deaths in the post station. Who would dare to say it. In addition, the next day, Pang County Magistrate came to the post station again for investigation and called us together. The matter is so important that everyone may not be able to get away with it. If he admits that drinking was wrong, everyone will go to jail. Why not keep his mouth shut, he will write in the case report that strong people come and go strangely. But there is no way to notice it at all, so that everyone can protect themselves."

"That's why you formed an offensive and defensive alliance to hide this matter completely?" Yan Shu shouted.

"Damn the small ones, damn the small ones." Liu Youlun kowtowed, begging unceasingly.

Yan Shu sighed, waved his hand and said, "Push it out, so that I can be guarded."

Liu Youlun was taken out of the hall, and there was a dead silence in the hall. Yan Shu said to Fu Bi and Su Jin, "What do you think?"

Fu Bi said: "My lord, this matter has become clear. Pang De must have been instigated by someone and got the news that Tang Jie had been here, so he mixed the Mongolian sweat medicine into the wine in advance, sealed it with mud and brought it to trick everyone to drink it. Afterwards, the bandits outside used ladders to come in and kill Tang Jie and the escorting officers and soldiers. In order to cover up afterwards, Pang De made an offensive and defensive alliance with the postmen, and lied that the strongman sneaked in, and everyone was unaware; The criminal division Ying Tianti came to investigate, but there were no climbing footprints on the wall, and the people in the outer courtyard lied that they patrolled at night. Naturally, they came to the conclusion that the bloody crime was committed by a superior person, and everyone could not detect it. "

Yan Shu nodded, turned to look at the silent Su Jin and asked, "What do you think?"

Su Jin paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, before saying after a while: "I don't think so."

Fu Bi was stunned and said, "Isn't that so? It's already obvious."

Su Jindao: "It is almost certain that the Mongolian sweat medicine was written by Pound; it is almost a foregone conclusion that Pound was instigated by others, because Pound has no reason to intercept and kill Tang Jie, even though there may have been a relationship between the two before. However, since Tang Jie has been transferred to another party, and Pang De must have known that Tang Jie's promotion is false, the promotion is fake, and the bad luck is real; therefore Pang De has no need to kill him to vent his anger."

Fu Bi opened his eyes wide and said, "So you doubt whether Tang Jie was killed by bandits?"

Su Jin said: "Of course you have to be suspicious. All possibilities are impossible. Appearances will blind your eyes. You can't be led away by criminals."

Fu Bi laughed and said, "But isn't the conclusion the same as mine?"

Su Jin smiled and said: "Brother, don't blame me, I'm not doubting your judgment, I'm just raising another possibility."

Yan Shu said, "Yanguo, just listen to what Su Jin has to say."

Su Jindao: "My lord, my guess is that the purpose of that group is to take Tang Jie's head, and the number of them must not be very large, because if there are many of them, they can just break in directly and don't need to spend a lot of time designing these things." Joints, the more joints the more error-prone, so my guess is that their number is not as many as guessed in some company documents."

Yan Shu nodded and said, "It makes sense."

Su Jin continued: "Their purpose is actually to kill Tang Jie, so it's a bit strange that all the escorted soldiers were killed."

Fu Bi interjected, "What? Didn't they kill these soldiers?"

Su Jin said: "If I am a murderer, and my purpose is to kill Tang Jie, then after I enter the station, after killing Tang Jie, is there any need for me to kill those drunk escort soldiers? Besides, the biggest trouble is that there are still six jailers passed out drunk in the hall, do I still need to take the risk to go to the hall and carry everyone back to the small courtyard one by one, and then kill them all with one knife?"

Fu Bi was tongue-tied and said, "This... seems unlikely."

Yan Shu chuckled and said, "It's not that it's impossible, but it's impossible. Su Jin's analysis is correct. Their target is Tang Jie. Because Tang Jie has a lot of evidence about certain people, their goal is to silence them. As for the escorting soldiers, the two sides have nothing to do with each other, and they really shouldn't be killed."

Fu Bi was stunned and said, "Then who killed these soldiers?"

Su Jin said: "It depends on who these soldiers pose a threat to."

Fu Bi thought for a long time and said, "Who can pose a threat?"

Su Jin smiled and said: "The most direct threat is to Pang Depang County Magistrate."

"how do I say this?"

"The wine that Pound brought, and he tried his best to invite these soldiers to drink, and finally caused Tang Jie to be killed; what should be the first reaction of these escorting soldiers when they wake up?"

Fu Bi said: "Of course we have to suspect Pang De, suspecting that he intentionally got everyone drunk so that others could take advantage of it."

Su Jin smiled and said: "That's right, Pound may be able to suppress these people in the station and form an offensive and defensive alliance. These escorting soldiers are the personal guards of Lord Sansi and Lord Fu, and he will buy Pound's account." What? And obviously they are all alive, and Tang Jie is dead. This is obviously unreasonable. After all, they have been ordered to escort Tang Jie to Beijing safely. No matter how they quibble, these soldiers cannot lie, so they must I won't help Pound lie together, and in this way, Pound will have nothing to hide."

Fu Bi suddenly realized, grabbed Su Jin's shoulder and shook, "My little brother is really a god, you guessed it as if you saw it with your own eyes, it must be so."

Su Jin laughed and said: "It's just speculation, and there may be hidden secrets that I don't know, but I think it's close to ten, and the rest is to take this person tomorrow morning when Pang De comes to see him off, and the first trial will be held." I will know."

Yan Shu applauded. He looked at Su Jin with admiration. This 16-year-old boy has matured his mind to think more than half of the people. Under the analysis, it is almost vivid.

"Separate the people in the court, take their confessions and check them, and then lock them up one by one. They rode to Yingtian Mansion overnight to report the matter to Bao Zheng, and asked him to come to take over the prisoner tomorrow morning. The follow-up of this matter will be handed over to Bao Zheng. Saved." Yan Shu ordered.

Fu Bi promised, and then went to order to handle it. Su Jin said goodbye and left the back door of the hall. Yan Biyun, Xiaosuier Huanniang and others had been waiting behind to hear the news. While explaining, Su Jin led everyone to the dormitory. After a bumpy day and a lot of thought, he was too tired to move.