Major General Brigade Commander Zhang Guixin inserted the still smoking pistol into the holster on his waist, wiped the two beautiful mustaches on his short lips, straightened the brand-new military cap on his forehead, held the handle of the command knife on his waist with one hand, shook the back and forth with the other hand, and stepped into the entrance hall of the official building of the Dahua Company with his legs. The leather boots under his feet were jet black and spotless, and the heavy soles of the boots and the floor in the hallway were constantly and rhythmically pounding, making a "click" sound. He was very fat, and he walked with a very swaggered buttocks, like a fat, chased goose, and although he walked very hard, his short, thick legs were fast, and he still gave people the feeling of dragging mud and water slowly.

He walked to the staircase in the foyer, held the red-painted wooden handrail up a few stairs, and then, turning and standing, he looked at the group of gentlemen in suits and leather shoes, or robes and coats behind him, and rudely pushed aside a thin counselor of the Ningyang County Governor's Office, who was following him, and then shouted in a hoarse voice:

"Commander Wang, tell the brothers to guard the door, and no one is allowed to enter the building! Whoever the fuck dares to gather a crowd to make trouble, arrest me! ”

A young officer answered and ran out of the foyer.

"The pistol team will come with me, first drive the idlers out of the building, and then guard the corridors and staircases!"

There was another rush in the foyer, and a few potters who were standing in the foyer were driven away, while at the same time, the sound of gunfire rang out in the open field outside the building.

The brigade leader continued to shake his good flesh and climbed up the stairs, and when he climbed to the bend of the stairs, several pistol team members who did not leave him had rushed to the second floor one step ahead of him, and he heard the arrogant voice of Zheng Fool, the captain of the pistol team:

"Fuck off! Get out of here! The town guard has made Brigade Commander Zhang arrive! ”

There was a commotion upstairs, and a dozen men in potter costume were forced to hurry downstairs by the muzzles of the pistol team; When they walked past Zhang Guixin, Zhang Guixin snorted majestically and solemnly, so frightened that they avoided his body far away, and rushed downstairs with three feet and two steps.

The brigade commander felt a little satisfied, he patted the handrail of the stairs with his fat round palm, twisted the big, fat head on the short neck, glanced behind him carelessly, and then, with his stomach straight, stepped on the wooden stairs, and climbed up with a "click, click" sound.

After climbing less than two steps, it was convenient for a few people to stumble down the stairs - Li Shicheng, Hu Gongye, and Tian Er all rushed down the stairs in a panic to greet them, and the chaotic footsteps made the stairs clang:

"Yikes! Yikes! Brigadier Zhang! ”

"Oh! Oh! General Zhang! ”

"Lord Guardian!"

"Oh, you're all here! Good! Good! Very good! The brigade elder panted while perfunctorily, rubbing the bodies of Li Shicheng, Hu Gongye, and Tian Er, and walked to the second floor. The officials of the Ningyang County Governor's Office and the special office of the Provincial Government's Industrial Department, who were closely following the brigade leader, also went upstairs one after another.

"Please, Brigade Commander Zhang, gentlemen, please sit in the council room!" Chen Xiangyu, the company's assistant director, had already forgotten the danger just now, and politely pushed open the door of the conference hall.

The brigade commander took the lead in entering the council chamber and sat down on a large sofa facing the door. Officials from the Governor's Office and the Business Agency who accompanied them also rushed in and sat down in their own seats.

The brigade commander sat on the sofa and still showed a kind of military majesty and bearing, his upper body stood straight, his waist was as wide as a wall and never leaned against the back of the sofa, and the command knife on his waist was moved to the gap between his legs, and one end of the command knife touched the ground. He held the hilt of the knife with both hands, there was no trace of a smile on his broad and fat face, and a cold and terrible light radiated from the two convex toad-like eyes, and the garlic-like red nose twitched slightly, and the two naturally curled black beards on the short lips danced from time to time. His brow was furrowed, and several irregular and continuous flesh banks were piled up on his eyebrows and forehead, and the flesh beds were faintly soaked with wet sweat.

The brigade leader is ** and calm, and his every move is impeccable. He sat on the sofa at the front of the hall like a glorious statue, and from the moment he entered the hall, he calmed everyone in the hall. All the thoughts of rebellion, all the restless emotions, were quietly retreated under the shock of the brigade elder, and even the invincible Hu Gongye honestly sat on the sofa on the side of the hall and drank fragrant tea, as if before this, all disasters had not happened, and Gongye had never been threatened with a knife to his throat.

The brigade commander also began to drink tea, which was very gentle, and when he drank it, he had untied his command knife and placed it diagonally on the armrest on the side of the sofa. The brigade chief drank tea like a real and cultured gentleman, holding the fine porcelain teacup painted with gold in one hand and pinching the porcelain pimple on the lid of the teacup with the other, and the ring finger and little finger on the hand were raised high. He used the lid of the teacup to stir the tea leaves floating on the water, taking a sip from time to time.

Before the brigade commander spoke, no one dared to speak, which made the brigade commander a little proud, and he had some confidence in controlling the situation in Tianjiapu and exerting his own influence. Before leaving for Tianjiapu, he was a little panicked, not knowing how to deal with this serious disaster and how to stop the imminent outbreak of the popular uprising - since Guangxu 33 years when he accepted the Qing court's reorganization and became the leader of the patrol team, this kind of thing was the first time he had encountered it, and he really had no experience in dealing with this kind of thing.

Zhang Guixin was also born in poverty, went down to a small kiln, sold illegal salt, Guangxu was forced by the imperial court in the 30th year of Guangxu to have no way out, led a group of brothers who sold salt to uncover the rod, smashed Ningyang County Lika, went to the mountain to become a bandit, specializing in killing the rich and helping the poor. In less than two years, he had nearly 200 good horses and hundreds of fast guns, and he actually defeated the officers and soldiers in three purgies, forcing the officers and soldiers to recruit him and give him the title of pipe band. Since then, he has been fed military rations. When it came to the Republic of China, he mixed the official rank of major general and sat on the chair of the Ningyang town guard.

Zhang Guixin is well-known in Ningyang, whether it is selling smuggled salt, being a bandit, or being a pipe band, or being a brigade commander, his majesty makes people frightened. From the 30th year of Guangxu to the 9th year of the Republic of China, the history of Ningyang was almost made by him. All the disturbances and changes in Ningyang are closely related to him; After the rod was revealed, he broke through Ningyang County three times and took away a large number of meat tickets; accepted the reorganization of officers and soldiers, but he refused to move his defense, insisted on staying in Ningyang, and became the pipe of the Ningyang patrol battalion; The bandits and the officers and soldiers have caused the local gentry and celebrities to complain for a long time. In the second year of Xuantong, 38 people from Ningyang jointly wrote to the provincial Fuxian Yamen, demanding that "Zhang Wei should be punished and the place should be appeased"; Fuxian Yamen did not dare to make trouble rashly, so he only sent personnel to inspect it, and then it was over. Unexpectedly, this "Zhang Rebellion" was not troublesome. A year later, the Xinhai Revolution broke out, the Wuchang Uprising, the revolutionary party sent people to contact, and he captured the county government overnight and declared the revolution; Taking the opportunity of the revolution, the 38 gentlemen who jointly signed the letter were arrested one by one, hanged and beaten for three days, and in the end, a president of the chamber of commerce was beaten to death.

That is, since the first year of the Republic of China, he has established his absolute authority in Ningyang, and without his consent, no one will want to do anything on this land. He has a strong armed force based on the bandits, which numbered more than 300 people around the second year of the Republic of China, and has expanded to more than 1,000 people in the fourth year of the Republic of China. He led this armed force to rely on various warlords to fight in the south and the north, and when he returned to Ningyang in the seventh year of the Republic of China, he was already a well-equipped and quite decent team. After returning to Ningyang, he never wanted to leave, he wanted to accumulate strength, use Ningyang as a base, and gradually expand his territory and strength, so as to compete with various warlords. He felt that with his own ability, it was not too much to be a chief or something. In these years, he has to have a bit of courage and courage to do everything, and he feels that he lacks both, the only thing he lacks is strength and territory.

After becoming the envoy of Ningyang Town and garrisoning Ningyang, he began to rectify military discipline, striving for his army to maintain harmonious relations with the people of Ningyang, and put forward the three noes doctrine of "not disturbing the people, not harming the people, and not harming the people". At the same time, he also tried his best to adjust the relationship with the local gentry, and during the New Year's holidays, he often went to the houses of the major households, which changed his image of a bandit to a certain extent. In the past two years, the ground has been relatively calm, and the bandits from all walks of life who occupy the mountains are kings, and those who have returned to the country have returned to the country and left the country, and there have been no major incidents. The people of Ningyang also had some goodwill towards him and his army, and they never disobeyed the donation of silver and food. This made his position as a town guard more and more secure.

Unexpectedly, at this time, a gas explosion occurred in Dahua Company. As soon as he received the company's emergency telegram, he was stunned, and he immediately realized that such a serious mine disaster would inevitably cause a riot among the kiln people, and once a riot broke out, the territory he occupied would be unreliable, and some people with ulterior motives who were also armed would use the excuse to suppress the riot and break into Ningyang. This kind of crisis does not exist, Li Simazi, who hooked up with Wu Peifu, is close by, and he peeps at Ningyang, it is not a day; and the bandit who secretly attached himself to Li Si Mazi had a black face, which is not a good thing. These guys clearly support Beijing**, support President Xu Shichang, and respect Duan Qirui, who is powerful in the country; Secretly, I wish that Beijing would collapse immediately, and I would like to break the old Duan into thousands of pieces. What is even more frightening is that last year, the three eastern provinces under the control of Cao Kun and Wu Peifu under the control of Zhi, Suzhou, Hubei, Jiangxi and Feng officially formed the Seven Provinces Anti-Anhui Alliance. There are both overt and dark enemies; If he doesn't do it well, he'll lose everything!

Naturally, he has no feelings for Lao Duan and Beijing**. He was also ready to make a new choice after the outbreak of the Zhiwan War, if Lao Duan fell, Cao and Wu entered Beijing and took charge of the government, he would also pay tribute and be a vassal, however, the precondition must be: let him continue to garrison Ningyang, not invade his territory, and not weaken his strength. When the war did not start and the political situation was uncertain, he could not express his position, he could only defend instead of attacking, retreating instead of advancing, holding down the piece of meat under his buttocks, and not letting others snatch it. Now he does not have the strength to participate in this kind of armed competition that determines the politics of the Republic of China, and can only survive and develop in the cracks, so he must not tolerate any turmoil at such a time! He can't give anyone a chance.

He did not hesitate and immediately led his troops to Tianjiapu. At this time, the Provincial Department of Industry also sent Li Bingchi, the special office of mining affairs, and several officials to the Ningyang Town Guard Office overnight. Zhang Heran, the governor of Ningyang County, knew that the matter was important, and he also went with the army in person. When I rushed to Tianjiapu Town, the matter was really very serious, and thousands of kiln people had surrounded the Dahua Company's official housing building, and they had to bombard it with earthen cannons, and the people's rebellion was about to break out.

He ordered a gun to be fired into the air as a warning; At the same time, his subordinates were strictly ordered not to shoot at the kiln people casually. He is not the kind of fool who can only do brute force, he knows the truth of "officials forcing the people to rebel", back then, wasn't he forced by the officers and soldiers of the Qing Dynasty to rebel? Today, he Zhang Guixin is the leader of the officers and soldiers, and he must not force the people under his rule to go to Liangshan, and he must not shoot at the potters until he has to! He has always believed that he can offend the imperial court, the Republic of China, and warlords from all walks of life, but he must not offend the local poor! The poor have nothing, they are not afraid of losing anything, as long as they have a knife, a gun, and even a stick, they dare to fight hard! You can't stop it! What's more, this disaster is not trivial. "Boom", thousands of people buried in the well, these thousands of people, at least tens of thousands of relatives in the clan, if these thousands of people rebel together, he can't do it! There is a saying that "it is difficult to mourn the enemy" and "it is difficult to commit the anger of the people", he cannot set himself on fire and ask for trouble.

He has to be just, and if he is unjust, it will inevitably lead to riots! He can't care about Li Shicheng now - although Li Shicheng is not kind to him, and he can't donate less than 100,000 yuan for coal out of the well every year, but he can't favor him, never! Public is public, private is private, this is not ambiguous!

The fragrant tea in the teacup went down halfway, and the ** atmosphere in the hall was almost created, Zhang Guixin solemnly wiped his mustache, coughed dryly, and slowly spoke:

"General Manager Li, are all the heads of your company here?"

"It's all here! It's all here! Brigade Commander Zhang, let me introduce: this is Zhao Dezhen, deputy general manager, Mr. Zhao Gong, this is Mr. Wang Tianjun, chief miner, and Mr. Chen Xiangyu, the company's associate manager...... "Li Shicheng, who was sweating profusely, was busy introducing them one by one.

Zhang Guixin carefully looked at the unlucky eggs belonging to Dahua Company, and frequently moved his head:

"Hmmm! Well! Good! Good! Very good! ”

"Brigade Commander Zhang, you can personally lead the troops to Tianjiapu to save the people from fire and water, our Dahua company staff and potters are really very moved! General Zhang, you have come at a good time! Now, would I simply give you and your gentlemen an overview of the Tianjiapu Coal Mine and the process of this catastrophe......

Zhang Guixin waved his hand:

"Don't be busy! Don't be busy! Let me introduce you to some new friends first. ”

"Yes! Yes! ”

Zhang Guixin stood up and pointed to a middle-aged man with glasses:

"This is Li ......, the special office of the Provincial Department of Industry Li ......"

The middle-aged man with glasses stood up. He was dressed in a black suit, with a fuchsia embroidered tie around his neck, and his face was expressionless:

"Contemptible Li Bingchi, chief of the first section of the Provincial Department of Industry. This time, on the orders of the provincial government and the Department of Industry, we will investigate and deal with the Dahua disaster, and in the future, I would like to ask you for more advice. Thank you! Li Bingchi sat down indifferently.

Zhang Guixin continued:

"This is Mr. Chi Mingli from the Provincial Department of Industry. Oh, this Governor Zhang doesn't need me to introduce you! ”

Zhang Heran, who was in a robe and a horse coat, stood up with a smile and nodded again and again:

"Recognize! Know! We all know each other! Old acquaintances! Hahaha......"

"Alright! Next, let's get back to the point, first ask the company's general manager Li to introduce a catastrophic situation! ”

"Okay! Good! ”

Li Shicheng stood up and was about to speak, but he inadvertently saw Hu Gongye and Tian Erye, who were left out in the cold, and immediately felt that there was a serious mistake, so he changed his words:

"Before introducing the situation, I would like to introduce you to two respected old gentlemen, one is Hu Delong, the vice chairman of the Tianjiapu Town Council, Hu Gongye."

Gong Ye owed, looked at everyone hostilely, and immediately twisted his head to the side.

"One is Mr. Tian Dongyang, chairman of the board of directors of Tianjiapu Town!"

Second Master Tian hugged his fists and smiled slightly:

"Contemptible people, please advise!"

Zhang Guixin looked at Hu Gongye, and then at the second master of Wangtian, and asked with some puzzlement:

"Do these two old gentlemen represent the locality?"

Li Shicheng didn't know how to answer.

Hu Gongye replied coldly:

"We represent the potters! Hundreds of our brothers in the Hu family and Tian family have been buried in the ground! We don't represent them, who represents them? ”

Zhang Guixin was a little unhappy with Hu Gongye's deep answer, but he said perfunctorily:

"Well, good! Good! Very good! Li Gong, let's get started! ”

Li Shicheng looked at Zhao Dezhen and Wang Tianjun beside him, and saw that they didn't mean to speak, so he had to introduce the situation head-on:

"Brigade Commander Zhang, Section Chief Li, Mr. Chi, Governor Zhang, this catastrophe is unthinkable! There was no warning before the catastrophe. Since the establishment of the company, we have never encountered today's situation! It's all too sudden! It's so sudden! ”

Li Shicheng's eyes were full of tears, and his facial muscles trembled slightly:

"The disaster happened at about 11:35 yesterday night, when more than 1,000 potters and mechanics were on duty in the underground of my Tianjiapu."

Li Bingchi, the special commissioner, opened his mouth and asked:

"How many people are there?"

"More than a thousand."

"How much more than a thousand?"

Li Shicheng shook his head in embarrassment:

"The exact number has not yet been verified."

"This number must be verified immediately!"

"Yes!"

"The disaster came suddenly and severely. The whole mining area was like an earthquake, and the flames rushed out of the ground and burst out of the wellhead more than 160 meters deep, completely destroying the main shaft building. After the incident, we immediately organized the mine police team to rush to the mouth of the main shaft and prepare to go down the mine to rescue people. However, given that the fire was not extinguished and the flames were soaring, it could not be implemented! ”

"Nonsense!" Hu Gongye's eyes widened angrily, and he stood up angrily, "When will your company's mine police team prepare to go down to the kiln to save people?" When the whistle sounded, the kiln people were so grief-stricken that they rushed to the mouth of the well, and your mine police team pointed their guns at us! That's not all, when I Hu Mou came to you to discuss the matter of saving people, you dared to use force against me Hu, if it wasn't for Zhang Zhen's guard envoy to bring troops over, our lives would have been buried in your hands! ”

Master Tian Er nodded frequently:

"Yes! Yes! Not bad! ”

"Your Dahua company is also fucking deceitful!"

"That's it! All right! Don't make noise just yet! Listen to Li Gong continue! Zhang Guixin paused for a moment with the command knife.

Li Shicheng's face was pale, he wiped the cold sweat on his forehead and face, and said:

Later, more than 80 people escaped from the inclined well. According to those who escaped, the situation in the underground mine was very miserable, with corpses everywhere, and the fire was not extinguished, the entire underground tunnel was covered with thick smoke, and many coal walls were already burning......"

"Are there only more than 80 people coming up?" Zhang Guixin asked with concern.

"Yes, more than eighty!"

"Those thousands of people are still in the well?"

"Yes!"

Zhang Guixin's face changed a little color, as if he wanted to say something, but finally he didn't say:

"Okay, you can talk!"

"I immediately discussed with Deputy General Manager Zhao, Assistant Manager Chen, and Chief Miner Wang, and formulated emergency measures, preparing to organize ground manpower to go down to the kiln to rescue after the fire was extinguished; At the same time, several emergency telegrams were sent to the provincial government, the provincial industrial department, the town guard office, and the prefectural governor's office......"

Zhang Guixin couldn't listen to it anymore, and scolded sharply:

"Bastard! You're all fucking assholes! There are more than 1,000 people buried under the kiln! It's a human, not a brute! So far, you have not come up with any rescue operations, only to discuss and discuss! Only send a telegram! You don't want to think, what do you eat? What can you do but drink the blood of the potters and make your money from coal? ”

Li Bingchi also spoke quietly:

"Envoy Zhang Zhenshou asked a good question, after the explosion, in addition to taking telegrams, what other effective measures did you come up with? Have the relevant technical personnel of the company visited the underground survey? ”

Wang Tianjun hurriedly stood up:

"Section Chief Li, this ...... It's dangerous! After the explosion, Hu Gongye asked some people to go down, but as a result, there was another explosion below, and almost all the people who went down did not come up! ”

Li Bingchi said irrefutably:

"Even if you die, you will also die in the well! Are the lives of more than a thousand men worth less than the lives of one or two of your miners? If you don't know the situation at the underground explosion site, how to formulate emergency measures? Who are you lying to! Are you running a business? You are bringing disaster to the country and the people! ”

Wang Tianjun was stunned, he didn't dare to take a breath more, and nodded again and again:

"Yes! Yes! We are guilty! Guilty! Definitely! ”

At this time, Chen Xiangyu, the company's assistant who had been watching coldly, stood up, he squinted his two eyes that were very short-sighted, and said coldly:

"Section Chief Li is overweight, right? Brothers, but ask for advice, where does the calamity of the country begin? Where do you start with the calamity? Industrial disasters have been continuous since the industry, and it is by no means the will of people, and Section Chief Li is the first special commissioner, and he investigates and deals with the Dahua disaster with such an attitude, and the brothers think that it is biased. ”

Li Bingchi did not back down:

"I speak for a reason! It is not wrong to say that you have brought disaster to the country! If you are not careful, you will cause explosions and fires. After the disaster, if no effective measures are taken, it will inevitably cause the spread of ground fires and the burning of this rich coal field. I'm not alarmist, but in 1884, the Hawkingkwereyi Coal Mine in Ohi, United States of America, was carelessly mined, causing an explosion that led to a fire, and the owner of the mine panicked and took ineffective measures, causing the fire to spread and burn to this day! The spread of this fire exceeded 3,000 hectares and burned nearly 50 million tons of high-quality coal! A coal field was completely destroyed! If the fire under Tianjiapu cannot be extinguished and destroys this coalfield of the country, aren't you a disaster to the country?! Speaking of the victims, it's even simpler, more than a thousand people are trapped under the stratum because of your incompetence and ignorance. ”

Chen Xiangyu was speechless for a while, he no longer dared to despise this tough opponent. He felt that this person was more difficult to deal with than a ground snake like Hu Gongye! Although Hu Gongye is arrogant, he doesn't know anything about running a mine, this Li Bingchi is said to have stayed in the United States, specializing in mining, and he has real power in the industrial department, he knows everything, and he can't be fooled casually.

Li Bingchi didn't take Chen Xiangyu in his eyes, and after he talked to Chen Xiangyu endlessly, he ordered Wang Tianjun in the tone of a minister:

"Mr. Wang, the situation is very critical now, one more minute of delay, the more dangerous the mine, please bring all kinds of technical data about Tianjiapu Coal Mine, including detailed data and charts in terms of ventilation and drainage, gas content!"

"Okay! Good! Wang Tianjun responded, but his butt sat on the chair and didn't move.

"I want it now!"

"Yes! Yes! ”

Wang Tianjun stood up in a panic and ran out.

Li Bingchi shouted two more sentences at Wang Tianjun's back:

"Don't close the shaft now, if it does, start it immediately! Also, invite a few miners from all over the world to come to me right away! ”

"Okay! Good! ”

Turning around, Li Bingchi said to Zhang Guixin and Li Shicheng again:

"We must immediately organize manpower to go down the well to rescue, it is best to go down with the detectors, without further ado, the sooner the better! Let's see, how do you organize rescuers? ”

Hu Gongye and Tian Er had already seen that the change in the situation was beneficial to them, so they immediately expressed their position:

"We can organize people!"

Zhang Guixin also said:

"I immediately sent two companies of brothers down to participate in the rescue!"

"Guard Zhang!" Second Master Tian was very moved to hold Zhang Guixin's hand, shook it twice, and said in a choked voice, "Envoy Zhang, I, Tian, thank you on behalf of the people of Tianjiapu!" You are really as clear as a mirror, and your kindness is like a mountain! ”

Hu Gongye also said:

"Brigade Commander Zhang is really a great benefactor of the small people of Tianjiapu!"

The brigade chief was also moved and became more and more impassioned:

"Although I, Zhang Guixin, am a martial artist, I know very well the purpose of protecting the people and saving the country, soldiers come from the people, and soldiers cannot do without the people; Therefore, to be a good soldier, you must not hurt the people, do not harm the people, do not harm the people, and do some good deeds for the people. Today's Tianjiapu disaster, brother, I have the duty to rescue, and you two elders don't need to thank you. Now, I just ask you to persuade the potters gathered outside this building to go home and not make a mess! The two of you can tell them that with me, Zhang Guixin, mining experts from the Provincial Department of Industry, and **, this catastrophe will definitely be resolved justly and satisfactorily! I, Zhang, will never favor Dahua Company, I want to act impartially! Rest assured! Feel relieved! ”

Hu Gongye hurriedly said:

"With your words, what are we not worried about? We can persuade the big guys to go home first, but we still have to participate in dealing with this catastrophe. ”

Tian Er also said:

"Yes, we can't let Dahua's one-sided words fool the general!"

"Good! Good! Very good! It's okay! You can stay here. But, the people downstairs have to go home first! Otherwise, there will be a mess, and everyone will not look good! I'm a local town watchman, and I have to be responsible for local security! ”

Hu Gongye and Tian Er nodded and withdrew from the conference hall.

After Hu Gongye and Tian Er withdrew from the council hall, the brigade commander issued orders to Zheng Duzi, the captain of the pistol team, in a majestic manner:

"Captain Zheng, convey my order, and order Wang Yiding, the commander of the second battalion of the first regiment, to personally lead the brothers of the two companies to gather near the main well and stand by, listen to the command of Li Zhuan's office, and prepare to go down the well to save people!"

"Yes!"

"Order the commander of the third battalion to quickly take over some brothers to take over the watchtower and checkpoint of Dahua Company in case of accidents."

"Yes!"

"Order the first battalion of brothers to be stationed near the boundary street of Tianjiapu to stop all possible riots! Those who gather to make trouble will be arrested first! ”

"Yes!"

After issuing the order, the brigade commander was confident that he had taken full control of the unrest in Tianjiapu......

After all, Hu Gongye is old, and his physical strength and energy are not as good as when he was young, and the screams and calls in the middle of the night, coupled with the tossing and fright of the almost day, have almost exhausted his physical strength. When he went down the stairs, Gong Ye felt that his feet and neck were weak, his bones were sore, and he couldn't catch it in one breath. Despite this, Gong Ye still wanted to speak, and he thought it was necessary to speak. He had to show his wisdom to Master Tian Er:

"Second master, the situation seems to be good! We can't be hard now, and if we do, we will lose, right? ”

"Hmm! Be patient and wait. It seems that Zhang Zhenshou understands the righteousness, and the provincial Li Special Office can also act impartially, so we have to see how they send down this gang of traitors and thieves of Dahua Company......"

"Second master, that Li Zhuan Office is different! It's also fucking weird, as soon as I entered the door, I found that he wasn't ugly in a dress, and he didn't look sour. ”

Hu Gongye has always believed in "robe and horse coat doctrine", and has always believed that wearing Western clothes will carry the sour smell of foreign devils. Today, I was happy for a while, and I found that Li Zhuan's office was wearing a foreign suit and not being sour, which is really a great enlightenment.

"The banding around the neck, though, was a bit eye-catching. Huge man, why do you want to tie a red cloth belt? I don't think it's comfortable, if the cloth belt is changed to the same black as the dress, maybe it will look better! Gong Ye designed it on his own.

Tian Er immediately participated in the design, and Tian Er also believed in the "robe and horse coat doctrine":

"In fact, Li Zhuan's office will be even more graceful when he wears a robe and a horse coat. Think about it, for his figure and his face, wearing a well-fitting robe and a tight-fitting waistcoat, will it be inferior to a foreign dress? ”

Gong Ye immediately responded:

"That's just as well. However, he looks better than that Chen Xiangyu in a dress. Chen Xiangyu is what the fuck he dares to use a dagger at Lao Tzu's neck! ”

"He ate the heart of a tiger and the gall of a leopard!"

"Second master, do you believe it or not? If it weren't for Brigade Commander Zhang and the others just in time, I was going to fight with him, and I wouldn't believe that Chen Xiangyu would dare to kill me! ”

Speaking of this, Hu Gongye's face couldn't help but turn crimson, and he felt embarrassed on his face: the dignified Gongye was actually put against his neck with a dagger by a milky kid, and in front of Tian Erye, this is unjustifiable in any case! Even for the "political influence", he has to be killed!

"Humph! Wait and see, if my surname Hu doesn't cut off this kid's head, he'll fucking be planted in the Tian family! ”

As they spoke, the two men had descended two flights of stairs, passed through the foyer downstairs, and walked to the steps at the entrance of the building. On both sides of the steps, all the way down to the pavement below the steps, there were soldiers with guns, and on one side of the steps there was a machine gun. This made Hu Gongye and Tian Er very uncomfortable, and they both had a faint feeling of humiliation. Gong Ye and the second master didn't speak, but they just glanced at each other and stopped on the steps.

A burst of enthusiastic shouts erupted in the crowd that was blocked by the gun's spear more than ten meters away, and the people who rushed to the front squeezed forward desperately, and the small square in front of the building was crowded with people's heads, shouting in chaos:

"Gongye!"

"Gongye!"

"Second master!"

"Second master!"

"Gong Ye is out!"

"And the second master! Second master! ”

"Gong Ye, how are things going!"

"Gong Ye, Second Master, tell us about it!"

The crowd quickly and firmly poured towards the front of the steps. The GIs were forced to retreat to the base of the building's bluestone walls, and some even jumped up the steps.

An officer panicked, drew his pistol, fired a few shots into the air, and then shouted:

"Spread out! Disperse! Spread out! ”

Nobody was buying it. Who's going to buy it now! They are no longer a rabble, their leaders are out! Gong Ye and the second master are their backbone, they are their optimus prime, with Gong Ye and the second master with them, they are not afraid of anything! What the fuck are a couple of GIs?! As long as Gong Ye and Second Master give an order, they will be able to surrender these ruffians and reoccupy this building!

Neither Gong Ye nor the Second Master had this meaning.

The second master said to Gong Ye:

"I have to persuade the brothers to go home!"

Gong Ye nodded again and again:

"Yes, not right now! But these fucking GIs are too spirited! ”

"That can't make trouble, it's not time to make trouble!"

"Then let's talk to the brothers!"

"Tell me! Just tell us about it! ”

Gong Ye took a step forward, raised his two hands high, and then pressed down suddenly, signaling everyone to calm down. At this time, the officer and several GIs fired another burst of gunfire into the air, and the commotion in the crowd gradually subsided.

"Brothers, don't argue! Now the situation is good, Li Shicheng and the company's bastards have been pulled out of the mouse hole by us! They didn't run away! Brigade Commander Zhang, the town guard, Governor Zhang of the County Governor's Office, and Li Zhuan's Office of the Provincial Department of Industry also came, and they were preparing to go down to the kiln to rescue people, we can't make trouble now! In particular, we must not have a conflict with our brothers who are soldiers, and we must save people first! Brigade Commander Zhang sent two companies of brothers down with us! Now go back and all of them from here!" If there are any negotiations, it will all be handled by Master Tian Er and me Hu! Well, let's go back! ”

After Hu Gongye finished speaking, he was out of breath, so he turned to Tian Er and said:

"Second master, can you say a few more words!"

Second Master Tian nodded and agreed.

"Brothers, Gong Ye is right, now is not the time to work hard. There are still more than 1,000 people buried under the kiln, and we have to work together with Zhang Zhen's envoy, Dahua Company, and Li Zhuanban to save people! After the people under the kiln are rescued, they will reason again! You cabinet workers, you can choose two representatives to form a potter delegation to negotiate with the company with us. However, now to get out of the mine, you can't mess around! ”

The words of Gong Ye and the Second Master are instructions, which are unquestionable and irrefutable. The people were quiet. Under the repeated urging of Gong Ye and the Second Master, the people gradually dispersed.

At around 6 p.m., most of the potters gathered in the Tianjiapu mine withdrew. That night, a rescue team composed of more than 200 elite potters and two companies of soldiers went down the mine at the same time from the central wind shaft, the west inclined shaft, and the main vertical shaft.

Unexpectedly, due to the fierce fire, all the entrance lanes were closed by flames and smoke, and personnel could not enter, and the first rescue was declared a failure.

Subsequently, Li Bingchi, the special commissioner, wrote a report on the disaster situation and submitted it to the provincial government. In the disaster report, Lee wrote:

At about 11:25 p.m. on May 22, the ninth year of the Republic of China, 18 experienced mining experts were organized to go deep into the Tianjiapu underground to detect the disaster, and at the same time, more than 400 soldiers from the Ningyang Town Guard Zhang Guixin and local kilnmen were organized to go to the rescue. The grade is divided into three ways to go deep into the field and mine, and now the scene of what is seen and heard is presented as follows:

1. Central wind shaft

All the way to the central wind shaft, the leader of the team is Wang Tianjun, the chief miner of Dahua Company. Wang led the people to climb down from the inclined wind duct of the wind shaft, and after several struggles, they barely reached the bottom of the wind duct, that is, they could no longer go deeper. According to Wang's description, the air duct was full of smoke and dust, and the deeper and more intense, the smoke was like a cloud, and the lights were completely gone. However, there was no sign of burning in the entire air duct, nor did it rise or collapse. From this, it can be concluded that the burning area is far away from the central shaft, and the area around the central shaft has not been seriously damaged. Later, Wang led people to venture forward along the bottom of the wind duct for about dozens of feet, at that time, the lights in the hands of the emergency detectors were like beans and fireflies, and there was no one on the opposite side. Thirteen of Zhang's soldiers were swept down by the smoke and dust, and Wang was forced to lead his troops back to the ground. That night, five soldiers lost their lives because they had been suffocated for too long to be saved. At the same time, there were two kiln wives of the company.

Second, the main shaft

The leader of this road is Chen Xiangyu, the associate manager of Dahua Company. Chen and his entourage of more than 60 people went deep into the ground from the hovering self-rescue iron ladder around the main shaft. A few days ago, the explosion destroyed the main shaft building and some ground facilities, but the iron ladder fixed to the wall of the shaft was generally intact. According to Chen, when they descended the iron ladder, they found several bodies charred by the flames. After descending to the bottom of the main shaft, dozens of charred corpses were found at the mouth of the main roadway at the bottom of the well. They walked along the main roadway to the depth of the mine for about 250 meters, and the fire was still burning and the roadway was completely sealed, the coal walls on both sides of the roadway were already burning, the air was hot, and there was no survivor anywhere they went.

3. West inclined well

He personally led the team to go. The inclined shaft is about 1,000 meters long, the road is muddy, and there are water leaks at the roof from time to time, and the difference in the quality of the entire inclined shaft project is shocking. Due to the weak support, part of the shed beam in the middle of the inclined shaft has collapsed. Where it collapsed, weathered shale splintered and blocked the road. The grade dredging channel is carried out with simple roof protection, and at about 3 o'clock in the evening, it will go deep into the bottom of the well and carry out detection. There is a roadway at the bottom of the inclined shaft leading to the main shaft of the large shaft, and the length indicated on the mining map is 1,800 meters. When the grade reached 700 meters, the air temperature suddenly increased, the wooden supports of the roadway and the coal walls on both sides were burned, and all kinds of harmful gases filled the roadway, especially carbon monoxide, which was generated in large quantities, making people unable to breathe. Among the companions, 12 were poisoned, including 2 employees of Dahua Company, 3 soldiers and 7 kilnmen. On the way, corpses were strewn all over the place, and the rank did not meet a single survivor.

Based on the analysis of the situation of the three roads, the hope of survival of more than 1,000 kilnmen in the field and mine is slim. Almost all of the underground mines are wooden support roadways, and stone roadways are generally not available except for the 100 meters around the main shaft, so their danger is greater. Theoretically, the average composition of a cubic meter of dry wood is: 40% carbon, 40% chemically bound water, hygroscopic water respectively, and by weight: 12 units of carbon plus 16 units of oxygen make up 28 units of carbon monoxide. In other words, after a wooden shed is burned, about 90 cubic meters of carbon monoxide can be formed. Without ventilation, this carbon monoxide can wipe out all animal life in a two-kilometre roadway. At present, most of the underground tunnels are burning, and because the roof blocks the wind path, the poisonous gas cannot be dispersed, and the number of people who die of suffocation will account for a considerable proportion, even exceeding the direct death caused by explosions and fires.

The grade level intends to request the relevant parties to quickly mobilize the mine fire fighting and rescue equipment for the second entry into the mine and further detection.

At present, the cause of the fire in the mine, the fire in the depth of the mine is not known, and the grade believes that if the fire is serious and cannot be extinguished, and there are no survivors under the mine, Dahua Company should be ordered to close the mine to stop the spread of the fire......

On the same day, 12 newspapers, including "Republic of China Daily", "Declaration", "Times", "Minxin Daily", and "Great China Morning News", reported on it one after another, and called Dahua Company to inquire about the disaster, claiming that they would send personnel to visit.

In the evening, the "Potter Delegation" composed of 28 potters elected by 18 contractors was established and the first meeting was held.