The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

After washing up and having some snacks, Wang Chao Mahan rushed back after hearing the news, and Su Jin led the people out of the government office to inspect the streets and alleys in the city again.

Su Jin has always been very dissatisfied with the dilapidated situation of Weizhou City. Except for the main street that can be seen, the rest of the city is really unbearable. The houses in the slums are dilapidated and messy without planning. During the previous inspection, Su Jin had already thought about it. At this time, the cancer in the city was cleared, and Su Jin also officially put the reconstruction plan on the agenda. .

Of course, there is another reason that cannot be ignored. Su Jin understands that so many people are doing nothing in the city, which is a great pressure on public security. The atmosphere allows people to rekindle their confidence, so even if it is not necessary, the people need to be moved.

A large area of ​​slums in Nancheng was Su Jin's first choice target. Su Jin stood beside a ditch with sewage flowing across it, and talked about his plan to the gathered common people.

"Fellow folks, all the way here, I saw the dilapidated houses you live in, and the poor environment. How do you keep out the cold in winter when you live in such houses? I don't know when the war will end, and returning to the village to farm is also difficult. There is no specific date, so everyone should regard the city as a new home, and plan and build it well; look at the sewage river around here, there is no smell of feces and mud in it, mosquitoes and flies are flying around, this is a place for breeding diseases; An old saying goes: How can you sweep the world if you don’t sweep a house? You don’t need to be responsible for the country, but the environment you live in must be tidy and clean, right?”

An old man nodded and stepped forward and said: "Master Zhifu, we were forced to move into the city. At that time, we didn't know that the war would last so long, so we built a simple residence at the beginning; later, we had no food, and we couldn't even walk. If you can’t walk, how can you have the leisure to renovate the house?”

Su Jin smiled and said: "I don't mean to blame everyone. I understand the previous situation, but think about it, now that the imperial court is helping us, we can't always make the imperial court worry about it, right? We are a small border town. Should shoulder the responsibility of guarding the border, if the city is full of noise and chaos all day long, and diseases are rampant, you teach the soldiers how to kill the enemy with peace of mind? So we must take care of ourselves, isn't that the reason?"

All the people nodded and said: "It is true, we don't want us to kill the enemy and fight, we should manage ourselves and not teach the adults to worry about it."

Su Jin continued: "You elders have also suffered a lot from being oppressed by the ink officials. This government also understands that you really don't have the heart to think about this, but it is different now. The government's relief food is originally for you to exchange for labor. The food for ten days does not require you to exchange labor services, which is also the court's sympathy, but the original intention of the court is to ask you to help defend the city, so the follow-up food relief needs to be exchanged for labor services. The dirty and messy situation in the city is also good for defending the city, so what do you think of reporting this as part of labor labor?"

All the people laughed and said: "This is of course good. I don't want to wait for free. The government didn't arrange labor in the past. Even if they wanted to exchange labor for food, they couldn't get it. Besides, help us build our own houses." But being counted as a labor of the imperial court by the lord, we have taken advantage of it, and the lord is thinking of us, so there is no disagreement."

Su Jin smiled and said: "It's good that you understand the painstaking efforts of our government. Let's do it this way. The transformation will start in Nancheng. In the afternoon, I will order people to register on the spot. All men above [-] and below [-] can sign up for military service, and one person can get a job every day." Qian Shiwen is in charge of food and drink, if there are craftsmen who are able to work, the salary will be doubled, and the rest of the old and weak can arrange handyman and light work, of course the salary will be less, but it will definitely be enough to eat."

All the people cheered and cheered. They thought that they were just paying for food, but they didn’t expect that there would be wages.

"The house must be built in accordance with the government's plan, with a row of houses and a row of roads, and a culvert built in the middle. The dirty water used by the family must be discharged from the culvert. In the future, trees and willows will be planted, flowers and plants will be planted, and the city of Weizhou will be restored. It will become the south of the Yangtze River, which will be envied by people from the mainland, how about you?" Su Jin said with a smile.

"Okay!" All the people applauded loudly. The scene depicted by Mr. Fu Zun really makes people yearn for it. If it can really become like that, why would they still farm in the countryside?Isn't saving money to start a business a hundred times better than farming?

"But Mr. Su, what are we going to use to build the house? There are no materials." Someone asked.

Su Jin smiled and said: "This is not easy to handle? Longshan Mountain is only twenty or thirty miles away. Are there still few stones and wood on the mountain? You can rely on the mountain to eat the mountain. Tomorrow morning, everyone will sharpen their machetes and axes, and go to the mountain to cut wood and transport stones back. When all the materials are ready, the current house will be flattened in one fell swoop, and the construction will start immediately; everyone must be muttering, what should we do if there are thieves disturbing the logging out of the city? Don't worry, everyone, I will ask General Ge, who we all deployed, to personally lead the guards You guys, stay safe."

Everyone cheered loudly, they used to be afraid of the thieves, everyone was cautious when they went out of the city, and the officers and soldiers also closed the city, afraid of encountering the thieves; the new magistrate seemed not to be afraid, with officers and soldiers guarding him, he felt much more at ease on the way to and from up.

Su Jin left the slums of Nancheng, and came to inspect the city gate and wall. Originally, most of the guarding responsibilities were deployed. Su Jin didn't care about those. He led people to patrol around along the city wall and walked to the north gate. Seeing a group of soldiers pointing around a wooden pillar, Su Jin and others took a closer look, but it turned out that there was a soldier tied to the pillar, who had been beaten to pieces, obviously made some mistake .

The guards of the northern city knew Su Jin, and hurriedly went forward to pay respects. Su Jin asked, "What's going on?"

Na Dutou said: "Reporting to Master Su, Commander Ge came to patrol just now, this kid hid in the barracks and slept soundly, and Commander Ge caught him right away, so why not beat him with forty army sticks and tie him here to show the public?" .”

Su Jin nodded secretly, Ge Huaimin also had the intention of working hard, and he mentioned the matter of rectifying military discipline to him, it seems that he listened to it, and now he is strictly carrying it out.

"Where is Commander Ge now?"

"Nuo, I'm patrolling at the top of the city." The head of the city pointed at the top of the city, and he saw a group of figures on the top of the city pointing like outside the city.

Su Jin said: "Lead the way, let's go up too."

Na Dutou hurried forward to lead the way, Su Jin and others walked up the broad stone steps to the top of the city. The city wall was already very majestic from the bottom, but it was even more impressive from the top. The reinforced city wall was nearly two feet wide. The height of the wall at the city gate was nearly three feet above the ground. Obviously, Fan Zhongyan's order had been implemented. Except for the unfinished reinforcement of the south city wall, the rest of the city defense was solid.

"Master Su, why are you here?" Seeing Su Jin, Ge Huaimin hurried forward to salute.

Su Jin said, "I've come to ask you something."

Ge Huaimin said: "Just say what you want, and ask for words."

Su Jin then told Ge Huaimin about the reconstruction of the city, and Ge Huaimin frowned and said, "My lord, isn't it too much effort to repair the houses now? I was just about to propose to my lord that the city wall should be raised by a few feet. I also want to build a few more arrow towers near the city gate. The news sent back by the scouts recently is not very good. The western thieves seem to be gathering troops. It seems that there are signs of an attack, but I don’t know which direction they are heading. If you go to Weizhou City, you will be in trouble."

Su Jin was startled and said, "In your opinion, how long will it take from the assembly to the attack?"

Ge Huaimin said: "It depends on the scale. If 20 soldiers and horses are used, it will take at least [-] days to prepare for the assembly and the preparation of food and grass supplies."

Su Jin thought for a while and said: "Then I have to go to Longshan to cut wood and transport rocks. Not to mention anything else, just the rolling logs and rocks at the top of the city must be prepared after the war. This is not just for building houses. , These are also weapons.”

Ge Huaimin slapped his head and said: "Look at me being so confused, what my lord said is that there are indeed not enough supplies for the defense of the city, and I will definitely send troops to guard it tomorrow, but what do you think about strengthening the city defense?"

Su Jin looked at the pattern around the city gate and said: "Actually, I think Weizhou is already a strong and durable place in terms of the strength and height of the city wall. Now the reinforcement is actually of little significance. The arrow tower at the city gate can be built. If it is still If it needs to be reinforced, I suggest building an urn city at the gate of the four cities."

Ge Huaimin said: "The Wengcheng? If the Wengcheng is built hastily, it will definitely not be strong, nor can it be defended."

Su Jin smiled and said: "Why should we keep the urn city? The urn city means to catch turtles in the urn. I just suggest that you don't have to build it if you think it's useless. I'm not very good at fighting. I just saw a family in Bianliang to guard against thieves. I sneaked in and built a small urn wall, I think it's pretty good; if you want to build it, I can mobilize the rest of the people to start building it immediately, anyway, everyone is idle."

Although Ge Huaimin didn't think it was necessary, Su Jin's words that idleness is idleness touched the nerves in his brain. Since the common people are idle, why not try to build one. Anyway, there are a lot of people in Weizhou, and I urgently need to take the blame and make meritorious service , if the western thieves came, it would be an excellent opportunity to make meritorious deeds, and it would be better to have a higher chance of winning; so he said: "Then build an urn city at the north gate of the city, maybe it will be able to do amazing things."

Su Jin smiled and said: "I hope so, I will order people to recruit peasants in the afternoon, and this time the logging team will be even bigger tomorrow."

Ge Huaimin patted his chest and said: "Don't worry, I'm Lao Ge in everything. I will arrange a scout team fifty miles away from the city to patrol. Even if there is an enemy situation, they can withdraw in time."

♂♂