Fengqi crabapple

Chapter 153 Poisonous Rice
After climbing over the wall, Li Bin asked the Yamen servant to inform the county magistrate.

When Lin Youlu came out this time, he was obviously a little impatient: "Oh, Lieutenant General Li, the official just made it clear that the county government doesn't have a bag of extra rice and noodles, why are you here again?"

"County Magistrate Lin, we are borrowing food, not asking for it. If you say there is no food to borrow, can you let us see the county government's warehouse?" Shen Congxi said.

"Who are you?" Lin Youlu had never met Shen Congxi.

Shen Congxi bowed his head and said: "Shen Congxi, a common man, is General Zhao's staff."

The county magistrate snorted from his nose: "Common people? How dare common people roar in court? Is it possible that you, a grassroots staff member, can see the government warehouse whenever you want?"

Shen Congxi suppressed his anger and sneered: "Military law decrees that if the army is in urgent need, it has the right to requisition the local government's official rations. Do you dare to defy military law? Are you afraid that I will report it to the prefect, or directly take you, and you will be dealt with under military law?" ?”

Lin Youlu laughed out loud when he heard this: "Counsel Shen, I'm really not afraid of you suing! You have the military law, and I also have the county government law! Come on! Give this common man who roars in the court a twenty-kill stick. I'll fight out!"

Seeing that something was about to happen, Li Bin hurriedly stepped forward to stop him: "Wait a minute, Mr. Shen is the eldest son of Mr. Shen An, the Minister of Civil Affairs, and he is General Zhao's imperial staff. Please show mercy to Mr. Lin!"

"Minister of the Ministry of Personnel? Such a big official can't control a small place like mine. I don't know him! I haven't heard of it! What are you doing here? Why don't you drag him out and beat me!" Lin Youlu said angrily.He had already received instructions from Governor Zhang that Duke Ji wanted to kill Shen Congxi and Zhao Muche, and it didn't matter who the eldest son was.

Don't blame me. If you want to blame me, blame you for offending Duke Zhongguo.Lin Youlu thought with gloating as he watched the yamen servant push Shen Congxi onto the bench to hit the board.

Unexpectedly, one of the two yamen who was beating the board was the thin-faced yamen who was kicked and dislocated by Zhao Dong that day. When he saw that the one who was beaten was one of the gang, he immediately felt revenge.I saw that he used twelve points of force for each stick, and the last two sticks went beyond the area where the board was hit, and hit Shen Congxi's waist fiercely.

The county government has the rules of the county government, and the army can't interfere, and Lieutenant General Li couldn't stop him, so he had to wait until the fight was over and carry back Shen Congxi, who was half alive.

When Zhao Xiaohou saw it, it didn't matter if he didn't borrow the food, he even beat Shen Congxi half to death!He mounted his horse and rushed to the county government office to investigate.

"General Zhao, I don't know who he is. He only said that he was a commoner. But when he went to court, he didn't beat the drum or kneel down. He directly pointed fingers at the county magistrate. This is a violation of the law. It's law, I was acting in accordance with the law when I beat him, so what's wrong with me?"

Hearing him keep saying "Ahhhhh", the young Marquis was so angry that he couldn't find any fault.I had no choice but to ask again: "Why are you resisting me when I ask you to borrow rice for a few days?"

Lin Youlu rolled his eyes and said with a smile: "Since General Zhao came to borrow it in person, I will transport the rice to the barracks tomorrow, and I will not miss the general's dinner!"

The young Marquis snorted, turned around, left the county office, and returned to the military camp.

Shen Congxi was beaten hard with twenty sticks. Fortunately, before they came out, Miss Haitang gave them a large box of various medicines.Yunyin and Qingmo helped the young master apply the golden medicine and fed him a Nine-Hua Jade Dew Pill. Only then did Young Master Shen regain his breath.

"I didn't expect that a small seventh-grade sesame official could cover the sky with one hand!" Shen Congxi said angrily.His father was the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, in charge of the appointment of officials in the Celestial Dynasty. Is this the official he appointed?
Shen Congxi thought about it and smiled bitterly and said: "I am usually at the feet of the emperor. Although I have no official position, after all, I have the halo of my father on my head, and I have an eldest sister who is the second prince's concubine, so everyone gives me all the respect. Only when I came out did I know , if you want to do justice for heaven, you still have to hold the power in your hand to fight with these monsters, ghosts, gods, and snakes!"

Zhao Muzhe also sighed: "There is a saying: If you don't sow good rice, weeds will grow. If you don't be a good official, bad officials will appear in this position. This is probably the truth."

"Fortunately, there will be food tomorrow. I will urge you again to see where the military food has been transported. There are still a few days until it arrives." Li Bin shook his head and left the inner tent after speaking.Early the next morning, as expected, a grain truck was delivered to the military camp, and Mr. Zhao Xiaohou felt relieved.

In the evening, the people who were sent out also came back and said that the military rations would arrive the next day, but the quantity was wrong and much less.I'm afraid it won't last long, and I have to go to Beijing to collect food.

The young Marquis said fiercely: "Since the food is short, we need to fight quickly! I don't believe that I can't destroy more than a hundred Japanese pirates with ten thousand elite soldiers!"

For two days, the young Marquis discussed tactics with his lieutenants and generals in the tent.However, apart from deployment and control, there seems to be no more effective method.The Chinese military tent here is in a state of panic, and something happened in the military camp over there.

"General! Most of the sergeants had symptoms such as nausea and dizziness. They called the military doctor to see them. They said there was something wrong with their diet, but they couldn't find the cause." Li Bin took a look at the rations that had been transported, and took the uneaten rice and The replenished rice was returned to the county government.

Shen Congxi's injury healed quickly, firstly because he was young, and secondly because he took Haitang's medicine.He sat up with his clothes on and asked: "A large number of soldiers have food problems? Then why don't we feel it?"

Li Bin laughed and said, "Master Shen is joking. What we eat is polished rice. There are still leftovers from what was shipped before. The sergeants eat coarse rice, which was...borrowed from the county government...!" Li Bin's Laughing froze, he realized that he had touched on the problem.

"Do you still have the rice you borrowed from the county government?" Shen Congxi asked hurriedly.

Li Bin scratched his head and said, "I'll go back to the rest." After thinking about it, he strode towards the kitchen camp.Soon, he came back with a small bag, followed by a military doctor.

The military doctor grabbed a handful of rice and saw that the color of the rice was transparent and bright. It looked the same as polished rice, except that it did not have the aroma of polished rice.He tried it again with a silver needle, but the silver needle didn't turn black.

The young master grabbed a handful of rice and looked at it, and he didn't see any problems, but after throwing the rice back into the rice bag, his hands felt a little greasy.

"Zhao Bei, take this bag of rice back to Beijing and deliver it to Prince Duan's Mansion. Ask Prince Duan to help you check it." The young Marquis wiped his hands and thought, Tang Yu and Haitang will definitely be able to figure out if there is anything wrong with the rice.Zhao Bei took the rice bag and went out.

The military doctor had no choice but to boil Coptis chinensis soup and let everyone drink it. After a day or two, the symptoms of the sergeants disappeared.

It was seven or eight days after King Duan got this small bag of rice.

"This rice is poisonous!" Haitang smelled the rice and rubbed it vigorously in her hands. After throwing the rice back into the bag, she licked her greasy hands with the tip of her tongue and finally said with certainty:
"This is rice that has been polished with moldy old rice, mixed with white wax oil and polished. It looks like polished rice, but it is actually toxic. Although it is not poisonous to death in the short term, if you eat it for a long time, the toxins will accumulate in the body. People will die. Especially the elderly and children with poor physical fitness."

"That is to say, this is not specifically to poison the soldiers in the military camp, but to pass it off as good, moldy old rice, but it can be sold at the price of polished rice!" King Duan sneered and said: "What a Fujian government! They are so filial to Zhang Zhi’s money probably came from this business!”

"It's so heartbreaking!" Shen Congxi cursed after receiving Ji Baiyu's flying pigeon letter.

He made up his mind and immediately wrote a small note with only one line, and sent the pigeon back to the capital:
Cong Xi is willing to become an official and vows to eradicate local corrupt officials!

(End of this chapter)