Xu Zhiqiong took a boat across the Sanjiangkou, walked along the Lujiang River for several days, passed through Yizhou, and arrived at Zhuzhou.
There is a famous specialty in Zhuzhou, called bamboo shoots.
The so-called Ying refers to cured meat, and bamboo Ying is special cured meat stored in bamboo tubes. It has a special cooking method and a unique aroma of bamboo.
When she was still far away from Zhuzhou, Shan Yan kept thinking about the bamboo shoots. She only said that the bamboo shoots were very delicious, but she couldn't tell what was so delicious.
He read like this all the way, but it annoyed Mo Chi: "Do you like the meat in the bamboo, or do you like the bamboo?"
Shan Yan was surprised and asked: "Why do I like bamboo? Of course I like meat..." Shan Yan blushed and heard that Mo Chi was teasing her.
She didn't dare to say anything, but Shan Yan felt suspicious in her heart.
She is a craftsman, and now she has even been exempted from her status as the junior uncle of the Suzaku Palace.
Opposite is the prince of Yu Xianguo.
There is a huge difference in status and age between the two. Mo Chi is more than ten years younger than Shan Yan. Logically speaking, the two should not be joking like this.
But recently, Mo Chi's temperament has changed. He seems to have learned bad things from Xu Zhiqiong. He is always teasing Shan Yan, but he also touches Shan Yan from time to time.
Shan Yan has gone through too many things, and she will never have this dream of spring again, so she can only try to keep a distance from Mo Chi.
When they arrived in Zhuzhou, Shan Yan urged the sergeant to buy bamboo sprouts quickly. Xu Zhiqiong also wanted to taste what the legendary bamboo sprouts tasted like.
Tao Huayuan said: "I have eaten this bamboo shoot twice. When I first opened the bamboo tube, the taste was a bit off, and it even made people hold their noses. But as soon as you take a bite, the smooth and spicy taste is really unforgettable."
"Come out of the bamboo tube..." Xu Zhiqiong imagined the scene at that time, "Tao'er, did you eat it vertically or horizontally?"
Tao Huayuan stepped on Xu Zhiqiong, and Mo Chi turned to Shan Yan and asked: "Should we eat it vertically or horizontally?"
Shan Yan lowered her head and said nothing, while Mo Chi smiled indifferently and ordered his men to buy more.
The boatman went to buy it. After walking for a whole day, he didn't even buy a single bamboo shoot. When asked why, he only said that everyone had sold out.
Mo Chi was surprised: "Since it is a specialty product, how can it be sold out?"
Shan Yan realized something was wrong and quickly said: "It's just sold out. I don't really want to eat the bamboo shoots."
Xu Zhiqiong frowned and said, "After reading about it for so many days, why do you suddenly not want to eat it?"
"Just talking about it, it doesn't taste that good when it comes to it." Shan Yan laughed dryly, winked at Mo Chi, and signaled him not to mention Zhu Ying again.
Mo Chi looked at Shan Yan and nodded slightly.
Xu Zhiqiong looked at Shan Yan and said, "What does the frown mean?"
Mo Chi said: "I guess Shan Yan doesn't like Zhu Jing from Zhuzhou."
Xu Zhiqiong said in surprise: "If you don't like the bamboo leaves in Zhuzhou, where else can you fancy the bamboo leaves on you? Could it be that you have fallen in love with the bamboo leaves on you?"
Mo Chi smiled and said, "Maybe I was full last night."
The joke was too cheap, so Tao Huayuan turned around and returned to the cabin.
Xu Zhiqiong continued to joke with Mo Chi. Shan Yan blushed with embarrassment, but felt much more at ease in her heart.
This topic somehow got sidetracked.
The dinner that night was simple, with only some pickled vegetables to go with the rice.
Mo Chi looked at the melancholy dinner, silently ate a bowl of rice, and then ordered: "Get the cook out and give her twenty sticks."
Shan Yan quickly stopped Mo Chi and said, "There's nothing wrong with eating lightly every once in a while."
Xu Zhiqiong said: "It's not the cook's fault, I'm afraid there's not much food on the ship."
Mo Chi frowned and said, "Didn't I just go buy supplies today? Call those boatmen!"
Shan Yan said: "Don't embarrass them. There are a lot of ingredients on the ship. I just looked at them. But the food I've eaten in the past two days has been a little greasy, so I asked the cook to make something lighter."
After a hasty dinner, Xu Zhiqiong took "Senior Brother Tao" back to the cabin early.
The two looked at each other for a moment, and Tao Huayuan could understand Xu Zhiqiong's intention without a word.
From the moment he couldn't buy Zhuzhou, Xu Zhiqiong knew something was wrong in Zhuzhou.
Shan Yan tried her best to change the topic because she was worried that Xu Zhiqiong would cause trouble in Zhuzhou.
Tao Huayuan made a magic circle, and the two of them arrived on the bank together. There were several corpses lying on the river bank, all of which were headless.
Several officials stood guard next to the corpse. Beside them was a crooked-neck tree, with human heads hanging on the tree.
Xu Zhiqiong walked towards the official, who immediately stood up, drew his sword and shouted: "He's here to steal the fish again, put the fish down and kneel on the ground!"
Didn't you hear what I said?
I'll make you kneel..."
Xu Zhiqiong suddenly came to Guan Cha, held Guan Cha's head, and pushed him to the ground.
Just as the other officers were about to step forward, Tao Huayuan used a restraining circle to pin all the officers to the ground.
Xu Zhiqiong looked at the officer in his hand and asked, "What are you doing?"
Hearing that the accent was not from Zhuzhou, the official shouted angrily: "Where are you from? Bandits or water thieves? Do you know who I am, grandpa? You are blind, don't you recognize your grandpa's clothes... It hurts, it hurts,
It hurts, grandpa, please be gentle..."
Xu Zhiqiong took an iron hook, hooked it through the chin, and hung the official on a tree. Xu Zhiqiong glanced at the official, found the one with the least crime, and picked him up: "That person just now
, your ears are not working well, you can’t understand what I am saying, are your ears working well?”
The official nodded repeatedly and said, "Sir, my ears are very useful."
"I ask what are you doing here?"
"We are here to guard the river beach."
Xu Zhiqiong said in surprise: "You have nothing else to do? Are you here to guard the river beach in the middle of the night?"
"This is the order of the county magistrate. Unruly people from the county cannot be allowed to fish here."
"Why not allow fishing?"
"There are so many unscrupulous people that they are almost killing all the fish in Lujiang River."
Xu Zhiqiong pointed to the headless corpse on the ground and said, "Who killed these people?"
The officer said: "These people are here to steal fish from the river. We will execute them on the spot according to the order of the magistrate."
Xu Zhiqiong looked at the corpse on the ground and asked: "Can you defend such a long river bank?"
The officer said: "The magistrate has ordered us to just hold on to this small section. The water is strong in other places. If those unscrupulous people dare to come and steal the fish, they will definitely be washed away."
"Which county are you in?"
"This is Jiangqu County."
"May I have your name?"
"The villain's name is Huang Xiaowu."
"You come with me to find your county magistrate."
"This good man, I am a good man, he, they..."
"I know you are better than them. I thought you were a pretty good person, so I asked you to take me there." Xu Zhiqiong took out a row of iron hooks, and the remaining yamen officials each had one on their chin, wearing
OK, hung it on the tree.
Huang Xiaowu, the government official, knelt on the ground and cried: "Grandpa, spare my life! I didn't kill those fishermen. I couldn't do it. I didn't even dare to look at them. I secretly let a few of them go."
This man probably didn't lie. He was different from other government officials in that his crime was less than two inches.
Xu Zhiqiong picked up Huang Xiaowu and said, "Whether I spare you or not depends on your fate."
Zhuzhou is definitely considered rich among the Daxuan states, with fish, rice, and river transportation. In a place like this, as long as you don't mess around, there is no reason to be poor.
But today Xu Zhiqiong really opened his eyes. From the river to the county government office, there were beggars all the way.
Xu Zhiqiong grabbed Huang Xiaowu and asked, "Where do these beggars come from?"
"They are all from surrounding counties."
"Did you suffer a disaster in Zhuzhou?"
"No, there was no disaster..."
“Then where do so many beggars come from?”
Huang Xiaowu looked embarrassed. There were some things he didn't dare to say, but Xu Zhiqiong's hand was too cruel, so he didn't dare to hide it: "Last year's harvest was not good, and every family had barely enough food. A few days ago, the prefect ordered that every day
Every family had to pay an extra 200 kilograms of grain, but every family’s rice vat was completely wiped out.”
"Why do we need to collect grain?"
"The prefect said that this is an order from the imperial court. Prefectures and counties with good harvests must pay more grain."
"Didn't Zhuzhou have a bad harvest last year? Why do you say it was a bumper harvest again?"
Huang Xiaowu lowered his head and whispered: "Our magistrate said that Zhuzhou always has a good harvest..."
While he was talking, there was a loud shouting in front of him. A group of government officials were driving away the beggars, beating them with fists, kicks, whips and sticks, and there was a lot of screams and lamentations.
Huang Xiaowu lowered his head: "If you ask me to do something like this, I won't do it. The most I can do is shout at them twice. They are just sleeping on the street, so why beat them?"
"Yes," Xu Zhiqiong looked at the crying refugees silently, "Why are you beating them?"
Tao Huayuan said: "This is one of the means to drive away the refugees. They don't drive the refugees out of the county directly, which can easily trigger civil unrest. They call this method a slow drive. They drive them away during the day so that they have nowhere to beg.
Yes, if we rush at night, we will have no place to sleep.
Without sleep at night, they don't even have the energy to beg for food during the day. Within three to five days, the able-bodied refugees are bound to flee for their lives, while the weak ones will just die."
Several government officials raised their sticks and beat a man to death.
"Get up, stand up, I tell you to get out, can't you hear me?" the Yamen shouted!
The man stood up, holding his head and trying to escape. The officer behind him stepped forward, kicked him down, and then beat him.
"Who asked you to run? I asked you to run! Where are you going?"
There was a woman next to him, who seemed to be the man's wife, and stepped forward to help the man up.
The officer stepped forward and kicked both of them down, and then beat them: "Who told you to get up? Who told you to stand up!"
The couple held their heads and rolled on the ground.
The officer picked up the stick and continued to beat me: "Get up, don't pretend to be dead, I told you to stand up, can't you hear me?"
Can you stand up?
Don't you want to drive them away?
Isn't it okay for them to leave?
They're all gone, why are we still fighting?
Can't we leave a way out?
Xu Zhiqiong looked at these government officials and the excited smiles on their faces.
Beating people seems to be a very enjoyable thing.
"Tao'er, take this brother and invite their county magistrate here. I'll take care of some things here."
Tao Huayuan took Huang Xiaowu there.
"I asked you to stand up, can't you hear me? Stand up, stand up for me!" The leading officer smiled excitedly, and the stick in his hand got higher and higher.
Suddenly the stick failed, and he found that the stick was in Xu Zhiqiong's hand.
Xu Zhiqiong hit him on the head, the sound was loud and clear, and the government official cried continuously.
The surrounding government officials were stunned and quickly came to help. Xu Zhiqiong knocked down more than a dozen government officials, pushed them to the ground and kicked them one by one.
The government officials held their heads and cried out in pain:
"Rebellion, rebellion!"
"You dare to hit the official, you don't want to live anymore!"
"You hit, you hit again, you still dare to hit, you, don't hit, don't hit the head..."
"Hero, you, I beg you, stop fighting. I, you, are going to kill someone. Where did you come from..."
Xu Zhiqiong held the stick and looked at the leading officer: "You asked me where it came from? I haven't asked you yet!"
The government official held his head and said: "We are from the Jiangqu County government..."
Xu Zhiqiong stepped forward and kicked the Yamen servant a few times in the mouth: "Did I let you speak? Did I let you speak?"
The officer covered his mouth and did not dare to speak.
Xu Zhiqiong asked again: "Where are you from?"
The cadre still dared not speak.
Xu Zhiqiong picked up the stick and hit him on the head: "Why didn't you say what I asked you? Why didn't you say!"
The Yamen opened his mouth: "I..."
Xu Zhiqiong stepped forward and kicked him again: "Did I let you speak?"
Not long after, Tao Huayuan brought the magistrate over. The magistrate looked at Xu Zhiqiong and said, "Where are you from? How dare you..."
Xu Zhiqiong kicked the county magistrate down, turned around and said to the Yamen: "Hit me!"
How dare the government officials attack the county magistrate? One was too frightened to do anything.
Xu Zhiqiong swung his stick and beat the government servants hard, hitting his head with each stick: "I asked you to beat me, did you hear me? Did you hear me!"
The official couldn't help but beat the magistrate with a stick.
This magistrate had never been beaten before, and he cried miserably after being hit with a few sticks.
Xu Zhiqiong picked up a stick and beat the government officials: "You dare to beat the county magistrate, don't you want to live?"
The officer quickly stopped.
Xu Zhiqiong picked up the stick and continued: "Who told you to stop? I asked you to fight, why are you deaf?"