The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

A group of people raised their bowls and drank, all of them were rough and unrestrained Qiuba, the wine and meat came first, and there was no need to greet them.

Su Jin took a piece of green vegetable into his mouth, chewed and swallowed it, and coughed clearly. Everyone knew that the envoy was about to speak, so they all calmed down and looked at Su Jin.

Su Jin smiled and cupped his hands and said: "Brothers, we are old acquaintances. There are more than a dozen brothers here who followed my envoy to Bagong Mountain to suppress bandits. I should have invited you to dinner a long time ago, but it is true. I don't have time to spare, if you didn't come here today, I wouldn't have had the chance to get together."

Pan Jiang stood up and bowed: "What did the special envoy say? After the bandits were suppressed, the brothers all received a lot of rewards, and the pensions of the brothers who died in battle were also very generous. I heard that the imperial court's rewards have not yet come down. The envoy paid in advance out of his own pocket, and my brother and I are discussing in private that we should find an opportunity to thank the envoy."

Su Jin laughed and said, "It's easy to say, brothers risk their lives, I should do so. Without everyone's help, how can I, Su Jin, a scholar, wipe out the bandits and get back the food?"

All the soldiers and soldiers in the chamber were delighted to hear this, and it was only the words of your lord that were pleasant to hear. Even though your lord went into the tiger's lair alone and stirred up the internal turmoil in the bandit's nest, only the outside could have a chance to attack; but what he said was warm in his heart. Yes, such an adult, it's interesting to follow.

"But what Commander Pan said just now was wrong. The reward was not paid by the envoy on behalf of the imperial court. The imperial court's rewards will still be sent to you in a small amount. The reward I gave is a little bit of personal interest by the envoy. .”

All the soldiers were stunned for a moment, and there was thunderous cheers immediately, some people clapped their hands and clapped their hands, they didn't expect the special envoy to be so sticky, and actually paid out of his own pocket for the reward, which had nothing to do with the imperial court's reward, and behaved like a special envoy Above, it can be regarded as the utmost benevolence.

All of a sudden, everyone stood up and toasted Su Jin, and the atmosphere suddenly became lively.

Su Jin stretched out his hand to block the wine bowl that Pan Jiang raised to signal, and said with a smile: "Don't panic, it's still early, we don't need to worry, we won't go home if we don't get drunk today; but before that, I want to offer a bowl of wine to one person first, Pay my respects."

Everyone looked at Su Jin and didn't know who he was referring to. Su Jin picked up the wine bowl and turned to Song Xiang who was sitting beside him, saying, "My lord, I respect you for a bowl of wine."

Song Xiang pointed to his nose and said, "Respect me?"

All the soldiers also pointed to Song Xiang and said, "Respect him?"

Su Jin smiled and said: "Master Fu Zun, I just respect you; if there is no Master Fu Zun behind his back, how can Su Jin have the time to have a drink with you here? If there is no Master Fu Zun immediately breaks the warehouse to release food, what will the people of Yangzhou do?" Can we wait until today when the sun shines brightly? If Master Fu Zun hadn’t seconded Commander Pan and other generals to me, Su Jin, how could we overthrow the bandit nest in Bagong Mountain in one fell swoop? Although Master Fu Zun had never fought on the battlefield, He is worthy of being called a behind-the-scenes hero, and I heard that the lord of the mansion stayed up all night to worry about his worries and suffered so much, Su Jin would like to thank you with this wine."

After Su Jin finished speaking, he raised his neck and drank up the wine, turned the wine bowl upside down, and did not leak any wine.

Song Xiang was so flattered that he quickly picked up the wine bowl and drank it. The unhappiness in his heart disappeared. It was Su Envoy who gave him face. He was already marginalized. It was just when he was embarrassed. Let yourself, the magistrate, save a little face and dignity.

Er Pan was a little unhappy, so that after all, the Lord and the Magistrate were officials and officials who protected each other, and they called themselves brothers and sisters, but he did not forget to flatter the Magistrate; they had to put down the wine bowls they raised, and sat down to eat food .

Su Jin saw it in his eyes, turned his head and said: "Everyone, regarding today's matter, I will tell everyone from a fair standpoint. In fact, you are wrong to blame the Lord."

Pan Jiang finished the wine bowl and said loudly: "Why did you blame the prefect of Song? I waited for seven or eight years to get into this position. I don't want to talk about the hard work, but it's just the same, no credit Is there any hard work? The magistrate ran to suspend me without a word of greeting. If I, Pan Jiang, misbehaved, it would be fine, but I committed some crime of embezzlement of military pay. Isn’t this rubbing sand in our eyes? It's an unwritten law in the Song military camp. It has been in existence for a few years. The prefect of Song has been in Yangzhou for more than two years. Let the brothers chill."

Song Xiang opened his mouth to speak, Su Jin hurriedly pulled him back, and said with a smile: "This is where the misunderstanding lies. Does the magistrate want to disturb you at this time? He doesn't want to either; as far as I know, yesterday In the morning, there was an article from above, which was aimed at the internal rectification of the imperial guards in various places, and it was inconvenient to disclose it to you, but since it caused a misunderstanding, of course I had to say it, and you will not blame me, my lord."

No matter how stupid Song Xiang was, he knew that this was Su Jin's excuse. This was a fabricated official document to push the responsibility to the higher party. As for who is the higher party?No one knows.And it is impossible for the soldiers to run to find out if there is such a writing.

"That's right, if you don't believe me, the government can read the written text with you later, there is nothing I can do about it," Song Xiang said.

Su Jin took over the conversation and said: "Yes, it's not just you here. The Ma Jun I brought is also investigating. Now that the evidence of Long Zhen's deduction of military pay has been conclusive, the envoy intends to deal with it according to the law and will never tolerate it; You are lucky in comparison."

After Su Jin finished speaking, he took a first look at Zhao Du, who was munching on himself.

Zhao Dutou was so shrewd, he quickly nodded and said in agreement: "It's true, no wonder the special envoy asked me about the distribution of military pay in the morning, and the humble post should just ask me casually, I didn't expect this to be the reason."

Pan Jiang and the others became more angry at once, and they were even investigating the Imperial Army raised by the aunt, not to mention the soldiers raised by the young mother himself.

Pan Shiyi couldn't help but said: "May I ask the special envoy, what is the intention of the court's move? Isn't this destabilizing the army?"

Su Jinxin said nonsense: "I don't know the specific situation, but it is said that the soldiers in the Northwest Frontier rebelled because of the deduction of food and pay, and all the commanders were slaughtered. After hearing this, the emperor was furious and ordered a strict investigation This is why there is such a hand in the payment of salaries; of course, this is a gossip, the envoy will say it for the time being, you can listen to it, and take it after listening, and don't take it seriously; if it spreads, the envoy will never admit it. "

Song Xiang listened to Su Jin's nonsense, and thought to himself: This kid is so trusting, he dares to fabricate such rumors casually, he is really a bold guy; but compared to the fact that he opened a warehouse to help the people with military food, and single-handedly picked up a bandit's nest To me, these things are as trivial as sesame seeds, not worth mentioning.

Both Pan Jiang and Pan Shiyi believed it to be true, and Pan Jiang scolded: "Who the hell is this? It must have been embezzled. Our army is full of soldiers who take the initiative to pay their respects. We didn't put the money in our pockets, did we?" Everyone bought wine and meat for food and drink, and when someone’s family has a wedding or a wedding, gifts and paper money are all paid from here, is this considered a deduction?”

Pan Shiyi also nodded and said: "Yes, Brother Pan Jiang is telling the truth. We didn't take a penny home. It's a filial piety to both of us, but it's still used on the brothers and taken from the people. Use it for the people."

"Take it from soldiers and use it from soldiers!" Pan Jiang corrected.

Su Jin couldn't help but want to laugh, Qiu Bayan's writing is so nondescript, he coined words like "take it from soldiers and use it from soldiers".

Su Jin said: "Do you think that these things are in the mind of the magistrate? It is precisely because of this that the two of them are only given a small vacation to suspend their duties. Who knows that you have actually started a quarrel without receiving the magistrate's attention." It's a sign of protection."

"The meaning of retaliation?" Pan Jiang and Pan Shiyi were dumbfounded. The suspension can be regarded as the meaning of retaliation. This is a strange story in the world.

Su Jin frowned and said to Song Xiang: "Master Zhifu, it seems that your kindness has become a donkey's liver and lungs. You are called charming eyes for the blind. It is a complete waste of emotion."

Although Song Xiang didn't know how Su Jin was going to excuse himself, but at the moment he could only be a supporting role in the play, and cooperate with Su Jin to carry on the play, so he sighed vaguely, as if he was fooling around.

Pan Jiang and Pan Shiyi seemed to be falling into the clouds, completely unable to understand what Special Envoy Su was talking about.

"You are smart about small things but foolish about big things. This envoy does not seldom criticize you. The imperial court knows that there are such shortcomings in the army, but they want to write this sentence. Aren't they afraid of shaking the morale of the army? But since this sentence is written, what does it mean? Even if you want to deal with a group of people vigorously, at least you have an explanation to the Holy One, and the prefect racked his brains for you to come up with this best-of-both-best solution, but you... hey!"

Su Jin sighed and shook his head, as if he hated iron for being weak.

"This...Master Special Envoy, please explain a little more clearly, the humble rank is really dull, and I don't understand the meaning of your Excellency." Pan Jiang and Pan Shiyi glanced at each other, and clasped their hands at the same time.

Su Jindao: "Forget it, I will tell the two of you what Master Fu Zun said. Of course, it is not convenient for him to say it himself. If it spreads, it is suspected of protecting his shortcomings. It will damage the reputation of Mr. Fu Zun. This envoy said it on his behalf." .”

Su Jin raised the wine bowl, touched everyone one by one, raised his neck and drank the wine in the bowl, two patches of blush rose on his fair cheeks, and he smelt of wine while talking.