The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

How could everyone care about drinking tea and kept asking questions.

Su Jin said with a smile: "I speculate like this, please listen and see if it makes sense; Feng Jingyao's arrangements for the whole thing are impeccable. As soon as the messenger of victory on the 26th arrived, Feng Jingyao knew about it immediately. There is no doubt about it; Afterwards, he decided to transport the food out of the city and hide it, but he couldn’t use his subordinates in the city, otherwise the news would leak out, so he made up a reason to ask Guo Pinchao to help him open the door at night.”

"Naturally, Guo Pingchao didn't know what Feng Jingyao was going to transport out of the city, but he probably wouldn't ask, and Feng Jingyao would never tell him; and Feng Jingyao started to arrange people outside the city to find hiding places. These things took time. That is why the grain was only transported out of the city on the night of the 26th after getting the news on the 29th. For more than 100 million shi of grain, just hiring manpower and vehicles requires a large number of vehicles and people who carry them. Fortunately, only the grain needs to be transported out of the city. You can stock up for the time being, and the rest can be carried out slowly, so I estimate that with three to four hundred people and two to three hundred large vehicles that night, it will definitely be done."

Pan Jiang nodded and said: "Your Excellency is right. Your Excellency will come back triumphantly on the second day of the twelfth lunar month. He has time to properly hide the grain shipped out of the city; but what I want to ask is that the yamen servants and arresters on duty that night will Seeing it, isn't Feng Jingyao afraid of leaking the news?"

Su Jin said: "Do you remember what the clerk said? In the early morning of the second day, there was no trace of the person on duty at the city gate. Think about it, who would dare to leave the city gate without waiting for the handover to be completed?" ? There is only one reason, that is, they were ordered to evacuate, and someone ordered them to watch at night first, and then ordered them to evacuate."

"The reason is very simple. Either transfer them to other gates to guard, or simply say that the order is cancelled, and the guards are still on duty. Who would doubt the reason for the order of the superior? The final result is naturally not to ask why, just accept the order. , So the north city gate was empty that night, there were no soldiers, no government officials and arresters, the gate was open, Feng Jingyao's grain convoy was free to come and go, and no one would know about it."

Everyone suddenly realized that if what Su Jin said was true, the matter of transporting grain that night was probably unknown, and the order to evacuate was naturally given by Guo Pinchao. To be honest, Guo Pinchao didn't know that he was transporting grain out of the city, even if he knew, he would obey Do.

Su Jin said: "Now to prove whether this guess is correct, we need to divide our troops into three groups to investigate and confirm; I will assign it to Wang Chao Mahan, the two of you go out of the North City Gate to Tianchang, inquire along the way, and see After November 29th, has anyone witnessed a large convoy of people transporting goods? Feng Jingyao will definitely relax his vigilance after the food leaves the city, and if he wants to hide the food quickly and properly, it is very likely that he will not wait until night. It will be seen by others, and these clues are what you want to investigate."

Chao Mahan clasped his hands and said, "Don't worry, Lord, as long as he is indeed transporting grain out of the north gate, no matter day or night, we will definitely be able to find clues."

Su Jin nodded and said: "If you really find the trace, follow it all the way, but remember not to make a big show, so as not to startle the snake; I judge that the manpower will be arranged for him outside the city, and there must be someone else who hires the vehicle. People find out that if he destroys the evidence or transfers the food, then we will be passive."

Chao Mahan repeatedly agreed.

Su Jin turned to Panjiang and Pan Shiyi and said: "As the second route, the two commanders secretly searched among the guards and government servants at the North City Gate that night to see if the situation that night was as we speculated. There are two opposing orders."

Pan Jiang and Pan Shiyi cupped their hands and said, "I obey my orders."

Su Jin clapped his hands and stood up and said: "As for the third road, I will personally go out to meet that Guo Tongpan. It is estimated that the Lord Fu will not ask about this matter, and he will not take the initiative to confess it; As long as we gather the facts obtained from the three places, everything will be fine."

Everyone got up immediately and split up.

……

Dynasty Mahan brought enough dry food and water, and rode two fast horses out of the north city gate along the official road. The two of them left the city gate and headed north all the way for several miles. In front of them was the stretch of Shugang Mountain. Surrounded by mountain peaks, the official road winds straight to the mountain; just as Pan Shiyi said, this official road is very remote. For a long time, almost no one was seen.

Ma Han reined in the horse's head and asked, "Shall we go into the mountain? It's getting late. If there is no village in the mountain, we brothers will have to drive at night."

Wang Chao rolled his eyes at him and said, "Are you still going to sleep at night? I don't see how anxious you are. Could it be that you want to be lazy at this time?"

Ma Han muttered, "You're lazy, are you in a hurry? Why didn't I see it?"

Wang Chao scolded: "I'm sure you can smell a sauced elbow ten miles away. I'm worried about it. Today is the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month. I've been here in Yangzhou for almost two months. Things are not over. No more, is it true that Master wants to celebrate the New Year here? The old lady hasn’t seen Young Master for half a year, and Young Master doesn’t say anything, but recently he often sighs.”

Ma Han scratched his head and said: "That's right, and Xiao Sui'er and Zhao Hu brothers are still in the capital, we have to go to the capital to pick them up, it's true, it's not easy to do things when it's the New Year's Eve. of."

Wang Chao said: "Let's go, this time the two of us have the most important task, don't just think about eating, as long as we can find the hiding place of the food, even if there is no progress with the son and the others, it will be considered a success, the Lord said , we brothers will follow him to do great things in the future, so we need to be smarter and more experienced in the future, so we can't teach him to be disappointed."

Ma Han said: "Then what are you waiting for? Let's go, at worst, spend the night in the mountains, build a fire and throw it in the grass, and the cat will deal with it."

The two rode forward and entered the mountain along the official road; this official road was built according to the terrain, using the narrow road between the two hills, and it can be used if it is slightly widened, but such a precipitous and remote place, pedestrians Merchants are absolutely afraid to leave. If they are not in order, there will be bandits blocking the road and robbing them. Although this is only a small mountain on the west side of Shugang Mountain, it is still dense with grass and dense forests. .

The mountain peaks blocked the sunlight, and under the cover of the dense forest, the sky seemed to be getting dark quickly. The official roads were in disrepair for a long time, and many places had collapsed. However, the dynasty soon discovered that something was wrong, and walked through several landslides. There are actually no large stones on the official road, and the biggest ones are just fist-sized gravel, and some places seem to have traces of human leveling.

When Wang Chao told Ma Han about these things, Ma Han also found it strange.

"Could it be that the mountains on both sides are mud and stone mountains? There are no big rocks?" Ma Han said.

Wang Chao squinted his eyes, pointed at the huge precarious rock on the mountain wall and said: "Look over there, that big rock is about to fall, and most of the landslides are where these rocks are exposed. With such dense grass and trees on the ground, the roots of the trees and grass alone are enough to hold the mud and stones so that they will not sink, but it is precisely these protruding bare stones that are easy to fall."

Ma Han raised his thumb and said, "When did you become Wang Qingtian, you actually know so much and can think so carefully."

Wang Chao said: "Stay with the young master, as long as you put your heart into it, you can always learn something different from ordinary people. You just say what I said is right."

Ma Han said: "Okay, you'll know if you try it." After saying that, he dismounted from the horse, put on his belt, and climbed up the hillside like a monkey.

Wang Chao asked, "What are you doing?"

Ma Han said: "Stay away, I'll go to the hillside to see if the soil is firm, and then go to the rock."

Chao Chao hurriedly pulled the horse to the side of the road and looked up at Ma Han's figure disappearing into the dark forest. After a while, Ma Han appeared on the exposed and protruding rock and shouted: "You say That's right, the soil on the hillside is compact, and the roots of trees and grass are grasping, so it will not collapse, but this stone is loose and tight in the wind and rain."

Wang Chao said: "That's it, try to see if you can kick the rock down, let's see if there are big rocks on the road after the landslide."

Ma Han said loudly: "Go further away, let me stamp my feet."

Wang Chao walked a little further, and saw Ma Han exhaling and stomping his feet. The protruding rock was originally loose, but it collapsed under the force, rolled all the way along the hillside, and knocked down more than a dozen trees. After that, large swathes of mud and rock rolled down the official road.

The situation was completely different from the previous landslides. The official road was immediately covered with large and small stones, the big ones were as big as a millstone, and the small ones were broken into fine powder.

After the remaining stones were gone, Wang Chao stepped forward to check it out, and immediately became hesitant, needless to say, the large rocks at the landslide must have been cleared by people, otherwise, in this situation, let alone horses and chariots, even if people crawled over It's not easy.

Ma Han said excitedly: "Does this mean that those food convoys passed by? Otherwise, who would come to clean it up?"

The dynasty said thoughtfully: "It's not necessarily true. These official roads and courts recruit civilians to renovate every winter. We don't know if it is the government's work. It's a pity that the sand and stones are dry and hard, and the ruts and hoof marks cannot be seen clearly. At least we know that someone has cleaned up this road recently, which can be regarded as a clue."

Ma Han said: "Hey, the two of us are really like a pair of head catchers. I found that we two brothers really have the ability to be fast catchers and investigate cases."

Wang Chao laughed loudly and said, "Let's go, arrest Ma, there may be bigger clues ahead."