The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

Not far away, a house was exposed hidden by several clumps of flowers, trees, and bamboos. Bao Zheng, accompanied by his servant Bao Xin, stepped forward and knocked on the door to ask for housing. After a while, the door of the house opened, and an old servant stuck his head out.

"Old Mr. Lao informed Mr. Lu that the student Bao Zheng came to visit his teacher." Bao Zheng said respectfully.

The old man hurriedly returned the gift to report, and after a while the door of the house opened wide, and he saw an old man in green robe surrounded by two young gentlemen, coming to greet him.

"Your Majesty Bao is here, the old man welcomes you from far away, disrespectful and disrespectful, and atones for your sins." The old man clasped his hands and bowed, singing loudly.

Bao Zheng hurriedly replied, "Master, why did you say such a thing? This will kill Bao Zheng. Bao Zheng is here to visit his mentor. It is purely a private visit and has nothing to do with official affairs."

The old man chuckled, his eyes shifted to Su Jin who was behind Bao Zheng, he was stunned, and asked: "Isn't this a famous person from Luzhou City, a small official from Su Ji? Can be neglected."

Su Jin cupped his fists and saluted, "Master Lu, I'm sorry for interrupting Su Jin."

Bao Zheng looked at the two suspiciously and said, "So you are acquaintances?" After speaking, he looked at Su Jin with some displeasure.

Su Jin knew that he had misunderstood him. He clearly knew Mr. Tixue, but he told Bao Zheng that he didn't know each other. He asked him to introduce him to Bao Zheng's face, and at the same time, his words were not true; "I really don't know that Mr. Tixue is my customer of Suji. I only found out when I met him just now. It turns out that Mr. Tixue is the first customer of my Suji who made custom skirts. Luzhou City is too small, so I never thought I would meet here."

Lu Tixue laughed loudly and said, "Where in the world do we not meet each other, let alone in this small city of Luzhou, speaking of which day Su Xiaoguan earned five liang of silver ingots."

Bao Zheng was at a loss, seeing the two people chatting happily, he was a little confused about what was going on, so Su Jin explained in detail the story of Su Ji Caitai Xiuyi, when it came to attracting customers to order by lottery When the first prize was drawn, Mr. Tixue, Bao Zheng laughed happily.

"I didn't expect that my teacher would go to such an occasion to join in the fun. Mr. Su also has a lot of ideas, and he uses such a method to attract customers, so smart!"

"Walking around the streets with a few friends that day, I saw Su Xiaoguan setting up a colorful platform in front of the Town God's Temple. The old man didn't like that kind of occasion, but he was attracted by the poetry, singing and dancing, and Su Xiaoguan's business methods With a whimsical idea, I fell into the trap before I knew it, and I ordered one for my old wife by the way." Master Lu twirled his beard and laughed.

Su Jin blushed and said with a chuckle: "It's a small skill, but I didn't know that Mr. Tixue was there that day, otherwise I would dare to accept your money."

Master Lu said: "Are you saying that the old man is a corrupt official who bullies others and doesn't give money for buying things?"

Su Jin was taken aback, Bao Zheng and Master Lu looked at each other and laughed.

The three of them entered the courtyard, but saw that the small courtyard was neatly tidied up elegantly and quietly. A few old banyan trees in the west formed a large shade area, and rows of stone benches and tables were placed under the banyan trees. Sit and talk.

Bao Zheng said with a smile: "Men is still the same, he likes to be with these young talents, they are the same as the students back then, they came to the mansion to study the classics."

Lord Lu smiled and said: "Yes, old people are useless, I can only recommend some talented and beautiful people, these are students who have studied hard, and I am here for them to gather here every ten days to talk about their learning experiences The old people have no talents to help them, so we can only provide a place for them to exchange and debate, which is also beneficial to what they have learned, and I don’t want them to become bookworms who are obsessed with studying.”

Su Jin secretly admired that Master Lu's ideas are quite advanced. Students can debate their opinions and discuss what they have learned here, which is a kind of exchange and complementarity to promote integration. It is a common problem of ancient scholars to read books without seeking deep understanding. This kind of gathering and discussion is definitely conducive to emancipating the mind and diverging thinking.

Just as he was thinking, he suddenly heard Bao Zheng say: "Master, why don't you set up a venue in the school so that the students can communicate freely?"

Lord Lu laughed and said: "Although I am in charge of the government school in name, it is not a place for casual discussions. Young people speak radically, and often talk about the former dynasty or saints, and their remarks tend to be radical. Those who speak have no intention of listening to them. Being mistaken for shadowing something can easily lead to troubles, and I did this as a last resort."

Bao Zheng nodded and remained silent. Master Lu spoke in a cryptic manner, but Su Jin could tell that it must be a non-pure land in the school. Maybe Zhu Shiyong planted the professor's eyeliner, and any radical words would probably spread in minutes. To Zhu Shiyong's ears; there have always been officials who relied on Luo Zhiwen Prison as the capital for official promotion, and the Song Dynasty was probably no exception.

The three of them walked towards the stone table under the banyan tree, and from a distance they could hear those students discussing something fiercely, a young man who was following him stepped forward to stop, but Bao Zheng waved his hand to signal him not to go forward Seeing this, Su Jin also listened carefully, but saw a thin blue-clothed scholar making a speech.

"The "three redundant" mentioned by Song Zijing is actually as insightful as a torch, pointing directly at the disadvantages; the theory of "three expenses" is also analyzed in detail, among which: "soldiers are based on food, food is based on goods, and the sage is the foundation of the world. There are also tools. Today, there is no grain in Zuo Zang, and there is no three-year-old millet in Taicang, and there is no shortage of copper smelting in Shangfang. Taiping is like this, and it has already withered and impoverished. Redundancy, there are three small expenses, to trap the wealth of the world. Wealth is poor and useless, and it is impossible to plan for the development of the teacher. If you can eliminate the three redundant, save the three expenses, and prepare for the northwest village, you can rest easy.' These words and sentences are true to the heart, and they can see the true knowledge, which is especially admirable to me."

Su Jin half-understood, turned to look at Bao Zheng and Mr. Lu, but saw that they were smiling, and their expressions were quite gratified.

Another scholar retorted: "Brother Songhe seems to be very respectful of the theory of three redundancies and three charges, but I don't know why the disadvantages of these three redundancies and three charges are still obvious after Song Zijing's study? Advocating the elimination of this malpractice, but why study aggressively, to be a member of redundant officials, is it not to stab one's own shield with one's own spear, victory is also a king, and defeat is also a king, this is a confused account."

Su Jin slightly understands. Su Jin knows the word "three redundant", and the Chinese department of later generations did not learn it in vain. He was a little confused when he first heard it.

Three Redundancies is a general term put forward by Emperor Qi Shangshu of the Song Dynasty to deal with the huge cost of overstaffed institutions, and Redundant means redundant.

The so-called three redundancies are redundant soldiers, redundant officials, and redundant expenses. Simply put, there are too many redundant soldiers, too many redundant officials, and too much redundant funds, which directly lead to the financial constraints of the dynasty. There is no balance in fiscal expenditures in various places.

Back then, Song Qi made this suggestion because he was worried that there would be no surplus in peaceful times. In case of war or famine, how would the court come to support it? Now, the dispute between the Northwest and the Xia Dynasty has been at war for nearly three years, and there is indeed a It can be seen that Song Qi still has vision. <Yi Nao' is enough for him to remember that there was such a person in the Song Dynasty, but he didn't expect to live in this era and have such insight.

At this moment, the blue-robed scholar on the opposite side said again: "Brother Zhibai, you are as extreme as you, how do you know the meaning of what Song Gong said? Redundant officials and abolishing the imperial examination are two different things. Abolishing the imperial examination in order not to increase the number of officials will cut off the thoughts of scholars all over the world." I thought, it’s a stupid thing to swallow jujubes for fear of toothache. To eradicate redundant officials is to let talented people stay in their positions, and mediocre people return to their hometowns. To participate in the imperial examination is to serve the country with fists and fists. If I am lucky enough to be an official in the future, I must restrain myself and do my best to govern well. If I become a redundant official, I don’t need the imperial court to ask me to go to the official to farm.”

Su Jin nodded secretly, especially Su Jin, who was deeply impressed by this little blue-clothed scholar. If such a statement is put forward in later generations, it will be regarded as a false slogan, and there was such a scholar student in the Song Dynasty It is really a kind of advanced consciousness to be able to say such words, and there seems to be something called 'min zhu' in it.

Su Jin thought so, and Bao Zheng and Lord Lu were even more shocked. Bao Zheng glanced at Lord Lu worriedly, and Lord Lu smiled wryly and shook his head, because these words can easily be used by others as a means of attack. What is mediocrity?The three redundancies have not been resolved so far, isn't it true that the entire imperial court is a generation of incompetent mediocrities?If these words are used by others, I am afraid that there will be a lot of trouble.

The scholar named Zhibai who refuted just sneered, but did not speak back. Master Lu hurriedly ordered a young scholar beside him to stop, and told these students to come and meet Bao Zheng, so as to eliminate the possibility Produced even more taboo words.