The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

Su Jin didn't know whether he should run away, or grab Zhao Zhen and play hostage-taking, but Zhao Zhen continued: "Come here..."

A female official stepped forward and stood outside the bead curtain: "The servant is here, what is the emperor's order?"

Zhao Zhen glanced at the pale-faced Su Jin, with a slight smile on his face, and said: "Student Su may not have eaten at noon, and his emptiness is relatively high, so go and pour a bowl of lily and lotus seed soup to relieve his hunger and drink. Get on fire."

The female officer took the order to go, and after a while, she brought a small bowl of soup on a small tray and put it in front of Su Jin; Su Jin didn't know what kind of medicine was sold in Zhao Zhen's gourd. Two slices, the whole soup lacks water, and I thought to myself: "This emperor is really stingy, he doesn't even have a bowl of soup."

Suddenly I thought: "Could it be that this is a bowl of poisoned water? The emperor on TV and movies likes to give his ministers wine and soup. Once the minister drank it, he fell to the ground and died bleeding from his stomata. Is he going to sacrifice his life here today?" Yet?"

While hesitating, he only heard Zhao Zhen say: "Drink it, although there are not many lotus seeds and lilies in it, but when this is difficult, I can only entertain you."

Su Jin said in a deep voice: "Thank you, Your Majesty, I am neither thirsty nor hungry, and your Majesty will keep it for later use."

Zhao Zhen sighed, returned to his seat and sat down, and said to Su Jin: "I really don't blame you for being rude to me just now, but this matter happened too strangely, so I had to ask a few more questions. It is unique after the funeral, I was wondering if I did something wrong, the great grandfather came to remind me."

Seeing that Zhao Zhen's tone had softened, Su Jin also asked to go down the steps, saying: "The emperor is right, this matter is a bit strange, even the grassroots feel like it is in a dream, no wonder the emperor is suspicious."

Looking at the bleak trees outside the window, Zhao Zhen said calmly: "Tell me about waking up in your dreams."

Su Jin knew that he still wanted to find out the flaws, so he recounted the dream again carefully, but when describing the appearance, he followed the portraits circulated in the market and emphasized that the golden light should not be stared at directly, and he dared not face it directly.

After Zhao Zhen listened silently, he sighed and said, "You are more blessed than me. The great grandfather has never even seen me, but you have."

Su Jin didn't know what he meant, so he could only pretend to be dumb and kept silent; Zhao Zhen patted the armrest and said, "Forget it, this is an auspicious sign. Since the great grandfather ordered you to make the oath to the public, they are the ones who made a fuss." It's outrageous, it disturbed the heroic spirit of his old man, this matter ends here, there is only one thing, the great grandfather entrusted you with a dream not because you are superior to others, but because of a coincidence, Ying Tianfu has a student case, That's why the great grandfather came to correct the wrong."

Su Jin hurriedly said: "That's natural, grass people still have this self-knowledge."

Zhao Zhen chuckled and said, "Drink the soup, I have something important to discuss with you after drinking it."

Knowing that the danger was over, Su Jin picked up the bowl and drank it dry in two gulps, then put down the empty bowl with his mouth, Zhao Zhen said, "How does it taste?"

Su Jin smiled and said: "Given by the emperor, the taste is naturally delicious; but the ingredients are too little, not enough to fit between the teeth."

Zhao Zhen smiled wryly and said: "If you know that in this imperial palace, I barely survive, you will feel that it is a lucky thing to eat some food. The order to reduce meals was issued, and the palace has two meals a day, and the portion is large." Not enough, everyone is hungry."

Su Jin was amazed, he only thought the meal reduction order was just Zhao Zhen's show, but he didn't expect Zhao Zhen to take the meal reduction seriously; even the concubines, princesses, eunuchs and maids who followed the emperor were starving, if the emperor hadn't said it himself, Who can believe it.

Zhao Zhen said towards the outside: "I invite Yan Aiqing to see you."

Su Jin understood that the next thing to do was to raise food.

With heavy footsteps, Yan Shu came quickly, and said loudly outside the house: "My subject, Yan Shu, came to see you by order."

Zhao Zhen said: "Come in, Yan Aiqing."

"I obey the order." Yan Shu lifted the curtain and entered, saluted outside the bead curtain, and walked into the room.

Su Jin stood up and saluted, and even Zhao Zhen stood up to show respect. After giving the seat, Zhao Zhen asked with disheveled hair, "Yan Aiqing, do you have any countermeasures for the matter of Yangzhou Mansion?"

Yan Shu said: "Lu Xiang and Du Shumi strongly advocate heavy suppression, and will never tolerate the riots of the mob."

Zhao Zhen said: "What do you think?"

Yan Shu said: "The old minister thought that he should be gentle. After all, the matter was caused by the lack of food. I am not speaking for the mob, but in fact they are just ordinary people. There is no food to eat, so they will naturally make trouble."

Zhao Zhen nodded and said, "How can I be gentle?"

Yan Shu said: "Originally, the old minister wanted to suggest that the emperor open a warehouse to sell grain, but as far as I know, there is very little grain in the official warehouse in Yangzhou. All the officials, big and small, and the local garrison need food and grass. I'm also worried about this."

Zhao Zhen frowned into a knot, and sighed: "Is it impossible for me, the Song Dynasty, to escape this disaster? I have no regrets about my country, so I was defeated by this god?"

Su Jin heard it was funny, and couldn't help but let out a laugh. Zhao Zhen and Yan Shu heard it, and they all glared at Su Jin.

Su Jin was dying of embarrassment, and hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, forgive me, the grassroots are not joking, but feel that something is wrong."

Zhao Zhen said: "What's wrong? Yan Aiqing recommended you to be a food-raising envoy. I haven't heard what you have to say, so why not tell me."

Su Jin glanced at Yan Shu, Yan Shu nodded and said, "If you have anything to say, it's okay to say it, it's just a matter of raising food, don't get involved in anything else."

Yan Shu didn't know what was going on in his mind. Yesterday, he wanted him to speak out what was on his mind. Everyone discussed it before discussing it, but this kid didn't know whether he had thought it through or he didn't want to say it. He prevaricated it while he was drunk. I didn't come to write down the steps as I ordered and send them over.

Yan Shu was a little displeased, but based on his understanding of Su Jin, he knew that if this person was unwilling to speak out, the effect of forcing him might be counterproductive. It doesn't matter at all.

At this moment, the arrow is on the string, and in front of the emperor, he has already blown up Su Jin to the sky. He is extremely smart. He can only pray for Su Jin to give him good words, and he must not embarrass himself. Everything depends on the destiny.

Su Jin thought for a while and said: "The emperor wants the grassroots to speak. The grassroots dare not say nothing, but if they say something wrong or offend someone, please forgive me, otherwise I will not speak."

Zhao Zhen didn't know whether to laugh or cry, this kid left the way before he spoke, and the abacus beads rattled, seeing that he seemed to have some skills, Zhao Zhen decided to agree to his request, there are only three people here, what Su Jin said Naturally, he wanted to offend Yan Shu, so he could only wrong Yan Shu at this time.

Zhao Zhen glanced at Yan Shu, nodded and said, "Say, I promise you, but don't attack others, just discuss the matter according to the facts."

Su Jin stood up and said, "Then I really said it."

Zhao Zhen smiled and said, "Say it, don't waste our time."

Su Jin smiled and said, "The first thing Caomin wants to say is about the 'meal reduction order'."

Zhao Zhen's ears perked up, and he looked at Su Jin from the side and said, "Why, isn't the meal reduction order not good? This is a time of food shortage. Isn't this order to save food and survive the famine?"

Su Jin said solemnly: "This is a small gain, but there is a big harm; a small profit can cause a big harm, this meal reduction order is really absurd."

The faces of Zhao Zhen and Yan Shu changed drastically. Su Jin denounced the court decree as 'ridiculous', which is too rude, not to mention that Zhao Zhen personally thought up and promulgated this decree. To say so is tantamount to beating Zhao Zhen slap.

Yan Shu shouted in a deep voice: "Shut up, Huangkou kid is talking nonsense, how can you just talk nonsense about the court's plans? Don't you hurry up and kowtow to apologize?"

Zhao Zhen sat on the chair with a livid face, looking at Su Jin with cold and sharp eyes again.

Su Jin said: "I said I was guilty before I said the reason, come on, if I didn't say it, I will apologize to the emperor, and I won't mention it again."

Yan Shu said angrily: "Why are you so unruly? Is that the place where you talk nonsense in front of the emperor?"

Su Jin sneered and said: "Grandpa allowed the people of the world to speak without being punished, how could the grassroots become sinners without saying anything."

Yan Shu was extremely angry and speechless. This kid's words can make people angry, but he recommended him by himself. If he said something that was not in line with the rules, he would definitely be responsible for it. When he thought of this, Yan Shu quickly got up and knelt down and kowtowed: "Your Majesty! Forgive me, Su Jin was young and ignorant, and it was the first time he met the emperor, so his words might not be appropriate, and I hope the emperor will remember that he was born in the mountains, so don't punish him, so the old minister will take him out and give him a severe admonition .”

After finishing speaking, he stretched out his hand and pulled Su Jin's clothes corner to ask him to kneel down to make amends, but Su Jin stiffened his neck and refused to kneel, and Yan Shu rolled his eyes angrily.

Looking at the old and the young in front of him, Zhao Zhen suddenly felt very funny. One was like a stubborn calf with a stalked neck, while the other knelt on the ground silently, and he didn't know what the relationship between the two was.

Zhao Zhen waved his hand and said, "Yan Aiqing got up, maybe he has his reasons, let him talk about it."

"Your Majesty, this meal reduction order is very good, don't listen to his nonsense." Yan Shu was extremely depressed and regretful.

If it wasn't for the emperor personally proposing the food reduction order, it would be no big deal for Su Jin to slander the emperor at will, but this is slapping the emperor face to face. After that, everything was complicated, and I couldn't cover everything. I didn't expect that something would happen.

Yan Shu was extremely worried, and kicked Su Jin's calf, signaling him to take it easy, but Su Jin didn't seem to notice it, and started talking about the disadvantages of the 'meal reduction order'.