I served as an admonisher in the Song Dynasty

Chapter 534: A Suitable Candidate for the Supervisory Censor! Can the Dali Temple Sizhi be appointed?

Bianjing City, night.

After Su Liang finished painting the portraits of the looted people in Kaifeng Prefecture, he returned to the Su residence.

After dinner, in the study.

He opened the wooden box on the table, took out the resumes of eight candidates for censors selected by the government, and read them carefully.

The position of Censor-in-Chief has always been a lucrative one.

Although he was only an eighth-rank official, sometimes officials of the fifth rank would compete for this assignment.

Because it is a springboard for officials to advance in their careers, almost anyone who has served as a Censor can become a local official or even a prime minister in the court.

People like Wen Yanbo, Bao Zheng, Ouyang Xiu, etc. have all served as Censors.

In addition, Su Liang, the most favored minister in the court, is the chief of the Censorate, which makes the Censorate have more and more say, and officials are scrambling to become a Censor.

at this time.

Su Liang suddenly stopped when he came across an official resume.

This official is none other than.

It was the victim of the "ghosts and gods" robbery tonight, Dali Temple Si Zhi Bai Zhen.

"Bai Zhen, courtesy name Fangyuan, is 41 years old now. He is a Jinshi graduate from Xiangzhou. He once served as the magistrate and assistant judge of Hongzhou. He also served as the chief judge of the Dali Temple for nearly three years. He rents a house in the Pig-Slaughtering Lane south of Yuzhou Bridge..."

"He was taciturn and cautious, a little eccentric, very careful about his reputation, and had few bad habits. He often donated his salary to local official and private schools. He was known as "the poor and honest county magistrate". He was good at politics, had great literary talent, and rarely made mistakes. In order to focus on his official career, his wife and parents stayed in his hometown of Xiangzhou."

……

Followed by.

Su Liang read the resumes of all the candidates for the Censorate and then fell into deep thought.

The post of Supervisory Censor.

In addition to the basic requirements such as being a Jinshi and having experience as a local official, the most important condition is flawless moral character.

Those with impeccable moral character are most suitable to be censors.

Among the eight candidates, Bai Zhen ranked first in comprehensive evaluation.

However, Su Liang felt something was wrong.

Slaughterhouse Alley, as the name suggests, is where butchers who sell meat live.

Although the current meat butchers have moved to the Nancheng market, this place has never been demolished and is still a place where some poor families rent their houses.

A Dali Temple official living here gives people a feeling of "seeking fame and reputation".

Second.

The remaining wealth in his family was only three strings of coins and two hundred coins, and there was nothing else of value, which made Su Liang unable to understand.

He was a court official in Beijing with an annual salary of 300 strings of cash.

Even if he often sponsored public and private schools, it was impossible for him to ignore his own food, drink and appearance and donate all his salary.

You need to know.

For the scholars and officials of the Song Dynasty, appearance was very important, and buying an ordinary winter coat would cost two or three strings of money.

Even though he likes poverty and doesn't care about material enjoyment.

He should be like Wang Anshi, who still had the proper dignity. It was impossible for him to do good deeds and turn himself into a poor person.

This move is highly suspected of seeking fame without any utilitarian purpose.

sometimes.

Being non-utilitarian is the greatest utilitarianism.

He most likely put on this pose in order to get a promotion.

"Maybe I'm overthinking it. Maybe he is even higher than Wang Anshi, who 'desired to become a saint all his life'. I'll meet him in my free time tomorrow and I'll know his inner cultivation." Su Liang murmured.

……

Early the next morning.

Street vendors selling tabloids began to shout out the news that "ghosts and gods robbed scholars and officials" last night.

This kind of looting had not happened in the city of Bianjing for a long time.

Moreover, this matter is very consistent with the casual conversation of the people.

"In the twelfth month, the night barbarians were beaten, and the ghosts and gods robbed the officials in the court."

"The scholars and officials rented houses in Slaughterhouse Alley and lived with the poor, but no one knew about it."

"The Dali Temple's Sizhi, who has an annual salary of 300 guan, has only 3 guan and 200 wen left in his family."

"The scholar-official lives alone in a humble room, without a servant to serve him."

……

Any one of these plots would be enough for the people of Bianjing City to chat over five pots of tea and ten kilograms of dried fruits during the New Year holidays.

What's more, all of them happened together.

Before noon.

The name of Bai Zhen, the poorest official in the Dali Temple, became known throughout the city.

Many people knew that he had donated money to official and private schools, and some scholars wrote poems and essays for him, pleading with the court to employ such officials.

Bai Zhen lived in Slaughterhouse Alley for three years and no one knew about it.

But this time, because of a robbery, he became a celebrity in the city of Bianjing.

at the same time.

The Kaifeng government also posted a picture of one of the looters, the Kitchen God, and launched a city-wide manhunt for him.

Bao Zheng was under a lot of pressure.

If the murderer is not found before the New Year, many people will feel uneasy during the New Year, and there may even be more looting incidents.

……

Near dusk.

Liu Sandao drove Su Liang in a carriage to Slaughter Pig Lane, ready to meet Bai Zhen.

Su Liang will report his candidate to Zhao Zhen tomorrow afternoon.

His opinions greatly influenced Zhao Zhen's decision-making, so he had to be cautious.

After a while, Su Liang's carriage stopped at the end of the Pig Slaughtering Alley, in front of the gate of the last small courtyard. This was where Bai Zhen rented his house.

Although it is called a small courtyard, it is actually much smaller than the courtyard where Su Liang rented when he first arrived in Bian Jing.

There is a courtyard after entering the door, with a front hall, a bedroom, a simple shed in front and back, a thatched shed in the back and a kitchen in the front.

At this moment, the gate was locked and the owner was obviously not at home.

Su Liang was just about to get off the carriage when he suddenly saw a man in a black robe and a small hat walking quickly towards Bai Zhen's rented house. He lowered his head, walked to the door, and tried to unlock it.

He didn't even see the carriage not far away.

At this time, Su Liang asked: "But Bai Sizhi?"

The man turned his head and was stunned when he saw Su Liang. Then he hurriedly walked in front of Su Liang and bowed, saying, "Your humble servant, Dali Temple Sizhi Bai Zhen, pays homage to Su Zhongcheng."

Although Su Liang did not know Bai Zhen, he often went to the Dali Temple for inspection, so Bai Zhen naturally recognized him.

Su Liang got off the carriage and said with a smile, "Bai Sizhi, I thought I had recognized the wrong person. The New Year is approaching, and most officials are staying at home. Is Bai Sizhi going to buy New Year's goods?"

Bai Zhen smiled bitterly.

"Central Prime Minister Su, the news has spread everywhere in the tabloids, don't you know? I was robbed last night, and when I woke up this morning, I became a celebrity. Some businessmen wanted to send me food, and some scholars wanted to discuss knowledge or become sworn brothers with me. I don't like crowds, so I hid and went to the teahouse on the next street."

"I have heard about it. I wonder if Bai Sizhi is short of New Year's goods?" Su Liang said with a smile.

"No, no. The weather is cold this year, and there are many affairs in the Dali Temple in the twelfth month, so I didn't go back to my hometown. I don't need to prepare much for the New Year alone, and the money sent by the court is enough!"

Su Liang nodded and said, "Can you buy me a cup of tea?"

"It is my honor to have Prime Minister Su visit my humble home!" Bai Zhen quickly opened the gate and made a gesture of invitation.

Immediately.

Su Liang and Liu Sandao entered the courtyard together.

There was almost nothing in the yard, but it was very clean and tidy. Bai Zhen hurried to open the door.

At this time.

Su Liang noticed that there was grass mud on Bai Zhen's cloth shoes.

Although the latter had scraped off the mud on the soles of his shoes, there were still some residues on the uppers. There were also mud stains on the corners of his robe, and they looked like they had just dried.

Su Liang couldn't help but frown slightly.

Just now Bai Zhencheng went to the teahouse on the next street, but there was no such muddy place around unless he was out of the city.

Bai Zhen must have been lying just now.

But since it involved personal privacy, Su Liang didn't ask any more questions.

In the front hall, there were broken tables and chairs, two chipped vases, and three unframed calligraphy works.

There is not even a single valuable ornament.

soon.

Bai Zhen lit the charcoal stove and boiled water, then took out a bag of cheap tea leaves from the side.

Su Liang couldn't help but joked: "Bai Sizhi, there are not many officials in the court who live as poor as you. You are the role model for all officials in our court!"

"Mr. Su, you are too kind! I have been poor since I was young and have lived a hard life. Now that I have money, I want to let children from poor families go to school, so I spend all my salary on more valuable things!"

Su Liang stroked his beard which he had grown for a long time and said, "Bai Sizhi, you are very suitable to be a censor!"

Hearing this, Bai Zhen stood up excitedly and immediately bowed to Su Liang.

"Mr. Su, I am fearless and outspoken. Although my writing skills are not as good as Mr. Su's, they are not bad either. I have always yearned for the position of censor!"

"Of course, everything still needs to be arranged by the court."

After saying that, Bai Zhen took out some documents he had written from the inner room.

"Mr. Su, these are some articles I wrote. Please read them."

"Okay, I'll take a look."

After saying that, Su Liang looked at it carefully.

Soon, Bai Zhen brought a cup of tea to Su Liang and Liu Sandao.

"Not bad, not bad, the writing is good and the logic is clear..." Su Liang praised, then put down the document.

After a while.

Su Liang and Liu Sandao left Bai Zhen's house.

On the way, Su Liang looked through the window in front of the carriage and asked Liu Sandao: "Sandao, what do you think of Bai Sizhi? Is he suitable to be a censor?"

Liu Sandao thought for a moment and said, "He is well-mannered and not greedy for money. He should be a good censor."

Su Liang asked with a smile: "Is it possible that these are fake?"

Liu Sandao was stunned.

"If he can pretend for a lifetime, then it's real!"

"That makes sense." Su Liang replied with a smile. He couldn't say he was satisfied with Bai Zhen's writing, but he felt it was okay.

However, when Su Liang suggested that the other party had the potential to be a censor, the other party was too enthusiastic, which made Su Liang feel that this person was by no means just "poor" and was still keen on official career and fame.

As for the mud on the other party's clothes and shoes, he might have left the city and concealed it from Su Liang.

Su Liang didn't care. The other party might have some private matters that he didn't want to talk about.

Su Liang decided to report to Zhao Zhen tomorrow afternoon: Bai Zhen, the Chief Justice of the Dali Temple, can be given a try for the post of Censor-in-Chief.

Although Su Liang felt that he was seeking fame and reputation, the fact that he could achieve this and remain poor for so many years was real.

The next day, early in the morning.

Su Liang was planning to have a good sleep, but he was woken up by Tang Wanmei early in the morning. She said that Liu Sandao had something urgent to discuss with Su Liang.

Su Liang quickly put on his clothes and ran to the front yard.

Liu Sandao said to Su Liang, "Boss, did Master Bao send someone to ask you to go to the south of the city to identify the body?"

"What? Identifying a corpse? Why identify a corpse during New Year's Day?" Su Liang was confused.

"The murderer who robbed Bai Sizhi has been found, but he is dead!"

Su Liang frowned slightly. It was really unlucky that such a thing happened during the New Year.

"Okay, I'll wash my face and go right away!"

At the same time, Bai Zhen was also summoned by the Kaifeng government officials to identify the body.

(End of this chapter)