Promotion and fortune in Song Dynasty

The first thing Lu Zhizhou did when he came to Fenzhou was naturally to try the most authentic local specialties.

He went to a shop on the street with the busiest business, and asked his servants to sit down with him.After sitting for quite a while, the man who was so busy sweating profusely came to greet him, and said with a smile on his face, "Does this guest officer want anything?"

Lu Ci smiled and said: "Six plates and six bowls, there must be stewed beans noodles, soy bowls of bald and shrimp paste tofu, and a bowl of ginger honey soup."

"okay!"

Hearing that it was a big customer, the waiter happily agreed, and was about to turn around and leave after making a note, but was stopped by Lu Ci: "You don't have to go now. I just ordered, just for me, and here There are still a few people who want to order food."

Compared with the flattered health servants, the man almost didn't doubt his ears when he heard this.

He looked at Lu Ci solemnly and repeatedly, only to feel that this gentleman looked so handsome that he had never seen before, but his body was rather slender, how could he speak such wild words...?

His eyebrows twitched, and when Lu Ci was extravagant to order a table if he couldn't finish his meal, he didn't show it at all. He smiled and asked the other tall and strong men who were mostly servants before he brought him. I left with the list.

Lu Ci didn't have to wait long when plates of freshly baked dishes were served piping hot.

Considering that the pasta is too filling, he first took a sip of the smooth and spicy ginger honey soup, and then stretched out his chopsticks towards the shrimp paste tofu.

Each piece of tofu is wrapped with rich-flavored fresh shrimp paste and stir-fried, and it is still bubbling.

He took a small sip, and was overwhelmed by the soft oily aroma, tender texture, and overflowing delicious soup.

This is the most authentic taste in the local area, and even those famous hotels in Bianjing cannot imitate it.

——It is really a blessing to serve as an official abroad.

Lu Ci sighed from the bottom of his heart, silently thanked Wang Dan again, and then concentrated on the delicious food in front of him.

His movements are gentle and still good-looking, but his efficiency is unambiguous, and he quickly wiped out one dish after another.

When he swept away the first plate without haste, the guy who couldn't help but pay attention to him showed a subtle expression.

Looking at him still with a calm face, but when he immediately swept away the second and third plates, the other party's mouth was completely closed.

After Lu Ci cleaned up the six pots and six bowls that were all over the table, not only the staff, but even some of the diners who happened to notice him were numb with surprise.

Satisfied, Lu Ci took out the small notebook he carried with him, and wrote a few lines on it with a self-made ink pen.

In this way, it can be regarded as officially including this restaurant in his gourmet handbook, and it has also entered the list of places that must be visited once a month.

Just as he put away his little book again and was about to get up and leave, he suddenly heard the sound of breaking through the air behind him, followed by the exclamation of the people around him.

"Bang!"

The dishes on the table that Lu Ci finished using and the waiter hadn't had time to clean up were smashed by a heavy punch in an instant. Even an old and fragile table leg broke due to the heavy load, and the whole table turned to one side. Skewing, it hit a diner next to him!

Because Lu Ci dodged in time, he didn't get dirty from the splashed soup.

And the man who attacked Lu Ci from behind was a rough man with a savage face, and when he saw him daring to hide, he glared straight at him and said fiercely: "You actually—"

As soon as he started talking, he was angrily knocked down by the six healthy servants who came back to his senses. He was pressed to the ground and gnawed his ashes, and was knocked out of a tooth.

Lu Ci didn't even bother to look at him, and directly asked the shopkeeper with a dull face: "Who is this person?"

The shopkeeper was still a little trembling, he was embarrassed when he heard the words, but he didn't dare to explain.

Lu Ci gave his servant a wink and asked someone to send him to the government office.

Seeing this, the shopkeeper heaved a sigh of relief, and Lu Cicai asked again, "Go ahead."

The shopkeeper's first sentence was: "Are you here to do business? I'm afraid there will be trouble. If he goes in this time, he can be locked up for three days, but you have to be careful of his fake brothers looking for you." You trouble."

It turned out that this villain came from West Chenjiazhuang, nicknamed "Standing Tiger". Because of his majestic appearance and infinite strength, he attracted many hooligans to follow him, and he was quite notorious around.

Especially the shopkeepers who run small restaurants, they hate him the most - this person does not do big evils, but small evils emerge one after another. The most common thing he does is to blackmail past merchants.

If the merchants eating in the small restaurants in this area were bumped into by him but did not place a pair of chopsticks and prepare seats for him, at least they would get punched and kicked, and at worst they would inevitably lose their money.

Over time, it became a 'local policy'.

But all merchants who have been to Fenzhou usually prefer to pay a little more in order to avoid this trouble.

This time, it was the store owner who saw that the blocking tiger hadn't appeared in this area for a few days, and was shocked by Lu Ci's amazing appetite, and forgot to remind him for a while, which led to him being attacked.

After Lu Ci finished listening, he couldn't help frowning and said, "Doesn't the government care?"

The shopkeeper smiled wryly: "It doesn't matter, why don't you care? But he can't suffer much! Many of the detainees call him brothers and sisters, and I also heard that he has several relatives with the same surname working there. Generally, the fine is fined, but the money for the fine will never be seen, and because he did not kill anyone, and the money involved is quite small, the punishment is not serious, and he is often released after being locked up for a few days. He and his colleagues It's easy for the party to trouble us again. You must be careful these days."

Lu Ci smiled: "It's easy to say."

Seeing him relaxed and smiling, the shopkeeper became even more worried: "Your servant beat him. In his opinion, isn't this a ground-breaking for Tai Sui? It's also my fault that I didn't come sooner." Remind you. I advise you to listen to it, either leave earlier, or hire more servants, so that his brothers will not trouble you!"

Breaking ground on Tai Sui's head?

Lu Ci raised his eyebrows.

——I am afraid that these words have to be used on the other party.

Fenzhou in the Song Dynasty has a population of less than [-] households and is a small state.

But this point is a deliberate arrangement by Wang Dan's careful selection.

According to the law of the Song Dynasty, there is no general judgment for those with no more than [-] households and the position of the prefect is not high.

In Wang Dan's view, although Lu Ci is a rare young talent, after all, he is young and vigorous, and it is his first time to go back to a local government to serve as an official. If he goes to some high-end state cities, it is easy to have some accidents, or he is restricted by others, and it is difficult Have a go.

It's better to go to some small places, so I chose Fenzhou specially.

Tongpan is also known as 'Jianzhou'. Although his rank is lower than that of Zhizhou, his momentum is not lost at all.

Because it represents the imperial court to perform the duties of supervision, it dares to compete with the prefect everywhere, not to mention, and directly impeach him when encountering unsightly places.

In the eyes of most people, Wang Dan, who has always been generous, was so annoyed by Lu Ci that he sent people out quickly, and even picked a sparsely populated place.

But they ignored it. This also means that Lu Ci, as the magistrate of Fenzhou, is the only core that deserves it.

Under the sighing gaze of the shopkeeper, Lu Ci calmly packed three more bottles of ginger honey soup and five stone cakes, which were quite suitable for him, and when he was about to leave, the two healthy servants who were in charge of escorting people to the government office also rushed came back.

After listening to their report, Lu Ci, who was sure that the person had been taken into custody, nodded slightly: "Let's go."

The servant Jian cautiously asked: "Are you going to the government office?"

"Let's go tomorrow." Lu Ci took it for granted, "Of course I'm going back to the mansion."

Of course, he will not easily violate the lazy principle of 'If you can go to work tomorrow, don't go to work today'.

When Lu Ci walked out of the store, the small businesses that were doing business near this small restaurant all paid attention to him with different expressions.

They watched with their own eyes the notorious 'blocking tiger' enter aggressively, and then was unceremoniously picked up by the two-faced burly man like a chicken.

However, from their point of view, the reason why the 'blockers' who have always only squeezed soft persimmons suffered this loss was probably because they underestimated the enemy and entered the store alone without calling a bunch of rogue brothers.

When he brings people back to make a comeback, the people inside will be miserable.

After they came to a conclusion about Lu Ci's fate in their hearts, they felt even more sympathy when they saw Lu Ci walk out and see his stunning appearance.

The owner of a small stall selling some agricultural and mountain goods couldn't hold back, and shouted loudly: "My lord, you've gotten into trouble, you'd better leave early!"

Hearing the sound, Lu Ci glanced at him inadvertently, and the next moment he was attracted by something on the stall, and walked straight over.

The stall owner was about to persuade him again, when Lu Ci pointed at the fresh yam on his stall with his folded fan bone, which was worth a lot at first glance, and asked with a smile, "What's the price?"

The stall owner reflexively replied: "I picked it yesterday, it is fresh, sir, you can give it to me... One consistent is enough. Don't think it is expensive, the same thing, if you go to the pharmacy, they will ask for at least three consistent. "

His other agricultural products have been sold out, except for the wild yam that his youngest son picked up at random when he went up to the mountain yesterday to help chop firewood.

He was planning to go back to the village tonight, instead of staying longer in the city, he thought that if he really couldn't sell it, he would just sell it to the pharmacy at a low price if he didn't want to save this trouble.

When Lu Ci was looking at the yams on the stall, the youngest son of the stall owner who picked the yams and followed him this time also looked at Lu Ci eagerly.

Lu Ci nodded, smiled and said, "I want it all, please pack it all up for me."

——With a little processing, the yam is quite durable, and it can be sent to Liu Qi and the others as a special product.

The accompanying health servant had already developed his eyesight during this period of time. When he saw Lu Ci staring at the yam, he basically guessed his intentions, quietly held the money bag in his hand, and was ready.

Hearing this, he quickly calculated the amount of money in his heart, and then took out a small silver ingot of five taels.

The youngest son of the stall owner didn't stare at the little silver ingot that attracted the envy of countless people. He just raised his head and secretly stared at Lu Ci's exquisite and beautiful side face in a daze.

After stunned for a while, he woke up suddenly again.

He hid behind his father, and quietly wiped his plaster-stained and flushed face vigorously.

The stall owner was overjoyed after being surprised, quickly tore a piece of clean hemp paper, carefully wrapped the pieces of yam with dirt on them, handed them to the servant who took out the money, and took the silver ingot, Putting it in his arms, he kept thanking Lu Ci, a generous guest who didn't even pay back the price.

Lu Ci was not thanked by him, but walked to the next stall leisurely, and bought some specialties at random under the enthusiasm of the stall owner.

I heard the father and son who had closed the stall say happily as they walked away: "Thanks to your luck, kid, I dug up those pieces of yam, and now I can finally go to the bookstore and get what Dalang has always wanted." I bought the whole set of "Strategy and Theory Detailed Explanation..."

Author Lu Ci: "..."

The author has something to say: Notes:

1. The things that stand in the way are from "The Romance of Wanhualou" and "The Local Chronicles of Chenjiazhuang in the West of Fenyang"

2. Judgment.

In the Song Dynasty, the chief executive of the prefecture was Zhizhou (the chief executive of the prefecture was the magistrate), "in charge of the prime minister's county administration,...the taxation, money, prison litigation, military and civilian affairs are all in charge."At the same time, each prefecture should set up one or two judges to assist the county government. "Every matter concerning soldiers and civilians, money, household registration, taxes and labor, and prison proceedings can be adjudicated, and the guardian (that is, the prefect) can sign a letter to implement."

However, the Tongsan in the Song Dynasty was not the deputy of the Zhizhou, let alone a subordinate official of the Zhizhou, but a supervisor (and administrator) parallel to the Zhizhou, so the Tongsan was also called "Jianzhou".

The decrees of the prefect must be signed and signed by the general judge before they can take effect. , the general judge has the right to propose impeachment.

Because the general judges in the Song Dynasty had the status and power of "supervising the state", although their rank was lower than that of the Zhizhou, their momentum was not inferior to that of the Zhizhou;

Such disputes were recorded by Ouyang Xiu in his "Return to Field Records": Zhou Tongju "is neither a deputy second nor an official, so he often contends with the magistrate for power. ', the action was made by him".

In this way, Zhizhou and Tongju form a "separation of powers" separation of powers. Although Zhizhou is the chief executive of a state, it cannot dominate power.Ouyang Xiu said: "So far, states and counties have often been at odds with Tongju." The so-called "discord" is actually the real constraint of the two powers.

Another anecdote to share:

Ouyang Xiu told an anecdote: There was a Shaoqing named Qian Kun who was from Yuhang and liked to eat crabs very much.He once asked for a foreign post, thinking of being a magistrate in another state.Someone asked him which state he would like to take office in, and he said: "But if there are crabs and no sentences, then it's fine."

("Song: The Dawn of Modern Times")

3. In the prefectures with a population of more than [-] households in the Song Dynasty, one or two general judges had to be set up. Some small prefectures with a population of less than [-] households did not have a general judge. , must also be equipped with a general judge. ("Song: The Dawn of Modern Times")