The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

Tianchang Red Grass Lake beach...

The dynasty was about to report to Li Chong when he saw five or six people carrying big baskets and stepping on bamboo basket shoes walking from a distance, yelling as they walked: "It's time to eat, it's time to eat, everyone, rest, today The first one is the best big white flour steamed buns, just out of the cage, it's still warming up, let's take it while it's hot!"

Passing by Li Chong, a commoner lifted the quilt covering the basket, and a gust of hot air mixed with fragrance came to his nostrils.welcome to read

"Magistrate Li, take a few to eat first. There is white rice porridge in the wooden barrel behind. I will bring you a bowl later."

Li nodded and said: "First invite everyone to eat, I have guests here."

As soon as Wang Chao smelled the aroma of the white flour steamed buns, his stomach gurgled. When he set off from Lanruo Temple in the morning, he just ate a few pieces of dry food with clear water and flew all the way to Tianchang County. He was already very hungry.

Li Chong said with a smile: "I'm afraid Brother Zhao didn't eat, why don't you eat some steamed buns first, I didn't prepare for your sudden arrival, I will have a banquet tonight, I hope you don't mind."

Wang Chao had been waiting for this sentence for a long time. Hearing this, he laughed and said, "The white flour steamed buns are pretty good. I almost drool when I smell them. If that's the case, you're welcome."

After saying that, he crossed his big hands into the basket, grabbed out five or six big steamed buns, and swallowed one in two bites.

The common people who delivered the food looked at them and blinked. Li Chong chuckled, reached out and took two steamed buns, and sat down on the pile of dried sludge with Wang Chao. What's the important thing? Your son is fine, I heard that he took over Feng Huhu's lair in Yangzhou, right? Nothing went wrong."

Chao Chao munched on the steamed buns, and said vaguely: "Fortunately, the young master went out, so what could be wrong? Those idiots dared to resist, and the young master used a trick of galloping horses, and sent those grandsons It was trampled on."

Then he briefly told Li Chong about the situation that day.

Li Chong patted his thigh and said: "Hey, Brother Su is courageous, capable of writing and martial arts, and his actions are always surprising. If it were me, I would never be able to do it. I really admire him more and more. "

Wang Chao laughed and said, "You two are serious. The young master always says that he admires County Magistrate Li, and the county magistrate Li always says that he admires the young master. Is it true that you are always flattering each other like this when you become an official?"

Li Chong laughed loudly and said, "It's just a sympathy."

Wang Chao said: "Things are not so smooth. Although Feng Jingyao was taken, the old thief's mouth is as tight as a needle. He just doesn't tell where the food is stored. The young master has no choice but to search for clues by himself. If you don't check it, you will check it." Go, the clues are going straight to you, Tianchang County is here; that's why I came to seek help from County Magistrate Li; it is estimated that the young master will come later."

Li Chong was surprised and said, "What? Is it related to my Tianchang?"

Wang Chao told Li Chong the clues of his follow-up and search all the way, and asked: "Magistrate Li, according to your opinion, will this grain be transported to Tianchang?"

Li Chong put down his hands and stood up, walking back and forth on your mud pile, he stepped on a mess of footprints on the half-dried soft mud, suddenly stopped and said: "According to what you said, I am afraid that this grain is really real. Arriving at Tianchang; however, the city gates of Tianchang County have been blocked recently, and vehicles and horses entering the city will be searched day and night, not to mention such a large amount of grain, 180 million shi, if it is transported into the city, how would I not know? "

Wang Chao rubbed his hands together and said, "Then what should we do?"

Li Chong pondered for a moment and said: "If the food is transported to other places through Tianchang, and it is just a transit outside the city, then it will be troublesome; but my Tianchang is surrounded by hills to the southeast, and this red grass lake is to the west, and the transit has already left Yangzhou from west to east. However, as soon as they leave the official road of the county under the jurisdiction of Yangzhou Prefecture, the forbidden army sent by the imperial court has set up inspection checkpoints. It shows that they will not transport the food very far; therefore, it is almost certain that the food is hidden in Tianchang."

Wang Chao said: "But you also said that you will get a report when the grain enters the city. How do you explain this?"

Li Chongdao: "It's right not to enter the city. Presumably the people who transported the grain also knew that the county seat is very strictly guarded, so they simply hid outside the city. There are many rural towns outside the city. Just find any hidden village and find a few dozen rooms. The houses are piled up, but it is more difficult to be found."

Wang Chao said: "Then let's quickly send someone to investigate, Tianchang is only this big, I'm afraid it won't be hard to find."

Li Chong laughed dumbly and said: "Do you think I have thousands of people available under my command? You also saw it when I went back to Bagong Mountain. All the officials in the yamen were searched and searched, but there were no more than a hundred people, and the soldiers stationed in Tianchang were no more than a hundred people. 150 people can’t be all transferred away, security in the city is a big issue; even if I call them all, these hundreds of people won’t be able to search much.”

Wang Chao said: "Is a few hundred people not enough?"

Li Chongdao: "Although this county is small, there are 500 small towns outside the city, and more than [-] villages. How do you search?"

Wang Chao scratched his head and said, "That's true. According to Li County Magistrate, a large-scale search does not seem to work. How about this? I will return to Yangzhou immediately and send eight hundred soldiers to help."

Li Chong waved his hands and said: "How can that be? Yangzhou is in a time of turmoil, and the guards in the city need manpower to prevent people from making trouble. It is really unwise to deploy troops at this moment."

Wang Chao was stunned: "Neither on the left nor on the right, why are you sitting and eating steamed buns?" Wang Chao sat down on the mound, and the steamed buns in his mouth were not so delicious.

Li Chongdao: "Brother Dynasty, don't worry, there are still ways."

Wang Chao jumped up and said, "What is the solution? You always say half a sentence and leave half a sentence when you speak, which is not pleasant."

Li Chong rolled his eyes and thought, "What can you do with your haste?"

"According to your young master's deduction, this group of food transporters are not from Yangzhou city at all, are they?"

"Yes, my son said, since Feng Jingyao deliberately transferred the people at the gate of Beicheng, he naturally didn't want others to know and leak the news; and no matter how tortured Feng Jingyao's subordinates were, they couldn't explain why. ;So the young master concluded that this group of people were hired from outside, they didn't understand what happened, maybe Feng Jingyao paid a high price to hire them to work, so naturally they wouldn't talk nonsense."

Li Chongdao: "Your son's analysis is very reasonable, so nine out of ten of these people are from my Tianchang County. Only they can be familiar with the route of this county, and they will not go to Yangzhou City to talk nonsense."

Wang Chao said: "That's right, County Magistrate Li said, should these people be found?"

Li Chong shook his head and said: "I'm afraid it's hard to find someone. These people may be rural people. Are we going to investigate aimlessly again? No way!"

"Then...doesn't that mean you didn't say anything?" Wang Chao was depressed again.

"The monk can't run away from the temple if he can run. Let's not find someone, but a car!" Li Chong smiled.

"Looking for a cart? You mean a cart for transporting grain?"

"Exactly, the carts for transporting grain can't be handled by the small Taiping carts used by ordinary farmers. Besides, you said there are animals pulling them, so they must be big carts; the carts for pulling water and dung in the countryside are all made up The best small carts are the flatbed carts pulled by oxen, such carts can’t bear the load at all, and the empty carts can knock the shelves apart, let alone load such heavy objects as grain.” Li He smiled heavily.

"That's right, it must be the kind of sturdy cart used by the car dealership wharf. There is no problem at all with stacking more than a dozen bags of grain at a time; County Magistrate Li is really clever, and his skills are almost as good as my son's." The dynasty pointed and praised.

Li Chong smiled wryly, this dynasty always elevates its own son-in-law higher than others, even if it praises others, it is always a little bit worse than his family's son-in-law.

"This county is barren. Although the south is adjacent to the big river, there are only two piers. Most of the other places are dangerous beaches, which are not suitable for developing waterway piers. There are few piers and there are not many car dealers. There are only four car dealers in the city, and other small ones. Car dealers are simply unable to provide two or three hundred large carts to pull goods, and since people don't want people to know about the grain transportation, the people who transport the grain will only choose one of these four, and will never hire them wantonly, so we You only need to search these four car dealers, and you should be able to find out who hired the truck to deliver the goods."

"Oh, that's great, it's basically a done deal." Wang Chao was happy; the three mouthfuls finished the steamed buns in their hands, patted their buttocks and said, "It's not too late, County Magistrate Li, let's go back to the county to handle business "It's best that we have caught the culprit as soon as the young master arrives, and we'll kneel down in the lobby and wait for him; also let the young master know our means."

Li Chong laughed and said: "It seems that Brother Chao is eager to make contributions, and this county doesn't need to prove anything to your young master."

Wang Chao said: "Aren't you and my young master brotherly? If you are a brother, you should be anxious about what a brother should be, right?"

Li nodded and said: "That's a sentence."

But the next sentence of the dynasty immediately missed the truth: "Even if a brother wants to warm his wife's bed, he must not frown to be a real brother."

Li Chong didn't dare to say anything, so he quickly put down his trousers, put on his basket shoes, greeted the people around him, and led Wang Chao to the main road.