The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

Song Xiang put all his eggs in one basket. Except for the necessary soldiers and horses in the city, he gathered the rest of the soldiers and horses, totaling two commanders of 1000 people, and handed them over to Su Jin for deployment.

Song Xiang understands that this is not the time to be wise and safe. Su Jin did not deceive them about the food. Just doing yourself a favor.

Fortunately, the garrison in Yangzhou Prefecture is the local Xiang army. The Xiang army is actually a labor force. The treatment is very different from that of the imperial army. There are not many people, so there is no need to disturb too many joints in the transfer procedure.

In Tianchang territory, as soon as Su Jin and the [-]-horse army of the Guard Division and the [-] soldiers led by Wei Dutou met, Su Jin straightforwardly showed off to Zhao Dutou and Fang Dutou, telling them that Long Zhen had been neglected. The crime of duty was imprisoned and awaiting trial. The two hundred horsemen could not shirk their responsibility, but they were allowed to take the crime and make meritorious deeds.

Zhao and Fang were horrified. They didn't expect Su Jin to be so bold. Long Zhenben went to report the letter with a low profile. Everyone also guessed that he was scolded at most and would still be safe and sound. Su Jinna asked, if the method was so cruel, the two of them couldn't help but feel anxious.

Su Jin said with a green face: "If you are willing to commit crimes and meritorious deeds with me, the envoy will give you this opportunity. If you don't want to, I won't force you, but all of you are inseparable. You must all be punished as running away."

Zhao Dutou protested: "How can I run away when I lose the battle?"

Su Jin sneered and said: "You know if you are defeated in a fierce battle. The bandits are poorly equipped and they are all mobs. You may not be an opponent if you defend according to the danger, but they are definitely not opponents when you face the enemy head-on. Your swords have no blood, and your armor has no blood. Apart from dust and mud, there is no trace of sword cutting, do you think I am blind?"

Fang Dutou said loudly: "Left and right is a punishment, why not tell you straight, we are not afraid of bandits, but we don't have to work for you, you even deducted half of the salary of your brothers, so black-hearted, you still expect Are we going to die for you?"

Su Jin frowned and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? When did the envoy deduct your salary?"

Zhao Dutou said: "Don't pretend, the salary for three months is three guan, but we only got [-] guan, you got half of it all at once, and you still say it's not black?"

All the horse soldiers echoed their words one after another, and their words were also somewhat dirty.

Su Jin frowned and pondered, and suddenly understood the crux of the problem. Su Jin took out a booklet from his arms and threw it to Zhao Dutou, saying: "Look for yourself, how much money Long Zhen received from me, these words are probably true. Long really told you."

Zhao and Fang dubiously opened the account book, only to see that the amount registered on it was exactly the amount of salary received and paid. The salary received from the household department under the third division was an average of one per person per month, three months in three, but For the item of expenditure, each person spent four pennies, and there was Long Zhen's signature and fingerprint when receiving it.

Zhao Dutou asked suspiciously: "What's going on? How come Commander Dilong got more money than you got from the household department?"

Su Jin said lightly: "That day I went to the Ministry of Households to collect the salary, and I felt that your salary was really not high, but this is the imperial court's regulation, and I can't criticize anything; but since you are following me to do business, I Naturally, I can’t treat you badly, so I paid for each of you from my own pocket, and you should get four guan per capita in your hands, but I don’t know how much Long Zhen gave you.”

"Straight mother thief, how can I get four consecutive fives, I only got five consecutive fives, and suddenly lost two fives." The soldiers started to quarrel.

Fang Dutou shouted loudly: "Shut up the fuck, do you believe what he says?"

Su Jin looked at Fang Du and shook his head and said, "You are stupider than a pig. This is the first time that this envoy has been ordered by the emperor to do business. Would you be so stupid as to offend everyone for your few hundred pennies? This account book is clearly signed Long Zhen is famous, and he is still pressing his fingerprints, can't you guess the tricks in it?"

Zhao Dutou said: "Are you saying that Commander Long withheld the money from the middle, and then falsely accused you?"

Su Jin said: "I don't want to believe this, but I'm afraid that's the truth. As far as I know, there is an unwritten rule in your imperial army. Soldiers have to spend [-]% to [-]% of their salary to honor the commander. That day Long really It is true that I suggested that I deduct part of the salary, but I did not agree. For a layman like me, wouldn’t it be a good thing not to understand your rules? What is the purpose of Long Zhen reminding me to do this? If I don’t deduct the salary, you will I can get more, if I were Long Zhen, I would definitely not remind others to deduct my brother's salary, I can only say that he has ulterior motives in doing so."

Zhao Dutou said: "Commander Long is not such a person. On weekdays in Beijing, we call him brothers and we are very polite when we meet. He has a good reputation among my bodyguard Sima Jun. He is known to be a talkative person. How could he be so polite? Do?"

Su Jin said: "You are all sent out by the bodyguard department to do errands, not always under Long Zhen's subordinates, how can you be sure what kind of person he is? Can you see people's hearts just from the surface? You don’t need to be an idiot here; in a word, if you know people, you don’t know your heart, and what you see is often completely different from the truth. Think about it, you have been deceived by him and made a big mistake, and you are still here. He talks."

Everyone was silent. Although Su Jin's words could not be fully believed, they were not unreasonable. They really didn't understand Long Zhen, and Long Zhen's signature and fingerprints on the account book must not be fake. It is not impossible to play some tricks in this, but it is useless to spend a lot of time to forge these. It is a common thing in the military to deduct salaries, and no general will come out to support him, because it will hurt them. vested interests.

Su Jin waved his hand and said: "I don't need to talk to you any more. If you really think that I will take away your mere 50 guan money, you look down on me too much. Although I, Su Jin, am not a billionaire , but hundreds of thousands of guan is not to be taken seriously; I might as well tell you that the 50 shi of grain in Luzhou was sold to the imperial court at a low price by my Su family, otherwise, how could the emperor appoint me this errand, [-] You can calculate how much the stone and grain cost."

Everyone took a breath, 50 shi of food was the property of the special envoy, and it would be worth close to a million guan after a rough calculation. How could such a rich person do such a thing like a dog, it was probably Long Zhen who made a hindrance up.

"One last question, if you are willing to take the blame and make meritorious service, you should let the past go and follow me to Bagong Mountain to grab the food back; This envoy will dig it out from Long Zhen and give it to you; in addition, as long as you get back the food, one of you will count as one. Not only will the guilt be wiped out, but each person's salary will be doubled. Those who work with me, Su Jin, will not be treated badly by this envoy. to him."

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, and many of them were already moved, but their a little pride of being the Imperial Army made them ashamed to be the first to speak.

Su Jin became impatient, and shouted loudly: "Commander Pan and the head of Weidu listened to the order, and immediately captured the guard Sima Jun and others, and took them to Yangzhou for interrogation."

Pan Jiang, Wei Dutou and the others had already disliked these people. As forbidden soldiers, these people were paid [-] Wen a month more than themselves, and they had nothing to do every day, but they had no skills. What a good temper, actually talking nonsense to them, now hearing Su Jin's order, shouting and leading people to rush up to disarm.

Zhao and Fang didn't want to be brave any more, after exchanging glances, they both knelt down and said, "I'm willing to listen to your lord's orders, and I will never hesitate to die."

Su Jin scolded: "If you have to toast, you won't be fined, but don't worry, I guarantee that you won't lose a single hair."

Su Jin wrote two letters on the spot, and sent two teams of Ma Jun to Luzhou and Shouzhou to deliver the letters. In the letters, he urged the two places to send troops to meet at the foot of Bagong Mountain as an imperial envoy. At the same time, he ordered 300 troops The brigade rushed to the bandit's lair in Bagong Mountain.

Pan Jiang was a little puzzled and said, "Master Special Envoy, are you going to encircle and suppress bandits?"

Su Jin said with a straight face: "These guys are too arrogant, they actually broke ground on my head. If the food can't be recovered, my head will be regarded as moving. Whether to use force or not depends on the situation."

Pan Jiang said: "Palgong Mountain is easy to defend and difficult to attack. I'm afraid that thousands of troops will not be able to make meritorious deeds."

Su Jin frowned and stared: "If it is difficult to attack, you have to attack. Could it be possible to stare blankly?"

Pan Jiang got a nail in the coffin, knowing that the envoy was in a bad mood, so he shut his mouth knowingly and stopped talking.