Promotion and fortune in Song Dynasty

The guard officer who got Su Song's instructions, waited until the time of You, and saw Lu Ci riding alone on a horse, returning with a look of surprise.

His hands were empty, his thin lips were tightly pursed, and his brows were furrowed, as if holding back his anger.

His appearance at this time is the same as those previous library staff who went out to supervise the return but returned without success.

Sure enough, even going to the most difficult Yan Xueshi did not bring any benefits to this young and vigorous champion.

The guard pretended to be ignorant and greeted him, pretending to be a routine inquiry, but his eyes kept rolling on Lu Ci's face.

After getting a few absent-minded replies, he couldn't keep the other party who was obviously unhappy and couldn't even pretend to be gentle before going out, so he said goodbye impatiently.

After watching Lu Ci go back to Jixian Academy, he immediately ran to report the situation to Su Song.

"You said, when Lu Ci came back, his face was extremely ugly?"

Su Song was really in a good mood, and couldn't help but confirm it again.

The guard nodded again and again: "It's absolutely true."

"After this encounter," Su Song snorted softly, "Tomorrow that kid will definitely push back. If he still wants horses and grass, just give it to him, and he must go again."

In his opinion, Yan Shu has been regarded as a young talent who has been promoted repeatedly by the officials all these years.

Now that Lu Ci was born out of thin air, and the three yuan and the first place, he almost took all the limelight and favor. No matter how broad and open-minded Yan Shu is, how can he calm down when his interests are at stake?

Besides, the two of them, one from the south and the other from the north, if Lu Ci can really be promoted to the imperial court in the future, they are destined to be in the same situation, let alone establish any friendship.

For Lu Ci who came to his door, Yan Shu did not take advantage of the situation and embarrassed him a few times. It could be called a great opportunity to be sorry.

Lu Ci is unwilling, as long as he directly delegates his duties as a superior, not only will others not be able to find fault, but if Lu Ci refuses, he can be dealt with openly and aboveboard.

Su Song vaguely realized that Lu Ci might be difficult to deal with.If it is allowed to develop, it will be terrible in the future.

The only way is to suppress people mercilessly while they are newcomers and before their wings are fully fledged.

Su Song's sense of crisis towards Lu Ci was actually not wrong, the only difference is that Lu Ci completely saw through his footsteps before he even started to move.

Just as Su Song expected, when Lu Ci had to go to Yan Shu's house to ask for books to be borrowed the next day, his face instantly showed obvious reluctance.

Lu Ci frowned, and although he was extremely unhappy, he still had to admit: "As for the matter of returning the borrowed books by the supervisor, I spent a whole day yesterday, and I came back with a feather, and it's probably the same today... Academician, please find someone else."

In fact, the promotion of people in the pavilion has little to do with how well the administration is done.

Otherwise, the Song family's father and son were serious and active in the reconnaissance day after day, and they should have gone straight to the sky, instead of going back and forth between the three halls year after year, but their official ranks did not rise by half a point.

Those who can still go up, either they are highly valued by His Majesty, and their tenure is full, and they will be given other positions when they have enough qualifications; It is recommended by others, and has accumulated a certain reputation for practice, and put forward feasible construction suggestions.

Because of this, even if Lu Ci openly admits that he is incapable of recovering the outstanding books, it is impossible to damage his capital.

Su Song also knew this well, even if Lu Ci admitted that he was powerless and concluded that the other party must have been beaten by Yan Shu, it was impossible for him to push back.

Even when he saw that he was extremely resistant, he would rather give up his face and admit that he was not effective in doing things, and he was unwilling to go any further, which completely strengthened Su Song's mind.

——Let Lu resign even more.

After some gentle beatings, Lu Ci could only let out a long sigh, and took his orders to leave again.

Song Shou was full of sympathy for Lu Ci at this time.

Even a nerd who doesn't hear what's going on outside the window can easily see that the academician made things difficult for this handsome new champion who came to the cabinet without taking the exam.

It's just that although Song Shou was dissatisfied with Su Song's actions, he couldn't use the matter of recovering borrowed books, which was indeed within the school's affairs, to impeach him. He could only keep his displeasure in his heart.

Before Lu Ciyu went out, he dawdled again, and he really asked for horse food again.

Obtained by Su Song, the guard officer immediately responded to his request and promptly distributed a double portion of horse rations, so that Lu Ci had no more excuses and set off slowly.

However, what Su Song never imagined in his dreams was that when the dejected Lu Ci rushed to Yan Shu's private residence, what he got was not the cold reception or humiliation he had imagined.

When Lu Ci was respectfully ushered into the main hall by the concierge, it had been a long time since he had gone to court. Taking advantage of his absence, Yan Shu, who had finished handling his affairs, was already enjoying the exquisite refreshments leisurely Drinking the freshly brewed Erchen soup.

"I guessed that you would come around this time."

Without raising his eyes, Yan Shu just waved casually, motioning for Lu Ci to sit down on the chair beside him: "Taste it? I just bought it from Ren's store, and the Tao has just been prepared."

However, the little Taoist Luci only needed to glance casually to recognize it: "Ten kinds of nectar cakes, but at least they have been placed for three hours."

"..." Yan Shu said in disbelief, "Can you see this at once?"

Lu Ci smiled slightly: "The ten kinds of nectar cakes just made can't be this color."

Yan Shu is very particular about the quality of life, and he also likes to play with emotions.

But when it comes to food, he is far less picky and sensitive than Lu Ci, so he was skeptical about this sentence at first.

However, when he thought that Lu Ci's nickname was 'Glutton' bestowed by the emperor, he felt that his words were extremely credible.

He looked at Lu Ci with a calm face, and then looked at the refreshments on the plate. For some reason, he felt that the refreshments, which he was quite satisfied with before, suddenly became uninteresting after saying this.

He lost his appetite, so he simply put down his chopsticks and sighed, "You're fooling me like this, and I'll ask them to settle the score later."

"That's not necessary." Lu Ci said, "If I don't tell you, I'm afraid you won't be able to see it, and if you want to taste the most delicious tea, of course you have to go to the store. After all, you only need to put more than half of this kind of tea Over time, the sugar juice condenses, the quality of the cake hardens, and the taste will inevitably be greatly reduced."

Yan Shu smiled: "In terms of food, you are still a glutton, you can analyze even a few pieces of refreshments clearly and logically."

The corner of Lu Ci's mouth twitched, and he changed the subject very naturally: "The pots of flowers and plants mentioned yesterday will be delivered later. Have you thought about where to put them?"

Yan Shu smiled slightly: "There's no rush, we'll talk about it when we see it."

Lu Ci was not in a hurry to move his chopsticks, but said something to the servant beside him, and that person ran out quickly, and brought back a small tea mug full of water after a while.

Under Yan Shu's slightly curious gaze, Lu Ci slowly cleaned his fingers with it, then picked up the chopsticks, took a piece and tasted it carefully.

While he was chewing slowly, Yan Shu also observed him patiently, with a slight smile in his eyes: "I just used it to clean my hands, but kumquat water?"

Lu Ci nodded: "Only three drops."

Seeing that Lu Ci swept away the remaining few pieces of tea without hesitation, Yan Shu couldn't help sighing: "You are only picky in your words, but you are not picky in your mouth."

"Yes," Lu Ci took a sip of tea, swallowed the last sip, and wrote lightly, "When I tasted the second piece, I realized that I made a mistake, and I just didn't have time to tell you."

"This is indeed a fresh refreshment, and it must not have been left for more than half an hour."

Yan Shu's eyelids twitched. He didn't know that Lu Ci did it on purpose. He couldn't help sighing, "It's true that the government gave you the small character cunning boy. Your boss must have been fooled by you to make him dizzy, right?"

Lu Ci said solemnly: "It's obviously a happy thing for everyone, why is Tong Shu talking so badly?"

Yan Shu also bowed his hands at him seriously, expressing his apology: "What Yu Yu said is reasonable, but I am biased."

The two looked at each other and smiled, got up tacitly, and went together to the small courtyard that Yan Shu personally arranged, discussing how to arrange the pots of flowers and plants that Lu Ci had just delivered.

After finishing the display, Yan Shu admired it with great satisfaction.

Lu Ci said with a smile: "On that day when my uncle is promoted and given an official house, it is best to build a gazebo surrounded by green bamboos. There will also be small paths leading to the depths, swings will be placed around, and there will be flowers clustered around...it is definitely very good. beautiful."

Yan Shu imagined the picture that Lu Ci depicted, and couldn't help but feel a little fascinated: "When that day comes, I will definitely invite Yu Yu."

Lu Ci smiled.

Lu Ci spent five or six days in Yan Shu's days of good food and drink and pleasing company.

He reckoned that if he dragged on, Su Song might have doubts, so he began to take one or two overdue books from Yan Shu and return them to the library, which was better than nothing.

Because of the slow progress of taking one or two books every day, it dragged on for another half a month before finally returning the borrowed books.

Before Su Song'an could send out new tasks, when the end of the month came, the shopkeepers would arrive quickly.

The soldiers came and went in a hurry, leaving behind only three tightly wrapped packages, which came from Yongzhou, Yiling and Mizhou respectively.

Although the plan was well planned that day, the appointments were to be sent by Teng Zongliang at the beginning of the month, Zhu Shuo in the middle of the month, and Liu at the end of July, but when it was actually implemented, it was different.

Teng Zongliang was quite forgetful, and he didn't remember it until the end of the month, so he packed a copy and sent it in a hurry; Zhu said that he had been thinking about Lu Ci's instructions, and because he arrived at the office early, he immediately collected interesting snacks in the market. It was mailed before it arrived; Liu Qi was a little bit ahead of schedule, and before the end of the month, she brought along the snacks prepared by Lu's mother.

Zhu said that the package was the farthest away, but it was the first to leave. Therefore, due to many coincidences, the three packages arrived at the same time.

At that time, Lu Ci was reading with Song Shou on the third floor of Jixian Yuan, but he didn't get the news immediately.

Su Song, who happened to pass by, saw three bulging and tightly wrapped packages, so he couldn't help but ask a question.

Hearing these, they were all sent to Lu Ci by small officials from all over the country. After a moment of daze, his eyes lit up.

What a Lu Ci, he has just entered the pavilion, and he dares to openly accept bribes from local candidates!

Naturally, Su Song would not let go of the opportunity that came to him.

He made a decisive decision, directly seized three packages, and stopped the officials who wanted to tell Lu Ci to know. After returning to his room, he swiped a pen and quickly wrote an impeachment note.

Thinking of the group of northerners who supported Lu Ci, and the emperor who had always favored him, Su Song suddenly felt that this was not safe enough, so he simply sent someone to weigh these three, and he felt that the weight of the crime was not light. Together with his accusation, it was sent to Yushitai.

If a Taiwanese official takes office for a hundred days without impeachment, he will be dismissed and fined.For some Taiwan officials who were worried, Su Song's action was undoubtedly a timely shower.

What's more, not all the officials from the Northland would be as eager as Kou Zhun to support and love Lu Ci as his nephew.

Many people are jealous and disdainful of this young scholar who has already won the grace and glory that countless scholars who study hard in a poor window can't get in their lifetime.

I hope that Lu Ci will stumble, it will be bad luck, there will be many people around.

So in the early morning of the next day, the impeachment of Jixian School Manager Lu Ci for openly accepting bribes from local officials was placed in front of the official Zhao Heng.

Zhao Heng was still sleepy and yawning furtively because he was cultivating immortals all night again, and was awakened by this impeachment.

"Lu Ci?"

"What you said," Zhao Heng couldn't hide his doubts, "is it really the No. [-] scholar in the new division, Lu Ci?"

It's been less than a month since Kou Zhun argued hard and yelled at the court to put Lu Ci, a rare young talent, into a pavilion with a bright future, right?

Although they have a lot of disagreements with Kou Zhun's words and deeds, when it comes to Lu Ci, the officials agree with him, which is rare.

So Kou Zhun charged forward to fight for Lu Ci, and when he had exhausted all the artillery fire, the officials came along and promoted Lu Ci to the cabinet without a test.

Something happened in just one month?

Zhao Heng, who had a very consistent impression of Lu Ci, heard of this matter and his first reaction was to be skeptical.

However, the official was not afraid at all, and stood with his head held high.

In his opinion, this evidence was sent by Shangguan Lu Ci, so what could be wrong?

What's more, even if Mr. Xiao Lang didn't know the seriousness, he didn't break the ban on purpose, but was induced by an adulterer, the fact is still the same.

Just entering the official career, and being impeached by this kind of impeachment, once it is confirmed, no matter what happens, it will hurt the muscles and bones, and it will be difficult to make an inch of progress in the future.

Kou Zhun's eyes were wide open, and he stomped his feet angrily, and was about to curse on the spot: "You foolish old man, don't be so bloody!"

"Here is the evidence of Lu Ci's embezzlement and bribery. Please be careful with the privy envoy." The man thought he had the winning ticket, saluted without being humble, and said sonorously: "Your Majesty, please check it with your own eyes."

Yan Shu, who had been standing still all this time, couldn't help raising his eyebrows after his eyes paused on the three big packages.

Could it be what he imagined?

"..." Facing this man's aggressiveness, Zhao Heng flicked his hands in displeasure. After all, it was the other party's responsibility, and he couldn't reprimand him. He could only signal Lin Neichen, "Let's tear it down."

If Lu Ci really failed him, he would punish him severely without anyone telling him.

Lin Neichen heard the hidden anger of the officials, sighed inwardly, and had no choice but to accept the order to go up.

When Lin Neichen, under the watchful eyes of everyone, neatly opened up three packages that were so densely sealed that it was impossible to see the true shape of the objects inside——

What caught my eye was steamed honey steamed in small cans, flower cakes, preserved bream, dried lychees with sugar...

The amount of this mess seems large, but even if the ministers stare at them, it is not difficult to come to the conclusion that the total value of the three guarantees is obviously not more than three passes.

——There was a dead silence in the middle of the court.

The author has something to say: Official: Are you fucking kidding me?

Notes:

1. Official residence:

In the early Song Dynasty, the officials of the Beijing Dynasty could only rent houses by themselves.Han Qi, the prime minister of the Renzong Dynasty, said: "It is common for government officials and officials to live in private houses in Beijing." There is no house to live in, even though the governor is in charge of renting a house.

During the period from Xining to Yuanfeng of Emperor Shenzong of Song Dynasty, the imperial court allocated funds to build a number of official residences in front of the Youye Gate of the imperial city: "East and west mansions were built with four each, the first one in the east mansion had 150 six rooms, and the rest each had 150 three houses. Room. The Eastern Mansion ordered the ministers and the officials to live in it; the Western Mansion ordered the Privy Envoys and Deputy Envoys to live there.... At the beginning of the move, the Deputy Envoys of the Three Divisions, Zhiza Yushi and above were all in advance." Eligible to live in "eight people "The official residences are all the prime ministers above the deputy state level, the chief ministers, the privy envoys, the privy deputy envoys, the third division envoys, the third division deputy envoys, Yushi Zhongcheng (equivalent to the speaker), Zhiza Yushi (equivalent to the deputy speaker) .As for officials below the minister level, no official residence is arranged, and they still "live in a house" or buy their own houses.

The official residence is well-equipped with daily necessities. However, the officials staying in the official residence only have the right to use the official residence and living facilities, and have no ownership. ("Cultural History of the Song Dynasty")