The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

() For several days in a row, the city of Huizhou was shrouded in a terrifying cloud. The officers and soldiers turned the city upside down, and the soldiers of the Xia Army who were hunting and running around could be seen everywhere in the city.

The fire at the city gate affected the fish in the pond, and the Han people in Huizhou City became the number one suspect. Whether it was the private businessmen of the Song Dynasty who used to come and go frequently, or the Han people who had lived here for generations and became residents of Daxia, they were all affected; shape.

But even so, Song Guoxiozuo, who burned the food, was still not caught and brought to justice. The leader of the crime seemed to have evaporated without a trace. At night, the innkeeper and his fellows all hid, and they never saw when the group left the inn and where they went; the officers and soldiers of the yamen could only learn about the identity of the dozen or so people from the innkeeper and Xiao Er. Approximate appearance and age, I can only rely on these tiny clues to catch the shape, hoping to gain something.

It was noisy outside, but the morning star building was peaceful. After three days of recuperation, the injury on Su Jin's leg has gradually stabilized, and scars formed on the wound, and fresh flesh and sprouts slowly grew out. Wang Chao helped Su Jin make a crutch, and Su Jin was gradually able to walk in the yard with the crutch. ..

In the past few days, Yeli Duanyun and Li Ari have taken good care of Su Jin, but when they saw Su Jin, Yeli Duanyun still had an expression of disgust and hatred, but Li Ari still treated Su Jin It's not bad, and the speech is more kind.

After taking a short nap in the afternoon, Su Jin came down to sit under the big tree in the courtyard with the support of the little maid Ming Yueer, holding a cane; Ming Yueer helped Su Jin sit on the stone bench, poured another cup of tea for Su Jin, and bowed stand aside.

Su Jin picked up the tea and drank a couple of sips, staring at the beautiful scenery of flowers in the garden and the flying butterflies and dragonflies in a daze. These days, Ma Han, Zhao Hu and others have not heard from each other. Yesterday Wang Chao secretly went to the street to inquire about news, but found nothing. , in view of the fact that the search in the city is still very strong, so we can't ask too much, so we can only ask lightly.

Su Jin understands that no news is actually the best news. The more rigorously Xia Bing searches, it means that the three of them have not yet fallen into the hands of the Xia people, but Su Jin is still worried; especially Zhang Long, who still has a Arrow wounds, in this era when colds and colds may kill Xing, if the wounds of swords and arrows are not treated in time, the consequences will be very serious; another thing Su Jin is worried about is the situation in Weizhou. God, it stands to reason that Li Yuanhao's army will retreat to Weizhou City if the food and grass of the army are burned, but there seems to be no sign of the army returning. Did you leave Weizhou City?

Su Jin couldn't let go of all kinds of worries. She stayed here doing nothing, and she didn't know anything about the outside world. She was like a wild animal in a cage, calm on the outside, but restless on the inside.

"Young master...Young master?" Ming Yue'er called softly.

Su Jin came back to his senses in surprise, and suddenly found that there were a few more figures in front of him, Ye Li Duanyun in red was looking at him coldly, with a very strange expression on his face.

"It turned out to be Ms. Ye Li. I'm being rude. I'm sorry I can't stand up and salute." Su Jin hurriedly clasped her fists in salute.

Yeli Duanyun seemed to have just come back from the outside, with slight sweat on his nose and forehead: "How is your injury?"

Su Jin smiled and said, "Thanks to the rescue, the wound has recovered very well."

Ye Li Duanyun snorted and said, "You are fine, I have become Daxia's eternal sinner."

Su Jin smiled and said, "How do you say that?"

Ye Li Duanyun said: "Stop pretending, don't you understand what I mean?"

Su Jin sighed, and said solemnly: "No matter what, Miss Ye Li has saved my life, and I don't want to deny it; yes, the military grain warehouse in Huizhou was done by me, and that's why I came here this time." The sole purpose of your country."

Ye Li Duanyun gritted his teeth and said angrily: "You thief, do you know that our Great Xia Kingdom will fall into chaos this time, how many people will die this time? The officials in the city are not good at guarding, at least they will be killed by the emperor Hundreds, even the Han people in this city died hundreds because of your actions, and these lives should be counted on you."

Su Jin raised her eyebrows and said, "Miss Ye Li, all of this is within my expectations. I knew this would happen, so I'm not surprised at all."

"Aren't you surprised? So many people died because of you, and you don't care?"

Su Jin said: "Of course I care, but there is no other way. If I want to save more people, I can only sacrifice some people."

Ye Li Duanyun said: "Save people? Who are you saving?"

Su Jin squinted his eyes and said: "My lady probably doesn't know who I am yet, anyway, let me tell you that I am the acting envoy of Dasong Jingyuan Road and the prefect of Weizhou. My name is Su Jin."

Ye Li Duanyun was taken aback for a moment, then he stood up abruptly and changed his face, "Are you Su Jin who guards Weizhou?"

Su Jin said: "Exactly!"

Yeli Duanyun sneered and said: "God, I was going to settle accounts with you, but I didn't expect you to come to the door by yourself. Don't blame Aunt Nainai for being rude to you." After saying that, he turned his head and said: "Come here , Go and ask someone to tie up the culprit who killed the two great kings of my Ye Li family, put him in front of the tablets of the two uncles, and behead him."

A maid hurriedly ran to the outside of the garden. This is the inner house, and the guards are not allowed to come in without orders; the little maid, Ming Yueer, turned pale with fright, and the young master who had been taking care of her for several days turned out to be the eldest of the Ye Li family. enemy.

Su Jin looked up to the sky and laughed out loud, almost to the point of tears.

"Death is imminent, thank you for being able to laugh." Ye Li Duanyun said coldly.

"Why can't I laugh? I naturally laugh when I see something funny," Su Jin said.

"What is it about me that amuses you?"

"I laugh at you for being indiscriminate and seem to be a smart person, but in fact you are not very smart."

"Shut up, it's not up to you, a Song pig, to judge whether you are smart or not."

Su Jin smiled and said: "Don't be unconvinced. Since you know that I am the magistrate of Weizhou, but you don't even ask me the whole story, you think that I am the murderer who killed your two uncles. Fortunately, you are a woman. If you are a man If you become an official, you will have to kill a lot of people unjustly in your hands."

Ye Li Duanyun said: "Did I wrong you? My two uncles were attacked and killed by you on the way back to Huizhou. If you don't admit it, how can you cover up this fact?"

Su Jin sneered and said, "First of all, I have heard of the names of the two Great King Yeli, but if you don't like to hear it, I have never paid attention to any great king, even though I have great military skills in the Song Dynasty. There is an old saying of 'capturing the thief first captures the king', but I have never thought about your two uncles."

Ye Li Duanyun looked at Su Jin with a sneer on his face, as if mocking his insincerity.

"Secondly, your 12 Xia army attacked Weizhou, and my Weizhou defenders only had less than 10,000. The entire Weizhou city was surrounded by your Xixia army like an iron barrel. How can I send troops to sneak attack? Speaking of which, I am the magistrate of Weizhou, and the sneak attack cannot be carried out without my consent. Believe it or not, I have never issued such an order, because no matter how capable the two Yeli kings are, they are only under Li Yuanhao's subordinates General, in a huge battle involving [-]+ troops, what's the point of killing one or two generals? I won't send anyone to take the risk."

Yeli Duanyun sneered and said: "I don't believe any of your sophistry. My two uncles have experienced many battles. Nearly half of the army is warriors from my Yeli tribe. Killing them can shake the morale of my Daxia army. It is beneficial for you to defend the city, so why don't you do it?"

Su Jin said: "It turns out that nearly half of the army is warriors from the Yeli Tribe. If I had known this, maybe I would have taken the risk. However, I have only been in the Northwest for a month or two, and I don't know anything about the personnel and affairs of your Xia Kingdom; I would like to ask you a question." , since killing the two King Yeli will shake the morale of the army, why did your Xia army not show the slightest sign of panic, but instead attacked our Weizhou City continuously? Could it be that killing King Yeli aroused the hatred of the same enemy in your Xia army? Angry, if that's the case, wouldn't I be shooting myself in the foot?"

Ye Li Duanyun said: "Who do you ask me about military matters? No matter what the consequences are, the original intention of you attacking and killing my two uncles must be to get rid of the soldiers who besieged the city in Daxia; I might as well tell you clearly , I have never cared about the disputes and grievances between Song and Xia, otherwise I would not have come to rescue you knowing that you were a secret worker who burned the army rations. Don’t think that I was blackmailed by you and had to do it. I am a staunch man, even if I die, I will never be coerced; my hatred for the people of Song Dynasty began when my two uncles were killed. Whether you set fire or work carefully, I have nothing to do with you, but you killed both of us Uncle, I can't forgive you."

Su Jin scratched his head and said: "After talking for a long time, you still believe that I am the murderer who ordered the attack. Then I have nothing to tell. If you don't believe me, then I can only be killed. It is useless to say more, but you There is no need to send me to the Yamen, you should avenge your revenge, just cut off my head with a knife."

Ye Li Duanyun said: "Okay, then you will be fulfilled. Although I haven't even killed a lamb or a chicken, I don't care about it for revenge."

Ye Li Duanyun slowly drew out the delicate machete inlaid with gemstones from his waist and pointed at Su Jin step by step. Suddenly, the light of the knife flashed and he waved it down.