It was the middle of the night and everything was quiet.
Amid the sound of "bang, bang, bang...", the night watchman shouted at the top of his voice: "All is well."
The southwest corner of the county town was dark, with only a string of wind-killing lanterns still lit in a high-walled courtyard. On the white lantern paper were written the six words "Kunshan County Reserve Warehouse" in black letters.
The reserve granary of this dynasty is similar to the Changping granary of the previous dynasty, but it is more focused on providing relief to the people rather than stabilizing grain prices. When there is peace, most of the grain in the granary is loaned to farmers in late spring and taken back after the autumn harvest.
When a famine occurs, the grain stored in the reserve warehouse becomes the main source of relief for the county's victims.
But not surprisingly, during the first 200 years of the country, officials took advantage of the situation, wealthy families evaded taxes, common people did not repay their loans, and storage gradually became scarce. By the Longqing period, this benevolent policy was in name only.
When Zhao Shouzheng took over Kunshan County, there were only 2,000 shi of grain left in the reserve warehouse.
At that time, the father and son thought it was not enough. In fact, Kunshan County suffered from floods and disaster relief every year, but there was still some grain left in the warehouse, which only showed that the previous county magistrate still had a conscience.
However, since Mr. Zhao took office, five ships of grain have been delivered every day. Although the daily expenditure is not small, the grain stored in the reserve warehouse has gradually increased. The largest warehouse, the Jia warehouse, is almost full.
This made the people of the entire county feel much more at ease. The rush to buy in the market gradually subsided, and prices finally stabilized.
The official in charge of the warehouse, Ku Ding, has been very busy these days. He is busy loading and unloading ships, and storing and retrieving goods every day. He is exhausted.
Tonight, while Ambassador Tang had to go home for some business, Deputy Envoy Liu went to bed early. When someone called them, the Kudings started gambling and playing for money, wanting to relax.
The shouting and yelling in the duty room could be heard from far away in the quiet night; even the Kunshan county officials who were patrolling outside the wall could vaguely hear them.
"We help them patrol, and these guys are having fun in there." The constable wearing a bright red uniform and holding a lantern with the words 'Quick Squad' written on it spat in dissatisfaction.
"I think, let's go back and play a few rounds." A companion nearby felt itchy when he heard the voice.
"Forget it." The other detectives shook their heads. "The county government is full of the master's men. Who dares to mess around when they are on duty?"
"Yeah, let's talk about it next time." The detectives were very depressed. "The master came to take office with more attendants than the county officials. I've never heard of it before."
"You're not afraid of just the number of people, at least you can still fool them. The problem is those two masters, how come they are so knowledgeable? As soon as you give them wings, they know where you're going to fly. It's really killing me."
"No more talking. Just bear with it for two years and do your job well. The master is a top scholar. He will be promoted in two years..."
The detectives walked away while talking.
When the voices faded away, a dozen dark shadows crept out from the Fangjia Lane behind them.
These people have bulges on their backs, walk close to the shadows of walls, and are sneaky, so you can tell at a glance that they are not good people.
After a while, they found the back door of the reserve warehouse. The leader gently pushed the closed door.
Then there was a creaking sound and the door opened a crack.
Seeing that the door was indeed not locked, the man breathed a sigh of relief, turned around to call his companions, and went in one after another.
The reserve warehouse was also quiet, with only the light on in Kuding's duty room. The loud shouting came from that duty room.
The uninvited guests moved more and more quietly, following the wall to the A-shaped warehouse in the center of the yard.
With the dim light of the wind-killing lamp, you can see that the warehouse door is closed and there is a big iron lock hanging on it.
The leading man took out a key from his arms, held his breath, inserted it into the keyhole, and turned it gently.
Then there was a slight click and the big iron lock opened.
The man suppressed his pounding heartbeat and removed the padlock. Then he and his companion slowly pushed the heavy door open until a gap was big enough for someone to pass through.
Then they left two people to look out, and the rest slipped into the warehouse.
The warehouse was pitch black, and one could only vaguely see neatly stacked bags of grain, filling up the huge A-shaped warehouse.
The leader waved his hand, and the men who followed him in took the heavy leather bags from their backs, pulled out the corks, and poured the kerosene they brought on the sacks everywhere in the dark.
Grain is not flammable when it has moisture in it. It is difficult to ignite it with only a thin layer of sack on the outside. It needs to be heated to a state close to carbonization and waterlessness to burn. Therefore, when setting fire to a grain depot, you must remember to bring flammable materials.
Soon, all ten bags of kerosene were poured out, and the leader took out a fire starter, blew on the tinder inside, and ignited a piece of yellow paper.
The yellow paper caught fire immediately and burned vigorously, clearly illuminating the big mole on the face of the leader.
Big Mole threw the burning yellow paper into the kerosene with an expressionless face.
With a bang, the kerosene burned fiercely and spread throughout the granary in an instant, becoming as bright as day.
Big Mole and his accomplices all showed smug smiles.
Even the great god cannot save this Jiazi Cang!
"Retreat!" Seeing the thick smoke billowing, Big Mole covered his nose, turned around and ran with his men.
Unexpectedly, the door of the Jia warehouse could not be opened no matter what.
"What's going on?" Big Mole and others became anxious and pushed and pulled the door hard, causing the lock to rattle.
"Why is the door locked!" Big Mole shouted several times, but no one responded.
Obviously, the two people who were watching outside the door had disappeared.
Now everyone in Curry was in a panic. They banged on the door and shouted at the top of their lungs.
"Someone, help! Someone is going to burn to death!"
The strange thing is that this place is not far from the guard room where Ku Ding plays with money. There was a big fire in the Jiazi warehouse, and there were shouting and screaming, but still no one came to check.
It was as if this warehouse was the only thing left in the world, with no other living people.
Seeing the fire growing bigger and bigger, fear instantly swept over everyone.
The mole slammed the door hard and screamed in despair: "Open the door! I haven't lived enough, I still have a lot of youth..."
"Oh, God, help me! I won't do bad things again!" All the men collapsed, banging on the door while crying:
"Whoever can save me will be my slave for the rest of my life!"
"Retribution..." Some of those with fragile mentalities simply sat on the ground, looking at the blazing fire and waiting to die.
Just when everyone was in despair, a lazy voice suddenly sounded outside the warehouse door:
"Have you figured it out?"
"Yes!" When the desperate crowd heard that, they were like drowning people who had grabbed a life-saving straw, and they were all extremely excited. They pressed their faces against the door and shouted loudly:
"Let us out, let us out now!"
"Then you have to answer a few questions for me first. I'll let you out if you're satisfied." The man inside was on fire, but the man outside said calmly, "If you can't answer, burn to death in there. The arsonist was burned to death by the fire he set. It shows that everything is determined by heaven. The ancients were right."
"Stop talking so much, just ask if you have anything to ask, the fire is burning your butt!" The bearded man and others urged the man anxiously -
ps. I have received a clear reply from the website this morning that Sanchi's works are still supporting his family's livelihood, and his royalties have never stopped. In other words, the rumor that the platform swallowed up Sanchi's royalties is pure rumor! As an old friend of Sanchi, I am speechless. You can scold the platform, but please don't exploit the deceased and his family, okay? !
I feel really uncomfortable. I won't say anything anymore and just focus on writing.
above.