The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

The Liao mission finally ate and drank after a lot of intense gobbling. Xiao Temo stood up belching with a chubby belly. Su Jin sat on the bench at the entrance of the restaurant and looked at him with a smile.

"The taste is really good. There are such delicious meals in the world. I ate two chickens and four bowls of rice plus five or six dishes. It was really a pleasure."

Su Jin laughed loudly, and said in his heart: "You will be hungry for three days, even the leftovers will be delicious to you. This is just an ordinary banquet, but it is said to be the best meal in the world."

"It's good that your envoy is satisfied, but have you eaten enough?"

"I'm full, I'm full to the point of my throat. Although this is what you should do, I still want to thank you."

Su Jin waved his hand and said: "You don't need to thank you. Your envoy came to visit but was hungry. This is my negligence. In this way, your envoy took his subordinates back to the post to rest. I originally wanted to negotiate with your envoy this afternoon, but in order to check How about changing this rude trip against your embassy to tomorrow?"

Xiao Temo said: "The meeting can be changed to tomorrow, but this envoy cannot go back. I want to go with you to find out who is behind the scenes. If I know the details, I can report this matter to your emperor."

Su Jin frowned and said: "It's better not to work for the noble envoy, I will go and investigate with the rich envoy."

Xiao Temo laughed and said: "Is there anything that Deputy Envoy Su wants to hide from this envoy? If you really ordered to do this, then you have to admit it, and this envoy is not a small-hearted person; yesterday we were Some misunderstandings, no wonder you are so."

Su Jin said seriously: "Your envoy always doesn't believe me. I have clearly told you that I did not do this, but you still insist on blaming me for this matter; let your men go back to the post to rest and wait for orders. Chief Envoy Xiao and Deputy Envoy Liu can follow us to investigate this matter, so as to dispel your doubts and return my innocence."

Xiao Temo said: "Okay! If it turns out that it is not you, I will apologize to you."

Su Jin said: "There's no need to apologize, it's just that you don't want to judge the belly of a gentleman with a villain's heart."

Xiao Temo pretended not to understand the meaning of this sentence, turned his head and ordered the leader of the army to take all the soldiers who had eaten and drank all the food and drink under him back to the post, and strictly prohibited them from going out.

Seeing this group of messy and smelly Liao soldiers walking away, Su Jin breathed a sigh of relief. These guys running around in the street are really unsightly and easy to cause trouble. Only when Su Jin is locked in the post peace of mind.

Su Jin left the restaurant, stood on the wide street, and looked towards the Desheng Bridge.

"Deputy Envoy Su, where do we start?" Xiao Temo asked anxiously after chasing after him.

Su Jin stretched out his hand and pointed: "Listen to what the person has to say before speaking."

Xiao Temo followed Su Jin's finger, and saw a group of soldiers and horses surrounded by Fu Bi, who was rushing to this side on the bridge, Wang Chao and his two companions from Su Zhai were also following him, it seemed that It was put together.

Su Jin rushed up to meet him, and after the greetings were over, Xiao Temo complained to Fu Bi again.

Su Jin asked, "Brother Fu, do you know about this?"

"How did I know there was such a thing. When I went to the court in the morning, the emperor ordered the noble envoys of the Liao Kingdom to treat each other with courtesy in front of everyone. How could someone do such a stupid thing."

Su Jin turned to Wang Chao and said, "What did you find out?"

Wang Chao cupped his hands and said, "Young master, I took people along the vicinity of Desheng Bridge to inquire about Nanmen Street, and then turned around a few blocks to ask around. People in restaurants and street stalls all said that last night, a group of Tolerance greeted and warned along the street, saying that it was an order from the government above that it was not allowed to sell food to Liao people, and violators would be severely punished; so this happened."

Su Jin nodded slightly, it was the same as what the shopkeeper of Linshuiju said just now, it seems that the government sent someone down to act.

When Xiao Temo heard it, his face turned purple, and he jumped up and scolded: "Damn, it turned out to be an order from the government. You Song people are really treacherous. If you have the ability to fight with us Daliao, you dare not When using force, you can only use dirty tricks, you are really useless."

Liu Liufu also said speculatively: "That is, while paying tribute to our Daliao, you can only play tricks like this. Your court is incompetent, so you can only do these unsightly things."

Su Jin changed his face and said: "Don't blame me for being rude to you if you two continue to utter foul words. This matter has not yet come to light. Don't slander my Great Song Dynasty. These words are not in line with your identity."

Xiao Temo said: "What else do we need to find out the truth? Isn't this obvious? The government ordered this to be the attitude of your court; I really don't understand, what problem can the visiting envoys solve when I'm starved to death?" Does this count as a victory?"

Su Jin said coldly: "Which eye of yours sees that this is the meaning of the court? Just now the rich envoy also said that the emperor ordered Haosheng to treat you with courtesy this morning. Could it be that I, the emperor of Song Dynasty, was in front of the golden palace?" Is it not credible for the words of the emperor? Even if someone does this, it is a personal act, and it is definitely not what the court wants; what is the use of making noise now? We only need to track down who made this order, and then we will know who violated the emperor's will Behaving nonsense."

Xiao Temo said: "You don't need to check any more. This envoy has already understood the attitude of your country Song towards our Daliao. There is no need for negotiations between our two countries. This envoy will return to Daliao tomorrow morning with Qichen, Tell me the whole story, Emperor Daliao, and ask him to comment."

Su Jin covered his face with frost and said: "Since that's the case, please go ahead. Originally, I wanted to check and give you an explanation. Since you insist on this, I suggest you leave immediately; don't you just want to fight? Go back and organize the army immediately." , We see the real chapter on the battlefield, and it will save you from being self-righteous and using the little chicken soldiers you put on the border as bargaining chips all day long; the young master will not serve you anymore."

Xiao Te trembled all over with anger, pointed at Su Jin and said, "You...you are right, okay...Deputy Envoy Liu, hurry back and pack your bags, we will leave immediately."

Fu Bi stomped anxiously, but he couldn't refute Su Jin's face, but he couldn't just watch the Liao envoy leave like this. If he left, he would report the matter to the emperor of Liao, and the battle between the two countries would not have been possible. We must also fight.

"Hey...hey...brother! Hey...Master Xiao...Deputy Envoy Liu...hey! This is a mess." Fu Bi slapped his thighs, watching Xiao Temo and Liu Liufu turn their buttocks away up.

"My virtuous brother, this is going to cause serious trouble. Why do you bother to argue with them? This matter is our fault, so a few words of comfort are enough? This is out of control, how can we explain to the court. "Fu Bi's nose is not a nose and his eyes are not eyes, he rubbed his hands and blamed.

Su Jin smiled slightly and said, "Brother Fu, you can rest assured that nothing serious will happen. I just want to know which yamen will come out to say hello, and which yamen will be in charge of the affairs on the streets in the capital?"

Fu Bi sighed, "What's the use of knowing this now? Everyone's gone."

Su Jin laughed and said, "Don't worry, they can't leave."

Fu Bi said, "Why can't we leave? There are no people left."

Su Jin rubbed his thumb and forefinger and said with a smile: "Do they have this? Could it be that they have grown wings? Or maybe they don't eat fireworks? It's a long way, and there is no three to five thousand taels of silver along the way. How did these more than 5000 people return?" Go? Are you really begging to go back?"

Fu Bi suddenly realized that he had forgotten this trouble. Su Jin had won all the Liao people's money, and they didn't bother to go back at all. Even the boundary of the capital city can't get out; whoever in Bianliang city will come to help the Liao people, if they don't roll their eyes a few times, it will be regarded as their ancestors' merit.

"Look at my brain, they can't leave." Fu Bi was overjoyed, and immediately frowned: "Then there's no point in pissing them off."

Su Jin said: "I'm afraid that he will follow us, and we won't be able to investigate this matter. If the matter involves high officials in the court and the Liao envoy finds out, there will be trouble. Do you think the emperor will deal with it or not? Let's investigate first. The private behavior of the small yamen, the people involved are not important, so we directly reprimanded the dismissal in front of the Liao envoy to settle the matter; if it involves the high officials of the court, we will play first, and let the emperor and the two governments make up their minds."

Fu Bi nodded slowly and said: "Your brother is still considerate; but if he is really the envoy of the government, this person's official will only be big or small."

Su Jin said: "You only said that those yamen have the right to intervene in this matter?"

Fu Bi thought for a while and said: "The capital city is different from other places. Generally speaking, Kaifeng Prefecture is responsible for the daily management of the ten squares in the capital city. However, because it is the capital of the imperial court, other relevant government offices often intervene in the daily life. There is no Who can control who can't control the truth."

Su Jin understands what Fu Bi means. In the capital, Kaifeng Mansion is actually an embarrassing status. It is reasonable to say that it is a parent official on the ground in the capital, but in fact, there are many central yamen with higher levels than Kaifeng Mansion. Kaifeng Mansion has nothing to do.

Su Jinwei thought for a while and said: "We will not go if the way up is not going to work. We don't have the power and energy to go to various relevant government offices to inquire. We don't have to be closed doors and listen to unappealing words. Instead, we will make trouble for ourselves. ; I see only one way to go now."

Fu Bi said, "What way?"

Su Jin said: "Stay on the sidelines and wait for the rabbit. Since someone has come to warn, as long as there are taverns or food vendors who violate their warning, they will definitely come to arrest people. Let's wait for them to appear, and then follow the vine to find out who is behind it." What did you do?"

Fu Bi laughed and said, "Although it's stupid, it's a good way to not disturb them. But if they just threaten people with dignity and don't come forward to arrest them, then we won't be able to find out who it is?"

Su Jin rolled his eyes at Fu Bi and said, "Could it be that Brother Fu really wants to know which yamen is responsible for it? I don't see that Brother Fu is still a troublemaker."

Fu Bi's face flushed, and his heart brightened: "It's a good thing if no one shows up. This means that the people behind the scenes must have known that this matter was outrageous, so they stopped in time; in that case, there is no need to go there again." Find out who did it; the Liao people just need to prevaricate casually, and say some good words to comfort them, and it is not difficult to calm down."

Su Jin smiled and said: "Yeah, we should also be more naughty. One more thing is worse than one less thing. It's not bad to do more than one thing; Dynasty Zhao Hu Zhang Long, you three have worked hard, dressed as ordinary people, from now on Get up and wander the streets catching rabbits."

Wang Chao and the others agreed, and Fu Bi said, "Then what shall we do?"

Su Jin said: "Brother Fu, please go to the post to appease the gang of savages, and take them out to eat. You must go to the restaurant that the tolerance has warned you about. Don't bring anyone with you. Just bring a few entourages to mix among the Liao people. Don't reveal it." If you use your identity, you will scare the snake away."

Fu Bi understood that Su Jin meant to lure the snake out of the hole, so he handed over his hands and led the man away.

Only Su Jin was left alone on the bustling Desheng bridge. The people who were curiously watching a group of officers and soldiers on the bridge just now lost interest in the young man standing on the bridge, and turned their heads to work.

Su Jin's head was a little swollen. He rubbed his brows and sighed. He leaned on the bridge railing and looked at the boats passing by under the bridge and the golden scales on the river under the bright sun. Suddenly, he frowned and stretched out his hand to beckon a carriage. , got into the car and left in a hurry.