The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

Li Hu stretched out his foot and kicked the body of the dead night owl flying far away, and cursed: "Unlucky!"

Chao Chao and Ma Han had already stepped into the front yard of the temple. The yard was overgrown with grass and dead branches everywhere. It looked extremely decadent. If it wasn't for the trampled mess on the grass, it would be impossible to walk around. Careful about the weeds, this temple has obviously not been taken care of for a long time.Fastest novel update

"Two messengers, go this way, the food that day was piled up there." Wang Wu followed behind Chao Mahan and pointed to the south of the yard.

With the faint light of the wind lamp, one can clearly see a large road that has been crushed in the long grass. Along this passage, which was trampled by the feet of rutted horseshoes, after less than a dozen steps, a large open space appeared in front of you. The weeds in the open space had obviously been cleared by someone, and the knee-length grass was only left with short and long grass stems. It is not difficult to imagine that that night, the grain transportation team cleared out this open space and used Pile up the smuggled food when they come.

Unsurprisingly, the open space was empty, only torn sacks, ashes left after several fires were lit, and some cows, arrows and horses. If you look carefully, you can also see scattered on the grass. Grain grains, more than a dozen wild mice ran around nibbling on these grain grains. I am afraid that the night owl just now chose to forage here because of the presence of rodents.

"There was a large pile of grain piled up here that night, and I don't know where it went now. Maybe it's in the halls of the temple. Shall we go in and have a look?" Li Hu asked.

"No, it's obviously transported away. It was originally piled here temporarily, and it must have been transported away and hidden the next day during the day." Wang Chao said softly.

"Where can it be transported? Is it really transported to Tianchang territory to hide?" Ma Han said.

"It is very possible that the outskirts of Yangzhou are not safe after all. People inside and outside Yangzhou know that the young master is searching for stored grain. If it is placed around Yangzhou city, such a large amount of grain will be easily discovered by others. Once reported, They will be in trouble; they have planned so carefully, how can they take such risks." Wang Chao said.

Li Hu said: "Master, this place is only [-] miles away from Tianchang, and it is very convenient to transport it to Tianchang County for hiding. .”

Ma Han said: "I'm afraid that if they just find a corner to hide the food, it will be over. We can't dig three feet in the mountains to find it."

Wang Chao shook his head and said: "No, they are in a hurry, how could they find a place to hide in the mountains in advance, and the food is nothing compared to other things, once the rain and snow fall, after being damp, even if it is freezing outside, the food pile will still generate heat Germination, mildew and rot; it must be placed in a place that is sheltered from wind and rain; in this way, it is uncertain anyway, Ma Han, we two should act separately. Send more people to search in the surrounding villages, I will go to Tianchang to look for Li Chong, if the food arrives in Tianchang County, with the help of his parent official, it will not be difficult to find it."

Ma Han nodded and agreed, since he found traces of the food, can so much food still fly away?As long as there are enough people and you visit patiently, you can always find them.

Chao Mahan didn't intend to go back to the village anymore, so he thanked Li Hu and Wang Wu, and sent them to go back on their own. They cut a few large bundles of dry grass, and found it in the main hall of Lanruo Temple where spiders and dust were everywhere. A fire was built in a corner, and hay was laid to lie down. After a tiring day, and finally there was food, the two of them felt relieved.

……

On the eleventh day of the twelfth lunar month, the winter sun is shining brightly.

Just after noon, the defenders on the west gate tower of Yangzhou saw a group of soldiers coming from the avenue outside the west gate, with fifty or sixty horses, surrounded by three or four carts, slowly approaching the west gate of Yangzhou.

The soldiers hurriedly shouted down to inform the head of Weidu who was leading the guard at the gate of the city. The knife boarded the tower.

The horse team approached slowly, Wei Du squinted his eyes to look carefully, and suddenly he found that there was an acquaintance he knew in the team.

"Damn it, isn't that Fang Dutou of the Imperial Army cavalry? Didn't this kid escort Shen Yaozu to the capital? Why did he come back within half a month?" Wei Dutou laughed and said, "It seems that the Imperial Army is not that good either. Those who work are still as tired as dogs, and they still have to work as errands after the Chinese New Year, which is not much better than us."

The soldiers laughed loudly, and the guards all went down from the tower, opened the city gate and led the people out in person.

"Fang Dutou, don't come here without any problems." Wei Dutou laughed and said, clasping his hands in a distant salute.

Fang Dutou also recognized Wei Dutou, galloped forward, cupped his hands and said: "Hey Wei Dutou, hurry up and send someone to notify the special envoy and Mr. Fu Zun, saying that the imperial court envoy, Mr. Ouyang, has arrived, and tell them to hurry up." Come and welcome."

Wei Du was stunned for a moment, another imperial envoy came, and hurriedly said: "Which Lord Ouyang? If you make it clear, I can send someone to report it."

Fang Dutou said: "Which Lord Ouyang can take the responsibility of an imperial envoy, that is Ouyang Zhongcheng from Yushitai. Once you apply for an official position, the Song Fuzun and the special envoy will all know, so don't worry about it." La."

Wei Dutou hurriedly sent the soldiers around him to report back, and ordered the soldiers to line up at the gate of the city to meet him.

The imperial envoy Mr. Ouyang's car did not go directly into the city, but stopped at the bottom of the city; Wei Du thought: "This imperial envoy Ouyang is very arrogant, it seems that he is waiting for the envoy and the Song family to come before him. come to welcome you."

After a while, the horseshoes in the city were overrun, Su Jin and Song Xiang hurriedly arrived on horseback with a group of petty officials and subordinate officials, as soon as they reached the gate of the city, Su Jin threw his stirrup off his horse and asked, "Where is the man? "

Wei Du pointed his head out, "Master Special Envoy, you are all waiting there."

Su Jin hurriedly patted the dust off his body, tidied up his clothes, and followed Song Xiang out of the city to greet him, with a serious expression on his face, and the head of Wei Dutou could even see a trace of anxiety and uneasiness on the face of the special envoy.

Wei Du looked very accurately, Su Jin was indeed in a very disturbed mood. He had many worries in his heart. First of all, he was worried about whether the imperial court knew about the use of military rations. If he knew, this time Ouyang Xiu was here It's not good.

Secondly, Su Jin also wants to know what the imperial court thinks about the things he did in Yangzhou and Bagong Mountain, especially whether there will be any disturbances in what he reported about Long Zhen, the commander of the guard Ma Jun, who is afraid of death. The person was recommended by the Privy Council, and if I took this person without saying anything, would there be some unpredictable consequences?

What worries Su Jin the most is the identity of Lord Ouyang. This person is from Yushitai. If the court is here to reward and encourage, the person from the third division is the best candidate, or just from the Ministry of Rites or Even people from the two prefectures can take on the job.

However, Ouyang Xiu, the censor Zhongcheng, was sent here. Obviously, he had other things to do besides pass the decree; and what can the censor Zhongcheng do?It's a no-brainer, this is a department equivalent to the procuratorate in later generations, and it's probably not a good thing for people from the procuratorate to come to invite you to drink tea.

Song Xiang and Su Jin led the crowd to Ouyang Xiu's convoy, clasped their hands and said in a loud voice, "Yangzhou Governor Song Xiang and grain affairs envoy Su Jin respectfully welcome the imperial envoy."

Fang Du bowed his head to Su Jin, and at the same time signaled for the horse team to disperse, revealing a large black carriage in the middle of the team, someone stepped forward and opened the curtain, Ouyang Xiu, wearing a scarlet official uniform, bent over and lowered his head, got out of the carriage .

"It's finally here!" Ouyang Xiu took a breath of clear air, looked at Song Xiang, Su Jin, and a group of officials who bowed their heads in a salute posture, and said with a smile, "Which one is the famous grain envoy, Mr. Su?"

Su Jin was taken aback, the person asked himself in the first sentence, but he was a little surprised, so he hurried forward and said, "That's the next official."

Ouyang Xiu's slender eyes showed great interest, looked Su Jin up and down, and said with a smile: "It turns out that he is really a handsome young man. I didn't believe it at first. The waves behind the river push forward the waves before, and I turned out such a young talent. It's really gratifying."

Su Jin didn't know whether he was telling the truth or a lie, so he kept silent and bowed his head.

>vid