The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

There are so few red votes. If you think it is not worth voting, at least you should explain why in the book review, and be more forceful, so that the author will also have some motivation, thank you.

##

Bao Zheng put the hat on the ground, straightened his clothes with both hands, glanced around at everyone in the hall and said, "Fathers and folks, today Bao will analyze the case for you. In fact, the loopholes in this case are obvious. It only takes a little deduction and demonstration to overturn the accusation against this small official Su."

Everyone thought hard and couldn't figure out why the seemingly iron-clad case turned out differently when Mr. Bao said, "Master Bao, tell us about it."

"I have heard for a long time that Mr. Bao is extremely intelligent, and today I can finally witness it."

"Master Bao, no dirty trick can escape his eyes."

The crowd's discussion was like steel needles piercing the hearts of Zhu Shiyong and the members of the chamber of commerce, and the blood splashed everywhere; the pain returns to pain, at this moment Zhu Shiyong and others can only force themselves to stand on the sidelines with their ears closed. Listen carefully to whether there are any flaws and unreasonable inferences in Bao Zheng's words, and once you find them, you will attack them in groups.

Bao Zheng waved his hand and said: "Everyone, keep quiet, this is above the court, and under the plaque of "Mirror Hanging High" is the important place of the imperial court, don't make any noise."

The crowd quickly quieted down, Bao Zheng nodded in satisfaction, and said, "The Master of Taiwan in the Shicai Mansion said that a suicide note was found on Qin Dalang's body, how would Bao want to see this suicide note?"

The magistrate looked at Zhu Shiyong and asked for his opinion. Although Zhu Shiyong was reluctant, he admitted that there was something wrong with his refusal at this moment. He nodded and said in a low voice, "Give it to him, but be careful."

The implication seems to be to ask the master to prevent Bao Zheng from destroying the evidence; the master was taken aback for a moment, then blinked and said: "I understand."

The master carefully held up the wooden tray and came to Bao Zheng. Bao Zheng raised his hand to reveal Su Ling. Although the master had lost all his teeth, he was very agile. He turned around and quickly avoided Bao Zheng's hand, giggling. Said: "Master Bao, it's better for the villain to help you uncover it."

What a shrewd person Bao Zheng was, he immediately understood his intentions, and his face immediately changed color.

Su Jin saw it clearly from the side, and said in his heart: "This prefect Zhu is really stupid. The majestic Mr. Bao is also an official of the court. How could he destroy evidence in public? This is a typical villain's attitude." The belly of a gentleman."

The angry look on Bao Zheng's face disappeared for a moment, and then he returned to his natural state, and said with his hands behind his back, "Then I'll have to work."

The master smiled and said: "It should be, it should be." Then he gently uncovered the plain silk, picked up the bamboo stick on the plate, gently lifted the folded paper and pressed it, and sent it to Bao Zheng.

Bao Zheng probed to observe carefully, his brows loosened and tightened, and his face changed from joy to worry; hundreds of pairs of eyes from all over the hall stared at his face, all were silent, and breaths were heard from each other.

After about half a cup of tea, Bao Zheng raised his body and said to the master, "Thank you very much."

The master said, "Have you finished reading?"

"Thank you." Bao Zheng said.

"Shouldn't you watch it for a while longer?" the master suddenly said, not sure if it was a courtesy or a joke.

Bao Zheng frowned and said, "Please send it back, so as not to be defaced."

The master was also surprised that he was talking too much, and it was not kind to peek at the face of the lord Fu Zun, so he quickly covered Su Ling and put it back on the official case without saying a word.

"Everyone, this suicide note is fake." Bao Zheng's first words shocked the audience. Except for the members of the Su family, the chamber of commerce, and the magistrate who knew the truth, everyone on and off the court was gasping. , no wonder Mr. Bao dared to challenge publicly, as long as this suicide note can be proved to be false, then the accusation imposed on Su Xiaoguan as an official would be fabricated out of thin air.

"Bao Zheng, the courtroom is not a place for you to speak nonsense. This statement will be recorded by the master, and you will not be able to deny it." Zhu Shiyong shouted.

Bao Zheng stared at Zhu Shiyong with a pair of tiger eyes and said, "Why does Bao deny it? This suicide note is a fake."

"How do you see it?" Zhu Shiyong said.

"One of the doubts is that the paper used to write the posthumous note is chupi paper, commonly known as white hemp paper; there is only one production of this kind of paper in the Song Dynasty, and that is Zhangjizhifang in Jingzhaofu (Note: Chang'an City), Zhangjizhi There is only one semi-colon in the capital. The paper used by nearly half of the official and private bookstores in the Song Dynasty comes from Zhangji Paperfang. However, due to the long distance and high price, my Luzhou Prefecture uses a lot of Huizhou bamboo board paper. Just now I Observe carefully, there is Zhang Ji's seal under the paper, although it is soaked in water, it is clearly discernible; this paper is undoubtedly from Zhang Ji, and this is the suspicious point."

"Joke, what's so suspicious about this? I also have a piece of white linen paper in Luzhou Prefecture. Although there are not many of them, there are still some." Zhu Shiyong sneered.

"Mr. Su, what kind of paper do you usually use for Su Ji?" Bao Zheng turned to Su Jin and asked.

It was the first time for Su Jin to speak face-to-face with this famous person in history, and he couldn't help but feel a little excited and nervous, speechless.

Shopkeeper Zhao, who was listening in, said: "Lord Bao, my young master will not know about such trivial matters. This matter is handled by the housekeeper of the Su residence."

Bao Zheng said: "That would be even better. Quickly summon this person. This person is ignorant of the content of our conversation just now, so he can just tell the truth. How about asking Mr. Zhu to send a servant to invite him?"

Zhu Shiyong said: "Is this necessary?"

Bao Zheng said: "It's better to be cautious when one person is innocent."

Zhu Shiyong was helpless, and thought: "It depends on what tricks you are up to." He said to one of the yamen servants: "Leader Li, go to the Su residence and ask the housekeeper to come, and don't let him say a word to anyone along the way. "

Leader Li hurried away with a promise, and Bao Zheng shouted at his back: "It's best to get some paper patterns from Su Ji's shop."

After a while, Bantou Li rushed over with Su Fu, the housekeeper of the Su family, and the two left in a hurry, sweating profusely and panting with their mouths open; Su Fu carried a sealed cloth bag under his arm, Everyone guessed that it was the Su family's daily paper.

Xiao Sui'er and the others did a good job of keeping secrets. Su Fu didn't know that Su Jin was arrested by the government, so he was a little surprised to see that Su Jin and all the big shopkeepers were in the government office, and hurriedly saluted: " Hey, why is the Young Master's family above this court?"

Bao Zheng didn't have time to listen to his master and servant reminiscing about the past, so he asked, "Are you the housekeeper of the Su residence?"

The chubby Su Fu's face turned pale with heat, he swallowed and said: "Little Su Fu, Mrs. Meng's young master will never give up and help the Su family run errands."

"Su Ji's regular papers are all purchased by you, right?"

"That's not..." Su Fu suddenly got up proudly and moved his fingers: "firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea, pen, ink, paper, inkstone, as big as chariots and horses, as small as incense sticks, how can they The same villain doesn’t handle it?”

Su Jin frowned and said, "I've committed the problem of talking too much again, please answer Mr. Bao's words well."

Su Fu was startled, and said awkwardly: "Report to Mr. Bao, the paper was purchased by the villain."

Bao Zheng said, "What kind of paper did you purchase?"

Su Fu said in amazement: "I don't know what kind of paper. I only know that it is the name of Huizhou merchant Zheng Qi in Luzhou. No! It's this kind of paper." After finishing speaking, he handed out the cloth bag under his arm.

Bao Zheng stretched out his hand to uncover the cloth bag, took out a stack of light yellow paper to look at, and said, "Are they all this kind of paper?"

"That's right, Zheng Qi and we are old acquaintances, and his price is cheap, each bag is more than 50 yuan cheaper than the market, Zheng Qi gave me old Su face, and we also..." Su Fu rambled There are a lot of them, just to show off their abilities and buy them at a lower price than others.

Su Jin couldn't laugh or cry when he heard it, but this Su Fu man was very conscientious, but his mouth was too broken and annoying.

Bao Zheng interrupted him: "You step aside."

Su Fu said, "Is it nothing to do with me?"

Su Jin frowned and said: "Stand aside, don't talk too much, just listen, and ask you to talk."

Su Fu hurriedly agreed, bowed and stepped aside.

"Lord Zhu, the situation is already obvious. Su Ji doesn't use this kind of paper. Bao dares to say that no more than ten households in Luzhou City use white hemp paper. Then Qin Dalang used white hemp paper to write his suicide note. How dare you ask him?" Where do you get this kind of paper?" Bao Zheng asked.

"Besides, white linen paper is expensive, and it is impossible for non-rich families to use this kind of paper. Does your lord think that Qin Dalang would buy white linen paper specially for writing his suicide note? Where is it? I'm afraid I didn't find anything in his residence."

"This..." Zhu Zhifu also knew that what Bao Zheng said was true, but at this moment, he could only deny it, and spread his hands together: "I'm afraid I have to ask that Qin Dalang, how did you and I know about this matter? Besides, if the source of the paper is suspicious, can it be concluded that the suicide note is fake? Mr. Bao takes it for granted."

Bao Zheng nodded and said: "Your Excellency's words are reasonable, but you can't conclude that the suicide note is fake, but this is one of the doubtful points. Your Excellency will not deny it?"

Zhu Shiyong said: "Let's just say it's a small doubt."

Bao Zheng clapped his hands and said, "Then Bao will say the second doubt."

Everyone in the hall was deeply attracted by Mr. Bao's process of analyzing the case. The seemingly subtle things turned out to be full of mystery. When Bao Zheng wanted to say the second doubtful point, they all listened attentively, for fear of missing a word.