The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

(Thanks to An Tantan and Shishi Qingshang for their rewards.)

The voices outside are getting louder. Ordinary people have been waking up early one after another in order to make a living. The troubles of last night have been forgotten. The family's livelihood problem has occupied all their energy. They have neither the time nor the courage to meddle in these trivial matters , just met occasionally to make a bow, to express some opinions on how many people died last night and what happened in the middle of the night, then shook their heads and sighed, and went to their respective jobs.

Su Jin also got up early, and after washing up, without even eating breakfast, he rushed to Dongcheng and Fenglou with the letter of Zhu Manzi. The letter was like a piece of red-hot coal, which made him restless.

He opened the back door and entered Yan Biyun's residence with ease, just in time to meet Xiao Xian'er who was splashing water out of a copper basin, and seeing Su Jin haunting the young lady's boudoir early in the morning, Xiao Xian'er's face suddenly became old Changed his face and said, "Young Master Su, you are too casual. You come to bother me early in the morning before my lady wakes up. How can my lady walk around in front of people when word spreads?"

Su Jin was so full of thoughts that he didn't have time to chatter with her, so he rushed in silently. Xiao Xian'er opened her arms and crossed her body to stop him, saying: "What are you doing, in broad daylight, forcing your way in?"

Su Jin became angry, and pushed her aside and said: "I have something important to see your lady, I apologize for being rude, don't waste my time."

Xiao Xianer raised her voice and said: "Oh, you are still so arrogant, do you regard yourself as the master of this place?"

Su Jin walked in without looking back, and ignored her, Xiao Xianer followed behind him and chased after him, talking non-stop, her words had no respect for Su Jin at all .

"Xian'er, do you still understand the rules? How can you be so noisy." Yan Biyun appeared at the door of the room and scolded with a cold face.

"Miss, he..." Xiaoxian'er was so wronged that she wanted to die, and it was not because of your reputation, otherwise, would I be able to do this?

"Why are you so ignorant of the rules? Since Mr. Su came here early in the morning, he must have come to me for something urgent. When will it be your turn to talk? I'm the one who pampers you on weekdays. Now I'm meddling too much. If you continue to do this, you will go back to Bianliang, so that you won't find anything unpleasant here." Yan Biyun was really angry.

Xiao Xian'er was dumbfounded, the lady was completely bewitched by Mr. Su, and Su Jin came after Tianmahualiang. If things go on like this, they will come to knock on the window of the lady in the middle of the night. If this goes on, the reputation of the lady will be completely ruined. up.

Xiaoxian'er was bitter in her heart, but she didn't dare to talk back, her tears fell down, Su Jin saw this and hurriedly said: "It's my fault, Xiaoxian'er is right, this matter is too urgent, I'm here to find Your lady discussed it, I will definitely pay attention in the future, sister Xian'er, don't cry, I will buy you crab roe buns later to make amends."

Xiaoxian'er sobbed and said, "The maidservant didn't disturb Mr. Su and Mrs. Su on purpose, but I was helping out in front yesterday, and I heard someone start gossip. Isn't this maidservant doing this for the sake of Mrs. Su and Mr. Su? -Those people have dirty mouths, and they can't speak well of the young lady, how can they be good?"

Su Jin and Yan Biyun's demeanor changed at the same time. They didn't expect that there would be rumors so soon. Not many people knew about Yan Biyun's coming to Yingtian Mansion. Some people had already spread rumors around this matter. It was obvious that someone with a heart was staring at the two of them.

Su Jin couldn't help sweating, stepped forward and said: "I was careless, the girl is right, but today's fact is urgent, I have no choice but to come here early in the morning, and leave after speaking, the academy I still have to go to school, and I still have a lot of articles to write, and I can't help it, Miss Xian'er will take care of it."

Xiao Xian'er wiped away her tears, turned around and walked out, saying in her mouth: "My maidservant went out to keep the wind in your hands, I blame the maidservant for not asking why, you guys talk."

Su Jin and Yan Biyun looked at each other, Yan Biyun smiled and said: "I, Dai Xian'er, can't apologize to you, she has such a temper, like a child, but she is sincerely doing good for my slave family."

Su Jin said: "I know, I was the one who was abrupt, I came here too often, from now on I should come less, since someone is talking about it, I have to be careful."

Yan Biyun blushed and said in a low voice, "Your Majesty has been wronged, I don't know when it's worthwhile to be so sneaky."

Su Jin chuckled and said, "If the relationship lasts forever, how can it be day and night? The days to come will still be long. Don't I have a one-year agreement with Mr. Yan? One year will pass soon, as long as you If you restore your freedom, we can communicate with each other in an open and honest manner."

Yan Biyun sighed inaudibly, leading Su Jin into the boudoir, the two sat down, and Su Jin told Yan Biyun what happened last night; From time to time, when Su Jin came to a dangerous place, he let out a sound of exclamation. Following Su Jin's narration, Yan Biyun seemed to be there, as if he and Su Jin had experienced last night's danger together. After Su Jin finished speaking, Yan Biyun's snow-white forehead actually leaked Fine beads of sweat came out.

"Sister Yan, I really regret forcing that mangy Zhu to write this document. I was very proud of it at the time, but after thinking about it, I really took another step into the quagmire. If those people knew that I With Zhu Manizi's personal statement in hand, I'm afraid there will be no more peace." Su Jin frowned.

Yan Biyun thought for a while and said: "After you came yesterday, I asked someone to find out the details of that group of people. The news that came was very worrying. Even if you don't come today, I still want to I went to your place to tell you, oh, you, you have gotten into big trouble again."

Su Jin was surprised and said, "Could it be that the backstage of that group is very hard?"

Yan Biyun said: "It's more than just tough. The general backstage of that gang of hooligans goes straight to the sky. Except for one person in the world, I'm afraid no one can suppress him."

Su Jin changed color and said, "So powerful, is this news reliable?"

Yan Biyun said: "The person who sent the news to the slave family was an official from the fifth rank of Ying Tianfu. He was favored by his uncle and later served in Ying Tianfu. It is inconvenient to disclose his name because the matter involved a lot. Thousands of people have asked me not to tell anyone who has nothing to do with it; I didn't know each other at first, but this time my uncle came to the academy to give lectures, and my family has property in Yingtianfu, so my uncle introduced this person for the sake of my family. Ying Tianfu's business is well taken care of, so this person will not talk nonsense."

Su Jin was anxious, and said: "What kind of official is the person behind the scenes, a first-rank official?"

Yan Biyun said: "It's nothing more than a first-rank official, this person is the nephew of the current Holy Majesty, speaking of which, you also know him, that is His Royal Highness Prince Teng."

Su Jin almost fell head over heels. Unexpectedly, it was Teng Wang Zhao Zongdan who was backing him. No wonder this group of people had all their swords and swords, and they dared to publicly retaliate and kill people. As for why the Yingtianfu Yamen didn't interfere, it was obvious that Tang Jie and this The prince Zhao was originally a gangster, a bird of a feather, which can be clearly proved from the chance encounter in the small restaurant outside the academy that day.

"There are local snakes entrenched in the southeast and northwestern cities of Yingtianfu, and they compete openly and secretly for each other. Competing for land and collecting the so-called plate fees from the people is actually just getting something for nothing to oppress and exploit the people. On the surface, the local snakes in the four places have nothing to do with King Teng, but in fact Their general leader is a staff member named Qin in the palace, and it is conceivable that King Teng plays the role of a backer behind the scenes." Yan Biyun said eloquently.

Su Jin asked: "I just can't figure it out, Zhao Zongdan is the king of Teng, how did he get involved with these low-spirited local ruffians and hooligans, isn't this self-declination? What good does it do him?"

Yan Biyun poked Su Jin's forehead and said: "You are sometimes confused, do you think this plate fee is a small amount? Four cities charge nearly 120 guan a month for plates, [-] million guan a year. A big piece of fat."

Su Jin stuck out his tongue for a long time and couldn't retract it. 120 million pennies a year, this is such a big sum of money, no wonder as a prince, he also wants to get involved in the interests of the underworld.

"Uncle once said that last year, my national tax revenue in the Song Dynasty was only 800 million yuan. A small Yingtian Mansion can benefit so much just by exploiting the people. It's hard not to be tempted."

Su Jin bit her lip and said: "It is conceivable that apart from the people below, the yamen must have benefited as well, so the benefits are all shared, so they don't care about the life and death of the people."

Yan Biyun said: "That's not all, the 120 million is handed over to the staff of the palace surnamed Qin. In fact, the monthly share of the four cities is [-]. It doesn't matter how much the dish fee is charged, it's better to pay more or less. All pay the quota, this is a sum of money to guarantee the income from drought and flood.”

Su Jin suddenly stood up and said: "But the bottom is naturally extremely vicious and not afraid of murder and arson, and the plate fee will increase, because if you charge more, you can save more, and the people below can also earn more. No wonder Lao Jiang slapped him so much." The small dim sum shop actually needs to pay a lot of money every month, this group of demons who eat people and don't spit out scum."

Yan Biyun sighed and said: "It's useless for you to be angry about this matter. I'm afraid no one will shake the status quo in Yingtian Mansion. You fought an injustice once and almost got killed. With such a big benefit here, how can you easily shake it?" .”

Su Jin said angrily: "Could it be that no one in the court noticed it? Did the emperor ignore this matter?"

Yan Biyun smiled and said: "Silly gentleman, everything is based on evidence. Yingtian Mansion has been run by King Teng like an iron bucket. Where can I find evidence? Besides, even if the emperor finds out, he can still do it without evidence." Can't you take the initiative to investigate? This is related to the face of the royal family."

Su Jin remained silent, angry in his heart, but felt powerless for a while.