People who raise silkworms don't take it seriously at first. After all, not every silkworm can survive.
But later they gradually discovered something was wrong.
The silkworms died piece by piece, and when one side died, the other side was wiped out.
They realized something was wrong and quickly told Xie Yuan.
When Xie Yuan came to check, the silkworms were almost dead.
"Little sir, I'm really sorry - I thought this was just a common illness, but unexpectedly they all died." The silkworm farmer lowered his head, his face full of guilt and uneasiness.
The silk produced by these silkworms is extremely valuable. Even if they lose their fortune and become slaves, they cannot afford it.
The young gentleman will not kill them to vent his anger.
"It doesn't matter."
Xie Yuan waved his hand, picked up a few dead silkworms and the mulberry leaves they ate, and asked Huo Qubing to take out his wallet and put them in them.
"Lord, these silkworms are all dead, haven't you suffered a huge loss?" Huo Qubing looked at the silkworms that were beginning to rot, feeling very distressed.
"Stop the loss in time, and the loss may not be huge." Xie Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly, "There is something wrong with these mulberry leaves. You can take them back and let Brother Wangshu take a look. I will go to the mulberry fields."
After Qi Yan settled in the academy, he decided to learn medical skills because his mother was ill and had no money to treat her.
He hired the best doctor for Qi Yan. Qi Yan also had some talents and quickly understood the basics of traditional Chinese medicine.
Seeing his hard work, the doctor took him to see incurable diseases.
Qi Yan was studying and recording at the same time. Not long ago, he inherited the mantle of the old doctor. From time to time, he went to the Huichun Hall he opened to serve as a sitting doctor, and consulted for free for people who looked down upon the disease.
Huo Qubing bowed and left, and Xie Yuan followed the silkworm farmer to the nearest mulberry field.
Then I saw this scene.
The mulberry fields that were supposed to grow vigorously all died overnight. All the mulberry leaves wilted, and many fell to the ground.
Xie Yuan also saw dead birds.
He picked up the dead bird and noticed that there was a twig beside its beak, so he reached out and pulled it out.
It's mulberry fruit.
Xie Yuan frowned, found a pair of scissors, and disemboweled the bird in front of the silkworm farmer.
Silkworm farmer: "!!"
It's meant to be beaten.
When the bird was disemboweled, Xie Yuan's hand bled. He plucked it out as if it was dirty, and quickly found an undigested mulberry.
Silkworm farmer: "!!"
Don't you want to eat it, sir?
"Quickly find someone to check the mulberry fields in other manors to see if the same situation of silkworm deaths has occurred." Xie Yuan narrowed his eyes and suddenly spoke.
The silkworm farmer came to his senses and immediately bowed and left.
Xie Yuan buried the bird in the soil, washed his hands and returned to the academy.
It happened that Qi Yan came out from a pile of medical books and pointed to the silkworm next to him: "The mulberry tree was poisoned, and the silkworms ate the poisonous mulberry leaves, and all the poison became poisonous within three days."
Xie Yuan nodded: "I went to the mulberry field today and saw birds dying after swallowing mulberries."
As soon as he finished speaking, the sericulture farmer came to the academy and said to Xie Yuan with an ugly face: "Sir, the entire mulberry field in Kuaiji County is gone!"
"What about the mulberry fields outside Kuaiji County?"
"I found a few young and strong tenant farmers to watch the horses, but the news hasn't come back yet." The sericulture farmer shook his head, his face turned gray, "These mulberry fields are ruined, how can we pay taxes this year?
.”
They were all hired by Xie Yuan, and they usually relied on the income from raising silkworms to support their families.
Now that the mulberry fields have been destroyed and all the silkworms have died, all their hard work has been in vain. They have to pay taxes again during the autumn harvest - without money, how can they pay taxes?
"I'll keep your wages, so don't worry." Xie Yuan frowned, "The most urgent task is to find out who did it to Sangtian and how."
By the time the sericulture farmers left, it was already dark, so Xie Yuan went to the mulberry fields again.
Hearing the sound of running water nearby, Xie Yuan's heart moved and he held up a lantern to look for the sound of running water.
The river near Sangtian in Kuaiji County was a canal river that he hired people to dig and divert from the tributaries of the Yangtze River.
He set up checkpoints at the irrigation outlets of the mulberry fields to prevent the water from being too strong and drowning all the mulberry fields.
Thinking of the checkpoint, Xie Yuan went to the water inlet of Sangtian.
Everything at the checkpoint there is normal, and the waterwheel is also operating normally.
I don't know if it was an illusion, but Xie Yuan always felt that the waterwheel seemed to have been painted with white paint.
He walked over and took a look and saw some white powder on a wooden board.
It seems to have been newly placed and has not yet fully melted.
Xie Yuan took out the handkerchief, dipped some in it, put it away, and looked around.
Frogs were croaking everywhere, and mosquitoes occasionally appeared, but no one was in sight.
Xie Yuan narrowed his eyes.
(System, enable search function.)
…
In a ditch outside the mulberry field, Wang Ergou covered his mouth tightly.
I saw a young man not far away looking around, and he was even more arrogant and did not dare to speak out.
This Xie Yuan is just a scholar, but his insight is too high.
Fortunately, he put things away quickly and escaped quickly, otherwise he would have been discovered.
After waiting for half a cup of tea, there was no movement outside. Wang Ergou quietly poked his head out, but could still see Xie Yuan's shadow.
He breathed a sigh of relief and turned his head to face a smiling face.
"It's so late, why are you hiding here?"
Wang Ergou: "!!"
Damn it!
It’s time to introduce Xie Yuan!
His heart was pounding, and he crawled out of the ditch in twos and twos, spreading his feet and running away.
But not long after running, Wang Ergou felt a sharp pain in his ankle.
He gasped and fell to the ground in embarrassment.
After spitting out a mouthful of natural fertilizer, Wang Ergou got up and turned around.
Not far away, a young man held a lamp, threw a pebble in his hand, and walked towards him with a smile——
"My eyesight is not very good. I can't see clearly at night. I obviously hit you on the neck, but I accidentally hit your ankle. Tsk, tsk, what a pity."
Xie Yuan came over unhurriedly, threw away the stone, and picked up Wang Ergou like a chicken.
one-hand.
Wang Ergou: "?!!"
Damn it, this Xie Yuan is so strong!
"Who ordered you to drug my mulberry field?" Xie Yuan asked.
The young man's voice was exceptionally gentle, but Wang Ergou could hear the smell of the cold winter months.
He trembled and hesitated for a long time, unable to utter a few useful words.
Xie Yuan nodded: "This is not a suitable place for interrogating people, so I'll trouble my brother to follow me."
Then he dragged the person into the academy.
Wang Ergou's clogs were all pulled off - Xie Yuan looked thin and weak, but he was very strong. No matter how hard he struggled, it was to no avail.
In desperation, Wang Ergou was humiliated and carried to a group of people.
Huo Qubing looked at this man with a mouth full of pig manure and spit out a mouthful of hot tea.
He happened to spray Wang Ergou in the face.
The pig manure was dripping, making him look even more embarrassed.