Chapter 9 Hamster (1)

Hou Kui spread a piece of hemp paper flatly on the water of wine. After the hemp paper had absorbed the wine, he carefully held it up with both hands. Get up, and finally spread it carefully on Xu Chunfa's face.

Xu Chunfa’s head was fixed with a clamp and he could not move at all. Seeing the hemp paper falling down, he could only use his strength and blow a breath.

A big hole was blown into the hemp paper. Hou Kui didn't care. He took another piece of hemp paper and spread it flat on the water of wine. After the hemp paper absorbed the wine, he used the same The movements spread across Xu Chunfa's face.

This time, Xu Chunfa blew the paper to pieces again.

Hou Kui still didn't care and repeated his previous actions...

"A criminal must confess. You can't carry it like this."

A voice Appears suddenly in the torture chamber.

This voice did not affect Hou Kui, his hand was still steady.

"I have nothing to confess, Zhao Xing, you will have to die sooner or later."

Xu Chunfa panted rapidly. In order to survive, he was trying hard to cover his face. The hemp paper is blown to pieces, and in the spare time, you must also express your intention.

Zhao Xingxing walked out under the dim light. His face looked very pale under the oil lamp. He looked down at Xu Chunfa and said: "We have no grievances in the past and no enmity recently. How can you sue me for a trivial matter?" Where are you at the Shenxing Department?

If I hadn’t had someone in the Shenxing Department, you would have succeeded.

Tell me everything you know. I'll leave you a whole body!"

Xu Chunfa shouted: "You will not die well."

Hou Kui took out another piece of paper from the drink. It was spread on Xu Chunfa's face, and when he saw it was blown open, he picked up a piece of paper again...

"Xu Chunfa, our prison in Xingyang County has always been empty. Since His Majesty took control of Ji, Very few criminals are imprisoned. This is because I, the county magistrate Zhao Xing, have good governance.

Not only that, over the years, I have renovated the divide and opened the Jiji Canal, which was originally abandoned. Huai River, Sishui, Jishui, and Ru River were revitalized, and Aocang was rearranged to store the grain from Huainan and Huaibei, so that the output of Huainan and Huaibei could be directly connected to Guanzhong. Even the Minister of Treasury thought that I Yes.

It is nonsense for you to say that I am exploiting the people. I, Zhao Xing, was born in Yushan Academy. From the first day of school, I was told by my teacher that the people are miserable and we should respond with conscience.

With what I have learned in my heart, I would not bother to compete with the people for profit.

Although Xingyang County today is not as prosperous as many prefectures and counties in Guanzhong, in this country. Under the governance of the county, the people had no fear of hunger and merchants prospered. In one year, Xingyang built 63 schools to accommodate more than 13,000 children in the county, and no school-age children were left out of school.

Xu Chunfa blew through a piece of hemp paper again and gasped quickly: "That's right. From the outside, you are indeed honest and capable. However, how many people know that you have learned the skills from Yushan Academy?" , used it for your own personal gain.

Your account books are indeed impeccable, and your behavior has been praised by the people of Xingyang. You even personally participated in digging mountains, building roads, preparing fields, spring plowing, and whipping spring oxen. In the day, you led all the officials to participate in the harvest. In the autumn, you went to the countryside to collect taxes. In the winter, you visited the poor and asked about their hardships. You had three simple meals a day, no silk and satin, and no beauty.

Who knows? Are you the richest man in Xingyang?

Zhao Xing, if you don’t want others to know, you have to do nothing yourself. Let me ask you, how do you explain the disappearance of 100,000 tons of grain in Xingyang Aocang every year? "< /p>

Zhao Xing saw that Hou Kui was still putting paper on Xu Chunfa's face, so he waved his hand to ask him to stop, leaned down and said to Xu Chunlai: "The grain stored in Aocang in Xingyang is 160 yuan per year. 70,000 dans, 1,250,000 dans out of the warehouse, 240,000 dans for local grain, 170,000 dans for brewing, 3,000 dans for water transport, 3,000 dans for insect and rat bites, and 4,000 dans for mold and spoilage. Qiandan, you see, my accounts can withstand inspection."

Xu Chunfa laughed sadly and said: "This is your intelligence and the brilliance of the skills you learned in Yushan. The accounts seem to be complete and flawless. If I hadn't accidentally discovered that you, Zhao Xing, are the largest wine merchant in Henan, and supply 100,000 tons of grain to 16 wineries every year, I would also sincerely praise your achievements.

You are an official, and your annual salary is only 687 silver coins. Including your various subsidies, it is only 936 silver coins. Come and tell me, where do you come from? 100,000 dans of grain were supplied to the winery?

I also checked that the grain shipped into Aocang was indeed 1.67 million dans. Apart from this, there was no other grain shipped in. You are proud of yourself and are unwilling to exploit food from the people. The county's taxes are also fixed.

I ask you, where did you get 100,000 tons of food?

Can you make something out of nothing? , or can it turn stone into gold?"

Zhao Xing smiled when he heard this, patted Xu Chunlai's face and said: "In other words, you don't have any evidence, right? In that case, you are making a false accusation."

Xu Chunlai swallowed a sip of wine that flowed into his mouth and said: "I still don't understand that you come from a prestigious family like Yushan Academy and you have served as the Xingyang Order at the age of twenty-six.

I can’t understand it at all.”

Zhao Xing sighed and said: “Xu Chunlai, you come from a wealthy family and have no worries about food and clothing since you were born. You don’t understand what it is like to be poor. Let me tell you. , that is a kind of fear that is engraved in my heart...

I had a habit when I was very young. Before going to sleep, I would check if there is any food for tomorrow. If there is, I canSleep peacefully, if not, I would be up all night.

After dawn, the first thing I did was to look for food. I knew that I must find enough food while I could still move, otherwise, once my strength disappeared, I will starve to death.

This problem is difficult to correct even after I entered a place like Yushan Academy where I could live without worries about food and clothing.

Did you know?

I studied at Yushan Academy for eight years and ate leftovers for eight years! ! !

It’s not that the school is stingy, nor that my classmates bully me. It’s that on the first day I entered the school, I secretly set aside lunch during breakfast. When others were having lunch, I would eat the morning meal. Leftovers, leftovers from lunch for dinner, leftovers from dinner for breakfast...

For eight years... I know this is bad, this is wrong, my classmates have advised me countless times, I I have corrected it countless times, but if I can't see or feel where my breakfast is before I go to sleep at night, I can't fall asleep.

Do you know what kind of nickname my classmates gave me?

Tell you, they all call me - hamster!

This nickname is not meant to humiliate me. I feel like a hamster myself.

Xu Chunlai said angrily: "This is your personal habit. You just keep it. Why do you want to corrupt so much?" One hundred thousand dans of grain, aren't you afraid that it will suffocate you to death? "

Zhao Xing shrugged his shoulders and said: "I don't know why, maybe it's just my nature.

Okay, I also know how many things you have mastered about me, so you can die with peace of mind.

Don’t worry, you fell on the roadside and choked to death on your own vomit after being drunk. Therefore, your family will be fine and they will receive pensions. After all, you were on a business trip. Drunk to death.

Such a reputation is not good. I will advise your family not to make any noise. In order to express my guilt, I will also write a letter of recommendation to your nine-year-old son, so that he can have There is an 80% chance of being admitted to the Lower House of Yushan Academy.

As long as your son lives up to his expectations, he will become the pillar of your Xingyang Xu family in the future. If you trade your life for your son’s future, it’s not too unfair to you, right? "

Xu Chunlai's eyes were covered with hemp paper, and his eyes were stung by the wine. He gritted his teeth and said: "Zhao Xing, you really got my letter of accusation from the Criminal Punishment Department. ? I'm going to die, I hope you won't lie to me. "

Zhao Xing sighed: "Is there any difference? "

Xu Chunlai said: "There is a big difference. If you got it from the Shenxing Division, then the Lantian Imperial Court is almost finished. I will not rest in peace. If you used something I got it halfway. Even if I die, I won't blame you, because you are superior in skill. "

Zhao Xing hesitated and said: "The inn is full of my people. You know, the last thing I want to do as a foreign official is to interact with people from the Shenxing Department.When it comes to making friends, that group of people are all white-eyed wolves. They will check whoever comes near them. They are born to see everyone as a bad person. "

Xu Chunlai let out a long breath and said, "I'm relieved now. As long as the people in the Shenxing Department don't collude with you, there is still hope for this country. Come on, don't bother, pour some wine into my mouth and let me drink to my heart's content. "

Zhao Xing shook his head and said: "No, you are an official. Even if you die accidentally, those from the Shenxing Department will conduct an autopsy on you and they will not stop until they confirm that you died accidentally.

So, you can’t have too much alcohol in your stomach. If it exceeds your drinking capacity, they will classify your death as murder. I will be in trouble then. I can only drink the hemp soaked in alcohol. Papers are put on your face one by one, slowly suffocating you with the smell of alcohol, and you slowly drink into your stomach. When you are really drunk, when you really vomit, the hemp paper will block your stomach. If your mouth prevents you from vomiting, your vomit will flow back and seal your trachea.

Let you die naturally due to drunkenness. "

"Is this what Yushan Academy taught you? "

"Yes, this is a death case I encountered when I was an intern in Chang'an County. After the autopsy officer dissected the body of the drunkard, he told us the inside story. .

So, the process is very important and there can be no mistakes. "

Zhao Xing said to Hou Kui again: "Let's do it as we agreed in advance. "

Hou Kui cupped his hands and said, "I obey. ”

Zhao Xing nodded and left the cell.

Xu Chunlai completely gave up resistance this time. Whenever Hou Kui spread hemp paper soaked in wine on his face to block it, After holding his breath, he would instinctively blow through the paper and drink the wine seeping out of the paper.

Hou Kui's hand was very steady, and he still cut the hemp paper one after another. Spread on Xu Chunlai's face...

The cell is very deep and quiet, and occasionally there will be a dull blowing sound.