Chapter 462 - Autumn Levy (Part 17)
Both sides exchanged courtesies and took their seats. Liu Dalin adopted the attitude of "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" and let Xiong Buyou arrange everything. Shortly after, someone brought in tea.
Liu Dalin came straight to the point. "This humble one has come to submit a petition on behalf of all the gentry and grain households of the county." With this, he produced a document from his sleeve. Xiong Buyou accepted it and opened it for a glance.
The petition was quite long and appeared to be written in highly literary style. Xiong Buyou was not accustomed to reading traditional characters, and classical Chinese was certainly not his strong suit. Behind the main text were numerous seals and thumbprints arranged in a dense cluster—presumably the joint signatories.
Besides the petition itself, the envelope also contained a supplementary list, written much more colloquially. It catalogued all of Chen Minggang's gang's misdeeds.
Xiong Buyou made a show of reading through it, then returned the petition to its envelope.
"This matter is beyond my authority to decide. I must forward it to the leadership. Please wait a moment, Master Liu—"
Liu Dalin nodded in agreement. Xiong Buyou hurried out and immediately sent the letter to Wu De.
Wu De was in fact right behind the Management Building, in the office. Not only was he present, but most of the leadership group was there as well. When Xiong Buyou arrived, the group's classical Chinese literature specialists began translating the petition's contents.
"Damn, this is really a showcase of erudition." The person directing the translation scratched his head. "Quick—get me a dictionary of classical allusions."
"Aren't you a Master's in Chinese Language and Literature?"
"Even a Chinese Language Master hasn't learned this many allusions. Besides, I didn't specialize in classical Chinese..."
This petition, personally drafted by Liu Dalin, employed numerous allusions—many of them obscure. Of course, by the standards of Ming-era scholars, they were not particularly abstruse.
"No need for such a thorough translation. Just summarize the main points for me quickly," Wu De instructed.
"That won't do. Allusions aren't just to show off learning—sometimes they express subtle attitudes. In times past..."
"Alright, alright, just hurry up and summarize the main content for me."
The summary was simple enough. The petition set forth three demands: first, to halt the "land survey" because it "disturbed the people"; second, to abolish the contracted collection of grain levies and "adhere to precedent in all things"; third, to "severely punish the petty villains."
At bottom, the petition's ultimate demand was for everything to remain as before. This wish the transmigrators certainly could not grant. Fortunately, the leadership group had already anticipated the petition's contents and had prepared corresponding countermeasures. Wu De immediately gave Xiong Buyou his instructions.
"Honorable elder." Xiong Buyou returned to the reception room and cupped his hands in salute. "The petition—I shall accept it now. It will be forwarded to the Executive Committee for deliberation shortly. Within three to five days at the earliest, no more than ten days, you will certainly receive a reply."
It would have been possible to give them an answer on the spot. But Wu De felt there was no need to appear too deferential—where putting on airs was appropriate, airs should be put on.
This response was roughly what Liu Dalin had expected. He had dealt with officialdom many times. When commoners submitted petitions, delays of a month or two were not unusual. For them to promise a reply within ten days at most was already extremely fast.
According to official practice, once the petition was accepted, the meeting should have concluded. But the Australians showed no intention of seeing them out. Xiong Buyou ordered fresh tea brought to the petitioning representatives. He also instructed that no unrelated personnel enter. Then he assumed an expression of great sincerity and said:
"I have read the petition from you elders. I never imagined that this grain collection would cause such disturbance. This was truly unexpected! However, we are outsiders here with limited access to information. As to exactly what disturbing incidents occurred during the grain collection, I would ask you to explain them one by one, so I may report to the Executive Committee members for their decision."
Hearing this speech, Liu Dalin felt quite satisfied. It seemed the petition was already having an effect. That they were willing to make such a gesture showed they were not ignoring it.
"This disabled one has limited knowledge of outside affairs, but many of my relatives have been harassed. As for conditions elsewhere—Binkun, you explain."
"Yes." Huang Binkun had not dared sit in the room; he had been standing respectfully behind Liu Dalin. Now, being called upon to speak, he was delighted. He bowed and launched into a detailed account of all the abuses committed by Chen Minggang's gang during the grain collection and land survey. To write the petition, Huang Binkun had gathered considerable material from the gentry and grain households. He was quite eloquent as well, so his narration was vivid and passionate. Where hatred was due, he spoke as if he wanted to eat their flesh and sleep on their skins.
In truth, Huang Binkun himself did not necessarily hate Chen Minggang's crew to such a degree. To ordinary grain households and small landowners without power, the clerks were wolves. To the powerful gentry, they were merely vicious dogs—one had to throw them occasional scraps to keep them from biting, and when needed, one could set them on others. The two sides were not irreconcilable enemies.
But this time, Huang Binkun had come with the intention of "severing one of the Baldies' arms." In his secret deliberations with his father, they had concluded: The Australians were strangers in Lingao with no local roots. To truly control the entire county, they would have to rely on this gang of clerks—unprincipled men whose eyes saw only silver—since only they were familiar with the county's administrative affairs and specific circumstances. The plan was to drive a wedge between the two parties, even provoke them into conflict.
Xiong Buyou listened and nodded repeatedly. He already knew most of what Chen Minggang's gang had done. What he wanted to learn was the attitude of Huang Binkun, Liu Dalin, and others toward this man. Now it seemed the gentry and major households thoroughly detested him.
Since they planned to use him to appease public anger, the target naturally had to be someone who aroused considerable public anger.
"Is the next step to begin mass arrests of Chen Minggang's gang?" Zhou Botao asked at the subsequent leadership group meeting.
"Of course not." Wu De said. "Theoretically, we have no judicial authority in Lingao—"
"Tch!" Dugu Qiuhun said with displeasure. "We've arrested so many people in the East Gate Market and sentenced them to labor reform. Isn't that already infringing on Ming judicial authority? De, you're being too pedantic."
"Yeah, and how many bandits and tyrants did we execute during the bandit suppression? Chen Minggang is just a runner. Runners are of base status, right? Even killing an ordinary commoner wouldn't necessarily draw any comment from the county—"
"Please note, this is different from bandit suppression. And during suppression, we used the name of the joint-village self-defense militia," Yu Eshui explained. "Chen Minggang is technically of base status, but he's a 'registered clerk' of the Great Ming. In modern terms, he's an official local civil servant on the government payroll. He can't be killed arbitrarily without proper procedures—"
"So you're saying this has to go through the Lingao county yamen?" Dong Weiwei, the amateur Ming history expert, perked up with interest. "He may be on the civil service register, but he's a local cadre. Personnel authority lies with the county—no need for edicts from the Ministry of Personnel. The county can dismiss him directly."
"Correct, this procedure must be followed." Wu De said. "As for his subordinates, some are registered and some are not. All the registered ones must first have their appointments revoked."
"I don't think this is necessary at all. It's superfluous." Dugu Qiuhun was a typical advocate of "kick aside the county yamen and make revolution."
"The Lingao county yamen is currently a puppet regime under our control, and this puppetization will only deepen." Wu De explained. "Since we want to keep wearing this skin for a while longer, we need to give the county people some illusion—at least to formally respect this puppet regime's authority."
"Suit yourselves." Dugu Qiuhun shrugged.
"If we go to discuss this, Wu Mingjin will definitely refuse." Dong Weiwei continued her analysis. "Although the county magistrate may not particularly value Chen Minggang, with his intelligence, there's a good chance he'll guess we want to purge the county yamen. We'll still have to coerce—"
"Of course we'll have to coerce, but we won't be the ones doing the coercing. We'll have the major households coerce him." Wu De indicated Zhou Botao. "How are your arrangements coming along?"
"Everything's ready." Zhou Botao stood up and began to explain his plan.
"This seems too risky." In a run-down temple somewhere in the county seat, several shadowy figures were conferring.
"Risky my ass. Just toss a knife into the courtyard under cover of night."
"The others are fine, but the county school entrance—that's practically half a yamen..."
"Enough, enough—you talk too much. Are you doing this or not? If not, I'll find someone else."
"We'll do it, we'll do it. It's just—Brother Seventh, if we get caught, you've got to smooth things over at the yamen for us. Go easy on the paddle—"
"Do you even need to say that?" The speaker was Zhou Qi. "You know who my master is?"
"Fine, but the silver—"
"Half in advance, the rest when it's done." Zhou Qi said quietly. "Let me make this clear upfront: if you take the money and don't get the job done, there'll be interest to pay."
"We wouldn't dare."
"Good. Here are the knives and the handbills." Zhou Qi handed them the small knives hidden in a rush bundle. This was a common type of crude small iron knife in the locality. Travelers often carried them for self-defense and for practical uses like cutting meat.
Zhou Qi finished giving instructions and hurried out of the ruined temple. He scanned his surroundings to make sure no one was about, then breathed a sigh of relief and headed toward the designated location.
"Well, are you confident you can hit the target?" On a desolate stretch of the western city wall, several figures lay prone. The watchtower was supposed to have militia guards, but the county was peaceful these days, and the militia had grown lazy, hiding in the lean-to shelters on the inner side of the wall to sleep and gamble. The wall itself was deserted, with only a string of lanterns swaying in the wind, casting dim light.
"Low-light night-vision scope, compound crossbow—if I can't hit a door with this equipment, I might as well go die." The questioned man, Dai Xie, spoke with displeasure.
Dai Xie had been excited to hear he could participate in a "secret operation." He usually worked at the Planning Committee and occasionally taught everyone crossbow techniques—an area in which he had expertise. Life was quite monotonous. When Zhou Botao came looking for him, telling him to bring his crossbow and "execute a mission" immediately, he had assumed he was being sent on some kind of assassination. He had not expected that after being escorted up the city wall by the Special Reconnaissance Team, this was what he was doing.
(End of Chapter)