Promotion and fortune in Song Dynasty

Dr. Taichang Yandu, who was in charge of the imperial order, attached great importance to this. In order to avoid complications, he simply packed his bags and went straight to Qinzhou by boat on the night when he was ordered to do so.

It's just that the selection and appointment took a little time. No matter how fast Yan Du moved, he couldn't keep up with Liu Qi's speed of reporting. When he was three or four days away from Qinzhou, Liu Qi was in a hurry Deliver the message first.

When Teng Zongliang received Liu Qi's letter, at first he thought it was just a casual letter, and was not in a hurry to open it.

It wasn't until late at night after finishing his official duties that he, Di Qing, and Zhu Yue took some time off to chat and get together in a teahouse, that he remembered the letter he had been carrying in his bosom.

"Since my sweetheart was transferred back to Beijing, I haven't seen Mrs. Liu sending letters very often, but she is very indifferent." Teng Zongliang opened the letter with a smile, and joked with Di Qing: "It seems that she finally remembered this bitter cold place. We, the three friends from Qinzhou, are here, and we are coming to offer our condolences."

Zhu said with a helpless smile, but did not agree with Teng Zongliang's joke.

On the contrary, Di Qing's eyes fell on the thin envelope, and a trace of indescribable doubt arose in his heart.

Brother Liu has always talked a lot, such a thin letter really doesn't match his style.

Teng Zongliang didn't know what Di Qing's doubts were. After reading the letter neatly and casually, the relaxed smile full of teasing on his face disappeared without a trace in an instant.

When he read Liu Qiyu's extremely scribbled words at the end of the letter, "the official will send people to Qinzhou to discuss the matter", Teng Zongliang broke into a cold sweat and stood up on the spot.

"I--"

Teng Zongliang had long forgotten what he did more than a month ago.

However, when he made this decision alone, he believed that this matter was beneficial to the people's livelihood. As for the resulting funding gap, it would be no big deal to make up for it after the turnover came around.

What's more, in this Qinzhou, most of the people in power are his good friends, and they don't worry about being accused.

He never dreamed that he would be severely impeached by Yushitai thousands of miles away, and he would be charged with such a big crime!

"I'll excuse you for a while."

After Teng Zongliang hurriedly dropped this sentence, because of his confusion, he even forgot to accept the letter on the table, and was about to go back to the government office in a panic.

I'm used to Teng Zongliang's bold, suave, carefree appearance, but it's rare to see him so frightened. Zhu Yue and Di Qinggu both frowned, knowing that something big might happen.

However, before they could open their mouths to inquire about the specific situation, Teng Zongliang left the wing room almost in a state of embarrassment. He could only pick up the letter that had been left behind and read it together.

After reading this, both of them were surprised.

Di Qing didn't expect that this trivial matter that only caused him a little worry before, and specifically mentioned it to his father-in-law, would have such a serious follow-up.

As far as Zhu Shuo, who was ignorant from the beginning to the end, suddenly learned that Teng Zongliang had done such a wrong thing without telling them, his heart was instantly filled with great shock and annoyance.

"Brother Teng has been an official for many years, and he is very familiar with the regulations," Zhu said anxiously, "How could there be such a big omission!"

Di Qing was silent for a moment, his heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly guessed something.

not good!

Seeing that the situation was urgent, he didn't even bother to explain to Zhu, so he rushed out the door and ran all the way to the government office.

Although he is also a civil servant on the surface, he has a lot of military experience, and his pace when he is in a hurry is naturally many times stronger than Teng Zongliang's.

Even Teng Zongliang was anxious, and went straight to the government office. When he arrived at the gate of the government office, before he had time to step inside, Di Qing, who was blushing and not panting, overtook him from behind: "Teng Zhizhou!"

"Young brother."

Teng Zongliang's mood is still very confused at the moment, and he has no time to deal with Di Qing, who seems to have noticed something, forced a smile and said: "Didn't I ask you to wait for me for a while? I just thought that I missed some important things and haven't dealt with them. After packing up, go back to the teahouse immediately."

"Teng Zhizhou."

Di Qing emphasized his tone, and repeated again solemnly: "You came back in a hurry to destroy the account books, right?"

Unexpectedly, Teng Zongliang's thoughts were seen through by the young Di Qing, and he was stunned on the spot.

Seeing his dumbfounded expression, Di Qing knew that he was right, and couldn't help but secretly thankful that he reacted quickly enough to stop him in time: "Let's go in and talk about it."

"oh oh."

Teng Zongliang, who had been told that his mind had been broken, hadn't come back to his senses, followed the suddenly majestic young brother like a sleepwalker, and honestly entered the inner hall.

"The books must never be touched."

That's what Di Qing said.

Teng Zongliang smiled wryly and said: "Since Younger Brother can guess why I returned in a hurry, he should also be able to figure out my intention for doing so."

The moment he knew that the incident would be brought to light and Dr. Taichang would push him away, he thought of burning the relevant account books.

The purpose of doing this is naturally not to exonerate himself - no matter whether the person who impeached him has real evidence or knows a little about the inside story, he can't afford to take the risk of involving a group of people.

At the beginning, it was he who insisted on going his own way and persuaded the officials to pass the audit of the expenditure. Now that the incident has been revealed, if someone takes away all the account books, he will be the first to bear the brunt, and no one else will be able to escape the responsibility.

It would be better to set the account books on fire, and let him do the work and take responsibility for all the crimes.

How to punish at that time, how to punish: Even if his official career is hopeless, he made this decision wholeheartedly for the people, and he is worthy of heaven and earth.

"Brother Teng's thinking is wrong." Di Qing shook his head and said, "Not to mention that the act of destroying the account books is intended to cover up and provoke the suspicion of national law. Do you think that the other party will be willing to return without success?"

In Di Qing's view, although Teng Zongliang's idea came from good intentions, it was too reckless and lacking in consideration.

In the absence of evidence to check, I am afraid that the other party will become angry from embarrassment. Firstly, it is to retaliate against Teng Zongliang who is "guilty" and provocative. Suspect', I'm afraid it is to pursue the branch, arrest all those who may be related, and never stop until the specific crimes are found out.

If it really came to that point, Teng Zongliang's good intentions would really drag everyone into jail, and he, as the 'mastermind', would be even more embarrassed.

Teng Zongliang opened his mouth, but said nothing.

He looked in disbelief at the young boy whose outline was clear and immature, but whose analysis was well-organized and well-founded, which made him speechless, as if he had just met him the day before.

——Xu Shiqing's docile and taciturn image in front of Yu Yu was so deeply rooted in the hearts of the people that Di Qing suddenly became strict at this moment, showing a majesty similar to that of Yu Yu, which really surprised him.

"Then tell me, what should I do?"

Teng Zongliang was silent for a long time before accepting the fact that he was not as thoughtful as Di Qing in his confusion, and asked in a low voice.

"Not a single page of the old account book can be touched. From today onwards, all of them will be under my supervision."

Di Qing said categorically.

As a general judge, he already has the authority to be in charge of the account books, but he rarely stated this based on his trust in Teng Zongliang in the past.

It was a critical moment, and he weighed it over and over again, but he still didn't dare to take the risk that Teng Zongliang would move the account books without thinking about opening them while waiting for the review, so he simply put the ugly words first, and moved all the account books to his own cabinet in front of Teng Zongliang In the middle, it was tightly fastened with three big locks.

Teng Zongliang couldn't believe his eyes: "...Could it be that we just sit and wait for death?"

Di Qing shook his head, wondering if it was Teng Zongliang's illusion, he could only see from the other side's expressionless handsome side face, a somewhat calm demeanor similar to Lu Ci's, who was also calm and calm when encountering major events: "Brother Teng, Mr. Go home and get all the living money you can use, and leave the rest to Brother Zhu and me to make up for it."

Teng Zongliang: "..."

Even though he could hear the deep distrust of himself in these words, he just made a big mistake, after all, he lacked confidence, so he could only go home disheartened with his tail between his legs, searching for money from boxes and boxes.

After sending Teng Zongliang away, Di Qing didn't waste any time, and started intensively to make up for it.

He first briefly explained the situation with Zhu Shuo, who arrived quite late, and then went home separately, took out all the savings he had saved over the years, and the three of them got together to make up for the hole in the public money; In the account books of one book, everything is truthfully registered; in the end, it is necessary to check for omissions and fill in the gaps in the pile of accounts that have been handled by Teng Zongliang since Lu Ci left Qinzhou, especially some vague entries, one by one. To implement...

It wasn't until Di Qing, who was tossing his head and two big heads and gnashing his teeth, that he was doing such a delicate and tedious job for the first time after he started to trace one by one, didn't he realize how frank and casual Brother Teng was when he spent public money.

Although a large part of the money was spent on the purchase of agricultural seeds, there was still a quarter of the envoy's money. Long before this, it had been "gifted to the traveler's deceased, and helped the poor and helpless official in the funeral". Teng Zongliang was squandered.

Teng Zongliang still thought about this matter for a day or two at the beginning, and walked towards him frequently with a guilty conscience, as if hesitant to speak.

In the end, it must have been frightened by Di Qing's increasingly ferocious and murderous eyes, and he didn't dare to hit the knife again.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and that night, Di Qing was left alone again, lighting the lamp bitterly and continuing to check the account books.

Fortunately, he has followed the grandfather for so many years, and he has always put all his thoughts on him. Therefore, even though he is new to the officialdom, when he has to provoke the leader alone, his skills are beyond everyone's expectations. .

He knew very well that the official family had always been very partial to his grandfather, and judging from the preferential treatment Liu Qi received, he might really be a bit fond of his family.

Because of this, it is absolutely impossible for the officials who knew that Teng Zongliang and Zhu Shuo had a good relationship with their grandfathers to send a person who had prejudice against them and had malicious intentions to push them back.

Rather, it should be a neutral and upright person carefully selected out of a genuine intention to know the authenticity of this matter.

Since this is the case, if they try to cover up, they will be superfluous and deliberately fool each other.

In the eyes of the impartial opponent, whether this unfamiliar and clumsy cover-up method can cover up the facts is one thing. his greatest worry.

It's better to be frank and frank, take a gamble, and let him check it out.

Anyway, although brother Teng spends public funds lavishly and with insufficient consideration, there is no such thing as "filling one's own pocket" and "taking money into oneself" in the name of impeachment.

Because of the point of "wasting public money", brother Teng will inevitably be punished, but if it is clarified that this action is out of compassion for the peasants, and then supplemented by other people's similar usage as circumstantial evidence of "the practice of this dynasty", it is reasonable to write, Should be able to fight for a lighter sentence.

... Di Qing was even quite unkind, and thought from the bottom of his heart, if he could take this opportunity to punish brother Teng for being too careless, it would be better than cleaning up for others all the time without any future problems. Therefore, I can't remember the lesson well.

After Di Qing stayed up for the third night, he finally sorted out the messy account books.

If there is still time, he certainly wants to sort it out again...

But it was destined to be late.

Early in the morning of the fourth day, Dr. Taichang Yandu arrived in Mizhou.

He knew that he couldn't delay for a moment, so when he got off the boat, he didn't go to the post house to have a rest first, and he didn't care about the simple luggage, so he directly rented a donkey, asked the location of the government office, and went straight to the government office.

When he arrived at the gate of the government office, with a straight face, he showed the documents proving his identity to the bewildered officials, and ignored Teng Zongliang, the magistrate who came to greet him after hearing the news, and rushed in unceremoniously. The back room where the ledgers are kept.

After confirming that all the ledgers recording the use of public money were in it, he kicked everyone out and locked the door at the same time.

In the days that followed, he seemed to be living in it all the time. Except for three meals a day, he used a simple wooden barrel for washing and changing, but he never took a step.

His act of occupying the reference room so domineeringly naturally caused a lot of trouble to the officials.

But after asking about Yan Du's identity and purpose of coming, they immediately fell silent, especially those who participated in Teng Zongliang's invitation before, they felt a little bit insecure, and they didn't dare to complain at all.

Yan Du naturally didn't care about the thoughts of the boss, this occupation lasted for more than half a month.

Teng Zongliang went from being uneasy at least ten times in the first day, to being completely at peace later, or a dead pig is not afraid of boiling water.

After finishing his official duties that day, he couldn't help calling Zhu Shuo and Di Qing again, and the three of them went to the teahouse last time in silence, continuing the unfinished party.

The tea was boiling hotly, Teng Zongliang sighed softly, stood up suddenly, filled the teacup in front of Zhu Shuo and Di Qing himself, and bowed sincerely: "Brother Yu committed a crime and wanted to bear it alone, but he was too naive. In the end, it still caused trouble for Zhudi and Qingdi."

In particular, Zhu Shuo, who wanted to rush back to his hometown in time for the New Year's break, busy returning to Fan's surname, and recognizing his ancestors, was forced to delay his trip. Seeing that he missed the opportunity, he had to wait another year.

Zhu said that Di Qing had a lot of preoccupations, and when he saw Teng Zongliang, he also sighed: "Brother Teng said these words at this time, it is too far-fetched. Besides, the result has not yet come out, so there is no need to worry too much."

Teng Zongliang shook his head and said: "I know you are kind enough to comfort me, but this time, I should be doomed, that's all, I deserve what I deserve, there is nothing to quibble about."

The longer the time dragged on, the deeper the backlog of sorrow in his heart became.

The initial fluke and disapproval disappeared as the days went by.

Only now did he realize why Yu Yu kept emphasizing over and over again that he would rather slow things down than leave any excuses behind;

I only hate him for being careless. After Yu Yu left, he revealed his true colors. As a result, he dragged down two younger brothers who were not related by blood, but they were like brothers. Even the savings of the three of them over the years were wasted to clean up the mess for him. empty.

If time could turn back, he would never do that frivolous thing again.

When the three of them were talking to each other in silence, there was a knock on the door, and Teng Zongliang said in a low mood: "Come in."

It was not someone else who knocked on the door, but a guy from the teahouse they were quite familiar with.

The guy holding the letter had won the job from other people. He thought he would get a reward, but unexpectedly, when he opened the door, he looked depressed.

He suddenly murmured in his heart, he felt that the timing was not good, and the thought of rewarding money was chased away.

After briefly explaining that he was here to convey the purpose of the letter, he smiled slightly and was about to leave.

It was Di Qing who took the letter first and didn't forget to give him ten rewards.

After the relieved man closed the door, Di Qing turned his attention to the letter in his hand.

"Yes..." Seeing this, Di Qing's dark eyes lit up like a candle, "Grandpa's!"

Isn't the handsome handwriting on the envelope belonged to Lu Ci?

As soon as these words came out, the three people who were originally lifeless all returned to their senses in an instant.

Teng Zongliang rushed over as if seeing a life-saving straw, opened the letter first, and read it at a glance.

The letter was not thick, it was only three pages in total, the first page was full of praise for Di Qing's ability to deal with emergencies, and his aptitude to be better than blue; the second page was to appease Zhu Shuo; the third page was for him.

However, the ruthless little Taotie not only did not give any comfort to Brother Teng, who was suffering from the final ruling, but even taunted him unceremoniously.

At the end of the letter, Teng Zongliang, who was in desperate need of comfort, was almost furious.

——"Brother Teng, when he was relegated to Lingnan, can you send some lychees?"

When Teng Zongliang's eyes widened in disbelief, and he read this sentence word by word, not only Di Qing couldn't help laughing, but even the most serious Zhu Shuo burst out laughing accidentally.

The author has something to say: Notes:

1. I forgot to comment on the previous chapter. It is the chapter where Di Qing wrote a letter to Lu Ci. The anecdote mentioned has a prototype in history (of course, I don’t know how reliable it is)

Zhong Fu, courtesy name Ruoweng, was recommended by Li Xian, the eunuch of the Renzong Dynasty, to be an official.There are ups and downs in the officialdom, not to mention how Zhong Weiguan has a political voice, but only to say that he has a hobby, like to comment on calligraphy and paintings on plaques.Seeing the plaque in the hall of a mansion is not pleasing to the eye, it is said that the writing is not good, and so on, usually derogatory, and can give many seemingly superb artistic suggestions.Most of Zhong's comments are fallacious, and people at the time have nothing to do with him.Once, when Zhong and his subordinates passed by Mount Lushan, they saw a magnificent high pavilion called "Dinghuizhi Pavilion", and the inscription could not be clearly seen.Zhong commented: "The handwriting is too ugly, and there is no calligraphy art at all. Take it off and let me see who wrote it." Take it off and rub it, and the signature is Yan Zhenqing. ("Micro History@宋朝人")

2. In history, Teng Zongliang burned all the account books before Yan Du came. They were arrested and imprisoned together, and there was a great disturbance ("Twigs and vines chased and chased all counties in Binzhou, and the prison was full of prisoners")...

It is also recorded in the history books that Teng Zongliang spends a lot of money as a minister. Even though he had no surplus money when he died, and he never filled his own pockets when he was alive, he did use money indiscriminately.If you want to see more details, you can read "Knowing the Song Dynasty: The History of the Song Dynasty Written to My Daughter"