Chapter 256: The Autumn Levy (Part 21)

Everyone cried out in unison, “Yes!” Sun Ruiwu and Wu Ya’s hearts sank. This meant a major purge was coming. They were not yet sure who the spearhead would be pointed at, but they were certain that after this case, the situation in Lingao would undergo a great change.

With the city gates and the county yamen under control, Wu De had moved his command post to Zhang Youfu’s estate for closer command. Zhang Youfu’s entire family, including his servants, had been sent to the East Gate Market, where they were being well-fed and entertained for a few days.

“Call the Planning Committee immediately and have them allocate two hundred sets of Ming dynasty clothes to Zhang Youfu’s estate, as soon as possible,” Wu De issued orders from behind a large wooden table.

“Have the translators seconded from the National School arrived?”

“They’ve arrived and are gathering in the courtyard.”

“As soon as the clothes arrive, have them change and escort them into the city to the county yamen.”

…

In the county yamen, Zhou Dongtian, with power in his hands, began to issue orders. He commanded that the head of the fast-response squad, Fu He, be summoned immediately.

“This is Master Zhou,” Registrar Sun introduced him succinctly. “He has come specifically to assist in handling the case of intimidating the gentry with knives and arrows. His orders are my orders, and also Master Wu’s intention. Do you all understand?”

The two of them couldn’t figure out what this was all about, but they could only reply, “Yes.”

“Good. You are to immediately take more men and you have one day to apprehend the perpetrators who threw the knives and shot the arrows in the city,” Zhou Dongtian said with a smile. “You must catch the real ones, don’t just find a few random people to take the blame. Go quickly.” With that, he threw down the fire tablet.

Fu He meekly withdrew. This was not a difficult task. Lingao county town was very small. With his fast-response squad brothers and the help of the “public servants,” they could turn the place upside down in half a day. Besides, the people who could personally do such a thing were mostly local ruffians and scoundrels. He knew exactly how many such people there were in the county.

However, this matter involved Chen Minggang. If he really arrested the perpetrators, these small-time ruffians wouldn’t need torture; the magistrate’s authority would be enough to make them confess everything. Then he would have a feud with Old Eighth.

He immediately made up his mind to go and talk to Chen Minggang first. If Chen Minggang was sensible and willing to offer some silver, he would naturally help him cover it up. If he wasn’t, then he would have to handle it by the book.

Chen Minggang was currently discussing matters with his subordinates in his own residence. He had heard the news yesterday and was shocked. This was completely unexpected; he had not ordered anyone to do this! But after this happened, everyone in the county would think he did it!

What did this mean? Chen Minggang thought it over and over but couldn’t figure it out. But he immediately understood that he had now become a thorn in the side of the gentry and large households. Could it be that Huang Bingkun had instigated it?

He sent his men out to gather news, but one by one, they went and never returned. As he was growing anxious, someone reported that Fu He had arrived.

Fu He was the head of the fast-response squad. They usually had no dealings. His sudden visit clearly meant something was up. Chen Minggang quickly said, “Invite him in!”

When Fu He entered the room, he didn’t bother with pleasantries, just stared at Chen Minggang, making him feel very uncomfortable. He smiled and said, “Old Fu! If you have something to say, just say it! Don’t stare at me with those bull’s eyes!”

Fu He sneered, “Old Eighth! You’re too bold! How dare you do such a thing. Do you really think this Lingao county is surnamed Chen?”

“I didn’t do the knife-throwing and arrow-shooting,” Chen Minggang denied it flatly.

“Whether you did it or not, you can explain it to the masters in court later.”

“What, the magistrate has summoned me?”

“The fire tablet has been issued to immediately arrest the perpetrators who threw the knives and shot the arrows. Once those small-time crooks are brought to court, won’t they confess everything!” Fu He put on a calm and composed face. “You’d better think about what to do!”

Seeing his expression, Chen Minggang knew that further denial would be useless. He was clearly here to extort him. Even if he didn’t admit it, Fu He could just find a few people, coach them on their testimony, and they would still bite him in court.

“I didn’t do it. And I wouldn’t do something so stupid,” Chen Minggang said with a righteous expression. “I think it’s more likely that kid Huang Bingkun did it—to turn the large households against me.” He sighed. “Since I took this job, I’ve offended too many people. I must ask you, Old Fu, to speak well of me.” He called an apprentice in. “Go, go to the back courtyard and tell the mistress to bring forty taels of silver.”

This amount satisfied Fu He. He took the silver and smiled. “Old Eighth, you’re a good man! This matter was definitely done by that kid Huang Bingkun!”

“Thank you for your trouble,” Chen Minggang cupped his hands in thanks. “I won’t see you out.”

Watching Fu He’s departing back, Chen Minggang sneered. Huang Bingkun did it? If you really confess that, you, Fu He, will be looking for trouble! Who is Huang Bingkun? The second son of Lingao’s number one large household, Huang Shoutong, and a proper county scholar. To accuse him of being the mastermind, it’s impossible without the collusion of the Justice Office clerk and the advisor.

After taking the silver, Fu He returned to the teahouse in front of the yamen where he often handled his cases. He had his men find three local ruffians and promised them two taels of silver each to be the perpetrators who shot the arrow and threw the knives.

“…When you get to court, no matter what the masters ask, just insist that Li Gong instigated you to do it!” Fu He drank his tea. “They might not believe you and want to use torture. Don’t worry about that. Whether it’s the plank or the leg-press, I’ve already taken care of it. A little suffering is unavoidable, but you won’t suffer greatly.”

One of them said, “Chief Fu! This is easy enough, but where did the small knife and the bow and arrow come from? We have to have an explanation—”

There used to be blacksmiths in the county, but now there were none. To buy ironware, one had to go to the East Gate Market. That was the Australians’ territory. If they made up a story, it would be bad if it implicated the Australians.

“Just say Li Gong gave them to you,” Fu He said. When the time came and the torture instruments were applied, Li Gong would confess to anything.

He had the three men chained up and held in the teahouse for now, to be brought to court the next morning. One of Fu He’s subordinates whispered, “Chief Fu! Weren’t they supposed to point to Huang Bingkun…”

“You’re really muddle-headed!” Fu He scolded. “Who is Huang Bingkun? Can we afford to provoke him!” He sneered. Directly accusing Huang Bingkun was out of the question, and even accusing his servants was not possible. Fortunately, Li Xiaopeng had been the most active in running around for him recently. To say his servants instigated it was tantamount to pointing the finger at Huang Bingkun. He could also extort a large sum of money from the Li family. This was killing two birds with one stone.

As he was calculating how much to ask from the Li family, one of his men came in and told him that many unfamiliar faces had suddenly appeared in the city, scattered in groups of three or five at various key points. The city gates were letting people in but not out.

“Don’t worry, it’s probably just the Australians entering the city. They’re here for security,” Fu He thought. Since several major Australian chiefs had come, it was natural for them to send men for security and vigilance, which was to be expected.

“Tell the brothers to stay off the streets for now and remain at the yamen to await orders, to avoid trouble!” Fu He knew his men were used to acting tyrannically in the city. If they clashed with the Australians’ subordinates, there would be no good outcome.

“All of them stay in the county yamen?”

“This is a case personally handled by the Australian masters. Everyone needs to be on their best behavior!”

Zhou Dongtian unceremoniously occupied the county yamen’s flower hall as his command post, receiving intelligence and information from all sides. He also set up the necessary equipment in the flower hall. Finally, he asked Wang Zhaomin to come forward and invite the involved gentry and large households, as well as Huang Bingkun, Li Xiaopeng, and others from the county school, to the yamen the next morning to attend the hearing.

After arranging everything, he left You Guotuan in charge at the yamen and went out of the city to Zhang Youfu’s estate to report to Wu De.

“It seems Fu He did go to see Chen Minggang. And he found some unrelated people to take the blame,” Zhou Dongtian said, looking at the surveillance report sent by Zhou Botao. “These yamen clerks are truly an intricate web.”

“This time, we will completely dismantle them, so they can no longer form a faction,” Wu De said. “They will honestly serve us.”

“There was no need to win them over in the first place. Just arrest them all. Didn’t we prepare people to replace them?”

“I thought so too at first. To use violent means to reshuffle the deck. It’s easy and clean,” Wu De said. “But since we still have to fly the banner of the Great Ming for a while, we need to maintain the ‘Ming skin, Aussie heart’ of the Lingao county yamen. We also have to handle the daily yamen affairs. For example, how should the grain tax be handled? What are the procedures? How should we reply to documents from the higher-level yamen? Only the yamen clerks understand these administrative procedures of the Great Ming. So, it’s necessary to retain some of them.”

“In that case, won’t they be able to use this to constrain us again?”

“Hehe, the officials of the Great Ming are easily constrained by them because they are under the same system. The officials want to be officials peacefully and get rich. We are just temporarily borrowing this skin; we don’t want to be officials of the Great Ming,” Wu De said. “They can deceive us once, but they won’t have a second chance. After the first person makes such a mistake, I believe no one will make the same mistake again.”

He continued, “Even if they are the most stubborn villains, they still have wives and children. I believe that for a person to be so strong as to disregard their wife and children, they must have an extremely strong faith.”

The faith of the yamen clerks was to make money. This kind of faith generally could not withstand tests.

Wu De and Zhou Dongtian discussed the procedures and important matters of the interrogation for the next day. Then, he contacted Yang He to confirm if the barracks specially prepared for the yamen clerks’ “study class” were ready for use. Next, he inquired about the deployment of the army personnel.

“The infantry entering the city should be changed into Ming dynasty clothes. Don’t bring rifles, just pikes,” Wu De gave instructions on his phone. “Bring more ropes and hoods.”