Chapter 438 - Delivered to the Door

Eventually, Zhang Xingpei confirmed it: the cipher used the Thousand Character Classic as a substitution code, with each character corresponding to a common Chinese character. Gou Er must have carried a specialized version of the classic as his decoding key.

"Can you crack it?"

"Of course," Zhang Xingpei replied with certainty. "But several prerequisites must be met. We need someone fluent in Ming dynasty Chinese to understand the linguistic habits of the era—this allows us to calculate character frequency in the ciphertext. We also need sufficient ciphertext for reference. The more material we have, the easier it becomes to cross-reference usage patterns..."

"All we have right now are these names," Mu Min said. "That makes it extremely difficult."

"In that case, yes—very difficult indeed." Zhang Xingpei's confidence evaporated. With only names and no coherent sentences, there was no way to verify decryption accuracy through context.

"I'll keep trying," he said. "But I can't promise when results will come."

"Alright. Just extract as many names as possible." Lin Baiguang was resigned; there was no other way.

Nevertheless, by combining confirmed names with information deduced from the files, they successfully identified a batch of Lingao residents and learned precisely how they had colluded with the Gou brothers. This intelligence greatly heartened Lin Baiguang—it added substantial weight to their "Ming Skin, Australian Heart" plan, scheduled to launch with the autumn tax collection.

The concept behind "Ming Skin, Australian Heart" was straightforward: leverage the upcoming autumn tax collection to infiltrate the county yamen, purge the lower-level clerks, replace them with their own people, and thereby seize control of county administration. Wu Mingjin and the others would be thoroughly sidelined.

Once they controlled the yamen, they could use its official signboard to implement the Crossing Group's policies openly. Cao Cao had "held the Emperor hostage to command the feudal lords"; the Crossing Group would "hold the Magistrate hostage to command the county." The scale differed, but the logic was identical. This was the Executive Committee's grand strategy.

The appeasement of yamen staff and the cultivation of local intellectuals served precisely to pave this road—paralyzing resistance and reducing the likelihood of confrontation.

But these were merely carrots; the necessary stick had to be prepared as well. Gathering "black materials" was the most effective stick of all. It could not only knock people senseless but also destroy their reputations. In an ancient society that still relatively "knew shame," such tactics proved far more effective than in modern times.

The Political Security Bureau's Social Work Department had been collecting black materials for months. The sources were diverse: information gathered from locals by social survey teams, intelligence extracted through prisoner interrogation, and naturally, countless anonymous denunciations secretly submitted—many people had placed their hopes for personal revenge upon the Crossing Group.

Some weren't even anonymous. Zhang Youfu, that perpetually down-and-out householder, had become something of a specialist in gathering black materials. It could be said that aside from the Gou brothers themselves, no one in the county had dirtier hands—yet he was exceptionally talented at informing. During the consultative conference, he had secretly passed Xi Yazhou several pieces of damaging material on Liu Dalin. These were subsequently transferred to the Political Security Bureau. Ran Yao reviewed them and found they consisted almost entirely of Liu Dalin's cursing remarks against the Crossing Group and his past schemes to attack them.

Zhang Youfu also provided a list of gentry who had participated in attacks against the Crossing Group, complete with their statements and actions. Though Ran Yao despised the man after reading his work, he had to acknowledge he was a "talent." Thus Zhang Youfu became one of the Security Bureau's guest agents.

After several months, the accumulated black materials were truly staggering—from major offenses like colluding with bandits and pirates, driving tenant farmers to death, and raping bondmaids, down to minor sins like secretly slaughtering draft cattle, incest with daughters-in-law, and seducing widows. Everything imaginable was catalogued. Ran Yao filed them all by name, regardless of whether their truthfulness had been verified.

Lin Baiguang's keen interest in Gou Er's seized ledgers stemmed not only from a desire to map the Gou family's network across Qiongzhou Prefecture; increasing the weight of black materials was another goal. He couldn't let the Social Work Department hog all the glory.

Lin Baiguang reported his findings to Ran Yao. The next day, Xiong Buyou received an order: proceed to the county yamen immediately to handle a certain matter.

Xiong Buyou went to see Wang Zhaomin, following established protocol. When dealing with the Magistrate, the fastest and most effective approach was through his private secretary. Officials had many things they couldn't say directly, making specific bargaining difficult—the secretary handled such matters more conveniently.

Wang Zhaomin might refuse audiences with others, but "Master Xiong" had to be seen. He hurriedly sent someone to invite him in, wondering to himself: The monthly stipend was just delivered. What could Master Xiong want, arriving so suddenly?

The matter proved minor. They requested the county yamen issue an official document declaring that Gou Da and Gou Er had colluded with pirates, and that the destruction of the manor was the result of "pirates fighting among themselves, killing everyone." This wasn't difficult; though the yamen hadn't formally issued a document, that was precisely how the matter had been handled internally. Wang Zhaomin thought: These Bandit Chiefs are learning some propriety. They understand that "if names are not correct, language is not in accordance with truth," and want to use the Great Ming's legal authority to legitimize themselves.

This realization secretly pleased him. As long as you acknowledge the authority of the Great Ming government and want to use the signboards of Lingao County Yamen and Wu Mingjin, we can negotiate terms. He remained unaware of the Crossing Group's plan to replace them entirely.

Second, they requested that the county yamen write to the Guangdong Education Commissioner to revoke Gou Er's son Gou Chengxuan's shengyuan degree on the same charges. Simultaneously, sea arrest warrants should be issued countywide to pursue and capture Gou Er and his son.

Wang Zhaomin considered briefly. None of these requests were particularly difficult. Writing to the Guangdong Education Commissioner was slightly more troublesome—but only slightly. The Commissioner would certainly not refuse. The other two matters required virtually no effort. He just needed to carefully consider what medicine the Australians were selling in their gourd.

A few days earlier, he had heard that the Australians suddenly descended upon Gou Er's residence and caused quite a commotion. Afterward, when runners went to reseal the door, they discovered the backyard well had been pumped completely dry. Had Gou Er hidden something in that well? Why else would the Australians drain it?

Wang Zhaomin couldn't fathom their purpose. For the Crossing Group, the information flow was almost entirely one-directional: they knew whatever happened in the county, while he remained completely in the dark about their activities. Let alone guessing their specific intentions. Wang Zhaomin came from a "secretary" background—he possessed miscellaneous learning and was proficient in officialdom's ways. But the Australians' knowledge system was entirely different from his, and even their thinking diverged widely, making speculation nearly impossible.

"This is easily done," Wang Zhaomin agreed readily. He had figured out one thing clearly: the Australians liked directness. State requests directly; they despised oblique hints. "Issuing a proclamation is simple enough. But for the Guangdong Education Commissioner, there are customary expenses involved."

"That's easily managed." Xiong Buyou smiled inwardly as Wang Zhaomin broached the subject of money. "How much approximately?"

"Fifty taels should suffice." Wang Zhaomin knew the matter had little to do with the Commissioner himself—his private secretary handled such affairs. Adding the fees for subordinate clerks, forty taels of silver would be enough. The remaining ten taels would be his own benefit.

Of course, these ten taels weren't taken for nothing. Revoking a xiucai degree was absolutely no small matter in Ming and Qing times—more serious even than expelling someone from the Party today. But it wasn't impossible. The Ming and Qing could be considered a "procedurally legal" society: regardless of whether something was reasonable, the key was that it had to withstand official scrutiny. The official document had to be written flawlessly. With appropriate silver on top, the matter would naturally be handled. Wang Zhaomin felt somewhat self-satisfied—he had already drafted the memorial in his mind.

"The necessary expenses will be presented at a later date." Xiong Buyou nodded and made to rise and take his leave.

"Wait." Wang Zhaomin stopped him. "Master Xiong, please stay. There's a matter I wish to inquire about."

"Yes?" Xiong Buyou paused to hear what he had to say.

Wang Zhaomin hesitated. He had discussed this matter with Wu Mingjin at length. After much deliberation, there seemed no alternative—though whether the other party would be interested remained uncertain.

"I've heard the Noble Group is reclaiming wasteland and farming at Meitai Yang..."

"That is indeed the case." Xiong Buyou admitted openly.

"Meitai Yang is notoriously difficult to cultivate," Wang Zhaomin said. "Presumably the Noble Group possesses Australian secret methods. Bountiful harvests should be no difficulty."

Xiong Buyou smiled reservedly. The Crossing Group's agricultural capabilities were known throughout Lingao—their most attractive skill.

"...It's simply that Meitai Yang is also subject to autumn taxes, like other farmland. We would ask the Noble Group to pay the full amount." Wang Zhaomin finally revealed his true purpose.

Xiong Buyou immediately understood. So they were aiming at the autumn grain tax.

The calculation was quite shrewd. Officials might feign confusion, but there were no truly confused ones. Of course, Wu Mingjin and Wang Zhaomin's keen interest in the Crossing Group's land was partly born of necessity—they had never wanted to deal with this group of Australians, but circumstances left them no choice.

Collecting "Imperial grain and national tax" was the most critical responsibility for ancient grassroots government departments—the priority among priorities. Regarding Lingao's tax burden, it was difficult to call it unbearably heavy. Summer grain was negligible. The main event, autumn grain, amounted to only 7,686 shi, 7 sheng, and 9 he. Even with Lingao's current low productivity, the amount was affordable.

The real problem lay in the surcharges—the jiapai. Liao Supplies had already been surcharged three times, levying 9 li per mu. Of course, at this point, neither Wu Mingjin nor Wang Zhaomin knew that next year—the third year of Chongzhen—would bring yet another surcharge, raising the rate to 1 qian 2 li per mu.

For relatively affluent areas with wide silver circulation—Southern Zhili, for instance—such sums weren't difficult. But for a remote small county like Lingao, where the natural economy dominated, paying in silver proved exceedingly burdensome.