Sun Liang cut rat

Sun Liang, the son of Sun Quan, the ruler of the State of Wu during the Three Kingdoms period, inherited his father's throne at the age of ten and personally took charge of the imperial government at the age of fifteen, becoming a young tianzi.

One day in the early summer of this year, Sun Liang was busy with state affairs, sitting idly and eating raw plums. Eating raw plums, he wanted to eat sweets again, so he asked the eunuch to go to the storeroom to get a few candied plums.

The candied plums were brought. Sun Liang took a look at the basin from the eunuch's hand and found that there were several grains of rat droppings in the candied fruit.

Supposedly, the treasury of the palace should be well managed, and must not be allowed to mix rat droppings in the preserves. The candied plum that Sun Liang ate was stained with rat droppings, indicating that the official who managed the warehouse was seriously derelict in his duties and could be questioned. Therefore, Sun Liang immediately summoned the Ku official.

When the treasurer heard that this was the case, he was so frightened that he quickly knelt down and prostrated his head and begged for forgiveness. But Sun Liang did not scold him as soon as he opened his mouth, but said calmly:

"Let me ask you first, and you have to answer honestly: Did the eunuch who went to the storeroom just now to get the candied plums ever ask you privately for candied fruit on weekdays?"

The treasurer, prostrating his head, replied, "There have indeed been times when this has happened." However, I was afraid of breaking the law and never dared to secretly give him candied fruit. ”

Sun Liang listened to ku's answer, so he summoned the eunuch and asked him if he had ever done such a thing. But the eunuch refused to admit it to his death, saying that the treasury officials had framed him.

At this moment, the two senior officials around Sun Liang, Diao Xuan and Zhang Ying, said: "The words spoken by the treasury officials and the eunuchs are completely different, and to find out this matter, we must hand them both over to the prison guards and investigate them carefully."

Sun Liang pondered for a moment and said, "No. It's an easy thing to figure out, and I have my own way. After saying this, he immediately ordered his entourage to take a grain of rat from the candied fruit and cut it open, so that everyone present could see what the cut rat looked like inside.

People take a closer look and see that although the appearance of rat is stained with a layer of honey, the inside is completely dry.

Sun Liang laughed out loud and said to Diao Xuan and Zhang Fen:

"Isn't the truth now quickly clear: if the preserves in the storehouse had already fallen into rat droppings, the rat droppings had been soaked in the honey juice for a long time, and they should have been wet inside and out." Now the rat was just wet on the skin, but it was completely dry inside, obviously just put in. This can prove that this was a bad thing done by the eunuchs, and the purpose was to frame the Treasury officials and take revenge for their private hatred.

The eunuch who had done something but refused to admit it could only bow his head and confess his guilt in the face of the facts. Everyone present was also very surprised, and they were all impressed by this young Tianzi's ability to judge right from wrong.

(According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, the Book of Wu, and the Biography of the Three Heirs)