The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

After Su Jin made an appointment with Lang Shaodong on how to communicate secretly, he left.welcome to read

Lang Shaodong returned to the living room and sat down slowly, as if in a dream, he was in a trance; looking at the gold and silver parcels on the table, Lang Shaodong felt his heart tightening for a while, his body Chilling for a while, he cursed himself for why he agreed to Su Jin to help him in a daze.

Su Jin said it nicely, this is to point out the way for himself, but in fact he just wants to be an undercover agent; Lang Shaodong frowned and recalled all the conversations with Su Jin just now, and suddenly he found a loophole in Su Jin's words There are actually quite a few, maybe it was panic, maybe it was fear, but I didn't have time to think about it, and I didn't notice it.

It's hard to get off now, if what Su Jin said is true, it means that the court has indeed sent people to investigate the criminal evidence of Zhu Shiyong and others. At this time, it is a wise move to stand in the same camp as Su Jin; but If what Su Jin said was not true, it would be fine if he couldn't bring down Zhu Shiyong, since he would have no place in Luzhou in the future, how could Zhu Shiyong and the members of the Chamber of Commerce tolerate him; no one knew their methods better than him.

Lang Shaodong remembered that his father had talked to him about Tang Jiyuan's methods before his death. He said that after Tang Jiyuan used despicable means to kill Su Moran, the former chairman of the chamber of commerce, he began to force merchants to join the chamber of commerce. The merchant who instigated him was either imprisoned inexplicably, or he was forced to sell his shop and real estate and leave his hometown. He asked Lang Shaodong to obey Tang Jiyuan's wishes, so that he could keep his ancestral business and gain a foothold in Luzhou.

Lang Shaodong followed his father's legacy and followed Tang Jiyuan's footsteps. Tang Jiyuan didn't make things too difficult for him. Lang Shaodong would get a small share of the industries monopolized by him in the city; other small businesses were not so lucky. Yes, after they joined the chamber of commerce, Tang Jiyuan forcibly assigned the business industry. The profitable industries such as rice oil cloth shop were monopolized by four or five big households, and the rest of the merchants could only do small businesses with meager profits; The symbolic distribution of some dividends appeases these merchants, but compared to the profits obtained, this amount of money is not enough to bite the teeth.

There is also a reason for Lang Shaodong's hesitation. He could have furthered his relationship with Tang Jiyuan, but four years ago he was at a disadvantage in the competition for the position of vice president. Tang Jiyuan chose Liu Ji, who was resourceful and financially competitive. Huang Ji, who is more powerful in his own family, is the right and left hand, which makes Lang Shaodong a big blow.

Lang Shaodong thought that there was no need for the difference between the two, especially the Vice President Liu, whose clothes looked treacherous and treacherous, and he was not a local merchant in Luzhou, but moved to Luzhou from another state capital more than ten years ago. outsiders.

Lang Shaodong's dissatisfaction was manifested in his words to the two vice presidents on weekdays. They had fallen out many times, and every time they had a falling out, Lang Shaodong would curse at him without nose and face, which made everyone very embarrassed; , Tang Jiyuan also gradually alienated him, and even now, he has been punished by the magistrate, and several presidents have not even farted, and they have not even thought of coming to see him. (.)

What made Lang Yongping even more chilling was that Tang Jiyuan and the others knew that they had to do it this time, but they didn't say hello to themselves beforehand, but let themselves make trouble with the prefect, making it clear that it was up to them It's a joke, it's not so much that the magistrate made a fool of himself this time, it's better to say that it's thanks to Tang Jiyuan and others.

After thinking about it, Lang Yongping finally made a decision. The Chamber of Commerce is unreliable, and Su Jin is also unreliable. What he said was true; if what Su Jin said was true, then he had to make a decisive decision and immediately draw a clear line with Zhu Shiyong and others from the chamber of commerce; and Su Jin could help if he could, but he was determined not to risk his life.

Thinking of this, Lang Yongping said loudly to the young man standing beside him: "Go and call the old housekeeper, and put on a carriage and wait at the door."

After a while, Ma Laosan, the old housekeeper of the Lang family, came in a hurry with his robe hem in his hand. Lang Yongping ordered: "Housekeeper Ma, I heard that you have a good relationship with Bantou Zhao of the government office. The two of you have had flower wine together many times. Friendship should not be shallow."

Butler Ma was taken aback. The Shaodong family actually found out about this. The money was deducted from the government's expenses on weekdays. To please Bantou Zhao was to save himself a way out. The Shaodong family was mean and fragmented. He is particularly unhappy with his work here. If he changes his government office to recruit people, Captain Zhao promises to help himself.

But the young master suddenly mentioned this matter, I'm afraid it will be a bad day today.

But he didn't expect that Lang Shaodong didn't get angry and said in a calm voice: "You ask him to check something for me. I will reward you after you find out that it is correct. If you find it, come back and report it immediately."

Butler Ma hurriedly said, "What does the Young Master want to investigate?"

Lang Yongping said: "Go and ask Bantou Zhao, where is Chen Laogen, a messenger in the yamen? If this person is not in Luzhou, you can ask him when he left Luzhou and what he was doing. went."

Ma Guanjia said: "Why does the Shaodong family ask this Chen Laogen?"

Lang Yongping paused and said: "This person owes me a large amount of copper money, and I haven't seen him come to repay the loan at the end of the year. I want to confirm whether he has escaped from the debt. If he is still working in the Yamen, don't disturb him. He didn't run away. It's fine."

Butler Ma cupped his hands and said: "This matter is easy to handle, the villain will ask Bantou Zhao."

Lang Yongping said: "Go to the cabinet to pay five hundred Wen, and use it to buy some pastries to find Bantou Zhao. It's hard to talk about leaving empty-handed during the big festival. I'll wait here. You go and come back quickly."

Relieved, Steward Ma went out quickly. Lang Yongping sat dead in the living room and waited. Seeing that the sun was rising gradually, it was already past time. When Steward Ma was pacing anxiously, Steward Ma came back panting.

"How? Did you find him?"

"I found it. The younger one went to Bantou Zhao's house and ran away. After asking, I found out that everyone in the yamen went to Zhu Zhifu's house to pay New Year's greetings today, so the younger one rushed to Yuemaqiao Zhu's residence. Finally, it was a trustee. Someone called Bantou Zhao out and asked him about it."

"Is Chen Laogen in Luzhou?" Lang Yongping asked anxiously.

Butler Ma thought to himself: Looking at it like this, the eyeballs are going to pop out, this Chen Laogen must owe the young master a lot of money.

"Reporting to Shaodong's family, there is indeed a man named Chen Laogen in the yamen, but this person is no longer alive."

"What?" Lang Yongping exclaimed.

"Bantou Zhao said that on the eighth day of the first eleventh month of the previous year, this Chen Laogen was sent to deliver official documents to the government office in Suzhou, but this man was not very quick-witted and didn't know how to take a detour. He was caught and slaughtered by bandits."

Lang Yongping hurriedly said: "How do they know that Chen Laogen is dead?"

Ma Guanjia said: "Boss Zhao said it, the magistrate said it himself, and said that someone in Shouzhou saw him dead, and the obituary was issued in the yamen, and even the copper money for the beard was sent to the Chen family by the magistrate Zhu himself. It was given to Chen Laogen's blind mother."

Lang Yongping kept his mouth open for a while, unable to make a sound, his mind was in chaos.

"Young master, how much does this guy owe you?" Steward Ma asked with concern. Judging by the state of the young master, the amount may be quite a lot.

"Back off." Lang Yongping waved his hand.

Steward Ma lingered and refused to leave, Lang Yongping promised to reward money after finishing the work, but now he didn't mention a word again.

"Why don't you back down?"

"Young master...the reward..."

"Reward your mother's legs." Lang Yongping was upset, and this guy was still harassing here. Butler Ma, who flew up and kicked, fell to his mouth and gnawed at the mud, and cursed: "You think I don't know what you usually do?" Are you deducting the expenses in the house? Where did you get the money to go to the brothel and drink wine to pretend to be a master? You dog slave, if you don’t leave, the master will beat you all over the floor."

Steward Ma hurriedly turned around and fled out of the hall, cursing "dog bastard" and "dog. mother. raised" in his heart.

Lang Yongping paced the hall quickly, thinking about whose words were true. Now it seems that Chen Laogen's letter delivery has been confirmed. Both Su Jin and Zhu Shiyong said so, so there is no doubt.

Zhu Shiyong said that Chen Laogen was dead, and Su Jin said that Chen Laogen was alive, which is hard to judge.

If Chen Laogen was really dead, why did Su Jin reveal to Zhu Shiyong that Chen Laogen was alive?

If Zhu Shiyong really got the exact news of Chen Laogen's death, how could he believe it?

If Zhu Shiyong doesn't believe it, isn't Su Jin doing useless work?

So many questions flooded in, making it difficult for Lang Yongping to make a decision; suddenly Lang Yongping remembered something, the head of Zhao said that Chen Laogen went to Suzhou to deliver official documents on the eighth day of November, wasn't it the day when the imperial army transported food out of the city?After more than ten days after Su Jin wiped out the bandits in Bagong Mountain, according to what Zhao Bantou said, Chen Laogen had already died in the hands of the bandits. How could Su Jin know Chen Laogen's name after that?How could he know that Chen Laogen was delivering a letter?

It is already clear that Zhu Shiyong is lying!In fact, he didn't know about Chen Laogen's life or death, or he would rather that Chen Laogen was dead; the reason why he issued an obituary and gave compensation money was to create public opinion that Chen Laogen was dead, even if this Chen Laogen He didn't die, as long as it fell into his hands, he would make Chen Laogen really die, because what he sent Chen Laogen was not an official document at all.

"Come on, prepare the car!" Lang Yongping called.

"Young master, the car has already been prepared." The young man hurriedly came in from the door to report.

"Take the gift on the table, let's go out to pay New Year's greetings."

"To whom? President Tang?"

"Go to the magistrate's mansion in Yuemaqiao. President Tang and the others must be there too. It will save me and my family from running away."

The little guy agreed, picked up the heavy package on the table and stuffed it into the carriage. Lang Yongping had long forgotten the pain in his buttocks, and quickly got into the carriage; , the mule cart clattered, and quickly disappeared behind a light green willow tree at the corner of the street.