The Story of Qian Ruoduan Goose

During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Qian Ruogeng became the magistrate of Linjiang Prefecture (now Xilinjiang Town, Qingjiang County, Jiangxi Province).

One day, a countryman took a goose into town. For convenience, he checked it in a hotel. However, when he came back from work to get the geese, the shopkeeper lied and said, "I raised those geese, but I don't have yours!" " "Country people's anger and the owner's judgment. But because he was uneducated, clumsy and inarticulate, he couldn't argue with the glib shopkeeper, so he had to go to the yamen to complain with drums.

Qian Ruogeng, the county magistrate, listened carefully to the peasants' complaints and immediately ordered his men to take all the four geese in the shop and divide them into four parts. Every place is given a piece of paper, a pen and an inkstone, saying that these geese are allowed to admit who they belong to.

How does the goose confess? What a big joke. When people in the city heard the news, they all watched it with great curiosity. Even officials in the government are surprised and puzzled by this unique way of handling cases, and everyone is worried about him.

Qian Ruokun seems to be careless about the case. As soon as he finished the arrangement, he went to eat casually. After a while, he sent someone out to inquire; "Did the goose confess?"

Soon, Qian Ruoxuan stepped out of the inner room and personally went down to see the geese in the closed room. When he saw it, he smiled and nodded his beard and said to himself, "Well, well, well, they have confessed." When the officers looked over, they saw that the paper, pen and inkstone had not moved except for four geese who had taken some shit. They really don't know what Qian county sells. Suddenly, Qian Zhifu pointed to one of the geese and said firmly, "This is just that countryman's!" " "

Qian Ruokun is indeed right.

How did Qian Ruokun make a judgment without knowing the country goose? It turns out that he is an official with rich life experience. He knows that geese in the country eat weeds and their feces are light; The geese in the city eat millet and their droppings are yellow. To determine whether the owner of a goose is a countryman or a city dweller, just look at the goose's feces.

After Qian Ruogeng told his verdict, the greedy and cunning shopkeeper turned pale and kowtowed and apologized.