There is a spring in Guangzhou called Greedy Spring, and there is a small story about this greedy spring.
After the fall of the Western Jin Dynasty and the relocation of the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the south of the Yangtze River, the economic center of gravity of the Eastern Jin Dynasty also shifted to the south. Guangzhou began to become an important city in the south, it was close to the sea, convenient transportation, produced a variety of rare and exotic objects, was one of the famous commercial centers at that time. Because of this, those corrupt officials and corrupt officials took a fancy to the treasure land of feng shui in Guangzhou and tried to find ways to become officials in Guangzhou. At that time, in the Yamen of Guangzhou, the officials openly paid bribes and bribes, and none of the officials did not exploit the people and loot the property, which caused great indignation among the people. The Eastern Jin Dynasty court was afraid that this would cause great chaos, so it decided to let Wu Yinzhi serve as the assassin of Guangzhou to save the reputation of the imperial court.
Wu Yinzhi was a well-known good official who was honest and honest, and was very dissatisfied with the vicious habits of corruption in the official arena. He decided to go to Guangzhou to rectify the discipline and put an end to the unhealthy trend of corruption and bribery.
Wu Yinzhi received the appointment and immediately took up his post. On this day, he came to the stone gate of the necessary place from north to south to Guangzhou. It was hot and thirsty, and Wu Yinzhi saw that there was a clear spring on the side of the road, so he got off his horse and went to the spring to scoop up a scoop of spring water. Just as I was about to drink, I heard someone say:
"My lord, this water is not drinkable!"
Wu Yinzhi looked back and saw that it was a white-haired old man walking towards him on crutches. Wu Yinzhi felt very strange, the old man was already approaching, Wu Yinzhi asked:
"Old man, I wonder why this spring water can't be drunk?"
The old man pointed to a stone tablet next to the spring and said, "Look, my lord! ”
Wu Yin looked at it, and the stone stele was impressively engraved with two large characters "Greedy Spring", which was very eye-catching. But he still did not understand, so he asked the old man:
"Old man, I wonder why this spring is called 'Greedy Spring'?"
When the old man saw that Wu Yinzhi did not understand, he said bluntly:
"This is a fountain of greed, and the officials who drink this spring will be corrupt and harm the people."
As soon as the old man said that, Wu Yinzhi felt even more strange, so he carefully inquired from the old man about the ins and outs of the inside.
It turned out that Shimen was a traffic fortress to enter Guangzhou, and when successive officials passed through Shimen, they saw that the spring water was sweet and sweet, and everyone couldn't help but taste it to show their elegance, and after entering Guangzhou, everyone revealed the nature of corrupting the law and exploiting the people. The local people saw more and said indignantly:
"This is really a fountain of greed!"
In this way, from generation to generation, the notoriety of "Greedy Spring" spread. Since then, in order to flaunt their incorruptibility, the officials who went to Guangzhou have pretended not to drink "greedy spring" water, hoping to leave some good impression on the common people.
Hearing this, Wu Yinzhi suddenly asked:
"Then, aren't the officials who don't drink spring water cleaner cleaner than those who drink spring water?"
The old man said indignantly:
"It's not the same, a hill of raccoons."
Wu Yinzhi smiled and asked:
"So, this has nothing to do with the spring water?"
At this time, there were many onlookers at the edge of the spring, and after listening to this conversation, they couldn't help but laugh, and the old man couldn't help but laugh.
Wu Yinzhi looked around and said solemnly:
"The greed of an official or not for money lies in this person's soul, which has nothing to do with the spring water!"
Then he drank several sips of the water from the greedy spring, and also sang a song: "The ancients clouded this water, and drank a thousand gold; try to make Yi Qi drink, and finally do not change their hearts." "Although Guangzhou at that time was not as prosperous and rich as it is today, it was also a fat place. Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, it has been an important maritime trade center and treaty port. Merchant ships from Nanyang, Tianzhu, Lion Country (present-day Sri Lanka), Persia and other places brought a large number of rare treasures and overseas foreign goods several times a year. As long as those in power "fish" at will, foreign wealth and windfall wealth will be determined. As the "Southern Qi Book of Wang Kun's Biography" says: "As soon as the history of Guangzhou stabbed but passed through the city gate, it received 30 million." However, Wu Yinzhi, who drank the greedy spring and singed an oath, broke this example. He has always maintained a clean and innocent conduct that is not greedy or occupied in guangzhou. After the expiration of his term of office, when he returned to Jiankang by boat from Guangzhou, as when he went to office, he still had no long belongings and a clean wind on his sleeves, which was in stark contrast to the "foreign cargo on the ship and the treasure in the car" when he left the post and returned it.
This story teaches us that internal causes are decisive.