Let's say that Shen Nan, the prefect of Hezhou, was originally a big corrupt official, especially in collusion with Zhou Hai, accepting bribes, dereliction of duty, and ignoring the suffering of the people. It was later converted. Ladies and gentlemen, why do you explain this? It turned out that Shen Nan was extremely evil, and the snake sister wanted to kill Shen Nan, but later listened to the persuasion of the snake woman and gave Shen Nan a chance to mend his ways. The snake girl gave a warning, and Shen Nan's conscience was shaken and changed.

One day, Shen Nan slept until midnight, and there was a dark shadow, lightly handed, suddenly came to the bed and stole a few pearls hanging on Shen Nan's neck. Early the next morning, when I got up and touched it, I was surprised that the pearls were gone. Ordered to arrest the ringleader Chen Yu and crack the case within one month. Chen was ordered to retreat. That is, to visit everywhere with the errand officer. After visiting for a long time, all the lands in Hezhou have been searched, and there is no trace of the thieves. In desperation, seeing that the deadline was approaching, Shen Nan urged more and more tightly. Chen was helpless, took off his clothes, dressed up as an ordinary person, and visited secretly for several days.

After visiting Xincheng Mountain, I met a beautiful and beautiful woman, dressed in silk clothes, bow shoes with narrow sleeves, and tight-fitting dress. Walking on the cliffs, left and right like apes; Running among the trees, down and up like a bird. Chen Yu felt that this woman was extraordinary, and by the time she came down from the cliff of the woods, it was already evening, and the woman had returned. Chen Yu quietly followed to a small river stream with a cave next to it. The woman entered, and Chen Yu followed, and she also entered. Entering the cave, it is not dark at first glance, it can be applied to the sky, twists and turns, a piece of light, and it is very inhuman. Until he reached the end of the cave, Chen Yu did not dare to approach, and hid in the dark to watch. I saw a group of snakes gathering, and the woman greeted the group of snakes, but suddenly disappeared.

There was an old woman next to her, who was burying the pot to make rice, cutting vegetables and roasting meat, and said to Chen Yu: "Don't hide, come out quickly!" We knew you were coming, so come out and sit down and talk! Chen Fu looked surprised, so he had to come out, and when he saw a group of snakes, he didn't dare to approach. The old woman drove the snakes away. Chen Yu slowly walked out. The old woman asked: "Are you the Yamen of Hezhou to catch Chen Confusing?" Why? Chen was taken aback, stepped forward and arched, and asked in surprise: "Old man, I am not familiar with you, how do you know my name?" ”

The old woman smiled but did not answer, and asked Chen to sit on the stone bench. Chen Yu sat down, and the snake woman poured a cup of herbal tea. Chen was confused and explained, and said, "Who is the woman I followed just now, she is very good at kung fu and has extraordinary skills, why did she suddenly disappear?" The old woman smiled slightly and said, "My name is Snake Woman, she is my little girl, called Snake Sister, I am just playing pranks with you today and teasing you." She went inside and thought about it, you left her alone. ”

Chen Fu's brains were numb, his eyes were glazed, and he asked, "Why did you think about it?" The snake woman said, "You know." Although Chen Yu was a little scared, he still had the courage to ask, "Did Lord Shen's necklace be taken by Sister Snake?" Chen Yu didn't dare to say stealing, he could only say that he was taking, for fear that the snake woman would be disgusted by it. The snake woman said cheerfully: "It's okay, you just say it's okay to steal." The snake girl was originally there to steal. She dared to steal the pearl on Lord Shen's neck, causing you to panic so much, and you should be punished. Chen Yu said: "Don't dare, don't dare!" Where do you dare? ”

The snake woman smiled and said, "Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you." It was not right for the snake sister to steal Lord Shen's things, so I punished her for thinking about it behind closed doors. You go back first! It will be returned tomorrow. Please go to the top of the White Pagoda of Aiguo Temple at noon tomorrow to pick it up. When Chen heard this, he was shocked and respected, and retreated. Immediately returned quickly and met Shen Nan. When Shen Nan heard this, he was so shocked that he was so frightened that a mouthful of tea squirted out of his mouth, and the teacup in his hand fell down at the same time. Ling Chen led the crowd to catch the pearl and went to the White Tower to get the pearl at noon tomorrow. And ambush the archers beside them, and wait for the arrows with their bows.

The next day, at noon, everyone looked up to the white tower. Suddenly, I saw a red light flashing from the sky, glimpsing like flying lightning, so fast that even people didn't have time to react, making people dizzy. When he came back to his senses, he looked at it and saw that several pearl necklaces had been hung on the top of the white pagoda. Chen Yu immediately called for archery. For a while, thousands of crossbows were fired, and the arrows flew away like raindrops, insignificant, like catching the shadow of the wind, where could I shoot? It's just a bold man, and those arrows were wasted. The snake girl laughed in the air, and the laughter echoed in the air, and everyone was terrified. After shooting, Chen Fu mustered up his courage, ordered several people to catch quickly, took the ladder up, climbed to the top of the tower, and took the beads and went down.

Only a letter is tied to the pearl necklace, and the cover reads: "Presented to the prefect Shen Nan in person". Chen Fu replied with the letter, and said that he was about to hand over the letter to Shen Nan. Shen Nan dismantled it and looked at it, and said to the effect: "Since you came to the prefect of Hezhou, you have coerced to harass the people, blackmailed the monarch to bully the king, and coerced the power to humiliate the chiefs. Greed is cool, deceit is power, misconduct, and dance with demons. As the prefect, you should avenge the grievances of the people, eliminate harm for the people, feel the suffering of the people, and do things that are beneficial to the people, but you have ghosts, corruption, bribery, dereliction of duty, and all you think about all day long is how to get money into your own bag. One party is suffering from tea poison, and the gentleman has no control, and Kedao does not dare to correct it. Therefore, a few days ago, I took the things on your item and talked about it as a warning. If you don't make a quick change, and still do the same mistakes, you should take your head, and think that the great officials will quit the clouds. ”

After Shen Nan finished reading, he was terrified. Its greedy desires have been curbed slightly. As a result, he put the energy of being an official on the sake of the people, and finally was promoted to the prefect of Rongzhou. This is a later story, so I won't mention it for the time being.

At that time, the city was full of people begging for food. Because most of them are ordinary people who do not have food, theft, robbery, and even murder and stealing goods and other cases occur from time to time. Seeing this, Shen Nan, the prefect of Hezhou, felt a little uncomfortable. Because there was no grain in the official warehouse, the grain merchants led by Zhou Shao raised the price of grain and took the opportunity to make a fortune. Shen Nan thought that if he wanted to solve the difficulty of eating for the victims, the only way to do so was to let the businessmen lower the price of grain, or build a shed to boil porridge, so that the victims could get through the difficulties.

If this can be done, the gap must be opened from Zhou Shao and the price must be reduced, so that other grain merchants will be willing to comply. Shen Nan knew that Zhou Shao was not only greedy for fun, but also greedy for money, and it was never easy to let him loosen his mouth and reduce the price. Shen Nan thought about it, but didn't want to be famous, and asked Master Zhan He: "Is there any good way?" ”

Zhan He participated in the imperial examination, failed repeatedly, saw that he was almost fifty years old, his family was poor, and he no longer referred to it, so he came to be a master and ate with a mouthful of food. A thin face, very thin, with prominent cheekbones on the face, a figure-eight beard, a melon skin hat on his head, and a pair of presbyopia on the bridge of his nose. Listening to Lord Shen ask about the countermeasures to persuade Zhou Shaozhi today, Zhan Yi racked his brains, touched his mustache, and said slowly: "I can't think of any good way." The only way is for adults to meet Zhou Shao, see what his attitude is, and then make a decision. Although he is a businessman, he can't help but give your face! ”

Shen Nan said from his words: "I went to see Zhou Shao, and I bluntly forced him to lower the price of grain." Otherwise, Lao Tzu sealed his grain store. ”

When I saw Zhou Shao, the ceremony was over. Zhou Shao asked the servant to pour tea and invited Shen Nan to take a seat. Shen Nan went directly to the topic and explained the intention. Zhou Shao snorted and said, "I'll give Lord Shen face." But as you know, we don't have much food to stockpile, and we can only donate 100 catties of rice at most. ”

Shen Nan said: "One hundred catties of rice is only enough for five hundred people to eat for one day, and it may not be enough." Now there are tens of thousands of victims in the city, how can we get enough? ”

Zhou Shao said: "There are only so many. I did my best. ”

Shen Nan knew that Zhou Shao would not increase any more. This 100 rice can only be a drop in the bucket, but he also wants it. He said goodbye, walked out of the Zhou Mansion, sighed, and prepared to leave. Shen Nan also wanted to go over to seal Zhou Shao's grain store, but when he thought about it, Zhou Shao was not an ordinary businessman, he had hundreds of family members, and he was well-armed and well-trained. After thinking about it, I could only shake my head and sigh back.

Zhou Shao sent Shen Nan to the door, and Shen Nan returned in a sedan chair. As soon as he left Zhou's mansion, he turned a corner of the street, and not far away, a young voice suddenly came: "Lord Shen, don't be busy, I have something to say to you!" Shen Nan hurriedly stopped the sedan chair, opened the sedan curtain and saw that it was a child about eleven or twelve years old calling him. Shen Nan felt strange, so he asked who are you? The boy replied, "My name is Zhou Yi, and I am Zhou Shao's son." Shen Nan was taken aback, hurriedly got off the sedan chair, walked in front of Zhou Yi, touched Zhou Yi's head, and asked, "Is there something wrong?" ”

Zhou Yi said: "Lord Shen, don't worry, you were talking to my father in the house just now, and I overheard it outside the window. I know you're in a hurry, but I have a way to get my father to lower the price of food. ”

"Oh, yes......" Shen Nan looked at Zhou Yi and was skeptical—after all, he was still a child.

Zhou Yi motioned for Shen Nan to lean down, then leaned into Shen Nan's ear, whispered, and finally said, "In this way, do you think it's okay?" ”

Shen Nan said: "I think it will work! ”

When I returned to the prefect's yamen, there was a report from the officer: "Lord Shen, when we were patrolling, we found that there was a fight at the new south gate. Shen Nan ordered Chen to take a group of errand soldiers and immediately rush to the scene. Before leaving, Shen Nan whispered to Chen Chen for a while and dictated the secret. Chen Yu agreed, and when he went to the scene, it turned out that it was two Zhou family members who were fighting with the hotel owner. It may be that the family is a little ruthless, and the boss is a little seriously injured, and he can't get up when he crawls on the ground, and there is a mess of blood on the ground.

There was a group of onlookers nearby, who were enraged and demanded that the murderer be severely punished. Chen ordered the servants to arrest the family and asked why they were fighting. Jia Ding said that my young master told us to fight. At this time, Zhou Yi came out of the crowd, "A good man does things, a good man should be." My name is Zhou Yi, I am Zhou Shao's youngest son, I asked them to beat me, what's the matter? ”

Chen asked: "You are Zhou Shao's youngest son, isn't it amazing?" Why are you hitting someone? ”

Zhou Yi replied: "I eat here, but I don't want this boss to play tricks, shoddy, and send us away with overnight meals." I asked him to change it, but he didn't, so I asked the family to clean him up. ”

Chen Yu said: "It's just not a word, take Zhou Yi away." The family took the letter back and asked Zhou Shao to go to the yamen to receive people! ”

At this time, Zhou Shao was drinking tea in the house and sent Shen Nan away, very proud. Suddenly, Jia Ding came to report and said, "Young Master Zhou Yi was arrested by the Yamen!" Zhou Shao was taken aback and hurriedly asked why? The family Ding Gu said it. When Zhou Shao heard this, he hurried to the prefect's yamen and asked Shen Nan to release him.

Shen Nan said: "Your young master beats someone for no reason, and according to the law, he should be locked up for ten days and a half months." Since Zhou Dongjia is here, it is not impossible to ask for release, I will give you a face, but you have to promise me one condition. ”

Zhou Shao begged: "You say, you say, as long as my son is not imprisoned, any conditions are fine." ”

Shen Nan said: "It is okay to lower grain prices, or even open warehouses for disaster relief, and you will be guilty of it!" ”

When Zhou Shao heard this, he looked embarrassed.

Shen Nan also said: "Floods are natural disasters, and raising food prices is man-made disasters. The victims are hungry, why are you still in trouble? Isn't it for some bit of silver? Is silver important, or is life important? ”

Zhou Shao listened silently.

Shen Nan continued: "Your son is hurting people wantonly at this moment, and the victims of the disaster are already very angry, and when they heard that it is your son, they are even more angry, demanding that the beaters be severely punished. If the court investigates it, I'm afraid you and I won't be able to eat and walk around. ”

Zhou Shao asked pitifully, "What should I do then?" ”

Shen Nan said: "In order to calm the situation and save your son, the only way is for you to reduce the price of grain." ”

Zhou Shao hesitated and said, "This ......"

Zhou Yi was on the side, and said pitifully: "Dad, please save me, don't hesitate, just do what Master Shen said!" How can you be so cruel and watch me go to jail? ”

Seeing his son wearing an iron shackle, Zhou Shao couldn't bear it, and finally agreed.

Zhou Shao took the lead in lowering grain prices, and other grain merchants naturally followed suit. When the price of food finally dropped, the victims rushed to tell each other, rejoicing, and finally they could not go hungry. The beggar Miao He, nicknamed "Crane Maniac", led the beggars in front of the yamen, knelt and kowtowed several times.

On this day, Shen Nan saw Zhou Yi again and said that after the restaurant owner was beaten and bleeding, he asked how he was doing? Zhou Yi said: "I sprinkled the red dye on the ground as a bloodstain, and I really deceived Chen Confused!" Don't tell my dad or he'll beat me to death, it's a little secret between the two of us. ”

Shen Nan smiled, couldn't help but admire, and said, "Hehe, Zhou Yi, you are really a smart child, you will definitely have a future when you grow up." ”