Chapter 208: Tensions Rise
The reason why everyone mustered up the courage to take up arms to resist was mainly because they saw the encouragement from a weak woman like Chen Fenghe. Therefore, when they heard her voice, they all looked at her.
The leading officer also noticed it and looked over at her, frowning and asking, "Who are you? Which side are you from? What do you want to say?"
Chen Fenghe was still wearing the clothes of a "bandit", but seeing how much those coolies valued her, it was clear that she was on the side of the coolies, so the officers and soldiers asked this question.
Chen Fenghe said calmly, "Sir, I am just an exiled prisoner. Like them, I was drugged by these people and taken here to work as a miner. As for the clothes I wear, they are disguises I put on to save myself and to escape."
When the leading officer heard that it was just an exiled prisoner, and since Chen Fenghe had smeared her face with black ash herself, her beauty was not visible, he sneered disdainfully, "So it's just a prisoner. Since you admit that you are in cahoots with these unruly people, come on! What are you still standing there for! Drive them into the mine first, and then deal with them!"
Chen Fenghe frowned and said in a cold voice, "Sir! May I ask, on what charge are you sending us back to the mine? We were all captured here, so we should be protected by you, right?"
Seeing that she didn't understand, the leading officer sneered, "What crime? You gathered together and attacked others with weapons. Isn't that rebellion? This alone is enough to punish you with slow slicing!"
"Your Excellency is being too arbitrary. These weapons weren't originally ours; they were hidden by the people who captured us. If we're going to rebel, aren't these bandits the ones who are truly going to rebel? Furthermore, Your Excellency said we were going to rebel, but have you ever seen us injure any officers or soldiers? Or, in Your Excellency's eyes, these bandits who abducted us here are equivalent to officers and soldiers? If we resist them, that's insubordination, that's rebellion?"
The last sentence undoubtedly hit the nerve of the leading officer. He said in exasperation, "What a sharp-tongued woman! In short, you are holding weapons, which means you are rebelling! I don't have time to waste on words with you! Come! Capture this woman!"
A flash of coldness flashed across Chen Fenghe's eyes. It seemed that these people were determined to kill and silence them.
She looked at the soldiers heading towards her, her face showing no fear at all. She sneered, "You can always find a pretext to accuse someone. These weapons all have the Ministry of War's seal on them. They clearly came from the military. How did we, the common people, get our hands on them? On the contrary, it's these bandits who are suspicious. Not only do they have a whole warehouse full of weapons that came from the Ministry of War, but every one of them is wearing boots that only soldiers are qualified to wear. I think your Excellency is deliberately killing us all to silence us!"
After these words were spoken, the bandits couldn't help but feel frightened, and subconsciously looked down at their feet!
They just couldn't understand how a mere exiled prisoner, and a woman at that, could recognize their boots as military boots with marks of weapons on them.
The bandits' actions confirmed Shen Fenghe's words.
The others also suddenly realized what was going on and started talking angrily.
"Oh! I was wondering why no government officials came to rescue us after we were captured. It turns out the ones who captured us were soldiers!"
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