Chapter 232: The Partner

“We have some. Qiuhong used to be the accomplice of a local bandit. After we eliminated him, she got his loot.”

“Chen Minggang knows about this, right?”

“Of course he does, but I’m starting to understand their underworld rules,” Zhou Botao reported. “In matters like this, the fast-response squad and the guards’ squad are supposed to get a share. Chen Minggang should have at least given them a ‘taste.’ To just swallow it all himself is what they call ‘breaking the code of the road,’ a very serious offense.”

“Let’s not use that just yet. We’ll save it for when we need the Six Offices to turn on each other,” Ran Yao said. “But if you have any smaller tidbits, release them now to stir up some trouble.”

Zhou Botao understood immediately. He ordered his men to pull out all the black materials they had collected on the Three Ranks and Six Offices over the past year. They had already accumulated a good amount, and with the partial decryption of Gou Er’s ledger, they had many more old stories to add, making the rumors more credible. He selected some suitable materials, packaged them into coherent narratives, and began to spread them one by one.

A wind of suspicion immediately began to blow through the Lingao county yamen. Lingao was a small place; a rumor could travel from the East Gate Market to the county town in less than a day. The yamen runners couldn’t help but feel uneasy. People who worked in the yamen were particularly suspicious. Many old incidents, long forgotten, were now brought up, and with them, all the old suspicions resurfaced.

In addition to these rumors, news that Chen Minggang was planning to have the Australians take over this year’s tax collection also spread. This rumor was started by Chen Minggang’s own apprentice. If the deal went through, all the better. Even if the Australians didn’t want to get involved, he planned to use their name to intimidate people. It was unlikely anyone would dare to ask the Australians if it was true. Afterwards, he could just give them a portion of the money and grain.

Wang Zhaomin had no interest in these rumors, but the news that Chen Minggang was trying to get the Australians to take over tax collection made him break out in a cold sweat. The story was being told with such detail that it was unlikely to be baseless. He hastily summoned Chen Minggang and asked him sternly if it was true.

“It is true,” Chen Minggang answered frankly. Although he was respectful to the Master Wang, his demeanor was extremely arrogant. In such a remote place, the local administration was so dependent on the clerks that even the county magistrate was not in their eyes, let alone an advisor like Wang Zhaomin.

“You have some nerve!” Wang Zhaomin’s beard trembled with anger. “What kind of people are these ‘Kunzei’? You dare to collude with them? When the imperial army arrives, I’d like to see how you’ll escape!”

“With all due respect, Master Wang, if I can’t escape then, there will naturally be someone taller than me to take the fall,” Chen Minggang said with the face of a rogue.

Wang Zhaomin was speechless. In the entire Lingao yamen, there was probably no one who could claim to be completely clean and have no dealings with the ‘Kunzei’. The lower-level clerks were one thing, having only received a few circulation coupons, but for someone like him, it would be difficult to explain.

Wang Zhaomin, however, was a seasoned advisor and kept his composure. He said in a low voice, “Old Eighth, I advise you to be clear-headed! This group of ‘Kunzei’ are not to be trifled with. If you provoke them, you’ll probably be the one who suffers in the end!”

“Whether I suffer or not is a matter for the future. As for the matter at hand, Master Wang, you must come up with a solution,” Chen Minggang said, not backing down. Of course, he knew the Australians were not easy to handle, but he relied on his familiarity with the county’s finances. Even if the Australians had heavenly abilities, without his help, they wouldn’t be able to collect any grain. “Reasonable burden”? That was a clever trick, but the amount of grain it could collect was very limited. It could only be considered a “voluntary contribution” from the government’s perspective and was not sustainable in the long run.

The matter at hand, of course, was the upcoming autumn tax collection. Not just the grain, but also the additional Liao Sarvice tax, the county’s miscellaneous taxes, and the poll tax. All these things combined were the county’s top priority. Wang Zhaomin had been racking his brains over this recently.

The grain tax itself was manageable. Wang Zhaomin knew that with a bit of effort, they could generally meet the quota. Moreover, after the Australians had eliminated the bandits, the powerful landlords who had colluded with them had become much more restrained. They were unlikely to openly defy the government now. But now they had a better option—the Australians.

If they openly used the Australians as their backers—which was not impossible, just as they had colluded with bandits in the past—the tax collection would become very difficult again.

It seemed that, no matter what, without cooperating with the Australians, there would be major trouble with the autumn grain tax. At this thought, he couldn’t help but resent Chen Minggang for approaching the Australians about the tax for his own private gain. Now, if he were to approach the Australians about cooperation, they would probably ignore him unless he offered a high price.

When Xiong Buyou returned and reported his meeting with Chen Minggang to Wu De, the news that Chen Minggang also wanted to use the transmigrators came as a surprise. It seemed there were people everywhere willing to take risks for money.

“It seems we’ve become a hot commodity. Both Wang Zhaomin and Chen Minggang want to use our name,” Wen Desi said with a smile.

“This means we can negotiate a good price,” Wu De said. “Wang Zhaomin originally didn’t want to cooperate with us, just wanted us to make a gesture. Now that Chen Minggang has stirred things up, he has no choice but to come to us. It saves us a lot of effort.”

“It looks like Chen Minggang will offer a better price.”

“Should we cooperate with him?”

“I don’t see the need,” Wu De said without hesitation. “We’re not here to be officials in Lingao; we’re here to control the yamen. There’s no need for so many twists and turns. Also, given our limited understanding of this society, if we try to outsmart these clerks in their own field, we’ll probably lose.”

Even the county magistrate himself didn’t understand all the various affairs of the yamen, let alone outsiders like them. As foreign players trying to compete with local players who knew all the rules, no matter how skilled they were, they would lose if they kept fouling.

To deal with this situation, their only option was to use force, destroy the old order, establish new rules, and force everyone to operate under their new system.

“Of course, for now, we still need to rely on their expertise in terms of information,” Wu De said. “Let’s not break with him just yet. Let’s see how sincere he is, and we’ll prepare to take over ourselves.”

“So we’re cooperating with Wang Zhaomin?” Xiong Buyou didn’t particularly like the advisor. He still felt that dealing with someone like Chen Minggang, who was direct about prices and conditions, was more straightforward.

“Of course! That’s the proper way,” Wu De said firmly. “The clerks are of a low class. We need to build our own image. How can we get mixed up with them? Wang Zhaomin and Wu Mingjin are legitimate officials. Their status in the eyes of the people is different.”

The leadership is always good; it’s the crooked monks below who chant the sutras wrong. This theory was not a modern invention. The common people of China had believed this since ancient times. It would take more than a day for the transmigrators to change this perception.

With the autumn tax collection imminent, a joint meeting of all relevant departments was held. In a very Chinese fashion, it was decided to establish a special county yamen leadership work group, directly under the control of Wu De’s Civil Affairs Committee.

“Manpower and resources are at your disposal,” Wen Desi told Wu De. “You can also command the intelligence department. If necessary, you can mobilize the special reconnaissance team—I’ve already spoken with Bei Wei, they’re on call. This time, we concentrate our efforts and take down the county yamen!”

“That’s a heavy responsibility,” Wu De said. “But I’ll do my best. Also, I need a few ruthless men.”

“Done,” Wen Desi said. “You can have whoever you want.”

So, Wu De brought in Zhou Dongtian. Zhou Dongtian had been busy with printing lately, his face covered in ink. Because he was also experimenting with lead type, he came directly to Wu De’s office.

“Old Zhou,” Wu De said, “I know you’ve done some odd jobs for Ran Yao. Recently, you might be doing this side job on a much larger scale.”

Zhou Dongtian grinned, revealing his white teeth.

That day, Zhang Youfu came to find Xiong Buyou, saying that Master Wang wanted to meet secretly at his estate with the leader of the transmigrators. Xiong Buyou guessed it was still about the autumn tax collection.

The next evening, a secret meeting took place at Zhang Youfu’s estate. Wang Zhaomin saw that not only Xiong Buyou was there, but also another leader—he recognized Wu De and knew he held great power among the Australians, at the level of a “great chief.”

After a few pleasantries, Wang Zhaomin got straight to the point, asking if the recent rumors about Chen Minggang asking them to take over the autumn tax collection were true.

“You could say yes, and you could say no,” Xiong Buyou said vaguely.

Wang Zhaomin cursed inwardly at the cunning of these ‘Kunzei’ but patiently asked, “What do you mean, yes and no?”

“Chen Minggang did approach us about this matter, but we are still discussing it and have not reached a decision.”

“No decision” meant there was still room for maneuver. Wang Zhaomin knew this was the start of negotiations and steeled himself.

“What does your esteemed group intend to do?”

“Chen Minggang offered several conditions,” Xiong Buyou said. “They were very generous.”

“Chen Minggang is a county pest, a despicable person. Can your esteemed group trust him?”

Xiong Buyou smiled. “We can trust him. I doubt he’d have the guts to cheat us.”

Wang Zhaomin earnestly pointed out that the “cheating” he referred to was not about discrepancies in money or grain, but that he would use the transmigrators’ name to extort people everywhere.

“…You are new here and don’t know much about the Great Ming or the local situation. This kind of low-class person has controlled the county administration for a long time and is extremely familiar with how things work. If he uses your prestige to play tricks and harm the people, it will be very damaging to your reputation!”

Wang Zhaomin knew the Australians valued their reputation, so he tried to appeal to them from this angle.