The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

There were serious cases in Bianliang City, and Zhao Zhen really couldn't hold back his face. It was a massacre every now and then, and more people died each time.Moreover, it was aimed at important officials of the imperial court. If the governance was not ruthless, the capital would soon become a place where bandits ravaged.

After the murder happened, Zhao Zhen immediately summoned the official of Kaifeng Mansion to reprimand him, and set a limit of ten days to find out the case and arrest the culprit. discipline.

Wen Yanbo was about to die of depression. Since the Yuzhang Tower case, the Kaifeng government has spared no effort to strengthen law and order in the city. Many thieves have been caught. There were dozens of cases, and the prison in Kaifeng Mansion was overcrowded; I thought that the public security in Gyeonggi would be greatly improved, but unexpectedly another shocking case occurred, and Wen Yanbo himself felt sorry for it without Zhao Zhen's reprimand.

The emperor suppressed himself, and he could only suppress himself. Wen Yanbo strictly ordered the Criminal Division of Kaifeng Mansion to dig into the case carefully, and must find clues; under such circumstances, the identity of the dead Yan San was revealed. , this person was the rogue who had been arrested by the government for many years, and after verification one by one, at least twenty of the dead were Yan San's subordinates, who were also rogues.

Wen Yanbo felt troubled, how did these people get involved with Xia Song?According to the servants of the Xia family, Yan San and his group were hired as the Xia family's nursing home a month ago. Could it be that there is some connection between Xia Song and these people?This discovery made Wen Yanbo sweat all over.

Wen Yanbo is quite shrewd, he has no enmity with Xia Song, and he is not as excited as Ouyang Xiu when he encounters such a thing, like a cat smelling fishy flies chasing the smell. On the contrary, he feels extremely troublesome, Xia Song came to the court A famous official, no matter what his private reputation is, he has always done his best in court affairs; in the past few years, Xia Song has been sitting in the northwest, and together with Pang Ji, Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi, etc. In addition, he can be called the mainstay, how can such a person have anything to do with these rogues in the rivers and lakes?

After much deliberation, Wen Yanbo decided to report the matter to Xia Song, to find out what he said.

Before Wen Yanbo came to visit Xia Song, Xia Song went to the Yamen of Kaifeng Mansion in person, and brought a series of confessions after drawing and pleading.

The matter suddenly took a 180-degree turn. Xia Song declared that the case had been solved because the appearance of key witnesses revealed the truth of the case to the world. Miss Xia, this Liu Erkui is a full-time guard specially arranged by Xia Song to protect Miss Xia in the backyard.

According to Liu Erkui, Yan San and his gang broke into Xia's mansion that night and robbed them. Zhang Heizi, the second entrant, led people to fight to the death. After breaking into the inner house, Liu Erkui led more than a dozen of his men to kill the seriously injured Yan San and his gang in one fell swoop, and he was the only one left in the end. Fearing that another bandit would come, he took Miss Xia to rummage through the backyard. The wall escaped.

At the same time, the servants of the Xia family all changed their words and overturned all the confessions they gave when they were summoned by the Kaifeng mansion. They all said that they were terrified at the time and their minds were dazed with fright. In fact, they didn't know Yan San at all. , this person took advantage of the heavy rain to rush into the house in the evening to commit murder and robbery, but this person called himself Yan San when he committed the crime, that's why I knew his name.

Wen Yanbo was at a loss. This kind of reasoning was far-fetched and full of loopholes. There were still many doubts that had not been clarified, such as Yan San's wound, the climbing marks on the iron gate in the backyard, and the broken tree trunk. And the two sunken boats accidentally discovered by fishermen in the lower reaches of the Bian River yesterday. Some people knew the two boats, saying that they were the boats of the boatmen Lao Wangtou and Lao Suntou who delivered goods on the Bian River, and that Lao Suntou and Lao Wang The head also explained that someone bought his two small boats with a lot of money that evening, and all signs showed that the case was quite different from what Xia Song said.

Wen Yanbo cryptically raised his own question, Xia Song patted Wen Yanbo's shoulder after a big laugh and said, "Wen Quanzhi, I am thinking of you, I really can't bear the fact that everyone loses money because of the case in my mansion." Black hat."

Wen Yanbo was even more puzzled, and hurriedly asked: "Please speak clearly, my lord."

Xia Song said: "The emperor ordered you to solve the case within ten days, otherwise everyone in Kaifeng Mansion and other officials will be downgraded to three levels. How many days is it?"

Wen Yanbo said with a sad face: "It's the seventh day, the lower officials are incompetent."

Xia Song smiled and said, "Can you solve this case in three days? Can you catch the culprit?"

Wen Yanbo sighed dejectedly: "The only clue is that the two boatmen have seen the people who bought the boat. The lower official judged that they were the ones who finally broke into your mansion and robbed your wife. It's a pity that the two boatmen were blind and didn't look at them at all. There's no way to start with that group of faces."

Xia Song sneered and said: "This is obviously a premeditated and planned action, how could you find it out so easily; it seems that the remaining three days are useless to you, but after the ten-day deadline, you will dignify the government of Kaifeng If you know, you will be demoted to somewhere to become a small county magistrate with the size of a sesame seed and mung bean, and all the officials under you who follow you for a living will also be demoted. To support the family, wouldn’t it hurt everyone in this way? These people don’t know how to scold criminals behind their backs, and I’m afraid they want to poke your back and scold your mother.”

Wen Yanbo's face turned blue, what Xia Song said was indeed the truth, what should we do about this matter?I have no rules at all.

"So I gave you a step down, so that you can keep Wusha, and I have an explanation from the emperor. Anyway, only you and this official know about the case. If I don't expose it, this case is in the open. That's the case closed."

Wen Yanbo was startled and said, "Isn't this deceiving the emperor?"

Xia Song sneered and said, "Is Wen Quanzhi stupid in reading? This is a quick fix. Can you still be an official if you don't know how to change it? The emperor has an explanation first, and I won't break your window." Paper, this way to close the case on the open side and continue the investigation in the dark, it has a lot of time, and it is also a clever trick in terms of the strategy of the investigation; once the case is announced to be solved, do you believe that the real culprit will not be relieved? This will easily reveal the truth Come on, it will be convenient for you Kaifeng Mansion to really investigate this case, and you have suffered such a big loss in the old man's house, so forget it? This old man is completely for your sake."

Wen Yanbo was so enlightened, he slapped his head and laughed at himself: "Oh, look at my elm bumpy brain, Mr. Xia's kindness, I turned into a donkey's liver and lungs; listening to your master's teachings is better than reading ten years of sages' books."

Xia Song smiled and said: "It's good that you understand the key to this. In fact, I don't want to hide it from you, but the murderer is so cunning, we have to play tricks; I know that Yan San's identity makes you treat me differently." Doubt, in fact, the old man only knew that Yan San was a habitual bandit wanted by the imperial court. The old man had been defending against the enemy in the northwest for a long time, so he knew nothing about the local affairs in Fujian. I appointed this group of people as a nursing home, mainly to protect the peace of the house, but unexpectedly, this kind of thing happened; but fortunately, Yan San and his group gave their heads, and although Zhang Heizi and others in my nursing home died, they were still regarded as Died for the imperial court, this official can be regarded as a crooked fight for the imperial court to get rid of this scourge."

Wen Yanbo was completely convinced that Xia Song could claim credit for this incident, and what he said was quite reasonable. Just this ability to transfer flowers to trees was beyond his reach.

"Vice Envoy Xia, I hereby swear an oath that I will find your love as soon as possible and capture the murderous chief. I will live up to your lord's love and kindness. From now on, you only need to let me know if you have any errands. I am obliged to do so."

Xia Song was very happy in his heart, he hugged the grass and beat the rabbit, he easily persuaded the idiot Wen Yanbo to stop pursuing Yan San, and he also gained Wen Yanbo's favor by the way, this can be regarded as a blessing after the catastrophe.

"Wen Quan knows what to say, you and I are officials in the same dynasty, how can we see that Wen Quan will be punished and not help like others, and this matter started because of something in the old man's house, how can we stand still; There is no need for dispatch, Wen Quanzhi remembers the old man's kindness." Xia Song laughed, patted his buttocks and left.

……

Xia Siling was rescued, Su Jin didn't dare to take it lightly, and sent Xia Siling to live in a manor of Yan's family in the west of the city early, thus avoiding the frantic manhunt of Kaifeng Mansion in the next few days.

Although officials' houses are generally not allowed to be searched and arrested, this time is different. Under the pressure of the emperor, Wen Yanbo did not care about face in such a big case. The search and arrest in the first few days was indeed detailed enough. A dozen female jailers were recruited to search and arrest officials' inner houses.

Fortunately, Su Jin knew in his heart that the commotion this time was too big, and there would be a lot of trouble, so he didn't reveal his secrets. Naturally, the back house of the Su family was generously let the female jailers who came to search around.

Xia Siling's placement outside the city was just an expedient measure. Su Jin was about to go to Weizhou to take office, so Xia Siling's name was naturally added to the accompanying list, and she was taken to the northwest.