The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

A few days later, the imperial decree summoning Su Jin to Beijing to investigate the case arrived in Qinzhou. As early as a few days ago, Su Jin had already arranged the affairs of the Northwest, and even prepared the ceremony.

After Yan Shuzhen came crying and begging for consent that day, Su Jin wrote a letter in his own hand and handed it to Shuzhen to take it back to the capital and hand it over to Bao Zheng in the early morning of the next day. In this way, Su Jin can legitimately intervene in Fu Bi's case.

Even so, the case was not easy for Su Jin. First of all, the letter was ironclad evidence. There is no need for any ironclad evidence at all, as long as the emperor opens his mouth for a major treason case, it is an iron case, and no one can overturn it; what's more, as the saying goes: there are no waves, if you, Fu Bi, stand upright, why doesn't this Shi Jie Looking for someone else to talk about this matter, why are you looking for Fu Bi?When you ask this sentence, even if you are full of mouth, you still can’t make it clear.

After Su Jin returned to the capital to meet Zhao Zhen, he did not act easily. Instead, he got the letter first, and studied it repeatedly in a public room assigned by the Ministry of Punishment, hoping to start from this letter to find something that could be used. If the letter is true, there is no need to investigate the case; if the letter is false, Fubi Shijie's grievances can naturally be cleared.

But Su Jin's research on calligraphy is extremely limited, not to mention the famous Shi Jie, he can't figure out the reason for it, and he can't judge the error in the content of the letter. [

So Su Jin decided to interrogate Shi Jie, and the person involved could see the clues only after reading this letter, even if he waited for ten days and a half months, he might not have a clue.

Su Jin did not publicly interrogate Shi Jie, but personally visited Shi Jie in the prison. Facing Shi Jie's stinky temper and Nai's abuse and sarcasm, the hall officials couldn't help but give this stinky guy a bit of a hard time. Shi Jie is actually not very old, less than forty, but the scholar is weak and is accepted by the school. After a lot of tossing, he was already dejected beyond recognition.

Looking at the unkempt Shijie through the railing, Su Jin felt sorry for this guy. He hugged Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi and others' thighs and boasted. Dare to defend him, this drummer is really pathetic.

"Unlock the shackles." Su Jin ordered the jailer.

A jailer hurriedly said: "Minister Zhang of the Ministry of Punishment has ordered that Shi Jie is a key criminal, so he cannot withdraw his shackles."

Su Jin yelled: "I am the official responsible for this case. Now I have full power to decide all matters of this case. If I want you to release the shackles, I will release the shackles. I will not be polite to you if you talk too much."

The jailer didn't dare to argue. Although several adults greeted them not to give face to this new adult who handled the case, it would be better to obstruct him from handling the case, but the aura of this Lord Su and the murderous guards behind him There seemed to be three words written on their foreheads: Don't mess with me; most of the clerks on official missions are smooth and smooth, and at this time, it is natural to change according to the situation and adapt to local conditions.

During the process of removing the shackles, Shi Jie kept his eyes closed and was at his mercy, when Su Jin ordered someone to bring a stool for Shi Jie to sit down and talk, Shi Jie suddenly opened his eyes and asked, "Is there any wine? Haven't had a drink in days."

Su Jin immediately ordered someone to fetch a jug of wine and several dishes and put them on the adobe kang in the prison. Shi Jie was not polite, drank half of the jug of wine, and then began to eat and drink with side dishes.

Su Jin sat aside and waited for Shi Jie to eat and drink. Wang Chao Ma Han and other guards also stood erect in the aisle outside the cell. Everyone was silent. Seeing Shi Jie gobbled it up, it seemed that he hadn't seen him for many days. Had decent food and drink.

Shi Jie finally sighed mischievously, hiccupped heavily, looked up at Su Jin and said, "Thank you for waiting, let's go."

Su Jin smiled and said, "Go? What way?"

Shi Jie said: "Don't frame me, I know it's a decapitation meal, I didn't expect to be executed so soon, these people can't wait."

Su Jin smiled and said: "Mr. Shou Dao is too worried. I am not here to send you to the execution ground. Mr. Shou Dao doesn't know me, does he? Allow me to introduce myself."

Shi Jie looked at Su Jin left and right, looked at Su Jin for a long time, but shook his head and said, "Forgive my blindness, I really don't know it."

The dynasty on one side said loudly: "My lord is a scholar of Jixian Palace, envoys from Jingyuan and Qinfeng in the northwest, and now he is called to Beijing to investigate the big case of rebellion."

Shi Jie was startled, squinted his eyes and stared at the large number of Su Jin up and down for a long time, sighed: "It really is a young Yingjie, I am so blind, I didn't even recognize Master Su, Chaozhong is so young, But who else can there be an official in the official uniform of a third-rank official except Mr. Su?"

Su Jin smiled and said: "Sir, Mr. Su is just favored by the emperor. I came back to Beijing this time because of your case, so I came to visit Mr. today first."

Shi Jie was overjoyed, and then his face was covered with gloom, he shook his head and said: "My lord, don't worry about it, this time the old man was killed, and his whole body is full of people, so it's hard to tell whether this is right or wrong. I don't regret my death, but it's a pity that I have hurt you." country, it is really a crime.”[

Su Jin said: "So, you have pleaded guilty? Then why don't you sign it and save everyone trouble."

Shi Jie said angrily: "Confess? Why am I guilty? The old man never wrote that letter. I don't even know where that letter came from. How could I plead guilty to such an unnecessary crime?"

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Su Jin held up the letter: "You didn't write this letter? Have you read the letter?"

Shi Jie shook his head and said: "They read it to me, but they refused to show it to me, saying that they were afraid that I would ruin the trust and destroy the evidence. A villain is a villain, thinking that everyone in the world is cheating on them, and they have ghosts in their hearts."

Su Jin stretched out his hand and handed the letter to Shi Jie's eyes and said, "Look at it carefully, and if you think something is wrong, bring it up."

Shi Jie said, "Aren't you afraid that I will destroy the evidence?"

Su Jin smiled and said: "I'm afraid, but I believe you are wronged. Although you and I have never met, Mr. Shou Dao's name has been famous for a long time. Your lord is in charge of the Imperial College, cultivates talents for the Song Dynasty, and also wrote "Tang Dynasty" The book "Jian" admonishes treacherous officials and eunuchs, and refers to current affairs. The taboos are actually the great Confucian officials who are dedicated to the Song Dynasty. "

Shi Jie was so moved by Su Jin's words that he almost shed tears, shook his head and sighed: "What's the use of saying this now? The villain is secretly making troubles and using my mouth to slander Yan Kingdom. Planted and framed."

Su Jin said: "What should come will come naturally. If Mr. Shou Dao gives up, I can do nothing. Now the evidence is not good. If you are really innocent, then this letter must be fake, and fake things will naturally have flaws." , except for you, I am afraid it will be difficult for others to see it."

Shi Jie nodded, picked up the letter and unfolded it, carefully read it word by word, and then handed the letter to Su Jin, bowing his head in silence.

"Mister, can you see the clue?" Su Jin asked.

"Hey! It's really painstaking. Not only the handwriting is very similar, but also the address and tone used in the correspondence between me and Yan Guo are exactly yyng. The letters I write to Yan Guo are never signed. They have also noticed this, and I only A small seal was stamped on the corner of the letter, and the seal was a small seal with the alias of 'Gong Cao', which was also imitated, no wonder everyone thought this letter was from me."

After Shi Jie explained Su Jinjing, he read the letter again, and he saw a small seal with the word "public practice" in seal script at the corner of the letter. If you want to frame others with a letter, you must be extremely meticulous, otherwise it will be obvious at a glance that it is fake, so why not plant it?

Su Jin stood up, carefully sorted out his thoughts, stopped and pointed at the small seal with the letterhead, and said, "Is the handwriting and engraving techniques of this seal exquisite? Imitating the handwriting and imitating the seal should be different, right? The seal is It's a knife job, so there must be something wrong with it."

Shi Jie said happily: "Master Su is right, I always carry my seal with me, it is my private property, and it is absolutely impossible to be stolen, but this seal must also be fake, sir, let me take a closer look at the seal Is there a difference."

Su Jin stretched out his hand to signal him to take a closer look, Shi Jie squinted his eyes almost close to the place where the seal was placed on the paper, and after a long time, he sat down on the ground and sighed: "I am convinced, this seal is almost as good as I look exactly like yyng, it can be seen that the faker has put in a lot of thought, and the old man really convinced."

Su Jin scratched his head and said, "How is it possible? If even the seal is exactly the same, it is obvious that your seal has been stolen."

Shi Jie shook his head and said, "Impossible. I always carry my seals with me. I have a special bookcase that I carry with me. Inside are all the pens, inks, seals and ink pads I use. How can they steal them?"

Su Jin thought for a while and suddenly said, "Are you always carrying the bookcase by yourself? You never leave your body?"

Shi Jie said: "Of course not, there is a servant with me, you mean...he...? Impossible, absolutely impossible, Brother Jin has been serving me for almost ten years, and I regard him as my own brother. In the past ten years, he has served me diligently and well. Six years ago, I was serving as a judge in Jiazhou. On the way to the post, I encountered bandits. If Brother Jin didn’t protect me with his life, I would have died. He couldn’t have betrayed me. .”

Su Jin waved his hand and said: "Mr. Shou Dao, don't get excited, everything is conjecture, and the world is absolute, whether your boy betrays you is not up to you, people's hearts are far away, no matter what, I'm going to check it out." This brother Jin; this letter is so fake, but it’s not clever but it’s misunderstood by cleverness, maybe this is where they made a mistake.”