Chapter 1873 - Out with the Old, In with the New (Part 9)

"I'm just a lowly patrol captain—how is that returning in glory?" Lu Dagang spoke modestly, but couldn't hide the satisfaction on his face.

"Little brother, you're too humble," Han Changle laughed and poured him another cup of wine. "Who doesn't know the Austr... Australians are preparing to contend for the Central Plains and change dynasties? When that General Wen fights his way back to the Eastern Capital and helps the Great Song Emperor regain the throne, you'll be a founding minister. Securing wealth and honor for your wife and children will be easily within reach. And who knows—with a stroke of luck and some extraordinary merit, you might even be ennobled as a marquis or duke..."

This made Lu Dagang grin so wide his mouth wouldn't close. He quickly steadied himself: "That's all the grace of the Executive Council. I haven't thought that far—after all, it's the future, and whether I have the fortune to enjoy it remains to be seen." He sighed. "Of the brothers who joined the police with me, several are already gone. The brothers who were captured—some joined the military, some became village chiefs or township heads. Many are living peacefully enough, but quite a few have died on duty. Winning the realm isn't so easy!"

"Indeed, indeed." Han Changle flattered. "If not for someone with real ability like you, little brother, how could there be such fortune!" He toasted him again.

Lu Dagang downed the cup and grew even more cheerful: "Real ability—I wouldn't say that! Just that my luck hasn't been too bad."

Han Changle said: "Come to think of it, in the past we both served the government. Now you're serving the Executive Council—also serving. But serving the old government was all bad luck; serving the Executive Council is all good luck! This really is something inexplicable!"

By now Lu Dagang had had some wine. He laughed: "People call it luck, but really everyone just works hard. When everyone pitches in, what can't be accomplished? Serving before was just going through the motions—damn it, they didn't even pay our stipends, and the officers lorded it over us, expecting us brothers to risk our lives licking blood off knife edges. What idiot would do that!" He slapped the table. "Am I right?"

"Right, right." Han Changle nodded repeatedly.

"Outside they say the Australians save the world and help the people. The Australians themselves say 'serve the Executive Council and the people.' I'm a rough man, I don't understand these grand principles. We're just in it for the pay. Who cares who we serve? The Australians pay on time without skimping—just for that, the brothers have to put their hearts into working for them, don't they?!"

"Yes, yes." Han Changle thought it deeply reasonable. If not for the generous treatment from the Gao family, he wouldn't bother gathering intelligence for Gao Lingxiang. "Brother speaks truly. Only you must take care of yourself in all this busyness—your body is your own!"

"Thank you for the concern, elder brother." Lu Dagang laughed. "My body can still take it. The Australians have always been generous to their people. Working for them, if nothing else, you eat well! The clothes are good material too..."

Just as they were talking, a beggar suddenly barged in, made a bow all around, and said: "All you gentlemen eating and drinking, let this little one sing you a lotus-fall ditty to liven things up!"

This beggar apparently came often; the waiters didn't chase him out. Some familiar customers egged him on: "You always sing the same old tunes—give us something fashionable!"

The beggar immediately began clacking two bamboo clappers, swaying as he sang:

Oh~!

Travelers passing, travelers returning, Life's road is long and winding,

Why not sit and rest a while?

Brew some tea, light a smoke, Have a flying cake to eat,

New dynasty good, new dynasty fine, New dynasty customs have new styles,

What styles, you ask? Let this beggar tell you right.

The chiefs really know how to play, Rags they wear as pants today,

Not a patch to be seen,

Front shows holes, back shows gaps, Beggar pants, quite fresh and new,

The beggar guild's gained face at last!

Australian Elements have many tricks, Australian Elements play it wild, Who plays wildest of them all?

None other than the lady chiefs!

How wild are the lady chiefs?

Let this beggar think a bit.

All you guests, don't be impatient, Order some food and tea,

Let your five organs feel nice first,

Spare this beggar some tea money, To wet his throat and continue on...

The tavern erupted in laughter and ribald heckling. Some drunk ones let out strange catcalls. The female Elements and cadres from Hainan not only wore uniforms that were "daring" in the people's eyes, but their casual clothes were even more "immoral"—especially since summer had arrived, with short-sleeved shirts, sundresses, and other summer wear appearing constantly, greatly shocking the eyes and souls of Guangzhou citizens. This lotus-fall ditty was not only timely but stirred up many people's lustful thoughts about "Australian women." Someone shouted for him to "keep singing!" while throwing a handful of coins.

The tavern was lively, but the proprietor was anxious. Police often came here for late-night snacks. Normally when this beggar sang his lotus-fall ditties to amuse customers and collect a few coins, it was harmless. But these new lyrics were so disrespectful to the female Australians—if any policeman heard and reported it to the bureau, wouldn't that bring disaster? He quickly stepped forward, stuffed a paper note into the beggar's hand, and said: "Go, go, go—take this and eat outside. If you sing any more, I'm calling the patrol!"

The words "calling the patrol" worked like a magic pill. The beggar, who had been swaying and lost in his "creative" performance, quickly bent down, picked up the bills from the floor, and slipped away.

Han Changle thought to himself that he didn't know which den this beggar belonged to—quite a character! Turning, he saw Lu Dagang's face bright red. He quickly said: "Little brother, a beggar singing lotus-fall ditties, making things up for a few coins—don't take it to heart!"

Lu Dagang shook his head, his speech already slurred: "Why should I... take it to heart? He won't have many days left to sing anyway..."

Han Changle's heart tightened, sensing hidden meaning in those words. He quickly raised the wine pot and poured another cup: "He's just a poor wretch singing for his supper—why make a fuss? Let it go where you can."

"His singing lotus-fall is nothing," Lu Dagang said. The wine had gone to his head now, and he felt floaty, discipline long forgotten. He laughed: "But the beggars won't have many days left to jump around. In a few days, there won't be any beggars in all of Guangzhou..."

"Little brother must be joking," Han Changle deliberately affected a nonchalant manner. "There have been beggars in every dynasty. Even in peaceful times, there are always those who beg for food..."

"This shows what you don't know." Lu Dagang shook his head like a rattle drum. "I can't speak for all of Qiongzhou, but in Lingao alone, there isn't a single beggar—they've all been sent to build roads and dig sand. Just watch—the beggars in Guangzhou city will all have to go dig sand too..."

Though Han Changle had roughly guessed what Lu Dagang's "won't have many days left to jump around" meant, hearing him say it directly was still shocking.

He hadn't expected that a casual outing would accidentally yield such crucial intelligence! Han Changle thought—I need to hurry back and report to the master!

The two drank until the moon rose high. Han Changle paid the bill. Seeing Lu Dagang already swaying drunk, he called the waiter, gave him some money, and had him escort Lu Dagang back. Then he hurried out of the tavern.

Night had fallen. Though the Australians had lifted the nighttime curfew, the city gates still closed after dark. He couldn't get out to return to Golden Flower Temple. After pondering, he decided to spend the night at the den near the West Gate and go out first thing in the morning to deliver the message.

Lu Dagang returned to his dormitory and slept straight through until noon the next day. Fortunately, he was on the afternoon shift. After waking and washing up, he hurried to work.

As for the previous night's events, he had almost completely forgotten them. He only remembered drinking with his cousin Han Changle. What they had talked about and how he had gotten back to his dormitory—like all drunkards, he had completely "blacked out."

Arriving at the office, the brothers on his shift were all assembled—more than thirty people gathered in the meeting room, awaiting the task briefing.

Their regular work was routine—mainly maintaining a visible security presence on the streets, deterring criminals, promptly stopping various illegal activities, and maintaining normal street order.

Under the Executive Council's system, the police had an unprecedentedly broad enforcement scope. The administrative law enforcement that various administrative departments handled in the old timeline was almost entirely borne by the police in this timeline. Some Elements believed the Council was trending toward "administrative police-ification."

The reason for this approach was fundamentally that the seventeenth century's education level was very low. Effective grassroots governance required violence. The police were undoubtedly the most suitable institution. Not only that—rather than creating various kinds of "big caps" to confuse the "straw hats," it was simpler and clearer to have one big cap handle everything uniformly. One could say the Executive Council not only approved of police using violence for social order governance but even secretly encouraged it.

Though patrolling was routine work, each period had its "priority tasks"—from catching pickpockets and cracking down on public urination to prohibiting illegal dumping and collecting street security information. The current priority for patrol officers was investigating and tracking the activities of street beggars and vagrants.

The plan for a public order crackdown on the Guandi Temple faction and a citywide mass detention operation had already been communicated to middle-level police cadres—all naturalized cadres from the Qiongya Column. But for most locally recruited rank-and-file police, it remained a secret.

"Today our main work is still collecting information on street beggars and vagrants and controlling beggar activities." Lu Dagang had long forgotten his "drunken truth-telling" of the previous day. Pointer in hand, he indicated locations on the precinct map. "The focus is on the He Family Ancestral Hall and the Puji Temple areas—especially Puji Temple. This is the headquarters of the local Guandi Temple faction. Pay special attention to movements there!" He rapped the Puji Temple icon emphatically several times.

The police all knew this location—it was the Guandi Temple faction's den in their precinct. When the patrol first began walking the streets, seeing beggars harassing citizens and merchants, they had been hesitant to intervene—after all, the Guandi Temple faction's authority still lingered. Once, when Lu Dagang had ordered officers to arrest a beggar who was "smashing bowls" and strong-arming at a shop entrance, the dagu had sent people the next day to throw excrement at every shop entrance in his precinct—even in front of the police station.

After Lu Dagang got the news, he had personally led a large squad of police to Puji Temple with batons, ordering them to "beat everyone on sight." From the entrance all the way to the main hall, they had beaten many beggars until bones broke and blood spat out—reportedly several died afterward. He had personally grabbed the dagu, slapping him more than a dozen times until blood ran from the man's nose and mouth and he knelt begging for mercy. Since then, the beggars at Puji Temple had become much more docile. During sanitation campaigns when streets needed sweeping, Lu Dagang only needed to send one beggar with a message, and all the precinct's beggars would show up the next day with their own tools to sweep streets and clean garbage.

"...Besides controlling beggars and vagrants, another priority task is cracking down on unlicensed prostitutes." Lu Dagang's precinct covered the Youlangmen Avenue area—the local "red light district." The citywide vice industry crackdown had shuttered the brothels; the prostitutes were "awaiting resettlement." Many prostitutes from hereditary entertainer families, having no other skills and accustomed to their old lives, had started "semi-private" operations in this area. Pleasure-seekers, with nowhere else to go, made business brisk. While the Pleasure District was deserted, many back alleys off Youlangmen Outer Avenue saw revelry every night.

"Semi-private" and "private door" unlicensed prostitutes, because they didn't carry yellow tickets, underwent no health checks, and paid no taxes, operated outside the public security management system—they had been enforcement targets in Lingao, and Guangzhou was no exception.

He went on to announce the handling procedures for unlicensed prostitutes: once discovered, their business premises would be sealed and all practitioners arrested. Landlords who had rented out properties would also be summoned to the station for public security penalties.

"...You must publicize this policy to landlords: upon discovery, besides confiscation of illegal income, there's a five-yuan fine and a one-year suspension of rental permits." Lu Dagang explained the specific policy spirit.

The locally recruited police generally had low education levels—merely having them read documents wouldn't work without on-site explanation of policies and regulations. And that wasn't enough; it had to be explained daily, repeatedly, until executing policies and regulations became second nature.

"Everyone check your equipment," Lu Dagang ordered when no one had questions.

Though patrol officers generally wouldn't face high-intensity violent confrontation, Guangdong's situation was still unstable, and the recent sorcery case had fully demonstrated that various hostile forces still lurked in the shadows waiting to strike. Therefore, patrol officers were equipped not only with standard police gear—batons, whistles, and restraining ropes—but also all issued short-hilted police sabers as weapons for high-intensity confrontations.

"Stay alert for abnormal situations during your duties!" Lu Dagang gave a few more instructions about patrol precautions, then ordered the patrol to deploy.

"Those beggars at Puji Temple were all beaten into submission by you, Captain. If there's anything, just give the word—why go to so much trouble?" After the meeting, his deputy—formerly a local yamen patrol runner—asked, puzzled.

"Don't ask about this. The higher-ups have their reasons. We just follow orders." Lu Dagang said. "Move out."

(End of Chapter)