Chapter 2949: Rhetoric
Most of the people's morale was instantly dispersed. Brother Zhu looked around, stomped his feet, and squatted on the ground.
Bai Shan smiled slightly when he saw it, and gestured to the yamen runner to bring the rope up.
So the bailiff drew the rope from his waist and stepped forward, divided the people into several groups, and then tied their hands with a rope.
Only after they were all tied up did the yamen runners breathe a sigh of relief, and then Inspector Luo and the captain of the police, who had been on guard on both sides, brought their men over.
There was only one unconscious person on the ground who was not tied up.
After taking a look, Bai Shan asked someone to cut some branches and tie them into a stretcher to carry the person out.
When Zhou Liwei woke up, he saw his uncle-in-law bringing back three groups of prisoners, one of whom was seriously injured. He couldn't help but admire him, "Uncle-in-law, you are amazing."
Bai Shan said modestly, "It's just average, just average. Your estimate is good."
He glanced at the injured man and ordered, "I see the bleeding has stopped, but he's still unconscious. Send a car to take him to the hospital first."
As for the others, it was getting dark, and these prisoners would definitely not be able to reach the county town on foot tonight, so they had to stay here for one night, and he would personally escort them back tomorrow.
Inspector Luo was particularly excited and asked, "Sir, how about I escort him back with you?"
"No, you stay here to protect the salt fields. If I remember correctly, there are several salt fields that need to be shoveled these days, right?"
"Yes," Zhou Liwei said, "Three salt fields will be able to produce salt one after another. It will take only one or two days."
Bai Shan nodded with satisfaction, "June is coming soon, you must keep an eye on the salt field and ensure good sales."
Zhou Liwei agreed, and Inspector Luo could only stay with regret.
He has been an inspector for many years, but has never personally arrested a criminal.
There is no way. Since it is not a mass case, there is basically no need for them to station troops. Usually, the county government’s bailiffs can handle it.
Although Zhu Ge and others were captured, Bai Shan did not let them get close to the salt field, and even did not let them stay in Xiaowa Village. Instead, he took some dry food and escorted them to the intersection, and the group camped directly at the checkpoint.
When it got dark, Bai Shan sat down by the fire, took out a medicine bag, and placed it on the fire to smoke. The smell of medicine gradually became stronger, and the mosquitoes that had been buzzing around them either flew away with vibrations or fell to the ground with a plop...
Bai Shan breathed a sigh of relief. He was in the mood to interrogate the person now. He simply waved in the direction of Zhu Ge. Immediately, a yamen runner untied the rope on Zhu Ge's hand and pulled him up.
Bai Shan gestured for him to sit down and handed him a piece of dry food.
Brother Zhu glanced at the dry food in his hand, without moving or saying anything.
Bai Shan smiled and said, "Why, you don't dare to eat?"
"Don't provoke me, sir," Zhu Ge said, "I won't take it."
Bai Shan withdrew his hand, took a bite of dry food, chewed it slowly, and drank a sip of water before asking, "Which one do you think is right?"
He asked point by point, "Bribery? Threats of execution? Or will you simply take full responsibility for the crime and let this county sentence you according to the law?"
When Brother Zhu heard the latter part, his face turned pale.
Bai Shan said, "In this county, I only hear them call you Brother Zhu, but I don't know your real name."
Brother Zhu pursed his lips and said, "Zhu Qi."
Bai Shan raised an eyebrow, "That's a good name."
He looked him up and down and asked curiously, "Are you a scholar?"
Zhu Qi: "I only recognize a few words."
Bai Shan nodded. This was easy to understand. Zhou Si and the others only knew how to read, but this was also very rare.
"Since you don't want to mention the mastermind, let's skip this issue and talk about something else," Bai Shan said. "This isn't a courtroom, so let's just chat about something casual. Um, who else is in your family?"
Zhu Qi didn't want to tell him.
Bai Shan sighed and said, "Even if you don't tell me, I can still find out in this county. I don't even need to go back to check. I'll call them in separately and ask them. Can all of them keep silent like you?"
Zhu Qi looked in the direction of his finger and saw the group of people who were crying today.
He raised his hand and rubbed his forehead, and said with a bad look: "There are also parents, brothers and sisters."
Bai Shan was surprised, "Very complete, then why do you want to be a gangster?"
Zhu Qi: "...I'm not a gangster."
"Then what are you?"
Zhu Qi stopped talking.
Zhu Qi is not really a gangster. He works at home every day. He is very hardworking and has a good reputation.
As for why they heard the Song family come here to investigate the salt fields, the young men opened up when they avoided Zhu Qi, "Brother Zhu is very capable, he has been working with Master Song."
"Isn't he a good citizen who works on weekdays?"
"Yes, but during the slack season we always have to go out and find some work. The crops here aren't very good, so we need to do other work to earn money," one person said. "Brother Zhu is the most capable in our area. He was already running around behind the Song family's steward when he was twelve or thirteen. Later, the Song family liked to call him Brother Zhu whenever there was work to do, and he would even take us with him to work there."
Bai Shan thought thoughtfully, isn't this just like the villagers going to their cousin's house to find work?
"Then what?"
"This time, it was the Song family who contacted Brother Zhu first, and then Brother Zhu contacted us," Zhu Qi refused to speak, but the young men following him could not withstand Bai Shan's questioning. Although Bai Shan looked gentle now, he was the county magistrate, and he was the county magistrate who had just suppressed mountain bandits and arrested more than 70 bandits in one breath.
The boys were still very scared.
So when Bai Shan asked, they spilled the beans. "They said they wanted to see what the situation was like at the new salt field. If we could find out, each of us could get a hundred bucks."
It sounds like a lot, but this is a life-threatening deal.
"Don't you know that this yamen is under martial law? If you force your way in, the soldiers can shoot you."
Several young men started crying out of fear, wiping their tears and saying, "But the Song family said we just need to be careful not to be discovered. They said they had everything ready. We didn't know it would be so dangerous."
Bai Shan felt that Mr. Song would not be so stupid. He would not be so impatient. There was still a month before the official salt was to be handed over to the Governor's Office.
And even if he lost his temper, he wouldn't do such a stupid thing, right?
However, Bai Shan still took note of this and turned to call a soldier over, saying, "Go back to Xiaowa Village and find Inspector Luo and tell him to thoroughly investigate the soldiers on duty at the first and second checkpoints last night to see if any of them were the Song family's accomplices."
He added, "Investigate the entire army. This county does not want something like this to happen a second time."
The bailiff agreed and ran away quickly.
After he left, Bai Shan strolled over to Zhu Qi, sat down next to him, and said, "Did you hear that? If you don't say it, there are many people who will tell you clearly for you."
Zhu Qi's face turned pale and he was in a panic.
See you tomorrow
(End of this chapter)
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