"We all came from Linzhou City. We heard from the villagers that Liang Jing was recruiting workers. If we stayed there for three years, we could earn enough money to last us a lifetime. We believed him, collected some money from everywhere, and followed them here. But we didn't expect this!" The person who spoke had a look of regret on his face.
"Yes, when I came here, I told my parents to wait for me to return and enjoy life. It has been five years since I came here, and I don't know how they are doing now?"
A man in his thirties squatted on the ground and started crying. His sad expression made everyone present feel uncomfortable.
Pei Che said: "Once your identities are confirmed, I will send someone to take you back home. During this time, you can just rest and recuperate in Cangzhou."
"Thank you, Master! Thank you, Master!" When the group of people heard this, they were so moved that they bent their knees and were about to kneel down and kowtow.
"No need to do that!" Pei Che quickly stood up to stop them, and ordered someone to take them to rest. Then, he began to question the next group of people.
Just now they counted and found that there were 72 guards and 460 stonecutters at the bottom of the cliff. Except for the missing people from Cangzhou, all the stonecutters were deceived by this group of people from other places under various names. The farthest one was about 2,000 miles away from Cangzhou.
These people left their homes and did hard labor, not only did they not earn a penny, but they were also beaten from time to time. Some even had to watch their fellow villagers die one by one, and they couldn't even bury them. They could only endure the days, and they would be relieved when they died.
Pei Che looked at the confessions and the pass certificates he found in the guardhouses, and his heart was heavy.
If the officials in Cangzhou had investigated the matter carefully the first time people went missing, perhaps these people would not have been stranded here for so many years.
He sighed and said to the outside: "Bring those guards up."
"yes!"
Soon, a group of people who were tied up were brought in. They were strong and robust, and even after being tied up for a night, they were still full of energy, completely different from the frail civilians.
"How long have you been here?"
Facing Pei Che's question, those people said nothing.
"Who ordered you to quarry here?" Pei Che asked again, but they still didn't speak.
"You won't tell me, right?" Pei Che lost his patience. "Start with the first one here. If they can't tell me, beat them." Anyway, these people were not good people, so they should be made to suffer the same hardships as the common people.
"yes!"
Soon, the first person was pressed on the board for not saying anything. He was beaten with five big boards, crying and screaming. But when it came to the questions they raised, he still refused to say anything. The others were the same. They would rather be beaten than reveal the information about the person behind the scenes.
After beating several people in succession, Pei Che realized that he could not get any more information from them. He waved his hand to signal them to be taken away and began to check the things he had searched out of their rooms.
The two officials he called over were a little surprised at first, but after seeing everything at the bottom of the cliff, all their doubts were replaced by surprise. They had been officials here for many years and had never known that a group of people were hiding in this place.
After being surprised, they were delighted. This was a big case. The prefect had not called anyone else but them. Didn't that mean he valued them? They must perform well!
Pei Che didn't notice their changes. He stared at the letters on the table and couldn't help sighing. These letters were all about family matters. None of them mentioned the people behind the scenes. They didn't even mention the word "stone", let alone what kind of stone was mined, where it would be transported, and who it would be given to.
He pressed his eyebrows and continued to check other things he had found.
The next morning, a carriage arrived at the quarry. Jiang Miao came over here with a food box and an old man. The yamen runner guarding the entrance recognized him at a glance, greeted him attentively, and took them to the place where Pei Che temporarily used to work.
Pei Che hadn't slept all night, and was drinking a cup of strong tea to relieve his fatigue. This was a low-quality tea that they had brewed themselves, and it was hard to tell the price if they sold it, so they just kept it for themselves.
"Knock, knock!"
There was a sudden knock on the door. Pei Che put down his tea, cleared his throat, and said, "Come in."
"Why are you here so early? Why don't you wear more clothes?" Cangzhou has many mountains, and the temperature difference between morning and night is very large. Pei Che walked over and shook Jiang Miao's hand, and found it was a little cold, so he frowned again.
Jiang Miao pulled his hand back awkwardly and pointed to the old man following behind him. The old man had white hair and beard and was looking at the two of them with a smile on his face.
"Please take a seat, old man." Pei Che pretended nothing happened and invited the old man to come in and sit down. Although he didn't know who this old man was, the fact that he was brought by Jiang Miao was enough for him to treat him with courtesy.
"Mr. Tan, please come in and sit down. After dinner, I'll let him take you there." Jiang Miao said. He walked to the table and took out the food in the lunch box and arranged it. He and Mr. Tan had already eaten, and this was specially brought to Pei Che.
When he smelled the familiar aroma, Pei Che realized that he was hungry. He asked Mr. Tan to sit down, then he picked up his chopsticks and sat at the table to eat. When there were outsiders around, he always ate well, but today he ate too fast, and people could still feel his urgency.
While Pei Che was eating, Jiang Miao and Old Tan were chatting nearby. Through their conversation, Pei Che learned that Old Tan had worked in the mines opened by the imperial court for many years and knew all kinds of minerals in detail. He then understood why Jiang Miao suddenly brought a stranger here. Yesterday, he hurriedly took back the small stone brought back by the secret guard, explained a few words, and then left in a hurry. He didn't expect that A Miao would take the initiative to help him solve his problems. It was really touching.
After dinner, Pei Che took them to the nearest mine. They were now in the housing area where the guards lived. The nearest mine was full of caves, and both the mountain walls and the ground were full of pits and potholes.
The mined stones were piled in one place. Each stone looked very heavy. I wonder how the quarrymen mined these stones using their simple tools and their hands.
Mr. Tan, who always had a smile on his face, became very serious when he stepped into the quarry. He took out a small hammer and started hammering around the white ore. Occasionally, he would use a dagger to scrape the powder off the stone and wrap it in paper, which he would take back for testing later.
Pei Che and Jiang Miao followed behind and watched his movements. They spoke in low voices, fearing that their voices would be too loud and would affect what Mr. Tan was doing.
"Did those people confess?" Jiang Miao asked.
Pei Che shook his head: "Those responsible for guarding refused to explain, and the captured quarry workers had no idea who was behind it, and claimed that they had never seen anyone else except them."
Jiang Miao nodded: "It seems that the person behind this is quite powerful, otherwise, he must have used their weaknesses to threaten them, making them prefer to be tortured by the government rather than confess anything."
"That's what I thought. These people's origins are unknown, and even if I want to figure it out, I can't do it in a short time. I can only judge from the things I find in their rooms." Pei Che thought of the useless things he saw last night and sighed.
"You stayed up late last night and did nothing, right?" Jiang Miao knew it as soon as he saw his face.
"Yeah, these people are quite cautious. Whether it's communication or anything else, they keep silent about these stones. There's not a single one of them related to this place..." Pei Che felt aggrieved all night, and finally had a place to complain.
Jiang Miao listened and suddenly asked, "What do they eat?"
The topic changed so quickly that Pei Che was stunned for a moment: "We found rice, flour and some grains in the kitchen they used. They must have used these things to fill their stomachs, right? Wait, you want to ask, where do they get their food from?"
Jiang Miao nodded vigorously: "Yes, they are such a large group of people, the food consumption must be very high. But Fengshou Grain Store has never received such a large order since it started business. Could it be that they buy their food from places other than Cangzhou?"
"Impossible." Pei Che rejected it outright. "I have also sent people to guard the entrance to Cangzhou. If someone transports a large amount of rice in, they will definitely come to report it."
"It's strange that they don't buy it from inside or outside. Could it be that their food falls from the sky?" Jiang Miao put his hand on his chin, looking thoughtful.
"Otherwise, have you forgotten? There is another grain store in Cangzhou." Pei Che suddenly remembered this grain store that was defeated in the battle with Fengshou Grain Store last year.
"Datong Grain Store!" Jiang Miao also thought of it immediately.
Yes, this grain store has never opened since then, but at the same time, it has not officially announced that it will close down.
(End of this chapter)