The First Yamen of the Great Song Dynasty

Chapter 33

Cai Jing celebrated his birthday on the [-]th of June, and it was already past the tenth day of the Lunar New Year, but his son-in-law's birthday gift had not yet been delivered.

It's not that he lacks the kindness of his daughter and son-in-law, but that the congratulatory gift given to him last year was robbed.

The birthday gift of the dignified prime minister of a country was robbed, and the culprit was not found after the robbing. He had a very breathless birthday last year.

A year passed in a blink of an eye, and it was time to receive birthday presents, so he couldn't help but worry, if the same thing happened twice, it would be too disgusting, and it would be a hindrance to the birthday.

After two days like this, on this day, Cai Jing was resting in the mansion, when he suddenly heard a report from Du Guan: "Master, the birthday card of Daming Mansion has arrived."

A stone in Cai Jing's heart fell to the ground. Fortunately, there was one less thing to worry about on his birthday this time.

But he didn't want to be in charge and continued: "However, it was sent by Gao Yanei."

Cai Jing was a little dazed, suspecting that he had heard it wrong, "Gao Qiu's son? What's the matter with him?"

"The little one doesn't know, but it is true that Gao Yanei came to the gate of the mansion with the birthday outline sealed by the Daming mansion."

Cai Jing couldn't figure it out, so he changed his clothes and went out to meet Gao Yamen.

Gao Ming waited in the lobby, took a sip of tea, and saw Cai Jing who was anxiously waiting for the delivery.

Things that are given out on a large scale become "gangs", and the so-called birthday gangs are actually a lot of birthday gifts.

The sender was Liang Zhongshu of the Daming House, and the courier was originally Yang Zhi, but now the courier changed hands on the road and the courier became Gao Ming.

Seeing Cai Jing coming, Gao Ming bowed first, "Boy Gao Ming, I have met the Grand Master."

Seeing that there were a dozen burdens piled up in the hall, Cai Jing smiled and said, "Nephew, you don't have to be polite, get up and take your seat." He calmly sat down on the master's seat, sipped some tea, He pretended to be casual and said, "What's on the ground?"

Gao Ming waited for Cai Jing to take his seat before he sat down, "That's it, I went to Gaotangzhou to attend the wedding of my friend's sister. On the way back, I saw a few suspicious people at the inn. After investigation, they were a group of robbers. Fortunately, my My friend Hua Rong and his subordinates were very effective. They captured a thief and took these burdens. Although one load was taken away, the remaining ten loads are here. We found that there was a seal of the Daming Mansion on it, and the thief also admitted I took the birthday card, and it happened that we returned to Tokyo, so I sent it to you, grand master, so please send someone to check it."

Gao Ming's words can be summed up as follows: I picked up the courier you lost and sent it back according to the address. Please check it.

Cai Jing felt the joy of regaining what was lost, but he didn't show any emotion on his face. He just smiled lightly and said, "Thanks to my nephew, otherwise the birthday present from my son-in-law will be lost again."

Sometimes express delivery may not be valuable, but if it is lost, it feels very disturbing. Now that I have found it, Cai Jing feels comfortable all over.

Gao Ming got up and said: "It's all what my nephew should do. When the things are delivered, my nephew will leave and don't bother the grand master."

Cai Jing said politely: "Why don't you sit down for a while? There are food and wine prepared at home, you and I have a drink."

Gao Ming knew that the other party was just being polite, and he definitely didn't intend to keep him for dinner, so he used the excuse that he still had something to do, and Cai Jing followed suit to let Gao Ming leave.

After the people left, Cai Jing sent someone to count the birthday outline, and immediately sent a letter to the Daming Mansion, saying that the birthday outline was received, and the gift was very satisfactory, and I know that you are filial.

Then the topic changed, and he complained that his son-in-law was not good at handling things, why he lost everything, and he didn't come to Tokyo to inform.

His son-in-law Liang Zhongshu breathed a sigh of relief when he received the letter from the father-in-law. God bless him, he heard the old man said a few days ago that he lost his birth certificate and that Yang Zhi ran away, and almost passed out.

Unfortunately, last year's birthday card was lost, and this year's is lost again, and the father-in-law thought he was not willing to give a congratulatory gift to find an excuse.

At the same time, I couldn't help but grieve my teeth with hatred, why did I pick him to grab him!

Are the things from Daming Mansion fragrant?

As for why he was in pain but didn't tell his father-in-law that the things were lost, it was because he was discussing with his wife whether he should tighten his belt and make up a birthday outline and deliver it before his father-in-law's birthday.

Now that the gift has been found, I feel relieved.

After thinking about it, he immediately wrote back to his father-in-law: Since Gao Yanei has captured a robber, I don't know who did this case, and whether there is some ulterior motive.

Cai Jing quickly wrote back: It's just a few villagers, greedy for money, nothing else, and someone else will deal with it.

-

Bai Sheng recruited quickly, Gao Ming was not surprised at all, according to the original trajectory, Bai Sheng was caught soon, and he also confessed Chao Gai and others very quickly, which directly caused Chao Gai and others to have nowhere to go. He hid and ran to Liangshan.

It's true that Bai Sheng betrayed Chao Gai and others, but it's not very unreasonable. After all, Chao Gai and the others are a temporary criminal gang, and they don't have any friendship at all. Don't look at people who will be called brothers in the future. It's better for Bai Sheng to have a relationship with his neighbors. emotion.

Bai Sheng was detained in Tokyo, and Tengfu Yin issued an official document asking Yuncheng County to arrest Chao Gai and others.

After Gao Ming gave Cai Jing a big favor, he soon started harvesting activities.

Favors are not used, they will become invalid after the expiration date, and Cai Jing is busy, so he can't keep them all and forget them in a few days.

So a few days after Cai Jing's birthday, news came from the household department that Gao Ming and Murong Yanze had applied for funding from the household department to help build the court.

Cai Jing knew about the construction of the court, but he didn't pay much attention to it. There are many things that officials like, and Cuju is just one of them.

But Cai Jing didn't expect that Gao Ming and Murong's family would ask the Ministry of Households for money. Everyone silently paid for this kind of thing to please the officials.

However, in the application, Gao Ming, as the applicant, gave a good reason. The stadium is built and can provide activities for the whole people, so he hopes that the government will subsidize it with some money.

In the past, Cai Jing would not take the initiative to offend Gao Qiu, but would only ask the Ministry of Households to play a procrastination war with Gao Yanei.

If it takes him a year and a half, the other party can't wait, so the money doesn't have to be allocated.

But it's different now, Cai Jing owes Gao Ming a favor, he doesn't want to play this game, so he waved his hand, yes.

-

With the appropriation from the imperial court, plus the money for selling merit monuments and advertising in the venue, in Murong Yanze's words: "Gao Ming, we will make a lot of money this time! No matter what kind of official we become in the future, we don't need to scrape the ground." Land."

Cui Niannu has made a lot of contributions to the business of the merit monument, and she can be called a gold medal salesman. Among the rich people she has ever lived, there are few who don't pay.

The commission she earned was enough for her to eat and drink for the rest of her life.

Huarong sent Gao Ming to Tokyo, and hurried back to his hometown. He didn't return to Tokyo to accept the appointment until August.

Gao Ming also helped Huarong keep an eye on the assignment, and talked to his father in advance to find a good position for Huarong.

Gao Qiu fully promised that he would try his best to be his son's good friend.

But when the appointment came out, Gao Ming's expression changed when he saw the result, and he immediately went to Baihutang to find his father.

Because Gao Qiu was discussing the military plan with his staff, when he came out, he saw the discontented face of his son who was waiting, and hurriedly said, "What's wrong with my son? Who bullied you again?"

"I heard from the news that Hua Rong was sent to Renzhi Village in Qingzhou, how could this happen?"

You know, in the established development track of Huarong, it is Qingzhou Qingfeng Village, Wuzhi Village, and Liu Gao's discord with Wenzhi Village, which led to so many troubles later.

Gao Qiu didn't understand, so, "Isn't this very good? Qingfeng Mountain under the jurisdiction of Qingzhou is an important town. Go there to be a magistrate, just like Wen Jinshi is a magistrate. Why not?"

Gao Ming knew that this Wuzhi village was equivalent to the deputy county magistrate in charge of law and order in later generations. His subordinates directly managed three to five hundred soldiers.

"I'm not talking about the official position, I'm talking about the location? Why is it in Qingzhou? I heard that the place is in chaos now."

"Well, I heard that the prefect of Qingzhou wrote to the imperial court, hoping to send some capable people to help him suppress the bandits. However, no matter how chaotic Qingzhou is, it is only a bandit problem. How can we send a large army? Just when the imperial court saw Hua Rong Yingwu, he was sent there It's gone." Gao Qiu saw that his son was worried about Huarong, so he explained: "Although Qingzhou is chaotic, it is a good place for Huarong. The military commander will reward you for his merits. If he goes, he will be able to suppress the bandits properly, and he will be worried. Not promoted?"

"My uncle, I haven't seen him make any achievements, hasn't he been promoted too?!"

"How can a military officer be compared to a civilian officer? You have also seen Yang Zhi who was kicked out by me. He is the descendant of the three generations of generals and the grandson of the fifth prince Yang Linggong. That's all."

Although Yang Zhi was the envoy of the Palace Marshal's Mansion, he could only do the work of purchasing and escorting goods. Hua Shigang was indeed valuable, but in the final analysis, it was meaningless to be an envoy without the real power to command troops and horses for the government's escort.

With so much emphasis on literature and despise martial arts, can our Song Dynasty still be okay? !Injustice is injustice, the national policy is like this, Gao Ming can't do anything now, "So, Qingzhou is still a good place to go?"

Gao Qiu said: "You asked Huarong to wipe out the banditry in Qingzhou. With the merits, everything else will be easy to handle. My father thinks this is a good starting point. Don't look at you being aggrieved here. Huarong himself may be very satisfied, don't believe me, You go ask him."

"You're right, I'm going now." After that, he lifted his legs and left.

Gao Qiu muttered to his son's back: "You will know that what your father said is right when you go." Shaking his head, he went back to Baihutang

When Gao Ming arrived at Huarong's house, he was packing his bags with his servants. He also knew that the appointment would come down in two days, and he had already sold the house. Once he received the letter of appointment, he would set off for the appointment.

Seeing Gao Ming coming, Hua Rong put down what he was doing, sat down with him in the vacated study, and asked the servant to prepare tea.

Seeing that Gao Ming frowned slightly, Hua Rong seemed to have something unhappy. He rarely saw him like this, so he couldn't help worrying, "What's wrong? Did something bad happen?"

"I'll just say it straight, I heard that the imperial court sent you to Qingfeng Village in Qingzhou to be the Zhizhai."

Hua Rong didn't understand, "So I was sent there, but isn't that a good thing? Why are you frowning?"

"I heard it's very chaotic over there." Gao Ming grinned, "There are many hills, and there are kings on every hill. There are too many robbers, and the common people are not enough."

Hua Rong suddenly realized: "So you are worried about me, so there is no need for it. If the world is peaceful, people like me will be useless."

Gao Ming sighed, "...I'm afraid that if you go, you will be restrained by higher-level officials and will not be able to exert your strength."

For example, the disgusting boss Liu Gao or something.

"Are you afraid that I won't be able to handle the relationship with the superiors?" Hua Rong said, "This is even more unnecessary. As long as you become an official, you will have to face such problems."

Gao Ming found that Hua Rong himself was satisfied, and the court was satisfied. He was the only one who was dissatisfied, and he couldn't say it directly. Tell me in a letter, and I will help you find a way. If you can’t wait, you don’t have to get used to him, just beat him up, and if he refuses to accept, just tell him to come to me!”

Hua Rong frowned slightly, "I know you mean well, but I'm a big man, how can I protect myself?"

Gao Mingyu said earnestly: "Meeting a higher-level official who is looking for trouble with you is really worse than death. Promise me, if you meet a disgusting boss, it doesn't matter if you beat him hard. I will take care of it for you. Don't bear it." Take it easy on yourself."

Huarong couldn't help but smile bitterly, "I can't do this anymore, it's time for dinner, let's eat." He asked the servants to prepare wine and dishes, and Gao Ming stayed for dinner.

Gao Ming also saw that Huarong didn't want to talk about this anymore, so he changed the subject and started talking about the upcoming Zhuqiu competition, "It's a pity that you are not in Tokyo. Organizations, as well as folks who form associations themselves, don’t mention how lively it is.”

"I just said, the person who bought my house clearly stated that it will be used by foreign players."

Gao Ming said regretfully: "There are still five days before the opening ceremony, can't you wait any longer? I spent a year preparing for this ball building competition, and the group exercises were practiced by the military supervisors of Shi Qian for several times. Yue. When you go to Qingzhou, it must be difficult to see such a lively event."

Hua Rong hesitated, "Since you said so, I'm not in a hurry for a few days."

Only then did Gao Ming turn from sadness to joy, and nodded with a happy smile.

Seeing him smiling, Hua Rong couldn't help but smile as well.

-

Because they have organized small freestyle competitions before and accumulated a lot of experience, so this time, Gao Ming and Murong Yanze have mature experience for reference, and everything went smoothly without any mistakes.

Two days before the scheduled opening ceremony, it began to rain heavily. Gao Ming and Murong Yanze were so worried that they didn't think about eating and drinking. They looked up at the sky every day, and their cervical spine problems were greatly improved.

Fortunately, just the day before, the weather turned fine, the sun was shining brightly, and there were no clouds in the sky.

This even made them think that the enshrined Taihu Stone had appeared.

I don’t know if it’s because I was addicted to speaking at the closing ceremony of the fancy competition last time. Prefect Teng actually asked to speak on stage at the opening ceremony. Gao Ming didn’t really want to agree. The audience only wants to watch the show and the players. Who wants to listen to you? .

But for the sake of face, Tengfu Yin's speech was limited to one-third of the stick.

On the day of the opening ceremony, the official Zhao Ji came to the scene just as he had promised.

Accompanying him, besides Zhao Kai, was a young man who looked somewhat similar to Zhao Kai, but was a bit older. Gao Ming had met several times in the palace recently, and it was Prince Zhao Huan.

These three sat in the VIP seat with the best view, and guarded the handle next to them, so that no one else could get close to them.

Gao Ming and Murong Yanze are the undertakers, and the newly-rising celebrities in front of the official family are qualified to accompany them.

Besides them, Zhao Ji's favorite minister, Cai Jingtong, Yang Jian, and Gao Ming's father were all present.

The other three had happy but unobtrusive smiles on their faces, only Gao Lian had an undisguised smug smile on his face.

Take a look, take a look, this is all organized by my son.

Zhao Ji was very satisfied with the construction and scale of the venue, and especially praised the VIP viewing stand on the second floor: "This is decent. The stand for the white game last time was too cramped."

Murong Yanze said: "What the officials say is absolutely true."

After Gao Ming noticed that Zhao Heng gave Murong Yanze a cold look, he cast his eyes on him, his eyes were also cold, with a trace of disgust.

It seems that he hates the two "sycophants" from the bottom of his heart.

There is nothing Gao Ming can do, he cannot be liked by everyone, especially now, it is enough for the officials to like them.

When the auspicious time arrived, the gongs and drums blared, and the lion dance team came on stage first. Since it was the opening ceremony of the Cuju competition, it was not the hydrangea that was grabbed, but the custom-made large Cuju.

After the lion dance team warmed up, there was a large-scale group gymnastics performance, with thousands of people.

After several months of rehearsal, the costumed performers accurately arranged various graphics.

On weekdays, Zhao Ji watched singing and dancing to watch singing and dancing, but he paid more attention to appreciating the beauty of dancing, rather than watching the uniform momentum. This product between military drills and singing and dancing performances surprised him and felt fresh.

Moreover, he was sitting on a high platform, and from this perspective, he could see the pattern displayed below, which made it even more interesting.

Especially in the end, the 1000 people who performed below all pulled out the scrolls hidden on their bodies at the last moment, and started splicing them together one after another.

Although each person has only a small part, but put together it is: prosperity, four big characters.

Seeing Zhao Ji, he smiled and said repeatedly: "Okay!"

Gao Lian took a deep breath, and cast an undisguised look at the other three: look, look, see if my son is serious.

This is not over yet, and then I saw a number of long-sleeved "fairies" appearing on both sides of the stadium, holding flower baskets in their hands, flying to the center of the stadium while raising flower petals, and then descending gracefully.

All the audience in the arena were stunned. They had never seen such an operation. Fairies can fly!

But soon it was discovered that the rope was pulled on both sides of the field, and the fairy had hooks on her waist, hooked to the rope, and then she made the appearance of flying all the way.

However, it's also fun.

After the group of fairies landed on the ground, they opened two huge banners inlaid with gold rims, one book: Galloping the Arena Youth Chronicles, and the other book: Realizing Dreams, Winning Championships and Building Ball Cups

These characters are cut into the shape of characters with black cloth and sewn onto the banner.The stitches are so dense that they can't be seen clearly from a distance. At first glance, I thought it was written on it.

Those who could read read it aloud, and for a while everyone in the venue knew what was written.

Although the literariness is much inferior, it is catchy and easy to understand. It is suitable for spreading.

After showing to the audience at the scene, the two banners were pulled by the rope, fluttering up into the sky, and hung on both sides of the competition field, very eye-catching.

Zhao Kai said to his father: "They really thought about it, they used the tricks just right, it's very interesting."

Zhao Ji agreed with his son's words, and smiled at Gao Ming and Murong Yanze: "You guys have a heart."

Gao Ming and Murong Yanze hurriedly said, "Thank you, the official family."

Zhao Kai found something, "This scroll is written as a couplet, why is it not written horizontally?"

At this time Gao Ming smiled and said: "When I returned to Your Highness, I only thought of the upper and lower couplets, but I couldn't think of horizontal criticism. I would like to ask Your Majesty to give me one."

It can be heard that Gao Ming just wants the emperor to bestow the title, but this horse is well photographed, and the finishing touch is of course decided by the highest authority.

Zhao Ji also knew what Gao Ming was up to, but he had always been a person who did not dislike horses, so he said with a smile, "Well, let me write a picture."

Hearing this, Gao Ming hurriedly winked at the people waiting at the door, and soon, the table, pens and ink were all ready.

Zhao Ji was in a good mood, and wrote four words in his original thin gold style: Great Exhibition.

People around praised it, and Gao Ming also followed suit: "Great, we finally have a theme for this competition, and the officials are really the finishing touch."

After Zhao Ji wrote the words, he was in a good mood and sat back on the chair.

Gao Ming ordered someone to take down the emperor's calligraphy, and tomorrow he will find a paper-painter to mount the calligraphy.

Although the Zhuqiu competition was held with him, Murong Yanze, two non-official Guozijian students, but now that the officials have awarded the title, who dares to say that they are not officially appointed.

At this time, Zhao Ji asked: "This is the beginning, is the game starting next?"

Because there is plenty of time this time, the group draw was carried out in advance, the order of the competition was set early, and the first group match started directly.

"If you go back to the official's house, yes, this is a match between Shandong East Road Team and Hexi Road Team."

Zhao Ji narrowed his eyes slightly, and changed into a comfortable posture, it seemed that he was going to concentrate on enjoying the game.

At this time, a guard came in at the door and said something about the situation. The person in charge asked Gao Ming to make up his mind.

Gao Ming got up and made a bow to the people present who were higher than him, "There is a small matter down here, I will deal with it."

Zhao Ji was so focused on the game that he didn't seem to hear it, so Zhao Kai agreed on his father's behalf: "You go." Suddenly he asked: "Is your friend named Hua not here?"

Gao Ming talked about him from left to right, "Thank you for your concern, Your Highness, excuse me."

Zhao Kai smiled and said, "Then you go down first."

Gao Ming asked Murong Yanze to stay with him, while he withdrew from the stands. As soon as he reached a secluded place, he immediately asked the visitor, "What happened?"

"The team on Shandong East Road discovered that someone was impersonating someone. It was originally Ximen Qing, but when the team greeted each other just now, someone recognized that this person was not Ximen Qing who was on the list. After cross-examination, the impostor said , Ximenqing was killed in his hometown of Yanggu County, because the list had already been submitted at that time, and it was troublesome to change it, so the local society asked someone to say that Ximenqing replaced him and went to Tokyo."

It is not surprising that Ximenqing participated in the Cuju competition. He is a person who is good at drilling camps, and he can also play Cuju with a gun and stick.

It's just that the scum's nature was exposed prematurely, because Wu Da was poisoned and killed by Wu Song.

Needless to say, Wu Song must have killed Ximen Qing.

"Then why was Ximen Qing killed?"

"I didn't say it, it shouldn't be a good thing, I hesitated."

Gao Ming then asked: "Then who is Ximen Qing's sponsor?"

"It's the local magistrate."

"In this way, let them continue the competition. After all, the officials are watching. Disqualification of them will affect the competition. But the sponsor can't escape, you should remember first, and report this matter to the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Officials afterwards."

"Yes." The manager got the order and went down.

When the people left, Gao Ming shook his head and sighed. This time, to prevent someone from disguised as a man, a body check was added. As a result, there were no more women disguised as men, and there were impostors.

However, this fellow Ximenqing is also full of brains. He just wanted to make some appointments with Pan Jinlian, and he didn't plan to be together for a long time. Because the incident was exposed, he kicked and injured Wuhan University. Wu Song couldn't explain it when he came back, so he just kept doing it. It killed Wu Da.

Did he think it was Wu Song who came back and found out that his brother died strangely and wouldn't investigate?Or even if Wu Song found out, he felt that there was no evidence, so he simply gave up revenge.

He really didn't know Wu Song, so Wu Song let him know more about it.

Wu Song was raised by Wu University begging for food from all kinds of families. To him, Wu University is like a father and brother.

Whoever kills his brother, he will cut off the dog's head without discussion.

Ximenqing lost his head, so he didn't use it in Tokyo to get scared, and buried it directly in Yanggu County.

Pan Jinlian was disembowelled and gouged out by Wu Song, but in fact, neither of them died a tragic death. The worst one was actually Wang Po, who was sentenced to Ling Chi.

Originally, Ximen Qing and Pan Jinlian were matched to make money for the coffin, but they entered the coffin ahead of time, and it was still a way of cutting them into pieces.

However, considering Wang Po's familiarity with poisons and her calmness in handling Wu University's corpses, and she is an old lady who lives alone, it is hard for people not to wonder why her husband, the prince, is gone, and whether she suddenly "violent" one night just like Wuhan University. shoot".

Gao Ming thought about it in a mess, and suddenly came back to his senses, and murmured: "Really, how can I waste time here." He turned around and went downstairs to find someone.

Soon, Huarong's back was seen at a position on the lower court, which was directly below the official's position, and was in the blind spot of their sight.

Gao Mingmao stooped and walked over. He wanted to make a sneak attack and scare him, but before he got close, Hua Rong noticed it, looked back at him, and said with a smile, "Why are you here?" , "Don't you need to wait on the top?"

"Murong is here, I'm being lazy." Gao Ming sat down beside Hua Rong, "How about staying with you for a while, isn't it pretty?"

"It's pretty, but it's all your idea. I guess Murong Yanze can't come up with it. He's just implementing your idea."

Gao Ming laughed when he heard that, "His brother is the prefect of Qingzhou. When you see his brother, don't say that. You still have to work under him." After speaking, he suddenly remembered something and tried to ask: "When I become the magistrate, I will transfer you to my place. What do you think?"

There was hesitation in Huarong's tone, "No need, just let nature take its course."

"I didn't ask you to be my subordinate, but I just felt that if you go to other people's place, you will inevitably feel idle, and you must be as free as you are with my brother."

"Then you have to become the magistrate first."

Gao Ming hugged his shoulders and said confidently: "Isn't it the magistrate? I'll show you one sooner or later. I'm the magistrate, and I'll let you be the military commander of a state. The two of us work as partners, relaxed and happy."

Hua Rong looked at him with a smile. This time, there was no hesitation in his tone, and the words were clear, "Then I will wait for you."