The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

(Thanks to Ai Ai Shuo Shuo and Taoist Yehe for their rewards.)

Su Jin's initial goal was achieved, and he was afraid of revealing his flaws if he continued talking, so he left; Zhao Zongdan didn't know what he was thinking, and was a little dazed, so he didn't leave Su Jin to talk in the study.

As soon as Su Jin left, Mr. Qin slipped into the study with Qi Ye and Xiao Hu. After the three of them knelt down to say hello, they stood aside with their hands down.

Zhao Zongdan said: "Is there something wrong? I have been eavesdropping outside for a while."

Mr. Qin hurriedly said: "My lord, we are just guarding outside, how dare we eavesdrop on what your lord is saying to others, this kid surnamed Su is full of tricks, I have to be careful."

"Are you afraid that I will be bewitched by him?" Zhao Zongdan said calmly with a cold face.

"Returning to my lord, this kid is indeed as sneaky as the manager said, and the villain has sent people around to check his details in the past few days. The news from Luzhou has not been reported back, but there are some clues from the academy, my lord. I'm sure you're interested." Master Qi hurried forward and said.

"Did this king ask you to speak? Slap your mouth!!" King Teng was suddenly furious, and slapped the table, making Master Qi tremble in fright.

"Is it necessary for this king to do it himself? Qin Fei, watch for me. These two slap each other twenty times. If there is no sound in the slap, they will be fined ten."

Mr. Qin Fei, Mr. Qin didn't know why the prince was so angry, but in desperation, he turned his head and said to Qi Ye and Xiao Hu: "You two heard it, fight."

Qi Ye and Xiao Hu tremblingly raised their slaps to their mouths and slapped them wildly, fearing that they would be penalized ten times for missing one, and they dared not steal and play slippery. His hands were also red, and his face was swollen, Lao Gao was in a panic.

Zhao Zongdan stared at the bookshelf silently, without looking at the two of them, and said slowly: "You two must be scolding your mother from the bottom of your heart, blame this king for being moody and humiliating you for no reason."

"My lord, how dare the little ones have such an idea. The lord punishes the little ones. Naturally, the little ones have negligence in handling things. They should be beaten and punished." Directly outside, it looks really miserable.

Zhao Zongdan sighed, and said in a slow tone: "It's best for you to think this way. Why should I treat you like this for no reason? Four people died that night. Can I punish you for reporting to me? It's just this. Once, you are too out of shape."

After hearing this, Qin Fei felt that the matter was of great importance, and he was afraid that he would not be able to escape the responsibility, so he hurriedly knelt down and said, "My lord, please tell me clearly what kind of event happened, and Qin cannot escape responsibility."

Zhao Zongdan threw Zhu Manizi's testimony on the ground and said coldly: "Look for yourself, maybe one day we will be taken over by someone, and we don't know what went wrong. It's really sad and infuriating."

Qin Fei and the three quickly picked up the confession, and looked at it head to head. After a while, they all trembled and kowtowed like garlic.

"My lord, the little ones really don't know that this bastard is so bold, he is greedy for life and afraid of death, but he left a clue, begging the lord to punish him, the little ones can hardly absolve himself of the blame."

"I beg the prince to punish..."

"The little ones are not good at doing things, they should have been punished..."

The three of them knew that the attitude of admitting mistakes at this time was everything, and even a little bit of denial would risk their lives. At the same time, the three of them were terrified. If he wanted to survive, he wouldn't be able to write down such a written statement and give it to others. If this confession was sent to the Ministry of Criminal Justice by that Su Jin, the implicated matter would not be a matter of Zhu Manzi's life.

"Hey, get up." Zhao Zongdan sighed, waved his hands and said, "What if I kill you all? It's a big taboo to know people without knowing them. That Zhu Manizi was originally a reckless man. You Liu Qi Uncle Liu just doesn’t believe it, as I said earlier, he’s pretty good at collecting dish fees on the street, but if it’s something that really uses his brain, he’s not good at all.”

Qi Ye kowtowed, his forehead was bleeding profusely, and he said repeatedly: "If you don't investigate the small ones, you will be guilty."

Xiao Hu also kowtowed and said: "My lord, please calm down, I was there that night, but I really couldn't help those old men under Zhu Laizi's subordinates, so I went back early to deal with the city gate guards, but I didn't expect When it comes to Zhu Manzi's heart being deceived by lard, he does such a stupid thing, the little one is also guilty, please punish him."

Zhao Zongdan said: "This incident was originally a trivial matter, but Su Jin is meddling in other matters. You are afraid that you will lose your prestige and things will not go well in the future, so you take revenge. This is understandable; but that Zhu Mani was so stupid first He went to the wrong house, killed four people out of thin air, and then this kind of thing happened again, everyone said that the seventh master of Nancheng is smart and capable of doing things, I don't think so."

"Little Yulu, my lord calm down, my lord calm down." Liu Qi's head was about to shatter.

"Once this matter becomes serious, this king will not be able to maintain it. Do you think this king will be angry? Fortunately, this Su Jin knows how to throw this hot potato to me. I will not mention whether his intentions are good or not. Let's just do this." As far as it is concerned, except for one trouble."

Qin Fei suddenly remembered something, took the note and looked at it carefully, and he took a long time to let out a sigh of relief. Zhao Zongdan saw it in his eyes, took a sip of calming tea and said: "Boss Qin, don't read carefully, this note It's true, even if Su Jin had the guts to give this king a fake confession, and this king promised him to use this confession to arrest someone, would he be so stupid as to perjure himself?"

Qin Fei said with a smile: "What the lord said is that the villain just thinks something is wrong. Su Jin actually has the intention of alienating the lord. Today, he came to congratulate the princess on her birthday and sent this confession. Did you hear something? Feng Sheng, who came to test the prince?"

Zhao Zongdan said: "The congratulations are false, the purpose is to send this confession. The background of Su Jin is not complicated. Cao Guanshi of the academy sent someone to say it. This person once claimed to be familiar with the third envoy Yan Shu. Last month When Yan Shu came to Yingtianfu Academy to give lectures, he sent someone to find Su Jinjin to meet him, so it's hard to say whether there is any relationship between the two."

Qin Fei said: "It's probably because Yan Shu saw that Su Jin was also talented, that's why he and the prince valued him so much. When it comes to the origin of the relationship between the two, one is a merchant from a small city, and the other is a court official and a literary figure. Even eight poles can't be pulled up."

Zhao Zongdan frowned and nodded, "What you said is somewhat reasonable, but this Su Jin has a lot of contacts with Yan Shu's widow and niece. How can this be explained? Could it be that Yan Shu ignored the face and allowed something to happen between the two?" What? If that's the case, this Su Jin is really not easy."

Qin Fei said: "There is absolutely no possibility between these two. It is said that the daughter of the Yan family is gentle and filial, she is extremely chaste and has a good reputation in the capital, and she is quite capable in business. How could such a woman like Su Jin so much?" Yan Shu is willing to come from a small family background, but this girl is probably not willing; Su Jin was born in a businessman, and the villain speculates how many times the two have been in contact, maybe it is because of business dealings, and it is unknown; in any case, The relationship between these two people will not be too close, and it will definitely not influence the relationship between Yan Shu and Su Jin."

Zhao Zongdan nodded slightly and said: "After careful investigation of this matter, it is a matter of calculation. If the two of them really committed an act of immorality, then there will be a good show. At present, your judgment is not far from ten. If you are really like Su Jin boasted that he had such a close relationship with Yan Shu, how could Su Jin not report this matter to Yan Shu, but this evidence will definitely not be handed over to the king."

"What the prince said is that Su Jin really came to ask the prince for help. Didn't the prince always want to recruit him? After doing this, will Su Jin be sent by the prince in the future?"

"Hey, you still don't understand. Why do you think that I have drawn Su Jin so much and condescended to make friends with him? Is it because I want to drive him to do things for me? Although Su Jin is smart, but when it comes to ability to do things, Can it be as good as you, Qin Fei?"

"The lord is courteous to the virtuous and the corporal, but the villain judges others by himself, distorting the meaning of the lord."

"It's good to be a virtuous corporal. In addition, this king sees that Su Jin may achieve something in the future. Since the Taizu Dynasty in my Song Dynasty, the style of emphasizing literature over military affairs has prevailed. Today, the literati are in charge of the center and control important political figures. In fact, this king is doing it for the world. The literati read it, and besides, Su Jin's Ci is well written, and it may not be known that he will be the leader in the future. Treating him better now may benefit him in the future; It's better than more obstacles; even if he disappears from everyone in the future, this king has nothing to lose."

"My lord is far-sighted, and the villain admires it, but Su Jin is a scholar, how can he see that he is very likely to be successful in the future? The lord has never praised others like this before." Qin Fei smiled apologetically.

Zhao Zongdan said with a chuckle: "You don't know about this. Several of his poems have been well received by the government and the public. Then Yan Shu sent the copy of his poems to the emperor, and the emperor praised him all the time. If it weren't for this Su Jin doesn't have any fame at the moment, so it's not good to deliberately promote him, otherwise he might have become popular long ago."

Qin Fei was surprised and said: "Is there such a thing? This Su Jin even the emperor praises him?"

Zhao Zongdan smiled and didn't answer, thinking: Do I have to tell you everything, do these slaves know?Does this king have eyeliner in the palace and also wants to tell you?