The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

After several people were seated, after toasting the dishes, Su Jin said, "You two commanders, I would like to ask you for a favor."

Zhao Dehai hurriedly got up, and pretended to blame: "Master Su, what are you talking about, the lowly ranks are supposed to follow you two on errands, what does it mean to ask us for help, but it is just as ordered."

Fang Chengzhong also quickly stated his position, saying that everything was as ordered.

Su Jin was not hypocritical, and said with a smile: "Since that's the case, let's do business according to business, and we are still brothers in private."

"It should be so." Zhao Fang and the two laughed.

"How many Ma Jun brothers are under the command of the two commanders?"

"Although the two of us are deputy commanders, the actual number of people we can use is only one and three, a total of six to seven hundred people." Zhao Dehai replied honestly.

Su Jin nodded and said: "There are quite a few people. What is the configuration of your horse army? Can you tell me?"

Zhao Dehai said: "One man, one horse, two sets of armor, weapons...a submachine gun, a short bow, and a short blade, whether it's a knife or a sword."

Su Jin frowned and said, "Do you have firearms?"

Zhao Dehai blinked and said, "What firearm?"

Su Jin gesticulated for a long time, but Fang Chengzhong understood quickly, and asked, "Master Su is talking about a rocket? The kind that is filled with medicine and ignited?"

Su Jin shook his head and said, "It's not a rocket, it seems to be called a blunderbuss; is there such a thing?"

Zhao Dehai and Fang Chengzhong shook their heads like rattles and said, "Fire guns? I haven't heard of it. There is a Shenshui camp in the Ministry of War. There are some fire thorns and muskets, but they are all fancy but not useful. The price It is also expensive, and its lethality is not as good as bows and arrows, so no one uses it."

Su Jin was greatly surprised. In his impression, the Song Dynasty already had firearms. How come even the most elite imperial guards don't know the power of firearms. No wonder he has experienced several battles and has not even seen a single firearm.

"My lord, what is the firecracker you are talking about?" Zhao Dehai asked curiously.

Su Jin thought for a while, dipped his hand into the wine and drew a picture of the firecracker in his impression on the table, and explained: "The cast tube is filled with gunpowder and compacted, then filled with iron sand, and there is a fuze on the side. Afterwards, the gunpowder flew out with the iron sand, within fifty or sixty steps, within a radius of ten steps, the human force was penetrated, and ordinary thin armor could not stop it."

Fang Chengzhong frowned and said: "Master Su, it's not that the lowly position spoils your interest. I have seen that Shenshuiying also made something similar to what you said. It cost a lot of money, but in the end they even wore ordinary clothes thirty steps away. I don’t know; for this reason, Commander Qin of the Shenshui Battalion was fined for one year, and the Privy Council punished him for being wild.”

Su Jin was surprised: "How is it possible? Ordinary clothes can't penetrate thirty steps away?"

Fang Chengzhong swears to the sky that he saw it with his own eyes, and now that pile of bamboo pipes is still piled up in the corner of the warehouse and no one cares about it.

Su Jin asked in surprise, "Bamboo tube?"

Fang Chengzhong said: "That's right, they are all made of thorny bamboo tubes with good toughness. Don't you mean bamboo tubes?"

Su Jin scratched his head and said, "I'm talking about cast pipes, specially cast iron pipes."

Everyone in the seat shook their heads blankly and said: "No, how much money would it cost, I have never seen such a thing before."

Su Jin was sweating on his forehead, thought for a while and said, "Then Shenshuiying must only fill a small amount of gunpowder, otherwise how can the bamboo tube withstand it?"

Fang Chengzhong said: "Yes, it's just a few spoonfuls. It even burst like this and injured several soldiers."

Su Jin took a breath and said, "That's the crux of the matter. How could the bamboo tube withstand the force of the gunpowder? It would be strange if it didn't burst. With less gunpowder, the iron sand that was shot out would naturally have no power, let alone penetrate thirty steps away. It’s pretty good to be able to hit thirty paces.”

Zhao Dehai said: "Then Master Su asked what is the use of this thing? Could it be that he wanted to spend huge sums of money to cast iron pipes? That would cost a lot of money, and the use of iron ore for casting needs to be reported to the Third Division of the Ministry of Industry. It’s only feasible, and it’s still unknown whether that thing can be cast and used.”

Su Jin waved his hand and said, "I don't have that kind of idle thought. Besides, I have to use it tomorrow, so I don't have time to prepare."

All the monks Zhanger couldn't figure it out, and looked at Su Jin eagerly.

Su Jin smiled and said: "That's it. Tomorrow, I plan to show the Liao envoys to the training of the Imperial Guards of the Great Song Dynasty with Mr. Fu. We want to bring out some scary things to frustrate their spirits, so I thought of firearms."

Zhao Dehai shook his head and said: "Hey, taking this thing out is not for gaining prestige, it's just for embarrassment. It doesn't have to make Liao people laugh to death."

Su Jin thought for a while and said: "There is still a way, but it will take hard work for the two of you. The two of you go to Shenshuiying to borrow that bamboo tube, and they are all painted with black paint, and the outside is wrapped with straw rope or something like that. Things, don't let people see the material; tomorrow we will hold the bamboo tube to stand up."

Zhao Dehai and Fang Chengzhong stared at each other and said, "Then how can we build prestige? A fake is a fake, but if you spray some smoke, how can it scare the Liao envoy if it's not lethal?"

Su Jin laughed and said: "The mountain man has his own clever plan, so come here with your ears."

Zhao and Fang stretched their necks and put their ears together, Su Jin chattered for a long time, the boss who straightened the eyes of the two talking, finally looked at Su Jin, and couldn't tell whether it was contempt or admiration.

"It will be arranged tomorrow and afternoon, is it difficult?" Su Jin smiled.

"Do you still come out to mess around if you can't do something like a humble job? It's just that I can't guarantee how effective it will be."

"That's what I'm worried about. You just do what you want. Time is running out. It's all up to you two. See you at the West Campus tomorrow." Su Jin issued an order to evict the guest without politeness.

Zhao Fang and the two quickly poured down the wine in front of them, and one of them grabbed a goose leg and hurried downstairs.

Fu Bi looked at the backs of the two of them and said, "Brother, you are really good at this, and I'm afraid that people will see your flaws."

Su Jin smiled and said: "I can't see it. If you don't scare them to pee their pants, they still want to talk about the army on the border. If we want to do a good job, we can only keep dampening their spirit. When they think I'm too big When Song is actually not afraid of fighting at all, that is the time for our errand to be completed."

"However, this matter will be exposed sooner or later, and then there will be some talk."

"They don't know how to tell the truth. They can only suffer from being dumb. Next time, they are looking for opportunities to cause trouble. As long as I, Song Dynasty, can catch my breath, which one of them is Xia Liao? After this year's summer grain is on the market, the imperial treasury will become rich. Don't care about anything."

"That's right! Brother Xian is really a natural talent to execute, Brother Yu is ashamed of himself."

"Don't give me a high hat. I don't know how to explain to the emperor what happened in the morning. I guess the emperor will punish me and ask your brother to go forward to block it. You are bigger than me in front of the emperor."

Fu Bi rolled his eyes and said in his heart: No matter how big you are, you are not as good as you. You are not honest. If you have something to do, I will take it, and if you take it, you will take it. Who told you that we are grasshoppers tied together.

In the evening, Su Jin and Fu Bi went to the palace to meet Zhao Zhen, and reported everything that happened in the morning; Zhao Zhen actually knew about it a long time ago.

For half a day, the entire Bianliang city was rumored to be against Yingtian, saying that the envoys of Song and Liao sent their warriors to compete in the post, and they gambled huge sums of money; in the end, the two special envoys of the Song Dynasty won the envoy of Liao with a chess game and almost escaped. pants.

There are even more persuasive people who add fuel and jealousy, saying that the two adults, Fu Bi and Su Jin, have read poems and books through history, skillfully used Tian Ji's horse racing strategy, and are good at mobilizing troops and deploying troops. The king's si and the other's si, take the jun's si and the other's si, with both wisdom and courage, and finally win the battle, making the Liao people lose face and admit defeat.

The common people naturally talked about this matter with great interest, but it was a different reaction when it was spread to the court; the radicals naturally thought it was an act of boosting their spirits, but most of the prudent people did not think so.

First of all, it is not a decent thing for the envoys of the two countries to gamble on the street. Second, the ministers all think that the visitor is a guest, and there is no such thing as a guest. It is a stupid act to lose the guest cleanly, because the guest They were not ordinary guests, with hundreds of thousands of hungry wolves behind them; the negotiation was supposed to ease the situation, but Fu Bi and Su Jin's quarrel aggravated the situation even more.

The courtiers who got the news several times in the afternoon went to the palace to meet him one after another, which made Zhao Zhen, who was having a good time with his beloved concubine Zhang Guifei, feel depressed to death after taking a nap in the afternoon.

However, Zhao Zhen didn't draw conclusions prematurely. Su Jin's promise to himself in the morning is still vivid in his ears. It is impossible to do things in a muddle without going through his mind. Zhao Zhen just wants to hear Su Jin and others' own explanation.

After Su Jin reported, he explained the reason for doing so.

"Your Majesty, I just want to frustrate their arrogance. They are coming in a fierce manner. If we add fuel to their arrogance, then there is no way to extinguish the fire. What I did was just pour a spoonful of it. It's just cold water. I want the Liao people to know that I, Song Dynasty, did not let them do whatever they want. Besides, the Liao people were too arrogant and injured a few soldiers in my post. Doing so is also a slight punishment. "

Zhao Zhen thought for a while and said: "That's the reason, but you gambled in the street, and the impact is extremely bad; where did you get so much money? It's 10 taels for a single shot. You are worse than my Ministry of Internal Affairs." rich."

Su Jin pointed to the sky and swore: "This is all the hard-earned money of Chen Suji. This time, I ordered people to bring the family property to the capital to prepare the capital for the preparation of Yinzhuang. For the sake of Song Dynasty's face, I will go all out."

Zhao Zhen said: "Then I want to praise you?"

Su Jin smiled and said: "Praise is not necessary. The Liao envoy lost face and lost 1 cash to the minister as the capital. In addition, he owed the minister more than [-] taels. This favored minister is counted on the emperor."

Zhao Zhen couldn't help but said: "You are very proud, I told you clearly that all the money will be returned, and I am not short of tens of thousands of taels of silver in the Song Dynasty; besides, the two countries have not yet cut off the envoy when they are at war. Is it absolutely beneficial for the negotiations if the Liao envoy can't step down? I don't think so! The main point of the negotiation is to be neither humble nor overbearing, and be polite and polite. If you make people unhappy, how can they get along with you?"

Su Jin and Fu Bi had no choice but to say yes again and again, Zhao Zhen sighed and said: "Forget it, a little punishment is okay, but enough is enough; the money has to be returned, and you are free to use it as a bargaining chip, but don't force it too much; this time Negotiations, I only hope to be satisfied without losing the integrity, and I didn't take your promises seriously; you don't have to put too much pressure on you to do something unimaginable."

Su Jin was secretly depressed: Is this implying that we can make concessions?The dignified Song Dynasty tolerated and sought perfection in advance, no wonder the humiliating treaties were signed before, and it is no wonder Xixia and Liao didn't take us seriously.

Su Jin secretly made up his mind that he must not follow this path this time, and he will be infamous for thousands of years, so he can't see it. As long as he is patient, those old guys in the court who are deliberately waiting to find fault will attack together, just for personal gain , nor can it be done according to Zhao Zhen's wishes.