The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

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A dozen or so masked men in the courtyard shuddered for a while, but immediately calmed down, holding steel knives back to back and forming a defensive circular formation. .)

"Brother, what should we do?" Someone asked in a low voice.

The masked leader's eyes were sharp, and he cursed: "Ge Laozi has fallen into a trap, today is a day of danger, listen to my orders, rush into the house together, and take Chen Laogen and others inside as hostages; otherwise, it will be difficult to escape!" .”

Everyone nodded, and the formation slowly moved towards the house. Ouyang Xiu waved his hand, and the soldiers approached slowly with swords and guns, slowly compressing the masked man's formation.

Suddenly, the leading masked leader shouted: "Kill!"

The soldiers were startled, but they saw that the masked man did not rush towards them, but roared and turned around and rushed to the doors and windows behind him, slamming on the windows and doors with a knife.

They thought it was like in the study room, they could smash through the window edge and enter the house with just one bump, but after several bangs, these people were bounced back like a ball hitting an iron plate, making them dizzy Eyes full of gold stars.

The door and windows of the house were obviously nailed full of grids and reinforced from the inside, so they couldn't be broken at all; the masked leader shouted: "Get out of the way!" Smash, there were several clicks, and the window lattice was indeed smashed into two big holes by this brave guy.

The two big men were overjoyed, they jumped up and bumped straight up, they heard two puffs, two spears protruded out of the hole like poisonous snakes, stabbing the two big men to death.

All the masked men were terrified when they saw the two twitching corpses that fell to the ground like torn bags, and no one dared to rush up.

Su Jin laughed loudly and said, "Surrender, don't waste your efforts, so what if you can get in? We just need to set fire to this house, why don't you burn your bunch of tortoises into roasted tortoises?"

The leader of the masked man shouted loudly: "Fight it!"

Raising the knife, he turned around and charged into the ranks of officers and soldiers, followed by all the masked men, screaming and rushing towards the officers and soldiers.

Ouyang Xiu shouted loudly: "Shoot the arrow!"

Dozens of archers on the roof had already set up their arrows, and when they gave an order, there was a loud "swoosh" sound, and the condescending arrows were so powerful that they instantly killed five or six masked men; but each person could only shoot one round of arrows He couldn't shoot anymore, because the masked man had already fought with the officers and soldiers, and if he fired another arrow, he would accidentally injure his own people.

This group of masked men were all strong in their hands. As soon as they fought, several officers and soldiers were cut down to the ground, and a few more fell down in the blink of an eye. Suddenly, the wailing and screaming sounded loudly. The officers and soldiers were terrified and retreated one after another. , Let them kill a bloody path with such force.

Ouyang Xiu stomped his feet and cursed loudly: "On top, on top, the retreaters are in military law."

The soldiers clamored for a round of charge, but several of them were beheaded in an instant. Most of the soldiers did not dare to go any further. They could only brandish their knives and guns and shout loudly behind them, but they did not dare to really go forward.

Ouyang Xiu was very anxious, if he was rushed out of this alleyway, it would be troublesome, and he was very likely to be escaped by them; more than 100 people can't take down a gangster with [-] or so people, it's a joke to spread the word; If they don't come down, they won't be able to ask for a confession, and they won't be able to know who ordered these people to come.

"Special Envoy Su, what should we do?" When the situation came to an end, Ouyang Xiu could only ask Su Jin. After all, this man had led troops to wipe out bandits, and he had better combat experience than himself.

Su Jin shouted: "Wang Chao, Ma Han, Zhang Long, Zhao Hu, go up and block the entrance of the alley, and we must not let them rush to the front yard."

Chao Chao and others were standing near Su Jin and Ouyang Xiu as guards, their eyes were already red and eager to try, they picked up the simple knife and rushed forward like a whirlwind, before the masked men were about to rush out of the alleyway For a moment, they were able to withstand their forward momentum and blocked them in the alleyway.

The four of them blocked the way tightly like a copper wall and an iron wall. After being cut and kicked, the two masked men fell down in response. Stabbed, stabbed the countdown again in an instant.

More than half of the 20 masked men were killed or injured, and there were only seven or eight people left. The leading masked man swung a knife to block Zhang Long's head, and his arms were so numb from the shock, he twisted his body to avoid Zhang Long's armpits A big gun was stabbed over, and he was in a hurry.

"Rush back, the alley is narrow and tight, go back to the yard and go to the room to break through separately, and escape one by one." The leading masked man shouted loudly.

All the masked men turned around and ran after hearing the words, Su Jingao shouted: "Let the arrows go."

The masked men who had run half way were rained down by a rain of arrows. Seven or eight of them were hit by arrows, and two of them were wounded to the core, and fell to the ground motionless.

Until now, they understood that today they could not escape. There were four door gods in power in the front, and the rain of arrows blocked them in the back.

"Put down your weapon, and you'll be captured without a fight. If you resist again, you'll be killed immediately." Ouyang Xiu became more energetic, and shouted majestically.

The leading masked man let out a long sigh and lowered the knife in his hand. The sound of the steel knife falling to the ground was repeated, and the five masked men who could still stand dropped the steel knife one after another and stopped resisting.

"Tied!" Ouyang Xiu said: "Count the casualties and ask the doctor to treat the wounded."

The situation of the battle was quickly reported, and among the 21 masked gangsters, twelve were killed, six were slightly injured, and three were seriously injured; A total of 28 people were killed and 19 were injured.

Ouyang Xiu was very annoyed. The bandits who captured more than 20 people suffered so many casualties. This was because Su Jin planned to surround them; I'm afraid I'm going to finish all the games, just thinking about it makes me feel cold sweat down my spine.

Su Jin stepped forward and cupped his hands and said, "Lord Zhong Cheng, I am so shocked, it is unexpected that this group of people are so brave."

Ouyang Xiu said angrily: "This account will all be charged to someone, Special Envoy Su, you and I should not rest, interrogate these people overnight, and let's talk after we have a confession."

Su Jin said: "Follow your lord's order, but there is still one thing that must be done quickly."

Ouyang Xiudao: "I understand what you said. I have already contacted the thirteenth imperial army in the capital to seal Huainan Road and ban food. There are a total of 300 people. As long as you have a confession, you will go to Luzhou immediately."

Su Jindao: "Then the official can rest assured, my home in Luzhou is probably in a mess, if I can't get to Luzhou as soon as possible, my family members may be in danger."

Ouyang Xiu said: "The news of the loss here didn't reach Luzhou so quickly. It should be fine. Don't be anxious. Forgive that Zhu Shiyong won't openly harm your family. Let's act quickly."

Su Jin shook his head and said, "That's not necessarily the case, I can't take this risk." After thinking about it, he turned to Wang Chao, Ma Han and the others and said, "The four of you rushed back overnight, and you must arrive in Luzhou at dawn, and you don't need to go to the South Gate House. Now, I will only go to the new house to protect the old lady and Miss Yan, if something happens, I will try my best to stay until we arrive."

Wang Chao, Ma Han and others agreed in unison, did not dare to delay, and left immediately on horseback; seeing Su Jin's appearance, Ouyang Xiu knew that he was very worried, so he said: "It is not too late. After the interrogation, we will go to Luzhou immediately, and we must not go out." Something went wrong."

Su Jin shouted: "Escort the five gangsters to the study."

A personal guard said: "My lord, these people all have arrow wounds on their bodies, and I'm afraid they need to be treated."

Su Jin said angrily: "Heal a fart. Whoever confesses will be healed. If he doesn't confess, he will bleed to death. If you talk too much, you will be tied up."

The guard stuck out his tongue and dared not make a sound.

……

The five gangsters were tied up like zongzi and pulled into the study. Ouyang Xiu questioned them one by one, but the five were determined not to speak, and they stood like clay sculptures and wood carvings; Wugen, those people didn't even glance at him out of the corner of their eyes.

Su Jin looked anxious, when would such a question come to an end?So he whispered to Ouyang Xiu: "My lord, go out and get ready. How about entrusting these people to me for interrogation?"

Ouyang Xiu rolled his eyes and thought: I can't even ask, but you can?

Just at this time, the personal guards ran in and reported that Commander Wang Qinian came with soldiers and horses to check what happened.

Ouyang Xiu knew that it was inconvenient for Su Jin to meet Wang Qinian, so he could only go out to deal with Wang Qinian by himself. Seeing Wang Qinian, Ouyang Xiu scolded him for a while, saying that there were bandits attacking the official post at night under the rule of Shouzhou, and almost killed his family. Wang Qinian was terrified of the dead body, and repeatedly pleaded guilty; fortunately, the imperial envoy was safe, otherwise his family would not be able to eat and walk around.

Wang Qinian hurriedly ordered the four cities to curfew and search for the remaining bandits in the city. He secretly suspected that something was wrong with this matter, but he didn't dare to ask in detail, so he went away in despair.

When Ouyang Xiu returned to the study, he saw that the five confessions were neatly placed on the desk, and Su Jin was busy blowing on the ink to dry it. < The shape of the person, except for the movement of the eyeballs, I am afraid that there is no other place that can move.

Ouyang Xiu looked at the confession, the confession was similar, they all said that they were ordered by Zhu Shiyong to come to seize the evidence of the gangsters, with the intention of murdering the imperial envoy Ouyang Zhongcheng, with blood-red handprints on the bottom.

Ouyang Xiu praised: "Su Zhuan is very capable, and he has obtained a confession in a short time. I am willing to bow down. I don't know what kind of methods he used to obtain it through interrogation?"

Su Jin laughed and said: "It's nothing, aren't they all heroes? They are not afraid of being interrupted by the whip, so I will soften him up."

"How to be soft?" Ouyang Xiu was still puzzled.

Su Jin smiled but did not answer, took the confession and said: "My lord, it's time for us to set off, we can talk about this matter later."

Ouyang Xiu hastily ordered the guards to pack up their troops and horses, and sent someone to notify the Thirteen Imperial Guards who had gathered outside the city to pull out of the camp. They made a noise until the end of the fourth watch, and then left the city in a mighty way.

On the way, Ouyang Xiu couldn't hold back any longer, so he called the soldier serving the jury in the study and secretly asked him what method Su Zhuan used.

The soldier stammered and said: "Su Zhuan used a knife to cut a dozen slits on the whole body of those gangsters, and ordered the younger one to take salt, garlic, and lard and smash them into the knife. The pain was unbearable, but I still didn’t want to do it; so Special Envoy Su ordered the younger ones to take candles and peel off the pants of those people, saying that they wanted roasted sweet potatoes.”

"What sweet potato to bake?" Ouyang Xiu frowned.

The soldier pointed to his crotch and said in a low voice, "It's...it's...burning his mother's balls."

"Damn!" Ouyang Xiu almost fell to the ground, this kid is too vicious, no wonder he smelled a burnt smell in the study just now, it seems to be... the stench of burning bird feathers.

"Then, these guys all recruited." The soldier added.

Ouyang Xiu took a breath, and thought to himself: "Is there anyone who will not be recruited? Hey, this special envoy of the Soviet Union is a cruel official. I don't know how many people will suffer if this person takes power." m