Chapter 472 - Autumn Levy (Part 27)
The several men kneeling on the ground turned deathly pale. The finger press was a "severe punishment" that county yamen reserved only for murderers or notorious bandits. No matter how iron-willed a man might be, after two applications of the press, he would confess. Moreover, anyone subjected to the finger press would be left with permanent disabilities in their hands and feet.
Runners in a county yamen getting paddled by officials was routine—from clerks and squad chiefs down to ordinary constables. But since runners were all colleagues sharing the same interests, when constables administered the paddle, they merely went through the motions, usually striking the floor. It was rare for blows to actually land. Now this Australian chief was ordering the finger press right from the start—how could they endure it!
Immediately they began kowtowing frantically, wailing: "Have mercy, sir!"
"Stop kowtowing," You Guotuan said. "Tell me properly: how much have you siphoned from the county treasury? Where is it all stashed?"
"How would this lowly one dare—" The several men below desperately protested their innocence.
Just then, four retained constables from the Constable Squad were called in. The moment they entered, they fell to their knees and kowtowed.
"No need to kowtow. Get ready to work," You Guotuan ordered. "Did you bring everything?"
"Reporting to the master, everything's here." The constables stole glances at the men kneeling on the ground. Seeing they were warehouse clerks, they understood—the Australians meant to deal with these "fat pigs."
"Right then. Give each of them twenty strokes first." You Guotuan gave the order directly.
"Have mercy, sir! This lowly one has money—willing to offer tribute to the master..."
"A bit late for that now." You Guotuan waved his hand. "Get to it!"
These were all constables known for being "highly skilled" at their craft. Seeing that others had been taken outside the city to destinations unknown while they had been retained at the county yamen, they had been quite apprehensive, not knowing whether fortune or calamity awaited. Now, hearing they were to administer torture—this was their specialty. Each of them rallied their spirits. They moved to drag the men over and strip them bare.
Men who moments ago had been properly dressed were suddenly stripped naked, like bare pigs. The constables truly had no compunctions. Ignoring the wails and struggles, they pressed the first man down, and two of them picked up bamboo paddles and immediately began swinging.
The first dull thud of bamboo striking flesh provoked a piercing shriek, yet no blood appeared on the white buttocks. You Guotuan knew these constables weren't faking it. If they'd wanted to fool him, the first blow would have split the skin, making things look bloody but actually causing less injury. This bloodless, muffled beating was not only far more painful but caused much more serious damage.
For the final strokes, the constables followed protocol and broke the skin to release blood, preventing the victims from dying of blood stagnation to the heart.
When the paddling was done, the several warehouse clerks lay on the ground, unable to move.
"Good. Now tell me properly: how much profit have you taken from the county treasury? Where is it all hidden?" You Guotuan asked. "And who else in the county yamen has taken a cut from you? Tell me every single one!" He had paper and writing brushes thrown down. "Write it yourselves. Write neatly."
After considerable commotion, the several wretches all submitted their first round of "homework." Squinting to decipher the traditional characters and cross-reference the accounts was truly tedious work. Fortunately, there was no need to look too closely—specialized personnel would handle that. He only needed to see whether they were answering honestly.
After this paddling and writing lengthy confessions, the warehouse clerks were utterly exhausted. One after another, they lay groaning on the ground. The younger and sturdier ones fared somewhat better; several who were older or typically averse to exercise had simply fainted.
"Good. First get their thumbprints," You Guotuan instructed the constables. "Then take them out, apply medicine, and let them recover. Once they've healed in a few days, we'll question them again!"
Wails arose from below: "Have mercy, sir—this lowly one will tell everything..."
"Take them away." You Guotuan waved his hand impatiently. The matter didn't seem troublesome at all—one round of paddling and they'd all talked. The modern equipment he'd specially brought along wouldn't even be needed.
The confession statements were immediately sent to Zhang Youfu's residence, where the language team transcribed them in clear copy and distributed them to the relevant responsible parties. These documents also reached the person Xiong Buyou was about to introduce to Wu Mingjin.
"Now we've got Wu Mingjin in our hands." Zhou Botao slapped the table after reading the delivered materials.
"What's this about?" Wu De was also studying the documents.
"According to the salt warehouse clerk's confession, Wu Mingjin's personal servants have repeatedly 'borrowed' salt permits from the salt warehouse."
"Oh?" Wu De and the others at the table all became interested.
"Look here." Zhou Botao pointed at the document. "Page four. The salt warehouse clerk says several servants from the Wu household borrow a certain number of salt permits from the salt warehouse every year. They settle up by late autumn."
"That's not strange. Don't forget—after we took control of the Maixiao salt works, a large portion of our illicit salt has been marketed through his channels."
"But this is different in nature. That's pure contraband salt. This is converting public goods to private use." Dong Weiwei said after reading. This was actually another form of cheating: borrowing salt permits from the county treasury and selling them directly to illicit salt traders, then using the surge in salt production during autumn to make up the shortfall through inflated levies from the salt workers.
Salt absorbed moisture easily, so losses were substantial. Salt collection therefore also involved inflated levies—another heavy burden on the salt workers.
Selling off government-requisitioned salt at below-market prices, then using inflated collection to fill the gap—this was essentially a no-capital scheme!
"Why doesn't he just get illicit salt directly from the salt works?"
"At the time, the Maixiao salt works was controlled by the Gou family. Getting directly involved would have meant colluding with the Gous—and the Gou family's reputation was terrible. He probably didn't want that association."
"No wonder Wang Zhaomin agreed so readily last year when we proposed a partnership in the salt trade during negotiations—turns out they were already in the business!"
"Why else do you think so many people throughout history have fought tooth and nail to become officials?" Wu De laughed. "Beauties like jade and houses of gold—these aren't just idle words."
"Does clearing out the county treasury count as disturbing his rice bowl?" Xiong Buyou was quite concerned about this question.
"His salt revenues—he's already getting those from us now. So clearing the county treasury won't much affect his grey income. The warehouse clerks' account books make it quite clear: since last year, this kind of 'borrowing' has completely stopped—because we're now involved."
That afternoon, Xiong Buyou brought someone the likes of whom Wu Mingjin and the others had never seen before to request an audience. This person was none other than the manager of the Delong Grain Trading Company—Yan Ming.
Yan Ming didn't yet rank as a People's Commissioner on the transmigrator hierarchy, but Delong had already become something like the transmigrators' central bank, and its prominent importance went without saying. With his elevated position and command of complex financial knowledge, he rarely left Bairun City. Apart from work inspections to Bopu and East Gate Market, he never set foot outside the Green Zone.
His appearance at the county yamen this time was to pitch his proposal for managing the county treasury to the county magistrate—though of course, this was essentially mandatory. Whether Wu Mingjin was willing or not, Delong's treasury management system would be implemented. This was also an important measure in reforming county administration—and this reform was closely connected to the overhaul of the tax collection system.
According to the Leadership Group's estimates, under the dual impact of the Divine Society's agricultural technology promotion and the new collection system, Lingao's tax revenues would grow substantially over the next five years.
However, this growth was not meant to help consolidate the Great Ming's rule. Control over these increased revenues had to rest with the transmigrators. Just as the Executive Committee was constantly strengthening its financial control over all departments within the system, it intended to control Lingao County's finances in the same way.
The means of control was to bypass the county yamen. This was the treasury agency business.
Treasury agency services had existed by late Qing times. The emerging banks and money houses of that era not only managed county and prefectural treasuries but even provincial treasuries. Local tax payments and administrative disbursements passed through these financial institutions, not only eliminating the trouble of storage and custody at the county and prefectural levels but also making fund transfers far more convenient than the old method of physically transporting silver. Yan Ming merely wanted to advance this system to the late Ming.
Of course, this reform would affect certain interests—in theory, Wu Mingjin's among them. But based on the warehouse clerks' confessions and the seized account books, apart from receiving the customary "regular tribute" that the warehouses presented annually and dabbling in some salt smuggling from the salt warehouse, Wu Mingjin generally didn't directly dip into the county treasury. By that measure, he could be considered quite honest among local officials. As for other petty officials and runners, there were plenty of so-called "advances" which were nominally "loans" but in reality were shares of the warehouse clerks' profits.
Since Wu Mingjin himself had no great personal stake in the county treasury, and since the benefits he received from the transmigrators were no small sum, the treasury agency proposal shouldn't meet too much resistance.
As for whether others opposed it—Wu De didn't care. Of course, if Wu Mingjin was truly determined to resist, there were ways to bring him around. His dossier of compromising materials might not yet be voluminous, but it wasn't insubstantial either.
"Agency management of the county treasury?!" Hearing this proposal from Yan Ming, Wu Mingjin was somewhat bewildered. His first reaction was that it was absurd—the county treasury was a state granary! How could a grain trading company manage it?
Then he thought again: this was surely just a ploy by the Baldies to pillage the county treasury. At this thought, Wu Mingjin's face showed indignation. A scholar's small measure of backbone surfaced. He was a properly appointed magistrate of the Great Ming's Lingao County! If he couldn't even protect a county treasury, what business did he have being an official?
"In this matter, I cannot comply," Wu Mingjin said coldly. "The county treasury may be small, but it is still an official institution. How can it be casually entrusted to merchants?"
"Master Wu, you misunderstand." Yan Ming had anticipated this reaction and patiently explained. "Delong's agency management essentially handles collection and payment services. The greatest benefit to this county is eliminating the depredations of the clerks."
(End of Chapter)