Chapter 38 Antidote 6 “Your Highness, it’s so late, and you haven’t slept yet. …
Arriving at the stables, Xie Ningyuan pointed at a middle-aged groom and said, "That's what he said."
Zhu Song asked coldly, "The prince wants a carriage, why don't you give it to him?"
Seeing that Xie Ningyuan had actually invited Zhu Song over, the groom immediately panicked and knelt on the ground and replied, "My lord, it was Lord Song who ordered that the crown prince be given an empty title and nothing should be provided to him."
"Ridiculous! The Crown Prince is the heir apparent to the throne. I, as an official, must bow and show respect to him. Who the hell does Song Shunran think he is? How dare he drag his feet and even openly humiliate the Crown Prince?"
The groom quickly said, "Yes, yes, I won't do it again. Please forgive me this time, sir."
Zhu Song remembered Wen Fengxuan's dejected look, and he wanted to tear him apart. "Come here, this man has disrespected the royal family and shown disrespect to the Crown Prince. Take him away and give him twenty lashes to serve as a warning to others. Spread the word, and if anyone else disrespects the Crown Prince again, the punishment will be doubled."
"Sir, I truly know I was wrong, sir," the groom cried out in pain. Zhu Lingye stepped forward and kicked him, shouting to the yamen runners, "Take him away and give him a good beating."
The groom was taken away with his mouth covered. Zhu Lingye spat and cursed a few words.
After this episode, the three went to interview the workers who were responsible for the construction.
According to Zhu Lingwang's investigation, most of the workers were nearby farmers. Zhu Song did not gather all the people, but found the nearest village - Xiaoyangzi Village for investigation.
The appearance of government officials and yamen runners in the village was a very important event, so all the villagers came out quietly to see. Zhu Song came to the village entrance and found the village chief.
The village chief was a white-haired old man who looked almost eighty years old. When he saw Zhu Song and his companions, he was about to kneel down. Zhu Song quickly supported him and said, "No need to be polite. We are here just to understand the situation."
The village chief asked, "I wonder what the adults want to know about our village?"
Zhu Song helped the village chief sit down and then began to speak, "Five years ago, when the Zhudi Dam was built, your village contributed two hundred people."
When the village chief heard that it was about the dam, his face suddenly turned bad, and he was about to kneel again, "Please forgive me, sir, it's been so long that I can't remember exactly how many people were involved."
Zhu Song waved his hand, "That's fine. How much does it cost per person per day? What do we eat for three meals? Do you still remember?"
The village chief lowered his head slightly and did not answer for a while.
Zhu Song asked, "Can't you remember clearly?"
The village chief looked up at him and replied sheepishly, "Back then, when the dam was being built, everyone in the village, except the young, went to help. We were so busy every day that I really don't remember much."
Zhu Song and the others saw that he hadn't told the truth. Zhu Song winked at Wen Fengxuan and Zhu Lingye. They nodded, got up and left. If the village chief couldn't get the answer, he could ask someone else.
Zhu Lingye and the yamen runners left, leaving only Zhu Song and the village chief in the house. Zhu Song smiled even more kindly, "Don't be nervous, old man."
The village chief said, "I'm not nervous."
Zhu Song looked at the village chief's shaking legs and didn't stab him. Instead, he took out the wooden wedges he had picked up from the dam. "I went to the dam this morning. It was a ruin. The Yellow River was rushing. It was terrifying to hear." Zhu Song paused. "I'm getting off topic. I saw a lot of these wooden wedges there. What are they used for?"
The village chief took the wooden wedge from Zhu Song's hand, looked at it carefully for a long time, and then said, "This is for fixing the stone."
Zhu Song looked over following the sound and asked in feigned confusion, "How do you fix it?"
"It's used to fill the gaps between the stones to prevent them from collapsing," explained the village chief.
Zhu Song asked, "Is the entire dam secured with wooden wedges?"
The village chief replied, "That's right. I'm old and can't lift the stones anymore, so I'm responsible for transporting the wooden wedges."
Zhu Song nodded and asked, "During the previous flood, the government sent people to support the dam. Did anyone from your village go as well?"
The village chief's cloudy eyes moved, he lowered his eyes, and said in a deeper tone, "Fifty are gone."
Zhu Song continued to ask: "Are you back?"
The village chief shook his head slightly. Zhu Song asked, "Not even one?"
The village chief sighed deeply, "Not a single one. The flood didn't come to our village. Everyone said they were blessing the village."
The village chief's eyes were red. Zhu Song picked up the wooden wedge on the table and said in a serious tone, "Old village chief, to be honest, the Zhudi Dam collapsed and the emperor was furious. He appointed me as the imperial commissioner to investigate the case thoroughly..."
Before he could finish his words, the village chief suddenly stood up and knelt down. "Sir, although we built the dam, we worked very hard and did not dare to be negligent in the slightest. The dam collapse has nothing to do with us."
"I know it has nothing to do with you." Zhu Song quickly stood up and helped him.
The village chief looked up at him, tears in his cloudy eyes, "Please understand, sir."
Zhu Song said: "You get up first."
The village chief then stood up.
"Sit down and talk."
The village chief hesitated for a while before sitting down, but he didn't dare to relax at all. He only dared to sit a little bit, and his whole body was obviously tense.
Zhu Song picked up the wooden wedge on the table and said to the village chief, "This thing can't hold the stone. When the flood hits the stone, the wooden wedge will naturally come loose."
The village chief's eyes widened, and he was about to kneel down again, but Zhu Song stopped him and said, "I know this is none of your business. The materials used and the repair methods are all determined by the government. You are just responsible for following orders and doing the work."
Even after hearing Zhu Song's words, the village chief did not dare to relax at all, "Yes, sir, you are absolutely right."
Zhu Song said, "The drawings issued by the Ministry of Works, including the account books kept by the government, all require the use of a mixture of glutinous rice juice and slaked lime to reinforce the stone. The stone used should all be granite. However, when I visited the site today, I discovered that there was a lot of sand and gravel mixed in with the granite. You know what sand and gravel look like. This alone is enough to prove that there are serious problems with the construction of this dam."
The village chief didn't say anything. These things were not something a small village chief like him could afford to get involved in.
Zhu Song continued, "I arrested Yi Kangning a few days ago."
The people of Jizhou were quite familiar with their officials. When they heard that Yi Kangning had been arrested, the village chief's eyes flickered. "Are you the Imperial Envoy, Lord Zhu Songzhu?"
At this moment, Zhu Song remembered that he had not yet introduced himself, and nodded in response: "Yes, I am Zhu Song."
This time the village chief really stood up, and Zhu Song couldn't stop him. "I was blind and didn't recognize the great man. Please forgive me, sir."
Zhu Song stood up and helped him up, "Hurry up and get up."
The village chief sat down again and started talking seriously about the dam construction.
"The Yellow River frequently floods, submerging crops every year, so we were delighted when we learned the court was planning to build a dam. Later, officials came to say that the money allocated by the court was insufficient, and asked us to volunteer to build the dam.
We all volunteered.
We all hope that the dam will be repaired so that our children won’t have to suffer in the future.
With the exception of babies who couldn't walk, everyone in the village went, young and old. They left before dawn and returned only when the moon was shining brightly. The older children held the younger ones, but we didn't feel tired. When we felt tired, we sang. The combined singing of so many villages was louder than the roar of the Yellow River.
The government has no money and doesn't provide food, so we bring our own food. We believe that the hard times will eventually pass, but...ah!"
At the end of his words, the light in the village chief's eyes went out. He stood up and knelt heavily, "Master Zhu, please make the decision for us."
Zhu Song helped the man up and promised solemnly, "Don't worry, I will definitely give you an explanation."
The visit went smoothly, and Wen Fengxuan and Zhu Lingye received the same information as Zhu Song.
As soon as he returned to the yamen, Zhu Song ordered the arrest of Duan Zhenghong. Duan Zhenghong cried out for injustice, but he had to admit it even though the evidence was before him.
Zhu Song asked Zhu Lingwang to calculate the wages owed that year and to use the money from Duan Zhenghong to compensate the workers.
In the middle of the night, the wind was cool. Zhu Song was lying on the bed and about to fall asleep when he suddenly saw that the window was not closed. He stood up and went out.
When I arrived outside Wen Fengxuan's room, I saw that his window was not closed again. I was glad that he remembered it, otherwise I would feel uncomfortable again tomorrow.
Zhu Song hurried over to close the window, but when he got closer, he saw Wen Fengxuan standing by the window. When their eyes met, Zhu Song felt guilty as if he had been caught doing something bad. "Your Highness, it's so late, and you haven't slept yet."
Wen Fengxuan replied, "Come and close the window. Is there anything wrong, sir?"
"No..." Just as he said this, he heard several voices coming from the yard. Zhu Song turned around and saw many men in black jumping down from the wall.
"There's an assassin! Close the window quickly and don't come out." Zhu Song said quickly, then turned and stood in front of the door, shouting, "Who are you? How dare you come to the governor's office and act so presumptuously?"
A man in black pointed at Zhu Song and said, "That's him. Go ahead."
Zhu Song narrowed his eyes. Coming towards him? It seemed that Duan Zhenghong was desperate.
The men in black rushed up together. Zhu Song shouted, "There is an assassin." and then went to meet them.
The long knife stabbed in front of him, Zhu Song dodged sideways, grabbed the assassin's wrist and twisted it hard, and the knife in the assassin's hand fell into Zhu Song's hand.
Zhu Song was very good at martial arts and could fight against more than a dozen assassins alone, but as more and more yamen runners arrived, the assassins gradually lost the upper hand.
After a stick of incense, they still couldn't even touch Zhusong's clothes. Seeing that they had no chance of winning, one of the men in black shouted, "Retreat."
The men in black all retreated. Zhu Song couldn't let anyone escape. "Catch him alive."
A dozen men in black were surrounded and quickly captured, but blood began to flow from their mouths one after another. Zhu Song saw something was wrong and quickly ordered, "Remove their jaws."
As Zhu Song spoke, he removed the jaw of the man in black in front of him, and all the other men in black committed suicide by taking poison.
Zhu Song looked at Zhu Lingye and said, "Call the coroner to perform an autopsy."
"yes."
Zhu Song took the only remaining assassin to the lobby, pulled off the black scarf on his face, and took out the poison that had been placed in advance from his teeth. It was hard and looked like a small stone.
"Go and ask Doctor Su to come over."
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