As far as Zhang Heng saw alone, there was no doubt that the Binota mine was in trouble.

The gates of the mine were locked, no carts carrying ore entered or exited, and even the guards who had patrolled the perimeter of the mine to prevent nearby farmers from stealing ore were gone.

"As I said, Cobb has no reason to deceive us, and it won't do him any good to do so. ”

"Which side of the hell are you, my friend?" Zhang Heng glanced back at Dai Kius and asked.

"Huh?"

"Because if you still want to finish your work on time and get those bronze statues done on time, you'd better pray that Cobb has lied to you on this matter."

"But...... If he really wasn't lying. Dekius asked weakly.

"Then congratulations on messing up the first job that His Majesty the Emperor gave you." Zhang Heng said lightly.

Hearing this, Daichius's expression suddenly tightened, he knew that the Oriental in front of him was intimidating him, but he had to admit that the other party's words were indeed irrefutable.

"If you figure out your situation, let's get to work." Zhang Hengdao.

After saying this, he climbed over the fence on the side of the mine, and Daikius hesitated, and hurriedly followed.

The two walked along a somewhat muddy path, then climbed over a dirt slope and finally saw the mine on the back.

A group of slave miners in the mine were going in and out, carrying baskets of stones and sand out and dumping them outside the cave, a guy who looked like an overseer saw Zhang Heng and Dai Kius, and took the initiative to come up, he seemed to know Dai Kius, and said with some surprise, "Why did you come here?" ”

Daichius introduced the two, so Zhang Heng also knew that the young man in front of him was Cobb's eldest son, Crasse.

Clarsey stretched out his hand and shook hands with Zhang Heng, "I've seen your performance before, it's very exciting, you are the strongest man I've ever seen." ”

Although his tone was polite, there was a hint of caution in his demeanor and movements.

"Oh, Zhang Heng is now an advisor to His Majesty the Emperor, and he is in charge of matters related to the construction of the bronze statue." Dekius then added.

"Yes, then you don't make bronze statues, what are you doing in my mine?" As Clarsa spoke, another group of slaves came out of the mine, and after dumping the gravel, they did not return to the mine at once, but stood in place, numbering about a dozen men, strong in size, and holding pickaxes for quarrying.

"Well, we've been out of work for a while because we don't have enough ore supply, so let's see what's going on on your side and how long it will take to resume mining." Dachius played a round game.

"As you can see, there has been a landslide in the mine, and we are still cleaning it up." "I can't say exactly how much time there will be before mining resumes, but I remember telling you that I'll let you know as soon as it resumes." ”

"Of course, of course, we don't disbelieve you, we just want to see if there is anything we can do to help, and breathe in the fresh country air by the way." Dai Jius nodded again and again, and then looked at Zhang Heng on the side, the meaning of that look seemed to say okay, you should be satisfied now, so let's stop here.

"There's no fresh air in this place, just stinking slaves and a pile of broken rocks." Clarsey snorted, "No one wants to stay here, and when this is over, I'm going to go to the city to find a house and give myself a long vacation." ”

"yes, we'll have a drink or something, but that means I'm out of work." Daikius sighed, and then looked at Zhang Heng.

The latter raised his eyebrows, signaling that he had nothing more to ask, and Daichius breathed a sigh of relief.

Crasse and the dozen or so slaves watched Zhang Heng and Dekius leave the mine.

After walking some distance, Dechius finally couldn't help but speak, "I hate to say that, but you should believe that the mine is really in trouble by now, and Cobb is not deliberately delaying the construction." ”

"It's hard to say if the mines will be in trouble, but you're in trouble, my friend." Zhang Hengdao.

Hearing this, Daikius was also worried, "I know, but this is an unexpected disaster, and I hope that you can truthfully report the situation here to Your Majesty." ”

"It's not an accident." Zhang Heng shook his head and said.

"How is it possible, we saw it with our own eyes......" Daichius' eyes widened, as if he didn't believe that someone was telling a lie with his eyes open, could it be because he didn't stuff money when the two met?

"All you see is the slaves picking the sand out of the mine, and the Clarsai people blocking the entrance to the cave to prevent us from entering, and besides, I've heard that the miners in the Binota mine are not only slaves, but also some low-level poor people in the neighborhood come here to ask for work, but we only saw slaves this time, not the poor people."

"Well, what does that mean?"

"Slaves are the property of their masters, and it is difficult to betray their masters, but those poor people are not, so if you want to do something small, you can't let those poor people stay," Zhang Heng said, "and ......."

"What else?"

"Did you notice that the slaves who were cleaning the mines weren't sweating any of them, which means they had only just started working, and remember the muddy road we passed before going uphill?"

"Uh-huh."

"I don't know if you noticed Clarsey's shoes and trouser legs, which have undried dirt, which means that he just walked the part of the road we walked, this guy came not long before us, in order to show us, besides, when I went to look for you, I found a few sneaky guys outside your door, if nothing else, it was the people sent by Cobb to keep an eye on you, they saw me looking for you, I guess someone had already come back to inform the mine people in advance, And then they got it all ready. ”

After Zhang Heng finished speaking, he turned to look at Dai Kius, and found that the latter had his mouth wide open and looked incredulous.

"Oh my God, who are you, and why do you see so many details that no one else would even notice?!"

"You know me, I used to be a gladiator, but I just happened to be better at observation." Zhang Heng had no intention of explaining more, as one of the tenants of 221B Baker Street, this level of reasoning did not know what to do.

"Okay, so what do we do next?" "I mean, even if I know that the Binotta mine is lying and deliberately stopping work, they are not strictly violating the contract and are still paying us liquidated damages, and I still don't know why Cobb is doing it, it doesn't do him any good." ”

"Of course Cobb didn't have the guts to do that, so we need to find the person behind his back to make him do it." Zhang Heng said lightly.