Traveling through ancient times to escape famine, the prince led me to rebel

Chapter 181: Corvée Rations Mixed with Sand

"Hand over the food!" the people of Hedong Village shouted.

The people of Hexi Village were confused. The village chief Zhang Changzong quickly came out to respond, "Didn't you just take away a cart? The people from the county government said it very clearly, one cart of grain per village."

"That's right!" Zhang Shoucheng, the second son of Zhang Changzong, curled his lips, "There are more people in our village doing corvée labor than in your village, but we have the same amount of grain as you. In the end, we are the ones who suffer the loss!"

"Stop playing dumb! Hand over our food now!" the people of Hedong Village continued to yell.

The people in Hexi Village were completely confused. "What are you talking about? What nonsense!"

At this time, the village chief Wang of Hedong Village squeezed out from behind the crowd, holding food taken out of a sack in his hand, and handed it to Zhang Changzong.

"Village Chief Zhang, it's not us in Hedong Village who are talking nonsense, look!"

The dry, cracked, and slender hands were trembling slightly, causing the river sand and wheat on the palms to move slightly as well. The three different colors of yellow, hand, sand, and wheat, mixed together, creating a contrasting and eye-catching look.

"This..." Zhang Changzong was shocked, and then hurriedly explained, "Village Chief Wang, I don't know this at all. I didn't even open the sack when I got the rations from the government office yesterday."

The pile in Village Chief Wang's hand was made up of 70% river sand and 30% wheat, but he seemed to cherish the 30% wheat as well. He carefully put the mixture of river sand and wheat into the sack before continuing Zhang Changzong's words:

"You just gave us this grain. We opened it right after we got it. We didn't have time to tamper with it. You gave us wheat mixed with river sand."

"This is impossible!" Zhang Changzong stared at Village Chief Wang's hand. He was shocked and suspicious for a moment, and his mind went blank.

"Is there any misunderstanding here?" Zhao Tangming stood up and tried to ease the tense atmosphere.

Village Chief Wang didn't give him face. He raised a half-hearted smile on his sallow old face, "Old Zhao, you and Village Chief Zhang are relatives, so why don't you stop speaking up?"

There are many marriages between the Hexi and Hedong villages, so people from Hexi Village also go to Hedong Village to inquire about the situation.

Li Xinghua secretly approached her father, Old Li, and said, "Dad, you were just next to Village Chief Wang. When he opened the sack, was there wheat mixed with river sand?"

Old Li was in poor health and was a little tired from standing for such a while. He leaned on his son Li Tun and said softly, "Yes, it is true."

Boss Sun also asked his mother-in-law who lived in Hedong Village and got the same answer.

It seems that there is indeed something wrong with the grain that Zhang Changzong just handed over to Hedong Village.

Seeing this, Niu Shubao quickly opened the sacks on his village cart and checked. His heart sank instantly, "Village chief, our food is also mixed with sand."

As soon as these words were spoken, the villagers of Hexi Village became confused, and some of them looked at Zhang Changzong with suspicion.

After all, the grain was brought home by Zhang Changzong and his two sons last night, and it has turned into river sand today. Even if he did not embezzle the wheat, he was still at fault for improper storage.

"How could this happen? How could this happen!" Zhang Changzong was speechless. He had clearly locked the rations in the woodshed, and he was the only one who had the key. How could sand appear here now?

"I think you people in Hexi Village have also been kept in the dark by Zhang Changzong. He just wants to embezzle our corvée rations. Hand over the food quickly!"

"Zhang Changzong, hand over the grain quickly!"

"Otherwise, don't blame us for taking action!"

The people in Hedong Village are all pale and thin. They haven't had a full meal for a long time. How can they give up now?

Although some people in Hexi Village doubted Zhang Changzong, more people still trusted him. After all, Zhang Changzong had been the village chief for so many years and had worked diligently, and there had never been any bad rumors about him, so some people spoke out to defend him.

"Our village chief didn't take your food, stop spitting blood at us!"

"That's right! How could our village chief do such a thing!"

"Don't tell me you're so poor that you're mad and want to cheat us!"

……

Gradually, the insults from both sides became more and more unpleasant, and Luo Xiaoran had no doubt that if this continued, the two villages might even come to blows.

At this moment, a loud shout was heard, and then a whip cut through the sky and hit the boundary between the two villages on the west and east sides of the river, raising a cloud of dust.

"What are you all doing here? Are you still working?"

Four men dressed in constable uniforms came, holding long whips and looking ferocious. When they saw the chaos at the scene, they were about to attack.

When Du Kongqing saw them, he instinctively shrank his neck and hid next to Luo Xiaoran.

"What's wrong?" Luo Xiaoran asked Du Kongqing, but her eyes were fixed on the leader of the four yamen runners, who was an acquaintance of hers, the bearded man who had led people into her house to bully Uncle Xiang and was then beaten away by her.

"They are the overseers of the corvée labor. They are very fierce. If you are not careful while working, you will be whipped by them."

When the village chief Wang of Hedong Village saw the supervisor, he quickly took out a handful of grain from the sack and explained:

"Uncle Tu, the people in Hexi Village mixed sand into our rations, and I don't know where they hid the remaining food!"

The "Master Butcher" that Village Chief Wang mentioned was the bearded man who was beaten by Luo Xiaoran. Hearing how tall and strong Village Chief Wang was, he strode up to Zhang Changzong, grabbed Zhang Changzong by the collar and lifted him up.

"Is what he said true? You dare to embezzle the corvée rations?"

Zhang Changzong's feet were already suspended off the ground. The strong feeling of weightlessness coupled with Tu Ye's questioning made him extremely frightened.

"Uncle Tu, I have never done this, and I don't know why there was sand in the sack."

Zhang Shougen saw his father being lifted up by the butcher, so he rushed to him, grabbed his trouser legs and said, "Yes, butcher, we locked the grain in the woodshed yesterday and never touched it."

Today is the first day of overseeing. Zhang's father and son bump into him. Of course, Tu Ye wants to use them to establish his authority. He kicks Zhang Shougen away and says viciously to Zhang Changzong in his hand:

"Tell me! Where did you hide the food?"

Zhang Changzong saw his eldest son curled up on the ground with his hands on his chest, and his blood boiled. "I really didn't do it, Master Tu, you are wise enough!"

"You're still making excuses even at this time!"

A fierce light flashed in Tu Ye's eyes, and he exerted force with his hands, trying to throw Zhang Changzong out.

At the critical moment, Luo Xiaoran stepped forward and steadily caught Zhang Changzong who was almost thrown to the ground, "Village Chief, are you okay?"

Zhang Changzong panted, "Xiao Ran, I really didn't touch the food!"

Luo Xiaoran nodded, "I believe you, you won't do such a thing, and you must have a lot of questions now."