The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

w Two fast horses were galloping on the official road, the horsemen swung their whips like rain, and the two horses galloped at full speed with steam in their mouths. .)

At the beginning of the afternoon, the majestic city walls of Shouzhou City were in the distance. The exhausted two riders slowed down. They dismounted and rested by the pond five miles away from the city. They gave the horses water and feed, and took a rest.

A strong and strong man took a few sips of clear water from the horse's back, handed it to another slender man, panted a few times and said, "Little fourth brother, have you been to Shouzhou City?"

The tall and thin man took a few sips of water, stuffed the water bag and hung it on the saddle, and said with a smile, "I'm very familiar. I have an aunt who married far away in Shouzhou. I worked in Shouzhou a few years ago."

The strong man smiled and said: "No wonder the young master sent you to deliver the letter with me, and I will follow you when we enter the city later."

The thin and tall man said: "It's okay, let's enter the city from the south gate, and go west after entering the main road in the city. The official post is near the Xicheng school grounds. If Mr. Ouyang lives in the official post, we will definitely find him; unless he doesn't live in the official post Post, I’m afraid it will take some time to inquire about it.”

The strong man said: "It doesn't matter, Mr. Ouyang has more than 70 escorts. These people must be stationed in the barracks. It is really impossible to go to the barracks to visit these people. Just ask them to report."

The thin and tall man said: "Exactly, Brother Dynasty, the boss sent us to Shouzhou to deliver the letter in such a hurry, and asked us not to delay for a moment, is there something wrong?"

Wang Chao smiled and said: "Little fourth brother, you are really clever. Although I don't know what happened, it is obvious that something serious happened. The young master disappeared mysteriously this morning. After returning, he immediately left all the guests alone. From the study's writing, it is evident that the matter must be urgent; it is not a small matter."

Yang Xiaosi, a tall and thin man, said: "No matter what happens, it's serious for us to get things done as soon as possible. For the rest, the big boss is here, just let him arrange it."

Chao Chao laughed and said: "That's right, let's leave quickly, the sun is falling quickly, and we have to rush back after delivering the letter, there must be no delay."

Yang Xiaosi nodded, leaned over to look at the food in front of the horse, got up and said, "The horse is so hungry that he ate up a piece of bean cake, let's start."

The two got up, packed their belongings, got on their horses, and gently urged the horses towards the south gate of Shouzhou.

……

In the city of Luzhou, in the twilight, several carts quietly departed from Su Zhai, turned left and turned right to the North City, and stopped at the gate of a house.

The car door opened, Su Jin helped Mrs. Wang get out of the car, and walked slowly towards the courtyard.

The lights were on in the courtyard, and Yan Biyun stood at the door to greet her with blessings. Mrs. Wang stopped and asked, "My son, why do you insist on living in the courtyard for your mother? Why do you want to move if you live in a good house?"

Su Jin smiled and said: "Mother, this is also my Su Ji's property. It is a clean house specially prepared by my son for you. I see that you have been disturbed by visitors at home these days, so I specially want to invite you to come here to clean up. A few days; from now until the Lantern Festival, there will be constant visitors at home, quarreling with you for more than ten days, what should I do, if it makes you have a migraine, my son will be guilty."

Mrs. Wang said: "But what's the proper way for a Chinese New Year family to live here in two places?"

Su Jin smiled and said: "Miss Yan is here to accompany you. There is a big Buddhist hall inside, and the maids and cooks at home are all from the same class. You will not feel uncomfortable; I will come back to sleep at night; after this If you want to go back to live in Nian, you can do whatever you want, but you have to rely on me at this time."

Yan Biyun came up to support Mrs. Wang's left arm and said with a smile: "Yes, Auntie will allow Biyun to be filial for a few days. The old house is very noisy. Not to mention you, even the servants can't bear it."

Mrs. Wang sighed, and said softly: "Don't hide it from me, something must happen. My mother is old, and there is nothing I can do to help you. I can only ask the Bodhisattva to bless my son every day; but you need If you promise to be your mother, you have to think twice before doing anything, if something happens to you, your mother will not survive."

Su Jin was speechless, so he could only nod frequently to comfort him. With a wave of his hand, the servants behind him unloaded their things from the cart and moved in one after another. After a while, the courtyard returned to calm.

Su Jin had a conversation with Mrs. Wang, and when she saw Mrs. Wang feeling sleepy, she took her leave and came out to the courtyard; Yan Biyun and Xiao Xianer held a lantern and put on a cloak and stood quietly at the back door; Su Jin hurried forward and said : "It's so cold, what are you two doing standing outside?"

After saying that, he reached out and took the cold little hands of the two of them and walked towards Yan Biyun's room. After entering the room, Su Jin heated up the charcoal fire, Xiao Xian'er made hot tea and put it on the small table, and the three of them sat around the brazier, silent.

Yan Biyun sighed softly and said, "I didn't expect the house built by the slave family to come in handy."

Su Jin said: "That's right, this place is indeed quite secretive. It's a good place to live beside the fertile water without relying on other people. The yard is so big, it looks like a martial arts arena."

Yan Biyun chuckled and said: "What is the Martial Arts Field? It was originally a workshop. I think the yard is large and suitable for building another high-rise here. I originally planned to open a semicolon; it was also very noisy and bustling here. There used to be a brothel at the entrance of the street, but now that brothel seems to be idle, so it looks very clean; because of this, the slave family did not change it to a semicolon, and the entrance of the city is not very good."

Su Jin nodded and said: "So that's the case, this time I have to borrow your money again, otherwise I will have to hide the truth and send the soldiers out of the city that my mother tried to avoid the city gate, which will be very difficult."

Yan Biyun sighed and said: "Su Jin, it's not that I'm talking too much. You're taking a risky move. It's okay for you to persuade Lang Shaodong's family. It just so happens that Lang Shaodong's family was punished by Zhu Zhifu, and everyone in the chamber of commerce didn't support him. Obviously This opportunity must be utilized; but you want him to reveal information about Chen Laogen and the letter, which is very dangerous."

Su Jin said: "I know that when I was about to implement this plan, I had already foreseen the hidden danger, but in fact that is exactly what I want to achieve."

Yan Biyun frowned and said, "Your purpose?"

Su Jin nodded and said: "That's right, I'm actually not interested in Zhu Shiyong's tampering with grain sales records. Anyway, Zhu Shiyong handled Luzhou's grain affairs perfectly, even if he confused the date and gave grain The price before the deadline, but after all, the food business has not collapsed, even if this matter is found out and reported, it is not a fatal blow to Zhu Shiyong; at most, it is a small punishment, and even someone in Beijing helps to speak Under the circumstances, the merits and demerits will be offset and nothing will happen, that is something I can tolerate."

Yan Biyun said: "I understand what you mean. The fatal thing about Zhu Shiyong is that he deliberately sent someone to send a letter to reveal the secrets of grain transportation; but you revealed such important evidence to Zhu Shiyong, have you thought about how he will react?"

Su Jindao: "Naturally, I have considered it. The worst result is that he does not believe it. If he makes up his mind to do nothing and wait and see what happens, I have no good solution; and Chen Laogen's statement is because there is no evidence of that letter. The supporting evidence will also be regarded as accusation; don’t look at Ouyang Xiu’s swearing, this person will not be stupid enough to open fire on Zhu Shiyong without sufficient evidence; I originally thought that there were two reasons why he concealed the food distribution for me, one was because he was afraid of offending Lord Sansi, the second is that the bargaining chip I gave him is beneficial to his promotion; but later I found out that I was wrong."

Yan Biyun said: "How do you say that?"

Su Jindao: "In fact, Zhu Shiyong's case and the list of Yangzhou government officials who have been transferred to other places and colluded with Feng Jingyao are not attractive to him; his only scruples are Lord Sansi; if you didn't force you to die that day, he would feel the problem Seriousness, he will never let me go."

Su Jin reached out to hold Yan Biyun's hand, kneaded it gently, looked at her and said, "Thank you, you really saved my life."

Seeing Xiaoxian'er beside her, Yan Biyun blushed a little and wanted to pull out her hands, but suddenly she didn't want to pull them out, letting Su Jin hold them, and said softly: "To save you is to save the slave family itself, or the same sentence, you die. A slave family cannot live alone."

Su Jin smiled and said: "I understand, but without you that day, Ouyang Xiu would not have agreed easily. The bargaining chip I gave him was not enough at all. The reason why he accepted it was just icing on the cake; he thought very clearly and provoked three When Mr. Si gets angry, his future will be over. Between Lu Yijian and Mr. San Si, with the fierce competition for phase, there is no middle way to go. He will have no future if he wants to be a fool; no matter who gets the phase , His position as a centrist is very embarrassing, so he is eager to find a backer to rely on; he bet on me because he understands the relationship between you and me, and he saved me. Aspect, his good day will come; this is the reason why he really saved me, everything else is smoke."

Yan Biyun thought about it carefully, and said softly: "Are you worried that he won't do his best on Zhu Shiyong's matter at all? Lest you shoot yourself in the foot with insufficient evidence?"

Su Jin nodded and said: "This is for sure. If there is sufficient evidence, he will launch it immediately, but the problem is that he only has witnesses, and Chen Laogen has never read the letter at all, so it is easy to reveal his flaws." ; He was supposed to come to Luzhou with me to collect evidence, but he chose to go to Shouzhou under my strong invitation, saying that Wang Qinian, the inspector, participated in my correction; He just wanted to make peace with him, he knew that there would be a fight between me and Zhu Shiyong when I returned to Luzhou, so he chose to stay out of it, how could I let him do what he wanted."

Yan Biyun nodded slightly, she had to admit that Su Jin's analysis was reasonable, Ouyang Xiu sat and watched the tiger fight, Su Jin's defeat had nothing to do with him, and Yan Shu would not blame him; if Zhu Shiyong showed flaws, he would immediately Push Chen Laogen out and press the last straw to get a share; if Ouyang Xiu really thinks so, then this person is too sinister.

"Zhu Shiyong and I are already in conflict. Hei Qi and others were dropped out and then silenced. The death of Wu Zuo and others in the case of Qin Dalang must have been done by him. Regardless of these crimes that we have no evidence for, they are crimes against me personally. As far as my father is concerned, the enmity of my father, the framing of me in the case of Qin Dalang, and the obstruction of grain transportation, and even the robbing of grain are all directly related to him; I got into a whole lot of trouble, and now I have been accused of several serious crimes, such as extorting military rations and even killing people to kill people, if all these accounts are counted, they must be given by Zhu Shiyong, how can I tolerate him."

Seeing Su Jin gritted his teeth and the muscles on his face were tangled, Yan Biyun comforted him softly: "Don't be angry, don't be angry."

Su Jin said: "Some people may think that I blame Zhu Shiyong for the wrong things I did, but Zhu Shiyong is the cause, just like a hanging of firecrackers, Zhu Shiyong lit the first one, and the subsequent ones had to explode in a row. If there is no delay in transporting food If there is no such thing as opening a warehouse to release food, if there is no such thing as bandits robbing food, there will be no crime of coercion and recruitment. All these are linked together, and they are all forced to do; One of them can kill me, so how can I be kind to him."

Yan Biyun stretched out his hand to caress Su Jin's face, and said softly: "My family understands, my family understands."

Su Jin said softly: "So I want to force Zhu Shiyong to act and force Ouyang Xiu to act. This is the essence of my plan this time." m