A man wearing a floral shirt with his belly open, revealing a hideous tattoo on his chest, walked up to Liu Sili, pointed at him and cursed him loudly.
"Tell that foreigner to get out here!" He acted arrogantly, completely ignoring the pistol in Liu Sili's hand which was pointed at the ground. He took two steps forward and slapped Liu Sili's face with his hand, "You bring out a fire poker and try to scare who the hell is this? What? You want to stand up to that foreigner, right?!" He glared and slapped Liu Sili's face with even more force.
"Don't touch my face again!" Liu Sili felt a rush of blood to his head. The scene of humiliation in the morning seemed to be replayed in front of thousands of people.
The slap on his face was even harder. The man in front of him was called Wei San, Brigade Commander Hu's most capable assistant. Liu Sili could no longer hear what he was saying. He just felt dizzy. The scene in his eyes was this hateful face, saliva flying, shouting something at him contemptuously.
"I told you not to touch my face again!" Liu Sili suddenly raised his gun and pointed it at Wei San's forehead.
In response to the bursts of laughter, Wei San smiled even more contemptuously, "Come on, shoot! Haha, shoot me!" He stretched out his hand to hold Liu Sili's hand holding the gun, and shouted loudly: "Come on, shoot, shoot!"
Suddenly, Wei San staggered and gunshots rang out.
Inside the window of the town government office, Lu Ming was also pushed down by Heitou, and was pressed under Heitou's muscular body.
Outside, there was chaos, with screams and cries everywhere.
…
When Lu Ming stood on the street, most of the miners had disappeared, and many of them were squatting on the ground with their hands covering their heads, including many child laborers who looked like little rascals.
The shops around were all closed.
There were seven or eight people on the ground, some covering their gun muzzles and screaming, some lying quietly on the ground. They were all dressed neatly and looked like Wei San, foremen in the mine, or the close associates of Brigade Commander Hu.
Scattered around them were shotguns, muskets, machetes and the like.
Wei San was shot in the temple, leaving a horrifying bloody hole. His body was lying at Liu Sili's feet, already dead.
Liu Sili stood there in a daze, maintaining this posture for a long, long time.
Sun Bozheng called some miners to help send the injured to the town's health center.
Lu Ming walked up to Liu Sili and patted him on the shoulder. "Well done! This bandit gathered his accomplices to besiege the town hall and tried to snatch your gun. You shot him dead on the spot. He deserved it."
Ah... Liu Sili came back to his senses, looked at the corpse under him, suddenly turned around and ran away, squatted down, and began to vomit.
"Master..." Sun Bo brought a miner over, "He is Zhang Agou."
A dark-skinned man in his forties had a panic-stricken face. He didn't know how these terrible people knew his name. Moreover, he asked loudly who he was. His companions who were squatting beside him secretly moved to the side, and he was dragged out.
Lu Ming looked at Zhang Agou and smiled. When the gun was fired and someone died, most of the miners ran away. Those who were scared and squatted on the ground were those who were close and submissive. It turned out that Zhang Agou was also among them, so there was no need to go through the trouble of looking for him.
"You are the foreman of the mine owner before Brigade Commander Hu, right? You have a good reputation. From now on, I will rely on you to manage the mine. Go back and tell all the miners that the matter is over. I will not pursue it. From now on, just do your job well. I will increase your salary as appropriate!"
Zhang Agou nodded repeatedly, almost wondering if he was dreaming.
He was smarter than most of the workers in the town, and he realized immediately that the new mine owner was well prepared. He knew not only the details of Brigade Commander Hu, but also all of them, the poor guys.
He was covered in cold sweat, "Yes, yes, Master, I, we were all forced to come here, Master, please don't blame us."
"You guys..." Lu Ming nodded, "Don't worry, just go and tell everyone to be at ease. They are all my workers, there will always be a period of adjustment, right?" He felt that this person did not make a mistake, using "we" instead of "I" to plead, which showed some responsibility.
He added, "You are like this. Gather everyone to the mine at three o'clock in the afternoon. I have something to say."
Zhang Agou agreed repeatedly, apologized for a long time in fear, and then bowed and left.
"Are you feeling better?" Lu Ming came to Liu Sili who had just stood up.
Liu Sili's face was pale, and he wiped the dirt from the corners of his mouth with a handkerchief. However, he was now fully sober. He definitely did not shoot Wei San, and his pistol was still full of bullets.
But looking at the young man in front of him, Liu Sili didn't say much, and nodded gently: "Mr. Lu, I'm much better."
"That Brigade Commander Hu ordered Wei San and his gang to attack the town government office. I think the county will soon issue a warrant for his arrest."
Listening to the calm words of "Mr. Lu", Liu Sili's heart trembled again.
That's it? Is Commander Hu finished
Is it that simple
I can't believe it.
"Well, Sili, do you have any candidates who are reliable and have run a coal mine?" Lu Ming asked.
Liu Sili was startled and looked at Lu Ming: "What does Mr. Lu mean?"
Lu Ming said, "I can't stay here forever. After I settle things here in the next two days, I will go back to the East China Sea and come back in a few days when I have free time."
In Jiangning, it is impossible to achieve anything in ten days, half a month, or even a few months.
Now I have a small property temporarily. I have planted a flag here and will take it slow in the future.
Go back to Donghai to handle matters there, and come back when you have free time.
Just consider it your life to be a hard worker. When you come to this world, you have to travel between two places on business.
Fortunately, it only takes a dozen hours to get from Donghai to Longgang, which can be considered two days for a round trip. The first-class carriage of the train is also quite comfortable. And if you travel frequently, you can also prepare a car in Heishan, so it doesn’t take too much time to travel to and from Longgang.
While I'm away, the Sansha Coal Mine naturally needs someone knowledgeable and reliable to help keep an eye on it.
Moreover, when I leave, many people will feel relieved, thinking that the Western county magistrate does not have a big appetite, and everyone can continue to run horses and dance.
Liu Sili hesitated, "Let me help you think about it? Is it urgent?"
Lu Ming smiled again: "Si Li, I heard that your father, my uncle, is an old coal merchant. He was the accountant and right-hand man of a coal mine owner more than 20 years ago. Otherwise, he would not be able to send you to the city to study, right?"
Liu Sili was stunned, almost like Zhang Agou, with sweat gradually appearing on his forehead.
I thought he was just a dandy boy who came here with his relatives to take advantage of the situation, but I didn't expect that before he came, the ancestors of anyone who might be related in Sansha Town were thoroughly investigated.
"I wonder if my uncle is willing to come out again? I'll go visit him in the evening." Lu Ming said with a smile.
Liu Sili came back to his senses and said with a wry smile, "Then there's no need to bother Mr. Lu. I'll bring my father here to visit Mr. Lu. To be honest, Mr. Lu, if you know this letter, my father will be so happy that he will dance with joy. He really wants to work. It's just that times have changed. Now these coal mines are popular to imprison illegal workers. My father has always disliked it and even wrote a letter to report it. That's why his reputation has been ruined and no mine owner is willing to hire him anymore."
"In my mine, there are also more than a dozen imprisoned illegal workers doing the most tiring and dangerous work, right? They are all using hoes?" Lu Ming said calmly.
Liu Sili remained silent. There were relatively few coal mines in Sansha. It was not because Commander Hu was merciful, but the number of people who could be deceived into coming to Longgang to work as coal miners and then imprisoned as illegal workers was getting smaller and smaller. Their reputation had become bad, and many outsiders already knew about it. Those who were recruited to come to Longgang to dig coal were like death notices. Many people went to Longgang and never heard from them again.
Brigade Commander Hu entered this business late, and the number of illegal workers he defrauded was limited.
"Okay, let's go have lunch!" Lu Ming looked at his watch and ended this conversation which made him unhappy.