The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

Su Jindao: "Master Bao is very thoughtful, and he really can't act rashly. If he plays rashly, he will startle the snake, and it will be troublesome if he is silenced like that gangster. It's better to visit secretly. After finding out the identity of the bandit chief, he will use the iron evidence to do what he wants to do in one fell swoop. The best policy is to wait for people to take it.”

Bao Zheng took a look at Su Jin, then sighed again: "I'm also thinking the same as you, but it's a step too late."

Su Jin was surprised and said, "What do you say, my lord?"

Bao Zheng said: "In the past few days, I have been secretly following in disguise, trying to find out who is protecting these gangsters. The night before last, I and Bao Xin followed Hei Qi and saw a group of seven or eight of them enter the Tang residence. But Bao Xin and I waited at the gate of the house until noon the next day and didn't see those people coming out; Bao Yi and Bao Qin, who took over from us, watched them out until midnight, which is very strange."

Su Jin said: "Perhaps that Hei Qi lives in the Tang residence, I don't know. The adults are watching outside, and they are eating, drinking and sleeping comfortably inside."

Bao Zheng said: "I naturally thought of this section, but in the past few days, I have found out that Hei Qi's house is in a house in Wulijing, and he has been out of the house for several days in a row. There are also several women People come and go, it can be seen that it is Hei Qi's serious house; moreover, Tang Jiyuan will never hide the bandit chieftain at home, firstly, there are too many people, and it is easy to reveal his identity, and secondly, Hei Qi is used to being loose and tough. Putting them in the mansion is to make yourself uncomfortable, Tang Jiyuan is a smart person, and he will definitely not let them live in the house."

Su Jin frowned and said, "What does your lord mean...?"

Bao Zheng lowered his voice and said, "I'm afraid...it has been silenced."

Su Jin took a breath: "Your Excellency, you mean... seven or eight people have been silenced?"

Bao Zheng didn't answer, he stood up and took a few steps behind his back, then turned around and said, "Judging from Wu Zuo's fate, Zhu Shiyong has started to plug the loophole. Now that Wu Zuo is dead, the culprit in Qin Dalang's case is the only loophole, and the scarred face Hei Qi and others must be the murderers who killed Qin Dalang, so it can be inferred that the scar-faced Hei Qi and other gangsters can only rest if they die, so... they were all silenced."

Su Jin felt cold. When he heard the news of Wu's death just now, he was already extremely shocked. Now that he heard Mr. Bao's analysis and compared the past events, Su Jin had to admit that what Mr. Bao said was very true. reason.

Qin Dalang was coerced by this scar-faced man when he was Su Ji's spy, and after Qin Dalang was exposed, the scar-faced Hei Qi who was in contact with Qin Dalang had the motive to silence him. However, in order to prevent the truth from being revealed, the chamber of commerce and the magistrate resolutely abandoned these chess pieces, which is absolutely reasonable.

"It's just... killing seven or eight people in one go, no matter where the murder is committed, it will inevitably be revealed. There are a large number of martial arts guards in the Tang Mansion. Even if there are, the news will be known to everyone, and it will still spread, and this Seven or eight of them are from bandit backgrounds, and they are very athletic, how can they be easy people?"

Bao Zheng said: "There are too many ways to kill people, why use swords and guns, gangsters are attached to others, and they are the ones who trust them the most, killing them is as easy as flipping the palm of your hand."

"Your Excellency, you mean, for example, to strike after getting drunk at a banquet?"

"Or simply serve poisoned wine..." Bao Zheng had seen a lot of murder cases, so he naturally knew much more about these aspects than Su Jin.

Su Jin nodded secretly, seven or eight people only needed a jug of poisoned wine to settle all the accounts without anyone noticing, and just deal with the corpses afterwards, most of them were buried in the garden to make flower fertilizer; in this way, the whole clue Not to mention the case of dropping out of the death row criminal, even the case of Qin Dalang has no proof.

"What do you plan to do, my lord? If it is really silenced, I'm afraid there will be no way to deal with these cases; these people are too ruthless, and they cut off the clues before they can do anything. It's not easy to deal with."

Bao Zheng returned to his chair and sat down, took a sip of herbal tea, and returned to normal, saying: "No matter how cunning a fox is, it will leave traces, but it's just an impasse. I'm telling you this because I want to ask you to help me." I secretly pay attention, maybe those people have not been silenced, but they are hiding and it is unknown, and they will show up sooner or later."

After a pause, he continued: "I'm also to blame for this matter. If I didn't go to the writer's private visit, I wouldn't attract the attention of Zhu Shiyong and others, and maybe they wouldn't be cruel. Ashamed, ashamed! Speaking of which, the death of the bandits and chieftains is more than justified, but it is a pity that the five children in the family will struggle in the future."

Su Jin quickly stated: "My lord, don't worry, I'm also involved in this matter. I will definitely take care of the women and children among the writers, and the five children will also support them as adults."

Bao Zheng heaved a sigh of relief and said, "Alright, it is true that you will be responsible for this matter, and doing so is just a matter of peace of mind. Don't mention this matter again, just investigate secretly. At the end of the month, I will go to Duanzhou. Far away, if you notice anything, you just need to write a letter to my mansion and hand it to Bao Mian. Bao Mian will send a letter to Duanzhou every month, other things are beyond your control; now There will definitely be spies in the state government office to spy around the mansion, and my actions may be under their control, so it is better not to act rashly during this period of time. Allow me to sort out the relationship slowly, and then make a fuss."

Su Jin said: "I would like to obey the orders of the adults."

The two of them were relieved for a while, and the servants of Bao's mansion offered two small bowls of iced mung bean soup. The two of them drank it with a snort, and their moods became much calmer. Then they changed the topic to Su Jin's purpose of coming here.

"Master Tixue Lu is my official mentor. I originally wanted to visit him, so I might as well go with you. First, I will catch up on the past, and second, I will also introduce you to you." Bao Zheng said with a smile.

Su Jin got up and bowed to express his gratitude: "My lord is the last one to support me, if I do something in the future, I will never forget the kindness of my support."

Bao Zheng said solemnly: "Don't learn from others, what to support, what to repay, you don't learn these polite manners at a young age; if you can pass the imperial examination, he will get the salary of the emperor, food It's the blood and sweat of the common people, as long as you live up to the emperor's favor and the common people, if you commit crimes, commit corruption and break the law, I, Bao Zheng, don't care if you're an old friend or a close friend. go."

When Su Jin was reprimanded by him, he felt ashamed secretly. He was trying to save face for Heizi, and it was really unnecessary to play tricks and flatter him, so he bowed and said yes.

"I still have something to tell you. Although the imperial examinations in this dynasty are open to people of various identities, there is no distinction between high and low, but in fact there are still quotas for the qualifications of the imperial examinations. Every prefecture and county needs to be screened in advance. , to determine a certain candidate, if I recommend you, Master Tixue will definitely give you three points of favor, but you have to promise that I will study hard, and you must not be perfunctory, otherwise not only will Master Tixue and I look bad, You will also delay another person's career in the imperial examination because you occupy one of the places, do you understand what I mean?" Bao Zheng really didn't show affection, and he always said ugly things first.

At this time, how could Su Jin pretend to be cowardly, and he naturally agreed: "I will do my best, not for the face of adults and academics, but also to cherish the court's grace."

Bao Zheng nodded, and the two agreed to visit Lord Tixue Lu in the morning tomorrow, and after chatting for a while, Bao Zheng served tea to see off the guests and waved goodbye.

Su Jin went back to the mansion and thought about it. Overwhelmed by the hardships and dangers of the world, he thought that this is a peaceful and prosperous age where everyone lives and works in peace and contentment. The matter also far exceeded the scope of Su Jin's experience.

Su Jin is just a second-rate college student in later generations, with extremely limited experience in life. Those intrigues and tricks that often kill people and silence them have only been seen in books or TV movies, but at this moment these things are stripped and spread in front of him. And being so close to him made Su Jin simply unacceptable.

Su Jin stayed in the darkness of the study for a full hour before she adjusted her mentality. From now on, she needs to be careful about her behavior. This road of imperial examination must be taken. If she doesn’t get to a certain position, self-preservation will become a thing of the past. problems, not to mention petty bourgeois life.