After hearing Li Yuan's order, Old Man Zou was so distressed that his brows pounded. According to his opinion, the mounts of the Governor and the soldiers were fine horses that were rare in the Chu region. Obviously, they could not be tested easily. It seemed that they could only be used. My own donkey was put to the test by the Governor.
But his donkey has been with him for so many years, and Old Man Zou has regarded it as a relative. Even if the stubborn donkey gets angry and smacks its hooves, he will slap it with curses, but he will never be willing to hit it hard. , indulgently like his own child. If he really died in the hands of the governor this time, it would be really sad.
Li Yuan didn't notice Old Man Zou's mood. Now that he had decided, he took action immediately. But Li Yuan would not feed the animals so rashly to eat the freshly dug salt. The color was still light yellow, and even if he didn't eat it, he would know it was poisonous. He still needed to purify these salt grains.
After a while, Li Yuan and his party returned to the camp, ordered someone to fetch the copper basin he used to wash his face, and poured all the small pile of salt grains dug out into the basin. Although Wang Jingguo and Old Man Zou didn't know what was going on, But he still followed Li Yuan's instructions and poured the clean water he brought into the copper basin. After Li Yuan stirred it for a while with his long sword, a small pile of salt particles melted into the water, and the basin turned into a turbid yellowish liquid.
Old man Zou lit a fire outside the tent as Li Yuan asked with concern, and saw Li Yuan put the copper basin on the fire and started cooking.
It was the middle of winter, and everyone was sitting around the fire, just in time to keep warm and relieve their discomfort. However, Li Yuan's attention was obviously not on this, and he had been standing aside concentrating on stirring the liquid in the copper basin.
Lin Sichang was taking a nap, but when he saw that the governor kept leaning forward and exerting himself, he hurried forward and whispered if he needed help, but Li Yuan just shook his head and continued to look at the liquid in the copper basin.
After a while, the liquid in the copper basin began to boil, steaming "gudonggudong", and a layer of yellow foam began to gather around the basin. Li Yuan carefully scraped off the foam and watched the boiling pot of salt water attentively.
After an unknown amount of time, the boring "gud-dong" sound finally began to fade away. The salt water in the copper basin was almost boiled away, leaving only a thin layer of yellow liquid. At some point, a layer of white particles appeared on the rim and wall of the copper basin, as if covered with a thin layer of snow crystals.
"It's done!" Li Yuan wiped the sweat from his forehead and exclaimed in surprise.
Everyone who was originally drowsy hurriedly gathered around to take a look. Li Yuan immediately ordered people to put out the fire, and then poured out the last yellow liquid in the basin. They saw that the bottom of the basin was covered with a thick layer of white powder. Like snow, bright as crystal.
"This is purified salt. I don't know if it's poisonous or not, but I can finally try it on the animals."
Li Yuan carefully cleaned the powder in the copper basin and gathered a small pile of white powder. The weight was much smaller than the pile of crystals he put into the basin before, but it looked whiter and finer.
"The Governor is mighty!" Lin Sichang led all the guards to open their eyes wide and exclaimed in unbelievable admiration.
Well, the moment finally arrived. Old man Zou was helpless. His legs trembled and he stood up. He silently ran to pull the donkey from home and walked aside. Muddy tears began to fall from his eyes. He stroked the donkey he had raised with his own hands. The donkey murmured in his mouth: "Dahei, my baby, just accept your fate. Don't worry, if you are really poisoned to death, I will not eat your flesh, old man, and I will bury you alive." In the field, even those wild beasts can't eat you, and there will definitely be a whole corpse.
Alas, I can't help you! You have followed me loyally for more than ten years, but there is nothing you can do about it. Don't blame the Grand Governor. The Grand Governor didn't mean to poison you. Alas... In short, just accept your fate. "
Naturally, Donkey Dahei couldn't understand people's words. Instead, he raised his lips and showed his teeth, blowing bubbles with a funny expression. He rubbed Old Man Zou's face affectionately, and blew a lot of snot from his nostrils. Old Man Zou didn't wipe it, he was lost in thought. The god continued to mutter something.
Zouping, who was busy at work, saw his father's distracted look, and hurriedly ran over and asked, "Dad, why are you talking to this stupid donkey of ours? Can it understand him?"
Unexpectedly, Old Man Zou gave his son a hard look and said angrily: "What a stupid ass?! This is Dahei, you heartless..."
This loud voice obviously attracted everyone's attention
After paying attention, Old Man Zou pulled Dahei towards Li Yuan amidst the puzzled eyes. He sighed and bowed and said: "Grand Governor, Dahei is a good donkey. Although his temper is a bit stubborn, he is still a good donkey." I raised the old man with my own hands, and he was like a relative. Now that he is dying, how can I not say a few words of understanding to him?
Animals understand human language, they are just speechless, and their hearts are bright. Da Hei, don't worry, the villain has told Dahei, and he will definitely not blame the Da Hei. "
"Wait a minute!" Li Yuan said in surprise: "Why do you say this so strangely? It seems like the governor has offended your donkey? Listen to what you said, this donkey is going to die, but why?"
Old Man Zou sighed heavily and said, "Didn't the Governor want to feed poisonous salt to the livestock? I can't feed poisonous salt to the war horses of you and the military gentlemen? You know, in the Chu land, good horses are hard to find, and they are broken in vain. Isn’t it a pity that I can only use my big black one?”
As soon as these words came out, although everyone was impressed by Old Man Zou's kindness, they couldn't help laughing. Li Yuan also couldn't laugh or cry. He patted his forehead and said: "Old man, when did I say that I would use your donkey to try it?" ? We have brought so many war horses with us on this trip. I will only use them to test, so how can I use your donkey to test? I will never bully the people."
"Hahahaha..." Now everyone laughed even more.
"Dad, why don't you back down? The Governor has always been kind to the people. He has never said that he would try it on our Dahei..." Seeing Old Man Zou's helpless look, Zou Ping became a little impatient and hurried forward. Hold on to Dad.
Old Man Zou opened his mouth for a long time, recalling what Li Yuan said, the Governor did not mention using his donkey to test the salt, he just said that he would use an animal, but he might have misunderstood.
"It's okay, Zouping, your father also has good intentions, and I understand it."
Then Li Yuan smiled and waved: "Sichang, go and fetch Jingguo's horse, and I will feed it with my own hands."
Now it was Wang Jingguo's turn to stare, and couldn't help but mutter in a low voice: "Grand Governor, why is it that my horse is the unlucky one? Why don't you use your big black horse?"
Li Yuan shook his head and smiled: "This Governor's mount is a rare horse. Your horse is just a good horse. We can have as many as we want in our army. Even if it is poisoned to death, it doesn't matter. I will give you another horse." that is."
Wang Jingguo curled his lips and muttered: "You are the governor, what can I do?"
Old Man Zou's eyes were red. Apparently the Governor didn't use his donkey to test the poison, which touched the old man's psychological defense. He wiped his tears and said with regret: "The Governor is really a selfless good man, but hey, one of them died in vain." Ma, that’s a lot of money..."
Soon Lin Sichang pulled Wang Jingguo's yellow horse over. He saw that the yellow horse seemed to be thirsty and kept sticking out its tongue and spitting at Lin Sichang, looking extremely stupid. With a breath, he looked at the yellow horse with a pair of disdainful little eyes, with an expression that said you are more stupid than me.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Li Yuan poured water into the copper basin and brought it to the side of the yellow horse. The yellow horse was dying of thirst. He bent his mouth and licked wildly. After a while, he drank all the salt water in the copper basin. , and still used his tongue to lick the water stains and salt particles in the copper basin cleanly, barely burping.
"Okay, we can wait and see. We won't see anything for a while. Let's rest tonight! Tomorrow, we will see whether the horse is dead or alive. Lin Sichang, Zouping, and the soldiers Patrol the camp." Li Yuan said with a smile.
"Yes!" Lin Sichang and Zou Ping said in unison, cupping their hands.
After Li Yuan entered the tent to rest, Old Man Zou seemed a little distressed. He kept squatting next to the yellow horse and watched, no matter how much his son Zou Ping persuaded him, he would not move.
Soon after, when he saw the yellow horse's tail raised, Old Man Zou became very nervous and said to himself: "It's over, it's over, it's a pity for such a good horse."
But I saw that the yellow horse's nostrils were stretched out, and the two rows of teeth showed a weird smile. It stepped on its hind legs as if to exert strength. Finally, it burst out with a "bald" sound, followed by a "slop" and a big fart. The horse dung came to the beach, and then it started jumping around, nothing unusual.
"Damn it, you splashed my leg! You beast..." Old man Zou cursed fiercely, covering his nose and kicking
He buried the horse manure in the soil, then went into his tent with his trouser legs up and ignored him again.
