Chapter 95: Dongmen Market Police Station (Part 2)

Zhou Shizhai had been working at the Qiwei Escort Agency for eleven years. Like his fellow apprentices, he came from Sun Kecheng’s hometown. He knew a little martial arts and didn’t want to wear himself out in the fields, so he asked someone to help him get into the Qiwei Escort Agency.

The life of an escort was much better than that of a farmer, but as an escort, Zhou Shizhai made it difficult for Sun Kecheng to feel at ease—he lacked the calm temperament that an escort should have, or rather, he was not smooth enough in his dealings with people.

An escort agency was an entity that walked the line between the black and white worlds. An escort needed to be both righteous and flexible. Although Zhou Shizhai knew that an escort agency “eats the food of friends and wears the clothes of friends,” he sneered at these “friends” and couldn’t stand their shamelessness. He would start a fight at the slightest disagreement. As a result, Sun Kecheng no longer dared to send him on escort missions, and guarding shops and residences became his specialty. But there were rules for this job too: when encountering thieves, they were only allowed to “see them off,” not capture them alive. If a shop was harassed, they could only go so far—the escort agency was not the government. Protecting the employer’s property and personal safety was their job; apprehending criminals was the government’s business. But Zhou Shizhai repeatedly broke this rule and made many enemies in the jianghu. In the end, he had to be transferred to the mule and horse yard as a manager to avoid getting into trouble.

Several dull years passed. One day, Shopkeeper Sun of Qiwei called him into the counting room and said that the Australian sea merchants who had come last time wanted to buy a house and manor in Qiongzhou and needed an escort to take the lead.

The so-called “taking the lead” meant that large households, for security reasons, would maintain their own team of retainers and guards. Ordinary retainers were from commoner backgrounds, knew no martial arts, and were not familiar with the ways of the jianghu. This required the special hiring of an escort to take the lead. He would be responsible for training the retainers in martial arts and arranging security tasks such as night duty and patrols. In the residence, his status was equivalent to that of a guest retainer.

The responsibility of taking the lead was heavy, but the treatment was good. There was no need to eat in the wind and sleep in the dew. It was considered a good job in the escort agency, but one had to be smooth and flexible. Zhou Shizhai had been a leader before, but was later replaced because he was too keen on catching thieves and not good at getting along with his employers. This time, he was being asked to be a leader again, which made him wonder: had the sun risen from the west?

Although it was strange, doing his old job was better than dealing with livestock in the mule and horse yard. Moreover, the escort agency had recently received a lot of business from the Australian sea merchants, who had become their big patrons. Their originally tight finances had eased a little, and the pensions for the dead and injured brothers were also secured. They could refuse anyone’s job, but they had to take the job from these Australian masters.

He packed his bags and brought two new apprentices with him—both were the sons and nephews of escorts who had died in the line of duty. According to the rules of the escort agency, if an escort died in the line of duty, and his sons or nephews were willing to take up this profession, one or two of them would be taken in as a rule. Those with poor martial arts aptitude who couldn’t become escorts would be arranged to be handymen or work at the counter. These two children were too young, only sixteen or seventeen, too green to be escorts. So, Sun Kecheng had Zhou Shizhai take them with him to continue their training. Sun Kecheng’s calculation was that this would also save the escort agency some food expenses—the agency had taken in quite a few such children now.

Hiring an escort was Ran Yao’s idea. Although they had advanced concepts and equipment from the 21st century, they were almost completely ignorant of the jianghu society of this time and space. An escort was the most suitable candidate—compared to the yamen runners of the three shifts, who were themselves part of the underworld, their professional ethics were more trustworthy.

Although Dugu Qiuhun was the nominal station chief, the actual business was in the hands of Mu Min. At her request, a “public security census” was carried out in cooperation with the Dongmen Market Industrial and Commercial Office to get a better understanding of the surrounding environment of Dongmen Market, the daily flow of people, and the operations of the shops and vendors.

After investigation and visits, it was roughly known that the most frequent public security cases in Dongmen Market were pickpocketing, followed by theft, then fraud and brawling. Robbery and murder were almost non-existent. It was clear that criminals were not yet daring enough to commit violent crimes openly under the noses of the transmigrators.

But what about that large-scale fatal brawl? Mu Min personally took a local translator to question many people. Many of them were hesitant to speak, and their flickering eyes indicated that there was something strange about the matter. Although Dugu Qiuhun was highly vigilant and believed it was a fight between gangster-like groups for profit, Mu Min did not see it that way.

The reason was not that Mu Min believed there were no triads in the Ming Dynasty, but the autopsy report made by the health department on the day of the incident. The signs indicated that the seven dead were all heavy manual laborers who had been working in the fields shortly before their deaths. In addition, based on her usual experience, although people sometimes died in triad fights, the basic premise was still to shed blood without killing. They mostly used machetes, which looked bloody and messy, but the mortality rate was relatively low. This kind of indiscriminate stabbing with fire-hardened bamboo spears, relying on brute force, was more like a large-scale rural clan fight.

Sure enough, a few days later, someone came to claim the bodies. Only then did they learn the whole story. Villagers from Village A had come to the welfare cooperative to buy things. At noon, they were drinking tea and eating dry rations at a tea stall set up by villagers from Village B. A conflict broke out over some trivial matter. Unfortunately, some of the nearby stalls were also run by villagers from Village B or their relatives and friends. The villagers from Village A naturally suffered a great loss and were beaten and fled in disarray. On the one hand, it was for revenge, and on the other, to guard against revenge. Both sides had prepared weapons, and the result was this scene.

“To be so ruthless over such a small matter? So ignorant and backward!” Dongmen Chuiyu was surprised.

“We can’t and won’t get involved in clan fights,” Mu Min said. This was not news to her. The custom of rural clan fights still existed in many parts of the country even in the 21st century. Behind them were often intertwined and complex disputes over economy, region, culture, and resources. Years of accumulated resentment meant that any small matter could trigger a large-scale clan fight—not to mention that it was now the slack farming season, which made it even more likely for trouble to break out.

“What we need to ensure is that no one is allowed to cause trouble here in Dongmen Market. So this matter cannot just end like this.”

“The people are dead. What else can be done?”

“The people are dead, but the bodies are still here, aren’t they? Have the people from both villages who want to claim the bodies arrived?”

“They are all resting at the inn. Should I bring them to see you?”

“No. Send someone to tell them that for each body, they have to pay a fine of five taels of silver. We’ll provide the coffins, at a cost price of one tael. The payment must be made within seven days. If it’s overdue, the bodies will be thrown into the sea.”

“Ah?” Both Dongmen and Dugu’s eyes widened. “This, didn’t the Executive Committee ask us to treat the natives well?”

“There is a bottom line to being kind. We need to show the people around here what the consequences are for using knives on our turf,” Mu Min said menacingly.

Dugu Qiuhun slammed the table in excitement. “It should have been like this long ago! I told the Executive Committee long ago that only strict laws can ensure safety. In my opinion, from now on, if we catch a thief or something, we should chop off his hand! Let’s see if anyone dares to steal on my turf again! Treat them well, treat them well, they’re already climbing all over us!”

“Chopping off hands is going too far,” Mu Min said to Ran Yao. “Group Leader Ran, what legal standards should we follow for law enforcement?”

“Just follow the Public Security Administration Punishment Law, it’s readily available.” Ran Yao had specifically discussed these issues with the people from the Executive Committee. This actually involved legislative issues, which the transmigrators had no time for at the moment, so they had to apply existing regulations for now.

When Ma Peng came back from work that day, he saw a new notice posted on the bulletin board at the entrance of the camp. Many of his fellow workers were gathered around, looking at it. Zhang Xingjiao was standing to the side, reading the contents of the notice aloud with a shake of his head: “Recruiting police… 10 people… 18… under 25 years old… height over 160 cm, in good health… meals included, salary, 2.5 work points per day, half a kilogram of rice, bonus to be calculated separately…”

At this point, there was an uproar. Some laborers said, “2.5 work points. I only got 1.5 work points on my busiest day, and the group leader only gets 2 work points. Now they’re getting 2.5 work points right away!”

“Didn’t you hear? Only staff can apply. Staff already get paid more than us!”

“On what grounds? We all do the same work, why does he get paid more?”

“If you’re not willing, you can become a staff member.”

“You have to work for 12 months, or have outstanding performance.”

Ma Peng was originally not very keen on going, because he had heard that this job was similar to that of a yamen runner in the county yamen, responsible for catching thieves in the market. Firstly, he was afraid of dying, and secondly, he felt that this job was not respectable. But now his old mother was living with him. Although the “kūnzéi” master gave him an extra 1.5 work points per day according to the “support obligation” standard, his mother did not get free meals, so their life was a bit tight. Now there were rumors in the camp that the staff’s wages were going to be raised. He regretted why he had listened to Fu Bu’er at that time and not become a staff member. Now he had to miss such an opportunity.

However, he still went to the commune office to apply the next day. Although he was not a staff member, Ran Yao saw that his physique was acceptable—it was really not easy to find a man over 160 cm tall—and nodded. After asking some questions, he was called to a small room in the back, stripped naked, measured with a ruler, and then stood on a wobbly platform scale. Finally, he was approved to join the native police force.

First was ten days of learning combat skills, including the fastest way to control someone’s joints, fighting with a specially shaped short wooden stick, and then lectures on how to spot suspicious characters, patrol and stand guard, question pedestrians, track and pursue, and the technique of tying people up with ropes. A “short hair” named Li Jun taught them how to form a formation with shields and short wooden sticks to confront a large mob. They also had them engage in practical combat against the laborers. These things were very complicated, and Ma Peng was illiterate, which made it even more difficult for him to learn. Fortunately, the transmigrators mostly used demonstration teaching methods, teaching them step by step, and also made many models and pictures to demonstrate.