The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

Lu Yijian cupped his hands and said: "Since the emperor wants the old minister to tell, it is inconvenient for the old minister to conceal it, so he explained to His Majesty and everyone what the old minister has learned in this hall. What the minister heard is quite similar to what Lord San Siyan said In and out, I didn't say it just now because I didn't want to cause controversy in the court."

Zhao Zhen frowned and said, "There is a discrepancy? Could it be that Su Jin didn't quell the incident in Yangzhou? Or was the bandit suppression a lie?"

Lu Yijian said: "Your Majesty, the old officials don't know much about the Yangzhou affairs, and the grain affairs are under the responsibility of the third department. The old officials dare not speak nonsense, but there is something to say about the extermination of the bandits in Bagong Mountain."

Zhao Zhen said: "Speak quickly."

Lu Yijian said: "I also have a letter from Mr. Wang Qinian of Shouzhou. The old minister was shocked by what he said in the letter. I wanted to meet the Holy Admiral alone to report the matter after retiring from the court. Now I will read it publicly for the emperor."

Zhao Zhen said: "Wang Qinian? Is he the transfer envoy on Huainan West Road?"

"It was him. In the first year of Kangding, he was recommended by a veteran and transferred from eastern Zhejiang. In the second year of Jingyou's Jinshi, he was in the same town as the veteran and knew each other well, so he was a little uncertain. He occasionally wrote to ask the veteran. .”

Zhao Zhen understood that this was Lu Yijian's confession to himself, that he was not having any ulterior motives with Wang Qinian, but a normal interaction among officials, and it was normal for officials to communicate with each other, as elegant as Yan Shu and others. It is not surprising that he often sends his favorite poems to various officials and invites them to taste them.

"Nian, there is no need to be scruples." Zhao Zhen nodded.

Lu Yijian thanked him, and stretched out his hand to take out a letter from his sleeve, opened it and read it: "Master Lu's great lesson, I had a meeting with the Prime Minister two years ago in the capital's bureaucracy, and after several years of cold and heat, I don't know how is Lu Xiang's health? Student Wishing Lu Xiang good health from afar, and being able to share a lot of worries for our great Song society, it is the blessing of the court and the blessing of the emperor..."

Lu Yijian paused and said: "Your Majesty, Wang Qinian's nonsense is just greetings and polite words, please don't blame me, Your Majesty."

Zhao Zhen smiled and said: "That's the way it is. What he said is correct. Lu Xiangde is a high-ranking man, and he is the backbone of our Great Song Sheji. Your health is my blessing. Don't worry about it, just keep reading!"

Lu Yijian breathed a sigh of relief and continued to read: "Students wrote rashly today, it is really a last resort, because there have been a lot of incidents under my Huainan Road administration recently, some facts dare not make their own claims, and I dare not make rash judgments, so Ask Lu Xiang for help, and ask Lu Xiang for guidance."

"Your Excellency must know that banditry in Bagong Mountain on Huaixi Road is rampant. The imperial court has issued strict orders several times to encircle and suppress the bandits from the students' union and other prefectures. Greatly suppressed the arrogance of bandits, and also gained a lot. In July, 79 bandits were killed, in August, 64 bandits were killed, two bandit chiefs were captured, and in September, 110 and three were killed. Under the pressure of our Huainan Luxiang soldiers, the bandits went There are not many days, and the above data have been reported to the imperial court, and Lu can check and know; although the banditry has not been eradicated, there will be several times, and the Bagong Mountain bandits will have no place to stand."

"Your Majesty, the old ministers asked Privy Councilor Du to verify these figures yesterday. The Privy Council did keep Wang Qinian's report, and the Emperor must have seen it." Lu Yijian cupped his hands.

Zhao Zhen nodded and said: "I know it all, but five or six thousand troops have worked hard and the banditry has not been eliminated in March. These figures are nothing to show off. I didn't condemn him, and I hope he will continue to work hard. Does he mean that?" Is it because the court didn't give him a reward? This is really a joke."

Lu Yijian hurriedly said: "The emperor is kind, and he doesn't judge success or failure based on temporary gains and losses. Casualties and consciously adopting this kind of countermeasure, biting more than a hundred people every month, after a few months or even half a year, the banditry will be eliminated, this is just a strategy of Wang Qinian."

Zhao Zhen said: "There seems to be some truth, but what does this have to do with Su Jin's suppression of bandits?"

Lu Yijian said: "Rong Chen will know if you continue to read." After finishing speaking, he opened the letter and continued to read: "The bandits in Bagong Mountain are fierce and tyrannical. Since the encirclement and suppression of the banditry, the bandit chief Huang Huang has been unable to live forever. He has asked several times to discuss with the students, saying that he intends to surrender and seek security. For food, if you recruit bandits, it is true that the banditry can be eradicated, but it is difficult to suppress public anger, and it also makes the people who have been victimized by bandits feel cold, so I refuse it and tell the bandits that there is absolutely no reason to compromise unless they surrender unconditionally."

Hearing this, Zhao Zhen nodded and said: "Wang Qinian's words are not bad. After the bandits do evil, the officers and soldiers will encircle and suppress them. Feeling that the end is approaching, they will surrender and exempt themselves from responsibility. Wouldn't it be cheaper for these gangsters who have harmed the people?" Villains, if you have done all your crimes, there is still a chance of life if you confess your crimes and subdue the law, but it is wishful thinking to negotiate terms with the imperial court."

Lu Yijian said: "What the emperor said is very true, and the old officials also think so. This Wang Qinian does not seem to be confused. He can clearly distinguish what should be done and what should not be done."

Zhao Zhen said: "Well, are there any more?"

Lu Yijian Zhanxin read: "Because of this, the students adopted the strategy of encircling and suppressing the moon and setting up ambushes everywhere, and a small group of bandits wiped out hundreds of them for me. The Gongshan Bandit Village is in a dangerous situation, if it is forced to attack, it will be counterproductive. Only by attacking everywhere, blocking the bandits from time to time, and trapping the bandits to death in the mountain, can they gain the greatest profit with the least loss. For several months, the students have relied on this strategy, Trapping the bandits in the mountains, their arrogance weakened, and they gradually seemed to be defeated. However, at the end of October, the imperial court sent Su Jin, a special envoy to raise food, to Huainan Road on business, but destroyed all the strategies made by the students, which really makes people sigh."

It was the first time in the letter that Su Jin’s name was mentioned, and in one sentence, he pointed out that Su Jin had destroyed the strategy of suppressing bandits in Huaixi, which surprised everyone in the court. But he also wiped out the Bandits of Bagong Mountain. The brain of this Mr. Wang Qinian was broken by the door?

Everyone pricked up their ears and listened to Lu Yijian continue to read the letter. Zhao Zhen, Yan Shu and others knew that the following content was the key point. Zhao Zhen straightened up, and Yan Shu turned his ears to the side, for fear of missing a word.

"Yangzhou's grain affairs are the sole responsibility of Su Jin, and it is not easy for students to intervene. However, Su Jin, the special envoy of grain affairs, is biased in the matter of transporting Luzhou's grain to Yangzhou. The students have no intention of blaming others, but This move really ruined my great plan to suppress the bandits, so I would like to risk the accusation of slander behind my back, but also to say something in front of Lu Xiang."

"Since coming to Huainan Road to do business, and it is the supreme responsibility, how can we act casually without consideration? When Special Envoy Su came to Huainan Road, he did not talk to the students, and did not cooperate with the state government. As a matter of fact, it made us fall into an extremely passive situation. We have to say that there are too many fallacies. First of all, 50 shi of grain was transferred from Luzhou to Yangzhou. , It is really a stupid move; secondly, knowing that the bandits in Bagong Mountain are a danger, it is even more dereliction of duty to take the risk of transporting grain from the official road and give the bandits an opportunity to rob the grain; Third, when transporting food, we did not invite soldiers from the prefectural capital to escort us, but only sent two hundred horsemen to escort them. There is a large amount of food passing by, how can we not take the risk? The food is robbed, which is equivalent to giving a lot of support to the bandits. So far, my difficult and intimidating strategy has turned into water, and I have to say it is Su Jin's fault."

Everyone was stunned. Wang Qinian's accusations were like a few knives piercing Su Jin's vital points. In the eyes of everyone, Su Jin's image suddenly became an arrogant and reckless man who didn't know how to adapt. Image, neither communicating with the local state capital nor choosing the best route, although unintentional, it provided a large amount of food and grass for the bandits in a disguised form. It is too stupid to destroy the strategy.

Zhao Zhen was silent, not knowing what he was thinking, Yan Shu couldn't help but said: "Lord Lu, these accusations are unfair to Su Jin, maybe Wang Qinian thinks so, but the fact is that Su Jin not only snatched back What’s the point of Mr. Wang’s accusation? Isn’t Su Jin doing enough? According to my opinion, Wang Qinian wrote this letter to Lu Xiang at this time, probably with ulterior motives. "

Everyone nodded one after another, and someone said: "Yes, it is really unreasonable for someone to make up for all the mistakes and still accuse him."

"I think it's just jealous that Su Jin stole his limelight. Think about it, what kind of perplexing and pressing strategy did he use to kill two hundred bandits in a few months, and he will kill the bandits in a few days?" The roots have been overturned, where will I put my face? That's why I said these strange things."

"It makes sense. I think it's probably the same. This person is really unkind. This Wang Qinian, thanks to the fact that I once admired him very much."

"Villain mentality..."

Everyone was talking about it, and every word fell into Lu Yijian's ears. Lu Yijian looked unmoved, and said with a smile: "Master Yan, according to what you said, all things only need the result, don't you care about the process? I want to discuss this matter with you." Let’s talk about it carefully, it’s true that Su Jin wiped out the bandits and took back the food, but do you know how he got it back?”

Yan Shu said, "What way?"

Lu Yijian said coldly: "Falsely preaching imperial edicts, making random promises, disregarding the life and death of officers and soldiers and refusing assistance from friendly troops in order to take the lead, may I ask, shouldn't such a process be investigated deeply?"

The words of Lu Yi's bamboo slips were shocking, and everyone was stunned on the spot.