nucmednet Chapter 338 How can a man have this ability?
Chapter 338 How can a man have this ability?
The next day, Su Yue's fingertips brushed across the densely packed numbers, and her pupils shrank suddenly: "In the past five years, 60% of the flood control funds have been withheld."
Liang Junze quickly calculated in his mind: "That's equivalent to 120,000 taels of silver."
"More than that." Gu Qingyan turned to the last page. "Look at this—'In the twelfth month of the Bingshen year, a gift of five thousand taels to the capital for the festival.'"
The three of them looked at each other and understood each other. The so-called "jiejing" was actually a bribe to the officials in Beijing.
"No wonder the people in the Ministry of Works turned a blind eye." Su Yue closed the booklet. "If this case is really investigated, I'm afraid it will implicate half of the court."
As he was speaking, the postmaster suddenly came in a panic and reported: "Sir! Refugees from downstream have gathered at the county government office and want an explanation!"
Hundreds of disaster victims were kneeling in front of the county government office.
A white-haired old woman, clutching her grandson, who had fainted from hunger, cried, "We repair the dike every year, and we pay for it every year, but when the flood comes, it all collapses! My son was forced to work on the river last year, and he hasn't received his wages yet..."
Su Yue helped the old woman up, and when she touched her cracked palms, her heart was shocked - these were not the hands of a sixty-year-old woman, but clearly the hands of a dead branch destroyed by labor.
"Old man, how much is the salary for repairing the dike?"
"It was agreed to be twenty wen a day..." the old man trembled as he pulled out a receipt from his pocket, "but in the end, I only got eight wen, and it was all moldy rice!"
The document was stamped with the red seal of the River Administration Office, but the signature was "temporarily owed".
Su Yue's chest heaved violently. He suddenly snatched the gong from the yamen runner's hand and rang it in the street.
"Fellow elders!" she shouted from the pedestal of the stone lions. "The newly allocated relief grain from the imperial court is on the way! Within three days, I will give you all an explanation!"
The crowd erupted in unrest, with some crying out, "The word 'official' has two mouths! Why should we trust you?"
Gu Qingyan suddenly drew out his sword, and with a flash of cold light, he cut off a strand of his hair.
"I, Gu Qingyan, swear here!" He threw the severed hair on the ground, "If I break my promise, I will be punished like this hair!"
Liang Junze silently unfolded a blank bamboo slip and recorded the victims' demands on the spot.
This action is more powerful than any words - in Puyang, where the literacy rate is less than 10%, writing represents the power that reaches the ears of the heavens.
The morning light pierced through the clouds and shone on the mottled plaque of Puyang Prefecture.
Su Yue stood in the court, with thirty-seven officials involved in the case kneeling in front of him.
Magistrate Zhao had his official hat removed, his hair disheveled, but he still stiffened his neck and sneered, "Sir Su, do you really think you can shake the century-old rules of Puyang with your own strength?"
Su Yue ignored her and slowly unfolded a scroll of bamboo slips. His voice was clear and cold:
"Yang Hongyu, who embezzled 84,000 taels of silver from river workers and withheld 3,000 dan of food rations from the disaster victims, causing widespread starvation in the three downstream counties – he shall be executed immediately."
"Zhao Mingyu, who embezzled relief funds from the imperial court, allowed his subordinates to oppress the victims, and forcibly seized their land—is exiled to the northern border, never to return."
"Liu Yun, accepting bribes and shielding others, knowingly failing to report—dismissed from office, investigated, and all property confiscated."
……
Every time a name was read, the people watching outside the hall burst into cheers.
An old man knelt down tremblingly, tears streaming down his face: "God has mercy on us!"
Gu Qingyan stood beside Su Yue with a knife in his hand, and glanced coldly at the officials with pale faces.
Liang Junze took notes, his pen as sharp as a knife, nailing every crime on the case file.
When the last official was dragged away, Su Yue closed the bamboo slips, looked at the crowd of people outside the hall, and said loudly:
"From today onwards, the funds for Puyang River Workers will be allocated directly by the imperial court. Every expenditure will be publicly announced at the city gates! Anyone found guilty of embezzlement or corruption—" She paused, her eyes frosty, "will be put to death without mercy."
Three days later, the Puyang River embankment was bustling with people.
Su Yue changed into a set of short and tight clothes and personally directed the craftsmen to build the dam.
Her improved cement formula was made into mortar, mixed with crushed stone, and poured layer by layer on the riverbank.
"Is this... is this really stronger than glutinous rice mortar?" The old river worker squatted down, touched the solidified cement block, his face full of disbelief.
Su Yue smiled and smashed it down with a hammer - "Bang!" The cement didn't move at all, but the hammer made her palm numb.
There was a burst of exclamation all around.
"Master Su is truly a god!"
"If this dike had been built ten years earlier, why would we be suffering from floods every year?"
Liang Junze stood beside her and whispered, "Yuer, if this method is promoted nationwide, it can save thousands of people."
Su Yue shook her head. "It's difficult. Cement may be cheap, but it affects the interests of too many people." She looked at the men carrying stones in the distance and said in a cold voice, "Look, even for hard work like building a dike, women are only in charge of directing the work; it's still the men who do the real work."
Gu Qingyan sneered: "How can a thousand-year-old rule be changed so easily?"
In the evening, Su Yue came to the disaster relief camp with the back pay and food.
In the camp, the women sat in groups of three or four, eating the white flour buns they had just received, while the men squatted in the corner, sharing a bowl of porridge.
"Why do they eat solid food while we drink liquid food?" a skinny teenager couldn't help but grumble.
"Shut up!" The middle-aged man next to him tugged at him. "It's good enough that you have a stutter. How dare you find fault with it?"
Su Yue frowned and walked straight to the porridge stall. She said to the yamen runner in charge of distributing grain, "From today on, men and women will receive the same grain and work the same amount. The more work you do, the more grain you will receive!"
The yamen runner looked embarrassed: "Sir, this... is against the rules."
"Rules?" Su Yue sneered, "My rules are - fairness!"
She grabbed the spoon, scooped a full bowl of thick porridge herself, and handed it to the boy: "Eat it, you will have the strength to work after you are full."
The boy was stunned, his hands holding the bowl trembled slightly, and tears fell into the porridge.
Not far away, several women started to shout in dissatisfaction:
"Why should men eat thick food?"
"That's right! How can they work as efficiently as we do?"
Su Yue glanced at him coldly: "Not convinced? Then let's have a competition - tomorrow we will repair the dike, men and women will compete in groups, and the group that does the best job will get more meat!"
The next day, the riverbank was bustling with activity.
During the acceptance inspection in the evening, Su Yue personally measured the progress of the two groups.
"Men win," she announced.
The women exploded:
“Impossible! They must have cheated!”
"That's right, how can a man have such ability?"
Su Yue ignored their shouting and asked someone to bring a large pot of stewed meat, which was filled with aroma.
"You've got to accept defeat." She looked at the men's team. "This is what you deserve."
The young men held the bowls, their hands shaking. They had never imagined that one day they would be able to eat meat with dignity through their own labor.
Liang Junze watched this scene from afar and whispered, "Yuer, you are challenging the rules of the world."
Su Yue smiled and said, "I can't change the world, but at least I can make the men in this land live a little more like human beings."
Gu Qingyan stood with his arms folded, and suddenly said, "If I hadn't met you back then, I would probably be the same as them now."
Liang Junze was silent for a moment, then gently held Su Yue's hand.