The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

Su Jin was wandering the streets alone, and teams of security guards patrolled the streets. They stopped to say hello when they saw Su Jin. The city of Yangzhou was brightly lit, like a newborn baby.

Laughter and laughter came from the houses on all sides. How many people raised their glasses to celebrate tonight, celebrating that the sky in Yangzhou has become clear since then.

Su Jinxin rode his horse slowly on the street with the rein, the fresh air calmed down his mood, and the depression brought about by Mi Hua's death also eased a little. When it is not decadent, as a member of this era, it is absolutely impossible to not have a strong enough heart.

Inadvertently, Su Jin came to an alley in North Street, looked up, and couldn't help but burst out laughing. He actually came to the door of the inn where Bai Mudan and others lived.

Ma Han and Zhang Long were still leading people to stare here. Su Jin swung his stirrups off his horse, tied the horse to the tethering stone at the entrance of the inn, gently pushed open the inn's half-covered door, and an orange light shot out from inside. In the corner of the lobby, Ma Han and Zhang Long were sitting opposite each other having a drink. A pot of charcoal hot pot on the small table was steaming with steam, and the aroma was tangy.

Su Jin is happy, these two people still know how to enjoy themselves, and they are comfortable eating supper and drinking here in the middle of the night. When they were asked to guard the inn, they still had a sad face, but now they are probably too happy to leave.

Su Jin tapped the table lightly with his horsewhip, making a crackling sound. Ma Han and Zhang Long were startled, and asked in unison: "Who?"

Su Jin approached slowly, and said with a serious face on purpose: "You are free and at ease, I am exhausted, and you are here to eat and drink."

Ma Han and Zhang Long hurriedly put down the knife, rubbed his hands together with a smirk, and Ma Han stammered, "Isn't it... the cold night is boring, why don't you two get some food to warm your body?"

Zhang Long nodded and bent over to take Su Jin's cloak, and said with an apologetic smile, "Master, why are you here so late, are you looking for white peony?"

Ma Han gave him a slap on the head and said: "Be careful with your mouth, is this the kind of person you are? You are here to see our brothers."

Su Jin rolled his eyes, sat down on the side of the hot pot, stretched out his hand and said, "Take the chopsticks and the bowl, what is this stew?"

Ma Han hurriedly took the bowls and chopsticks, poured a bowl of wine for Su Jin and said, "Master, it's beef."

Su Jin clapped his chopsticks and said, "You guys even eat beef? Don't you know that the animals are nervous now? There are no more animals in the spring plowing fields, so you still dare to eat beef?"

Ma Han hurriedly said: "This is brought by the store manager. He said that a farm cow in the countryside in the north of the city gave birth to a calf, but he died after tossing and buried. It's a pity that he bled and sold the meat into the city. Nianjing, these are also unavoidable, right?"

Then Su Jin picked up the chopsticks and said: "This is more or less the same. You follow the master and you must remember that some things are not for nothing, and some things are not to be touched, especially not to spoil the common people. Look at Feng Huo's touch now." Then you will understand."

"Understood, sir, while it's hot, this is a piece of beef tenderloin. It's delicious. Warm up your body first." Ma Hanyan agreed insincerely, and stretched out his chopsticks to pick up a large piece of beef and put it into the Sujin bowl.

Su Jin just talked about it so sanctimoniously, he was not an old pedant, so Siri snorted and ate the spirits and beef with the two of them.

Ma Han and Zhang Long are also considerate of people. They originally brought a dozen soldiers to guard here. It was cold and the night was long, so they ordered all the soldiers to go to bed. The two of them asked the shopkeeper to get wine and meat. After the stew, the shopkeeper who greeted him also went to sleep, and the two of them drank and kept vigil here, but they were also leisurely.

"Master, we'll go back and follow you tomorrow. It's enough to have brothers here. I think the captain is calm and honest, and the city is gradually calming down. There should be nothing wrong." Ma Han toasted Su Jin with a glass of wine. , took the opportunity to say.

Su Jin nodded and said: "That's fine, grab what should be caught, what should be taken, and I am short of people, so Feng Huo still stubbornly refuses to tell where the grain is stored. You will go back tomorrow, and we will be there The city is looking for clues, and it may be difficult to expect Feng Huhu to tell."

Zhang Longdao: "This old dog, according to what I said, stripped his clothes and whipped three hundred lashes a day, beating his parents until he doesn't know him, and telling him to speak hard."

Su Jin rolled his eyes at him and said: "I know how to fight. Some people can be beaten, and some people can't be beaten to death. Although Feng Jingyao is a villain, he is still a man. If he walks the right path, he might not be a killer." A resolute man of the hour, blindly using torture to extract a confession, makes us seem incompetent."

Zhang Longdao: "But he didn't say, can we find any results in the city? Master, have you asked his disciples? It is said that his disciples must know about such a major event as grain harvesting. Think about it, more than 100 people The hiding of Wanshi's grain is something Feng Laogou can arrange alone."

Su Jindao: "I asked, and they all said they didn't know. They said that this matter was arranged by Feng Laohu himself, and he didn't let anyone around him intervene. After eradicating the bandits and taking back the food, Feng Jingyao immediately transferred the food from these two places and hid it."

Ma Han said: "Master, there must be someone to help, otherwise, what ability does Feng Laohu have to hide the grain? That's 180 million shi, a huge pile."

Su Jin took a sip of his wine and said: "That's absolutely, and this person is not from Yangzhou. I analyze that Feng Huo asked a foreigner to bring a farmer to carry the grain. After the move, he paid the money and sent it away. It can't be found in the city."

Ma Han was stunned and said: "Outsider? Then how to check?"

Su Jin thought for a while and said: "A serious analysis is actually not difficult. You think the imperial court has sealed off the official road, and it is absolutely impossible to transport grain out of Yangzhou without the road opened by the magistrate. Taizhou near Yangzhou, All the official roads between Zhenzhou, Sizhou and other state capitals and Yangzhou have been cut off, and the waterways are not smooth. The farther Jiangning Prefecture, Changzhou, and Tongzhou are even more impossible. The only ones that can travel freely without the need for official roads There are only a few counties under the jurisdiction of Yangzhou."

"Transporting grain during the day will be suspicious, so in order to ensure the secrecy of the operation, Feng Jingyao must transfer the grain overnight. The food that can be transported and hidden in such a short period of time must be the nearest Tianchang, which is very likely People from Tianchang transported the food away from Yangzhou overnight and hid it somewhere."

Ma Han said: "Get out of the city? When a large pile of grain is transported out of the city gate, don't the guards at the gate know?"

Su Jin smiled and said: "You have made progress, this is a breakthrough, you can inquire from the city gate guards, but the city gate guards have been deployed, and you need to find relevant personnel to check the duty records."

Ma Han said: "What's the difficulty? There are only so many soldiers in total, and you can tell if you ask."

Su Jin shook his head and said: "I'm afraid it's not that easy. We can think of this. How could Feng Jingyao not know this when he transported the grain? Maybe it's unknown if he returned empty-handed. Don't forget, Feng Jingyao was not a member of the lower class at that time." Prisoners, officials of all sizes in Yangzhou are still under his control."

Ma Han said: "But the guards at the city gate are guarded by the Xiang army. Didn't the Lord say that there are no members of him in the Xiang army? How can he have the ability to shut up the guarding Xiang army?"

Su Jin frowned and thought for a while, "At that time, Pan Jiang and more than a thousand Xiang soldiers followed me at the foot of Bagong Mountain, and there were not enough Xiang soldiers in the city. Maybe this was Feng Jingyao's opportunity."

Ma Han and Zhang Long's mind was confused, they didn't understand what Su Jin was talking about, but with the wise and powerful young master, the two of them were too lazy to worry, so they changed the topic, drinking and eating meat; the three of them talked Talk about drinking all the two jars of spirits.

Ma Han and Zhang Long were only slightly drunk, but Su Jin couldn't bear the drunkenness and passed out. His tongue was enlarged and his eyes were straight. He stood up and staggered, not knowing how to walk.

Zhang Long hurriedly supported Su Jin, and said, "Master, where are we taking you? Yamen or Yuelai Inn?"

Before Su Jin could answer in a daze, Ma Han slapped Zhang Long's head again and cursed, "Where are you going to send the ready-made place? Can you still leave like this?"

After finishing speaking, he stretched out his hand and pointed to the upstairs of the inn, and made a wink.

Zhang Long understood immediately, and the two of them helped the staggering Su Jin step by step to the guest house at the back, and knocked on the door of a room on the second floor.

Bai Mudan lived in the same house with another woman named Hong Meigui. The two of them hadn't fallen asleep yet, they were leaning against the bed and chatting, when they heard a knock on the door, the two women were startled.

"Sister, could it be that the officers and soldiers downstairs want to do something wrong?" Red Rose asked with a pale face.

Bai Mudan thought for a while, and said boldly to herself: "Probably not, these are Mr. Su's subordinates, and they definitely won't do anything foolish."

"What's the point of knocking on the door in the middle of the night?"

Bai Mudan couldn't answer either, there was another knock on the door, Bai Mudan bit her lips and said, "It's a blessing or a curse, it's a disaster that can't be avoided, if they really want to break in, it won't help if they don't open the door."

So he got out of bed in his clothes, came to the door, and gently opened the door a crack, and saw a figure flash, a smell of alcohol rushed towards his face, and a heavy body fell on him head-on, followed by the sound of stairs, it was obviously Someone is gone.

Bai Mudan jumped up and down in fright, stretched out her hand and pushed the person leaning on her shoulder away, looked at it through the candlelight, not only was she pleasantly surprised, but the person swayed with his eyes closed, his cheeks were flushed, his eyebrows were thick and his lips were thin, and he was fair and handsome. The face, who else is not Mr. Su?

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