The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

Wang Chao led more than 100 Yangzhou soldiers along the official road to meet the food transport team with the head of Weidu. At dawn, they bumped into the brigade of people who were rushing to Yangzhou head-on in Tianchang.

Long Zhen was very clear-headed. After losing the food, he had to report it immediately. If there was a slight delay, it would inevitably arouse Su Jin's suspicion. So after he escaped from Liangyuan Town, he immediately sent someone to report to Luzhou. At the same time, he led a large group of people to Yangzhou to report.

Long Zhenxin was also very disturbed. The bandits robbed the food, and the brigade did not make any resistance at all. If this matter got to Su Jin's ears, the shrewd boy would definitely think of something, so Long Zhen acted and made a full set , Ordered the soldiers to pretend to be disarmed, and wrapped a few soldiers with white cloth tightly in white cloth, pretending to be invincible.

In fact, there is no need to pretend at all, this group of people has been running around all night, all of them have pale faces, and their clothes are crooked, like soldiers who fled from the battlefield. .

"Commander Long, in the next dynasty, Special Envoy Su will be his personal guard. This is the head of the Yangzhou Weidu. I have been ordered to meet your grain carts. What's wrong with you? Where's the grain?"

"Why did you come here now, hey!" Long Zhen was heartbroken, with a dejected look on his face.

"What's wrong? There's no accident." Wei Du asked with a frown.

Zhao Dutouce immediately stepped forward and said loudly: "You still ask? There is such a big banditry here, and you didn't inform us in advance. All the food was taken away by the bandits last night. We have to retreat when we are defeated. You guys Look, we lost three brothers and injured more than a dozen, this matter must be judged by Special Envoy Su."

Dynasty and Weidu were stunned for the first time, and they had no time to care about the unreasonable words of this group of people. For the present plan, they had to report to Su Jin to know. The poor three adults and the people in Yangzhou are still waiting for the 50 shi. Food was used to save lives, and now it has fallen into the hands of bandits. Doesn't that mean that they have entered the tiger's mouth, and there is no way out.

As a nursing home, Wang Chao didn't have much to say, so he had to borrow a horse, and wanted to rush back to report to Su Jin. Long Zhen ignored the soldiers' dissuasion and went with Wang Chao. It is always hard to shirk the blame. While shirking responsibility, you must have a correct attitude, so as not to arouse Su Jin's greater anger.

The two raced on, and finally rushed back to Yangzhou City at noon. They didn't even get off their horses at the gate of the city, and rushed into the city directly, galloping along the clean and tidy streets that were slightly bustling, scaring the common people out of time.

Su Jin was serving porridge with Song Xiang and Gou Dasheng in the porridge shed in front of the government office. Seeing the joy of people receiving the porridge and rice, the three of them felt very happy.

The winter sun was shining warmly, the porridge pot was bubbling, the aroma lingered in the nostrils, and the people's thanks and blessings could be heard in my ears, Su Jin was a little swayed.

The horseshoes have won, trampling the quiet and tranquil atmosphere to pieces. Su Jin saw two horses galloping towards the street at the east end of the square. The horseshoes splashed muddy water, making it impossible for the people to avoid them. The people on the horses were Wang Chao and Long Zhen. Look It doesn't matter when the dynasty arrives, after seeing Long Zhen, Su Jin was overjoyed, the food has finally arrived.

"What are those two? Why are you so rampant? Let's take a look." Song Xiang said dissatisfied.

Su Jin laughed loudly and said: "Prefect Song, it's a good thing, it's a great thing, the food has arrived, look at the man in armor behind him, that's Long Zhen, the deputy commander of the Sima Army, the imperial guard, sent by the emperor to assist me with my errands Yes, I just ordered them to escort the grain to come here, and seeing Long Zhen, this is not the grain, what is it?"

Song Xiang and Gou Dasheng were overjoyed, they clapped their hands together and said, "Okay, okay, it's finally here, thank you, thank you for your love."

Su Jin said proudly: "How is it? I mean what I say? Look at what you were like a few days ago, you wish you could tear me apart."

Song Xiang said: "Don't talk about it, what's the point of exposing old scars? They are coming, we should go to greet them."

Su Jin grinned, and went up to meet him first, Wang Chao and Long Zhen got off the horse at the dismounting stone, Wang Chao had sharp eyes, saw Su Jin and others at a glance, hurriedly dragged Long Zhen to this side, Su Jin walked all the way Haha laughed and said: "Commander Long, this trip has been hard, the road is not easy to walk, once the snow comes, I know you will have a hard time this trip."

Long Zhen stepped forward to salute, not daring to look at Su Jin, without saying a word.

Su Jin patted the muddy water on his body and said, "How far is the food? You must be afraid that I will report first in a hurry."

Long Zhen's face was ugly, and he remained silent; Su Jin felt something was wrong, and said, "Speak, are you so tired that you can't breathe?"

Wang Chao stomped his feet and said, "Master, you still asked him, they lost the food."

One sentence hit Su Jin, Song Xiang and the others like a sap without thinking. Su Jin felt dizzy and almost fell down.

"What did you say? Say it again!"

"My lord, I met bandits from Bagong Mountain on the way. The bandits attacked at night and robbed all the food..." Wang Chao wiped his tears.

"Bandits... food... robbed..." Su Jin muttered to himself, feeling a sweetness in his chest, and forced himself to swallow the mouthful of old blood that was about to spurt out, staring at Long Zhen and said, "Say, I want you to tell me yourself."

Long Zhen knelt down, kowtowed and said: "The humble job is incompetent, the food... was indeed robbed by the Bagong Mountain bandits."

Su Jin's body was shaky and his face was as pale as paper, and he shouted sharply: "Bandits? You are an army of two hundred horses. A few small bandits are you throwing away the food?"

Long Zhen said: "Master Special Envoy, we are going to lose the battle with all our strength, and it is at night, the horses really can't show their fighting power, and there are so many bandits, we have killed three brothers and injured more than a dozen, we really have no way to give orders Withdrawing."

Su Jin pointed at Long Zhen's nose and said: "It's good that one is invincible, and three will be invincible if they die. Hand in hand and give 50 shi of grain to the bandits. You are really capable and capable."

Long Zhen raised his head and said: "Master Special Envoy, what you said is not right, the lowly position is indeed responsible for this matter; but Ma Jun, the guard of the imperial army, is here to assist you with your errands, not to help you deliver food , In addition, there are bandits on Huainan Road, and you didn't tell me beforehand, can you blame the lowly officials? The soldiers I brought were all from the forbidden army in the capital. Fight to the death? The two hundred horsemen have all been wiped out by the bandits, how will I explain to Du Shumi when I go back."

Su Jinfei kicked Long Zhen's face, and cursed angrily: "You should first think about how to explain to me, come here, take this dereliction of duty for me, and go to jail and deal with it when I come back .”

Long Zhen wiped the blood from his mouth and said coldly: "Special Envoy Su, this command is not under your jurisdiction, it's just a temporary secondment, and it's not your turn to arrange my crimes, so I will accept this kick. If I come again Two-legged, you're welcome in a lowly position."

Su Jin laughed back angrily, pointed at Long Zhen and said: "I'm going to deal with you today, I don't care if you are a privy secretary or something, if you follow me to do business, you have to follow my rules, the dynasty will arrest him for me. "

Wang Chao had long been displeased with Long Zhen. After listening to Su Jinzhi's words, he reached out and grabbed Long Zhen's collar. Long Zhen roared angrily and was about to draw his sword. Wang Chao hit his forehead with a hammer and immediately knocked Long Zhen to death. Feeling dizzy, he stretched out his hand and cut back, and lifted Long Zhen's arms on his back, binding them tightly.

Su Jin said: "Tie him to the lamp post, and no one is allowed to let him go without my order. I can only let him go when I get the food back."

Long Zhen yelled, his words were filthy, Su Jin stepped forward and slapped more than 30 times on the face, knocking off all the teeth on both sides of Long Zhen, Long Zhen just stopped cursing, the hero does not suffer from the immediate loss, If he was arguing strongly at this time, Su Jin might have killed him.

Song Xiang and Gou Dasheng were out of control, they no longer knew what to do, their hearts that were originally warm, felt as if they were being poured into piercing ice water, and they were freezing and aching.

"What to do, what to do." Song Xiang muttered to himself.

"Su Jin, you made us suffer so much, what should we do now?" Gou Dasheng regretted that he had taken this road of loving the people, and only then did he know why everyone wanted to be a foolish official. It turned out that being an official loved by the people would not end well. .

Su Jin walked in front of the two of them without saying a word, raised his robe and knelt down in the tunnel, saying, "My lords, Su Jin didn't arrange well, here is my apology for you."

Song Xiang stomped his feet and said, "What's the use of apologizing for us? Food, food."

Su Jin said: "My lords, I will go and get the food back. If I can't get it back, I will go to the capital to punish myself. I swear to God, I will never implicate the two lords."

Song Xiang sighed and said: "What we are worried about is not this. What we are afraid of is that the city will be in chaos again. Our life and death are already doomed, but since we have been convicted, we can't solve Yangzhou's difficulties. I feel unwilling."

Su Jindao: "The grain in the warehouse can barely support ten days. Within ten days, I will take back the grain. Please don't leak the news, so as not to let people's hearts flutter. My only request is that you keep Yangzhou. The status quo of the city must not be chaotic, wait for me ten days, there will be divisions."

Song Xiang shook his head and said, "How are you going to get the food back? The bandits are vicious. It is said that the soldiers of the two prefectures can do nothing. What can you do?"

Su Jin gritted his teeth and said: "At this time, even the dragon's pond and the tiger's den have to go."