Eagle-eyed and wolf-watching

Chapter 1570 Inspecting a Private Factory
The foreman was a burly man. When he heard Ye Mingsheng's words, he immediately looked over and looked very alert.

Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng smiled and said:

"Don't be afraid, little girl. I'm Zhang Hu, a member of the Ministry of Industry. I just want to talk to you!"

The real Zhang Hu, who was standing by, was surprised for a moment when he heard Ye Mingsheng impersonating his name, but he soon returned to normal!

The foreman at the side, although he was a little suspicious of Ye Mingsheng's identity when he saw him in casual clothes, his suspicions were somewhat dispelled when he thought that Ye Mingsheng came with the Minister of Industry Su Junjie. At this time, the female worker asked him directly:
"Captain Li, what should I do?"

Upon hearing this, Team Leader Li also said:

"Mr. Zhang wants to ask you a question, so just answer it!"

The little girl nodded, then looked at Ye Mingsheng and asked timidly:

"Master Zhang, what do you want to ask me?"

Ye Mingsheng glanced at Foreman Li who was standing aside with no intention of leaving, then smiled and asked the little girl:
"Little sister, what's your name? How old are you this year?"

"My name is Wang Zhaodi! I am seventeen years old!"

“Where are you from?
"I am from Dawang Township below Yecheng!"

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly and said:

"How did you come to work in Yijing?"

"My third uncle works in Yijing. When he came back home during the Spring Festival last year, he said that he could make a lot of money in Yijing, so my parents sent me here to work!"

"Then how much money can you earn here in a year?"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng ask this question, Foreman Li on the side also winked at Wang Zhaodi, as if he wanted to hint something to the little girl, but Zhang Hu on the side also walked over very directly and blocked Foreman Li behind him with his body...

Just as Foreman Li was hesitating whether to go over, Wang Zhaodi smiled and said:
"I earn a lot, two taels of silver a year, and the factory provides food and accommodation!"

Ye Mingsheng frowned slightly when he heard this, but he did not lose his temper immediately. Instead, he continued to confirm:
"You can only earn two taels of silver a year?"

Facing Ye Mingsheng's question, Wang Zhaodi thought that Ye Mingsheng looked down on her and thought that she could not earn two taels of silver, so she nodded to Ye Mingsheng seriously and said:
"Master Zhang, don't look at me because I am thin and small, but I work very hard. I can do a lot of work, such as weaving and spinning. I can really earn two taels of silver a year!"

After hearing what Wang Zhaodi said, the foreman Li could no longer sit still and immediately wanted to take action as if to stop Wang Zhaodi from telling the story!

But before he could say anything, Zhang Hu grabbed him. Although this foreman Li was big and strong and looked very powerful, in front of Zhang Hu, the imperial guard, he was like a chick caught by an eagle.

Although Zhang Hu didn't say anything, under Zhang Hu's murderous gaze, Foreman Li couldn't help but give up his behavior in disappointment.

Seeing this, Zhang Hu let go of Foreman Li's hand. Foreman Li looked hesitantly at Wang Zhaodi who was being questioned, then quickly left as if he was going to find his superior to report.

Wang Zhaodi did not notice this scene, but Ye Mingsheng did. However, Ye Mingsheng did not care and continued to ask:
"Wang Zhaodi, how many hours do you work in a day?"

Wang Zhaodi tilted her head and thought for a moment before saying:
"We all start working at 1:00 a.m. and finish at 3:55 p.m.!"

Ye Mingsheng calculated in his mind after hearing this. He started working at 11:00 a.m. and finished at 3:30 p.m., which basically equals to six hours. Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng continued to ask:
"Do you have a break at noon? Also, do you get overtime pay?"

"There will be a break at noon. You can rest for half an incense stick. What is the overtime pay?"

While Ye Mingsheng and Wang Zhaodi were chatting, Wu Jiaming, who was chatting and laughing with Su Junjie on the other side, also received the news from Foreman Li.

Wu Jiaming hesitated for a moment and then asked Su Junjie:

"Minister Su, may I ask if your company has a deputy minister named Zhang Hu?"

Su Junjie was stunned for a moment, then shook his head subconsciously and said:
“There is no such person!”

Hearing Su Junjie say this, Wu Jiaming narrowed his eyes slightly, then smiled and nodded without saying anything. Finally, he gave a secret look to Foreman Li, who immediately understood and left quickly.

While Su Junjie was wondering why Su Junjie would ask if there was a Yuanwailang named Zhang Hu, Sun Peng, the clerk beside him, carefully reminded him:

"Sir, the trusted guard beside His Majesty seems to be called Zhang Hu..."

As soon as Su Junjie heard this, he suddenly stopped and realized what was happening. He secretly said "bad" and asked Wu Jiaming who didn't understand what was happening:

"What happened to Zhang Hu?"

Wu Jiaming was also stunned by the question, and then asked cautiously:

"Sir, is there something wrong with this Zhang Hu?" "Tell me quickly what's wrong with this Zhang Hu?"

Seeing Su Junjie asking in such an uncivilized and ungentlemanly way, Wu Jiaming also asked with some doubt:
"Isn't the Shangshu just a Yuanwailang? Why are you like this?"

Just when Su Junjie wanted to say something, suddenly there were several screams from behind them. Su Junjie's face turned pale with fright. At this moment, he no longer cared about Wu Jiaming beside him and quickly ran behind him.

A moment later, when Su Junjie arrived at the scene, he saw more than a dozen factory security guards lying on the ground with their teeth bared, while Ye Mingsheng was looking at him calmly under the protection of Zhang Hu and others.

Seeing this, Su Junjie quickly knelt down and kowtowed:

"Your Majesty, I am late in coming to your rescue! Please forgive me!"

Wu Jiaming and others who followed Su Junjie at this time were also dumbfounded when they heard Su Junjie's words. He looked at the middle-aged man in casual clothes in front of him with some disbelief.

Although Wu Jiaming was still unclear about what had happened, his intuition told this wealthy businessman who had been in the world for decades that he was in big trouble. If he didn't do something now, he would most likely be in trouble today.

Thinking of this, Wu Jiaming also knelt down and kowtowed to Ye Mingsheng and said:
"I, Wu Jiaming, did not know that Your Majesty was coming. I was not able to greet you and offended you. I beg Your Majesty to forgive me!"

Wu Jiaming, this old man, is indeed a ruthless character. In order to show his sincerity, he knocked his head loudly. At this time, the people around him realized it and knelt down to pay homage to Ye Mingsheng!

Seeing that his identity had been discovered, Ye Mingsheng could only stand up, waved his hand and said to everyone:

"Everyone, please stand up!"

After hearing this, Su Junjie, who was feeling nervous, and Wu Jiaming, who had hit his head, and others stood up one after another.

After finishing all this, Ye Mingsheng also walked towards the northwest corner of the factory according to the location Wang Zhaodi had just pointed out to him. Wang Zhaodi had just told him that the dormitory for these female workers was there. These female workers did not have a canteen, so the dormitory was their canteen, and they ate and slept there all day.
Seeing the direction Ye Mingsheng was heading, Su Junjie, Wu Jiaming and others followed closely even though they didn't know what Ye Mingsheng wanted to do. After a while, everyone arrived at their destination!
It was a row of small bungalows. Ye Mingsheng observed the appearance and was ready to go in first. However, after experiencing the incident of the attack just now, Zhang Hu and others became more vigilant and immediately reminded Ye Mingsheng:

"Your Majesty, please wait a moment. Let us go in and check!"

Ye Mingsheng felt that Zhang Hu’s idea was a bit redundant, but when he was about to say something, Zhang Hu had already brought two people in. Ye Mingsheng shook his head when he saw this, but still chose to wait·············
About half a cup of tea later, Zhang Hu and others came out of the small bungalow and nodded to Ye Mingsheng. Ye Mingsheng then walked in. As soon as he entered the small bungalow, an indescribable odor hit him in the face. At the same time, there were female workers looking at him warily!
Feeling the vigilance of these female workers, Ye Mingsheng was about to say something when Su Junjie, Wu Jiaming and others followed in!
In order to redeem himself from his mistake, Wu Jiaming, who was covering his head, immediately shouted in a flattering manner:
"This is our Emperor of Daqian. Why don't you kneel before the Emperor?"

After hearing their boss' words, the women in the small bungalow knelt down one after another. Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng smiled and waved his hand again, asking everyone to stand up without any formalities.

After finishing all this, Ye Mingsheng began to observe the interior of the dormitory. To be honest, apart from the strange smell, the furnishings inside the dormitory were basically no different from the large dormitory beds in the lowest-end hotels in Yijing. The female workers were all lying on a kang, and there were some pots, pans, and other things on the kang.

Ye Mingsheng then pulled over another female worker and asked:

"Little sister, what did you eat today?"

Hearing that the emperor, who was said to be so high and mighty, actually called her "little sister", the skinny little female worker seemed a little flattered and immediately stammered:

"Today we are eating black steamed buns and dried radish!"

"May I see it?"

Hearing what Ye Mingsheng said, the female worker found a small bowl and showed the food in it to Ye Mingsheng.

Ye Mingsheng originally wanted to try these foods, but when he saw the rough-looking black steamed bun and the unappetizing dried radish, Ye Mingsheng finally gave up eating them. He just touched the female worker's head with some pity...

Ye Mingsheng had just looked at these female workers. The oldest ones were only twenty-five or twenty-six years old, and the younger ones were probably only fifteen or sixteen years old. In the future, these would be the prime of life, but now they were working five or six hours a day for a salary of two taels of silver a year!
After chatting with the female workers in the dormitory, Ye Mingsheng also left the factory dormitory.

A moment later, Ye Mingsheng also came to the factory's reception room. The reception room of this factory was very grand. Not only were the chairs and benches made of mahogany, but there were also two potted plants placed in the room, making it look very elegant!
But it was this kind of elegance that made Ye Mingsheng even more angry. Based on Ye Mingsheng's understanding of the market in Yijing, the decoration and layout of this reception room alone would cost at least fifty or sixty taels of silver!
With these fifty or sixty taels of silver, we can completely renovate the factory dormitories better and provide a better living environment for the female factory workers!

Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng looked at Wu Jiaming with an increasingly unfriendly gaze. At this moment, Wu Jiaming seemed to have sensed something, gritted his teeth, and knelt down in front of Ye Mingsheng again, crying bitterly:
"Your Majesty! I am guilty! I deserve to die!"

Ye Mingsheng glanced at him coldly and said:

"What crime have you committed?"

"We violated the employment law by not paying them the minimum wage!"

After saying that, Wu Jiaming paused, then he tried to raise his head and mustered up the courage to look at Ye Mingsheng. However, he only saw Ye Mingsheng's cold gaze. Seeing this, Wu Jiaming's heart trembled. He understood that this moment was a matter of life and death for him...
Wu Jiaming realized the key to the matter and quickly spoke:
"Also, their working hours are a bit too long, and the environment and food in their dormitories are not good!"

As he spoke, Wu Jiaming slapped himself in the face left and right. Just like when he kowtowed just now, Wu Jiaming was indeed a ruthless character. He slapped very hard, as if he was not slapping his own face, but someone else's face!
"I was blinded by greed! I just wanted to make a little more money. I deserve to die!"

Looking at Wu Jiaming who was acting pitiful in front of him, Ye Mingsheng was constantly weighing the pros and cons in his heart!
Ye Mingsheng, who had just inspected the factory, did have the intention to kill Wu Jiaming!
But now that he has calmed down and thought carefully, Ye Mingsheng feels that Wu Jiaming does not deserve the death penalty!
The first is the law. When Ye Mingsheng was formulating the Work Law, the rule he made was that violators would be fined, and in serious cases would be required to perform hard labor, but he did not specify that violations would result in death!
Secondly, Ye Mingsheng’s practical experience over the years has made him understand that the conditions at Jiaming Textile Factory may be poor, but they are probably not the worst!

There are still many small workshops in Yijing, and the situation there may be even worse than that of Jiaming Textile Factory!

Moreover, Jiaming Textile Factory is a representative of Yijing's private factories. Wu Jiaming himself is a representative figure who came to Yijing from Jiangnan and made rich returns by investing in and building factories. He is a benchmark figure. If he is killed now, it will be a big blow to Yijing's business environment and the enthusiasm of those businessmen to invest in Yijing...