The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

"But you don't have to worry. You did a great job in the grain business this time. The grain business in Huainan Road was hit hard, and all the states in the world were shocked. If it weren't for your thunderous tactics in Yangzhou, the grain business would not be in the middle of the year." In the past ten days or so, a major breakthrough has been achieved, thanks to Su Jin's contribution. . . ”

Yan Shu looked at Su Jin with a smile and said, "To be honest, I was a little worried when I started using you, but your actions have proved that you are a person capable of taking on great responsibilities. After all, the old man's eyes are not blind yet, so it's still digging for the court." There is a talent."

Su Jin was a little embarrassed, and said coyly: "My lord San Si praised you, in fact, whoever you send can handle it properly, I just happened to meet the meeting, to tell you the truth, I'm so overwhelmed by the food affairs, I'm not sure what to do. But I don’t want to take on such an errand again.”

Yan Shu said seriously: "Because of the difficulties, this old man recommended you to go. Do you think that this old man is supporting you entirely for someone? Do you think it's just a play on military and state affairs? I heard that this time You have taken risks with your body several times and almost lost your life. The old man thinks that this means that you are doing things with your heart and not perfunctory, but only then will the effect be achieved immediately, and the second reason..."

Yan Shu suddenly fell silent. Su Jin, Fu Bi and the others were still waiting to hear the next sentence, and hurriedly asked, "Secondly, what?"

Yan Shu smiled and said, "Secondly, your popularity is still far behind. The old man regards you as a nephew, so I said these things. If someone asks the old man to tell him, the old man will not tell him."

Su Jin clasped his hands and said, "Ask Lord Sansi, what does it mean that the fire is not ready?"

Yan Shu smiled and said: "You have been in dangerous places several times, you rely on wit and strategy, plus some luck, but people can't live on luck forever, what is needed is strength; the banditry in Bagong Mountain is nothing, just talk about Yangzhou I heard that you insisted on ordering more than [-] horsemen to stop more than [-] rioters from Longhumen, this is a risky move, if you are not lucky, you will die that night."

Su Jin argued: "The situation was critical at that time, and there were not enough people on hand, so Feng Jingyao still broke up with me, and there was really no delay."

Yan Shu said: "That's the reason, but your actions were too abrupt, and things were prioritized. There were some things that you didn't have to do that night, so you have enough people to control the situation."

Su Jin said: "Please enlighten me, my lord."

Yan Shu said: "After Biyun girl came back, I asked her about the situation in Yangzhou that day. According to her, you did five things at the same time that night. Feng Jingyao of Daming Temple ordered people to block the gates of the four cities to implement a strict ban; thirdly, he ordered two teams of horse troops to block Feng Jingyao’s lair in Sanli Beikou; fourth, he ordered people to arrest the criminal officials on the list overnight; fifth, you Going to pick up Longzhen by yourself, isn't it these five things?"

Su Jin nodded and said, "It's the five things that Ms. Yan said carefully."

Yan Shu rolled his eyes at him and said, "Don't talk sourly. I didn't ask about anything other than official business. The old man believes that if I ask, Biyun will not lie to me, but it also puts her in an awkward position." , since you don't want to tell me some things, I don't have the time to inquire about other people's secrets."

Su Jin's face blushed. He really meant to blame Yan Biyun. Why did she pour beans out of a bamboo tube as soon as he came back? She knew all the things she did. If Yan Shu knew all about it, Yan Shu would still be angry. They will turn their faces and deny people.

"Then what are the priorities of these five things?" Su Jin hurriedly changed the subject and asked earnestly. He also felt that he was a little flustered that day. There are many.

"Doing five things at the same time, how many of them have you accomplished?" Yan Shu asked with his beard.

Su Jin thought for a while and said: "It should be four. I really didn't catch the dragon, and the rest basically reached the goal."

Yan Shu chuckled and said, "So you're lucky, but in my opinion, at least three things have failed."

Su Jin was taken aback and said, "Three pieces?"

Yan Shu pointed his fingers and said: "First, Long Zhen escaped, and you made a fool of yourself, which means you have failed, right?"

Su Jin nodded.

"Secondly, Song Zhifu did not catch Feng Criminal, and almost let Feng Criminal escape. If he hadn't caught a companion with a broken leg by chance, Feng Criminal would have escaped without a trace."

Su Jin scratched his head and said, "You can't blame me for this. The prefect of Song took five hundred soldiers to catch him but failed to catch him. The responsibility is not on me."

Yan Shu glanced at Su Jin and said, "You pushed it cleanly. After Feng Criminal was captured, you brought people down the mountain, but you just ordered the monks in Daming Temple to tie up Feng Criminal and hide him. My subordinates, how could Feng Zuo have a chance to escape? Isn't this your fault? Knowing that Feng Zuo is dangerous, but being careless is your fault, which led to the subsequent results; and you asked Song Xiang to lead troops to take Feng Zuo back, This is an act of ignorance, Song Xiang is a weak scholar, there is no proper way to deal with the accident, so Feng Zuo couldn't be found after searching, if you were not lucky, how could you get Feng Zuo back?"

Su Jin's brow was sweating. Thinking about it carefully, it really is the same thing. After Mi Xiang fascinated Feng Jingyao, one of them should be kept in custody, instead of being handed over to a group of monks; It should also be called a capable leader to lead the army, instead of letting the bookworm Song Xiang take it, these are indeed mistakes.

"The most confusing thing is the siege of Feng's lair with a small number of horse troops. This matter is the most chaotic, although the final result is not bad, except for your crazy horse trampling plan, it has to be said to be luck. "

Su Jin said: "I can't help it, there is really no one."

Yan Shu waved his hand and said, "Why is there no one there? Of these five things, only three things must be done. The other two things don't need to be done at all. You must do it to seal the city gate, you must do it to capture Feng prisoner, and you must do it to seal Feng criminal's lair." , but assigning hundreds of soldiers to take those officials and yourself not going to Sanli Alley in Beikou to sit in charge is completely superfluous.”

Su Jin scratched his head and said, "How do you say it?"

Yan Shu said: "If you say you're smart, you're hypocritical. You know you don't have enough people and you divide up your troops to do useless things. Since you have already sent a large number of soldiers to seal the city gate, you don't need to go get those officials that night. The city gate has been sealed, so why don't you go?" Afraid that they will grow wings and fly? You can concentrate on copying Feng's lair in the safest way, and then free up your hands to deal with them, even if you delay doing it the next day. To many."

Su Jin suddenly realized that what Yan Shu said was indeed true, since the whole city had been sealed off and martial law was imposed, why was there such a rush to take down those criminals, they couldn't escape anyway.

"The old man knows that your intention is to let Song Xiang's five hundred soldiers come back and reinforce them, but because you made a mistake first, Song Xiang missed, which in turn caused Beikou Sanli Hutong to almost lose control. This is a wrong step, and you Also, the soldiers who arrested the criminals were not transferred to reinforcements in a timely manner, this is insufficient response, do you admit it?"

Su Jin was so depressed that he was quite proud of what happened that day. He wiped out Yangzhou City in one fell swoop, but Yan Shu said that he had made so many mistakes.

There was no distinction between primary and secondary, unknown people, and improper arrangement. There was almost a mistake that day. The people from Longhumen had already beaten Zhang Long and others who were blocking the entrance to the north alley, and killed and injured more than a dozen imperial guards. Well, if they really broke into the city from the north alley that day, and hundreds of rioters rushed to and fro in the dark, the city would definitely be devastated, among other things, at least a lot of people would die.

Moreover, according to the interrogation afterwards, those people had the idea of ​​rushing out of the alley and then kidnapping and coercing the people to attack the city gate. If that kind of situation really happened, what should they do?Could it be that he would order the shooting of the common people?If he really did that, at this moment, he might not be greeted by the emperor in person, but the one who greeted him would be the yoke of the Ministry of Punishment.

Fu Bi didn't know why Yan Shu wanted to pour cold water on Su Jin at this time. In Fu Bi's view, Su Jin was already very remarkable. If he was at that time, Feng Jingyao would not even have the thought to move him.

Seeing Su Jin's ugly face, Fu Bi hurriedly smoothed things over and said, "Father-in-law, in fact, Brother Su Xian is very rare. After all, it is the first time he is on an errand, and there will naturally be mistakes, but isn't the result happy? Brother Su Xian has a plan in his mind, maybe he has already After finding out the background of those people, I know that they can't do anything big, and my father-in-law's requirements are too high."

Yan Shu chuckled and said: "The old man just pointed out the loopholes in his actions, but he didn't mean to belittle him; I have much higher expectations for Su Jin than for the two of you, that's why I told him these things .”

Su Jin stretched out his sleeves and wiped the sweat from his forehead, stood up and bowed to Yan Shu, and said sincerely: "Master Sansi taught me that people can't always rely on luck. Looking at the various errands in this trip, it is indeed luck that helped you." I am very busy; now that I think about it, if there is a slight difference in every key point, the matter will have a different ending; Su Jin’s death does not matter, delaying the court’s errands, and failing the expectations of the emperor’s grace and Lord Sansi will be a big crime; thank you Sansi My lord pointed out the mistakes, and I will definitely think twice before I encounter problems in the future, strength is the guarantee, not illusory luck."

Yan Shu laughed loudly and said: "You can teach me, you can say these words, it is enough to teach me to value you more, the old man never lies in the future, but today I can make a prediction, you will grow up in the future Tool, the achievement may be above the old man."

Fu Bi, Yang Cha and the others have never seen Yan Shu praise someone so face-to-face. Although Su Jin gave them a different feeling from others and admired Su Jin very much, it was quite surprising that Yan Shu made such a remark. .