Chapter 252: The Autumn Levy (Part 17)

The two sides exchanged pleasantries and sat down. Liu Dalin, with the thought of “when in Rome, do as the Romans do,” let Xiong Buyou make the arrangements. Then someone served tea.

Liu Dalin got straight to the point: “I have come today to petition on behalf of all the gentry and landowners of the county.” With that, he took a letter from his sleeve. Xiong Buyou took it, opened it, and glanced at it.

The petition was very long and written in a scholarly style. Xiong Buyou was not used to reading traditional characters, and the classical Chinese was not his strong suit. At the end of the petition were many people’s signatures and handprints, a dense patch of them. These were presumably the joint petitioners.

In addition to the petition, there was also an appendix in the envelope, written in a much more colloquial and understandable style, listing all the misdeeds of Chen Minggang and his gang.

He pretended to read it through, then put the petition back in the envelope.

“I cannot make a decision on this matter. It must be forwarded to the leadership. Please wait a moment, Mr. Liu—”

Liu Dalin nodded in agreement. Xiong Buyou quickly went out and immediately delivered the letter to Wu De.

Wu De was actually in the office behind the management building. Not only him, but most of the leadership group were also there. As soon as Xiong Buyou arrived, the classical Chinese literature specialist in the group began to translate the contents of the petition.

“Damn, this is truly full of erudition,” the person in charge of the translation said, scratching his scalp. “Quick, get me a dictionary of allusions.”

“Aren’t you a master of Chinese language and literature?”

“Even a master of Chinese language hasn’t learned so many allusions. Besides, I’m not a specialist in classical Chinese…”

This petition, personally written by Liu Dalin, used many allusions, and not only that, there were also many obscure ones. Of course, by the standards of Ming dynasty scholars, they were not too obscure.

“You don’t need to translate it so thoroughly. Just quickly summarize the main points,” Wu De instructed.

“That won’t do. Using allusions is not only to show profound knowledge but sometimes also to express a subtle attitude. In the past…”

“Alright, alright, just quickly summarize the main content for me.”

The summary of the content was simple. The petition put forward three demands: first, to stop the “land survey” because it was “disturbing the people”; second, to cancel the tax farming and “follow the old rules”; and third, to “severely punish the scoundrels.”

In the end, the ultimate request of this petition was to hope that everything would remain as it was. The transmigrator group certainly could not accept this wish. Fortunately, the leadership group had already anticipated the content of this petition and had corresponding countermeasures. Wu De immediately gave Xiong Buyou a few instructions.

“Old sir,” Xiong Buyou said, returning to the reception room and cupping his hands. “I have received the petition. It will be submitted to the Executive Committee for discussion shortly. In three to five days at the least, ten days at the most, we will definitely give you all a reply.”

It was also possible to give them a reply on the spot. But Wu De felt there was no need to show too much respect for the other party. Where it was necessary to put on airs, one should.

This reply was probably within Liu Dalin’s expectations. He had dealt with the government a lot. For a petition from the common people, it was not surprising for it to be delayed for a month or two. The other party’s willingness to reply in at most ten days was already extremely fast.

According to the government’s practice, once the petition was received, the meeting would be over. But the Australians had no intention of letting them go. Xiong Buyou had someone serve the petition representatives fresh hot tea and ordered that no unauthorized personnel be allowed in. Only then did he put on a very sincere expression and say:

“I have read the petition of you gentlemen. I did not expect that this tax collection would disturb you all so much. It was truly unexpected! But we are outsiders, after all, and our information is limited. As for what specific disturbances have occurred during the tax collection, please inform me one by one, so I can report it to the gentlemen of the Executive Committee for their decision.”

At these words, Liu Dalin was very satisfied. It seemed the petition had had an effect. Since the other party was willing to make this gesture, it meant they were not ignoring the petition.

“I am a disabled person and am not familiar with the affairs of the outside world. But my relatives have been harassed a great deal. As for the situation in other places, Bingkun, you tell them,” Liu Dalin said.

“Yes.” Huang Bingkun had not dared to sit in the room and had been standing behind Liu Dalin. Now, seeing that it was his turn to speak, he was overjoyed. He immediately bowed and recounted all the misdeeds of Chen Minggang and his gang in collecting taxes and surveying the land in the county. To write the petition, Huang Bingkun had collected a lot of information from the landowners and gentry. Huang Bingkun’s eloquence was also quite good, so he spoke with great emotion. When he spoke of his hatred, it was as if he wanted to eat their flesh and sleep on their skin.

To be honest, Huang Bingkun himself did not necessarily hate Chen Minggang and his gang to this extent. For the powerless small landowners, the yamen clerks were wolves; for the powerful gentry, they were vicious dogs—they had to be given some benefits on a regular basis to prevent them from biting, and when needed, they could be directed to bite others. The relationship between the two sides was not irreconcilable.

But this time, Huang Bingkun came with the intention of “cutting off one of the ‘Kunzei’s’ arms.” In his and his father’s secret discussions, they believed that the Australians, being unfamiliar with the people and land in Lingao, had to rely on this group of lawless, money-grubbing yamen clerks to effectively control the county—after all, only they were familiar with the county’s administration and specific situation. His plan was to drive a wedge between the two sides, and even cause a conflict.

Xiong Buyou nodded repeatedly as he listened. He already knew most of what Chen Minggang and his gang had done. What he wanted to know more was the attitude of Huang Bingkun, Liu Dalin, and the others towards this person. Now, it seemed that the gentry and large households hated him to the bone.

Since he was to be used to appease the public anger, it was better to use someone who was greatly resented by the public.

“Is the next step to begin the mass arrest of Chen Minggang and his gang?” Zhou Botao asked at the subsequent leadership group meeting.

“Of course not,” Wu De said. “In theory, we have no judicial power in Lingao—”

“Tch!” Dugu Qiuhun said with dissatisfaction. “We’ve arrested so many people in the East Gate Market and sentenced them to labor reform. Isn’t that a violation of the Great Ming’s judicial power? Ah De, you’re too pedantic.”

“That’s right. We killed so many bandits and local tyrants when we suppressed the bandits. Chen Minggang is a yamen runner. Aren’t yamen runners of a low class? Even if we kill a commoner, the county yamen might not say anything—”

“Please note, this is different from suppressing bandits. And when we suppressed bandits, we used the name of the joint village self-defense militia,” Yu E’shui said. “In theory, Chen Minggang is of a low class, but he is an ‘established clerk’ of the Great Ming. In our modern terms, he is an official local government employee. He cannot be killed casually without due process—”

“So, this matter has to go through the Lingao county yamen?” Dong Weiwei, the amateur Ming history expert, became animated. “Although he is a government employee, he is a local cadre. The personnel authority is in the county; there’s no need for a document from the Ministry of Personnel. The county can fire him directly.”

“That’s right, this procedure must be followed,” Wu De said. “Among his subordinates, some are on the official roster and some are not. Those on the roster must first be dismissed from their posts.”

“I don’t think it’s necessary at all. It’s superfluous,” Dugu Qiuhun was a typical member of the faction that advocated for “kicking aside the county yamen and making revolution.”

“The Lingao county yamen is now basically a puppet regime under our control, and this puppetry will be further deepened,” Wu De said. “Since we are going to wear this skin for a long time, we have to give the people in the county a certain illusion, at least in form, to respect the authority of this puppet regime.”

“Do as you please,” Dugu Qiuhun shrugged.

“If we have to negotiate, Wu Mingjin will definitely not agree,” Dong Weiwei continued to deduce. “Although Magistrate Wu may not think highly of Chen Minggang, with his wisdom, it’s very likely he’ll guess our intention to replace the yamen staff. We still have to force him—”

“Of course, we have to force him, but not us. Let the large households force him,” Wu De said, calling on Zhou Botao. “How is your plan coming along?”

“It’s all set,” Zhou Botao stood up and began to explain his plan.

“This is too risky,” in a dilapidated temple in the county town, several dark figures were discussing something.

“Risky, my ass. Just throw a knife into the courtyard in the middle of the night.”

“Others are one thing, but the entrance of the county school, that’s half a yamen…”

“Alright, alright, you all talk too much. Are you doing it or not? If not, I’ll find someone else.”

“We’ll do it, we’ll do it. But Brother Qi, if we get caught, you have to take care of us at the yamen. Go easy on us during the flogging—”

“Goes without saying, doesn’t it?” the speaker was none other than Zhou Qi. “Who do you think my master is?”

“Alright, but the silver—”

“Half now, the rest after it’s done,” Zhou Qi whispered. “Let’s be clear upfront. If you take the money and don’t get the job done, there will be interest.”

“We wouldn’t dare.”

“Good, here are the knives and the posters,” Zhou Qi handed them the small knives hidden in a straw bag. These were a common type of simple small iron knife in the local area, often carried by people on the road, not only for self-defense but also for cutting meat and other things.

After giving his instructions, Zhou Qi quickly left the dilapidated temple. He looked around and, seeing no one, let out a sigh of relief and walked towards the designated place.

“Well, are you sure you can hit it?” On a deserted section of the city wall at the west gate of the county town, several figures were lying prone. The city tower was usually guarded by militia, but now that the county was at peace, the militia were slacking off, all hiding in the shacks inside the city wall, sleeping or gambling. The city wall was empty, with only a string of lanterns swaying in the wind, casting a dim light.

“A low-light night vision scope, a pulley crossbow… if I can’t hit a big door with this equipment, I might as well be dead,” the questioned Dai Xie said with dissatisfaction.

Dai Xie was very excited to hear he could participate in a “secret activity.” He had been working at the Planning Committee and occasionally taught everyone archery skills—he had expertise in this area. Life had been very boring. When Zhou Botao came to him and asked him to take his crossbow and arrows and “carry out a mission” immediately, he had thought it was some kind of assassination. He hadn’t expected that after being escorted by the special reconnaissance team to the top of the city wall, this was what he would be doing.