Zhu Yunwen's discovery of the details greatly shocked Zhao Qingzhu.
Because she didn't notice the small piece of sweet potato left in the mud, and didn't realize that the sweet potato had been eaten.
Of course, no one would have thought that it was something a person would eat.
If they hadn't guessed these things, then they certainly wouldn't have been able to deduce, like Zhu Yunwen, that the person eating the sweet potato was hungry at the time.
Then he ate most of the huge sweet potato.
In this situation, the fact that he casually discarded the small piece of sweet potato he had left after finishing his meal shows that he didn't value the sweet potato at all.
In other words, if an ordinary person were to use these sweet potatoes, which were intended as seeds, to fill their stomach and eat them, they would never throw away even if there was a piece left. They would definitely keep it and eat it again next time.
Those who can casually discard these remaining small, delicious pieces of sweet potato show that they don't care about these sweet potato seeds.
That would definitely not be something the people who had sweet potato seeds would eat. They wouldn't be willing to eat it, and even if they did, they wouldn't be willing to throw away the remaining half.
Based on Zhu Yunwen's previous deduction, this person was hungry, otherwise he wouldn't have eaten most of a sweet potato raw like that.
Therefore, Zhu Yunwen combined these clues and said to Zhao Qingzhu:
"I have already guessed that those digging up sweet potato and potato seeds are not only people, but also beggars and disaster victims who usually can't get enough to eat."
Zhao Qingzhu frowned and said:
Why do you come to this conclusion?
She wasn't questioning Zhu Yunwen, but simply curious. Zhu Yunwen just smiled and said:
"First, these people came to dig up these sweet potato and potato seeds on an empty stomach. Only disaster victims and refugees would be on an empty stomach, people who are already struggling to get enough to eat."
This also explains why they were able to eat most of the sweet potato and potato seeds when they arrived at the field, and it also explains why they were so wasteful, throwing away what they couldn't finish.
Furthermore, if those people wanted to prevent sweet potato and potato seeds from being planted and from yielding any harvest, they could simply have someone prepare some chemicals and spray them on the fields.
Just like the potion Zhu Yunwen had someone make, sprinkling it on the soil where potatoes and sweet potatoes are planted will prevent the seeds from growing. This will achieve the same purpose of preventing the seeds from being planted in this place.
But why bother making him dig them out? It can only mean that these sweet potato and potato seeds are valuable in the eyes of some people, but these people are certainly not gentry or landlords.
They certainly wouldn't care about these sweet potatoes and potatoes, much less take them back to store and eat. Only beggars, refugees, and disaster victims would collect these things as food and continue to use them.
Therefore, based on numerous traces and clues, it can be inferred that these sweet potato and potato seeds were dug up by these disaster victims and beggars at someone's behest.
As for why these beggars were still able to dig up the sweet potato seeds despite the frequent patrols, that's a bit puzzling to me. Could it be that they're particularly adept at evading the local patrols?
Zhao Qingzhu was silent for a moment, then spoke:
"I can explain that. I don't know about the others, but there are a lot of beggars. Isn't there a Beggars' Gang? Their skills in stealing are simply divine."
Now, stealing sweet potato and potato seeds from the fields and avoiding detection is incredibly easy for them.
Let alone stealing from the fields, even if those sweet potato and potato seeds were placed on those people, it would be as easy as taking candy from a baby for these beggars.
Besides, since they're planted in the fields, it would be incredibly easy for them to steal them. This also explains another problem.
Hekou County is so big, with so many people and so much land planted with potatoes and sweet potatoes. Why were they all stolen in just a few days?
How much manpower would that require? Indeed, this question doesn't seem to be a problem at all to the Beggars' Sect, because there are a lot of Beggars' Sect members in every place.
In just a few days, they stole from every household in the entire Hekou County. That was nothing compared to what they did with the sweet potatoes and potatoes in the fields.
Moreover, each farmer received only a small number of sweet potato and potato seeds, which were simply used as seeds for cultivation. This significantly reduced the workload.
Hearing Zhao Qingzhu's words, Zhu Yunwen took a deep breath before speaking:
"If we combine the conclusions we've drawn from our analysis, the target becomes very clear: it's the Beggars' Sect, who are usually starving and lacking food and clothing, who are doing this."
But there's another problem. The Beggars' Sect wouldn't cut off these people's livelihoods for no reason. They have plenty of things they can steal, so there's no need for them to steal sweet potato and potato seeds from the fields.
So it must have been orchestrated by someone. But who is that person behind it?
Zhao Qingzhu rubbed her forehead and said:
"I can't remember that one. I think it's not that simple. It would be very difficult to guess it."
However, Zhu Yunwen smiled mysteriously and said:
"You're wrong. It's much easier to figure out who's behind this than to figure out who's doing it."
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