The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

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Since it was a formal welcome occasion, Yan Biyun and Su Ji's gang could only go into the city first, and Yan Biyun, the daughter-in-law of the Pang family, followed Su Jin's ass. [.

Su Jin asked Xiao Sui'er, Rou Niang and others to take everyone to Yulin Lane at the north end of Tianshuijing Hutong to settle down. The house there has not been rented out yet, so it just happened to be used as a place to settle down temporarily.

He also told Qian Henian and Yang Xiaosi to restrain their staff, so that these fellows who had just left the country would not rush around out of curiosity. The capital city is not comparable to other places. As a pro-official, although Su Jin is not a master who is afraid of trouble, he will naturally refrain from causing trouble for no reason.

In the end, Su Jin secretly pulled Yang Xiaosi aside, and ordered him to inform the following Bai Mudan and others, asking them to find an inn near Tianshuijing Hutong to settle down first, and just tell Yang Xiaosi the address.

After the arrangement was completed, Su Jincai led Wang Chao Ma Han and others to the front of the team, joined Ouyang Xiu, and followed the team slowly to the Wuli Pavilion outside the south gate. Ouyang Xiu gave an order, and all the soldiers lined up and retreated fifty steps , leaving Su Jin and himself to lead more than a dozen entourages, civil officials and minor officials to stand at the front. This is also a rule. If the emperor comes in person, the armed soldiers must withdraw from the safe range, otherwise there will be a suspicion of collision.

After a while, the sound of drums and banners fluttering outside the south gate of Bianliang City can be seen from a distance. It is eye-catching; Ouyang Xiu naturally recognized that it was the bright yellow canopy above the Holy Majesty's Luanyu, obviously the Emperor himself came.

When Ouyang Xiu gave an order, everyone knelt down on the ground, waiting for the arrival of the holy driver; Su Jin also had to lie on the cold ground, bowed his body and waited for Zhao Zhen.

Kneeling is kneeling, but Su Jin is very awkward in his heart. Later generations are inspected by the head of state, and the people have not seen people kneeling down to greet him. When they arrive here, they have to bow their knees to pay respects to the imperial power. It is really unacceptable for a while.

"When I kneel down, I will lose ten years of your life." Su Jin muttered viciously, and felt the tremor of the ground getting closer and closer, and Luanyu was approaching.

Zhao Zhen sat on the Luanjia, accompanied by civil and military officials on both sides. Compared with the beaming expressions of Yan Shu and others, most of the officials were expressionless; It was a little unhappy to personally welcome Su Jin and Ouyang Xiu.

It is true that when Zhao Zhen proposed to meet Ouyang Xiu and Su Jin in person, Lu Yijian, Du Yan and the others thought it was unbelievable. These two people were just on errands and returned to Beijing to report on their duties after finishing their errands. Why should they be given such high courtesy? ?Especially Su Jin, Ouyang Xiu went to Huainan Road to investigate the case of his coercion, and there is no conclusion yet, but he openly greeted him, what is this?

Facing Lu Yijian's objection, Zhao Zhen remained unmoved. Although it was not in line with the etiquette system, this time Zhao Zhen sincerely wanted to express his approval for Su Jin and others.

There are some things that Lu Yijian doesn't know, but Zhao Zhen knows it all.

On the eve of the New Year, the grain in Bianliang City was exhausted. There was no rice in Bianliang. The capital was in the northwest, and the weather was cold and dry. There was basically nothing to grow except wheat and sweet potatoes; The harvest is also terrible, maybe even the seed food cannot be harvested.Therefore, over the years, Bianliang City has relied on diverting rice from the southern states via the canal to the north to ensure the cost of Bianliang City. The original grain storage in the city was limited to March, and there was nowhere to store more, and there was no such transportation capacity. .

Food shortages have the greatest impact on this metropolis with a population of one million. Once such a metropolis runs out of food and causes chaos, the harm is far from comparable to a place like Yangzhou; Yan Shu's hair is half grey, but there is no progress in food affairs He is also a clever woman who can't cook without rice.

When he was at a loss, Su Jin opened a breakthrough in Yangzhou in time. After Feng Huohu and Yangzhou officials were quickly executed by Su Jin with a thunderbolt, Yan Shu quickly took advantage of this opportunity to make a big publicity, and within a few days, the mansion reported to him. They were sent to the state capitals of the Song Dynasty in an urgent manner.

The merchants who were waiting and watching were scared to death by this incident. The determination of the court was clear, and it was not wise to take chances;

The matter of food affairs suddenly became clear, and the situation was quickly opened up. The government warehouses of the states that were originally empty were filled at once; , the first grain transport fleet arrived in Bianliang City in a few months. <.. ..>

For four or five days in a row, Yan Shu dispatched more than a dozen water transport fleets to Bianliang, and brought in nearly ten million shi of grain at once. Without the knowledge of the court and the people in the whole city, the imminent crisis was resolved. invisible.

Most of the two governments and the ministries of the central government were unaware of all this, but Sansi and Zhao Zhen kept their hearts in their throats from beginning to end. They didn't want to tell everyone, but they were afraid of causing panic. Once it spread to the people, the panic would be like a plague. Generally, if it spreads, there may be some troubles.

In addition, due to the food crisis, there was another difficult matter. The Northwest Army sent several groups of people to ask for food from the Third Division a few years ago. The domestic famine could not escape the eyes of the shrewd Li Yuanhao. He waited for the opportunity to formulate a detailed strategy, and waited for the moment when the food ran out to launch a large-scale attack.

Sentinels from both sides intertwined, Yuan Hao knew the movements of the Northwest Army of the Great Song Dynasty like the palm of his hand, and Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi and the others didn't know the movements of Yuan Hao's side?Therefore, as the two famous commanders defending against the enemy in the frontier, they are naturally very anxious; seeing that the food shipments are getting less and less, and the soldiers' rations have been reduced, Fan Zhongyan and Han Qi naturally have to send people to urge them again and again The third division transported food to the front line.

At the beginning, Fan Zhongyan proposed to let the soldiers reclaim wasteland and sow winter wheat in their spare time, in order to reduce the burden on the court; but the winter sowing would not be harvested until early summer, and the military rations during this period still had to be allocated by the three divisions.

What's worse is that in addition to eating and drinking for the soldiers, the local people who were displaced by the war also had to feed.

For the sake of the safety of the inland state capital, the imperial court issued a ban to strictly prohibit the inflow of border residents. However, the Yongxing Army and Qinfeng Army affected no fewer than 50 million people. Although these people were forced to stay in the border towns to serve as the Northwest Army Forging the city and digging trenches, but they also need to eat and drink; the crisis is getting more and more urgent, and the external enemies and internal troubles make Zhao Zhen restless.

The more salt you eat, the more food is scarce, and the more people will eat it; but the food at the border cannot be cut off anyway. To put it an exaggeration, the capital can run out of food, and the army can't run out of food for a day, otherwise it will be a catastrophe. When the time comes, everyone will understand this truth.

Yan Shu moved east and west like squeezing toothpaste. Fortunately, when the grain business was just handled in the early stage, many small merchants also sold a piece of anti-grain to the official warehouse to take advantage of the hidden worries of prices and rewards; these grains were basically used to fill Facing a steady stream of messengers from the northwest who came to urge food and grass every day, Yan Shu could only sigh and had no way to deal with it.

At this juncture, the grain affairs finally made a breakthrough. Yan Shu dispatched more than 300 million shi of grain to the front line in one go, and immediately stabilized the already shaken army morale; Li Yuanhao, as a last resort, Li Yuanhao put the planned attack plan on hold indefinitely.

Although Su Jin just completed his errand, in Zhao Zhen's view, it was nothing less than saving a catastrophe; he went out to greet him in person, just to express his inner gratitude, of course he would never express this kind of gratitude verbally Come out, so it looks a bit abrupt to outsiders.

Lu Yijian's objection was fruitless, so he said that the illness would not come, and Zhao Zhen had nothing to do with the old minister, and he didn't force it; the same thing happened to Du Yan, and it was another result.

Du Yan also wanted to imitate Lu Yi's abbreviation of being ill, but his qualifications were obviously too young. Zhao Zhen vetoed him mercilessly, and even said: "Du Aiqing, I ordered the imperial doctor to go with me. It can be rescued on the spot, what do you think?"

This seemingly polite and caring sentence made Du Yan extremely embarrassed; it was not a polite word, it was a slap across the face.

As for the other people in the court, their displeasure had nothing to do with grievances, it was purely out of resentment that the emperor overstepped the rules, in other words, how could these two people receive such courteous treatment?Even if the errands are done well, this is not the case. Under the appearance of talking about the etiquette system, there is actually such a sense of sour grapes.

Of course, not all the officials were dissatisfied with this move. The third envoy and the people at Yushitai all smiled happily, feeling that they were honored.

Although everyone was dissatisfied and happy, there was a consensus that everyone understood. The emperor went to greet Su Jin and Ouyang Xiu in person, conveying a message: these two people already had a very high status in the emperor's mind.

Whether you are happy or not, these two people are about to become hot people; at this time, it is the best policy to stay on the sidelines and show favor, and it is extremely stupid to express dissatisfaction at this time.

……

A group of people with their own thoughts came to Wuliting, and they were surprised at a glance. Thousands of buttocks, including Ouyang Xiu and Su Jin, were raised high, looking like a big steamed bun The cage is magnificent.

Yan Shu nodded secretly, this attitude is extremely extreme, no need to ask, it must be Ouyang Xiu's idea, Su Jin would never do this, but since he can follow Ouyang Xiu's idea to make such a gesture, it is commendable .

"Censor Zhongcheng Ouyang Xiu! Special envoy for grain affairs Su Jin! The emperor lined up with a guard of sixteen horsemen, and carried a golden-roofed sedan chair to meet the two adults. You two hurried forward to thank you!" The old man, but his voice is extremely sonorous, and his speech is rhythmic, which is very nice.

Su Jin pouted her buttocks and was about to get up, but Ouyang Xiu grabbed the corner of her clothes and said softly, "Su Special Envoy, don't move, everything will follow me."

Su Jin didn't know where to go, and quickly put his head in his arms again, maintaining a kneeling posture, but Ouyang Xiu said loudly: "Long live my emperor, long live my emperor, I just did my duty when I came back from business. I was shocked The Holy Majesty came to welcome me in person, and Master Su and I were in great panic. This move was not in line with the etiquette system, and I was ashamed. I would also like to ask the Lord to tell the Holy Majesty and ask the Holy Majesty to drive back to the palace so that we can get up and enter the city. After entering the city, The two of us will go to the palace to have a face-to-face presentation and thank you!"

The host and guest of the Ministry of Rites were stunned for a moment, and immediately said in a low voice: "Lord Ouyang, Lord Su, the emperor is here, why do you bother to ask the emperor to go back now, wouldn't it embarrass the emperor?"

Ouyang Xiudao: "My lord, you are a member of the Ministry of Rites. You should know that this action is not in accordance with the rules of etiquette. If I accept it happily, it will only cause others to criticize me in the future. It's fine with Mr. Su, but if someone accuses the emperor of being wronged, how can you not?" Isn't it my fault?"

The host and guest were speechless, and said in their hearts: You are all hypocritical, and you are the only one who understands etiquette, and our etiquette department is full of dry food?Isn't this unable to stop the emperor?

Su Jin admires Ouyang Xiu completely. This guy is so good at pretending. He took this opportunity to portray himself as a good minister who follows the etiquette and is not greedy for vanity and considers the emperor. Needless to say, this move is in Zhao Zhen's heart. There are bonus points, just for this move, Su Jin thinks it is not an exaggeration to call him master.