At this moment, a young man came in from outside the palace gate. He saw Xiong Suan grabbing a drumstick and beating it to beat the police drum for fun. He ran forward, held down the drumstick and shouted loudly: "Your Majesty, this is a police drum. Can’t knock it!”
Xiong Zhen took a closer look and saw that it was Gong Yin Zhang. Jiang Zhang was very sad to see that Xiong Suan was old and confused, drinking and having fun all day long and ignoring government affairs. I wanted to go in to persuade him, but I was worried that my own people would not be able to persuade me with my gentle words, so I hesitated and wandered alone in front of the palace gate. Seeing that Xiong Zhen was going to beat the police drum for fun, why did he care so much? He quickly stepped in to stop him. At this moment, Xiong Zhen is in high spirits, how can he still listen? First, he dismissed Jiang Zhang from his position as Gongyin, ordered the warriors to drive him out of the palace, and then waved his drumsticks and beat hard.
When they saw the sound of police drums coming from the palace, the people thought there was an enemy situation and ran out in panic with forks and sticks in hand. Upon seeing this, Xiong Zhen ran in and reported to Xiong Zhen. Then Xiong Zhen realized that he had caused a panic by playing the drum out of control. He was so ashamed that he said to Zhen Yin: "Go and tell the people that I was drunk and could not play the drum just now." I was joking with the people around me. I played the drum wrong this time, and the fault lies with me. Please go back!"
When the people heard that it was a joke, they complained and left angrily.
The news of Xiong Zhen disturbing the people quickly spread throughout the capital of Chu. Xiong Tong said angrily: "What a fool you are, how is it any different from the time when King You of Zhou beaconed and played with the princes?"
Dou Min advised: "Second Young Master, please calm down. I have never heard of a fierce tiger lurking in the forest. You should first crouch down with your claws and hold your breath, then you can succeed with one move? Don't be impulsive and lose the big because of the small! I am humble enough to watch the sky at night and see the main star." It’s gloomy, I guess Xiong Zhen’s time is short, the second young master should be prepared!”
Since Dou Bobi was poisoned to death and Xiong Tong was crippled, no one dared to oppose them anymore. Xiong Zhu and Fei Wuchang brought up the old matters again and encouraged Chu Jun to rebuild the new palace. In the past, Xiong Tong and Dou Bobi dared to stand up and oppose, but their proposal to rebuild the new temple was difficult to implement. To get rid of the two, although some ministers held different opinions, they knew that it was useless to speak lightly, so they could only let it go. Most of the people are people who follow the trend. Seeing that Xiong Zhuan and Fei Wuchang advocated rebuilding the new palace, they agreed with them. Upon seeing this, Xiong Zhen immediately issued an order and ordered Dou Yuqiang to be the engineer. He chose a good and auspicious day to break ground.
Unknowingly, a few months passed, and Xiong Zhuan and Fei Wuchang were drinking and having fun in the palace with Xiong Zhuan, the king of Chu. When the three of them were drinking happily, suddenly the soldiers guarding the city came to report that another group of soldiers and horses had come to invade the territory and had arrived at the city gate. Xiong Zhen was shocked when he heard the news. He quickly went to the city and saw a group of people gathered at the gate of the city. One of them shouted loudly: "Xiong Zhen, answer, I am the son of Kui of the Kui Kingdom. The great Chu is also the great Chu we are waiting for. Why do you have it all to yourself? Quickly prepare 30,000 hu of grain and send it to the outside of the city, otherwise we will attack the city!"
The surname Kui dates back to ancient times and is said to be a descendant of Yue Zhengkui during the reign of Emperor Yao. In 1042 BC, when King Cheng of Zhou enfeoffed the heroes, Xiong Yi was enfeoffed in the Southern Barbarians and established the Chu State. His legitimate son Xiong Zhi was originally supposed to be the crown prince, but because he was disabled, he was granted a separate residence in Kui, which is now the eastern part of Zigui, Hubei. Therefore, Kuizi is a descendant of Xiong Yi. As the saying goes, the day is near and the day is close, and the day is far away and the day is far apart. Although the monarchs of the two countries are from the same clan, they have little contact with each other, so they are strangers to each other. Xiong Zhen said to the left and right: "Who can go to fight?"
General Qu Nai's father said: "The last general is willing to go out of the city to capture the thieves!" After saying this, he led a group of troops and fought out of the city. Kuizi drove forward, the guns and guns clashing with each other making a dull sound. The two of them fought for more than twenty rounds, with no winner or loser. By the thirtieth round, Kui Zi was timid, so he got back in his car and left. The young general Dou Yuqiang led his troops to cover up the attack, but the Kui soldiers could not resist and all retreated. Seeing the Kui soldiers retreating, Xiong Suan couldn't help but sigh: "It's all thanks to the two generals Qu and Dou that we retreated this time. It was the fault of the few people to disturb the people by beating drums!" He had to change the original order and replace the alarm signal. Dou Yuqiang was awarded the title of Gong Yin for his merits in protecting the city.
One morning at court, Xiong Zhen asked about the progress of the construction of the new palace. Engineer Yin Douyuqiang reported that due to lack of financial resources, the construction of the project was interrupted and progress was slow. Xiong Zhen immediately called out Li Yin Jianpeng to inquire about the tax payment status. Jian Peng reported: "Due to drought in spring and floods in summer, the fields are not harvested, so the tax this year is only 30% of previous years."
Fei Wuchang said, and immediately went out to report: "Last year, there was a flood in Cangshui (Hanjiang River), and many places were affected by disasters, but we did not reduce taxes. This year, there are only a few places with drought, how can we reduce the tax by so much? It is obviously because you did not collect taxes well. He deserves to be punished!" Just as Jian Peng was about to plead his case, Xiong Suan knocked on the dragon case and immediately shouted: "Come here, push Jian Peng out and behead him to make a warning to others!" Then he appointed Dou Min as Li Yin and conscripted him as soon as possible. If the tax is sufficient, the workman Yin Dou Yuqiang is ordered to start work immediately.
The next morning, Dou Yuqiang came to the construction site and saw a few soldiers overseeing the work lazily leaning against the wall and taking a nap. Seeing Dou Yuqiang coming to the construction site, a small school supervisor quickly ran over. Dou Yuqiang asked: "Are you the supervisor here?"
The principal nodded and bowed and said: "Yes, don't be humble in your humble position. General, please tell me if you have anything to do!"
Dou Yuqiang asked: "Where are the craftsmen and corvees?"
The principal said: "They are all over there..." As he said that, he brought Dou Yuqiang to the work shed, where he saw craftsmen and laborers lying on the floor. The principal waved his whip and shouted: "Get up, get up, get up and go to work!"
The craftsmen and laborers were lying on the straw and still refused to move. They couldn't bear the whipping, so they reluctantly got up and knelt on the ground. One of them said: "Your Excellency, we still have a family, and we are waiting for the grain and rice we have used for labor to go back to satisfy their hunger. Now not only do we not have the grain and rice to take back to support our family, but I even have the labor rice waiting here." It also comes and goes. People are like iron, and rice is like steel. How can we do such heavy work without food in our stomachs?"
The principal said fiercely: "The grain and rice above will be shipped soon. You go out to work quickly and you can enjoy dinner. Otherwise, not only will you not have dinner, but you will also have to receive a hundred lashes!"
The craftsmen and laborers had no choice but to get up and drag their exhausted bodies to the construction site.
A pair of young corvees, probably a father and son, were walking with difficulty carrying a city brick. With no food in his belly, the young corvee's eyes darkened and he collapsed to the ground. When the supervisor of the small school went up, he was whipped. When the middle-aged corvee saw this, he immediately grabbed the primary school's whip and begged: "Master, please do well. He is still a child. He has been hungry for a day and cannot carry it anymore. Please be generous and spare him!"
The principal said: "I think he is being lazy on purpose. You also want to be whipped? I'll help you!" He raised the whip and whipped it at the older corvee without thinking. When a middle-aged corvee saw that the primary school was being unreasonable, he was so angry that he threw the bricks on his back on the ground. He came over, took his whip, cut it in half, and threw it on the ground. He said angrily: "You are not raised by your parents. You treat me like this." Do they still have any humanity?"
At this time, all the corvees surrounded him. When the principal saw this, he quickly pulled out his knife and threatened, "Do you want to rebel?" He said in a hurry, raised his hand and stabbed the corvee who had whipped his whip through the whole body. The corvee swayed, and the principal pulled out the steel knife. The corvee's eyes were filled with anger, and he fell to the ground with a thud. The principal shouted in a stern tone: "Whoever dares to instigate trouble is a role model!"
At this time, Dou Yuqiang came over after hearing the news. The principal said with a guilty conscience: "This guy gathered a crowd to cause trouble, and he was punished because of his humble position... Please rest assured, general, and I guarantee that the construction period will not be missed!"
Dou Yuqiang didn't say a word, just squatted down silently and closed his eyes for the dead slave. The craftsmen and corvees, driven by the soldiers, had to continue working with sorrow and anger.
In the evening, the rations that the craftsmen and laborers had been waiting for for several days finally arrived. When dinner was about to start, Dou Yuqiang came to the center of the craftsmen and corvees. When the soldiers came over carrying several buckets of gruel that could be seen, they were already surrounded by hungry corvees. However, before the corvees finished the bowl of gruel, the porridge bucket was already upside down. Looking at the desperate craftsmen and laborers, Dou Yuqiang couldn't explain how he felt. At this moment, someone suddenly shouted: "General, please go and have a meal!"
Dou Yuqiang looked back and saw that it was the primary school, so he quietly followed him to the supervisor's shed.
I could smell the aroma of meat from a distance. Dou Yuqiang took a closer look and saw a simple dining table made of wooden boards filled with meat and fish. The principal said with a smile on his face: "General Dou, I don't have much to entertain you. Please forgive me..."
At this moment, a bulging bag in the supervisor's shed caught his eye.
