Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 53: Public Kitchen Borers, Good Official Liu Kuan [Seeking Follow-up Reading]

Hearing this, Li Mao's face turned pale, and Zhang Yi's expression was equally ugly.

Liu Kuan signaled the Yiluansi officers to bring the craftsman over and asked, "What exactly happened?"

The craftsman gave Li Mao a bitter look before turning to Liu Kuan and saying, "Sir, the ironworks has a rule that we, the shift workers, must eat three meals a day in the communal kitchen and are not allowed to cook privately."

"Therefore, we had no choice but to hand over the imperial rations and salt to the public kitchen, but Li Mao and others took advantage of their position in the public kitchen to embezzle our rations."

"Otherwise, with the rations and salt we've paid, we wouldn't be able to eat the finest meals, but we could still fill our stomachs. Why is it like this, where we can only eat half full every day?"

Liu Kuan recalled the scene he saw when he was getting his meal just now.

Each craftsman was given a bowl of brown rice porridge, a small multi-grain pancake, and a spoonful of boiled vegetables.

Although he thought the food was mainly unpalatable, the portions were not too small. However, these craftsmen were doing manual labor, and such a small amount of food could only fill them half full.

However, this does not mean that Li Mao and others in the public kitchen must have embezzled money.

Thinking of this, Liu Kuan ordered: "Shen Lin, Zheng Zhiliang."

"The official is here!"

"You two should immediately investigate this matter."

"As ordered!"

After saying this, Liu Kuan said to the craftsman in front of him, "You can go and queue up for food first. I will give you an explanation after I have thoroughly investigated this matter."

The craftsman who reported the corruption in the public kitchen was also very bold. He said, "Master, I am afraid that Li Mao and others will retaliate against me before the results of the investigation are out."

Liu Kuan said, "Don't worry, he won't dare. I'll send someone to watch him."

After saying this, he ordered Wang Guangyue to leave behind a group of soldiers to watch over Li Mao and other kitchen clerks and servants.

Seeing this, the craftsman went back to queue up for food.

Liu Kuan called Zhang Yi, Li Mao and Jia Dong to his presence.

"The corruption case has not yet been fully investigated, so I will not discuss it for now. Today, I will first discuss the public kitchen hygiene."

health?

The three of them were a little confused after hearing this.

Liu Kuan said, "Sewage is flowing all around this public kitchen, and the counters, sinks, pots and jars inside are extremely filthy."

"Do you have any idea how unclean the food produced in such a filthy environment is? At the very least, it will cause diarrhea in those who eat it, and at worst, it will cause plague."

They finally understood that Liu Kuan thought the kitchen was too dirty.

Zhang Yi immediately pretended to scold Li Mao, "I asked you to arrange for more people to clean the kitchen, but you ignored me? Now you understand the importance of this matter."

The Chinese people have long understood the importance of food hygiene. Those people in public kitchens are simply lazy, and since they don't eat from the same pot, they don't care much.

Now that Liu Kuan had pointed out their mistake and Zhang Yi had reprimanded them, Li Mao and Jia Dong replied honestly, "We know we were wrong. We'll have someone clean the kitchen right away."

However, Liu Kuan did not let this matter go easily.

He said, "From today on, I will send someone to check the kitchen hygiene from time to time. It is best for you to clean up and tidy up after every meal."

"Yes."

After talking about hygiene, he led his men out of the public kitchen and back to the iron smelting office.

In order to convert the ironyard into a steel plant, the personnel, logistics and other systems had to be reformed, but that could only be carried out after his memorial was approved by Zhu Yuanzhang.

Therefore, in the next few days, Liu Kuan plans to make some small improvements to the iron yard, just like he did this morning.

This will not only allow him to gain a deeper understanding of all aspects of the ironworks, but also gain more trust from the craftsmen, making reforms smoother in a few days...
That evening, Shen Lin and Zheng Zhiliang reported their investigation results to Liu Kuan at the post station.

Because Zhu Yuanzhang cracked down on corrupt officials extremely severely, although corruption among officials existed at that time, it was not serious.

For example, the government officials subsidized the rations and salt to the shift workers at the Liuhe Ironworks in full without any deductions.

However, the public kitchen staff at the ironworks collected the rations and salt from the shift workers and took them to Liuhe County and other places to sell them, using the money to buy some old grain and brown rice.

They even mixed a little mud and sand into the food and gave less food when serving it in order to make a profit.

Although the shift workers knew that there was something fishy about the food in the public kitchen, they did not dare to report it to the authorities because Li Mao was Zhang Yi's nephew, and they endured it in silence.

As to whether Zhang Yi, the deputy envoy of the Iron Smelting Institute, was involved in this matter, Shen Lin and Zheng Zhiliang were unable to find out.

After learning this, Liu Kuan came to the iron smelting office the next day and showed the investigation results and relevant evidence to Gong Zheng and Zhang Yi.

Gong Zheng seemed quite surprised after reading it. He said, "Li Mao, Jia Dong, and the others embezzled the shift workers' rations? How could such a thing happen?"

Zhang Yi's face paled after reading the confession. He angrily shouted, "That bastard Li Mao! We trusted him and let him oversee the public kitchen, but we never thought he'd dare to embezzle money!" "Don't worry, Deputy Liu. I'll send someone to arrest him and interrogate him in court to get to the bottom of this matter!"

"No need." Liu Kuan stared at Zhang Yi. "I sent someone to get him when I came here. Besides, as far as I know, Li Mao is Deputy Envoy Zhang's nephew, and it was Deputy Envoy Zhang who appointed him to manage the public kitchen."

"Therefore, after Li Mao is interrogated and convicted, Deputy Envoy Zhang will probably also be brought before the court."

After hearing what Liu Kuan said, Zhang Yi understood that he was involved in Li Mao's corruption and that at the very least he would be dismissed from his post.

Then he slumped in the chair as if he had lost his soul.

Liu Kuan ignored him and said to Gong Zheng, "Please ask Deputy Envoy Gong to arrange for someone to supervise the kitchen as soon as possible to avoid delaying the craftsmen's meals."

Although Gong Zheng had nothing to do with Li Mao's corruption, he was still a little scared when Liu Kuan took down Li Mao, Jia Dong and others so swiftly.

Upon hearing this, he hurriedly said, "Don't worry, Vice-President Liu, I'll make the arrangements right away."

"We need to appoint reliable people, and not send another termite over there," Liu Kuan reminded him. He then added, "Also, write a notice about the arrest of Li Mao, Jia Dong, and others for corruption, and post it on the ironworks' bulletin board so the craftsmen know."

"I understand."

Under Liu Kuan's urging, Gong Zheng quickly did as he said...
noon.

Hearing the voices in the iron yard shouting "get off work and eat", Zhang Qiba left one person to guard the brick kiln, and he took the others to the public kitchen to get food.

On the way, Zhang Daniu kept talking, "Second Uncle, I heard that Deputy Liu not only ate in the public kitchen yesterday, but also scolded Li Mao, Jia Dong and others. I wonder if those insects in the public kitchen will restrain themselves today and give us more food."

Zhang Qiba said, "I heard what happened yesterday from Old Wang. He said that Deputy Liu was worried that the kitchen was not clean and was afraid that we would get sick from eating."

"As for the corruption of Li Mao and his gang, even though someone has filed a complaint, it still needs to be investigated. Whether it can be fully understood remains to be seen."

"When you get to the communal kitchen to get your food, be careful with your mouth and don't say anything nonsense, or you'll get revenge from Li Mao later."

"I see." Zhang Daniu was not so happy.

However, when he arrived outside the public kitchen, he found that there were many people gathered around the notice board.

He was a person who liked to join in the fun, so he immediately gathered around and listened loudly.

"A new notice has been posted? What's it about?" He asked someone at random.

The person being questioned beamed with joy, "Li Mao, Jia Dong and the others have been caught embezzling our food rations!"

Zhang Daniu was incredulous when he heard this: "Is this true?"

"It's clearly written on the notice, and it's stamped with the iron smelter's ambassador's seal. How could it be fake?"

Zhang Daniu glanced at the notice and then scratched his head embarrassedly, "I can't read."

"I can't read either, but a clerk just read it to me, and it's absolutely correct."

Zhang Daniu no longer had any doubts after hearing this. He clapped his hands and said, "This is great news! I'll tell my second uncle!"

Zhang Qiba and others have already lined up outside the public kitchen.

When Zhang Daniu went there, he wanted to get in front of Zhang Qiba just like he did before.

Unexpectedly, he was pulled out by a clerk nearby and asked, "What are you doing? Cutting in line so blatantly?"

"I was standing here before. If you don't believe me, ask him." Zhang Daniu pointed at Zhang Qiba shamelessly.

The clerk laughed, "Do you think I'm blind? I saw them queuing up earlier, but you weren't there? Hurry up and queue at the back, or I'll punish you by making you do odd jobs in the public kitchen for half an hour!"

Zhang Daniu had no choice but to walk out, muttering to himself: Why is the queue stricter today than in the past?
Then he remembered the notice and excitedly told Zhang Qiba and others.

Zhang Qiba laughed and said, "We've heard about this. You should hurry up and get in line at the back. I heard the kitchen manager and chef have been replaced, so they're serving a lot more food today."

Zhang Daniu was even happier when he heard this and immediately went to queue up at the back.

For a young and strong craftsman like him, the most painful thing about serving here is not the hard work, but the lack of food.

You know, at his age, he is still able to eat.

After waiting in line for a while, Zhang Daniu finally entered the compound, and at the same time, he saw Zhang Qiba coming out with a bowl of rice.

"Uncle, let me take a look first!"

Zhang Qiba smiled and showed the food he had gotten to his nephew.

There was still a bowl of brown rice porridge and a multi-grain pancake, but the brown rice porridge was obviously much thicker than before, and the pancake was almost twice as big!
The most important thing is that he actually saw obvious oil spots in the boiled vegetables!
I can even smell the aroma of lard!
At this time, Zhang Qiba sighed and said, "I heard that it was all thanks to Deputy Liu that Li Mao and the others were captured so quickly. From today on, we don't have to eat only half full. We have to thank Deputy Liu for that."

Zhang Daniu praised sincerely: "Liu Fulang is really a good official!"

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　　Good night~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)