Chapter 20 111 Weekly Elimination of "Three Evils"

During the Western Jin Dynasty, in addition to extravagant and wealthy officials like Wang Kai and Shi Chong, there were also a group of gentry officials who were full of food and did not do serious business. Nonsense.This kind of conversation is called "clear talk".This kind of person is often very famous and has a high status.This also shows the corruption of the atmosphere at that time. But among the officials, there are also those who are more upright and willing to do practical things.Zhou Chu in the early years of the Western Jin Dynasty was such a person.When he was the prefect of Guanghan (now Guanghanbei, Sichuan), the original local officials were corrupt, and the accumulated cases had not been dealt with for 30 years.As soon as Zhou Chu took office, he dealt with the backlog of cases seriously.Later, he was transferred to the capital to be the censor Zhongcheng. Regardless of the emperor's relatives, he would boldly expose any violations of the law.

Zhou Chu was originally from Yixing (now Yixing County, Jiangsu Province) in the Eastern Wu Dynasty.When he was young, he was tall and stronger than ordinary boys.His father died very early, and he was left alone since he was a child, wandering outside all day, refusing to study; moreover, he had a tough temper, and would punch people at every turn, and even use knives and guns. The people in Yixing were afraid of him. There is a white-fronted tiger in Nanshan near Yixing, which often comes out to harm people and livestock, and the local hunters cannot subdue it. Under the local long bridge, there is a big Jiao (a kind of crocodile) that haunts and haunts.Yixing people associate Zhou Chu with the Nanshan white-fronted tiger and the Changqiao dragon, calling it the "three evils" of Yixing.Among the "three evils", it was Zhou Chu who caused the most headaches for the common people.

Once, when Zhou Chu was walking outside, he saw that people were unhappy.He found an old man and asked: "This year's harvest is pretty good, why are you all so sad?" The old man replied angrily: "The three pests haven't been eliminated yet, how can we be happy!" When Zhou Chu heard the name "three evils" for the first time, he asked, "What three evils are you referring to?" The old man said: "The white-fronted tiger in Nanshan, the Jiao in Changqiao, plus you, aren't they the three evils?" Zhou Chu was taken aback.He thought, it turned out that the people in the countryside regarded him as a tiger or a dragon.He pondered for a while, then said: "Well, since everyone is troubled by the 'three pests', I will get rid of them."

One day later, Zhou Chu, with a bow and arrow and a sharp sword on his back, went into the mountains to look for the tiger.In the depths of the dense forest, only a roar of tigers was heard, and a white-fronted tiger sprang out from a distance.Zhou Chu stepped aside, hid behind the big tree, picked up his bow and set up an arrow, and shot the tiger's forehead with a "swish", killing it. Zhou Chu went down the mountain and told the people in the village that some hunters went up the mountain to carry the dead tiger down the mountain.Everyone happily congratulated Zhou Chu, who said, "Don't worry, there are still Jiaos from Changqiao."

Another day later, Zhou Chu changed into tights, took a bow, arrow and sword and jumped into the water to look for Jiao.The jiao was hiding in the depths of the water, and when it found someone entering the water, it wanted to jump up and bite.Zhou Chu was ready long ago and stabbed Jiao's body fiercely.The Jiao was seriously injured and fled to the lower reaches of the river. As soon as Zhou Chu saw that the jiao was not dead, he nailed it tightly behind him. When the jiao floated up, he swam to the surface; when the jiao sank, he went to the bottom of the water.In this way, it sinks and floats for a while, and has been tracking dozens of miles away.

Three days and three nights passed, and Zhou Chu still hadn't come back.Everyone talked a lot, thinking that now Zhou Chu and Jiao must both be hurt, and both died in the bottom of the river.Originally, everyone thought that Zhou Chu was able to kill the tiger and the big jiao, which was already good; this time the "three evils" were all dead, and everyone was overjoyed.In the streets and alleys, when this matter is mentioned, they are all beaming and congratulating each other. Unexpectedly, on the fourth day, Zhou Chu came home safe and sound.People were amazed.It turned out that after the big jiao was injured, he was chased all the way by Zhou Chu. In the end, he bled so much that he couldn't move, and was finally killed by Zhou Chu.

When Zhou Chu returned home, he was very happy to know that people thought he was dead three days after he left home.This incident made him realize how much his usual behavior was hated by people. He made up his mind and left his hometown to study with a teacher in Wujun.At that time, there were two famous people in Wu County, one was Lu Ji and the other was Lu Yun.Zhou Chu went to look for them, Lu Ji went out, only Lu Yun was at home. When Zhou Chu saw Lu Yun, he sincerely talked to Lu Yun about his determination to change his past.He said: "I regret that I realized it too late and wasted precious time. Now I want to start a career, I'm afraid it's too late."

Lu Yun encouraged him and said, "Don't be discouraged. If you have such determination, there is still great hope for your future. If you don't have firm ambition, you don't have to worry about not being successful." After that, Zhou Chu studied hard with Lu Ji and Lu Yun while paying attention to his own moral cultivation.His hardworking and studious spirit is praised by everyone.After a year, all the governments of the prefectures and counties recruited him to be an official.After Soochow was destroyed by the Jin Dynasty, he became a minister of the Jin Dynasty.