Qiu Darui hid in the crowd in the distance, carefully guarding against being recognized by acquaintances. He stared fiercely at Yuan Xingzong, who was surrounded by troublesome workers. Secretly said: "Raising soldiers for a thousand days, for a while, this dog should also bite." He went to urge the goods from Kanto to return early, and just after Hangu Pass, he heard that something had happened in the workshop, and Qiu Darui said that it was not good, and immediately sneaked back to the vicinity of the workshop. After the workshop became chaotic, Qiu Darui's first concern was that the Relief Department intervened and unearthed many old cases hidden in the workshop. Therefore, he took advantage of the chaos to send people to bring in news to the hidden piles in the workshop, as long as the officials came to recruit these troublesome workers, the hidden piles would hide in the workers and suddenly kill them, and they had to cut off the way of life of these workers.

This dark pile is a dead soldier he raised, Qiu Darui helped him pay off his gambling debts, and raised his family in Hangzhou, and this person was arranged in the Guanzhong workshop. Qiu Darui originally intended to use him to monitor the shopkeeper Luo and others who were in charge of the workshop.

Since then, the situation has developed step by step, and it is no different from Qiu Darui's initial fears of the worst-case scenario. The Relief Department, which stood on the side of the workers, not only intervened, but also took full control of the matter. Therefore, Qiu Darui could only pin all his hopes on the dark pile. "This Yamen in the Kanto region is really more troublesome than the southeast." Qiu Darui hated and said, if it weren't for the officials in the southeast of the Great Song Dynasty who looted too hard, he would not be willing to rush to Guanzhong to open up the situation.

Among the workers and apprentices, Fu Zhiren and other subordinate officials had not had time to catch up, Chen and Yi stood beside Yuan Xingzong, and the two of them were already surrounded to death. The eyes of the emaciated and pale faces were wide open, as if the two people in front of them had pinned all their hopes.

"I started working before dawn, seven or eight hours a day, and I have been living for five years," a worker with a face like a skeleton dangled his thin five fingers in front of Chen Youyi. "Of the fifteen people who crossed the river together, five of them fell down, and the rotten mats were dragged out in a roll, and I don't know where they were buried. It's easy to survive until five years are over, and this workshop actually deducts the wages as soon as they say they will deduct them, and the big man wants to uphold justice for the grass people! ”

"If they don't do enough work every day, they don't eat, and if it's summer, they stand under the hot sun, and if it's winter, they stand barefoot in the snow." "In this workshop, the shopkeeper and the foreman's mouth are both positive, but we wait, as long as there is a slight confrontation, we will be immediately punched and kicked."

An apprentice opened his mouth to show Chen Youyi: "This was stoned a year ago, and they said that they would treat donkeys with their mouths." "He lost two or three teeth from his upper and lower doors, and there was like a dark hole in the middle of his mouth. Others unravel their rags, their scrawny bodies covered with horrific wounds. "This is when I was dozing, and the foreman scalded it with charcoal in the tongs." A man pointed to a large scar on his arm and said, "The villain is lucky, and this wound will heal itself." Some people's wounds have been rotting, their entire arms have rotted, they have become invalids, and they don't know where they have gone in the end. ”

One by one, the workers scrambled to be the first, Chen Youyi and Yuan Xingzong were overwhelmed, not far away, a grim-looking man gradually squeezed to the front, he held a short crossbow in his hand, I don't know if it was snatched from the foreman's hand, his face was pale, and he squeezed closer and closer, until he was only two or three steps away from the leading court official, and there were five or six people in the middle to stop. The man seemed to hesitate for a while, but finally made up his mind, and while everyone was looking ahead, not paying attention to the moment next to him, he raised the well-wounded short steel crossbow in his hand and aimed it at the front door of the court official.

"No matter how many grievances there are, the adults will make decisions for you." Chen Youyi tried his best to suppress the sourness and anger in his heart, smiled and raised his head to comfort the apprentices beside him, suddenly his smile froze on his face, his eyes opened wide, and he saw the most incredible scene, a close apprentice actually aimed his bow and crossbow at Lord Yuan.

Seeing that the apprentice smiled strangely, as if he was about to start, Chen Youyi's mind was blank, and he stood up, "Be careful, my lord!" Before he could shout this sentence, he was fit in front of Yuan Xingzong. When it was too late, an iron crossbow bolt shot heavily into Chen Youyi's shoulder blade, and the strong momentum carried him backwards and fell on Yuan Xingzong's body.

The surrounding apprentices froze, and after a few moments, someone shouted, "There are assassins!" Seven or eight workers scrambled to crush the desperately resisting Assassin to the ground. The thousands of workers beside Yuan Xingzong were in a mess.

"Oh no, there are assassins!" Fu Zhiren, who was walking towards Lord Yuan, was shocked, he hesitated for a moment, and hurried over. The court officials in the back also saw this scene, Chang'an ordered Cui Qianqing's face to be pale, and the captain Lu Dejing ordered loudly: "The whole battalion is in formation!" The sergeants sitting on the ground stood up together, the iron armor clanged, and the Mo knives were drawn from the fishskin sheaths, and the cold light shone, like a moving wall of knives slowly advancing towards the busy workers.

"What a dog!" Qiu Darui clapped his right fist and suppressed the excitement in his heart. As long as there is a conflict between the officials and the soldiers and the workers, this matter will be easy to handle, and it will not be long before he can appear in the open, without leaving behind the huge business in Guanzhong.

"Lord Yuan!" Fu Zhiren rushed to the front, and suddenly a person stood up in the group of workers, it was Yuan Xingzong, his face was as cold as ten thousand years of ice, and he shouted: "The official is fine, let them be calm and not impatient, don't fall for the gangster's divisive plan!" Fu Zhiren couldn't believe his eyes, and seeing him hesitate, Yuan Xingzong shouted violently: "Don't go quickly!" ”

"Yes! My lord! Fu Zhiren hurriedly turned around and ran towards the sergeant of the Iron Bone Army who was slowly advancing like a wall of swords, he waved his hands and shouted: "Lord Yuan is fine, let you not come over first!" "Captain Lu, Lord Yuan is fine, this is a gangster's discord!"

"His grandmother's!" Qiu Darui scolded, he didn't care about remorse, and quietly slipped away from the crowd while others didn't pay attention. It is impossible to return to Kanto from Hanya Pass. He had to take a detour and sneak back to Kanto quietly while the Xia court didn't know that he was already in Guanzhong.

Two days later, Pan Shaowei sat in the love room of the Chang'an Mansion City Prison, and the jailer outside the door said loudly: "I have seen Han Gong." He stood up first and bowed his hand and said: "Pan Shaowei, the official of the Relief Department, has seen the Korean duke." Cui Zhengji, the secretary of the Military Intelligence Department, and Zang Jun, the head of the Chang'an Mansion's fast arresting team, also stood up and said together: "See Han Gong." ”

Han Gong Li Channai, one of the protectors of Chang'an Mansion, looked at the prisoner who was tied to the iron bench, frowned and asked, "Didn't you make a mistake, right?" Pan Shaowei said respectfully: "That's right, this person is Luo Fusheng, the shopkeeper of Qiu's workshop. ”

Li Chan nodded and asked routinely, "Are you really Luo Fusheng?" ”

"It's the villain." A hint of happiness flashed in the eyes of the shopkeeper Luo, but he didn't expect that the punishment of the Yamen of the Relief Bureau was still in accordance with the rules of the imperial court, and the civil protector was invited to supervise the punishment, so that as long as the mind was careful enough and the questions were answered correctly, there would be a lot of suffering.

After Li Chan sat down, he looked at the shopkeeper Luo, and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty listened, according to the laws of the Zhuguo Government, all suspects involved in serious cases who confess their feelings untruthfully will be punished with a thin punishment. There is a civil protector here, as long as your words are true, although this torture instrument is heavy, it will not hurt you. Did you hear me clearly? ”

Shopkeeper Luo raised his head and said weakly: "I heard clearly." ”

Li Chan nodded, and Cui Zhengji said in a low voice: "Then whether you start asking." Li Chan nodded, Cui Zhengji waved his hand, and the official of Chang'an Mansion tied Luo's shopkeeper to the tiger chair. Pan Shaowei exchanged glances with Cui Zhengji and Zang Jun, and asked in a deep voice: "Luo Fusheng, the official asked you, what did you do before the workers' rebellion, and I will tell you carefully one by one." ”

Shopkeeper Luo thought for a moment and began to narrate slowly, he admitted that he had decided to deduct wages, but avoided the matter of instructing the death of the apprentice couple surnamed Sun. Pan Shaowei's face seemed to be smiling, and with a look of cat and mouse, he continued to ask: "Then did you say that you said to Du Wu and the others, 'According to the old practice, if you do a good job, you will deal with it'?" ”

Shopkeeper Luo panicked in his heart, but flatly denied it: "No, there is no such thing!" Zang Jun, the head of the Chang'an Mansion, smiled slightly, picked up the confessions of Du Wuqiu, Liu and others, presented them to Li Chan, and said respectfully: "Master Li, he lied. Li Chan looked at it and nodded slightly. Zang Jun's face was overjoyed, and he waved his hand to order the official to add a thick brick under the leg of the shopkeeper Luo, which immediately made his face pale.

Cui Zhengji continued to ask: "At noon on the day of the bloody case in front of Zheng Xiangtang in November, where were you and the proprietor Qiu Darui?" ”

Luo Fusheng's face changed slightly, his heart shrank, and he even forgot the pain in his knees, he swallowed: "The villain and the owner are ordering goods in the warehouse." ”

Cui Zhengji didn't talk to him either, opened the file, and presented to Li Chan the testimony of the Taibailou guys who testified that Qiu Darui and the shopkeeper Luo stayed in the store all day and didn't leave until noon the next day, Cui Zhengji said in a deep voice: "My lord, he said he was panicked again." Li Chan frowned and looked at it, there were the testimonies signed by the three guys in Taibai Building, as well as the rubbing of the Luo shopkeeper and other paintings, and nodded again.

A servant walked up again, lifted the calf of the shopkeeper Luo, and added a thick brick underneath again, so painful that the beads of sweat the size of his soybeans dripped down, and shouted loudly: "The villain remembers wrongly, remembers wrongly, I accompanied Qiu Dong's family to eat in Taibai Building at noon." ”

"How many people are eating? Who's sitting on your left? Who's sitting on the right? Who did you meet? What did you say? Cui Zhengji asked, he looked at Shopkeeper Luo, whose face was getting paler and paler, and said meaningfully, "I have to remember it clearly this time." Add two more bricks, and the leg will break. The leg is broken, and as long as you don't tell the truth, we have other options. ”

Shopkeeper Luo had completely fallen into the hands of these experienced officials, and it didn't take long for him to completely collapse, and without waiting for questioning, he confessed everything he knew about Qiu Darui. The truth of the bloody case at the door of Zheng Xiangtang was undoubtedly revealed, Cui Zhengji and Pan Shaowei were very excited, and hurriedly asked the civil protector Li Chan to draw the confession to prove that this confession was obtained in strict accordance with the laws and regulations of the Zhuguo Government, and was not caused by indiscriminate torture.

After all the interrogations were clear, the Military Intelligence Department, the Chang'an Prefecture and the Relief Administration jointly signed a letter and sent the cause of the chaos in Qiu's workshop, the old case in the workshop, and the most important case of Zheng Xiangtang's bloody case to the five governments. Even Yu Zangyun was stunned when he saw these case files. In addition to Qiu Darui, Luo's confession also implicated more than a dozen officials. In the face of ironclad evidence, the Zhu Guofu quickly passed the "self-discipline of workers", the Relief Department was given the power to protect the workers together with the Protectors, and the huge Qiu Workshop was bought by more than a dozen businessmen, and the silver money was 350,000 yuan, which was generously allocated to the Relief Department.

"The only pity is that Qiu Darui, the culprit of the first evil, went to Kanto to urge the goods long before the workshop became chaotic. This person is cunning and has many ears and eyes, and he heard the wrong rumors, not only did he never return to Guanzhong, but he also disappeared in Kanto. Zhao Xingde said regretfully, he closed the file distributed by the Protectorate to the school captain, and opened another letter, which was sent by Chun Yuzhen.

Zhao Xingde looked at it, a smile appeared on his face, it turned out that after the implementation of the self-discipline of this apprentice, many apprentices were released from death and freed, and the shortage of workers in Guanzhong was also alleviated to a certain extent. Chun Yuzhen estimates that in a few months, it will be easy to find enough people for a workshop like the New Iron Works, which is profitable and can afford wages. Now it is impossible for the apprentices to sign a contract with the workshop for decades, so Chun Yuzhen retreated to the second, on the one hand, to improve the food and clothing treatment of the apprentices, on the other hand, the process of iron smelting is divided into dozens of processes that can no longer be small, several of the most critical, and only he is responsible for himself, and he must keep the secret recipe of coke iron smelting until the last moment.