Zhu Sui opened the door and whispered: "Jiedushi, he is here!"
Chen Qing nodded, "Invite him in!"
Not long after, a tall and thin young man walked in. The corners of his eyes and the ends of his eyebrows were drooped, giving him a naturally sad look.
This person's name is Yang Qi, and he is a copywriter under the military recorder. He is responsible for organizing and copying confidential documents. His position is not high, but his position is quite important.
Yang Qi was not a local. He was originally an assistant teacher at Jingzhou Prefectural School. Due to the war, his family fled to Chengji County. Yang Qi was the eldest son, with six younger siblings. His parents were sick, so life at home was difficult.
But thanks to Yang Qi's beautiful small-script writing, he successfully applied for a job in Jiedu Mansion and became one of the five copywriters. He earned three guans per month, which was barely enough to support his family.
Yang Qi bowed and saluted, "See Jiedushi!"
"Please sit down!" Chen Qing waved his hand and said with a smile.
Yang Qi sat down with his butt next to the chair, holding the corners of his clothes with his hands, unable to hide his inner nervousness.
"Should I have talked to you about joining the army?"
Yang Qi nodded.
"Then are you willing?"
Yang Qi still nodded, "I'm willing!"
Chen Qing leaned back on his chair, relaxed his body, and said with a smile: "I also understand the situation at your home. After this matter is over, I will upgrade you to a higher level and arrange for you to have an official court."
Yang Qi is currently engaged in a job that earns him three guans per month. If he is promoted to a higher level, his salary will be increased to 5 guans per month, and various benefits will also increase. He can also live in a government hospital, and his family's largest expense, rent, will be saved.
, it can be said that he turned around in an instant.
Yang Qi was overjoyed and quickly stood up and said: "The humble post must cooperate well with the internal affairs battalion and never let the Jiedu Commander down."
"Go! What to do, the Commander of the Internal Affairs Battalion will explain it clearly to you."
Yang Qi bowed and left. Chen Qing was still deep in thought. This Yang Qi was found for him by Zhang Xiao. His family had a large population and a difficult financial situation. In addition, because of his important position, he was easily targeted by Xixia spies, but he had to play a trick.
To perform well, you must be real.
This is a strange trick to deal with Xixia. If it is used successfully, within ten years, Xixia will be unable to take another step southward to the Song Dynasty.
...........
Jiang Xiaowu, a waiter at Yi'an Tea House, finally got his wish and was transferred to the platform private room. This is the innermost private room on the second floor. Conversations are relatively private, and it is also the favorite place for officials to drink tea.
At noon, several officials from the Jiedu Prefecture drank tea and had a meal in the elegant room of the platform. The teahouse not only drank tea, but also served lunch, which was equivalent to a box lunch set. It was called a meal. It also served fine wine. After the meal,
Drinking a beautiful pot of tea is simply the greatest enjoyment in life.
Jiang Xiaowu collected the bowls and chopsticks for them, and then brought them a pot of fried strong tea.
He sat outside and boiled water at any time, but his ears pricked up.
"Brother Pei, that guy asked you to borrow money again."
The person named Pei sighed, "I didn't pay back the money I borrowed last time. This time I asked to borrow ten guan of money. You said you won't borrow it? It's embarrassing, but if you lend it to him, he doesn't know how long it will take him to pay it back. As his colleague,
It’s really bad luck for eight lifetimes.”
"Who gave you the surname Pei? If you work with him, you will definitely lose everything!"
Everyone laughed, and another person said: "I heard that his father has tuberculosis, and taking medicine every day is a bottomless pit. His family has long been in debt. He only has three dollars a month, and the rent is 500 yuan a month.
He also has to buy medicine for his father, as well as food and clothing for his six younger siblings. His salary is simply not enough, and I can’t even repay the debt he owes you by beating him to death.”
"Oops! Fortunately, I haven't lent it to him yet. Please help me think about it, how to refuse him?"
"When someone's family has nothing to do, you just accuse your second uncle's family of building a house and borrow the money. Ignore this kind of person. If you borrow ten thousand dollars and don't pay it back, who can bear it?"
"That's right, I'd like to give you three to five hundred cents, but you still have to borrow ten thousand yuan. Why? Whose money was blown by the strong wind?"
Everyone discussed it again, and as it was getting late, they got up to check out and left.
Jiang Xiaowu put away the tea sets. At this time, lunch time had passed and tea time had not yet come. Jiang Xiaowu slipped out of the teahouse, walked around in a circle, and entered the restaurant through the back door.
After listening to Jiang Xiaowu's report, Dou Qing, the owner of the restaurant, became somewhat interested and asked, "Who is this young official who is borrowing money everywhere?"
"I don't know yet about my humble position, but I can deduce it."
"How to infer?"
"Pei Yong, who was borrowed the money from, is a clerk in the office of Jiedushi. The person who borrowed the money is sitting with him. He must be a clerk in the office. The shopkeeper will find out after sending someone to inquire."
Jiang Xiaowu left, and Dou Qing sent one of his subordinates to ask the Yaman. Not long after, the subordinate came back and said with a smile: "I asked about my humble job. Pei Yong is the copywriter in the copywriting room. There are two people in total. The other one is named Yang Qi."
, it is said that the family is poor and the father is sick."
Dou Qing said again: "Go and find out why he wanted to borrow ten thousand dollars? And find out all the details about his family. Go now."
"Let's go now!" His subordinates hurried away.
Dou Qing was under tremendous pressure from the Xixia court, which accused him of being ineffective in detecting intelligence for a long time and demanded that he obtain valuable intelligence as soon as possible, otherwise he would be replaced.
Dou Qing knew very well what it meant to be dismissed from his post, which meant that he would never be able to get ahead.
...........
The dental industry in the Song Dynasty was very developed, and it was relatively easy to do small things such as inquiring about information. Dou Qing's men quickly came back after inquiring about the information, including the plight of Yang Qi's family.
"I would like to report to the shopkeeper that Yang Qi has six younger siblings in his family. His father has tuberculosis and has been taking medicine for many years, lying at home without working. His mother is not in good health and the family owes a lot of debt. Yang Qi was exterminated two months ago.
Being hired by Dufu means three guans a month, and the whole family relies on these three guans to rent a house, eat, and pay off debts. Recently, Yang Qi borrowed money from everywhere because his eldest sister was getting married and they couldn't get it.
I heard that the groom’s family is very dissatisfied with the dowry.”
Dou Qing took a few steps with his hands behind his back. He realized that this was an opportunity. This Yang Qi was just a small person, but he had access to secrets. If he could be won over, he would be a long-term, covert intelligence provider.
.
But what excuse should we use to contact him? Let him fall into his trap unknowingly and be willing to use it for himself?
After pondering for a long time, Dou Qing asked: "What did he do for a living before entering Jiedu Mansion?"
"I heard that his handwriting is very good and he specializes in copying books for others."
Dou Qing rolled his eyes, he had a solution.
........
Yang Qi's home is in the southwest of the county. This is where the lower class people in the county live. The houses are relatively dilapidated. When the Jin soldiers set fire to 70% of the houses, 30% of the houses remained. This is the southwest of the county. When the county was expanded,
, this area of old houses has not been demolished and has been preserved.
Perhaps because the houses are relatively dilapidated, the rent here is also relatively cheap. It only costs 500 cash a month to rent a single-family house with seven or eight rooms in a small courtyard of half an acre.
Of course, if it was last year, the rent would have been only three hundred cents, but due to the influx of a large number of people into Chengji County this year, especially in the past two months, there have been so many people from all over the country that the rent has doubled.
Yang Qi's family had just moved here not long ago. He was already working in the Jiedu government and had an income of three thousand dollars a month. He could no longer squeeze his family into two shabby houses like before.
Just when life was getting better, the Yang family was once again enveloped in sorrow. The eldest daughter of the Yang family was about to get married, and the family could not afford a penny for the dowry, which made the whole family very worried.
As night fell, Yang Qi dragged his tired steps back home. He went everywhere to borrow money, but no one was willing to lend it to him. His colleagues chipped in a lump sum or two to help him, but it was still a drop in the bucket and had no effect.
"Brother, you're back!" It was the second sister who opened the door for him.
Yang Qi forced a smile, "You all have eaten!"
"We've all eaten it, and we still have it for you!"
"I've eaten. Give this to mother."
Yang Qi handed the cloth bag containing 1,600 pieces of loose money to his sister.
The younger sister took the purse and said, "We have guests at home, and they are here to see my eldest brother."
Yang Qi was startled, "Who is looking for me?"
"I don't know, maybe I'm here to ask my elder brother to copy the book!"
Yang Qi came to the living room and saw two people standing up with smiles on their faces, "Is this Young Master Yang?"
"I am Yang Qi, you are..."
"That's right, we need ten volumes of the Diamond Sutra. We can't use printed books, we can only copy them. I heard that Mr. Yang's calligraphy is very good. I am willing to pay a high price for Mr. Yang to copy them. I wonder if Mr. Yang is willing?"
"Of course, how much is your high price?"
"Copy ten volumes of the Diamond Sutra for one penny per word."
The ten volumes of the Diamond Sutra are about 50,000 words, and he was given 50,000 coins, which is fifty guan, which is twenty times more expensive than his previous payment for copying books.
At this moment, Yang Qi's heart beat violently, and he immediately realized that the other party was coming to his door.
