The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

Su Jinchang bowed to the ground and said: "Thank you, miss, for your understanding of righteousness. You have helped me eradicate a cancer in Yangzhou and saved thousands of people. If this matter is over, I will go to the court to ask for credit for you. I will leave for the time being." , there is a lot of business tonight, take everything calm, and then come to the door to thank you.”

Mi Hua seemed to hear it, but she didn't seem to hear it.

Su Jin couldn't delay any longer, she cupped her hands, turned around and walked out.

"Special Envoy Su, wait a minute!" Mi Hua trembled.

Su Jin turned her head and said, "Miss, is there anything else?"

Mi Hua got up slowly, came to Su Jin and said a blessing: "I have a merciless request from my family, please grant your permission."

Su Jin smiled and said, "That's all, but if it can be done, I will definitely agree."

"My lord, I beg you one thing. Master Feng fell into your hands, and he will be punished by the court's laws. Please don't make him suffer. In addition, although the slave family failed him for the sake of righteousness, he still treats you well. The slave family is kind, so the slave family wants to see him for the last time, I wonder if the lord will grant it."

Su Jin thought for a while and said: "It's easy to meet, but Feng Jingyao is the chief culprit. Whether he suffers from flesh and blood depends on his own attitude, and the interrogation responsibility is not in my hands. I'm afraid I can't help you with this." .”

Mi Hua said softly: "My lord is so thankful, he will suffer for his own crimes, my family can see him, it is not in vain for him to get to know me, thank you lord."

Su Jin waved his hand, pushed the door and walked out. At the door, Wang Chao Mahan was standing in the dark, and Su Jin quickly ordered: "Go back immediately, and you two will go to the Ma Jun barracks and Xiangbing barracks immediately, order Zhao Dutou and Pan Jiang led the people to gather in Fuya Square."

The three of them hurried through the courtyard of the Red Cinema Theater filled with laughter and laughter, rushed out of the gate and plunged into the darkness.

……

It was two o'clock at night, and the new moon was covered by black clouds, and the whole city was dark and chilly.

In front of the Fuya Square, there was the sound of people neighing and horses screaming, and the 150 soldiers drawn by Pan Jiang and the [-] imperial guards from the horse army gathered one after another.

Su Jin stood on the steps in front of the yamen, with his back straight and serious, while Pan Jiang and Zhao Du ran up the steps and clasped their hands together: "My lord, the humble officials are here by order."

Su Jin nodded and said, "Commander Pan, has the matter of the city gate been arranged?"

Pan Jiang clasped his hands and said: "Everything is in order, they are all my capable subordinates, there are three people in each school, and I guarantee that not even a bird can fly out."

Su Jin said: "Okay! Pan Jiang obeys!"

Pan Jiang stepped forward and shouted: "The humble job is here."

Su Jin reached out and took out a piece of paper from his sleeve, and handed it to Pan Jiang. Pan Jiang looked at it under the light, and was stunned. He saw the names of more than 20 people densely listed on it, all of whom were familiar with each other. It is the brains of the Yangzhou government.

"According to the list, bring all the people to arrest and bring them to justice. One escaped, but you are the only one who asked." Su Jin's voice was as cold as the swirling wind on the branches.

Pan Jiang straightened his body, and shouted: "Don't worry, my lord, I lost a lowly job and cut off my head to make up for it."

Su Jin nodded and said, "Go quickly."

Pan Jiang turned around, waved his hands and shouted: "Brothers, follow me!" He led three hundred soldiers, holding torches, and went straight to the place where the officials in Dongcheng lived.

Su Jin watched Pan Jiang's soldiers and horses disappear at the corner of the street, turned his head, and said in a low voice, "Where is Zhao Dutou?"

Zhao Dutou hurriedly said: "The humble official obeys orders."

"Immediately divide the troops into two teams, and go to the north and south entrances of Sanli Beikou, block the alleys, and don't let a single person escape."

"I obey! But my lord, we only have 150 people, and we are divided into two groups. How do we get people?"

Su Jin shouted: "Does this envoy want you to take people? Block the entrance of the alley, use your bow and arrow, use your spear, don't let them break through, that is Feng Jingyao's lair, there are at least a few hundred people inside, rush in Are you courting death?"

Zhao Du scratched his head and said, "But surrounded? They can't stop them from protruding."

Su Jin said: "If you obstruct it for half an hour, you'll be done, because by that time, the five hundred soldiers from the prefect of Song Dynasty will return to the city, and if you work hard, they will all be arrested and brought to justice."

It was only then that Zhao Dutou realized that he was delaying time, so he hurriedly said loudly: "I will follow my orders."

Su Jin turned his head and said to Zhang Long: "The horse team is divided into two teams. Zhao Dutou will lead a team to block the south entrance, and you lead a team to block the north entrance. Remember not to move rashly. Set up fortifications at the entrance of the alley. If anyone runs out, they will warn them. If the warning fails, they will bow and arrow." Snipe, don't show mercy."

Zhang Long nodded in agreement, followed Zhao Du on his horse, and led the cavalry into the darkness like a gust of wind.

Hundreds of people came and went even faster, and the Fuya Square was still empty just now when people were neighing.

Ma Han looked at Su Jin and said, "Master, what are we doing? Are we waiting here?"

Su Jin said: "Lead the horse over here, let's go see our old friend, don't tell him to run away in the chaos."

Ma Han wondered, "Who are you seeing?"

Su Jin said: "Long Zhen, this kid is living a life like a rich man in a single house, if he gets wind of such a big event tonight, it will be a troublesome thing if he runs away."

Ma Han pointed to his nose and said, "Just the two of us?"

Su Jin nodded and said: "Don't worry, there are only four or five guards from the Criminal Division guarding him. A bunch of useless people. You can beat ten of them by yourself."

The two of them took the horse and turned on the horse, and left in the dust.

On both sides of the bustling East Street in the east of the Fuya, there are row upon row of mansions. Some of the houses are more luxurious than the Fuya. He cut some corners, looked like a lion, but had a bull's nose.

Most of these mansions live in Yangzhou officials, large and small. In name, the mansions were bought, but anyone with a discerning eye knows that the prefect of Yangzhou Prefecture is full of petty officials of the fifth rank, sixth rank and seventh rank. There are only one or two departments. Although the official salaries of the Song Dynasty are generous, it is not enough for these officials of the fifth and sixth ranks to live in such a high-rise compound.

These houses are all half-sold and half-gifted by Feng Jingyao. Feng Jingyao understands this truth, and raises a dog to help him guard the door. Although he holds the rope tied to the dog in his hands, the dog must be fed well, otherwise it will become red. The mad dog in the eyes is so hungry that he is dizzy, and if he turns his face and refuses to recognize anyone, it will be too much to bite if he can't bite someone.

So after Feng Jingyao bought the land on East Street, he built many mansions, half sold and half given away to feed these dogs.

The vicinity of the official's mansion is inevitably heavily guarded. A few adults in important positions pretended to be self-serving and transferred the guards in their yamen to patrol at night. After the second watch at night, the guards in twos and threes were dispatched, like ghosts. wandering on the street, anyway, there is no money in front of the deserter, helping the Shangguan to watch the gate and patrol, firstly, it can make some connections, secondly, the reward of one hundred cash for one night is also a lot of money, after all, it is exhausting. As an errand, you can only get two big bucks a month.

The guards usually have a good face, and people in the public family can't lose their status even if they are shabby. If they are not as good as mud legs on the street, won't it make people laugh?

Patrols in winter nights are bitter, but after all, there is darkness to cover up the ugliness, and no one can see it. As long as people look bright during the day, it is considered to be worth the pain.

The guards who want to save face and suffer are stomping their feet on the street, and just turned around in the heat, and hid in the temporary hut around the stove before their butts warmed up, when they heard a noise of footsteps on the corner of the street, thud thud The footsteps made the ground seem to tremble.

The leading guard, Zhu Ba, got up quickly, and called everyone to go out to have a look, cursing angrily, "These are those bastard night ghosts, are they going to the funeral in the middle of the night? There is such a big commotion, if the adults in the house are disturbed, we will I'm going to be deflated again. Let's go and have a look."

All the guards stood up cursing and squeezed out of the hut. Just one look, they almost peed their pants, only to see that the torches all over the street illuminated everyone's frightened nose hairs clearly. About hundreds of soldiers were fully armed and carried parkas. Holding a knife, holding a torch, they are dividing into more than a dozen teams to block the gates of the adults' houses.

A guard said in horror: "Brother Zhu, this is the Xiangbing. I know the leader. It is the Xiangbing commanding Pan Jiang. Why did they lead the troops to the East Street? What should I do?"

During the conversation, the soldiers had quickly blocked both ends of the street, and some people had already started banging on the officials' red lacquered gates.

"What should we do? Brother Zhu? Why don't we ask about the situation?" Another guard asked with a trembling voice.

"Ask your sister's boobs. If you want to ask you, you are the same idiot. Shall we go up and seek death? Are we going to go up and seek beatings for a hundred pennies?"

"This... what if the adults blame you tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow? Can't you see the posture? There's still tomorrow? The soldiers are here to take someone, no wonder you've been a fucking servant for the rest of your life." Zhu Ba scolded.

The guard cursed secretly: Aren't you a fucking servant?After a moment of hesitation, everyone was gone, Zhu Ba had already retreated into the room, blowing out the fire and candles with a few puffs, the guard quickly retreated into the room, the door was tightly closed, and more than a dozen patrol guards sat in the corner He heard the yelling and cursing outside, but turned a deaf ear, as if all this had nothing to do with him.