CH 157

These children are "defective goods" in the eyes of human traffickers, and the "high-end goods" in their hands have long been sold out.

There are also clauses below the information to determine the grade of the children. Once they are determined to be "low-end goods" or "defective goods", they will be left to survive in a harsh environment. If they are lucky enough to meet non-picky merchants, they may be able to save their lives. If they are unlucky, they can only die in the dark dungeon.

They found a passage seemingly written by the gang leader from a memorandum.

"The current trend is that high-end goods are becoming more and more popular, while low-end goods are becoming less and less desirable. (You) must remember this."

"Low-end goods and defective goods are all money-losing garbage. Budgets must be reduced."

"Do not give them medicine, and reduce their food by half starting today."

A crow couldn't help but tear the memorandum to pieces, but immediately received a reprimand from the captain.

"Rule number one for agents: Do not act based on emotions! Go back and serve a 15-day solitary confinement, and put this memorandum back together for me intact!"

"Yes, Captain!"

The punished crow showed no signs of dissatisfaction and picked up all the shredded pieces of paper.

Afterwards, they found more useful information from this hideout and discovered that this human trafficking group was not the real top. They cooperated with multiple human trafficking gangs, purchased "piglets" from them, and had dealings with several local governments in Yunzhou, Lingzhou, and Hezhou. There was also a larger organization called the "boss" that provided them with shelter.

Many "high-end goods" were circulated from this "boss" organization.

The crows organized all the evidence, thoroughly cleaned up the hideout, and then spread aluminum-magnesium incendiaries to purify everything with flames.

After returning to the county government hall, Yun Zhixing rushed over to report all the information to Lin Wen.

Lin Wen issued new orders:

Investigate the details of the "boss" organization, hunt down all remaining minions, and fight both the tigers and the flies.

Place all the children in rehabilitation centers, hire a large number of excellent maternal and child health and psychological experts, and ensure the restoration of both physical and mental health.

In addition, Lin Wen added another order: if there are children who cannot be rehabilitated, come to him. Among the outstanding members of the Dragon Group, there are world-class psychological experts.

Yun Zhixing was full of admiration. It was worthy of being an organization led by Sheriff Lin. Every member was extraordinary.

Since the rehabilitation center was temporarily requisitioned by the KGB, it was already overcrowded. After Lin Wen ordered the KGB to immediately requisition all private medical institutions in Huaizhen, he also conveyed an order to Zhao Minggong, asking him to immediately plan and build a new rehabilitation center that could accommodate at least 5,000 people with complete facilities.

The expansion of Huaizhen was proceeding vigorously. The western side of the town had become a large construction site, with over 40,000 workers. The phrase "clearing mountains and bridging waters" was no longer enough to describe their work.

They leveled hills and filled lakes and rivers.

They were changing the topography.

The ultimate goal of the expansion was to merge the only two towns in Changshan County with a civilized atmosphere, Huaizhen and Donghe Town, into a new large town to avoid the embarrassing fate of Donghe Town being continuously drained by Huaizhen.

Donghe Town was 3.6 kilometers southwest of Huaizhen, which meant they had to build a new emerging area that was 3.6 kilometers long and at least 1 kilometer wide to connect the two towns.

This was a huge project that previous sheriffs of Changshan County had never dared to dream of. Even in the entire empire, such a large-scale project was very rare.

Zhao Minggong had already completed the preliminary planning, and he would soon invite bids for this project to share part of the economic pressure on Changshan County.

- Even with Changshan County's current economic strength, it was impossible to complete all the work. Attracting investors and seeking win-win cooperation was the only choice for government departments.

At the same time, the bidding for the Changshan County highway project and the Huaizhen infrastructure project were also about to begin.

Now, the huge demand for labor had become a constraint on development. Zhao Minggong was considering whether to take advantage of the hype while Yaojing was aggressively advertising throughout the empire.

During this period, with Yaojing's extravagant spending, the city's debt had skyrocketed, but it had also become the most dazzling city in the entire empire. The crazy publicity made everyone believe that it would become the fourth first-tier city. Countless people flocked there, and countless businesses and enterprises settled in, causing the economic index to rise against the trend.

In the midst of the empire's difficulties, it shone like a beacon in the dark night. The highest council had already held three meetings to discuss the economic feasibility of the Yaojing model.

Yaojing was the territory of Elder Xu Chengguo, so he faced strong questioning and doubts from the conservative faction led by Elder Cheng. However, the reformists in the empire were not weak either and fiercely counterattacked at the highest council meeting. The meeting quickly went beyond its original scope and turned from an economic seminar into a political debate.

Both sides held their ground and fought fiercely.

Chang Sheng was often summoned by the elders because of this and participated in the highest council meetings. He was excited and worried, and almost every two days, he would make an encrypted phone call to Lin Wen to ask about his doubts.

Of course, Lin Wen couldn't be taken advantage of. Half of the construction materials and supplies in Changshan County were obtained at the most favorable market price and given priority for delivery.Under such circumstances, the minimum and standard wages in Yaojing had seen a significant increase. The various bosses had slightly restrained themselves, and the number of people at Qi Mu's recruitment center was gradually slowing down, with the total number unlikely to exceed 450,000.

Zhao Minggong considered having Lin Wen make some connections again, and let Changsheng include a small advertisement for Changshan County's labor recruitment in the corner during his advertising time.

However, Lin Wen refused, and told Zhao Minggong not to worry. The current capacity of Yaojing was far below the length of the advertisement, and there would definitely be a large overflow.

After the innocent young men had their dreams of true love shattered by reality, the recruitment point of Changshan County would be their last resort.

Lin Wen even thought of the advertising words:

Here, there are stable jobs, affordable housing prices, and all the hope to survive.

Here:

The night stars are brilliant, and the wild geese soar.

The zither is in the palace, and the years are quiet and good.

Then there was a huge Changshan County logo, with a small line written next to it: Cherish life, stay away from Yaojing.

For this, Lin Wen specifically set a basic principle for Zhao Minggong: the price of all newly built commercial residences must refer to the average wage of Changshan County, and the highest cannot exceed the price of 18 months' wages per 50 square meters.

Economics is not Zhao Minggong's field of expertise. His field is internal affairs and construction. Therefore, he has never questioned Lin Wen's professional economic advice.

Two days later, Qin Luoshuang returned.

As expected, this meeting was meaningless. The council denied all evidence, insisting that it was all rumors from Changshan County. They came up with more than a hundred ways to prove how these evidences were forged.

In this field of professional forgery of evidence, Qin Luoshuang did not have a good way to fight back.

But as an expert in political struggle, Qin Luoshuang, who once believed that if she could return to the pure imperial empire three hundred years ago, she could definitely fight down all the concubines and queens, and finally kill the emperor and become the empress, immediately changed her attack method.

She fully exposed the many dirty deeds of the council, proving how despicable, shameless, treacherous, cunning, and full of lies the council was. They were the most perverted and brutal perpetrators in the entire empire, while Changshan County, like a white lotus, was the innocent victim.

From discussing the matter to personal attacks, this completely angered the council. They immediately fell into the trap and fought with Qin Luoshuang in the field she was best at, smearing each other.

So, the meeting turned into a meaningless war of words, with both sides attacking each other's character, and no one mentioned the cause of the matter.

The officials of the highest office were overwhelmed. The director, Yang Jiehua, asked the highest elders several times, but the highest elders were busy with more important matters and did not respond.

In the end, it had to be left unresolved. Yang Jiehua used traditional skills to muddy the waters, forcibly determining that both sides were even.

"It's not easy for everyone, let's each take a step back."

"One hand can't clap."

"It's not a big deal, don't be too petty."

"People are dead."

"Take a step back and understand each other."

"Put yourself in others' shoes, and you'll get used to it."

In Yang Jiehua's field of expertise, neither Changshan County nor the council could compete. They had to admit defeat, and no one went to trouble the other. The matter was considered over.

Although it seemed fair, in fact, the Imperial Tax Bureau suffered a huge loss. Not only did they not receive a penny, but they also lost a team of people.

The council also suffered. The plan not only failed, but also worsened the relationship with the Tax Bureau.

Changshan County won a small victory.

This was unacceptable to Chang Hai. He immediately launched a second round of attacks on Changshan County.

That night, Lin Wen received another strange harassing phone call.

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This time, Lin Wen was smart and recorded the ticking sound, then went to find Qin Luoshuang.

"Spy sabotage."

Qin Luoshuang smiled slightly.

"Leave it to me."

Her agents may not have the same personal strength as the Dragon Group's agents, but their organization and professionalism are definitely more elite. Unless Yu Zhongxian sends out the council's hand, no matter how many spies come, they will all die.

In the battle between agents, intelligence is the first priority.

The crows knew in advance that there were enemies coming, which gave them a huge advantage.

Changshan County was their home field, and a large number of surveillance guards were their subordinates, who could undertake many auxiliary tasks. Coupled with advance preparation and strict defense, they had a huge advantage before the two sides even started fighting.

Within a few days, the council's spies suffered heavy losses.

No matter how many people were sent in, they all disappeared like a mud cow entering the sea.

Chang Hai couldn't believe it. Changshan County was like a black hole that swallowed everything, and no information could be transmitted.

After losing more than fifty people in a row, he dared not send any more people. Instead, he hired desperadoes to attack Changshan County, hoping to cause some damage. Then they could attack Changshan County for its poor security and inability to maintain normal order.

But bad news came quickly.

More than a hundred desperadoes hadn't even left the western mountainous area of Changshan County when they were wiped out by the Dragon Group's agents.

He learned this news from the local newspaper in Changshan County.

Now, the local newspaper has become the council's only way to obtain information about Changshan County, which is absurd.

But Chang Hai couldn't stop here. If he went to see General Yu with such a shameful failure, his only fate would be to sink to the bottom of the lake.