The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

"November 26, the first year of Qingli, the north corner gate was closed and the north city gate was opened at the moment of mao. 140 people were waiting to enter the city. At the time of the hour, they were checked and released. Among them, six people from Zhaojiazhuang, ten miles outside the city, went to the city to sell vegetables. Twelve people from Chenjia Village went to the city to push carts to sell charcoal, 23 people from Luojiazhuang went to the city to do part-time jobs, people from Liujiazhuang..."

The minister is fluent in speech, and the flamboyant fonts on it didn't affect his reading at all. He shook his head as if he was reciting sages in school.welcome to read

Su Jin hurriedly waved his hand and interrupted: "Don't read about these trivial things, and read about the important things."

The minister hurriedly nodded with an apologetic smile and said, "Yes, I'll just pick the important things to read."

His eyes flicked down the record book quickly, and he said happily: "Yes, my lord, there is something here at this time."

Su Jin hurriedly said: "Read."

"At three o'clock, Wang Xiaoer of Wangzhuang touched Liu Xiaoqi, a native of Liujiazhuang, with the basket he was carrying, and scratched and damaged Liu Xiaoqi's clothes. The two had an argument and then fought; The head went forward to mediate, and at the end of the time, the two parties reconciled, and Wang Xiaoer compensated Liu Xiaoqi..."

Su Jin shouted loudly: "Shut up!"

The minister and the people around him trembled in fright. Su Jin realized that he was a little too aggressive, so he calmed down his emotions and tried to put down his tone as softly as possible, saying: "I didn't come to hear these things. If it wasn't for the indecipherable words, why should I say this?" Excuse me? In this way, you only need to find out whether there are official messengers or officials coming on the 26th, and who is on duty at night."

The minister hurriedly said: "My lord, the night duty record is a supplementary record on the second day, and the younger ones will not come at night."

Su Jin scratched his head and said, "How do you make up the memorization? Come in the morning, and the guard at night will tell you? You listen to each one and memorize each one?"

The clerk pointed out: "Your Excellency is wise. You can tell at a glance that you have done ministerial work. I must have recorded things in an orderly and clear manner."

Su Jin had nothing to do with this person, and he didn't want to entangle him too much, so he said: "Now I give you a stick of incense to sort out all the records of the entry and exit of official vehicles and horses in these record books, and read them. Tell me, especially the entry and exit records of the brigade at night, as well as the records of Yangzhou policemen when they are on duty, if you can't finish it within a stick of incense, you will have to deduct your salary for three months and give you ten lashes."

The clerk was dumbfounded. He did his best to do things, but he was easily blamed. He didn't even know where he offended the special envoy. The special envoy was not as amiable as the outside world said. people.

Ma Du poked his head at the minister who rolled his eyes, and said softly: "Hurry up, the incense is lit. I usually tell you to learn to write hard, but you just don't listen. The words on this record are like ghostly drawn symbols. You don't know them." They are all replaced by circles and crosses, who would know? Otherwise, if the envoy can understand today, why would he bother you?"

The minister sighed that he was unlucky, and the boss in his heart was unconvinced. My own handwriting could be regarded as graceful and astounding as a dragon, but it is only for adults not to appreciate it. It is not difficult to guess the meaning of those circles and crosses. This envoy is really very picky.

Dissatisfaction is dissatisfaction, things should be done quickly, receiving ten lashes is a trivial matter, and paying a fine is a major matter, why do you get up early every day and stay in the dark?Isn't it just to eat and earn some money?The clerk quickly lay down on the ground and began to search according to Su Jin's request.

Under heavy punishment, there must be a brave man, this time the efficiency is quite high, a stick of incense has just burned a third, and he has already finished, holding the record book in front of Su Jin tremblingly and saying: "My... my lord. "

Su Jin withdrew his gaze from looking at the endless stream of people at the gate of the city, snorted and said, "Are you ready?"

"All found out according to your request."

"Read; don't miss anything."

The officer coughed and read: "At noon on November 26, Huskies, brothers from the Ninth Capital of the Xiang Army who went to Bagong Mountain to assist in suppressing the bandits, rode into the city..."

Su Jin was overjoyed, and hurriedly stood up and said, "Is it the Xiangbing soldiers who came back from Bagong Mountain to report victory?"

The minister said, "I'm afraid it's..."

Pan Jiang interjected from the side: "Master Special Envoy, it is Husky, the captain of the Ninth Capital, who was sent back to report the victory. This is the humble official who personally sent him out of the camp."

Su Jinxi said: "That's it, the 26th is an important juncture; read on."

The officer hurriedly continued to read: "On the 26th, at you hour, Mr. Guo and Mr. Shen, the chief criminal officer, came to inspect the defense."

Su Jin was startled, and just listened to the minister continue to read: "27th..."

Su Jin hurriedly said: "Wait... nothing happened on the night of the 26th? Who was on duty that night?"

The officer was surprised and said: "It's nothing, the Xiang army was on duty that night, and nothing major happened."

Su Jin waved his hand and said, "Continue..."

The minister said a few more things, all of which were nothing to do. Su Jin became a little anxious, so he listened to the minister and read again: "On the evening of the 29th, the city guard team of the government office was ordered to come to change defense... on the morning of the [-]th ..."

Su Jin jumped up abruptly, grabbed the record book and said, "Did you change defense at night on the 29th?"

The official said: "Yes, fifty government officials are ordered to come to the defense, and replace the brothers to rest for one night."

Su Jin stared at the ghostly symbols and asked, "Is there any record that night?"

The minister pointed to a line of words that shook his arms and kicked his legs: "No, this group of people don't know how to be on duty. The younger ones came the next day to ask if something happened last night, but there was no one at the city gate. This group of people didn't wait. Our brothers have already withdrawn when they came to take over, they are really a bunch of rookies; fortunately nothing happened that night, otherwise it would be better."

Su Jin frowned and said, "Is there anyone at the city gate? Where is the city gate? Is it open?"

The minister said: "That's open. After all, they still know to open the city gate before leaving. It is not allowed to delay the opening time of the city."

Su Jin was lost in thought, and everyone dared not disturb his thoughts. After a long while, Su Jin breathed a sigh of relief, and suddenly said, "That's it, that's it."

The minister said blankly: "My lord, I haven't finished reading the little one yet."

"Don't read it, you've done a good job." Su Jin patted him on the shoulder and said.

The official said: "Is the military salary still deducted?"

Su Jin smiled and said: "No buckle, no whip, and you will be rewarded; Dynasty, reward him with two hundred Wen and wine."

Wang Chao agreed, and took out two hundred coins and put them in the record book held by the minister. Su Jin waved his hand, and led everyone to get on their horses and leave.

Happiness came so suddenly, the secretary looked at the big money in his hand, and thought to himself: "Special Envoy Su is indeed the legendary generous and amiable person. I slandered him earlier, it seems that I misunderstood."

Su Jin led a group of people back to the government office. Along the way, Pan Jiang, Pan Shiyi and others were full of suspicion. In their opinion, they found nothing.

It wasn't until they arrived at Su Jin's residence and made tea that everyone had a chance to ask questions.

"Master Special Envoy, shall we not go to the east gate? Nothing seems to be found in the north gate." Pan Jiang asked anxiously.

Su Jin took a sip of hot tea, sipped it several times in his mouth, swallowed it, and then said: "There is no need to check any more, the food must have been transported from Beicheng."

Pan Shiyi said, "How can you see that?"

Su Jindao: "On the 26th, the Jiexin envoy came back. When the magistrate knew about it, Feng Huhu must have known about it."

Pan Jiang said: "This is natural, but there was no abnormality that day, how can we judge?"

Su Jin smiled and said: "It's no wonder there was an abnormality that day. Feng Jingyao originally thought that we would definitely not be able to win Bagong Mountain, so he waited for the news of our defeat with peace of mind. Unexpectedly, when the good news came, he must have been caught off guard."

Pan Shiyi suddenly said: "Oh, he must not be ready to transport food."

Su Jin smiled and said: "That's right, or he hasn't even thought of a countermeasure at all, because what we completed in Bagong Mountain is an impossible task, and when he hears the news, he must find a way Response, seeing that I am about to lead the troops to triumph, and seeing that I am going to start searching the grain stored in the city, he naturally has to quickly store this batch of grain properly; he knows that it will be dug out sooner or later, so he finally decided to transport it out of the city It must be a big headache for him to hide it outside; how to transport it out is unknown, and it is precisely in this matter that Guo Pinchao's unintentional move helped him a lot; Hurry up to assist guarding the city gate, probably seeing that Yangzhou City is gradually calming down, and want to do something so that I can add my name to the credit book in the future, but unexpectedly, this just happened to provide convenience for Feng Jingyao to transport grain out of the city."

Pan Jiang clapped his legs and said, "So Mr. Guo brought people to inspect at night, didn't he?"

Su Jin said with a smile: "Guo Pinchao came to inspect at the instigation of Feng Jingyao, it's true, but he may not know that Feng Jingyao is going to transport food abroad."

Pan Jiang said: "How do you say that?"

Su Jin said: "Feng Jingyao clenched his teeth so tightly that he must be sure that no one in the city would know that he was transporting grain out. Maybe he just made up a reason and asked Guo Pinchao to open the door for him to transport some valuables. similar things to conceal the real purpose."

Pan Jiang said: "How can it be possible? Even if the government officials are on duty, they will know about the large convoy going out. Even if they don't know what they are transporting, as long as this matter is mentioned in the future, it will always remind people of something. "

Su Jin laughed and said: "This is Feng Jingyao's caution. Come on, the tea is cold, you have a sip of tea first, and I will slowly clear up your doubts."