Chapter 1194: Compromise
Han Zhengshan has been in the industry for many years and has lost count of the number of times he has been to prisons in various states. However, he never thought that one day he would be behind bars and be imprisoned as a prisoner. The most terrible thing is that this prison is not under the jurisdiction of Ming Dynasty, and he does not even have the opportunity to appeal. To be precise, even the aspect of fair judgment was omitted. It can be said that when the Haihan people arrested him, such an ending was already destined.
Han Zhengshan naturally felt that he was very wronged. What he did was just his duty and was not motivated by the idea of going against the Haihan people. However, the Haihan people did not seem to think so, but regarded him as a security threat that must be eliminated. . After carrying out kidnappings in Hangzhou city and transporting them all the way to Zhoushan Island to be imprisoned, Han Zhengshan also wanted to understand something - the secret activities of this group of armed maritime merchants were completely different from the harmony and wealth they advocated on the surface. .
Last summer, three senior officials disappeared overnight in Hangzhou. Han Zhengshan was also involved in the investigation of the case, but no useful clues were found at the time. Although some people suspected that Haihan was guilty of a crime, no evidence was found. The investigation dragged on for half a year and still did not come to a reliable conclusion. But Han Zhengshan was now almost certain that the mass disappearance of senior officials at that time must be related to Haihan. Their method of kidnapping was very skillful, and the retreat route had been planned long ago. It was obviously not the first time they had used it.
Han Zhengshan only presided over the investigation of a fire case related to Haihan, but he was already regarded as a stumbling block. He did not hesitate to send troops to kidnap him from Hangzhou to Zhoushan. Think about the three senior officials who disappeared last year. They were all blatantly calling for the expulsion of Haihan. The characters of the Han Dynasty have implemented many measures to oppose Haihan's entry into the Zhejiang area. It is not known how the Haihan people will feel about them. It is probably reasonable to get rid of these people.
And judging from the reactions of the Haihan people afterwards, Han Zhengshan did not feel that they showed any panic. This calm reaction also showed that the Haihan people had regarded similar handling methods as routine. They can even attack high-ranking court officials, so they naturally don't have any scruples about dealing with a small government official like themselves.
But judging from the current performance of the Haihan people, Han Zhengshan feels that there is no need to worry about his life safety for the time being. If the other party just wants to silence him, he can throw himself off the boat to feed the fish in Hangzhou Bay. Since he was specifically brought back to Zhoushan by boat to be imprisoned, it meant that the other party had no intention of taking his life. It's just that he suddenly changed from a law enforcer to a prisoner. This change of identity made it difficult for him to adapt for a while.
Now, it is no longer important what Gu Hui saw on Tongsheng Pier that day. What is the truth of the fire case has also lost the meaning of tracing. Moreover, the other two people have been detained separately by the Haihan people, and Han Zhengshan has no chance to get more detailed information from them. For Han Zhengshan, the top priority now is to understand the environment here as soon as possible, try to get better living conditions for himself, and even have a chance to escape and regain his freedom.
Although he is currently a prisoner of Haihan, Han Zhengshan has to admit that the living conditions in Haihan's prison are much better than the prisons he knows. In fact, if there were not high walls around to isolate the prisoners from the outside world, coupled with the round-the-clock surveillance and patrols of armed personnel, Han Zhengshan would not even regard this place as a prison for prisoners, but more like a prison for all kinds of people. A temporary camp for people waiting.
After Han Zhengshan came in, he was not put into a dark cell, but was immediately assigned a labor task. The content was very simple, which was to use a small hammer to smash rocks, smash big rocks into small ones, and smash small rocks into pieces. , if it hits the size of your finger, it is almost qualified. On a flat ground in the middle of the cell, nearly a hundred people were sitting on the ground, holding small hammers and banging rocks. No one expressed concern or curiosity about his arrival.
"Before the sun goes down, you have to smash three baskets of stones so that you can have dinner." A soldier threw a hammer in front of him expressionlessly and said: "You are not allowed to get up and walk around at will, whether you want to urinate or drink water, you must Raise your hands first to ask for permission. Do you understand? Okay, let’s do it!”
Han Zhengshan wanted to grab the hammer and smash it into the opponent's face, but his reason told him not to be impulsive. Doing so would only make him more passive. There was no need to force himself to suffer. Although Han Zhengshan was unwilling to accept it, he thought that he had to solve the problem of eating before he could think about escaping. At that moment, he could only lose his temper and bear this breath, sat down on the ground, and started throwing rocks like the people next to him. .
Seeing that the Haihan soldiers were walking away, Han Zhengshan turned to the person next to him and asked, "Brother, why did the Haihan soldiers arrange for everyone to throw stones?"
The man next to him looked at him and said, "If the Haihan people want to build houses and roads on Zhoushan Island, or open a port, they need stones as building materials. Do you understand?"
Han Zhengshan said: "How many stones can a hundred or so people throw in a day, and that's enough for them?"
"That's enough!" the man responded: "You think there are only these people? There are at least one or two thousand people in the Zhoushan hard labor camp, and more than half of them are doing this work from sunrise to dusk every day."
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"So many hard labor..." Han Zhengshan was shocked when he heard this number. The maximum number of prisoners held in Hangzhou Prison was only three or four hundred, but this private prison built by Haihan in Zhoushan actually held so many people. It was indeed a bit unbelievable to him. These people imprisoned here are obviously not Haihan nationals. So many people of the Ming Dynasty were detained here by the Haihan people, but there is no news at all from Hangzhou. This also shows that the situation created by the Haihan people here has been broken. Ming's control.
Haihan is carrying out extensive construction projects on Zhoushan Island. This is obviously his plan to separate the area for long-term management. However, at present, the Zhejiang government does not seem to have any effective response measures to this. They basically turn a blind eye and pretend to be ignorant. But after Han Zhengshan saw the methods of the Haihan people, he realized that the danger of this group of people was far beyond the various armed smugglers and pirates who occupied Zhoushan in the past. The huge military dock where he disembarked earlier is by no means a project that private citizens can build on their own, and the armed fleet stationed here is not comparable to the previous smuggling sailing ships. Its ambition is so great that it can only be seen from these places. It can be seen.
Han Zhengshan had heard more or less about the situation of Haihan's operations in the south before, but he did not take the rumors seriously. After all, it was just a little-known overseas foreign country. How could it possibly mess up the governments of Fuzhou and Guangzhou? Submissive? But now after actually dealing with the Haihan people, he realized that these rumors were not without purpose. This group of people had only been in Zhejiang for more than a year and had managed the current situation, and they had been operating in the south for seven or eight years. The local scale and penetration into the Ming Dynasty are certainly far beyond those in Zhejiang. Given time, Zhejiang will probably follow in the footsteps of Fuzhou and Guangzhou, unable and unwilling to resist the various methods used by Haihan.
Han Zhengshan looked around, lowered his voice and asked: "The guards here are not strict. Could it be that no one tried to escape?"
The man looked at him as if he were a fool and responded disdainfully: "Escape? Where are you going? Jump into the sea and swim back to the land? Or escape into the mountains and become a savage? It would be nice if I could let you sit here and knock stones. If you go to the construction site for two days, I’m afraid you’ll come back crying and pounding stones!”
Han Zhengshan was a little speechless, but he also got a message from the other party's answer, that is, prisoners should also have different divisions of labor. They who knock stones are only relatively easy jobs, and those who engage in heavy manual labor are even more difficult. . Although the security of this place is not too strict, because it is isolated from the mainland, the prisoners do not seem to have much desire to try to escape. Han Zhengshan was still waiting to ask again, but the man said impatiently: "You are a newcomer, if you don't do your job well, you will not have anything to eat at night, so you will feel better!"
Han Zhengshan thought of the workload set by the detention center just now, looked at the sun, and could only sigh, then picked up the hammer and continued to pound stones. No matter how hard life is, you have to live first to have hope.
The hard labor camp where Han Zhengshan was staying was just one of the six hard labor camps in the Zhoushan Islands. The prisoners were mainly those who were in relatively minor cases and did not cause much harm and would be resettled again in the future. In other words, these people are not in danger, and have a great chance of regaining their freedom in the future. If they can see the hope of survival, naturally few people will choose to take the risk and escape. Be aware that once you attempt to escape, the misdemeanor will become a felony and the sentence will change from fixed term to life term. As for the "easy" job of pounding stones, forget about it. You will be immediately assigned to work at the most painful, tiring and dangerous construction site. If you can survive two or three months, your life will be considered good.
Han Zhengshan didn't know there were these differences, but thought it was because these prisoners lacked the spirit of resistance. But when he first arrived, he didn't dare to talk nonsense, otherwise if someone reported it to the guards, he would be left with nothing to eat. He had served in the public service for many years, and he had seen a lot of such dirty things. When he was in prison, self-protection was the most important thing.
Seeing that the sun was turning to the west, Han Zhengshan wanted to complete three baskets of stones but still had half of the basket unfinished. The foreman responsible for inspecting and accepting the results nodded to him and just shook his head and said: "Go on and do it. You will have food when you finish it."
It took Han Zhengshan more than half an hour to finally complete his quota task. However, he still has to wait for several other prisoners who also failed to complete their labor tasks on time and in quantity. Only after everyone has finished can they leave here to eat.
Han Zhengshan had been eating and resting very irregularly in the past few days on the ship, and his body was a lot weak. At this time, he was so hungry that stars were popping up in his eyes and he couldn't stand still. After finally finishing their work together, the guard asked them to assemble as a team and go to the cafeteria to eat.
At this time, the dinner time has long passed, and there are only a few leftovers in the cafeteria. However, Han Zhengshan no longer cared about the tooth-hard brown rice and the completely oilless pickles, and ate them hungrily, as if the bowl was filled with delicious food.
Han Zhengshan cleaned the bowl in a few strokes, but he still felt empty in his stomach. He could only lick his lips and watch others eat. Upon seeing this, the guard said: "If you want to eat well, work harder tomorrow. As long as you can exceed the task, there will be rewards on the table!"
Han Zhengshan thought to himself: When I was in Hangzhou, people lined up to treat me to dinner every day. When had I ever had such a hard life? But now it is true that a tiger is bullied by a dog, and a phoenix that sheds its hair is no better than a chicken, and it ends up being like eating leftovers at the mercy of others. Only then did Han Zhengshan suddenly realize why the prisoners were so focused on knocking stones just now. It turned out that they were all doing it to fill their stomachs.
After finally waiting for the other people to finish their meal, Han Zhengshan thought that he could finally go back to rest, but the guard ordered them to go to the kitchen to wash pots and dishes and clean up the mess. This is also one of the rules of the hard labor camp. The last batch of people to finish work must take on the task of cleaning the canteen and kitchen. Han Zhengshan caught up with this job on the first day he entered the hard labor camp.
When Han Zhengshan was in Hangzhou, he couldn't do so much work in a year. Even though he was still in good health, he felt very tired after finishing the work. Fortunately, it was finally over and I could go back to the prison cell to rest for a while. The guard took him to get a bedding and pillow, and then arranged for him to move into the prison cell.
The living arrangement in this hard labor camp is actually the same as that in the immigration camp. They are all ten-person rooms with five bunk beds arranged one after another. Han Zhengshan was led to one of the rooms by the guards and handed over to the leader of the room: "Zhao Sanbiao, this newcomer is called Han Zhengshan. You will take him to work starting tomorrow, and you will also teach him the rules here."
Zhao Sanbiao nodded and bowed in response, and respectfully sent the guard away. Then he waved to Han Zhengshan and said, "Come in and talk."
Han Zhengshan saw that Zhao Sanbiao was not very old, only in his early twenties, he cupped his hands and said: "Han Zhengshan, you are polite!"
"Don't bring the rules outside here." Zhao Sanbiao didn't look at him at all: "I don't care what you did before, you have to abide by the rules here. The brothers in this number call me Zhao San Brother or Brother Biao, your life will be easier if you are sensible and obedient. If you want to be a thorn, then don’t blame me for being rude.”
Han Zhengshan thought to himself, I don't know how many scoundrels like you will be caught in a year, so he ignored his pretense and saw an empty bed in the room. He said "borrowed it" and pushed him aside. He walked over and put down the quilt, then sat down.
Zhao Sanbiao didn't expect this newcomer to be so unruly, so he smiled instead of getting angry and said, "He does have a temper! Brothers, show this guy some color!"
(End of chapter)