176: extortion by thugs

Lin Zifeng was very satisfied with the situation of his inspection of the Xiangyang Town Livestock Trading Market.

Just as they were preparing to leave and walking towards the outside of the Livestock Trading Market, a commotion broke out near the main entrance, and the sound of loud arguing could be heard.

The group paused simultaneously, and Lin Zifeng stepped forward towards the main entrance.

Li Youde and Wang Li immediately had a sinking feeling that something bad was happening. The two exchanged a glance and hurriedly followed behind.

The five of them quickly arrived at the main entrance, where a crowd of onlookers had already gathered.

Lin Zifeng arrived at the edge of the crowd and, seeing the situation inside, was a bit confused.

Inside the crowd, several people were facing off, and three members of the police station patrol team were trying to prevent a physical altercation between the two parties.

One of them said arrogantly, "You outsider, you've got some nerve, don't you? You hit someone and you're still acting so arrogant? Do you believe me when I say I won't let you leave Xiangyang Town, and this whole truckload of cattle will die right here on the truck?"

"You are clearly staging a scam. When I drove out, I carefully observed the surroundings, and I was driving very slowly. This person suddenly rushed out, and I slammed on the brakes; I didn't hit him at all. He ran into me himself and fell to the ground. You are just staging a scam to extort us and bullying us outsiders," the other party said, agitated and angry.

Lin Zifeng then noticed that lying in front of the truck was a man in his thirties who looked like a hooligan based on his attire.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see the trickery; it was just a few local thugs deliberately staging a scam to extort an out-of-town merchant.

But because one side was local and had strength in numbers, and were known as arrogant and domineering bullies in the area, no locals dared to provoke them.

Therefore, the three patrol members could only try to smooth things over in the middle, urging both sides to reconcile, while the onlookers were angry but dared not speak out.

Just as the leader of the extortionists arrogantly shouted that they needed twenty thousand yuan to settle the matter, Wang Li pushed through the crowd, walked inside, and said angrily, "Zhang Sicheng, that's enough. Take your people and get out of here immediately, or else I'll make sure you regret it."

Zhang Sicheng and his group were taken aback for a moment, but Zhang Sicheng immediately reacted and said with an indifferent expression, "Town Mayor Zhang, don't try to scare me; I'm so scared! But you're overstepping your bounds. This is a civil dispute; isn't it only natural to pay compensation after hitting someone? Brothers, am I right?"

Zhang Sicheng's henchmen echoed loudly, "Big Brother is right, paying compensation for hitting someone is only right. Even if you are the Town Mayor, you can't manage this matter. Otherwise, we will go to the Town Government every day to cause trouble. If that doesn't work, we'll go to the County and the City Level to cause trouble. You won't have a moment's peace from now on."

"You are the Town Mayor here, right! Please, you must uphold justice for me. They are extorting us like this; how can we come here to do business in the future?" The merchant, as if seeing hope, hurriedly came to Wang Li's side and said with a pleading expression.

Several merchants who had come to watch the commotion felt a sense of shared grief, so they chimed in, "This leader, if you cannot stop such things from happening, we will not come here to do business anymore."

"You dare to threaten the Town Mayor? We have plenty of merchants here; whether you come or not is up to you. I'll remember your license plate numbers in a moment, and if you come back, we'll see how we deal with you." Zhang Sicheng threatened the merchants blatantly.

Lin Zifeng really couldn't watch any longer, so he pushed through the crowd and walked in, with Li Youde following closely behind. The three police officers saw Li Youde and immediately called out, "Secretary." They found Lin Zifeng somewhat familiar but didn't think much of it.

Lin Zifeng said with an angry expression, "Li Youde, Wang Li, a bunch of local thugs and bullies like this are blatantly extorting legitimate merchants and threatening out-of-town businessmen. This is maliciously sabotaging the local economic development. Are you keeping them around for the New Year?"

"You pretty boy, who the hell are you? Yelling here, do you believe me when I say I'll deal with you?" Just as Li Youde and Wang Li were at a loss for what to do, Zhang Sicheng said arrogantly.

"Shut up." Several people spoke in unison.

Seeing Zhang Sicheng pointing his finger at Lin Zifeng's chest, Li Qiang and Wang Zhongyu rushed up from the left and right.

Li Qiang, who had served in the military, cleanly and efficiently took down Zhang Sicheng.

"Quick, protect the County Magistrate, and arrest all these people for me." Li Youde hurriedly said to the three patrol members.

The three of them heard Li Youde say to protect the County Magistrate and immediately realized that the very familiar person in front of them was their young County Magistrate. So, they rushed over and pinned the people who were trying to fight back to the ground.

The hooligan who was lying under the truck, pretending to be unconscious under the wheels, saw that things were going poorly and didn't dare to move, continuing to lie on the ground playing dead.

The situation at the scene happened too fast, so fast that many people hadn't reacted yet.

Zhang Sicheng yelled, "Let me go, or else I'll make you regret it."

The police officer had already called for backup.

Lin Zifeng said loudly, "Friends from out of town, I am Lin Zifeng, the County Magistrate of Yushu County. It is because our government's work was not done well that this friend was wronged. On behalf of the Yushu County Party Committee and County Government, I solemnly apologize to you. In addition, this friend who was wronged will receive financial compensation from the Xiangyang Town Town Government. I guarantee to everyone here that such things will absolutely not happen here again. If you need any help, you can go to the Xiangyang Town Town Government for assistance. We will deal with these scum and degenerates to the fullest extent of the law! Their behavior is extortion, which is a gang crime, and they will face severe punishment by the law. If any similar incidents happen again, the leadership team of Xiangyang Town and I will collectively resign to take responsibility."

After saying these words, he bowed ninety degrees to the surroundings to apologize.

"Good, good, good, we trust the government, we trust the County Magistrate." Cheers and applause erupted from all directions.

The merchant who had been extorted, while shaking hands with Lin Zifeng to express his gratitude, said, "County Magistrate, I am satisfied that you were able to solve the problem for me; I don't need government compensation. This didn't delay me much time."

"Without rules, nothing can be accomplished; the compensation is what you deserve. Town Mayor Wang, have someone get two thousand yuan and give it to this friend as compensation for this matter. If anyone dares to make things difficult for this friend or other merchants in Xiangyang Town in the future, I will hold you and Secretary Youde accountable."

Wang Li agreed and had someone go back to get the money.

"County Magistrate, thank you so much." The extorted merchant, besides expressing gratitude, didn't know what else to say. His gaze inadvertently glanced at the person who was still lying under the wheel, playing dead.

Just at this moment, the head of the Xiangyang Town police station arrived at the scene with a dozen people. After saluting Lin Zifeng, he handcuffed those thugs and controlled them to one side.