Chapter 250: The Autumn Levy (Part 15)

However, Huang Bingkun was not an easy person to deal with. He was no ignorant child; he had fought in battles, killed people, was a scholar, and his family were local squires of Lingao. He possessed literary and martial skills, as well as wealth and influence. He couldn’t be won over, nor could he be threatened. In the past, the two sides had maintained an attitude of mutual non-interference, content to let things be.

This time, Chen Minggang wanted to use the Australians’ power to subdue the large households and extort more benefits. Huang Bingkun wanted to use the opposition to the “land survey” to embarrass the Australians. The two were now at odds, and the situation was escalating step by step.

Even Wu De, who had personally initiated this storm, had not expected that a plan originally intended to make Chen Minggang “reach the pinnacle of his evil” would provoke such a widespread reaction from all corners of the county, ultimately creating a situation he himself had not anticipated.

Chen Minggang immediately called for a sedan chair and went to the East Gate Market to visit Wu De. But he came up empty. The guard at the door politely said that Chief Wu was “away on a long trip.” If he had any message, he could leave it, and for minor matters, the chief’s secretary would handle it. Chen Minggang knew that this so-called “chief’s secretary” was a personal maid, and she certainly couldn’t make decisions on such a major matter. This meant he couldn’t directly use the Australians’ power. Chen Minggang’s eyes darted around. He had someone write a letter, reporting Huang Bingkun’s actions of “uniting landowners with the intent to resist tax collection.” He then ordered his men to return. On the way, he considered the relationship between the Huang family and the Australians, and the consequences of getting rid of Huang Bingkun.

Getting rid of Huang Shoutong’s son was no small matter. In Lingao, only the Australians could do such a thing and get away with it. If the old man Huang went berserk, his own group would be no match. Chen Minggang’s plan was to have the Australians severely punish this little brat, and it would be best if the Huang family ended up like the Gou family, wiped out. But now it seemed the Australians were not willing to be the villains—at least not for now.

“In that case, let’s just let this kid make a big scene. Then you’ll have no choice but to step in!” Chen Minggang had made up his mind by the time he returned to his residence. He immediately summoned his trusted subordinates and gave them instructions. Of course, Zhou Qi was also summoned.

When Zhou Qi arrived, Chen Minggang’s face darkened. He first shouted, “Kneel!” and then gave him a few hard slaps. Zhou Qi was stunned. He didn’t think he had done anything wrong recently—even the surveillance duty near Qiuhong’s house had been handled by others lately.

“Hmph, you think you’ve done a good deed!” Chen Minggang scolded with a grim face. “I’m not on my deathbed yet. Why are you in such a hurry to sell favors?”

Hearing that his master had discovered his secret, Zhou Qi was terrified. But he didn’t dare to admit it, only arguing that he had done as instructed and had not dared to disobey his master’s orders.

“One or two families would be one thing, but for every landowner you dealt with, you reported the lowest possible amount. Do you think your master is a fool!” Chen Minggang roared, giving him a few more slaps that made Zhou Qi see stars. “Get back out there and squeeze them hard again!”

“Master, the deals have already been made. To go back and negotiate again—” Zhou Qi whispered, clutching his face.

“You made the deals with them, not me,” Chen Minggang sneered. “Trying to curry favor? Wait until I’m dead! Go and tell the large households: the Australian masters are not satisfied. Add at least another ten percent. Now get out!”

Zhou Qi fled in disgrace. Chen Minggang called in the tax enforcers who had been watching the scene from outside.

“Alright, now we need to let that kid surnamed Huang make a good scene,” he said, turning to a brutish, butcher-like man. “Old Zhang, you take a few men and go to the homes of Liu Dalin’s relatives and friends—they all have fraudulently entrusted land. Go and make a good scene, understand!”

“Understood!” Old Zhang said, rubbing his fists in excitement.

“And those scholars at the county school, help their families out a bit too,” Chen Minggang said. “So that little Huang can rally everyone.”

Someone below asked uneasily, “If this gets too big, will the Australians give us a hard time? Liu Dalin and the others are highly regarded by the Australians…”

“Don’t you worry,” Chen Minggang reassured them. “The Australians are polite to the large households to keep them from causing trouble and to make them pay their taxes乖乖. If they cause trouble and refuse to pay taxes, will they still be treated well?”

“Hmm, hmm,” everyone nodded in agreement.

“We are working for the Australians. Without us, could the county’s grain be collected?” Chen Minggang encouraged his men.

Naturally, if the matter blew up, the Australians would have to give an explanation to the large households, and they would need a scapegoat from Chen Minggang’s group to punish to appease the public anger. This scapegoat would not be hard to find. A promise of some silver and a guarantee that he wouldn’t be killed would be enough—the Australians might not even want him dead.

Once the matter blew up, the ringleader, Huang Bingkun, would also not have a good time. “The main culprit must be punished, but accomplices will not be prosecuted”—this was how every dynasty dealt with public unrest. From then on, the Huang family would be a thorn in the Australians’ side. Even if they weren’t dealt with immediately, the Huang family’s demise in the county would be imminent.

Besides, there was a blood feud between the Huang family and the Australians. Chen Minggang felt that the Australians would most likely not take this lightly.

Zhou Qi emerged from the teahouse with a red and swollen face, feeling utterly humiliated as people on the street stared and pointed at him. But he didn’t dare to react. He first went back to his own lodging, drew a basin of cold water, and washed his face, finding that his lips were numb.

“He hit so hard! Damn him!” Zhou Qi cursed angrily, his heart filled with resentment. At that moment, he wanted to immediately go and find Gou Buli and tell him he was willing to be the “Household Office Clerk” and await the Australians’ orders.

But they had been master and apprentice for twenty years. It wasn’t that Zhou Qi had any affection for Chen Minggang, but under his master’s long-standing tyranny, his courage had long been broken. To ask him to immediately decide to betray his master was truly a bit frightening. He thought it over for a long time but couldn’t make up his mind.

Outside, however, a storm was already brewing. Following Chen Minggang’s orders, the tax enforcers went out again, claiming “the Australians are not satisfied” and demanding the landowners report more land and pay more wastage rice. The landowners, who had already negotiated terms, were thrown into great panic and anger. The number of people going to Zhang Youfu’s house to complain increased dramatically. Even Zhang Youfu was startled. How did things suddenly become so tumultuous? He quickly calmed everyone down and went to report to Chu Yu.

Liu Dalin’s house was in even greater chaos. Relatives and friends came running to cry and complain about the arrogance and unreasonableness of the tax enforcers—when had they ever been treated so poorly by such commoners? The crude and vulgar yamen runners would walk straight into the main hall and talk with their legs crossed. If there was any disagreement, they would immediately slam the table and curse loudly.

“We can’t live like this. You have to think of a way for us,” the relatives and friends pleaded.

“A family of our status, when have we ever been so humiliated!” a distant clansman of Liu Dalin’s cried. He was just a small country squire, but since Liu Dalin’s father had become an official, he had become arrogant and considered himself someone of status in the county. To be so humiliated by a few tax enforcers, he immediately came to his clansman for help.

Liu Dalin was helpless. He could only offer kind words of comfort while urgently seeking out Huang Bingkun, telling him to get the petition ready as soon as possible so he could go and request an audience with the Australians.

Huang Bingkun’s work also went much more smoothly. The landowners who had previously felt it was unnecessary to cause more trouble were now actively demanding to join the petition—this kind of back-and-forth was too much of an insult!

From his subordinates, Chen Minggang learned that Huang Bingkun and the others were running around with great enthusiasm. He sneered inwardly: Just you wait for the Australians to deal with you.

All these actions were, of course, observed by the leadership group. The development of the situation to this point was somewhat unexpected for everyone. It also gave them a glimpse into the intricate and complex relationships and social dynamics of Lingao county.

However, in general, the event was still developing in the direction they had anticipated. But the news of Chen Minggang’s rampage in the countryside made some in the leadership group restless.

“We’ve worked so hard to build good relationships with the large households and the intellectuals. Will Chen Minggang’s actions damage our reputation? Should we give them a proper warning to stop?”

“No need,” Wu De said, looking at the reports from all sides. “Great order comes after great chaos. The more fiercely Chen Minggang acts, the better. The more fiercely he acts, the more reason we have to deal with the yamen runners. Secondly, it will also drain the energy of the large households, so they won’t have the strength to cause trouble when we conduct our own land survey later.”

“What if someone gets killed?”

“A life for a life!” Wu De said calmly. “No matter who kills whom, the ones who die will be yamen runners, large landowners, or scholars. It doesn’t matter.”

“Damn, you’re inciting the masses to fight the masses. Brilliant, truly brilliant!”

“We want to carry out social reform. If we don’t thoroughly stir up these powerful figures in the county, how can we push it through?” Wu De said. “After a period of turmoil, people will naturally yearn for stability. As long as it’s conducive to stability and unity, there won’t be much resistance to whatever we do.”

“I didn’t expect our plan to have a plan within it. Ah De, you’re hiding things.”

“Not at all!” Wu De denied it flatly. “The plan is the original plan. That it has come to this point is partly due to coincidence, and partly due to human nature.” He said, “We are using Chen Minggang’s little scheme, and he knows it very well. He is also using us. He just miscalculated on two points. First, we possess technology and management levels that surpass this era; we don’t need his treasured old system. Second, he doesn’t know that our ambition is social system reform, not simple accumulation of wealth. He can’t be blamed for this, because he couldn’t possibly have such insight.” He sighed. “This is probably the advantage that the difference in eras has given us.”