The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

A mistake has caused eternal hatred, originally to persuade the people to evacuate Weizhou, but the result turned out to be exactly the opposite. The people in the bitter cold area of ​​​​the Northwest are quite thin, and the more they are kept away from danger, the more they are aroused. Sturdy spirit.

Su Jin insisted, and the people insisted even more. After working for a long time, no one was registered on the dismissal list, which made Su Jin scratch his head.

"Once the city is broken, do you have the heart to see your wives and daughters being ravaged by the thieves? You are so confused." Su Jin was angry.

"When the city was broken, everyone died in the city with the Lord Fu Zun. What can they do if they leave a dead city for the western thieves?" The people shouted.

"No, more than [-] lives, are you making me, Su Jin, infamous forever? There is still hope to keep it, but if you make such a fuss, the government must be distracted from taking care of the people. This is a lost game. If the city breaks because of this, you will be held accountable.”

Su Jin began to exaggerate his threats, but was soon seen through by everyone. Someone shouted: "My lord, don't scare us. Although we are not in the army, we can also help. We can always do it by throwing stones down the city." Well, if the three of us beat one, it means that Weizhou City has [-] more soldiers defending the city, and the chances of winning should be greater."

Su Jin scratched his head, looked at the people around him and said, "What should I do? Give me an idea, my voice is almost hoarse, is there a stubborn donkey in Weizhou City? Why did I meet these disobedient people?"

Ge Huaimin smiled and said: "Master Su, the common people also have good intentions, they just want to help you defend the city."

Su Jin scolded: "You are a person who has experienced many battles. You should know that fighting is not a child's play. There are tens of thousands of old and weak women and children in the city. If there is a war, there will be chaos. Who will have the energy to take care of it?"

Ge Huaimin hurriedly cupped his hands and said: "My lord, you can have a discussion with the common people. The old, weak, women and children can withdraw from the city, and the young and strong men can stay to help defend the city. Originally, when defending the city, it is necessary to have civilians to carry equipment, weapons and arrows. Cooking and boiling water, even if it is dismissal, it is impossible to dismiss them all, it is better to make a compromise, maybe it can really help."

Su Jin thought about it and thought it made sense. Although he knew that even young and middle-aged people could not be compared with trained soldiers, there was still a lot of preparation work to be done, so he couldn't argue here.

"Fellow folks!" Su Jin raised his hand and said loudly.

The crowd fell silent, and Su Jin said: "I am deeply moved by your sincere patriotism, but fighting is not a child's play, and I can't let everyone follow you to death; but I also understand everyone's feelings, so I backed down a step, The young and strong people are allowed to stay and help defend the city, but the old and weak, women and children must immediately evacuate to other places, this is the final bottom line, if you do not agree, I will immediately order to abandon Weizhou and lead the army to retreat to Yuanzhou."

Seeing Su Jin's firm attitude, the common people could only agree. Even the common people themselves would feel distracted when women and children were in the city. It should be said that this was the best way; Young and strong people between forty and young can participate in the defense of the city, except for the only child in the family, and the rest will retreat as much as possible.

After a lot of chaos, the two rosters were finally filled in the evening. There were more than 7000 people in the city, and only 7 qualified, and the remaining nearly 7000 were unqualified. Su Jin breathed a sigh of relief. Most of the people will be evacuated, and the remaining [-] people will be used as logistics workers.

Su Jin ordered Ge Huaimin to reorganize the peasants and form a militia. Every [-] people elected a leader, every ten teams elected a regiment trainer, a deputy regiment trainer, and then set up a militia leader. Long, Zhao and Hu are the deputy coordinating and managing together.

That night, Su Jin ordered the dynasty to assign the responsibilities of the militia. Some were in charge of boiling water and cooking, some were in charge of transporting military supplies, some were in charge of transporting the city, and some were in charge of emergency repairs. .

In the early morning of the next day, the government servants began to gather and evacuate the people according to the list on the dismissal list. At about the same time, several long teams began to withdraw slowly, and the people cried bitterly. The reluctance to part is beyond words, and the young and strong men who stayed behind are also weeping silently. This may be the day of parting from life and death. No one knows whether they will see their families in the future, but everyone has the hope of reunion , I look forward to winning this battle, then there will be a day to meet each other.

In the next few days, Su Jin ordered the city defenses to be strengthened again. Although it seemed that there was no need to strengthen it, people still spontaneously raised the city walls and widened the battlements, as if every piece of soil rammed up increased the odds .

The Wengcheng outside the North City Gate was barely completed. Su Jin didn't hold out hope for it, but since the war was coming, he always expected it to play a role.

The army supported by Qinzhou also entered the city on July 27. The leading general was Han Qi's capable general Jingtai, the prefect of Longzhou. It was possible to talk, and on the day of arrival, he proposed to immediately station troops in the two small villages of Dingchuan and Liuxunbao in the north of Weizhou to intercept them. These two small villages have been abandoned, but their strategic positions are extremely important. The west pinches the mountain pass going south.

Su Jin felt that it was necessary, as he thought, obstructing the Xixia army along the way, delaying their attack and hitting their morale was the beginning of psychological warfare, and the strategic position of these two villages was important, and they could also kill and injure the enemy in large numbers and set back their morale. But what makes Su Jin hesitate is that once troops are stationed in these two villages, they will never return. Under the pressure of a hundred thousand troops, the hope of surviving is extremely slim.

After weighing again and again, Su Jin couldn't choose, and finally decided to send troops to go, but at the same time, he also issued an order that if the situation was critical, he must immediately withdraw to Weizhou City and not fight to the death.

The issue of candidates was also a big headache. After a fierce dispute, the eager Ge Huaimin won the opportunity to lead troops to station in Dingchuan Village, and the leading general of Liu Xunbao was assigned to Zhang Jiong, who was deployed by the capital of Longzhou. Deputy Commander.

On the 28th, the two led [-] soldiers each to the two villages. Dingchuan Village was in front and Liu Xunbao was behind. The two villages met for twenty miles. It can be easily repaired, anyway, it is only a hindrance, and there is no need to elaborate.

On July [-]th, Su Jin commanded the crowd to put the Thunder Stone Roller in place at the top of the city, and his personal guard flew a horse to report that more than a dozen people from outside the city were going to enter the city, saying that they had come from the capital to Weizhou to take up their posts. of.

Su Jin was overjoyed, and counted the days with his fingers. I am afraid that Li Chong, Pan Jiang, Wei Songhe and others have arrived, and they hurried to Nancheng. When they saw it from a distance, they almost burst into laughter. Three people, two tall and one short, stood sweating profusely. He raised his neck and shouted upwards under the city. Li Chong was originally dark, but this time only two eyes and white teeth were seen from a distance under the scorching sun. Even Wei Songhe, who was fair-skinned, was now black and thin. Jiang's appearance has not changed, his short and puffy body is still very strong, and his skin is still the color of soy sauce in Yangzhou, so there is no visible change.

Su Jin quickly ordered to open the gate of the city, went out of the city to meet the three people, and brought them into the government office.

The three of them unanimously asked to take a bath before talking. Su Jin ordered people to prepare three large buckets of clean water in the inner hall, and let the three of them take a bath. But a little embarrassing.

Su Jin smiled and said, "Are the three comfortable?"

A servant serving the bath laughed out loud, and Su Jinqi said, "What are you laughing at? It's not proper."

The guard covered his mouth and didn't say anything, Su Jin was waiting to ask, Pan Jiang smiled and said: "He is laughing at me for washing a bucket of clean water into ink, the wind and sand all the way, the nose and eyes are tightly blocked Yes, it took three buckets of water to wash it clean."

Su Jin laughed out loud. It turned out that the guards were making fun of their dirty bodies, so he said with a smile: "The three of you have worked so hard all the way. It's all my fault. I just asked the emperor to ask you to come."

Li Zhong said indifferently: "What are you talking about? Brother Su can think of me, Li Chonglai, it is my honor."

Su Jin smiled and said: "Brother Zhaoting, don't be insincere. Although Tianchang is a small county, it is always a place of wealth. Weizhou, a place where no birds shit, is big and useless; but I need your help urgently. Otherwise, I really can’t support this big stall by myself.”

Pan Jiang said with a smile: "Master Special Envoy, why be polite? I have long been looking forward to working with Your Excellency Special Envoy. I, Panjiang, can have the support of all adults today. Let alone come to Weizhou, just ask me to go to the Gobi Desert with Your Excellency. It’s okay to do business in the middle.”

Su Jin laughed, turned to Wei Songhe and said, "Brother Wei, what about you? I used to be the county magistrate in Shao County, but now I have been dragged to be the head of the government office. The official position has not been promoted. On the contrary, it has been a lot harder. Scold me."

Wei Songhe stood up and cupped his hands and said, "What did you say, my brother needs me, Wei Songhe, how can I shirk it? Besides, the more bitter and cold the place is, the more attention will be drawn to the meritorious deeds. We will wait until we hear that my brother comes to Wei So Zhou gave the thief a big blow, even Yuan Hao's son was captured by you, and he was very envious, this time he can finally do some wonderful things with you."

Su Jin laughed loudly and said: "Well, if you really think so, then I can only congratulate the three of you for getting on the thief ship. One hundred thousand western thieves are about to invade Weizhou, and there will be a big battle in Weizhou soon "I won't say much, it's too late for the three of you to regret it now, turn your horse's head and go back home immediately, I will explain to the emperor for the three of you, and I will definitely not let the three of you bear any bad reputation."

The three of them looked at each other in astonishment, and suddenly saw Li Dazhong laughing, pointing at Su Jin and saying, "Do you think you tricked us here? When we passed by Qinzhou, we had already paid a visit to Mr. Han Qi, and he had already told all about the situation. Yes, he also advised us to think carefully; so if we want to run away, we have already run away, why don't we rush here to say goodbye to you face to face?"

Pan Jiang and Wei Songhe also laughed. Su Jin rolled his eyes and said, "This old man Han stole my lines. Next time I see him, I have to give him some color."