The water and fire stick was raised high and fell heavily.
Gu Zhengchen looked at Guo Baijin, whose skin was torn and his flesh was torn, holding his neck and saying nothing. His eyes were slightly cold. The person in front of him was an out-and-out tough guy!
When the execution was over, the government officials retreated to both sides.
Guo Baijin grinned, spit, raised his head coldly, and looked forward with empty eyes: "Gu Zhengchen, I only do things and do things for others, and there is never anyone behind the scenes."
Gu Zhengchen stood beside Guo Baijin and asked in a deep voice: "Then why did you move more than 300 miners? Where did they move these people? Who is taking over?"
Guo Baijin turned his head in the direction of Gu Zhengchen: "These people are treasures. I don't need them anymore, so I will naturally sell them out. There are so many iron mines run by the government and private companies that are short of people, and the princes and nobles are all short of slaves. Who can It doesn’t matter where it comes from, as long as it’s a human being, it can be used.”
Gu Zhengchen's face turned ugly: "Did you sell them?"
Guo Baijin disagreed: "Otherwise, if I spent a lot of money to buy them, I would naturally make money back. Who would do a loss-making business?"
"Who is the buyer?"
Gu Zhengchen asked eagerly.
Guo Baijin sneered, and then said: "Gu Zhengchen, you are a smart man. You should know that this kind of shame will never leave your real name, let alone reveal your true identity. Don't try to find them again, these people are no longer there Will appear in the sun again."
Gu Zhengchen frowned.
Guo Baijin's words made Gu Zhengchen feel a little frightened.
It is true that all kinds of mines need people. This is a reality.
Especially at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the court was most concerned about three things: fields, salt, and iron.
Iron requires iron ore, and iron ore requires people to dig it. Those who are exiled or imprisoned are free labor, and they only need to take care of food until they die, without any other additional costs.
All you need to do is add their names to the register and deduct it when the food is distributed, and you will get a steady income, which is better than taking a short credit.
There are also founding heroes and founding officials. These people need slaves and servitude.
Lao Zhu held a group of captives in his hands. Some of the captives became slaves and were distributed to meritorious officials. However, Lao Zhu was angry and the number of slaves issued was very limited. It was stipulated that the number of slaves at the level of princes should not exceed twenty, and the number of slaves for first-class officials could not exceed 20. No more than twelve people, no more than eight people for the third grade.
This is still the number of slaves and maids. You can't expect the Duke or the Marquis to have twenty old men to serve you. No matter what, you have to have twenty beauties to serve you, but the beauties occupy the quota and there are no slaves to follow. What should I do? , can only raise "adopted son".
At the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, too many people died, and land relations were not so tense. The number of people willing to sell themselves as "adopted sons" was limited. When they could not buy enough "adopted sons," some "black households" were bought to act as "adopted sons." "Zi" was also a "flexible" method at the time.
Later, Lan Yu understood stupidity well.
Huge demand, limited slaves, market desire, and a black industrial chain.
Gu Zhengchen seemed to have seen those people being sold, transported away in batches, and then beaten severely to remove their previous marks and become slaves, forgetting their home and past.
But are these true? Are Guo Baijin's words really credible?
At least, Gu Zhengchen definitely didn't believe that someone like Guo Baijin, who was hiding in the mountains and dared not go out, was the mastermind. He was more like a handyman, responsible for all the affairs in the mine.
"Where is Zhou Hong?"
Gu Zhengchen asked suddenly.
Guo Baijin looked a little stunned, then said: "Sell them together."
Gu Zhengchen caught Guo Baijin's flash of surprise and shook his head slightly: "You lied, you don't even know who Zhou Hong is!"
Guo Baijin shouted: "Of course I know, he is a miner."
Gu Zhengchen looked at Lin Shan, Zhou Mao and others, and everyone sighed.
Zhou Hong was the former prison chief of the Jurong County Yamen Prison, the most trusted subordinate of Chen Zhong, the dean, and one of the two people who followed Chen Zhong in selling "criminal prisoners" to "businessmen."
If Guo Baijin is really the mastermind and controls everything, then it is impossible for him not to know about Zhou Hong's existence.
This confirms that Guo Baijin has lived in the mountains for a long time and has heard little about the outside world.
He didn't even have the right to know about such core matters as buying and selling prisoners. He was a heavyweight, and Gu Zhengchen didn't believe it.
"Give him a sign and withdraw from the court."
Gu Zhengchen did not interrogate him again.
Second hall.
Gu Zhengchen looked through the account books again, trying to find any flaws.
Gu Cheng walked in and brought a bowl of hot porridge: "Master, you haven't slept for two nights. If you continue like this, your body won't be able to bear it."
Gu Zhengchen sighed, stretched his muscles and braced himself: "Are Zhao Hailou, Wang Liang, and Yang Canggu okay?"
Gu Cheng nodded slightly: "Everything is settled."
Gu Zhengchen took the hot porridge and stirred it gently with his spoon: "Tell them to be patient and return to Beijing in two days. They will receive support and recover from their injuries, and take more care of their food."
Gu Cheng looked at Gu Zhengchen worriedly: "I know that I am trying to buy time, but the right way is to combine work and rest. If you collapse from exhaustion, how will you deal with many things later."
Just when Gu Zhengchen was thinking about something, Zhang Pei's blocking sound came from outside the door.
Soon, Zhang Pei walked into the second hall: "Sun Niang and Sun Er want to see the master because they have something important to do."
Gu Zhengchen lowered his head and said, "Let them come in."
Sun Niang and his wife walked into the second hall, and they knelt down. Sun Niang looked at Gu Zhengchen and said solemnly: "The county magistrate has been as kind as a mountain to the Sun family. Now that the two of them have returned safely, they should thank the magistrate..."
Gu Zhengchen came out and helped Sun Niang up: "Don't do these false gifts. If you just want to thank you, there is no need. Sun Niang, it's a blessing that the two of you are back, but there are still many people who haven't come back. You live with the Xu family Together, when they saw the second couple coming back, they must also be looking forward to Xu Erya's return. There are more than 300 families looking forward to their sons, husbands, and fathers coming home. This officer must race against time to investigate the clues."
Sun Niang knew that Gu Zhengchen was in trouble, so she turned to look at Sun Erkou: "You have something to tell your benefactor, why don't you hurry up!"
Sun Erkou looked at Gu Zhengchen and said quickly: "When my benefactor asked me about my disappearance, I forgot something. As soon as I remembered it, I asked my mother to see me."
"What's the matter?"
Gu Zhengchen arranged for Sun Niang to sit down and turned around to ask.
Sun Erkou recalled: "On the night of March 4, the sixth year of Hongwu's reign, my mother felt unwell. I went to see Dr. Guo Ning. Later, according to the prescription, I grabbed three pairs of traditional Chinese medicine at Wang's Pharmacy. All my benefactors knew this."
Gu Zhengchen nodded slightly: "Yes."
Sun Erkou continued: "Later, when I returned to the Jiehe Bridge, the clerk from Wang's Pharmacy suddenly chased me and stopped me. Because of the lack of medicine, the main ingredient of Zhigancao was missing. He asked me to wait. The people from Wang's Pharmacy I already went to find someone to buy some licorice. Later, I waited on the bridge for nearly half an hour and met a Taoist priest."
"Geshan people?"
Gu Zhengchen frowned.
Sun Erkou nodded repeatedly: "It's a Geshan person from the Qingzhen Temple. He came closer. I asked him what he was doing at such a late hour. He said something incomprehensible."
"What words?"
Gu Zhengchen asked.
Sun Erkou thought about it carefully: "The people of Geshan are: travelers during the day, merchants shouting. Ghosts and ghosts and bandits at night."
Gu Zhengchen stared, thinking about the meaning of these words.
Sun Erkou continued: "I didn't understand what it meant at the time. When I asked Geshan people, they only smiled and said four words - it's all business."
"Is it all business?"
Gu Zhengchen looked at Sun Erkou, walked to the desk, picked up a pen and wrote down:
During the day, people were walking and merchants were shouting.
There are ghosts and ghosts in the dark night.
Staring at the sixteen words, Gu Zhengchen shook his head: "This is not a motto, but a couplet. It's all about business, it's all about horizontal criticism!"
"couplet?"
Sun Erkou was a little puzzled.
At that time, the two exchanged few words before the Geshan people left. Later, Guo Jie led Ran and captured him. At first, when Gu Zhengchen asked, he only looked after Guo Jie and others.
"It's all business, business..."
Gu Zhengchen was thinking.
Suddenly, his brows were raised slightly, and Gu Zhengchen nodded slightly: "That's it."
During the exchange between Liu Boqin and Zhao Doubei, Zhao Doubei had risen. Most of the people who were sentenced to exile or imprisonment in the Yin and Yang files were secretly handed over to a businessman by Chen Zhong and Zhou Hong.
Anyone who says "it's all business" is not a businessman, and is inseparable from being a businessman! What's more, why did the people of Geshan stay up all night and go all the way to Jiehe River?
Gu Zhengchen suddenly realized that it was Guo Jie who took Sun Erkou away, and the person who ordered the Wang family pharmacy clerk to catch up with Sun Erkou was probably from Geshan.
Perhaps, when Guo Jie arrested Sun Er, the Geshan people were standing in the dark, staring at this
"That's a big clue, you did a great job."
Gu Zhengchen laughed.
The businessman who operates everything is probably hidden in Hezhuang.
The reason is that the final destination of the prisoners sold by the county government is Wucheng Mountain. And Hezhuang is the closest place to the south entrance of Wucheng Mountain. The accounts of those who were imprisoned, exiled and resold all mentioned one thing in common: long stays in cellars.
The long time here ranges from three days to half a month.
As for the location of the cellar, they did not know. But it is certain that on the night they left the county government, they were not locked in the cellar. Instead, they left the next day and were transported to a cellar somewhere by carriage.
Gu Zhengchen once tried to find out the location of the cellar through distance, but the people who operated it seemed to have been prepared for it. The itinerary of the carriage was not fixed for everyone, ranging from two hours to five hours.
Gu Zhengchen looked at Sun Erkou, who was scratching his head and laughing, and asked, "I remember that you were taken away by Guo Jie and others and put into the cellar. What did you see and hear during this period?"
Sun Erkou shook his head: "I was knocked unconscious. When I woke up, I was already at Linjiao."
"You didn't see any characteristics of the person who delivered the food?"
Gu Zhengchen asked with a frown.
Sun Erkou shook his head: "The cellar is as deep as a well. Food and drink are all hoisted down, and no one can be seen."
Gu Zhengchen yawned and forced a smile: "Okay, you can go down."
Sun Niang took Sun Erkou out and when they reached the door, Sun Erkou suddenly stopped and turned around and said, "My benefactor, when I was in the cellar, I seemed to have smelled the scent of gardenias."
