Absolute power in officialdom

Chapter 222 Hell on Earth

Accompanied by Qin Xiaotong, Wu Zhiyuan inspected the factory area.

What I saw and heard was shocking.

The so-called workers' sheds were low shacks built with broken bricks and asbestos tiles, barely high enough for an adult to bend over and enter.

A dirty, tattered burlap sack hung at the doorway, serving as a curtain.

The shed was filled with a strong, strange smell of musty, sweat, and excrement.

Wu Zhiyuan lifted the burlap sack; inside, the light was dim and the air was foul.

The ground was covered with straw, straw mats, and tattered cotton wadding; this was the bed.

Several broken bowls lay scattered on the ground, with dark food scraps remaining around their edges, and flies buzzing around them.

Next to the workers' shed, there was a simple pool enclosed by stone slabs. The water was murky, with oil and debris floating in it. This was the source of water for the workers to wash and drink.

On the other side was an open-air toilet enclosed by tattered mats, reeking of foul odors.

The workers' meals were terrible: stale rice, vegetables, and hardened steamed buns, with not a single piece of meat in sight.

The working conditions were equally appalling.

The workers, dressed in tattered clothes, some even barefoot, mechanically moved bricks between the high-temperature kiln and the site piled high with bricks.

They had no gloves, and many of their hands were covered in blisters, calluses, and burn scars.

Looking at these workers with blank expressions, terrified or numb eyes, Wu Zhiyuan felt heavy-hearted.

This is no factory; it's a black kiln that exploits and abuses disabled people!

Qin Xiaotong said, "Secretary Wu, we questioned several workers who were of sound mind and interrogated the factory's managers, who were actually supervisors. These disabled workers work more than ten hours a day."

The food was terrible, mainly boiled tofu, with very little meat. Even when there was fish, it was dead fish, lymph node meat, or chicken carcasses.

The foreman frequently beat and verbally abused these disabled people, and sometimes even denied them food.

These disabled workers lack basic medical care. When they get sick, they basically have to tough it out. If they can't make it, they just find a place to be buried...

Wu Zhiyuan was filled with righteous indignation. This was no factory; it was hell on earth!

The factory office of the rotary kiln plant was temporarily turned into an interrogation room.

Wang Gang was handcuffed to a chair and kept shouting that he was innocent: "Leaders, you can't wrong an innocent person! I took in these idiots and mute people, gave them food and a place to stay. What else is that but doing good deeds?"

Who cares if they live or die out there? Without me, they would have starved or frozen to death in some ditch long ago!

We rarely hit people. We only discipline them occasionally when they start fighting or become disobedient.

Qin Xiaotong slammed his hand on the table and shouted, "Wang Gang! Stop spouting your nonsense!"

Good deeds? You make them live in shacks worse than pigs and dogs, eat food that tastes like pig swill, do the hardest and most dangerous work, and don't even pay them a penny!

Disciplining them with a whip? Look at the injuries on their bodies! This is intentional assault!

You have illegally restricted their personal freedom and forced them to work, which constitutes the crimes of illegal detention, forced labor, and abuse of those under your guardianship or care!

The nature of this is extremely egregious! Do you think sophistry will work?

Wu Zhiyuan sat to the side, coldly watching Wang Gang: "Wang Gang, where did these workers come from? Explain yourself one by one!"

Faced with irrefutable evidence and a powerful psychological offensive, Wang Gang finally broke down and began to confess:

"Some of them I picked up from outside. When I was going to the county or passing through other towns, I would see homeless mentally challenged or mute people on the roadside or under bridges. They seemed to be ignored, so I would give them some food to coax them into my car and bring them back."

A few of them were introduced to me. There were also people from neighboring counties who ran brick kilns, but they didn't want them anymore, or thought they were too stupid to do the work, so they gave them to me, giving me a token referral fee, sometimes just a pack of cigarettes.

Some were bought from human traffickers.

"Human trafficker? What's their name? Where are they from? How can I contact them?" Qin Xiaotong immediately asked.

"He was a middleman I met when I was driving a truck. His nickname was Lao Guai, but I don't know his real name. He had a Yunnan-Guizhou accent."

He said these were unwanted items from his family, or things he got from remote areas, and each one cost only a thousand or so yuan, at most two or three thousand...

"Keep talking! How did you mistreat them? How did you force them to work? Tell us everything in detail!"

Wang Gang, head drooping, spoke haltingly:

"When we first brought them here, they were a bit disobedient. If they tried to run away, we would beat them with belts and sticks. We would lock them in the dark room where we kept our tools, without food or water. They would behave after a few days of hunger."

One of them was weak and couldn't hold on; he died of illness. I had my men secretly drag him to the back of the mountain and bury him that night.

There are supervisors watching over us when we work, mainly my two nephews.

Anyone who works slowly and breaks a brick will be whipped or punished by not being allowed to eat.

At night, the workers' shed door was locked from the outside to prevent them from running away.

If someone is sick, they'll tough it out if they can; if not, they'll be left in a dark room to fend for themselves. Three died in total, and they were all buried in the back hills…

They can't speak properly, they're slow-witted, and they're easy to fool.

I told people that I was doing good deeds and taking in a mentally challenged person, and some people in the village believed me.

The village officials know a little about it, but I pay the village a small fee every year as a management fee, and I also give them some cigarettes and alcohol during holidays, so they just turn a blind eye...

Wu Zhiyuan, who was standing to the side, finally couldn't hold back any longer. He slammed his fist on the table and shouted, "Wang Gang, have you lost your conscience?! You're profiting from human suffering!"

This is murder for money! This is blatant slave-owning behavior!

He turned to Qin Xiaotong, his tone resolute: "Chief Qin, immediately send more police to thoroughly search the entire factory area, especially the burial site!"

All personnel involved in management, guarding, or committing violence will be investigated for their illegal and criminal acts and severely punished according to law!

Wu Zhiyuan was still furious: "This kind of hell on earth has actually existed right under our noses for so many years!"

Where are the village committee members and village officials? Are they blind, or blind in their hearts?

Village Party Branch Secretary Chen Chuangui and Village Committee Director Li Youfu arrived.

Wu Zhiyuan could not hide his anger: "Did you know about the illegal detention and forced labor at the brick kiln factory?"

"I know a little bit, I know that some mentally challenged and deaf-mute people work in the factory."

Wu Zhiyuan said angrily, "These disabled people are comparable to slaves who have lost their personal freedom, do you know that?"

They were constantly beaten and verbally abused, treated worse than pigs and dogs, and buried in the mountains like stray dogs when they died. Did you know that?

Chen Chuangui argued, "We really didn't know it was that serious!"

Wang Gang said it was a good deed, taking in some homeless, mentally challenged, and mute people, doing what he could to help them, and giving them food.

"Don't know? What a convenient 'don't know'!"

The management fees collected every year, the cigarettes and alcohol collected during holidays—aren't they too hot to handle?

Can you smell the stench from this shed? That's the stench coming from rotten hearts!

"See those mounds of earth behind the hill where bodies were buried? Those are the graves of your conscience!"

Wu Zhiyuan pointed to the stinking shed and the murky pool, "Is that where people eat and live?"

Which of your doghouses is dirtier and smellier than this?

"Which of you feeds the livestock and disciplines them by whipping them with belts or starving them?"

Wu Zhiyuan pointed to the disabled workers outside who were being examined by medical staff: "They are not livestock, they are human beings!"

We are just like you and me, flesh and blood, capable of feeling cold and warmth, and experiencing pain and fear!

They are simply unfortunate; some were born with disabilities, others suffered misfortune, and ended up on the streets. This is not their fault!

But here, in your territory, what kind of lives do they lead? Worse than pigs and dogs! Worse than slaves!

Chen Chuangui and Li Youfu lowered their heads, not daring to argue.

"You are the leaders of the village, and you are Party members! The Party's purpose is to serve the people wholeheartedly. Where have you been serving them?"

Did the services end up in Wang Gang's pocket? Are your party principles and conscience only worth a little management fee and tobacco and alcohol?

This isn't negligence, it's tacit approval! It's complicity!

Wu Zhiyuan called Wu Changchun, the secretary of the town's discipline inspection commission, and asked the commission to investigate Chen Chuangui and other village officials.