Yinreng stayed in the Beijing-Tianjin section of the railway for two days, during which time he dealt with several evil men who relied on their strong bodies to rob their fellow workers of their wages.
Since Yinreng had personally supervised the project from the beginning, officials from the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue did not dare to tamper with the accounts.
After all, his reputation is there. Even several important ministers in the cabinet have suffered losses at his hands, so the rest of the people dare not touch the tiger's butt.
Compared with the Beijing-Tianjin section, Jizhou has a larger territory and a crisscrossing network of official roads, so the progress is slower than the Beijing-Tianjin section.
After finishing his inspection, Yinreng did not return to Beijing, but went to check out the Xishan quarry.
Nowadays, corruption is easily bred in places that have anything to do with mines and brick kilns, especially those beasts who do not treat humans as human beings, who usually come from this kind of industrial chain.
Yinreng would send people to check on the coal mines in Shanxi every two or three months, but this was the first time Yinreng had come to the Xishan quarry.
The Xishan quarry is located in Changping County, outside Beijing. Hesheli Chengfeng went there in casual clothes and brought only four guards.
One of the guards was Yinreng.
It's not that he doesn't want to conduct surprise inspections in a high-profile manner, but the conditions simply don't allow it.
There is only one way to transport stones into the mountains. It is not safe to go in from other places. But if he goes there with the identity of the prince, the people in the mine will make some tricks on the road and it will be difficult for him to get in.
Five people were riding horses with unloaded muskets hanging on the saddles. The mine guard knew that these people were not simple people at first sight.
When the garrison commander learned that Chengfeng was here to inspect the mine on the orders of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, his face turned grim for a moment, then he smiled and wanted to welcome Chengfeng to the base for tea and rest.
All of this was seen by Yinreng.
Chengfeng's face didn't show any fluctuation when he heard this. Instead, he insisted that he had other things to do and said that he was just going in for a look and then leave. The garrison had no choice but to send someone to bring his horse.
However, when he gave orders to his personal troops, he quickly gave the latter a wink. If Yinreng had not been staring at him, no one would have noticed anything unusual.
Looking at the honest face of the garrison commander, Yinreng's eyes darkened.
There's clearly something wrong with this defense.
But at the moment he couldn't just ask Chengfeng to arrest the man, otherwise it would waste time and the things in the mine would become even more difficult to explain.
What happened next was just as he had expected. The garrison kept delaying time, and his personal soldiers took half an incense stick just to get the horses.
Yinreng avoided the guards' sight and touched Chengfeng's calf with his whip.
Cheng Feng understood and asked the guard in a cold voice,
"It's just a horse, does it take so long?"
"Please forgive me, sir. The stable is a bit far away. I'll send someone to hurry up!"
“No need!”
Chengfeng pulled the reins.
"I've already reminded you that I have other errands to attend to. Please wait here while I go inside and take a look around!"
"drive!"
After he finished speaking, without waiting for the guards' response, he squeezed his legs together and started driving the horse inside!
However, without the consent of the garrison, the soldiers blocked the intersection and had no intention of letting anyone pass.
Seeing that he could not delay any longer, the garrison commander immediately spoke up to stop Cheng Feng.
"Sir, wait a minute! It's coming, it's coming!"
Yinreng looked back and saw that the personal soldier was trotting towards him, leading a horse.
Yinreng sneered in his heart.
If no one urges him, the man leading the horse probably won't come out even if he leads it for an hour.
The garrison took a few steps forward, then mounted his horse with a rather slow movement, smiling broadly, and said,
"The whole road is full of trucks transporting stone materials. It would be safer for me to take you there..."
But just as he waved his hand to let the men dismount, Cheng Feng raised his whip and lashed at their buttocks fiercely.
"drive!"
The horse neighed and rushed through the checkpoint into the mountains at full speed.
Yinreng and others followed closely behind.
The garrison was stunned by this unexpected change for a moment, then became furious.
"Sir, please wait for me! Don't leave!"
"Why!"
"Stop them! They can't run around like that in there!"
"Run faster! Dead horse!"
The garrison commander had lime all over his head and face, and he whipped his horse's butt hard but still couldn't catch up with Yinreng and others.
Don’t you see the difference in their equipment? The horse that Yinreng rode was a fine horse that could run a thousand miles, while the mine guard was just an insignificant official. How could the quality of the horse be compared with theirs?
It was noon at this time and there was no team transporting bricks and stones on the road, so Yinreng and his party easily reached the inside of the mine.
The stoneworkers inside were hammering the rocks with all their might, and officers and soldiers with swords on their shoulders were supervising them.
At first glance, there was indeed nothing unusual.
Seeing someone coming in from the entrance, the guards came over immediately.
“Who is it?!”
Chengfeng did not dismount, but took out the crown prince's golden decree from his bosom and showed it to them.
"I am the Crown Prince's personal guard. I have come here on orders from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to conduct an inspection! Seeing this order is like seeing the Crown Prince!"
When the leader heard this, he immediately knelt on the ground.
"I pay my respects to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
The rest of the people present followed suit, and the vast area in the heart of the mine was filled with people kneeling sparsely.
The captain is not a fool. Since these five people were able to cross the checkpoint and come here directly on horseback, they must have obtained permission from their brother-in-law.
But why are these people here at this time?
The captain was puzzled.
Chengfeng didn't have time to waste time talking to him and directly ordered him to take all the workers to the open space.
He has something to ask.
The captain did not dare to delay and quickly called everyone over.
Chengfeng randomly selected a few people and asked them the questions that Yinreng had prepared in advance.
Yinreng frowned as he listened.
In fact, there is nothing wrong with the workers' answers, but the biggest problem is that there is no problem.
The laborers in this quarry are all criminals mobilized from the surrounding areas of the capital. Their crimes are not punishable by death, but they cannot be locked up in prison and waste food, so being sent here to quarry is one of the means of punishment.
The daily necessities for the criminals here are distributed by the imperial court, and the daily living standards for each person are clearly stipulated.
After all, their crimes do not deserve the death penalty.
But the guards here obviously did not regard the laborers as human beings. Seeing that all the laborers had pale faces, Yinreng's expression became even colder.
If the living conditions here were really as they described, the workers' faces wouldn't be so bad. Yinreng even saw a few skinny young men with injuries on their bodies and faces as pale as paper.
After Changfeng had questioned the three people, the garrison finally arrived.
"Sir, why don't you wait...wait for me!"
While complaining, he winked at his brother-in-law frantically. After receiving his signal, the captain winked at him implicitly, and the garrison heaved a sigh of relief.
Yinreng saw everything about the two of them.
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