The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

() There is a small market in the southeast corner of Weizhou City. It was originally a trading place between Song and Xia on the border. There are more than ten places in the land, and there are also in the territory of Xixia and Liao.

When the war between the two countries did not start, the discussion field was prosperous for a while. Xixia supplied livestock, leather goods, medicinal materials, pearls, jade, green and white salt to the southern Song Dynasty, while the Song Dynasty exported tea, silk, cloth, rice and other things from the south to Xixia; of course, there are also taboos. For commodities, the Xia State explicitly prohibited the trade of war horses, while the Song Dynasty strictly prohibited the export of military supplies such as copper, iron, sulfur, flame nitrate, and arrows.

With the war together, such a discussion field can only be abandoned. Except for people from the same country trading here, there will be no more scenes of merchants from the two countries trading goods.

The negotiating field in the southeast corner has been deserted since the beginning of the war between the two countries, but in the past six months, it has been the place that the people of Weizhou most want to go to and are most afraid of going, because this is where the government distributes relief materials and porridge sheds The reason why I am also afraid of coming here is that a black market for food has formed here in recent months. When people come here with empty stomachs, they can see the food hoarded like a hill, which is eaten by rats and ants. But he couldn't get even a handful of rice, and the despair in his heart can be imagined.

There were also people who took the risk and came to steal in groups in the middle of the night, but it is a pity that there are a group of vicious men guarding here day and night, and dozens of people have died here because of stealing food.

In the afternoon, the black market is still empty, and everyone who comes to the black market to buy grain also comes at night, and the common people trade their wives and daughters for food, of course it is also at night, and the daytime is too eye-catching; this is the most leisure time You, a few The man opened his clothes to reveal his muscular belly, leaning lazily at the entrance of the alley, blowing the wind, and the crackling of abacus beads came from a room behind him. The rustling writing on the thick yellow paper was submitted to someone for review.

As for who to hand over for review, everyone knew it well, but they were all told to shut up by the police, so no one said anything more. After all, being able to mix in this gang that guards the black market, compared with tens of thousands of other ordinary people in the city, is What a lucky thing, here, there is no need to worry about food and clothing, and there are rewards. In Weizhou City at this moment, he can be regarded as a master.

The rapid sound of horseshoes broke the tranquility of the afternoon. A man in the team leader opened his bloodshot bull's eyes and looked around. He saw dust flying everywhere on the main street, and a group of horse soldiers in bright armor came rushing towards us aggressively. .

The man who led the team was a little puzzled, but he didn't take this matter to heart. The most feared thing in this place is the officers and soldiers. Which team of officers and soldiers will cause trouble here, unless they are blind.

But the situation suddenly made him feel bad. There were 500 cavalrymen in that team, and they rushed straight into the alley without blinking. In front of them were four fierce and vicious military masters wearing capital uniforms. One of them was purple. With a dark face, thick eyebrows and big eyes, he rode his horse forward and pointed at the man standing at the entrance of the alley with the whip in his hand: "Are you residents here?"

The leading man hurried forward and cupped his hands and said, "Little Huang Xiaoqi sees the military lord, why is the military lord here not resting in the barracks on a hot day?"

A man with an upturned nostril and a ferocious face stepped forward with a whip, causing Huang Xiaoqi to hug his head and scream, and that Dutou scolded: "Thieves, I was waiting to ask you a question, but you should ask us first." Here we come, let's fight."

Huang Xiaoqi hurriedly hid to the side, and said with a mournful face: "I am waiting to be the companion of the guards here. What are the soldiers doing here? Could it be that they have escaped and committed crimes or something? There is no one here."

The thick-browed and big-eyed man said loudly: "We are the guard horse army of the Weizhou government office. We patrolled the whole city under the order of my family's lord, and got reports from the people that there is a black market selling rice here. When the two countries have diplomatic relations During the war, there were people who sold rice at a high price for profit, and came here to seize it."

"Check... check... seized?" Huang Xiaoqi was shocked, and hurriedly said: "This is..." Someone beside him coughed to remind him not to talk nonsense, Huang Xiaoqi quickly swallowed the second half of the sentence , almost flashed his tongue.

"Get out of the way and stand here honestly waiting for interrogation. Seeing how hesitant and sneaky you are, you must be the mastermind of this black market. You are not allowed to leave." The man with thick eyebrows and big eyes shouted.

Before Huang Xiaoqi could speak, more than a dozen horsemen rushed up and controlled the men at the entrance of the alley. The thick-eyed man waved his hand and shouted: "Brothers, go in and seal up this black market, and all personnel will be brought to the house." The Yamen will hear the trial, and all the stolen goods seized will be seized, and anyone who resists will be shot."

Everyone yelled: "Deling!" They all rode their horses into the black market, and there was a sound of chickens and dogs jumping around. Many men on duty at night were sleeping soundly while hiding in the pergola behind, and they were tied up when they were sleepy.

Amidst the noise, Master Cui Dabao was pushed and shoved to Wang Chao Ma Han and the others. Wang Chao held a handful of white rice in his hand and asked calmly, "Are you the owner of this black market?"

Cui Dabao rolled his eyes, but without any panic, he cupped his hands and said, "Master, you are mistaken, this is not a black market, this is just a granary for our Weizhou military rations, and Mr. Jun is following the new magistrate My lord came from the capital, no wonder you don't know."

Wang Chao sneered and said, "If there is no evidence, why would I come here to seize it? Don't make excuses anymore, and tell Mr. Su if you have anything to say."

Cui Dabao said viciously: "Masters, don't blame the old man for not reminding you, you should hurry back and take the team back, do whatever you have to do, don't make trouble for nothing; you have already made a mess, I am afraid that your adults may not be able to take care of it." worthy."

Wang Chao was stunned. Just as he was about to speak, Ma Han on the side couldn't bear it any longer. He stepped forward and gave Cui Dabao two big mouths, cursing: "You are threatening our men, you are still worried about you I, bring you to the magistrate’s yamen and beat you forty times without saying a word, seeing how arrogant you are when your ass is blooming.”

Cui Dabao covered his face and said angrily, "Why did you hit someone? Are there any rules?"

Ma Han scolded angrily: "Hit you? It's still light. Brothers, take off this old guy's clothes. Who is not too dirty to pick up horse manure and paint it on him. Let's drag him to parade in the street. The old man will kill him." The black market is quite rampant."

Several soldiers rushed up like wolves and tigers, and stretched out their hands to grope Cui Dabao. Cui Dabao jumped and dodged, and shouted: "Don't be foolish, this is not for you."

Where did the horse troops care about him, they stripped him of all his clothes in a hurry, Cui Dabao hurriedly covered the vital parts, bowed his body and cursed continuously, causing the horse troops to beat and kick him, and finally They were covered in horse manure and urine, tied up with ropes and dragged behind the horses.

Ma Han said loudly: "Take him to parade the streets and tell the people that this is the consequence of opening a black market to harm people."

Cui Dabao was ashamed to death, and muttered in his mouth: "You will regret it, you are simply lawless."

Wang Chao laughed and said, "The world has changed. Now thieves are calling for thieves, and those who open the black market are also calling the officers and soldiers lawless. You kill talents, but you still feel aggrieved."

Excited, Cui Dabao raised his finger and pointed at Wang Chao and said, "I'm just helping, this is not my place." When he raised his hand, his dark lower body was exposed, and he quickly covered it when he realized it.

Wang Chao said: "Okay, who is the main messenger of this black market? If you say it, you will be freed."

Cui Dabao said: "Because you are not worthy, if you say it, you will be scared to death. If you are sensible, let me go quickly, and get me out."

Wang Chao waved his hand and said, "Pull the guy who won't shed tears when he sees the coffin to parade in the street, walk a hundred steps and give him a whip, don't be polite to him."

Cui Dabao yelled and cursed, and was dragged through the street by several horse soldiers with ropes.Chao Mahan, Zhang Long, Zhao Hu and others seized all the black market materials and tied up all the personnel. More than 70 people were arrested and tied together like a string of toads strung together to swagger through the market and take them back to the Yamen. .

The people who heard the news along the way came to watch, and soon both sides of the street were full of bustling and hungry people with their chests on their backs. Cui Dabao was trotted behind the horse's buttocks with his bare buttocks and lower body swinging, A soldier of the horse army followed up from time to time and whipped his whip. Cui Dabao was covered with whip marks all over his body when he walked several alleys.

The common people feel relieved, this Cui Dabao is not a thing at all, the common people sell pots and irons to exchange for some food, and they are often cheated by this old thing, and this old thing also ruined more than a dozen people's wives in exchange for food. Daughter, everyone has hated him for a long time; some people picked up stones on the side of the road and threw them at him, and some naughty children used slingshots to shoot small stones at Cui Dabao's vital points. It is fragile, and after being hit a few times, the black and purple swelled immediately, and the people watching laughed endlessly.

These dozens of people were escorted to the lobby of the government office, full of people kneeling all over the floor, Wu Hengxin, the leader of the office staff, picked up a drumstick and knocked on the big drum in the hall, Su Jin yawned and stretched after a while , with a watermelon seed stuck to his mouth, he walked out step by step.