That night, the secret guards who had been hiding in the pile of rocks for a day finally managed to escape. After watching here for a day and investigating everywhere, they felt extremely sympathetic to the plight of the captured people.
Those people didn't treat them as human beings at all. Whether it was the names they called them or the hands that mercilessly whipped them, it was clear that they treated them like animals. If they were weak, they would be beaten. If they were slow, they would be beaten. They used almost every reason they could find as an excuse to torture them. Even those who were used to seeing life and death could not bear such cruel means.
The entrance to the quarry was guarded by someone. Because the terrain was narrow, only two people were needed to guard it. Since they couldn't explore inside, there was no point in staying here. In order to avoid being exposed at dawn, the secret guards decided to travel overnight. When the city gate opened the next morning, they entered the city and told Pei Che about this. In order to be more convincing, they also brought back a stone.
"It seems that they really have some ulterior motive for doing this." Pei Che said as he played with the stone they handed over. This stone looked small, but it felt heavy in the hand, and was obviously different from the other stones.
"How many people are there over there?" Pei Che asked.
"There are about 20 to 30 people on the side we passed. Among them, there are two guards, and the rest are all civilians who are quarrying stones."
"Have you checked elsewhere?"
"We searched the whole area, and found nothing but stones. But we found that the entrance to the quarry was guarded by someone. Although it was difficult to investigate due to the narrow passage, it was not difficult to see that there must be more than one quarry like this at the bottom of the cliff." The secret guards inferred this from the size of the mountain. They walked for so long at the foot of the mountain, there was no reason why there was only this small area for quarrying.
Pei Che nodded in agreement. The disappearances had started seven years ago, so there was no reason for them to start quarrying only this year.
"You just said that you were acting separately. What about An San? Didn't he receive any news?"
"Prince, there is no news yet. The distance between the two ends is too long. We wanted to send someone to find them, but they are too far away. In case something goes wrong along the way, we might alert the enemy. So we thought of coming back to report first. Please decide." This is why they brought fireworks to send signals but could not use them as a signal.
As he was talking, another person came in. An San, who was investigating on the other side, also sent someone back to report the information he had found out. The rest of the people stayed there to supervise in case anything went wrong. Based on the information they reported, Pei Che estimated the number of people there might be, and decided to personally lead his troops to the bottom of the cliff in a while to arrest those people.
Although Cangzhou is small, it is well-equipped with manpower. The three shifts and six offices together have two to three hundred yamen runners. Pei Che picked out the people and called two officials who usually supported him in government affairs. A large group of people set out from the city and headed out of the city.
The common people thought it was strange for them to leave the city, but how could they, the common people, intervene in the government's case? Even if they wanted to discuss a few words, they would deliberately find a place where they could hide from others.
When they were halfway through their journey, Pei Che split the team into two. The side with more people continued to follow him, while the side with fewer people turned to the other side to prevent them from escaping from the other side when this side attacked.
Going straight to the destination is obviously much faster than looking around like a headless fly. In the evening, both sides had almost arrived. Pei Che ordered someone to send a signal to the sky, and the other side responded immediately after discovering it. The scene of red fireworks rising into the sky and then exploding attracted everyone's attention. Although the guards at the bottom of the cliff were a little surprised, they never thought that they had been surrounded by government officials from both ends.
Because it was too unexpected, they were caught off guard when Pei Che issued the attack order. They only resisted for less than a quarter of an hour before being captured.
The arrogant guards were now tied up and thrown aside like sick old hens. Although no one came to tie up the people who were originally controlled, they still huddled in the corner like the guards, not daring to make any demands.
As the names were called out, people kept coming out. Pei Che sat aside, holding another list in his hand. He ignored the people whose names were called and stood up. If no one responded to the names called, he would sigh and circle the names.
“… Zhang Da!”
"I'm here!" As soon as the person who called the roll finished speaking, a man stood out from the team. Compared to the others, he looked much better mentally, and after going through so much pain, his eyes were still very calm.
Pei Che looked at him and asked someone to bring him over.
"Zhang Da, are you from Tuyan Village?" Pei Che asked. He was afraid that this Zhang Da was not the same Zhang Da. If he gave people hope and then wiped it out, wouldn't that be very cruel
Zhang Da didn't know why this official was so interested in him, but after hearing the question, he still spoke honestly: "Sir, I am from Tuyan Village."
"Is Zhang Quan your child?"
Zhang Da's expression changed immediately, and he shouted excitedly: "Zhang Quan is my child, sir, what happened to Quan?!"
Pei Che said, "Don't panic, Zhang Quan is fine. You will be able to see him when you return. I just want to see what a person looks like who can make his children firmly believe that he will not die even after being missing for three years."
Zhang Da was stunned, then laughed heartily: "It's probably just his usual appearance. Quan'er has been stubborn since he was young, and he won't change his mind easily once he's made up his mind."
Pei Che was somewhat impressed. This man was covered in scars and looked skinny, but his smile was still not tainted with a trace of darkness. It was obvious that he was a man of firm character, and Zhang Quan's trust in him was worthy of it.
After a while, the names on the list were all called. This list was a list of people who had disappeared in Cangzhou in the past seven years. Only half of them were alive, and most of them had already died at the bottom of the cliff because they could not bear the torture.
"Take them to rest aside, and then go back to the provincial government office to ask a few questions and close the case." Pei Che said.
After they went down, Pei Che asked people to bring up the others who were not on the list. This group of people obviously accounted for the majority of the people quarrying at the bottom of the cliff. They looked terrified, and they didn't know what the official would do to them.
"You all report your names and places of origin one by one. I will send people to check them one by one. If anyone conceals anything, they will be severely punished. Do you understand?" Pei Che looked at the people below with a dignified gaze, and he looked at them until they trembled before he withdrew his gaze. This group of people was not like the civilians who were captured before. Their backgrounds were unknown. If he didn't speak sternly, some people might talk nonsense.
(End of this chapter)