"Me? When did I tell you? The shopkeeper said with a white face.

Du Wenhao sneered: "There are straw clippings stuck on your head, it should be that you drilled the straw pile to hide the wheels, you were very careful, and carefully patted off your body afterwards, but you forgot that there was still a little bit on the top of your head that was not photographed!" ”

The shop guy subconsciously patted the top of his head.

"I don't need to shoot it, does it still make sense to shoot it now? Also, when you waved your hand, I could already see oil stains on your cuffs! It should have been stained when you removed the wheels. To tell you, every car uses a different axle lubricant. Early this morning, the door of the inn has not been opened, there should be no guests to leave, this oil at a glance to know that it is newly stained, you said to help other guests unload the carriage stained, help which guest, point out, we compare the axle oil, to know if you are lying! Wait a moment to find our wheels, compare them with the axle oil, and see if it's the same as the oil on your shoulders and cuffs, and you'll know if it's you who stole the wheels! ”

At this point, the guy was completely devastated, and he didn't know what to do.

"Good!" There was a cheer from behind him, and Du Wenhao turned his head to see that it was Song Shenzong and Wang Anshi. That applause was said by Song Shenzong.

Song Shenzong walked in front of Du Wenhao, and Hao Sheng glanced at him: "Unexpectedly, Du's shopkeeper is still good at solving cases!" ”

"Thank you for the compliment!" Du Wenhao arched his hand and smiled, "It's just that he's too stupid as a thief, and he shows too many feet." ”

Yu Ge'er clapped his hands and said, "Great! Now I caught the thief baby and twisted him to send him to the official for punishment! ”

The fellow was so frightened that he took a few steps back and looked at the shopkeeper with great frustration.

The innkeeper heard Du Wenhao speak reasonably, and when he saw that his younger brother acquiesced, he suddenly trembled with anger, pointed at him and shouted, "You! You bastard! Did you really do it? ”

The shopkeeper's wife stamped her feet and shouted to the shopkeeper: "It's all your fault! I said I wouldn't let him come to the store to do the work, you don't believe it, now it's okay! Stealing from guests! "Pick up the stick and give the guy a few more sticks." You said! Why do you want to steal the wheels of other people's guests? ”

The fellow dodged and shouted, "Who called them so spirited?" And scolded me! ”

"You...... You scourge! Lao Tzu beat you to death! "The shopkeeper's wife chased after the guy.

The shopkeeper stomped his feet with a bitter face and said, "Okay! Don't fight yet! Hurry up and bring the wheels and help the guests put them on! ”

The fellow rubbed the painful place, walked to the hay pile with a bitter face, picked up the hay, revealed a round wheel inside, carried it, and with the help of the two men, put the wheel in place.

Yu Ge'er kept saying that he wanted to report to the official, and the innkeeper apologized to them one by one, and also exempted their store money and wine money as compensation.

Out of Sunset Town, continue to Dongming County.

The farmland and water conservancy construction in the suburbs of Beijing is good, and there are several heavy snowfalls in the spring cold in Kaifeng, and the damage to crops is not serious. But the more you go to Dongming County, the more this farmland becomes unshaped.

In the afternoon, the farmland on the roadside was cracked like turtle shells, and occasionally farmers could be seen sitting on the ridges, looking at the fallen and dead crops, and weeping without tears.

Song Shenzong and Wang Anshi were both in a very heavy mood, and they were dead in the carport where they were still laughing and laughing yesterday. The emperor was unhappy, and several people didn't dare to show a smile.

They were looking out the window and sighing about the drought when the carriage suddenly stopped. When I looked over, I saw a lot of people surrounded by a crooked-necked tree in front of me, blocking the way.

Father-in-law Ning turned around and said, "Fifth Master, I'll go down to see what's going on, our car can't get past with so many people." Gotta get them out of the way. ”

Yu Ge'er heard that there was a bustle, so she also got out of the car and followed to see the bustle. After a while, he ran back and said to Du Wenhao: "Shopkeeper Du, there is a person on the side of the road who is sick, foaming at the mouth and rolling his eyes, it's so scary!" Why don't you take a look? ”

Du Wenhao heard that someone was sick and looked at Song Shenzong, Song Shenzong nodded and said, "Then you go down and take a look, we can't see death without help." ”

"Yes!"

Du Wenhao carried the medical box, got out of the car and walked over, only to see a group of ragged people, all unkempt and depressed, pushing the cart and carrying burdens, carrying some tattered objects, it seemed that they were a group of people fleeing the famine and asking for food. Then he said: "Everyone, please let me, I am a doctor, I will take a look." ”

The crowd immediately moved out of the way. When he entered the crowd, he saw a man in his twenties lying on the ground, his body twitching, and as Yu Ge'er said, he foamed at the mouth and rolled his eyes. "What's going on?" he asked. ”

"Doctor, my son is hungry, he ...... He gave me all the leftovers that were coming to me, the old immortal, and he ate the bark and grass roots himself, and he ...... like this," said a gray-haired old man sitting on the ground, bowing his head and sobbing bitterly.

Du Wenhao shook his head and said, "No! He didn't eat bark and grass roots, but was poisoned! I have to wash his stomach quickly,—— Miss Yu, please go and bring the water bag. ”

"Okay!" Yu Ge'er picked up the crowd and ran back to the car to get a water bag.

The old man was taken aback: "Poisoned? How can it be poisoned? Who will poison my son? ”

"It shouldn't be poisoning, but poisoning caused by eating poisonous food by mistake, because the toxicity of his poisoning is general, mainly gastrointestinal reactions, so it is likely to be food poisoning."

As soon as he said this, someone behind him said, "Very good! It turns out that Shopkeeper Du not only understands medicine, but also has a lot of research on poisoning. ”

Du Wenhao looked back and saw that it was Song Shenzong, and hurriedly got up and bowed down and said, "Thank you for the praise of the fifth master." ”

"The water is here, hurry up and save people."

Yu Ge'er handed the water bag to Du Wenhao.

Du Wenhao took a little salt and poured it into the water bag and washed the man's stomach.

The patient's white-haired old father heard Du Wenhao say that his son was suffering from food poisoning, and immediately understood, beating his chest: "Yes!" Passing by the village before, a kind family sent some leftovers, and my son gave me all the good ones, and he ate the rotten ones himself, which must be like this. ”

Du Wenhao nodded and said: "There are many pathogenic bacteria ...... spoiled food, and a lot of evil poisons, so I'd rather be hungry than eat, otherwise I'll get sick." ”

An old man in ragged clothes next to him sighed and said, "This little brother, why don't we know, it's already good to be able to have a delicious meal when we can escape from the wilderness." How can you still pick and choose? ”

The white-haired old man kowtowed to Du Wenhao and said, "Doctor, please save my son!" ”

Du Wenhao hurriedly helped him up: "Don't worry, old man, I will cure his illness, his food poisoning is not serious, and he found it in time, after I use water to help him wash his stomach, I will prescribe some medicine for him, it will not be a big problem." ”

This time, Du Wenhao paid a private visit with Song Shenzong's micro-service, and was responsible for Song Shenzong's health, so he brought a box of commonly used medicinal materials and a full set of equipment needed for emergencies.

Wang Anshi glanced at these victims, stroked his beard and asked in a deep voice: "Where are you from, why don't you plough the fields at home, but drag your family out to ask for food?" ”

This stone stirred up a thousand waves, and these people all buzzed and complained: "If you can plow the fields and plow the land and grow crops, who will come out and suffer this suffering!" ”

"Isn't it possible to borrow grain from the government and repay it after the autumn? The Seedlings Law clearly stipulates! ”

Everyone was even more discussed, and the expression on their faces was very indignant. A middle-aged man with a bitter hatred and a deep hatred laughed even more sadly: "Haha! Seedlings Method?! It is this seedling method that has caused our family to be ruined! ”

"What do you mean?" Wang Anshi's face was very ugly.

An old man next to him hurriedly pulled him: "Shut up!" Don't talk nonsense! ”

The middle-aged man spat on the ground fiercely and shut up. For a moment, there was silence in the field.

Song Shenzong said with a pleasant face: "Fellow villagers, where are you all from?" ”

"From Dongming County." The white-haired old man wept and said, "I can't live anymore, everyone is going to go to the capital to beg for food." ”

Yu Ge'er said: "It's a coincidence, we also went to Dongming County." How's that going? ”

The middle-aged man said angrily again: "How is it? If it's good, what are we going to do when we leave our homes? ”

"Don't talk too much!" The old man pulled the middle-aged man hard.

Song Shenzong smiled: "Come!" Sit down and talk! We are in business, and we wanted to go to Dongming County to do some medicinal material business, and it just so happens that you are the people there, let's talk and understand the situation. I have all the food and drink in the car, pigeons, go and get them! ”

Father-in-law Ning, Yu Ge'er and Lin Qingdai agreed, ran back, and brought cooked beef, white flour cakes, and wine and water. Gonggong Ning also brought a futon for Song Shenzong to sit on, but saw that Song Shenzong and Wang Anshi were already sitting on the grass under the crooked neck tree, so they had to put the futon back on the cart in a curt.

When these victims saw the food, their eyes lit up, but they were embarrassed to take it. Song Shenzong smiled and stretched out his hand to beckon a child to come and sit beside him, picked up a piece of beef, and handed it to him: "Oh! Eat it, uncle gave it! ”

The child grunted and looked back at a wrinkled woman. The woman should be the child's mother, and when she saw that the child had something to eat, of course, it was important to fill the child's stomach first, so she quickly nodded and let him eat.

The boy took the beef, but he didn't eat it, got up and ran to a wheelbarrow, handed it to a skinny and blind-eyed old man sitting on the frame, and brought it to his mouth: "Grandpa! You eat! ”

"Good!" The old man took it, and also swallowed greedily, sniffed, but gave the beef to the child's mouth: "You eat first, grandpa will eat later!" ”

Song Shenzong sighed, picked up the beef and handed it to the victims around him: "Eat them all!" Sit down and eat, not enough in the car! ”

The victims glanced at each other, bowed down to thank each other, sat on the ground around Song Shenzong, picked up beef and cakes and devoured them.

Lin Qingdai hurriedly said: "Don't worry, beware of choking, drink some water!" ”

At this time, the middle-aged man who washed his stomach had already drunk all the pot of salt water and vomited. After rinsing his stomach, Du Wenhao checked his pulse again and said with a smile: "Okay, the poison in the body has been cleared seven or eight times out of ten, and if you take two more medicines, there will be no problem." ”

Du Wenhao prescribed the medicine, and there was a sand pot stove for decoction in the car, and Lin Qingdai was responsible for lighting the fire and decocting the medicine.

The white-haired old man saw that his son was conscious, and although his body was weak, he was no longer in serious trouble, and he was very grateful and thanked him. first took two pieces of beef for his son to keep, then picked up a piece of beef, put it in his mouth and chewed it slowly, and said to Song Shenzong: "This uncle, what do you want to know?" Old man, I was born and raised in Dongming County, and I know some things. ”

Song Shenzong said: "Well, let's talk about the disaster in Dongming County first, how is the disaster?" ”

The white-haired old man swallowed a piece of meat hard, sighed, and lowered his voice: "What is the disaster? Natural disasters are not as good as **! ”

"Oh?" Song Shenzong and Wang Anshi glanced at each other, "**? What the**? Is it a government yamen? ”

The white-haired old man glanced at Song Shenzong again and shook his head: "This, the old man is not easy to say, anyway, you are going, you will know when you arrive." ”

Wang Anshi snorted: "You old man, you have eaten and drunk, how you talk, you are still not happy at all!" Are you still afraid that we will sue the official and arrest you? ”

The middle-aged man grabbed a bottle of wine earlier, took a few big sips in one go, and interjected angrily: "That's right! Received a little bit of kindness should be reciprocated by a spring! I'm tired of these hard days, I'm not afraid of death, I'll tell you! - That's right, ** is the government! It's Wang Anshi's gang of dog thieves who are full of food and have nothing to do and change the law! ”

"You!" Wang Anshi was so angry that his beard shook and he was about to get angry. Song Shenzong grabbed him, shook his head slightly, and said to the middle-aged man: "It seems that you don't like this change very much." ”

"It's not just that I don't like it! It's a hate! Last time they went to the capital to settle accounts with Wang Anshi, the old dog, my father was sick and I couldn't go, otherwise, I would definitely follow, even if I couldn't kill the dog thief, I had to smash the two big holes on his roof! ”

Wang Anshi was so angry that he almost fainted on the spot, if it weren't for Song Shenzong's signal not to allow him to speak, he would have been foaming at the mouth and lashing out at the pen.

The middle-aged man's father saw that Wang Anshi's expression was different, although the old man didn't know their true identity, he always felt that something was wrong, and pulled the middle-aged man's sleeve again: "Son! Say less......"

"Daddy! They are just traders in the medicinal herb business, outsiders, what does it matter! What's more, people are so good to us! ”

Song Shenzong said: "Yes, let's talk about it casually, just say it if you want to, if you don't want to say it, we don't want to say that we are not reluctant, we run around to do business all year round, and we don't know anything about the farmer, so I am curious to ask a few words." Hehe. ”

When everyone saw that he was kind and pleasant, and seeing him like this, he was also a rich businessman, and the old man sighed, and he didn't stop it.

The middle-aged man chewed the beef and said, "When the implementation of the Seedlings Law was first announced, everyone was very happy to see the method mentioned in the notice. ”

Wang Anshi finally showed a little smile on his face: "Yes, in the past, there was no green and yellow, and the people could only borrow money and grain from the big families in the village to survive, which has been the case since ancient times. Now the law has been changed to stipulate that all households in Fanzhou County can go to the local government to borrow cash or grain to subsidize farming before the summer and autumn harvest every year, when there is no harvest? The people get benefits, the court gets benefits, and it's convenient for both sides, why is it not good? Why don't you borrow money from the government, but instead abandon your land and leave your home to beg? ”

The middle-aged man snorted and said, "Do you think we want to, you have to know that the method of the government is not something that we poor people can afford to borrow." ”

"Why can't you afford it? The interest rate is very low. ”

"Very low? Who do you listen to? ”

"The official announcement, two points of profit, not heavy!"

The middle-aged man was a little drunk, and his eyes were glaring: "Isn't it heavy to have two cents?" This lord, what are you kidding, borrowing 100 catties of grain to pay back 120 catties. Besides, if you really want two points of interest, you can borrow even if you are hungry, but those who want to borrow can't borrow, and those who don't want to borrow are forced to stay. And the interest has doubled! ”

"Double? Nonsense! This is set by the imperial court, who dares to change it? ”

"The government dares to change!" The middle-aged man took a sip of wine, "The two cents of interest are not changed, but the court didn't say the time of repayment, just change the time of interest repayment!" ”

"What do you mean?" Wang Anshi's eyes widened.

"Spring and summer loans, it stands to reason that the autumn harvest should be repaid in half, right?"

"Yes! What's wrong? ”

"Our Dongming County Yamen stipulates that the interest must be repaid twice, and each time it is two cents! That is to say, the summer harvest is handed over once, and the autumn harvest has to be returned once, once it becomes twice, and two cents of profit becomes four cents! ”

Wang Anshi was dumbfounded, he really didn't know, he was startled when he asked, he never imagined that the government below would implement it in such a flexible way, and the two cents of interest became four cents of interest, which doubled.

Song Shenzong also had a gloomy face, and said hatefully: "How can this be true!" These dog officials deserve to be exterminated! ”

Hearing Song Shenzong openly scolding the official master, he must not be from the official mansion all the way, and a sense of closeness suddenly rose in the hearts of all the victims, and they immediately started talking.

A young man said: "Dongming County is not ruthless, a few days ago I heard a desert escapee said, they are called ruthless, one to three!" Six-cent profit! - When borrowing, it will be deducted once in advance, once for summer harvest, and once for autumn harvest! ”

Du Wenhao has been listening silently, thinking that there are policies and countermeasures here, and there are countermeasures since ancient times, and the green seedling law that benefits the people has become a forced and rigid apportionment, plus such a high interest, isn't that equivalent to exploiting the people.

Song Shenzong frowned and said, "Then you can not take out a loan, this is originally a change to benefit the people." ”

"Huimin? Hui is a fart! The middle-aged man just now turned around and spat on the ground, "The Imperial Court's Qingmiao Law is limited!" The government forced the five of us to distribute a certain amount of money after mutual insurance, which is called 'scattered green seedlings'! You have to borrow if you don't want to! ”

The white-haired old man couldn't help but speak: "Yes, and in order to ensure that all the principal and interest are recovered after the autumn, these officials and masters are mostly targeted by middle-to-upper families rather than poor households, because they are afraid that poor households will not be able to repay." As a result, those who really want to borrow can't get a loan, and those who don't want to borrow are forced to ......."

A slightly wealthy middle-aged man interjected, "That's right! My family had a little money in the village, but the government Baojia also tied up us farmers with a little money and other poor people to protect each other, and as a result, the poor people couldn't afford to repay the high loans, so they let the rich farmers pay it back. ”

A young man also interjected angrily: "We, the poor families, could have borrowed from large families in the past, but as soon as the Qingmiao Law came out, it was no longer allowed, and when the government could not borrow money and grain, and it was not allowed to borrow money and grain from large households, and when we were not able to receive loans, we encountered a major drought and disaster, how could we live without fleeing the famine?" ”

Wang Anshi's face turned pale: "How can this be!" ”

"How could this be!" The white-haired old man said: "After the change, natural disasters every year, not to mention the poor, even if the peasant family has a little money, there is no harvest in the field, and they can't afford to repay the official loan!" What if you can't afford it? Arrest someone! If you are caught, you will be beaten to death, and you will be tortured to the point that you are not human! forced relatives and friends to smash pots and sell iron, take money to pay off debts, and then release people. What if I don't have the money? Take the land to offset it! No land? Demolish the house! Snatched a piece of rotten wood from the house to pay off the debt! If there is nothing left, what can I do if I don't run away? - Alas! Officials and businessmen are angry, and only we ordinary people are suffering! ”

Du Wenhao listened to the old man's words, and couldn't help nodding secretly, modern society clearly prohibits the government from doing business, which is the result of thousands of years of blood and tears.

The other victims were also indignant: "That's it! Originally, my family could be half-full after hard work every year, but now I only come out to beg for food. ”

"No, my family was forced to death by the government, the child's father was arrested, and grandma and grandpa were scared to death. I'm a fast runner, or I'd be dead in prison! ”

"It's all Wang Anshi, the old dog, thinking of the law to snatch away the last grain in our bowl, damn it!"

……

This scolding, picking his head, followed by gossip and scolding Wang Anshi and changing the law, these are all crop men, most of them have never entered a private school to learn any Confucian and Mencian rites, and the scolding words are naturally very ugly.

Wang Anshi was so angry that he almost vomited blood, his sleeve robe was flicked, he got up and walked to the cart, he had been sitting cross-legged for a long time just now, and suddenly stood up and walked quickly, he felt dizzy and dizzy, and he was soft to the ground.

Du Wenhao and the others hurriedly ran over to help him up, Wang Anshi stabilized his mind and felt better, so he waved his hand: "I'm fine!" ”

Du Wenhao whispered in his ear: "Lord Wang, don't be angry, wait until we get to Dongming County to see the situation, after all, this is just a one-sided statement by a few ordinary people, and it is not enough evidence." ”

Wang Anshi shook his head, didn't say anything, staggered to the side of the car, got into the car and lay down.

At this time, the medicine for the middle-aged man with food poisoning had been cured, Du Wenhao poured a bowl for him to take, and the rest was filled in a jar, and the doctor ordered him to take two more doses.

While Du Wenhao was busy feeding the medicine, Song Shenzong continued to talk to these victims.