In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, there was a scholar in Cixi named Zhang Bing (same as Bing), whose courtesy name was Zhongming. His father was Zhang Kai, who once served as a censor. Zhang Bing studied since he was a child. Later, during the Chenghua period, he passed the Jins

In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, there was a scholar in Cixi named Zhang Bing (same as Bing), whose courtesy name was Zhongming. His father was Zhang Kai, who once served as a censor. Zhang Bing studied since he was a child. Later, during his fourth year in Chengdu, he passed the Jinshi examination and became the magistrate of Qianshan County (the word "Pin" in Qianshan County has the same pronunciation).

When he was the magistrate of Yanshan County , Zhang Bing encountered such a strange case.

A year ago, there was a woodcutter in the county named Jiao Dalang. He made a living by going up the mountain to cut firewood and sell it for money. Jiao Dalang liked to eat eels. Every time he sold firewood, he would spend half of the money to buy eels, and then ask his wife to cook them for him.

On this day, Jiao Dalang still went to cut firewood, and after selling the money, he still went to buy eels. After coming back, his wife cooked eel, and Jiao Dalang happened to be hungry, so he took the opportunity to have a big meal. However, unfortunately, after a while Jiao Dalang shouted that he had a stomachache . Before his wife could react, Jiao Dalang died.

The neighbor's name was Zhang Erbao. He heard the noise and came over to take a look and found that Jiao Dalang was dead. He suspected that Jiao Dalang's wife, Zhu, had poisoned her husband and killed her husband, so he hurried to report to the official.

When the county magistrate (note that the magistrate was not Zhang Bing at this time) learned about it, he tortured Zhu directly and asked her why she murdered her husband. However, Zhu did not kill Jiao Dalang. She refused to plead guilty and would rather die than confess. The county magistrate had no choice but to lock her in the women's prison. That's it for

. More than a year has passed, and this case has not been investigated clearly.

At this time, the previous magistrate's term expired and went to other places, and Zhang Bing came at this time and became the new magistrate. On the first day he took office, when he arrived at the county government office, he suddenly saw a man wearing a black scarf and green robe outside the door, floating into the house as if he was in the air.

Zhang Bing was surprised and asked the people around him who was in the sky. Everyone said that there was no one. It turned out that they didn't see it.

At this moment, Zhang Bing knew that this person must be a god, so he asked the people on the left and right to step back, then saluted the god and asked him to sit down. After the man of God sat down, he said: "Master County Magistrate, please don't be afraid. I am not a human being, but the local god of the land. There is an unjust case in the local area, but it has not been solved yet. I know that Mr. Zhang is shrewd and decisive, and your actions are upright. You are comparable to a god." , If you can handle this case properly, you will definitely be able to find out."

Zhang Bing asked, what kind of case is this.

The God of Land said: "A year ago, we had a Jiao Dalang here who was a woodcutter. He liked to eat eels. Later, he died after eating eels. Some people suspected that his wife had murdered him, and the former magistrate tortured him severely. "Jiao Dalang's wife, Zhu, has always refused to plead guilty, because she was not the one who poisoned her husband."

Zhang Bing frowned and said, "I'm afraid the crime scene of the case a year ago has been destroyed and the body has rotted. It's really not easy to find out!"

The Land God said: "It's really not easy, and do you know the cause of Jiao Dalang's death?"

Zhang Bing shook his head and said he didn't know, and said: "I am young and have little experience. "I have never heard that eating eels can kill people. Could it be that they died of bloating after eating too much, or did they die of poisoning due to eating other things?"

The land god nodded and said, "It is true that he died of poisoning, but he died of poisoning." He was not poisoned by accidental ingestion, but was poisoned by eels."

Zhang Bing was even more surprised when he heard this, and said: "Eels are edible, as long as they are not poisoned, everyone can eat them. I have eaten them before, so how could I be poisoned? "

The Earth God smiled and said: "You don't know, there are two kinds of eels, one is poisonous and the other is non-toxic. There are many non-toxic eels, but there are very few poisonous eels, maybe only one in a thousand. There is only one. However, this kind of eel is very poisonous. If you eat it, you will die immediately.

Zhang Bing felt it was amazing, and he immediately asked: "How to distinguish this poisonous eel from the non-toxic eel?" Are they any different? For example, what about different body colors, different head sizes, or different tails?

The land god shook his head and said: "This poisonous eel is the same as other non-toxic eels, and there is no difference in appearance." To verify whether it is poisonous, just put the eel in a large vat, then hide and observe. After waiting for half an hour, those poisonous eels will stick their heads out of the big urn, about two or three inches out of the big urn. You will know what to do next. "

After finishing speaking, the Earth God gave a slight salute and then disappeared.

Zhang Bing woke up suddenly and found that he had fallen asleep lying on the desk. He was still holding Jiao Dalang's case files in his hand. The words of the Earth God were still there. In the ear.

At this time, it was getting very late outside, so Zhang Bing couldn't sleep, so he continued to look at other case files until dawn.

After dawn, Zhang Bing went to court. There was no time to write a notice, so he issued an order verbally, asking the county to send thirty government officials to notify all the fishermen in the county, asking them to catch eels during the day and at night, and to catch all the eels the next morning. The eels were all brought and put in a big vat so that the eels could not die.

The government officials felt strange and thought: "Does this new county magistrate like to eat eels?" Otherwise, why would you want to catch eels as soon as you take office? "But they didn't dare to ask, so they went out immediately and notified the fishermen and boatmen to catch eels.

The fishermen showed off their skills. Some used cages on the ground, some directly fished with hooks, some used scented bait to lure them, and some I blocked the river, put the water aside, and then caught eels. I even went barefoot into the mud and reached out to dig out eels and lobsters wherever there were bubbles and holes.

All the fishermen were catching eels all day and night, and even those who were not fishermen, such as boatmen, farmers who like to catch fish, etc., came to help.

The next morning, everyone brought the loaches, some of them. Put them in big urns. Some homes don't have big urns, so they put them in basins, buckets, or other containers.

There are hundreds of these containers, and there are roughly thousands of eels in them. If each eel weighs half a kilogram, these eels can weigh as much as two thousand kilograms. Almost all the eels in the county are here. Many people don't know what the new county magistrate is going to do. Even if they want to eat eels, they don't need to catch so many eels. Are the eels here? Even if everyone only eats eels, these eels are enough for hundreds of people.

At this time, it was almost noon, and Zhang Bing asked everyone to add water to the container, not too much, so as to prevent the eels from running out. Ordered everyone to go home for dinner. After half an hour, everyone will see a different spectacle.

Everyone followed the order and went home to cook. , almost half an hour later, everyone came to the county government hall and observed. At this time, everyone saw a magical scene: most of the eels were not moving in the water, probably because they were tired from struggling. The eels all stuck their heads out, about two or three inches outside the container, with their heads held high and even their tongues sticking out.

What’s even more amazing is that when flies and mosquitoes fly to these eels with their heads held high and their tongues sticking out. When the eel was above, the eel did not move, but the flies and mosquitoes fell directly, obviously dead.

Everyone couldn't help but be stunned.

Zhang Bing asked four servants with quick hands and feet to cover their noses with one hand and catch the eels with their heads raised. Fortunately, the eels didn't move, either because they couldn't see people or because they weren't afraid of people at all. After catching the eels, they put them in an empty basin with no water around them. After seeing it, he became curious again and didn't know what Zhang Bing was going to do.

Zhang Bing had people take Jiao Dalang's wife, Zhu, out of the women's prison, gave her a pot and some firewood, and asked her to do it in front of everyone. Two of the eels were fried and cooked.

Mrs. Zhu didn't know what the magistrate meant, but she didn't dare to disobey the order. She used a few stones to set up an iron pot, lit the firewood, and put water in the pot. Zhu quickly bled the eel with his fingernails, then put oil in the pot, fried the eel, added onions, ginger, and water until cooked.

Soon, the aroma came out. Everyone had just finished eating and couldn't help but swallow their saliva when smelling the aroma.

Zhang Bing called a government officer, and then the government officer went to the death row and brought a death row prisoner. Zhang Bing also asked Zhu to serve the cooked eels to the prisoners on death row. After smelling the aroma, the prisoner on death row was so busy that he took the eel from the hot soup and ate it in big gulps without using chopsticks.

Soon, both eels were eaten by the prisoners on death row. After eating, the prisoner on death row seemed to want to drink soup, but before he could drink it, he suddenly clutched his stomach and screamed. Zhu was startled and backed away and said: "Master, master, my uncle is like this, he That's how he died. I didn't kill him. I didn't kill anyone. Please make the decision!"

The prisoner on death row screamed three or four times and died soon.

Everyone was shocked. They never expected that the eel was so poisonous. At the same time, everyone also understood that the county magistrate did this to prove that Jiao Dalang's death was due to eating poisonous eel, rather than being poisoned by his wife Zhu.

Zhang Bing also warned everyone that it is okay to eat eels in the future, but they must wait for half an hour in the water to see if they will come out of the water with their heads raised. If they come out of the water for two to three inches and wait with their heads raised, it means that the eels are poisonous. It must not be eaten. Once a person eats it, he will die soon. Moreover, after the poisoned eel died, everything appeared to be normal and no problems could be seen.

Mr. Zhu also said that it is best to bleed eels when eating eels because eel blood is poisonous. This is what his husband discovered when he ate eels. It may be okay to eat a little blood, but if you eat too much, you may be poisoned.

Afterwards, Zhang Bing told the fishermen that if they wanted to eat eels, leave a few large eels to eat and put the rest back into the river. Otherwise, the local eels might become extinct.

Later, Zhang Bing went out in casual clothes and saw the temple of the Earth God in a place, but it was slightly damaged. He paid for the repairs and worshiped the earth god. Since then, no one has died from eating poisonous eel in the local area.