Chapter 258: The Autumn Levy (Part 23)

“Chen Minggang is this county’s household registrar. Why would he commit such illegal acts? Could it be that you hold a grudge against your master and seek revenge?” Zhou Dongtian asked, feigning suspicion.

“I wouldn’t dare!” Zhou Qi quickly protested. He then laid everything bare: how Chen Minggang planned to use the grain collection for the Australians as an opportunity to extort the major landowners, how he proactively proposed a “land measurement” scheme as a pretext for the extortion, and all the various tricks involved. Finally, he tearfully confessed that he was ordered to hire ruffians to intimidate the landowners because they were planning to submit a petition.

His testimony was coherent, logical, and over ninety percent true. The officials and gentry listening to the trial found it entirely convincing.

Huang Binkun took a few sips of cold tea to steady his nerves, recovering from the initial shock. He assessed the situation. Chen Minggang’s guilt was a foregone conclusion. Even the Australians couldn’t protect him now without openly making enemies of the county’s gentry. It seemed the Australians were planning to use Chen Minggang as a scapegoat. Huang Binkun thought that this would pit the Australians against the local clerks, these “earthworms” who knew the county’s affairs inside and out. The Australians wouldn’t be able to use them anymore, which would eliminate a major potential problem.

“So, you’re saying the petition from the gentry, which accuses you of soliciting bribes and determining land measurements and grain levies based on those bribes, is true?”

“It is true. The households I dealt with were all handled according to my master’s instructions,” Zhou Qi admitted.

“Do you have the ledgers?”

“The ledgers are all in my master’s possession. We wouldn’t dare keep them ourselves.”

“Where did the knives and bows come from?”

“My master provided them,” Zhou Qi said. “I dare not lie.”

“Very well. You may step back for now.” Zhou Dongtian scanned the faces of the gentry. “It appears Chen Minggang is the main culprit in this affair.”

“The man’s crimes are truly heinous,” Sun Ruiwu chimed in, quick to seize the moment and echo the sentiment.

Seeing Zhou Dongtian’s clear stance, the gentry knew the case would be decided in their favor. A wave of relief washed over them. The harassment and intimidation they had endured in recent days finally felt like a passing storm. They felt a sense of clarity, and their admiration for the Australians’ methods grew. Liu Dalin also silently praised them. If the county magistrate had handled this, it would have likely been muddled through and swept under the rug. The Australians, however, were direct and clear-cut, distinguishing right from wrong.

“In that case, his position as the county’s household registrar—”

“Will be revoked immediately, of course,” Wu Ya promptly declared.

“Excellent. Prefectural Aide Wu and Master Sun, you are truly discerning and righteous officials,” Zhou Dongtian offered a bowl of flattery. The gentry, as expected, joined in with words of agreement.

“Guards! Bring Chen Minggang and his entire gang here!”

“Yes, sir!” Fu He, eager to redeem himself, was especially zealous. He took the command token and was about to lead a dozen of his bailiffs out when You Guotuan approached him.

“Chief Fu, leave your men here. Let my men go with you,” You Guotuan said, gesturing to a dozen men behind him. They were all dressed in the official uniforms of yamen runners, armed and radiating a menacing aura.

“Yes, of course,” Fu He said, knowing these were the Australians’ trusted men and not daring to object.

Within half an hour, about twenty people had been rounded up in the courtyard of the hall. Chen Minggang’s apprentices, grain tax collectors, and assorted hangers-on who were in the city were all arrested and forced to kneel, forming a dark, huddled mass.

When Chen Minggang was brought into the hall and saw Zhou Qi kneeling to one side, a sense of dread washed over him. Did that brat sell me out?

Chen Minggang staunchly denied all accusations. The grain collection and land measurement had been approved by the Australians, so how could it be “unauthorized”? As for the extortion, that was merely a case of “failing to supervise his subordinates properly,” a leadership error at most. Listening to this, Zhou Dongtian found it all too familiar; it seemed this kind of rhetoric had been passed down for centuries.

As for intimidating the gentry, that was even more absurd—and on this point, he was telling the truth. It must have been Zhou Qi’s own doing, an attempt to frame his master.

“…Zhou Qi has no respect for his elders! He repeatedly tried to seduce my concubine, Qiuhong. Out of consideration for our master-apprentice relationship, I tolerated it. I never imagined this beast would stoop to this…” As Chen Minggang spoke, his voice choked with emotion, and tears streamed down his face.

“Nonsense!” Zhou Qi roared. “Qiuhong and I are innocent!”

“Silence!” Wu Ya slammed his gavel. “Speak only when you are spoken to!”

“What an actor,” Zhou Dongtian thought, having no intention of getting entangled with Chen Minggang. This veteran clerk was sharp-tongued, and while Zhou Dongtian had interrogation experience, the language barrier made debate difficult and time-consuming. Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty wasn’t a place that cared much for judicial rights. Torture didn’t even require a procedural facade. He could deal with Chen Minggang slowly later. For now, he would break his underlings first.

No matter how skilled Chen Minggang was at rhetoric, his men were unlikely to be as formidable. He had “Umbrella Shop Xiao Hu” brought forward. According to the Political Security Bureau’s case file, Xiao Hu was a key figure in Chen Minggang’s circle, second only to Zhou Qi. Breaking him would be very useful.

When Xiao Hu was brought in, he initially tried to argue, but a swift beating with the bamboo rod had him screaming for his parents. He immediately confessed everything, including Chen Minggang’s plot to brutally squeeze the grain-paying households, forcing them to file a petition so the Australians would think Huang Binkun was organizing a tax revolt.

“A respectable household registrar, secretly instigating tax resistance. What sort of crime is that?” Zhou Dongtian remarked from his seat in the hall.

“Heinous! Absolutely heinous!” Sun Ruiwu chimed in again. Wu Ya shot him a disdainful look but said nothing.

A dozen more grain collectors were brought in. The quick-witted ones confessed before the torture began. The slower ones inevitably suffered for it. The sound of bamboo striking flesh echoed through the hall, accompanied by a chorus of wails and screams. The rods wielded by Lin Changsan’s men were stained red with blood. The gentry, who had rarely witnessed such a brutal spectacle, trembled in their seats. Only Huang Binkun remained relatively calm.

Chen Minggang knelt to the side, watching as his men confessed and put their thumbprints on their statements one by one. He looked at Zhou Dongtian, who seemed determined to see this through to the end. A sense of panic washed over him, but he still couldn’t understand why they were doing this. He had made a fortune during the grain collection, but the benefits he had brought them were far greater! As for intimidating the gentry, that was pure fiction. Not even Zhou Qi would have the nerve for that!

…

“Well,” Zhou Dongtian said, holding up a stack of confessions, “do you have anything else to say?”

“I am truly wronged!” Chen Minggang said, his neck stiff with defiance. “Under torture, what confession cannot be obtained? Since you are so determined to convict me, I’d like to see how you’ll collect this year’s autumn levy!”

“You needn’t worry about that.” Zhou Dongtian knew the Planning Committee had long since stockpiled enough rice from Vietnam. Even if they didn’t collect a single grain in Lin’gao, they could still fulfill the autumn tax quota. This threat might have worked on a county magistrate, but it was a complete joke against the Transmigration Group, which controlled the entire Vietnamese rice supply chain. “Take him away! Lock him in the prison!”

“Don’t get too comfortable!” Chen Minggang knew the situation was irreversible. Given the Australians’ methods, he wouldn’t survive. At death’s door, the sense of control and mastery he had enjoyed for years completely shattered, replaced by a heart full of furious rage. “You collude with the Kun bandits, and sooner or later you’ll all be executed! As for you landowners—” he glared at them viciously, “the day the Australians skin you alive is not far behind!”

His words struck a chord, and the faces of everyone in the hall changed. Though brief, his tirade hit upon their deepest fears. Enraged, Zhou Dongtian yelled, “Silence him!”

Men immediately came forward, slipping a prepared rope around his neck and tightening it, silencing him.

“Take him away!” Zhou Dongtian roared.

After the prisoner was dragged out, a gentry had no desire to stay any longer and requested to leave. Zhou Dongtian didn’t try to detain them. He ordered the court adjourned. The hall would be cleaned up by others. Zhou Dongtian, Wu Ya, and the others went to the rear office to sit down. Xiong Buyou was already there waiting.

“Chen Minggang hasn’t confessed yet. Should we hold another session?” Wu Ya asked. Chen Minggang’s refusal to confess was a problem. In ancient interrogations, a confession was paramount; without the prisoner’s thumbprint, a case was considered unresolved.

Sun Ruiwu said, “Just use torture. He’ll confess eventually. We need to make this case ironclad!” Chen Minggang’s words in the hall had terrified him, and he was now determined to see him dead.

“If this becomes a formal case, it might not be so easy to handle,” said the more calculating Wu Ya. “What crime would we charge him with? If we want a death sentence, wouldn’t we have to report it to the Ministry of Punishments for review…?”

Subconsciously, none of them wanted to report this matter to higher authorities and invite trouble.

“There’s no need to make it an ironclad case. The circumstantial evidence is all there, which is enough to strip him of his post,” Zhou Dongtian said. “Just hand him and his men over to us.”

“Well—” Wu Ya hesitated. In the hands of the Australians, Chen Minggang would surely die, but the official pretext for transferring the prisoner was tricky.

“It’s fine,” Zhou Dongtian said. “Once Chen Minggang is dismissed from his post as household registrar, he can no longer stay in the yamen. He can go wherever he wants. Why should you worry about him?”

Wu Ya agreed. After some discussion, they decided to dismiss Chen Minggang from his post as household registrar under the charge of “extorting the locals and disturbing the peace.” The head of the bailiffs, Fu He, was also dismissed and handed over to the Transmigration Group for private disposal.

This created two important vacancies.

“Zhou Qi will fill the position of the household clerk,” Xiong Buyou announced. The household office was busy, and with the autumn levy underway, they couldn’t afford a novice. Having Zhou Qi take over was the most suitable choice.

By betraying his master to get this position, Zhou Qi would be ostracized by his peers. He would have to rely completely on the Transmigration Group to protect his new job and his life.