OBS Chapter 536 We Do Not Deal with Financial Disputes
Chapter 536 We Do Not Deal with Financial Disputes
These people were wearing worn-out coarse cloth shirts with their cuffs worn to a shine, and their faces had tired but determined expressions.
They stood neatly in the middle of the road, some leaning on shovels and some holding pickaxes, blocking the way like a wall.
The leader was a bearded miner with his arms folded across his chest, staring intently at the slowly approaching carriage.
William's heart skipped a beat, and his fingers unconsciously clenched the edge of the car. He pretended to be calm and shouted:
"You bunch of unruly people, you still dare to block my way? Believe it or not, I will send soldiers to arrest you all!"
In response to him, there was silence. The miners all looked at him without any fear in their eyes. The leader said loudly:
"Master, we are not here to cause trouble. We just want justice."
"The coal we've dug for you these days has earned you hundreds of gold coins, if not a thousand. If you deduct a few gold coins from it, it will be enough to meet the monthly salary required by all of us, or even a little more. We ask for a salary increase because we really can't survive on the original salary."
"Of course you can fire us all, but I tell you, without us, you won't be able to find miners from other places to work!"
William's forehead was covered with sweat and his eyes were flickering. He looked at the miners who were getting closer and closer. The road in front of the carriage was completely blocked and even the newly recruited miners were making a commotion in the carriage.
William stood in front of the carriage, his face livid and veins bulging on his forehead.
He never expected that these miners would dare to resist him so boldly and block his way.
As far as he knew, apart from his strict father, no one had ever dared to disrespect him like this.
Now, these lowly miners dared to openly disobey his orders, which made him feel extremely angry and humiliated. If he failed to handle this matter well or showed weakness to the miners, a bunch of big guys would appear on his land in the future.
He looked at the supervisors around him and the twenty or so beggars he had just recruited, and compared the number of miners on the opposite side. After finding that they were almost the same, he shouted to his men unwillingly:
"Go! As long as you defeat all these troublemakers, not only will your salary be doubled, but I will also give each of you an extra silver coin."
When they heard that their wages would be doubled, the beggars' eyes lit up instantly and they rushed towards the miners excitedly without thinking.
The supervisors followed behind, with their own plans in mind, thinking of letting these beggars be cannon fodder first, and then looking for opportunities to take advantage of the situation.
Soon, the two groups collided with each other.
However, the beggars suddenly stopped when faced with the aggressive miners.
Only then did they realize that the miners were holding pickaxes and shovels. Although these were not powerful weapons, they would definitely break a person's head if they were hit by them.
But they had nothing in their hands, which made them feel a little scared.
Just when they hesitated and dared not move forward, the strong man leading the miners came over alone.
He walked up to a beggar and slapped the beggar opposite him hard on the shoulder.
"brother."
The sturdy man spoke loudly, his voice loud and powerful.
"Promise me that you won't work for such a black-hearted owner for a meager salary, okay? If we want to make money, we can all earn the same salary together."
The beggar looked at the strong man's sincere eyes and didn't know what to say for a moment. In his heart, he actually felt that what the strong man said made sense, but he was just a helpless beggar and he didn't have the courage to resist the noble master.
"But……"
The beggar said hesitantly, with a hint of fear in his eyes.
"If you disagree, I will kill you."
The sturdy man felt the force on his shoulders getting stronger and stronger, and the beggar was sweating from the pain.
The beggar was so frightened that he shouted:
"I don't want to do it anymore, I don't want to do it anymore, please let me go!"
After hearing this, the strong man immediately let go of his hand.
The beggar was not paying attention and sat down on the ground, then he ran away crawling.
Seeing this, the other beggars were frightened and ran away in all directions, as if something terrible was chasing them.
At this time, William only had a few supervisors left. He looked at the fleeing beggars and cursed angrily:
"Damn it! You bunch of losers can't even handle a few miners, and you still want to get double the salary?"
"Master, there are so many miners here, and they have weapons in their hands. We can't defeat them."
An overseer said in a trembling voice.
"Hmph, useless stuff!"
William glared at the supervisor fiercely and cursed the supervisors' incompetence in his heart.
It suddenly occurred to him that the security of this area seemed to be under the jurisdiction of the Black Watch. With those mercenaries around, it would be easy to deal with these peasants.
"Hurry up, go to the Black Watch camp and ask for help immediately. Tell them that some villains want to kill me. Go quickly!"
William ordered loudly, his heart full of anticipation.
He believed that the mercenaries of Blackwatch would help him teach these ignorant miners a lesson and allow him to re-establish his authority.
After a while, an overseer arrived with a dozen Black Watch mercenaries on horseback.
The leading mercenary officer was tall, with a stern face, and wore black armor, which made him look majestic. When he heard that there was a robbery here, he immediately rushed over without stopping.
When we arrived at the place, we saw a man dressed as a noble and a group of ragged miners opposite him.
"What happened?"
The mercenary officer pulled the reins of his horse and asked loudly.
William immediately stepped forward and said with a look of grievance:
"Sir, these unruly people won't let me pass and want to kill me. You have to make the decision for me!"
However, the strong man on the opposite side stood up and said loudly:
"Sir, please don't be fooled by him. We are all miners of this nobleman. We wanted to increase our salary because the price of goods has risen and our salary is too low to live on. But this nobleman not only refused to increase our salary, but also said that we could leave if we didn't want to work anymore. He even refused to settle our salary. We had no choice but to come and block him to demand our salary. We are not targeting other people, but this nobleman."
"Is this happening?"
The mercenary officer frowned and asked William.
"Yes, they do, but look at them, they are so aggressive, it's obvious that they want to kill me!"
William didn't care about withholding wages or anything like that. He just wanted to make a big deal out of it so that these mercenaries could capture all the miners.
He pointed at the miners and said viciously:
"Sir, you can't trust their words. They are just a bunch of unruly people who want to rebel!"
The mercenary officer glanced at William, then at the ragged miner opposite.
There were no signs of fighting or blood at the scene, and the miners showed no intention of attacking others.
Blackwatch had accepted the security contract for Padua, and their job was to beat up thieves in the city and robbers outside the city. But it was obvious that the current situation did not fit the above situation at all, which meant that there was nothing for him to deal with at the moment.
"I'm sorry, we don't deal with financial disputes. If you have a conflict, go to court to resolve it. Don't get in the way of others."
The mercenary officer spoke to William seriously, and then he rode away with the other mercenaries on horseback.