The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

() In the morning of the next day, Su Jin simply dealt with some trivial government affairs, then sat in the hall in a daze. He couldn't help but mess up his position, thus defeating all the efforts he had concealed last night.

Su Jin is also waiting for Li Zhihe's arrival. If Li Zhihe doesn't come today, it means that they have seen through all the words and deeds last night. If that's the case, there is nothing to say. Hurry up and find a way to save your life. It's better to go out of Weizhou, staying here is making yourself uncomfortable.

Until the third quarter of the hour, the sun had already scorched the yamen hall, and the yamen servants in the hall kept changing their focus and secretly wondered why the magistrate didn't leave the hall to rest, causing everyone to suffer along with it.

Su Jin was disappointed. It seemed that Li Zhi and them were not so easy to fool. In desperation, Su Jin raised his arm resting on his chin, waved his hand and said weakly: "Retreat, everyone has worked hard."

All the yamen breathed a sigh of relief, bowed their hands and saluted, and were about to retreat. Suddenly, horseshoes sounded outside the yamen, and several horses galloped from the square to the yamen's gate with a gust of hot wind. Su Jin looked up and was overjoyed: Come on. Yes, it's still here.

It was Li Zhihe who came, and after discussing with Xu Wei for a long time last night, he was finally uneasy. Although Su Jin was talking about hype, how could Li Zhihe and Xu Wei believe him based on his one-sided words; What Su Jin said is true, if he and others offend this rascal out of thin air, they may cause a lot of trouble, and if this person is really the son-in-law of the Yan family, Yan Shu, who does not hesitate to cheat for his own benefit, then he will kill the Xixia people with a knife. It seems that it is not safe to kill him in name. If there is a strategy that can not offend Su Jin and Yan Shu and keep the secrets of himself and others, it is the best choice.

The two discussed it for a long time and didn't have any idea. Xu Wei suddenly thought of something while hesitating. Li Miao, the general judge of Jingzhou, just returned from a business trip to the capital last month. Later, he even brought some specialties from the capital to send to him; since he just came back from the capital, and since this Su Jin was the number one scholar and married Yan Shu's niece and daughter, Li Miao was a good person when there was such a commotion. How can those who inquire about him not know his details?

Li Zhihe was overjoyed, and immediately asked Xu Wei to arrange someone to go to Jingzhou to find out the news, and he must find out the details of this Su Jin.

Xu Wei originally planned to send someone to visit Li Miao, but he thought that the matter was so important that others would not be at ease, so he went to Jingzhou to visit Li Miao in person at night without hesitation. Fortunately, the distance between the two cities was less than a hundred miles. If you don't stop for a moment, you can go back and forth for half a day.

Even so, Xu Wei went back and forth overnight, and he didn't rush back until the next day. He was so tired that he was about to collapse. He was originally a white and fat dough-like figure, but after running around all night, he lost a lot of weight. It was also gray and full of dust, and the whole person looked sluggish.

However, the news brought back was very shocking. This Su Jin is not just the number one scholar, the quick son-in-law of the Yan family. Li Miao is a person who likes to make money. He went to the capital for business and to visit his mentor, the deputy prime minister. Dexiang brought a large cart of wild game from the Northwest to Zhang Dexiang's mansion and stayed in Zhang's mansion for a whole day. At that time, the topic naturally inevitably mentioned this Su Jin.

According to Li Miao, this Su Jin is indeed the champion of this year's new imperial examination, and his behavior is beyond common sense. So he was highly regarded by the emperor, and as a student of Yingtianfu, he was directly awarded the title of Special Envoy of Grain Affairs, and a gold medal was given to him to be the sole leader of grain affairs. Completed such a major event as food.

Li Miao also told Xu Wei that this Su Jin and Fu Bi also acted as envoys for negotiating with the Liao people, defeating the enemy by clever means so that the menacing Liao emissary returned home. What kind of bank does this guy open, even the emperor sent a plaque , Lu Xiangdu, Privy Councilor and others also had to send gifts to congratulate, Zhang Dexiang naturally had to send someone to congratulate.

As soon as Xu Wei said these words, Li Zhihe was stunned. He didn't expect this scoundrel to have such a big background. The seemingly harmless guy he was facing turned out to be a famous man. Zhihe's heart was pounding, and he was a little at a loss.

But what was even more shocking was not these, Xu Wei suddenly jumped up from the state of being slumped on the chair, looked around, and then closed the door and returned to his seat, whispering in Li Zhihe's ear: "Supervisor Li, I heard Li Miao tell me in private that this Su Jin seems to have a feud with Xia Shuai, and the feud is not small."

Li Zhihe said: "Which Shuai Xia?"

Xu Wei rolled his eyes at him and said, "Who else? He was just transferred to the capital for a few months. He used to be recruited by the Northwest Fourth Road, but now he is Xia Song, the deputy privy envoy."

Li Zhihe said in astonishment: "Master Xia? Su Jin has a feud with Master Xia? Isn't that courting death?"

Xu Wei whispered: "Who didn't say that, but the fact is that it surprises you. Of course, these things are spread in private, and there is no evidence to speak of. Zhang Xiang also warned Li Miao not to talk nonsense, just know it. "

Li Zhihe frowned and said, "What time is it, are you still planning to play hide and seek with me?"

Xu Wei said: "That's not true, it's just that this matter is too sensational, you and I can only listen to it, this Su Jin somehow hooked up with Lord Xia's beloved daughter, Lord Xia naturally can't tolerate his only daughter being played by others, So they planned to kill him."

Li Zhihe said with a light smile: "Xia Shuai is a character who kills people without blinking an eye. If you pee on his head, you can't die anymore." But he suddenly felt something was wrong, and quickly put away his smile. This Su Jin is not living well, and he has won the first prize, and he is living happily, which shows that Xia Song has not touched him at all.

Xu Wei didn't pay attention to Li Zhihe's face, and said to himself: "This kid escaped somehow, and then began to take revenge on Xia Shuai. Not long after Xia Shuai planned to trap and kill Su Jin, Xia Shuai's only nephew Liu Binhua Then people found him dead in a peach grove by the Bian River."

Li Zhihe was shocked and said, "Could it be Su Jin's hand?"

Xu Wei put his finger on his lips and said softly: "Master Supervisor, please don't be so loud, please? Liu Binhua hanged himself on a peach tree and died, but this Young Master Liu is Lord Xia's nephew, and Lord Xia is tolerant and loving to him. Plus, there is no reason to commit suicide because there are rich servants serving you like a cloud every day."

Li Zhihe frowned and said, "Yeah, how could he commit suicide."

Xu Wei whispered: "Private rumors all say that Su Jin did it to avenge Master Xia's trap and kill himself that night."

Li Zhihe took a breath and said, "This kid is really daring, even if there is no proof, how can Master Xia spare him."

Xu Wei said: "Yes, Xia Shuai must have launched revenge measures, but I didn't hear that Su Jin suffered any losses, but he was almost assassinated to death on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival. Instead, it was Xia's mansion. The other courtyard of the Yuzhang Building was slaughtered, and then not long ago, the old house of the Xia Family’s Sock Lane was bloodbathed. Six or 70 servants of the Xia’s Nursing House were slaughtered twice, becoming the number one in the capital. Even the emperor was alarmed by this big case."

Li Zhihe tremblingly said: "This...is this all done by Su Jin?"

Xu Wei sighed and said, "I don't know, but they say it's him in private."

Li Zhihe sat down on the chair slumped, and murmured: "Let's underestimate this guy, it looks like we're in big trouble."

Xu Wei thought for a while and said: "Last night, this Su Jin behaved a little abnormally, but after thinking about it on the way, this guy doesn't seem to be a law-abiding person, maybe we can get in touch with him, maybe He will be our lifesaver in the future."

Li Zhihe glared and said: "How do you know that he didn't come to take us? No wonder he said he heard about our affairs last night. He has done food affairs, so he knows that there is no way to close the door inside."

Xu Wei nodded and said: "That's right, but if he is here to take us, why tell us that he knows what we are doing, isn't he afraid that we will take risks? You know, with the five hundred horses he brought, It simply wasn't enough to keep him safe."

Li Zhihe said with a sneer, "Is this what it means to be a man of high art and courage? This kid is contemptuous of us."

Xu Wei shook his head and said: "The lower official doesn't think so, I think he just noticed the clues in the city temporarily, not only him, anyone who comes to Weizhou City can find the clues as long as they pay a little attention, but most people don't know Come out, but this Su Jin directly uses it as a threat."

Li Zhihe said: "In your opinion, should we accept him?"

Xu Wei shook his head and said: "No, this guy doesn't seem to be a fuel-efficient lamp. We must not tell the truth until we can figure out what he really thinks."

Li Zhihe said: "How can it be possible? All our military salaries are in the hands of this person. What if he is in a hurry and doesn't take out a penny? The officials are fine, the soldiers are about to rebel."

Xu Wei said: "For the current plan, we can only lure him into the group first, but we can't let him know the details, and send a large amount of money every month. If he is just for money, he will naturally stop making trouble. If he has other plans, naturally It will also be exposed; in short, we can have corresponding countermeasures after we figure out his intentions. We must not regard him as an ordinary corrupt official who loves money. Compare?"

Li Zhihe took a deep breath and said, "What you said is serious, if he really came here to deal with us, what would you say?"

Xu Wei was speechless, looked at Li Zhihe and said slowly: "The only official to follow is the supervisor."

Li Zhihe squeezed out a few words from between his teeth: "Okay, I can't wait to look at the moment, even if he has a huge backer, if this trip is specifically to take our heads, don't we just stretch our necks?" Let him cut it down? When the time comes, get rid of this person if you don’t do it and don’t stop, and we’ll talk about it later.”